Category: Travel
Bali
Aerial over Single Fin from Bedimages on Vimeo.
Chris Coco – Summer Sun
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar OST
Bingin Beach Bali
Above & Beyond – Robot Heart Yoga – Burning Man 2014
4 Singaporean hikers who went missing at Malaysia’s Gunung Angsi found
A hike into the jungles of Negeri Sembilan went frighftully awry for four Singaporeans who found themselves separated from their group and got lost for 10 hours in the Malaysian wilderness.
The four Singaporeans — all of whom are in their mid-20s — had joined about 35 other hikers at 8am for a trek up the 824 metres-high Gunung Angsi in Negeri Sembilan last Sunday morning when they lost their way during their descent, The New Paper reports.
During the return hike after reaching the summit of the mountain, the four friends broke away from the main group to descend through the more scenic Ulu Bendul waterfall trail, navigating their way around using white plastic markers tied to the trees.
They soon lost track of the markers after circumventing a large fallen tree and decided to call the park rangers for instructions when it started pouring. They followed the park ranger’s instructions to follow a river, and several hours later at 9pm they arrived at an oil palm plantation.
Exploring further down the plantation, they stumbled upon a hostel of an electronics factory and notified a security guard stationed there. The fire department was soon alerted and they were given a ride to the Ulu Bendul Recreation Park ranger office.
Reportedly, the local Fire and Rescue Department had been alerted about their disappearance earlier, and 29 officers were deployed to search for the missing hikers.
One of their friends drove all the way from Singapore to Negeri Sembilan to pick them up from the park, and they reached back home early yesterday morning around 3.30am.
Diving Destinations
A friend from Hong Kong asked me for advice on booking a diving trip to Pulau Redang for a holiday. Here is my response.
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I agree that Pulau Redang is the best diving site in Peninsular Malaysia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
But only within Peninsular Malaysia.
It is popular with Malaysians because it is near to Kuala Lumpur so people can take a weekend trip there (and they don’t need to pay airfare, just pack up the kids and drive to the jetty).
For visitors from overseas who are going to fly anyway and can afford more than a US$200 package holiday, there are more beautiful beaches and waters at world class locations like:
Pulau Sipadan, East Malaysia (but probably not within your budget and time)
In his film Borneo: The Ghost of the Sea Turtle (1989) Jacques Cousteau said, “I have seen other places like Sipadan, years ago, but now no more. Now we have found an untouched piece of art.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://adventure4ever.
Nusa Lembongan / Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia
http://wikitravel.org/en/Nusa_
http://wikitravel.org/en/Nusa_
http://www.nusapenida.com/
Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
One of the only places in the world where the prehistoric Coelacanth still exists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
I have dived there before – absolutely breathtaking and therapeutic.
Lombok, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://lombokdiving.com/
Lombok and Manado are available by direct flight from Singapore via Silkair.
http://www.silkair.com/mbe/en_
http://www.silkair.com/mbe/en_
Bali is accessible by direct flight from Singapore by Singapore Airlines, Garuda and Air Asia (I went there in Jan 2012 and Nov 2011).
Clannad – Harry's Game
Harry’s Game was an ITV drama about Captain Harry Brown – an SAS undercover agent – infiltrating the IRA. Harry was on a mission to find the assassin of a British Cabinet Minister in the Falls Road area of Belfast. Harry was alone: not even the army was told of his presence; his wife was fed up with him. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensued, in which many innocent lives were impacted and neither side could win. Harry befriended a local woman who fell for him, and in turn was consumed by Harry’s relentless search for the assassin. The IRA soon realised they had an informant in their midst and brought in the same assassin to hunt down Harry. The play’s ending was sad: the betrayed and by now dead Harry was lying on a dirty street as the locals just stepped over his body, ignoring it.
The series’ contained loose parallels with the real-life events of both Grenadier Guards/SAS Captain Robert Nairac, and his murder by the IRA in 1977, and the 1979 assassination of Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave.
The series’ theme tune was performed by Clannad and was successfully released as a single, reaching the top five in both Ireland and the United Kingdom and bringing Clannad its first major international exposure.
The lyrics to the song were written to depict the story of The Troubles (Irish euphemism for a partial civil-war), among all sides in Northern Ireland, (Nationalist, Republican, Unionist and Loyalist). The lyrics, derive from an ancient Celt text, explaining how in war and in violence, no side wins – that all lose.