Author Archives: John Rose
Dial M for Monkey!!
Borneo is know for more than orang utans, it is also the home of the Proboscis Monkey. The Proboscis Monkey is distinguished by a red nose, which is rather like a clowns nose for the males. It also is significantly larger than normal monkeys with big bellies. In Sepilok there is one place to see […]
The King Of The Swingers
Sepilok is the home of the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Sabah, Borneo. This was another big item on our wish list while planning our trip back in London as Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) have always fascinated us. To get here we had to take a 7 hour bus from Kota Kinabalu. The journey took us past […]
Islands in the stream…
So after Singapore it was a side shuffle back over to Malaysia, in particular Malaysian Borneo. We landed in Kota Kinabalu (KK). This is the largest city in, and gateway to, Sabah, Borneo. There’s no beaches worth talking about (we found out the hard way too!), but as a harbour city it was chock-full of […]
The Secret Life Of Arabia
Crossing the Bridge and walking due east of Little India you can’t but fail to notice a mosque to your left. This is the Sultan Mosque and it is the center piece of an area known as Kampong Glam or Arab Street – a middle eastern enclave in the heart of Singapore. This area was […]
You only Sling when you’re winning!
It was time to bid farewell to KL, it had been good to us. We felt almost normal again and ready to hit the road to Singapore. We boarded the 10am bus and travelled in style across the border from Malaysia. The Singaporeans obviously like their comforts and this bus was no exception- a massage, […]
Malarone and Haircuts
Back in KL after the caves we went for some Teppanyaki in FoodRepublic which was quite surprisingly tasty! After that found a pharmacy that sold Malarone – The Anti Malarial drug that doesn’t give you nightmares or sunburn. Expensive but necessary for the month in Indonesia. We had been trying all day but the lack […]
Quick Karen.. to the Batu Cave!
Batu Caves On our last trip to Kuala Lumpur we ran out of time before we could see the Batu Caves. Being back here meant we would get a second bite of the cherry. Located 13km north of the city, this is a very important outpost of Indian culture in the eastern peninsula of Malaysia. […]
Bukit 24 Jam
Landing in Kuala Lumpur (KL) we only had one mission – a proper dinner! Good thing that Malaysian food is so good. As Kuala Lumpur is a big city,hostels and hotels are too expensive for what you get so we opted for a rented apartment on AirBnb. This was located very centrally so it was […]
Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic
Until 1974 no one knew what was buried near the Emperor Qin Shì Huang’s Mausoleum outside Xi’an. Then peasant farmers came along and tried to dig a well and in lieu of water they discovered the 8th Wonder of the World… the Terracotta Army. And like the gift that keeps on giving, there […]
Exit Strategy
We made it to Kunming. All those weeks ago we booked our exit flight not knowing what China would do to us. To begin with, it restored our faith in humanity after meeting such great people. We appreciated nature more after the spectacular sights we witnessed and most importantly,on a few occasions, it completely validated […]
Leaping Tiger Hidden Gorge
We wanted to go see Tiger Leaping Gorge but we didn’t want to do all the dangerous trekking that’s involved- we have done enough of that on this trip. As a compromise we decided to just get a driver and go see the Gorge from the southern bank at the waters edge. In the end […]
…In the Country!
It was late when we arrived to our guesthouse so it was straight to bed after the driver dropped us off. The owner Bruce and his wife Bella stayed up to welcome us and the next morning made us a great breakfast while they filled us in on the surrounding area and what to do.We […]
Weekly Photo Challenge: Contrasts
In Cambodia’s south coast (It only has one coast by the way), there is an old French Hill Station called Bokor Hill. There is an interesting Contrast here when you capture the following two buildings in the same shot. On the left is the old (run-down) Summer Residence of one of Cambodia’s Rulers. On the […]
Pandas
Very excited today as we would be going to see the Pandas at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre. Our driver arrived and our minivan looked like it ran on sheer willpower! As we shuddered through traffic (the suspension was completely gone!) we read through some of the Lonely Planet China to get excited. Arriving at […]
Humpty Dumpty is in trouble!
“The Average height of the Terracotta Warriors is 180cm” This fact was brought to you by our young volunteer tour guide at the Terracotta Warriors. On closer inspection you see that not only are the soldiers different heights, but they are different body sizes and (apparently) no two faces are the same. This becomes surreal […]
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