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SE Asia

December 2023 - April 2024
A 98-day adventure by Darryl Read more
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  • TravelerSE Asia
    1
    Day 13

    A day at the Sands

    January 10 in Singapore ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    We spent the day enjoying the Marina Bay Sands property. Went to the huge gym at 6am that was past the casino. Came back to the room and picked Chris up, and then found some breakfast. Afterwards, we headed up to the pool for a couple hours to take in the amazing views while the weather was nice. The rooftop pool and area are massive. It is a wonder of engineering. There are three restaurants, a nightclub and a lot of lounging areas in the roof. Enjoyed a burger and beer for lunch, had some wine in our room in the afternoon while it rained, had chicken and waffles for supper, and then went back to the roof for a while. Off to Kuala Lumpur tomorrowRead more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    Day 14

    Travel to Kuala Lumpur

    January 11 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Travel day to KL, went a little early to the Singapore Airport to see some of the sights of one of the highest-rated airports in the world. It was a quick flight of a little over an hour to KL. The drive from the airport to our hotel was almost an hour, our driver was going 150km/h on the highway and wasn't going much faster than the other traffic! She was a good driver and was very helpful for offering things to see and do. Arriving at the Shangri-la was nice, we last stayed in a Shangri-la in Beijing. It is a well-appointed hotel and service from everyone is top notch. Our room wasnt ready so they upgraded usbtona larger family room, it has a tent in the livingbroom for kids lol! Went to Arthurs bar for a couple drinks after getting settled in the room and had some appies and made some plans for next few days, Booked a tour to Batu caves for Saturday.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    1
    Day 15

    Walking day around downtown KL

    January 12 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Had breakfast in the hotel. They had a great buffet with a lot of options. Then, we went exploring, checked out the Petronas Towers and the mall inside, and then explored the KLCC park. Stopped for a drink at the Healy Mac's Irish Pub, then went back to the hotel and spent a couple of hours by the pool reading. Went back to Healy Mac's for some appies, then walked over to Jalan Alor Food Street, had a delicious beef Roti. While walking, we saw the new Merdeka 118 building, which is 678.9m tall and is just completed, the second tallest building in the world, second to Burj Khalifa. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped on a street with a bunch of bars and had a nightcap, and people watched for a while, which is always amazing later in the day. We also noted that the license plates on vehicles don't have any regional identification, just the license number on a black background. KL is nice, but definitely not as clean or refined as Singapore. They do have some homeless people, whereas we didn't see any in Singapore, thanks to their government subsidized housing for low income workers.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    Day 16

    Tour of some spiritual sites around KL

    January 13 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Booked a half day tour of some spiritual locations around KL. Our driver, Vicky, picked us up at 9:00. The first stop was the Batu Caves. This is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. The climb to the top is 272 stairs, with monkeys along the way looking for food to steal. At the top, you enter the cave where devoted Hindus pray and go through their ritualistic ceremonies. The feeling was very powerful and uplifting. We visited the intimate areas and observed, but you had to take your shoes off. No shoes were common in all religious areas we visited today. When we were back at the bottom, we visited two other shrines where more people were praying. The next stop was a silk store where they made custom silk art and clothing. They showed us the wax outline techniques and color dying, Chris had a chance to try the dying technique. Next was the National Mosque Malaysia, it is a huge mosque that can accommodate 15,000 people for prayer. Chris and I both had to wear gowns, and Chris had to button her gown all the way up and keep the hood on as well. The last stop was a Chinese temple. We were able to see a couple of newlyweds getting pictures taken. It was an enlightening day, and Vicky was a great guide.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    Day 17

    Hop on hop off bus on last day at KL

    January 14 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Took the hop on, hop off bus today to explore more areas of KL on our last day here. There are two bus routes, and you can hop on and off at whatever stops you like for one flat fee, which is good for 24 hours. The bus stops are staged at major attraction areas. Some great architecture on buildings and enjoyed Little India. There is a major Hindu celebration next week, and Indian people were buying food, flowers, and sugar cane. They place one stock of sugar cane on each side of their main home entrance for good luck.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    1
    Day 19

    Arrived in Patong Phuket

    January 16 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We arrived in Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand, yesterday. Took nearly 2 hours in immigration and was a painfully slow line with a guesstimate of 80% of people in line being Russians from a big Aeroflot flight that landed the same time we did. In the short time we have been here, it is obvious that Russians are an important part of this regions economy. Most signs are written in Thai and Russian, with English in third place. It was about an hour ride with our Grab car, Chris made the comment on how similar the area looks to Costa Rica on the drive. When we arrived at our Airbnb condo at around 4 p.m., the housekeeper was still cleaning from the previous renters, and the language barrier was special, lol. We ran into her later after we had supper on the road out of the condo, and she was saying something about shoes, we tried to understand her but finally nodded and moved along. This morning, it took me over a half hour to find my sandles, lol. It is interesting that there is a big sign in our lobby saying that short-term rentals are against the law - hmmmm. We walked for about a half hour to a grocery store this morning to stock up on some breakfast and snack stuff for the week. Last night, we picked up some wine, beer, and water for the condo. The cleaning lady said the tap water wasn't drinkable, at least that is what we think she said. Prices around are very reasonable compared to Singapore and KL. Every meal so far has been terrific. We walked the beach this afternoon and was amazed how many people (Russians) there were. The water is very warm, and the sand is great to walk on. This week will be an R&R week.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    Day 20

    A lazy day in Patong

    January 17 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    It was a lazy day by the pool reading our books after a late night of listening to a great band at one of the bars. Met a couple from France at the bar. It was an entertaining hour or so using Google Translate. Went out for a late supper tonight and had a fabulous meal. Ordered three dishes to share and a couple of large beers, and it was $38 Canadian. It is crazy how busy it gets at night. It's great for people watching.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    Day 22

    Island tours off the coast of Phuket

    January 19 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    We did a tour of some islands off the coast of Phuket today. Our shuttle van picked us up at 7:30, and we drove an hour to the other side of Phuket to Phang Nga Bay Marina. We loaded onto a speed boat for our day at sea. We saw towering limestone islands, magical sea caves, and white sandy beaches. We stopped at the famous James Bond Island, where they filmed the 1974 movie, The Man with the Golden Gun. We kayaked around Panac Island, which was spectacular. The tide was at the right height for us to be able to get into some caves with the kayak. Each kayak had a guide, and ours was great. We also stopped at Ko Rang Yai Island, Hong Island Beach, Panyee Island, where we had a great buffet lunch and a tour of a floating village with a school, playground and a bunch of shops. We also explored some caves on foot on one of the islands. Our last stop was at an island with a place called Palm Beach Club, where we swam and had a couple beers at the bar there. We arrived back at the Marina around 5:30, and it took us an hour and a half to get back to Patong. We had pizza for dinner and early night for us. It was a great day!Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia
    Day 25

    Last day in Patong

    January 22 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    This was our last day in Patong. It was hot and humid today. Cold beer was a good refreshment. Chris had her nails done a shop in town and I spent some time at the beach reading. We met up for lunch at a cool ocean front local restaurant. All packed up ready for Koh Phi Phi.Read more

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