happenings

Snack Foods

I noticed a column in Business Week talking about how snack food companies in the US were starting to package things like chips and cookies in single serving portions as US people were realizing that they are too damn fat and should eat a small bag of chips rather than a bag meant to feed 5 people. Makes sense to me but the funny thing is that SE Asia has been doing this for years mostly given that people cannot afford a huge bag of chips so companies around here package things in single serving portions. Cool for me. I want some chips now and then so I grab a small bag with a drink and polish them off while I am walking down the street. I get my oil and salt fix but I don't turn into a big fattie. It is funny how I continually see things around here, due to economics, reach america but for different reasons.

coolio

Breakfast

Went back to Crepes and Co today for some breakfast.

had a nice breakfast crepe with some iced coffee. very tasty.

nice and quiet morning place to eat and read the economist.
I like this place cause it feels like a small hideout from the hustle and bustle of bangkok.

btw - soap and xml is just too mainstream now.
ad in the economist for a fuji xerox copy machine.

main selling point - fully xml and soap compliant.
yes - I am sure the office manager in charge of hte copy machine knows what that is all about.

too funny

l8r

Crepes and Co

Tried this place out the other night: Crepes and Co

Good stuff. On sukumit Soi 12 - right past Cabbages and Condoms on the right hand side.

My crepe was okay but mostly it was because I picked the wrong one. Next time will take the build my own option.
However the menu looks great with lots of diversity and I must admit the salads are really good.

I need to go back for breakfast since the breakfast menu looks awesome and I think it would be nice to sit in the courtyard in the morning reading a paper and having breakfast.

If u are in bkk - check this place out.

I will be back.

cya

Bangkok - La Dalat Indochine

Had a friend in town and he wanted something different. So for me that means not Thai and somewhere I have never been either. So since we wanted to be in the Soi Cowboy area, imagine that, I opted to take him to La Dalat Indochine on Sukumvit Soi 23. Go to Soi 23, go straight, pass Soi Cowboy on your left and look for La Dalat Indochine and your right. Go in and eat.

It is located in a cool old house and is mostly a Vietnamese menu. A little pricey for my Bkk lifestyle but the service was great, food was tasty and the staff was fun to chat to. I am sure there is better food in town for less money where you don't have to get so dressed up to indulge but I will have to epxeriment more.

Either way. I can't really complain about the place and if you are in the area - stop in and have a bite.

cya

More on Indonesia...

I wrote up a pretty big post on some time I spent in Jakarta. Although it is not as good as BKK or HK it was a good time and I value the investigations. However this trip was going to be more cultural and spent in hopes of seeing what central Java had in the way to offer a seasoned SE Asia explorer. No laughing…

Hopped a flight from Jakarta toYogyakarta to cut out as much car time as I could. I will call it Yogya from here on out. At Yogya I stayed at the Hotel Istana Batik (+62274589853). From the entry in the Lonely Planet(LP), it sounded like a centrally located place with a decent atmosphere. I can’t say the book was wrong but I found the place to be not as cheap as the LP alluded to – even with some bargaining and I also found the rooms to be a little weak. The sagging bed could sure use some attention for one and the TV would not be a reason to choose this place. However the pool was great and would be one plus for staying there if what you wanted was a clean dip. I enjoyed it. I think the most bothersome thing about this place was the noise. It was hard to fall asleep and I was always woken up early to the prayer call(something you just have to get used to) and the sound of all the children playing in the courtyard and the street outside. Coupled with the bed this was not a good place to expect any real rest. Apart from that it is not a bad choice and the food was pretty good and affordable.

 Bedhots!

Generally I am not a fan of the one man industry when it comes to tourist places in SE Asia but this guy is cool and he pulls it off well. First off he has a restaurant on Gang II located between JL Pasar Kembang and JL Sosrowijayan called Bedhot’s Resto(+62274512452). Good food, cool people and they have real cocktails. This is a plus since most of the places just have beer which I am not a big fan of.

If you leave his resto and walk left from the exit you will run into another part of his establishments. His tattoo palour, gallery and homestay. This is the same number you use to reach his resto – must be his handphone. He has some seriously cool paintings and I am still thinking about picking one up. The homestay is simple rooms, with breakfast at a pretty decent price. No aircon though and not a lot of space but if you want a cheap place to crash with an awesome décor – this is it. His pad is painted wall to wall and filled with some great oils.

The coolest part of Bedhot the industry for me though is his skill as a tattoo artist. I have been looking to add some more ink to my collection and some from Indo seemed right. I had been looking at some of the Javanese patterns and during this fell in love with the Wayang. Wayang are fictional puppet characters based on a Javanese form of Hinduism. Each character has a particular look, name and meaning. I chose Arjuna which is a male Wayang representing the noble Javanese class. He is based on Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Arjuna has a lot of meanings but generally the Javanese appreciate the virtues, nobility and his abilities as a shrewd politician. To top it off he looks cool and Bedhot worked his magic on the right front part of my left leg. Deep black with some graying _ this is one of my best tattoos. The detail and the boldness are striking. Thanks Bedhot.

Bedhot’s emails is pretty simple: bedhots@hotmail.com. Tell him I said hey and get some fresh ink.

The other place I stayed at is Hotel Batik Yogyakarta II – (+62274561828. This is not a bad place to hang in the upper mid-level price ranges. First off I have found the latest Edition of the LP book(2003) to be mostly out of date when it comes to prices of places to stay in Indonesia. Not sure if there has been an sudden increase, that this time of the year is high season or if the LP people always seem to get a better discount than us mere mortals. I got one of the basic bungalows which with a discount was still 410,000 rupiah. Which to me is a little high but this is not a bad spot - decent TV, shower, air, pool and peace and quiet. Although the silence is always broken by the obligatory call to prayer which apart from Jakarta is something that you can never escape in Indonesia. As pretty much every place I have stayed at in Yogya – the mattress needs replacing.

On to the cultural reasons for being in Yogya. This being the old center of Java and still having a sultan – Yogya hosts the Kraton which is the old center of the city and is basically the palace of the Sultan. I did tour the place and was not sure if I was seeing the whole palace or if the place is still in use. It was an okay experience but not amazing. I guess I am spoiled by the sites in Laos and Thailand which are both breathtaking and kept in pretty amazing shape. I am sure this is due to the royalty and the relative affluence of these tow countries. It is very hard to top sites like the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

For starters let me mention that renting a motorcycle is pretty cheap in Yogya and I found the place confusing at first but it turned out to be pretty easy to get around by motorbike. There are plenty of secure places to park, very cheap, and the roads were quite tame compared to some of my riding in places like Vietnam and India. So I rate this a pretty easy place to cruise around by motorbike but all this is based on the fact that riding a motorcycle in SE Asia is for seasoned motorcycle riders. Don’t learn how to ride in SE Asia because most likely you will live to regret it.

The rest of the time besides lounging and eating in Yogya was spent using Yogya as a base to see the famed temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. These are both pretty amazing tourist sites around Yogya and draw a fairly healthy amount of both local and foreign tourists. Part of this is pretty simple. Indonesia is generally considered to be a Muslim region but yet Prambanan is clearly a Hindu temple and Borodudur is one of the best SE Asian Buddhist temples I have seen. If you go to Yogya I cannot imagine missing either one of these spots. Sure you have to put up with other tourists and Borobudur in particular is full of people trying to sell you anything they have, but being in SE Asia you should already be accustomed to this behavior while easily tuning it out. My only complaint, I also share this opinion about the Taj Mahal, is the dual pricing strategy of these type of sites. The Indonesians pay a very small entrance fee and anyone else pays about 10 USD per person to get in. In principal I have no issue with this and realize my tourist dollars are subsidizing the locals to see the place but the problem this creates has to do with the attitude of the locals when they pay next to nothing to see these amazing sites. They throw trash around, climb on things you should not climb and in general appear to treat the site like their own personal property. I think something should be done to enforce the integrity of the sites and the behavior of the visitors – foreign or domestic.

All in all. Good trip. Good sites. Good eating.

Check it out...

BKK Party Update!

Mystique. Wow. This is a pretty new place near Sukumvit Soi 23. I say near because although the address is listed as a small soi located off of Soi 23 I found it pretty hard to convince a Taxi driver to find the place. We did find it and I was thankful for the connection who got us in through the VIP channels. What a place. The shark tank, the gorgeous bar and the music – all spot on. I did not finish the night here but this is a truly happening club in Bangkok and continues to show how BKK can trump the other parts of Asia with club prowess.

Christmas evening found ourselves at the Narcissus Club, also on Sukumvit Soi 23, not far from Soi Cowboy. I have talked about this place before and it helps if you know someone to get you in but the main DJ at this place has to be one of the best in Asia when it comes to just plain hardcore dance tunes. I have never been to this place when the scene was not pumping and the music did not truly invigorate. Christmas 2004 was no exception. Wow. BTW – the Narc CD is amazing.

A martini Jesper will never order!

This is amazing!

I would expect this to take some serious dinner planning.

nice.

cya

Bars in Shenzhen

In Shenzhen for dev2dev days and of course the trip would not be complete without a drink or two.

I did my normal research and came up with a few ideas.

Face - looked cool but did not open until 8:30. This is a common thing in Shenzhen - kind of lame.

So we got a snack and a few beers and waited to meet up with a local BEA rep to try another place.

True Colors.

Pretty stylish, reasonable drinks prices but they won't let you run a tab on your credit card. One of the silly things about chinese bars. They will learn someday that this how they make money - convienence. The dance music was okay and a few locals were shaking their asian tails. There was also the one party girl dancing away on the stage like she was in a dance contest from hell but hey - we all need some entertainment. Upstairs was another bar with a band but I was just not in the mood to listen to live mandarin rock music. Check the place out though - not bad at all.

Just a note. This rep was talking about how cool this place was and how not many whities knew about it. FYI - a slip off the hotel phone pad was in my shirt pocket. This slip contained the name of that bar. As usual - the locals can't pull one over on me. he he

In Chengdu now - hoping to find some place cool but I have no idea where to go.

cya

Cha Cha Char Restaurant in Brisbane

Cha Cha Char

The work gang and I had some steaks at this place last night. Awesome. Great steaks, good wine list, tasty sides and pleasant service. If you are in Brisbane and in need of a meal - this is the place.

Reservations are usually needed so book ahead but the restaurant is in a good location and it will make for a cool evening.

check it out!

Bills - Darlinghurst, Syndey

As always when I get a free morning while on business travel I try to find a new place to grab breakfast. Tony, at the Four Points Sheraton, told me to try Bills in Darlinghurst. So I took my book, my ipod and my appetite to Darlinghurst.

Cool part of town for sure. Check out the new and used clothing shops for some funky stuff and some good deals. One cool place is the Blue Spinach.

Back to the food. Cool place to chill, nice atmosphere and a great open cafe setting. They even have the big community tables for the lonely people to sit at and chat. Was nice. I think the lunch and dinner fare is probably more my taste than breakfast - since frankly I am not into hip breakfast food. I need a good diner with a solid offering of breakfast fare. The food was not bad at all - don't get me wrong but I don't need hip for breakfast. That being said I would suggest checking the place out for sure and take a stroll around the area for some good shops and sights.

cheers