kenmerk's VirtualTourist Home Page

Feb 2008 Japan: It was fun to get back to Japan for visiting friends, a day in Kyoto, and some skiing. (It had been a while, over 10 years since my last visit to the land of the rising sun...) Surprisingly, my Japanese held up OK. It was put to the test trying to negotiate a way of paying for my hostel in Hachikogen. (the place only took local cash, and the local ATM's are not friendly to Taiwan bank cards...) After much ado, we were able to locate a bank up in the mountains to change money, tho...

Dec 2007 Philippines/Borneo: By far the two highlights of this trip was the thresher shark diving in Malapascua, PI, and the wild life along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah. Here, we saw 30+ wild elephants, 4-5 orangutan, plus countless other monkeys, snake, crocodile, birds... Quite a special place, hope Malaysia does all they can to preserve it...

June 2007 Greece/Turkey: A lap around the Med. Seeing the ruins in Greece and Bodrum was great, and Istanbul is among the best cities I've ever been to... The only negative thing I'd say is that diving in Bodrum was cold, cold, cold... ;o)))

April 2007 NYC/Vermont: Manhattan skycrapers and tree climbing in VT... (I much prefer the latter to the former, I think..... ) Here is video link for a short TV show on my friends tree climbing adventures. (He's the one who taught me "always tie the safety knot around the six pack...)

Feb 2007 Thai/Burma: Finished a quick Chinese New Year trip thru Northern Thailand and Burma, with stops in Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, Si Satchanalai, Mae Sai, Takchilek, and Kengtung. (I have to say, this is one of my favourite parts of the world...)

Dec 2006 Mexico/USA: Yucatan Mexico was fun, though a bit too touristed I think... (the area looks overdeveloped ala Sharm el Sheikh or the like....) Cave diving was an experience, though... Take a look at this short video clip on You Tube....

Jul 2006, Holland/Poland: The best part of this trip was sailing the Mazurian lakes for 3-4 days.... No phone/newspaper/email/VT, just wind, water and wodkas... (it is a healthy thing to drop out of the daily news circuit sometimes.....

January 2006, Puerto Galera, PI: Probably one of the lowest energy vacations I've had in a while, just diving and beers on the beach in the evening in Puerto Galera, Philippines over Chinese New Year..... My job has been killing me, so pretty much the way I intended this holiday to go.....

November 2005, Galapagos, Ecuador: Well, all I can say about the Galapagos Islands, except, my god, what an experience.... The quality of wild life here, both above and below the waves is just breath taking.... Not sure if I can ever enjoy diving anywhere else after seeing this place...... (Just cant measure up.....) I just hope the Ecuadorian Govt does all that it can to preserve it.

June 2005, China: Birthday in the Middle Kingdom... well, time was short and the country is huge, so only a brief intro into China this time around... Not sure what the locals though of me though.. (speaking broken Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent,,,,) Look forward to getting back to China to see more. (Yunnan province next, maybe....)

Dec 2004, India: Back from a whirlwind tour thru India with a few days on the beach at the end in Goa to recuperate. Nice trip, much to see, many touts to fight off, though the diving in Goa was about the worst I've seen most anywhere....

Sept. 2004: Orchid Island (Lanyu) Just got back from a long weekend trip to Orchid Island (Lanyu): Nice mix of beautiful volcanic coast lines, aboriginal culture, and great diving....

July 2004: Back from Micronesia: Finally made the trip to Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon: This is one dive location that I've dreamed of visiting for years.... An entire fleet of Japanese World War 2 vesels sitting at the bottom of this tropical lagoon. Quite an amazing site..... Also had the chance to stop by Pohnpei again.... Always a pleasure to visit old friends on this most hospitable island... (..and of course slurp cups of muddy Sakau til yer face muscles experience partial paralysis, but, sorry, I digress...)

May 2004:
Republic of Palau: After 2 or 3 tries, I did finally manage to make it to Palau, now trying to post a few pictures of these beautiful islands... (standard holiday fare: sharks, jellyfish, sharks, mantas, sharks, sunsets, and the of course the odd beer).

Jan 2004 : Northern Thai/Laos/Burma: Was fortunate enough to spend most of the Chinese New Holiday hiking around in Northern Thailand and the Shan State, Burma. Been able to complete two pages: Lwe Villages of Wan Nyet and Wan Seng up in Burma, and a slice of Yunnan in Northern Thailand: Mae Salong. Will add a couple more when I have time...

Malaysia is such a nice place to visit: the multi-cultured and modern, yet not Singaporean anti-septic, KL's surprising amount of nightlife, friendly people, historical towns like Melaka, and the beautiful islands of Pulau Redang and Pulau Perhentian in the South China Sea, ... and home to many of the VT virtually famous....

What more could one ask for ?

New Zealand: Wonderful Island Nation in the South Pacific... Highlights for me were diving at Poor Knight's Island, Thermal areas at Rotorua, Seals and Penguins on the South Island, Sipping a few Steinlagers, hiking on the Franz Josef Glacier, followed by a few more Steinlagers...

Update: I started adding individual pages for some of the more interesting places that I have been in NZ, including hiking on the Franz Josef Glacier, diving at Poor Knight's Island Marine Reserve, hiking amongst the big kauri trees at Waipoua, and penguin watching at Oamaru...

Burma: The golden land, I can never get enough of Burma... This is the land to which I would like to retire someday... Though a political basketcase at present, the isolation does help to preserve the culture there... Best places to visit are the temples of Bagan, the magical Shwedagon Paya in Yangon, the Sacred Balanced Boulder of Kyaiktiyo, and trekking through the Golden Triangle around Kengtung ...

Taiwan: Home sweet home for the past eight years.... Most people who come here mostly only get to see the big city life of Taipei or Kaohsuing...(which is fine...)

But for me the abundance of alpine mountains, hot springs, and waterfalls and the beautiful marble gorge at Taroko are the real attraction of Taiwan...

Though Taiwan is not famous for diving, there are a couple places worth checking out, like Green Island
and Kenting, which are both pretty good...