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New Country Day: Brunei

Written by James Clark on November 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Country: Brunei Darussalam
Date: 23 November 2010

[First visit to Brunei - Yes]

Brunei is my third New Country Day this year, after Laos and Bulgaria.

There is not alot to detain you in Brunei, but if you are travelling overland in Malaysian Borneo you have to pass through it anyway, so you might as well stop for a look.

[Map of Brunei Darussalam]

Like Malaysia, the boundaries of Brunei was influenced from its days of the British. Also like Malaysia, Brunei has two separated land masses. The land between the two areas of Brunei is the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. If you are going overland from Sabah to Sarawak there is no road around Brunei, so you have to pass through 8 border crossings to get the other state. If you are not flying between Sabah and Sarawak you are better off getting a ferry. From Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) there is a ferry to the island of Labuan, which takes 3 hours. From there you can then get a ferry to Brunei, which takes 1 hour.

Before I arrived I checked up about visa requirements. If you are from the UK, Germany, New Zealand or the US you don’t need one. Other countries get a 14 day visa upon arrival. Upon arrival at customs I got told this visa will cost me B$20 ($15 USD). As I was spending less than 3 days this was then reduced to B$5.

I got my passport back to discover they had defiled a whole page with stamps. I might have been thrilled about this once upon a time, but now I see this page and think, damn you, I’m one page closer to having to get new pages sewn into my passport. A whole page for 2 days is excessive. I would have told them this, but I know better than to engage in commentary with customs officals.

[Brunei passport stamp - take up a whole page why don't you!]

Perhaps Brunei’s biggest tourist attraction is stamps. Passport stamps. If you like passport stamps then you’ll love Brunei.

Have you been to Brunei (or another country) just to get the stamp?

Girls by the lake, Nanjing – China

Written by James Clark on November 19, 2010 · 4 Comments

Girls by the lake, Nanjing – China.

In Pictures: Gulangyu – the car free island of China

Written by James Clark on November 18, 2010 · 9 Comments

In my travels around China I got to see the A-list cultural highlights such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Warriors, as well as seeing the wonderful Giant Pandas.

What I found more surprising about China is the amount of unheralded goodness there is in this country. One such place is Gulangyu, which I had not known about until I arrived in China.

Gulangyu is an island off the coast of Xiamen (which is also an island) in Fujian province on the southeast coast of China.

[Gulangyu and Xiamen]

Gulangyu became a treat port after the first opium war and foreign consulates and mansions were soon established here. Many of the mansions on the island are now run down and covered in vegetation.

[Crumbling mansion on Gulangyu]

Seeing so many old buildings in one place is something of a rarity in China. What makes this island even more special is that there are no cars or motorbikes. You won’t even see bicycles here. It’s a real walkers paradise (no wonder I like it so much).

[Traffic free laneway]

The interior of the island is covered in laneways that go in every direction. I was delightfully lost many times over as I kept finding myself back at the same lane I thought I was walking away from.

[Gulangyu laneway]

The mansions on the island are in a varied state of repair. Some are done up to boutique hotel standards while many are just lived in everyday houses.

[Mansion house - Gulangyu]

Gulangyu is also known as Piano Island. It has a piano and organ museum as well as being home to some famous pianists of China.

[Piano Island - Gulangyu]

There are no bridges or tunnels to Gulangyu, so supplies are brought by boat from Xiamen. From the port, men with carts carry supplies around the island.

[Gulangyu supply boats from Xiamen]

As you would expect being an island, seafood restaurants are everywhere.

[Seafood tanks]

For some reason orange juice is big here as well. This orange juice was squeezed before my eyes for 5RMB (75c USD).

[Fresh Orange Juice]

Walking the circumference of the island takes about an hour and a half. When you first arrive the crowds outside the ferry pier are frightening, but as you walk away the crowd disperses you will soon find plenty of space again.

[Walking around the island]

[Island walkway]

So there are no cars here, but there was controversy when electric tourist trolleys were introduced to the island. If we keep calling them electric trolleys, we can technically still say there are no cars on the island.

[Stupid electric tourist trolleys - Get out and walk!]

I ended up spending a week here, just chilling out in one of the many cafes on the island (another rarity in China – lots of cafes here that serve real coffee) and discovering lonely laneways. It left me fully recharged to face the crowds and traffic of the mainland once again.

Pudong skyline, Shanghai – China

Written by James Clark on November 12, 2010 · 3 Comments

The skyline of Pudong (“East of the [Huang]pu” river) in Shanghai.

Magnum Index: China 2010

Written by James Clark on November 9, 2010 · 1 Comment

In a similar vein to The Economist Big Mac Index, I present the Magnum Index. I like to compare the prices of magnum ice creams as I eat my way around the world. While the magnum is not as universal as the Big Mac (I have been to a few countries that don’t have Magnums), it is still an interesting comparision as the prices vary considerably.

China is a good example. A magnum in China is 5 Yuan (75 US cents). At those prices try just having one a day

[Magnum, Shanghai - China]

The Chinese Yuan, like the Magnums on sale here, are unnaturally undervalued. The Chinese Yuan is pegged to the USD at 6.65 Yuan to the Dollar. That makes Chinese products cheap, and the world economy depends upon cheap Chinese goods. Meanwhile the United States is calling for the Yuan to appreciate, to make US exports cheaper.

2010 will be remembered in the global economy as the year the currency wars escalated, and being in China you can see first hand how that is playing out. For example high speed train trips that would be 100 Euro in France are are about 20 Euro here, and a bowl of noodles that would go for $10 in Australia is about $1 in China.

One day when China become the worlds number one economy, we will be talking about the day that the CNY and USD reached parity. That would mean the 5 Yuan Magnum would cost you 5 USD, (and everything in Walmart will be 5 times more expensive). I don’t know what economic mayhem will happen when that day arrives. All I can say is if you want a great value for money holiday, then come to China before the currency appreciates.

Westlake boats, Hangzhou – China

Written by James Clark on November 5, 2010 · 2 Comments

Westlake boats, Hangzhou – China

The famous peanut soup of Xiamen, China

Written by James Clark on November 3, 2010 · 1 Comment

*** To my friends with peanut allergies, sorry about this one. Best you look away. ***

If you find yourself in Xiamen in Southwest China then make your way to the Ze He Huang Peanut Soup Shop.

[Ze He Huang Peanut Soup Shop]

I was told this shop was famous for the peanut soup, and when I went it was standing room only.

This grey milky broth looks more like dish water than soup. Like alot of food in China, it tastes better than it looks.

The soup is sweet and and peanuts melt in your mouth – there is no crunchiness to them at all. The bowl is quite small (especially if you are used to American sized portions) so it is hard to resist having just one.

At 2 Yuan (about 30c USD) it’s also one of the best value snacks around.

[Peanut Soup]

This peanut soup was so good I made a detour to the shop on the way to the airport for one last serving.

Observations on peanut soup

Why isn’t this sold in America? In a land where everything has peanuts in it, this would be a runaway hit in the USA.

It was refreshing to note that there was no “this peanut soup contains traces of nuts” disclaimer on the bowl. You might think I’m being ridiculous, but how many nut based products do you see now with that warning?

Village life, Pulau Pangkor – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on October 29, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The village of Teluk Gedong on Pangkor Island, Malaysia.

Victoria Peak – The best view in Hong Kong

Written by James Clark on October 27, 2010 · 6 Comments

If you wake up in Hong Kong and the sun is shining and the sky is blue, head for the hills. Victoria Peak in particular.

The peak gives you the best view of Hong Kong, and it is worth going up the peak for the Peak Tram alone, one of the most famous tramways in the world.

The tramway is a funicular railway that runs from Central district to Victoria Peak, with some stops along the way.

[Peak Tram - Hong Kong]

At the top the tram terminates at the Peak Tower, an observation deck/shopping centre/tourist trap, which you have to pay extra to enter. You can walk around the paths at the peak and see the same view for free.

[View of Hong Kong from The Peak]