Melaka, Malaysia

This is where we are staying. You get great air conditioning as it has no roof and windows are always open. Not bad for $46 AUS for 3 nights. Nah.. this is the house across the road from where we are staying. Kancil Guesthouse is great and Daud the owner is a great guy. Kancil is quiet, spacious and a very green place.

Melaka is a great stop over. Smaller town, historical place just can't remember the exact history... We actually went to the local Museum so i can learn new things and I guess that paid off. Something to do with the Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and even the Indonesians.. Thus, great fusion of food. That's all you need to know.

This is me and the Malaysian flag in Town Square, Melaka.

This is the local Trishaw. Didn't ride on one cause i felt sorry for making the driver drive us around in the hot stinking sun (and Derek is a chunky heavyweight). We did catch a taxi at the end of the day after literally walking 10km+ around Melaka in the blazing sun.

-Uriah

p.s.Kim hope you're entertained...Love you.

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Here is a nerd fact for you all. Melaka (or sometimes spelt Malacca) was founded by a Sumatran Prince: Parameswara. (He was credited with it anyway) Afterwards. the portuguese came and occupied Melaka for 130 years and the Dutch and English eventually followed. I'm a loser so what, history is awesome. The food here is good as like Uriah says is a fusion of lots of cultures. Since Malaysia is a muslim nation we were expecting more, well... Muslims. This town has lots of Chinese-malay (peranakan or Nonyan) people who are buddhists and it even seems like they are the majority.. Uriah's been sick with a cold but I've been surprisingly well.. I thought I would have poo poo and stomach problems by now but so far so good.- Derek

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I explain history better than Derek - Uriah

Goodbye Singapore

We're just getting ready to take a bus ride up to Melaka, Malaysia so we're saying goodbye to Singapore for now.

Check out this Singaporean Ice cream sandwich Uriah bought!

Let me explain the taste.. basically just get soft stale bread and wrap it around block of ice-cream, i thoroughly enjoyed it. Worth 50cent to me. Try it everyone.

- Uriah & Derek

Cocks & Lions

So we've said goodbye to the Philippines in pinoy fashion...With a sunday morning cockfight and then using our hands to eat dinner!

Cockfighting is fun. Maybe it's not if you love chickens but we liked it. The neighbourhood where we were staying at in Cebu is Pardo and down the back alleys is a little pit designed for some chicken carnage! We placed a couple bets.. Lost 100 pesos but then won it back on the next fight. Its sometimes hard to keep track of which chicken you're betting on so here's a hot tip... Just keep your eye on the owner of the chicken that you're betting on. If he's jumping and looks like he's having the best day of his life then you're doing good... If he looks like his mother died then things probably didn't go your way.. The weekly fights were organised by ex-professional boxer Andy Tabanas who's a real character. He put us in the "VIP box" which is just a bunch of lawnchairs with a piece of old wood in front. They thought we were puntas (that we were going to put in some big bets) but really we had only a bit of cash. Got closer to the locals which was cool. Nice morning..

Now we are in the Lion city of Singapore and the scenery has changed a lot.. Its so clean here and feels completely safe. Squatters have been replaced with shopping malls. And the insanity that is filipino traffic has been substituted for wide organised roads. The food is great and the transportation around town is so easy.. Not that much to do except roam around. Uriah is loving the shopping. Anyway, we are here for a couple more days before heading up to Malaysia. see ya. -Uriah & Derek

Last stop

Cebu is our last stop in the Pines. We're staying with Uriah's auntie and uncle. Not doing to much, just poking around town. Trying all of the public transport. There are many kinds of jeepneys here and they all equally expose you to some seriously thick polution. Still, its fun.

On monday, we're heading to singapore.. See you there.

- Uriah and Derek

Boholy moly!

So, its been a few days since we've been able to get online. In that time, we've gone from Boracay to Caticlan to Cebu (for a night) and then on to Bohol, one of the Philippine's premier eco-tourism hotspots. The main attractions here is diving, chocolate hills, old spanish architecture, the loboc river and the world's smallest primate, the tarsier.

Bohol, is a peaceful place and the pace of life is much slower than big city manila or even boracay for that matter. The capital of Bohol is Tagbilaran and its got everything you would need without being sooverpopulated like other cities. The rest of Bohol's population is scattered around the island in small villages.

We basically got a guy to take us around the island and show us most of the attractions. Things are spaced out so you kinda have to do that. Our driver, John Paul was an awesome dude and he's expecting a child soon which he will name John Paul II (the second). We wish him well.

The tarsiers are cool little things and you really got to check them out. See the monkey, in the picture to the left? Well, I passed it on to Uriah after I held it and it proceeded to give Uriah's arm a golden shower!!

mmmm.... warm monkey pee pee.

-Derek

Yes it did, trust me i washed my arms with sanitiser. LITERALLY! The guy said it was good luck. Yeah right lucking that it didnt shit on me. After a while the monkey and i made peace and he felt so soft. Bohol i actually really love, you need to slow down once in a while. To the left is a picture of tarsiers. They are about the size of a can of coke. How cute!

- uriah

Boracay -White Beach

The journey getting to Boracay- Cebu Pacific Airlines Manila to Kalibo then 2 hour bus ride to Caticlan's main pier and a 15 minute pumpboat ride to sunny Boracay....... I have always wanted to see, taste and feel the Boracay mystery. Within 5 minutes i learnt to adapt the Boracay lifestyle and that is to chillax, soak up the sun and sip Mango, Coconut, Papaya and Melon shakes. Oh the life.

On the 10th we hired a traditional filipino outrigger to cruise us around Boracay. We did snorkeling, visited Crystal Cove which had two pretty neat caves and finally visited another beach which was amazingly picturesque.. I think it is called Poka Beach??? all this for great $47.65. The trip was only suppose to be 3 hours but you know filipinos can't tell the time we were out for an extra hour.

Boracay a place to see for sure even if you only stay for 4 to 5 days.
-Uriah


Boracay is nice, like Uriah says, except they forget to mention in the brochures that you can't walk 10 steps without being hassled by a vendor of some sort. Everyday you are asked a thousand times whether you want sunglasses, watches, ice cream, lobsters, balut, taho, tattoos, a massage, a boat ride around the island or to rent a bloody atv or dirtbike...

It can get a little annoying if you want to be left alone.. The problem is, everyone is so nice and its sometimes sad to turn them down because they're all just trying to make a living. I've never been called "sir" so many times in my life..
-Derek

Tagaytay, villa Escadero, market market

Last Saturday we went to Tagaytay. It's about an hour out of the city and I guess the main attraction is Lake Taal and the volcano. Its a beautiful place with nice views and lots of fuit stalls along the road. The weather is much cooler than in Manila and Uriah found herself freezing.. I scored 2kg of Mangosteen for about the price of 1 mangosteen in Sydney.. what a steal. Pineapple, 20 cents a piece. The kid is the son of a family friend that we went with.

On sunday we drove out to San Pablo, a couple hours out of town. We went to villa Escadero which is sort of a Filipino cultural centre/resort that was established by the Escadero family (wealthy spanish-filipinos). It was nice but very much a tourist spot. We rode a caribou cart and ate lunch at the base of a man made waterfall. You basically sit at tables submerged in water that's ankle deep and eat as much as you want from the buffet... (All you can eat camote-que.. Tiffany!!)
Monday was spent doing more eating and shopping. We went to market market (yes, thats the name"market market") and picked up some food that you can only buy here in the Philippines. Got these Pili nuts which are native to Bicol and are awesome. They're soft like popcorn.

Last night we had a family gathering and ate some Lechon. I think we're considering vegatarianism in the future. Poor pig.
Just relaxin today.
- Uriah and Derek

Shopping Shopping Shopping oh Manila!

Shopping in Manila is a must especially if you get the chance to go to Green Hills. It's the mecca of knockoffs and each section of the market is graded as to how well the imitations are done. The bags are amazing Christian Dior, Guess, etc you name it. But me i bought shoes and earings that cost $1.20 each so bought 20. The purchases shown in the middle picture above was sponsored by Ricky and Anna.... thanks guys. - uriah

Yesterday we hung out in Manila. Took all the public transport, MRT, LRT and jeepney... We visited intramuros and fort santiago to learn about Jose Rizal who is a national hero and martyr. It was a good experience... Then we headed to downtown manila: Quiapo and saw the intense hustle and bustle... Lots of people, polution and more people... Awesome. Soaked in and felt the pulse of the city... A good day.
- derek

Food

Food is really what the Philippines is all about. In fact, even if you aren't hungry, you're still going to eat. If you just ate, you're still going to eat. If you just barfed all over your shirt, you'll probably find youself eating something in about 10 minutes. If you're so full that you're about to burst, you might get away with just talking about what you're going to eat tomorrow!

This is why we love the Philippines. See the dish on the left. Thats BBQ chicken, lumpia (spring rolls), pancit and java rice... All bought at the food court of Shoe Mart for 65 pesos. Thats like $1.50. Not bad. You can get by and eat well for under $5 bucks a day.

Yeserday we spent time in Makati which is a very modern area in Manila. It's basically an enormous mall with everything you may or may not ever need.

It's also full of restaurants and fast food joints where you can...um eat! Check out this new sandwich at Rotten Ronnie's (McDonalds)... McRice... Bread has been substituted with a Rice patty of some sort. Very asian.



-Derek

Sydney to Manila

Ok so Sydney to Manila I was fearing the most as had bad experience in the past in Manila Airport, however this time round no problemos. Can't believe we are actually walking the walk. Had my little cry early this morning at 4am Filo time about missing home. It's our first day so come on Uriah toughn' up.

Today is Makati operation its basically shops, restaurant and hotels. Tomorrow Greenhills which is knockoffs city market. Uriah pace yourself. MAKE money last for 7 months is your goal.

Catch up with you later guys.
-uriah