Tag Archives: My Favorites

Ten Dollar Room

It’s quite Spartan. There are no fills. A bed and a nightstand. There is one electrical outlet with one receptacle. I guess you could say that the size of it is about the size of a prison cell, maybe a little less. But, it’s clean, it’s cheap and it’s home. Significance? In Asia, as well as some other parts of the world, I’ve stayed at many places like this one. Looks depressing doesn’t it? It’s not, at least not for me. It reminds that I don’t need valet service. I just need a place to put my head when I get tired. It reminds me that my sojourns around the world aren’t all about luxury, they’re about learning.

Singapore Chinatown

What do you get on the last day of Chinese New Year? About a billion Chinese people taking to the streets and another few hundred million people going to watch them. One thing I’ve learned from this trip to SE Asia is to appreciate the impact that Chinese New Year can have.

Long Bar

There is a very famous hotel in Singapore called the Raffles Hotel. In it, there is a bar called the Long Bar and this bar is the place where a cocktail called the Singapore Sling was allegedly created by a bartender. This is all legend or hearsay or so I’ve read. What I can testify is true is that there is a Raffles Hotel and it does have a bar named the Long Bar and it does serve a drink called the Singapore Sling. What I can’t testify to is what the drink tastes like. I’m not much on cocktails, being a beer drinker and all. I’ve never had a Singapore Sling. Especially not at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel where the drink costs a little over 20 American dollars. I hear you get free peanuts, but even that wasn’t enough to begin to start to tempt me…

Jeepney II

How many people can you get into a Jeepney? Surely you would think that the answer would be some kind of a number with a positive value. But, in reality the correct answer is "just one more." which underlies the philosophy of the jeepney – if everyone makes a little more room, we can scrunch one more body inside. Sounds almost masochistic. But the point is that someone needs a ride and the driver needs a fare and we all should work together to make it happen. Sounds great in practice, but how does it work in reality? Trust me, there’s always room for one more in a jeepney…

Murugan – Batu Caves

This a statue of Murugan. Murugan is a Hindu deity among some followers of the religion. One of the great things about the Hindu religion is that it seems to have a wide degree of flexibility about what/whom is worshipped. The statue is over 120 feet tall and is quite impressive. Murugan is, supposedly guarding the entrance to the caves. It is said that during the yearly Hindu festival of Thaipusam over a million people come to the cave and many of the devotees do some seriously strange masochistic rites in the name of spiritual cleansing. Me? I have trouble with Lent, let alone inflicting some serious pain on myself in the name of becoming a little less unholy.

Wat Arun

It’s a really nice wat on the west side of the river in Bangkok. I would have liked to have climbed up the thing, but I wasn’t sure what the point would be. It’s a long way up there, too. This has to be one of the best things I saw in Bangkok.

Cambodian Sales Crew

Okay, they’re a little short and they lack sophisticated training, but they sell, nonetheless. What I wonder, is why they aren’t in school instead of out hustling bracelets and flutes? I saw children like this all over Cambodia. It hurt me to have to tell almost all of them that I couldn’t buy their products, but I couldn’t. These children aren’t unique. There are children like these all over the world.

Veggies, Veggies, Veggies

I’m here to tell you that they grow a lot of veggies in Vietnam. It could be described as a vegetarian’s paradise. Good veggies are readily available, cheap and the variety staggers my mind. Plus, they have fruits that don’t seem to quit. Would I want to move to Vietnam for the fruits and veggies? Not if I had to give up cheeseburgers.

Tiger Cage

This device is called a Tiger Cage. Actually, there are a lot of ways to make a Tiger Cage. Basically, you just string some barbed wire around a frame of varying sizes. There are Tiger Cages for 1, 2, 3 or more occupants. The point is to make them uncomfortable. Some Tiger cages allow you to stand. Some allow you to sit and some allow you to lay down. The longer the better. A Tiger Cage is a form of torture.

Me at Ha Long Bay

It’s early in the morning in Ha Long Bay. If anyone else is up, they aren’t letting anyone else know about it. It’s so early I can’t even find a cup of coffee. So I go up on deck and take in the sight of all of the junks anchored in the bay. Amazing! In the mist of the morning it all strikes me as a little surreal. Then I see the picture and the sea gull circling me. How strange…

Rolling Okie

Travel, Adventure, and more…