When I came up with the idea of writing about McDonald’s around the world, the idea was to compare how various restaurants differ based on how their countries differ. During my trip through the Pacific, there wasn’t a lot to set the various restaurants apart. The Philippines is the fist place where I’ve noticed some …
To begin to explain Timor Leste (East Timor) it is probably necessary to start at the beginning and give some background to the country. It is a place that most people are probably not familiar with and as countries go, it is relatively new. If you look at a map of this part of the …
On Tuesday I put my iPhone and wallet on the desk in my room and walked outside without them. I felt naked without them, but I didn’t feel it would be a good idea to carry them around that day. It was the first day of Songkran. No sooner than I got 20m down the …
I’ve been in Tel Aviv for two days now. It is a very different city than Jerusalem. For starters, I haven’t seen a single Orthodox Jew here. Zero. Everything here is much more laid back and secular than Jerusalem. In addition to a very large beach area, it also seems very artsy. Some of the …
The ankle is feeling better and I’m off to Bangkok in a few hours. It should be a big change from Phuket. I really have no desire to see many of the islands in the area around here, which is what most of the backpackers usually do. It has been raining (which sort of ruins …
The following question is for my non-Asian readers: Name something about Indonesia which does not involve a natural disaster. When do you think of Indonesia, what image comes to mind? Can you name an Indonesian movie? Any Indonesian outside of politics? Can you name any Indonesian food dish? I asked similar questions when I first …
I’ve had a jammed packed couple of days here in Singapore. I’m currently at a McDonald’s at the Singapore Harborfront waiting to take the ferry to Bintan Island, Indonesia. Bintan is like a 45 min ferry ride from Singapore and it, along with neighboring Batam island, are cheap, close tourists destinations for people in Singapore. …
One of the realities of running a travel blog is that you can’t update every day. The last 48 hours I’ve been incommunicado and it has been a pretty interesting 48 hours. I didn’t get a lot of sleep, managed to drive down the funeral route of a former president, saw a volcano and almost …
I just got back from my first visit to Angkor Wat. Wow. Traveling as long as I have, I think i tend to get jaded having seen so many things. I really wasn’t too sure what to expect at Angkor, but whatever my expectations were, they were exceeded. Angkor is a really special place. What …