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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

Arriving in Manila

I decided to do a whistle stop trip of a handful of capital cities of closely clustered Asian countries. I was curious about Manila and had long put off a trip to Tokyo. Brunei and Kuala Lumpur fit in nicely. I had 11 days, and I booked my flights meticulously. The first stop was Manila. A 14-hour direct flight from Vancouver.

I know that most people visit the Philippines for the beaches, and the country does look beautiful, however, I was mostly interested in the city; a city that I had heard nothing good about. In fact, the thing the Manila was most famous for, for me anyway, was karaoke. I had read that the patent holder for the karaoke machine was from Manila and that Manila was karaoke crazy; so much so in fact that there had been a series of murders in Manila based around people singing Frank Sinatra songs in karaoke clubs. When the singer sung the song badly—and usually that song was ‘My Way’—people in the audience became enraged and on several occasions this resulted in murders. I haven’t fact checked this, but there is a Wikipedia page and multiple articles about it. As a Sinatra fan and person with a bit a fascination in all things morbid, I was curious.

I’ll tell you right now that I did not do karaoke when I was in Manila. What I was looking for was that club experience. I imagined some sort of dark room full of inebriated locals singing Sinatra songs and torch ballads. I wanted to try my luck; however, when I got there, yes, there were lots of karaoke bars, but they were all the kind with private rooms where you go with coworkers or family members or friends and sit in a sofa and sing to a small TV screen in privacy. That wasn’t the experience that I wanted. I probably should have looked harder. Next time.

Beyond karaoke murders I don’t really know what I expected from Manila. Sometimes I think that’s the best way to approach a place because there’s no chance that you’ll be disappointed.

I checked into my accommodations: the Stay Malate Hostel at which I had booked a small, dingy, but clean and serviceable room with shared bathrooms and I set off to enjoy and explore the city. It was in Malate, which seems to be to be a perfect place to base oneself. Walkable to the sights and surrounded by an authentic, lively and central neighbourhood.

Manilla had a good energy. It was busy and friendly and welcoming and didn’t seem off-putting or dangerous, despite some of the reports that I had read. I think the thing that surprised me most on first appearances was how much it felt like a Latin American country? That assessment may be way off base, but walking around seeing palm trees with coconuts and architecture that wouldn’t have looked out of place in South America, Catholic churches, Spanish sounding names, etc. It just didn’t feel like Southeast Asia.

I was staying in Malate, which is a central area. It was very busy. The streets seemed to have an endless array of what appeared to be strip clubs, karaoke bars, all you can eat meat BBQ joints, and local shops. I devised a sort of a walking tour around that area looked at local monuments and churches and squares; it was all very pleasant, though nothing in particular caught my attention.

The thing that so far was my biggest take away about Manila is the transportation. It was fantastic. There were so many different means of getting around, and all of them excellent. There were buses and taxis, trams and trains, but on top of that there were jeepneys, which as I understand it at one point were modified American World War 2 jeeps that were tricked out to be a form of public transportation. The ones that I saw in the street certainly weren’t that old, but they did still have that look: the front of a Jeep but then a long body and decorated like the chicken buses of Central America with religious pictures and words, art, fringes, velvet lights flashing, and music playing. The back was open with two long benches inside and people just sort of hopped in the back and paid their fare and went on their way. I only rode one once for a short distance. I wasn’t entirely sure what the destination was or how I would know where it was going so one point, I just hopped on one and rode it for a ways down the street in the direction that I was heading and then eventually hopped off. Maybe that’s the way they’re supposed to be used.

There were also two and three wheeled means of public transportation. There were motorcycles that people just rode on the back. There were motorcycles with weird high benches next to them where you sort of sat on an open metal platform next to and higher than the driver of the motorcycle. There were bicycle rickshaws. There were motorcycles with little carts in front that you sat on. And then there was my favorite: the motorcycle sidecar.

I’ve always wanted to ride in a motorcycle sidecar and while this didn’t look exactly like the ones that I had imagined whizzing me around Paris in World War 2, it was pretty outstanding. It was a little rickety motorcycle with sort of a gray semi enclosed seated compartment next to it. Like a little cage. It looked like it might become detached at any moment and I was sitting very low to the ground but it was wonderful to sit inside and have the sights whiz by me and have the air in my face – a little bit like riding in a tuk tuk, but much dodgier.

From the central area I walked up to Rizal Park which was filled with people. It was Sunday and everyone seemed to be out picnicking or playing sports blowing bubbles and eating cotton candy. It wasn’t really my scene, but it was pleasant for a wander. I looked at the fountains and at the public art that was on the edge of the park.

And then I continued on, determined to walk to the central historic area Intramuros . Walking there was a mistake; too far and dull for a walk on the main road. At any point I should have gotten on one of the many methods of public transportation, but I was stubborn and didn’t realize that it was as far away as it was.

Somehow I overshot my destination and ended up at a small slum next to a river. It wasn’t a big encampment, but it was right across the river from one that was fairly large and equally if not more dingy. Families were living in tents cooking with open fires and selling food and snacks and objects to the other residents of the encampment. It didn’t seem dangerous at all; and it was interesting for a wander except for the fact that I did feel desperately out of place it was clear that I wasn’t supposed to be there. I don’t think people appreciated me gawking at them, so I did a loop and went back the way I came, eventually finding my way to Intramuros.

Intramuros was objectively lovely. It looks very Spanish colonial with perfectly maintained buildings in bright colours and ornamentation, cobblestone streets, gorgeous squares with trees and statues, and impressive churches. It was postcard picture perfect; it was not however particularly exciting. I walked around and I had a cigar. I tried an unusual drink made of soft tofu and brown sugar and had lunch at a cafe that had vegan Filipino food (Delicious), which was the only time that I got to try any sort of local food while I was in the city.

Once I was finished exploring that area I walked back in the direction of my hotel towards the park and through the centre, but I did visit the National Museum of Fine Arts. That was excellent. It was free and full of a range of artworks by local and international artists.

Back in Malate, where my hotel was, I walked around and looked for a place to eat. That wasn’t the easiest, vegetarian-wise. There were lots of delicious local fruits but when it came to actually eating a meal in a restaurant there wasn’t a lot to choose from. I ultimately ended up having dinner at my hostel on the rooftop patio, which suited me just fine. The food there was good and cheap it had a view of this busy streets below and there were there was a handful of elder backpackers there with whom I could chat and share mangoes.

I went out after dark and eventually found a place where I could go and sit and have a juice and smoke a cigar. Smoking in Manila wasn’t the easiest of things. Most restaurants and cafes didn’t allow smoking on the patio and the interiors were entirely smoke free, so over the two days and three nights that I was there, the patio at my hostel became something of a haven. The night scene in my neighbourhood was very lively. It was full of super busy restaurants and bars; everyone seemed to be out until all hours of the morning and there was a lot to look at. I enjoyed it even if I wasn’t out partaking.

*Pineapple juice and a Saint Luis Rey robusto.*

It was a pleasant first day. I enjoyed myself. I wasn’t blown away by Manila, but I was glad to have seen it. As far as first days go, it was fine – and I can’t write off the fact that I may have been suffering from serious jet lag after my 14 hour direct our flight from Vancouver. I slept very soundly that night and had plans already for day two, which ended up being much more to my liking than day one.

Africa Sudan Sudan-South Sudan trip 2022

Meroë

Meroë was the main reason I decided to visit Sudan. Pictures of pyramids partly submerged in swirling and otherwise empty desert sands. Not another person in sight. It looked like a dream. And so, on my second day in Khartoum, I made the trip.

My original plan was to take the bus/hitchhike. You can catch a bus from Khartoum that will take you fairly close to the Meroë pyramids and there is a town (Shendi) not far away. You can see the pyramids from the highway on the right hand side and it would not be too far to walk to them if the bus drops you off by the roadside. (Take water!) And there are lots of cars that would likely give you a lift to the nearest town to catch a bus back to Khartoum. Easily do-able as a day trip. That was my plan…until the Sudanese consulate in Ottawa said I needed to have a tour booked to get a tourist visa (and that I could only do this through their one approved tour company) so I booked a driver to take me to Meroë and to get my visa. It wasn’t worth the expense, but it got me there and into the country (and hopefully put a few dollars in a Canadian consulate worker’s pocket) so I can’t complain. Much.

To leave Khartoum, you need special papers authorizing you to travel. This is on top of the visa and the multiple registrations that must be done with the police in Khartoum. My tour company arranged the paperwork, and I arranged the multiple copies of my passport and visa that I would be expected to present at the various roadblocks. On the drive there and back we were stopped multiple times by men in various uniforms (berets, epaulettes askew, medals, brooches, etc) who looked at my passport and paperwork and usually smiled at me. I was extra friendly because I was hoping they wouldn’t notice that the tour company had put the wrong date on the document. They didn’t.

When we got to Meroë I was basically on my own. There is a small fee to enter the site (which you should pay, notwithstanding various unscrupulous travelers noting that you can skip by entering from the back). From there was a walk across the desert to a cluster of pyramids in the dunes.

Sudan has more pyramids than any other country. They are smaller than the ones in Egypt or the Mayan and Aztec ones I have seen, but they are steep, pointy, and plentiful. They are also a bit younger; most being built by the Nubians only about 2500-2000 years ago.

The pyramids were used as burial sites for kings and queens. They have been long since plundered and nothing remains of their contents, but what does remain are excellent carvings – like the sort you would see in Egyptian pyramids.

The thing that is best about the Meroë pyramids though is that you have the place to yourself. I saw one guy on a camel who offered me rides and there were a couple guys at the entrance selling crafts, but at the actual site…it’s all yours. And the setting is spectacular. Rolling dunes of various hues set against a blue sky. The sand is slowly filling up the interior of the pyramids and sweeping up the sides. It’s not hard to imagine them being lost altogether. Conservation is important (which is why you shouldn’t skip out on paying the fee).

It was sometimes a little eerie entering the pyramids and having no one else around. Eerie in a wonderful way. I kept thinking of that old Sesame Street bit where Bert and Ernie are inside an Egyptian pyramid and a mummy comes to life and then does a little dance. I found that eerie too when I was small.

It’s not a large site, so I stayed an hour to two and that was it. We stopped at Shendi for some water and coffee.

There is a lovely looking tented camp nearby (the only proper place to stay the night) and I have no doubt that it is excellent, but it is also very expensive, and so I went back to Khartoum and spent my evening with friends from the Acropole Hotel – followed by a cigar of course.

It was an excellent day.

If I had it to do over, I would have booked a driver to take me on a day trip to Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa, which are not so accessible on one’s own, and I would have gotten myself to Meroë on my own. Instead, I did a second day trip to those sites with a driver on a different day. Day trips in Sudan are not cheap, but the sites are priceless, so it all balances out in the end.

The next day I would visit the camel market and the market in Omdurman.

Asia Central Asia 2022 Kazakhstan

A Bit of Luxury in Almaty

Crossing back into Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan

I had a flight booked from Bishkek back to Almaty. A very short and very inexpensive flight. However, having experienced how quick and easy it is to cross by (shared) taxi and on foot, I decided to skip the airports altogether, ditched the flight and caught a taxi to the Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan border.

I walked across, it was quick and almost without hassle. I say “almost” because the immigration guard for Kazakhstan said insistently that I needed a visa. I just responded “No, I don’t. I get an automatic 30 day visa at the border.” He shrugged and wordlessly stamped my passport.

*the path from one border checkpoint to the next*

Back on Kazakh soil, immediately the women who was in the queue behind me started speaking to me in English. She was from Kyrgyzstan but living in Almaty. She wanted to know if I would share a taxi with her. I said “Absolutely.” She found us a car with two other people waiting and did the haggling (getting us a better price than I could have gotten myself. And in moments we were off. It was a nice drive, with pleasant chats and a stop at a roadside stand for fresh horse milk and balls of qurut. The ride was about $4 CDN and I was in Almaty by 11am.

Back in Almaty and into the lobby of luxury

Back in Almaty at the bus station, I caught a taxi to my hotel for my final night of this trip. I usually stay at hostels or budget accommodation, but sometimes I like to have a bit of a splurge on my final night. To have my own room and not share a bathroom with anyone. That is what I was doing that day and…what a splurge.

I stayed one night at the fabulous Rixos Almaty. Definitely, as far as big hotels go, it is the fanciest place I have ever stayed. Like a Grand Budapest Hotel. Gleaming white in the day and illuminated pink at night. The lobby is a huge atrium with trees and intimidatingly posh-looking cafes – oh, and it has a cigar store and lounge, which was the deciding factor that caused me to book it.

Walking in, I felt like Eddie Murphy in Beverley Hills Cop when he walks into the Beverly Palm Hotel, clearly out of place. I always wear black, and I don’t wear athletic wear, sneakers, or sandals, so I didn’t look super casual, but I had a backpack, and I wasn’t that clean. Everyone else looked very clean and classy. But I had the golden ticket. I had a reservation.

My room was…wow. Huge and with a balcony and a giant bed and the biggest bathtub. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I had just been sharing a single toilet with four men and several cockroaches, so this was a welcome change.

*my room (bubble bath pictures not included)*

I had a bubble bath, got cleaned up, and headed out. First stop was the cigar lounge for a Partagas Series D No.4.

From there I just went out walking. It was a glorious day. I had already done all the sightseeing in Almaty that I wanted to do, so I just walked leisurely. The weather was perfect, and people were out strolling and packing the patios at the sidewalk cafés and restaurants.

*just one of many inviting cafes. I went to this one.*

I stopped and had multiple coffees and some pomegranate iced tea.

more coffee at this side street café with outdoor swing seats

I roamed around and snapped pictures of street art murals. Almaty isn’t super street arty, but there are some nice murals if you look for them.

*murals* *(The middle one reminds me of Weird Al. No idea who it actually is)*

I browsed at an outdoor craft market and just watched the world go by. And then I got to the Opera House; a beautiful and grand yellow structure with fountains. To my luck, there was an opera that night.

The show was “Abai”, a newish (2015) Kazakh opera about the life of poet Abai Qunanbaiuly (a Kazakh poet from the late 19^th century), and it was starting at 6:00pm. I bought a single ticket for the centre orchestra, which cost about $10 CDN.

It was a great treat. I was very happy that it was a Kazakh show, and the production was impressive. Of course, I couldn’t understand a word of it, but I enjoyed the music, staging and costumes. That said, I did leave at the second intermission – not because it wasn’t good – I had seen enough and wanted to enjoy a dinner on my last night in town.

I walked back to what had become my favourite eating/smoking restaurant patio in Almaty and had some Armenian flat breads filled with herbs and I smoked shisha until late into the night.

It was a perfect end to my time in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In the morning I flew home. This trip made me even more curious to visit Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and Afghanistan (the three (of seven) ‘stans I have left to visit. Something to look forward to.

Asia Central Asia 2022 Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan

Almaty to Bishkek

Almaty and Bishkek are close together, making visiting both of them (and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan together on one trip) temptingly easy. Driving is probably the easiest way, but if you don’t have a car or the ability to drive, you can fly (super short flight; you’d spend more time at the airport than you would in the air) or bus/taxi/walking.

In the past, and maybe even now, you could/can take a bus from Almaty to Bishkek right through. From what I hear, it is convenient and comfortable. When I went though they had temporarily stopped that service, so the option was to take a bus to the border, walk across, and then take another bus. That sounded fine. I took a taxi to the huge bus station (Sayran Station) where I discovered that I had just missed the bus and the next was not for about 4 hours. I wasn’t about to spend my time sitting around, so I walked outside to where a ground of men were gathered around cars and hoped that they were taxi drivers and that one of them spoke English. They were, and they didn’t. Through a few words of Russian and a series of pointing, smiling, and nodding gestures, and writing numbers on paper, we set on a price for one of them to drive me to the border at the town of Kordai.

These are shared taxis; you can wait for others to fill up the car and pay for your seat, which is a bargain, but if you’re impatient, you can pay for all of the seats and go. Still not that expensive. That’s what I did. It cost 20,000 Tenge and took about 2.5 hours.

*mural spotted on the way out of Almaty*

The ride was pleasant and took about 2.5 hours. There wasn’t much to see. A few herds of cows and the odd monument to mark the turnoff to some other place.

*No idea what this is for, but doesn’t it look cool?*

Finally we got to the border crossing. A long line of cars and buses waited to cross, but I was walking, so I left my taxi behind, took my backpack and walked across the border, passing the cars and finding myself at the border without having to queue.

The border crossing was a wordless affair as the guard looked at me, looked at my passport, stamped it, and let me go.

*me, walking across the border to Kyrgyzstan with my backpack, a bit bedraggled but happy*

On the other side, I was descended on my predatory taxi drivers, charging too much for their services, but knowing they had me. I did overpay for the ride to my hostel, but it was still a bargain and I was not in the mood to stubbornly wait in the heat.

About 20 minutes later, my driver dropped me off at my hostel: USSR Hostel. In an old Soviet apartment block, now with a row of highly commercial shops at the bottom. USSR Hostel is really more of a shared apartment. The woman who owns it lives upstairs and the 2 bedrooms in this unit are rented out, with guests to share the washroom and kitchen facilities. My room was a cute little pink room with twin beds and a picture of Lenin on the wall. The other room had four guys from Pakistan. They didn’t speak a word of English but seemed nice and invited me to share in their dinner.

I liked this hostel. It was cheap, had a good location, and gave me a look inside one of the style of buildings I am always curious about. It was like staying in a museum or play acting what it was like to live in the USSR. It suited me just fine.

I’ll save my thoughts about Bishkek for the next post, but I’ll just say, if I’m ranking cities (I’m not and no one asked me to), Bishkek came out ahead of Almaty. More for later.

Asia Central Asia 2022 Kazakhstan

Almaty: Green Market / Red Meat

The Green Bazaar

Almaty’s central market is the Green Bazaar, technically Kök Bazaar. I walked there from my hotel. A nice walk. Sights and sounds of Almaty.

It opened in 1875 but was rebuilt after an earthquake later that century and then rebuilt multiple times over the decades. The market does not look interesting from the outside. It’s just a big green building. Nondescript. Inside though, it is bustling with everything you could want from a Central Asian market. Piles of colorful fruits and vegetables. Bins of spices. Jars of pickled … everything. Nuts and dried fruits. Locally made honey. Horse meat. And unidentifiable food items.

I took a lot of photos of everything; the familiar and the new. Smiling at vendors and sampling items as they were offered.

The butchery section of any market is always one of my favourites. I just find it fascinating and gruesome. We never see this stuff at home (unless you’re actively involved with the killing and processing of animals for food). And I do love gross stuff, so seeing piles of hearts and stomachs, intestines strung up like morbid party streamers, severed heads staring back…I love it.

As far as markets go, the Green Bazaar was not gruesome. Pretty tidy actually, but still vastly unlike the markets we have in Canada. There was the section for horse meat (of course, of course). Horse meat is a staple of Central Asia. It doesn’t bother me at all. Meat is meat and I don’t eat any of it.

My favourite thing about the Green Bazaar though was the dairy section. They had very local and specific products that I would eat: fresh and fermented camel, cow, and horse milk. I didn’t care for the fermented milks, but the fresh camel milk was excellent. (I think this is more due to the freshness and quality more than the animal of origin.)

Also, they had qurt, which is a fermented and dried milk ball. It was created many years ago as a portable source for calcium and protein that nomads could carry without risk of spoiling. It comes in many different varieties. I can’t summarize all of the differences, except that some are from different animals, and some have different amounts of salt. The consistency is like really hard chalk, and it tastes…strong. Salty and pungent. I really liked it, a fact that seemed to delight the woman at the stall who let me sample everything.

The Metro

I went to some different areas of Almaty that day. Partly just to check out some different neighbourhoods; partly to look for a specific cigar lounge that I never did find. I walked a lot but also used it as an opportunity to take the metro.

The Almaty metro is not super comprehensive, nor is it very old, but it is nice. Each stop is a little different in its design and decoration. One had a stained-glass window of an apple tree (Almaty means ‘city of apples’); another has this 1960s modern style décor. (Lousy photos, but you get the idea). They feel quite Soviet but opened in 2011.

My favourite thing about the metro though was that when you buy your fare (super cheap: 80 Tenge, which is about 25 cents Canadian) you get a bright yellow, thick plastic token. It is oddly satisfying – and ended up being my only souvenir.

I spent my evening with cigars and shisha at what became my favourite evening patio. The next day I would cross the border to Kyrgyzstan by a car and foot combo.

Around the World 2022 Asia Singapore

Singapore day 2: Mostly Museums

Singapore. Day two. I probably didn’t need to set my alarm for 5am, but I did. I wanted to make the most of the day. Leaving my hostel, I set out to get a coffee and a bite to eat. Singapore is not an early morning place; at least not where I was staying. Almost nothing was open except for Starbucks, and I wasn’t going to visit an American chain restaurant. I tried to go to a couple of hotel restaurants but was told they were only for guests. I am pretty sure this was not true.

Now is maybe the time to mention that I did not meet a friendly person in Singapore. The people were, at best, cold and polite; and, at worst, rude. I have hardly ever thought that. Vienna, I think, and Hong Kong. Mostly I think people are great. But not here. Not in my brief experience. Anyway, I got a coffee and a juice and went on with my day.

This was a day of walking and museums. I took the metro to the vicinity of Little India and walked from there.

The metro in Singapore is not expansive but suited my needs well enough. Now is the time to mention that the metro in Singapore is also not friendly. I have never seen so many signs admonishing people for possible behavioral transgressions. There were signs that said no eating, no drinking, no talking, no pets, no durian, no bags on your lap, no sitting if someone else needs the seat, no holding the door, no standing near the door…it was a bit much. I just stood still and tried not to make eye contact.

Little India was a nice place for a wander. It was not as picture perfect as downtown and has candy-colored temples, busy markets, and side streets with street art murals.

*Tan Teng Niah – A Chinese-style Colonial structure*

I popped into the hawker centre there – the Tekka Centre – and had a meal from Pakistan (Delhi Lahori). Excellent and cheap.

I wandered around some more, aimlessly, taking pictures of all the lovely buildings, street art, and scenes. It was hot though and starting to get to me.

I walked quite a way in the punishing heat and humidity to the Raffles Hotel. (There’s that name again – as noted in my first Singapore post, he founded the modern colonial Singapore.) The area around the hotel was not great. A big mall. Big buildings. Busy, wide streets. But the hotel is beautiful. A low rise, gleaming white colonial era building with palm treed courtyards and Sikh men in white suits and turbans at the door. It is definitely of another era.

*Raffles Hotel and my one and only Singapore Sling*

I was there, like so many tourists, to visit the Raffles bar to have a Singapore Sling, as this is the bar where it was invented. And what a bar! Dark wood panelling and wicker fans. Well-dressed bartenders. Jazz playing. You could imagine Humphrey Bogart or Ernest Hemingway there. Unfortunately, smoking was not allowed. I had the cocktail, which was excellent. This was the most expensive thing I did in Singapore. It was $37 cdn dollars for the standard version. Worth it for the experience, but one was enough.

I didn’t find Singapore that expensive for the things wanted to do. Meals were normal to inexpensive and most of the stuff I wanted to see was free – walking the streets and looking at art and architecture. Price-wise, Singapore was fine – but stick to one Sling.

From the bar I went to the National Museum of Singapore. It was excellent. I knew almost nothing about Singapore’s history and this was a great overview.

From there I planned to go to the Singapore Art Museum, but it was closed so instead I visited the National Gallery Singapore. Definitely worth a visit, but also had I skipped it my life wouldn’t be dramatically different.

Paintings at the National Gallery

After that I went to a fun mini museum: the MINT Museum of Toys. It’s a small space, several storeys high with just displays of toys. I really enjoyed it. So many things I remember seeing (or in the case of a couple of things: having) and an interesting look at things like horror toys or Beatles toys, or all the diverse modern Barbies. It was cool.

The rest of the day was sort of vague. I wandered, drank coffee, smoked cigars, ate Thai food. I am really glad I got to visit Singapore. Two days was fun, but I’m content not to return.

I had a flight home very early in the morning, via Tokyo, back to Vancouver. Heading back to where I started out when I flew to from Vancouver to Saudi Arabia. All around the world, visiting Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Singapore. A great trip.

Around the World 2022 Asia Bangladesh

Day trip to Sonargaon

On my final day in Dhaka, I was determined to visit Sonargaon. It seemed to me to be best day trip from the capital. I had originally planned to do it earlier in the week, but it was surprisingly closed so this final day was my last chance.

Sonargaon is an historic, mostly abandoned city and former capital of the Bengal region. It was settled in the 13^th century and over time and various rulers and through various wars (I was going to summarise them, but, seriously, it’s a lot) it came to be a major river port city known for literature and learning and commerce. Today it is an area popular for trips outside Dhaka, festivals, and crafts. There is also the abandoned town of Panam Nagar, which was, by the 19^th century, a bustling merchant and administrative centre. It is now a stretch of decaying, beautiful buildings.

Getting to Sonargaon

When I planned to go to Sonargaon I meticulously figured out the route by bus. It is quite doable by bus on one’s own from Dhaka, provided you start out at the right bus station. Because I ended up going on a different day – a day on which my flight to Singapore was scheduled in the evening – I was paranoid about going solo arriving back in Dhaka too late and missing my flight, so I hired a car. But if I had not had the flight, I would have made my way there solo, which would have involved getting a bus from the Gulistan bus station in Dhaka and taking a bus to Mograpara to the stop by the side of the road and then walking or taking a rickshaw to the site. Once at Mograpara, it was obvious that the distance from there to the Sonargaon Museum would have been easily walkable (maybe 20-30 mins) and that there are tons of rickshaws and businesses. No worries of being stranded. The only unpredictable part is the traffic in and out of Dhaka, which is highly congested, but it should take about 3 hours to get there. To go by bus would cost only a couple of dollars. To go by private car is a lot more and I missed out on the fun of the public transport, but I also didn’t spend my day rushing and worrying about missing my flight.

Sonargaon Museum and around

If you google pictures of Sonargaon you will usually see this:

And it does look exactly that beautiful. There is a small collection of gorgeous buildings along the water that you can visit (and I did). They are nice inside, but the exteriors and the setting are really the draw. Around them are waterways with little boats for rent, lush, green picnic areas, and some odd, colorful animal statues. It is all quite pleasant.

It was very busy with visitors, but not many tourists like me; mostly it was local families and school groups. Many of whom wanted to introduce themselves and take selfies.

The Museum at Sonargaon is also worth visiting. It has a great collection of arts and crafts on display (clothing, musical instruments, jewelry, tapestries, etc). My enjoyment of the museum was somewhat hindered by the school kids that were there that just stared at me or asked for pictures. It was all kind and friendly, but I did feel rather on display. I had to say no to many of the photo requests, but I did agree to take a picture with this one group of kids because they were so nice, but you can see on my face how awkward it all was. Me and children? Not a natural combination.

The Abandoned City of Panam Nagar

From the Songaraon Museum area we drove a short distance to Panam Nagar. Panam Nagar was a thriving and prosperous area until the mid 20^th century when ethnic tensions between Hindus and Muslims and the Indo-Pakistani war sent the mostly Hindu residents away and left the area abandoned. What remains is a long road lined by ornate British colonial era buildings slowly crumbling.

It is so photogenic, with the bones of the architecture there accentuated by the deterioration and discoloration; it is surrounded by vibrant greenery.

Almost every building had people in front of it taking highly posed shots in colorful clothes. All locals though. And me.

I did get persuaded to pose with a few families and with one female police officer who approached me, causing momentary alarm, only to be dissipated by a bashful request for a picture.

There isn’t much to do there, but strolling amongst the buildings and under the trees was lovely.

Back to Dhaka and Onwards

We drove back to Dhaka at a crawl in the traffic. At least I was comfortable and got to take in all of the decorative trucks (not as ornate as those in Pakistan, but vividly painted with scenes of flowers and rural areas) and beat up buses.

Back in Dhaka, I had time for a cigar in the garden at the Ambrosia Guest House where I was staying before I taxied to the airport for my red eye flight to Singapore.

Bangladesh had been awesome. Dhaka was a delight. I felt so free and alive. Especially after the subdued and Jeddah. Everything was super affordable and the people area amongst the friendliest I have met. I would love to go back one day and see the rest of the country. Sail the green waterways and take in some small-town life; search for tigers in the jungle. It says a lot for Bangladesh that I would return. Maybe someday. This time, I had one more stop on my short round-the-world trip: the not as delightful and very different Singapore.

Around the World 2022 Asia Bangladesh

A Day in Dhaka

For my second day in Dhaka, Bangladesh I had hired a guide. It seemed unnecessary, in a way. On my first day I had seen and experienced so much and satisfies myself that Dhaka is perfectly fine to explore solo, but it turned out to be a great idea. Having a guide met me get a little deeper into Dhaka, to see things I wouldn’t have found on my own, and it was nice to have the company.

I booked the tour through Bangladesh Eco Adventure and had Afridi as my guide. He was great, as was the tour. I was so happy that he didn’t pick me up in a car. We started out on foot from my guesthouse and hopped in a tuk tuk to get to the market during the busy market.

Tuk Tuks

The tuk tuks in Dhaka are a little different. First of all, they call them CNGs, which stands for compressed natural gas. Unlike the colorful tuk tuks of SE Asia, or Dhaka’s blinged out rickshaw, they are a stately grey. The most notable thing though is that they have cages. When you get in the back there is a metal cage separating you from the driver, and there are cages on the sides, which are locked from the outside. So it is like a little deathtrap. (You can unlock the doors yourself from the inside if you slip your fingers through the cage, so you aren’t entirely confined.) As with tuk tuks everywhere, haggling pre-journey is essential.

Kawran Bazaar

We snaked and jerked through the traffic to the Kawran Bazaar market. And what a market! So lively and crowded, busy and colorful. Piles of produce, sacks of spices, stalls of house wares, labyrinths of raw meat. It was terrific. Men with huge, flat baskets carried fruits and vegetables, apparently acting as porters or personal shoppers for wealthier residents.

Afridi took me into the dark corridors at the heart of the market, where the lighting is uniformly green, to hide imperfect limes and squash. There were bricks of amber colored sugar and mandalas of tobacco leaves. Deeper inside were freshly beheaded goats, still leaking blood onto the floor, and blacksmith areas, where young men beat white hot molten metal into knives.

We also walked through the areas where many of the vendors live, at least during market days. Tiny bunks separated with tarps and repurposed rice sacks. From the roof we got a view over the market.

Alongside the market were train tracks, also busy with less organized commerce.

*me, on the wrong side of the tracks in Dhaka*

Dhaka University

From the market we caught another tuk tuk to the University, which was an impressible Mughal structure surrounded by a green respite. We walked around the grounds and had a bite to eat (lentils and rice) at the outdoor cafeteria. We mostly looked at the art department where there were rows of busts, sculpted by the students, graded, and then mostly left out amongst the gardens. Afridi said this is partly to do with the ban on Muslims making art depicting the human form. It was a lovely spot.

*University lunch spot & mobile libraries*

*me in front of a particularly colourful mural at the University*

Back to the Old City

We took a tuk tuk to the old city, where I had been the day before, but we stopped for local tea from a street stall and drank it in the courtyard of the policeman’s barracks.

*Tea time. Weirdly, served in a “Canada” mug.*

We visited the famous “Star Mosque”, which is beautiful but was under construction, so I didn’t see it in all of its glory. It is amazing the stunning and small mosques hidden in the ramshackle Old City streets.

*A view of the Star Mosque. Not visible are the many stars.*

To the River

We then walked to the river’s edge, near where I had been before, but this time, I got to go out on a boat. It was a comfortable, relatively small, flat-bottom boat paddled by a single boatman.

We floated along the river past commuter boats and ships. It was heavenly. There was a perfect breeze and was quiet and relaxing. The boat ride also took us past factories – the sort that make those cheap, disposable clothes and that both provide jobs and subject workers to horrible conditions. Yeah, those.

All along the river people went about their business and enjoyed the weather. I saw two very little girls standing on the end of a boat, holding up in front of then a small piece of torn cardboard; they repeatedly posed and smiled at it – pretending to take selfies.

The Ship Yards

We docked on the other side of the river and hopped out to explore the shipyards where enormous commercial ships were being repaired and painted. To look for defects or thin spot in the metal, men pounded on the ships’ hulls with hammers, creating a loud cacophony.

We also saw people making enormous propellors by digging the mould into the dirt and then pouring molten metal into it. Once cooled, they smoothed off the rough spots. All of this done without any protective gear of course. Most men wore sandals.

Back on the boat, we went to the other side and had lunch at a local spot near the courthouse where I met several barristers on break. Once I mentioned I was a lawyer the conversation turned to work before I naturally flowed into a chat about Islamic black magic and horror movies.

Wrapping up (and a few more photos)

It was an excellent day that left me exhausted and full.

My first two days in Dhaka had both exceeded my expectations. Not every place can do that. I went to bed excited for day three, where I had almost nothing planned.

Around the World 2022 Asia Bangladesh

Discovering Dhaka, Bangladesh

I like cities, better than nature if I am being honest. Sometimes when I pick a city to visit it is because it has something specific I want to see, but sometimes I am just curious about a city itself. Dhaka, Bangladesh was one of those cities. I had little on a list of ‘sites’ to see in Dhaka; it was just the city itself that appealed. Everything I read about it suggested it would be either a lively chaos or a miserable cesspool. (Seriously, most people had nothing but negative things to say about it.) Either way, I knew it would be interesting. I’ll just say now, I loved it. I loved it instantly and throughout.

It started the moment I stepped out of the airport, having flown there from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. People crowded, shouting, pushing perilous towers of beaten-up luggage, cars bumper-to-bumper, instant heat and smells of people and exhaust and perfume. Terrific.

I got a taxi to take me to my accommodation. Dhaka is notorious for its traffic, and we did spend a little time crawling along, but I didn’t mind because everything was exciting. The overcrowded buses that looked like they had been through 50 years of bad driving, the tuk tuks, bicycles, rickshaws, and trucks, all jockeying for position. I’m sure that if I lived there, I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic, but as a new arrival, everything seemed new and thrilling.

And then we pulled up to the high gate of my accommodation: the Ambrosia Guest House. I can confidently say I would not stay anywhere else in Dhaka. There are no hostels to speak of and most of the budget hotels look grim. The fancy hotels look generic and are in a dull part of town, but this Guest House is in a perfect location for a walker like me, just off a main road but slightly tucked away with a beautiful garden oasis. I had a big private room, use of the common areas, and enjoyed breakfast each morning with the other guests. In the evenings, I had a cigar in the garden.

But I didn’t travel to Dhaka to luxuriate in gardens. So out I went.

The streets in Dhaka are wonderful madness. Endless traffic with a parade of colourful rickshaws, creating a cheerful din of handlebar bells. Old, repurposed, red double-decker buses from the UK. The regular city buses, so beaten up but painted with colourful patterns and sometimes with whimsical hearts or birds. And of course, bicycles, tuk tuks, and people on foot, like me, all moving together. It is chaos, but it works.

Everything is loud, from the voices to the horns and bells, to announcements made over loudspeakers about, presumably, things for sale at the central market.

It is colourful. Not just the buses, but the people, many dressed in bright local or traditional clothing, stalls selling fresh flowers, businesses covered in a riot of multicoloured signage that can only come from a lack of regulation.

Nothing is orderly or slow. It is all terrific and exhilarating.

I walked for a bit, stopping for coffees or teas. I wandered through book stalls and shops at the market and meandered around taking it all in.

I then hailed a rickshaw to take me to the edge of Old Dhaka. That was fun. I discovered later that I paid about 10x more than I should have, but the price I paid was still like $3 cdn, so it was cheap – especially since I was paying for a slightly-built human being to pull me by the power of his own cycling whilst I rode in my sparkly rickshaw seat like a king.

I was dropped off at the Dhakeshwari Temple, a candy-coloured Hindu temple. I can’t tell you much about it, but it was busy with worshippers and had altars of slightly fearsome, slightly comedic looking gods.

From there, I wandered towards the Lalbagh Fort. It wasn’t difficult to find. Buildings in Old Dhaka are not that tall and eventually I saw the walls and the tops of the fort ahead of me. The entrance fee was negligible and well worth it. The fort structures inside are fine. A bit like the Red Fort in Delhi or the Lahore Fort in Lahore, but much smaller. The real treat are the grounds, lovely expanses of green with beautiful flowers.

It was all locals (and me) inside, everyone enjoying the serenity. It was there though that I discovered the Bangladeshis’ fondness for selfies. I couldn’t go a few feet without being asked to take selfies with people. One person asked me to hold their baby for the photo. (I declined that. I’ve never held a baby in my life and was not to start with a stranger’s child.) Eventually I had to start declining the selfies or I would never get where I was going. People asked me where I was from and, smiling, wished me happy travels in Bangladesh. Both the selfies and friendly greetings happened everywhere. Even people that spoke very little English would manage to ask me where I was from and say, “thank you”.

From there I visited the Armenian church, a pretty buttercream and yellow church surrounded by trees. I was let in by the caretaker who unlocked it and was happy to show me around. (All my pictures were lousy, but it is worth visiting.)

I stepped out of the church and was trying to decide which direction to walk next, when a young man approached me. He spoke English and asked me where I was from and if I was lost. I explained I was just looking around and he suggested I walk to the river and told me the way. He gave me his business card and said that if I needed anything, to contact him. That too was not the only time that kind of hospitality happened.

I did walk down to the banks of the Bariganga River. The river is the life of the city, connecting it to the rest of the country. The waterways are filled with passenger ships, cargo ships, and little boats transporting people and goods. It is as energetic as the streets. I sat on the banks of the river, smoked some cigarillos and watched the action. I did not go out on a boat that day but did the next.

After that, I continued to walk the streets of Old Dhaka. Old Dhaka is, well, the oldest part of the city. The streets are narrow, sometimes not even wide enough for cars. The buildings are in poor repair and the streets are lined with shops, restaurants, small mosques, and tons of food vendors.

Mysterious fried snacks filled with vegetables or meat, sweets, fresh juices, overly sweet tea, fruits, plates of curries and biryani. I ate some things where I was able to discern that they were vegetarian. I assumed I would get some sort of food poisoning not matter how careful I was, so why not go down enjoying the local food? (Amazingly I did not get sick on this trip.)

I walked back to my hotel, getting there after dark.

On the way back I saw something I had not expected. I was on a busy street with sidewalks and there was a man lying down. I hadn’t seen this yet in Dhaka, so it caught my attention. Plus, the man was lying in an uncomfortable position…with his eyes wide open…and not moving. I stopped. Also not moving: his chest. I know what a dead person’s open eyes look like and this was it. No one else was stopping, so I walked to the corner, where there was a group of policemen. I approached them and tried to say what I had seen, but they didn’t speak English. I tried to communicate through miming. I pointed, then leaned back with my arms crossed over my chest. Made a slashing movement in front of my throat…but they didn’t seem to understand. So I carried on. At that point it wasn’t exactly an emergency situation, and I did what I could. It was a little jarring to see death in the middle of a city that feels so alive, but you can’t have life without death. You just don’t often see it.

I had only been in Dhaka a half a day but saw so much. I finished the evening in my hotel’s garden with a cigar, reflecting on all of it.

A few practical comments:

As I discussed in a previous post, I did have to get a visa ahead of time, but there was no other hassle entering the country.

Dhaka is inexpensive. Like, really cheap. You can obviously spend more if you want to go to western-style restaurants and cafes, but just walking around, taking local transport, and eating at casual places or on the street, you would struggle to spend $10.

This is one of those places where you should have cash. I brought a mix of Euros and US dollars and exchanged them for Bangladeshi Taka as needed. I did try some ATMS just to see if they worked. Some did. Some didn’t. You can’t expect places to take cards unless they are more upscale.

I felt completely safe, day and night. It is so busy and there are always people around and they are exceedingly helpful. No one was rude or leering or threatening in any way. Probably the only risk is tripping or stepping into a hole in the sidewalk.

It was really hot and humid. Staying clean was impossible. That said, despite the heat, it felt good. There are so many trees and often a nice breeze, especially near the river.

Most people didn’t speak English but often there would be someone around who would speak it a bit if you really need to communicate.

In case I haven’t made it clear: I thought Dhaka was awesome and was happy to have more days ahead.

Wandering North

Tag: transportation

Brunei Darussalam

Fast Facts

Back to the travel report…

The Terrestrial Sights

The Aquatic Sights

Back on Land

Arriving in Manila

Meroë

A Bit of Luxury in Almaty

Crossing back into Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan

Back in Almaty and into the lobby of luxury

Almaty to Bishkek

Almaty: Green Market / Red Meat

The Green Bazaar

The Metro

Singapore day 2: Mostly Museums

Day trip to Sonargaon

Getting to Sonargaon

Sonargaon Museum and around

The Abandoned City of Panam Nagar

Back to Dhaka and Onwards

A Day in Dhaka

Tuk Tuks

Kawran Bazaar

Dhaka University

Back to the Old City

To the River

The Ship Yards

Wrapping up (and a few more photos)

Discovering Dhaka, Bangladesh