Author archive
1 March 2026
Above: World class Hyderabad Airport’s departure area. I fly out to Malaysia after midnight tonight (technically tomorrow morning) and have the day to kill. I have paid to use the room till 1930 today. After breakfast, I took the metro one stop north, with the intention to visit a big pharmacy where I hope to […]
28 February 2026
Hotel hassles I told the hotel to hold the idli for breakfast this morning and just give me the thosai; otherwise, it would be too much. After breakfast, I sorted out my stay for tomorrow night when I had a booking made through trip.com for the purpose of a late check-out. The hotel told me […]
27 February 2026
Charminar and Makkah Mosque The hotel breakfast, starting at 0700, consisted of the very South Indian thosai and idli, plus accompaniments. I headed out by auto-rickshaw to the Charminar (literally four minarets) in the centre of town where I caught, by pure chance, not one celebration but two! The Charminar monument has become the symbol […]
26 February 2026
Departing Dhaka I woke at 0615 after dozing and sleeping since 1915 last night. Quite unbelievable! Today I leave Bangladesh after my short first visit. As with previous days, due to Ramadhan, breakfast was only for non-Muslims and had to be specially prepared to order. So, despite sitting down at 0800, I didn’t finish till […]
25 February 2026
Panam Nagar I repeated yesterday’s awesome breakfast before meeting Nur at 0915 on the ground floor of the hotel. We walked to a tea shack where tea was being sold, despite Ramadhan, but hidden behind canvas so that no one would then be drinking in public. That’s like Indonesia, but not Malaysia where one could […]
24 February 2026
Arriving in Dhaka I could smell the pollution even before the cabin doors opened as we arrived at 0130. It took 10 mins and USD50 to get my visa-on-arrival. The first officer said a Letter of Invitation was required (which I didn’t have) but when I said I was a tourist, a second officer said […]
23 February 2026
Leaving hometown Today I fly from Kuching to Dhaka via KL, with a 9h25 self-connect. The trip wasn’t planned in one hit but somewhat piecemeal making use of expiring points for the domestic portion and crazily cheap international tickets to the subcontinent that were cheaper than staff prices! I woke at 0520 and left for […]
22 February 2026
My time in hometown over the Chinese New Year had been quite social with family and friends. Despite that, I managed to fit in gym workouts on all days except one. I confirmed that my hip issues responded very well to rotational cable exercises and cable kickstand hip hinge. I also had a very good […]
11 February 2026
Leaving Jakarta With a 1255 flight from Jakarta to Kuching, I left my room at 0800. Today, I thought I’d try out the rideshare and train combo, despite the highway to the airport being clear and the rideshare price being low. I took a car to the Sudirman Baru station where I would catch the […]
10 February 2026
Above: T-shirts based on Jakarta scenes and food. Chinatown I woke at 0600 in Jakarta, which was 0700 back in Bali. Today, I’m meeting Ah Meng, who is family of the hotel that I stayed at in Jakarta. With brunch on the cards, I made do with some fruit and cake before heading out at […]