Asia Archives - Page 2 of 13

Vietnam Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Return to Ho Chi Minh City

I wanted to go to Laos. It was the second-to-last country in Southeast Asia that I had not visited (apart from East Timor), and it was sitting as on my map as a hole that needed to be filled; however, to get to Laos from Vancouver I would have to fly through somewhere else in Southeast Asia. I decided to fly through Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a place I had been to before, but was happy to revisit.

I would only have a little bit more than 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh, but that was more than enough to soak up a bit of atmosphere and food since my last trip to Vietnam in 2013.

I flew direct Ho Chi Minh from Vancouver and landed late morning. Things had changed since I was last there; last time I had to send my passport away to the embassy in Ottawa to get a visa. This time, I had to only do an e-visa online, which was quick and painless. It was not painless in terms of the giant queues at the airport for people with their e-visas, but I paid a little bit extra to have somebody walk me to the front of the queue. When they first approached me about this, I thought it was a scam, but it was well worth it as it probably shaved about an hour off my airport time.

I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. I was staying at Little Saigon Boutique Hotel. It was small and located in the interior of one of those dense city blocks in Ho Chi Minh where if you can penetrate the perimeter buildings to get to the centre of the block, there’s a reasonably pleasant network of alleyways, hidden coffee shops, residences, and small hotels. This place was great. It was walking distance to pretty much everything that I wanted to do, it had free Wi-Fi, comfortable beds, an astonishingly good free breakfast, and I had my own room and a private bathroom. It was about $50 CDN per night. There were cheaper options, but after such a long flight I didn’t want to bother with hostels or staying further out of the city centre. I thought this place was ideal and was a welcome change from the egregiously overpriced hostel dorms in Barcelona and Stockholm that I had experienced on my last trip abroad.

I had an agenda visiting Ho Chi Minh City this time. There were no touristy things that I hadn’t done that I felt like I needed to do, and while I wanted to casually revisit a couple of sites, the main thing was I wanted to check out was Ho Chi Minh’s cigar lounges. Last time I went to Ho Chi Minh I did smoke, however, I was traveling with my mother and I did not visit any cigar lounges. Since then I’ve heard tales of an opulent and impressive La Casa Del Habano in Ho Chi Minh and I wanted to check it out.

I left my small hotel and went for a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood, passing some familiar buildings and squares. The city felt a little bit different than I remembered it. My memories of Ho Chi Minh were of a city that felt very exotic and where the streets were so thick with humming scooters, that one could barely cross the street. It didn’t feel that way this time. I must acknowledge it in the last 12 years since I was there, I’ve been to many more places in the world and perhaps it just didn’t seem as different to me as it did before. However, it’s also possible that the city too has changed. In talking to some locals, they said that there are fewer motorcycles now and more cars and that the city is more affluent. Whatever the change, it felt good, if less exciting.

I stopped by the market for a bowl of vegetarian pho with some murderous chili peppers in it and it cost me a couple of dollars for this exquisite dish. I say murderous chili peppers because while I am someone who can usually eat and indefinite amount of extra hot chili peppers without any reaction, I put several of these raw chili peppers into my soup and when the liquid splashed on my face and hands, I felt like it was on fire.

I was walking around the city and looking for a place to grab a cup of coffee and found on my map a place on an upper floor of a tall building. I decided to go up. As I was walking up the stairs I passed on the second floor a cigar store and lounge called “Siqar Lounge”. I thought I’d done my research and pinned all the cigar stores on my maps but apparently, I had missed this one. It was small and secluded, but very stylishly decorated and had big old windows that opened up and allowed me to look out onto the street where I watched a couple of scantily clad girls engaging in a photo shoot. [2025 Update: this lounge is currently closed according to Google maps.]

I walked around a little more before finally deciding to have something else to eat. I’m not even sure if I was hungry, but it was so hot outside I just wanted to escape for a little bit. I went to a restaurant called Nhau Nhau; i just stumbled across it, but it was excellent. I had some kind of a small curry and a refreshing beverage that was both citrusy and gelatinous.

But I was on a mission, I headed to the La Casa Del Habano that I had heard so much about, but first, just around the corner I found another spot. Bakolan. A dark and romantic little cocktail bar that was virtually empty, and had cigar ashtrays on the table. I went in and had a cigar feeling incredibly sophisticated and relaxed. In doing some reading after the fact, apparently it is a “hostess bar”, but none of the young ladies gave me any attention.

Finally, I went to the La Casa Del Habano. La Casas are an international chain of cigar stores that are effectively all controlled by a cigar consortium in Cuba. Unless you happen to find yourself at an entirely counterfeit La Casa Del Habano, which I have encountered twice, in Colombia and in Iraq, La Casas are reliable for having excellent stock and good product and sophisticated lounges.

A friend of mine, Stripes, with whom I had visited Cuba for a cigar festival about 10 years prior, had recently visited this lounge and recommended it to me as one of the best he had ever visited. It was everything you’d expect a normal La Casa except it had extra touches. The walk-in humidor was two or three stories high, with cigars piled high in storage on the shelves accessible only by a tall library ladder. Once you bought your cigar and moved up to the second floor, which was a well-appointed cocktail lounge, you could look through the glass window and watch the tobacconists scurrying up and down the ladder, fetching boxes of cigars. I bought a Punch Double Corona and a vodka martini and sat there for about an hour or so relaxing. I will say that of all the things that were cheap in Vietnam, the cigars at this store were not it. This little venture cost me about $130.00 CDN for the cigar and the martini. It was worth it, but I wouldn’t make it a regular hangout. (On the upper floors of the La Casa that I did not visit there is a supper club with live music.)

I walked back to my hotel, which was only about a 5-minute walk away, and went to bed. The next day my flight was at 4:00pm and I wanted to leave myself enough time to get through the airport, so I really only had the morning. I went back to the market for some local, exotic fruits and wandered around the city.

I found three more cigar lounges or stores that I didn’t know anything about but due to the early hour both of them were closed. (The Saigon Cigar Club, Habanos Specialist, and the cigar lounge at the Rex Hotel – and these are just the ones near my hotel. There are so many more in Ho Chi Minh.)

I thoroughly enjoyed my walk around the city and thought that I would be happy to return, even if just for the food and cigars. But I was Laos bound on the 4:10pm flight to Vientiane.

Asia Belarus/Dubai trip 2023 United Arab Emirates

Dubai Layover Part 2: Giving Dubai Another Try

I was flying back to Vancouver from Minsk and, due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions that other countries had against Belarus, I couldn’t fly home through Europe, so my flight was taking me from Minsk to Dubai then to London and on to Vancouver. I was happy about this because it gave me an opportunity to visit Dubai, which I had never seen prior to this trip. On the way to Minsk, I had spent a shorter layover in Dubai and I had gotten out to see the city and I was largely underwhelmed. This time, I had a longer layover, and I was going to give it another shot.

I took the train from the airport into Dubai (again, super easy), but unlike last time I didn’t have to leave my bag at the airport because I had booked myself a hotel room. In truth, the layover wasn’t long enough that I was actually going to spend the night in Dubai; I was arriving early in the morning and I was leaving late at night, so it was really one long day layover, but I wanted to have a hotel room so that I could have a shower and a nap, if need be, before I went back to the airport. Fortunately, there are affordable accommodations in Dubai and the place that I stayed at, the Arabian Courtyard Hotel, was a great bargain and within walking distance to all the sites in the old Dubai historic centre. Also, it was nice; old, but atmospheric, and they upgraded my room (how could I say no?) and it was impressive.

Arabian Courtyard Hotel: My room and view

So, I started my trip there. I walked through the old Dubai historic area past some of the places that I had seen before; past the souq, which was just opening up, and along the river.

Old Dubai flowers

the Souq

I went to a café that was incredibly charming, right on the water, and had a wonderful healthy breakfast watching the boats go back and forth to the other side.

café along the river

And that’s what I did after breakfast: I hopped on one of the boats called abras and took it to the other side of the river it cost 1 Dirham (maybe 30c US) and see they seem to run constantly back and forth. It was all locals on the boat save for me. It seems to be the easiest and most practical way of getting across. On the other side there’s sort of a fancy souq and I wandered around there looking at the spices and textiles and whatnot.

crossing the river

river views

I did actually end up buying myself a black abaya with little black sparkles on it because it’s something that I had been wanting for future trips. I had a chat with the boy who was selling it (and I say boy because he said he was 16); he was a refugee from Afghanistan. A lovely kid and such a good salesman. I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to be a refugee, but also to be refugee as a child in a foreign country and working to support yourself. Heartbreaking. (Of course, maybe it was all just a scam so that I would buy from him. I guess I’ll never know. And it really doesn’t matter because there are lots of kids who are in that situation.)

Getting beyond the souq, there’s an area full of local shops and apartments and mosques. It feels nothing like the modern part of Dubai with its shiny skyscrapers; it’s just regular buildings, regular streets, regular cafés, and regular people going about their business. It wasn’t beautiful, but I liked it so much more than shiny new Dubai.

It also it’s very multicultural. Walking around, there are stores and restaurants from places all over Africa and the Middle East and Asia. Things like Ethiopian coffee shops and Yemeni restaurants and Indian stores.

I stopped and had a simple lunch of chana dahl and chai before I carried on walking. It was very hot outside, but beautiful.

I eventually made my way back down to the river and took the boat back across. I had some shisha and juice. From there, I decided it was time to give shiny new Dubai a second try.

I got back on the metro and took and took it to the Dubai Mall stop. The Dubai Mall had bested me on my first layover. I walked in, and I got irritated and confused, and I turned around and left. But this time, I would be successful. I walked down the stupid habitrail that goes on forever from the subway stop and into the Dubai Mall and, from there, I followed the signs to the “Dubai Foutain”. It was a nightmare; I don’t like malls and this was a big bloated mall with nothing terribly remarkable in its shops wise. “Hey, look! It’s all the stores that you hate in your country, but all collected under one roof!”

The only interesting thing was, yes, there was an aquarium and, no, I didn’t pay money to go into it, but I could I did walk by, and I saw sharks and manta rays and that was kind of cool. And the Dubai Waterfall with the multiple statues of men diving (or committing suicide?) is really quite attractive.

Finally, I made my way outside, walking past a Tim Horton’s (seriously) and some other disgusting fast food chains, I emerged from the Mall. I rubbed my eyes, and there it was, glimmering and tall, the Burj Khalifa.

The Burj Khalifa is (for now, and since 2009) the world’s tallest building. It is 829.8 m (2,722 feet) tall. You can pay money to go up into it and see the view from the observation deck and do various activities, but I decided I wasn’t interested in that; I just wanted to see it. And now I have, and you know what? It’s impressive. It’s tall and pointy like an ice pick and it glitters silver. It’s something to see, but maybe not something to behold for very long.

What was more of a spectacle was all of the people crowded around taking pictures. It was really busy. I got into a small altercation with some guy when I did not take him up on his offer to take my photo when I was trying to take a selfie. Seriously, if was nice of him to offer, but I said “No, thanks.” That should have been the end of it. And that was when I was called a “bitch” in Dubai. Ah, memories.

Crowds

And the whole area is, well, a little strange. It’s very impressive. All the buildings are new and fancy and there’s a lagoon and fountains and bridges and restaurants, and there’s this delicate sort of Arabian music playing subtly in the background. It feels like you’ve stepped into some sort of modern Arabian Disneyland. I felt the same way a little bit when I was in Doha. It also could have been in South Florida, like if South Florida had built some Arabian themed subdivision and mall, it would probably look like this.

*Shiny, New Dubai around the Dubai Fountains*

But it was nice enough, so I found myself a table on a restaurant patio on the water but just out of view of the Burj Khalifa (because honestly it’s nice but I don’t need to sit and stare at it) and I sat down to have lunch and shisha. It was lovely. The shisha and food were excellent, and I got to carry on and hear and see some the buzz of the neighborhood. The buzz intensified when the fountains started in the pool just in front of the Burj Khalifa. It’s one of those dancing fountain things where music plays and fountains go on and fan around in different ways. I’ve seen this in Vegas and in Shanghai and I don’t really understand the fascination.

It was a pleasant place to spend some time. When I was finished, I walked back through the Mall. I stopped at Sephora to replace my eyeliner that had been drying out (ok maybe malls aren’t all bad) and then I took the train back to my hotel.

I had a shower and a bit of a nap at which point it was dark and I walked around Old Dubai for a little bit, doing nothing in particular before I went back to the airport and caught my flight to London.

I enjoyed this layover much more than my first one in Dubai, although I have to say my impression is: Dubai is not really my thing. Old Dubai is fine, but it’s not as lovely or interesting as the old city centres and souqs that I’ve been to in other ‘Middle Eastern’ cities, and new Dubai just isn’t my thing at all; it’s too car-centric, too sterile…it’s just not for me. But I’m glad that I saw it. That’s the great thing about the long layover: you can have a taste of a place and decide whether or not you want to come back and see more. In this case, I’m satisfied.

I was onward to London where I would have another long layover in my favourite city before returning home to Vancouver.

Asia Belarus/Dubai trip 2023 United Arab Emirates

Dubai Layover: Part One

I was flying to Belarus from Vancouver. A long journey. I had already had a layover in London (on Coronation Day) and my next layover was in Dubai. I know that doesn’t make any sense. The shortest route between London and Minsk is not the United Arab Emirates, but this was May 2023 and the war in Ukraine was ongoing. Although Belarus was not actively fighting in the war, they were supporting Russia and using their territory as a staging ground for the Russian military. As a result of this, there were embargoes by nearly every Western country against Belarus and they had cancelled all their flights. Normally, if I was flying to Belarus I could have flown through Germany, for example, but this time, the only way to get to Belarus was via Dubai.

So what this meant was, I had an excuse to go to Dubai. I’d never been to the UAE before and, honestly, I had no interest in going to Dubai for more than a long layover, so this seemed like a great opportunity. I would have two visits to Dubai on either end of this trip.

Arrival in Dubai

Map & Flag of the United Arab Emirates

I landed at the airport in Dubai and no visa was required. A great bonus. Fascinatingly, going through immigration, when they handed me back my passport, they handed it back to me with a SIM card with one gig of data on it, which was kind of amazing. I’ve never seen that in any country before. Of course, I had no interest in being online while I was there so I just left it behind for someone else to use, but what a nice welcome gift. I left my bag at a baggage storage facility at the airport and hopped on the train. I love a city where I can get on a train to go from the airport into the centre of the city. I wish all cities could have this.

The train into Dubai was in itself fascinating because I got to see all of the modern buildings. It’s an above ground train, so riding it was a little bit like being on some sort of futuristic tram ride at Disney World.

*View out the front window of the train*

Views from the trains of the Frame and the Museum of the Future

The Dubai “Maul”

I didn’t have a long time to visit so I thought that I would try to see the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. I got off the train at the Dubai Mall and from there I should have been able to walk through the mall and then exit it to be at the Burj Khalifa. I exited the train and I walked to the mall, however, the walk between the train station in the mall is incredibly long. I was above ground in this windowed tunnel walking on moving sidewalks, but there’s no way to exit and you just have to keep walking until you get to the mall. It took maybe 20 minutes of fast walking and I found it extremely frustrating. I’d come all the way to the city and now suddenly I was trapped in a tube, walking towards a mall. When I looked out at the city, I was not impressed. There were massive highways and cars everywhere and it just didn’t look like the sort of place that would be pleasant to walk at all.

*Me, in the tunnel to the Mall before I got irritated*

Views from the stupid tunnel and the only glimpse I got of the Burj Khalifa on this trip

I finally reached the mall, and I walked through it for a bit, realizing pretty quickly that I was not going to find my way out anytime soon. The mall is massive, and I got frustrated. I thought, I didn’t fly all the way to this country to spend my time lost in a mall, and so I turned around and I walked out.

I did see the Burj Khalifa on my second trip to Dubai a week later, but this time I decided to skip it.

Bur Dubai

I got back on the train, and I headed to the closest train station (Bur Jaman Station) to “Bur Dubai”, which is Old Dubai. This was much more my cup of tea. Old Dubai is not the most beautiful or picturesque of Arabic city centres, but it has its appeal.

On the edge of Bur Dubai

It has old buildings and mosques and narrow alleyways and wonderfully a Hindu temple with people outside preparing flower and food.

Near the Hindu Temple

I then made my way out to the water (Dubai Creek) and there’s a waterway that separates the city in two parts. I would, on my second visit to Dubai, go across to the other side, but this time my layover was a little shorter so I just stayed where I was.

Around the Bur Dubai souq

I walked around, had some fresh juice, and chatted with some local merchants.

I then plunked myself down at a table by the water and smoked some shisha and had a bite to eat. It was very pleasant. A young travel and fashion influencer from Saudi Arabia came and sat with me for a while and talked about her travels with her family. And then I just sat with myself smoking and watching the people go by.

Shisha and juice by the water

Finally I got back on the train and went back to the airport. I was pretty satisfied with my layover, even if I had been defeated by the Dubai Mall. I wasn’t that impressed with the little I saw of Dubai, but it was pleasant to go to the city it was interesting to be somewhere new, and somewhere that was completely different from London (to place I’d come from (and Minsk (the place that was going to), but I wasn’t that taken with Dubai. The new buildings are just … big new buildings, and the city does not seem very conducive to walking. The old section is nice, but there are much nicer places to go to see have that sort of old Arabic city experience. I will say that my second visit to Dubai would prove to be much better and I will write about that at a later time.

There were no issues getting back to the airport or getting onto the plane. I spent some time at a fabulous lounge at the airport and then I was off to my final destination: Minsk, Belarus.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Japan

Goodbye, 3D Cat: My final day in Tokyo

Good Morning, Goth Girl

I spent my third night in Tokyo (but my first sleeping in my bookstore hostel bunk). I awoke to my third day in Japan realizing that I would leave in the later afternoon. I had done so much in my first two days in Tokyo. I felt satisfied but I also realized it was a place that merited a very long visit to really see the city and to get even a good understanding of it. Months. Maybe years. But I didn’t have that long. I had hours. I showered and scarfed down the complimentary breakfast at the hotel: an ink black dyed bread sandwich with a strawberry and whipped cream filling washed down with a latte dyed black to match the sandwich. I assure you: this is not my customary breakfast, and, despite my appearance, I would not normally pick out a goth-looking breakfast. This is Tokyo, not missing a moment to surprise me.

A cemetery wander

I hadn’t been to a single museum or gallery in Tokyo. Normally I will visit a couple, but I had so little time and I wanted to spend my time walking. (I will have to return just to see museums and galleries.)

I made sort of meandering path over to Yanaka cemetery on foot. It seemed like a nice stroll and who doesn’t love a cemetery walk on a grey day?

I left Shinjuku and made my way. It was pleasant, if not remarkable. I passed some different looking buildings and some small shrines, many with pink blossoms stretching open. I walked down a couple of narrow alley ways and sneaked peeks at wooden buildings and their serene courtyards.

The streets were quiet. It was raining just a little and people must have been at work. It felt peaceful.

The cemetery itself (Yanaka Reien aka Yanaka Bochi) was virtually empty. It started to rain, so I did not linger long, but still enjoyed my walk among the tombstones and shrines.

I wandered back to Shinjuku where I had a final bowl of ramen.

Costs. An aside.

A word about the expense of being in Japan. Ever since I was little, I heard about how expensive Tokyo is. $200 for a lunch. $500 a night for accommodations. That sort of thing. I am not about to tell you that Tokyo is a budget destination…but it isn’t extraordinarily expensive. I’m Canadian, which means my currency buys me far less than US dollars, Euros, or British Pounds, and still I found Tokyo affordable.

My two centrally located, atmospheric hostels were over my usual budget, but were still less than $100/cdn a night (and there are far cheaper places to stay). My meals cost me less in Tokyo than in Vancouver. The food and drink prices were the same or lower and there is no added tax and no need for a tip. (Tax and tips in Vancouver add an extra 33%, assuming a 20% tip.). The subway was cheap and convenient. I spent most of my sightseeing just walking around and gawking at the city, which is free. Again, not cheap; but far from exorbitant. Don’t be afraid of the expense of Japan. (Be afraid of the expense of Switzerland.)

Sayonara, 3D Cat

I went for a final walk about Shinjuku and then checked out of my hotel and walked to the Shinjuku train station.

That train station is a bit tricky with its many entrances, and I knew if I took the wrong one I would never find my hostel, so I always made sure to exit from the same door, which was across the street from 3D cat – a stories-high 3D cat. It meows, sleeps, stretches, and lazily gazes at the people below. Sometimes it wears a little police hat. Why? I don’t know, but it served as my reassuring landmark every time I exited Shinjuku station. I gave the cat a final look and entered the station. (I wish I could say that I gave the cat a final nod as I left, but I didn’t. I am not in the habit of nodding at cats, real or virtual.)

I took the train from Shinjuku station; a very easy and efficient way to get to the airport (Haneda).

Tokyo was amazing. I was happy to have been surprised and, at times, challenged by it. I really want to go back and see more of Japan. I know there are so many things to experience. I’m even thinking about how I could easily fly there for a long weekend, just to eat perfect strawberries, smoke cigars in the coolest bar, and enjoy and the peculiarities.

I flew home by way of Los Angeles and Seattle. And so ended my Asian capital ‘whistle stop tour’ that had started in Manila 11 days prior.

I usually feel a little sad when a trip ends, but this time I had the comfort of knowing that the next month I would be in Oslo.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Japan

On the Town in Tokyo: food, temples, sex shops

My first day in Tokyo was so amazing, how could there be more? But there was. More weirdness! More food! More of everything!

Vegetarian heaven at the 7-11

On my second full day in Tokyo, I started by taking the train from Shinjuku to The Tsukiji outer market. Well actually, I started at the 711. Being a vegetarian and being on a budget in a place like Tokyo the 711 is my best friend. Most things are labelled in English and Japanese, the prices are evident, and, amazingly, the food that they sell there is very delicious and tastes pretty fresh. (I found the same thing in Taiwan.) So I went to the 7-11 and grabbed some sort of canned coffee beverage and helped myself to one of the many packaged rice/mushroom/tofu snacks that they had. It was a bargain, it tasted good and felt somewhat authentic to the area, and I could eat it on the go and carry on with my sightseeing.

On to the market…

Tsukiji outer market

I had read that the Tsukiji outer market had closed, but that turned out not to be true. I guess it’s just smaller than it used to be or something, but there are still market activities ongoing and it was great. I didn’t go into any of the buildings, but the streets were lined with food vendors and throngs of people lined up to eat the food that was being prepared.

Most of it was off limits to me – meat and fish – but there were lots of fruits and vegetables and delicious sweet snacks. This is where I first had strawberries in Tokyo. I know strawberries don’t sound exotic, but in Tokyo they are something special. My issue with strawberries is that they’re delicious, however, if you buy a basket, half of them (at least) are likely to be inedible, mushy, mealy, or bland. In Tokyo, however, every strawberry that I ate on my short visit (which was a lot) was perfect. Perfect flavor, perfect texture, perfect colour. I’m sure it’s done through some sort of scientific trickery, but I don’t care. If I could have strawberries this great at home my life would be better.

I also had some delicious oranges and some lovely little rice cakes, and found place to have coffee.

Ginza

From the Tsukiji outer market it was a short walk through Ginza to the Imperial Palace. Ginza did have some impressive sites and I stopped for coffee two to three times on the way. Ginza is a newer, affluent neighbourhood that reminded me a little bit of 5th Avenue in New York, but with decidedly more tourist rickshaws.

I popped into a mall and visited a Hello Kitty store where I loved everything but bought nothing (though I was tempted).

Hibiya Park & Imperial Palace

On the way to the Imperial Palace, I also stopped at Hibiya Park. It’s the sort of place that I would be impossibly picturesque in autumn with the changing leaves. (Seriously, if you are planning a trip, google pictures of this park; it is stunning.) Had I come about a week or so later the entire park (and city really) would have been filled with cherry blossoms (and tourists), however, when I arrived, most of the trees in Tokyo were only just starting to get blossoms with a few in full bloom. It was still lovely for a walk though past the ponds and statues. The best thing about Hibiya Park at the time I visited were these very tall trees (I don’t know the name of them and if someone does know please e-mail me because I would love to know) and they were the most beautiful trees that I saw in Tokyo. They look like the trees that you would see in traditional Japanese paintings. I thought they were stunning.

I walked over to the Imperial Palace, but I didn’t realize how until I got there, however, that if you want to see inside, you need to book a visit ahead of time. (I wasn’t that fussed about seeing it; I just had more time for sightseeing in Tokyo than I had expected.) I simply walked around the grounds, seeing more trees that were amazing: dozens of bonsai-looking trees except full size and planted in a perfect grid pattern around an excellent statue of 14^th Century Samurai warrior Kusunoki Masashige. And I caught glimpses of the palace and the bridge over the river.

Not so serene Sensō-ji Temple

From the from the Imperial Palace, I took the train to another temple: Sensō-ji. A Buddhist temple dating from the 600s (but destroyed in and rebuilt after the 2^nd World War).

The temple itself was big and impressive, but slightly less enjoyable than it might have been though due to the crowds.

There were apparently places near Sensō-ji Temple where you could rent traditional Japanese clothes and wear them for photo opportunities. So what that meant was there were lots of women walking around dressed as geisha and posing for pictures. It was kind of fun to see but also kind of annoying as they took forever to take a basic photo. I don’t personally have the desire to dress up in costumes to wander around religious sites but it’s kind of fun that other people do.

I had a bowl of Roman and carried on my way.

Akhibara Action

From Sensō-ji Temple I took the train to Akhibara, which is a neighbourhood that’s considered to be the centre of all things video games and manga and anime and lots of other things that I have absolutely no connection with. But even being unfamiliar with the genres of entertainment and the characters from them, it was a fun neighbourhood to walk around in. There were so many people dressed up in costumes and ads and signs and video screens for…entertainment stuff. I recognized none of the characters, but they were very fun to look at and there were lots of shops filled with costumes and memorabilia and video games and manga books. Everyone seemed to be very excited about to be there and their excitement was a little bit contagious.

The thing that I found the most fascinating though was the fairly pervasive pervy sex culture in the neighbourhood. It wasn’t menacing; it was more playful. There was a seven-story tall building that was entirely sex toys and sex costumes. I visited every floor.

The sex shop. I only got one picture inside before i discovered photos are not allowed.

And there were lots of cafes and businesses that advertise girls. I can’t tell you what happened inside. I didn’t go. I don’t know if they’re real girls or virtual girls. It was fascinating to walk around and observe. And it all seemed uniquely Japanese.

These three pictures might actually be from Shinjuku, but there was similar stuff in Akhibara.

Interlude in Ebisu

From Akhibara I took the train over to Ebisu for no particular reason other than I had some time and I heard that it was a nice neighbourhood, and it was. It wasn’t remarkable, but it was a pleasant neighbourhood for a wander and a snack and there was a bit of street art to look at.

Book and Bed

At this point it was late afternoon and I had to deal with some business. I had booked myself two nights at the capsule hotel that I stayed at when I originally arrived in Tokyo, but I had decided that I would spend my third and final night in a different accommodation, so I had to move my backpack over there and check-in. The Book and Bed Tokyo hostel.

The Book and Bed hostel is also a capsule style hostel in Shinjuku. What makes it special is all of the bunks are inside bookshelves in a bookstore. When you walk into the bookstore it looks fairly normal, but in between the books are squares (just big enough to crawl into) with black curtains. Inside are little bunks for sleeping. There are shared bathrooms and showers. There are no lockers or any way to secure your bunk but, I mean, it’s Tokyo, nobody is going to steal anything from you.

I decided to only stay there for one night because one I wasn’t entirely sure how comfortable this was going to be staying in a little plywood box behind a bookcase, and it was a little bit more expensive, so I just booked the one night. It was super cool. As soon as I arrived I was delighted with my little bunk hidden amongst the bookshelves. The neat thing about it was all these people were just browsing it books and sitting around reading books during the day and it was really quite lovely. At night, when I came back from my evening out, it was as quiet as … well, as a bookstore after hours. There was a few people sitting out and reading, but most people had gone to bed and the whole place was perfectly quiet. I felt like some sort of a character in a children’s book, going into sleep behind the bookcases and waking up in the middle of the night and tiptoeing around. It was a really unique and fun experience.

So I moved into my new hostel and set up my stuff and then I went out for my final evening.

Shinjuku Re-do

I decided to stay in Shinjuku. It really was my favorite part of Tokyo that I had seen and especially at night with the lights and all the little eateries. I was bolstered with confidence from the night before where I learned that I could in fact find vegetarian things to eat at the tiny little shoe box restaurants, and so I went out.

First off though, was the same bar that I gone to the night before, only because I knew that it was cigar friendly and had an excellent atmosphere, so I went there and had a cigar and a cocktail.

And then I went back to one of the many streets crowded with restaurants; people sitting shoulder to shoulder at counters while chefs cooked up meals in steamy clouds and men smoked cigarettes and drank ice cold beers.

Regular sized restaurants? …I was looking for something smaller.

*Cramped and Cozy. Perfect.* *Also, note the sign in English: “All seats are smoking.” I had found my spot.*

I found an empty stool next to a man at one of the restaurants. He was clearly a foreigner and I asked if I could sit next to him, and he said I could. He was visiting from California, not on vacation, but as a baseball scout. I was fascinated. I know nothing about baseball, but it was interesting to talk to him. He was a guy that traveled all over the world looking for baseball players, drinking and gambling too much and having a really good time doing it. He was a self-described degenerate. We had an engaging and lighthearted chat as we ate and smoked. I left him at the restaurant and wandered off.

I walked around and looked at the lights some more. I could have done that forever; it’s just so magnetic and exciting. Every corner reveals some sort of appealing weirdness. But I’m not really that much of a night person, so before it got too late, I went back to my little bookcase cubbyhole and went to sleep.

The next day would be my third and final day in Tokyo.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Japan

Konnichiwa, Tokyo!

Arrival in Tokyo, Japan

Of all the countries I had already been to, I hadn’t been to Japan. I was excited to visit Japan when I was about 12 (never happened; I just wanted to go) and over time my interest waned. I kept hearing about how great it was, but I remained lukewarm. Sure, I love Japanese horror movies and Hello Kitty, and I am fascinated by their weird porn culture, but none of it motivated me to buy a ticket. And then I was hopping around Asian capital cities and the time felt right. And Tokyo astonished me.

The more I travel, the more difficult it is for me to be surprised by a place. Places start to remind me of other places. I get more savvy. Things get easier. But Tokyo surprised me on numerous levels. Sure, it has a lot on common with other big East Asian capitals, but it was also so distinct. The food, the social interactions, the culture – even basic things like using machines to order ramen or flushing some of the very complicated toilets – so much of it really took me out of my element and I loved it. (I will say right now: yes, the toilets are weird and complicated, and I think heated toilet seats are disgusting but some of the other features were pretty nice.)

I arrived in Tokyo from Kuala Lumpur on a flight that got me in just after midnight, so I was unable to take the train to my Shinjuku hostel. Not feeling too disappointed about that, as I was eager to get to my accommodations, I got into a taxi. It was weird right from the start. The taxi looked like an English black cab and the driver was wearing a black suit, white shirt, and black tie, like a casting room castoff from Reservoir Dogs. He wore a chauffeur’s cap and had short but shaggy grey hair that I wasn’t sure was not a wig. I couldn’t tell if the man was 30 or 70. He seemed like a young man playing the part of an old man in community theatre. He spoke a little English, which he used to tell me long winded stories about animals that turned out to be jokes. The whole thing felt weird.

Sleeping Capsule

We pulled up outside my hotel at about 1:30am on a busy, bright street. The Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel. Picking it wasn’t difficult. I knew I wanted to stay in Shinjuku, and I knew I wanted to stay in a capsule hotel. This place was cheap and met my criteria. I thought that staying there might be a penance in exchange for a neat experience, but it was great. I was on the women’s only floor and had a floor level capsule, which I found super cozy. It had a roof-mounted, old-fashioned CRT TV that played whatever was on Japanese TV, wifi, and power outlets. Unexpectedly, it also came with pyjamas, slippers, towels, and pretty much every toiletry you could think of was available in the shower/bathroom.

The only downside, I guess, was the common area room had only vending machines, so you have to go out for coffee (unless you want coffee in a can, which I didn’t but drank anyway). In the common area, with so many men and women wandering around in pyjamas (identical, except that the men wore grey and the women pink), it felt like I had joined a cult. And I was ok with that.

I was so excited about the lively neon washed streets and my cool cult sleeping cubby that I didn’t want to sleep at all. But I did. For a few hours. And then it was time to finally see Tokyo.

But first, coffee

My first stop was the Meiji Jingu Shrine, but first coffee and the subway. I was staying in Shinjuku, which, as far as I could tell, was the epicentre of everything I wanted from Japan: tight vertical neon signs, ramen shops, tiny bars and restaurants, lots of young people in cool street style clothes, and cute things.

I was looking for a café – not something that Japan is known for – but I found an excellent, bright, and modern café where I had a perfect cup of coffee, followed by a French pastry of some sort. I’m not usually a big pastry eater but it was very early, I was starving, and most things were not yet open. I have to say that it was possibly the best pastry I have ever had. I’m not a foodie. I like to eat but food is not an important part of why I travel; that said, sometimes the food in a place is so great or unusual that it becomes a part of the trip (like Myanmar and Georgia). Tokyo was awesome for food. Everything I ate, no matter how cheap, was perfect. Being a vegetarian and being on a budget there made things a little more challenging, but I could always find something delicious to eat. The ramen. The strawberries. This pastry.

After I had my coffee and perfect pastry, I went to the subway station to go to the Meiji Jingu Shrine.

In a Station of the Metro

The Tokyo subway system can be a little bit daunting. There are numerous lines and as far as I could tell it was difficult or impossible to get a ticket that would be good for all of the subway lines all day. When entering the subway station, you’re confronted with banks of machines that sell you tickets, but different ones in different spots, and it wasn’t entirely clear to me whether each machine would sell you tickets for all the lines or not, but I never had any trouble buying a ticket and figuring out where to go. It just took a bit of time of staring at the map and plotting out routes. I know it’s not fashionable to have paper maps anymore, but having a paper map of the Tokyo subway system was super convenient for me. All in all, the subway was amazing. It wasn’t very expensive, it went almost everywhere in the city I wanted to go, and it was a joy to ride.

Sometimes I felt like a big oaf, not knowing where to stand (some trains have different queues for different trains at the same time on the same platform) and being taller than everyone else, and being one of the only people not wearing a mask but no one gave me a look – well, except one time when I accidentally knocked a man over and his CANE fell out of his hand. Yeah, that wasn’t my best moment. I just repeated “I’m so sorry” over and over as I helped him up. Even then though no one really acknowledged me, except the man I toppled. Weirdly though he seemed to apologize to me.

That was one thing that stood out to me about Tokyo. I felt invisible No one looked me in the eye or spoke to me or acknowledged me in any way unless we were engaged in a commercial transaction or unless I specifically spoke to them, and in the latter case they didn’t seem too keen to talk to me. It was bizarre.

Shrine Time

I arrived at the station near the Meiji Jingu shrine (Harajuku Station) and walked to the shrine.

I walked through Yoyogi Park with its tall trees. It was very quiet; it was hard to believe that it was right in the middle of the city. The shrines (dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife and built in 1920) were lovely. Peaceful. There were places where people could write down what I assume were prayers or wishes and tie them to structures around trees. It was lovely. I’m not in any way a spiritual person, but I certainly can appreciate beautiful trees and serenity.

There was one astonishing tree near the middle of the temple complex. It was enormous and so perfectly round that it almost looked like a cartoon tree. It was one of the first of what I can only say are extraordinary trees that I saw in Tokyo. When I hear people talk about Tokyo, I never hear them talk about the trees, but I saw several trees there that were so beautiful that they look like they should have been in paintings. It really stood out to me.

From there I walked over to the Harajuku neighborhood, famous for its youthful wacky fashions and cafes. Admittedly, I was there too early. I should have gone later in the day. A lot of the stores were closed or just opening when I got there. So the street was quiet and didn’t have a lot of what I imagine is the energy that it would have later in the day, but I still enjoyed walking around. It was interesting to see the odd cafes that they had, like an otter café, a micro pig café, cat cafes, dog cafes…it was random.

And cafes for Sanrio characters, and stores selling cute costumes and wigs and so you can dress up like a living doll. It was interesting. What was also interesting was walking around that neighborhood off Takeshita Street where there were some cool cafes (without animals) and clothing stores. I stopped and had coffee and looked at some random art and window displays.

From Harajuku it is just a short walk to the Shibuya crossing; That famous intersection that gets flooded with pedestrians walking in every direction imaginable. The best way to get a view of it is to go to the roof of the building. but that wasn’t open when I was there, so I went upstairs to the Starbucks in a record store and from there I got a view of the intersection. I have to say it wasn’t as dramatic as I expected it to be, but it was a lot of people walking in all directions and it’s a quintessential Tokyo sight, so I had to see it.

Ah, Ramen

I made my way back to Shinjuku, and had a bowl of ramen en route. I’m not usually a ramen fan, but in Tokyo I am. I am ashamed to say that I needed help ordering from the machine the first time. (I don’t know how I was screwing it up; pushing the buttons in the wrong order or something.) It seems that in most ramen joints, you order from a machine before sitting down and then your ramen is wordlessly delivered to you. Excellent. No perky server bothering you to ask, “How are the first few bites tasting!” Just leave me in peace to slurp my soup.

Smoking Cigars in Shinjuku

I went back to my hotel my capsule to get freshened up. I had plans for the evening.

About 20 years ago I worked at a La Casa Del Habano (cigar store) in Vancouver and the manager of the store at the time was a fellow whose family was from Hong Kong. We didn’t stay in touch, and he had since move back to Hong Kong. But on the day that I arrived in Tokyo, he and his wife happened to be arriving in Tokyo from Hong Kong (discovered via Facebook). He messaged me to see if I wanted to get together. I did. This turned out to be one of the best parts about my trip to Tokyo, not only because I got to see my friend from so many years ago, but because he and his wife are very familiar with Tokyo and speak a bit of Japanese and they were able to introduce me to some things that I probably wouldn’t have been able to do on my own. Thing one: finding may be the best place to smoke cigars in Shinjuku.

We went to a bar on the 4th floor of a building in Shinjuku that looked completely unremarkable. If I didn’t know there was a bar on the 4th floor I would have never known to go upstairs, but once upstairs it was one of the most perfect bars I have ever been to. It was tiny (sat about 12 people), it was dark, it had an incredible selection of whiskeys and drinks, it was long and narrow like a train car, it played excellent jazz music. The bartender was dressed almost identically to my taxi driver the night before: black suit, white shirt, black tie. And of course, the best thing, you could smoke cigars inside. I met my friend and his wife up there and we sat and smoked cigars and caught up, reminiscing about old times and catching up on new ones. It was so much fun and felt so civilized to be able to smoke cigars inside.

We left the bar and went over to one of Tokyo’s yokocho (alleyways) that are lined with tiny restaurants. This one: Omoide Yokocho.

More commonly known in English as “piss alley” for reasons that I probably don’t have to explain. It is a tiny little alley near Shinjuku station, lined with teeny tiny little eateries. The eateries are just counters (no tables) and the chefs cook up the food in front of you and serve it on tiny plates. I guess it’s like izakaya, but there seems to be a distinction between izakaya and a yokocho eatery that I don’t understand. Almost everyone sitting at those counters is smoking and drinking beer or tiny thimblefuls of what I assume is saki. It’s so charming and so picturesque that is exactly the sort of place that I would have wanted to go and eat but would have not really been able to eat on my own.

None of the signs are in English, of course, and I speak no Japanese. Even looking at the food that they are serving I couldn’t figure out what it was. Is that tofu or fish or egg? I had no idea. But fortunately, my friend did, so we sat down at a bar in a tiny little eatery next to a man gleefully and drunkenly polishing off a pack of cigarettes with his drinks and snacks. My friend ordered me a tiny little plate of objects that vaguely resembled food. He assured me they were all vegetarian. And they tasted great.

It was a wonderful introduction to an area that I would have not been able to fully enjoy on my own. It was a good reminder of the fact that as much as I think solo traveling is the absolute best, it is excellent to be able to connect with people in local areas and have a different experience.

We parted ways and I went back to my capsule, totally content after one day in Tokyo. Had this been my only day in Tokyo, I would’ve been pretty happy, but I had more time and there was more to see. The next day would bring more sights, more ramen, and a new weirder accommodation.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Malaysia

Batu Caves, Sightseeing, & A Weird Conversation in KL

The Batu Caves

My second day in Kuala Lumpur, I got up early to go to the Batu Caves. Mountain caves reached by rainbow stairs like the ascent into a gay pride heaven? With mischievous monkeys? Sign me up. While it does have picture perfect rainbow stairs and cute monkeys, it is a proper Hindu shrine to Kartikeya, aka Murugan (aka a lot of other things), a Hindu warrior/scholar god (I’m sure that is an oversimplification) and inside the cave, in addition to all of the tourists, are people engaging in prayer and ritual. But whether you are pious or curious (I was the latter) it is a great place to visit.

The Batu Caves are very easily reached from Kuala Lumpur by train. You could take a tour or an uber, but that seems silly when, for a few bucks, you can be whisked there by rail.

I took the train and made two stops. I wasn’t expecting the second one, but the train stopped, and all passengers had to get off. I was only momentarily confused – until I saw the sign pointing me to the platform from which to continue my journey. At the other end, you walk out of the station and it’s just … right there.

There are some smaller temples. Very colourful and thick with depictions of various deities. There is also a huge statute of a monkey god, Hanuman.

In addition to the temples are outdoor cafes and people selling flowers and coconuts and snacks. It all feels lively.

Going in the morning was a good idea. It wasn’t too busy or too hot. The steps look like a lot of effort, but it’s not that far and lots of people are stopping to take pictures, catch their breath or fend off monkey advances.

Inside it is dark and cool and the air has plumes of incense smoke from the temples. There isn’t much else to do there. There are some art displays and birds, but really, you’re there for the temple, which is visited relatively quickly.

I had a cold coconut and trained back to Kuala Lumpur.

An afternoon wander

In the afternoon I wandered around to a lot of the same places I had the day before, had some more laksa, and stopped into a new cigar lounge, also steps from my hostel. Unlike the one the night before in the Petronas Towers, this one felt like an authentic Havana lounge. Very nice and a good selection of cigars, including some rare ones.

I took the train over to the mosque to visit it (it was closed to visitors at the time) and then went to the Museum, which was excellent.

Evening

In the evening, I had dinner with the girl I met at my hostel, the girl from Netherlands who was about the be a lawyer. We had a nice dinner after walking around the city looking for a suitable place to eat. Kuala Lumpur is busy at all hours, and I liked the liveliness. I wouldn’t say I loved Kuala Lumpur, and it didn’t excite me, but I certainly liked it. I could imagine living there for a time.

The final morning…and a weird conversation

The next day I had to leave for the airport at about 11 am, so I went for a final walk around the neighbourhood. A fellow tourist offered to take my photo in front of the Petronas Towers, which was nice, to have a picture of me that is not the usual selfie.

Back at my hostel, I sat out front with a coffee and a cigar until it was time to leave. A fellow at the next table started talking to me, asking questions about my cigar. He joined me at my table. He was in his early 30s and from a smaller city near Kuala Lumpur, but had gotten divorced and moved to the city for work, traveling back often to visit his five kids. I asked him how he liked living in Kuala Lumpur. “I love it,” he said, “there are so many MILFs.” Of all the answers he might have given me, that was not once I could have guessed. He told me he “loves Chinese MILFs” and the ones in Kuala Lumpur were the best. He showed me pictures of some of his lady friends (all attractive Chinese women in their 50s), including one who produced porn movies, he said.

It’s always interesting to talk with strangers; you never know who you will encounter. I don’t know why people feel comfortable telling me about their sexual proclivities (I swear I don’t initiate these conversations), but they do, from the guy in Colombia who told me about his first sexual experiences with a donkey to the guy in Iraq who told me about how he married the woman his parents approved of but how he has been having a years’ long affair with his true love, to the guy in Canada who told me that his sexual fetish is watching ISIS decapitation videos during sex…people just tell me things. I always say that one of the great things about travel is that it reminds me that, fundamentally, people are all the same – including that people everywhere have their sexual secrets.

I ended my conversation with ‘MILF Lover’ and headed to the airport on the train. My next and final stop on this trip would be Tokyo.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Malaysia

Arriving in Kuala Lumpur

From Brunei, I went to the third stop in my trip: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I didn’t have great expectations for it. I don’t know why. I was curious about what it was really like, after hearing some many people’s rants and raves about the place. I was a blank slate. Maybe it was because I expected nothing that I kind of loved it. I don’t mean I loved it like I love some places (the pulse quickening, imagination sparking places). It wasn’t a 10/10, but it was a place I enjoyed and could imagine living.

The airport was easy. Visa free. The next thing I liked was that there was so much public transportation. I mean, it is a major city, so it should have a good network of trains and whatnot, but there are plenty of big cities that don’t. I was happy. It has an MRT, LRT, a commuter train, and a monorail. Excellent. The monorail was my favourite. Riding it is like being in an amusement park, zooming over the city with windows on all sides, leaning to the side around every corner.

I hopped on a train and went right to my hostel from the airport. I was staying in the Kuala Lumpur central area (KLCC). About a five-minute walk from the Petronas Towers. It was the business district. As I got off the train and walked to my hostel, it was about midday and, apart from the humidity and the tropical plants, it felt very familiar. Business people and places for steaks and after work cocktails – even a cigar lounge. I felt quite comfortable, like I was in Manhattan.

I was staying at The Bed KLCC, a hostel located on the upper floors of a shiny high-rise in this businessy district. It didn’t have a hippy or backpacker vibe, but it was one of the most impressive hostels I have stayed at. I had a bed in a female dorm room. Everything was spotless. My bunk was huge and had a near blackout curtain. Inside it had lights and plugs, a makeup mirror and a little shelf that works well as a laptop table if you sat on the bed. The bathrooms were great and had all the amenities you could think of, and more. There was a stylish hangout area that felt like a library and a huge kitchen/eating area. And it was about $17/night. Canadian.

From my hostel I walked over to the Petronas Towers. You can’t really escape them; they are always visible. In photos I didn’t think much of them, but they are impressive in person. Gleaming silver and lit up at night.

I took the train to Pasar Seni and walked around Chinatown. It was lovely. The buildings were low rise and colorful, historic, and often with murals. I am not a foodie but so many places looked like they would be amazing to eat.

I went to a hawker centre and walked up and down the Petaling Street market; clearly geared towards tourists, but it was fun.

I had a tofu drink (and bought a pair of sunglasses I surely did not need) and then meandered over to the Central Market.

*me in Chinatown sporting my new sunglasses*

The Central Market is an indoor market/small mall in a pretty, pale blue art deco building. Inside, I had an amazing bowl of vegetarian laksa from a stall with Elvis cassette tapes on display.

I walked over to the Sri Mahamariamman temple, which looks beautiful, but it was closed for repair, so I took the MRT over to Bukit Bintang to stroll down the colorful mural alley, which lived up to its name.

There is an excellent food street near there with a seemingly endless stretch of restaurants with outdoor seating, but nothing really appealed to me and it was so busy that I worried I would offend someone with my cigar.

*“Special Parts” on food street. I’ve no idea what a “torpedo” is.*

However, what caught my attention was near the entrance to mural alley was a small neighbourhood with lots of middle eastern restaurants. I walked back that way and settled in on the quiet patio of a great little neighbourhood restaurant selling Iraqi street food. (Tarma Iraqi Street Food.) Iraqi falafel is maybe the best falafel in my opinion, so I had to have some. And shisha. And coffee. It was great. A perfect spot that felt away from the other tourists.

I walked back to my hostel. A long walk, but super enjoyable, meandering through the streets.

Back at the hostel I met the girl across the bunk from me: a nice young woman from Amsterdam who had recently finished law school and was on a long solo backpacking trip. We chatted for some time and made plans to do something the next day. (Hostels really are the best for meeting people.) But I wasn’t finished with the day yet.

I had a tip from a friend about a cigar lounge on the 57^th floor of the Petronas Towers (Martini’s on 57), so that is where I decided to finish the day. It only took me 5 minutes to walk there but about 30 to figure out how to get up (there are two towers and numerous doors). Once I headed up, I found myself in a very plush cigar lounge with sumptuous leather chairs, dim lighting, and floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the city. It was great.

I ordered a martini and asked to buy a cigar. (I had cigars with me, but I wanted to see what they had for sale.) Rather than letting me into the humidor, the man brought me a tray of available cigars to choose from. I selected a Ramon Allones – a good sized Cuban cigar. After making my selection, he instead suggested I have a cigarillo, saying it was popular with “the ladies”. I shot him my coldest of looks and said “Just the Ramon Allones please.” This is a very specific cigar rant, but why he would he think that someone who requests a Ramon Allones by name (and can pronounce it) and who has arrived with their own cigar cutter would want a cigarillo is beyond me. Sexism I suppose. However, the weird, gendered treatment worked in my favour because apparently it was women’s day (?) and that got me a free cocktail. My indignation subsided and I was left to enjoy the impressive views and the gentle smoke.

That cigar cost more than all three of my nights at the hotel combined, but it was worth it.

A lovely end to my first day in Kuala Lumpur. The next morning I would visit the Batu Caves.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Brunei Darussalam

Brunei Darussalam

I flew from Manila to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It was one of those places I knew little about but decided to go to because I was in the area, so to speak. I would be there for about 36 hours, which was just right, I think, for a visit to the capital. Since Brunei is a bit lesser known, here are some fast facts…

Fast Facts

Brunei Darussalam (Or just ‘Brunei’, if you’re cool) is a teeny tiny country on the island of Borneo (surrounded by Malaysia) in South East Asia. It is a bit bigger than Luxembourg, but smaller than Rwanda. Most of it is rain forest. About 500,000 people live there. It was controlled by the British until 1984 when it gained true independence. It is a Muslim country. The capital is Bandar Seri Begawan, which is where I was visiting.

I feel like the things that Brunei is most famous for its (1) being wealthy [oil]; and (2) the Sultan. The Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien (or Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III for short), is currently the longest serving monarch in the world. He has been on the throne since October 1967. (When he assumed leadership, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a brand new album.) The first time I heard of him was in the 1990s when a lawsuit was filed in the US alleging that he invited beauty pageant winners to Brunei and then kept them as sex slaves. (The lawsuit was dismissed because he’s the Sultan.) Here’s what seems to be verifiable about him: He loves excess and pomp and circumstance (a visit to the museum is a must do – the palanquin alone is worth a glimpse because of its scale). In the 2010s he adopted Sharia law into the penal code. Although he ultimately rolled back things like death by stoning and amputation, it’s still pretty strict. It’s illegal not to attend Friday prayers if you are Muslim and alcohol is banned.

Back to the travel report…

I arrived in Brunei at about midnight. The border crossing was easy and I went to take a taxi to my hotel. The thing that proved problematic was paying for the taxi. There was no public transportation at this time of night so the taxi was my only option. The issue was, I didn’t have any local currency (Brunei Dollars) and all of the currency exchange facilities at the airport were closed. I tried the two ATMs at the airport and neither of them worked with either of my two cards. Fortunately, I had a stash of US dollars on me and so I approached two of the taxi drivers that were hanging around out front of the airport (the only two taxi drivers that I found) and I negotiated a ride to my hotel. It was a little bit frustrating because I didn’t have small enough bills and so I ultimately ended up overpaying I think for the taxi ride. So my advice is when arriving at the Brunei airport late at night, make sure you have cash in small denominations (and in perfect condition – the taxi drivers would not even accept bills with creases).

I arrived at my hotel the Qing Yun Resthouse Bandar, which is perfectly located right across from the waterfront in a very central location and it’s also extremely affordable. It was brand new and spotlessly clean however my room didn’t have any windows, which was less than ideal. Whatever, I would only be there one day.

*windowless room at Qing Yun Resthouse Bandar*

The man working at the hotel (the only person I saw at the hotel) also didn’t speak English. Brunei is one of these places where English is not widely spoken and I had (admittedly) made little to no effort to learn any Malay, so communication sometimes was a challenge, but again I relied on my excellent charades and awkward smiling.

The Terrestrial Sights

My initial impression of the capital was that it was not that impressive. It just looked sort of ordinary. That initial impression was softened as I saw ‘the sights’ and explored a bit more.

On my way in from the airport I had passed a couple of incredible looking mosques by the side of the highway I never did make it back to them. I tried to snap a couple of pictures from the taxi window and failed miserably but even in the blurry captures you can still get a sense of the grandeur of them.

My first stop was the big Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. The Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque is definitely the most recognizable site from Brunei, and rightly so. It’s spectacular. It looks like something out of a fairy tale; huge, white, golden gleaming, and sitting in the middle of a pond; every angle of it is astonishing. It’s not astonishingly old, however; It was built in the 1950s.

I walked around it and attempted to snap a couple of selfies and then eventually went inside for a look at the interior which was lovely. The men outside who were working on the grounds were very friendly everyone wanted to know where I was from and to chat as best we could.

The thing that was a little bit disappointing about Brunei was that when I arrived it was cloudy and raining, which I figured would spoil my photos. How wrong I was! My favourite photo of the big mosque ended up being the one with the stormiest looking skies. The clouds lifted and the sun came out later and I went back to take more photos, but I didn’t think those had the same atmosphere.

I went to the Royal Regalia Museum. There is more than one museum, but I only went to the one. It’s worth going to learn about the history of Brunei and the Sultan and look at the artifacts and riches of the Sultan and his family.

The Aquatic Sights

Beyond that, and without leaving the general downtown area of the capital, there isn’t much else to do in Brunei itself – on land. There are however some excellent excursions that can be made on the water. From the waterfront there are boats floating around and as I walked along the waterfront several of them would slow down and call out to me to see if I wanted a ride. One man who spoke a little English engaged in conversation with me and I told him I was interested in seeing the floating village and the mangrove forests and he agreed to take me out. I forget the exact price, but it was quite cheap.

We went out for about an hour or so, first through the water village of Kampong Ayer. It’s a small village located on the water (houses on stilts and floating structures) just off the shore from the capital of Brunei. About 10,000 people live here. Apparently, it has been a village for centuries, although at this point the houses all look quite new.

We sailed around the village looking at the different houses. We didn’t stop anywhere to visit anyone, although I understand that is possible.

From there we went into the mangrove forests past thick walls of green trees. Going this way was quite interesting, and it gave us a view of the Sultan’s palace rising above the treetops, shining white.

One of the great things about going into the mangrove forests in Brunei is that if you’re very lucky you’ll see the proboscis monkeys, otherwise known as the ‘big nosed monkeys’. It was pretty extraordinary: we didn’t have to go very far before we saw them up in the trees; maybe about four or five of them. They were sitting and hanging out and sort of jumping from tree branch to tree branch, and I could definitely see their noses which were in fact, well, kind of like penises or potatoes, and very large. I tried to get some photos but they were all useless. This is the best one:

The only other wildlife that we saw on this trip was an alligator who had drowned and was floating belly up in the river and was quite bloated. I’m not going to post that picture because it’s very gross.

The under-looked thing about taking a boat out in Brunei is that if your boat captain is cool (and mine was), you can smoke on the boat. In addition to alcohol being banned in Brunei, smoking is pretty much banned. It’s not illegal to smoke, but the smoking restrictions are so severe that I couldn’t find a place enjoy a cigar. You can’t smoke inside or on sidewalks or on patios or balconies or in parks or on paths… And I was told that you will be found and you will be fined. As far as I understand it, the best place is to get a smoking hotel room, and those do exist; but I didn’t have one of those, so I was delighted to get to smoke on the boat, even if it was just cigarillos and not a full cigar.

Back on Land

After my boat adventure, I had lunch at a little cafe near my hotel which was quite nice, and I chatted with the owner as I was the only person there. We talked for about an hour, and he gave me his feelings about living in Brunei, which seemed to be lukewarm at best.

I spent the next couple of hours just walking around the city.

I visited a picturesque Chinese temple: Teng Yun temple.

It was at this point that I felt like I had really done everything I wanted to do in Bandar Seri Begawan, and I was satisfied that my flight was leaving that night. I had dinner at a local restaurant, Curry and rice that I think cost me about $2.00. It was delicious.

And that was my trip to Brunei. A lot of people had said that it wasn’t worth going to, but I don’t agree. I think every place is interesting and every place is worth visiting – some places for a short time and some for a longer time. I feel like I did Brunei justice. I wouldn’t go back, but I’m glad that I went.

I slept for a short time in my hotel room waking up at an ungodly hour to catch a flight to my next destination: Kuala Lumpur.

Asia Asian capital trip 2023 Philippines

Manila: Markets to Mausoleums

My second day in Manila was better than the first. I had already explored Malate, Intramuros and the areas in between. On day two, I went to Chinatown and the Chinese Cemetery.

Chinatown (aka Binodo) lies just across the Pasig River and to the right from Intramuros if you are looking at a map. There were numerous ways to get there, but I took the LRT, which was very easy and super cheap (about 30c CDN). The only downside was that they required (at the time) that you wear a face mask, which surprised me in 2023, but I fashioned one out of my scarf and that seemed to be good enough. The train ride was nice because it was high above the ground and gave glimpses over the city and into more modest looking neighbourhoods.

From the train (LRT) stop at Carriedo Station, I was just around a corner from a large, oldish church (nicer on the outside than inside), and an excellent market area. It was just what I wanted. Very busy streets with vendors selling produce (including more excellent fruit), household items, and hot dishes of the mostly meaty variety.

I filled my bag with mangosteens and settled in at a stall where one of the women spoke English and hooked me up with a plate of something tasty that seemed to be vegetarian.

It was a really good area. I saw women selling special “wishing candles” – like prayer candles, but different colors, each for a different type of blessing. That was different. I don’t believe in that sort of thing (and I didn’t need any candles) so I didn’t make a purchase. I thought ‘oh what a quaint belief to think that you can wish for things through candles’…and then my briefly judgmental mind realized that this is precisely the purpose of blowing out birthday candles.

From there I walked around Chinatown a lot. I didn’t have a particular objective; I just walked the streets. It was very hot, and I used that as an excuse to duck into a few cafes. There were lots of picturesque streets and churches to keep me occupied.

As well, there is a mosque (Masjid Al-Dahab or the ‘Golden Mosque’) that women and non-Muslims can enter (prettier on the outside than the inside).

After Chinatown, with a stomach full of mangosteens and red bean buns, I hopped on the train again. This time I was going to the Chinese Cemetery (from Abad Santos LRT station it is an easy walk to the South Gate Entrance). I had earmarked that as something I might visit if I had the time, and I did, so I went. I am glad I did.

The Chinese Cemetery is the second oldest cemetery in Manila, and it is huge (over 50 hectares). The reason to go is not necessarily because there are famous people buried there (there are some, but none who were known to me); rather, the purpose of the visit is to take in the spectacle of the grave sites or shrines. Themselves. It looks like a city, with streets lines with what look like proper houses (big ones), but they aren’t houses. They are the burial places for families or individuals. Some of them you can look into and there are chandeliers, photos on the wall, and marble floors. They looked like posh foyers. But they’re graves.

One had sad American country music playing. Another had dogs inside. Presumable (hopefully) someone was there visiting.

Mostly the place was empty and quiet. A bit eerie, but in a nice atmospheric way.

You can actually rent bicycles and ride around, which would have been nice, and there are guides who will find you and offer you guided tours of the grounds if you would rather learn instead of just gawk. I think it is worth a visit. Even if you don’t like graveyards, it is a nice place for a quiet stroll.

This took up much of the day. I took the train back to Malate and went to the Sheraton Hotel because I read that they have a rooftop bar and I thought it might be a place for a cigar. Well, they do have a rooftop bar, but it was closed. What I did find was a rooftop smoking area for hotel guests. I wasn’t a guest, but no one was around, so I went outside and found the most delightful rooftop oasis area. A little waterfall and tropical trees and plants, tables and chairs (and ashtrays) with a view over Manila. Very civilized. I sat down and enjoyed a cigar. (Ok, and took a selfie or two.)

*Don’t i look like I should be staying at the Sheraton?*

At one point a man joined me and chatted with me (assuming I was likewise staying at this fancy hotel and not sharing bathrooms and my hostel down the street). He invited me out later, but I declined as I was flying out that night (which I was), but I assured him I had had a wonderful stay at the hotel (which, in a sense I did).

I spent the next couple hours at my hotel, packing and enjoying a final meal on the roof top patio of my true accommodations before taking a taxi to the airport. Onward to Brunei.

I am glad I went to Manila, and I am happy with the two full days I had. I could have filled a third day, but I felt ready to go. I do think I might return to see something of the natural beauty of the Philippines, but not any time soon. There is still more I want to see elsewhere.

Tag: Asia

Arrival in Dubai

The Dubai “Maul”

Bur Dubai

Good Morning, Goth Girl

A cemetery wander

Costs. An aside.

Sayonara, 3D Cat

Vegetarian heaven at the 7-11

Tsukiji outer market

Ginza

Hibiya Park & Imperial Palace

Not so serene Sensō-ji Temple

Akhibara Action

Interlude in Ebisu

Book and Bed

Shinjuku Re-do

Arrival in Tokyo, Japan

Sleeping Capsule

But first, coffee

In a Station of the Metro

Shrine Time

Ah, Ramen

Smoking Cigars in Shinjuku

The Batu Caves

An afternoon wander

Evening

The final morning…and a weird conversation

Fast Facts

Back to the travel report…

The Terrestrial Sights

The Aquatic Sights

Back on Land