Travelling in Southeast Asia — There is a world-class diving spot in Malaysia called Sipadan. Diving and snorkelling in Sipadan itself is a bit of a hassle (you need a permit), so we joined a boat tour to snorkel on remote islands nearby. And then, there was a cash theft on the boat. It wasn’t me who was robbed, but we were also annoyed by the baggage checks and so on. I mean, I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring a lot of money on a tour boat...

Travel in Southeast Asia — We crossed the border from Indonesia to Malaysia on Kalimantan (or Borneo). We are now in Malaysia. The border crossing is by boat from the Indonesian city of Nunukan to Tawau, Malaysia. We used several speedboats to reach Nunukan, but it was not straightforward; we ran out of fuel at sea on the way once, and we had an overloaded boat another time. However, it’s an international boat between Nunukan and Tawau. It was a proper boat this time.

Travel journal — Maratua Island is a small island in the east of Kalimantan. It is an atoll island formed by the subsidence of a volcano after a ring of coral grew up around it. The area is world-famous as a diving spot, but we visited to see how the snorkelling was. I gave my honest opinion of snorkelling on Maratua Island. https://maiandchristravel.com/maratua-snorkeling/

A Year Trip Blog — Maratua is a small island east of Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia. Malatur, an atoll island, is attracting attention as a diving spot with a natural marine environment. However, getting to Maratua didn’t seem to be easy. The information online is limited. Some bloggers say that it’s very complicated to get…

Travel Diary — We are now in Anda, Bohol, Philippines, and it has already been two weeks since we arrived in the Philippines on 25 April. Our initial plan was to fly to Kota Kinabalu on 24 May and we had already booked the flight tickets. …

One year trip diary — We went back to Japan for a week, but time passed quickly and now I am writing this in Negros Occidental, Philippines. I was busy while I was in Japan: researching about traveling in Japan and booking, interpreting Japanese and English with Chris, and blogging about the whole trip. We…

Travel Diary in Southeast Asia — On Monday 27 March, a flight from Singapore brought us to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam, with a population approaching 9 million in 2019. …

Travel Diary in Southeast Asia — On Sunday 26 March, we left Indonesia and arrived in Singapore. Entering Singapore at Changi Airport was smooth, as all we had to do was scan our passports. We had already registered our Arrival Card online. https://maiandchristravel.com/flying-from-makassar-to-singapore-with-batik-air/ However, when we tried to take the metro from the airport to the…

Travel Diary in Southeast Asia — We arrived in Ambon by boat this morning and went straight to the airport. There we bought tickets to Makassar and boarded the plane. https://maiandchristravel.com/travelling-from-banda-neira-to-ambon-on-the-pelni-boat-sabuk-106/ We used an Indonesian airline called Lion Air. Tomorrow, we will fly from Makassar to Singapore with Batik Air, another airline in the same group…