I rushed through the island of Java because I only had 10 days left on my Indonesian Visa. The Visa on arrival is only for 30 days, which is totally inadequate for the archipelago of islands which make up the state of Indonesia. So, I didn't really do justice to Java, I just visited some of the cultural highlights of the island, which included the cultural heart of the island around Yogya (Yogyakarta) and Solo (Surakarta). Java is the political and economic centre of Indonesia. It is the most populous island in the archipelago. Java alone has a population of 120 [View Full Entry]

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"We advise you to exercise caution when travelling to Aceh, which is emerging from a long-running internal conflict. You should exercise particular caution when travelling to remote areas. You should also monitor all available information on the local situation." (The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. Still Current at: 6 April 2007 Updated: 4 April 2007). Don't take the Foreign Office's advise on Aceh too seriously. The Foreign Office are always very conservative in their advise...they are probably covering their backs should anything happen. [View Full Entry]

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"Hi, my name is Stuart. I am from England." I found myself in front of yet another group of high school kids introducing myself. I had been recruited yet again by a local teacher in order to give her students practice in speaking English with a native speaker. It's one of the few dangers of a visit to Sumatra. It's quite a high risk, because the local tourism industry is almost dead. The hordes of backpackers that used to visit Sumatra now go elsewhere. Instead of partying at Lake Toba (which the Dutch writer Rudy Kousbroek called 'the most beautiful place [View Full Entry]

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The highlights of a trip to Sabah include the diving at Pulau Sipadan, the Orang-Utangs at Sepiloc and climbing Mount Kinabalu. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and Papua Burat (New Guinea Island). It's a very steep climb from 1,800m to 4,100m through 3 different ecological zones. The park surrounding this massive granite rock is a world heritage site with one of the greatest ecological diversities on earth. You can tell the tourists who have just climbed the mountain. They're the ones that limp; that can't, or at least don't want to walk up steps. I [View Full Entry]

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In Brunei all that glitters is gold. Nagara Brunei Darassalum (Brunei: the abode of peace) is a welfare state but it has no income tax and is the only country in the world that hasn't held any elections at all since 1962. (Why bother rigging elections?) The GDP per person in Brunei is $US23,600 (2003 estimate. CIA FACTBOOK) It is one of the worlds smallest countries with a welfare system that includes free health care, education and even help from the government with buying a house. The reason for this wealth is tha [View Full Entry]

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"The bats have left the bell tower, The victims have been bled" ("Bela Lugosi's Dead", Bauhaus; song released August 1979.) The biggest draw for tourists in Sarawak on the island of Borneo is the Gunung Mulu National Park.(Click here for link). It is a remote area of tropical rain-forest of great biodiversity that contains remarkable Karst formations and caves. The caves are some of the largest in the world. The Sarawak Chamber is the world’s largest natural chamber wi [View Full Entry]

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Whoever is Lord in Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice. (Duarte Barbosa, 16th century writer and trader). This will be a short blog. I stopped off in Melaka on my way back from the Philippines (see my last blog). I flew back to KL from Manila, then made my way by bus down to Melaka. Melaka is Malaysia's oldest city and was the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca before the Portuguese invasion. It was a major port along the spice route. But in modern Melaka it is the Chinese influence that is the most noticeable. Over the [View Full Entry]

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Voy donde no hay esclavos, verdugos ni opresores, Donde le fe no mata, donde el que reina es Dios. (I go where there are no slaves, hangmen nor oppressors, Where faith does not kill, where the one who reigns is God.) "Mi ultimos adios",Jose Rizal. Written on the eve of his execution. As I was climbing down some steps towards the village of Tam-an I saw a very little woman dressed in cheap western clothes. It was 10am but the sun was already strong. I was hot. The very [View Full Entry]

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I was walking along a covered walkway between a mass-transit train station and Chinatown in Singapore. A well dressed middle aged man in front of me threw a paper bag towards a bin. The bag bounced off the bin and fell on the floor. He wasn't looking and continued walking straight ahead. The sky didn't fall. He wasn't instantly arrested. No one said anything. Litter is sometimes dropped in Singapore. I saw it happen. I was only in Singapore a few days before catching a flight to Manila in the Philippines. To a casual observer Singapore appears to be a city [View Full Entry]

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Takkan Melayu Hilang di Durnia (Malays will never vanish from the face of the earth) Hang Tuah I have a confession to make. I did no research on Malaysia before I entered the country. That's not like me. Usually, I do research a destination before I arrive. As a result of my lack of research, I am astonished at how little I knew - I was downright ignorant. The list of things I didn't know is too long to list but I'll mention a couple. I didn't know that Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy of an unusual variety. It is [View Full Entry]

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