May 18, 2026

May 18, 2026

Our hotel has a great buffet. The previous night I had the items I rarely get at home because they are not on Aimee’s preferred list, including Japanese Sushi and grilled Calamari. The breakfast was just as diverse. I took the opportunity this morning to try a couple items I have been on the lookout for. I had a bowl of Nasi Lemak, the national dish of Malaysia. I followed it with a bowl of Laksa Kari. The key word is Kari, which is the Malay form of Curry. That adds the spice flavor I love and had been hunting. Last night we went to the 39th floor rooftop for a drink of the locals beers Bintang and Bali Hai. We watched the sun set behind our nearby smoking volcano.

This morning we checked out and drove the two hours to the other big city in the center of Java, Yogyakarta. This region is the only one ruled by a king. In many ways Indonesia is a collection of widely diverse states and cultures. Despite the high cost of oil today, there is no shortage of vehicles on the road, especially motorcycles. Interestingly if you call their Uber (Grab) you might have to jump on the back of a motorbike. One reason there are so many vehicles is that the price of diesel is subsidized. It is merely $1.50/gal. That is part of the ‘resource curse’. There is no incentive to use domestic resources economically. Indonesia used to be an oil exporter and a member of OPEC. No longer. They are now an importer.

We had a bathroom break at a Batik craft shop. Batik is not only used for clothing but also for making beautiful art. The pieces we saw make our attempt yesterday look pretty childish.

We stopped for the day in the old part of the city called Kota-gede, or Big City. We first walked through the market where the local food stuffs are sold. Tropical Asia is so different than our own. There are blue Duck eggs and tiny quail eggs. The ground spices are not displayed in colorful bins like Morocco. Here they were recently dug out of the ground. It is 'grind your own' Turmeric tubers, Cinnamon bark and Lemongrass stalks. Sugar comes from Palm trees. And the fruits are all things you will never see at home. Snakefruit is called that because of the scales on the covering.

We then walked through the Great Mosque of Kotagede. It is the oldest built almost 500 years ago. It looks nothing like those we have seen in the Middle East. Its structure is Javanese with distinctive elements of Hindu and Buddhism. So much so that the entrance gate has the head of a Hindu demon, which is taboo in Islam. There is no minaret or dome anywhere.

We next explored the traditional Javanese music culture. It uses all percussion instruments called Gamelan. They are bronze instruments that are struck to make a sound. The instruments range from bells, to xylophones to gongs. Gong is a Javanese word. We listened to a bunch of young students play these instruments while munching on some local snacks. Then we were recruited to try it ourselves. A young Java girl taught me how to play the gong in a band. I was a slow learner but provided the encore sound at the end.

After lunch, we drove to our Yogyakarta hotel. After checking in, I drank a beer while watching Aimee swim in the hotel pool. One benefit of travelling in the Third World is living like a king despite a shoe-string budget.

May 17, 2026

May 17, 2026

We awoke on the 20th floor of our Surakarta, Indonesia hotel. I looked out to enjoy the view over the city and noticed two giant mountains looming over us. Oooh! The one one on the left is the 10,000 ft Mt. Merapi (Fire Mountain). It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and it is smoking! I forgot that Indonesia is a major part of the Ring of Fire.

After breakfast we drove an hour east up the slopes of another even taller stratovolcano, Mt Lawu. Fortunately this one seems to be dormant. The steep ride up the slopes is a nice change of pace. It is cooler and more scenic Our first stop is a tea plantation. Volcanic soil is incredibly fertile. The Dutch took advantage of this and introduced tea during the colonial period. After walking amongst the plants, we stop and have some local tea along with Fried Cassava and a Banana Fritter. Aimee and I are not big tea fans.

Our next stop is at Sukuh Temple. These ruins were first documented by Sir Raffles of Singapore fame. He was temporarily governor here when the British were fighting over control of the East Indies trade. Sukuh is a Hindu temple from the 15th century. It was one of the last to be built before most of the island was converted to Islam. Hindu temples are much more interesting than Muslim ruins because of the preponderance of figures. In particular, based on some of the explicit depictions, this one must have been used for sex and fertility education.

Since the temple was built late in the Hindu period, it has unique elements that diverge from the older Javanese norm. After going through a gate with a Shiva Linga, we enter a courtyard with wall stories and a pyramid at the far end.

Our last stop was at a tall waterfall cascading down the mountain slope. Aimee and I both thought a nearby wall of water was more interesting. We have seen large waterfalls everywhere.

We went to a local restaurant for lunch. Since this is Indonesia, Fried Banana was on the menu again. I filled up on Fried shrimp along with potatoes and vegetables. For dessert we had a Rice Coconut concoction wrapped in a Banana Leaf. We finished with some delicious fresh Mango and an odd fruit called Mangosteen. We had to pry it open to enjoy the garlic-shaped interior fruit.

On the way back down the mountain to our hotel, I noticed all the rice paddies along the road. Planting and cultivation is all manual in small plots. Java gets three crops per year. At one stage in the growth, the paddies are flooded. It has several purposes, but the primary reason is to control weeds and pests without the need for chemicals.

May 16, 2026

May 16, 2026

We are up very early today for a morning flight from Jakarta. I am surprised at all the bicyclists on the road. I always thought biking for exercise was a western thing. Since it is Saturday traffic is light and we make it to the airport quickly. This beautiful airport is named after Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, the first President and VP of independent Indonesia. The country name was coined from Indo-nesia or Indies Islands as compared to Polynesia (many islands) and Micronesia (small islands).

Our Garuda Indonesia flight follows the coastline east before turning south to land in Solo, aka Surakarta. It is too early to check into our hotel so we visit the nearby Mangkunegaran Palace. Like most parts of the world Java society was based on feudalism. Like the British in India, the Dutch exploited that system in a 'divide and conquer' strategy to control the population. The current king of the local municipality is still a major landowner. The legacy of feudal societies can be hard to throw off. We had a guided tour of the palace but it was not that exciting. Since we are in a tropical environment, the buildings have an open terrace design.

We have another buffet for lunch. We have Turmeric Fish again along with Fried Tofu. The accompanying sauces seemed to have a nice spice kick to them. This time I washed it down with a local Bintang beer.

In the park adjoining the restaurant is a metal sculpture of Krishna in a Chariot. This is a story from the Hindu religion. Strange in a majority Muslim country. But like Easter and the Resurrection in Catholicism, the Javanese culture has melded the two historical religions.

Our next stop is a Batik Museum. I groaned about going to a fabric museum. From past trips, I thought Batik was just stamped fabric patterns. I learned this Javanese art form actually uses a wax process to mask the part of the cloth that is not supposed to be dyed. It seems analogous to the way integrated circuits are made. The process is repeated to make intricate designs. While I found it a little boring, Aimee ended up buying fabric at the end of the tour.

Unfortunately the fun didn’t stop and we got a chance to try this technique for ourselves. We were given a piece of cloth and we used molten wax to ‘paint’ the designs. (Wax stamps are now used to automate the process). Then we colored in the design. We will get the results tomorrow after the wax is washed off by the staff.

May 15, 2026

May 15, 2026

We had breakfast this morning in our Jakarta, Indonesia hotel. I had a variety of Dim Sum. It consists of bite-size Chinese snacks. We also had a cup of 'Java' grown on this island of Java. After breakfast we joined our tour group.

Our first stop is at Merdeka Square to view the National Monument. This tall obelisk was built to memorialize the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch colonialists. It was declared in 1945 after WWII but took four years of fighting to achieve. The Dutch only relented after the USA threatened to withhold Marshall Plan aid for rebuilding. At the same time, the Dutch colonies tried to get their British East Indies counterparts to join them. That effort failed and they became the separate country of Malaysia. Unfortunately the first leaders of Indonesia were socialists and communists following in the footsteps of China, Vietnam, and Cuba. That is the main reason this resource rich country is still poor compared to their capitalist neighbors, e.g. Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

After walking around the square, we were dropped at the nearby National Museum. It was recently reopened after a renovation. I found it to be a little haphazard in its presentation. The Hindu/Buddhist era artifacts are the most interesting as they include intriguing figures. The relics from the later Muslim period are mostly boring because that religion forbids human depiction. So gravestones are merely decorated with calligraphic script.

Indonesia is the world's fourth largest country with just under 300 million people. It is spread out over many islands the size of the US. It consists of hundreds of tribes speaking as many languages. Like Malaysia they use Malay (aka Indonesian) as the common tongue. Over half the population lives on this island of Java about the size of Tennessee.

We next drove towards the old port of Dutch Batavia stopping at Fatahillah Square. This is the old downtown of Batavia and is surrounded by the former colonial government buildings.

Before lunch we make a visit to the next-door Wayang Puppet Museum. Puppet shows have a long history in Indonesia and was a method to teach kids about morals and religion. Wayang means ‘shadow’. Originally the puppets were just flat pieces of leather that cast shadows. Later the puppets were elaborately decorated. Our guided tour was mediocre but the relics were extensive.

Much better was the presentation we got afterwards at a puppet shop. The owner was very entertaining and informative and gave us a little show in order to encourage us to buy something.

We had lunch at Cafe Batavia, housed in one of the old colonial administration buildings. We had a nice variety of entrees to try. Aimee liked the Gado-Gado peanut sauce salad starter. I especially liked the Turmeric fish dish. Indonesia was originally colonized for these spices and Turmeric is supposed to be a good anti-inflammatory. To commemorate the Dutch history, I have a Heineken beer with lunch.

May 14, 2026

May 14, 2026

We had a late start this morning in Kuala Lumpur because we have a flight scheduled in the early afternoon. After another big breakfast we used Grab to get a car to the airport. This was the most dangerous part of our travels, a long high speed journey to a faraway airport with a driver who thinks he is in an Indy speed trial.

With the Strait of Hormuz closed and jet fuel shortages looming, I was a little worried about all the plane flights we are taking. I was relieved when I realized that Petronas is the national oil company of Malaysia and is an oil exporter. Singapore is the refining capital of southeast Asia so we will probably not have an issue getting home.

Our flight leaves on time at 1:45 pm. We follow the path Dutch East Indies traders would have sailed centuries ago down the Strait of Malacca across the equator to the island of Java.

This route is still filled with trading ships of all kinds, including container ships and bulk carriers (eg LNG). They are hugging the Malay side as the Sumatra shore is visibly shallow.

We land in the Dutch Indies capital of Batavia, named after the German tribe that settled Holland. After Independence, the name reverted back to the original name of Jakarta. Unlike Kuala Lumpur, immigration is fully automated and we make it through in seconds. The fun ends there as we have trouble linking up with our driver. In the end it works out and he drives us to our hotel downtown. Indonesia though is much poorer than Malaysia. The air seems very smoggy and we pass lots of shantytowns. We share the road with thousands of motorcycles. Jakarta is now probably the largest metropolitan area in the world with a population of 42 million. Wow!

Aimee is happy to find our hotel is like a colonial palace. After settling in, we go to the bar for a drink. We both have a glass of Bordeaux wine. It cost us the princely sum of 479,000 Rupiahs.

May 13, 2026

May 13, 2026

We ate the hotel breakfast this morning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I tried the Thai Tom Yum Soup. It was spicy and tasty, but very difficult to eat without making a mess. Aimee is having to hand-wash my shirt every day.

After breakfast we caught a Grab car to take us the eight miles north to Batu Caves. This is a series of Karst limestone caves that have Hindu temples inside them. We visit the largest, dedicated to Murugan, the god of war. While the Hindu religion has ancient roots in Malaysia, these temples were established in the 19th century. A huge 140 foot statue graces the entrance.

It is a steep climb of almost three hundred slippery steps to reach the interior. It wouldn’t be so bad but for the climate. It is a cool 80 F but with 100% humidity, it is a sweaty exercise.

The exterior and interior are decorated with brightly colored deities. In addition there are dozens of Long-tailed Macaques climbing everywhere. They are looking to steal food from the unaware. A horde of pigeons crowd the entrance floor. On more than one occasion something startles them and they fly directly overhead straight at me. I hope they are not carrying bird flu.

We pass on visiting the other caves at the site. Instead we take another Grab back to the city center to visit Merdeka Square. Merdeka means Independence in Malay. It used to be the cricket field of the British colonial rulers. Now it is dedicated to the freedom they won in August 1957. After race riots between the Malays and Chinese, Singapore was kicked out of the confederation in 1965.

Kuala Lumpur means ‘muddy confluence’. It was established in 1857 to exploit the tin discovered here. Recently the confluence was cleaned up in a ‘River of Life’ civic project. The oldest mosque in KL sits at the junction. It is closed to non-Muslims today.

Chinese were brought in to work the tin mine. We next visit their enclave starting at the Central Market. I bought a miniature Petronas Tower to remember our visit. We walk around checking out two Buddhist temples. Like Singapore’s Chinatown, this one also has an out-of-place Hindu temple. It has one of the southern Indian, brightly colored Tamil gates. We finish our visit walking down Petaling Street, a more traditional rustic outdoor market.

I convince Aimee to do the lunch buffet at the KL Tower. This 1381 foot telecommunication tower has a revolving restaurant at the top. To keep my clothes clean, I concentrate on eating the fried Tempura items. They are pretty good. Aimee and I both pig out on desserts afterwards. Lunch comes with a bonus of views. KL seems to be in competition with their rival Singapore for the most unique and audacious building. Petronas is no longer the tallest in the city. The highest is the recently opened Merdeka 118. It is the second tallest in the world. We get great views of this and the other tall structures in this vertical city.

After lunch we Grab over to Petronas Towers and get the next tour slot. Petronas has a special interest to me. In a former life I once had the highest office in the world. It was a closet on the mechanical floor above the Observation deck of the Sears Tower. My customer who managed Sears Tower, was seduced to come work here at Petronas to manage its opening in 1996. Our tour starts on the Skybridge on the 41st floor that connects the two towers. It is mostly boring, but reminds us of the famous finale in the Sean Connery movie Entrapment we re-watched last week.

The second part of the tour is an observation deck on the 86th floor of tower 2. Not only do we get a bird’s eye view of the sloped top of tower 1, we also get a good view of KL Tower. I had read that KL is full of hotels and apartment buildings with rooftop pools Once we start looking we see them everywhere. If we come again, I have some cool spots in mind.

Since Aimee followed me around to these lofty spots, I now have to do the same while she strolls the huge shopping mall below Petronas. Afterwards we walked back to our hotel. We make a pit stop on the way at an Irish bar to quench our thirst.

May 12, 2026

May 12, 2026

Singapore is a very nice wealthy city. Aimee loves the cleanliness. But we are not finding the city to be too walkable. Sometimes we struggled to find a crosswalk on major avenues. The city is designed for cars and subway riders. And important to me, there is a stiff alcohol tax making beer expensive. So this morning we checked out of our hotel and took Grab to the airport. We are early, so after checking our luggage, we took the Skytrain to T1 and crossed under to the Jewel. This is a circular multi-level shopping mall with the largest indoor waterfall in the center. After taking some photos of the Rain Vortex, I follow Aimee around as she window shops. Eventually we get hungry and we stop at a Chinese restaurant for a Dim Sum lunch. We get a sampler of their dumplings with some cooked greens for Aimee. Yummy!

On our way back to our terminal, we run into a Laderach shop. That is the Swiss chocolate that we brought back in bulk from Zurich in 2024. I buy all I can with the last of my Singapore dollars.

At 1:40 our Malaysia Air flight departs. Interestingly the flight path goes southwest over the Singapore Strait. There are ships as far as I can see. The narrow passage is littered with hundreds of islands forcing ships into a narrow channel less than 2 miles wide. This strait is as important to world commerce as the Strait of Hormuz. One half of all oil and one fourth of all the world's freight passes through here.

After crossing the strait, our flight veers back north to the Malay Peninsula and we land in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. I see vast fields of Palm Trees. Plantations like these now cover much of Malaysia and Indonesia to produce Palm Oil.

We head straight to border control and find a zoo of humanity waiting in long lines. Aimee says “We are not in Singapore anymore, Toto”. Fortunately our driver was very patient waiting for us. The airport is far from the city, so it takes us an hour to get to our hotel.

After settling in, we head out for an early dinner. Or at least we tried to. We called a Grab car, but it took quite a while for it to reach our hotel. KL rush hour traffic seems worse than Chicago. It takes another twenty minutes to creep the mile to the Traders Hotel. Shockingly the taxi fare was a pittance. This driver is making almost no money. We recently read that Malaysia is a great place to retire because it is friendly and extraordinarily inexpensive (except alcohol).

We take the elevator to the hotel SkyBar on the 33rd floor. We are reasonably early so we get a nice booth with the best view in town of the Petronas Towers. While the view is stupendous, the seating location next to the indoor pool is kind of weird. We ordered another Satay dish along with Tempura Cauliflower. I was disappointed to discover that Malaysia has an even higher alcohol tax than Singapore.

At sunset we leave and walk towards Petronas Towers. Shockingly there are hundreds of joggers on the hiking paths through the downtown area. Who knew Malaysians were so into exercise. As we cross the KLCC park at the base we see lots of people sitting by Symphony Lake watching the lighted fountain show. The Islamic-inspired Art Deco view of Petronas looking up is very cool.

May 11, 2026

May 11, 2026

Last night we took the Metro to the large urban park, Gardens by the Bay. There we ate at the Satay by the Bay Hawker Center. Aimee and I shared some tasty Chicken Satay we bought at one stall with a green bean dish from another.

At sunset we walked towards the SuperTree Grove I have often seen in photos of Singapore. I stopped to take a picture at a group of three. After glancing at my phone map I realized that the Trees are spread out. The main grove of twelve is on the other side of a long building. By the time we push through the crowd to get to this main grouping, the Garden Rhapsody light and music show has begun. The trees glow and pulse to the orchestral music of Star Wars. It is pretty amazing. Someone had to have had a wild imagination to build this venue.

To beat the crowd we leave before the end walking west toward the Marina Bay Sands Resort. In the basement we find a Metro station to carry us back to our hotel.

This morning we did a brief exploration of the Kampong Glam neighborhood north of our hotel. This is the old Malay-Muslim enclave. We see lots of Turkish restaurants and rug shops. Aimee is pleased to pass several fabric stores. We end at the Sultan Mosque.

We then hop on the Metro and take it back to Gardens by the Bay. We start at the south end and walk north. It is filled with curiosities like fish ponds and sculpture. One is a large floating baby called Planet.

We pass through the SuperTree grove. It looks so different in the day with no crowds. Surprisingly the trees are not just decorative but also support the mechanical needs of the nearby visitor center, gift shops, and restaurants. The center tree has an observatory at the top and there is an elevated walkway connecting the trees. We continue walking and find a nice view of them against the Water Lily Pond.

We next visit the two greenhouses but find the Cloud Dome is closed for its monthly maintenance day. Only the Flower Dome is open. It is the world’s largest glass greenhouse. It contains gardens representing habits from around the world. We are happy to find it is partially air-conditioned. I spend some time photographing some of the unique flowers. There is a special exhibit on Tulips.

We have a burger lunch next-door. It was very tasty but the fries came well after we had finished the burger. Aimee says this isn’t McDonalds. We finish with ice cream cones at a real McDonalds. Aimee makes a mess eating hers because the heat was melting it faster than she could eat it.

Because the Cloud Dome was closed we were given a ticket to watch a show at the nearby IMBA Theatre. We sat on bean bags and watched an in-the-round story of the life of the artist Fernando Botero. It was actually interesting. I had never heard of this Columbian but recognized his paintings of obese people. Botero said he didn't draw people fat, he just gave them volume.

Our timing was good because there was a brief rain shower while we were in the theatre. We finished our day at the Marina Bay Sands Resort. This very unique building consists of three towers connected by a surfboard rooftop. After walking the length of the three lobbies we take the elevator to the 57th floor for a drink at the rooftop bar Ce La Vi. There is a stiff cover charge but it comes with one free drink. Because of the rain shower we get prime seats along the edge. It comes with a great view of Marina Bay. I have another Singapore Sling while Aimee has wine. Unfortunately the setting sun is making our seats very hot.

On the way out we check the views in the other directions. One is to the swimming pool of the hotel. It is the world’s largest infinity pool. It is only open to guests. We thought about staying here our last night but found the price exorbitant for even the cheapest room. Aimee also said she wouldn’t get anywhere near the pool edge.

We also check out the view to the east overlooking Gardens by the Bay. We get a great view of the SuperTrees and the Flower Dome. In addition we see hundreds of ships moored offshore and the coastline of the Indonesian island of Sumatra across the narrow Strait of Malacca. Singapore is the second largest port in the world.

Our last stop is in the basement wandering around the huge indoor shopping mall. Every luxury brand from around the world is represented. There is even a Venice-like canal down the middle. Apple and Louis Vuitton even have island stores connected by underground passages. We have a Chinese dumpling snack at the food court. We wash it down with Coconut Water.