Day 745 - Visiting the Bali family

This morning all 9 of us (mum, dad, Carly and friend Jody, family friends Kim and Russell and the 3 of us) all met at mum's hotel (the Jayakarta - from here on known as the JK) where we jumped into 2 cars and taxi drivers Pops and Russell negotiated their way through the streets of Bali. Mumbles was in charge of navigation and did a great job - only taking one wrong turn. Not that we minded - it just meant we got to see more of this beautiful island.

Along the way we picked up Nahoko, the Porters' Japanese daughter, and her friend Miko - and then we were 11!!

After about 2 hours in the car we made it to Gianyar, a small village only 30km away from where we are staying - why it took so long can be explained by the terrible traffic, but it was a lovely ride along the coast with the blue sea on one side and the green rice fields on the other.
When we arrived at Made's family home, we were greeted by all his family of brothers, sisters, (and their partners), mums, dads, and uncle and aunties - and then of course all the kids!!! All in all there were about 30 of them, so with the 11 of us it was a real party!

Made and his wife Niluh had gone to a lot of effort to make the day special for everyone - they spent the day yesterday shopping at the markets for food, and then today preparing the feast of traditional foods. In the 2 years we've been travelling there have been only a few occasions where we have had the honour to join in with a real local family and see how life really goes on outside of the tourist towns.

Liv's parents along with Kim and Russell have been supporting Made's family for about 10 years now, and it's truly rewarding to see how the family has benefited. Although the money isn't much, and Made and Niluh both work extremely hard, the little bit extra guarantees an education for the 2 girls, and helps out with the house and farm. One of the special parts of the day was looking into Made's mum's eyes, a lady who speaks no English, and seeing the pure gratitude, hidden behind tears she was too proud to shed.
After a few gifts (including a bag full of second hand clothes from NZ) were given to the family, Made surprised us all with gifts made in the local woodcarving village where we works. We enjoyed cold drinks before being led on a group excursion into the rice fields to see the 3 cows the family owns. Along the way we really saw how Made's eldest daughter had grown - taking care of her younger sister Gemma Olivia. After wandering the palm-shaded fields, where farmers buzzed about their work, and learning all about looking after cows, we returned to the Bali-NZ compound for the feast and an afternoon of fun. The meat-eaters had the privilege of trying Niluh's ceremonial chicken - a rare treat!! But everyone's taste-buds were on overdrive as flavours from all the meals made a dish at a restaurant look like a microwave meal!!

We jumped in the cars for a visit to the wood gallery where Made works, where we got to see the artists outside creating their masterpieces.

It wasn't until 5pm that we started heading home - and we got amazing views of one of Bali's volcanoes surrounded by a halo of cloud.

The journey home resulted in a tiki-tour of Kuta, as we lost each other, but we eventually made it back to the JK for some well deserved beers (or "refreshing ales" as the men like to say!).

Much later in the evening we went out for a light meal - still stuffed from the family feast, and in doing so appreciated Niluh's food 10 times over.

Adlibing the Bali-NZ family.

Day 744 - Flying to family

Our morning was spent in preparation for our afternoon flight to Bali - we spent some time on the internet and stocked up on food supplies for the flight (as you don't get food on Air Asia unless you pay for it).

Once at the airport we settled in for an extended wait, as our plane was delayed - the first time in 2 years and the only time we had people waiting for us at the other end!!! The flight went really quickly, we even got to see the sun set from the sky, and soon we were whizzing through customs and into the arms of Mumbles and Pops!

It was wonderful to see Made and Putu - the father and daughter of the Balinese family the Porters met years ago in Bali. We grabbed some wheels and headed to the hotel that Mumbles and Pops booked for us - not only did this mean we didn't have to search for a room, but also that we got a beautiful place with a pool - nothing we could have afforded ourselves! And we were confident we wouldn't walk away with bedbugs here!!

The evening was spent in fast forwarded chatter as the family caught up on a year gone by - the last time we saw Mumbles and Pops was on their visit to China a year ago. Even though we chat regularly on the internet, nothing compares to face-to-face conversation and laughter, as the evening was just amazing.

Before heading out for a meal, the night got even better by Carly's arrival - 2 out of 3 sisters isn't bad!!

Even though it was midnight by the time we got home, we couldn't resist testing the waters of our first ever pool on our 2 year travels! Unfortunately it was freezing, so it was off to bed to sleep in a real bed, and await another day of family fun.

Adlibing it to the Porters.

Day 743 - Into Islam

With only 2 days in KL we want to see as much as possible, so we set off early this morning for another day of sightseeing, though our feet were still cursing us after yesterday! Our first port of call was the Old Kuala Lumpur train station (built in 1911), where we basically had the entire station to ourselves - not too many trains run from this beautiful, Moorish- and Mogul - style station anymore. The glistening dome of the National Mosque soon drew us towards it, and even though we couldn't enter we could appreciate its modern, geometrical designs from the outside. If it had been any other day we would have been able to enter for a look, but today is Friday - the most sacred day for Muslims.

At the mosque we could see the turquoise dome of the Islamic Arts Museum, and skipped across the road to leave the heat of the day in our wake. After 2 hours in this glorious museum we were forced to leave or else freeze to death - on the way out we glanced at the thermostat. It was a chilly 25 degrees!!! We're not sure how we're going to handle the NZ winter if we find we're freezing at 25!

It was really cool checking out all the exhibits at the Museum. The main exhibition on at the moment is a photographic display from a British photographer who captures Muslim life throughout the world, allowing the rest of us a glimpse we might not have otherwise.

The architecture exhibit really caught our eye as it had photos and models of famous Islamic buildings from all round the world - and we'd been to 4 of them: from China, Kazakhstan, India and Malaysia.

As we wandered the streets we were constantly reminded that we are in a predominantly Muslim country, with women in all walks of life wearing the headscarf with pride. As the drizzle arrived we relaxed in our room, and then set off to explore the many tea shops around China Town - picking up our favourite Jasmine Pearl tea from home!

We stuffed our faces with roti canai once again, in fact we'd still eat roti if we weren't even hungry! This provided the much needed energy to battle the claustrophobia markets on the other side of the road that we missed out last night!! And we emerged with bags in hands and made a beeline for our hotel to give our tired feet a rest!
When darkness came we were drawn like moths to the light of the sparkling Petronas Towers. Looking up from the ground, we found them much more dazzling by night, than the views they gave us from the skybridge during the day. Adlibing the twinkling towers.

Day 742 - High above KL

Alarm issues meant that our early morning wake-up was harder to deal with than anticipated, but after years on the road our bodies have become used to waking up and starting the day of touring. We made it to the Pertronas Twin Towers still early enough to get in line for the limited free tickets available each day and headed up to the 41st floor where the footbridge joining the two towers lies. Although the buildings are 82 stories high, making up 452m, we were at 170m and got great views out over the city - although the pollution and glass meant there wasn't a crystal clear view. With our high altitude sight-seeing completed for the day we headed back to the hustle and bustle of China town for some cheap roti and coffee for breakfast. As KL is a compact city, and most of its sights being close together, we made a vague plan of where to go and what to see.

Our feet first delivered us to the Dataran Merdeka - puportedly the worlds tallest flagpole, flying the Malaysian flag high and proud. This area was surrounded by some gorgeous buildings housing the History Museum and National Gallery, but both were closed.

From here we went to check out the Masjid Jamek (Friday Mosque) - a small Mosque surrounded by palm trees and glowing pink in the hazy sky. Unfortunately it was prayer time, and as we're not Muslim we couldn't go in for a look, but we got great views of it from across the river. We went for a stroll through Little India, where it seemed that the only things for sale were headscarves by the millions, rip-off dvds, and of course lots of curries!

We made our way to the cricket ground, where we entered the gorgeous St Marys Cathedral, where its small size seemed out of place in modern KL where everything else is towering above. We then walked past the Royal Selangor Club where Hash House Harriers began, but now it's just a home for KL's elite.

On our way back to China Town we zigged zagged through the streets checking out the rainbow colours of the shop-houses, adding much needed colour to the steel skyscrapers that dominate here. These old buildings from the early 1900s retain some of KL's heritage, most of which has been lost to the growing modernity.

We visited a few Chinese temples, where giant spiral incense hovered overhead and as they burned the wishes of the faithful floated into the sky. Finally, on our walk back to the hotel we passed through the streets markets, full of fresh fruit like these spiky delights - our favourite rambutans. Tonight we spent hours wandering through the lively night market in the centre of China Town, though that was only enough time to see one side of the jam-packed market street. We'll have to do the other side tomorrow ...

Adlibing the sights of KL.

Day 741 - F L Y 2 K L

We've been in the Philippines for almost 2 weeks now, and have loved it thoroughly. We've especially loved the honest people, that is until today (our last day in the country) when we tried to get a jeepney to the airport a few kilometres away. We got a hassle free jeep to a junction where plenty of public jeeps displaying signs for the airport were waiting - however everyone we spoke to told us they didn't go to the airport and we needed a "special" jeep just for the 3 of us, of course at a much higher price. We ignored everyone and just jumped on a public jeep and waited to see how much other people paid - it turned out to be 9 each, verses the 70 each it would have cost for a private one!! We got dropped off right at the terminal, but it was such a shame that on our last day here we had to experience something we are more used to dealing with in the rest of South East Asia.

On the flight Adam's boarding pass held the sequence number 36, which saw him victoriously grasp his Air Asia souvenir as the winner of a lucky draw contest!!

Soon we were bouncing along the runway, as we returned to the Malaysian mainland. With roti canai calling our names we bolted for the skybus and headed straight to China Town in central KL, to find a room and some good Malaysian food.

In the evening we walked around the famous Petaling Market, where we can buy everything we could buy in China, but more expensive! If you're in the market for fake designer goods, this market could be a lot of fun!

Adlibing prizes.

Day 740 - Back to dodgy Dau

With our flight to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, we decided we'd better sleep closer to the airport rather than risk missing our flight. So, we headed back to Dau, where we spent our first night in the Philippines almost 2 weeks ago. In a country that boasts 7,107 islands, its funny to think we only saw 1!!

As we got on the bus all passengers were given a free English Newspaper - it was so cool to see everyone reading - with a 99% English literacy rate here it's not unusual to see people reading in English. As an illustration of the panic H1N1 flu has created in the world, The front page was devoted to the disease - something else to bear in mind as we continue our travels.

On the bus we were treated to a Hollywood movie (the first we've seen in months!!) and then as we are now back in a town that rents rooms by the hour spent the next 5 hours with our bags in order to get a cheaper rate!! All we did was go between fast food outlets and browse the supermarket!

We tried to find a public phone that makes international phonecalls to wish Dee Dee a happy birthday, but there are none at all!!! Sorry Dee, we were thinking of you - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We'll celebrate it in a month!

Adlibing a room by the hour.

Day 739 - Shopping heaven!

We joyfully departed our hideous room and did the reversal of our walk-jeep-bus journey of 2 days previously. The only down side was that we had to stand for the 1 and a half hour bus ride into Manila!

We quickly returned to the nice hotel room in Manila where we had a shower that actually made us feel cleaner, instead of dirtier like at the last place!

As the rain threatened to flood the streets we took shelter in the nearby Robinsons Mall, which ended up with nearly 5 hours of shopping luxury - well for the female members of the adlibing crew anyway!! With prices like NZ$30 for an original pair of levi jeans, and NZ$30 for a Lee shirt, how could we resist?!!! The result was a few kilos of extra weight for our bags!!

Another benefit of huge malls like this is that they are full of fast food joints - this seems like the only diet of choice for most Filipinos, it sure is the only food we can afford here in Manila. Seems like a surefire recipe for creating a population of diabetics ... We weren't complaining though, with our $3 pizza and pasta set!

Adlibing it with even fuller bags!

Day 738 - A steaming volcano

Today we jumped in a boat and headed out to the main crater of Taal Volcano. It was an enjoyable ride as we closed in on this deadly volcano - most of this area was only brought to existence in the devastating eruptions in 1911. At the island, despite the oppressive heat, we decided to walk to the top of the crater instead of hiring a horse. The hour long walk through volcanic rock and sand was sticky but enjoyable - it was fun to see the lake that surrounds the crater grow in size the higher we walked. We met a group of young girls along the way, trying to sell water to the wary travellers - they were so bubbly and full of life, we had an enjoyable 10 minutes relaxing in the sun with them.

At the top we were mesmerized by the glistening green crater lake but were not so keen to go for a dip in the smoldering sulphuric waters that have left the rim of the lake a poisonous looking yellow.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch while taking in the 360 degree views, and then went for a walk around part of the rim, where we got views down over Taal lake and the fishing villages that line its edges.

On the boat ride back we convinced the driver the stop in the middle and allow us to plunge into the green waters of Taal Lake - though we were slightly skeptical of its level of cleanliness!!

Just as we jumped back in the boat we hit the rain, but we were already wet so it didn't really matter!

Back at our hotel we re-entered our room with a look of despair - the accommodation standards in the Philippines has been shockingly low, especially on our budget! Though this is really our only complaint about the Philippines, as we've thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

For dinner we dined on a picnic of steamed rice, fresh tomatoes, and canned chickpeas/tuna while watching kids fishing from a nearby wharf as the sun set over the lake, and battled with the mosquitoes - the winner was clearly of the winged variety!

Adlibing a volcano.

Day 737 - Between feet and motors

Today we spent the majority of our time skipping between slow and fast forms of transportation. Lugging our packs around while using footpower was considerably more difficult than dumping them in a jeepney. We walked from our hotel and jumped on a jeep that battled peak hour Manila traffic and eventually dropped us at an intersection where we walked in search of a bus. Our bus repeated the intersection drop-off and soon we were walking in search of another jeep that drove us to Talisay. In Talisay we walk some more before jamming the 3 of us into a tricycle for the journey 3km out of town. It was at this stage that our day really started going downhill as we began the search for the best of the bad accommodation available here!

Accommodation sorted we attempted to find a restaurant only to be told there weren't any, and that we'd have to make do with the street vendors selling fried chicken and eggs.

The only real positive aspect of our day was that we're perched right on the edge of Taal Lake - which is home to Taal Volcano, one of the worlds smallest and deadliest. The volcano has 47 craters and 35 volcanic cones - the most stunning is Binitiang Malaki, which we had amazing view of from our hotel.Adlibing it to Lake Taal.

Day 736 - Making it to Manila .... late

After freezing our butts off last night, we finally rolled into Manila 3 hours late this morning. On the bus we met Jon and Lisa from Denmark, who'd been to Manila before and led us on a cheap journey to the street with cheap hotels. We checked into the cheapest room (basically a cupboard), while the others went for nicer rooms across the street.

We met up with Rita, Jon and Lisa for a walk through Rizal Park, where hundreds of people were enjoying their Independence Day by lazing in the shade of the trees. From here we made our way to Intramuros, the old Spanish area of town. Along the way we passed many mobile street vendors - their merchandise balanced on their bicycles. We passed under the arched gateway off the walled town, and set off to explore some of its delights. We saw a contrast of sights ranging from graffiti street art on the remaining walls of destroyed buildings, to the gloriously rebuilt Manila Cathedral. At the Cathedral we were dazzled by the colours of the stained glass windows and taken back by the immense size of the beautiful building. We had to talk in whispers to avoid our voices echoing down the long hall.

Still within the walls of the city we went to Fort Santiago - originally from the 16th Century, the fort has endured a lifetime of defence against all nationalities who have invaded its walls: Chinese, Dutch, British, American, and Japanese. The fort (and in fact all of Intramuros) was destroyed by bombs from WWII.

From the walls of the fort we got a great view out over the river and China Town that lies on the other side. Its cool to see the new-aged towers of Manila blooming in the distance, while we stand within the walls of the past. With China Town calling we set off on foot across the river and into the madness. Here the contrast between rich and poor and old and new really showed through: beggars and their naked kids line the streets that Mercedes cars race down, slum-like houses sit shadowed by the concrete and glass apartment blocks of the upper-class. We loved walking the market streets, though our short little Adliber was easily lost in the chaos!On our wanders we passed a cute little girl sitting in her doorway (photo coming ...), absolutely lost in the world the words of the book had created.

After leaving the innocence of this girl, we walked straight into the middle of a peaceful march where protesters carried flames high and flags with pride. The participants loved seeing us, and were more than happy to play up for the camera!!As we made our way back home night began to arrive - the dodgy, seedy feel of Manila engulfed us. It seemed like every second door we passed was full of prostitutes or aggressive street kids, leaving us with the feeling that we needed to hang on tight to our stuff and get inside as quick as possible.

When we returned to the hotel it looked like our night was going to finish on a positive note, as a trio of bongo drummers were banging up a storm in the hotel cafe. However as we settled in for our much deserved sleep, an itchy feeling took over, and soon Adam was engaged in a battle for a refund so we could leave our bed-bug infested cupboard behind and check into the hotel we should have forked out the few extra dollars for in the first place!

Adlibing vibrant Manila.

Day 735 - Time up our sleeves

While waiting for our night train to Manila tonight we managed to spend the day catching up on the blog, doing some last minute souvenir shopping and walking around town in between the rain showers. The most enjoyable part of the day was when we woke up, relaxed in the sunshine on our balcony overlooking the rice terraces where we'd wandered yesterday.

We returned to a small shop hidden amongst the trees that we'd stumbled upon yesterday, and found the old lady doing some traditional weaving on the large loom in her shop.

At 7pm we walked to the bus, jumped on board and began to freeze due to the air-con - a process that continued throughout the night until our body temperature was dangerously low!

Adlibing it frozen.

Day 734 - It's all about the rice

As the rain tends to come every afternoon, we set off bright and early this morning for our adventures amongst the fields. The first 10 minutes were spent wandering along the road past small shops but we quickly descended into the rice paddies below. We stopped off in Tam-an, a tiny village, where we got directions into the paddies, and started our way to Poitan, where the odd traditional Ifugao house still exists. In Poitan we were greeted by a group of men, and a pack of barking dogs - most elderly villagers work the fields, while the younger generation are more keen on being guides, driving jeepneys, or getting an office job. A 67 year old man who we met along the way told us that this makes it harder to keep the fields maintained and the crops harvested.

On the way down we were mesmerised by the rice fields and their different colours: from light green to golden yellow, accompanied by dominant dark green. Being out in the open and having full vista-like views was the reward for being out in the burning sun.
From Poitan it was a climb back up to the road, and the higher we got, the more fierce the sun's punishment on our tired bodies became. Each time we entered the forest, the break from the sun was magic.

Even more magical was arriving at a waterfall that spouted from the paddies above and fed the ones below. Here we took a well earned break and cooled off under the waters, and had a picnic lunch that we'd been lugging along the way. At Bocos we got our last directions to the view point, and happily set off following the irrigation network as instructed - this served as our makeshift guide and path, though it did require a fair amount of balancing. While walking along the skinny edge, we occasionally fell into the water, our eyes having been distracted by the astounding views. After ascending higher than the view point, and winding in and out of a number of valleys, we soon found ourselves shadowed in the forest and far from any rice paddies or farmers to point us in the right direction.

Since Adam's shoe had broken more than an hour ago, and we'd already been walking for 6 hours, we decided to head back through Bocos and down to Banaue. Adam's barefoot wander got a number of comments from the locals, but as an old man commented, it's how it was done back in the day!!

In Banaue we got some well deserved food and drinks, had a refreshing shower and cleaned the mud off our gear!

Adlibing a rice world.

Day 733 - A bumpy ride

We've loved our 3 days in Sagada so much, that it was with a little sadness that we packed up our things and caught a jeepney out of town to Bontoc. In Bontoc we had some local coffee and cake, went to the fruit market, and checked out a cool museum. After the quiet reprieve in Sagada, we were immersed back into bustling Philippine town-life, where the roads are congested with jeepneys and tricycles (converted motorbikes with a side car for passengers).
At 12pm we jumped on another jeepney to take us to Banaue - a World Heritage site famous for its rice terraces built 2,000 years ago. As we bumped our way along the mountainside, Liv and Rita in the front had amazing views out over the valleys full of rice fields, dissected by a clear, blue river. The driver was awesome - telling us interesting facts along the way and stopping to let us take photos. Adam, unfortunately, was jammed in the back with an old man sleeping and drooling on his shoulder, and couldn't really see anything!!

We arrived in Banaue accompanied by our faithful companion: rain! We grabbed out wet packs off the roof and found a room.

We spent the afternoon sitting at a small restaurant drinking hot tea and taking in the wonderful views of the rice fields that cover the hill sides and the small villages that are submerged within the green.

Adlibing jeepneys.

Day 732 - 2 years on the road

This time 2007, we were boarding a plane that would deposit us in Thailand where we began our Adlibing Asia Tour!!! 2 years on, and we're still having the time of our lives!! When we think back over everything we've done, our brains get tired as there's just too much to look back on. One things for sure: we've seen and done some truly amazing things, and we feel privileged to have experienced it all.

Today we set off for some more exploration of Sagada, and wandered our way out of town until our attention was caught by some more of the region's famous Hanging Coffins - these ones the Sugong Coffins. We went down a path to try and get a better view, but just ended up having a nice walk around the forest and limestone caves.

We continued the journey past local kids having a ball on bikes and playing with their pet dogs - there are hundreds of kids and puppies around here!!

We headed along a trail under a pine tree canopy that led to Lumiang Burial Cave, where over a hundred coffins are stacked in the cave entrance - the oldest is thought to date back 500 years.
From here we made our way to Sumaging Cave ("Big Cave") which is famous for having weird calcium formations inside. While Liv turned around a few minutes after entering this slippery cave, Rita and Adam continued down. Unfortunately Rita stopped a few minutes later, while Adam plunged into the depths to see what he could find. Adam's "few minutes" exploration turned into an hour, which left poor Rita alone with the bat poo!

In the cave Adam discarded his shoes in favour of his Nike Bares, which provided grip on the limestone rocks that are submerged under the crystal clear river that flows through the cave. As always, Adam had to jump in one of the pools for a swim!

We got back to town and back to the kids, then engaged in some shopping therapy - since we are coming home soon (!!!) we're not so worried about what we're carrying around on our backs!

Since Sagada has a 9pm curfew, we had a lovely meal at Masferres - the late Mr Masferres is a famous Filipino photographer and some of his photos are on display here.

Adlibing coffins and caves.

Day 731 - Hanging coffins

We woke up this morning to the sunlight shining through our windows, and after brekky set off for a day exploring this awesome mountain area. Sagada is set amongst the Cordeillera Mountain Range and is famous for many things, including the limestone caves and the coffins that hang from their cliffs. The area's notorious for intercepting pathways that often send tourists in the wrong direct and it's recommended to take a guide. But Adam was adamant we didn't need one, so the 3 of us set off with Adam as our trusty guide!

After a stroll past St Marys Church and the cemetery behind, we arrived at a lookout that gave us views out over the stunning valleys that house the many villages in the region. From here we scrambled down limestone formations and slipped along the paths littered with pine needles, to the valley floor. Here we were privileged enough to be able to see the hanging coffins of Echo Valley, and while Liv and Rita enjoyed them from a distance, Adam went up to the base of the cliff. At the bottom a group of men were preparing the cliff for a new coffin, and were more than happy to chat away with Adam and tell him more about the coffins and the area. At first Adam thought some of the small coffins were for children, but the men informed him that elderly people left the world in the fetal position - much the same as how you arrive from the womb. They also pointed us in the direction of the cliff where the oldest coffins in the regions are. In the photo below on the left hand side is where the coffins you see above are located - just to put into perspective their position in this world and the next.
After this we continued along the valley floor following a path that meandered next to the river, only to come to a huge landslide which meant we had to retrace our steps or else brave the raging waters inside the Latang Cave.

We stopped of at Sagada Weaving to watch the women making beautiful crafts in the local designs of the regions - we even did some shopping for ourselves.

From here we found the path leading through the golden rice terraces and getting us up, close and personal with the workers harvesting the rice. No machines in sight - just back breaking hard labour. This path ended up taking us to the river, so while Adam balanced skilfully on the slippery rocks, Liv and Rita just jumped in to wade their way across the waist-deep water. Soon we were at Bokong Waterfall where we found lots of local kids and teenagers enjoying the deep water. Adam ran across to the other side for photos with the guys!!Some of the bravest boys even dived from the top of the falls into the pool at the bottom - and of course Adam couldn't resist a jump either!! We took a different route back into town, that led us up a steep cliff and then back along a quiet backroad, full of kids and dogs playing.

Just before the rain came we had a hot shower and ate some food on our balcony overlooking the misty mountains in the distance.

Adlibing it with Guide Adam.

Day 730 - Crusing to the Cordilleras

We woke, got dressed and put on our rain jackets on the assumption that it would be pissing down outside and were then extremely delighted to find that it wasn't raining!!

We thought we'd walk to the bus station for our bus to Sagada, but after talking to some locals we found out it was quite a distance, so we jumped on a jeepney for the 10 minute ride through the busy Filipino traffic. For those of you who haven't been to the Philippines (which you should, because it's awesome) a "Jeepney" is a converted and extended jeep used as a local bus equivalent. You waved one down that's going your way (the destinations listed on the side) and tap the roof when you want to get off. A cool thing about jeepneys is their colourful, personalised appearances, which add some brightness to an otherwise quite dreary town.

We time our arrival at the bus station perfectly, and our bus to Sagada started to roll the minute we got on board! The 7 hour ride was a combination of mist shrouded scenery we were unable to see and the break through panoramas that revealed green landscapes, terraces, and a multitude of waterfalls - some even straight onto the road!

When we arrived in the small mountain town of Sagada we found a great room with a view, and then headed out for a walk. We took a path behind town that led upwards to reveal the town below nestled in the picturesque valley. As we wandered along narrow pathways we encountered so many friendly Filipinos - some off for their afternoon walk, others tending their gorgeous gardens full of colourful flowers and green veges.

The path we took allowed us to look down on the golden rice terraces that lie amongst the mountains. At night we met some guys here for a mountain summit, and when they offered Liv a bug to eat she firmly said no but offered up Adam for the taste!! When he came out of the room to listen to the guys playing harmonica and guitar, he had little choice but to indulge in a bug, but at least he had tequila to wash it down!!

Adlibing scenic Sagada.

Day 729 - Rain, rain go away

It turns out our optimistic thinking about the rain going away didn't help at all, and so we've spent today in the rain, which seems to get worse and worse!! The positive side is that we only had to wait 15 minutes at the bus station (thankfully under shelter) until a bus going our way was ready to roll.

The bus ride to Baguio took about 5 hours, complete with snack stops, was a pretty smooth ride - occasionally we got a view out over the green rice field and terraces with farmers and their buffalo knee-deep in mud. Every now and then a mountain popped out of the distant grey shadow that was hiding it.

In Baguio we got a free ride to the cheapest hostel in town, before braving the torrential rain (not an over-statement: the roads are flooded!) and making our way to the SM Mall (the biggest chain of mall in the Philippines). Here we picked up some groceries, munched down a meal, and jumped on the world wide web.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be in the mountains and the rain will have stopped. But it's likely only one of those 2 will come to be!!

Adlibing rain.

Day 728 - Waiting for wings this time

When our overnight bus finally deposited us in the capital at 4am this morning, we had a few hours to wait until the local buses started running into the centre, 10kms away. So we dumped our bags and bunked down on the benches with the other locals - anything to save a few dollars (the other tourists grabbed a taxi into town instead)!!

Come 6am we were on a bus that led us to another bus that eventually dropped us in familiar territory - though everything in town was still closed at this hour. So we sat in a park, ate some muesli, and waited for the town to awake around us. We also managed to squeeze in a look at the Atkinson Clock tower - a memorial relic from WWII.

At 10.30 we jumped on the bus to take us out to the airport for our flight to Manila, Philippines! We managed to wile away the few hours waiting for our plane - although travelling involves a lot of doing and seeing, it also involves a lot of sitting around and waiting, which is exactly what we ended up doing this afternoon!!!

We arrived in rainy Philippines at 5.30pm - after 2 years of travel we've managed to time our visits to each country perfectly by missing rainy seasons and very hot seasons, but this is the first time we've come to a country when we know that the time's wrong for travel!! We'll just have to hope it doesn't rain too much ... though the locals we've spoken to have all said that it rains all day, everyday ... hmmmmm.

The pain about Air Asia's cheap flights to Manila is that we didn't arrive at the main Manila airport, but one 2 hours north of the capital. This didn't really matter as we're heading north anyway, but unfortunately we couldn't find much information about public transport from here, so we had to take a taxi into Dau, a town 10km away.

In Dau (which turns out to be a complete "nothing" town) we spent a while trying to work out buses for tomorrow and then walking around in the dark, rainy night in search of a place to stay that wasn't either too expensive, or a total filth-pit. We ended up in a rather dingy place, that usually rents by the hour - but it had a bed and clean sheets, and since we haven't really slept in the last few days, it did us just fine!!!

Adlibing it to the Philippines.

Day 727 - Waiting for a water taxi

As today is our last day on Mabul, and our bags are totally packed we refrained from splashing in the water (plus it was Welly-windy) but it didn't stop us from gazing at the life living underneath us in the perfect turquoise water - we were glad not to be in the water when a huge gathering of hundreds of jellyfish floated passed!!

When the wind cleared away some of the clouds, we could see world-famous Sipidan Island in the distance. This is a dive mecca, and though Adam couldn't dive there on this trip, as only 100 divers get a permit each day, it has definitely been added to the "to-do-list".


Here's a pic of Adam and his dive master, Rex, out of water for a change:
We had a hard day full of reading and lazing on the deck chairs, in between meals, before our boat took us for a ride back to the mainland. The day was brilliantly clear by this stage, and we were gifted with a glimpse of a picture-perfect, tiny, sandy island sitting in the middle of the ocean. The kind a 5-year old would draw if they were asked to draw a picture of a deserted island.

Back on the mainland in Semporna, we had some food and then jumped onto a 9 hour overnight bus to take us back to Sabah's capital: Kota Kinabalu.

Adlibing it above an ocean TV.

Day 726 - Turtle time

The divers got lucky this morning and scored a free dive out under an abandoned oil rig that is now home to gigantic schools of all sorts of fish who have no problems of coming to within a few centimetres of your mask, as if tyring to work out what place you have in their underwater world. The rest of the day was spent hanging out, waiting for the sun to break through the thick layer of cloud. But when the sunshine comes, you well and truly know that you're on a tropical island!When the temperature picked up, we headed out to a dive sight, aptly named paradise, and spent the next 2 hours snorkelling in the tropical waters searching for things to see - which isn't very hard. If you know what to look for with just a snorkel you can see lion fish, moray eels, crocodile fish, trumpet fish (and the rarer golden trumpet fish), needle fish, trigger fish, and spectacularly colourful angel and butterfly fish.

And for those who can hold their breath there was even one big hawksbill turtle - you had to earn the privilege of seeing him though, as he was feeding at about 10m deep. As if all this colourful marine life wasn't enough, as we did this the sun was setting in all its magnificent glory, colouring the water's surface as if competing with the colourful fish below.

Even the kids who have this watery wonderland to play in daily, still have something to entertain them!

The evening was spent continuing our day of aquatic observation, and when you live directly above the water we can just gaze at the water with a dive light - much better than any tv show! Imagine finishing dinner then watching an octopus crawling towards its home, while strangely shaped scorpion fish flutter amongst puffer fish! We even got to see another turtle floating in the waist-deep waters below us.

Adlibing a hawksbill.

Day 725 - Advanced Divers!!

While the divers went out for more diving fun, Liv hung out with a group we met while at Uncle Tan's in the Jungle, playing cards and scrabble and chatting the morning away. Liv also went for a walk around the island meeting friendly kids along the way and finding plenty of hermit crabs to watch - when you're on an island in the middle of the ocean you can see marine life, without even getting wet!!Underwater, Adam and Rita were intoxicated by the marine life, or perhaps it was the fact the were more than 30m below the surface.

At those depths marine life gets a lot bigger. As they made their way along the reef wall they were stoked to see their first green turtle and Adam spent a blissful 20m gliding above the majestic swimmer.

Back on the surface, the adlibing team rejoined and to our horror the music began for the third night in a row!! The only good thing was a free beer from Uncle Chang!!

We continued to be amazed by the stunning sunsets and lightning shows that utilise clouds as props as if teasing us by hiding its full colourful force.

Adlibing bubbles.

Day 724 - Back in the water

While eating brekky this morning, these kids came floating past - when you live on the water you're never without a playground. It's amazing to see what freedom have in such a potentially dangerous environment.
Rita and Adam are on their way to becoming advance divers, and so mid-morning they set off for dive number 1, with Liv joining them in the boat to go snorkelling above their bubbles!! We could try to describe the plentiful marine life below us, but our words would be more like a black and white description rather than the rainbow of colours these waters hold. You want to see it ... come for yourselves!! But so we're not teasing you, here's something you can find above water!While Liv enjoyed the night sky and lightning from our floating home, Adam and Rita set off for their first night dive. You'd be amazed at what you can see in the dark with a strong light, but more amazed when you turn the light off and find yourself surrounded by a star-like luminescent display of dancing plankton.

The divers arrived back buzzing, but the feeling was soon banged out of them, a the band from last night was playing in full force again, but this time way drunker. We have nothing against music, normally we love live music, but we do object to having our eardrums hurt from music 100 times too loud, sung by a guy who really shouldn't be singing. Plus we were getting pretty sick of hearing the same 5 songs sung over and over again.

We eventually went to our room where the noise was marginally better, though we still had to yell to each other to be heard ... and then tried to sleep through the pain.

Adlibing noise.

Day 723 - Small Island life

An early morning rise had us bouncing our way across the waters off the coast of Borneo on course to Mabul Island - a tiny piece of sandy earth dotted with palm trees and surrounded with the stilt houses of the locals. As we made our way to the island we were stunned to see communities on stilts in the middle of the ocean.

We landed at Uncle Chang's - this guesthouse also built on stilts - and launched into our second brekky for the day! But soon just hovering over the water and looking for creatures wasn't sufficient so we wandered the bridge pathways onto the island, passing many village houses on the way. It's crazy to be walking down an alleyway, with only the ocean below!

We grabbed our snorkels and bounded into the warm waters - we're talking 28 degrees underwater! We spent the next few hour lost in the underwater world floating centimetres above the coral reef unable to count the hundreds of colour flashes below us.

In the evening we sat on the balcony watching the amazing sunset accompanied by a local band at full volume and battling with the English lyrics - but it was pretty cool ... well, for the first hour or two. After that our heads started to throb and it got hard to enjoy the lightning show over the dark waters in the distance.

Adlibing it to Mabul.

Day 722 - Bye-bye bugs, hello shower

While Liv slept everyone else got a bonus morning boat safari that started off with the river dressed in a mysterious mist, and though it wasn't as fruitful as yesterday, Adam spotted a huge monitor lizard nearly 2m long on the river bank! They also saw more gibbons, birds of all kinds, and macaques. The highlight of this safari was how close they got to the first of the 2 orangutans we saw today. When we first arrived he was only about 5m away, but retreated to a safe 10m higher up in the trees - here we watched him as he precariously dangled between branches while grabbing at the red fruit that filled the tree.

At 10am we reluctantly left this jungle land - it was sad to say goodbye to both the wildlife and the amazing staff who work here. Adam was so good at spotting wild things that the nature guide offered him a job if he came back!!

By 11.30 we were on a bus headed for Semporna, a town on the coast of Eastern Sabah - a gateway to the Tun Sakaran Marine Park that we'll spend the next few days exploring. Yes, you guessed it, we're heading back to the beach bum life!!

From our hotel window we have great views out over the stilt houses that extend into the bay, and the mosque sitting amongst it all.

Adlibing goodbyes.

Day 721 - Orang-u-tastic!

At 6am this morning we were woken by the calls of the staff members at Uncle Tan's telling us to get up and ready for our 6.30am morning boat safari! After a quick coffee/tea we jumped aboard with driver/guide Alung who took us down the Kinabatangan in search of more jungle animals.

First of all we saw some more Long tail and Pig tail macaques - our wildlife experience has already been so extensive that we now say something along the lines of "oh, just some more macaques" when we spot more in the trees despite them being super cool primates!

This complacency was torn at the seams the minute our boat headed towards the trees covered in red fruits, for hidden amongst the leaves were our first wild orangutans doing what wild mum and baby orangutans do: playing and eating up high above us. We could have watch these 2 for hours, but our boatman wanted to search for more, and more we did find!!!In the end we saw more than 5 wild orangutans just living their natural lives in the pockets of rain forest that human greed and stupidity has yet to destroy.

You probably could have sent us back home that minute and we would have been satisfied - no, not satisfied: ecstatic!

But wait, there's more!! As the morning grew so did our sightings.

We struggled to keep from cheering in excitement when the graceful yet daring acrobatic performance of the Borneo gibbon unfolded before our eyes. Not even a baby clinging on for dear life seemed to stop a mum from her tree-to-tree free falling!!

It wasn't just the trees our eyes were searching, we also scanned the skies for jungle birds. Some of these easy to spot like the white bellied eagle (really big with a 1m wingspan) and the white headed eagle that sat perched on the tallest trees as dominant as any king of the sky could be. While we struggled to focus on the fluro blurs as kingfishers dived into the water, uniquely magnificent hornbills (with their bright orange and yellow double beaks) soared above us.

After spotting the baby croc last night, we really wanted to see an adult one so Alung tried his best to find one for us. We searched and searched but came up croc-less. This didn't stop Adam's eyes from keeping at full alert for the ride back to camp. For his efforts we were all rewarded with a rare sighting of a giant otter basking in the sun. We couldn't help but compare this gorgeous creature with mumble's dog Ellie back home: she was so curious and excited to see us pull up in our boat that she kept bouncing and bounding towards us, and then having second thoughts and retreating back; then dropping suddenly to the ground in a playful "I'm ready for you" way! It was total bring-a-smile-to-the-face bubbly fun watching Ellie the Otter playing around.

Back at camp scoffed down piklets and toast while we excitedly chatted about the remarkable stuff we'd seen - all before breakfast! But the day would provide a chest full of jungle treasures, and soon we were back in the boat roaring up the tributaries in search of our jungle trekking destination. It was really cool to be lost among the leaves like the many monkeys we've seen and we felt right at home in our gummies (and very grateful to have them in the shin-deep mud!).
Although most of the wildlife was asleep at this time of the day, we learnt a lot about the flora and fauna of the forest from our knowledgeable guide. Who would've thought that vines were poisonous?! Our guide was more worried about these than the piddly snake Adam managed to find hiding under a log. What we did see was plenty of colourful millipedes, a crazy rainbow coloured lantern-mouse moth, red cup mushrooms, a couple of fresh wallows left vacant when the wild pigs fled from our noise, and some orangutan poo!We spent the afternoon relaxing in the hammocks before bounding back into the boat (much more relaxing that trekking through the mud for hours) for our afternoon safari! We went in search of the Proboscis monkeys again, and though more elusive than yesterday (when we saw more than 20) we spotted at least 7 or 8, including 1 large male, hanging out in the trees. Of course we saw lots of macaques too!!

As dusk arrived the skies filled with a colourful array of birds - our favourite hornbills dominated the sky, while oriental darter birds and dollar birds zipped amongst them. At 6.30pm, with the engines killed and our boats floating dreamily down stream, the 4 of us in our boat laid down and stared skyward just in time for the flying foxes (the largest bat in the world) to head out for their night hunt!As we cruised our way back to camp the sun set over the river, every bit as amazing as you'd imagine from a sunset in the jungle of Borneo!After dinner we set out for even more adventure, for our night jungle trek. While we tried not to get stuck in the mud our guide's sharp eyes spotted such small wonders as frogs and spiders, and their natural enemies bats and our favourite: kingfishers sitting still on the tree for a change and allowing us to enjoy their amazing colours - close enough to pat if you wanted to!
Back at camp we celebrated Elinor's 23rd birthday with the camp manager shelling out for cake, balloons, party masks, beer and rice wine! We enjoyed listening to the guides and other staff members jam on their guitars and sing without an ounce of shyness, and Adam did his first beer bong in years!

Adlibing jungle safaris.