Best of Asia (so far): Markets

Carrying on with our favorite stuff in Southeast Asia we are going to skip a few and move on to 'best markets.'  I've always been a sucker for a good market - particularly the kinds of markets where the floor isn't crawling with rats and slick with animal entrails.  And while there are a lot of gross out markets in this part of the world there are some truly amazing ones too.

The Russian Market in Phnom Penh is labyrinthine maze where I'm pretty sure you could buy literally anything you needed - from a new hose pipe or used stereo to your weekly grocery shop and designer clothes (made during an illegal third shift at one of Cambodia's many textile factories).

The weekend market in Kuching is a wonderful outdoor affair (particularly if it isn't raining) where you can buy fresh green peppercorns for a few cents - it also has the most impressive range of fresh and dried chilis that I've ever seen.

Vientiane has lovely markets too, entire warehouse sized rooms that are literally overflowing with leafy greens, herbs, rice, onions, ginger, and coffee.  Beyond food, you can buy large bundles of silk, handwoven longyi, scarves, quilts and more. Prices are so low as to almost be offensive.

Solo in Indonesia has a terrific antiques market that is full to bursting with local handicrafts such as shadow puppets, Javanese-style masks and clay tea sets. Not to forget the amazing selection of Indonesian coffees  - I think we came home with two kilos of beans.

However, the overwhelming winner in this category is the weekend walking market in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Late afternoon on every Saturday and Sunday the
centre of this city of 160,000 people is pedestrianised and out come the vendors.  The entire city centre is transformed into a huge market covering several square blocks.  Locals and tourists alike ply the streets in search of a bargain - clothes, scarves, old jewelry, new jewelry, paintings, sketches, trinkets, textiles you name it.

Forming part of Northern Thailand's 'Golden Triangle' Chiang Mai is a hub for many indigenous tribes to come and sell their goods.  Perhaps the most well-known group is the Hmong People (who are spread over the mountainous border areas of Thailand, China, Vietnam and Laos). The Hmong played a significant role in (unsuccessfully) fighting the Communists in Laos in the 1970s - many received asylum in the US where they have formed small Diasporas - particularly in Minnesota and Northern California.


I digress. Hmong culture in Northern Thailand appears to be alive and well and they produce some truly stunning products.  I swore that Chiang Mai was not going to be a shopping expedition, but how could I pass up this beautiful bedspread - painstakingly hand-dyed with blocks?  $60 well spent, methinks.

Oh, and there is food. Lots and lots of really, really good food.

The best of Southeast Asia, so far.

We are mere weeks away from having been here for 2.5 years. This quarter decade anniversary has prompted to me look back and think about all the amazing things we've seen, done - and eaten since our arrival here. This list is perhaps a bit pre-mature, we've seen but a tiny sliver of what this part of the world has to offer - and we haven't even been to Vietnam or Sri Lanka yet - and we've barely scratched the surface of huge countries like Indonesia (although we are adding another drop in that bucket in about two weeks time).

So, I'm going to look back at some of the best stuff we've done over the last 2.5 years.  I am excluding India from this exercise partly because India is not technically part of Southeast Asia - but mostly because India just overwhelms everything - it is a category unto itself.  Obviously these opinions are my own, but I'd love to hear alternative suggestions and thoughts from those who have done similar and different excursions in the region. Here's a few of the 'best of's' I've decided to look at:

• Best food
• Best beer
• Best beaches
• Best scenery
• Best temples
• Best wildlife
• Best city
• Best markets
• Best museum

I'm going to start with a couple of the easier ones in the hope that maybe we'll have completed our next Indonesian adventure before I pass judgement on a few things!

Anyway, let's get started:

Best beer: Beer Lao - no doubt about it. This beer, with good reason, is the pride and joy of Laos.  It lacks the high sugar content (as well as accompanying hangover associated with other Asian beers - I'm thinking Tiger and Kingfisher) and is reminiscent of a quality Eastern European pilsner - which isn't surprising considering Beer Lao started out as a joint-venture between the government of Laos and Czech brewers. Beer Lao isn't nearly as available outside of Laos as it should be (although I've now spotted it in Thailand and Myanmar) but if it does pop up at your local liquor store make sure you try it.

Best food: This is extremely difficult - and easy.  Cambodia and Myanmar both did their level best to kill me, they are not in the running.  Despite a genuine love for Javanese bakso and tempe goreng, Indonesia barely ranks.  I had a genuinely delicious $7 steak in Laos, but again, not enough to earn to the top spot. Perhaps rather predictably, this is a dead heat between Thailand and Malaysia.  In the end I'm going to swing to Malaysia just for the sheer diversity of the food available here.  The Malay/Chinese/Indian combo is pretty much unbeatable and I've developed a deep, deep love for the Chinese-style seafood that you get here (and yam baskets).

If I was going to narrow it down to a single place, I'd probably even bypass Penang and go for Kuching - the area is home to dozens of family-run seafood restaurants which aren't much to look at but they have some the freshest and tastiest seafood I've ever encountered (this is coming from someone who spent four years in Scotland guzzling the world's finest oysters - I love my seafood.)  More sophisticated options are also in abundance, if you ever happen by there an evening spent at Bla, bla, bla is totally worth it.

More favorites in the next installment.

Back to Borneo

We made our first trip to Sarawak nearly two years ago and now we're going back . . . with my parents in-tow (they'll do fine, really).

To get everyone prepared for our journey, I have been re-reading and insisting that everyone else read Redmond O'Hanlon's book, Into the Heart of Borneo.  This is one of my all time favourite non-fiction books and is essential reading for armchair adventurers and hardened travellers alike.

Redmond, his poet-sidekick James Fenton and their three charming and resourceful Iban guides all set off on an incredible adventure deep into the jungle in search of the Bornean rhinoceros. Pumped full of tuak (native rice wine), arak (a lethally strong rice brandy), hoards of sticky rice and boney river fish they have many (mis)adventures - particularly with the local wildlife, which includes:

• 166 species of snakes: including 2 species or python, 50 venomous snakes including, aggressive sea snakes which have been known to swarm in the thousands, three kinds of cobra, pit vipers and river snakes.  Let's also not forget the flying tree snakes.
• leeches: giant leeches, up to two feet long and tiny leeches that live in rivers and streams only as wide as a thread that patiently wait for you to drink them down so they can feast on you internally.
• mosquitoes. Enough said.

Less scary native species include the elusive clouded leopard, cranky sun bear, big-eyed tarsiers, tiny slow loris, agile gibbons (they can swing from branch to branch for distances of up to 50 ft at speeds up to 35 mph), mighty orang-utans and countless species of birds including the revered hornbill.

Although parts of Borneo are now as developed as anywhere else in Malaysia, deep in the jungle there are still unruly natives prowling about with lethal blowpipes and who were reportedly head-hunters up until the 1960s. Despite ever-increasing development and the devastating destruction of huge swathes of primary rainforest for ever-expanding oil palm plantations, Borneo still possess a slightly wild edge.  It's not New Guinea, but it sure ain't a tourist-packed Thai island either.

We won't be hitting the jungle quite so hard as Redmond and James, but we have every intention of spotting a few orang-utans, visiting a Dayak longhouse, squeezing in a few jungle treks of our own, relaxing on the beach (hopefully without sea snakes!) and no vacation would be complete (especially with Thomas Galli) without a few beverages.  I can't wait to be back in Borneo.

Borneo: Part 1

We’ve made it Borneo and Ian is greatly reassured by being back on an island. He doesn’t understand land borders and doesn’t like living in a place that has them. In any event, we’ve arrived and although we haven’t really even done anything yet, this is quickly shaping up to be one of my favourite trips.

We landed in Kuching around lunchtime after a lengthy delay due to crashed computer systems in KL and a bumpy ride over the South China Sea. The airport was full of Malay, Chinese, Sarawak natives and a handful of tired, hardened Western travellers with mud-caked boots and dripping with jungle-gear all getting flights either back to civilization or into deepest, darkest Borneo.

I had fairly high expectations for Kuching, as I had (as always) done my homework before coming. My expectations were further heightened when just days after sorting out the final details of our trip I stumbled upon a massive spread in the NYT about Borneo in which the author (a writer for Lonely Planet) had recently not only done a trip that included our exact itinerary, but also stayed in the same guesthouse that just days before we had booked ourselves into.

After a quick taxi ride in from the airport we arrived at our guesthouse and were greeted by Eric, the now-famed guesthouse proprietor from the NYT article. He set us up asked where we were from and proudly displayed for us the recent article that someone had been kind enough to send him from the States.

Our room was just what we required. Luxurious for having it’s own bathroom and AC, but basic in a thoroughly charming way and an absolute bargain at $25 a night. We are a short walk into town, but far enough away to not attract a lot of backpackers and it is mercifully quiet; more or less an adult hostel.

We set out to explore Kuching and it was instantly a refreshing break from KL. Quiet, clean (as little garbage as I have seen anywhere in Asia, save Japan) and we quickly found that drivers even use turn-signals here. Apparently, you come to Borneo for a bit of civilization.

The waterfront along the Sarawak River is incredibly picturesque. Renovated in 1993 it has a wide cobblestone path that winds along the river where there are a few scattered food-stalls serving satay and fruit juice with plenty of locals milling about chatting and relaxing on park benches. Local boats, that look like canoes with a little roof on them ferry people back and forth across the river, including loads of school children. A few fishermen also dot the river and from nearly every point along the path you have an unimpeded view of the impressive Sarawak state capitol building which not totally incongruously alongside little scatterings of traditional Malay homes built on stilts. At sunset the sky went several shades or pink, purple, yellow and orange and little fairy lights came on, lighting the way along the waterfront.

Sarawak is well-known as a place to buy native hand-crafts. Souvenir shops line the streets behind the waterfront, plenty of them selling corny t-shirts and factory made versions of traditional items. Carry on though and you quickly learn to distinguish the tat from the real deal. There is plenty of cool stuff to be had here, local medicine pots, swords, statues to keep away evil spirits and hand-woven textiles. Even better, you can go into these places and the store clerks don’t stalk you and walk around telling you they’ll give you ‘best discount.’ You can browse in peace.

Which brings me round to the locals themselves; we had been told by friends before coming that the locals everywhere in Borneo are incredibly friendly. We believed them but clearly didn’t grasp just how friendly. People constantly say hello to you, not in a pestering way, but genuinely just to say hello and welcome. Little children who can muster up the courage to overcome their shyness love to say hello and give you a vigorous little wave.

There are of course, as everywhere, plenty of other Westerners about, but on the whole this place feels remarkably un-touristy. No crowds, no queues, no hassle. In many ways it’s like a smaller, quieter Melaka.

The food here is absolutely amazing. Everything has the same name as in peninsular Malaysia, but tastes quiet different. Ian had a beef rendang yesterday that was clearly cooked in the same method – melt in your mouth tender with plenty of coconut milk, but the spicing was completely unlike anything we’d had before. We also had the best Kway Teow (which is essentially the Malaysian version of pad-Thai) that we’ve had yet and even our chicken satay was just that little bit different. Perhaps best of all, an ice cold can of Tiger will only set you back about $1.50.