Snorkeling Around the World

Click on the photo to see the album  "Marine Marvels"

 I would like to add a video here that I wish I could have taken myself: the most awesome collection of rays ever!

Vanuatu

“Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.”
― Paul Theroux

Did I know where I was going when I chose Vanuatu? Yes and no.

My friend Carmen, who has spent ample time in various Pacific island states (http://www.cchph.net/portfolio/eng/personal-e.html), had said "Go to Vanuatu" when I asked her where she would go if she had to choose just one Pacific island. Now I think she said that because she had just recently returned from Kosrae, Marshall Islands, when I asked her - and the food on Kosrae had been so atrocious that she tried to protect me by recommending Vanuatu, as it has better food because of the French influence...

Joking aside: I'll try hard not to generalize - any of my comments are just personal opinions (or stuff stolen from Wikipedia, which I hope is more or less correct).

Carmen, or anyone else who knows better: please don't let mistakes go uncorrected, thank you!

When I got off the plane in Port Vila's tiny airport I soon found out that the 24-hour kiosk promised by www.vanuatustandbyaccommodation.com did not exist (not any more, or maybe had never existed?) - anyway, as I had not made any bookings in advance, I did what I always do in such a situation: ask the taxi drivers. They wanted to take me to town, but I had seen a village near the attractive-looking Hideaway Island from the airplane, and alas, one of the drivers knew a guesthouse there (actually, THE guesthouse, as there is only one).

 Click on the photo to see the album Vanuatu

Here is a video about sand drawing:

Kool runnings in Kiwiland

After a lot of hot weather and wetness (snorkeling and sweating) I was looking forward to cooler temperatures and to a reunion with two cool Servas ladies on the South Island of New Zealand.

Click on the photo to see the album New Zealand

Here is also a short video of the seal pups we saw at Wharariki Beach:

Singapore once more

Click on the photo to see the album

From KL to Singapore with Tiger Airlines - cheap and basic; in Singapore I have only 2 days this time, just a prolonged layover, really. I return to the hotel I used when I first arrived from Europe and retrieve some stuff I had deposited there (they had really kept it for over a month!)

Modern Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

From Thailand's Koh Lipe I took the speedboat back to Langkawi and flew to KL (with AirAsia, very cheap - then I paid almost as much as the airfare had cost me for the taxi to my Servas host's house (but it was worth it, because I did not want to lug my bags around on public transport, in the humid heat, and in the dark).

Click on the photo to see the album

"KL" is what the locals say - "Kuala Lumpur" is for tourists This is a pedestrian crossing at the Masjid Jamek Station: the little green man hurtling along like that made me smile...

Not quite Koh Kradan (see the 2009 blog), but pretty close...

Click on the photo to see the album Koh Lipe, Thailand

Languid Langkawi?

To see the album Alor Setar & Langkawi , click on the photo