On our last week in Tamarindo, I ended up with the first souvenir of our year and a half on the road. I took a pottery class and learned the traditional art of making Chorotega Pottery.

Chorotega Pottery can be found everywhere throughout Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province. From gift shops to beach hawkers, this traditional form of pottery is one of Costa Rica’s most popular souvenirs (next to coffee of course). It’s ancient methods have been passed down from generation to generation and are still used today to make beautifully intricate pieces.

I spent a couple of days at the Tamarindo Pottery Studio making my very own piece. It was all done with a hand wheel and traditional tools like corn husks, plus a lot of help from Arbin, who owns the shop.

If you find yourself in Costa Rica, and are looking for a unique experience I highly recommend spending a few days with Arbin in his studio. I had a great time, and ended up with a piece I’m really proud of, that will forever remind me of our six months in Costa Rica. What more could you want in a souvenir?

You can see more pictures and learn more about the studio and my experience over at my craft blog TalkCraftyToMe.com.

Read the original article here: Handmade Souvenir in Costa Rica

Related posts:

1. Week 56: Costa Rica and our “Casa del Surf”
2. Costa Rica Budget
3. From Tamarindo, Costa Rica to Roatan, Honduras

We ran over the basic controls; pretty familiar for a motorcycle rider, and took the ATVs for a quick test lap around the property. Because of the lack of counter steering on an ATV, it wasn’t immediately as intuitive for me as a motorcycle, but I got the hang of it soon enough.

We took off at a beginners pace, driving on some fairly simple dirt roads and a bit of tarmac. We then crossed a washed out road full of water and began tackling some more challenging inclines, ruts, and loose gravelly sections. Pushing through one particular puddle, I splashed water up onto the engine which super heated it and then onto my bare legs. Ouch! Shortly after, Kelly got a little over ambitious and ended up in the bushes for a bit. A few prickles, but no real harm done.

We drove on for about an hour, picking up speed and confidence as we went, eventually arriving at our destination: “Bahia de los Piratas” – Pirate Beach, a small beach amongst the cliffs east of Tamarindo. We we’re covered in dust and everyone in our group of 8 had a spectacular dirt beard, so we stripped down to our swim gear and plunged into the surf.

On the trip home, I opened up the ATV a bit more. Racing through some mud, over some craggy steep hills, and even a few small jumps, drifting, and power slides. All in all, it was a great excursion and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who needs a little fuel injected fun.

Read the original article here: Our ATV Tour from Tamarindo

Related posts:

1. Learning to surf at Tamarindo Beach
2. Nicaragua Visa Run from Tamarindo
3. Week 59 & 60: Chillin’ in Tamarindo

Saturday came around and Kelly and I wandered down to the beach to find that a huge swell had come in and the usual 1-3 foot waves had turned into some monster 5-7 foot waves and bigger! I wandered into a surf shop to see if a lesson was doable in those conditions and they convinced me that by 3pm things would probably have calmed down a bit.

Normal wave size:

Freakishly large wave size:

3pm came around and not much had changed on the intimidating surf front, but I went ahead anyway since I had already paid and gotten my free t-shirt. I put my rash guard on and had a quick briefing on the finer points of surfing like the importance of covering your face if you stand too close to the front of the board causing the nose end to bury in the sand, converting a surf board into a catapult…

The two other students and I entered the water, pushing our boards ahead of us over the first few waves. After a few attempts at standing up on the board as the instructor pushed us ahead of the surf, it was apparent that I have absolutely no sense of balance. The other two students were fairing much better than I was, so the instructor went back to the shop to get me a bigger (the biggest) board.

For the next hour and a half, I managed to get up on my mammoth surfboard 8 or 10 times, more often ending up doing a push-up to back flop into the water. The few times I did get up, it was a relatively short ride due to the crowd of other tourists in the water. But really, I was exhausted after the first half hour of fighting that beast of a board out through the huge waves to a point where I could hop on.

I’ll be giving it another go in the near future since it wasn’t ideal conditions for learning this time out. All in all, my first surfing attempt was generally a frustrating and tiring experience. I walked away from it with some skinned knees, a tweaked shoulder, and considerably more respect for those people who made it seem so effortless from afar.

Read the original article here: Learning to surf at Tamarindo Beach

Related posts:

1. Week 59 & 60: Chillin’ in Tamarindo
2. Learning to Dive in the Philippines
3. Our ATV Tour from Tamarindo

On Thursday evening we set out on a Turtle Tour in hopes of seeing a nesting Leatherback Turtle on Playa Grande. Playa Grande’s three mile stretch of beach is part of the Las Baulas National Marine park, one of the largest Leatherback Turtle nesting sites in the world, and is strictly regulated in order to help protect the turtles.

We weren’t really sure what to expect from the tour, or how likely we were to actually see a turtle. When we booked the tour that afternoon, the tour office was boasting of turtles the size of cars, and how they saw 2 the night before. When we arrived at the ranger station however, our perspectives were slightly adjusted when we learned that in all of last year’s nesting season (October to March) they had only seen 32 turtles.

Never the less, after a 15 minute briefing, we set out on the tour (with a lot more people than we expected). We boarded a small boat for a short ride across the Tamarindo Estuary. When we reached the other side, one of the Ranger’s shined his flashlight on the beach, and scared off a small crocodile. Flashlights and cameras are not allowed so we waited in the dark as the boat went back for the other half of the group. We then followed one of the rangers single file about half a kilometer along a very dark path to the ranger station on Playa Grande.

Then the waiting began…

Every evening the rangers patrol the three mile stretch of beach keeping their eyes out for turtles. When they spot one, they radio to the ranger station letting them know where it is, and how far into the nesting process it is. On the night we were there, we’d been waiting for about 3 and a half hours when the call finally came through the radio. At this point it was already 12:30am, and we were just beginning to give up.

One of the rangers gathered everyone together and explained that the turtle was about a kilometer and a half down the beach and that only 15 of us would be allowed able to go. Fifteen is the park enforced limit for the number of people allowed to view any one turtle at a time. We had been told this when we booked the tour, and had also been told we would be in the first group. Problem was, everyone else had been told the same thing.

From this point on the tour went downhill…

The ranger decided that the best way to determine who would go, would be to draw numbers. If you got one of the first 15 you got to go, however then someone asked “What about couples?” so they changed it… if you got one of the first 7 you and your partner could go. We were unfortunately 3 people so weren’t exactly sure how this was gonna work. Anyway… we drew numbers and I got #2, which meant that Mike and I would both be in the group going.

After drawing all the numbers and everyone coupling up, Lauren deduced that there were only 14 people, so just hung out beside us, in hopes that she could tag along as the 15th person. Since the turtle was about 1.5km it would take about half an hour to walk there in the dark. At this point is was already almost 1am, and understandably, the people who weren’t in the group going, wanted to be taken back to Tamarindo rather than wait for an another hour and a half for us to return. The rangers said that wasn’t possible and that they’d have to wait, naturally a bit of an argument started. They Ranger then said if we couldn’t all agree no one would go…. In the end it didn’t matter, because during all the time that was wasted deciding who would go and arguing, the turtle had finished it’s business and we all missed it.

All-in-all it was a little disappointing… not the fact that we didn’t get to see a turtle, but the chaos and the disorganization of the tour it self. Anyway…

* * * * * *

Saturday afternoon was “Booze-Cruise” time. We arrived at the beach, and once again found far more people than we expected. We waited in turn while they shuttled everyone out to the large catamaran in small groups. Luckily we were in the second group so were able to wait with drinks in hand for the rest of the passengers to board. We then set sail towards Playa Flamingo.

We were several Piña Coladas in when we started to notice that quite a few of the passengers were expats, and that a lot of them seemed to know each other. We had another drink, and didn’t think much of it. We headed towards a little bay and all jumped in for a swim and a snorkel… unfortunately there were quite a few jellyfish and both Lauren and Mike got stung. So it was back to the boat for another drink. Booze helps jellyfish stings… right?

By lunch we had started to realize that no one else was really drinking (the boat was all-inclusive and had a stocked bar) and found it a bit strange that someone had stopped the entire boat before eating lunch to say grace. Again we put it out of our mind and had another drink. However, then came the guitars…. and the Jesus songs. Suddenly it all made sense, and we found out that were were the only people on the boat (with the exception of 3 girls who didn’t speak english) not part of the church group.

So we had a few more drinks and we headed back to Tamarindo, enjoying the beautiful sunset.

We stayed on board as they shuttled the church group to shore, and had a drink with the crew, the music was finally turned on, and Lauren got her Salsa on!

That night we made the rounds to a couple of bars in town and had several more drinks before calling it a night.

Sunday was not only recovery day, but moving day for us, and Lauren’s last day in Costa Rica. Mike and I had to switch apartments cause the one we were in had been rented for a couple of weeks, but it was just across the courtyard, and we don’t have much stuff so wasn’t too bad. That night we had a great last dinner with Lauren, and said our goodbyes. It was a really fun couple of weeks and so nice to see a familiar face.

Read the original article here: Week 63: Lauren’s Last Week

Related posts:

1. Week 58: Settling In
2. Week 59 & 60: Chillin’ in Tamarindo
3. Week 62:
   A Visitor, a Volcano, and a couple of Van rides

Wednesday was her first full day here, which actually coincided with a scheduled town-wide power outage. Since we couldn’t get any work done, we really had no option but to make it a beach day. The morning started off a little overcast, but by the afternoon it was gorgeous and sunny, and we all got a little burnt. Ooops! To cool off and get out of the sun, we headed to the patio at Witch Rock Surf Camp for some cold beers and a late lunch. Unfortunately the power outage made the menu selection a little thin, and Lauren wasn’t able to fill her craving for Witch Rock’s famous “Nachos as big as your ass”, but we made due with what was available and added nachos to our list of things to do next week.

On Thursday we had a full on work day to make up for the mid-week day off, and also in order to finish up some stuff so we could get away for a long weekend. Lauren had a lazy day at our pool, and finished off the first of the many books she’d brought with her.

Our plans for the weekend came together pretty last minute. We avoided booking anything early as Mike wasn’t sure he was going to be able to get away for four days. But he managed to get everything done, and we promised to find a hotel with wifi in case anything came up. Unfortunately, since we’d left it so late the public shuttle from Tamarindo to Arenal was full. Instead we had to take a private shuttle which was a bit more expensive, but also meant we didn’t have to get up early and could leave when we wanted.

Arenal is about a 4 hour drive from Tamarindo, and is known as the “adventure capital” of Costa Rica. Arenal Volcano National Park is chalk full of adrenaline pumping things to do. From canopy tours and bungee jumping to whitewater rafting and waterfall rappelling. There are also horseback tours and hiking trails and of course to relax after a hard day, several volcano-fed hot-springs.

We arrived at our hotel around 3 o’clock Friday afternoon, and after booking a couple of tours for the next day we kicked back and enjoyed several beers and the beautiful view of Arenal Volcano.

The next morning we were picked up bright an early and headed to Arenal’s Sky Trek, a canopy tour that criss-crosses it’s way through the Arenal Reserve. After suiting up in climbing harnesses, helmets and some slightly smelly gloves, we boarded the Sky Tram Gondola for a 20 minute ride up into the reserve.

It wasn’t till we reached the top and saw the length and height of the highest cable that the adrenaline started to kick in. The first 2 cables were just little baby ones to get you used to things, and give you the option to chicken out at take the gondola back down. The 3rd one, however, the point of no return, was a completely different story. 656 feet high, and 1550 feet across the reserve, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous.

Some how I ended up going first out of the 3 of us. My heart was definitely pounding as I stood on the platform getting clipped onto the cable. A little push and a slight scream, and there’s no turning back! I had done a canopy tour the first time I was in Costa Rica, about 6 years ago, but this one was definitely higher, and definitely longer.

After the initial few seconds the nerves let up a little and you can enjoy the ride. The first cable only takes about 30 seconds to cross and before you know it you’re flying into the next platform hoping the cables will actually stop you. Lauren and Mike were up next, and I had just enough time to get my camera out to snap a few pics as Lauren & Mike came flying in after me.

There are 8 cables in all, and to be honest, once you conquer your nerves on the first one the rest are a breeze. The views of lake Arenal, are beautiful and even though the top of the volcano was hidden by clouds it was still pretty amazing.

After an adrenaline filled morning, we headed back to our hotel to kick back by the pool and have some lunch. Later that afternoon we went on a volcano walk, to get a bit closer and in hopes of seeing some volcanic action. However, despite being one of the 10 most active volcano’s in the world we didn’t get so lucky. The first thing our guide told us was that we wouldn’t see any lava, and that this was the least active time of the year for Arenal. He then proceeded to give us a mini-science lesson for the rest of the hike, which was a bit more information that I think any of us needed or wanted. I suppose they felt they had to give us something to make us feel like we got our money’s worth.

Sunday morning was another early one. We had a transfer booked from Arenal to Monteverde, via the “Jeep-Boat-Jeep” tour advertised everywhere. It actually turned out to be more of a “Van-Boat-Van” trip, but the boat was definitely a nice way to break it up. The trip took a little over 3 hours and included a coffee stop where Lauren and I sat on a Bull.

That night we went on a night hike, which was actually pretty fun. We saw 6 coatis (part of the raccoon family), 3 tarantulas, one of which had a nest of little baby tarantulas, some birds, and frog, a praying mantis, and lots of other insects. Our guide was really great, pointing out lots of stuff we’d never have seen on our own, and giving us just enough information without being overwhelming.

After a couple of early mornings, we decided to just sleep in on Monday. Instead of going on another hike we wandered around Monteverde, and visited the Frog Pond, World of Insects and the Serpentario. All three were really great, but I think our fav was the Serpentario. The guide was great, and we got to hold several reptiles including a Boa Constrictor.

Our shuttle picked us up that afternoon. We grabbed some beer and some snacks for the ride and headed back to Tamarindo. It was a great little get away, and good to finally do a couple of touristy things.

Stay tuned for the rest of Lauren’s visit.

Read the original article here: Week 62:
A Visitor, a Volcano, and a couple of Van rides

Related posts:

1. Week 63: Lauren’s Last Week
2. Week 26: Kuala Lumpur
3. Week 59 & 60: Chillin’ in Tamarindo

The Nature Reserve at Rasa Ria is a small Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Center set in the grounds of the Shangri-La resort, a 5-star hotel, about an hours drive from the capitol city of Kota Kinabalu. Encompassing an area of 64 acres, and caring for just a handful of Orang-Utans, The Nature Reserve works in conjunction with the much larger center at Sepilok.

The centre was set up 1996 in collaboration with the Sabah Wildlife Department, it takes in injured or orphaned Orang-Utans, as well as those that have been confiscated from the illegal pet trade. When the rescued Orang-Utans first arrive at the centre, they are often quite sick and in need of medical treatment. They are nursed back to health and taught how to forage for food, climb trees and generally fend for themselves. They are then released into the surrounding forest reserve.

Once released into the reserve, the Orang-Utans spend most of their day in the forest, but return to the feeding platforms for an easy meal. There are two daily feedings at Rasa Ria which are open to the public. Each feeding is limited to 65 people, so be sure to book in advance as they are almost always full. The food supplied by the centre is purposefully designed to be monotonous and boring in order to encourage the Orang-Utans to start to forage for themselves.

On the day I visited three young Orang-Utans showed up for breakfast.

Things were a little uneventful at first while the little guys munched away, which caused the crowd to dwindle a bit when a few people got bored and a couple of children got cranky. Once they’d gotten their fill however, the three young Orang-Utans got quite playful. Rough-housing with each other, vying for the best spot on the tree. Swinging from branch to branch and quite often missing, hitting the hard underbrush with a thump before returning to trying all over again.

The feeding lasts only an hour and costs 65 Malaysian Ringgits, about $20CAD, (however if you’re staying at the resort and willing to pay extra you can stay behind for a bit more of a personal experience).

All-in-all it was a great experience. Not quite as memorable as our trip to the Elephant Sanctuary (which is still one of my favs of our entire time in Asia) but a great way to spend a morning. That is… as long as you’re not Mike and creeped out by monkeys!

Read the original article here: Rasa Ria Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Center

Related posts:

1. Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary
2. Week 49: Borneo Biking Adventures

Bryan and Terry, along with Terry’s wife Rose (and 3 year old David) operate Borneo Biking Adventures (BBA). For the last 4 years they’ve taken racers, recreational riders, slowpokes, and even a few lunatics on treks through the roads and trails of Malaysian Borneo. Midday Tuesday, Terry arrived to pick us up from our hotel in Kota Kinabalu. 30 minutes spent navigating a bit of city traffic, and a perilously steep 5km gravel driveway and we arrived at Sinurambi, their house in the hills. With 6 guest rooms, an infinity pool, beautiful furniture and finishings, and staff creating a range of tasty meals, Sinurambi was a pleasure to come home to at the end of each riding day.

Rose and company are superb hosts, quickly making you feel at home and taking care of anything you might require while including you in the family atmosphere. Our first evening was spent relaxing in the pool with a cold beer, following which we were invited down to the river for another swim and a game of Frisbee with some of their friends. It was a refreshing change from the typically stoic “sir” and “ma’am” approach. Returning to the house, we chatted with Terry and Bryan about the next days events over a dinner of local freshwater crab and wild boar. Terry asked, “Tarmac, off road? What kind of rider are you?” “I came all the way here for twisties,” was my response. Being a sport bike rider, gravel was almost a feared occurrence. “I think we’ve got you covered,” he replied with a smirk.

Up early the next day at 7am, we showered and went down to breakfast. Following a quick briefing, we geared up and got our first look at the bikes. BBA has a fleet of 12 Aprilia Pegaso 650‘s. A great mix of trail and street, the Pegasos performed brilliantly on tarmac, clay, gravel, mountainous ascents, tight corners, traffic jams, and even the occasional river crossing.

BBA also provides full riding gear for both riders and pillion passengers. A must have for us, given our beach oriented wanderings have left us with nothing but board shorts and flip flops. Next item on the itinerary, “Would you prefer to ride down the ‘driveway’, or drive the support vehicle?” Given my lack of off road expertise I opted for the air conditioned option. The 5km of steep, rutted gravel is quite intimidating and tossing my shiny untested new ride off a cliff, was all too prominent in my mind. Following behind Bryan in the support truck was a sobering experience as he quickly outpaced my 4 wheels with his 2. I shouldn’t feel too badly, he’s a British motocross champion.

Climbing onto the Pegaso at the base of the driveway with Kelly behind me, we took off down the road on our test run. Following Terry we meandered through traffic and the sloping turns heading into town. Driving on the left side of the road, merging through roundabouts, and a complete disregard for any road rules whatsoever was a bit of an adjustment, but we’ve grown somewhat used to it after the last year in Asiatic traffic patterns. Getting used to the weight of the bike and reacquainted with the concept of speed also took a few corners, aside from airplanes it’s been months since we’ve been moving faster than 70 or 80 km/hr.

In no time we were outside town lines, cruising little used back roads which eventually led us to a drive up the beach. We stopped for the first of what would be many re-hydrating points over the next few days. Sabah is hot in the summer, around 35-38 degrees Celsius at midday; and while the wind keeps you moderately cool while riding, you’re constantly sweating in all that protective gear. We pulled out of the beach and within a few turns ran into a police roadblock where I was asked for my license. The officer in charge asked me what Class 5 and Class 6 were for in Canada, where I was going, then quietly “How many cc’s and how fast does your bike go?” Motorcycles are a rarity in Borneo. BBA has imported all of their bikes and renting them is illegal. Technically, we were paying for a guided tour, not a bike rental. Aside from one 150cc Yamaha cruiser I never saw another motorcycle on the road.

We then set off for the barren stretches of highway and huge sweeping turns comprising the newly finished Crocker Mountain Range pass. At the top with a cup of tea in hand, the view was a breathtaking vista of untouched first growth jungle, mountains, valleys, and small villages interspersed amongst the vast palm oil plantations. The trip down from the peak of the pass provided endless corners and every kind of turn imaginable. A challenging ride for someone as out of practice as myself, I overshot a tight corner apex a couple times veering dangerously into oncoming traffic… wait, oncoming traffic? Aside from the odd off-road logging truck chugging up the pass in low gear and the occasional family touring the pass in a Daihatsu doing 40km/hr there was no traffic.

To round out our first ride, Terry took us along more highways, back roads, and unmapped routes to see where our wild boar from the previous night came from, how locals harvest the sap from rubber trees, past a few suspension bridges, and across a weir where we posed for posterity. Most of this was almost completely lost on me amongst the never ending deluge of twisty corners. The first 8 hour day alone put nearly every other ride I’ve done to shame. Pulling into the base of the driveway from Hell, we parked the bikes and the support vehicle picked us up for the trek to the top. We returned to Sinurambi to find a tray of drinks and a snack awaiting us before a dip in the pool and another fantastic spread for dinner. Early to bed, I fell asleep with slow motion replays of pavement blurily passing by.

Waking early again, Kelly and I were driven down the driveway to the bikes at the base, washed clean by the rains during the night. We took off climbing the same range we had descended at the end of the previous day. Ascending giving us more control as we could easily roll off the power in the decreasing radius corners and not get caught in the opposite lane. Terry now familiar with my riding style pointed us on our way and give us a head start. Initially in 4th and 3rd gear, we were soon dropping into 2nd and 1st as the corners became faster and tighter as we climbed to higher altitude. Sure enough, Terry caught up with us in short order and set the pace a little higher. Riding with a passenger, it was tough work keeping up with him. Plus we had to stop for the obligatory photo sessions. :)

Terry took us up a gravel ridge where a landslide had previously cleared away the cliff face and road, telling us a story about coming across the road shortly after it had washed out and finding a vehicle still sitting on the road 100m below in the valley, driver and all. Lunch at a local cafe at the peak provided another stunning view with a meal of fried rice with shrimp, soup, and sweet and sour chicken. We then ran more twisty roads till we ended up at the Kundasang War Memorial where the death marches ended. We continued up to the Mount Kinabalu Golf Club where we finally got above the clouds that had been hovering for the past few days. We got our first clear view of Mount Kinabalu, as well as a tour of the first 4 holes of the golf course as we snuck down the golf cart lane on the bikes. We then spent a good hour and a half doing a perfect run from mountain top to bottom, only to be followed by zipping in and out of traffic back home. Day 2′s ride had set the bar even higher. Arriving at the house, we caught up on some emails and then joined in the celebration of David’s 3rd birthday.

On day 3, Kelly went to see the orangutans at Rasa Ria so I had a day of riding solo where I could throw the bike into corners without worrying about her on the back. I promised I’d come back alive and in one piece. Terry on the other hand promised that he was going to take me onto the gravel. We started out doing a little standing on the pegs while navigating some easy tarmac sections, then moved up to some simple gravel bits. Within an hour, my legs were aching because I hadn’t been balancing my weight properly at the start and we’d already moved up to some pretty daunting off road bits. We parked at a waterfall for a while before the actual challenging stuff to give my muscles a break and to re-hydrate, then proceeded up some steep paved bits to end up on a clay and gravel road descent where the balance point tutelage of Terry finally clicked. Buzzing down the road with the back end sliding all over the place and trying to pick the smoothest line around the jutting rocks, I found an appreciation for something other than speed and perfectly apexed corners.

We rode through highway traffic for a while then turning onto a nondescript road, Terry motioned for me to pull up alongside him. “This is where everything you’ve done over the past few days comes together”, he said to me. He points and lets me lead the way. What follows can only be described as the most amazing twisty road I’ve ever encountered. More then 200 turns of every kind of camber and radius imaginable, one following the other with no straightaways in between. Dragging pegs through hairpins, throwing my weight across the bike while rolling the power on through the curve. I’ll be dreaming of that road for years to come and I don’t have enough expletives to properly describe it to you.

The twisty dead-end came next. Riding it semi-cautiously on the way out, just to get a feel for it. Then going balls to the wall on the way back and really pushing my own limits. Having only a vague memory of the next corner, I was definitely jealous of Terry and Bryan being able to frequent these amazing runs. Riding in Borneo gave me a sense of over-confident ability with its lack of traffic, police, speed limits, and rules, but I tried to stay wary and alert. Terry had warned me of the mid-afternoon waning when a rider’s brain gets numbed by the amazing riding and the heat. There were a few too many buffalo in the streets, dogs sunning themselves on the tarmac, blind corners, slow moving cars, and little children running around to be totally carefree. But the sheer freedom of riding in Borneo is incomparable to anything I’ve seen elsewhere. It’s really something special.

Terry had saved the best runs for the last day. “This next section is 60km of insanity,” he quips before sending me off. I tear off down this unimaginably empty road where I hit 170km, then brake into huge sweeping corners at 140km, slowing into 90km inclined hairpins and I just kept trying to ramp more speed into each corner. Motorcycles really are a rarity in Borneo. Locals wave and stare everywhere you go. Whenever we’d stop for a drink or a bite to eat people would crowd around the bikes asking questions and taking pictures. Cars would pull over to make room for us to pass and flash headlights or beep horns as we’d roll by. Not in annoyance or anger as you’d expect in North America, but as if to say “Yah! Go faster!” On our speed run we came across 5 or 6 trucks with tarpulined backs that were the local school buses and the children on the benches would clap, cheer, and wave as we passed. It was almost as if we had attained near celebrity status. It made me want to go faster.

Headed towards home, we hit the traffic in Kota Kinabalu. It was almost a game. We passed everything. We split lanes. We blew by cops, raced pickup trucks, rode on the shoulder. As if everything your mother (and the DMV) ever told you not to do was now totally A-OK. Go play in traffic.

Finally we ended up at the bottom of the driveway from Hell. Terry had been building me up for this all day. He didn’t even stop at the bottom, just rolled on the gas and headed up. I stood up on the pegs and followed. The next 5km had some sketchy moments where I thought I was going to lose the front end, and even a point where Terry had to pull ahead of me and flag me to slow down before we nosed into some particularly sketchy rough spots. But in the end, we made it up to the house, home, alive, bikes and bodies intact, sunburned, sweaty, and riding such an adrenaline high that even now days later I’m still in a state of grinning euphoria.

There were a couple close calls. There are more roads yet unexplored. There will be a day when I go back.

I can only hope that Sabah will still retain most of the magic that made it such a memorable finale to my year in southeast Asia. The hospitality of the people. The amazing scenery and wild expanses of jungle and mountain ranges. The wild west atmosphere of unfettered exploration and lawless self-indulgence in speed. Go, do it now. Before it’s too late.

Read the original article here: Week 49: Borneo Biking Adventures

Related posts:

1. Week 48: Kota Kinabalu, Borneo
2. Week 47: Diving Sipadan and Mabul
3. Two dudes, one bike…

The Philippines pretty much had it all as far as I was concerned. Great macro and muck diving in the Dauin area. Fantastic wall dives at Siquijor. Beautiful soft corals and schools of fish at Apo Island. Turtles at Moalboal and sharks at Malapascua. It’s a package that was hard to beat. Traveling through Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, I never came across a place with the diversity that the Visayas offered. Sure, there were some amazing hi-lights along the way like the whale shark in Thailand and manta rays in Indonesia, but never matching the sheer range of corals, creatures, and dive opportunities. Until Sipadan…

Early Tuesday morning we left the Perhentians, taking a spine crushing speed boat ride to the mainland while we hugged our laptop bags away from the spray and rain. 10 hours of taxi rides and planes later we arrived in Tawau, Borneo. Another hour later, we were in Semporna hunting for a late dinner.

The next day we woke at 7am to catch the boat to the island of Mabul. Upon arriving at the Billabong Scuba homestay, we found out they had overbooked and moved us to the longhouse next door. We soon found ourselves in a rundown 2m x 3m room with only a couple grungy single beds in it, shared bathrooms, and set meals. The thing is, there’s no middle tier options on Mabul. It’s either $30/night per person at a homestay/longhouse, or $3-400/night at one of the few resorts. So we were expecting things to be a little rustic and rundown, but even then it was a bit of a shock. We don’t do a lot of budget hosteling.

Billabong was the only place that had been able to guarantee us 2 full days at Sipadan, and we booked a month and a half before we arrived. Most places had no availability at all, and many people we met said they had booked their 2 and 3 day Sipadan trips 4-6 months in advance! Sipadan has a very strict permit system allowing only 120 divers a day on the site.

We did a number of dives at Mabul over the next 5 days. Initially, we weren’t overly impressed with the south side of the island. It’s touted as a macro paradise, but we saw surprisingly little and the visibility was quite poor. We did eventually end up seeing a ghost pipefish, some interesting nudibranch, crocodile fish, and quite a few crinoid shrimp and anenome shrimp at a site called Coral Garden.

There’s also a very large man made reef on the south side with large schools of fish. On the north side of the island, there’s a 25m wall with a few great sites on it. Lobster wall (alas, no lobsters were found) and Ross reef, as well as Eel Garden were great dives. We saw a number of turtles and stingrays, some shrimp, moray eels, plus 20 or 30 nudibranch. I also found 2 huge cuttlefish at Eel Garden, and a big Flying Gurnard which was a first for me.

There’s also a site called Seaventures. It’s an old oil rig that was gutted and ended up being turned into a dive resort. While interesting and there’s lots of sea life under it, it’s also a bit depressing. The site is basically a big pile of trash dumped off the rig. From toilets and iron bars to filing cabinets, they just threw everything overboard and 10 years later it’s now a faux reef. While it’s full of life now, I can’t imagine what else was originally swept away into the ocean and I don’t want to promote dumping trash into the ocean because 10 years later fish can hide in it… but we did see a frog fish.

Our first day at Sipadan, we took a speedboat to the island around 9am. Signing in with the permit people, they gave us a flag to identify our boat. We geared up and headed off to South Point, which is known for shark sightings. :) Jumping in, we first noticed the amazing reef. Beautiful hard corals as far as you can see, huge fans, and thousands of tiny fish everywhere. Dropping over the edge of the wall, we saw our first shark within a minute. A meter long white tip reef shark, cruising around 12m.

We dropped down to about 25m. With visibility stretching out to 50+ meters, we quickly saw small groups of white tip and black tip reef sharks patrolling. Then, looking down below to 40 or 50m, we found big grey reef sharks around 3-4m long. Spinning in circles trying to see all the sharks passing within meters of us, interspersed between them were turtles headed to the surface for air, or camped out on the rock shelves. For 50 minutes we just drifted along in the current, flabbergasted at the sheer number of sharks and turtles. Coming back above the wall, we were again in a vast field of coral full of every kind of fish imaginable. Easily the best dive I’ve ever done.

The following 5 dives at Sipadan followed a similar script. Beautiful coral entries, deep walls, surrounded by sharks and turtles, only to return to the huge coral beds for our safety stop. Easily, we saw 75 sharks and 100 turtles over those 6 dives. Plus, it’s trigger fish nesting season. At Hanging Gardens we came across hundreds of trigger fish ascending the wall and when we came up for our safety stop, we found them nesting in pockets of coral as far as you could see. Unbelievable. Even better, almost every creature we came across is so unaccustomed to human contact that they hadn’t developed fear or aggression towards us, so Kelly got some fantastic pictures.

The 5 sites we dove were:

• South Point - Shark Central. Black tips, white tips, grey reef sharks. Lots of turtles. Trigger fish everywhere. Slow drift.
• Barracuda Point (twice) - We saw a barracuda tornado, big trevallies and schools of jackfish. Lots of turtles. Fast drift.
• Hanging Gardens - More white tip sharks, turtles, and nesting trigger fish.
• Mid Reef - White tip/black tip sharks and turtles.
• The Drop Off (Turtle Tomb) - Too many turtles to count. A school of bump head parrotfish at 8m, schools of batfish, white tip sharks. Briefly explored the turtle tomb where many turtles (and some divers) get lost and have perished in the twisty caves and tunnels.

All in all it was an amazing experience. Easily the best 6 dives I’ve ever done and more than making up for the cramped quarters, food, and long travels. Plus the other travelers we met were so genuinely excited to be diving one of the worlds premier sites it was impossible to be put off. We’ll be retelling and reliving tales of the shark that passed within inches of my face or the turtle that chased us into the tomb for what I hope will be a long time.

(More pictures to come, Kelly just hasn’t gotten around to editing them all!)

Read the original article here: Week 47: Diving Sipadan and Mabul

Related posts:

1. Sipadan & Mabul Pictures Uploaded
2. Week 14: Diving, diving, and more diving
3. Learning to Dive in the Philippines

Among the cacophony of all this, there are trucks roaming the streets with loud speakers proclaiming the greatness of the evenings scheduled Muay Thai boxing matches. Its always the ‘Fight of the Year’ and every fighter is supposedly a district champion… but 6 years ago I did take in a Muay Thai night and it was a memorable if somewhat shocking experience. Back then, they started with the youngest fighters around 6 years old and progressed to the regional champions who were usually in their mid 20′s. It was strange paying to watch little kids beat each other up, and it did get quite bloody when they got to the later matches. But I’d say it’s a must see if you’re in the neighbourhood since the Thai people are so enthusiastic about the sport and it really is a good time.

Kelly hadn’t been to a match on her previous visit to Thailand, so when we came across the posters a few nights ago for Thursday where they were pitching a main event between a 300lb American guy and two 140lb Thai guys, the circus freak glamour of it all pulled us in. We bought ringside tickets for 1000 baht a piece and settled in to watch 7 matches.

There were no kids fighting this time, but the weight classes were from 115lbs to 170lbs (excluding the American) with a few other foreigners fighting in the higher weight classes.

When it came time for the main event, we found out that the giant was NOT going to be fighting them at the same time. Instead, he would fight them one at a time, alternating through the 5 rounds. My extreme disappointment was tempered when the little guy started throwing flying jump kicks at the first bell.

All told, it was a good night out. We had a few drinks, successfully predicted a bunch of the matches, laughed a lot, and witnessed that speed and agility will dominate if there’s two people ganging up on a fat guy.

Read the original article here: Week 35: Fight Night

Related posts:

1. Week 8: Boracay
2. Week 32: A week in point form…
3. Week 29: Koh Tao – Back again!

So what does a nerd do offline in a tropical country? He stays hydrated…

Tiger Beer
My personal favourite. Malty and a touch sweet. Originating from Malaysia, but also brewed in Thailand. More than 3 of these could be considered a meal.

Mekhong Whiskey
I actually had to go online and look at pictures of whiskey on Google to find out what this is. There’s not a word of English on the bottle. Thai whiskey is potent, guaranteed to give you a wicked hangover, and has been rumoured to have some slight hallucinogenic properties. All I know is you put it in a bucket with Coke and Red Bull. Yum.

Phuket Beer
Brewed by the Phuket Brewery, this light lager is… light. Almost flavourless in fact.

Singha Beer
The staple of Thailand. Available everywhere. Light and refreshing, it goes with everything. Like breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Leo Beer
A close runner up to Singha. Also very light and enjoyable. Probably the cheapest, good beer available almost everywhere.

SiamSato Cider
What we thought was a beer, but turned out to be a cloyingly sweet cider. Lesson learned, if it doesn’t say ‘beer’ on the bottle, don’t assume it is one. We ended up pouring this one out.

Archa Beer
Also a good light beer. We haven’t seen this one again since Phuket.

Mai Tai Guy
This little pineapple headed fellow let us drink his fruity brains. Yum. I’m a tropical zombie.

Chang Beer
The other staple beer of Thailand. Stronger than Singha, this is the backpacker’s beer of choice. You buy less liquor but it gets you drunk quicker. Famous for the ‘Changover’ the next day, it was once rumoured to have formalin added to it as a preservative.

Cheers Beer
Norm would be all over this. It’s light and good like so many of the other Thai beers. Really, in a blind taste test I would be hard pressed to tell one beer from another.

We’ve done a bit more than just drinking for the last 3 weeks. It’s currently Songkran, the Thai New Years where a ‘cleansing’ takes place in the form of a country wide water fight. It’s a little more chill here on Koh Tao than when I experienced it 6 years ago on Koh Samui. There I was barely able to get a block out of the house before being soaked from head to toe and surrounded by crowds of belligerently amusing Aussies. Here on Koh Tao, it’s a sleepy little dive town where the festivities don’t really get started till later in the evenings.

We’ve had some really good meals. La Matta is a great little Italian place on the main strip of Mae Haad that serves wood fired oven pizzas and hand made pasta. Local Thai food is spicy, cheap, and everywhere. I had 3 dinners the other night. Seafood beach BBQ is everywhere and very fresh. We’ve become late night regulars at the local pancake stands where they’ll whip you up a chocolate nutella pancake with condensed milk in 30 seconds. Needless to say, I’m packing on the pounds.

There’s been some rioting in Bangkok lately, but looks to have been resolved without closing the airport. There were a few deaths and a multitude of injuries when protesters and the military clashed once again. The issue is the same as when the country closed the airport last December, 2 political factions are fighting for control and one is trying to oust the current PM. Thankfully, we’ve been pretty much unaffected out here on the islands.

The fact that we only have about 3 more months before we head home has started to settle in. We’ve vowed to cut back our baggage size to something a little more manageable and do more traveling in the coming few months, rather than settling into an apartment. I’m stoked about doing a motorcycle tour of Borneo and both Kelly and I are contemplating Bali or eastern Malaysia for some more diving.

We’re looking forward to coming home for a visit. We’ll be spending a week or two in Vancouver, then heading to the Island, Kelowna, etc… to see family. Funnily enough, the most expensive part of our whole trip could be the time we spend in Vancouver. Anyone have a good hookup for hotel deals near the downtown core? Following that, we’re thinking that we’ll be moving on to Central America for a while. Pending economical conditions and homesickness of course. We’re looking forward to seeing you all.

Read the original article here: Back Online and a Buck a Beer

Related posts:

1. Random Factoid: San Miguel makes good, cheap beer.
2. Dumaguete and Dauin Online Resources
3. Week 21: Making Plans