Bangkok August 2007

Bangkok the capital of Thailand is a modern metropolitan that can offer tourist so much if you know what to find. We were there for a week and we really enjoyed it. In the middle of Bangkok lies the mighty Chao Praya River which is the soul of the city and sacred to many locals. Bangkok has so many awe-inspiring and glittering temples and palaces like no other places in the world. The variety of market are just splendid and more than enough to satisfy your hunger for shopping. The unique culture and tradition, friendly inhabitants and delicious world renowned cuisines makes it really hard to resist for tourist to not to come back again and again. Welcome to the City of Angel!

The temple of Wat Arun or the locals calls it Wat Chaeng (Temple of The Dawn).

This is Wat Pho temple, which is famous for its huge reclining buddha. It is the largest temple in Bangkok. Stunning!

See how huge the buddha is compare to us.

Just a random picture from The Grand Palace compound.

Wat Phra Kaew (the Emerald Buddha) See the intricate details of the craftsmanship. It will blown you away!!!

Two massive guards called Yaksa Tavarnbal( Gate Keeping Giants) guarding the balcony.

Detail,detail,detail.

It will be strange if we didn't see a glimpse of any buddhist monk in Thailand. So there they are!!

The majestic Grand Palace. What a stunning building!

Chatuchak Market in Bangkok. We definitely need a GPS to explore this huge market next time hehe..... You need at least 2 days to explore every corner of the market. There are tones of variety of different things you can buy here ranging from clothing, craft, painting, gadget, food, furniture and the list is endless........ we love it!!!

The local police officers look really smart with segways.

My lovely wife look really proud with her new hand tailored coat. The price is really reasonable in Bangkok. Saya cintakan kamu!!

City center of Bangkok. Taxis in Bangkok come in different colors, which kinda funky and cool. We like......

Borneo Sepilok June 2007

From Kota Kota Kinabalu we flew to Sandakan to witness one of the most endangered primates in the world, the 'Orang Utan' (Jungle People). We stayed at Sepilok Jungle Resort which is near to Sepilok Rehabilitation Center for a couple of nights and it was a fantastic experience to see with our own eyes this beautiful and intelligent primates. It is vital to preserve the rainforest because without it, 'Orang Utan' and all the creatures who dwell in the rainforest will be extinct in less than 100 years. So let's do our part by educate our younger generation and the society about how essential it is for all human being to protect our 'ecosystem' before it is to late. Do it now or never!

It look so easy for this teenage 'orang utan' to glide from one end to the other end. Cool!

What a unique character. And a bit show off hehe....

Close encounter ..... human and primate. I wonder which one do the most damage to our nature? We know the answer, how about you?

Inside Sepilok Jungle Resort. Lush, green and refreshing!

Orang Utan in action!!

                       
This is one of many species of monkey in Borneo and it is call 'Macaque'. They are known for their unpredictable behavior and cheeky character. So don't play play ok........ hehe

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.