As 2011 comes to an end, I thought it would be cool to talk about my top 5 travel experiences of the year. My year was split roughly 6 months in Australia, 3 months in Southern Asia, and 3 in the US. It's hard to pick just 5, but here are my favorite travel memories from 2011, in no particular order.
The movie Avatar smashed all sorts of box office records, and set the bar for all future 3D films. Pandora, the planet in Avatar, got people dreaming of a better world, but if you look around you'll see that a lot of places here on earth actually inspired this Pandora environment. I know it's a bit geeky, but this article is a collection nature photos which I found to be Pandora-like, or out of this world, or just really cool.
Q. Hey me and Chris are trying to plan our honeymoon. Have you ever been to Phuket or Thailand? Let me know, or if you have other recommendations?? Somewhere exotic and tropical, but things/excursions to do with good food and drinks!
The New7Wonders Foundation has recently provisionally nominated the New 7 Wonders of Nature from Zurich, Switzerland. The list was selected by a combination of votes and "expert judging" from a group of 28 finalists. There are some big ones missing like the Grand Canyon and Great Barrier Reef. I'm not sure I like this list very much, but I thought it was worth posting.
A time lapse video taken by Expedition 28 & 29 from the International Space Station during the months of August to October, 2011. You can clearly see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) as the station crosses over the top of the Earth. Because of the Earths constant rotation things look a bit different than we're used to on the map, it's tough to make out what countries you're looking at (when the clouds aren't hiding the ground), but I was able to identify a few regions. The person who posted this video claims they didn't do anything to edit colors or anything similar, it's strange to see the atmosphere so clearly visible, very cool.
When traveling through the Philippines, we found ourselves in Cebu for 2 days, waiting for a flight to the island of Siargao. We didn't really know what we wanted to do, and in doing a little research discovered the island of Bohol, just a couple hours away from Cebu by ferry. The island, pronounced very similar to "Butthole", is best known for the Chocolate Hills of Bohol. When we arrived, we decided to rent scooters and explore the island that way. One of our destinations, a lazy 45 minute scooter ride away from our resort in the Mactan Island area of Bohol, was the Loboc River.
Magpupungko is a place I am tempted to not write about because I want to keep it all for myself. The Philippines are amazing in general, but the Magpupunkgko Lagoon was amazing and deserted. It gave the satisfying affect of discovery and solitude being the only group at such a cool place. The water in the lagoon is very warm, a more buoyant person than myself could comfortably sleep in it. The lagoon itself is a giant tide pool carved out of the coral, and if you swim to the edge, you can look out over fields of coral to breaking waves,creating a natural infinity pool effect.
Last month I was travelling through the Philippines. We spent 5 days visiting a friend on the Island of Siargao, famous for its surfing break Cloud 9, and relatively unknown otherwise (for now). He took us around to all the cool things he’s discovered on the island, including a set of water caves a few hours away by boat. Apparently we lucked out with our timing, because the caves were nothing compared to what was going on in a nearby cove. I guess it’s seasonal, but every year a nearby protected lagoon becomes a breeding ground for jellyfish.
Walking to the tuk tuk line on our way to a club in Boracay, Philippines we saw a spa advertising those fish that eat the dead skin off your feet. The next day we headed back to try it out. I’ve seen it before in other Asian countries, but never actually tried it. It’s a strange concept, and I don’t know that I could tell the difference afterwards (and my feet were all messed up from climbing Mt. Whitney), but it was worth trying.
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About The Cheap RouteTheCheapRoute.com is the site where you find fresh new travel destinations & ideas. We don't provide guidebook style writeups, we normally don't even offer you all the specifics, you can find that elsewhere. What we do provide are high quality photos & videos, useful tips, and a fresh perspective on travelling the world for cheap.
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