Take a bite of Kuala Lumpur and experience a city where the Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures synthesize into a diverse and fascinating habitat.  KL is a place where ultra modern technologies blend into a surrounding of natural tropical botany, where a love camaraderie for all things edible percolates through a world of different cultures, and where everyone is encouraged to become their own gastronome.  A spoon of Kuala Lumpur includes a sensation that will touch all taste buds and draw you into a Malaysia that is Truly Asia!

1. Petronas …

International Volunteering can be an extremely valuable way to travel, make quality friends, learn about a new place and culture, and come away with unparalleled experiences.  Some of my most interesting stories and adventures have been the result of a few spontaneous voluntours I have gotten into.

In the Philippines I had some incredible times volunteering with an organization called Gawad Kalinga.  I helped a family do a little bit of construction in Payatas, checked out a few house building projects, and talked to many caring locals.  The local’s I met were eager to tell me stories, share …

It’s quite an easy process to travel from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei in a single day.  I recently took the journey completely hassle free, comfortable, and arrived safely.

Kota Kinabalu to Brunei in 1 Day

Get to Jesselton Point Ferry Pier in Kota Kinabalu the afternoon before departure in order to purchase a ferry ticket for the next morning
You have to take 2 different ferries to Brunei, 1st to Labuan riding the Labuan Express Tiga vessel (duty free port in Malaysia), 2nd to Serasa Ferry Terminal, …

The Songkran Festival in Thailand (traditional Thai New Years) is the biggest and most sought after holiday on the Thai calendar.  Songkran is usually thought of as a few inebriated day of throwing buckets of water and shooting water guns where everyone is a target.  However, with 66 million Thai inhabitants, there must be a bigger picture, so I turned to 27 of my Thai students to get a more local picture of what characterizes Songkran.
Tallying the results and analyzing the trends I came up with a single sentence …

I forced the cab driver to stop on the side of Sheikh Zayed highway and strained my neck to a 90 degree angle with my back. I had just landed in Dubai and I was trying to fathom the earth’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa Dubai. The immensity of cranes dominating the skyline looked like flamingos on Lake Nakuru in Kenya.

With the barest essential of all plans, I jetted to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to take a one month Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) course with TEFL International Buenos Aires.  Apparently, TESOL and TEFL are practically the same thing.
Still dazzled and overwhelmed with kilos of beef due to my recent landing in Argentina, the course started off on schedule.  The course was held in the ritzy district of Recoleta in a beautiful historical mansion known as the Recoleta Institute.   The prestigious and very European area of Buenos Aires is home to  numerous fancy restaurants, …

After hearing about boating the Mekong River, there was absolutely no way I could leave the country of Laos without embarking on the water journey.  I happen to be getting a Thai visa in Vientiane and had some spare time to explore the country a little further North.  After a number of ultra lazy days in the charming town of Luang Prabang and setting up the transportation logistics, I boarded a slow boat en route to the Thai border.
For 250,000 Kip (equal to about $30) we would receive 3 days …

Other than people running to Vientiane to make a Thailand visa run there are also numerous valuable things to do in the capital of Laos including lessons on relaxationism.
Vientiane has to be one of the most relaxing capital cities in the world.  It seems that no one is in a hurry and barely anyone has a schedule set in concrete.  Everyone floats by, calmly laughing, slowly relaxing, and passionately enjoying life.  Obviously men carry on sporting the natural shirt vent super casually.  Vientiane can be a welcome relief as no …

It somehow seems hard to find concrete information on the web regarding how to make a Thailand visa run to Vientiane, Laos.  I have been on two visa runs to Vientiane recently and have taken notes to show the costs and how it really is not a very difficult process.  The first time I went, I obtained a 2 month tourist visa.  The second time I got a job teaching English in Bangkok and went to Vientiane to apply for a non-immigrant B visa so that my job could then apply for …

Migration Mark has been in South East Asia since March of 2009 and has grown to love a few serious things but mostly the extraordinarily quirky things.

1. Chili Peppers…Please!
I grew up eating food with spice and sometimes with chili.  Throughout SE Asia however, I have nurtured my ever craving lust for the succulent seeded heat of chili peppers.  I simply can’t taste food unless there is an abundance of hot chilies involved in the meal.  In my month in Indonesia, I was able to come up with 9 …