Where in the world is Louie?

Hi there folks, Louie here! I know it’s been a while so I thought I’d check in and let you know what’s been going on. I’m doing well since these nice people, Helen and Nick, saved me from the dinner plate of some heartless soul and adopted me. I’ve been all over the place! I don’t like the cities as much because I’m small and get kicked around (unless Nick takes me to Hooters that is!) but I love the beaches; they feel more like home and, besides, I go a lovely orangey-pink colour in the sun. Don’t worry though, I slap on the suncream cos if I don’t I tend to go a bit crusty and get salt marks all over my body. I thought I’d be able to write more often and fill you in on all my escapades but I found that my tentacles kept getting stuck in the keys as I typed. Real bummer. Anyway, I endured the pain this time to share some pictures with you. I thought we could play a little game called, ‘Where in the world is Louie?’ See if you can guess where I’m strutting my hot bod…

Our journey so far continued...Boracay (again), Melaka & Singapore.

March 2011

14th – Flew to Manila to catch a connecting flight back to Boracay, Philippines for some R&R. Owing to a hectic schedule where we extended time in SE Asia and reduced the time we will spend in Oz, we were, quite simply, knackered! So, since we loved the Philippines so much and it is reasonably cheap, we returned to recuperate. So much for topping up our tans though – the weather was crap. We met Nonito Donaire though, aka the Filipino Flash, a World Champion boxer. Bonus.

20th – Flew to Kuala Lumpur via Manila to catch a bus to Melaka, the old capital, which was named after a tree. Plenty of colonial buildings and structures to view due to Dutch, Portuguese and British rule over the years. Took a one-hour tour with a tricycle tour guide, which turned into a full-on, three-hour history lesson complete with text book. We thought about ending it all during the last hour but as he possessed dual citizenship with Her Majesty’s Kingdom, through a long service in our Royal Navy, we thought it unpatriotic not to oblige a top man.

22nd – Bus to Singapore which we explored in an open-top, hop-on, hop-off tour bus. Very impressive, innovative and  livable city, which is tiny in comparison to other major worldwide cities. Interestingly, Singapore was once an island of marshland foolishly rejected by Malaysia and is now a thriving city with a booming economy, whereas Malaysia is yet to receive its developed nation status and will not until at least 2020. Left the bright lights of the city for a day to visit the city’s playground of Sentosa, an island off an island where Singaporeans can go to the beach. Visited continental Asia’s most southerly point, topped up our tans and stood outside Universal Studios wishing a single entrance fee didn’t cost more than our entire daily budget. ‘Don’t care, it’s fake anyway. The real one’s in Florida.’

Where else should one partake of the Singapore Sling? At Raffles Hotel of course! Awareness of a dress code to get into the famous Long Bar ensured we dug out our glad rags. We actually looked smart, uncrumpled and worthy of a seat at the bar, but incredulity soon set in upon witnessing some of the naffly-dressed riff-raff patrons. Our conversation became fitting of the moment as we sipped our slings and threw our peanut shells on the floor, which, incidentally, is actively encouraged.

“By jove old chap, they’ll let anyone in here these days.”

“They’re probably French.”

“Long live the days of the Empire I say.”

25th – Flight to Adelaide, the start of our Australian Crusade and the end of our Far Eastern Odyssey.

Japan Earthquake

I am sure you are all well-informed of the devastating earthquake that hit Japan recently, unless you’ve been living under a rock (that’s not a good place to be by the way). Anyway, we were in Taiwan at the time. We had hired a car to tour the island and had visited the tip of the north coast at Yeliu to see a geopark consisting of a limestone cape (it was more interesting than it sounds). We were driving south and had been on the road for an hour or so when the announcement of the quake came on the radio. It stated that, consequently, a tsunami was on its way to, among other countries, Taiwan. Obviously we were concerned, although once it had registered that it was headed for the northeast coast, away from which we were driving, we relaxed. It was about 3pm when we heard this and the tsunami was scheduled to hit around 5.30pm. Of course we were anxious to listen to all radio reports in order to keep up with developments, so we stayed tuned in. All our anxiety and anticipation dissipated, however, when the tsunami turned out to be anti-climactic. Radio reports stated after the scheduled event that “the tsunami had no significant impact because…THE TIDE WAS OUT.” Right you are then, just so we’re clear, you have all these incredibly technical ometers and  graphs, and all kinds of imagery to measure all sorts of worldwide seismic activity hours before the event, but you don’t possess the tools to discern whether or not the tide will be out? Good one. Let’s wait and see that the reason for Armageddon not having the kind of impact it should have had was because of low cloud cover.

Our journey so far continued...Taiwan

March 2011

8th – Arrival in Taipei, Taiwan. After a recovery nap on the afternoon of arrival, we explored the city via the excellent subway system for the usual markets and high-rise buildings. Nice, clean city that made us feel like we were at home, but was probably more attributed to the weather than anything else. 13 degrees and it felt Baltic, especially as we’re not kitted out for that kind of weather!

11th – Hired car to tour island. Drove to northern tip of island to Yeliu Geopark, a formation of lunarscape-looking rocks. It included the ‘Queens Head’, a rather regal-shaped neck and head formed by the sea over thousands of years. Drove south for a night at Sun Moon Lake, the largest body of freshwater in Taiwan, in the middle of the island where, en-route, we heard of the Japan earthquake on the radio (see recent blog).

12th – Took the scenic route through the mountains that almost made us drive off the edge by losing the will to live after they never seemed to end. Wasted countless hours doing so to get to the old capital of Tainan. Quick stop to see temple famous for its Banyan tree and on to Kaohsiung, a nice city which made us wish we had more time to explore it. Arrived so late there was nothing to do but hit the hay. We did manage to cruise the water front in our drop-top low rider sitting on 24-inch phat rims while pumping out thunderous bass from the stereo. No wait, maybe we were delirious from lack of sleep and a hectic schedule. Rather, it was a meek ‘tobe’ branded car, whatever that is, equivalent to a Toyota Yaris.

13th – Drove to Kenting, the southern tip of the island, to Taiwan’s premier beach resort. Quick view and walk of beach to observe mental, mental, chicken orientals at play and purchase obligatory tourist t-shirt before quick turnaround back up to Taipei. For an island only approximately 287 miles in length and potentially a 4-hour drive at most, you would not believe how long it took to drive its length, so we knew we were in for a long drive back. Slept in car once back in Taipei at Beitou, known for its hot springs. Since they are open 24hrs and it was normal to see people rock up at 3am to use them, we felt perfectly safe and will go as far as to say we actually had a good night’s sleep!

14th – Returned car and spent the afternoon in Taipei. Visited the excellent Longshan temple before heading to the airport for another satisfying night’s sleep…on the plane for a couple of hours on the way to Boracay via Manila.