http://asiatrip.greghinch.com The self important musings of a Web Developer and World Traveler Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:28:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In Miri I had again found a guest house with a proprietor, this time a woman named Joanne, was extremely friendly and helpful in finding tours and things to do. I think people on the backpacker circuit in Borneo have realized that most things are in fact too expensive for ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/jungles-of-borneofinally/ When I told a few other travelers I wanted to check out Brunei, the response I usually got was something along the lines of "don't bother, there's nothing to do there and it's too expensive". Something about it just intrigued me though, and I decided to do a stop for ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/sultan-of-swing/ We arrived in Kota Kinabalu in the early evening and were lucky enough to have a relatively short walk from the bus stop to our guest house. It was already late in the afternoon, so after getting settled in, we went out and had dinner at a nearby barbecue. Upon ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/drunken-master/ Our trip over to Semporna began at about 3 am, and after a taxi, a bus ride, a flight, and two more buses, we finally arrived and checked into the hotel/dive shop we'd be using. Juliana was here to do her PADI Advanced course, while I was just here ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/dive-dive-dive/ Getting into Malaysia wasn't too complicated. From Singapore we took a fairly short bus trip just across the border to the city of Johor Baru, and from there another bus which brought us the rest of the way to Kuala Lumpur. The whole process took maybe 5 hours, and which ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/metropolis/ I arrived in Singapore fairly late in the evening, and made my way to the other terminal to wait for Juliana. She came in on one of the last flights of the night and looked like she was tired but excited to have finally arrived. We grabbed a taxi and ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/stopover-in-singapore/ Getting to Koh Phi Phi was a relatively painless but long journey involving several buses, two boats, and an overnight stop. Krabi Town, where I made my stopover, is a sleepy little place used mostly by tourists as a stopover for a number of beach areas and islands in the ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/hehe-phi-phi/ From Chiang Mai I was determined to get to Koh Tao in as little time as possible. I even hoped I could avoid a night in Bangkok, but that wasn't in the cards. The bus journey was longer than expected and didn't end at the centralized bus station I thought ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/08/beach-or-bust/ The mini-bus from Chiang Kong to Chiang Mai was a bit cramped, but it was a short journey, and I ended up sharing it again with the Canadian girl from the Gibbon Experience Kelly. She'd made friends with a couple Japanese guys in Houayxai the night before who came with ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/07/spicy/ There are long, uncomfortable journeys, and then there was the first boat ride I took from Luang Prabang to Pakbeng, on my way to Houayxai. I made the mistake of going out a little too long and late the night before, and was already starting the trip tired and somewhat ... http://asiatrip.greghinch.com/2007/07/watch-out-for-that-tree/