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HM Travels

In my previous three visits to Malaysia, Borneo remained a distant dream—always on the list, never on the itinerary. This time, I finally crossed the South China Sea to explore the island of Borneo -- the third largest island in the world, shared by three nations: Brunei, which claims a sliver of sovereignty; Malaysia, whose states of Sarawak and Sabah hug the northern coast; and Indonesia, which occupies the lion’s share under the name Kalimantan. Flying in domestically to K

From Lalibela, I boarded a short flight to Gondar, a city often called the Camelot of Africa . Nestled in Ethiopia’s northern highlands,...

Towards the southeast of Kenya, very close to its border with Tanzania is the Amboseli National Park. Kenya’s Tsavo East, Tsavo West, and Maasai Mara are other fantastic game parks. What sets Amboseli apart is the huge variety of birdlife in it besides the wildlife. I was driving from Maasai Mara to Amboseli non-stop starting at 6:30am and passing Nairobi at about 10:30am. I was blessed with great weather and was nearing the turnoff to the unpaved road to Amboseli. I saw a gr

One of the big attractions of Kenya is the Maasai Mara National Reserve. I wanted to visit it and heard that people can do a game drive as a self-drive, and that seemed very intriguing. In the past, I had gone to Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Lake Manyara in Tanzania, where I always had a tour operator take me on such drives. I was told that a 4x4 was required to go on this game drive. In Nairobi, I was able to negotiate a 7,000 Kenyan shilling a day Nissan XTrail rent

On maps from the olden times, we have seen the phrase here be dragons . Today was the day for me to see the actual dragons. After Padar Island, we started towards pink beach but there were almost hundred other boats headed there already. The guide changed our course and took us towards Komodo Island first, hoping to escape the crowds. From the pier, you can see the colorful shops. After that you have to wait around until the guide pays the entrance fees to the tourist office

Barely a half an hour flight from Denpasar is an island named Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo national park. Renting a small scooter, for $3 for the evening, I set out to Sylvia Hill, a spot beloved for sunset viewing. A German fellow traveler led the way, and I was at the spot just as the sun was about to set. The island had many high spots for great pictures of the surrounding area. There is a single lane highway close to the coast and it can be seen when landing onto La

The Sacred Monkey Forest is in the heart of Ubud, on the Bali Island of Indonesia. Ubud features a huge scooter or motorcycle culture and the narrow roads make the traffic gnarly at all hours of the day or night. It is quite a respite to have the green, lush Monkey Forest smack dab in the center of this hubbub. The entrance is flanked by two huge statues of dragons like lions on each side and the thousands of tourists that were in the monkey forest with me that day had paid

I had heard of the Amazon River in Brazil for many years and had wanted to visit. I found ship boat named Iberostar which offered a tour of multiple rivers in that area starting from Manaus. From Rio de Janeiro, I took a flight to Manaus and a taxi to the port. It was raining heavily, and I reached the port a few hours before the ship was boarding. From where I was sitting, I could see many ships of different sizes some huge, and some small and all were destined to go on the

About two hours on a fast ferry from Cebu is the relatively big island of Bohol. It has a geological formation that is unique. From Cebu there are ferries to at least two ports of Bohol, Tagbilaran and Tubigon. The latter leaves Cebu at 7am and reaches by 9:30. About 50km from Tubigon, in a tuktuk takes you to the starting point of the geological attraction called Chocolate Hills. As soon as you enter the area, you have to pay 100 Philippine peso fee to enter. The first choco

About 100km from Cebu airport, on the eastern coast of the island is a small village called Oslob. Getting there is very slow due to the constant stop and go due to broken roads or construction activity. When there is no traffic to deal with, one can focus on the beautiful green vistas, heavily wooded forests, and the serene views of the Cebu strait with many small fishing boats. Arriving in Oslob fter the long drive with many small towns with almost no tourists around, you a