Malaysia, Brunei & Singapore

Downtown Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei. It is a wee bit busier at rush hour, but this was 10.30am. The Omar Ali Suifuddien Mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. This is one of about three things to see in the city. So you see it a lot. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, one of the great works of architecture in the past two decades. Breathtaking by day and like an inverted crystal chandelier at night. The Omar mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei. Shop in Little India, Kuala Lumpur At Batu Caves, the Hindu temples up a couple of hundred steps into the side of a mountain outside Kuala Lumpur. Spoiled for choice when it comes to chilli at the market in Serian about 90 minutes from Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Serian's major crop is durian -- there's The Big Durian outside the market -- so is best avoided at certain times of the year. In a strict Muslim country such as alcohol-free Brunei this "art" on the wall of my rest house seem unusually cruel punishment. Adult male proboscis monkey in mangrove swamp at Bako National Park, Sarawak. Young male proboscis monkey at Bako National Park, Sarawak. When they are young their noses are turned up, when mature they have the whole Jimmy Durante. Unting, the shaman of the Iban people in a longhouse in Sarawak, holding tattoo equipment Images on the ratan wall of a longhouse of the Iban people up the Lemanak River, Sarawak. This is what happens to you after death if you don't eat all your vegetables. In the Ten Courts of Hell at Haw Par Villa in Singapore. The headman of the Iban longhouse up the Lemanak River, Sarawak, in traditional costume costume offering fermented rice wine. He also wore a very large and expensive looking watch. Village on stilts over the harbour at Sandakan in Sabah, Not exactly Venice, but this is the river in Melaka (aka Malacca, aka Melacca) on the west coast of Malaysia, south of Kuala Lumpur. Great food here. Cheap too. About $NZ3 at street stalls for a large plate. View of the Sulu Sea from a Chinese temple on a hill in Sandakan, Sabah. cf an image of the Bay of Naples elsewhere in these images. A gory image from the Ten Courts of Hell in Singapore's Haw Pah Villa. Longboats on the Lemanak River, Sarawak Inside the Chinese temple in Sandakan, Sabah The main mosque in BSB, Brunei by night. The main mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB), the capital of Brunei. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the first piece of great 21st century architecture? In case you didn't know it, 2007 is the 50th anniversary of the Malaysian Federation: the profusion of flags at this telecom building in Melaka was typical. Mannequin in the sultanate palace (a museum) of Melaka, Malaysia. The mannequins were odd: blue-eyed square-jawed "Arab" traders, a couple on their elborate wedding day looking very unhappy, and a guy who looked like Gaddafi. Abandoned modernist cinema in Sandakan, Sabah Mural in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak Street musician in Kuching, Sarawak Pitcher plant, somewhere in Sarawak Water park in Serian near Kuching, the capital of Sarawak Unting, shaman of an Iban longhouse up the Lemanak River in central Sarawak Sultan's palace off the starboard bow. To see much more of the Sultan of Brunei's digs you need to visit GoogleEarth I guess. You can't miss it, it's twice the size of Buckingham Palace. Homes in Kampung Ayer, a town of stilt houses in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. Around 35,000 people live here and the kampung has its own schools, banks and shops. Inside the longhouse of the Iban people up the Lemanak River in central Sarawak. Around 250 people live in this longhouse. Another gory torture from the Ten Courts of Hell in Singapore's Haw Pah Villa. There are a few more later on under Images From Elsewhere. Enjoy! No, I wasn't sure either which is why I took the photo. Answers on a postcard? One of the guardians in the Ten Courts of Hell at Haw Par Villa in Singapore. Sculpture in the Ten Courts of Hell at Haw Par Villa in Singapore. ?? A view of the central mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the Brunei sultanate -- a country which, despite many believing it is in the Middle East, is actually between Sarawak and Sabah on the north coast of Borneo. River delta near Kuching in Sarawak, Borneo Malaysia Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia In any given market on any given day: the shallow symmetry of consumerism. This one in a market in Kuala Lumpur, but everywhere globally for the shallow and indulgent tourist. (I got a MIckey Mouse one for $US7. Was that wrong?) Mannequin in the museum in Melaka, Malaysia. Modelled on Gaddafi at a guess. Mobile funerary arrangements for the 21st century. In the old Chinatown of Melaka, Malaysia. At the local market in Serian, a small town in Sarawak. Orderly spices in the most interesting market I have seen outside of Vietnam. And let's be frank: an Asian village market is market, right? This was different. Graffito in a sidestreet in old Chinatown area of Melaka, Malaysia (aka Melacca). Government approved I was told. I don't doubt it. The red-painted buildings in the central square of old Melaka, Sarawak Malaysia. Floating village in Sabah. Tourist taxi-cum-cyclo in Melaka, Malaysia. View from a very nice hotel in Melaka.The school on the left however started just after dawn with what sounded like martial disco-anthems as a call for kids to class. NIce abstract of angles and waves looking down though. New Melaka as seen from the 16th century chapel built on the hill by a Portuguese sea captain. Weird street light in the old Chinatown area of Melaka in Malaysia, as seen from an extremely cheap rest house. Extremely cheap! The international design of airports, this in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah where I spent such a long and boring wait I was reduced to this. Some writers carry a laptop and make notes as they go -- but look at what they are missing. A typical page in a travel journal from my trip into various parts of Malaysia. Her I'd trust. Him I'm not so sure about. A poster in Singapore. The accumulation of saleable craftwork: at a longhouse in remote area of Sarawak in Borneo Malaysia. The hands of the shaman Unting in a longhouse up the Lemanak River in Borneo Malaysia. He was seventysomething -- and witty. The headman in traditional garb at a longhouse in Borneo Malaysia. His right hand holds a snifter of powerful and sweet rice wine and on his left (barely visible here) is an expensive watch. When two worlds collide? Or co-exist? Baby proboscis monkey at Bako National Park, Sarawak Dying mangroves at Bako National Park in Sarawak. Acres and acres of them.
Tags: china


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