Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei:  Palm Garden Hotel First and foremost, this hotel is kind of out on it’s own.  It’s not in the city center, it’s not next to the Gadong market (although the walk is only about 10-15 minutes and they’ll drive you there for $5 Brunei).  I was a bit disappointed as we drove […]

Today was my allotted day to dive Sipadan.  It’s a big deal.  Only 120 people per day are allowed to dive the island, and you have to get permits early.  So most of the backpackers I’ve met who just kind of turn up have virtually no chance of going to Sipadan, unless someone cancels and […]

It’s been a tough couple of days.  Well, tough is relative –it’s not like I have stressful tele-conferences all day or million dollar decisions to make.  Maybe it’s more appropriate to say it’s been an exhausting couple of days.  But I am SOOO HAPPY!!!!  Last year, I decided I was born to heli-ski.  But maybe I […]

My transfer was supposed to pick me up in front of the S.O.R.C between 12:30 and 12:40.  After watching a few minivans come and go (without me), I started to get nervous.  At 12:45 I tried to call the contact number I had – no answer.  I waited in the baking sun, and sweated, and waited […]

after 2 days in the jungle, I am now back on line in the seaside town of semporna.  I’ll catch up with my back-blogging in a bit (jungle was beautiful!), but for now let me share some first impressions of Semporna.  And admit to making my first 2 rather big-ish travel mistakes today.  Well, aside […]

Today started early, up at 4:30 so I could get to the airport in time to catch the first flight to Sandakan.  By the way, inter-Malaysian flights are incredibly inexpensive, usually costing between 20-30€ to get from one city to another.  You could also take a bus for only about 8-10€, but then you’d spend 6 […]

Last night was not what I would call restful. I was staying at Pendant Hut, which sits at about 3250m on Mt. Kinabalu, in a dormitory room which luckily was not full.  So the problem was less the other people (there were only 3 of us, no one snored, actually I was probably the most annoying […]

On my way up the mountain today, I saw a body going down the other way.  Wrapped in plastic bags, on a makeshift stretcher and carried by four porters.  How is that for a wake up call? Especially when you consider that this is a tourist climb.  It is not an expedition, it is not […]

The flight from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu, in the north-east Malaysian part of Borneo, was relatively uneventful (okay, there was some heavy turbulence that had me  wondering exactly how reliable Royal Brunei Airlines is – I mean, an airline company for a country with 400,000 people?).  And despite the multiple attempts of my Malaysian taxi […]

Brunei Darussalam, the complete name of the country I’m currently visiting, translates to the title of this post.  And in many ways, lives up to it.  Whether walking along the waterfront, watching and waving to the water taxis zipping past, or coming home in the night along jungle-lined lanes while listening to the frogs and crickets […]

Finally I arrived, a mere 3 ½ hours later than planned (thanks a lot, mister VIP).  Only 1 day in Brunei so this robbed me of 15% of my time!  Part of travel though: take it as it comes and make the most of it.   Right after getting to my hotel, I headed out to the […]

we are perhaps all used to having flights delayed due to inclement weather conditions, technical issues, crew members missing, and the like.  My flight to Brunei today is delayed due to VIP movement on the other side.  That is, someone very important in Brunei has decided to travel today, and therefore the airport has been […]

let’s start today’s post with a question: does anything beat Indian hospitality? Everything with my trip went fine – the A380 lived up to expectations (quiet, very smooth flying) and I had an empty seat next to me, so a bit more space to sleep.  And I laughed through Rock of Ages, enjoying the 80s […]