States of Southeast Asia, notably Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia (153Cong.Rec.S8306) Continued

Gili Air

From Singapore, we escaped to an island almost its opposite in terms of size and culture. Gili Air, one of the three Gili Islands north of mainland Lombok in Indonesia, is so small that you can walk its dirt-road perimeter in less than an hour. Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't lazy people, so some entrepreneurs pilot horsecarts to move tourists -- and their luggage -- around the island (left). It must've been a bit of a feat to get the horses to the island. The presence of cows is even more peculiar, considering that at least part of the island population is Hindu, so the sacred beasts wander untethered (right); then again, the Muslim part of the population clearly raises cattle for food, so it's hard to determine which animals are property and which aren't. 

 

No matter the religion, the livelihood of the island residents is based around the beach. Most of the accommodation, including ours at Omah Gili, consists of lumbungs, or cabana structures based on traditional rice barns (left). A few lucky hotels have their lumbungs right on the ocean, but mostly, the sand is stocked with restaurants related to hotel/dive operations, whose boats offer resortside pick-ups and drop-offs for their guests (right).  

 

Diving is probably the main attraction on the islands, but for short-timers like us, snorkelling was the best option. We went on a half-day tour that took us to various sites around the islands with healthy reefs and therefore good marine life. If you are afraid or simply afraid of the water, the ocean is so clear that you can just look at the fish through the boat's glass bottom (left). During the tour, we stopped for lunch on Gili Meno, where many people, including a camera crew filming a beer commercial (we think), were taking advantage of the crystal-clear water (right). 

 

The highlight of snorkelling was seeing -- and swimming alongside -- sea turtles, which are valued throughout the islands. On Gili Meno, Bolong's Turtle Sanctuary assists babies whose hatching in the sand and scuttling to the sea might be disturbed by busy beach traffic (left). At Oceans 5 Dive Resort on Gili Air, staff members have rescued turtles that they found injured or abandoned during dive excursions (right).

 

During the break on Gili Meno, I tried the Sasak specialty Plecing Kangkung, water spinach fried with coconut and chilis (left). Back on Gili Air, during a different lunch at Warung Sasak, we had another delicious vegetarian dish (whose name unfortunately I cannot remember) made with beans, carrots, and other vegetables fried in dark soy sauce and served with rice. However, the more recent culinary tradition on the island apparently is beachside barbeques. For dinner one night at Chill Out Bar, I had parrotfish and prawn from the grill, which was paid for by the pound (right). For another dinner, TJ and I shared an upscale appetizer of tuna sashimi and prawn-avocado cocktail at Scallywags Beach Club before we returned to the more customary curries.

 

Langkawi

In Malaysia, we got our island fix on Langkawi, on the north end of the country close to Thailand. Like Lombok, Langkawi has its own brand of beach cabana, much like a traditional stilted house, complete with the bed on the floor (left). We didn't see a lot of horses or cows on Langkawi, but we saw plenty of monkeys at TStar Cottages, where they would wake us every morning as they scampered across our roof to get to the balconies where people had left trash out (right). 

 

Langkawi is much bigger than Gili Air, so we rented a motorbike in order to get a glimpse of all its beaches. Pantai Pasir Hitam, a black sand beach, is promoted as a natural phenomenon and therefore a tourist destination (top left). But we were more intrigued by what was taking place at Tanjung Rhu, which was the finish line for a stage of the Raid Amazones, a weeklong team adventure race for women; during this stage, the trios were kayaking in the ocean (top right). I didn't set foot in the ocean, with a kayak or otherwise, because of the presence of jellyfish, which were the size of car tires (bottom left). TJ braved the waters for a little while, but I was content to bask in the shoreline's beauty (bottom right).

 

 

The locals had no qualms about getting in the water. One morning, we found a collection of motorbikes abandoned on the beach (left). Their drivers and passengers had waded out to a nearby island, Pulau Rebak Besar, collecting some kind of shellfish, which they brought back to their bikes in bagfuls (right). Emboldened, TJ went in waist-high, but I still was content to have viewed the island from beachside establishments like the Yellow Cafe and The Cliff Bar.

   

During our motorbike beach tour, we stumbled upon some other sights, including the Panorama Langkawi SkyCab, which carts people across two of the highest peaks on the island (top). At the main town of Kuah, we visited Dataran Lang, or Eagle Square, featuring a huge sculpture of a reddish-brown eagle, which is a rough translation of the name Langkawi (bottom left). We also found less well-known attractions, such as Lembong village, mainly a canal to the ocean lined with fishing boats and makeshift shelters (bottom right).

 

One sight that turned out less spectacular than we had hoped was Air Hangat Village. The park -- at the base of the island's mountains, whose evergreen hues match the spa's pools (left) -- was not fully open for the season. But we were able to dip our toes in the one hot spring that was left operational while workers readied the rest of the village for the impending onslaught of tourists (right).

 

Just down the road, a stop that started out as an afterthought turned out to be quite rewarding. Walking to the top of the Durian Perangin waterfall was a bit of a hike (left). And after all the climbing and not swimming in the ocean, the basins carved among the rocks down the hill from the cascade did look inviting (right). Still, we obeyed the signs stating that the water possibly could be contaminated by disease-causing creatures worse than jellyfish.

 

Like Gili Air, Langkawi has a mixed cultural heritage which influences its cuisine. For our first dinner, we dined on Turkish food at Istanbul Restaurant; we shared Ezme with Pide, then TJ had a gigantic lamb shank, and I ate Ali Nazik, or ground meat over baba ganoush. Multicultural diner Tomato Nasi Kandar could satisy a range of cravings: TJ sampled the buffet of mostly Muslim halal food, but then also ordered Malaysian laksa as well as Indian/Pakistani naan and daal; I had Bihun Goreng, or Indonesian fried rice noodles (left). At another streetside nasi, related to Green Village, I tried beef Murtabak, an Indian stuffed pancake, while TJ ordered sardine Roti Canai, an Indian-influenced type of Malaysian crepe; the dough for both is the same, but the cooking method is slightly different. Fat Cupid, perhaps the fanciest restaurant we patronized during our trip, is known for Nyonya fusion dishes, such as Sambal Udang, or spicy prawns, which I picked for my main course; TJ opted for one of the specials, Tenggiri Masak Lemak, a mackerel coconut curry (right). To start, we shared a lamb satay appetizer, while TJ quaffed a lemongrass mojito, and I sipped a unique blackberry-shiraz caipirinha.

 

States of Southeast Asia, notably Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia (153Cong.Rec.S8306)

For our second R&R vacation from Pakistan, we headed toward Southeast Asia again, but then we went even a bit farther south. Since I don't want to rehash our trip in the same old way, I'm going to change it up in this series of blog posts, as we amateur writers are wont to do. Basically, I want to share our adventures out of order, in hopes of making some non-chronological connections.

As it so happened, in every stop on our itinerary, we ended up on an island. In some cases, the island was a city, a country, or even a continent. So I figured, why not start with some tales of our island hopping? Then, I'll move onto our urban explorations on some of those same islands, and finally, New Zealand, a country the encompasses a few islands and a lot of cities, ends up with some posts all of its own.

Singapore

After a plane transfer in Bangkok, we started our trip in Singapore, a city/country situated entirely on an island. But of course, Singpore feels like it's on an island about as much as Brooklyn feels like it's on an island. Singapore has never been on my travel bucket list, but TJ's dad, whom I had never met before, lives there, so we figured we should stop by before we leave this side of the world.

Singapore has an interesting history, but in its long transition from colonialism to consumerism, perhaps too much of the city/country now comes in pre-packaged form. One of the first places we visited was Clarke Quay (pronounced like "key"), a warehouse-turned-entertainment district that reminded me of the The Flats of Cleveland before its sheen slid into seediness. The colorful open-air mall, which we viewed from a Singapore River cruise (left), featured a cliche version of just about every cuisine, including Wings Bar, full of inauthentically insulting attempts at U.S. military regalia. Just around the riverbend is Boat Quay, another former cargo landing where shophouses are now shrunken by skyscrapers (right). Farther inland on the river, you can find Robertson Quay, yet another commercial cluster where you can party it up amid former opium dens -- in case you don't want to get buzzed on a bumboat instead, that is.

As the river spreads into Marina Bay, the contrast between old and new continues with the water-spitting statue of a Merlion, a mythical creature related to Singapore's nickname as "The Lion City" (top). Across the bay lies the Marina Bay Sands, a casino resort that tries to cling to the past with its architecture: a rooftop "SkyPark" shaped like a bumboat and the ArtScience Museum shaped like a water lily (bottom left). Nearby lies the Raffles Hotel (bottom right), a colonial "icon" where the Singapore Sling was invented (we did not try one as it costs about $20).

In my opinion, my money would've been better spent on a $10 pair of shoes from a vending machine (left), yet another sign of the market economy that dominates Singapore. But with a limited amount of space, at least the country considers the environmental footprint in its path toward progress. In its goal to become "A City in a Garden," Singapore has many buildings with gardens (left), including the largest "green wall" project in the world. And in 2012, the city's Gardens by the Bay, next to the stunning Marina Bay Sands, was named the World Building of the Year.

 

We almost got rained out of a ride on perhaps the most impressive architectural wonder in the city: the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel (left). The London Eye is 30 meters shorter; they checked. At the top of the half-hour rotation in a glass bubble, you can see a 360-view of Singapore and its diverse buildings, including the Marina Bay Sands (right). At the bottom, after you disembark, you can sample its diverse dishes at the Singapore Food Trail, a high-end food court that supposedly filled stalls with the best hawkers in the city. Even though the trail seemed a bit overpolished, I filled my belly with Bak Kut Teh, a pork-rib soup.

 

But all the planned development ends up creating a bit of a Disney feel, especially on Orchard Road (top), a shopping strip that was already decked out for Christmas when we were there pre-Thanksgiving. The road has an annual "best dressed building" competition, even though the most charming constructions are found among the Peranakan houses on the Emerald Hill Road offshoot. I wish the city did more to promote the Peranakans, or Chinese immigrants who blended Indonesian, Arabic, Indian, and Dutch influences into a unique culture. If you want to find culture in Singapore, you have to vacate downtown and stumble around its neighborhoods, such as Chinatown (bottom left) and Little India (bottom right). 

 

Even the neighborhoods display their own brand of commercialism, such as the food court next to the cable car to Sentosa Island, which truly is like Disney World. At Food Republic, I was able to try some traditional dishes made palatable for the masses. The dishes that TJ's stepmom spread on the table included Char Kway Teow, Rojak, Laksa, and Chicken Satay (with peanut sauce, of course). 

But the further you venture into the neighborhoods, the more authentic the eats you find. TJ and I didn't discover the real Chinatown until our second pass through Singapore, on our way back to Pakistan. On our way to Maxwell Road Hawker Centre, we wandered through Amoy Street and Ann Siang Hill, once the heart of the Chinese community. So at the food center, we shared some Chinese foods, including black Chai Tow Kway, known as fried carrot cake even though it's made from radishes (left); we also tried Hokkien Mee, or prawn noodles, and Hainanese Chicken Rice, from a stall, Tian Tian Chicken Rice, made famous by an Anthony Bourdain endorsement. On our first trip, we didn't find the heart of Chinatown with our feet, but we did with our noses. At the food court of People's Park Centre, we tried fried durian (right), recognized as perhaps the most putrid-smelling food on the planet, proving that everything becomes edible when dropped in a vat of oil.  

 

As if they are going out on some field trip (148Cong.Rec.H2265)

On a day-to-day basis, I don't feel unsafe in Islamabad, but since we've been in Pakistan, a few events -- about which many wonderful concerned friends have often messaged us on Facebook -- have prevented us from getting too comfortable. (Seriously, if you Google pakistan and "on high alert," you get more than 5 million hits.)

All of these incidents remind us to not get complacent about our security. But it doesn't mean we continually barricade ourselves in our houses either. When situations are relatively stable, we manage to explore our temporary home -- following all procedures and taking all precautions, of course. 

A while back, we escaped the city with a group hike in Bhurban. We almost got lost by following a winding road too far into the valley (top left), but eventually, we got back on track, literally, and found a great vista of the Margalla Hills (top right). After a couple of hours walking among the crisp air and evergreens, we settled down for lunch at the Pearl-Continental Hotel, which also offers a wonderful view of the surrounding hills (bottom).

 

The hotel mainly serves those with Western sensibilities, so I had reasonably authentic tostadas for lunch. That very same night, for dinner, we sought a more Pakistani spread at Pindi Food Street, a row of restaurants that fill to capacity most nights (top). Among the many establishments, we choose Shahenshah Tikka House, which has a huge outdoor patio and BBQ pit (bottom left). Among the shared dishes of our economical, self-selected sampler platter were chicken kebabs and mutton karahi (bottom right).

Another weekend, we decided to be tourists at Taxila, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our group (safety in numbers, always!) began its tour at the site's museum (left), where a guide gave us information about some of the artifacts on display that were excavated nearby. I particularly liked the centuries-old distiller (right), which functions in much the same way as the distiller in our house, except that the water was heated by fire whereas ours is heated by electricity. (It's also possible that the ancient system distilled something other than water, but the posted description didn't mention that.) 

Taxila encompasses a nearby area of many square miles, so you have to drive from site to site. Our first stop was Sirkap (top left), a city where three levels of civilizations -- Greeks, Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthians, then Kushans -- have been identified in the ruins (top right). However, these civilizations were not completely distinct, and there is evidence that they overlapped and merged over time, as shown in the different carvings at the "double-headed eagle stupa." The one on the left shows the architecture and an animal, an eagle, of the native Indo-Scythians, but the one on the right has a non-indigenous tortoise atop a more Asian-style gateway, probably based on the traditions of the Kushans (bottom). 

At Mohra Moradu, the Buddhist beliefs held by many in the civilizations is clearly displayed. There are many well-preserved Buddhas, albeit headless, including "healthy Buddha," whose belly button you are supposed to rub for physical well-being (top left). Mohra Moradu is also where one of the most elaborate stupas, or monuments containing the ashes of monks, was uncovered (top right). It was found off a courtyard surrounded by numerous meditation cells (bottom).

Our guide led us up the hill above Mohra Moradu to an interesting cave. None of us dared to go too deep into the abyss, as we certainly did not believe that the chirping we heard was from birds, not bats, as the guide proclaimed (left). But the hike up provided a lovely spot to view the green expanse of the Taxila region (right); it is no wonder that so many people decided to settle in this fertile area, even before it became a stop along the Grand Trunk Road. 

At Mohra Moradu, a prominent tree has been converted to a shrine to Sufis, who are credited with helping convert the Buddhists in Pakistan to Muslims. At Pipplan, the transition from Buddhism to Islam -- yet another evolution of the Taxila region -- could be seen in the form of a Muslim cemetery that had been created right beyond the walls of the Buddhist temple.  

The last stop of our tour was the piece de resistance: Jaulian. This Buddhist temple is a more embellished and unspoiled version of Mohra Moradu. Beside the courtyard of meditation cells lies one main stupa surrounded by numerous smaller ones (left). And because Jaulian is in a gorge protected from eroding winds, the carvings on the stupas are more distinct (right). 

Throughout the day in Taxila, the contrast of present-day Pakistan to the one of the past, where groups with different beliefs converged to form a long-standing civilization, was not lost on me. Nonetheless, it was nice to be reminded of the peace that can be found in this country -- whether it be in the serenity of a verdant hillside, the amiability of a dinner table, or the community of a cultural outing.