The plaque at the Jewish Cemetery of Penang

Malaysia is a country that is jam-packed with diversity including many cultures, environments, foods, terrain and foreign influences throughout its rich history. With all of those great things going for it the question arises as to why Tamar didn’t join me on this visit to Malaysia since we all know she loves these things as much as I do. Well, unfortunately Israel citizens are not permitted to enter Malaysia and Malaysians are not allowed to visit Israel, in fact it even says so in their passports! That’s really too bad for everyone since I’m sure Israelis would have a blast adding Malaysia to their Southeast Asia itineraries and, from some of the young Malaysians I spoke to, there seems to be a fair amount of interest and curiosity about visiting Israel as well.

I started to dig a bit deeper into the current state of Israeli-Malaysian relations and I came across an interesting article written by an Israel professor for whom an exception may have been made (or he holds another passport) since he recently spoke at a conference in Kuala Lumpur. You can read about his impressions of Malaysia and its cultural diversity as well as his experiences with colleagues and conference attendees.

As with anything related to Internet research one thing led to another and I found myself looking into whether there is or ever was a Jewish community in Malaysia. After all, there are thousands of Jews in Iran and nobody from Israel is hopping on a plane to vacation in Iran these days or vice-versa. It turns out that there is a very small Jewish community in Malaysia although it was larger in the past. That past is now represented by the Jewish cemetery that still exists today in the middle of Georgetown on the island of Penang. There were a couple of articles written about this cemetery and they gave me the idea that I could just rent a motorbike and drive around looking for it myself.
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For anyone who may have read my previous posts, Applying for Visa Exemption and Still Working on the Visa Exemption for Vietnam, I have good news for my latest update! I got the Certificate of Visa Exemption which is valid until 2014!

Kevin's US Naturalization Certificate (1979)

The problem the first time was that the Vietnamese Embassy wanted to see further proof that I was previously a Vietnamese citizen prior to becoming an American citizen. I have no official Vietnamese documents that prove that such as an old Vietnamese identity card or passport. However, once I sent in a copy of my US Naturalization Certificate they were able to see that the “Country of former nationality” was “Vietnam” and this was sufficient proof that I was previously a “Vietnamese citizen”. On a side note, one thing I love about this Certificate of Naturalization is that I weighed only 30 pounds and still they thought to indicate that my “marital status” was “single”.
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Hainan Association and Temple

Today was my first day in Penang, Malaysia. I actually started my visit to Malaysia over the weekend but I’ll have to write more about that exciting weekend in another post.

I woke up much later than I usually do in Asia because the guesthouse I’m staying in has no windows. It turns out that windows in guesthouses in the center of Georgetown, in Penang, are somewhat of a rarity. I’m staying at the Banana guesthouse and besides the windows situation it’s very clean and conveniently located in the middle of the backpacker strip, complete with a travel agency, cafe and free WIFI.

For breakfast I picked up a steamed bun with vegetables in the middle. I’m not sure what they call them here but they’re called bun bao in Vietnam. I was still hungry but I didn’t want to delay my walk around Georgetown since the day was already hot and was rapidly getting even hotter. I walked down a small street called Love Lane which leads into Chinatown and I passed several other guesthouses and homes. My first stop was to the Hainan Cultural Center where I was the only soul to be found. Even the person tending the desk at the entrance was off on a break somewhere. It’s always nice when you can wander into a place, snap some photos and hear the sound of silence around you.
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My last similar post was a bit of a false alarm. We had gone several days without Internet access but then we found wifi in our hotel room shortly after. This time we’re heading to Koh Mak, a smaller island in the Koh Chang Archipelago, and we’re likely to have more offline time than online for the next 3 days until we reach Chang Mai in the North of Thailand. However, that will give us more time to take photos and post them soon enough. See you soon!

I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Singapore. I enjoyed every little street, dish, neighborhood, park, drink and mall (yes, I admit it).

I arrived late in the evening and went straight to my hostel “Hangout @Mt. Emily” which was perfect. The hostel is located in Little India at a top of a hill, right by a beautiful park. It has a great vibe and a gorgeous rooftop deck with beautiful view of the city. It has been a long time since I last stayed at a youth hostel but I was glad to see nothing has changed, not even the browser version on the public computers.
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I fired off the express envelope containing my application for a visa exemption to the Embassy of Vietnam on Monday. Express mail guarantees that it arrives the next day. When I received the envelope back today, only 3 business days after it was sent, (I included a self-addressed, stamped Express Mail return envelope) I was both excited and nervous. The good news is that they didn’t take the full “7 business days” (the turnaround time they indicate on the website) to look at my application. However, they didn’t accept my application either.
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Example of a Visa Exemption in a Passport

Great news! As of fall 2008 Vietnam has established visa exemptions for Viet Kieu (Vietnamese overseas). In theory, that means that as a Vietnamese-born person I can apply for an exemption ($20 the first time, only $10 for subsequent applications) and receive a visa exemption valid for 5 years! That’s awesome! That sure beats the expensive cost of getting a 1-3 month visa, especially a multi-entry visa, which is more expensive (with expedited shipping this can add up to well over $100). And I wouldn’t need to worry about visa issues for 5 years at a time which saves time and money. Ahh, membership has its privileges. As an adoptee I hope that they accept my paperwork since it’s different and not as complete as my fellow Viet Kieu, most of whom left Vietnam with their families and parents who were already Vietnamese citizens. I was only 10 months old and so I never had a Vietnamese passport and there’s very little in the way of documentation about me in Vietnam during the war. I have to call the Vietnamese Mission to the UN (an official Vietnamese office here in NY) first thing on Monday morning to get some questions answered. I guess we’ll just have to see how the application process goes!

For information regarding the new 5-year visa exemption for Vietnamese-born people, click here!

photo credit: JasonDGreat

Thailand has a new prime minister and the country looks to be bouncing back from its relatively brief period of instability caused by mass protests and the blockage of Thai airports. The airports have reopened and things are returning to normal. We’re following the news closely as we prepare for our upcoming trip. Even if nobody closes down the islands and beaches we still may need to enter the country by plane so we’re hoping that there will be no further disruptions to the Thai way of life as well as our upcoming visit. Read more about the current situation here: Thai PM vows to restore stability – CNN.com.

In case you missed last year’s post about great airfare deals in New York’s Chinatown it’s worth another mention this time around. This is the third year in a row that we’ve been customers of Wa Minh Travel on Grand Street. It’s still run by Happy but her cousin, Susan, is no longer in the office with her. However, the deals are still there and they’re about as good as one can expect with today’s taxes and high gas prices.

Tamar got a round trip ticket to HCMC, Vietnam on Japan Airlines for $1,440 including taxes and the additional $70 for weekend travel (both ways) with only 1 stop over in Tokyo. This fare was on sale for a limited time and would normally cost over $1,800. The taxes alone are over $700, half the price of the entire ticket. FYI: Weekend travel is Friday to Monday and costs an extra $35 each way if travel begins on one of these days.
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Normally, my Omnifocus program is full of boring tasks I need to do but now there’s a fun new one: research our next Asia trip! So, I’ve already ordered a bunch of books from the public library about Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and a big fat one on SE Asia. Now we just need to go through all of them, pick our favorite destinations and plan an itinerary for our next journey. This would be real easy if there were 35 hours in the day or if we weren’t trying to see all of SE Asia in one trip.

One idea that I am excited about is renting a motorcycle and traveling through north of Thailand. From reading online, it sounds like the roads are in good condition both in the east and west, and lead you through stunning views. The challenge will be, of course, avoiding the masses of young travelers who flock into Chiang Mai area.

I really wanted to finally make it to China. I have been trying to go to China for 4 years now and every time, something else comes up. People seem to think that backpacking through China in winter is a bad idea (a Chinese friend of mine has confirmed it) and since I think NY Fall is cold enough, we decided to  skip that plan. We have been known to change our minds (and route) many times but, for now, it is looking like:

Hong Kong>Thailand (north and islands)>Singapore>Vietnam

To be continued…