Categoria / Category Asia

In United Arab Emirates On  08/11/2014  No comments

Dubai is a big, spread out city with limited options of transportation. Cabs are expensive and the different attractions are pretty far away. That’s why one of the best options to move around the city is taking a Hop-On Hop-Off tour. This way you’re free to stop anywhere you want, for as long as you want, without depending on any group or having to follow someone carrying an umbrella. My choice was BigBus Dubai. I recommend the 48h ticket. It’s not so much more expensive than the 24h ticket and a day is not enough to get to know this interesting city.

Sharjah

I started my BigBus tour in Sharjah, a city next to Dubai. More conservative than her modern neighbor, Sharjah is a big city with broad avenues and residential buildings. Everything looks quite modern too, like a newly built city. The tour takes 3,5 hours and has two stops. The first one was on The Heritage Area, an historical Center rebuilt with traditional style houses and little museums...

In Asia, Singapore-Malasia 2008 On  10/08/2008  No comments

Kuala Lumpur is an interesting city. Full of gardens (and malls), the city shows a concern for patrimony; public buildings and its surrounding areas are well cared for. Even by spending  a few days there, I could see its beauty and greatness.

One of the things I was more interested in the city was the Petronas Towers. And yes, they are amazing, impossible not to stare at. Wherever I was in the city, my eyes would go looking for the towers. I had seen them on films and pictures before, but I never thought of them as a mosque. Maybe it’s because I saw them through my “western point of view”. The minute I got to the city and saw the towers, I realized the image of a mosque (It surprised me not having seen that before).

Malls

As in Singapore, I was impressed of how many malls there are in Kuala Lumpur. In every corner there’s one, in all sizes, shapes and prizes. I saw the most luxurious malls of my life there, with every exclusive shop and brand...

In Asia, Singapore-Malasia 2008, Diving & Snorkeling On  07/08/2008  No comments

I had read about these beautiful islands northeast of Malaysia and got crazy to scuba diving there. I loved it! It remained me of Gili Trawangan islands in Indonesia, the place where I did my Open Water Dive, ten years ago.

Dives

I did two dives on the island: one at Tokong Laut (Temple of the Sea) and another at Sugar Wreck (a shipwreck). The diversity of sea life was impressive. I saw different types of fishes, turtles, bamboo sharks, squids, schools of sardines… Wonderful, and beyond that, very cheap compared to Brazilian prizes. A dive trip was around RM80 (+/- U$25). I hadn’t dived for a year, so I needed it.

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Kuala Besut

Kuala Besut is the city of departure for boast to Perhentian islands...

In Asia, Singapore-Malasia 2008 On  02/08/2008  No comments

We only spent two days in Melaka but wanted to stay more… The city is a mixture of cultures, ethnic groups and religions. Being an important harbor in Southeast Asia, it suffered several invasions (Portuguese, English, Dutch…) and all of them added to its culture.

The very first day we went to a street party to celebrate the city’s nomination as UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. After the party, we walked through the city. I loved the Dutch neighborhood. The night is busy in Chinatown’s market; it’s full of stalls selling all kinds of Chinese food and trinkets. At the end of the street there’s one of the most famous caffs in town: Geographér Café, a cozy place with books, plants, live music… And me, a lover of geography, locative media and maps, fell in love with the place by its very name.

The next day we wandered around to know the place better, ate really well at a local Japanese restaurant and had a massage. It felt like holidays, and it was holidays in a way.

By lat...

In Asia, Singapore-Malasia 2008 On  31/07/2008  No comments

We were very tired when we arrived to Singapore. We got there at 6am but could only get to our hotel room at noon. We had to walk around the city in order to kill time and, after a 40-hour trip, wandering around town falling asleep on our feet wasn’t a very good option.

I went by myself to Singapore, but I wrote “we arrived” because I met Rachel Zuanon at South Africa’s airport and we became fast friends. At the same airport, she introduced me to Yara Guasque. So, “we” means Rachel, Yara and me.

The reason for this journey (as for Scandinavia in 2004) was an Electronic Arts Congress, ISEA 2008 and I took that as an excuse to visit the region. After all, it’s not every day you have the opportunity to travel to the other side of the world.

At first, the city seemed strange to me. That wasn’t the Asia that I knew! It didn’t look one bit like Indonesia, Philippines or Thailand. Architecture is hard, rigid, almost like a representation of its government...

In Highlight, Thailand 2004 On  30/12/2004  No comments

See the posts on Travel Thailand 2004

• Bangkok
• Ayutthaya
• Chiang Mai
• Tours on the north of Thailand
• Koh Samui – Mae Nam
• Koh Samui – Bo Phut
• Krabi – Ao Nang – Phang Nga
• Phuket

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  16/12/2004  No comments

Patong, in Phuket, was our choice to relax on the last days of the trip. Nothing better than a touristy place with good infrastructure for leisure. Here we would have all we need: sun, sun beds, parasol, cocktails, coconut water, fresh fish, restaurants on the sand, coconut trees…

The beach looked like those summer time beaches in Brazil. It was big, wide; we could walk on the wet sand. There were many options of activities: banana boat, water sky, jet sky, diving, boat tour, floating mattress… We could hear all the time people offering food and drinks to sell. Some people don’t like this “agitated” sort of beach. I grew up in beaches like that, so I like it. For me this is the idea of take the most advantage of what the beach can offer you. It is exploiting all its facets. Maxim, who comes from Siberia, was amazed by the possibilities of the tropical paradise.

Phuket is also known for the sexual tourism, what, we unfortunately saw a lot...

In Asia, Adventure, Diving & Snorkeling, Thailand 2004 On  13/12/2004  One comment

We arrive in the city of Krabi and went straight to Ao Nang beach. A pleasant beach, full of hotels, bars and restaurants. The beach is crowded with boats that, frequently, offer to take you to an island or interesting beach. We strongly recommend the 4-island tour. It is one day in a long-tail boat island hopping (Poda Island, Chicken Island, Tup island and Phranang cave). The boat trip is slow, what makes it an enjoyable trip so one can calmly observe the nature, rocks, sea, and other boats… Everything, without having the idea of being in a hush to arrive somewhere.

The Krabi region of is well known by rock climbers and divers. It is surrounded by rocks for climbing and waters for diving. Here it is the famous Koh Phi Phi, the island where it was filmed the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio. We benefit from that going to the Phi Phi area for diving. We had been diving for 2 day (4 immersions) in a place called Maya Bay and Koh Bida Nok...

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  07/12/2004  No comments

We decided to continue the car journey to see some places on the island we haven’t have time to see. The first stop was the Bo Phut pier. Interesting because the small wooden quay gave us an enormous peaceful feeling. We drove to the Big Buddha, a huge statue of a golden Buddha. The statue of almost 20 meters height was built in 1972. There was also Buddhas with monkeys, I had read about them but until then I haven’t seen. I liked the place because it looked like Thailand a lot. It was not anymore a tourist island with resorts; here it was a place full of faith and beliefs. The rest of the day we spend relaxing on the sun beds of the hotel: sun, sea and coconut tree shade. Walking on the beach I saw a glass bottle with many seashells stuck to it. That reminded me the sandal from the other beach. Once more the nature was showing its strength.

Our last day on the island we had reserved for a dive trip. We went to Koh Tao for diving...

In Asia, Thailand 2004 On  05/12/2004  One comment

Koh Samui was our first place for “vacation”. Before, our trip had been busy and tiresome. Coconut and fishing were the main activity on the island (koh); nowadays it is a tourist paradise. This, therefore, would be a perfect place to start to relax. In general, the hotels were small, there were many resorts but one doesn’t see the big towers of a chain hotel. I read that here it was not allowed to construct hotels higher than coconut trees, what I consider brilliant.

People told us that it was the rain season. We check on the internet for the weather forecast and it said cloudy and rainy days. We were luck because it rained only a few hour when we arrived and on the day of the departure. The rest of the time we could enjoy the beach, relax on the hotel’s sun bed, sleep in the coconut shade and sea bath. This was what I missed the most. The beaches in Europe don’t give you that kind of pleasure. It is impossible to compare.

Walking on Mae Nam beach we saw pieces of wood ful...