South-East Asia

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Winding the clock back ten years in ten minutes

Taking ten years off my age About 10 days short of six months, I stopped shaving just before going on my three-week trip to Saudi Arabia.  Today, I had planned to have the beard taken off at the Indian barber in KL Sentral / Brickfields where I was overnighting. When I had a haircut there, […]

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Islamic Arts Museum

For this visit to Kuala Lumpur, I had it on my list to visit the Islamic Arts Museum.  This had come highly recommended by E, with whom I travelled around Saudi Arabia about half a year ago. I arrived at the site by train and foot, getting there a few minutes before their 0930 opening.  […]

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Lightning strikes plane

Above:  Flight path after being struck by lightning.  I had trouble getting to sleep last night and had to wake around 0600 to prepare for the 1030 flight. The included breakfast at 0615 looked amazing.  However, quite a few things didn’t pass the taste test.  The chicken was hacked Asian style with lots of bones […]

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Nightstop

Above:  Tune Hotel lobby at KL International Airport. Today, I only have to make my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a nightstop for my journey back to Auckland via Singapore tomorrow. I started my search for the way to the cable car more or less immediately.  Some 20 mins later, I had found […]

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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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