Tanah Lot

a very long overdue post…

Day 65 – Mt. Bromo

waking up at 3 AM is never easy…

Day 63 – Prambanan temple

this must have been the nicest Ramayana story we’ve ever seen, still wondering why they called it a ballet though…

Day 62 – Borobudur temple

Day 60 – Green Canyon and market of Pangandaran

Day 59 – A walk in the backyards of Pangandaran

Day 56 – Bukit Lawang (home of the sumatran orang-utan)

Day 55 – Bukit Lawang (home of the sumatran orang-utan)

and our camp site for the night

Day 54 – Bukit Lawang (home of the sumatran orang-utans)

Day 51 – Sumatran farming

proof of the haze that invaded SEA, courtesy of the oil palm farmers of Sumatra the mt. is 4200m high, officially it was a sunny day… and this is Kuala Lumpur one day later, same haze (aka smoke)

Day 49 – Kota Kinabalu

the nicest night market we have ever seen

Day 46 – Diving in Sipadan (Barracuda Point)

one of my favourite images: a shoal of jack fish swarming, a tuna in the middle and 5 sharks at the bottom

Day 45 – Diving in Sipadan (Barracuda Point)

depending on what diving magazine you read, the Barracuda Point in Sipadan is considered to be the best place in the world to dive. we returned here after 2 years and for sure we’ll come again. the white-tip fin shark – the world’s laziest shark, i took this picture from about 1 1/2 -2 m.

Day 44 – Diving in Mabul

Day 43 – Diving in Mabul

Day 41 – Singapore

absolutely the most developed town in SEA; except being “over-mall-ed” is amazing how the underground is a series of interconnected malls…

Day 39 – Tarsiers (some of world’s smallest and cutest primates)

I’m pretty sure the Gremlins movie was inspired by tarsiers; deadly cute by day, ferocious hunters by night, they hunt insects, birds and bats, by jumping up to 2m at them (when you are abt 10cm tall that is impressive)

Day 38 – Bohol’s chocolate hills

Day 37 – Diving in Bohol (little things)

Day 36 – Diving in Bohol

the parent trigger fish is known to defend the surroundings of its nest even from divers, by no means this is a little fish, its bite can be rather painful, the guide needed to jump in my defence as of a wired reason it targeted me as potential predator…

Day 35 – Diving in Bohol

Day 34 – Calangaman Island

Day 33 – Diving in Malapascua

Day 32 – Diving in Malapascua

Day 31 – Diving in Malapascua

everyone loves Nemo squat shrimp mating tobbies

Day 30 – Diving in Malapascua with the thresher sharks

2 tries, 2 sights! love this place! yes, waking up at 4AM isn’t fun, but is worth seeing them. and finally i got a proper picture of a ghost pipefish

Day 29 – Diving in Malapascua

first dive at 4.45 AM trying to see the thresher sharks, beautiful very shy 4m long creatures, quick encounter and swam away…

Day 25 – Puerto Galera

Day 22 – Hikking Mt. Pinatubo

in 1991 it produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century reducing the global temperature by 0.5C and the hight of the volcano by 259m. massive amount of ash was thrown into atmosphere and surrounding areas. what you see in these pictures as “canyon” is actually huge layer of ash being eroded by […]

Day 21 – Stacked coffins of Sagada

Coffins were mostly carved from one whole piece of wood. The locals can still chose even nowadays this way of burial. “It was said that the hanging coffins could prevent bodies from being taken by beasts and also bless the soul eternally.”(wikipedia) It was also said by our local guide that this type of burial […]

Day 20 – Hanging coffins of Sagada

Coffins were mostly carved from one whole piece of wood. The locals can still chose even nowadays this way of burial. “It was said that the hanging coffins could prevent bodies from being taken by beasts and also bless the soul eternally.”(wikipedia) It was also said by our local guide that this type of burial […]

Day 19 – Rice terraces of Banaue

Day 18 – Trekking in Ifugao along the rice terraces

second day in Batad, a wonderful location (unless it rains from 2pm till midnight)

Day 17 – Trekking in Ifugao along the rice terraces

the rice terraces of Batad are often (locally) referred to as the 8th wonder of the world; this is the 3rd 8th Wonder of the World we have seen…;)

Day 16 – Trekking in Ifugao along the rice terraces

we had a beautiful three days hike, sometimes in extreme humidity. First set of pictures is between Banaue and Cambulo.

Day 15 – Manila

visiting the pig roasting centre…

Day 13 – Palau – Rock Islands

Day 12 – Diving with Mantas

cannot describe the feeling when you see a manta ray, every diver longs to see them, rare majestic sights

Day 11 – Diving with the Jellyfish

actually THIS was the reason we went to Palau: thousands of jellyfish isolated from the sea, with no predators therefore they dropped the defence mechanism making no problem having one touching even your face. A surreal experience!

Day 10 – Diving in Palau

if you look closely you will see six sharks 🙂

Day 9 – Diving in Palau

with the bigeye jacks on this island they shot the first season of “Survivor”

Day 8 – Diving in Palau

Day 4 – Banteay Srei

i’ll be honest, the Banteay Srei (or the pink temple) is the jewel of the entire region, very small but astonishing Beng Mealea is not as famous as Ta Prohm ( no Hollywood movie yet), it was left almost untouched since its discovery, it is a clear example of nature reclaiming its rights. If you […]

Day 3 – Ta Prohm

Marked on the map as “Tomb Raider Tree” Early morning at the cow wash Getting up at 4.30am for the perfect sunrise picture is tough for all of us

Day 2 – Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Day 1 – Temple of Bayon

blank_1

blank_2

blank_3

blank_6