happenings

Mekong Tours

Met a cool guy the other night who runs mekong Tours. Looks like he knows where to take some cool trips so saving this for reference.

Mekong Tours

later

In Penang...

Chilling - if you could call it that in Penang. Can't really saw there is any reason to come here other than getting my Thai non-immi B visa - because it sure isn't the food, the nightlife or the beaches. I could have stayed in Thailand for any of that. I have always tried to enjoy Malaysia but other than going to KL - I can never really seem to enjoy Malaysia. It could be the Muslim thing, the too many Chinese thing or maybe that fact that I am just always irritated by the whole taxi situation. This place will never regularly attract and retain tourists until the government sorts out the taxi mess.

First off - this is not a tough one - use the freaking meter. You are note fooling anyone with the little sign over the meter, the meter does not work story or the blunt we don't use meters around here statement. It gets so old. I hate always being quoted a different fare than the one I paid yesterday for the same run and I hate always having to bargain just to get the price down to a fair level - let alone a bargain. Anyway - I just hate it and it will always bug me about Malaysia.

We are staying at the City Bayview Hotel in Georgetown area. Nothing special but decent, fair price and wireless internet in the room. A little too pricey for the pre-paid cards but at least I can get reliably connected in the comfort of the room. Got to like that. Room service menu is small but so far the food has been tasty. Breakfast comes with the room but don't expect a great meal but enough to get your day going.

Monday morning headed over to the Thai embassy to put in for my non immi B visa. There was one guy in line ahead of me and it looks like he had arrived way too early but better yet he was dressed in a suit and tie. I asked him if he worked in Penang and he said he was just here for a visa run. So I deduced that the attire was chosen to give him an unfair advantage in getting a visa. Somehow I don't think anyone cares and from what I can tell when I picked my visa up before him today that it did not help at all.

These quirky little embassy deals are such a pain really. I don't understand why that cannot put some systems in place to serve those who come first and make it clear to people what that system is. I did not have anything really better to do with my time but I always hate time get wasted on my behalf without consulting me first. So I was the second guy to get in line that day and since there was no one behind us - me and Mr. suit headed for the food stall across the way to get some pulled tea and somasas. God knows I was hungry and this was all there was to be had. I finished mine up and when I headed back there were 2 other people in line and the gate was opening up although it was before 9. We got in and grabbed the forms since I did not have one. Filled it out and then the second gate opened with people starting to form the actual line to the visa counter. Figuring I was in like Flynn I started to get in line and the Malay attendant told me that the 2 other people plus Mr. Suit were in line before me. This is the shit I hate since both Mr. Suit and the malay dork saw me second in line in the morning prior to drinking my pulled tea - which by the way was quite good. So I took 4th in the line knowing it was not a huge deal but wishing that this advanced culture could have sorted out by know the systems that could be put in place to make something like this a lot easier and fair.

So once the counter opened up it turns out a whole different system was now being created for how your visa form would get processed. The man at the counter was handing out small forms or receipts for the passport collection and they were numbered. Not being one to push by the time I reached the counter I was giving a slip with a number 7 on it. Great - after getting up early and being second in line I was now 7th in getting my form processed. Oh well - I was hoping in the end none of this really made that much of a difference because there was not too many people waiting around anyway. About 15 minutes later I paid for my visa and turned in my forms. Came back the next day and picked up my passport after about 15 minutes as well. Pretty painless - let's just hope it all works. One more funny one about Mr. Suit - he tried to pay for his visa in Thai Baht and was told only RM was accepted. He had to get out of line and hunt around for someone to exchange his Baht for ringgit. I had plenty to sell him but since he took no initiative to defend my second spot in line I decided against opening up my mouth as well. ;)

So far I have not really eaten any decent food or been to anywhere cool enough to mention. I can say stay away from the Thai restaurants on Gurney street since they are Chinese owned and appear to have Chinese cooks. We tried one and the food was bad but to top it off the service was crappy as well. We did eat at one Thai place in Gurney Plaza located in the basement. It has Malays working the counter and serving but we are pretty sure the cook was Thai and the food was great and the prices were reasonable. I will probably order the room service again tonight given I am getting up early and not feeling like exploring again.

Penang is not really turning out to be cheap and the 7/11 is not even stocked well enough for a decent snack run - so staying inside to play cards has not been a decent option since I am without my iPod speakers. When we jumped on the plane in Bangkok we checked one bag since we were each carrying backpacks and the third bag as a carry on was slightly pushing it. I was stupid cause when we arrived in Penang my bag did not show. How do they lose it from Bangkok to Penang - once short hop in my book. Since we had got in pretty late no one was going to be doing anything about it so we just went to bed and I called Thai airways in the morning. They did not where the bag was and said they would update me later. So to get started on things I called the claims department to see if we would be given some money in the meantime. They offered 100 USD for now so I jumped in the taxi, yes paying 10 RM just to get there, and staked claim to my 4000 baht. Later that day the luggage did show up. For some reason it made a stop in KL before coming to Penang. Who the hell knows why  but at least we got the bag back. However the bag was clearly opened and examined and I am now missing my InMotion portable iPod speakers with remote control. I really liked those speakers and I wondering if I am going to be able to get Thai Airways to pay for them.

Well - enough bashing for one entry. I need to get into a writing groove and I am just not sure how to do it. Yes - I know quitting my Job and moving to Thailand was about creating more time for myself but funny things happen along the way and I am once again busy looking for time. Life is a strange trip.

enjoy...

yo yo yo

Well. I am behind. I know. Way busy - lots of keyboard time for work so I don't feel like blogging. Need to change that. ;)

I am in India now and will be heading to the US next week. Then back from that and off to Japan and then going down under. After that? China. After that? India and then back down under. Yeah - I am on the road until early April. Welcome to my work.

Service. I like service. What I mean is good service like when you go eat or when you check into a hotel. I remember reading once about being over-serviced and how it tends to happen in Asia. This week bopping around India and staying at some nice places I must say I feel the same way. Let me first confess that staying at nice places while working in India is great. Because traveling on airplanes in India sucks. Driving around in India sucks and in general trying to conduct business in a timely fashion in India can just plain suck. Got on a plane today in Delhi. Sign on the plane - 50 year anniversary. Was not sure if they meant the company or the plane...

Back to the subject matter. This over-service thing can get irritating especially when you let the service happen at every turn because then the person offering you the service is expecting tips. I am okay with that but then they need to be okay with me turning down the service so that one, I don't have to be bothered and two, I don't have to tip them. So when I get out of the hotel car and I say I can get my own bag - I mean it. I carry it all the time when no one is there to help me anyway. I personally don't like waiting in my room for my bag to reach me. I like to carry it with me. So ask me once and if I say yes- then go ahead and grab the bag. If I say no- then leave it alone and please don't make me say no 5 times.

Room service. Bring in the tray and let me sign the bill because if I say I can take care of it then I really can. Can I pour your coke? No - I can do it later, thanks. Can I take the lid off of your tray- no, I want to do it when I eat it and I want it to stay warm. You get the drift. Service is great but don't rub it in to the point that it starts to feel like an intrusion and less like service. Asia has great service and I have come to be spoiled by it but there are times when you want a little less service than they are pushing on you.

Hope I don't sound bitter...

Wow. Talk about something weird? How about a born again KORN band member. That is heavy!

check it out...

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...

I am okay!

YES I AM OKAY!

Thank u everyone who keep emailing, calling and texting.

I was in Bangkok during the quake and felt it but no damage. Now I am in Central Java - Yogyakarta. All good here but obviously a good part of SE Asia is in shambles. The death toll is astonishing. This is a sad time around here.

I wish everyone a good new year and cherish your loved ones since we all know how quick they can be taken from us.

peace...

love michael

The Day After Christmas!

For many people this is suppose to be a pretty joyous occasion. For children in affluent parts of the world this is the day when you actually comprehend among all your gifts which ones are cool and which ones you will quickly toss aside. Modern consumerism at it finest instilled early on in our children – seems so wrong in light of what actually did happen on the morning of Dec 27, 2004 in SE Asia. Being based in Hong Kong for work has taught me many things but one of them is not to take for granted than HK is located by air 2-5 hours away from some of the best chilling out spots in Asia. I have spent Christmas in
Thailand before and I have spent Thanksgiving on Koh Phi Phi island as well. Awesome. So as I stated before it should not come as a shock that I was in Bangkok over Christmas – the only shock was the feeling I had on Sunday morning when I occurred to me that I was feeling an earthquake in my hotel. It was quite a roller but I did not think too much of it sense nothing come crashing down and my bed was still in the same part of the room it was before the quake happened. Back to sleep I went which at the time seemed like the right thing to do. Wow.

 It was not until I was on my way to the airport that it dawned on me that something serious had happened. My friend Nick had texted me to tell me I might want to call and check flights since it looked like all hell had broken loose in SE Asia. The quake which turned out to be much bigger than anyone had suspected had caused a massive tsunami that hit almost every coastal part of the Indian Ocean. With no warning mechanisms in place people from Phukett to Sri Lanka suddenly found themselves staring at a much bigger wave than anyone should ever see in those areas. I got to the airport and in general things were pretty calm which masked that fact that a bunch of people from other parts of SE Asia who transit in and out of BKK were stranded. I got back to HK and starting unwinding and packing for my New Year’s trip to Indonesia. Glued to the BBC in between laundry and ordering take out I started to get a pretty good sense of how bad things were. If you remember at this time officials were estimated the dead to be under 20,000 people. If only…

I did get to Jakarta via Singapore the next morning. Like to make a quick shout out to the staff of Singapore Airlines. Although I was in business class I am continually amazed at the unwarranted service, the friendliness of the staff and the amazing food on Singapore Airlines. A few US based carriers could learn a thing or two about what it means to fly and the definition of service. Thanks to that crew for a great flying experience and the friendly chatter. Each time I got a glimpse of the news I noticed that the death toll kept climbing and the wave of destruction had reached more shores than first thought. As I write this from a small annex of Cilcap in Central Java I am told the death count is over 120,000 and Indonesia appears to have been hit the worst. Pretty damn sad.

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.

Ahhh...

This is me deeply exhaling - for what I am not sure but it feels like the right thing to do. I am way behind on my blog - I seem to attack it in waves of aggression. Sometimes I get something posted everyday and then other times I completely ignore it. Oh well. Usually I ignore it on the holidays and that is probably a good things since I should take a break from the keyboard now and then.

 Things have been pretty busy both with work and a hectic holiday schedule but a non busy life is probably not one worth living. At least for now. As I tell myself – I can sleep when I am old. Sounds goods anyway. After Shnaghai eWorld I jetted back to HK for a few days and tried to play catch up with the snail mail, bills, email, and generally trying to put my apartment in order. I don’t think I made much progress but I did pursue it between bits of early holiday partying. It is useless to resist…

 On Wednesday evening prior to Christmas I hopped over to BKK for a little holiday cheer in the Big Mango. That comment may bother some of you euro folks or people in the used to be good ole US of A but in HK we can just hop right over to Thailand. I love doing that. Between numerous people being in town for two different weddings and the usually stragglers who happen to pop into BKK for Christmas I was kept quite busy roving around and fitting a little time in to party, but I survived. ;) I hope all my friends enjoyed their Christmas and I wish I could have been with family but it did not work out this time. I did see the oldies earlier in the month back in San Fran, some call it frisco, and I am happy to report that the folks are doing well.

Hey Dad – how is the new iBook? So hard for me to say that - brings tinges of jealousy to my gut.

Checking in...

Been busy:

           

Year to date Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM)	181,201
Year to date Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS)	65
Lifetime United flight miles	552,527

I am sure if I added up my AA and Asia Miles accounts  I would be over 200k. Ouch.
I did have some fun along the way! ;)

In Shanghai for BEA China eWorld 2004. Looks like it will rock.
I have some presos, some interviews and some keynote demos. Could be good. Could be bad.

Will be in bangkok for Christmas and Indonesia for New Year. Should be fun.

Look me up if you are there.

cheerio...

Jarkarta - the saga...

I knew going into it that Jakarta could not replace a bkk or hk for partying. In fact I think even KL is better than Jakarta for partying but I was still willing to give it a shot. Here are some of my observations on my time spent in Jakarta. Maybe it will save u some trouble or at least take u to where u might want to go faster than I got there. ;)

First off I stayed at the Mandarin-Oriental. Nothing to write home about. I wish it had broadband in the rooms and a better hotel bar but for the money, about 87 USD a night, it was a nice spot and was comfortable. The hotel pool could be better for sure. The huge surrounding wall cuts out the sunshine far too early. Anyway - I did not do a lot of research and it would be nice to find a cool, boutique hotel in a nice spot of town. Hence lies the big issue - there really is not one spot of town to hang out in anyway. Jakarta is sprawl and there is not easy way to get from one spot to the next. This is a big issue if u really want to party. I continue to appreciate HK more and more, sure it is compact and busy, but it cannot be beat for being able to get to one area with tons of party options until the wee hours of the morning.

Food - I never cracked the code on the food scene. I have to admit that u cannot beat Bangkok when it comes to food. Hell - I could eat on the street for an entire week and not get bored of it but I could not find a similar scene in Jakarta. The street food was scattered around, not very diverse and did not look as clean as Bkk street food. Even a few of the known street food areas like Jalan Jaksa and surrounding artieries did not impress me. I am not a critic here - I am just trying to find a cool place to eat. So for those who want to comment on my blog about this please be construtive by pointing out my mistakes and guiding me to the good spots. Trust me. I asked around and the suggestions sucked. There are no local guides with good info and google yielded nothing. So I am hoping my blog will lead to turning this around a bit if a few locals or expat foodies can steer me the right way. Restaurants that are really good are hard to find or are just not in a good local. Sure the malls have mall food and everywhere u go u see an indo restuarant but I never found anything truly awesome or with writing about. The Kemang area showed some promise but once again nothing is easy to get to and the place had a sense of the chain feeling and there was too much western or chinese on offer - I don't need to come to Jakarta for that.

Haircut. Yeah I needed one and I decided to do it there. I was in the Plaza Indo EX - just ask for the Hard Rock Cafe since it is in the EX plaza. BTW - this is a cool plaza and had some interesting stores. It is close to the Grand Hyatt and the MO. I went to Fazio and had my haircut by  Edward. Great place. Good prices, awesome service, good cuts and super friendly people. Check it out. This is the best way to get immersed quick and get some local tips.

Getting around. Pain in the ass comes to mind. Bkk is screwed up to but at least u have easy access to motorcycle taxis, the skytrain, the subway and an easy taxi system. The taxis in jakarta are a pain. They either never stop, won't use the meter, can't find the place or don't speak enough english. So this always complicates things since u can't walk to anything and the town is tough to navigate so u rely on the taxis for help. I never did get into a Bajaj(bkk tuk-tuk, indian autorick) because they always wanted to charge way too much and they could never confirm they knew where we wanted to go. My guess is Jakarta is  not a tourist mecca anyway - just a waypoint for other parts of Java or Bali , but if they ever hope to get tourists there they better address the basic needs that tourists have for getting around town. Bkk is easy compared to this.

Ancol. This is the supposed beach part of Jakarta. Unless we missed the right spot, which can happen, my suggestion is to skip it unless u are trying to get to some of the Islands. Pulua ??? . Remember though - go early or go the night before to line it up. Trying to charter something is a pain and the prices are a joke so get there early and get a package for the boat ride. Hopefully next time I can do a better job at this. But don't go to Ancol expecting some nice beach haven close to Jakarta. Not happening.

Cafe Batavie. Come one lonley planet - tell it like it is. This place sucks. The food is okay, the prices are a joke and the drinks are mediocre. Stop by and peak in if u really want to see the place but don't bother sticking around. BTW - there are no good guide books for Jakarta. I think because no one seems to spend much time there is my guess.

Bars and clubbing. Wow. In general hotel bars seem to be the draw but that is not my scene. Burgundy in the hyatt was cool but during the week is was dead, no one dances and the drinks are pricey. The band was fun but not enough to stay there for too long. Check out the Beat in Kemang and it plain sucked. The hostesses were cool and gave us some clubbing tips but watching the fat old men play small talk and bad pool while they impressed the young indo ladies with fat wallets just gets boring after a bit. My guess is Jakarta is full of this scene. We saw the Staium but the music sucked, the place was real seedy and the vibe was just not there. I don't mnd hanging in the known pick up joints if the place is hopping and cool but the Stadium is not!

Other places we were told to check it out is Retro in the Crowne Plaza hotel, BATS in the Shnagri-La, CJs in hotel Mulia and Jalan Jalan in the Menara Imperium. Apart from the hotel locations one of the big issues is just finding these places. That is harder than it sounds.

Anyway. We did find one cool place and this is a better DJ house scene than anything BKK or HK has. When MOS was hopping in BKK then I would say otherwsie but for now I must say that Centro in Jakarta is awesome. Easy to find. Awesome scene, great drinks, affordable, great DJs and a killer vibe. Seems to be open late late and has a fund dance crowd. This is true house music and made for dancing - no top 40 here but hey - I like that. Check it out. U will dig it.

Okay. I am sure I have more to add but for now I am out of time. Gotta catch a plane to HK.

cya