update
Still Suspended from Facebook
I want to thank everyone who offered their ideas and solutions after I mentioned that I've been suspended from Facebook. Unfortunately though, nothing has worked so far. Facebook has now also banned me from contacting their support after I asked for clarification about my situation.
I have one last solution that I'm working on but there's no guarantee it will work. It's been a remarkably frustrating situation as I cannot understand why the only way to verify yourself is to consistently login in from a permanent address/country. Surely I'm not the only person who travels often and cannot consistently login from my home country as a result.
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Palau is Paradise
After a week of stuffing my face at night markets in Taiwan, it was time for a new adventure. After accidentally discovering direct and affordable flights from Taipei to Koror, Palau, we simply booked it.
Palau is remote, quiet, relaxed, friendly, gorgeous and focused on sustainable tourism. You even need to
sign a pledge when you enter the country that states, to the children of Palau, that you'll help take care of the fragile environment during your stay.
Consisting of 500 islands, almost all of which are uninhabited, it's a genuine paradise. The islands are basically huge rocks rising out of the ocean, with jungle growing on top. The main section of these islands is called, naturally, The Rock Islands. This makes most of them difficult to live on or even visit.
But taking a boat around them is blissful. It's hard to think of more impressive island scenery than what Palau offers. And lightly scattered among these stunning islands are some insanely beautiful and isolated white sand beaches tucked into hidden coves.
Mix that with Palau's
famous marine sanctuary and this country will not disappoint. While we're not divers, the snorkeling was surreal. With sharks, colorful coral, giant clams and an endless number of fish species, the options are plentiful as you can snorkel in shallow areas, deep areas, at underwater ledges and so on.
As for accommodation, we stayed at the Palasia Hotel in the main town of Koror. The town has
plenty of hotel options of all prices. Koror is really small and you can walk across it in about 15 minutes. But there are some good little local restaurants, everyone was really kind and it was a good spot to be.
We also rented a car for 3 days and drove all over the much larger Babeldaob island. Here we walked through nature reserves, visited the
Ngardmau waterfall, stopped in small villages along the coast and drove to the very tip of the island to see the ancient basalt monoliths.
This trip was a huge success and one that I will never forget. If you have any questions about visiting, let me know!
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Koh Samui, Thailand
From Palau, it was a 4 hour flight to Taipei, overnight in Taipei, a 3.5 hour flight to Bangkok and a 1 hour flight to the island of
Koh Samui. This is where I will remain for at least the next month.
The goal is to use this period to make some tweaks to my routine - more focus on exercise and self-improvement, staying in one place and getting work done. I also want to be in Asia as we have a few Wandering Earl tours taking place in the region over the next 6 weeks and I prefer to be close by.
And of course, being able to hang out on the white sand beaches of Koh Samui each day is certainly a situation I very much welcome.
The downside to all of this is that I'll be missing my cousin's wedding in a few days. I was really hoping to make it (takes place in Cancun) and I'm really bummed that I can't be there. This is one of the challenges of this traveling lifestyle - sometimes I'm too far away or it just doesn't make logistical sense to fly around the world and as a result, I miss out on some important events.
Decisions have to be made and it's rarely easy.
A big congratulations though to Carly and Ocean, I truly wish I could be there and I'm certain the wedding is going to be wonderful!
