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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