Dalat Trek
Scary-challenging trek (also check the pics at the bottom of the post).

The Open Road
Another magical day, but with conflict and resolution!

Angkor Wat and Bayon
This one’s funny because I plug an affliate product at the end.

Bus Ride from Hell (Part 1)
Bus Ride from Hell (Part 2)
An epic journey with a twist at the end.

Cats without Tails
An interesting culture-learning experience.

Batik Mafia
Multiple layers of art scamming. I never did figure it all out.

Bromo is Worth the Hassle (Day 1)
Trekking the Sand Sea to Gunung Bromo (Day 2)
A two-day adventure of travel scams and alien landscapes.

For all the rest, check out the archives.

I flew back to the US from Hong Kong–connecting in Japan. I took a picture in the Tokyo airport just for Chad!

July 22

I arrived at LAX. The officer who took the customs forms congratulated me on my four-month journey. Yay. It was quite the journey. I’m glad I made time for it.

Two people asked me for money at the exit of the airport at LAX–one for some children and another for Scientology. I gave money for the children because I needed to break a 20. It seemed false, but I really needed to break that 20. No one pestered me for lodging.

I felt like a homeless bum, walking around with a huge backpack and scruffy hair. I had no home, no hotel reservation, no job, little savings, and no car. But I wasn’t worried. I could crash with parents (in Las Vegas) and friends (in LA) while I figured out what to do for income.

I didn’t want to return to my previous employer because they were a Microsoft shop (programming in C#). I wanted to shift my focus to open source technologies and languages (like Python and Ruby). However, I had little experience with open source. So it might be a little difficult to pick up where I left off–money-wise.

I got my fortune told by an old man, dressed business casual.

Here are the notes I took:

Make a design business–something beautiful. [I thought maybe web design]. Women are comfortable with me because the right side of my face is larger. Therefore, my future wife will be nervous about other women.

I might work for a big company now that is going down, but with me it will go back up.

I should learn to be a good swimmer. I should get married ASAP. I will have good female helper from 25-36. Don’t do anything risky in a year ending in 6 or 7. Wife will be aggressive and stubborn. Rich in old age. Confident. Clever. Southwest USA is good. Good to live by sea, but be careful of the rough waters. Lucky numbers are 2 and 4. Can be successful leader, but take one step at a time.

I got the fortune just for the experience. It was fun to do once.

I viewed the Hong Kong skyline at night from the Kowloon waterfront. A girl from the mainland China chatted me up. Her English was okay. She said she studied English for four years in high school, four years in college (majored in English), and two years in post-grad college (masters in English). However, she had never been to an English-speaking country. Her English was only mediocre after ten years of learning. Lesson learned: if you want to learn a language, go where it’s spoken!

I gave myself a tour today. I saw the exquisite tea musuem. I bussed around the beautiful, lush island over to the bustling Stanley Market. Then I headed back to Kowloon for some urban walking.

Hong Kong is a beautiful, lively city and I would like to return someday. I also love how 87% of the population uses public transit to get around. I’ve really grown to love public transit over my four-month trip.

I had a long two days ahead of me. I would spend most of today in Brunei, fly to Malaysia in the evening, then fly to Hong Kong early the next morning. I only had three days in Hong Kong, so I’d likely push myself not to catch up on sleep.

I landed in the Kuala Lumpur airport at 11pm, and my flight to Hong Kong was at 7am. So, I’d have to be back at the airport by 5am. I wanted to get a good night’s rest, but the timing was bad.

Unfortunately, the airport is an hour outside of town. There were only a few hotels around and those were all booked. It would be a waste of time and energy to taxi into the city for only a few hours sleep. So, I decided to stay at the airport and sleep on the floor.

It was the first time I’d slept at an airport. I wasn’t prepared. It took me an hour to find a good spot and get comfortable. I probably slept about 2 hours. I looked forward to sleeping on the morning plane to Hong Kong.

July 18

Now mind you. I hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest. And I hadn’t cut my hair in four months. When I got off that plane at 11am in Hong Kong, they had officers waiting in the plane’s connector tunnel. First up was an officer and a drug-sniffing dog. I passed by them fine. I had nothing to hide.

It struck me though. I wondered what has been happening in Hong Kong (or with flights from KL) that they required a drug-sniffing dog. I’ve never seen that level of security in an airport before. You couldn’t avoid the dog because of the narrow tunnel.

I turned the corner and saw about eight men in black nylon coats–resembling the DEA in the US. I walked with confidence. But alas I was stopped. Again, I had nothing to hide. But I must have looked sketchy to them–with my scraggly hair, bloodshot eyes, and humble fashion. If only I had gotten some good sleep.

The agent asked to see my passport. He grilled me for what seemed like five minutes.

“Where are you going?”

“Hong Kong,” I said.

“Why are you here?”

“To see a friend from college. And general tourism; it’s my first time here.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Chungking Mansion.”

The Chungking Mansion is a low-cost high-rise building. It attracts both legitimate business (i.e. room rentals, food stands, currency exchange) and illegitimate ones (i.e. selling fake goods, selling drugs, etc). It is a massive 17-story building, so the good and bad can be well separated. It has a bit of history in Hong Kong. And I wanted to stay there for the experience. Might as well, while I’m young, solo, and on a low-budget trip. However, the agent must have feared I was going there for the wrong reasons.

“Did you make a reservation?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I want to inspect the rooms first and find a clean one.”

“How long will you be here?”

“Four days.”

“Where is your onward ticket?”

“I purchased it online. I don’t have a paper copy.”

“Where do you go next?”

“The USA with a connection in Tokyo’s airport.”

He closed my passport, handed it to me, and watched other passengers exiting the plane.

I starting walking again. Ugh. This was my first taste of China, and it was quite sour.

I was impressed by Hong Kong from the airport. It was modern and clean. I was back in the 1st-world! I felt spoiled. I had been roughing it for most of the trip. It was a low-budget trip. I headed over to the mini-mart in the airport and bought myself a lemon tea. I got on a 1st-class city bus to Kowloon (north of central Hong Kong).

I got off at the Chungking Mansion and was immediately hassled by four guys. There are many lodgings within the building. Most rooms are micro-apartments–an apartment within an apartment. For example, someone owns a five bedroom apartment and leases each room separately. The common area (living room and kitchen) is either small or non-existent.

I found a room from my guidebook that turned out to be a great deal. $11/night for three nights on the 16th floor, overlooking the main street. The room was ultra-small, but fine for my needs (that is sleeping). And, oh man, did I ever sleep. I slept the whole afternoon.

I met up with two friends from USC, Bhavna and Shammin, in central Hong Kong. They introduced me to dim sum, duck, and other Hong Kong cuisine. Wow, it was so good. I love Hong Kong food.

I was hoping to tour Macau tomorrow, but they said the ferries might be closed because a strong typhoon was approaching that night. Shucks.

She diverted the subject to the Sultan. She asserted that he took care of his citizens. He provided free education, medical, dental, and retirement funds for all citizens. Brunei’s bountiful oil sites are the source of the country’s wealth.

Then she restrained herself. She said it was illegal to talk about the Sultan.

I asked, even if it’s positive?

She said, yes, even still. It is illegal no matter what.

It’s unfortunate that Bruneians have 1st-world riches but lack 1st-world freedoms.

It was quiet–a little too quiet. I quickly learned that everything was cancelled. They didn’t want a break out of the Swine Flu (H1N1).

Dude, that sucked so bad. That was the main reason I came here. I thought it would be perfect timing to experience Brunei. There was going to be huge festivities and displays of Bruneian culture. I was therefore relegated to second and third tier experiences, such as the Royal Regalia Museum and the main Mosque.

It’s funny. They were trying to prevent a large gathering of people. But many still came to hang out.

It was like an apocolyptic movie. There were hardly any women or children out. Scores of adult men just chilled in the shade next to closed businesses. Many stooped outside the mall. And many more sat in the stands at the sports field cheering at nothing–at themselves. So odd.

The Royal Regalia museum was cool. The guards carried large curved knives instead of guns. I saw some pictures and relics of past birthday parades. Oh well.

I checked out the main Mosque in the late afternoon. It’s pretty cool. Well, it’s the first mosque I’ve ever seen. It was quite decadent. I read that it had gold trimmings on the exterior.

The Muslims are strict about keeping non-Muslims out. I was able to step inside at a specific time in the late afternoon. There was only a 30-minute window for non-Muslims. When I took photos later on at sunset, some motioned me to go away. I got a strong feeling of exclusivity from the Mosque–quite the opposite of Buddhist temples.

I perched in a courtyard near the Mosque. Two nice, young guys interviewed me for the Brunei Times newspaper. They wanted to get quotes from foreigners about the festivities being cancelled. I gave them plenty to write about.

Bill Paetzke, a computer programmer from the United States, was also hoping to witness the celebrations. He found out about the celebrations from a guidebook and was interested in the images depicting the joyous occasion. “It looked really cool, so I wanted to go and see it for myself,” said Paetzke, who is on a four-month holiday around the sub-region after quitting his job recently.

He said that it was not easy and cheap to come to Brunei, but would come to see the celebrations in the future, if he was in the area at the right time. He diverted his time in seeing other aspects of Brunei. “Brunei is awesome,” he remarked.

Source: The Brunei Times

I was careful to end my rant on a positive note. The Sultan has supreme power in this land. And I didn’t want to provoke him.

Their security was lax. I opened the top of my bag for an employee. He glanced inside and asked why I was in Brunei. I gave him a simple answer: tourism. And that was that.

Tomorrow is the Sultan’s birthday; and it’s a big deal. There’s a big parade and sometimes world celebrities show up. Michael Jackson attended several years ago. I thought it would be a perfect time to experience Brunei. It was the reason I came here now, as opposed to spending an extra three days in Hong Kong.

Since it was late, I couldn’t take a bus (for a dollar) to my hotel. Instead I paid a taxi $20. The taxi driver knew English well enough. He was pretty excited to talk about TV and sports. He was searching for the right word.

“MMA?,” I asked. I thought he was talking about the popular wrestling style.

“WWF. Hulk Hogan!”

“Oh!”

I guess their local television network broadcasts wrestling re-runs. He was pretty excited about it. I thought that was funny. Is Brunei still clutching the 80s? Perhaps, it’s not Brunei. He was an older guy. So maybe that was his golden time for being a sports fan.

I got to the hotel. It looked like it, too, was clutching the 80s. The man at the front desk knew little English. And he was shy or something. He gave me little eye contact. He wanted me to fill out the registration form and move along. It wasn’t busy at all. Maybe he wasn’t a people person. Either way, he did not have a customer service personality. I suspect it was a family business.

My room was acceptable. It was a step down from Motel 6. At $30/night, it was the cheapest hotel room in town. There were one or two hostels, but they were poor values, according to the guidebook. It was either this hotel or the Holiday Inn (at $80/night).

I walked outside to look around. I was about two miles out of town. There wasn’t anything to do. I didn’t see any businesses. All I saw were a few homes and apartment buildings. It reminded me more of a small town than a big city. There was one main road with homes lined alongside. Brunei seems a bit lacking for tourists.

We had a great 30 days traveling together. And we’d never forget it. Unfortunately, we caught a snag at the airport.

“No. You cannot proceed. You were here 31 days. You must pay a $20 fee,” said the visa-checking person.

What crap! They reasoned that June 13-July 13 is 31 days because they measure from midnight to midnight. However, we were in Indonesia for 30-days time from arrival to departure time. Our argument was futile though.

I rushed backed outside to the ATM, and got $40 for us. My flight’s deptarture time was in an hour. The airport official was pleasant with us, and got us our temporary visas right away. With those in hand, we walked pass the visa checkers and into the boarding gate area.

Jameelah and I chatted for a while outside my gate. I was first up to fly. I checked in with the security guard a few times outside my gate–to make sure my flight wasn’t boarding yet. Then I heard Jameelah’s flight over the speaker, so we parted to our respective gates.

I almost missed my flight! I was the very last one to board. It was lucky that her flight called its passengers over to the gate, which forced us to part. Otherwise I may have missed my flight.

The security guard kept telling me I had time, when in fact, Air Asia was boarding the whole time (or at least for 20 min our final conversation)!!! I guess he was confused like me. He thought AirAsia would announce the flight over the loudspeaker, but they didn’t. They’re ghetto like that. Booty chatter!

I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I stayed there overnight on my way to Brunei. I tried a classier hostel in a nicer part of town. It was near a cheap Indian restaraunt (this was planned). I got my obligatory chicken tikka masala and garlic naan. Then I reserved a hotel room in Brunei via Skype-to-phone from an internet cafe. The call cost about 10 cents. I love technology.

We motorbiked about 20 miles south to the hidden gem of south Bali–Dreamland Beach. It is surrounded by cliffs. There are lots of powerful waves and surfers crazy enough to try.

We played along the shore and just took in the view. It was serene. I laid back and gazed upon the waves. Jameelah fell deep in thought as she walked among the waves.

We returned to the hotel that evening–another 20 miles on motorbike. I felt pretty good about my motorbike-driving skills now. I probably put on at least 100 miles during my Southeast Asia trip.

We returned to that amazing-deal-of-a-restaraunt and reflected on our trip. This was our last night together.

Here were our top moments from our 30-day Indonesian trip: