Blogs from Asia - page 13071

Raleigh International - Phase 1 - Environmental Project - Imbak Canyon Asia » Malaysia » Borneo » Sabah » Kota Kinabalu By Jo WarrenMarch 6th 2007Kota KinabaluJo Warren Eighteen days in the jungle - who would of thought I'd make it!!!Washing in rivers, burning poo paper over the fire..... picking leeches off my skin.. and no make up or hair straighteners...it was fantastic I loved it!!! Its quite liberating being grafted with mud and not looking in a mirror for weeks!! Basi... read more

Tips and What-not 1. There are no sides of the road -- but most people just stick to the left 2. People only honk their horns when they're driving so they don't feel badif they hit you 3. Supply your own toilet paper 4. Don't ride the night bus 5. The world just isn't made for a group of five 6. Ignore the smells (or at least try) 7. Avoid the grape juice, or just ask for it without a litre of foam 8. Fancy restaurants aren't known for their good service 9. When selecting your horse drawn carriage, pick a driver who looks gutsy enough to escape a van full of policemen 10. The "the customer is always right" policy is big here. If someone wants to sell you something, they start by saying "Yes ... read more

ENGLISH BELOW Nous avons quitte Hanoi pour la Baie de Halong. Classee patrimoine mondial par l'Unesco. Nous partons dans un mini-bus et roulons environ 3 heures pour nous y rendre. Le paysage citadin disparait rapidement pour laisser place a la campagne. Les Vietnamiens avec leur petit chapeau conique en paille retenu sous le menton par un joli foulard se deplacent en velo ou a pied. Le paysage est plat, on y voit des rizieres a perte de vue et des gens penches travaillant dans ces rizieres innondees. On voit un dos et un petit chapeau. Curieusement, on apercoit souvent au milieu des carres cultives de riz des sepultures. On y enterre les morts? Le temps est gris et pluvieux. Les gens en moto portent des ponchos de pluie. Parfois doubles, c'est a dire un poncho avec ... read more

After our walk through the Imperial Gardens, one of the oldest and most traditional sites in the city, we headed over to Akihabara which houses the city’s electric district. Every store we passed had bright neon signs exploded with appliances, computer accessories, cameras, stereos and anything else with a power source imaginable. At one store there was a floor dedicated to televisions, the largest of which was a 103 inch LCD screen, much larger then anything I have seen in the United States. Sitting in front of it I could see no reason for anyone to have a TV so large, as even HDTV displays aren’t clear enough to do it justice. Between stores we decided to eat, and stopped at what looked like a Japanese Denny’s chain, at appeared to be more like a ... read more

Something seems to have shifted as we have made our way through India to our third big region, Rajasthan. It feels as though we have been through the tougher part and are now sailing along much more easily. Like eating your spinach first, and saving dessert for last. I last left off with us anticipating another train station. After Katni, our enthusiasm for it was low. Happily, the station in Jaipur was pleasant enough -- yes, the requisite beggars -- but airy and much less intent. We had three young hoods stop and ask, of course, "Where you from lady?" and proceed to tell us that the kind young man who had escorted us to the station was a "very bad man". Of course he was nothing of the kind. While I have stuffed his name ... read more