Articles from this Category
14 July 2015
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 […]
13 July 2015
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 […]
12 July 2015
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 […]
11 July 2015
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. […]
1 January 2015
I had called the state forestry office yesterday to enquire whether any rafflesias (world’s largest flower) were in bloom. Rather unexpectedly, they said “Yes, there is one on its last day” and encouraged me to go. So, it was a disappointment for me to wake up to a wet day. While the rain wasn’t torrential, […]
27 December 2014
It has been about 18 years since I had been to Sibu, where my mother hails from. As a child we had gone there to see grandma frequently. I thought I was long overdue for a visit there and had bought the air-tickets cheaply and impulsively some 10 months (sounds contradictory but it was impulse […]
13 July 2014
An old classmate runs a farm outside of Kuching, near the Wind Cave and Fairy Cave. He had organised a gathering of old friends so that us city folks could enjoy a touch of the Borneo outdoors. We had a picnic by the stream and some of us finished the day with dinner at Siniawan […]
30 December 2013
There are a few hot springs around Kuching. Richard and Habibah invited me to join them on a trip to the Panchor Dayak one about an hour out of town. But as we’re on the far side of town, and due to flooding on the roads causing bad jams, it took us about 2 hours. […]
19 December 2013
The doctor said my tonsils are swollen on one side; the other side seems fine. I had previously had a wicked sore throat which has now disappeared but left me with swollen glands on one side. The swollen glands are on the side of the swollen tonsils, so it makes sense as my lymph nodes […]
12 February 2013
I woke with a hint of soreness; it is the sixth day after Kinabalu. I was told by many the pain would last about five days. I didn’t feel any more of it until I walked down the stairs at Kuching Airport to get on to the apron to board my flight to Kuala Lumpur. […]