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Dentist for peanuts

Last trip back in April, I had been to the government polyclinic for a dental check-up which cost me a MYR1 (USD0.26) registration fee.  They were ultra-comprehensive in marking down the condition of all teeth and the work required.  They booked me an apppointment three months later which timed well with this visit. Today I […]

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Orangutans

It’s only an hour from my apartment to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre where they rehabilitate rescued orangutans.  As Kim doesn’t get to Kuching often, I took him there.  As the apes roam the forest, sightings are not guaranteed especially during the fruiting season when they do not turn up for supplementary feeding.  

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Moving on to the beach

We had a leisurely morning before checking out around 1130 and walking to the bus terminal. It was a breeze taking the bus to Batu Ferringhi for our one night at the Holiday Inn Resort. On the bus I chatted to this woman who had an El Nido bag. As it turns out, she (and […]

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Kek Lok Si temple

We took the bus to Kek Lok Si temple today at Ayer Itam. The walk up was lined with stalls selling commercial and religious items. Strangely, for a Buddhist place, the traders were selling pictures of the Last Supper and Catholic icons too. Whatever makes money! Partway up was a pond full of tortoises. I […]

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Old town exploration

We explored the old town by foot today. Starting from our hotel, we walked north passing many beautiful old Chinese buildings. We found our way to the main street which passed by the Kapitan Keling mosque. The surrounding areas were rather Indian with flower sellers and eateries. We continued to the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion […]

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Clan jetties

One thing I didn’t do in Penang five years ago was visit the clan jetties. These are stilted homes built over the water with a jetty serving as the main access way. We took the CAT (free bus) from near our hotel to the ferry station, from which it was a short walk to the […]

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Pearl of the Orient

We woke before 0600. The hotel transport took us to Siem Reap airport but dropped us outside to avoid paying the USD1 entry fee. It is a good reminder that USD1 is a significant sum in this country. We didn’t mind the short walk to the terminal. The bag-drop and check-in queues weren’t exactly short. […]

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Angkor Thom & Angkor Wat revisited

Nice weather had returned to Siem Reap. We set off at 0800 by tuktuk again to Eastern Mebon, picking up where we had left off the day before. The sunlight was perfect, illuminating the facade of the first few sights we visited. The big one for the day was Ta Prohm, made famous by the […]

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Wet day indoors

It was a wet morning. It looked like a big cloud system was hovering around and wasn’t about to pass quickly. I was proved right and it did hang around all day. So it was a chill and massage day until attending the Phare Cambodian Circus in the evening.  This is an acrobatic show performed […]

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Angkor Thom revisited

Our body clocks woke us up early so it wasn’t a big deal to leave at 0550 for sunrise around 0545. According to an newspaper article I read, Angkor Wat’s west gate is ridiculously overcrowded with people waiting for the sunrise so I took their advice to go to the east gate instead. Instead of […]

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