YT's 3 S

Lombok - From Gili T to Kuta L

2017-02-12T12:44:00.001+01:00

After a few marvellous days in Ubud, our small group found itself on the road to Gili Trawangan.

Our mini bus to the coast was late (what a surprise...) and the boat ride was smooth. I was a bit concerned since you hear a lot of bad experiences on the boats connecting Indonesian island. All good eventually. There is no pier when you get to Gili T, the boat leaves you on the beach and picks up a new bunch of people for the route back.

Arriving in Gili T.

Our 4 nights stay on the island could be summed up by an quest to catch the sunset. We were not so lucky with the weather unfortunately as it rained most of the time. We were using the time on hand to play a lot of card games. The rain-free time was spent on the beach. This is pretty much all there is to do on the island. Then there're so many water sports activities - this archipelago is a world class diving area. Snorkeling was not too bad either. The crystal clear water, the white sand beaches make it a perfect location for doing nothing :D and we did just that :)

Well not exactly... but the lack of consistent nice weather did not push us to do more. Nice and relax some would say.

On my side I did go for an early morning run around the entire island (6.9km only).

West coast of Gili T with Bali landscape in the back.

In our quest for sun, Max and I decided to head to Lombok a few kilometres on the East of Gilis, hence leave our travel buddies for the past days. What a great time we have had and what an amazing bunch of people.

Happy people. We spent a bit more than a week together.

Instead of booking a fast boat we took the so called "public" boat... for 1 euro (15000 rupiahs). It felt like being on a nutshell and therefore no so safe. It was crowded with 60+ passengers compare to the 41 persons capacity of the boat... Safety first as they say!

We made it to the shore and hopped on a taxi to our hotel for the night north of Senggigi.

Bali from Longok (Senggigi).

From a sunset point of view, this was almost as good as it got for us... not very lucky but nothing to complain about really.

Max and I had to make a choice: North to the waterfall, or South to the beaches...

Since the weather forecast was better south, we decided to head there early morning and enjoy the (for once) sunny day burning on the beach.

Tanjung Aan beach in the south of Lombok

Mandalika beach in Kuta Lombok.

It turned out to be such a great idea as we bumped in friends on the beach in Sean and Chelsea. We had met with them on the beach in Canggu 2 weeks before this day and were stoked to catch up.

We made plans for the evening to watch the opening day of the 6 nations. Sean and I were really happy with this, despite the poor results of Ireland and France.

The countdown until the day we were to leave Indonesia was ticking and showed 6 more days... We decided to come back to Bali the day after and discover the south of the island. This time, the ferry trip was like riding a rollercoaster and a lot of people on the fast boat found themselves sea sick. Throwing up everywhere... I slept like a baby - lucky me.
In what felt like a blink we around on Bali and 2 hours later we were checking in in a hotel close to famous Uluwatu temple.

New location, new friends, new adventures :)

Bali - more beaches around Uluwati and South Bali

2017-02-12T09:10:00.000+01:00

Everyday was the more of the same: Food, Beach, Food, Beach, Food... Repeat!

All this shared with amazing company.

Besides Max, we had the lovely privilege to spend time with Frida and Anna our 2 new friends from Gothenburg.

A few things are worth mentioning:

- we saw a cobra crossing the road in front of us... I still have shivers in my spin just with the though of this.

- monkeys are everywhere in South Bali.

- police is corrupted in Bali. We got stopped on the side of the road and were ripped of around 20 euros for no good reason. While being "detained" were passing by next to us entire families without helmets ridding their bikes (imagine 4 human being going 60km/h without helmet... Safety first right!?

- the waves are BIG in South Bali and there is a lot of current, so we did not surf there. It is still possible to find beginner and intermediate level waves. We were happy to just enjoy the sun for once since we were not really lucky on that aspect throughout our adventures in Indonesia.

- beaches are amazingly beautiful in that part of Indonesia. We manage to see quite a few. Pandawa, Melasti, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Padang Padang, Thomas beach and my personal favorite: Green Bowl beach.

- I thought I had the best ever dessert in Ubud when I tried fried bananas with cheese... I was so wrong... The best dessert ever was to be found in Warung Lima close to the Uluwatu temple. This restaurant are cooking Spring rolls stuffed with bananas, chocolate and cheese.

Green Bowl Beach.

Sunset in Uluwatu.

Banana/chocolate/cheese spring roll.

Last night was great. Since Max and I were leaving Indonesia we decided to book ourselves a double room in a 4 stars hotel close to the airport. Needless to say the service was quality special, the swimming pool very much appreciated :D

Friends in the pool, doesn't get any better than this...

A bar in the pool is better :)

Reception woke us up as requested at 5am, transfer service took us to the airport at 6... it was time to say goodbye to my partner in crime Max. We had 3 wonderful weeks travelling together. He will be travelling 5 more months but I am sure that we will finally be playing Tennis this summer in Switzerland.

For me, this was back where it all started a bit more than 2 months back, in Kuala Lumpur.

A last night in the same place I had my first night in Asia, a few new "last minute friends", one last "I met you 2 weeks ago in Canggu, isn't it", one last kebab, one last beer with great conpany (a very very odd Kronenbourg!!!), one last Taxi ride. It is time to go home and be thankful :)

What goes around, comes around. Last night in Bukit Bintang food market in Kuala Lumpur.

Ubud - Waterfalls, rice paddies and temples with new friends

2017-01-31T13:14:00.000+01:00

After a small week on Bali with the feeling that I hadn’t seen any of the island or of the people, we headed Maxime and I to Ubud. Ubud is located right in the center of the island and his most known for its temples and its surrounding nature and volcanos.

Max and I are avid fans of Tennis and he is probably one of the most emotionally engaged fan I have ever met in my entire life… This became especially true when we arrived in Ubud, exactly during the Federer - Wawrinka semi final of the Australian open. Being Swiss, Max was proudly watching the match, supporting the incredible comeback of Roger into the highest spheres of the world of tennis. With Federer winning and Nadal on its way to the final, we were set for a nerve wracking match on Sunday afternoon! Since I am a massive Rafa supporter, the match was intense on court and off court in our local bar in Ubud. Max’s love for Roger, hate for Rafa and swearing during the final cannot possibly be matched and I was very happy for him that the outcome came his (and Roger's) way otherwise we were in for a moody, borderline sad few days… Anyway :) you have to give it to Roger thought. I don’t remember him turning things around like that in the 5th set being 3-1 down to win the match outplaying Nadal, aggressing him with raw class scoring some points that can only leave you wondering how long this guy is going to be able to pull out that kind of magic.

Of course our stay there were not limited to being in bars watching sports… far from it!

Our first full day there was probably the fullest I had so far during my holiday. We rented some scooters and went on to discover Ubud’s surroundings. We dragged a few new friends in our adventure: Sophie from London, Libby from Barcelona, and Sarah H. from Atlanta. Our small group made the most of the local highlights. In chronologic order we managed to visit Tegenungan waterfall, the hidden canyon Beji Guwang, the waterfall of Kanto Lampo, and the temple of Pura Tirta Empul.

Hidden canyon.

Small waterfall in the canyon.

Kanto Lampo waterfall.

Monster in Pura Tirta Empul

Hot spring in Pura Tirta Empul.

Pura Tirta Empul. People queueing to be in contact the holly fountains and present offerings to the temple.

Back in Ubud I was dreaming to try again the amazing fried bananas with cheese (!!!) we had on our first diner in Ubud at the infamous Warung Ijo (a warung is a typical local restaurant - usually both good and cheap). Unfortunately for me and for the group it would have to be postponed to the following day since the kitchen had close before we could order dessert.

The next day was equally nice. Good company and my first ever yoga practice. Sarah was kind enough to introduce us to Yoga for an hour private lesson. The experience was great and I can’t wait to show you the timelapse I made out of it (I’ll share it either when back in Europe or when I find a good enough internet connection).

Yoga!!! It was an amazing experience for me.

We went on to visit the Monkey forrest, a place full of … monkeys quite obviously. I learnt a few things along the way:

Never Ever stare a monkey in the eyes as the little fella will perceive this as a sign of aggression.

Never touch a monkey… your little buddy can touch you and jump on your shoulder but do not touch it… This is a wild animal and not a pet. We witness an overly enthusiast Chinese tourist that learnt that the hard way.

Be careful with your belongings… Monkeys are smart little fuckers. One reached out to my pocket and managed to get away with my entrance ticket. I observed him helplessly tearing apparently the piece of paper.

These little creature are fantastic to observe. Their social interactions are so close to ours. I loved it.

Angry little monkey that just jumped off me trying to steal from my pocket.

Playful monkeys.

Daddy wants to play to.

That one did succeed to take my entrance out of my pocket. Happily tearing it appart.

We have faced few other species of local fauna: lizards of all size (from a few centimetres to more than half a meter), an emerald green snake, a lot of ducks (a local delicatessen), and countless colourful birds during our time walking around Ubud and its rice paddies. What a lovely photogenic place this is!

Scenic walk in Ubub.

Trail in the northern part of Ubud.

Our 5 units group decided to head East towards Lombok to go to the Gili Islands, an archipelago of 3 islands. Gili T (trawangan) will be our first stop.

Happy days!

Wandering in the streets of Ubud.
Libby, Sophie, Justin, Chad and Sarah :)

Sea, Surf and Sun (sometimes...) in Bali's wave heaven of Kuta and Canggu.

2017-01-26T06:37:00.000+01:00

Here I am, the final country on my trip: Indonesia.

I had very little expectations whatsoever before coming as the only information I had on Bali was a few "it was awesome" from some friends that had travelled here and the memories of the movie Eat, Pray, Love I watched ages ago. The little I expected was a relaxing and spiritual atmosphere you get in the kind of places where there are waves to surf and temples to pray in.

From the airport, I decided to stay a few days in Kuta just a stones throw away of the airport. This is a surfer's town: you surf during the day and you party at night. My hostel; the Funky Monkey was located in a very small street in between the beach and the main road of the city. The swimming pool was really much appreciated and the constant flow of people made it entertaining: I was always with different people sharing travel experiences and tips while having loads of free pancakes offered by the hostel.

Kuta at sunset. One of the only pictures I took in 3 days.

While this is not exactly what I was expecting, I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with amazing people. I am going to mention here couple of guys I was lucky enough to meet: Sahel an inspiring broker from London with Afghan decent and Maxime a tennis addict from Switzerland.

I spend the first 3 days surfing and partying with both before Maxime and I headed north towards Canggu (pronounced Chan-Gu) while Sahel moved with one of his friends towards the center of Bali to more mystical lands.

Beach in Canggu with perfect wave for my low level.

Canggu is much quieter even if the parties there can get insanely wild. The day basically follows the rhythm of the waves. Max and I stayed 4 nights in another great hostel (with pool and again great company). Sharing our dorm, a funny dutch guy that happened to be my neighbour when I was living in Hilversum (!!!) and Charly a Belgian citizen. The world got even smaller for our small crew when Charly and I were speaking about music.

Charly loves acid, a kind of music I have close to no knowledge of.... The only information I know about Acid is that it is very popular in Belgium and there is quite a large audience in Antwerpen and Brugges. This I know from my friend and ex-colleague Luca... Luca is a DJ known in the industry as Acidolido. Well, Acidolido happens to be Charly's favorite artist!

Mind. Blown. Instant friends just like with Max and Sahel before.

We spent time hanging out and got to meet Sean and Chelsea, a lovely couple teaching English in China, discovering the area and the infinite party options dancing on the beach until the early hours of the morning.

The pretty poison bar in Canggu with its skatepark in the middle of it!

A week has gone by in south Bali in a blink. Time flies when you are having fun. To be honest I did not do much besides surfing and meeting people (mostly around a Bintang, the local beer). But this is what travelling is all about, isn't it?

I saw yesterday a brilliant post card that sum up perfectly my mood these days. It said:

Never blame anyone in Your Life

Bad people give you Experience

Worst people give you a Lesson

Good people give you Happiness

Best people give you Memories.

I am so lucky to be piling up so many memories. It is going to be hard to keep them all in my heart.

I was so busy having fun and relaxing I took very little pictures... I managed to find 3 okish ones to illustrate this post.

I will take so many more in Ubud, where Max and I are heading next. Stay tuned!

Kuala Lumpur (again) and Singapore for a couple of days!

2017-01-21T02:02:00.000+01:00

Philippines has been something, that the least to say.

The people, their kindness, the beaches, the underwater world, the island, the parties...

After saying goodbye to Ronnie, I found myself in another airport on my way back to KL.

In the airport I got to speak to a Malaysian that happens to have twin boys. I guess the world do connect people based on commun characteristics, you just have to find out what it is.

In Kuala Lumpur I managed to visit one of the highlights I did not have time to see the first time around: Batu's Cave.

Batu's cave is this massive stairway to a big... cave.

The site is accessible by train and welcomes you with a massive golden statue.

That day was pouring rain, which makes the whole experience unbelievable: I had the site almost on my own and the rain gave a very chaotic and dramatic note.

After the visit I went to the bus station to head to Singapore, a 6 to 12 hours ride from KL (depending on traffic). My first bus got cancelled, the second one was delayed 1 hour. I left at 11pm.

I arrived in the city state very early morning. I had made an appointment to meet my friend Florian at 8 am and I was happy to have a walk in the empty city at sunrise, wandering through the business district and chinatown on my way to the cafe we were set to meet.

It was amazingly nice to meet Flo and Jackie, get to spend time with them and get some priceless advice on what to do in the city.

Tradition meets modernism in Chinatown.

For the first time since the half marathon in Cebu I went for a run. Even if Singapore is such a humid city, this is so nice to run around the bay and this amazing skyline.

Besides spending much of my time next to Flo's apartment in Chinatown and eating Chinese food in the food court (230+ food stalls to choose from - including a Michelin star restaurant where you can have a meal for around 2 euros... no jokes!!!) I went on to visit the ArtScience Museum.

The building is amazing! It is shaped like a hand open to the sky or a blooming lotus and composed of 3 levels hosting the 3 different exhibits:

- A Space oriented exhibit that takes you back to the race to space between USSR and USA.

- A very complete M.C. Escher expo where you can almost find more of his work that in his museum in The Netherlands

- An entire study / reflexion on where Arts meets Science. This part was very interactive and recreative.

This museum is more than a must to do in Singapore. I had so much fun and inspiration. That Crystal Universe is a thing of ultimate beauty.

The bay with Marina Sands on the right and the ArtScience Museum in the back.

It eventually reflected my entire stay in Singapore. Meeting incredibly nice and talented people (Flo knows how to surrender himself with this kind of human being). I am glad I had these 3 days and couldn't be more thankful to both Jackie and Flo for sharing their lives with me during my stays.

Puerto Princesa and Back in Manila - Last couple of Days in the Philippines

2017-01-17T12:39:00.000+01:00

Puerto Princesa is the door to that paradise that is Palawan. You often enter the island by its airport and you leave by this airport. And like a door the (almost) only point of it is to go through it. In that sense Puerto Princesa feels pretty much like door to me. No much to do or see in that small city. After 4 days in El Nido it takes a LOT to amaze oneself and Jeroen and I are at this point only looking forward to head back to Manila.

A nice cathedral, a WWII memorial, a nice (and empty) river side walk are among the things we saw in our hours spent there. Let’s not forget the mall here. We spent lunch time and I shopped in that local mall… This is probably the most Filipino experience we have. It seems like they love malls.

Another Filipino experience for me was to play some basketball with local kids (thanks for that amazing photo of live action Jeroen!). It was real nice to play with locals and I was probably happier than they were. We played 2x2 for a short time. It took just seconds before I was sweating like a pig while these kids looked fresh, as if it was not 30 degrees but 15 and there were having a walk in the park. Basketball is the national sport and I am glad I had that moment for myself.

Playing some hoops with local kids. Thanks Jeroen for the awesome picture.

We returned to Manila that night where we shared a succulent diner and drinks with Ronnie. Across the road we found ourselves dragged into the Ring Side, a place where we were to witness midget wrestling, midget boxing and midget dancing. Curiosity is bad but you have to sometimes feed it. This is all I am going to say about that business. I will rather encourage you to go see it for yourself and make yourself your own opinion. I preferred the bar we went to next - the rooftop bar of the Z Hostel.

After a few drinks it was the sad moment when I part ways with Jeroen and Andres.

They would both return to Switzerland.

Here is a picture of my Swiss gang in Chocolate Hills. Travelling will not be exactly the same without you guys. I am very thankful having your company for this time.

For now I will follow my adventure alone!

My last day in Manila was cultural as I went on to discover the Intramuros part of Manila and mostly the Fort Santiago. This is a pivotal place in the history of the Philippines as it witness the execution of José Rizal a key person in the fight for this country's independence.

Dr Rizal is here portrayed in his cell the day he was executed.

A path of golden foot print pave his last walk toward his death by the Spanish colons.

Paying tribute to this hero was a nice way to say good bye to this amazing country and the best host there possibly is over there: Ronnie. Thank you buddy, hopefully I can be as much of a good host when you visit Europe next time around.

Palawan - Discovering El Nido

2017-01-15T03:09:00.000+01:00

I was not really inspired to find yet another title with bragging adjectifs qualifying the infinite beauty of a place. Palawan is - likewise Boracay - another regular member of rankings such as “Top 5 most beautiful islands in the world”.

While I can now say I have been in Palawan and stay on this island, the 4 days I had there and the very limited places I have seen have to be put in perspective. It was yet again the experience of a lifetime and I feel lucky to having wandered the beaches around El Nido.

El Nido is probably the most known corner of this island (in the North-West part) and it is naturally there that we headed from Puerto Princesa, where our flight from Cebu landed. I have been regularly writing about long commutes - that one was nowhere different from the others. Although there are “only” around 250 kilometres from Puerto to El Nido it took more than 5 hours to get there despite the driver of our van slaloming comfortably between the Jeepneys, the motorbikes and the tricycles overpopulating the roads. Thankfully our pension was on the side of the main road 3 kilometres from the village of El Nido and we where dropped of there already late at night.

We couldn’t see much from the hotel room and sleep was most needed when we arrived. We would get our reward from all the commuting when we woke up by discovering the view.

Of course it is impossible to compare one location to another, one island in Thailand in the Caribbean or in Polynesia to its filipino cousin’s without loosing any kind of objectivity. It is definitely a matter of taste and often depends of one’s experience in a given corner of the planet. My experience in El Nido together with the great time I had there made it very special… And man that view!

And the greatest part is that it is at least as beautiful under the over than on (is)land.

I won't say much more about El Nido besides that it was the first time since The Challenge in Ko Pha Ngan (22nd of December) that I was going in the water (more than the time of a shower obviously). Jeroen and Andres enjoyed the wonderful big blue world for a few dives and I join them on the boat to snorkel in the same areas.

I spend to much time in the water that I got burnt real bad on the back... This is the risk you are less expose to when diving... or wearing sun proof clothes or sun protection.

Here are some pictures I took with the GoPro. No filters or adjustments made only cropping and rotating the pictures :D Amazing time that was.

I got to swim 10 minutes with this buddy.

Coral and fishes. Zoom in to see the little blue ones in the Coral.

The Table Coral, one of my favorite underwater picture.

Angry Nemo coming at me, protecting his little one.

Sunset in Las Cabanas Beach.

Cebu - the oldest city in the Philippines

2017-01-11T02:19:00.000+01:00

Jeroen and Andres were supposedly getting to Cebu on the 8th… However the second typhoon of our time in the Philippines is capricious and have them stocked in Panglao. Not a single boat is authorised to leave the pier.

I spent the entire day of the 8th resting. The muscle in my legs are starting to hurt due to the awkward movement I had to endure not to stress too much my left ankle.

Since my friends will be arriving in Cebu the 9th in the afternoon only, I am taking my time to explore what is of interest in the area. They are finally free to come over and arriving late in the afternoon the same day.

In the meantime I manage to witness the early moments of the biggest festival of the year: Sinulog. This is a week long of celebration of the baby Jesus ended in epic partying fashion the week end of the 14th and 15th of January. While this is making it impossible for me to visit the Basilic, it is nice to observe what is going on. Thousands and Thousands of locals are standing outside to watch on flat screen the Mass going on inside the Catholic edifice.

That left me with 2 other highlights I had planned to visit:
- The Magellan’s cross.
- The Fort San Pedro.

Inside the fort of San Pedro.

Magellan's Cross.

The city is pleasant and a bit more human size than overwhelming Manila. Our last morning, full of motivation we wanted to go to a view point and visit the Taoist temple next by... Unfortunately the rain decided otherwise. The typhoon is giving us its last tears and we prefer a warm coffee than risking a pneumonia.

Palawan is our next destination for which we needed to take a taxi to the airport (1h in the trafic and now heavy rain) and board for an hour flight... hopefully for more sun.

Cebu - Running the half marathon!!!

2017-01-08T04:29:00.000+01:00

I collectedly race number and my singlet at the last possible moment, on the 7th at 6pm after yet again countless hours in public transportation from Panglao to Cebu.

The race starts at 4am the following morning. Thank god I did not subscribed for the full marathon that kick off at an early 3am. After a diner at the local fast food chain Jolibee I head back to the hotel for an early night. I have decided to give it a shot.

When I woke up at 3am, I am not so sure anymore of the feasibility of my objective. It is impossible to put on my socks without feeling pain in my still recovering ankle. I decided not to put any and head towards the start line.

The atmosphere is electric between the oppressive humidity and the energy of the large crowd. I am so excited. I am not sure yet I will be able to run - I have not worn shoes for almost 3 weeks and have not run for exactly as much. The finishing window for the half marathon is 4 hours which basically means I can walk the entire race and get to the finish line getting my finisher medal and kit. The start is very typical of such an event: I walk the first few hundred meters with the back of the pack evaluating the elasticity and response of my ankle. I have almost not solicited it for the last 20 days. When the runners are starting to spread around the route I eventually start to run. Running is a very big word though. I am more limping than anything. But I am happy and it feels good.
I would take it very easy throughout the all 21.1 km, taking time at the numerous water point to rehydrate myself. The humidity is quite hard to cope with and water or gatorade is very much appreciated.

2 hours and 13 minutes after starting, I was back to the initial point crossing the finish line. It is very hard for me to describe my feeling at that point of time. Even though this is far from being my first race or the longest one I have participated in (I have a couple marathons under my belt and numerous runs with my brother that were much longer that this one) I simply am overwhelmed. I have come a very long way since Xmas and my stay in the hospital.

I collect my finisher package consisting of a medal, a finisher shirt and couple of other goodies. It is not even 6:30 in the morning and definitely time to go back to sleep.

The final result is quite astonishing to me: 2h13m06s for a ranking of 215 out 1598 runners taking part of the half marathon. Would I have been normally fit and ran the time I had set myself, I might have finished in the top 30… but with ifs you can change the world and I am happy enough to be a finisher and to have pushed myself to compete. I’ll break my PB in the near future for sure!

A well deserved selfie :)

Bohol - Discovery nature and local wildlife

2017-01-07T04:25:00.000+01:00

On the 6th of January, Jeroen Andres Delphine and I took on a private tour to go on the main island of the area: Bohol. The schedule ranges from hiking up the Chocolate hills to feeding monkeys.

Our first stop takes us to a Tarsier sanctuary. The tarsier is a very small animal that mostly lives at night. Its main peculiarity is mohave eyes 150 times bigger than its brain. It feels like the little buddy can see through you when staring at you.

A Tarsier.

Bohol is a rather large island located in the center of the archipelago and it takes us quite a ride to head toward the main attraction of the day: The Chocolate Hills.

Before getting there however we find ourselves hoping on a cruise buffet ship on the local river. The ride is beautiful and we get a glimpse at the local culture. Autochtones are bamboo dancing while we stuff ourselves with delicatessen from the region.

We got back to our car to get to the very center of the island and finally get to the infamous Chocolate hills. these hills get their name from the browny color of the burn grass in the end of dry season. Nothing remotely brown for us. The place is as green as it gets. The area is enjoying more than 1200 of these perfect domes that look more like camel backs than pill of chocolate to me.

A few of the hundreds of "chocolate hills".

It is already the middle of the afternoon and a few more stops are schedule. Chronologically we went:
- monkey feeding
- posing with pythons
- photographing some rise plantations
We skipped the butterfly park and preferred having a ice coffee in the city close to our resort.

My new friend is very curious with the GoPro.

I look rather relax. Let's be clear... I am not.

We were back to Panglao right after sunset.
Time for me to head to the local hospital for a great great piece of news: I would get ride of all my dressing and be freed from that daily time consuming activity.

I am truly stoked by the relative freedom and increased confort I am feeling all of a sudden.

The next day I decide to go back to Cebu to collect my race package for the Cebu half marathon taking place on the 8th of Jan for which I have registered for couple of months ago.
I will decided at the last moment if it is reasonable for me to actually run the event or take it easy discovering the city.

Alona beach - little gem on Panglao island and its little rural medical center.

2017-01-05T00:56:00.000+01:00

The experience of our previous day did took Jeroen and I quite some energy and we both decided to take it easy and enjoy the resort the following day on January 4th.
But before anything, it was time for me to discover yet another hospital. After querying the reception, it turns out there is just one hospital on the island located in Panglao city. We got there Jeroen and I riding a tricycle (basically a motorbike customised with a passenger cabin where you can fit 2 persons of small size - great fun to ride!) to the infamous Rural Medical Center, located right next to the Firefighter brigade.

My little rural hospital in the background.

The hospital was packed and it took me a few seconds to locate the reception. I explain my case to which the receptionist point out to what I believed was a corridor. After correcting me, she was pointing a very old iron chair lying in the middle of all these local people waiting. Was she offering me a seat? No no… This was where I would be attended, my wounds cleaned and my dressings changed!

This is normally a process that can be a bit painful and I have so far appreciated the relative privacy of a curtain at least or of a room at best. The nurse is going to take out the old dressing (the compress is ALWAYS stuck in the wounds making it painful), clean the wound with Bettadine, apply some anti bacterial cream and put back a new dressing… all this in front of maybe 50 locals that are looking at me like an alien at first.
But because sharing is caring - and everybody else seemed to be waiting for something (an appointment? a consultation?) or someone (the local doctor? a patient?) - they all looked at me with a lot of compassion as if they wanted to share and take away a bit of the pain I was feeling.
Not a single person complained about me “jumping” the queue (were there a queue?) even if it look like they have all been waiting for a moment already. It took me only 20 minutes from the time I entered to the time I left the place.
I was moved by the experience. This is unbelievably heartwarming to see the relief in the eyes and the smile on the faces of people you don’t know after the nurse was done with me.These people are so kind and so human.

Me at the rural medical center of Pamglao

Jeroen and I left the Rural hospital and walked towards Panglao beach located a kilometre away. No much happening here for us tourist. No beach, just a large central square with a church, a school and a basketball court (basketball islands down the national sport and 1 person out of 2 wears a basketball jersey, either of a local or an NBA star).
We hoped back to the more touristy Alona beach for lunch.

The beach is beautiful, much less crowded that Boracay but still offering plenty of option for our hunger.
We sat down randomly and ordered. What a better place that a beach and a fisherman’s town to have fish, I was thinking. turned out they did not have fish!!! Nor mango that was supposed to be used for the shake I ordered. I changed to vegetarian option, it will be steak night at the Resort and I did not wanted to stuff myself before that.

The rest of the day outside eating was a succession of siestas and time reading.
We enjoyed our nice piece of beef for diner and Jeroen decided to go for couple of dive the next day. I would be waiting on another friend arriving from Zurich the 5th.

These days and since it is unfortunately not possible for me to go in the water, I dedicate myself to resting and making sure I recover quickly. How sad would it be if while spending 3 weeks in the Philippines I cannot go even once in the crystal clear water of its seas or a swimming pool.

From one paradise to another - Trying out each and every transportation system in the Philippines

2017-01-05T00:55:00.000+01:00

TL;DR
Took us 12 hours to go from Boracay to Alona Beach using every possible mean of transportation the country has to offer. In order we rode: Taxi, boat, bus, plane, taxi, ferry, uber. Funny and tiring experience.

Now, for the longer version of the trip.

Leaving Boracay meant couple of things to us:
- firstly we would leave the craziness of the island heading to a much quieter place.
- secondly we were in for another long day in the amazing networks of transports of the Philippines (there are just so many options to go from one place to another).

On the 3rd day of the year and after our light (free) breakfast at the hostel (Instant coffee, ice tea, 1 egg served scrambled, 2 toasts and a tiny bit of jam and butter that are not enough to cover one of the toast) we took a minivan to the pier, a small ferry to Catitlan and a bus to the airport.
3 hours later we discovered the madness of this local airport. The queue outside Kalibo airport was a solid 200m. We have heard by now stories from countless travellers that had their flights rescheduled, cancelled rerouted at the last minute (it turned out that our coming flight from Cebu to Palawan was reschedule by one day…). Thankfully my crutches are acting like a magic pass and we easily skipped the queue (the advantages of being a Passenger With Disabilities).

Leaving Boracay on a tiny boat.

Our plan was foggy when we boarded... Not very reassuring.

Arriving in Cebu international airport. we had to find out how to get to Alona beach, located around 60km Southwest on Panglao island. Jeroen got the information right before exciting the airport at one of the tourist information desk. We would need to get to Cebu passenger pier, hope on a ferry and take a taxi to the Resort.
The taxi we got at the airport took us to the pier through Cebu, the oldest city of the Philippines. We will be getting there the 7th or the 8th of January, where I will or will not run the city’s half marathon - that should be decided last minute.

And we were in for yet another ferry. The terminal is MUCH bigger than in Boracay where it only takes 10 minutes for a boat to make the small ride across the sea. The experience of taking a larger ferry in the Philippines is quite procedural and structured as you need to:
- buy a ticket (at the local office or at the counter located outside the passenger terminal, most probably on the internet as well)
- pay terminal fee to get access to the boarding gate
- check in for your ferry
- wait at your gate
- board the ferry
The experience is exactly like in an airport, no more no less.

The ferry ride was 2 hours and it was already night time outside when we got to Tagbilaran city on an island called Bohol. Outside the small harbour it is chaos. Exiting the passenger terminal we had a dozen of tricycle, taxi or minivan drivers offering their services to get us to our final destination for the day.

Jeroen give me the lead to choose from the many possibilities.
We quickly found ourselves in a large SUV (uber!?) with 2 Norwegian travellers going in the same direction. After dropping them off, we finally arrived at our resort: the Bohol Subside Resort.
I think we were both very happy to have a private twin room for us and could rest after diner at the resort bar.

Bohol Sunside Resort. Great choice Jeroen :)

Boracay - New Year's eve on one of the world most beautiful island

2017-01-04T01:03:00.000+01:00

On December 30th and after my wounds cleaning ritual, we headed to the domestic terminal of Manila's airport. The place is "funny", looks like a bus station at best and is a little chaos. Local airlines are still suffering from cancellations around Christmas due to a typhoon that hit the archipelago. We have been VERY lucky with Jeroen that our flight had no impact because of this, well that flight at least.

We arrived in Kalibo just 30 minutes after schedule. Thanks to our smart move during the flight to buy a transfer from the airport to Boracay directly, we had nothing to worry about from Kalibo to the Hostel.

After a 2 hours bus ride (for only 40km ...), a small ferry crossing crossing the 1.5km sea between Caticlan and the island and a final 30 minutes mini van transfer we made it to the hostel for diner!

Since Philippines is not really known for its food (nothing wrong about it, but you can be disappointed at times), we asked the receptionist - a local girl - for suggestions. Her answer came in a blink: "Go to Smoke". Smoke is a very small eatery located in a side street of D-Mall, the shopping center of the islands where a lot of bars / restaurants / handcrafts & souvenirs boutiques can be found. This mall is located in the very center of the island and leads to the main beach: White Beach. We would spend the large majority of our 4 days stays around that area... and NEVER too far away from Smoke.

This local restaurant is hands down the best food experience we have had in the Philippines (so far :D). Creamy oriental chicken, Tofu Salad, Fish soup, Curry chicken... you name it, it is amazingly tasty... and dirt cheap compare to the restaurant located directly on the beach. We would go to have a meal at Smoke at least once a day!

The "street leading to our favorite restaurant: Smoke.

We made it back to the hostel and had a chat with a few travellers including this 52 years old Canadian (from Québec) that had just decided to change his entire life, sold everything he had to start travelling... and learning English. Very nice and wise person that was.

Soon enough we were already the 31st and it was time to get ready for the party and New Year's eve celebration. On that day, the beach was absolutely packed all day long. Locals preparing the fireworks and tourists making plans for the evening. After diner at Smoke, we went back to the hostel to meet up with Delphine (a swiss girl) and Tim (a Dutch guy) to spend the evening with them. We had decided to have a few cocktails at BomBom while the atmosphere on the island was getting really pumped! By 11, we had agreed to leave the bar, go to the 7/11 (a supermarket chain that can be found all over South East Asia), buy some drinks and find a spot on the beach that was already packed.

Drinks at BomBom to celebrate the end of 2016.

The night was very fun, between drunk tourists and happy locals. It ended around 4am for me after speaking to many people celebrating the first moments of 2017, being happy to be there and say goodbye to 2016.

Boracay has 2 main characteristics:

- there is a massive party scene (NYE was absolutely insane in that sense!!!)

- it is selected years after years among the most beautiful islands in the world (depending who runs the polls) and rightfully so. Check that ranking out for example (not to brag but we are spending holidays on the 3 Philippines islands making the top 5 :D :D :D keep following for more informations about these locations)

January 1st was a lazy day as for most of us I guess. Woke up for breakfast at 9am and went back to bed until 2pm :) It was then just the usual: Smoke for lunch and chilling on the beach. For diner we spiced things up going to a local burger venue for a very tasty double cheese / double beef burger.

We would get back into our adventurous spirit on the 2nd of January where we would go for a boat tour around Boracay. I have been a bit anxious about that one from the beginning. Since I cannot really go in the water (I do not want to have water on my dressings which would just add a bit to my recovering time) it took Jeroen and Brendon (an Aussie) to carry me onto the boat lying 50 meters from the beach in the water (my heroes <3, otherwise I would just have stayed on the beach and the boat would have left without me). The ride was bumpy and the other side of the island turned out to be very windy... and a paradise for kite surfers. We made a 4 stops: 1 snorkeling stop I would not take part on, a second stop on Laurel island, a third stop in a big rock right in front of Laurel island with couple of houses and plate forms to jump from (including a 10m high diving place I would I Love to try out) and finally a 4th stop back on Boracay (but the other side on the Southeast tip of the island for lunch).

That was it for me. It was way too tricky to go on and off the boat... I fell on my back on the ramp from the boat to the island on one of the stop trying no to wet my left leg. No harm thankfully.

Impossible not to speak about my wounds cleaning experience on the island... Pain is the most accurate word for this.The nurses would ever day rub a piece of cotton counting until 10. Not pleasant to be scrached on an open would. Thankfully the number of dressing I am having is quickly reducing and by the time we left Boracay, I just had a small one on the left ankle and another small one on the left elbow.

When waking up on the 3rd, it was already time to leave the little paradise.

Sunset from White Beach.

Manila - 3 days of rest and visits of the local hospital

2016-12-31T09:24:00.000+01:00

I got to Manila on the 27th, middle of the afternoon... My first concern was not to find out where was the best place to go for a run but to find a medical center.

Jeroen had arrange for us to stay at a Filipino couch surfing friend he met 8 years back on the great wall of China!!! Ronnie, our guest, was so kind to help me out finding an hospital that would suit my needs. I proceed to go to the Makati Medical Center straight from the airport based on his feedback.

Philippines is having a lot of stereotypes to its name and is unfortunately having a very bad reputation in the western world I come from. Also Manila is one of the most chaotic places I have been to. The traffic is insane and at first the city was scary to me.

All these ideas were chattered facing the infinite kindness of its people. OMG they are nice people, especially towards me, standing out of the crowd with my bandages. Walking in the street of the capital so many people have been asking me if I was ok or if I needed help.

The nurses in the Medical Center have been amazing to me. By the second day, they would almost all know my name and welcoming me with the warmest smile. I would go for 4 visits in a row to the same medical center.

Besides that, our stay in Manila was very restful to us, especially to me. I would mostly stay in the residence where Ronnie lived. It had a bar/restaurant and 2 swimming pools but our favorite spot was definitely the roof deck located at the 42nd floor. The view from there is amazing. From Ronnie's flat on the 34th floor it was not too bad either.

This used to be a power plant, this is now a mall.

On our last night, we had a great couch surfing party at his place! It was nice and fun to hang out with locals. Definitely one to remember.

Picture of a Polaroid taken during the couch surfing party :)

After my last visit in the hospital in the early morning of the 30th, it was time to go to the airport again. Jeroen had plan for us to spend New Year Eve on Boracay, a very small island in the center of the country.

Bye Bye Manila - This is Makati from the roof deck of Ronnie's residence.

Last day in Thailand!

2016-12-27T09:03:00.000+01:00

December 25th and December 26th

I finally got out of the hospital.

My only concern besides recovery is making it on time in Bangkok to grab my flight for the Philippines... this flight is schedule on the 27th at 9:35am.

I decided to take the last ferry of the day in Ko Pha Ngan... a night ferry leaving at 10pm. This was a bit of a crazy experience... No seats, just 2 rows of really bad mattresses. The trip to Surat Thani would take 7 hours more or less. It was for me a very scary experience because of the very little number of passengers, the risk of infections (I was out of the hospital just for 2 hours and the boat looked like it was straight out of the Pirates of the Caribbean after a battle...) and the fact that this was probably the worst looking boat I had ever seen.

The night ferry. Is there AirCo? Off course not!

The night ferry from the inside... 2 rows of minimalist beds. A few fans to cool the air.

It was the price to pay in order to spend a few hours in Bangkok and catch up with my cousin there.

In Surat Thani, I had no real other choice of transportation than the bus. It turned out to be a 12 hours ride... I eventually made it to Bangkok at 7pm.

It was already time for me to go back to a medical center in order to have my wounds cleaned...

Easier said than done. In total it took me a few hours to find an hospital and have what would become a daily activity for the next 10 days done...

By 10pm I was finally on my way to spend time with Quentin my cousin from France!!!

It was so good after being stock in an hospital to see a familiar face and catch up.

We spoke all night long, discussing about our lives outside France.

The following morning, it was time for both of us to grab our flights. Quentin would go to Cambodia, I would go to Manilla in the Philippines where Jeroen (my ex roomate in the Netherlands) would join me for a 3 weeks tour of the country!

***** WARNING *****

Graphic content coming!!!

If you do not like to see wounds, do not look at what follows... This is a picture I took in the hospital in Bangkok where I got the first wounds cleaning and dressing out of the island.

It was not so painful and looks worst than it actually is.

Ko Pha Ngan - 3 days in the hospital...

2016-12-26T06:34:00.000+01:00

You most probably know that I was admitted to an hospital on the 23rd of December in this beautiful island. I am staying at the First Western Hospital. As mentioned I am fine and making a quick recovery. The truth is that if that would have happened in Europe I would have probably make it out of the hospital the same day. Unfortunately, due to the local reality (tropical weather and risk of infections...) they don't take much risks and almost systematically keep wounded patient for 24/48 hours depending on the severity of the injury.

My wounds are located on my left lower leg, both my forearms and the palm of both hands. For the hospital.

I spent a total of 3 days and 2 nights there. Around 60 hours...
Everyday have looked like one another. Lying in bed waiting for the morning wound cleaning.
Lying in bed waiting for food served 3 times a day at fixed hours: breakfast at 7am, lunch at 11:30 diner at 6pm.

Nothing to complain about there, the food was amazing and the choice very very large. they had the best shake and smoothies ever.
I made a few friends there but mostly spent my time with Marju from Finland occupying the bed in front of mine.

Marju - my hospital buddy and I. Window view.

It was an interesting experience altogether and was very nice to receive the visits of Joshua!

Unfortunately I set my travelling back for 3 days and I had to stay on the island instead of joining my cousin in Bangkok and running the 10,5km on Xmas day.

Health and recovery was more important and I am happy with the recovery so far.

I would leave on the 25th at 7pm (merry Xmas to me!!!!) just in time for what turned out to be the longest commute... ever!!!

This is how they make you feel at home for Xmas. The owner being Santa and distributing sweets :)

The best internet connexion I had so far. Thank god for Netflix.

Ko Pha Ngan - Challenging day 22.12

2016-12-25T07:38:00.004+01:00

I had mark the day in my calendar. I had told Joshua - my Dutch friend that arrived on the island the night before - to join me there for some hours of fun and physical exercises. We met at 10 am for breakfast (it is as well the opening hour of the water park) and get energized for the day.

I was so excited.

Soooo, the challenge is composed of multiple modules you have to go through, some are mandatory (if you fall you have to pass it again) and some others can be "skipped" if you fall (you then have to swim to the next element which makes you loss quite some time$9.

Here goes the course:

- You start from a plate form where you take a swing. You release yourself in the water and get to the first module - The Balance Beam

- The Balance Beam is composed of a very narrow beam with 3 red cylinders in the way. As the name suggests it, balance is key there.

- You then turn onto the Swinging Shapes, 5 hanging shapes very unstable. You need very good hand/foot coordination and very strong upper body. These 2 pieces are mandatory, if you fall, you have to start both again.

- Completing this, you are a dive away from the Rolling Barrels. You get up a small plate form and face 3 cylinders. Several techniques can be used to cross this obstacle: "crawling" from one barrel to another, or running/jumping from one to one. I decided to run which was much faster and dive straight into the Floating Shapes.

- The Floating Shapes is one of the 2 modules I could not master. It is composed of 4 floating cubes that are very light and incredibly unstable. You need to be so fast and light on these... It is almost impossible. I did try but I have always been falling on the second or third one.

- You are then having a 20/30m swim to the Pyramid, an inflated structure you have to climb until the top. Not very technical but very demanding physically.

- From the Pyramid, you take a dive to get onto the Monkey Bars. This one is pretty straight forward... You hang from one bar to the next one but difficulty is increased having your legs hanging in the water.

- Last element is the Satan's Balls, 3 massives round floating red shapes you have to run through. This is by far the most difficult part and the one where you can loose most time. I have not manage a single time to cross it. I have been spending almost 2 hours going on and off the departure zone trying to master it... without success. The closest I got was jumping from the 3rd ball onto the finishing area... but arriving on the plate form my back first, just bouncing against the white inflated module down the water... So close.

- The time stops when you are standing on this last piece.

First part of the course from the starting plate form.

Second and final part of the course.

We spent with Joshua a good hour evaluated all elements and practicing crossing techniques before taking upon The Challenge - the timed run of the entire track. The all time record was 2 minutes and 16 secondes by a French guy. My initial objective was to make it into the top 20 and complete the course in around 3 minutes.

On my first try, I noticed how tired I already was from all the time spent climbing, swimming and trying out the modules. I would rest a little, have lunch and try again. My first time was 3 minutes 20 sec... just 3 seconds away of making the top 20. I know I could do much better and already identified areas of improvements.

After lunch, I decided straight away to warm up, swimming and stretching a little bit and try directly.

As expected, I started trying to dive off the swing and going through the first elements slowly but surely as these are mandatory. I failed to pass the Floating Rocks and swam rapidly to the pyramid, climbed as quick as I can and jumped straight into the water, flew passed the monkey bars and climbed facing the red balls. I focused a few seconds... and failed pathetically :D. I was just left with swimming around and climbing to the last plate form. And standing triumphantly.

My time for this attempt was 2:48. I had my spot in the Top 10 and the best time of the day (besides that staff member... that completed the course in 1 minute and 3 secondes.... He was flying through the entire thing like if it was a walk in the park).

Again, I knew I could do better but was not really sure how much energy I had left. The key for me was these balls... completed it and it is top 3 guaranteed. I spent the next 2 hours as mentioned before up there, jumping from one ball to another. Or at least trying because I would always end up in the water.

On my third and final attempt, I improved my time by just 1 second. I was left empty and already sore feeling each muscle in my body.

All time ranking!

It was time to call it a day, go to visit our Dutch friend at the Flying Dutchman and witness a beautiful sunset. We stopped on the way in order to snap a picture or 2 of that amazing scenery.

Sunset and Ang Thong National park in the far back.

Ko Pha-Ngan - Opening day tradition

2016-12-25T04:31:00.001+01:00

December 21st.

Solid tradition now !!

New place, early morning run.

This time again, tropical rain.

Since it is 6 days before the race I took it easy. 40 minutes easy run.

I then went on to change accommodation.

The bungalow I had was ok, but there were cheaper and better option.

I decided to head to the North East part of the Island, on the opposite corner to the party area in a much quieter place to the Shiralea resort.

The resort is a perfect place with swimming pool, close to beautiful beaches.

After lunch (pad thai ... what else) and check in, I headed to Ko Ma, an island / peninsula you can walk on to... you have max 50 cm shallow cristal clear deep water for 100m to get there. The place is perfect for snorkeling. Beaches are full of corals of any color you can imagine. It feels like a giant fish tank.

Coral beach of Ko Ma

Happy dog chillin' in front of Ko Ma

My snorkeling spot on Ko Ma

It was soon time for diner. For this I was looking for a perfect spot to record a timelapse and enjoy a nice pad thai (sorry for this obsession of mine - if you don't know what a pad thai is, go to a Thai restaurant. Please.).

We stopped at the Flying Dutchman... One of the nicest place I have been to so far. It is quiet, peaceful heartwarming and the food is de-li-cious.

View from the Flying Dutchman

Tomorrow will be an important day... The day of THE CHALLENGE. My expectations have been building up so high. The place looks like a Wipeout playground for whoever is up for the "Challenge". Can't wait.

The "short commute" from Krabi to Ko Pha Ngan

2016-12-24T14:17:00.001+01:00

Another day of commute.

This 20th of December was funny making the "short" trip from Krabi to Ko Pha Ngan island in the bay of Thailand (269km only...).

One of the main reason I choose this island over Ko Samui I that there is something to this island I really want to experience: The Challenge (dedicated post to come). I randomly discovered this when I was checking where to go and what to do... This was Ze key differentiator!

I first got pick up by a mini van from the hostel in Krabi Town.

The taxi got us to the head office of a travel agency where half a dozen mini vans arrived. While waiting an hour or so, groups would be made depending the destination. Pink for Ko Pha Ngan and yellow for Samui. We would then board the same bus to Donsak in the Surat Thani region en route to the ferry. After waiting for another hour, we would finally board the boat. First stop Ko Samui for 30 minutes then Ko Pha Ngan where we would be taking taxi to the different part of the island where everybody would be dropped of at their hotel. I would make it for diner arriving at 7:30. And would found the company of a cute little cat in my empty restaurant.

The total commute was as short as the distance between the 2 locations - 8 hours and thirty minutes.

No picture today - no time at all I guess :P

UPDATE:
I have found a cute picture of my diner companion I wanted to share with you :) sorry for the poor quality I was a bit shaky and in low light. The cat jumped on my lap spontaneously and left when I was done. Nice little diner buddy.

Pad Thai - Cat flavor.

Krabi - Scooter, Tiger and Railay

2016-12-24T14:03:00.000+01:00

When I went to bed in my hostel on the 18th of December in Krabi I was the only folk there. No one in my dorm, no one in the dorm next door. Imagine my surprise when I saw Joshua when I woke up.

Joshua is a Dutch folk I met first in Kuala Lumpur. We randomly saw each other on the beach in Langkawi... and now Krabi.

After a nice Thai Ice Coffee for breakfast, we rented a scooter to provide us the freedom to move around this amazing region. Ahhh these Limestone formation everywhere!!!

First stop: Tiger Cave Temple. A nice touristy area composed of a Buddhist temple, a stairway (to Heaven???) of 1237 stairs to climb to access a view point, and a cave area which is home to the local monks.

The view from that hill is breathtaking. Absolutely gorgeous and totally worth the effort to climb up.

Top of the Tiger cave temple

We then headed towards Ao Nammao, a village on the sea where we took a boat to Railay... another piece of paradise accessible by sea only. Joshua and I spent the afternoon in that location. Going around Railay beach takes approximately 15 minutes altogether, but there are couple of location that requires a little bit of effort to access not to mention a bit more time: the viewpoint and the lagoon.

To arrive to both location, the hike is pretty spectacular and incredibly difficult because of the incline and the mud (it is raining everyday at some point, making it very muddy). Again, the view from up there is pretty special. The lagoon is another story. after the climb up, there is a 100m climb down which is very very technical... that place is made exceptional by its difficulty to be reach. We I got down to the lagoon, there were 3 persons only... and very few tried to go there that day apparently.

Viewpoint in Railay

The princess lagoon in Railay - picture credit

It was quickly time returned to Ao Nammao with the last boat at 6pm.

Leaving Railay

Of course the ride back to Krabi town (around 20km) was humid - we played catch and seek with a tropical storm but made it safe back to the hostel. To keep the tradition alive, the day ended at the night market for some live music and some food. Unfortunately no egg wrapped pad thai. but some nice spring rolls.

Tomorrow will be another day in the transports.

Krabi - Life is THE Beach

2016-12-19T20:13:00.001+01:00

Oddly enough, I had to change the time when I arrived in Thailand. We are in the time zone UTC +7 hours. It does make a difference regarding my running. I am still going running every second day as early as possible which basically means when the sun rise. In Malaysia it was between 7 and 7:15 in the morning. In Krabi, I went for my morning run before 6:30.

The mini marathon next week will start at 5:45 in the morning... better getting use to it!!!

So I did run a little on the bank of the river... Quite a few runners out there. Interval trainings it was, trying to get some speed. It is a training that makes me very inconfortable. I am out of breath most of the time, at a pace I can't handle... but it helps apparently. My brother suggested that I do intervals of 30 seconds for 10 minutes which means 30 sec very quick and 30 sec recovery for 10 minutes... then slow pace for 10 minutes just to have your heart rate going down... and do it again.

Impossible for me today. I went to bed very late the day before as I was speaking with a couple of English and an Australia at my hotel (the first persons I have met that did not enjoy their stay in Thailand at all). I completed only half of the training set by Simon... 5 minutes intervals of 30 seconds twice with a 5 minutes recovery run in between. I did not feel the sleep was missing, I should maybe just do this more often and increase slowly the reps. We will see in the coming weeks how I can squeeze this kind of specific trainings in the travelling plans.

I had booked a last minute tour to visit some islands located in the "bay" of Krabi (which, as I learnt, is called the Andaman sea... Thank you google...). Many many many (and many more) tour options... James Bond Islands, Monkey Island, Phi Phi Islands, etc etc etc.

I went full on Leo style and choose the Phi Phi Islands tour package. Phi Phi Islands are a group of 2 main islands known for the movie the Beach starring Leonardo Dicaprio... and Virginie Ledoyen. I really though she was forgotten by international audience by now, but seeing 95% of the girl getting recorded out of the water like this I understood how wrong I was.

The tour was taking out the group to places absolutely incredible. Again, it is hard to put words on the landscapes, the color of the water, the islands, the feeling of that perfect sand on your feet... You have to see it for yourself and make yourself an opinion about these places. I am not going to lie, it was amazing and as you probably guess, incredibly busy everywhere we went.

Here is a small summary of the day and the visits.

Departure by boat from Ao Nang, a nice little beach resort 20 km away from Krabi town.

40 minutes wandering on Bamboo Island - an island without bamboo... but a LOT of corals.

We went for short picture stop where we stayed on the boat to see the Viking Cave. This is a place known for its bird nest. Apparently a bird nest found there can be sold up to 100.000 Bahts according to our guide (2600 euros approximately)... A delicatessen in Asia were we told.

We had a swim in Pileh lagoon together with doyens of other groups from alternative tour companies.

We spent 45min on Ko Phi Phi Lee. We were dropped off Maya Bay - the Beach of "The Beach".

We spent 5 minutes off shore of Monkeys Beach snapping a few pictures... and feeding the monkeys.

We then headed to Ko Phi Phi Don for lunch. A buffet for hungry tourists with local food.

Our final stop was for snorkeling close to Nui Beach, a little creek breathtaking.

We return to Ao Nang, all absolutely exhausted. I slept most of the 30 minutes return to my hotel... and therefore was ready for yet another my egg wrapped pad thai :D

Coming back from this and since I have been wondering how such a landscape was formed I did a little research. I learnt that these seascape elements are called karst and are (surprise, surprise!!) NOT the results of millions of years of erosion but of a chemical process acting over thousands and thousands of year. More info here and here.

There are worst ways to spend a day really.

Post Scriptum: It is hard to pick a few pictures from all these places. There are 2 that I really like: one from "the back of The Beach" on Ko Phi Phi Lee (everybody stays on the Beach while 2 minutes of walking takes you to a no man's land with that view) and one from the snorkeling. What do you think?

Island in the back of Maya Bay.

Fishes photo-bombing my selfie.

Bye Bye Malaysia - Hello Thailand

2016-12-18T15:47:00.003+01:00

Another day, another adventure could be an alternative title to this one.

After 2 nights in Langkawi, I had made my choice to leave Malaysia and head to Thailand. It was a hard decision as the place is a little paradise with plenty of entertainment around and a very laid back feel in general. This is an island after all. I should be back here, maybe... I will be in Malaysia again in February anyway, on my way back to Europe. Future will tell. For now I was set for another long journey towards Krabi.

Bye Langkawi.

A taxi picked me up at 7:20am at the hotel. One last stop en route to the ferry terminal as we were picking up another person. And I would be travelling all day with Lee. He is travelling solo just as I am and heading to Phuket (that would add at least 3 hours compare to my already long journey... can't even imagine how happy he was to finally get there).

Anyway, we got to the ferry terminal by 8am, had a coffee, waited a little at Malaysian immigration, embarked at 8:45, left at 9, arrived in Tammalang at 10:30, passed through Thai immigration, took a songthaew to the local bus station, arrived right on time for our bus at 11am and left...

Because we would travel during the day and it was hot and sunny outside we did not suffer so much from extreme cold that is usually ruling Thai buses... The drivers in South East Asia are hardcore fan of air conditioning, and it is common to have polar temperature in these rolling things.

I arrived in Krabi bus station in the middle of the afternoon and said goodbye to Lee - one advise he gave me could impact tremendously my travels in the next weeks... more on this soon :) - Where was I exactly, I had no clue. Where would I spend the night, I had no clue. One sure thing, we were NOT in Krabi town... I went for the easy was and took a taxi to the center where I would have much more chance to find an accommodation for the night. Finding a place took me very little time... After 15 minutes walking around, I had a winner. The place looked clean, very close to the markets - the fresh food market and the night market - and cheap.

Perfect combination.

I was finally ready for what I had patiently waited since February: a Pad Thai in Thailand!

And the best place to find one was at the night market.

Going through the shacks on my quest, something I did not expect at all happened at 6pm sharp. A loud Thai music was blasting in every direction and EVERYBODY stopped whatever activity they where doing. At first I wanted to laugh out loud then I realised it was probably the national anthem and stayed quiet. Google confirmed that it was indeed the national anthem and that it was played twice a day at 8am and 6pm. Not being aware of this at first, I thought a second I was taking part in the world largest Mannequin Challenge... It was that intense!

Night Market Krabi seconds before National anthem being played.

And around the corner it was... The Pad Thai Shack! A special one as the recipe was upgraded to a egg wrapped pad thai. It was absolutely delicious.

This is how it's done. That simple.

As I like to say in Thailand: one pad thai a day keeps the grumpy face away.

Pad Thai egg wrapped.

Langkawi - Life is a Beach

2016-12-16T10:11:00.000+01:00

2 buses, 1 ferry, 1 taxi... 10 hours...

We - 2 german girls making the same trip and I - left Cameron Highlands at 8am, and for to Cenang Beach at 6pm. The first bus took us to Butterworth in Penang, the second to Kuala Perlis where the ferry was making the short trip to the island of Langkawi.

10 hours... this is what it takes to reach this paradisiac place. The first island on the trip :)

First things first on arrival: find an accommodation for the night. On the way there, I received good word for couple of options: the Cottage and the Gecko. I went first to the Cottage but it was fully booked. Gecko it was! 100m away from the beach. Very close to the main street with all the restaurants and souvenirs shops. Very nice place it turned out to be. Full of cats, roosters, chicken and guess what... geckos. Very happy as well to be able to buy fresh fruits from the nearby night market... Maaaaaan these mangos and bananas :)

I started the day after a nice sleep the same way I did in the previous stops: going out for a sunrise run. That 3rd run of the trip was so different from the ones in Kuala Lumpur (big city) and Cameron Highlands (mountains) not only because of the nearby beach but specifically for the wild life...

I got uber-scared seeing 3 buffalos peacefully drinking from a ditch right next to the road and a family of a dozen monkeys looking for food in the garbage of one of the hotels. My last encounter with a monkey had been epic some months ago in Cambodia and I didn't want to have the same experience again. The weather was punishing. 27 degrees and 85% humidity at 7am. Standing still in the shade is enough to start sweating... Running was hell of challenge. I am starting to hope for rain in the races of Bangkok and Cebu...

End of the road for my morning run.

I went for a typical breakfast - food here has a big Chinese and Indian influence - and eventually headed to the beach for a swim and in order to finish the book I had started in the bus the day before.

It was only a few minutes... an hour max... but enough to get sunburn. Unfortunately there were not so much shade on the beach so I went walking around instead. It seems like there are quite some things to do on the island, however none of it will be for me for now.

I want to get to Thailand fast as I must be in Bangkok on the 24th. So tomorrow morning, I will get a ferry to Thailand and a bus to Krabi. I will be in for another long day of transportation.

That also means there will be more island in the coming days and more pieces of paradise :)

Selfie in Cenang Beach.

Cameron Highlands - Tea, Forest, Run

2016-12-14T16:27:00.000+01:00

I finally got on the road and arrived from KL to the Cameron Highlands region in the center of continental Malaysia (the other half of the country is sharing Borneo with Brunei and Indonesia).

Tanah Rata is my host city for 2 nights before following my route towards Bangkok.

I have been meeting again a lot of new faces but funnily enough I got reminded just how small the world is. The first night I shared a 6 beds dorm with 2 French girls that graduated from the same school as I did (IAE Grenoble) but 9 years after... and a Canadian girl that had cross path during her travels with the American guy I was with at the roof top bar the night before. We had a good laugh telling each other how random this all was.

Anyway, on arrival I had booked a tour for early this morning and went discovering the region with my guide and... 10 tourists from China. It was a lot of fun for most of the tour... An intensely noisy experience but somehow fun. The kids were dabbing all the time (imagine 4 little Chinese Pogba doing the Dab, every 2 minutes).

The tour started with a visit of the tea plantation in the area.
A few facts from what I could hear and understand (these Chinese...):
- A British "discovered" the potential of the region while mapping the area. Not sure when.
- It took a Scot to develop and manage a 1200+ hectares black tea plantation.
- The 3rd generation of that Scottish family still owns the plantation.
- The tea leafs are harvested every 3 to 4 weeks.

The place is absolutely breath taking and no pictures can do justice to the beauty of these hills.
I took a bit more than a 700 pictures today just in that area with both my phone and my GoPro.
I deleted most to keep just 52. And here are a couple for you :)

Tea plantation (black tea)

Green is the new black

I am trying as much as possible to organise the picture on the go, otherwise I am pretty sure it will never be done. I have to admit that I am adapting quickly to my MacBook air. The software developed by Apple are making it so easy for you to arrange organise and edit your pictures (no they are not paying me to write that ...).

After the tea plantation a short visit to the tea factory. Interesting stuffs again. The process seems to be both easy and quick. From the tea tree to the tea bag there is less than a day of work. The leaves are being processed in some big machinery, dry with hot air and that's it really...

A couple of extra visits were scheduled:
- the Mossy Forest. A rain forest as there are a lot in the region.
- the Mt Brinchang (2032m above see level).

Very interesting explanations from the guide but towards the end of the tour I was not as entertained as in the beginning. The Chinese had won their battle against my patience and tolerance... I decided to step back a little rather than screaming at the adults that kept throwing garbage everywhere in the forest and on the roads... and there were unfortunately nothing I could do to make it stop. I tried to tell them twice, they pretended not to understand. To add to my disappointment the guide did not seem to care so much either.

I went back to the Hotel for a small nape. The day had been intense up until now. I had woke up at 6am, run through the hills for an hour and had an intense tour.

Tomorrow will be another day. For the first time I will set foot on an island in Asia as I will take a ferry from Kuala Perlis to Langkawi. The bus going north will leave at 8am and go for 6 or 7 hours depending on the traffic. After 2 nights in the mountain at 1500m above see level, it will be nice to finally get to the sea :)

Kuala Lumpur - getting around and first day

2016-12-13T12:35:00.001+01:00

As I should have expected, the plan did not go so much... as planned.

The aim of the day was to visit the National Mosque and the Islamic arts Museum Of Malaysia.

Both are located in the same area of the city, short distance from the central train station. I decided to head there walking... which was not a bad idea but the difficulty to reach these places efficiently was doomed by the fact that I was not carrying a good map, just a poorly printed copy displaying only the main roads.

One of the entrance of the National Mosque

For that reason I took several detours around the National Mosque. When I eventually got there I was welcome by a group of devoted Muslims giving free gifts (a piece of cake and a little perfume). The Islamic community is celebrating the birthday of the Prophet, hence the little present to visitors. Unfortunately, no access was granted to me at the Mosque since I arrived during praying hours.

Islamic arts Museum

Next stop the Museum located 5 minutes walk from the Mosque.

Getting there, the emptiness of the place really surprised me. It would turn out that I arrived after the first round of group visits and left before the second round of group visits. Lunch time IS the perfect time of the day to visit this place, you skip the noisy and not always interested foreigners.

The different exhibits were absolutely wonderful. I got to learn a lot of things about Muhammed, Islam, Prayers, Architecture, Calligraphy ... and Islamic arts in general. A temporary exhibition of Austria and Islam highlighted the influence of the Muslim world to this european nation.

This museum is a must if you are curious and want to learn about another culture. I have to thank Thierry for the tip there. It turned out I spent much more time than expected visiting the collections loosing another opportunity to go to the Mosque (visits in between prayers).

I decided to return and go towards the Twin Towers, walking around the city for a total of 20km according to the activity tracker of my watch. I eventually got back to the park I was running in the same morning... but absolutely crowded. It would have been impossible to run during the day.

Shopping mall underneath the Petronas Twin Towers facing the KLCC park

Petronas Twin Towers. Once the tallest building in the world.

I returned to the hostel around 5 pm, lied down for a little bit while uploading the pictures on the computer and speaking to other guests. We decided at 6pm to go have a drink at the Heli Bar, a heliport during the day that transforms in a lounge bar in the evening. The view up there is amazing: KL tower on one side, Twin Towers on the other side. The group of people I am with could hardly be more international: an American, a few Brits, an Ukrainian, a Dutch and a Malaysian.

That's what travelling is all about, meeting different people and sharing experiences.

Photo credit Aizad.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Cameron Highlands, known for its tea plantation and endless hiking possibilities.

And some more photos and curiosities:

KLCC park. Despite being rather small, it is possible to take pictures without humans on it!

Sidewalks with roof are found everywhere in KL.

View from the heli lounge bar before sunset.