South-East Asia

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Highland pleasure palace

Killing some time Just for a change, instead of staying in Kuala Lumpur any longer, I had booked to go to Genting Highlands instead for a one-night stay.  I had been perhaps 27 years ago in May 1997, that being my first and only visit. There’s no point getting there too early due to the […]

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Festive decor again

Flying to KL I had trouble falling asleep last night with a sense of bloatedness.  And I had to get up in the middle of night, emptying my belly completely but it wasn’t liquid and was a one-off.  I don’t think it was diarrhoea but perhaps the oily pad see ew I had for lunch […]

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Out of interest and steam

I had three full days in Bangkok including today.  After such an amazing but busy time in Saudi, I had run out of steam and interest.  I was wary that my time here would be wasted unless I tweaked my attitude. I had limited success shifting my attitude.  I got out and about in my […]

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Dadan, Ikmah and Hegra After Dark

Visiting Dadan Today we have excursions booked for Dadan and Ikmah.  We left the accommodation at 0845 for Winter Park in plenty of time to catch the tour bus leaving there at 0945. First up was Dadan.  After being treated with light snacks and drinks, we our guide took us behind the visitor centre to […]

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Back to the capital

I had only booked today’s 1120 flight to Kuala Lumpur a few days ago, after reviewing my plans and opting not to travel with Saudia to Spain.  I opted for a  nightstop to avoid an early start on Christmas day and to de-risk the plan. I got to the airport about 3h before the flight, […]

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Reviewing my travel plans

Background When I planned my Saudi Arabia trip back in Feb this year, I realised that I fares to Saudi were over NZD200 more than to some European destinations with a stopover in Saudi. So, I booked an itinerary to Spain (into Madrid, then Valencia, Andorra and finally out of Barcelona) with a 3 week […]

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Flying to hometown

Transport comparison to the airport I left my hotel behind KL Sentral monorail at 0700 and caught the 0730 bus to the airport.  Despite my fears of rush hour traffic, I got to KLIA Terminal 2 in 50 mins.  In fact, I don’t recall having ever been stuck in traffic on this route. The bus, […]

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Something new, something repeated

National Mosque For some reason, I woke at 0430 today, feeling like I didn’t need anymore sleep.  I attended to online matters, had some cereal before heading out around 0830. Today I thought I’d do something new.  Even though I’ve visited countless mosques overseas, I had never visited one in my own country.  So, I […]

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Christmas feeling

Flying to Kuala Lumpur I had my first bad night sleep, perhaps from having slept too much recently.  I woke at 0700 and got to Langkawi airport at 0830. AirAsia’s check-in and bag-drop process is very quick nowadays with a touchless kiosk, where one does the actual work on the phone app.  At the airport, […]

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Back to Malaysia

Above:  Maha Tower in Langkawi, as seen from my hotel room. Today I leave the little paradise island of Koh Lipe to return to Langkawi.  I walked from my hotel to the ferry pier, the furthest of the three piers on Pattaya Beach, about 200m away. Having noticed how professional porters carry bags on their […]

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