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Pandas, spies and capsule hotels – 7 posts from the archives

Written by James Clark on July 13, 2011 · 3 Comments

My 7 Links is a project started by Katie at Tripbase, offering a chance for travel bloggers to highlight posts from the archives. It has been great way to get to know many travel bloggers I follow, and some of their older material which I missed.

The project also involves nominating other travel bloggers to participate. I was nominated by my housemate in Playa del Carmen, Wandering Earl, and my friend Jodi from Legal Nomads. With nominations from two awesome people, I am happy to join in as well. I present to you My 7 Links.

My Most Popular Post
Capsules
[Capsule Hotel - Tokyo]

On my first stop-over in Tokyo I knew I had to try out a Capsule Hotel. I booked in for 2 nights, not knowing that one was more than enough. It was an interesting experience at least, and it turned out to be my most viewed post. Maybe it was my fetching capsule pajamas [click through to see].
Staying in a Japanese Capsule Hotel

My Most Controversial Post
Giant Panda on its back
[Aww, look at the Panda]

I wouldn’t say I’m a controversymonger, but not everyone agreed with my light hearted plan on how to save the Giant Pandas. When I was in China I discovered that Pandas were once domesticated. Who knew? All domesticated animals were once wild, so why not pandas, right?
My plan for saving the endangered Giant Panda

My Most Helpful Post

[Train passing through market - Maeklong Thailand]

Maeklong Market Railway in Thailand has always been on my to visit list. Problem was it is almost always referred to as being in Bangkok, which it is not, and I could never find how to get there. It is about 80km south of Bangkok, but quite fiddly to get to. I recorded how I got there, and it has become one of my most linked to posts so far.
Maeklong Market Railway, Thailand – The Train That Goes Through a Market

Surprisingly Successful Post

I love long urban walks, so it was only a matter of time until I walked the length of Broadway from the top to bottom of Manhattan. I thought it was a slightly eccentric idea, but I floated the idea with another eccentric friend, and he wanted to go as well. What I also found out was when you publish seemingly eccentric ideas the internet you will find plenty of other people who think the same way as you.
Walking the length of Broadway, New York

My Most Beautiful Post

[Buddhist quote in Chiang Mai, Thailand]

I don’t know if this is my most beautiful, but I have gotten some beautiful emails from people who read my picture post featuring Buddhist quotes and sayings on life, which I found in a temple garden in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
52 inspiring Buddhist quotes and sayings on life

Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved

As a long term traveller with no fixed address, I have often been accused of being a spy. This is an accusation that I neither confirm nor deny – afterall it is a pretty cool job title. Did you know you can apply to be a spy online in some countries? I compiled a list of countries and their espionage agencies, and how you can become a spy in your home country.
Travel the world as a spy

I’m Most Proud Of…

[Dusun wedding party - Sabah]

My preferred method of travel is solo and with changeable travel dates. When I was in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) I was invited to a wedding which I promptly changed my travel plans to attend. This turned out to be a remarkable weekend where I stayed with a family in a small village, and I was even supplied with formal wedding attire.
Attending a Dusun Wedding in Sabah

Blogs I nominate for 7 links

Next, I nominate the following bloggers to share their 7 Links:
Kevin from The Mad Traveler
Jo from ActionJoJo
Lillie from Around the World “L”!
Melanie from Travels With Two

Categories: Travel Blog - Tags: china, japan, malaysia, thailand, usa

Armenian Street, Georgetown Penang – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on June 10, 2011 · 2 Comments

Lebuh Armenian (Armenian Street) is the core zone of the Unesco World Heritage Site of Georgetown on the island of Penang – Malaysia.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: georgetown, malaysia, penang

Kuala Lumpur – Wrapping up eight months in Asia

Written by James Clark on May 11, 2011 · 9 Comments

After eight months of travel in Asia I find myself back where I started in Kuala Lumpur. What an incredible eight months it has been. Two months in China, a month in India and three months in Thailand, punctuated by many visits to Malaysia, including Borneo for the first time.

KLCC Petronas Towers - KL
[Kuala Lumpur - funny name, cool city.]

There were so many highlights along the way, but I will resist turning this post into a best of (though now would a good excuse to show a picture of a Giant Panda from my visit to Chengdu).

Giant Panda eating bamboo

I kind of had a plan for the eight months, but like all good plans, that went out the window early on. My plan for a year in China was not to be after I couldn’t get a one year tourist visa. From China I was going to spend three months in Borneo. I may end up doing that yet, as this island had me the moment I arrived. In my first week there I had the privilege to attend a local wedding in Sabah, which included getting dressed up in traditional attire. Borneo was that kind of place for me.

[Dusun wedding party - Sabah]

My three months in Borneo was truncated to three weeks as I decided to spend Christmas with people I know in Chiang Mai. That was the biggest surprise of this trip. I didn’t think I would be back in Thailand this time around, but the Travel Gods had other plans. After Christmas I was then lured back by a coffee tour, and the fellowship of working nomads living in Chiang Mai kept me on. Spending some living time in Chiang Mai got me thinking that I could possibly base myself there in the future.

Akha coffee pickers
[With my Chiang Mai coffee dealers from Akha Ama Coffee.]

Now I am back in KL, catching up on some work before going back to Mebourne this week, where I will be returning as a visitor. When I left in September, I left a house I had been living in off and on since 2001. While I have been travelling as a working nomad since 2003, this is the first time I have travelled without a fixed address. With no current abode in Melbourne, this is just a two week visit to see family and friends, and to sort out some business administration.

After Melbourne I will be heading to Hawaii for eight days, which happened to be the first place I went to overseas. From Hawaii I then make my way to Vancouver for the TBEX travel bloggers meetup. I attended TBEX in New York last year and met so many wonderful people that I knew I would have to return. Having the conference in Vancouver was a great selling point as well, a city which I hear nothing but rave reviews for. I will also include Seattle and Portland in this trip. From there, more will be revealed .

So it’s my last week in SE Asia, and I am in KL eating everything I possibly can before I go. I’m going to miss this part of the world.

Tosai Masala - KL
[Tosai Masala and Teh Tarik in KL (H/T to regional food expert Jodi).]

If you are in Melbourne in the next two weeks feel free to contact me.

Categories: Where I'm At - Tags: food, kuala lumpur, malaysia, tbex

Kellie’s Castle, Batu Gajah – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on April 8, 2011 · 5 Comments

Not far from the city of Ipoh in the state of Perak is a curious building known as Kellie’s Castle. It is actually an unfinished mansion built by Scottish planter, William Kellie Smith. This grand home features Malaysia’s first elevator and imported building material from India.

Smith built his first mansion in 1909. With a birth his son and heir in 1915, he began work on the second mansion, and the troubles followed soon after. Many of his workers were killed by Spanish flu after WWI, and construction costs blew out, draining his wealth. Construction halted in 1926 when Smith died.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: batu gajah, buildings, castle, ipoh, malaysia

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on April 1, 2011 · 4 Comments

The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. While they are not the tallest anymore, they still remain as one of my favourite Supertalls. It is possible to go up the towers for free – you just have to get there early in the morning to get a ticket.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: buildings, kuala lumpur, malaysia

Old Town, Kuching – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on March 25, 2011 · Leave a Comment

[Jalan Bishopsgate, Kuching - Malaysia]

Kuching is the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and is the largest city in Borneo.

Jalan Bishopsgate (Bishopsgate Street) in Kuching’s old town. The building in the background is the The new Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: borneo, kuching, malaysia, sarawak

Beach Monkeys, Bako National Park – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on March 18, 2011 · 3 Comments

Silver Leaf Monkeys (silvered langurs) on the beach at Bako National Park, near Kuching, in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo).

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: animals, bako, borneo, malaysia, monkey, national park, sarawak

Chiang Mai – An India visa run, in Thailand.

Written by James Clark on March 9, 2011 · 5 Comments

Greetings from Chiang Mai, Thailand. This was not the greetings I was expecting to do for the rest of the year, but Indian bureaucracy had other ideas.

I went to Penang with the intention of getting a visa for India while I was there. When I applied to the visa centre, the first item on the visa application was pointed out to me:

Visa application of NON-MALAYSIAN foreigner who is not resident of Malaysia is liable to be rejected

I found out foreigners can longer apply for a visa in Malaysia (or Singapore), but you still can (for now) in Thailand.

I left Chiang Mai at the start of February and had mentally signed off from Thailand. I was thinking that it might be some time before I return to this land. Adding in the back tracking factor, I was wondering if I should just ditch the India trip all together?

The desire to visit India again and the fact that there is a consulate in Chiang Mai made my decision a bit easier. havin a bonus few more weeks with my friends in Chiang Mai sealed the deal.

Kuala Lumpur

To get to Chiang Mai meant going south to to KL to get a flight back north. Thanks to good old AirAsia, I’m becoming very familiar with Kuala Lumpur, and it grows on me just a little bit more each time.

When in KL I like to go to the Brickfields area, where you can find a good banana leaf set meal. This area is known as Little India and it has now been renovated with colourful archways, just incase you didn’t know you were in Little india with the blaring Bollywood songs everywhere.

[Little India, Brickfields - Kuala Lumpur]

KL Low Cost Carrier Terminal

As my flight was at 6.55am I opted to spend the night at the airport. I’m not good at getting up at 3.30am to get a flight, and the KL budget terminal is a great place to get some work done. There is a 24 hour food hall and Starbucks, and the Starbucks has free wifi (like most Starbucks in Malaysia). In fact the whole terminal has free wifi, so I spent the night as a work day. I wasn’t the only one with this idea. This is the food court at 2.15am.

[Food court at night]

India Consulate in Chiang Mai

I went straight to the consulate as soon as I arrived in Chiang Mai. If there is going to be another visa debacle I wanted to give myself as many spare days as possible to sort it out. The office is located on Tung Hotel Rd, which is near the train station. The consulate is in an old house and when I went there was no one in the queue. I filled out the application in what looked like the old lounge room, and that was it. Very laid back, just like Chiang Mai. Happy to be back.

Categories: Where I'm At - Tags: airport, chiang mai, india, kuala lumpur, malaysia, penang, thailand, visa

War Memorial, Pulau Labuan – Malaysia

Written by James Clark on March 4, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Labuan is a small island off the coast of Sabah, Borneo. There are many WWII war memorials here as this was the place that Japan surrendered Borneo to Australian forces in 1945. Labuan is now an offshore financial centre, with lower tax rates than the rest of Malaysia to entice businesses to set up here.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: labuan, malaysia, war

Penang – My (temporary) island home

Written by James Clark on March 2, 2011 · 9 Comments

Where I’m At: Penang – Malaysia.

Greetings from Penang. I have been here for nearly a month now, staying in the World Heritage City of Georgetown. I have been here several time before on shorter visits, and I always knew I would come back to stay for an extended period. I wanted to spend some time to wander the old streets of Georgetown while getting some work done in a wifi and budget friendly environment.

[Dogs on a Trishaw - Penang]

While I have been here I have been working on this site and I am going to try out a new category: Where I’m At. The plan will be a for a weekly update, reporting from “Where I’m At”. I’m still toying with the idea of calling it Where I’m At Wednesdays, as Wednesdays seems to be my least busy day for scheduled posts on other sites I run. Plus it is cool to have a day in a category name, you know.

Seeing I am just starting this, I’m going to recap my time in Penang, rather than the week that was. I came to Penang with the intention of hunkering down for a month to work on some website projects with as little distraction as possible. In my time here I have had some welcome relief of the work day from visiting friends.

On my second day here I was working away when I noticed a Facebook update from Johnny Jet (yes I can work and check Facebook news at the same time). He posted an update: “On the ferry to Penang”. Hey, I’m in Penang as well! I quickly mesaged him, and half an hour later I was down at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel where I met up with Johnny and Natalie.

[Johnny and Natalie]

For those who don’t know Johnny, he has been putting out a weekly travel newsletter since 1999. I picked up the story around 2000, so I have known him online for ages. Johnny and Natalie were on a quick stop-over on a remarkable train journey, which you can read about in Johnnys weekly newsletter.

Apart from that surprising unscheduled meetup, I have also had scheduled meetups with other friends. Two of my friends I used to work with, in Melbourne way back in 1999, are now living in the region. Paul is in Singapore, and Tasha is in Jakarta. One of our friends of this group was missing, so we took took a photo in honour of his missing in action-ness.
Missing Friend
[Paul, Tasha, (MIA Macman) and James]

During this old work mates reunion I had an overlap of friends visiting from Chaing Mai. While Paul went back to Singapore, Tasha stayed on and met up with Shannon and Paddy, who were here on a Thai visa run. Having already been here for a week, which was a week longer than everyone else, I got to play local tour guide.

Friends in Georgetown
[Maysie, Shannon and Paddy]

Living In Penang
When Johnny was here he was asking me about the cost of living for food and accommodation here. So here is a brief overview. Penang has a worldwide reputation for being a foodies paradise, and I can attest to that. I’ve had to stop myself from falling into the trap of going to my favourite food places, just so I can try out some different dishes.

Some of my staple favourites are:

—Roti Canai—

[Roti Canai and Roti Telur]

Roti Canai (plain) and Roti Telur (with egg) with dahl. What a great start to the day. Haven’t got sick of it yet. This and a coffee is 3.50 MYR (1.16 USD).

—Asam Laksa (Penang Laksa)—

[Asam Laksa]

I abhor hyperbole, so I can’t believe what I am about to say. This is possibly the best laksa I have ever had. I have been back to the same vendor numerous times just to make sure, and each time the laksa is as good as I remember it to be. This laksa is the large bowl with extra fish balls, and it costs 4.5 MYR (about $1.50 USD). This was at the Gurney hawker market, which is a big open air food court by the bay.

—Hainan Chicken Rice—
[Sorry - no photo]

I go to this run down looking shop where all they do is chicken and rice, in the Hainan style. You sit down and they bring it out to you. You don’t order because that is all they have on the menu. Brilliant. Chicken and rice is 4 MYR.

—Indian—

[South Indian Thali]

Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have Indian twice a day. The indian food is so good here though, I can’t help myself.

This South Indian Vegetarian Thali is 5 MYR ($1.66 USD). A mango lassi is 3.50 MYR ($1.16 USD). If you go the the banana leaf restaurants (where the food is served on a banana leaf), the same meal is about 4 MYR, and they tend to keep topping up your meal until you tell them to stop.

—Cendol—
Cendol

For dessert, have a go of Cendol, which is popular throughout Southeast Asia. It looks weird, but it is alot of sweetness on a bed of shaved ice, which is welcome in this heat.

—Accommodation—
For accommodation, I wanted to stay in Georgetown as I knew I could get cheap accommodation with good wi-fi. I have stayed in Georgetown previously, in a typical flophouse style place, and even that had wi-fi. I am now staying at a guesthouse with ensuite bathroom, wi-fi and a desk in the room for 40 MYR a night ($13 USD).

So this is my last week in Penang. I’m really quite comfortable here and could easily stay on, but I have to make an unexpected return to Thailand next week. Until then…

Categories: Where I'm At - Tags: accommodation, food, georgetown, malaysia, penang, yours truly