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Flight into Halifax did a last second Go-Around due to fog. Second attempt was better. A nice taxi van was in the queue when walked outside. The van was all we needed to get home. Home sweet home.

Hong Kong via Beijing to Toronto so far...

Easy flights. Left hotel at 10am in two taxis. The taxis in Hong Kong have large trunks, but they've all (?) been converted to run on LPG, so the trunk is half full of LPG tank. Our suitcases were held in the half open trunk by a single bungee cord. Nerve wracking. 2.5 hour flight to Beijing's heavy brown skies. They're really going to have to fix that. 12 hour flight from Beijing to Toronto. Flew over mid-Alaska. We took off from Beijing at about 7PM on Tuesday and landed in Toronto at about 7PM on Tuesday. Gotta love the IDL. Now sitting in Toronto airport waiting for the late flight to Halifax.

Macau day trip - Sunday

We took the TurboJet fast cat ferry from Kowloon. I was disappointed that the boats were fast cats, not hydrofoils; but I felt a bit better when we passed a hydrofoil; we hit close to 80 kmh. Upon arrival at Macau we were accosted by Tony with a good offer for a 4-hour guided tour in his van. It was well worthwhile. We visited the Macau Tower, an ancient temple, the main square, had lunch in a wonderful restaurant, and visited the billion dollar Venetian casino complex. We took a gondola ride. It's nice making a day trip to another SAR (country), but Macau is now worth more time than just a day trip. It was great seeing the facade of St. Paul's again - my last time was 29 years ago! Macau was literally much smaller in 1984; Tony our guide kept pointing out where the shoreline used to be. I remember walking almost the area in several hours.

Macau day trip

The Ruins of St. Paul's as viewed from inside.

Harbour City, Kowloon

Harbour City stretches down the west side of Kowloon. All the buildings are connected to form an indoor shopping arcade selling almost nothing but big name designer goods. We had to walk over to Nathan St just to find some food last night; a 2nd Floor Vietnamese restaurant. Floors are numbered Ground, 1, 2, ... So the "2/F" is our 3rd floor. Today we will visit Victoria Peak and browse around a bit. Sunday we will probably visit Macau for a day trip. Hopefully the ferry to Macau will be a hydrofoil or something similarly exciting.

Hong Kong hotel

Marco Polo 'Prince' hotel. Quite nice. Two adjoining rooms. Quite spacious by HK standards. Lovely view of the harbour... ...LOL.

Hong Kong

Four nights. Hopefully with a day-trip to Macau by a very fast boat.

Next stop: Hong Kong

6:20am flight. Up at 3:00am. Yuck.

Water Park at Imperial Palace

We spent pretty much the entire day frolicking in the Imperial Palace water park. The green water slide ends with a shallow pool that inevitably fires litres of chlorinated water into one's nose. The Space Bowl (a.k.a. 'Toilet Bowl') water slide has a center exit that effectively drops one, in random orientation, about eight feet into a deep pool where the rescue guy drags you to safety. There's a very pleasant 'lazy river' that we orbited about 20 times. Sometimes the wave machine is on. The resort is very modern, but the road leading to it is pure chaotic. I wonder how they organized building these massive resorts under these conditions. Right next to the resort is a house on the water. Rusty metal roof, a chicken, etc. Probably worth several million.

Arrived Imperial Palace, Cebu

Spent the afternoon on a fast (42 kmh) ferry. Two stops along the way, before reaching Cebu. Now 10pm and just settling into Imperial Palace. Tomorrow the kids can play in the water park.

Tuesday report

Today (Tuesday) was our last full day on Siquijor. We rented two scooters and headed to the hills taking various routes. Max and Devon went one way; Razel, Deric and I on another scooter went CCW to Larena to hit up an ATM for five figures of Pesos. The shotgun toting guard at the bank was a relative. We ran into cousin Jerry. SMALL island! Razel went with cousin Jerry, while Deric and I got well and truly lost in the mountain roads. Great fun. We visited a butterfly conservatory. We drove right to the peak of the highest point. We found all the nice "scale model" Swiss roads again, and avoided most of the construction zones. On one cut, there was a cave about halfway up a one-hundred foot tall wall. Eventually we all ended up in Cang-Inte. Tomorrow mid-day, several ferries to Cebu.

Siquijor town shopping expedition

Friday afternoon we hired a driver with a tricycle (Honda 250cc motorcycle with a welded rebar enclosed sidecar with seating for about three or four, or perhaps ten...) for a quick shopping trip to Siquijor Town. The 10km trip took about half an hour. On the way back Deric rode part way in the external rear basket, with me applying a firm grip to his arm through the rear 'window'. We bought some souvenirs and supplies. One price comparison was interesting. Local 80-proof rum was $1 (!) for 375mL; mouthwash was about $7 for 500mL. It's amazing that most people here have perfect teeth and are not constantly drunk. Perhaps they brush and rinse with local rum.

PADI Open Water Diver training complete

Devon and I spent the week getting our PADI Open Water Diver training. Little Deric took a 'Bubbles' tour (2m deep, on Scuba air) on Monday. We've already had about nine dives, including a bonus trip to Apo Island. The coral formations there are huge. Last weekend here. We transfer to Cebu on Wednesday.

Apo Island

Our boat parked just off the beach. They let down a ladder that led to the sea with a depth of about three feet, but with two foot swells. Just getting off the boat was slightly dangerous, and easy to face plant in the surf. Luckily we all made it ashore. The resort itself, a branch operation, is contained between two rocky cliffs. Entry is via a cleft in the rock. After snorkelling the reef with Deric, we were both tumbled a bit in the heavy surf getting out. Deric sustained a tiny cut, so he was carried back to the resort by our guide Jun-Jun (sp?). After lunch, the boat took us out to the reef proper. It's amazing and perfectly healthy. The coral formations are immense. We followed sea turtles around. All in all, a great day out.

Boat to Apo Island

On left is the boat we took to reach Apo Island, about an hour away.

Apo Island day trip

Entrance to Apo Island branch resort (beach at left) is behind the large rock (center). Walkway entrance is the dark cleft at middle right.

Surf SPL at restaurant

Latest news for August 1st

The Internet didn't work this morning. We went to Cang-Inte today for some fresh corn and cake. Tomorrow (Friday, 2 August) the day-trip to Apo Island is a go. The boat leaves at 8:30am and returns at 5:00pm, so at least it's not a "three hour cruise".

Back-up BBC

Roads, from heaven to hell

Razel and I went for a tour around the island again today. Just the two of us, on the Yamaha 125cc scooter. Some of the roads in the mountains are amazing. Absolutely spectacular road construction standards, just a bit smaller than you'd expect. Knock-your-socks-off beautiful.

The construction zones were less pleasant. Imagine a football field of soggy, sticky mud... ...on a scooter! I had to wash my shoes when we got back.

Shortwave radio works

BBC World Service only broadcasts towards SE Asia from 6PM to 10PM. This morning I was listening to All India Radio and got some beauty advice from an actual guru, followed by a guitar/sitar recital. The Tecsun R-909 ($23) works well:

Rainy Monday

Quiet day today. Yesterday we circled the island and visited each town. We ended with supper in a local BBQ shop. The power failure made little difference to the cooking-with-wood-fire kitchen. If the weather improves, we will take a day-trip to Apo Island.

View of Negros Island from breakfast table

Cang-Inte feast a success

There must have been 250 guests. Tons of food. The Bation Mobile Disco brought speaker towers that reached almost ten feet high. They strung some disco lights across the basket ball area and the party went until daybreak (some of us left a bit early).

Feast day in Cang-Inte

Let us take a moment to mark the passing of a couple of fat pigs and who knows how many chickens. I may be a vegetarian tonight.

What's going on...?

Razel & I went outside the resort one evening for a lovely dinner date. BBQ pork kabobs and chicken and rice and drinks. Four of us went out for a one hour tour of the reef in the glass bottom boat. It was quite nice, but the photographs couldn't capture it (poor colour saturation due the water). There's a feast in the mountain on Saturday, and in Sunday we will orbit the entire island on a day tour. Middle of next week, we'll take a day trip to Apo Island, a smaller island on the southern horizon. Everything is fine, except Devon has a cold or flu. Not serious. Hopefully cleared up shortly.

Other Sunday activities

Three of us (me, Devon and Deric) drove CCW around to Lazi town and port. We looked around, had a Coke, and headed back to catch up with the others up the mountain. Lazi church:

The road up the mountain is quite steep. The engine had no problem bringing three of us up, but the brakes felt pain on the return trip down. Most of the main roads are great. There's a stretch from Siquijor town to San Juan where you could probably make the national news.

Sunday pics

Plantation:

Uncle (age 56) up a coconut tree:

Uncle's house with our rented scooter parked out front:

Sunday Report

On Sunday we rented a little Yamaha 125cc scooter and two helmets. Razel and I drove up to Cante-Inte in the mountains to visit Uncle, Auntie and kids. We also stopped by the coconut plantation.

CoCo Villa I

View from Sunset Restaurant

Ocean waves reaching under the deck. Coconuts falling on our heads - not coconuts but medium sized seeds.

Deric in pool with swimming gear gifted by Joy and family

Deric spent about an hour and a half learning how to use the gear. "...mat!"

Lobby of the Villa

My new friend

Wifi Hutspot

Our villa

Beach view

Arrived CoCo Grove

Flight from HK to Cebu. Crazy van ride thru Cebu. Two ferries. Crazy van ride to resort. It's 11PM and it feels like it.

Noodle shop for supper, or was that breakfast?

Things you'd never see in Canada

It's midnight here... Roof gnomes have magically appeared.

If it's Friday, then HK to Cebu to Siquijor via some randomly selected islands

Civilized 09:40 flight from HK to Cebu. Then some ferries.

Safe and sound in Hong Kong

A bit of looping on the way into Hong Kong.

Flights were perfect, other than being up for several days straight, and being on the move for about 24 hours straight.

87° 35' 24" N and The North Pole

87° 35' 24" North 16° 18' 35" East 31,918 feet 2013 July 17 20:11 UTC The entire 15 hour flight was in daylight. Window blinds closed almost the entire way, not much to see due to the huge wing and consistently thick clouds. But I did take some pictures of The North Pole. It was perfectly positioned out my window. But nothing to actually see but a concept.

87°N ?? That'll do.

Updated of course, but still 87.0° or 87.5°N. That'll do. TONNY2 TONNY YEE J556 YYB 5500N 07700W 6000N 07700W 6500N 07700W 7000N 07400W 7500N 07000W 8000N 06000W 8600N 04000W 8700N 02000W ABERI G489 THN G490 PTG G490 LAMIR G490 SERNA A310 POLHO G218 TMR B458 WXI A461 LIG R473 NNX R473 WYN W18 NLG W23 ZUH R473 SIERA

Big metal bird, C-FIVK

Air Canada fin number 704, C-FIVK. 2008 GE90 engines

North Pole route, or just a tease?

AC15 route still showing North Pole routing. TONNY2 TONNY YEE 5000N 07900W 5500N 07630W 6000N 07400W 6500N 07300W 7000N 07200W 7500N 07300W 8000N 07400W 8500N 08000W >>> DEVID [89°N] <<< B480 BADRO B480 PETAG B934 LUMIG B155 TUNIR A45 USONA G490 SERNA A310 POLHO G218 TMR B458 WXI A461 LIG R473 NNX R473 WYN W18 NLG W23 ZUH R473 SIERA This will probably change to an Alaska routing before we leave.

Toronto

Journey started with a 3:30am pair of taxi, then a 5:40am flight to Toronto. Arrived at Toronto before 7am. Now we're resting at the gate with plenty of time to spare.

Travelling plans outbound

We will take an early morning Air Canada flight to Toronto, then AC15 over the Arctic to Hong Kong. How close will we get to the North Pole this time? Last time (2007) we were within 378 miles of the North Pole at 84.5°N. After a long stopover at Hong Kong airport (perhaps we will get a hotel room), we fly on Cebu Pacific airline to Cebu. From there we'll take a couple of Philippine ferry boats to eventually reach Siquijor.

Air Tickets booked Hong Kong to/from Cebu

Bought the last of the essential Air Tickets from Hong Kong to Cebu and return.

Under $1000 total (all in) for five seats, return trip, including generous baggage allowance.