Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — A magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi at 1:02 a.m. local time today, the U.S. Geological Survey said. One person was injured and buildings collapsed, Agence France-Presse reported.

The quake hit 135 kilometers (85 miles) northwest of the city of Gorontalo at a depth of 26 kilometers, the U.S. agency said. Two aftershocks hit the area within 80 minutes, one measuring 5.6 and one 5.5.

The quake had the potential to generate a tsunami along coasts within 1,000 kilometers of the epicenter, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an e-mailed alert. No tsunami was reported after five hours. Indonesian authorities lifted a tsunami warning they issued after the quake, AFP reported.

Several buildings were destroyed in Gorontalo, which is about 1,950 kilometers east-northeast of Jakarta, AFP reported. In Tolitoli, to the west of Gorontalo, residents told AFP buildings had collapsed. An Indonesian official told the news agency he expected there to be casualties.

A magnitude-9.1 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra to the northwest of Jakarta in 2004 produced a tsunami that left more than 220,000 people dead in 12 countries around the Indian Ocean.

Indonesia lies in a zone where the Indo-Australian, Eurasian, Philippine and Pacific tectonic plates meet and occasionally shift, causing earthquakes that sometimes trigger tsunamis.

SOURCE: Bloomberg Asia.

(Sipadan Kapalai, Malaysia)

The Sipadan Kapalai and Lankayan Island Resorts in Malaysia, together with Symbiosis Expedition Planning, are offering 10% off all stays between 10 November 2008 and 15 December 2008, of two days or more. This includes all diving and non-diving packages.

For more details contact Symbiosis.

Siem Reap Air, a partnership airline of Bangkok Air will be starting direct daily flights from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City and Ho CHi Minh City to Siem Reap.

These daily flights will be scheduled as below:

SR- HCM FT981- 11:00am-11:55am- Daily

HCMC- SR FT982- 12:40pm-13:35 Daily

Daily flights will begin on 26 October 2008.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat met in Bejing on Friday, at the Asia-Europe Summint, to discuss the recent conflict at Preah Vihear.

The two Prime Ministers made an agreement to avoide anyt further fighting on the border. They also agreed to set up a committee and negotiate bilaterally the disputed border. However, there was no agreement made in relation to removal of troops along the disputed territory.

Thursday: Siem Reap-A meeting between Thai and Cambodian military officials continued late into Thursday night but failed to end in an agreement.

The two sides refused to agree on the issue of redeployment of troops into the Preah Vihear area and also failed to come to any agreement on establishing a joint Thai-Cambodian committee to facilitate negotiations concerning the demarcation of the boundaries.

Talks are expected to continue today.

The situation on at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, near the temple of Preah Vihear has remained unchanged, since violent clashes last week ended in a cease fire agreement.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, (the Prime Minister of Cambodia) and Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of Thailand have confirmed that there will be a meeting in Bejing later this week to discuss border issues. 

The travel situation in Cambodia has remained unafected by the tensions. All major airports are still operating as usual and bus systems are unaffected. Travel to Preah Vihear however, is not possible.

Pulau Sipadan, Sabah, Malaysia

For people hoping to dive at the world renowned island of Sipadan, off the north coast of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, I would advise planning - and booking - well ahead!

The issuance of diving permits is very strict these days. The quota per day is limited to 120 divers and there are now 12 diving/resort operators vying for slots within this quota.

Each dive operator - whether located on Mabul, Kapalai or on the mainland in Semporna - has to submit the names of their guests well in advance if they are to ensure that they will get the chance to dive there, and there is no way of knowing what the demand is likely to be on any one day. This means that applying for a permit does not automatically guarantee success.

With less than a month to go until one of Cambodia’s biggest festivals preperations have already started for the Water Festival in Phnom Penh.

The Water Festival or Bon Om Tuk celebrates the victory of Jayavarman VII over the Chams who occupied Angkor in 1777. It aso marks the time when a strange natural phenomenon is seen in Cambodia. During November the natural currents of the Tonle Sap reverse and water backed up onto the Tonle Sap lake begins to empty back into the Mekong.

This festival is one of the biggest in Cambodia. It is also unusual in that Khmers from rural Cambodia arrive in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap en- mass for three the days of celebrations. It is a crazy, noisy and wonderful time to be in Phnom Penh and is highly recommended for anyone who will be visiting Cambodia during this time.

One of the highlights of the festival is the boat races that are held on the Tonle Sap and Siem Reap Rivers.  So far this year 396 boats have registered for the water festival races that will be held over the three day festival. Other entertainment planned for the festival includes fireworks shows and 23 decorative light boats. Thousand of Khmers descend on Phnom Penh over the three days to watch the races and cheer on their villages boat, which can be up to 20 meters long and contain up to 60 oarsmen, frantically paddling and chanting as the do battle in highly competitive races.

“A tense quiet hangs over Preah Vihear temple [today]” (Tha Cambodia Daily).

After four hours of negotiatins between Thai and Cambodia military officials an agreement had been made that no gunfir will be exchange “just like before” (The Cambodia Daily).

In what seems to be a somewhat unworkable agreement Cambodia and Thailand have agreed that neither side will withdraw its troops but instead have joint border patrols to “reduce chances of a misunderstanding that could lead to another clash” (The Cambodia Daily).

Cambodia has freed the 10 Thai soldiers that were captured after the clash and further talks were agreed upon by the military commanders, however no date has been set.

The tension at the border is isolated to one small section of the border about 4km in length and 4km wide. Two hundred civillans living at the temple were evacuated.

The situation at the border has had little effect on the conduct of people living elsewhere in Cambodia. Airports are still open, bus systems and other forms of transport are unnaffected. Those people planning to visit Cambodia should keep up to date with the situation at the temple but the main tourist destinations of Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville remain unnafected by the conflict.

Dear Friends,

This year’s Bangkok to Saigon Cycle Challenge (8-23 Nov 08) has, like many things I’m sure, suffered from the West’s economic woes, and we only have 4 people signed up to go.  However, it IS guaranteed to happen and I will be going along with myself as usual.

I would love to get just a couple more to join so, for loyal Symbiosis blog readers (and their friends), I am reducing the price to bare bones costs. Please, please join us for this epic cycle ride, departing on 8 November (next month) from Bangkok, arriving in Saigon on 22 Nov, and visiting en route Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh and the verdant Mekong Delta en route.

For each person who joins us, Symbiosis Expedition Planning will still donate $100 to the 4 children’s charities that we support in Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam.  It would be great if you, too, could try to raise some more funds through sponsorship.

Finger’s crossed that at least one of you will be able to drop tools and join us. You won’t regret it - it is a fabulous 1,000 km bike ride.! Please tell your friends.

Please navigate to the appropriate page on the website above. Click on Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam, and then sports & adventure and you will find it.

This is a lament! 

White Beach, Boracay

My last visit to Boracay was in 1997 when the very first few concrete buildings were just making an appearance along the famous 7km White Beach - voted the best beach in the world countless times for its flawless, squeaky white sand.  Then, 99% of all the guest houses and small hotels, bars, restaurants, shops, etc were discretely constructed from wood and bamboo and were hidden behind the palm trees.  Only a couple of them had swimming pools… after all, who needs them when you have such a perfect beach and aquamarine sea to swim in?

2008 - 10 years on and what a shock!  Well it would have been had I not been heavily forewarned.  

To walk along the central part (Station 2) of White Beach now is like fighting your way along London’s Oxford Street!  Hoards of tourists being herded into conveyor belt restaurants, touts selling everything from fake watches to sexual services, box-like concrete hotels built on corridors of land leading back to the now traffic-congested road that runs down the middle of the island, each one tightly wrapped around a swimming pool.

Boracay Apartment Blocks

On the other side of the island, famed for windsurfing and kite surfing competitions, modernistic Miami-style apartment blocks scar the hillsides.  This is no longer a “Robinson Crusoe” tropical island where you leave your shoes on the mainland.

There are saving graces.  Fridays Resort at the northern end of the beach (Station 3) is still very nice, although bang next to it is a white shiny monstrosity called Discovery Shores or something.  And the south end of the beach (Station 1) is still low key with more backpacker standard accommodations.

Boracay West Cove

A gem of a find, however, was a new little resort, perched on rocks at the top end of White Beach called Boracay West Cove.  Part owned by famous Filipino boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao, I would never have found it if my curiosity wasn’t roused by a small tunnel I spotted leading through the cliff face.  Every room is unique and has stunning panoramic views over the sea.  There are no straight lines; the walls mirror the rock face… and trees that might have been in the way during construction, were simply absorbed into the architecture and are now core features, sometimes growing right through the middle of a room or bathroom.

Boracay West Cove - room with a view

I visited Boracay during the rainy season when the winds swing round and blow in from the west.  The usually glass-like sea along White Beach is rough at this time of year and wind breaks are constructed all along the sea front to prevent sand from blowing into all of the hotels.  Come mid October they will be pulled down and the wind should start blowing from the east again… heralding the start of the kite surfing season.

Boracay is still a fun place to go, but it is a lot more commercial and main stream than a few years ago.  No longer the hideaway for which it earned its reputation.  Not too cheap either!  A must for kite-surfers!

THAI and Cambodian soldiers exchanged gunfire across their shared border yesterday in a  battle over a small and remote plot of jungle adjoining an ancient Hindu temple.

At least two Cambodian soldiers were reported to have been killed and five Thais and two Cambodians were injured in the afternoon battle at the mountain-top Preah Vihear temple.
Perched on the top of a 490m cliff, Preah Vihear can be reached far more easily from Thailand than from Cambodia. The territory was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice after lengthy legal arguments, which involved maps produced during Cambodia’s French colonial period. However, one plot of jungle, which measures 1.8 square miles, was never allocated clearly, and it is over this land that the two countries fought.

Each side accused the other of opening fire first and gave a different account of the duration of the battle. Journalists on the Cambodian side of the border reported seeing rocket-propelled grenades fired by the Thais. At least 10 Thai soldiers who were stationed in a pagoda surrendered to the Cambodians.

“We are not the ones who ignited the violence,” Somchai Wongsawat, the Thai Prime Minister, said in the capital Bangkok. “The situation has returned to normal now. It is not serious and I am convinced there will be resolution.”

After the outbreak of fighting military talks were announced, which are scheduled to be held today.

The Situation in Cambodia:

The figthing is concentrated on a very small area on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Preah Vihear is situated to the north of Cambodia. All inhabitants of this small area have been moved to a safer area and the site is closed to tourists.

Locals in other parts of Cambodia are going about their daily busisness. Flights from Thailand to Cambodia are still running as usual, buses from Bangkok to Poipet are also unnafected by the fighting.

At this stage it is unlikely It for tensions to exculate as  diplomatic talks are being conducted today. This blog will be updated with news about the dispute regularily.

Text for this blog was taken from The Australian. For more information please go to the following sites. http://www.bangkokpost.com/, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24505494-2703,00.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7672891.stm

Claimed to be the longest underground river in the world (although Ii hear rumours that a much longer one has been found in South America somewhere) is located in the St Paul’s National Park in Palawan, Philippines.

Emptying directly into the South China Sea through a cave at the bottom of karst limestone cliffs, topped in rich rainforest, the river flows underground for about 8 km, and it is possible to row small boats through the cave system for at lest half of that distance.  By kayak, much further… although I am told it is not possible to actually emerge the other side.

Monitor Lizard

To get to the entrance of St Paul’s National Park and to the underground river, you have to take a banca (Philippine version of an outrigger boat) along the Palawan coast from the small seaside town and beach of Sabang.  Once there, you disembark onto a pristine white sand beach (shoes off) from where there are forest trails leading off into the jungle.  One of these leads to a boat landing point where you charter your boat and boatman to take you into the caves.

This is a popular day out for local Filipinos and there can be quite a long wait to get a boat, so get there early or plan to spend some time bird watching and wildlife spotting along some of the other trails in the park.  In the short time that I was there I saw various monkeys and several large monitor lizards - very close up - in addition to plenty of our feathered friends.  Reinforcing the reputation of the park, there was also a posse from the Philippines Birding Society there laden with expensive-looking optical gear.

The St Paul’s National Park is named, it is said, for the shape of the mountain above the caves (see pic) which strongly Catholic Filipinos reckon looks like the profile of a well known Saint!

Daluyon

Most visitors come o visit the underground river from the main town of Puerto Princes, a 2-3 hour drive away (parts of the road are still under construction and parts are very poor).  To be there early, I would recommend staying overnight or longer in Sabang where there is one delightful little resort right on the beach called the Daluyon.  Swimming pool, nicely appointed rooms in 2 storey villas and excellent food!  There are backpacker places at the other end of the beach in Sabang town itself.

For those of you considering a holiday in Laos over January and February should consider a trip to the Elephant Festival in Laos.

The land of “1000 Elephants” holds an amazing festival from February 15th & 16th 2009, Sayaboury province (traditional elephant territory). This will be the third year the festival has been held. The 3-day gala event celebrates the sacred elephant and the ancient Lao culture.

In 2008 Seventy-four local working elephants, adorned with gaily decorated howdahs, painted toenails and garlanded with tiaras of wild flowers attended the festival last year. The mahouts even get into the spirits by dressing up in a colorful uniform. Last year 50,000 people showed up to immerse themselves in the riches and diversity of the Lao ethnic culture.

Elephants and mahouts participate in games and competitions whilst onlookers try to avoid the hug feet of a running pacaderm. The festival atmosphere is terrific!

If you are planning a trip to Laos Symbiosis can help organise a trip to this magnificent festival.

The Elephant Festival Laos