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The Kinabatangan River
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 23 July 2011
The Kinabatangan River is tragic and miraculous at the same time. One of Sabah’s premier attractions, the river flows through a stretch of surviving secondary and tertiary forest sandwiched between the industrial-scale palm plantations of the Kinabatangan region. Perhaps the strongest testament to wildlife’s ability to survive and adapt under desperate conditions, I can personally [...]
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Après-Dive
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 21 July 2011
What did you say, Tony? Your mango-sago ice blend looks like a frogfish? Clearly, too much diving. I guess the nitrogen must have gotten to you…
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Bidding farewell to the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station
Blog: nateniale { reflections on my travels and everything else I love } - 17 July 2011
On 1 July 2011, another chapter in the Malaysia-Singapore history was closed. The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was officially closed after 79 years of operation. On the weekend before it closed, we visited the station hoping to capture what we could before it became another well-preserved but non-operational national monument.
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Organizing your Trip to Sipadan
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 17 July 2011
Sipadan is consistently listed as one of the top ten dive sites in the world. And, as we discussed in our post Is Sipadan All Hype?, with its amazingly rich sea life and unique topography, the island definitely lives up to its reputation. But with so much focus, the tiny little island was in serious [...]
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Is Sipadan All Hype?
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 15 July 2011
Wait until you get to Sipadan… Sipadan, Sipadan, Sipadan. That’s all we’ve heard for the last few years. No matter where you dive, someone’s always there to point out that Sipadan is so much better. Even after more than 80 dives, we were told Sipadan can top them all. It almost seems dive sites around [...]
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A Day of Firsts – Arriving in Kota Kinabalu
Blog: Flying Coach - 14 July 2011
Drugs are bad, mmkay? In Malaysia, drugs are really bad. Possession of illegal drugs can get you executed. I wondered why the Malaysians are so against drugs, but having been here for a bit, I quickly figured it out. It seems that whoever created the traffic patterns and road layout here in Kota Kinabalu was [...]
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Eat Your Heart Out, Cousteau!
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 14 July 2011
OK, we haven’t quite matched Cousteau’s accomplishments yet, but we’re getting there. Sipadan was one of his favorite locations in his later years. Although dive operators already started exploring Pulau Sipadan in the early 1980′s, Jacques Cousteau’s 1989 documentary The Ghost of the Sea Turtles catapulted this small island in the Celebes Sea to stardom. [...]
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Borneo Bound
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 12 July 2011
Thomas and I have finally taken the leap… out of mainland Southeast Asia, that is. We’ve made our way to the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. When people hear the name Borneo, they envision a vast wilderness shrouded in dense jungle – a 21st century “heart of darkness” which has somehow [...]
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The Sunday Six: The Joys of Asian Roads
Blog: Travels with a Nine Year Old - 10 July 2011
1: Bridges Can Be Scary Thanks to Johnny Vagabond for having the presence of mind to photograph this Cambodian bridge after biking over it. I’ve driven over one of these...
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Postcard from... Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in Singapore
Blog: nateniale { reflections on my travels and everything else I love } - 8 July 2011
Or, rather, what used to be the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
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Manglish
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 8 July 2011
You’ve never heard of Manglish? Sure ah? Where got? Eh hello! How can? What lah you? Like dat cannot lah! Manglish is half the fun of traveling in Malaysia. An English Creole spoken across much of Malaysia, Manglish is a blend of English, Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tamil which come together to create a [...]
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Getting Lost in the BOH Tea Plantation
Blog: Living the Dream: RTW - 7 July 2011
I never fancied myself to be a tea drinker, however one of my top destinations in visiting Malaysia had always been the famous rolling tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands. The same region, also famous for their bountiful strawberry harvest, is a bit of an anomaly in South East Asia for it's abili
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Colonial Malacca
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 6 July 2011
A rather big name from the standpoint of colonial history, little Malacca is actually far smaller than its less known brother Penang. Despite its diminutive size, the little town has a long history and a certain flair derived from its time as the colonial hot potato that bounced from Malay to Portuguese to Dutch to [...]
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Mat Rempit
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 30 June 2011
Just when you think humanity can’t get any dumber, a mat rempit speeds by you on the freeway and you suddenly realize that there is truly no limit to the depths of human idiocy. Mat rempit are Malaysia’s weird cult of outlaw motorbike daredevils. Bands of these rebel bikers zoom through freeway traffic performing insanely [...]
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Malaysia Airlines New Airbus A380 Plane Picture - Sneak Preview
Blog: Malaysia Asia - 27 June 2011
Malaysia Airlines New Airbus A380 Plane Picture - Sneak Preview of the air plane going through the 60% building phase. As you can see the body is in its original green and yellow coating and yet to be painted. The tail fin has already been fitted and painted with the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) logo.
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Kuala Lumpur
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 27 June 2011
Every visitor seems to love Kuala Lumpur. The city is a cultural and architectural melting pot, a medley of Indian, Malay and Chinese influences. Temples, mosques and churches are squeezed in between futuristic highrises, colonial mansions and fancy mega-malls. And then there’s the scrumptious food and the colorful street markets at every turn. What’s not [...]
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Looking Down on Consumerism
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 25 June 2011
Wow, that’s a lot of floors… … I think I’m suffering from acrophobia up here! Or is it hypselotimophobia?
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Gay in Malaysia
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 23 June 2011
The fact that June is LGBT pride month in the United States is making me reflect on the (in)equality of gays and lesbians in other parts of the world. As a gay traveler, I’m always hyper-aware of countries where I could be punished simply for who I am. Malaysia is one of those countries where [...]
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The Taxi Mafia Strikes Back
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 21 June 2011
Apparently, it takes way more than magnificent skyscrapers and glitzy malls to make a modern country. Five minutes after our arrival in Kuala Lumpur at the Putra bus station, we came face to face with the city’s notorious taxi mafia making it quite clear that part of Malaysia is still quite unapologetically third world. Although [...]
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Petronas Towers
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 19 June 2011
If you visit Kuala Lumpur, you have to make the architectural pilgrimage to the city’s world-famous Petronas Towers. At 451.9 m (1,483 ft), Malaysia’s beautiful twin towers reigned supreme from 1998-2004. But after Taipei 101 and now Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which dwarfs every building on the planet, these beauty queens have long lost their title. [...]
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Driving Mr. Lazy
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 14 June 2011
Well that’s picturesque, a bulldozer sitting right in the middle of your tropical beach!!! I know what you’re all thinking, Is that to clean up all the cigarette butts? No, as we all know, some like nothing more than to show up in their Porsche at a fancy restaurant. Others, like the construction workers on [...]
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Crystal Clear
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 13 June 2011
No matter what people say about Pulau Perhentian, it’s crystal clear what brings visitors here…
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Pantai Cenang Beach in Langkawi
Blog: Malaysia Asia - 10 June 2011
Pantai Cenang Beach in Langkawi is the most popular place for travelers to visit. Well known for their complete infrastructure, the main beach stretches for about two kilometers with a wide assortment of accommodations and things to see and do. It is also located nearby the Langkawi Airport therefore getting here simply takes about ten minutes by taxi.
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There’s a Monster Outside my Room…
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 8 June 2011
OK, I’m stealing my favorite line from M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs”, but it seemed highly appropriate for this post. As I was checking into the recently upgraded Rock Garden Chalets on Pulau Perhentian, an enormous monitor lizard came shuffling down the hill right towards me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was the biggest, the [...]
