Borneo Kuching June 2007

Meouwwwww!!!! Yup this is city of Kuching Sarawak in Borneo. Kuching in Malay language means cat. There are so many stories about how the city got the name Kuching. Which one to believe, it doesn't matter. The city itself is really charming with multicultural community and a blend of modern and old days buildings. Meouwwww!!!!

This is Chinatown in Kuching, small but got a lot of things to offer.

This is Indian Muslim Quarters in the middle of Kuching. Colorful neighborhood and the indian muslim restaurant or in Malay 'Mamak' stall is just all over Kuching. Time for roti canai (Indian muslim fried pancake) delicious!!

An old mosque still standing in the city center of Kuching.

A Sikh temple in the middle of Kuching old town.

An old skool bus of Kuching. Old skool, love it!

This buddha temple is more than a 500 years old.

The Rainforest Music Festival is da bomb!! It is a world class music festival that been held annually in the rainforest of Borneo for 3 days. We had a blast time there. Such a unique festival, where people can watch performances, meeting people from all over the world and experience so many things in just 3 days. If people ask us, is it worth it? Hell yeahhhh!!!

Meouwww. Yup, without doubt this is Kuching!!

An Iban man playing a local instrument called Sape. Unique and  such a beautiful sound!

This is Sarawak Cultural Village. It is situated about an hour from city of Kuching. It is the venue of the colorful and unique Rainforest Music Festival.

Borneo Kota Kinabalu June 2007

Finally I brought my lovely wife to the 'land below the wind', Sabah, Malaysia Borneo. Sabah is the home to the highest peak in South East Asia, the Mount Kinabalu. Borneo itself is a huge island and has one of the oldest jungle in the world and a lots of the creatures and plants here can only be found in that region. Generally there is not many who know that Borneo is divided into two territories, one half belong to Malaysia and the other half belong to Indonesia. Selamat Datang Bah ( Welcome in Sabahan dialect )

A glimpse of the highest peak in South East Asia, the Mount Kinabalu.

What a view over the valleys surrounding Mount Kinabalu. Breathaking!

This is one of the most expensive wild orchid on the planet, and it can only be found in Borneo. You can tell, why there is a fence guarding them!

What is that? That is one of the biggest millipede in the world. It roll like a ball shape when it feel threaten, it is a cool defense mechanism against other creatures.

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You know the drill. Hanging/ suspension bridge up on the tree top. What an amazing way to explore and see the habitats in the old and dense jungle of Borneo. Hell yeah it was scary but fantastic!

After few hours of jungle trekking and sweating like a pig, it is time to get rid of that  stinky sweat and that unpleasant body ordour hehe. There is nothing better than take a quick shower at the hot spring reserved center. Genuine nature resource which is need to be protected at all cost!

After wandering around in KK, we make a quick stop at KK market to wet the throats and cooling down our body with coconut juice. Yum yummy!!!

This is definitely one of the best meals we had tried. And it was surprisingly cheap. What a pleasure!!!

Bali June 2006

Next stop on our South East Asia trip was Bali. We were lucky to have bought a very cheap flight ticket to Bali with Air Asia from KL.
The hotel we had booked online ....... is definately a perfect choice because of the location of it is just 50m from the beach. The hotel has a touch of authentic Balinese style with a beautiful lush green garden and beautiful fountain. Unfortunately we forgot the name of the hotel ;-)

The Bali bombing memorial which states all the names of the people that lost their lives due to the bombings Oct. 12th 2002.

Sad sad sad....

The beach in Kuta is very long and a good place just to hang out and watch people. It is mostly surfers in the water because of the big waves and strong current.

Bali is definitely a surfer's paradise. Love this shot with all the colorful surfboards among the trees.

Balinese styled satay...what more to say than yum yum!!

We met this nice taxi driver that took us for a one day trip to Ubud - the center of cultural and crafts of Bali. Ubud is so charming, so we need to go back here again one day to experience more of it.

Sooo colorful...the Ubud market. Isn't that a girl's paradise? But you need to be good at bargaining the price!

More from the streets of Ubud.

This photo is taken at the most amazing restaurant in Ubud. We ordered different variety of food and invited the taxi driver to eat with us as well. It was a really delicious food they served there, thumbs up! Some of the food was made with sapi oil which tastes fantastic but it makes you so sleepy. On the way back to Kuta we could hardly stay awake...thank god the taxi driver did!

A photo of the lush garden at the hotel. So peaceful even though the hotel is located just next to the hustling and bustling of Kuta Beach Road.

Yep we did some shopping while we were there.... in fact we did quite a lot of shopping as you can see on the photo. But all of it came with a good and reasonable prices. All the surf brands like Volcom, Quicksilver, Bilabong, Rip Curl etc. were so cheap...we guessed the prices most of the goods are cheaper because the shops and butics want to attract the tourists back again after the bombings few years ago. But this is just our theory hehe.... however as you can see we really enjoyed the shopping in Bali :-))

Kuala Lumpur, June 2006

After Thailand we went by bus to Kuala Lumpur, our hometown in Asia. KL has everything, a mix of modern, old and high-tech but yet still maintaining the Asian vibes. Never can get enough of it!
It is a long journey by bus from Thailand but it feels okay since most of the Malaysian buses are luxurious compared to European standard. And they are cheap!

One of the many favorite places to hang out..the park at Petronas Twin Towers, KLCC. The Twin Towers are still holding the record for being the tallest twin towers in the world. Unfortunately we didn't take a good picture of the Twin Towers this time but later on we will publish a NICE one :-)

Our lovely hotel room at Federal Hotel located in BB area. Federal Hotel staffs are friendly and they provide a good service to all the guests. Surprisingly, our request to upgrade our room to a bigger one is fulfilled without any charge. Wow! We put our own touch in the room and decorated it with the bed sheets that we had bought in Thailand.

Having a good time with our good friends at the hotel.

Koh Samui June 2006

After our stay in Koh Pha Ngan island, we continued our journey by boat to Thailand's 3rd biggest island, Koh Samui.

Koh Samui from the sea as we were getting closer to the shorelines.

We choose to stay at Hat Chaweng, which has the longest beach on the island. Even though there were many people, it still felt ok, since there were plenty of space. The beach is 6 km long and has very nice clear blue-green water..perfect place to chill out!

A beach dog hiding in the shade hehe:-)
We were in Thailand during the Football World Cup 2006 which took place in Germany that year. At night time the beach side cafes would put up big screen, so we could sit on the beach with our feet buried under the cold sand and having cheap drinks while watching football. What a perfect way to enjoy the world cup!

We really enjoyed the performances by the local dancers almost every night.

Thai food is definately one of the best food in the world, no doubt! Colorful and rich with flavor.

Our charming little wooden chalet surrounded by palm trees, and it is just 100m from the beach.

Koh Pha Ngan June 2006

Our first holiday together. We met up in the southern city of Thailand Haadyai, we stayed there for a couple of nights and then we went up to the island of Koh Pha Ngan. The island itself is famous for the Full Moon Party. Unfortunately we were not there for a full moon party, just a relaxing holiday.

The view of the sunset taken from our balcony which is just a couple of metres from the beach. We got this place from a local woman An, who I knew from previous trips to the island. Simple place with a fantastic location. Kob kun krap An.

Just to show how close our accommodation was to the beach.

The little town of Koh Pha Ngan.

Our favorite place to eat........ An's restaurant. It is a really cozy place and very inviting. The food was just yum yum!!!

We were waiting for a ferry to our next stop. Koh Samui here we come......

K-town street photography

Just random photo shots of K-town from a day of wandering around and exploring the different effects from the new camera.