Everyone thinks travelling is great. The reality is real travel is not always great. The majority of people work all year and just want to escape the daily grind. So when they do, a day or two battling with other tourists, sweating from every pore, getting ripped off or any other not so positive experience […]
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Volunteer life at JTP
One nesting turtle, two nests from boat patrols, 4 nest excavations and several hundred hatchlings, is not a bad return for 10 days of volunteer work! Of course dealing with each of these is part of the life of a volunteer at Juara Turtle Project (JTP) on Tioman island, but you cannot guarantee experiencing all […]
More islands and a nesting turtle for my birthday
We have been exploring a number of islands. Perhentians After the turtle conservation project on the Perhentian Besar (big island) last month, we enjoyed ten days or so on Perhentian Kecil (small island). Kapas Next stop was the Kapas Island, see: more about turtles and the state capital. There was very little to do there […]
Turtle conservation in Malaysia, and how to help
Whilst researching things to see and do on the Perhentian islands, I was very excited to find a turtle conservation project where we could volunteer for a short period. After a few issues with some admin and eventually locating somewhere for a medical certificate (for diving), we eventually headed to Kota Bahru. Then the following […]
Returning to Malaysian Islands
As we approached the bridge from the mainland, heading to Penang (after crossing the border from Thailand to Malaysia), the sky seemed somewhat polluted and hazy… Was this the same haze that had hit Singapore, from Indonesia a few days ago? Hotel reception soon confirmed our suspicions but assured us the API (air pollution index) […]
South of the beaten track, Thailand
Having fully embraced most of the well trodden backpacker locations throughout Thailand, over approximately 6 weeks, I wanted to explore the lesser visited areas and specifically the deep South. However, recent reports of almost daily bombings in Yala and warnings on the FCO website not to go there wasn’t encouraging. So rather than dismiss the […]