Nice try AC, you almost had it

So I knew it was too good to be true. I went to check-in at the Thai Airlines counter this morning as I was instructed to by Air Canada yesterday and they had no record of me for today's flight. Great!

They told me to go see someone at the Thai Airlines help counter so i did. Nope, no help there. They had even just spoken to someone from Air Canada and had been given the name of another passenger to transfer, but nothing about me. Ok, perfect, over to see Air Canada then.

To be fair, they resolved the problem pretty quickly. I just would have been pretty pissed if they had told me that the flight was now full or something like that.

I was a little disappointed at first when they put me on Thai Airlines instead of Singapore Air as was my original booking because I have heard great things about Singapore Air. Well I'm definitely not disappointed anymore, Thai Airlines gets two big thumbs up from me. Great service, roomy seats, awesome food (green curry chicken) and the stewardess keeps coming around and topping off my wine glass (in a real glass). Well done!

On the upside they didn't manage to lose my bag so I'm pretty pleased. I'm in Manila now and I'm really tired and very confused as to what day it is. I hope to spend tomorrow wandering around Intramuros, the old Spanish city in the heart of Manila. Maybe I'll head down to Taal volcano the next day if i can recruit a couple more people to go with me to cut the cost.

So here's a funny story for you. I had just landed in Manila and left the airport. My driver to get me to the hostel (Hector) was telling me about the city. About 5 minutes into the drive he asked me if i was single and wanted to meet some nice Filipinas. I said I was single, but wasn't looking to meet anyone, I just came here to see the city. Well that didn't deter him. He said if i wanted a nice clean girl to talk to him. The ones in the bars are very dirty he said. Ummm... Ok. I didn't really know what to say so I changed the topic. I had been here for less than an hour and I already found a pimp, or rather he found me.

London by accident

Well blow me down and call me Sally! It was just like that Air Canada agent told me. While I was in the air someone noticed that I would miss my connection and booked me a new route. Not only that but they met me as i deplaned to give me my new flight information and to apologize for the inconvenience. My new flights will route me through Bangkok instead of Singapore but I ended up getting stranded in London overnight. Oh... darn...

Air Canada was even nice enough to provide accommodations, meals and transport to the hotel. Not a bad deal overall. I went and checked in and promptly found my way back to the tube to go into central London and take a look around. Now I have been to London before... Maybe 20 years ago? Maybe more... And i don't remember much of it. On top of that, I don't even know what i should be trying to see. I basically ended up looking at the map for the underground and finding a stop that i recognized the name of: Piccadilly Circus. So I went there, and then I started to walk. I think i did a pretty good job of my impromptu self led tour. I managed to find 10 Downing, Westminster, Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and probably a number of other things that i didn't realize were landmarks at the time. Basically I just did a lot of walking.

Now I'm just topping off my night with a couple pints and some fish and chips and I'm coming to the realization that I only got an hour or two of bad sleep on the plane last night. I need to get back to the hotel and sleep.

One final thought for tonight. Every time I go to an amazing city (such as London) I always wonder what they must think of us in Canada. "Those Canadians are such cute rural folks and they just try so hard to be liked. They're just so adorable." It's just that we really have nothing that even comes close to anything like London, or Paris, or New York or any number of other amazing places around the world. And everyone is so sharply dressed here... what's wrong with us?

Here we go again...

Well I'm off on my next trip and I decided that it makes more sense to continue adding to this blog than it does to start a new one. So although this is my Afblogistan, this is going to have nothing to do with Afghanistan.

It's been close to two weeks since we've had any snow in Ottawa. So why is it that the day I need to travel we get a heavy snowfall warning? On top of that, when i woke up Thursday morning I felt like ass. Some kind of bad chest cold and a throbbing headache. My big concern at that point was that my ears would block and i wouldn't be able to fly. Luckily the sick seems to have contained itself to my lungs so I'm good to go, but still not happy about it.

Anyways even though the weather has been crap all afternoon, I was checking my flight status and as of around 6:30pm (my flight was scheduled for 9:45pm) the plane was on schedule. Well I went to the airport and checked in and got settled to wait for my flight. What I then learned was that the whole flight tracking system was down "worldwide" as one Air Canada employee explained to me. What this meant was my flight was actually delayed and had been for some time, I just had no way of finding out.

The story I was told was that the flight got all the way in from Toronto and then had to turn back because of the weather. Well I have it on good authority that Porter had managed to land their flights from the big stink without any trouble. Oh Air Canada, my home and native carrier, truly you disappoint me and all thy sons as well.

Well I don't have much time to make my transfer in London, I think only and hour and a half between flights, and since the delay was an hour and a half I decided I should look into doing something about rerouting. I found an Air Canada agent and was told that I'm not the only one that is delayed (well duh, but i am the only one asking you to do something about it at this very moment) and if I was going to miss my connection I would be rerouted while I'm in the air on my flight to London. Really? Without me doing anything? Air Canada will just figure out that I'm supposed to transfer over to Singapore Airlines and that I'm not going to make it in time so they'll automatically just put me on another flight because gutter watching over me like some kind of guardian angel? That sounds wonderful... And yet somehow unlikely. Well this agent didn't seem like she was going to be much help so I decided to wait until someone showed up at my gate and i would talk to them.

Well before that happened, the flight got delayed again, about 2 hours from the original departure time. Not a big deal, I can't miss my connection any worse. It is what it is. Anyways, I did go talk to the gate agent and she pulled up the flight info and insisted that the flight would arrive in London at 9:35am and since my connection wasn't until 11am I would have lots of time. Hmmm... That doesn't seem right either.... Maybe I'm too trusting.

After checking my travel docs I realized that 9:35am was the original arrival time for the flight. Yeah... I'm pretty sure we're not going to make that arrival unless the pilot knows some kind of shortcut that he's been keeping under wraps from the rest of the world. Oh well... The plane was boarding, I might as well get on and just see what happens. I'm in no rush to get anywhere anyways and I can think of worse ways to start a vacation than an accidental layover in London while I wait for the next flight. Maybe I'm just a little bitter because nobody actually seems interested in helping, they just seem to want to deflect the problem so that they don't have to deal with it themselves.

I'm writing this as I sit on the plane so I'll just have to wait and see what happens I guess.

ps. What fresh Hell is this? Stuck between a baby and a snorer on the plane! Unexpected twist.

pps. I think i might have just seen Harry Potter's adoptive family (what were their names?). Brits are funny.

Jungle Part Deux, Also Caves

On Wednesday I flew south to Mulu to visit a national park there that is known for it's spectacular cave systems. I'm pretty sure one of them is featured on The Planet Earth series for those of you who have seen it. You know the one where they are climbing the mountain of bat guano and cockroaches? Ya, that's it. It's even more spectacular in person because you can really appreciate that rich smell of ammonia, it's very pungent. Kind of stings the nostrils.

The caves really were impressive. I've never seen caves like this before with proper selactites and bats and everything. The Deer Cave there apparently is the largest cavern chamber in the world and it houses millions of bats that come out to feed most evenings in giant swarms. It was really cool to see them leave the cave in this big swirling mass.

Mulu was also a very social place, I met a lot of people and drank a lot of beer. Overall it was a really good experience and I'm glad I was able to get a last-minute booking there. It would have sucked to spend those days sitting in KK instead.

Well I think I just heard my flight to Singapore being called to board. I've got two nights there and then I'm heading home. It's been a great trip... Afghanistan included, but it will be good to get home again.

I'm so far behind in this

I don't even know how I can possibly catch up. I'm going to start with the last few days because it's fresh in my head.

I just got back to KK after spending the last two days climbing Mount Kinabalu (which thanks to Duane I just learned is not the highest peak in SE Asia as advertised). It is a 4092m tall mountain though and it was a hell of a trek to get to the top.

I kind of booked the mountain a little last minute and didn't really have a whole lot of info beyond what the tour company gave me which basically said that they recommend that I leave KK at around 7am to be at the mountain for 10am so I could meet up with other trekkers and share the cost of a guide and start the hike.

Well I tried to leave KK on a 7:30am bus but by the time we actually left KK it was closer to 8:20am because the driver kept waiting for more passengers to show up. It was really pissing me off because he kept saying "Soon, soon" but if I had known it was going to be an hour late than I would have tried to find another bus. Anyways, by the time I got to the mountain it was around 10:30am and there was nobody at the base so I had to pay the full cost to hire my own personal guide (because they won't let you on the mountain without one). When I checked in they asked me when I was planning on doing the mountain and I was kind of confused because I wasn't really sure why they would think I was checking in if I was going to do the mountain some other day. Anyways when I said I would be starting it as soon as they checked me in the girl looked at me like I was crazy to be starting so late in the day.

Anyways, it was 11am by the time I got cleared in and picked up my guide and the ridiculous packed lunch they provided... cheese sandwiches, boiled eggs and bananas in a cardboard box packed in a reusable grocery bag. How is that practical to carry up a mountain? So thinking that I was really behind I started hiking quickly up the mountain. After about 20 minutes I lost my guide and never saw him again until about an hour after I got to the lodge. This guy hikes the mountain twice a week... how could he get so far behind?

I did the first day in about 3h10m which after reaching the lodge I found out was a really fast time. Most were doing it in 5-6 hours. At the lodge I met a group of engineers, an Auzzie couple from Singapore and an Irish girl who had been travelling all over SE Asia for the last few months. We sat and enjoyed our 25MYR beers (so expensive but worth it!) and commiserated on how tired we were. I got to bed early that night as the next day would start at 2am so we could be at the peak for sunrise.

Now I get a little competitive about a lot of things and I also hate being in a pack of people that prevent me from going at my own pace so I decided that I wanted to try to get as far to the front of the pack as quickly as I could so I could just do my own thing instead of waiting for others to get out of the way. Well after about 500m I realized I was at the front of the pack and there wasn't anyone even close to keeping up with me (even my guide) so I just carried on to the summit. It was the most amazing walk in the dark with millions of stars in the sky and the moon setting behind one of the mountain peaks... it was just beautiful! I would stop and turn around every once in a while to see a snake of lights coming up the mountain behind me but they were nowhere close to catching up. I have to give my guide credit though because about half way to the peak as I stopped for water a light came up to me quickly and there he was panting and wheezing. It didn't take long for him to fall behind again and I was easily the first to the summit by about 20 minutes.

Watching the sun come up over the mountains this morning was simply spectacular! As I sat there watching it I kind of wished it would just go on and on.

On the way back down the mountain my guide did much better and stayed with me the whole time. As we approached the trailhead I heard him sigh and say "Finally". I really think I almost killed him. I gave him a good tip though so he was happy in the end.

Almost the end... of Semporna

Sadly I'll be leaving Semporna soon. It's been great here and I really just can't get enough of diving. A few days ago I finally got my trip to Sipadan Island. It turns out is is everything it's cracked up to be.

The first two dives of the day were strictly ok... I saw things that I hadn't seen before like grey reef sharks and white tip reef sharks but other than that the dives were just average. The third dive was spectacular! We went down to the Turtle Tomb and then along Drop Off and the scenery is simply amazing. It's a wall dive where the wall stretches down into the deep as far as you can see. It apparently goes down over 600m deep. Swimming along this wall as new scenes opened up in front of us as we went around every corner was just amazing! The wall was hanging with coral and on some little shelves you could find turtles resting. To our left we always kept a watch out to try to spot any rays that came by or if we were really lucky a hammerhead or whale shark. The divemaster did spot a devil ray and gave a bang on his tank while he waved urgently towards us. I took off after him and swam hard to catch a quick view of the ray as it sped by. Amazing!

Further along the wall we found a small school of barracudas playing in the current and then came upon a massive school of jackfish as well as a school of humphead parrotfish. The humpheads were great! They're pretty big fish (close to 1.5m long) and while they milled about chomping on the coral they looked kind of like a heard of buffalo.

While we waited and watched the parrotfish, one of the guys in our group put his hand down on a piece of coral to steady himself. As he did this I looked beside his hand and there was a big scorpionfish sitting less than a foot from his right hand. I carefully went around to the left side of him to tap him on his shoulder and gave him the old "there's a scorpionfish sitting right beside your hand" signal. He didn't seem to get it so I followed up with a "just carefully come towards me please before you get yourself poisoned" signal. He did come towards me but he still didn't seem to get what I was trying to say although he seemed quite grateful later when I explained it to him on the surface. He even gave me a cookie :)

So after the parrotfish we went back to the school of jackfish and swam through them. It was really awesome being completely surrounded by the fish as they swirled around. There is also a big school of barracuda at Sipadan which was at the time apparently just a little further down the reef. It would have been really awesome to swim with them. I spoke so some people who did and they just said it was an incredible experience being in this swirling vortex of barracuda. Oh well... maybe next time. Overall, Sipadan was really great!

So I have been trying to figure out how to spend the rest of my time here. I have Mount Kinabalu booked for the 15th and wanted to go see some orangutans up in Sandakan before going there. I had heard great things about Uncle Tan's for the orangutans and jungle trekking from everyone that passes through there so I booked with them. I've been told it's basically like summer camp but with beer. Can't wait!

After Uncle Tan's and the mountain I'll only have 4 days left in Borneo before catching my flight up to Singapore. I still haven't figured out what I'll do with that time but I might head south as there are supposed to be some spectacular caves down there. I'd also kind of like to pass through Brunei even if it's just for a few hours because I kind of want to get another stamp on my passport. I'll have to look into it all in the next few days and decide what to do. If all else fails I can always spend the time diving in KK! I feel like my vacation is coming to an end too fast, only two weeks left.

I've decided I may not ever come home

Arrived in Borneo on the 28th and caught a bus to Semporna where I would be diving. This area is supposed to be one of the top ten places to dive in the world so it should probably suit my needs just fine.

The town itself is... well it's a shithole. There isn't really another way to put it. There is a small area near the docks where all the diveshops are and that's basically where the tourists live and stay. Even that area is very run down, dirty and smells bad. Anyways I didn't come here to tour Semporna, I knew it was a dump. I came here to dive.

I completed both my open water and advanced open water courses and I'm now just fun diving and I'm absolutely loving it! I don't know why I haven't been doing this for years! It's amazing to go down under the waves, there is so much life down there!

I saw my first shark yesterday! Just a small nurse shark, but it was very cool. Apparently they've been spotting hammerheads at Sipadan for the last three days so I'm hoping I'll see one when I'm there. Today I saw an eagle ray and a blue marlin. The marlin was jumping out of the water as it hunted for fish, it was really cool.

The dive outfit that I've been using is called Scuba Junkie and I have to give them two big thumbs up on their work. They own the dive shop, the hostel and the bar next door and that's pretty much all I need from the town here. My days start at 7am, grab some breakfast, over to the dive shop, on a boat to some island, do two dives, have an amazing lunch (the food here has been so good), do another dive, back on the boat to Semporna, shower, change, over to the bar for about 6 hours, bed, repeat.

The first day I went diving I was at an island called Sibuan. Sibuan is basically a spit of sand with some beautiful tall palms on it and a few huts where the local villagers live. It honestly looks like something out of Robinson Crusoe. We went ashore at lunch and a bunch of kids from the village came running down the beach with fresh coconuts for us. One little boy in particular who was probably around 4 years old came down the beach with a coconut on his shoulder and looking all proud that he had carried it all that way but wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. It had to make you smile.

The diving has been great, I've seen a nurse shark, eagle ray, octopus, lots of turtles, lionfish, scorpionfish, a school of thousands of jackfish that swam all around us, giant morays, colourful little nudibranches, boxer shrimp, batfish, angelfish, triggerfish, little nemo fish, trumpet fish, surgeon fish, spotted ribbon tailed rays, remoras and so many other things.

Yesterday a green turtle passed by me and it had a remora on it's back. Well as it passed, the remora came off and swam towards me. It seemed very curious and came to take a close look. I tried to shoo it away but it was very persistent and I sort of lost track of it when it swam down towards my chest. I didn't think much of it and carried on my way. Well about five minutes later I felt something on my head and so I looked up and saw a flash of a tail above me and then felt more movement around my head. I tapped my dive buddy on the shoulder and sort of pointed to my head and made a kind of "is there something eating my head?" kind of signal. She initially looked confused and then she had big eyes and laughed as she saw the remora trying to clean my head. Well my little friend eventually left me alone when our instructor came over and it decided instead to try to swim up his shorts. Rowan was luckily quick enough to clamp down the leg of his suit before the fish made it's way up.

I've met a ton of good people here, most of them come and go... well I guess all of them have moved on by now and new ones have arrived. I seem to be the only one who's stayed for the long haul but I just can't get enough of it. Tonight I went on a muck dive in the harbor and it's such a different world down there at night. Lots of different and curious little creatures. It was a little creepy too with nothing but darkness around you and just a flashlight to show  your way.

I'll be heading to Si Amil island tomorrow. Looking forward to it already.

G'night.