I've posted 4 slideshows on my Youtube Channel

Since returning from 6 months of traveling around Asia, I've pulled together 4 slideshows with music.  They range from 9 to 20 minutes in length, and are posted on my Youtube Channel.

For best quality, go to the settings icon and choose 720p(HD), and view in full-screen.
https://www.youtube.com/user/dneame/videos

Hope you enjoy

Island Life in the Philippines

Why do Filipinos speak such good English?  One word….. 'Karaoke'

Yep, there is a Karaoke machine in every town, village, bar, café, and eatery in the entire country.  The Filipinos love those very sweet love songs.  And get this…  when they start singing, the dogs and roosters join in for the melody.  Right now I'm in a tiny fishing village and it's just after sunset.  Everyone has gathered around the one and only eatery in town, and are right now listening to "Bryan Adams - Straight From The Heart".  The singer is actually not bad, but the chorus of howling dogs in the background is pretty comical.  It really is a blast, and has to put a smile on your face.

I just spent 5 days on a tiny island in the Visayas called Apo Island.  It is only 3 km around, and is inhabited by some of the loveliest and friendliest people on earth.  After only a couple days everyone greeted me with "Good morning David", or "Good evening David, how are you today?".   The people are so nice, and the kids are a blast… gathering around me and proudly escorting me to their school, where I got a tour by the Principal.  There is limited electricity (6 to 9pm only), and no fresh water on the island(rainwater only).  No computers, no internet.  The school relies on a tiny, little library, and some very dedicated teachers.  The kids are very polite and well behaved.  They start classes at 7am, and take the middle of the day off to help their family with household chores and fishing.  They return to class in the evening until the electricity goes out.   It's really a magical little island, and yes, they really love their Karaoke.

I came to Apo Island for the snorkeling and underwater life, but the memories that will stick with me are briefly getting to know some very friendly island people.  And yes, somehow Karaoke has taken on a new meaning for me.  Weird eh?

Photos from the Phillipines
https://photos.app.goo.gl/82Z3jKjcVo3TwhUKA

'For Whom the Bell Tolls' or 'Tales from the Philippines

I finally arrived in paradise, on the small tropical island of Bohol in the Philippines.  I checked into a really nice little guesthouse, with a very friendly old lady running the place.  She just laughed when I asked why no one else was staying at her hotel.  When I walked into my room I couldn't believe my luck.  It was a large room with huge windows and a nice sea breeze coming off the ocean.  When I opened the curtains on one side, I was looking at the azure blue sea.  On the other side, I was looking right at a large white Spanish Church.  Very beautiful and peaceful…..or so I thought.

Well, at exactly 5am I sat bolt upright, being suddenly awakened by VERY LOUD BELLS RINGING IN MY EARS.  After the bells, the Church music started, then a church mass being broadcast over loudspeakers.  I really didn't understand what was going on.  I had enjoyed a few beers the night before with some fishermen, and assumed this must be the church trying to wake up the drunken fishermen to get them out on the boats early, to catch the fish.  I really couldn't think of any other logical reason why someone would knowingly wake up this whole peaceful fishing village at 5 in the morning.

When I asked about it later that day, I was told this happens every day, and if there is music after the bells it means that the villagers are supposed to come to mass at the church.  At 5 in the morning!!!!!   My god, that's physically painful.

After 3 days in this very peaceful village paradise on the beach, I was extremely tired.

Beaches, diving, and tiny weird primates

After 3 days traveling in the Philippines, I finally reached the spectacular tropical island of Bohol.  It really is a little bit of paradise.  

Today I joined a scuba dive boat, as one of 3 snorkelers. The visibility was up to 30 meters, with bright sunshine.  Huge numbers of very colorful fish, giant coral, and weird looking squid.   We even saw a very poisonous meter long Sea Snake, which came a little too close for comfort.  When I ventured over the underwater drop-off wall, peering down into the abyss, I say this giant ball of large pike was being pushed up by something just below me.  I didn't hang about to find out what was chasing them.

Yesterday, I rented a motorbike to ride through the interior "chocolate hills".  There was almost no traffic, and I really enjoyed the breeze while riding.  Attached is photo of a Tarsier, which is the smallest primate on earth.  Each eyeball is 16 mm in diameter, which is larger than their entire brain.  They sleep with their eyes open, and can't move their eyeballs, but they can rotate their heads almost 360 degrees to look around. Very weird.

Not a backpacker in sight !!

My cheap Tiger Air flight landed in Clark, Philippines yesterday. I kind of knew what to expect, but thought it would be better than arriving in Manila at midnight.  Well, Angeles/Clark is just as bad as I thought it would be.  It's full of Sex Workers and their older male customers.  It used to be the main US Air Force Base in the Philippines.  Apparently at it's peak, there were 100,000 sex workers here.  Now there are only 10,000.

The only tourists I've seen are older men with very young Filippino girls on their arms.   Not a backpacker in sight.

I fly to the islands and beaches in the Visayas tonight.  It has some of the best diving, snorkeling and beaches in the world.  Can't wait to get out of here.  This place is creeping me out.

Great Thai food and massages, and some new photos from Dave

The tour of Asia continues.  I think I was getting a little burnt out with all the travelling in India and Burma, but I'm now recovering on the beaches in Thailand.  Hey, someone has to do it.

I flew from Burma to Thailand on Feb. 5, and enjoyed some great Thai Food and Thai Massages in Bangkok.  Originally I planned on just a quick stopover in Thailand, since I've been here before.  But, I was moving my flight dates anyways, so decide on adding 3 weeks in Thailand.  

I met up with Stefan by chance in Bangkok.  We had traveled together for a few days in Burma, and get along really well, so we decided to head to Ko Chang, which is a nice island only 5 hours by bus and boat from Bangkok.  I plan on spending about 12 days on this island before flying to the Philippines for a month.  Yesterday we rented Motorbikes and toured the coastline of this mountainous, jungle clad island.  We also rented a kayak for a couple days, and paddled through the Mangrove forests on the remote east coast..  I think it might be hard to leave this paradise.

I've posted a new album on Bangkok and the beaches and jungles of Ko Chang Island

Photos posted at:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UfMBTquWwvTZ8UYy9

Burma
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xEG58unnuPyD3YHP6

Kuala Lumpur
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r2cUPm48S4UxD9zaA

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

To enjoy the Good in life, you must experience some Bad. This is just

so you have something to compare it with. Experiencing the Ugly will

also gives you some perspective, and it's usually not something you will

forget.

Here are some of my traveling experiences – Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good

• Climbing a large ridge above Annapurna Base Camp up to 4500 meters. Amazing mountain vistas in bright sunshine
• The stunning views of the big mountains from the peaks of Kala Patar and Gokyo Ri in the Everest region of Nepal
• Deep mountain valleys, waterfalls, wild rivers, and friendly villages in the Annapurna region of Nepal
• Indian Trains have pros and cons, but they are a wonderful way to meet local families and see the countryside. Night trains are much more comfortable than buses, especially in the better ticket classes. I slept very well with clean sheets and blankets. 
• 30-days of blue sky while trekking in the high mountains of the

Everest Region in Nepal

• The sweet, lovely, and honest people of Burma. This country has

been isolated from the rest of the world for so long, and is just now

starting to open up. The people are friendly and helpful, and even

the taxi drivers are honest

• A dawn boat trip down the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. All

aspects of life and death are out in the open. It is something very

spiritual, even for a hardened agnostic

• The sunset views from a rooftop cafe in Udaipur, India, while

drinking a cold beer from a teapot. The sun dipped behind the white

marble fortress on an island in the middle of the lake, while the

Muslim call to prayer echoed around the city

• A camel trek into the deserts of Rajasthan. Sleeping under the

stars in the sand dunes, watching shooting stars, and then watching

the moon rise. The farting camels sleeping nearby just added to the

experience. The next day was just the Camel driver and myself, and

having tea with his extended family in the desert was an experience

I'll not forget

• The diverse food in India. There is no one Indian cuisine. It's a

wild culinary adventure of frying, simmering, sizzling, kneading, and

flipping. The menus changes radically from region to region and

include flakey parathas, Tandorri chicken that melts in your mouth,

Garlic/butter Nans, Paneer Curries, Jeera Rice, the spicy Fish Curries

and Prawns of Kerala, the Fruit Lassi's that are so thick you need a

spoon, strong coffees in the south, and teas in the north, Dosas in

the south which are a family of large rice-flour crepes served with a

bowl of hot sambar, and another bowl of cooling coconut chatni. After

2 months in India, the food was still an exciting adventure every day.

• Meeting other travelers along the way and sharing experiences and

recommendations

• Bike riding next to the surf on the Beaches of Goa.  The 28 km long beach in Benaulim is stunning.

• Walking the beaches of Varkala, and visiting the fishing villages

along the way

• The porter I had for the Everest Trek. He spoke no English, but we

got along really well. He was really helpful, and a happy, fun person

to be with.

• The comforts and ease of modern Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after

spending 2 months in India. Wow, paved lighted streets, a luxury

smooth riding bus from the Airport, a clean room with Air-Con, and

then an ice cold beer with tasty Malaysian food. It's just not this

easy in India

• The tiny 5 room Guesthouse I stayed at in Varkala, India. Lovely

and Jinnu are sisters who run the guesthouse and really went out of

their way to make me feel at home. I didn't want to leave.

• Watching the sun dip into the sea and listening to the ocean surf,

while drinking a frosty beer at my favorite beach bar in Goa

• The exotic Camel Fair in Pushkar, India. Camel drivers come from

all over Rajhastan to trade camels, and participate in events like

Horse and Camel Judging, and Mustache and Turban competitions.

Nothing boring here. Every time I turned a corner, I found myself

looking at things I couldn't quite believe.

The Bad

• Bed-bugs in a “first class” Indian sleeper train
• More Bed bugs in a Yangon guesthouse
• The Annapurna trek in Nepal was pretty crowded at times
• Saddle sores from the Camel Trek that took a week to heal. Sitting

was painful.

• The young porter I had for the Annapurna Trek. He was just like a

moody teenager. After I threaten to fire him he improved a lot

• Almost getting hypothermia in an ice cold night bus in Burma. The

AC was on full blast for 10 hours, and even though I had all my warm

clothes I had on, I was actually shaking. I ended up with a cold

after this trip.

• Traveler's Diarrhea a number of times. I took a Cipro Antibiotic

right away when this hit, and it usually only lasted a day

• The bureaucratic process of booking train tickets in India. Train

tickets are usually sold out months in advance. I finally bought an

Indian Mobile phone and applied for and got connected with the online

Indian booking system. This helped immensely, but took more than a

week to get sorted out
• Getting a Visa for Burma in Kuala Lumpur.  It took 2 days, and then the Burmese Embassy lost my passport.  Yikes!  I was standing in a crowd of over 100 people at the Burmese Embassy, and the clerk kept saying they did not have my Passport.  I almost freaked out.  Then I thought I heard someone saying "Mister David Canada" from somewhere in the crowd behind me.  I turned around and this guy was waving a passport.  It turned out they had given my passport to the wrong person.   Was I ever happy to get it back.

• The touts and Rickshaw drivers in India. They must be the most

dishonest and rude people I've ever met. Expect a scam and you won't

be disappointed. I learned to be just rude, which actually helped a

lot.

• Missing a flight in India. It cost me a few bucks, but I did get to

enjoy a few more days at the beach in Varkala. It was totally my

fault. Lessoned learned.

• Getting a sore butt, and stiff legs from all the hour long bus

rides. Anything over 8 hours is a bit painful

The Ugly

• Food poisoning hit me in the taxi while heading to the airport for

my flight from Kathmandu to Varanasi. My stomach said "NO f#$@%$ WAY"

to the breakfast I had eaten, and suddenly tried to expel it from both

ends. I just stumbled right through security at the airport, and

luckily I always made it to the toilet in time. But the airsick bags

from the plane came in handy in the taxi to my hotel. It took me a

week to recover, even with good drugs. Here's the kicker… when I

finally arrived at my dusty cheap hotel in Varanasi, I opened the

balcony doors and saw bodies being cremated right below me on the

Ganges river. I suddenly realized that my room was not covered in

dust, but human ash. I almost lost it.

Overall the good experiences outweigh the bad by far, but we need a

few bad experiences just to keep some perspective. It just makes the

good experiences seem that much better.

Just when I thought I had gotten the hang of travelling in India

Many places in India go by a number of different names.  Bombay is now Mumbai, Calcutta is now Kolkata, etc.

On the day I was leaving India and flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I took a taxi to the airport.  I gave myself lots of time and arrived a good 4 hours before the flight.  Well, the guidebook said the flight goes from Trivandrum, sometimes called Thiruvananthapuram, to Kuala Lumpur.  So I went ahead and booked online with Air Asia.  The airport code came up as TRZ.  No problem.

Well, at the Trivandrum Airport, I got a lot of confused looks from the check-in staff, and after much discussion in Hindi and some broken English, I suddenly realized I was at the wrong airport.  Yikes!  My flight left from Tiruchirapalli, sometimes called Trichy, and not Trivandrum, sometimes called Thiruvananthapuram.  So, how far is Tiruchirapalli, sometimes called Trichy, from Trivandrum, sometimes called Thiruvananthapuram?  Well, I ask that question.  "6 hours minimum by "fast" taxi" was the general consensus.

            So after some contemplation, I headed back to my beach hotel and stayed another 3 days, rebooking flights, and triple-checking the names this time.  Lessons learned.

Cultural Differences, or Elegant Belching Women

The women in India dress very elegantly in silk saris.  But I was shocked the first time a stunningly beautiful woman, who was very richly dressed, walked past me and belched loudly.  She just opened her mouth and let it rip.  The first time this happened I though the woman was being rude, but after it happened a number of times in different places and situations, I realized that belching is very acceptable in the Indian culture.  I only heard women belching, and not men.   Weird.

But Indian men scratch their genitals in public.  I soon realized that men adjusting themselves and scratching their genitals openly in public is perfectly acceptable in India.  Men also piss anywhere that is convenient, which gives India a very distinctive smell that I'll miss.  Women don't relieve themselves in public, just the belching thing.

Pushing to the front of a lineup is also normal in India, and I soon learned do likewise.  Once at a Railway station lineup I almost knocked over an Indian teenager who was starting to piss me off with his shoving and edging in front of me in the queue.  I towered over people with my backpack and soon perfected the technique of swinging my backpack to the side when someone tried to nudge in front of me.  It worked well.

Private property is viewed differently in India.  For example, if you put your newspaper or book down on a bus or train, someone will almost immediately pick it up and start reading it.   It's the norm here.  If you put something on your seat to hold it, don't be surprised your jacket or pack has been moved and your seat taken when you get back.  If a body is not in a seat, it's up for grabs in India.  There is no such thing as "holding" a seat by putting on of your possessions on the seat.

            Almost all the women in India are lovely and friendly, but the young men, especially the 15 to 25 age group, are a pain in the ass sometimes.  They tend to roam around in gangs with nothing to do but bother tourists and make a general nuisance of themselves. But here's the clincher.  They walk around hand-in-hand, or with arms around one another.  In western cultures only gay men do this, but in India all men walk around hand-in-hand.

            Here's a little one.  When drinking out of a bottle, Indians do not let the container touch their mouth.  They tilt the bottle and pour it into their mouth, but without putting their lips to the bottle.  Everyone drinks this way and it might have something to do with sharing water bottles around.

Photos posted here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yK7YQiRckFoFj3wL9