Sam and Chris in Thailand

We've left Thailand!

2010-02-09T23:53:00.000-08:00

We left Thailand a few days ago and moved to Taiwan. After living in Bangkok for over a year, I have decided to leave my position at Microsoft.

Please refer to my one year in Thailand post for a summary of many of the high points of our experience here in Thailand and at Microsoft. Thailand has been a great place to live, and working here has been an amazing life experience. We're not sure what we'll be doing next, but we will always be thankful for having had this opportunity.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this blog. It would be strange to continue to post to a blog titled 'Sam and Chris in Thailand' if we're living in Taiwan. Perhaps we'll start a new blog, and if we do I'll post a link to it here.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope we've been able to show you a bit about this fascinating part of the world. It's been a bit of work to keep up, but if just one person decides to go see any of these places for themselves based on these posts, then it will have been worth it. And I especially hope that you can see at least a glimpse of the Thailand I've been fortunate enough to see this past year - the Thailand that tourists often miss. Thailand is much better than most tourists experience.

Happy travels!

Chris and Sam

Ko Chang - signs

2010-02-08T03:06:00.000-08:00

Koh Chang - food and drink

2010-02-07T02:23:00.000-08:00

Most of our time on Koh Chang was spent eating seafood, and what fabulous seafood it was! We even picked a few fresh samples out of the tank - a thai abalone, a sand lobster (Francis my Australian friend calls them 'bugs'), a couple varieties of fish. One night we did actually eat Mexican though at a restaurant run by actual Mexicans - and given how challenging it can be to find good Mexican in this part of the world, it was a welcome meal as well!

Ko Chang - Bang Bao dangling feet

2010-02-06T02:15:00.000-08:00

One of the restaurants in Bang Bao was built on stilts into the bay, and had holes in the floor cut out so you could dangle your feet as you ate. It was fun!

Ko Chang - Bang Bao palm trees

2010-02-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

It seemed every restaurant we ate at in Bang Bao had a view of these same trees, so we got some tropical pictures of them on a couple of occasions.

Ko Chang - Bang Bao

2010-02-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

Bang Bao was a fishing village close to our hotel that is now full of guesthouses, seafood restaurants, and dive shops. It's mostly a main pier into the bay that has a bunch of offshoot piers - it was fun to explore the nooks and crannies. Most of the pictures we took in Bang Bao I'll post later under 'food' :)

Ko Chang - sunset

2010-02-03T15:10:00.001-08:00

Sunset at Lonely Beach from a beachside restaurant on the shore

A walk to work

2010-02-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

For my last day at Microsoft I figured I'd post some pictures I took of my morning commute. It's a lot of walking, and since I go to work relatively early by the standards of Bangkok and the office I work in, there are few people. Thus, the pictures turned out even more plain than I expected - but after posting so many pictures geared towards showing the interesting and unusual, perhaps this is a better representation of what daily life is like here.

I won't explain anything - hopefully the pictures more or less tell the story.

Ko Chang - down to the ocean

2010-02-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

Our hotel had a flight of concrete steps that brought you from the cliff to the ocean. Once there I found a bamboo stick and roamed around the rocks a bit while Sam admired the view. I surprised her with a couple shells I found.

Ko Chang - our hotel

2010-02-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

We stayed at Nisa Cabana hotel - it was on the southern part of the island past the white sand beaches on a cliff overlooking the ocean. That might sound out of the way but we were looking for peace and quiet, and definitely found it. We spent a lot of time sitting by the pool and admiring the landscaping. The hotel book in the room warned of monkeys, but we didn't see any - we did get a frog living under our room's balcony for a while, though.

Oh, and our room had a Thai version of the Venus on a half shell.

Ko Chang - to the island

2010-01-31T05:06:00.000-08:00

We went to Ko Chang ("elephant island") for the holidays at the end of 2009. We got up early and ate a jelly donut and steamed bun breakfast (each shaped like a little animal), then took a bus from Bangkok that brought us to a pier near Trat, then took a ferry (sponsored by a soda company, apparently) across to the island. The sea en route was a gorgeous color of blue. You can see the island of Ko Chang from the ferry - steep and hilly - so it was quite a scenic ride in the back of a pickup from the ferry landing to the hotel. Most of the people you see standing at the back of the ferry were speaking Russian.

Vietnam - signs

2010-01-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

Hue - food and drink

2010-01-29T03:29:00.000-08:00

ginger flavored yogurt

these take home meals at the grocery store come in little ceramic pots (and cost about $1 USD)

what is this?

Vietnamese style coffee - mmmm

Excellent beer in Hue (Festival was a favorite), and we had a meal of imperial style food that included a flaming peacock made from a pineapple with spring roll feathers. Oh, and I finally got to try Lotteria - an excellent Korean hamburger chain. Delicious!

Hue - around town

2010-01-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Hue - Imperial Palace grounds

2010-01-27T01:34:00.000-08:00

One of the most enjoyable sights on the Imperial palace grounds are the folks paying to dress up as Emperor and Empress to get their pictures taken on thrones. The couple pictured did a really convincing job at it!

Hue - around Imperial Palace

2010-01-26T01:09:00.000-08:00

A few scenes from the path to the Imperial grounds in Hue. Notice the hand paddles the fellow fishing in the moat was using, and the march (to patriotic sounding music) the folks out front (the groundscrew perhaps?) were executing around the square.

Hoi An to Danang to Hue, mostly by train

2010-01-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

The train from Danang to Hue was great. Take a few beers and watch the local scenery go by. And the locals behind you eat their whole yellow chicken of questionable freshness that they had in a plastic bag on the wall of the train. By the smell of it, they may have regretted the choice later that day.

Note the fishing boats that look like little wicker baskets - how'd you like to head out to sea in one of those?

Hoi An - pigs

2010-01-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

OK, time for one minor drawback of Hoi An. When we were checking into our hotel late at night, we noticed pigs being unloaded from a truck in baskets. They weren't too happy about it, and were letting that be known. We thought - hmm, that's interesting. Then, all night long, we heard each pig in turn letting out death wails as it was being killed at the slaughterhouse down the street.

Let me tell you, when you hear the sound of a pig being slaughtered, you won't soon forget it. It didn't make the pork we ate the next day taste any less fresh, though.

Hoi An - silk

2010-01-23T19:42:00.000-08:00

Here you see the lifecycle of silkworms: from eggs to worms to cocoons to moths (or, alternatively, to be boiled as cocoons and turned into silk fabric for Sam to buy so she can have clothing tailor-made in Hoi An).

Hoi An - street food

2010-01-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

A bit of street food we found in Hoi An: a pastry vendor, a (wonderful!) sandwich vendor that put meats and other nibblies into french bread that had been freshly toasted in a coal fired oven, a flan vendor. Also shown are someone chopping ice the old-fashioned way, and someone heating their street kettle with a wood fire. Oh, and some popcorn we had on the train - one of the few times I've seen an American food more packaged in Asia than it is in the states.

Hoi An - river

2010-01-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hoi An - food

2010-01-20T19:09:00.000-08:00

Some food and drink from around town - much of it famous traditional foods from Hoi An. Delectable! (and yes, the food at Mr. Dong was great, too)

Hoi An - market

2010-01-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

Hoi An has a great market, with lots of live ducks and chickens for purchase, which we would have thought about getting except both Sam and I have no real idea what we'd do with a live duck or chicken. We also have no idea what the snake guy was selling (he only spoke Vietnamese) but he was doing brisk business so it must have been good stuff.

Hoi An - temples

2010-01-18T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hoi An - around town

2010-01-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

Hoi An - night by the river

2010-01-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

Hoi An - lanterns

2010-01-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

A few of Hoi An's famous lanterns, and a few pictures of a temple where they were making them by hand using traditional tools. The beams on the ceiling of the temple told in Chinese the years when the temple had been rebuilt over the hundreds of years it had been there.

Hoi An - buildings

2010-01-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

Hoi An was one of the most beautiful cities we've ever been to. It had a wealth of old buildings, most with old wood and ancient style roofing. It's also known for crafts (lanterns and fabrics), so the colors of those along with the fading paint on the concrete/plaster sides made for gorgeous colors. So very interesting to see glimpses of what Vietnam looked like hundreds of years ago.

Hanoi - more food

2010-01-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

Here you can see some folks eating while sitting on the sidewalk on small stools - a common way to dine out in Hanoi. You can get citrus-flavored pork wrapped in banana leaves on the street, too (this one at a bia hoi joint). Also pictured is some fried beef noodles from the pho place, the best of all possible mojito worlds (a huge glass stuffed with lime and mint, it was incredible), and someone making rice paper for wrapping spring rolls. Ah, Hanoi - what wonderful food you have.

Hanoi - bun cha

2010-01-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

Bun cha - one of the best meals I've ever eaten. You combine everything pictured into one wonderful dish. Aaaaah.

Hanoi - Quan An Ngon

2010-01-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

We also went to Quan An Ngon, a great restaurant that has tables inside a circle of vendors selling street style food. You order from the wait staff and they take care of getting your food from the different vendors and bringing it to your table on one bill.

We were watching another table order and took a lot of their ideas - corn/grass jelly drink, grilled tuna steak, snail and green banana soup, and fresh spring rolls. We also tried the seafood fried rice, which had lots of nice squid pieces in it. We didn't try the escargot out of the shell they were eating, but got a picture mid-extraction.

Highly recommended!

Hanoi - Green Tangerine

2010-01-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

We went to the Green Tangerine, a nice French restaurant in the old quarter of Hanoi set around the courtyard of an old house there. It was very fancy, but we're glad we splashed out for our lunch - it was delectable!

Sam had fish, I had duck, and for desert - creme brulee and chocolate mouse.

Hanoi - souvenirs!

2010-01-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

A couple souvenirs we got - a wood stamp with our likenesses and names hand carved into them while we waited, and some weasel coffee. Weasel coffee is coffee that's passed through the digestive tract of a civet cat. The stomach acids of the civet smooth out the bitter notes in the coffee, and make for one smooth brew. It's pretty rare and a bit hard to find, so we figured we'd give it a whirl. The nice man assured us that the coffee we purchased was genuine, but we won't really know for sure until we try it. We tried some at the store, though, and that was definitely the real deal - the only time I've tasted such a smooth brew before was when someone gave me a sip of some Blue Mountain coffee. Yum.

sidenote: I'd rather not know how they go about collecting the coffee beans after they've gone through the civet cat. Eww.

Real men don't use power plugs

2010-01-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

At least the wires have plastic on them because, you know: safety first.

Hanoi - power, then and now

2010-01-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Some folks in Hanoi still use coal fired stoves - here's what they look like once they've been used (the cylinders with the holes in them were coal). More typical is taking power from the wires, which get a bit jumbled on the poles around the city. I remember reading in an article in the local paper that up to 30-40% of such wires are either no longer used, or are 'self-installed' by folks looking to piggyback on the local utility lines.

Hanoi - water puppets

2010-01-06T00:02:00.000-08:00

We went to a water puppet show in Hanoi - puppeteers stood in water behind a curtain, and manipulated puppets on poles in the water in front of them. The effect was puppets moving through the water unaided, and it was a lot of fun. The accompanying orchestra played and sang traditional Vietnamese music.

My favorite puppets were the dancing girls. At least I think they were dancing - they tilted side to side and waved their arms around. Maybe they were scolding the menfolk? Either way, they were great.

Hanoi - traffic

2010-01-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

A bit of traffic around town - note the motor scooters everywhere, as well as the pedal-driven cyclos. Not many stop lights, and folks drive every which way - definitely a town to be careful in when crossing the street!

Hanoi - Pho

2010-01-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese cuisine is great. It's subtle, fragrant, and borrows from many other cuisines and traditions to create something entirely unique. When I think of Vietnamese food the first thing I think of is pho, and Hanoi is the gold standard for pho. We found a great pho shop right down the street from our hotel named '10 Ly Quoc Su' (which is simply the street address of the restaurant). They specialized in beef pho, and the folks preparing the food were pretty much working non-stop slicing beef and cooking up the noodle soup every time we went there. Delicious!

Hanoi - around town

2010-01-03T01:21:00.000-08:00

Hanoi - beer

2010-01-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly, Hanoi is a beer town.

You can get draft beer ('bia hoi') from all sorts of shops and street corners, which is fresh beer sans preservatives from that morning that's been parceled out to all sorts of containers around town, to be drank that day. Here's one such container:

And one such bia hoi drinker:

And a few smart aleks at the bia hoi joint across the street from us wearing pointy hats and drinking their brews:

We also went to Legend Beer brewpub and tried their three ales - not bad:

As well as Gammerbeer brewpub, where we felt pretty uncomfortable, truth be told. The wait staff (and the other customers) there just stared at us the whole time we were there - it's more of a local place, I think. Beer wasn't bad though:

Indeed, Hanoi folk love their beers:

Hanoi - Temple of Literature

2010-01-01T00:36:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. Some parts of the temple had been recently restored, but much of it was hundreds of years old as well. The turtles with tablets on their back commemorated past doctoral candidates that passed the civil service exams.

Hanoi - buildings

2009-12-31T18:56:00.000-08:00

The architecture in Hanoi was very beautiful. It reminded us of New Orleans with the French style and wrought ironwork.

Here are some pictures of buildings from the old quarter.

Halong Bay - squid fishing

2009-12-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

We went squid fishing off the back of our boat that night. We didn't catch any (it wasn't 'squid season') but it was a lot of fun!

Halong Bay - food

2009-12-29T19:18:00.000-08:00

Halong Bay - the cove

2009-12-28T18:51:00.000-08:00

We took a boat to a protected cove. The only entrance was under one of the karsts. It was a tight fit! But we made it, and the still waters in the cove and the silence there was really neat.

Halong Bay - the cave

2009-12-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

We sailed to the entrance to a cave, walked around inside, and exited out to get back on our boat (along with the folks from the other boats doing the same thing). Neat cave!

Halong Bay - the bay

2009-12-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of Halong Bay itself - note the famous limestone karsts rising out of the sea. The time of year we went meant that the weather was a bit cooler, and there was sort of a misty haze hanging over the bay. It was mysterious, and romantic. We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on the cruise, and at night we could see the other boats anchored around us in the bay, lit up like Christmas trees.

Halong Bay - our boat

2009-12-25T17:11:00.000-08:00

Smaller boats ferried people from the Halong bay harbor to the tour boats. Our boat was cozy and quaint, and there were only two other couples with us on the boat. As with most of the tour boats, ours was a wooden boat made in the old style of a Chinese junk, with sails. It had cabins on the bottom deck, and the eating area on the top deck.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T01:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from southeast Asia! Yes, this is indeed bamboo wrapped up with fake snow. Hey, it's hot here :)

I miss friends and family this Christmas, but I do not miss snow. Not even a little.

Halong Bay - en route

2009-12-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

We took a 10 day vacation to northern and central Vietnam in early December. Here are a couple scenes from the road from Hanoi to Halong Bay.

We saw a number of horses still in use as beasts of burden.

Also, there was a surprising amount of corn being grown in the Hanoi area - much of the countryside there uncannily reminded us of rural Wisconsin/Minnesota.

We saw a common sight in both Vietnam and much of the rest of Southeast Asia - a motor scooter being used to haul some serious cargo.

We also saw some hand embroidery in progress at a rest stop/souvenier stand.

Leaping lizards!

2009-12-23T00:34:00.000-08:00

At Lumpini Park in Bangkok, there are lakes and ponds and they all have water monitors living in them. They look positively prehistoric, and though I would imagine they're relatively tame, I'm not going to get close enough to them to find out! This one was trying to eat a catfish head:

They are also sort of hard to spot while in the water. Can you find the lizards in these pictures? If not - you'd be dead meat! No, probably not. But I still don't want to find out.

One year in Thailand

2009-12-17T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today marks exactly one year since we arrived in Bangkok. I thought it would be a good time to relate some of the things we've learned by living in Thailand:

1. The Thai people are a wonderful people. Their sincerity, honesty, faith, gentleness and tolerance has deeply impressed us. We are very grateful for the hospitality the Thais we have known have shown us during the past year.

2. Thailand is a beautiful country. It is quite scenic and abounds with life and greenery. It has been a wonderful experience traveling through different parts of Thailand on our vacations, and we've only seen a fraction of the natural beauty here.

3. Thai food is great, and we're really hooked on spicy food now. I never thought I'd be such a chili-head!

4. Thai culture is very old and complex. I think a lot of people think of beaches and Bangkok when coming to Thailand, but the complex thread that runs from ancient civilizations here to the present day, and the ancientness of the buddhist religion are underappreciated, I think.

5. Thai society is very interesting and complex. Learning how social interactions work here has been a fascinating experience. It runs differently in many ways than in the US, but as a whole it definitely works to provide much happiness to people's lives here. There are many ways to skin a cat, and the way society is structured in Thailand is definitely one workable way.

Beyond living in Thailand, traveling around southeast Asia has also been a great learning experience for me. Here are some experiences that have been interesting for me:

1. Southeast Asia has great variety within it. Variety of ethnicity, religion, language, culture, outlook, economy. Few areas of the world have such variety in such a contained area, I think.

2. Honor runs through all the societies here. They all approach it differently, but I have also found the people in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia to also be wonderful people as a whole. I am grateful for all of the people I have met and who have extended us hospitality in all of these places. Many in the United States could learn much from the acceptance, steadfastness, resourcefulness, and optimism of the people I have met in these countries. And there is still tremendous potential that is still being realized in all of these places.

3. International business travel is an adventure. It has been far more interesting traveling for business for my job here than when I traveled the same amount in the US. I'm still excited when I get on a plane, even though I've filled up 18 passport pages with visas already this year.

It requires stamina, and I can't speak for doing it for 20 or 30 years, but business travel can be a great teacher to one about life.

Finally, my experience at Microsoft has been very instructive as well:

1. Microsoft should not be underestimated. I read a lot of press before working here that implied Microsoft was yesterday's news, but that is definitely not the case. It's an excellent business that has structured a system and set of processes that should persist successfully for a long, long time. It also is populated by people of exceptional intelligence and capacity. If I had to make a list of companies I would guess will still be successful 20 or 30 years from now, Microsoft would definitely be on it.

2. There's a lot of great Microsoft software that's been recently released or is coming out soon. I've long been a fan of Outlook, and Outlook 2010 is the bee's knees. Office Communicator is a really cool IM and voip tool for business. I'm really impressed with Windows 7 so far. SkyDrive has been invaluable for us during our relocation and travels. And I like Forefront way better than other 3rd party programs out there. It's been a neat experience to use this software before the rest of the world.

3. Microsoft's challenges are those of the US and of the world. It's a truly global company and what it works through is what the US economy as a whole works through and what the people in the places it operates are also working through. Few companies are engaged in trying to do business with almost everyone on the planet, so few companies face the entire set of challenges in doing so that Microsoft does. Seeing how Microsoft is working through all of them has taught me how the world itself is doing so. And that's been an incredible perspective to gain.

So all in all, living in Thailand has been a tremendous life experience so far. We've learned and experienced so very much in such a short time. For us it's been enhanced further by being so much closer to Sam's hometown and family, but I believe most people would benefit from living and working overseas if they have the chance to. It's been very much the right move for us to have made.

Here's to looking forward to another year as interesting as the last has been!

At a Japanese bakery

2009-12-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Not sure what this is

Spelled like it's pronounced

2009-12-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

Bad kitty

2009-12-14T17:56:00.000-08:00

Coffee break, country style

2009-12-13T04:28:00.000-08:00

Just like a regular coffee break except emo.

Thanksgiving in Bangkok

2009-12-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

When I returned from my business trip Sam and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving. She substituted chicken for turkey (which is somewhat hard to come by in Thailand), but it was a grand dinner and every bit as delicious as it looks. I'm thankful for a lot of things, and one of them is being married to a wonderful wife who also happens to be a world-class chef!

Thanksgiving in KL

2009-12-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

We had Thankgiving dinner in Kuala Lumpur - it was a few traditional Thanksgiving favorites mixed in with the regular dinner spread. It didn't quite hit the spot like mom's home cooking, but the intentions were good and it was a welcome effort.

The pumpkin pie tarts were an interesting touch.

Where we ate

2009-12-10T23:56:00.000-08:00

We saw this restaurant, but kept walking...

...and ended up eating here. Great Chinese food!

Dried Betel Nut

2009-12-09T02:21:00.000-08:00

I found some dried betel nut for sale in a Kuala Lumpur grocery store, and it was the coolest thing ever. Understand that betel nut is sort of like tobacco (it's something folks in southeast Asia generally chew as a mild stimulant), so finding candied dried betel nut like this for sale as a food in a grocery store is sort of like finding tobacco for sale as food at the local 7-11. But, alas, betel nut is a fruit (the tree it grows on looks sort of like a palm tree), so - why not?

It was sweet and tasty. I'm not sure if eating it was a stimulant, but I'm surprised it's not eaten more popularly as a food!

'Crayon little new' toys

2009-12-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

My favorite Japanese comic book character 'Crayon Little New' ("Shin Chan" in the English translated version), now a McDonald's toy. Sweet. I used to watch the episodes in Chinese translation to help my Mandarin comprehension and read the comic books in Chinese to help my reading comprehension. It's a pleasant way to learn a language!

Now go onto the internet and watch some Shin Chan comics already. E.g.:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-119081212510184282#

Cool urinal

2009-12-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

At first I thought this Japanese restaurant was just getting rid of their old ice, but then I noticed all the urinals there were full of ice cubes. Now why...? Probably better not to ask.

Well said

2009-12-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

Sassy mushroom

2009-12-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

Continuing my fascination with Asian food packaging logos, I present this mushroom. How you can make a mushroom look sassy, I have no idea, but it was done artfully here.

Great advertising

2009-12-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

Cutaway of the wall to see the pipes. Elephant brand pipes. Because who wouldn't want an elephant in the walls of their house?

Brilliant advertising. I still remember these blue elephant pipes whenever I see PVC tubes around town.

What's that?

2009-12-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

It's a... baby gecko!

Well you wouldn't want to have a bad audition

2009-12-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

Japanese food - Wasabi-An

2009-12-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

Went to a Japanese restaurant we hadn't tried before the other night. It was fabulous! They only spoke Japanese and Thai, and the menu was only in Japanese and Thai. But we found our way to some great seaweed salad, some of the best sashimi we've ever had, some of the best deep fried squid we've ever had, and some RAW BEEF.

(the raw beef was devine. I know it breaks all the rules to eat it, but it was really wonderful. If we get some crazy parasites as a result, it was still totally worth it)

At KFC

2009-11-30T03:46:00.000-08:00

At a computer store

2009-11-29T03:45:00.000-08:00

Broccoli pie

2009-11-28T03:42:00.000-08:00

Mmmm...

Australian spring water

2009-11-27T03:39:00.000-08:00

You know it's Australian when cartoon kangaroos and koalas like it.

Tokyo banana

2009-11-26T22:40:00.000-08:00

A Japanese snack one of Sam's friends brought back from Japan - like a twinkie with banana filling and a great saying on the label.

KL skyline

2009-11-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

More pictures of parts of the Kuala Lumpur skyline. There are a number of districts in KL that reflect a building boom around the 60s and 70s, but now the downtown teems with brand new skyscrapers. Malaysia is booming from the looks of KL.

KL bus tour

2009-11-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

We took a bus tour of Kuala Lumpur, and got a good feel for some famous sites around town. Here are a few snippets of our tour.

Prayer direction

2009-11-23T18:39:00.000-08:00

A prominent feature of hotel rooms in Malaysia is the direction of prayer. A little searching and you'll find an arrow indicating the direction towards Mecca, which Muslims face during daily prayers.

Just as I've been struck by the faith and devotion of Thais when they interact with their holy sites and symbols, I've been impressed by the discipline with which the Muslims I've met in Malaysia approach their daily prayers. Faith is an inspiring thing to behold.

Loi Krathong

2009-11-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

A few pics from the Loi Krathong festival a couple weeks ago. Folks light candles on leaf boats and send them into the water with some money and a wish or two. We just made it to the periphery of the festivities at the main river in Bangkok, but we still saw a few boats running along the river (both the leaf kind and the neon party boat kind).

Hua Hin - Sofitel

2009-11-21T20:20:00.001-08:00

We also stopped by the Sofitel in Hua Hin - a historic hotel there with beautiful grounds.

Hua Hin - signs

2009-11-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Hua Hin - seafood by the sea!

2009-11-19T18:13:00.000-08:00

Seafood at a restaurant on a pier right on the ocean! Very romantic!

Hua Hin - food

2009-11-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

Good eats from around town

Hua Hin - the hotel

2009-11-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

We stayed at the Marriott, and it was very nice. It was a great deal on the room - three nights for the price of two, and free breakfast. Very pleasant premises.

Hua Hin - the town

2009-11-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

Hua Hin is a quaint town. There are a couple locales which you could probably tag as sights to see, but it's not really a town for sight seeing. It's more of a town for beaches and seafood. Here are the sights we saw, such as they are. The orchids and shoe painting were at the night market - more from that later.

The boxer looking fellow is a local boy that became world boxing champion.

Hua Hin - ASEAN summit

2009-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

We planned our trip to Hua Hin completely oblivious of the fact that the ASEAN summit redux was that same weekend. We probably should have looked into that a bit more (especially when we got such a great room rate), but we heard about it a few days ahead of time and figured it would probably work out ok. It actually didn't matter one bit - the town had a lot less tourists than usual (they were avoiding the event), the beaches had few people while everyone summitted, and the 18,000 extra security personnel (police and military) kept everything very, very safe. As it was, no one protested anyways, so we felt bad for the security folks that had to stand around in the hot sun, looking ready for... more standing around.

They also had one whole lane on each side of the road blocked for ASEAN traffic, which was probably to protect the locals from people with diplomatic immunity driving between parties as the other way around.

Hua Hin - jellyfish

2009-11-14T05:37:00.000-08:00

We were warned - and we found one! it was surprisingly hard to the touch - like hardened plastic.

Hua Hin - hermit crab

2009-11-13T05:34:00.000-08:00

Sam found a shell with a surprise inside

Hua Hin - beach

2009-11-12T05:27:00.001-08:00

The beach at the resort we stayed at in Hua Hin. Go team Marriott!

Nasi Lemak

2009-11-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

Malaysia style Nasi Lemak - rice, dried anchovies, peanuts, sambal, and cucumber. A very balanced, healthy, and tasty meal.

Khanom Chak

2009-11-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

Khanom Chak - it's a sort of coconut mix wrapped in palm leaves and grilled. Delicious!

Beefacon

2009-11-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

In Malaysia typically pork isn't served, so other meats are often substituted in for pork sausage and pork bacon. Get a sausage McMuffin in Kuala Lumpur and it will use chicken sausage instead of pork. Get bacon and often it's beef bacon.

Bathroom signs

2009-11-10T03:50:00.000-08:00

Not even sure which countries these are from

Malaysia - food

2009-11-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Malaysia - more signs

2009-11-08T20:31:00.000-08:00