Me and my collegue from work decided to travel Southeast Asia to get rid of our overtime hours - and so we did...
We started off with PADI open water diver -course at Indonesia. Bunaken was a perfect place for doing that - everything was organised with finnish precision and added with Indonesian twist.
After a week at the spectacular underwater walls of Bunaken we moved to other end of Indonesia - Sumatra. We got a minibus from Medan to Lake Toba where we stayed for one week and checked out most of the Samosir islands sights - I recommend the hike to the waterfall although the climb there is not totally safe.
Next we headed for Cambodia to see the amazing temples of Angkor and the capital Phnom Penh where we saw the sites of genocide performed by the brutal Khmer Rouge. I must say that some places really are more depressing than others what comes to inhumanity.
From PP we took a bus to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City where we tasted we best noodles in Southeast Asia, saw the war museum and took a daytrip to Cu Chi tunnels.
After Vietnam we flew to Thailand with our purpose to go diving at Similan islands - unfortunately our first night at Phuket turned our stomachs so we had to recover couple of days and we missed the Similan trip. Instead we got on to diving boat for Racha Yai which was kind of disappointing after Bunaken. We also did a daytrip to Phang Nga -bay where we visited also the crowded James Bond -island. (I strongly advice you to take your earplugs with you, if you are planning on using somekind of a longtail/power boat.)
The last but not the least of our destinations was Kuala Lumpur from where we first headed for a 3-day jungle exploration at Taman Negara national park and then had some city fun before we realized that it was time to go home.
Flights:
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We started off with PADI open water diver -course at Indonesia. Bunaken was a perfect place for doing that - everything was organised with finnish precision and added with Indonesian twist.
After a week at the spectacular underwater walls of Bunaken we moved to other end of Indonesia - Sumatra. We got a minibus from Medan to Lake Toba where we stayed for one week and checked out most of the Samosir islands sights - I recommend the hike to the waterfall although the climb there is not totally safe.
Next we headed for Cambodia to see the amazing temples of Angkor and the capital Phnom Penh where we saw the sites of genocide performed by the brutal Khmer Rouge. I must say that some places really are more depressing than others what comes to inhumanity.
All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)
From PP we took a bus to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City where we tasted we best noodles in Southeast Asia, saw the war museum and took a daytrip to Cu Chi tunnels.
After Vietnam we flew to Thailand with our purpose to go diving at Similan islands - unfortunately our first night at Phuket turned our stomachs so we had to recover couple of days and we missed the Similan trip. Instead we got on to diving boat for Racha Yai which was kind of disappointing after Bunaken. We also did a daytrip to Phang Nga -bay where we visited also the crowded James Bond -island. (I strongly advice you to take your earplugs with you, if you are planning on using somekind of a longtail/power boat.)
The last but not the least of our destinations was Kuala Lumpur from where we first headed for a 3-day jungle exploration at Taman Negara national park and then had some city fun before we realized that it was time to go home.
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- Bunaken/Manado, Indonesia 19.-25.2.2008
- Lake Toba/Parapat, Indonesia 26.2.-4.3.2008
- Siem Reap (Temples of Angkor), Cambodia 5.-7.3.2008
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia 7.-11.3.2008
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 11.-14.3.2008
- Phuket/Phang Nga, Thailand 14.-22.3.2008
- Kuala Lumpur/Taman Negara, Malaysia 22.-26.3.2008
Flights:
- HEL-LHR, 16.2.2008, 0800-0910: JZF8U8, AY831
- LHR-KUL, 16.2.2008, 1050-0710+1: JZF8U8, MH003
- KUL-SIN, 17.2.2008, 1410-1505: LPCGLL, SQ109
- SIN-MDC, 18.2.2008, 0925-1305: LPCGLL, MI274
- MDC-SIN, 25.2.2008, 1345-1705: LPCGLL, MI273, Airport Tax 75000 Rp.
- SIN-KUL, 25.2.2008, 2000-2055: LPCGLL, SQ118
- KUL-MES, 26.2.2008, 0830-0825: PDTYCB, AK936
- MES-KUL, 4.3.2008, 2010-2205: PDTYCB, AK939, Airport Tax 75000 Rp.
- KUL-REP, 5.3.2008, 0700-0800: WFTNDE, AK846
- SGN-BKK, 14.3.2008, 1130-1300: JCUGRR, VN851
- BKK-HKT, 14.3.2008, 1555-1715: RFDFDD, FD3025
- HKT-KUL, 22.3.2008, 1330-1545: DEV3DL, AK873
- KUL-CDG, 29.3.2008, 2325-0640+1: JZF8U8, MH020
- CDG-HEL, 30.3.2008, 1050-1450: JZF8U8, AY872
- My airlines: Finnair, Malaysian airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air Asia
