another quickie

well, we finally got to do some dolphin watching and it was amazing - feel like a bit of a charlatan cos we have to tell everyone we are doing research (mmmmm), and i was even asked if i was a marine biolgist! errrr, yeah!!! im just counting dolphins

so we continue to eat good food, play basketball, and snorkel the reef - so all is well in the phillipino camp at the mo!!

and i ve even made a chess set out of wood, its pretty good i have to say too :-)

pamiliacan

only got a few mins to update now

we made it to the island after a pretty rough journey, and after a few days too find our feet we have finally settled, and its lovely -

we've got the price down to 6 dollars a day each for a bungalow on the sea front and endless meals of fresh fish and rice - and we also get to assist on the dolphin and whale watching programmes -

so we will prob stay here a month nowas the price is so good and the living so healthy, we pretty much eat nice food, play basketball, swim, and go snorkelling - we didn;t even drink for the first 4 days and where in bed by 10 most nights

and i got a new high score at scrabble - 437 - !!!! (juz will hate me writing that :-) ) hee hee!!

so back there in a mo, and will update next time we off the island which should be next week

see yer

off too pamilican

were leaving the lovely resort of panglao now, where we camped right on the seafront again (cheaper, and better view than the hotels) so this may be the last blog for a week or so if there is no internet there -

been lovely here - saw a small shark whilst snorkelling yesterday, and apparently last night, i fell over - lost my shoe, then fell over again whilst trying to pick it up! what a capitol manouver i ! ding dong!

so hopelfully will be able to camp pretty cheap there, or else negotialte a cheap rate for a room for a few weeks - looking forward to staying put for a while and doing some nice snorkelling, and maybe trying to get some casual work -

also hopefully gonna spot some whales and dolphins! hope so!


see yer

off to the islands again

so we've had our city break now, 2 days in cebu - and some pretty heavy nights in the kukuk guesthouse and its 24 hour bar - and some serious sessions in the air con shopping malls here!

oh yeah, we had cable TV again - which is quite nice after no TV ages - so we veged and watched Cape Fear and Million Dollar Baby the other night (the latter is very very sad actually)

so we off on another ferry shortly to Bohol, gonne\a see the so called chocolate hills, and then head for the beach again

ive also picked up a basketball (for a quid) as its the national sport here and there is courts everywhere so im gonna try and hone my slamp dunk techniques etc etc

also picked up some new shorts here for 70 pence (70 peso's) - isn't that incredible - and they are actually ok - seriously !

see yer later

bestival

speaking of festivals bob, is anyone going to bestival this year?? it was amazing last year - we all totally loved it!

pamiliacan island

apparently this little island is where we will be staying for a few days (have i stuck this up before???) anyways, looks very nice indeed and is surrounded by dolphins, and some whales!

justine is doing some voluntry work, whilst i will get some work in a bar - persuade the guy to buy a sound system, hook up my ipod - attract a young hip crowd (kick out the whale watchers, bloody eco warriors!!!) who come for he relaxed atmosphere and great music, import my records over - and create the new ibiza ! it couldn;'t be easier

remember, you heard it here first

been meaning to blog this for ages...

3 of the best examples of dodgy spelling, and copies, and insane signs that we have seen over here - some are truly brilliant, and NONE are doen with any sense of comedy or irony whatsover .....

at 3 - we have the celebrity flip flops of Real adrid superstar - DAVID PACKHAM! complete with a picture of the man himself

still at 2 - we have the concert jumper from the old slow hand master of leyla, lovely images of the man, and a graphic image of a concert - complete with the text of LIVE - ERIC CRAPTON (i swear, this is so so true)

and finally, at 1 - and destined to be there for a long time - we have the mis spelled security advice given to us in the guest house in LuanG Namtha - while most guest houses provide you with a safety deposit bok - our advice, postered to the wall in evEry room - was too
"PLEASE POOT YOU VALUABLE THINKYS UNDER THE BED OR IN THE WARDROBE DRAWS' (or words to that effect)

classic, and such good advice for anyone who breaks into our room too -

all of them so innocent, but just so funny

conan doyle

anyone read hound of the baskervilles? its absolutely brilliant, choice language too, ive just gone and bought all the other sherlock holmes books

no, its not a spelling mistake ...

and its pronounced - maz-bat-ey

anyway, as the days just getting better we headed of for malapuscua with high hopes - and it was just as we expected - stunning

we got there quite late, and the tide was out, and the sun was going down - it took us a while to get a room, so first impressions where just average

but the next day we got up hired a small banka (boat) and managed to paddle around the whole island (about 7k) it was brilliant

some of the seas where quite rough and scary, so when we got back we celebrated by paddling out to the floating bar in the bay and kicking in a few san miguels - lovely! best day in a long while i think

so where in cebu now, and getting a few things before we head south to bohol and then pamiliacan where justine hopefully has some voluntry work, and maybe someone will pay me to serve drinks, build huts, do whatever! fingers crossed

and we also managed to extend are visa today - we have to May 3rd here! result

bithon beach and esperanza

...then we headed over to bithon beach to a comletely empty (apart from staff) resort where they allowed us to camp, so we where right on the edge of the ocean, and this time the sea was lovely and clear - great to be back by the warm waters again, as it had been about 3 months

we where on the island of masbate, and headed for malapuscua, so this was a little bonus for us on the way - we ound out we had to go via esperanza which was even in the guide book

so we rocked off there with no idea what to expect and we amazed to see a gorgeous white beach and found these little bungalows on the sands - and total blue clear water, heaven! i think the palace gets about 2 visitors a month - there a re no bars, no restaruant

but we managed to find a shop and get 4 beers , half a bottle of rum, and a large bottle of coke for just over a quid, perfect
so, on to the island of malapuscua

the whale shark!

so then

think i left off just before we headed to donsol to see the whale sharks - iwe got a lovely campsite write by the ocean, and booked in for our ocean trip the next day

your not guaranteed to see them, but this is peak season so we where quite optimistic - but even better than that we had been in the boat for only 30 minutes when we wheere ordered to jump in with masks and flippers etc, and sure enough there he was - and they are bloody massive!!! about 8-9 meters long (can grow to 20 meters i think) and gliding along write by us

so we actually saw about 10 of them during the day and actually managed to swim along side them for a minute or so - amazing stuff,

also almost landed on one when we jumped in

gonna try sitck a piccie up now, hold on

lack of emals

just a quick apols for my lack of emails at the mo, not much connection here, sorry ! but plan to update the blog now, and then will send some mails morrow cos we are in the cyber city of cebu at the moment, so can catch up here hopefully

here goes ....

BIG CHILL 2006

Hello Marc dude, hello Justine.

Apologies for my blogness absense.
Not alot happening in London... it's cold and wet, and everyone is ill with something or other.
Vertigo and leeches sound much more fun.

Who fancies the Big Chill this year? Obviously not you Marc, (but I can tell you're tempted)
I've just bought my ticket. It's 4th-6th August.
www.bigchill.net

Two-legged dog:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8025218193636377093

and here is the shot of the jeepney! wonderful

wish taxis where like this back home - and this is not an odd one, they are serioulsy all lke this! i want one

pissing down here

still moving south at the mo, and the weather still pretty patchy - totally hammering it down at the mo - all good though, we live in hope of sunny beaches!!

so made it too Legaspi lat night , at the foot of one of the worlds most active volcanos (mount mayon) - went for a walk on the beach and within minutes all these kids where following us , and saying 'heh joe, whats yer name!' - they where lovely and there was about 30 of em (felt a bit wierd like), and so i took my camera out down this alley to take a quick shot and there was bedlam, it was like a footie stampede to get in the shot - brilliant!

i'll stick the photo up when i get the shot on CD

see yer

la nina

and just found out apparently we have a weak 'el nina' climate this year in the phillipines, which means slightly lower temps than usual, more rains and more thunder storms!

thast cumupance for the last comment i guess than! oops

one more thing

that i dont think i mentioned about our fantastic first day in Kuala Lumpar, was the tremendous thunder and lightening storm that came in - it was the best ever, flashes and bangs all around us every couple of seconds - all the buildings around us and prob ours where taking hits too and it lasted about 2 hours

the sound was amazing, so loud and explsive -

been waiting a while a for a big tropical one and finally got it! brilliant

phillpines at last

well, we made it - and evn though we slept at the airport we STILL nealy missed our flight - mainly due to slow immigration, but we where the last on the plane again, and still had to sprint across the terminal

anways, we headed straight out of manilla, and on to pagsanjan where they filmed parts of apocolypse now - and we hated our arrival, everyone trying to get us stay with them, get the boat with them, get on this jeepney, go here, go there - so we just grabbed a coffee and talked to this guy (who was boatman president!! yeah, right!), but he was cool so we opted to do the boat trip with his guys

in short it was stunning, u go over 14 rapids with these guys paddling like mad up to these gorgeous waterfalls, and then you just cruise on back down the rapids!

good fun, but you get all the expect a tip, buy them a drink - cant sen my kids to school - its no surprise tourists dropped off in the last few years - its just a pain in the arse, so theyve been trying to rationalise the payment methods of recent years, and it seems ok - but still a headache to deal with

so, we on the way to beach now, and we've had our first few jeepney rides which are these massive things which look like this
http://www.jarsoftware.com/PI_Jeepney_WL.jpg

they are awsome to look at, and may have even knocked the bangkok tuk tuk off its number one stop as 'fave local transport'

so not sure what phillipino internet will be like further south as we may not have access for a few days now

also, no sign of the recent troubles here, think it is still martial law, but you would never now

lovin it here, bring it on !!!!

and here are the petronas towers

the where the tallest building in the world during the late 90's , but since then a building in tai pae (i think) has overtaken them - bloody big though, and scary!

a lovely waterfall in Doi inthanon national park, where we camped

went to the elephant kroll too in ayathaya

we nearly walked into the web of this scary looking spider

journalist justine ....

.... perfectly captures my joy at having 4 new holes added to my body, just moments after my triple back flip on the concrete - 6 pointer is was! perfect

how high is this tree house??

up here is where i was froze to the spot for 24 hours cos of fear of heights!!

justine setting off on one of the gibbon experiance zip lines

a little bear

the guys on the gibbon experience where looking after a baby bear they had found (they had rehab plan for it)

dodgy peepholes!

one of our hotels had a slight peephole drilled between the bedrooms, and we caught becky red handed trying to photgraph us (as we where photo-ing them funny enough)

most amusing

dodgy peepholes!

one of our hotels had a slight peephole drilled between the bedrooms, and we caught becky red handed trying to photgraph us (as we where photo-ing them funny enough)

most amuzing

everyone relieved to get off another scary Laos bus journey!

a lovely rainbow

where we made this fantastic sandwich

a lovely picnic on the way to china!

sounds lovely mels!

sounds lovely mels, but very very stressful with the coladas :-) - who did you go with??

speaking of roller coasters, we've just been to the biggest mall ive ever seen that actually had a roller coaster INSIDE it, and a full size one too - bigger than the cork screw at alton towers, insane!

and it had a massive borders big store here - everybook you can think of - 2 shelves of witch crafts books, 3 cupboards of dog books, and about 6 isles of travel books! spent about 2 hours in there, lovely

bigger is defo better in this town - proved by the petronas towers, 2nd highest building in the world now - you can only go the 44th floor but that was enough for me - they have a sky bridge connecting the two, which shouldn;t be scary - but for me, obviously it is

vertigo actuall getting worse now, ive started to get sweats and sharp pains in the soles of me feat now when i see or experience tall things - got it watching the roller coaster, nuts!

ok, gonna try stick some photos up now

see yer

Holiday tales

Hello, had a quick read to catch up. Another bump on the head eh! it's your travelling party trick now surely. I'm sure it wont detract from your develish good looks. Well you're not the only ones that have been lying around in the sun doing nothing. Just back from Dubai, it was fantastic. Superb to leave the snow and frost behind and be in the sun. Got a bit stressful maneuvering the sun lounges on the beach so we could reach the tab le with our pinacoladas on! . Lovely 4 star hotel too, no more of this backpacking stuff for me. A little pricey, but it was much needed and worth every penny. Locals easy going, not very harrassing except for markets. Not many women around on the streets, very strange. Lots of great indian and middle eastern food. Amazing buildings and the largest amount of building work i've ever seen, it's an attraction in its self. Went to see the 7 star hotel but wasn't allowed within the front drive! invitation only dont you know. Went "dune bashing" which is rough riding over huge sand dunes in 4x4 with crazy drivers, like a roller coaster but on wheels and sand. Stayed in desert for sun set then off for BBQ. So slightly tanned and very relaxed. Sorry to the egypt fans but i wasn't overly impressed. We backpacked around on our own and were hassled more than anywhere i've ever been. Flashed at by a dirty old man, groped by kids and stalked on a train journey which was plagued by mice and cockroaches! not to mention everyone wanting money from us even for giving directions. Bring on the next holiday.....Glad you're having fun still, miss ya chicken. xxxxxx

Kuala Lumpar

jeez, think ive just had one of the best couple of days ever!

started when we almost missed the flight here (names on the tannoy again, rediculous) - but we made it and got hear in superquick time on the express shuttle - spotting the massive Petronas towers on the way.

Then we managed to get a room in the colloseum which is this old colonial place that hasnt changed in about 80 years, its was beautiful (and tatty) and full of all these eccentttric malay drinkers.

Amazingly we bumped into Becky and Chris so went for a few bars and this funky place called liquid, where they then handed us some free tickets for the party that night, and a voucher for 5 ringit beers - result !!

then we went to this place for a free buffet (and crap music) and free drinks for the girls - cos it was ladys night! what happened to womens lib heh :-)

anyways, once the food had settled and we'd been stung for 2 expensive beers we made a beeline for Liquid again where we got our special wrist bands for cheap beers, and amazingly no one else seemed to have the bands, and we even got a few free champagnes thrown in.

To top it off the music was excellent, mosttly 80's stuff, but top tunes and an amzing sound system - Yazz has never sounded better!

also forgot to mention a scrummy curry for lunch!

so today was late start, but has mostly involved, slurpys, haagen daaz rasberry sorbet, and fruity ice creams

they even took a photo of us in the club and presented it to us in a cardboard frame! lovely

and we even managed to stay up till 3:30 which is quite for us these days,

its not much i suppose but the first 24 hours in Luala lumpar have left a veery good impression