A friend of mine asked me why we have called the website ?Unfortunate Events? rather than ?Fortunate.? I was tempted to tell him the reason was that it?s unfortunate our readers can?t be with us. But it was because the first trip we went on, the one I mentioned in the ?About Us? intro, was where I twisted my ankle and kind of spoiled the holiday. We always referred to that as the ?unfortunate trip?. The name stuck.

Over the period we have been trekking around the world, we have seen many weird, wacky and wonderful things. Landscapes have been captured as best we can on photographs. Things that happened to us have been snapped in a few pictures and the tale retold in blogs. Most of the adventures are locked away in our memories. Travel Blogs are great because people make the effort to share their trips and stories about their adventures as best they can. If you can write well enough to transport a reader?s mind to the place and the time, you have the qualities of a good writer.

Let me share a couple of places that you may or may not know about. They are a little out of the way from usual tourist haunts so you won?t find them as crowded, particularly in off season.

1. Chiang Mai ? Thailand. The place we visited may be classified as Chiang Mai, but it?s a little known National Park about 15 km out of the main city near a village called Hang Dong. The Doi Suthep-Pui National Park is a beautiful, untouched area of forests, a waterfall and walk trails and the home to a monastery of monks. We hired a scooter in town, and back then it was ?5 a day, leave your passport as a deposit. No licence required, helmets optional. You can easily spend a full day here wandering around. There’re places to buy coffee, even an ATM and the peace of the monastery is sublime.

1. The Hundred Islands ? Alaminos, The Philippines. If you have never been to the Philippines, you?d better start now because it has over 7000 islands and nearly every one of them has a glorious beach, clear water and never ending sunshine, except when they have the occasional typhoon! A few hours? drive or bus ride from Manila, into the Pangasinan Province you will come across some amazingly beautiful beaches. You can pick your favourite sand colour, black, yellow or white. At the very end of Lucap Road, you will find Maxine?s Restaurant and Inn. Don?t bother staying anywhere else. Breakfast on the water and views to die for make this one of my favourite places to stay. Hire a boat to the Hundred Islands after some friendly haggling. Maxine supplies a picnic lunch so you can sit on a beach all on your own and swim, snorkel, eat and drink. I dream of living on one of those islands.

Stay tuned for some more different spots in our next blog. And don?t forget to send us your travel stories as well so we can all share your adventures.