brimming brunei

While on the island of Borneo, we elected to visit one of the smallest, and richest, nations in the world - Brunei. This country stuck it rich with oil deposits found off its shores and has shared the wealth amongst its citizens. Despite the fact that they pay no taxes, every citizen has a full pension, free health care and education, an almost non-existent unemployment rate, cheap loans, and even free housing if it is needed. The citizens aren't super-wealthy, but enjoy a high average level of prosperity - more than we're used to seeing in SE Asia. The country is very clean, the people are ultra-courteous (they stop for pedestrians, which is saying A LOT around these parts), and clothing much more resembles western fashions, rather than bought-from-the-market fashions. We also found out, rather by accident, that their money is interchangeable with Singapore's, so they use both! The capital Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the most laid-out city I've seen in Asia - we needed to take buses through the neighbourhoods filled with lawns and wide-open views of sky, something you can't take for granted out here! A perfect society, you say? Well, first consider this: they're an extremely devout Islamic state, and have banned alcohol inside the country, and whipping is still a punishment for many unlawful indiscretions, such as gross overstay of visa and being a Muslim caught in a closed room with a member of the opposite sex. The women almost all wore headscarves, and Christine wore shirts that covered her shoulders the whole time. Oh, and their weekend consists of Friday and Sunday - Saturday is a working day for everyone!

Though our time was short, we managed to fill it with a variety of sights. The first was the Kampung Ayer - the water village that spread out into the bay in front of the town. Home to 30,000 of BSB's 75,000 residents, the community exists entirely on stilts. Schools, houses, stores, clinics, mosques - all are found sitting above the light brown waters. Whereas this was usually a sign of poverty in other places we've seen - Bangkok, the Mekong Delta - the houses here were large and well-maintained, some even brightly-painted. Boats whizzed around us as we buzzed through the water ourselves, taking kids home from school, heading to the mosque for prayer, bringing home dinner, visiting friends. There was even government-build cookie-cutter housing for anyone who needed it.

We spent a full day visiting two of the gorgeous mosques found in and around the city. We both had to wear robes to enter the prayer halls (of which we could only stand on the edge and look in), and Christine had to wear a headscarf. Luckily the rooms were air-conditioned, as they were hot - especially a headscarf. Chris said she couldn't understand how the women do it. Anyway, the views inside and out were astounding - one mosque could hold 3400 worshippers inside the men's prayer room, which had panels flown in from Saudi Arabia and detailed with 24 karat gold (the women's was smaller and less extravagant). The other held a mosaic on the inside of the dome made up of 3.5 million little pieces - imagine being the artist having to put that together! We also saw this one by night, sulphur-coloured on the outside, with eerie green lights shining from within. 44-metre tall minarets towered over us as we walked around it. Calligraphy graced all the walls, and even the ceilings, done in gold, blue, white, and black, mostly. One of my favourite things about mosques is their geometry. Things line up everywhere if you look around you, and stars of Islam abound. Despite the fact that I don't completely agree with what the religion decrees, I can't argue with the beauty it generates. Planned perfection in architecture and art strikes me more here than in any church or temple I've been in.

Our experiences with locals got us two rides - one coming into the city from another ex-pat from Australia, and one for our final evening of experience. Another traveler we met (a rarity - Chris was the only girl in the female dorm of the hostel, and there were only four inhabitants of the male dorm) had met a local, Vun, who had offered to take him around the city a bit. Vun graciously said he'd take all of us around some of the harder-to-reach areas that night. Our first stop was the Jerudong Amusement Park. Bestowed upon the citizens of Brunei by the sultan for his 48th birthday, this may not seem very foreign at first sight. Then you realize that there's no one in the park besides you. While it's not as big as Disneyland, we still spent three hours walking around, riding the occasional open ride (many were closed for 'repairs'. For some, it had been so long that plants were growing up them) and looking for other people. In our whole time there, we only saw a Chinese family and an English couple. Want twenty minutes of straight bumper cars? You got it. (You don't want it, though. It's hard on the system, all that crashing. Especially with four people.) Multiple rides on the log ride? Go ahead. Solo go karts? Who's to stop you? There was also a call to prayer over the speakers while we were there, the only soundtrack we heard while walking around. Surreal was definitely the adjective of the evening.

Lastly, we got to see some of the opulence the money has brought. Ten years ago, the sultan's brother, Prince Jefri, spent money in what could be called a reckless manner. In addition to his 2000 cars, gold-plated toilet brushes, and 50 meter speedboat named Tits, he bought five luxury hotel chains, including the Beverly Hills Hotel, and built the Empire. The hotel was one of the few projects completed before he was sacked, sued, and beaten down by the sultan, and its $1.1US billion price tag is apparent the minute you drive in the security gates. With its own bowling alley, cinema, dinner theatre, and beach (chlorinated water and sand), not to mention marble mosaics, an 80-foot tall soaring atrium, and chandeliers everywhere, it's by far the most luxuriant hotel I've ever been in. It made the Oriental in Bangkok (the one that wouldn't let me in) look like a hostel (though this one let me in - take that snooty Bangkok hotel!), and my hostel look like... I don't even want to think about it. We also stopped by the Palace, which would of been impressive, had we been able to get in. 1788 rooms, 200 bathrooms, larger than the Vatican Palace, this place is the largest resident palace in the world, and it shows. It's only open during Ramadan, though, so we had to settle for standing in its lavish shadows.

I loved my time in Brunei. The people were so nice, the food was good, and though it was much pricier than anything I've visited in Asia thusfar, it still wasn't all that bad (plus it got me ready for Singapore). I did manage to capture some nice images that will definitely serve to remind of my time here.

only a maniac now

After a fun-filled week in Kuala Lumpur (more later), we came to Singapore today with a little adventure in the middle. After a bus ride down to Johor Bharu - the border town - and checking out of Malaysia, we hit Singapore customs. We've done customs seven times in the last two months, so it wasn't a concern. That is, until they asked me to take out the knife.

We had been allowed to keep our machetes, locally known as panangs, that we had received during our time at jungle camp as souvenirs. I was quite happy - it's not often you get a machete, and even rarer one that you can say you used! However, as I was to find out, machetes are considered dangerous weapons and are not allowed in Singapore. Funny enough, they didn't confiscate Christine's (we've still got one!), but I had to take a trip downstairs with two police officers. Chris was a little concerned when I disappeared, but all that happened was they filled out paperwork while I sat and read my book* (the real exciting life of border cops), then they seized my machete. No more knife-wielding for me. No problems, though, everything worked out fine.

The funniest part of the story was that our bus driver (of all people) forgot his passport and couldn't drive us into the city. He had to go back into Malaysia while the rest of us caught another bus.

*If you want Calculon to race to the laser gun battle in his hover-Ferarri, press 1. If you want Calculon to double-check his paperwork, press 2. Enter now.

magnanimous northern malaysia

We left Thailand one hot afternoon and walked into Malaysia. The bus just drops you at the border, and you have to find your way from there! Both fortunately and unfortunately, we came over right during prayer time. You see, Malaysia is mostly Muslim, and they have to pray five times a day, during which nothing happens. Luckily, we found a restaurant with drinks and a couple of cute little girls running around to tide us over until we could get into Kota Bharu. Kota Bharu is the cultural capital of the north, and their tourism trade is brisk and incredibly well-organized. And the friendliness of the people was overwhelming! By the time we had finished dinner one night, we had an invitation from a guy and his wife to stay at their place to visit one of the highest waterfalls in the world, and also take a five-day trek with a group of students they taught (they were both teachers). Unfortunately, we couldn't make it out, but they paid for our dinner regardless! Just a sign of the friendliness of this wonderful nation.

Our time in KB was spent in markets, museums, cultural centres, and kitchens. The produce market was probably the most beautiful I've seen so far, and the most photogenic - sumptuous silvers, sunset purples, blanched whites, sanguine reds, all illuminated by light from above. KB was also the home of the state's Sultan (each of the 13 states has a sultan, and one is the leader of the country for five years before relinquishing to another), so we had the opportunity to check out a Royal Rituals museum (including the royal circumcision and the royal earth-walking ceremony - kids aren't allowed to walk before this one, which usually occurs around the fifth year of age), the State Museum, which had things specifically about Kelantan, and how some Muslims used to come here as a substitute for Mecca, and the Royal Museum, a former Royal house converted into a museum, sometimes with startlingly personal information and photographs.

We were also lucky enough to catch a cultural show run by the man who also gave us our cooking lesson out of his own kitchen, Rosaline. We got to watch a 'big drum' performance (even got to participate - it brought back memories of African drumming), some traditional music with accompanying martial arts demonstrations (called seni silat, and apparently proficiency is shown by how well you pretend to be injured and how high you jump up after the other guy approaches. It reminded me of capoeira, though with contact), top spinning (a national pastime with five kilogram tops - they could spin for hours), and traditional dance (we were the only whities in the entire hall that evening). We had our cooking lesson in the living room/kitchen of a bundle of energy and laughs named Rosaline with a couple of Swiss girls, learning yet more delicious dishes. Lastly, we both finally tried durian, the 'king of fruits', here in KB, and I gotta say, we're in the NO camp. Christine especially. I really wanted to like it, but it didn't have that likable different factor that jackfruit or soursop (cousins) have. Oh well. We got on a night bus with the AC set to below zero and found ourselves on the west coast in Georgetown, Penang (new state!) the next morning.

Penang, which first started as a British outpost, is a mecca for foodies in this country, or so we'd heard, and it didn't disappoint. We only had a day in this wonderful city (on an hour's worth of sleep) before we left for Borneo, and we made the most out of it. We stopped in to my new favourite museum, the State History & Art Museum, full of exhibits of the different ethnicities of people who helped build the city/island to what it is - twelve, including a unique Chinese-Malay mix, the Baba Nyonya (their traditional weddings can take up to 12 days!), a history of the region, including the riots of the Chinese secret societies that almost destroyed the city, a wicked display of postcards through the ages (really, they were neat), info on spices grown in the area (did you know that cloves are dried flower buds of a kind of tree?), and so much more. Interestingly, due to this wide collection of ethnicities, Malaysia celebrates all the holidays of its ethicities - Chinese, Indian, and Christian - giving it the dubious title of most days off in the world. We also caught the Chong Fatt Tze house, a ginormous mansion constructed by a man from China who had left his farming family and built himself an empire. Very lucky he was, in Chinese terms, anyway - eight wives (#7 was his favourite) and eight paying positions (in three countries), though his empire collapsed shortly after he did. It was an architectural and feng shui masterpiece, though we were rushed through it fairly quickly.

The 10,000 Buddhas had a lot of Buddhas in it, though I'm not sure if it lived up to its name - I stopped counting at a fairly low number, a bird catching my attention instead. It also had an overcrowded 'liberation' pond where people could release turtles (rather cruel, as it was full and scummy), and a gauntlet of souvenir hawkers. The food didn't disappoint, though. We tried some Baba Nyonya food (a unique flavour, with curries, but Chinese influences, and something of its own. It's Chris' new favourite curry) and I had the best tandoori chicken I have ever had in my life at an Indian restaurant recommended by our Thai cooking instructor - for only $4CDN! YUM! I loved Pinang, it's a wonderful island off the beaten track that deserves more time than we gave it.

majestic southern malaysia

Our time in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, followed our time in Borneo and Brunei. It was kind of nice getting back to a big city - we'd been isolated for some time and were ready for the spice of variety. We certainly got it! Our hotel was right in the middle of the super-busy nighttime Chinatown market, our favourite restaurant was a terrific Indian place three blocks away that did killer na'an bread, the streets were full of women wearing headscarves (with plenty who didn't), and tourists spotted each crowd. We did our fair share of walking around town, taking the Lonely Planet's two walking tours (they were OK), along with out own, observing a Hindu wedding one day (I've never seen so many flowers on two people) and giant spirals of incense silently burning down (or rather, up) in a Chinese temple. I also took advantage of cheap electronics prices and bought myself a new camera (the Canon Rebel XT, for those interested, and it's treating me quite nicely, thanks for asking!), as my old one had been somewhat handicapped (no deleting). You can get almost anything you want here, including a haircut in 10 minutes for 12 ringgit - $4CDN! We took in the silk, sarong, and sari market, the Indian night market, the cheap-and-easy Chinatown night market, the souvenir-heavy Central market - all with their own charms.

We also took on some day trips, in and out of the city. The Lake Gardens are a huge botanical garden located within the city, and one can easily spend a full day there, as we did. It is the largest butterfly garden in the world - two hectares - and contains over 150 species (more than 5000 butterflies at any time). We walked around looking, taking pictures, and just marvelling at the colours these winged beauties displayed. There were also frogs, bugs, fish, spiders - it was a neat little environment. It also contained a gallery of some of the largest and ugliest insects you've ever seen, dead and alive - scorpions, the largest grasshopper and katydid in the world (each 6" long!), a foot-long stick insect, the man-faced bug (his back looks just like a man's face. It's cool), a leaf bug (my new favourite insect), and many, many more. At lunch, we managed to see a rare rhinoceros hornbill at a restaurant inside the bird sanctuary without actually paying for entry, thereby sticking it to the man. The bird was really neat, he actually stood on the railing trying to get food from diners until he was shooed away.

The afternoon found us dodging a huge, bone-rattling thunderstorm in the Islamic Arts Museum (our intended destination, yay!), which was an immersion into Islam. They took art and culture from every Islamic region - central Asia, the Middle East, Spain, Malaysia/Indonesia, and China - and displayed their creations. My personal favourite was the combination of Chinese and Arabic script - Arabic writing, but done with Chinese brushes into shapes in a Chinese way. There was jewellery, weaponry (a pair of handguns with barrels carved into tigers were my favourites here), clothing, a reconstruction of a Turkish nobleman's room from the 1700s, scale-models of the world's most famous mosques, a huge display on calligraphy (I love Arabic calligraphy, there is so much to it and so much care taken), and so much more. We were occupied for hours, wandering through, seeing such unique items as a Qur'an not more than an inch by an inch or so, perfectly written, and a section of the covering of the Ka'bah at Mecca from 1964 (they make a new one every year and cut up the old one and distribute it). Malaysia's museums seem to be in competition for my favour, as this one topped the Favourite Museum list once again.

We spent a morning out at the largest mosque in SE Asia, the so-called Blue Mosque (you can see why in the pictures). With an ability to accommodate 24,000 worshippers, it certainly was impressive. A huge dome with gigantic Arabic script across the inside and outside, giant fans rising from the floor for those hot summer prayers, minarets towering above us (at 140 metres, they're the largest in the world), and stained glass giving the entire place a calm, blue atmosphere. Christine, despite having prepared herself by wearing pants and a long shirt, still had to wear a headscarf and robe. I felt wrong myself, with her having to do all this and me being 'OK' with my shorts and T-shirt. We've definitely noticed a difference in how some people treat the two of us here.

Our other big trip was the Batu caves, a group of colossal limestone caves home to the largest statue of Lord Murugan (he's the lord of yoga and the big evil-fighter of Hinduism, and I mean big - almost 43 metres tall!), and the infamous Thaipusan ceremony early in the year, where followers pierce themselves in rather unconventional ways to prove their piety and smash coconuts by the thousands, symbolizing the smashing of the outer ego and the creamy sweetness of the innate goodness of us. Mmmm, delicious egonuts. Anyhoo, there are also a collection of shrines depicting Hindu mythologies, and we shelled out for the audio tour as I tested the limits of my new camera. Hindu myths are action-packed and always interesting to listen to, so we had a great time. The shrines themselves are incredibly colourful, making for striking images as they watch over ceremonies and tourists alike.

The food here was astounding, if for nothing else, for its variety. With Indians, Chinese, Malay, and who knows whatever else (you can get almost anything you want in the bigger cities), it was a foodie's piece of heaven. We had "teh tarik" (pulled tea) a few times - tea that was poured from one cup to another from several feet above, or 'pulled', giving it its name, along with terrific chai masala tea. Roti canai (fried flatbread, usually with dhaal) was another favourite, and we even tried nasi lemak - the local breakfast, rice with cucumbers, an egg, and little fish in a spicy sauce. We experienced a little regression at the Indian restaurants and went whole hog, eating with our hands (correction, right hand - the left is used in the bathroom!) and enjoying ourselves immensely. So much to stuff into my mouth, so little time.

We left Malaysia with heavy hearts, knowing it would be quite some time before we returned to this marvelous country. While it's a bit more expensive than its other SE Asian neighbours, I can honestly say it's been my favourite country so far. People, food, places, history - one could spend a lifetime just exploring the different aspects. I would recommend Malaysia to anyone if they really wanted to see something of SE Asia and didn't have much time - you'd definitely get your money's worth!

Check out the pics here

new toy

I've been so busy using it, I've forgotten to post about it! For those interested, I took advantage of the cheaper prices and no taxes available to those who inquire in Malaysia and bought myself a new camera to play with. It was a hard choice, fraught with plenty of testing and hmming and hawing between Canon and Nikon, but I finally ended up with the Canon Rebel XT. The lens that comes with it isn't the best, but there's a lot to play with on it, and it feels really good. The fact that my Kodak DX7590 had started to act up on me helped to accelerate the purchase. I'll be using fairly continuously over the next little while, so don't be surprised if you see me and I have it around my neck! Check out some of the early results!

stringent singapore

Heading into our last month on the road, we had a short stay in the straight-laced city-state of Singapore. How straight-laced? Well, I had a first-hand experienced of how by the book they can be. You may remember me going about my wonderful machete that I had earned with some hard nights in the Borneo junglescape. Apparently, they don't allow machetes in Singapore! Yes, as we passed through customs, my bag was opened, and I freely told them that what they wanted was probably this giant knife. WELL, that elicited some discussion. After a lot of standing around, I was escorted to the customs police HQ downstairs where they filled out some paperwork and kept my precious blade while Christine was waved on through, getting to keep her knife! I expect they forgot about her in the hubbub of my admittance. No big problems, though - customs officials are cool when you don't resist. One machete lighter, we went to get back on our bus, only to find we had to take a different one into the city, as our driver had forgotten his passport and couldn't leave Malaysia! An interesting introduction to this country...

Singapore, despite its reputation, is a terrific city. It is clean to the point of having its nose still a little red from the brush (don't tell me your mom never scrubbed you that well as a kid), but it's quite a nice break from trash wantonly discarded everywhere else. Why? Oh, probably the 1000S$ fine for littering, for starters. Yes, there are still quite a few fines for the things that you've heard of (although gum-chewing is allowed, and while we did see NO SPITTING signs, there was no listed fine), but we never saw anything actually enforced - people self-policed themselves for once, which was nice. Things were more expensive than basically anyplace else in SE Asia (Brunei being the exception), but the standard of living was also much higher than other places. The city itself had a fabulous MRT (non-bus mass transit #17 for me - hoorah for mass transit!) that got us around in style, and English being the official language, navigation was an ease. It does get to be a little too polished at times, but luckily, there are areas that give it real character. Of course, these places were where we stayed and strayed.

Little India and Little Arabia held a lot of interest for us. So much colour, character, and personality in such a small area of town. We weren't in town to catch the huge Sunday market, but we did get to experience some of the grittiness left in this town. Chris got her fortune told by a parrot owned by an old Hindu lady across from the beautiful, chromatic Hindu temple we visited. She got told that she should not be travelling, and instead to be expecting a child of the female persuasion. The woman was sweet, though, sitting and chatting with us after for a while. Bollywood music blasting from stores selling spices and snacks, clothing for cheap (Singapore is, after all, a huge refining and manufacturing centre), and stands selling flowers for offering at the local temple were everywhere. The temple we visited was dedicated to the 'blood-thirsty' Kali, who actually destroys evil beings, giving her a violent reputation. The food here was wonderful, too - more banana-leaf Indian, enjoyed with the hands and the rarer falafels and Turkish coffee - yum! I also tried a delicious fish-head curry in one of the collections of 'hawker' food stalls one night. Delicious!

We also met with a friend from Taiwan who had moved to Singapore to continue his own adventures and enjoyed a night puffing some rose-flavoured tobacco from a hookah and sipping hibiscus-based drinks. Brad had some terrific insights and information about Singapore - though they're a democracy, the ruling party has been in power forever and the opposition has almost no seats. Every time they criticize the government, they're sued for slander. There was an election the day after we left, and, as opposed to our time in Bangkok, there was almost no mention of it. I think I saw one PSA on a bus TV showing how to vote. It did make a bit of history - every election from 1965 up to (but not including) this one, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won the election on nomination day, with no other parties able to even contest their mandate. Wow. Another of the very different political scenes we've seen over there, that's for sure.

Our days were quite filled. The first day, we took in the world-class botanical gardens. Wonderfully maintained and a verdant relief, the crown jewel was the orchid garden. Containing over 2,000 plants of 1,000 species (and that's nothing - there are over 25,000 species of orchid in the world) of orchids, we saw orchids of every shape and colour blooming. Some smelled wonderful (were you aware vanilla is a form of orchid?), others had incredibly unique shapes, still others unbelievable combinations of colours. They had a number of hybrids (they do that a lot here), many of which had been given 'custom' names - some to world leaders, others to cities, even to businesses (the Vanda Overseas Union Bank was our favourite). We also saw bromeliads (the pineapple is a kind of bromeliad) and a 'cool' garden, used to simulate a misty mountain environment for some orchids, pitcher plants, and the like. It was a photographer's and a gardener's paradise - luckily we had one of each. Of course, some of the many kinds of orchids, amongst some of the other plants, are on the picture page, and I heavily suggest you check them out. These orchids could very well ROCK YOUR WORLD.

Singapore has some wonderful museums, too. After a tour through the Singapore Art Museum, seeing some of the most influential artists of this relatively young country. It was a pretty well set-up museum, but it didn't hold a candle to our exploit of the afternoon - the Asian Civilizations Museum, the winner by miles of the Best Museum in Asia According to Me Award. We had an hour-long tour of this place, then went back and wandered through the whole thing again for four more hours. They covered Eastern (China, with a bit on the Matzu festival in Taiwan!), Southern (India and area), and SE Asia, taking in all aspects of life - religion, dress, architecture, and so much more. We saw more beautiful Korans, giant drums, statues from the Angkor temple region, ceremonial objects, huge pieces of jewellery, and rare items like a double ikat weaving, where each thread is dyed before it is woven in - essentially, the design is created by the dying, not the weaving. More talent and patience than I have. All that was impressive enough, but the museum also had digital displays all over, with either an actor of the related race, religion, or creed ready to share information with you, or with short videos showing how dances, music, the method to create something, a ceremony, or something else related to the section. There were even large kids' sections for each part of the museum with plenty of fun stuff to entertain and educate. Chris and I checked out a number of them ourselves!

One of the highlights of our time in Singapore, though, was the unique Haw Par Villa, brought to life by Boonpar and Boonhaw Aw, the brothers most famously known for creating Tiger Balm. They pledged to create something unique, and that they did. A land of Chinese myths and legends shown in statue form, it seemed we were walking through someone's dream or nightmare at times, depending on where we were. There was a depiction of the famous Chinese novel The Journey West, 15-foot-tall masks, an emaciated Buddha, a mini Statue of Liberty, and a company of mice, elephants, and rhinos watching two giant grasshoppers duel it out. If you don't think that was odd enough, then enter the 10 courts of Buddhist Hell (I've got my ticket stub!) - a rather grisly collection of the different punishments that await all the sinners. They included depictions of what happens if you refuse to pay your rent, lend money at exorbitantly high interest rates, or owning pornographic material, amongst other things (pounded by a stone mallet, thrown onto a hill of knives, and have your body sawn in two, respectively). Surreal isn't the word. However, at the 10th Court, you're given the Tea of Forgetfulness and then reincarnated - into what depends on how did in the last life.

And that pretty much concluded our time in Singapore. One thing we missed out on was the giant city emblem - the amalgamation of a mermaid and a lion - the almighty MERLION. Saw it on postcards, though, and I gotta admit, it looked like a sight to behold - laser eyes and all. Merlions aside, Singapore was a terrific place to visit, and I'm a little sad that we didn't have as much time or money to stay longer. It's a really neat place, and in addition to being a nice place to visit, it seemed like it would be a wonderful place to live. We went by two local theatres - both seemed very into the community they were in and encouraging of artistic development. We left on a rainy morn, headed into our final country on this trip - a fast ferry into Indonesia. But that's another entry.

Check out the Singapore pictures and the full-circuit map of our travels.

places to go, things to do

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to travel, hands down. Even if you have a Lonely Planet or a Footprints or a Fodor's with you, how do you know if A is better than B? You talk to someone who's been there, that's how! I've encountered some great sights, wonderful places, and terrific people on this trip, and I would like to pass on the knowledge. This list is for those who are considering traveling anywhere we went - tell 'em Ryan and Christine sent you! And so, without further ado... (continued in the extension)

VIETNAM

Hoi An

Thanh Van Hotel - 52 Phan Dinh Phung. Clean rooms, not too expensive. Book ahead.

Bibi Silk - 13 Phan Chu Trinh St. If you're looking to get clothes made, these ladies are the best. They were recommended to us. Look for us in the book!

Peace Bar & Cafe - 55 Hoang Dieu St. Nahn gives an excellent cooking course. You get to choose the dishes you want. They're all delectable.

Cafe des Amis - 50 Bach Dang St. Recommended by LP, Mr. Kim does not disappoint. This place is a must. Come hungry.

Saigon

Hoang Linh Hotel - 256 De Tham St. (in the backpacker area). A nice place in amongst a choice of dozens.

Dam Sen Park. This is way out on the west side of town, but definitely worth the visit.

CAMBODIA

Phnom Penh

Friends - 215 Ph 13, near the National Museum. A wonderful Tapas place run by locals building their skills. You MUST go here if you're in Phnom Penh.

The Boddhi Tree - 50 Ph 113. A great place to chill after seeing Tuol Sleng.

Lazy Gecko Cafe - in the backpacker area, on Ph 93. Another place where locals are building skills and making great food!

The cooking classes offered through Le Frizz restaurant was one of Chris' favourites.

Siem Reap

The Landmine Museum run by Aki Ra is a necessary visit, as it is mostly due to him that Angkor Wat is open for your viewing pleasure.

Beatocello gives an excellent, if not a little lectury, concert every Saturday. If you're traveling through, help out and give blood at the hospital. In this country with such a sad past, it's really the least you can do. And you get a shirt! The hospital is on the road out to the Angkor Temples.

CVSG (Cambodia Village Support Group) Training Restaurant on Wat Bo Road (south off National Highway 6) serves good grub and helps local youths learn skills and practice English.

LAOS

Luang Prabang

L'Etranger Bookstore and Cafe on Th Latsavong, next to Hive Bar. A diamond in the rough, this cafe is a great place to relax to some chill tunes with a delicious pot of coffee or a banana mint smoothie.

THAILAND

Bangkok

Big John's Guesthouse. If you're looking to get away from the thumping techno beats of Khao San Rd, you could do much worse than here. A little pricier, but nice, and close to the MRT.

Forensic Museum - 2nd floor, Adulaydejvigrom Building, behind Siriraj Hospital, Phrannok Road. Not for the faint of heart, but really cool, nonetheless. Check out this site for more 'Bangkok funky places'.

Chatuchak Weekend market - the biggest market I've ever seen in my life, this is a MUST if you're here on the weekend. Moh Chit MRT Station.

Ko Pha Ngan, north side

Malibu Bungalows - Chaloklum. Great place, yummy restaurant, nice staff.

Chill Inn - near Paradise Waterfall (contact 097285356). The food here is to die for, and the cooking course was one of our favourites.

Chaloklum Diving School. If you're going diving on the north side, these are the guys to do it with. They've even got a huge online fish database they made.

MALAYSIA

Kota Bharu

First thing's first, take the lesson we learned the hard way - everything here is closed on Friday. That said, if you find yourself here, go to the tourist information office and have a chat with Rosaline, one of the best information men we met on our travels. He'll set you straight.

Penang

75 Travellers' Lodge - 75 Lebuh Muntri. This place was nothing special, but we heard of bad places here, so this is a suggestion for a place that wasn't bad.

Nyonya Baba Cuisine - 44 Nagore Rd. A bit of a hike to get to, but the food is fantastic. Chris' favourite curry in Asia.

Restoran Kapitan - 49 Lebuh Chulia. The best tandoori chicken I've ever had in my life, hands down.

Kuala Lumpur

Hotel China Town 2 - #70-72 Jl. Petaling. Nice place, fairly priced, and quiet.

The Lake Gardens are full of things to do - the butterflies and birds are world-class, though expensive. The Islam Arts Museum is unique and breath-taking and really can't be missed.

Restoran Yusoof, across from the Central Market, serves some of the best Indian food in Town. Restoran Sri Ganesha (at 5 Jl. Pudu Lama), home of delicious vegetarian food (and chicken) you eat with your hands, is also worth a mention.

BORNEO

Uncle Tan's Jungle Camp is second to none for jungle experiences. If you're headed inot the jungle, it must be with these guys.

Lucy's Homestay in Kota Kinabalu is a nice place to clean up after hiking through the jungle.

BRUNEI

The tourism info centre is very helpful here. They can get you out to the one-of-a-kind amusement park and have all kinds of materials. Danny (bald as a cue ball and super-friendly) can usually be found around the bus station and is more than willing to chat with you and help you out.

SINGAPORE

The Inn Crowd, Fragrance, and the Prince of Wales hostels are all within a stone's throw of each other in Little India (around Dunlop Rd.) and all great hostels. POW has recently started charging only 10S$ a night, a real deal here.

Banana Leaf Apolo in the Little India Arcade serves up fabulous Indian. The cashew gravy is to die for. If I could, I'd have cashew gravy on everything I ate for the rest of my life.

Samar - 1 Baghdad St. Excellent drinks and hookah!

The Asian Civilization Museum is the best museum in SE Asia, hands down. It's a MUST if you're in Singapore. Prepare for at least half a day here.

Haw Par Villa - 262 Pasir Panjang Rd. A completely unique experience. Go see how you'll suffer in the afterlife.

INDONESIA

If you happend to make it out to Pulau Bintan, the Traveller Lodge - Pondok Wisata Susy on Trikora 2 KM 41 is a wonderful little place to stay. 120,000 rupiah a night nets you a bungalow. Meals are cheap. Cab fee from Tanjung Pinang is 100,000 rp one way.

Bukittinggi

Merdeka Homestay - #20 Jl. Dr. A Rivai. Great place to stay. Make sure you take some kind of tour or trek with Erik, he really knows his stuff.

Bedudal, at 95 Jl. A Yahi, serves up some delicious, cheap western food.

Danau Maninjau

Cafe 44 is a clean, cheap, nice place to stay right on the lake.

Padang

Mr. Scotty's Inn is a little more expensive, but Scotty and Maria are wonderful hosts and company, and Maria can cook like no one else. A great place to relax.

Jakarta

The only thing I have to say about Jakarta is that there is a bus going back and forth from the airport to Gambir train station (near Jl Jaksa) that is much, much cheaper than taking a taxi either way. It doesn't run very late into the evening, though. There is also a 100,000 rupiah departure tax, which very nearly kept me in Indonesia a year ago. Be prepared for it.

One last useful tool we found in traveling this region was AirAsia. Super-cheap, they don't have snacks, assigned seats, or excess leg room, but they've got plenty of destinations for prices that are competitive with the bus. Check them out.

done

Well, we've finished the trip, flown back, and had the show.

The email from Indonesia is forthcoming (it's got a lot in itj, and it's been a little busy, so it's been put off. Worry not, it's coming soon!). In the meantimve, you can check out some of the pictures. Jakarta is a very dirty, polluted city, and in a sense, it was nice to end there, as it made coming back to Kaohsiung seem like a treat (although the winter smog is gone).

The show went fabulous. For the first time in my life, I earned money from my photos. For three days of advertising (the government only let us know that we had the space five days before the show), it was a decent turnout. I was on my feet, yammering away the whole time - shows are great social gatherings. A couple of my old students even showed up, in addition to some of my Chinese co-workers. If you want to see the selection, it's up on flickr. They weren't completely sold out! Everything must go! Of course, with all the stress and short nights before it, my immune system collapsed right after, and I was up half the night with a fever. Such is life. I just hope that I don't have to do the 13-hour flight back sick. I've done that penance once, and it isn't fun.

Anyhoo, more writing and pictures will be forthcoming as I get more and more spare time and fewer and fewer germs infesting me.