As houses in Australia are not insulated at all and certainly don't come with heating installations, we soon realised that we had to buy an electrical heater. Nevertheless, we always only manage to get one of our four rooms up to a comfortable temperature while the rest of the flat could still serve as a fridge.

By the way, the Aussis don't seem to feel the cold at all - or can anyone explain to us, why they still run around in shorts and thongs or summer dresses and dine outdoors when its only a few degrees above 0 °C!? Probably, they simply ignore it, as it's normally only that cold for 2 months. Anyway, we always thought that we should be used to it and be able to deal with low temperatures a lot better... but basically, in Germany we only don't freeze that much because the houses have a proper heating and everyone's wearing very warm clothes :-)

Another thing that we still have to get used to and which comes with the opposite seasons, is that we are still getting a bit confused about dates and everything. Julia even forgot Frank's birthday this year, as to her it was associated with hot temperatures and bbq parties. So, please don't be too mad at us, if we happen to forget yours, too!

Anyway, we still enjoyed the stormy weather very much and it's just perfect for walks along the beach. Also, Frank finally got his skateboard which since then hasn't been used very much!
Of course, the storms brought some nice winter swells as well.

June - August is also the whale season on the East Coast and one day Julia was lucky to see a Humpback Whale directly in front of Bondi Beach. It was really amazing watching the whale blowing huge streams of spray into the air or jumping out of the water, twirling around and smashing back on the water on his back again. Unfortunately, he moved too fast for getting a good shot with the camera.

When you read all this, some of you might probably think we are still on holidays and only hanging out on the beach all the time. Not really!
Actually, we were pretty busy during the last weeks, we moved to a new apartment. We had already thought about it earlier, but just as it started raining into one of our bedrooms and the entire flat began to mould and smell, we decided to finally leave the place. Luckily, we found another flat soon, which is still only a few hundred meters from the beach and way better as the old one! After a few garage sales and another visit at IKEA, our flat is now fully furnished as well and for the first time, it really feels like home.

Work wise everything seems to be sorted – at least for the next couple of weeks. Julia just started a contract for the next three months, working as event coordinator in a financial services institute and Frank is happily designing away, half way between contract work and signing an employment.

Australia - Winter in Sydney remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Until the end of May the weather was still great so we were able to do a few trips and spend some more time on the beach.

The last weekend in April, we went to Seal Rocks with Rob and his friend Gerald. The area is amazingly beautiful and quiet with a camping ground perfectly located just across the dunes from the surf.

The waves were perfect on the first day and we couldn't wait to get into the water the next morning.

As we went down to the beach though, we discovered that there were not only massive schooling fish but also some white pointers (according to the fishermen)which were obviously having a great feast!

Two guys paddelled out anyway, but came back in again very soon, after two of the 3-4 m sharks had come really close. The surf was still up but we decided to spend the rest of the day just watching the spectacle from the beach.

Bondi also got some nice waves, so Julia could go surfing almost every day (here together with our nice neighbour Sterre), while Frank had fun watching the guys in the skatepark (until he could finally skate himself - he had to wait for Julia to bring his board over from Germany).

We also went to the Royal National Park, south of Sydney, which does not only offer stunning nature but also some great surf spots!

Mid-May, Julia went back to Munich for her brother's wedding.
It was great to see all the family and friends again and to spend some time together! Needless to say, that the time went by way too fast and a week is simply too short!

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First of all we met with our estate agent to sort out a flat near Bondi Beach (eastern suburbs). We weren't too impressed with the house in which the first flats were. It was obvious to see, that these flats were mainly used by backpackers who would only live there for 1-2 months and therefore would care more about the next party then the state of the flat.

So we looked at yet another place after agreeing with the guy to give him a call and to let him know where we are intending to stay.
Well, we weren't able to get hold of him for another 2 days and had to stay with friends and in a backpacker instead. In the end we managed to get into the flat and only then noticed that it was full of cockroaches!
The estate agent, who in the meantime turned out to be a real pain, wasn't very helpful with this annoyancy as well, so we had to take care of this problem ourselves. After 3 days of intense cleaning and spraying the entire flat with the worst chemicals you can imagine we got rid of the creatures but Julia had to deal with bad headaches and was feeling sick.

After shopping at IKEA we made ourselves a bit more at home and by now we really enjoy our flat which is actually quite cool (especially after the party gang that tried to break the house down every single night moved out a week ago : ) )

Also, the location is hard to beat: The beach and surf is in less than ten minutes walking distance and we have even got one room with view to the ocean. The area is hilly and green and there are quite a few nice restaurants, bars and shops just around the corner.

Slowly normal life kicks back in, we both started job hunting 2 weeks ago and it looks like we are going to be busy soon.

So, this is it folks! We hope we have entertained you well during the past couple of months – we enjoyed it very much!

Please email us about how you are doing and what is going on in Munich, London, Rotterdam or wherever you may be!

Take care and see you soon!

Julia and Frank

Australia - Sydney remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The following night we slept in our car again near the fishing village Marlo in East Gippsland. We had found a really nice spot on a riverside to park our car. The river though did not only attract us, but also lots of massive mosquitos which were trying to devour us.

On the next day we moved on to Batemans Bay. Finally, we found a shop selling foam matresses and got one, that fits exactly in the rear of our car. The destination for this night was a beach in Murramarang National Park. The beautiful bay was separated from the main road by a few kilometers of gum and rain forest and surrounded bei Rocks and Hills.
The best thing however was that the camp site was full of animals:
At the nearby beach the were lots of kangaroos and on the way to the beach we had to get passed a bunch of very noisy parakeets.

Dinner time was then not only a thing Frank looked forward to but also all the animal surrounding us! As it was already dark by the time we started cooking, we weren't always able to see the creatures sneaking up to us. Sometimes a kangaroo, possum or the like gave us a well shock when it suddenly appeared in the light of our torch, only a meter away (frequently on our dinner table).

In the morning we left this lovely spot and hit the road for our final destination – Sydney!
On our way there we went through Kiama, a fishing village about 150 km South of Sydney. We had some delicious fish 'n chips before we headed to the famous blowhole. This is a kind of cave in which ocean water is pressed in by the waves and is sprayed out on the other side in a fountain that can reach a height of up to 60m when the sea is rough!
Kiama is a nice place which gave us some rest before entering the city.

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We still went to the beach for sunset and got to see our first kangaroos jumping around in the bush. The wind was already quite cold and got even colder until we had dinner in front of our tent. As we tried to sleep later on we found out that our sleeping bags we definitely not made for chilly nights. The fact that our inflatable matress went flat again and we basically had to sleep on the ground didn't make the situation any better.

Anyway, there's a new morning after every long, cold night. The next day we went to a wildlife park and had a lot of fun with the animals there.

In the afternoon, we did a costal walk to see the 'Nobbies' – some rocky islands just off the coast. Philipp Island also has some great surfing beaches to offer, but again it was far too cold to go into the water without a wetsuit.

For the evening, we had planned to see the island's biggest tourist attraction: The Penguin Parade! For only about 20 Dollars you're allowed to sit on the beach, together with a few hundred other tourists, to see the penguins coming out of the sea after sunset, waddeling to their breeding places. If you're able or willing to invest 3 times the ordinary entrance fee, you can sit on the VIP platform, which is also protected from the icy wind. However, as we saw all the people flocking to the beach and queuing at the entrance we decided not take part in this action.
Instead we spent the evening in the local pub to escape the cold.

Maybe Julia wasn't used to the strong Australian beer yet. When we left the pub she got confused with the gears (our deluxe car is automatic) and hopped right into the wall in front of us. Luckily there wasn't too much damage, only the front bumper which now looks a bit more aerodynamic then before.

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After only 5 hours we landed in Melbourne. The first thing we noticed when we got off the plane, was the nice fresh, non humid morning air.

The free shuttle bus to our backpacker hostel was already waiting for us and took us straight to our small and carpeted 4 bed dorm at the hostel. After getting used to comfortable bungalows in Southeast Asia, this was some kind of change for us. Anyways, our room-mates were friendly and we knew we wouldn’t live the Aussi backpackers’ lifestyle for a long time.

After two days exploring the city, it was time for us to do more serious things and prepare everything for a longer stay. New mobile phone cards, bank accounts… and of course we needed a car as soon as possible. Fortunately, we met a French couple who wanted to sell their car at our hostel. Two days, a service check, some additional repairs and some discussions with the car mechanic later, we became proud owners of a 20 year old Mitsubishi station wagon equipped with full camping gear and ready to head West to the Great Ocean Road.

First, we stopped in Torquay, said to be Victoria’s main surfing town, which seemed a bit lonesome during the week. A few km’s further West at Bell’s Beach, there was more action going on – unfortunately Julia's wetsuit was on its way to Sydney by mail and the wind was too cold to go surfing just in a bikini.

So we drove further along the costal road that offered lots of scenic views (which were announced by signs about every 500m). After hours of driving, we finally reached the 12 Apostles, amazing natural rock sculptures, sticking out of the ocean. The panorama and the atmosphere just before sunset were definitely worth the drive.

Frank was even happier seeing his first snake crossing his path (it might look bigger as it is, it was only about 20cm in length). After a picnic dinner, we spent the night in our car on the parking place right in front of the cliffs. The location was just perfect with thousands of stars and the Milky Way above us.

Still it was kind of difficult to sleep well as our matress deflated after a few hours and we heard strange noises close to our car for the entire night. The next morning, we were ble to find out, that the noises were only created by the wind. After driving another 50 km along the coast, we visited the "London Bridge" (another rock formation) before heading back to Melbourne on the inland route.

Australia - Melbourne & Great Ocean Road remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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And, at least as important, the surf was great from the day we arrived. It really is an amazing place, with totally clear water and the view of fishes swimming in the coral reef below you and the Gunung Agnung volcano on the horizon when you're in the water, waiting for waves to surf.

Renting a motorbike is a great way of exploring the island. You can snorkel outside the mangroves and discover some more small bays and beaches.

On the last day, we still got the chance to see a traditional ceremony in the village. Actually, we got no clue what the whole thing was about, but probably the people were praying and sacrificing to scare off evil spirits and please the good ones.

After finishing this entry, we're off to Dreamland again for the last one and a half days. On staturday night, our flight leaves for Melbourne and soon "real life" starts again...

We'll keep you postet!

Bali - Nusa Lembongan remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It would still take a few days until we could really enjoy our stay on Bali though. Everyone who has ever been to Kuta (the main tourist area of the island) knows what it's like: hundreds of shops and motorbikes, people try to sell anything you can imagine or want to transport you to the other end of the island, when you actually want to go to the beach to relax in the sun or surf. Julia had the impression that it was even worse compared to when she was on Bali 4 years ago. Still it was nice that some locals still recognised her from her last holiday, especially the friendly staff of Mekar Jaya Bungalows and also a masseuse on the beach.

Definitely worse than the last time was the water quality with thousands of dead fish (which supposedly died from some poisonous red alges) and rubbish.

After two days of surfing in the stinky waters we had enough and decided to rent a car to get to some more pleasant places of the island.
The first day, we went to the Bukit peninsula in the south. After spending a few hours at lovely Dreamland Beach we visited Ulu Watu Temple which is situated in a spectacular location on top of some 70m high cliffs facing the sea.

We also stopped at Ulu Watu surf beach and Padang Padang - but as the waves were pretty small, there was not too much going on.
On the way back we went to Jimbaran Bay for a classical and romantic seafood barbecue on the beach (you can choose the fish you'd like to have before they put in on the barbeque).

The second day, we drove to the north to Taman Ayun Temple, followed by the important Tanah Lot Temple on the seaside. This temple is particularly famous for its unique location on a rock, surrounded by water, and its beautiful sunsets. While several Balinese were praying and bringing oblations, other locals were "playing surf" right next to the temple.

For the following days we had planned to just go surfing and did a trip to Turtle Island. The waves were pretty good and winds were offeshore. But while Julia was enjoying the surf, Frank unfortunately hurt his ribs in the same way as he did on the Philippines. After the long paddle, his muscels and tissue were inflamed so badly, he could hardy move and we even had to go to hospital!

As Frank had to keep quiet and the weather and swell forecast didnt look very good, we decided to go to Ubud for a few days, the centre of culture, arts and crafts. From there, we did a roundtrip to the central mountains in the north. We visited the hindu and buddhist temple of Danau Bratan and went to the beautiful Git Git Waterfalls after that.

The next days we were just chilling, having a massage each day, swimming in the pool and enjoying the great food in Ubud (where you can really get everything you want, from Balinese buffets, delicious babi guling (that's spofacki for our Bavarian readers) to homemade pastas and fresh salads).

As Frank loves birds, we also had to go to the Bali Bird Park, which was pretty expensive, but definitely worth the money.

And who ever thought, that only girls are shopping addicts - in our case it is the absolute opposite. After Frank already bought some more shirts in Kuta (cos he still hasn't got enough, he only bought 15 t-shirts, 4 pairs of jeans, 2 suits and 3 shirts in Bangkok and another 3 shirts and a pair of trainers in Kuala Lumpur) he walked up and down the roads of Ubud for masks, watches and a silver bracelet. Well, at least this time he didn't buy anything (just to continue a week later in Kuta again - that time he got another pair of trainers and underwear).

On the last night in Ubud, we went to see the traditional Legong and Barong dance in Ubud Palace, which was a great to watch.

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We tried to make an effort and went sightseeing as well.

Ayutthya is one of the many attractions in the reach of Bangkok's tourist mini buses. It was a boiling hot experience as there was no shadow to be found anywhere. We were wandering around the former capital of Siam, dizzy from the heat and couldn't really enjoy the trip as it was simply too hot (and this was still in the morning hours!). Still we were able to catch some nice impressions and learn something about Thai and budhist culture.

The next day we went to see the floating markets, famous for well, .. er .. floating markets.

On our way to the market, we first had to stop at a coconut factory. We first were really excited about finally getting to know the tiny men who hang the coconuts in the trees ;-) In the end it was a 30 minutes stop at a bus stop with about 20 other (big) tour buses, with uncountable amounts of other tourists who were amazed that coconut oil and coconut sugar does really come from coconuts. How to get sugar and oil out of coconuts was explained in a 20 seconds show, the rest of the time was used for a pee (about 15 minutes queing) and buying loads of souvenirs.

There are rumours that there are actually two floating markets. One is the traditional one which is somewhere further away from Bangkok, the other one is staged for tourists, about 1.5 hours from Bangkok by mini bus.
Counting the amounts of tourist boats in the market (there are about 8 times as many as the boats actually selling something), we assume that we have been to the touristy one ; )
It still was a nice experience though. The food on the market was great, we ate delicious things like sticky rice with mango.

By the time we got to Kuala Lumpur, Julia was absolutely annoyed of anything that moves or makes sound. While Frank rushed up Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers (he was almost the first one who got there that morning), Julia was lying in bed catching up on some sleep.

We had only one day in Kuala Lumpur but again tried to squeeze as much shopping in as possible.

After Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur we felt pretty drained when we arrived in Bali!

Bangkok & Kuala Lumpur remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Normally at this time of year there should already be enough of them around to almost certainly be able to see some - well, ... almost certainly ... we kept on waiting and circling around with our bangka for about 6 hours but we didn't see a single one : (

- nuff said

Chasing the whalesharks was somewhere between boring and annoying because of the constant loud and monotone sound of the boat's engine. Still it is yet another reason to come back here at some point in another vacation - the Philippines are really worth more than one visit!

On Our way back to Legaspi however we were able to catch a view on the perfectly shaped Mayon volcano. This one is still active and erupted only some months ago, followed by a devastating taifun. Unfortunately it all ended in a couple of thousand people who didn't survive the landslide that came down the mountain and covered them in ash and mud.

At the moment we are in Bangkok, mainly for shopping, as you might have guessed.
We first stayed in Hotel Atlanta, a Bangkok original from the fifties with a strict no sex tourism policy (they must be very proud of it as you can read the 'don't does' basically everywhere).
Just today we moved to a nice hotel right in the middle of Khaosan Road - bit more live here!
Below a view on Khaosan Road as most of you might remember it ...

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The party on Saturday was exactly as promised - free buffet, live band, dancers and free booze for the entire night! The funniest dance was to jump between two poles which were banged together to the rhythm of the music. Hurts a bit if you miss the tune and the poles hit your ankles - definitely a thing we will teach you when we meet again!

If you ever wondered how the little province of Camarines Sur is able to spend this amount of money on all the partying, don't look any further - it comes from governor - 'you want a table football? .. okay, I'll order some!' Lray who we met in person.

Quite a funny guy, who came over to us saying 'fick dich' (fuck you), some German words he just learned - he thought it meant 'hello'. On special request from some Austrian wakeboarders he ordered some Jaegermeister for the last party (Austrians obviously - they probably could have asked for champagne or any liqueur you could actually drink as well - but hey)

Below you can see the governor at his welcome party (the guy in the grey t-shirt and the beer bottle at his balls - no shit!).

In the end Frank at least learned how to ride almost three rounds on a wakeboard as well (you might have guessed it, the guy on the picture one blog earlier wasn't him ; ) - and he really enjoyed it!

Julia, on the last day, however banged her head on the water and had to stay calm for some days suffering from a light concussion : (

In between wakeboarding we spent most of the time hanging out in the sun or giving daft comments on other people's skills - or went to the hot springs, next to a dormant Isarog volcano ...

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The facility is only a year old and seams to be the governor's baby. The mainly Eurpean tourists are treated as young gods, especially at Saturday nights when there is a welcome party every week - with dancers and all! As it is Saturday today, we will see what is going on : )

Tuesday and Wednesday we will spend in Donsol to see if there are any whale sharks around to snorkel with ... we will keep you posted!

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The vulcano was worth seeing, however, all in all, it was a rather touristy happening:

We first had to take a bangka to the island. Once we arrived there, we were hassled by masses of horsemen who tried to convince us to go to the top of the vulcano by horse. They didn't stop following us until we were half way up the mountain.
After about 40 minutes walk we arrived at the top of the vulcano, where again we were hassled to take a horse for our way back.

Apart from the annoying horsemen and around a hundred other tourists passing our way up the mountain (mainly on a horse back), the vulcano itself was quite an impressive sight. Unfortunately we weren't lucky with the weather this time and it was raining on our way back ... maybe we should have taken a horse?

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On his first dive at Pandan Island, Frank saw sea turtles grassing the bottom of the beach right in front of our resort, in shallow water. So right after his dive we went snorkelling at the beach and were impressed! Full grown sea turtles (approx. 1.2m/4ft tall), trigger fishes in abbundance and even blue spotted sting rays, all only a few meters from the beach!

Our main purpose was that Frank could go diving at nearby Apo Reef with hammerhead sharks. No hammer heads though but the under water wildlife there was just amazing!
At a visibilty of around 30m/90ft (crystal clear water that is) and to be able to swim with some pretty impressive fishes at beautiful coral walls, which descend to 90m/270ft, Apo Reef made it probably Franks nicest dive so far. Also, diving with sharks was quite a thrill, even if they were harmless reef sharks of only about 2.5m/8ft length.

Unfortunately we don't have pictures of Apo Reef yet. However Frank went diving with a bunch of Czech semi-professional photographers (every second of them has had a pretty nifty under water camera), so photos should be coming at some point.

Our accomodation was very basic here though. The walls were so thin and front doors to the rooms basically non existant, that we could hear our neighbours making all kind of s.ounds during the night ; )

Anyway, the dinner buffet made up for the budget accomodation. We feasted on all kinds of grilled fish in a French-Philippino cuisine style - delicious! And we don't have to mention that especially Frank enjoyed the all-you-can-eat buffet : )

Some turtle videos...

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We wandered around in the gardens, searching for the pythons that can be found here. Only after a while we found 2 of them lying in a cage, looking rather bored. Still, we were happy to see them behind bars. Then suddenly we realized that we could actually see the about 4.5m/14ft long pythons 'in action' as well - even without bars!

After the python experience, we went on to Intramuros. This must be the oldest, still remaining area of Manila. It partly was rebuilt after destructive bombing in WWII. It reminded us a bit of Vigan with similar Spanish-Chinese architecture. Back in the days all kinds of pirates claimed this part of Manila their own.

And yes, after a walk along the harbour promenade, all of a sudden we saw even more scary animals!

Manila - Philippines remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It turned out to be a popular place for male Western tourists around the 40's to 60's (about 20% of the visitors) and semi professional pool playing Philippinos (around 78%) the other 2% was us.
The Philipinnos again were divided in circa 20% males and 80% which call themselves GROs (this stands for Guest Relations Officers ... use your imagination .

It was a fun night out but also showed us that we rather spent our time on the Philippine islands than in the capital.

Flying has almost become our favorite means of transportation by now, not only because we need a break from slow and noisy public transport but also because some islands are hard to reach by ferry and domestic flights are sometimes less then twice the price you'd pay for the ordinary bus (around 20 Euros that is).

So the next day we took the flight to Puerto Princessa, the capital of the island Palawan, which is famous for being the last frontier of the Philippines and natural wonderland.

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The first hour in Puerto Princesa we spent searching for a nice place to stay. After that, it was pure fun!

The first day we went island hopping in nearby Honda Bay (nearby means 30 minutes noisy tricycle ride). We went to various islands and coral reefs for swimming and snorkeling. After feeding the fish, we had lunch (a fresh grilled red snapper) on one of the tiny islands, which have close to perfect white sand beaches.

On our second day we went to a subterranean river at Sabang - one of the Unesco World heritage sites. After Vigan, this is the second Unesco site we visited in the Philippines (they've got plenty! ... six to be precise).

It was an interesting trip, although we had to take into account a 2.5 hour journey by aircon minivan (one way, circa 50 km) - but: including a "natural massage" (from the bumpy road). After the first section of the tour we went to the entrance of the subterranean river by boat, which took another 30 minutes.

After a little walk through the forest, accompanied by monkeys and pretty large lizards, we finally got to the departure point for the river boats. These were a bit scary as they sank almost entirely into the water after all passengers had boarded. The excursion in the cave itself was a proper tourist happening. It was pretty crowded and the deeper we went into the mountain, the more boats we met. Apart from that it was entirely dark with the only light to see is the flashlight at the tip of your boat.
Our boat guide didn't sound like he did this trip for the first time either. In a monotone, record player like voice he kept on repeating

"Ma'am/Sir, if you feel something cold and wet falling from the ceiling of the cave Ma'am/Sir, it is mineral water - when it's something wet and warm Ma'am/Sir, it's bat shit."

On the third day we went to Port Barton which turned out to be a way better deal then Puerto Princesa. Being a quiet fishing village with a beautiful white palm-fringed beach, it is a lot nicer and you can do the same things as from Puerto Princesa only with less efforts and probably cheaper as well!

So we went island hopping again and as always were very lucky with the weather. Around the islands you can find beautiful coral gardens and plenty of sea life including sea snakes (what actually was the first thing Julia saw when she dove into the clear blue water) and dugongs (of which we only saw some marks they left from grassing at the bottom of the reef).

The other day we went hiking through the jungle to a waterfall with a little lake in front of it - just perfect for a swim, to cool down from the daily heat!

Yesterday was the first stormy day we had on the Philippines, even some fisher boats sank at the beach front (now worries, they were only tiny). So we used the time to go to a cock fight which just took place for three days. It was cruel but impressive to watch at the same time. Julia fell in love with the local farm live ; )

Normally there's not much going on at night in Port Barton but at the end of January you have no problems having a party and getting drunk: Today is the village's Foundation Day, so they're already celebrating it since a couple of days with nightly dance and sing contests (some families even take out a loan to pay the kids costumes!) on the town plaza.

As the ferry from El Nido to Coron all of a sudden stopped running (because of maintenance), we decided not to go to El Nido in the end. We also had to cancel Coron (because of the ferry problem there were no flights left), so no wreck diving here.

Our way back to Puerto Princesa however, just to give you an impression of local transport, took a bit longer than expected, due to a flat tire. There seems to be no such thing as a worn out tire. Philippinos reuse tires until they totally disappear! Not surprisingly, every 5km there is something like a tire repair station : )

But still we were able to squeeze in a visit to the local crocodile farm. Very impressive! At the beginning of the tour we were shown a massive skeleton (about 5.4 m, that's 17 ft in length) of a crocodile which was caught in an area in south Palawan after eating a farmer. Crocodiles apparently only eat 1.5% of their own body weight per meal, so in farmers this is only half a leg. The rest is for later, which leaves you rotting until the beast returns for your second leg ; )
Those animals are pretty aggressive anyway. Even the baby crocodiles (about 40 cm/ 1.4 ft in length) were snatching after us when we came too close to their containers!
After having seen all this, if you want, you can also have a picture taken of yourself holding a baby crocodile. We thought however that the crocodiles were too .. erh .. small to be on a picture with us.

Our next destination will be Legaspi and the area around Donsol in Southern Luzon, famous for whale shark watching and hiking. We are curious how much fun this is going to be as only 2 months ago there was a taifun in the same area and some parts are still affected by the damage. Local tourist officers however said that everything is almost back to normal again - we'll see ...

Palawan - Philippines remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After about 6 hours driving with a pretty noisy and overcrowded public bus we finally arrived in an almost abandoned Pagudpud at the northern tip of Luzon (it looks deserted at night as there are no street lights - so live pretty much dies out after the sun goes down). It took about 15 minutes negotiating a price for a tricycle - but as the drivers rather only went up in price instead of down (they started at 300 pesos - about 5 euros - and ended up at 700 ... ?) we arranged to be picked up by air conditioned 4wd from our resort (for 200 pesos).

Our hosts at Kapuluan Vista Resort were very friendly and it was a brilliant place to stay and chill out. There was a nice reefbreak right in front of the resort and it really could have been perfect as there were only 2 australian guys staying there with us (plus the resort owners Mike and Alma - but there are no other resorts or local surfers in the whole area yet!). Unfortunately the break was only surfable on one day while we were there and was totally blown out the rest of the time. As the resort also offers shuttle services to other spots, we went to a righthander around the corner (about a 30 min. drive) a couple of times and could at least surf one session there.

After Julia was shitting her pants because of her paranoia for jellyfish and Frank because of diarrhea we didn't do a lot of snorkeling either.
Luckily the resort was very cozy and comfortable, so we didn't regret our stay there at all and would definitely recommend this place and the beautiful stretch of coast to anyone who likes getting a bit away from it all or who wants to find some uncrowded surf.
For perfect offshore winds and consistent swells you'd better go there during the summer months from May to September (when the conditions are supposed to be really good).

Vigan / Pagudpud - Philippines (North Luzon) remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Hence we were a bit ueber-careful when we spoke to locals etc.
Philippinos are really nice, friendly and helpful. However they are not so much in your face as e.g. Thais or Indonesians. Also they don't only smile when they want to do business with you, they're just happy all the time! In the end we quickly picked up the laid back way of live (especially of the surfers) and are really enjoying ourselves! (despite security guards in front of banks, fast food places and even this internet cafe carrying (pump)guns)

We stayed in San Juan for the past week and were mainly busy with trying to get up at dawn (stress is definitely on trying) to catch the best waves and to avoid the masses of about 20 other surfers in the line-up. Julia is fairly happy with the waves which aren't too big (around 3-6 ft) but are good to get started again.
Unfortunately there are quite some jelly fish around and she has made contact with 2 of them already.

Frank did a beginners course which made him think he would be able to ride bigger waves as well. It ended in some bruised rips and a scratched knee. After a 3 days break he will go on surfing though, at our next destination in Pagudpud in the north of the island. There are bigger waves at that spot, so this could be fun regarding further demolition to Frank's body ; )

Other foreign surfers come from all over the world, especially the UK, Australia, Japan and Hawaii. We have met a couple from England which we are surfing with on a regular basis and might meet again when we arrive in Bali.

So much for La Union. We have already made plans for the rest of our travel, which unfortunately means that we had to cancel Sri Lanka, because of the rebels' bomb attacks. Instead we will extend our stay on the Philippines for another 2-3 weeks to be able to visit Legaspi, a place famous for it's vulcano and for snorkeling with whale sharks (no wories, they only eat plankton). Also we try to go to some famous dive sites where it is actually possible to come close to hammer heads (they eat humans as well). This however is certain only for one part, as the area around Legaspi was hit by a taifun badly, about a month ago.

Hopefully we will be online again soon, there is no connection to the Internet in Pagudpud, where we plan to stay the next week.

San Fernando / San Juan - Philippines remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The next day we hopped on the bus to the Cameron Highlands which are situated south of Penang, about 200 km north east of Kuala Lumpur.

Cameron Highlands are famous for the mild climate (about 24 degrees) and tea - actually 80% of the area belong to a Scottish tea company.

But to Malays it is also well known for cultivating strawberries, which must be very exciting for them. You can find strawberries just everywhere: printed on billboards, as massive plastic replicas in front of shops and most of the time in combination with images of scorpions and other insects which are about 10 times the size then any insect in Europe! We went to visit them in a butterfly farm (butterflies here have a span width of as much as 15 cm (5 inches)! Other creepy animals we saw here were bullfrogs, snakes and tarantulas. To relax we went to a flower garden afterwards.
Actually we also planned to go hiking the other day but Julia forgot her USB disk in the Internet cafe and we had to go back the most boring bit off the track. We couldn't be asked to start a second try so we spent the rest of the day in our guest house, watching films ; )

After 2 days we headed on to Kuala Lumpur, to catch our plane to Manila, Philippines. Unfortunately we planned only 1 day for this amazing city which could have kept us busy for another 2 days easily! We spent some time strawling on the night market in the chinese quarter but could resist the temptation of buying any fake stuff - although Rolex watches were really cheap! For about 10 - 20 Euros you can get an automatic one which will last at least 14 days!
The shopping malls however were really impressive - one of them even had a rollercoaster going through one part of it!

We flew to the Philippines at 2 o' clock in the morning and arrived merely 4 hours later in Manila. Totally sleep drunk we continued our trip with a 6 hours journey by bus to San Fernando to go surfing. More on San Fernando and how we got on with surfing and with the Philippinos next time.

Penang to Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Unfortunately we didn't make it to Tuk Tuk, our actual destination in Sumatra as we arrived at 9 pm, just a bit too late to catch the last ferry to the island in Lake Toba. As a result we had to celebrate christmas in a not so comfortable and quite expensive hotel with rather sticky bed sheets. At least we bumped into Santa Claus on our way to the restaurant (nice place but we had to take care of eventual dog dishes appearing on the menu), who was accompanied by a big band on a truck and plenty of supporters. Most of the population is catholic and these guys really know how to celebrate christmas!

In the morning of 25 December we crossed the lake to Tuk Tuk and spent the next 3 days with former canibals ; )

NB: The people of Lake Toba, called Bataks were of a canibal background a mere 200 years ago. Two European missionairs did their best to convince them to restrain from canibalism with success, however only after they got eaten as well.

Most of the time we spent with doing nothing at all. Only one day we rented some mountain bikes for a couple of hours and the other day some motor bikes to explore the island a bit which is a really chilled out and peaceful place.

Thursday we left Tuk Tuk to go to Bukit Lawang, a natural reservoir for orang utans. After a 12 hour journey (for only 300 km) we arrived at the Jungle Inn, a nice place to stay, just at the entrance of the reservoir. In the end it was definitely worth the trouble of getting there (taxi and public bus this time, still Indonesian marusha on public bus at full volume, with twice as many people on the bus as were actually able to fit in). On our second day we did a 3 hours jungle treck where we were able to see about 5 orang utans some of them even carried babies (the youngest one was only 2 months old). We were even allowed to feed them bananas which was a great experience!

The idea of the project is to get young orang utans, that were captured and seperated from their mothers by hunters, back into their natural environment. This can take several years of keeping the animals in quarantine, so that they can learn how to survive in wildlife. After this period most orang utans stay in the area of the feeding platform, where they get milk and bananas twice per day. After a while they get bored of this simple menu and will search for other fruits in the jungle until they make their own ways.

Two days later, on Saturday we went back to Penang. This time by plane which we almost missed (the public bus took 5 instead of 3 hours for 80 km to Medan, because of all kinds of interferences - picking up building materials, coconuts and all other things you can think of on its way!)

So now we are back in Penang to celebrate new year. We didn't know it but it seems like the biggest party in Malaysia is going to happen right here - about 100.000 people are expected to celebrate new year's eve on a massive open air beach party which kicked off already 9 hours ago. It's about time we get moving ...

... happy new year to all of you and still ... merry christmas! : )

- sorry it took so long to add in pictures! it really depends on the connection to the internet and the facilities whether we are able to add in pitures or even to check emails, please be patient with us -

By now we are already on the Phillipines. We will tell you about here and our time in the Cameron Highlands and Kuala Lumpur soon!

Sumatra - Indonesia remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We did go to the Chinese opera, lion and dragon dance and drums show. It was just brilliant as you can see on the photos below!

We were even allowed to go backstage - well, let's not dramatize it, it was only a mobile stage and the setting was pretty basic. But still, it was a great experience to see traditional Chinese opera, dance and drum performences from so nearby!

Our Chinese guide was able to tell us basically everything we wanted to know about the chinese culture. However we didn't stay the entire night as we were still a bit weak from our illnesses and especially the noise of the happening (for some time it seemed like opera and lion dance sound systems were fighting each other!) but were able to enjoy most of it.

Penang - Malaysia remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Frank went diving once but unfortunately got ill after that. Basically we were hanging around on the island for the last two days suffering from headaches and sore throats (Julia) and flue and bunged up sinuses (Frank).

Still we did enjoy our stay on the island, as less tourists were on Ko Tao the heavier the storms got at sea. After about 4 days on Ko Tao we moved on to Malaysia with quite a spectacular boat/train trip. We started off by ferry from Ko Tao to Chumphorn on 2-3 meter waves (1/3 of the passengers onboard got sick while Julia was only dreaming of surfing). After that we hopped on a bus that brought us to Chumphorn train station (nothing much exciting about neither Chumphorn nor the trainstation apart from a little night market we visited).

The nighttrain took us to Butterworth in Malaysia in just 15 hours. Luckily we booked beds - at least until 6 am when the single beds all off a sudden converted to 2 persons seats. We think the nighttrain was a good option to get from Thailand to Malaysia. The beds were comfortable and if we had felt better (headache wise) we certainly would have slept for the entire journey.

Anyway, Malaysia is great so far. At the moment we are in Penang where we already did part of the standard tourist duties (taking photos and visiting 4 of the 3124 temples, churches and mosques). The best things we experienced were a chat with an administrator of a chinese clan temple. He invited us to their family opera, dragon dance, drums and kung fu show which will take place tomorrow night, as long as we don't tell his furious grand mother! And Julia who, we are happy to announce, turned to islam - congratulations! (well, at least for our visit in Captain Keling Mosque)

More on Malaysia and then Sumatra (where we will scare the shit out of orang utans by showing them Frank) soon in a blog near your computer.

From Koh Tao to Malaysia remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The next day our jungle trip kicked off.

After a 1.5 hour boat trip we arrived at our starting point for the 2 hour jungle treck.

We felt a bit like Mogli from The Jungle Book without talking animals but including the original motion picture soundtrack sung by Stefan - father of a German family we met - who entertained his 3 year old daughter Milena. It was a nice group anyway - 2 girls from Canada joined as well as a couple from Liverpool and a slightly irritating guy from Equador. Anyway, the final part of the jungle trip was a 1 mile long cave packed with spiders (diameter about 5 inches (15cm) - no shit!),

all kinds of bats (you don't want to know their size), frogs and fishes swimming in a river which runs through the cave. After about 1 hour in the cave we had to climb through the narrow sections and even swim through the river which was pretty shallow so far. Oh and yes, did I mention that the spiders can swim as well? They can and they did! I think the happiest one of us was Milena who didn't notice that and who found spiders pretty cool anyway!
In the end we survived but this trip was not made for wimps really!

On our 4th day in Thailand we went on to Ko Samui but for a stay over only. The next day (today) we hopped on the ferry to Ko Tao, an awesome island for snorkelling and scuba diving and just for chilling out as well. And that's what we need!

A couple of days rest and we'll move on to either Krabi or straight on to Malaysia, we don't know yet, but you'll find out afterwards. We are more than happy for any fresh informations about Krabi area or hidden spots - imagine that, you tell us where to go and we will go there for you - it's like you're virtually on holidays! Kicks ass!

Thailand - Our first stays remains copyright of the author Frankee, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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