Rome: This is where it all begins...

Rome is not exactly South-East Asia, but this is where our journey begins, following a short flight from Malta.

The reason for this was our discovery of some very reasonably priced , flights running from Rome to Manila (€528 return). Since Italy is a small hop from our base in Malta, this seem

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Philippines Travel Plan - Central Visayas

The inspiration for our Philippines travel plan came from our discovery of very reasonably priced flights with , running from Rome to Manila (€528 return).

Since Rome is a small hop from our home base in Europe, this seemed a perfect opportunity to extend our trip with a couple of nights in Ro

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Sri Lanka Travel Plan - Central & South

Our Sri Lanka travel plan was designed as a 21-day rollicking rollercoaster of a ride to the World’s End and beyond. It promised to be an eventful trip, with all content published from my tiny Samsung smartphone.



 
Researching the Trip - Sri Lanka Travel Plan
Our idea was to choose a

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Maldives Under the Reef

Maldives under the reef: Your first underwater experience of the Maldives is likely to be your local house reef. All the islands have their own unique housereefs. For many people, this is all you actually need. Just put on a mask and step into the shallows. You don't need to go further than a few y

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Sandbank Affaire

The Sandbank Affaire Makunudu Maldives is a special experience devised by the Management of the . This is a private evening excursion to a distant mini-island (the Sandbank). You are accompanied by just your waiter and a chef, and are treated to a Lobster BBQ with a bottle of wine.

Since this

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Makunudu Island Paradise, Maldives

Travelling with Emirates from Europe to Makunudu Island, we had an initial stop in Cyprus. We then had another stop in Dubai for our connecting flight to Male - The Maldives capital.
We had a couple of hours to kill in Dubai, so spent most of it queueing up to spend a penny in a toilet not big

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Maldives Planning a Break

Maldives Planning a Break: The luxury of some of the smaller islands in the Maldives comes at a price. However, if included as a short addition to a longer trip through other countries in the region, this unforgettable experience can be enjoyed without drastically over-doing the budget.

The pric

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Tropical Travel Plans

Plan Your Travel : Travel Your Plan - SandSpice

The Dubai Mall

Dubai seems to be all about extremes: Not only do they have the tallest building in the world, they also boast the Dubai Mall: The largest shopping mall in the world, in which you can find one of the largest suspended aquariums in the world, with the world's largest acrylic panel.

Oh, and just

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Burj Khalifa Dubai

How can you visit Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and not experience the slim eloquence, modernity and quality of Burj Khalifa Dubai - the tallest building in the world?

We're all used to the old high-rise skyscrapers of Shang Hai, Hong Kong and NYC, but the Burj Khalifa exudes a slim

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Dubai Desert Safari

Our final full day in the United Arab Emirates, and we’re off on the obligatory Dubai Desert Safari. We’re not expecting much, but it turns out to be great fun with Dune Bashing, an Arab campsite way out in the desert, sunset photos, getting dressed up in the traditional gear, henna tatooing, came

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/dubai-desert-safari/

A Short Dubai Stopover

Since a lot of South-East Asian flights stop there en route, a Dubai stopover seems to be a great addition to your vacation. In fact, for many travellers this is often where the holiday begins (or ends).

In our case, this came at the end of our trip to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Our Emirates

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Jalan Petaling - Kuala Lumpur Chinatown

Jalan Petaling, otherwise known as the Kuala Lumpur Chinatown, is as good a reason as any to visit this cosmopolitan city. After just 3 nights in Sepilok, we packed up our bags again and made our way to the airport at Sandakan.

We had pre-booked flights back from Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur via

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/kuala-lumpur-chinatown/

Borneo Rainforest Discovery Centre

Located within the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, the Borneo Rainforest Discovery Centre is one of Sabah's most popular and most accessible environmental education centres. It is open daily from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm.

We made a special trip to the Discovery Center, since it was within easy walking

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/borneo-rainforest-discovery-centre/

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

Our first day in Sepilok, and we were keen to get a closeup view of the orangutans. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is the reason most visitors come to Sepilok, and it is indeed a very pleasant and informative day out.



The reserve is just 5 minutes down the road from the . They

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Sepilok Borneo - Where to Stay & Eat

After 4 days in Kuala Penyu, we organized a taxi to take us to the airport at Kota Kinabalu. Our next destination was Sepilok Borneo, not far from Sandakan.

We had a late morning flight booked with Malaysia airlines (RM99 per person, 1-way Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan). This is a short 40-minute

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Borneo Wavehunters

White Water Rafting is a "must do" activity if you are staying a few days in the vicinity of Kota Kinabalu. As a result, the Borneo Wavehunters had been on our agenda from the very beginning of the trip, and we were lucky enough to experience it.

I say “lucky” because these excursions are very d

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/borneo-wavehunters/

Kuala Penyu Tempurung Seaside Lodge

Before leaving Kota Kinabalu, we telephoned ahead to our next lodging - the Kuala Penyu Tempurung Seaside Lodge - to arrange a pickup once we arrived in Kuala Penyu. We needed to do this, since there are few transport options in the area around Kuala Penyu- even taxis are difficult to find.

We

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Kota Kinabalu, Borneo

From Kuantan, we would have to take 2 flights to reach Kota Kinabalu, with a change in Kuala Lumpar.

After the disappearance 6 days earlier of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 out of KL, we were a little apprehensive about our forthcoming flight with the same airline, also travelling into and out o

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Kuantan by Taxi from Mersing

After 4 nights in Tioman, we planned to take an early ferry back to Mersing, and then travel on by bus to Kuantan, where we had already booked a hotel.

We needed to reach Kuantan on the same day we left Tioman, since we had an early flight booked from there the following morning.



After c

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Into the Tioman Rainforest

One of the nicest beaches on Pulau Tioman is Juara beach on the northern coast. There are rivers at both ends of Juara beach. On the northernmost river you can hire a kayak and navigate your way a short distance upriver into the Tioman rainforest.

Just before the river at the southern end of

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Juara Beach -Tioman Island, Malaysia

 on Juara beach is a relatively new place. It comprises 8 to 10 compact but comfortable raised wooden beach chalets. The management and staff are very welcoming, and helped us with advice on the local areas of interest, and to fine-tune our onward journey. We paid €37 per night for our chalet, inc

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/juara-beach/

Tioman Island Ferry

Although we arrived at the ferry terminal in the morning, the Tioman Island ferry wasn't due to leave until early afternoon. Depending on the weather, the ferry times can vary. There is an elaborate ticketing process, friendly staff, and a comfortable "departure" area.

Return tickets cost RM70:

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/tioman-island-ferry/

Miserable in Mersing Malaysia

Mersing Malaysia is the gateway to Tioman Island, a very popular destination for travellers. We had a pleasant coach ride down to Mersing from Cherating, on a very comfortable Adik Beradik coach. The 240km trip took around 4 hours, including a 20-minute stop along the way where we could eat and

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/embassy-mersing-malaysia/

Cherating Accommodation Options: Resort or Guesthouse?

After our first night in Kuala Lumpur, we made an early start: We needed to get to the bus station to take an early coach to Cherating, on the east side of the peninsula. Cherating accommodation options are a little limited, but for this occasion we'd decided to choose one of the larger beach

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Kuala Lumpur - First Impressions

Our flight went non-stop from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, departing at 20:50 in the evening and arriving at 15:45 the following afternoon. It was comfortable enough, and cost just €521 for a return ticket.

While still inside the airport, we booked a taxi coupon from one of the booths (RM89), the

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If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Funnily enough, it was a Tuesday when we arrived in Belgium. We knew this must be Belgium because of the bicycles and the scary clowns...

For those of you (especially Americans) who aren't familiar with the movie, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium is a 1969 romantic comedy film made on lo

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/must-be-belgium/

Planning a Travel Itinerary Around Malaysia

We always wanted to visit Borneo - even more so than Malaysia. So when we found reasonably priced flights from Amsterdam, we didn't hesitate to snap them up, and started working on our Borneo and Malaysia travel plan.

At this point, I need to regress a little in order to share a really useful w

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/malaysia-travel-plan/

Our Philippines Impressions? It's not what we expected

Our Philippines impressions were formed gradually over the 3 weeks we spent there. We arrived in the Philippines with open minds, though it's difficult to erase all the pre-conceptions you have about a place before you visit it.

In our case, we were anticipating white sand beaches, relaxed swi

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Best Western Hotel Riviera Fiumicino

Our trip to the Philippines was planned with a return flight to Fiumicino, near Rome. The flights back to Italy from the Philippines hit us a lot harder than the flights there. The Best Western Hotel Riviera Fiumicino (€51, breakfast included) was a good choice for a one night stop-gap.

We would

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/best-western-hotel-riviera-fiumicino/

Videos & Soundtracks

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Videos & Soundtracks from our favourite destinations
Be sure to crank up the volume!






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Colorful Filipino Currency

Check out the colorful Filipino currency. This new currency is brightly colored like Euros (though the equivalent amount goes a lot further...).

It can sometimes be difficult to get the locals to change the larger denominations (500 or 1000 peso notes), so we took every opportunity to keep a b

Read more... http://www.sandspice.com/colorful-filipino-currency/