Carbonel

So this is where it all began. I still remember how I felt the first time I glimpsed Kuala Lumpur; the tallness of it (London Fen-like in comparison) the glint of the skyscrapers in the tropical sun, the smell of spices and incense mixed with hot uncollected rubbish, an unfamiliar paradise to me then. I've seen more skyscrapers and Asian cities since then and KL is no longer the daunting and dense metropolis it once was, it's positively spacious and bubblegum light compared to some, but it's still nice to be back, to appreciate it in different ways. KL is like a training ground for the rest of Asia, the kiddie pool you learn to swim in before you jump into the sea. A simplistic but hopefully valid analogy. KL is an easy city to get ... read more

Ahhh, Malaysia, like an old friend, one that smells a little but you like too much to really care. Slipping back into the country the way I came out back in 2004, via Kota Baru, I was confident, I was on familiar ground, I chatted to locals as a lone westerner on the awesome sleeper train, drank coffee in the dining cart like it was the 1920's, watched the jungle creep up as we neared the border. At the start of my solo journey (Nilam had also gone to Malaysia, but wanted to see different parts of it, parts I'd already seen) I stepped off the connecting bus from the border into Kota Baru main square like a pro...then promptly got lost. I ended up in the same place I'd stayed in before, after some local ... read more

Luang Prebang - Phonsavan - Vang Vien - Ventiane Okay, so Laos, well the first thing that hits you, as you stumble off the 29 hour, hot, DVT inducing bus ride, which you will spend with feet wrapped cosily in bundles of wire (until you are all herded off the bus for two hours whilst the wire is offloaded in some random middle-of-nowhere factory) is the colour. It's almost obscene. The Blue Sky, The Green Hills, The White Clouds, it's like Laos has stolen the colour from it's Asian neighbours - fought Bangkok for the golds and blues, China for the reds, sucked the green from the hills of Vietnam, it's almost nauseating, first thing I thought was that God had been messing with the saturation on his TV set. The original Environmentalist philosophers believed that ... read more

The World's bumpiest bus journey is undertaken from Bangkok to Siam Reap, so bad that I am surprised the buses survive the journey at all. We saw one car on this five hour bone rattling test of endurance that had slid into a river off the muddy, slippery roads. Re-assuring. We stopped to ask if they needed help, but a truck and some rope were on the way. So we left on our arse numbing way and arrived in Siam Reap late at night, thankfully to available rooms at the lovely Rosy's guesthouse on the river. The road in to Siam Defeated is lined with expensive looking detached hotels/resorts/casinos, like a leafy neon Las Vegas strip. So far removed from the cramped bustle of inner Siam Reap. We got us a tuk-tuk driver for a few ... read more

Macau was slightly uninspiring, interesting but the heat melted any enthusiasm I had about exploring the city. Met some Philippino bead traders. Oh yes. Bead Traders. They bought us lunch and showed us some of the city, they were very nice and not at all going to kidnap us, but we'd left our bags in the care of a restaurant and were rather anxious to get back to them, so we said our goodbyes and decided to head straight to the Hong Kong Ferry terminal. Macau's streets were small and winding, at least for the most part, just the way I like them. The Portuguese architecture was suitably juxtaposed with the gleaming casinos towering over the little plazas and fountains. We took a road up to the mysteriously named 'Ruin's of St. Paul's', being offered strips ... read more