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Who wooda thunk that Borneo would look like this?
Quest is docked at Sutera Marina in
Kota Kinabalu. The marina is part of
a golf, swimming, sailing, tennis complex with two large multipool swim
areas. There are two large luxury hotels on either side of the marina.
It's the most upscale place we've visited - including Los Suenos (in
southern Mexico) and The
Ritz Carlton.

This merlion is the symbol for Singapore. We enjoyed touring the
city/state of Singapore
- a very clean and orderly society, governed by an autocratic method
with NO tolerance for antisocial behavior.

Georgetown,
Penang is an upscale city in many ways. But, it also has its Chinatown
and Little India sections that retain the old buildings and original
flavor. Georgetown is located on the west coast of the Malaysian
peninsula.

Nothing says Thailand more than riding on a Siamese elephant.
Phuket
is all about tourists and one must NOT leave Thailand without riding on
an elephant. These elephants did not seem to be overworked or underfed.
There were a lot of elephants at this site and they didn't seem to be
underfed as some others we saw.

Bangkok
is known as the shopping center of Southeast Asia. So, what better photo
to place here than a shot of our friend, Jim and me at the big Sunday
market in Bangkok.

Throughout South East Asia people have a special feeling in their heart
for the Buddhist monks. In the airport and in other pubic places there
are seats set aside for these monks to sit down, thought the rest of us
may stand. We, too were fascinated by them! Here's a shot of three monks
on a motor cycle in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

These puppets are part of a very old tradition in the Cambodian culture.
We enjoyed attending a puppet show that was performed as part of an
effort to raise money for needy and homeless children in the
Siem Reap area
(read: Angkor Wat). It's hard to forget the recent history of
the killing fields and the ongoing assault by landmines that can destroy
a family's financial support in one horrible event.

Many people don't associate living on a boat as being the "countryside,"
but because there's such a large population that moves around according
to the height of the Tonle Sap river I've included photos of the
floating villages as part of my Cambodian
countryside
page. Because Scott & I live on a boat we have an
affinity for others who live on a boat. This beautifully decorated house
boat was part of the floating village in the Siem Reap area. Many of
these are home stays and a tourist could arrange to stay on a boat. I
doubt that there would be air conditioning and clean running drinking
and shower water that we're used to! |