Day 215 Mar 7 2015 Nong Thale Thailand

enjoying the roof top pool at one stop residence hotel in Kuala Lumpur

last dip before heading to Thailand

view from balcony at "At Sea Condo" in Nong Thale Thailand

Day 215  Mar 7  2015  Nong Thale Thailand

I was not feeling 100% so we hung around the hotel till 1 pm then took a taxi to the airport to catch or flight at 5 pm.  We arrived at the Krabi airport and took a taxi to the rental condo.  Evy and I went for a walk around the area to look for grocery stores so we could eat breakfast the next morning.  We ended up taking a tuk tuk to the 7-11 up the road only to find out it was with in easy walking distance.  The tuk tuks and taxis in Nong Thale are very expensive in comparison to other places in Thailand,  the 600 meter round trip to the 7 eleven cost 200 thb (8 cad).

Day 214 Mar 6 2015 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

sick day in Kuala Lumpur

best internet connection was outside in the heat

Day 214  Mar 6  2015  Kuala Lumpur  Malaysia

I had a long night with lots of trips to the bathroom.  I was also extremely cold even though I turned the temperature in the  room up to 26 deg c and was wrapped up in a blanket.  Evy was actually complaining about how hot it was and that usually does not happen.  I was feeling quite a bit better in the morning but still feel like I don’t have much energy.  We stayed in the hotel playing on the tablets and watching TV.  Evy made a few trips to stores in the area for food.

Day 213 Mar 5 2015 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Planetarium Negara 

a couple of future astronauts

one of the displays inside the KL Tower

View from KL Tower with Petronas Twin Towers in the back ground

KL Tower

Day 213  Mar 5  2015  Kuala Lumpur  Malaysia

We woke up and planned the next 11 days of our trip.  We ended up booking a condo near Ao Nang Thailand for 9 nights.  We are flying from KL on the 7^th and returning on the 16^th.  In the afternoon we took the LRT to the MRT.  We took the MRT to KL Central then took a cab to the planetarium where we saw a movie on astronauts.   After the planetarium we walked back to KL Central and took a cab to the KL Tower where we went up to the observation deck.  We then returned to the hotel.   It turned out that it was just in time as I got sick shortly after arriving at the hotel. 

Day 212 Mar 4 2015 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

leaving the ferry in Manila

Day 212  Mar 4  2015  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

The sailing was very smooth and we all slept well in the bunks. We woke the kids up at 8:30 and got ready to leave the ship when it docked at 10 am.  It was hard to find a taxi at the terminal and we ended up paying more than double the meter rate to get to the airport.  We arrived at the airport at 11:30 only to find out that the terminal did not open until 1 pm.  The waiting area is outside across the street from the terminal.  When we got into the terminal we discovered the worst international terminal we have been in.  The only food and beverage available was a stand by Air Asia where you could buy a few snacks and drinks.  On the other side of the glass wall was the domestic terminal which was full of shops selling food.  The flight to KL boarded on time but we waited almost a full hour on the runway.  Once we got airborne the flight was nice and smooth.  When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, I checked my e-mail and discovered that Airbnb had sent us a voucher for 300 USD “for all the inconvenience caused”.  That was a nice and unexpected surprise.  We purchased some groceries at the grocery store in the KL airport then took a taxi to our hotel and crashed for the night. 

Day 211 Mar 3 2015 MV St. John Paul II Ferry Philippines

waiting  for the ferry to leave Cebu City

Cebu City Philippines

Looking good on the ferry to Manila

Hair style by------- "The Wind"

not all the ride was fun

Day 211  Mar 3  2015  MV St. John Paul II Ferry   Philippines

We got to the ferry at 9 am for the 12 noon departure.  It was as we had expected and the agent had booked us into 2 different rooms.  The kids were supposed to be in one room with 2 strangers and Evy and I in another room.  We were able to get that changed once we got to the ship.  The majority of passengers did not have cabins but were in big common rooms with bunks.  The cheapest of them being in non air conditioned parts of the ship; when Isabel saw them she said thank you for book us a cabin.  

Day 210 Mar 2 2015 Cebu City Philippines

family shower

enjoying the pools

woo hoo

level 5 of the falls

eco shower

a rough day at the office

Day 210  Mar 2  2015  Cebu City  Philippines

We started the day with a trip to the beautiful Aguinid Falls which has 5 different levels, some beautiful scenery, rock formations and some cool pools you can jump into.  The trip involved climbing right up the falls with the water cascading down on you.  We had two “technical guides” as does every group that makes the trek.  They were excellent in helping the kids and Evy when she did not want to go back down a water fall that she had climbed.  In her defense they were high; I thought for a while that she was going to spend the night there.  It was a lot of fun to walk the river, climb the falls, pass behind the falls and swim in the little pools.  We got back to the house at 12:30, packed and got in the truck for the 4 1/2 hour trip to Cebu City.  It was a much more enjoyable drive in the day light.  At the hotel I checked my e-mail to find a message from Airbnb that they had credited my visa for the full amount of the rental in Santander.  We ended up with 6 nights accommodation free which covers the cost of changing our plane tickets to leave the Philippines earlier. 

Day 209 Mar 1 2015 Santander Philippines

enjoying ice cream in Dumaguete

staring contest with a snake

riding around Dumaguete in a tricycle

Mr. Cool enjoying the ride from Negros

ferry from Negros to Cebu

Day 209  Mar 1  2015  Santander Philippines

We went to a 2go travel agency to purchase tickets for the ferry from Cebu to Manila.  The reason we went to the agency was we wanted to make sure that we ended up in the same cabin.  The numbers on the tickets do not indicate to me that we are in the same cabin but the agent assured me they are, we will find out on the 3^rd.  The agent did not take credit cards, only cash.  Once we paid the tickets we only had around 1500 php, since there are no ATM close to where we were we were forced to take a trip to Dumaguete on Negros again.  When we got to the ferry terminal we were just in time to see the ferry pulling away from the dock.  The next ferry was an hour wait so we walked to the pump boat only to find out that they were shut down due to the high waves (probably a good thing as they don’t look the safest).  We walked back to the fast craft office and purchased our tickets and waited till the ferry got there.  When people were disembarking Evy saw 5 different people throwing up so we started to get worried about the crossing we were about to undertake.  The crossing was fine, I don’t know if it was because we were going with the waves or they were just smaller.  Once we got to Dumagete we took a jeepney to the center of the city and walked to the bank.  The next stop was a restaurant that had a large bbq with pork and chicken.  The pork was trussed together and stuffed with lemon grass and black pepper and other spices, it was quite possible (probably) the best pork I have ever had in my life.  Isabel had the chicken and it too was awesome.  When we got back to the fast craft terminal there was a large crowd and they were not selling tickets until the ferry that was at the dock left.   Once the ferry left they started selling tickets and we were looking at another hour wait until our ferry left.  While we were in line Evy looked at the large car ferry at the next dock and noticed that it seemed to be loading.  We finished purchasing our tickets to the fast craft then rushed next door to discover that the car ferry was about to sail.  We purchased tickets and got on board where we had an enjoyable and smooth crossing due to the large size of the ship.  We did throw 4 tickets to the fast craft in the garbage but it was only 204 php (about 6 CAD).  We made it back to the house about ½ hour before sunset so David and I went snorkeling.  The water was a bit murky due to the waves and the highlight of the dive was a lion fish.