Three Cheers for Kuala Lumpur!

Our recent stop over in KL was completely unplanned. We were umming and arring over Vietnam or Laos but weren't too sure whether Bighead would be able to work properly in either (Cambodia had been difficult in this respect), besides, the lure of roti was too much to bare.

KL really impressed me this time round. The city seems to have cleaned up its act quite a lot and we certainly had no trouble finding things to do and food to eat (in fact we could have stayed another two weeks to explore more of the delights on offer!).

The population consists of mainly Muslims, with the remainder being Hindus or Buddhists. Gorgeous mosques and colourful Hindu and Buddhist temples can be seen all around the city.

The mish mash of architectural shapes and patterns is a feast for the eyes.
There are some really cool buildings and such a range of styles. Old, new, rounded, pointy, styly, garish, shiny, rough, clean, dirty, stunning, ugly... you name it.

My eyes were wide every time we traveled across the city. The small-town-New-Zealand in me must have been glaringly obvious (I mean like, even more than usual) as I couldn't help but point to every architectural delight I saw. I loved it!



Being a modern city there is also a large selection of shopping malls to choose from. Shopping malls that aim to be one stop shops. Mini cities. Internal towns. They have everything from food, clothing, and entertainment to furniture, crafts, and electronics.

There is one called Times Square, which along with its gazillion shops, it has an 18 theatre cinema and... wait for it... an indoor amusement park, complete with roller coaster! I still can't get over the size of it.And of course with the range of cuisines on offer, Malaysia scores quite highly on my foodometer. But that's next.

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a cool little town, the old market is quaint and easily walkable outside of the mid day heat. We ended up spending a large chunk of the first day trying to find a mid range hotel with a decentwifi connection (one that would load a page in less than four minutes). No luck.

Some of the roads were a little bouncy...

We're not really in to traipsing around temples all day (let alone in extreme temperatures) so we planned to only spend a couple of hours visiting Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom. At 5:30am the crowds were already beginning to thicken and the touts were closing in. I was asked if I wanted tea, coffee or breakfast about 10 times in 10 minutes. Unfortunately the sunrise was a bit of afizzer so after wondering around for a bit we headed to Ta Phrom.

Somewhere between Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom I lost the park entry tickets. I think someone pinched them out of my back pocket, perhaps mistaking them for money. Who knows but we were still able to drive around the area, which we enjoyed just as much as being able to walk around Angkor Wat.

We tried to get into TaPhrom because it was the temple I wanted to see the most but they weren't having it. In hindsight, I reckon the best way to see the sites would be in a helicopter.

In the Old Market area of Siem Reap we found this funky vegetarian restaurant which we were quite excited about. The space was well furnished and it had some really nice finishing touches;
such as a funky little pepper grinder boxy thing, hand crafted cutlery and icy cold towels.

The kebabs were tasty and fresh, especially with the pepper sauce (although a tad over priced).
Bighead's green mango salad was a bit of a let down but the rest of the menu sounded like it would be worth exploring.

So far so good!

It was so beautiful flying in to Phuket, which made me realise I'd never arrived this way before. The sun was just beginning to set and a scattering of limestone cliffs and lush green mountains could be seen protruding from the ocean with great gusto. Stunning. Hopefully we can visit this area sometime to see it up close.

We stayed in Phuket Town for the first night, waking early the next morning to explore the island and work out what's what and who's where. Our eyes were wide and sparkling with excitement as we headed south on the scoot around the coastal road. We wanted to stop every time we saw a 'house for rent' advertisement (which would mean every 5 minutes so we had to restrain ourselves somewhat!). We cruised through Chalong, Rawai, Kata, Karon, and finally Patong before heading back into town.

It was clear we'd been on the bike far too long when we began to snip at each other in our attempts to navigate the poorly signposted streets of Phuket Town. Trying to find our way back to the hotel under the screaming sun, with our tummies rumbling, was not the way to do it! (Phuket is so much bigger than Koh Phangan!). We made it with just enough time to pack up and check out.

The last time we came to Phuket we literally went straight to Patong Beach and stayed one night before jumping on a live aboard dive boat for three days to the Similian Islands (best diving experience either of us have had by the way!). We really hadn't seen Phuket at all so it's been really cool to see more of the island.

I'm pleased to announce that this is the one.

Kata had captured my soul from the moment I saw it. With its gorgeous white sand beach surrounded by hill top vistas, coconut groves, banana trees, and a funky wee town (how could it not have?). In the pic below the first two bays you see are Kata, then Karon, and Patong is over the next hill.

We've found a cool place to stay in Kata for the mean time and with low season prices it's a great deal. The Sugar Palm (I keep calling it sugar plum by accident, I just can't help it) has double rooms for 800 baht a night (approx. NZ$35) and there's high speed wireless internet (like actual high speed not same same high speed). So we're both chuffed and here I am merrily blogging into the wee hours of the evening.

Oh and the Phuket Vegetarian Festival has started so we have our white clothes ready to roll!

Weighing up the options + other bits & bobs

So Samui looks like it could be a good contender, although (this may sound bizarre), there doesn't appear to be that many options in terms of great beaches. Remember that we can't be too remote as Bighead needs a good internet connection for work and I need one for... you know... mucking around.

One of the best beaches, Chaweng, is over run with party people and the other, Lamai, is lacking that 'something special' we're looking for. There are however, some great looking international schools and even a 3 theatre cinema! In fact, there is also 3 large supermarket/malls. The amount of new development here at the moment is truly mind boggling.

We've pretty much decided that the best approach in our search for 'the location', is to visit each spot briefly to get an overall feel. Check amenities, beaches, restaurants, possible accommodation etc. and from there, attempt to narrow it down. We'll then spend a few months living in each. Who knows! Perhaps after seeing the choices, it will be obvious where we belong. We do both feel (and have done from the day we arrived), that Thailand is the place for us.

We've been cruising around Samui on the scooter today and although I knew this particular sight existed, we actually stumbled upon it by accident (truly). It's called Grandfather and Grandmother Rock. It's basically some rocks that look... well... vaguely phallic. The location itself, is actually gorgeous. A crystal clear bay with large granite boulders tumbling into the ocean. I find it quite strange that it's actually 'a sight'. I mean, when we were there, there were a whole bunch of people (on a tour of some kind) posing for photos in front of a penis shaped rock. It baffles me, mind you I suppose a lot of tourist attractions baffle me. Especially the new 'Ice Bar' with life sized tuk tuk ice sculpture (apparently) and Thai waitresses wearing Eskimo hats! What a funny species we humans are.

So anyway, enough of the ranting. We're off to Koh Phangan (otherwise known as Paradise Island) in a few days. I'm keen to spend some time exploring the rest of the island as last time (when we were younger) it was all about the full moon party.

A wet stroll through Chinatown

Chinatown is very cool. Buzzing with energy, strange food, and bizarre sights and smells that sometimes overwhelm. I taste tested several different dumplings, each of them delicious in their own right, packed with tasty prawn, pork, and herbs.

We strolled around, absorbing as much as we could, eyes peeled for tasty tidbits. The Chinese seem to be fish crazy (a minefield for Bighead!) and with all the stalls advertising in Chinese, it was difficult to tell exactly what was in the food. Even fish crazy Samesame was a bit too shy to get into the seafood these guys eat. Definitely not for the faint hearted...

And then we saw them.

The satay boys.

I know, I know, who goes to Chinatown and eats satay?!

Bighead and Samesame do! I'd like to add at this point that we have been a little satay deprived here in Thailand.

And look...
These dudes rock out some of the best satay we've tasted.

Monument to the Struggle of the People of Bali

We came across this awesome structure by accident on one of our many scooter missions about town. Also known as, Bajra Sandhi Monument.
It's actually really hard to miss because it's so large. It's shear size and symmetry make it one of the coolest buildings I've seen. Bighead quite fancied himself living there!

On the inside there's a tacky series of dioramas depicting the history of Bali.

You can walk up the spiral staircase in the centre for a pretty cool view of Denpasar and if you really want to, you can buy some food to feed the large goldfish that live in the indoor pond or surrounding moat.