South-East Asia

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On a farm in the country

Today I paid a visit to a farm owned and operated by my old school friend Patrick.  It’s possibly the only farm in Sarawak that employs considerable mechanisation. To make it more special, it is at the base of the karst mountain that hosts the Fairy Cave … a beautiful setting indeed.  It’s about a […]

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Technology takes us a full circle

I had to go renew my passport today.  5 years ago, it was a 1-day service.  Now it is a 1 hour service … the fine print is that it is 1 hour from payment.  The reality is that there is a bit of waiting before you get to make your payment.  I had to […]

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Santa wears a Muslim headscarf

Today I flew with Malaysia Airlines, departing Kota Kinabalu at 1000 to my hometown of Kuching.  Malaysia Airlines surprised me with a gorgeous prawn sambal nasi lemak on the 1h20min flight. They’ve changed their catering spec, finally.  It used to be a (singular) mini filled roll or croissant … with next to no filling.  That […]

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Dutchmen, Lizards and Fireflies

I took an excursion out to Klias River today, near Beaufort (2 hours each way) to see the fireflies at night.  It was a pricey excursion but there wasn’t much of a choice apart from not doing it! The programme included more than just the fireflies … there was afternoon tea, boat-safari to view the […]

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Places from one’s childhood dreams

I woke early to take the public transport (shared minivan taxi) to Kota Belud for its famous Sunday market.  It’s the stuff that childhood dreams are made of, influenced by those tourism posters eg. Bajau horsemen, markets selling jungle produce, water buffaloes being traded … all against the backdrop of SE Asia’s highest peak, Mount […]

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Resting up for the night flight

I departed Banda Aceh for Kuala Lumpur at 1245.  On the way to Banda Aceh airport I noticed a woman with a very short skirt on her motorbike.  I queried the taxi driver if she would get in trouble … he replied to the negative, as she was Chinese and not a Muslim.  While the extreme […]

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Tsunami reminders

The Tsunami of 26 December 2004 This morning I took the ferry from Pulau Weh to the mainland and checked into a hotel for the night.  I chose to take in some of the reminders of the tsunami which killed 170000 people in Aceh but, not the mass graves which are available for visits. The tsunami […]

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Diving at Pulau Weh

My Two Dives I did two dives today with Lumba Lumba Dive Resort, as planned … but not quite. The manager suggested that I do a refresher dive as I wasn’t highly experienced (15 dives) and it had been about 9 months since my last dive.  Of course I suspected this was at an extra cost […]

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2010: Pulau Weh

My Two Dives I did two dives today with Lumba Lumba Dive Resort, as planned … but not quite. The manager suggested that I do a refresher dive as I wasn’t highly experienced (15 dives) and it had been about 9 months since my last dive.  Of course I suspected this was at an extra cost […]

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Heading to Aceh

Fashion Crisis Takes a New Meaning I checked out from the airport Tune Hotel and walked to the nearby terminal for my 1155 departure from Kuala Lumpur to Banda Aceh, I had time for a leisurely curry breakfast (rendang, tempeh, cucumber and pineapples) after dropping off my bag at the baggage drop, then taking the […]

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