In October 2024 and a little bit of November, my husband and I bounced across the Pacific in a westerly direction. We set off from San Francisco and touched down on five nations as we headed west toward the Asian continent.
First stop: FIJI
(Actually, Fiji is considered to be in the continent of Australia, which is also called Oceania...so, a little poetic license to scoop Fiji into this Asia Adventure Article)
Fiji Day! Celebrating 54 years of independence from Britain. We arrived in Fiji just in time for the big party. The LOVO feast involves digging a pit to slow-cook food for 2-3 hours, buried in the sand. Very similar to a New England lobster bake or a New Zealand Māori hangi. Yummy banquet included roasted pineapples and chili-dusted cassava chips (I loved them until I read that cassava can contain high levels of cyanide. Oh well….)
We stayed in an over-the-water bungalow -- one of those rooms where you walk out the door, down the steps, and you're in the lagoon.
Hopped over to HONG KONG
Hike UP the Morning Trail to Victoria Peak, then take the Tram DOWN
Cruise on the Hong Kong harbor at sunset
Local restaurants don't routinely provide napkins, but if you ask nicely, you can get a substitute for napkins in a roll form. Hoi Wan restaurant in Tai O fishing village.
Fish for sale in Tai Oh, a fishing town on an island near Lantau Island in Hong Kong.
We ate in this restaurant - Wing Lai Yuan on our first day in Hong Kong. Pan Fried Dumplings were steamed then fried on the bottom. Super yummy. A local guide took us there. Absolutely nothing about it suggests that Chinese-non-speaker tourists could figure it out.
MALAYSIA - Quick stop in the capital, Kuala Lumpur because I couldn't stand the idea of changing planes without getting out into the city and at LEAST seeing the Petronas Twin Towers and the view from the KL tower.
A change of planes from Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Sandakan airport on the island of Borneo.
BORNEO - is the world's third largest island (after Greenland and New Guinea). It is divided unevenly among three countries and is the only island in the world divided into three. The Sultanate of Brunei is the smallest (less than 1% of the land area) and is in the north. Indonesia covers the largest territory (about 73% of the land) and is in the south. We visited the Malaysian section, in the northeast part of the island, in the state of Sabah.
Why Borneo? Seeing the animals. Ecotourism. Visitors infuse money into the economy, which (at least I hope) reduces the pressure to rely on logging.
What's a better way to appreciate the wonders of this world than floating on a boat, watching a family of Macaque monkeys hanging out together, picking insects out of each other's fur, eating, snoozing, making funny noises?
One of the biggest draws is the endangered Bornean Orang-utan (yeah, that's how they spell it). There's an Organg-utan Rehabilitation Center which we visited at feeding time. So cute!
There's a Borneo Big Five Challenge - like a kid touring an art museum trying to find specific items, you look out for the five iconic species so you can earn a certificate. Nailed it.
INDONESIA - A country made up of 17,508 islands. We visited Java and then Bali.
We flew into Yogyakarta (which the locals call Yog Ya, which is pronounced as "Joke Ja"). Second smallest province in Indonesia, and the second most visited. Yog Ya is on the island of Java.
Our reason to travel there was to see Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world. 72 stupas (those bell-looking domes), each with a different Buddha statue inside. Built in the 9th century.
While in Borobudur, I took a yoga class
and saw this guy when I finished the class.
The hotel had a photographer roaming around. We took advantage of the opportunity for a non-selfie.
Bali - We walked through lots of rice fields. This day was a walk with a Balinese Brahman Priest.
Stopping by the rice field at break time.
Cooking lesson in a family's home near Ubud. The Bregedel (Corn Fritters) were awesome.
E-biking in Bali
SINGAPORE - I am fascinated and smitten by this tiny city-state country of about 6 million people with few natural resources. In a half century, it propelled itself from a developing country to one of the world's richest, least corrupt and best educated - all with a low tax rate.
The Singapore airport is legendary for its "Jewel" which is a big mall with lots of restaurants, stores, a giant waterfall in the center, and is connected to the international terminal. Here's a photo of the waterfall.
Of course, we sought out the mandatory Singapore Sling. It was created at the Raffles Hotel as a drink for women to have in public without people knowing they were imbibing alcohol. It looks like a tame glass of juice.
Now, the drink is a tourist attraction where you wait in line to get into Raffles' century-old Long Bar, with its large ceiling fans and grand decor.
But - surprise! Every table is supplied with a burlap bag filled with peanuts in the shell (and endless refills). The tradition is to crack the nuts open and brush the shells off the table like you're at a baseball game. So, here you are in this fancy bar, having a $30 cocktail, flinging trash onto the floor.
The food in Singapore is terrific. Not just me saying it.
Michelin awards recognition to food stalls in the Hawker Centers (think open food court with a take-out window and picnic tables). I went from a Michelin-blessed spring roll on a paper napkin for lunch, to a white-table-cloth restaurant for dinner in the same day.
The water is clean and safe to drink from the tap in Singapore. Having spent three weeks avoiding water in Fiji, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia, it is a true joy to know that you don't risk gastrointestinal suffering if you stray from bottled water.
Gardens by the Bay in Singapore is an often-photographed section of Singapore. It feels like a giant Disney-esque, post-apocalyptic, Jetson-world park. Giant metal trees tower over you, but offer little shade from the equatorial heat.
However, if you hang around until the sun sets, an amazing sound and light show pulsates across the tree tops and makes the visit super worthwhile.
On our last day, we visited the Cloud Forest (a giant indoor garden)
and saw glass flowers designed by Dale Chihuly (of Rhode Island School of Design fame).
Time to go home.
