Moving on with the pictures I’ve got round to uploading my snaps from Borneo, KL and Hong Kong, rounding off the South East Asian end of things.

All links are below as usual, haven’t forgot this time! Next up will the late entries and pics from my North American leg. I’m hoping to have most of them done by next week as it looks like I’m finally returning to the real world, with a new job that’s likely gonna keep me busy for a bit. I’m also working on a couple of new shows for TTR and RI, links will be up in due time.

Anyways enjoy the pics as always!

Mabul Flickr set

Mabul Kids Flickr set

Sibuan Flickr set

Kuala Lumpur Flickr set

Hong Kong Flickr set

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written by Laurent \\ tags: Borneo, buildings, food, Hong Kong, kids, Mabul, Malaysia, people, pictures, sea, Semporna, Sibuan, South East Asia, Tampi Tampi, travelling

Having left the peace and serenity of Borneo and the Celebes Sea behind me, I had two more stops in South East Asia before my return to the western world, Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, and Hong Kong. As it turned out they both served as buffers to my return, with a mix of east and west that proved deeply interesting.

Kuala Lumpur was first, with a two day stop-over from Borneo. I’d spent a night and part of the day in KL on my way into the country, but these two days were meant to give me a bit more time to explore the city and get a better feeling for it. I’d been told to expect good things, however the weather turned to shit pretty much as soon as I arrived and I left the city feeling somewhat unconvinced as to its appeal.

The first thing that really struck me about KL when I first got there was how much more muslim it felt on the surface than I ever thought it would. Between the omni present, and at times truly beautiful, mosques, clothes, food, muslim businesses and others, the fact that Malaysia is a muslim country was more than evident within minutes of arriving in the country. I realise that it sounds a little stupid, but the fact is I just didn’t expect it to feel like that on the surface, I didn’t expect it to be so obvious. I’ve never been to the Middle East but I guess to me KL, and Malaysia to an extent, gave me the impression of being very similar to a Middle Eastern country in its appearance, or what I understand and know of Middle Eastern countries through the media and other sources of information.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: capitalism, China, contrast, food, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, modern, mosque, Muslim, skyscrapers, South East Asia, traditional, travelling

So I left Saigon for Cambodia about three weeks ago. I was on a definite food high by then, having found more local stalls and treats around Saigon and also making my first and only restaurant stop in Vietnam. The restaurant was pretty damn good, and not expensive at all. I had some amazing tuna steak cooked with lemongrass and prawns in satay sauce that were unbelievably tasty. More than that though what really struck me was the freshness of the ingredients and how simply they were cooked, with no pretention or attempt at disguising anything - just simple recipes cooked well and with fairly copious portions considering.

As I said before I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Cambodia, of all the spots I was hitting it was the one place which cuisine I didn’t know much about. As it turned out it wasn’t the most amazing, though I did find some interesting things. Cambodian cuisine seems to be primarily Khmer in origin, which would make sense. But it’s quite different to its Thai neighbour, also Khmer in origin. Thing is there wasn’t that many Khmer spots around.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: Borneo, Cambodia, cuisine, curry, Dim Sum, eating, fish, food, Hong Kong, Indian, Khmer, Malay, Malaysia, noodles, spring rolls, travelling, Vietnam

I left the ruggedness of Cambodia for Malaysia and a week long paradise trip to the south-eastern end of the Malaysian half of Borneo island, on the Celebes Sea coast. My destination was a town by the name of Semporna, which acts as a gateway to diving and snorkelling some of the world’s finest spots. I flew into Kuala Lumpur for a day before connecting to the coast, but I’ll leave more on that for the next post dealing with KL in more details.

As luck would have it I caught a stomach bug in Phnom Penh, a couple of days before flying to KL, and that meant I made it to Borneo feeling less than fresh and happy to be there. Fortunately it turned out to be the most relaxing week I’ve spent in god knows how long and the bug was soon got rid off and forgotten thanks to some of the most wonderful and breathtaking views and experiences.

As I mentioned, Semporna is a small sea side town on the Celebes Sea coast. The brother of a friend of mine runs a dive shop there, and when planning this trip I thought that it would make for a perfect stop before heading back out west, and provide me with my one true ‘beach destination’ after pretty much 3 weeks of cities and countryside (bar the few days I spent in Sihanoukville).

Turns out Semporna has a pretty interesting story of its own, as my mate recounted to me back in Japan. Up until 10 years ago (and even less in the case of some unfortunate tourists in 2003), the place would be frequently raided by pirates, who still roam the Celebes Sea. It all changed when some people discovered an island by the name of Sipadan, and others near it, which offered some of the best diving in the world with waters teeming with underwater life of all sorts, corals and reefs. Soon enough the tourist trade started to pick up in the area, apparently prompting the government to realise the potential of the tourist trade for this part of Borneo and bring in the army and police to help control, protect and monitor the area.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: Borneo, Chinese, culture, Mabul, Malay, Malaysia, Muslim, Sibuan, snorkelling, South East Asia, travelling, underwater