A Conference in Penang - Episode 3

Penang Island, Penang province, Malaysia - 16 November-23 November, 2014 - We just spent the rest of the time traipsing around Georgetown and getting lost on buses.

English colonial architecture is one of Georgetown's hallmarks.

Penang from above.

Street art smothers Georgetown. Whether that it looks nice or not...er, well, you decide. Here's a local artist at work anyhow.

The Indian quarter.

A Chinese temple.

Recommended place to stay in Penang: Hotel Island City.

The outside is a facade! Luxuries await you inside - I PROMISE.

Please don't be sorry for not cleaning the toilet ALL the time. That you clean it at all gives you my genuine gratitude.

Advertisement for spiritual healing at a bus stop.

Indian restaurant.

Squid eggs, mutton, fried chicken, fried fish, squid curry. Perhaps I ordered too much?

Ain't nuthin but a thang.

Pomfret, Chinese style. Amazing. I reiterate: Penang is one of the best places in Asia for seafood.

Gauntlet - Episode 5: Bagan

Bagan province, Myanmar - July 10-12, 2014 - Bagan is perhaps what Siem Reap was like twenty years ago, but with horsecarts. I did not care much for the town itself, it was already a tourist area. It is bizarre walking in from the dust into a gourmet Italian restaurant. The place was thronging as it was a Buddhist event.

Burmese coconut curry. Nothing else like it.

The ingenuity of Burmese bottle openers.

Over 3000 ruins are clustered in the area of Bagan.

Wax sits on an altar before the image of Buddha.

Can you see the animal? And can you tell me what it is?

Betel nut spatter.

The Irrawaddy River.

I don't really recommend the Winner Duest House.

Mt. Popa

Food used to....

....protect you from these vicious bastards.

The town around Mt. Popa has many monasteries.

A temple glows on a hilltop at night.

See the rest of the our Cambodia/Thailand/Burma/Laos trip:
Episode 1: Pailin, Cambodia
Episode 2: Bangkok, Thailand
Episode 3: Mae Sot, Thailand
Episode 4: Yangon, Myanmar
Episode 6: Mandalay, Myanmar
Episode 7: Vientiane and Vang Vieng, Laos
Coda: Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Boh Bai Bpun - Pchum Ben

Battambang province, Cambodia - October 2, 2013 - Boh Bai Bpun translates basically "rice offering". The gates of Hell are now fully open and the ghosts are set free. We leave the house together at 4am to go and offer rice and water at the local temple, Wat Kamphaeng.

This is the offering brought: Sticky rice balls surrounded by bananas and other sweetened fruits.

Entering Wat Kamphaeng.

The monks chant in the building behind us. We make 2 rotations of the building, dropping off rice balls and pouring small bits of water located in shrines around the wat.

An old lady stands before the wat after everyone has left.

As we walk home, my friend Sothep tells me that this property had a French office on it before the war, but it was too haunted and they had to tear the building down. No one has been brave enough to live on it ever since.

Pretty creepy looking.

Two doors up the street is a house that many people have tried to live in but none have been able as it is occupied by ghosts. There are many places like this around the town of Battambang.