Visiting a foreign country for the first time, there is definitely an adjustment period – it takes a while to get a feel for the culture, the lifestyle, the cuisine and the idiosyncrasies of the people. Overall I have visited 26 countries in my lifetime, and each country has been quite unique in its own way. I am sure you’ve heard the expressions no two people are alike, well no two countries are alike!

MALAYSIA , a predominantly Muslim country, is quite different than other countries that I have visited in the Southeast Asia – Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos – in terms of its history, culture and people. I guess you could say that my reference point is THAILAND in Southeast Asia, as I have traveled extensively in the Kingdom of Siam during my eight excursions to this geographical region.

My learning curve for Malaysia started with my flight on Air Asia from Chiang Mai to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s bustling capital city. Observing some of the Malaysian children on the plane, I came to the conclusion that they are a somewhat more animated/wilder than their Thai counterparts. Now I’m not saying that this is good or bad thing – it could be that Thai and Malaysian children have a different temperament. The children sitting across from me were part of a Malaysian school group, and they all were wearing a rather spiffy t-shirt with a very stylistic elephant design that they purchased in Chiang Mai; the children sitting in back of me were fidgeting all over the place as I felt my them constantly kicking the back of my seat.

Compared to Suvarnabhumi, Thailand’s gleaming new age international airport just outside of Bangkok, the international airport serving Kuala Lumpur is a rather drab affair, but it is considerably larger than the airport in Vientiane, Laos or Chiang Mai, Thailand. Curiously enough after deplaning from Air Asia, all passengers have to walk across the street, clearing two lanes of traffic before entering the airport terminal for immigration. That struck me as being a little unusual.

After clearing immigration, the next step is to pick up your luggage from the baggage carousel. As in most airports, there are small baggage carts available to all passengers. Watching the other passengers (mostly Malaysian Nationals) take a baggage cart, one thing struck me as being most peculiar - in the most forward cart, there were a number of empty plastic water bottles in the upper compartment. As each passenger selected a cart, they carefully transferred the empty bottles to the next cart in line, and so on and so forth. You’d think that at some point, one of the passengers or somebody who worked inside the airport terminal would throw the empty plastic bottles in the trashcan. After watching the empty bottles transferred at least 5 times, I almost couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I guess this must be a uniquely Malaysian custom as I have never (ever) seen anything like this at any airport during my many years of traveling. Talk about passing the buck…

If you’re passing through Chiang Dao, a small town about 75 minutes north of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, I highly recommend that you visit Malee’s Nature lodge, one of the best and friendliest family owned hostels in Thailand, and the owner, Ms. Malee, is ‘a real sweetheart’. She’s very ‘Jai Dee’, a Thai expression for somebody who has a big heart and is very generous.

Just yesterday, I stopped by to pay my respects to Khun Malee and her family (and her two dogs Son and Jennie). As I was getting ready to head back to Chiang Mai, I happened to notice that Malee was growing a small money tree in her dining room. As Malee explained, the money tree is a way of raising funds for much needed improvements in the community kindergarten located near Chiang Dao Cave – plans call for the construction of a permanent roof over the playground and a special sleeping room for the young children.

The small tree is growing and prospering thanks to Malee’s attentive love and care, as well as to the contributions from many of her guests. Hanging from the branches of the small money tree are many 20 baht and 100 baht notes as well as a rather prominent 1000 baht note at the crown of the tree.

Construction of the roof and the sleeping room will begin in March 2009. If you’d like to help the money tree grow larger, you must make your contribution between now and this date. I believe it is a very worthy cause!

Malee was one of the founders and is one of the most avid supporters of this small kindergarten facility, which opened its doors some 10 years ago in response to the growing community in the village known as Ban Tham. Her precocious son Peter, who I have affectionately nicknamed Ling Lek (small monkey), is a recent graduate of the Ban Tham kindergarten.

Thailand is known around the world as ‘The Land of Smiles’ because Thai people are naturally friendly and usually greet strangers with a warm smile. Funny thing - when passing through immigration, the female officer did not make any eye contact with me, nor utter one word let alone flash a smile as she processed my passport. Looking around at her colleagues, I noticed the same type of behavior. Oh well…

When buying a can of been of beer at a local 7-11 in downtown Nan (Northern Thailand), I found it highly peculiar that the female clerk inserted a plastic straw in the bag. After all, who drinks beer with a straw? Asking my tour guide later on, he informed me that Thai people often drink beer with a straw. Who woulda thunk?

From what I have seen, Thai people in Bangkok are considerably more relaxed and less stressed than their counterparts from the San Francisco Bay Area (and the USA in general). You can see it on their faces and by observing their body language.

Sunday evening in Bangkok is a relatively lively affair compared to San Francisco. Passing through Bangkok after 7:00PM, I observed many young people congregating at such popular fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and the like. Small streetside cafeterias and food stalls were also quite busy, as many Thai people prefer to eat out because it’s so cheap rather than do their own cooking. Shopping centers and malls also seemed to be doing a fairly brisk business despite the global recession. Shopping after all is one of Thai people’s favorite activities. Compared to Bangkok on a Sunday evening, San Francisco is like a ghost town.

To all my readers, blog subscribers and fellow travelers, I would like to apologize for my absence in the last 12 days. Since arriving in Thailand from San Francisco on November 12, my schedule has been so hectic that I really haven’t had either the energy or the opportunity to sit down and blog about my experiences until now.

So here I am at Phu Lang Ka, a quiet and spartan mountain retreat in the Northern province of Phayao where I am doing nothing but resting, nurturing my spirits and blogging. Nobody here speaks much English and the nearest town of Chiang Kam is about 40 minutes away. My Thai cell phone does not pick up a signal and there is no internet, and I love it!!!. This morning when I go to town, I will stop at the nearest internet café and publish my first in a series of blogs about my ongoing adventure to Thailand and Malaysia. Once again, to all my readers, blog subscribers and fellow travelers, I would like to apologize for my absence.

Oh the weariness of the long distance traveler-blogger.

Just a little footnote: Nov 24 - I discovered much to my chagrin that my website was temporarily suspended because my hosting service failed to renew my domain with GoDaddy - I was billed by the hosting service for my domain up through Nov 2009! Thanx G_D, I ‘m back up again!!!

My associate in Thailand, Moongmink, is a real hardcore flower and garden enthusiast. Just recently she attended Bangkok’s premier Home & Garden Fair, an annual event organized by Baan Lae Suan, the famous Thai Home and Garden Magazine. Here’s her detailed report:

I feel that the Home and Garden Fair comes at the right time as a lot of Bangkokians are suffering from stress due to political instability and economic slow down. To avoid the crowds, we went there on a weekday. Large areas were provided for the various flower and plant contests - orchids, fern, cactus, etc. – and there were many garden exhibits based on the concept of the English Cottage Garden.

While the focal point of this Garden Fair was on English Cottage Gardens, I am surprised that I didn’t see any farang expats or visitors from England. I am curious as to how many tourists actually attended the Fair; maybe they were out exploring some of the beautiful botanical gardens located in Northern Thailand - Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens in Chiang Mai and Mah Fah Luang Garden at Doi Tung in Chiang Rai Province come to mind.

Overall I enjoyed myself at Garden Fair, however I feel that the organizers should have allocated more space for the English Cottage Garden exhibit and contest. I must admit that this is my favorite garden style - whenever I see an English cottage garden in garden magazines, I often fantasize of a page from a fairly tale where a little girl comes out of nowhere walking through the garden. Typically this type of garden has many walkways, trellises/arbors as well as vine covered fences and an assortment of small shrubs and small trees surrounding a small cottage. Needless to say, standing in front of the exhibited garden corner, my imagination could not work! The exhibit was just too cramped.

Believe it or not, I have dreams of creating a little English cottage garden on my own plot of land in Chiang Dao, a small town located not far from Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Maybe the fairy tale will come true!

As a traveler, I admit to having a bias towards tropical destinations - there’s something about the lush vegetation, diverse wildlife, exotic butterflies and colorful landscapes of the tropics that captivates me. Some of my favorite tropical destinations include Costa Rica, Ghana, Thailand, Mexico and Ecuador to name a few. Here’s a chance to vote for your favorite tropical vacation destination.

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Funny thing - while promoting my Top Travel Memories Contest, I accidentally discovered that my long lost cousin (and his wife) from San Diego are traveling to Thailand tomorrow for vacation. Harry is his name by the way.

Now if you have been following Calypso Island Chronicles, you may be aware that I will be returning to Thailand one week from now. Now I haven’t seen my cousin Harry in over 30 years. What are the odds that I will bump into him somewhere in Thailand? Kind of remote! I probably wouldn’t recognize him anyhow even if he were standing right in front of me, but wouldn’t it be something if I ran into him and his wife while strolling through the night bazaar in Chiang Mai (tourist hub of Northern Thailand) or while having dinner at the popular Whole Earth Restaurant? Stranger things have happened. LOL! In any case, I’ll have to send good ole Harry an e-mail right about now!

Today’s technologically savvy traveler carries a lot of electronic gear and gadgets when taking a trip. I guess you can definitely include ‘yours truly’ in that category, but when I compare myself to some real hardcore ‘technogeeky’ travelers, I see myself as somewhat of a lightweight. To give you an idea - on my next trip to Thailand and Malaysia this coming November, I’ve made a list of all the various gizmos and electronic gear that I will be lugging around with me.

+USA Cell phone + charger
+Thai Cell phone + charger
+Laptop + Security cable lock
+Portable mouse
+USB Flashdrives (2)
+iPod 20GB
+Portable Sound system
+iPod shuffle
+Cameras (2)
-Olympus C8080 8MP 5X Zoom with extra wide-angle lens
-Olympus 570UZ 10MP 20X Zoom
+Camera Media cards
+Battery chargers (2)
+Portable lightweight Tripod
+Mini tripod

As you can see from this list it does not include the latest technotoys or devices such as a Blackberry, a Twitterberry (or any kind of berries), an iPhone or a palm pilot. I feel a little bit deprived!

I always carry my music with me when I travel - that is very important. The 20GB iPOD will never leave my hotel room as it is integral part of my portable stereo system, while iPod shuffle is as small as a matchbook; when I work out in the gym or exercise, I clip it on my T-shirt. Gotta have my music! You may wonder as to why I lug around two cameras with me. Well, you know the old expression – two cameras are better than one. Actually two medium point and shoot digital cameras are a lot less to carry around than a SLR camera kit with all the various lens and accessories.

How many gadgets and electronic devices do you take on your travels?
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LISTMANIA - One of the most popular crazes in our culture is compiling lists. People publish lists of many different things, ranging from the worst Beatle songs of all times to the top 10 reasons why George Bush will be remembered as the worst President in US history. There is even a list circulating on the internet on the top ten positions of having sexual intercourse. Of course, there are have been numerous lists compiled in the Travel Genre, and because I am a traveler and have been in the travel business a good portion of my life, I have decided to create some of my own unique travel lists. Are you ready for my first list?

…….. My 10 least favorite beach resorts of all time…………………….

#1 Pattaya (Thailand) - Sleazy, ugly and noisy beach resort; beaches are dirty and polluted. Way too many beer bars, strips clubs, Thai girls selling their body and drunken pot bellied farangs looking for cheap sex.

#2 Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) – Once a quaint beach town (way back when), development has gotten out of hand. The resort area spreads for miles and miles

#3 Jaco (Costa Rica) - beaches are polluted and not very appealing. Too many bars, loud American tourists, spring breakers and lousy restaurants

#4 Ocho Rios (Jamaica) – Fort Lauderdale, Jamaican style. Devoid of any real personality and a little bit too manicured for my tastes. Main beach is manmade and very antiseptic.

#5 Cancun(Mexico) – beautiful white sand beaches and turquoise waters, but the whole scene is very artificial and plastic - too many juvenile bars and clubs, too much traffic and far too many spring breakers and girls gone wild crowd

#6 Rosarito Beach (Baja California, Mexico) located about 1/2 hour from Tijuana – mediocre beach, nothing really special about this place

#7 San Jose del Cabo (Baja California, Mexico) The dirty gray sand beaches are very unappealing and the most of the resort hotels in this are nothing to write home about

#8 Ixtapa(Mexico) – Lovely beach, fairly quiet scene but the tourism development here is even more plastic and sterile than Cancun.

#9 Paradise Island, Nassau (Bahamas) - beautiful beach with many luxury resorts but too many plastic and phony people who think they are big shots congregate here

#10 Patong/Karon Beach (Phuket, Thailand) - Phuket is Thailand’s answer to Cancun and Patong/Karon are the two most popular resort areas. A tamer and more sanitized version of Pattaya. Nice beaches but way too many shops, shops and more shops.

Keep in mind, that my tastes and preferences may be different than yours as this is a very subjective thing. My choices probably are more of a reflection of my personality and are limited to the places I have actually visited. As a wise monkey by the name of Papa Mono once said – “One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.”

What are your 10 least favorite beach resorts of all time?

Not too long ago, I heard about this middle-aged schoolteacher by the name of Khru Waan who maintained a 2 acre garden in the Yannawa district of Bangkok, about 20 kilometers from the center of the city. She had become a quasi-celebrity of sorts, as she was the subject of a featured story on a local TV program and the Royal Family had officially recognized her efforts towards conservation. According to many people, her plot of land is considered a genuine oasis as it represented the last vestige of greenery in Greater Bangkok, excluding the public parks of course.

As someone who loves plants, flowers and all things green, I decided to pay Khru Waan a visit. Her garden is slightly over two acres and is surrounded by skyscrapers and other manifestations of urbanization. She teaches music at a nearby school and her garden has become a playground for children living in the community, as their homes do not have much space. Fortunately the children were absent on the day I visited Khru Waan - that was fine by me as I truly enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Talking to this lady, I was impressed by her integrity and her desire to hold on to the land despite mounting pressures from the outside. Apparently some land developer recently offered to buy her land for 400 million baht (1.76 million in US dollars), but Khru Waan held her ground and refused the offer. Another thing that troubled her was the polluted water that was coming into her land via a nearby drainage ditch; it seems that the people in the surrounding community throw garbage into the ditch. She has complained to the local authorities but they are cannot do anything about the situation. One thing that she can do now is to plant more trees along the ditch in order to hide the filth and ugliness.

Khru Waan and her family do not have plans to sell the land anytime soon. However when she passes on, the land will revert to her nieces and nephews. I am wondering how long they will honor their ancestor’s wishes before they succumb to the enormous amount of monies being offered to them by real estate speculators and land developers. Unfortunately this is the way of the world. Let’s hope for the best.

Over the years, I have seen Bangkok become a sprawling Concrete Jungle gobbling up the landscape with modern office complexes and highrise buildings. However, thank G_D there are people like Khru Waan who are trying before to preserve this Green Earth