Articles from this Category
4 August 2010
We had to wake up at 0630 for the 0800 departure from Rarotonga to Aitutaki. We hadn’t thought of the “2 hour” time difference (but a day behind) when we planned to catch the early morning flight. Yawn! We got to the airport at 0715 and the place was dead. Things opened up shortly after […]
3 August 2010
Above: Cook Island domain names end in “co.ck”. Due to crossing of the International Dateline we were back to Tuesday the 3rd of August! One day before we left New Zealand … We walked across the road from the small airport terminal for our overnight stay at Aquarius Rarotonga hotel. It was a tidy place […]
28 July 2010
I departed Banda Aceh for Kuala Lumpur at 1245. On the way to Banda Aceh airport I noticed a woman with a very short skirt on her motorbike. I queried the taxi driver if she would get in trouble … he replied to the negative, as she was Chinese and not a Muslim. While the extreme […]
27 July 2010
The Tsunami of 26 December 2004 This morning I took the ferry from Pulau Weh to the mainland and checked into a hotel for the night. I chose to take in some of the reminders of the tsunami which killed 170000 people in Aceh but, not the mass graves which are available for visits. The tsunami […]
26 July 2010
My Two Dives I did two dives today with Lumba Lumba Dive Resort, as planned … but not quite. The manager suggested that I do a refresher dive as I wasn’t highly experienced (15 dives) and it had been about 9 months since my last dive. Of course I suspected this was at an extra cost […]
26 July 2010
My Two Dives I did two dives today with Lumba Lumba Dive Resort, as planned … but not quite. The manager suggested that I do a refresher dive as I wasn’t highly experienced (15 dives) and it had been about 9 months since my last dive. Of course I suspected this was at an extra cost […]
25 July 2010
Fashion Crisis Takes a New Meaning I checked out from the airport Tune Hotel and walked to the nearby terminal for my 1155 departure from Kuala Lumpur to Banda Aceh, I had time for a leisurely curry breakfast (rendang, tempeh, cucumber and pineapples) after dropping off my bag at the baggage drop, then taking the […]
18 July 2010
I landed at Dubai at 0100 for a short 1h45 transit to Colombo at 0245. I arrived into Colombo airport at 0845 and after clearing the immigration queue from hell, I took a taxi to Mt Lavinia on the other side of the city where the Tropic Inn was located. The ride was expensive but […]
17 July 2010
Grotto Excursion and More This is my last day in Beirut before I fly out at 2045 tonight to Dubai then Colombo. There’s a whole day to fill. I invited Claire (also staying at the hostel) to join me in going to the Jeita Grottoes. We made a brief stop at Nahr al-Kalb (Dog River […]
16 July 2010
Thoughts on Leaving Syria Leaving Syria, I felt the country was more open than before. There were more international travellers, especially backpackers, but that’s perhaps I stayed in a dormitory. Also, the Syrian army wasn’t active in maintaining security in Lebanon. Things were looking brighter. [Edit: Little did I know that the Arab Spring would […]