Wat Pho - Reclining Buddha

Let's take a break away from food, shall we?

I was in Bangkok about a month ago and did some sightseeing over the weekend.  We visited 3 temples and took lots of pictures. Here are the ones from Wat Pho (วัดโพธิ์), or also known as Wat Phra Chetuphon (วัดพระเชตุพน)

Couple of interesting facts:
1) Famous for the huge Reclining Buddha statue it houses
2) Has the most number of Buddha images in Thailand.
2) Standing at 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok.
3) Built around 200 years ago (and thus it is is also technically the oldest)
4) Rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok.

Eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration,

The gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high.
(Designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana)

Feet are also engraved with mother of pearl decorations

Sole of feet shows 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha

Ingenious - Can you find the 4 characters?

Saw this at a restaurant. 4 words combined into one. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it, totally ingenious. Can you find the 4 words?  招 財 進 寶 (It means: Let riches and treasures come in)

View from Sharjah office, UAE

This photo was taken by a wide lens camera from the heli-pad at the Sharjah office, UAE. (Not taken by me...I don't have such a professional camera).

Sharjah can go up to an unbearable temperature of 40 degrees in the day time. The air is so humid that the streets are almost deserted because it is too hot to walk outside. A 10 minute walk from one building to another is best done in a car.

Despite it all, don't you think that the view is just so amazing? Its indescribable when you see it right in front of you.

Photo taken from the helipad at Sharjah, UAE

Khan El Khalili and Others

Khan El Khalili is a very important place with historical background. It was a Turkish bazaar during the Ottoman period and was built in 1382 by the Emir Djaharks el-Khalili in the heart of the Fatimid City. Today, it is affectionately called the "Khan" and has over 900 stores selling all sorts of interesting souveneirs to take home. Nearby by the Khan is the Al Azhar University and Sultan Hassan Mosque. Al Azhar University was founded in 975 and is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Sunni Islamic learning in the world. A large proportion of Muslims in Egypt are Sunnis.

Khan El Khalili at night

KFC in Egypt

Cruise on Nile River with colleague

Cairo Tower taken from the boat

Some more photos from Cairo

I was staying on Zamalek. Its a small island surrounded by the Nile River. I heard that there are over 200 such islands on the Nile River but Zamalek is famous for being the exclusive and rich area. Its also very safe because that's where all the embassies are situated.

Hotel swimming pool and Nile River

View of Nile River from my balcony

Cairo Musuem with amazing collection from the Old, Middle and New Kingdom.

On the platoon boat at the Phaoronic Village

I found the trip to the Cairo Museum extremely worthwhile. It cost about 60 L.E (Egyptian pounds) to get into the museum and another 100L.E to see the mummies. I don't know what possessed me but I HAD TO SEE the mummies and ended up being the only one from the group who wanted to pay and go in. Seeing royal bodies that have been mummified for over 4000 years is quite a strange experience for me. Another place worth visiting is the Phaoronic Village. It gives a nice summary of the kind of lives the ancient egyptian lived thousands of years ago.

Pyramids of Giza

Went on a business trip to Cairo 2 weeks ago and had the opportunity to spend a couple of days to see the historical sites.

3 Interesting points to note:
1) The Great Pyramid of Giza (Khufu pyramid) is the only remaining member of the Seven wonders of the Ancient world and was constructed over a 20 year period around 2560 B.C.
2) It has around 2.3 million blocks, each weighing 2 tons.
3) The height of the pyramid was 146 meters but with erosion its current height is 138 meters.

I was very fortunate this trip because even though the operating hours of the pyramid grounds officially end at 5pm, I was able to gain "VIP" access to the grounds after 6.30pm. The good news is that our "crew" (friends and I) had the whole place to ourselves and did not have to fight with the other tourists for that picture perfect moment. :P

I will always remember the day that I visited the pyramids (which all my life, I've wanted to visit) as the same day that Obama came to Egypt and was at the Cairo University giving his "monumental" speech to the Muslim World.

During the hours that he was in town, the streets and offices were closed for security reasons. Business must have been really bad that day at the pyramids because the tourist office made an exception to let us into the pyramid grounds after the official hours at the regular rate. Wooottt!

Here are some photos:

Pyramid of Khafra

Graffitti on Khufu pyramid dating back to 1924!!

Taking photos at some ruins with strong wind blowing at my face

Cool Arabic sign (Parking area for tourist buses). Haha!

Random pictures of Taiwan Airport

Okay! Just got back from the gym so while cooling down I decided to update my blog for your reading pleasure. :)

First and foremost, a little on my whereabouts: Got to Jakarta this morning and decided to head to the 24 hour gym here. After having "excused" myself from the gym for the past week or so (and the only real exercise that I have been doing is focused around the jaw muscles), I have got no one to blame now that my muscles are screaming blardy murder after a mere one hour in the gym. :(

Okay next up.....how about some random pictures taken from my trusty SANYO. Hmmm...As some of you may know, I'm not a "trigger-happy" sort of person. In spite of that, I steadfastly lug my SANYO around with me during my business trips. The picture I take are very random...you know...no theme...whatever captures my fancy at the moment. So today, at 2am in the morning, I shall select a couple to share in my random post for the day.

The following pictures are taken in the Taiwan airport eons ago.

Picture taken outside the store promoting "Hakka" delicacies.

Next time I'm there, I'll be sure to pop by and try some out.

Hello Kitty Telephone Booths in Taoyuan Airport.

Mmmm.....Feels like Disney land all over again.

Hello Kitty World Clock

My 2 years in Taiwan has got me convinced that the Taiwanese just love the cute stuff. Top of their list has got to be the Sanrio cat Hello Kitty! Hello Kitty's fans are not restricted by age..young and old alike. In fact, my colleague, mother of 2, loves the cat so much that her little corner in the office is like Sanrio cat-dom.

Thus, I wasn't that surprised to find a section of the airport designed with the Hello Kitty theme in mind. There was also a Hello Kitty playground, Hello Kitty souvenier shop, Hello Kitty lounge, Hello Kitty internet corner and Hello Kitty holding room. Wow!!

Anyway, if you ever go to Taoyuan airport, remember to check it out!

A successful drive down to Kuala Lumpur. :)

Took a 3 day trip down to Kuala Lumpur as I needed to close the bank account for the Damansara apartment. Went down with 3 friends in my Honda Edix. It was my first trip (and my car too) driving down to KL, and as you can imagine, I was pretty excited and after hearing so many horror stories about robberies in JB, frankly a little apprehensive about it too!

I picked up my friends on Monday morning and we headed down to the Tuas Second Link. Although it was Vesak Day, the traffic was relatively smooth and customs at both the Singapore and Malaysia side had several counters opened to meet the needs of the SIN- MALAYSIA travellers. It was basically a drive-through affair although we had to come out of the car once at the Tuas Checkpoint to get a thumb scan. For the higher purpose of tighter security, I thought it was quite understandable and hardly an inconvenience as it was so efficiently carried out. :)

In particular, I noted that Malaysia has done away with that annoying white immigration card that we had to fill in the past. Kudos to that!! I thought the white card was quite a pain especially since we had to keep one small part to show when we leave the country. As it was a loose piece of paper and thus relatively easy to lose, I’ve had a bad experience once of losing it (careless me) and was not-so-gently prompted by the custom officer in Malaysia to “help him out” so that he can “help me out”. Being a poor student at that time, I had to part with RM 50 dollars and would have parted with more (as I was pretty much scared shitless at that time) except that I did not have that much money with me at that time. Grrr!!! Try to make me part with my money like that again……just TRY ME!!! *takes out the punching gloves*

Anyway, I found the North South Expressway in Malaysia of good quality and well labeled. In fact, it was such a straight-forward drive, I didn’t even have to refer to the map once. The speed limit on the highway was 110km per hour and K.Ling told me that if I stick below 123km per hour, I would be OK. There were the occassional cars that were speeding around the vicinity of 140-160 km per hour and I found that if you kept out of their way, it was a basically a pleasant drive.

There were 3 toll stations along the highway and they had 3 different types of lanes depending on the payment mode: Lorong Tunai (for cash), Touch and Go(pre-paid card) and Smart Tag (that works like our erp service in Singapore with cash card services and machine and all). We spent approximately RM 70 on a one way trip. Along a stretch of 330km (between Singapore and KL), I found that pretty acceptable.

We took a break for lunch at Malacca at a famous chicken rice restaurant which was famous for their rice BALLS. (literally rice that were rolled up in small balls). It was interesting but I preferred the traditional pandan flavored chicken rice though.

Anyway, a typically 4-5 hours drive was covered in about 3 hours 30 minutes (it was easy to exceed the speed limit as the roads were clear and the roads in good repair) and with such a successful trip, I’m looking forward to another trip to Malaysia soon!

Note: The visit to the bank and developer went smoothly. It was a nice surprise since we had quite a lot of problems with them in the past but I guess after months of harassing them, they probably decided that they had enough of me and ensured everything would be sorted out before my trip down. Hooray!! A weight off my chest. :) *clap clap clap*

Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) - Churning of the Milk Ocean

If you've ever departed from the new Bangkok airport - Suvarnabhumi Airport, you will be greeted by an impressive statue the moment you clear immigration.

The statue depicts one of the famous scenes from Puranas (Hindu literature) - Samudra manthan (Devanagari: समुद्र मंथन) aka the churning of the ocean of milk. This story is celebrated in a major way every twelve years in the festival known as Kumbha Mela.

The Churning of the ocean of milk tells of the story where demons and gods cooperated to churn the sea for thousands of years in order to extract the elixir of immortality, coveted by both groups.

As you can see from the pictures, the Devas (demigods) are engaged in a tug of war with the Asuras (demons). Each team is holding onto one end of the king of serpent - Vasuki (aka Naga). The centre of the serpent is coiled around Mt. Mandara (which is a pivot) and at the base of this pivot would be Vishnu, incarnated as a huge turtle.

Asuras (demon) holding onto the head end of the Naga (3 headed king of serpent)

Asuras (demon) with colourful painted body and demonic faces

Naga wrapped around Mt Mandara as a pivot and supported by turtle (Vishnu)

Devas (demigods) holding the tail end of the serpent

You can see that the demigods are depicted in human form.

As the ocean churned, a deadly poison known as halahala emerged. Shiva drank this poison and his wife stopped it in his throat with her hands, causing the throat to turn blue. (explaining why Shiva is sometimes called Nīlakantha meaning Blue Throat)

From the churning, numerous opulent things were also produced including Dhanvantari (Heavenly Physician) carrying the pot of Amrita - the heavenly nectar of immortality.

In the end, the cooperation between Devas and Asuras was shattered with Vishnu taking the form of Mohini - a beautiful and enchanting damsel who served to distract the Asuras while distributing the nectar to the Devas. (a little cheating and disception seems to be happening here). The Devas having fulfilled their plan of acquring all the Amrita banished the Asuras out of Heaven and into the underworld. (tsk tsk)

Of course, as all Hindu literature, there is many versions of the story. One such version can be found as follows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan

Another version

http://www.sanatansociety.org/indian_epics_and_stories/the_churning_of_the_ocean.htm

One interesting twist to the story that I like was that:
A particular Asura, Rahu, had disguised himself as a Devas, and managed to drink some of the nectar. But before the Nectar could pass his throat, Mohini cut off his head. The head, due to its contact with the amrita, remained immortal. It is believed that this immortal head occasionally swallows the sun or the moon, causing eclipses. Then, the sun or moon passes through the opening at the neck, ending the eclipse.

Sunkist versus Thai Orange

In the early part of 2007, I spent quite a lot of time in Bangkok and I've been dutifully snapping pictures with my dopod 838pro but as you can quite clearly see, procrastination has gotten the better of me and I never quite got about to posting them online.

Well, its long overdue but I declare the winner of the orange juice competition between Sunkist and small Thai orange as .......................*drum rolls*

THAI Orange Wins Hands Down!!

As you can see from the picture below, the street vendor totally agrees with me and also proclaims Thai orange juice as NUMBER ONE!!! (index finger pointing up in the sky)

Perfect for a hot sunny day in Bangkok - This drink is ultra refreshing and cost only 20Baht. It is a heavenly concoction of small thai oranges, lime, salt plus sugar for the perfect taste. Like the famous Thai coconut, it can be found at almost any street corner and is relatively safe to drink. (Tried and tested - no stomach problems after bravely testing out several different stalls)

This picture is taken right outside the office building where I work in Bangkok and I relish the mornings where i get to treat myself to a bottle on the way to work....

Private Banker's word of advice: Make your money work harder for you.

On the way back from Bangkok to Singapore, I sat next to a private banker from a reputable international bank. We spoke for almost 2 hours from take off to landing.

He shared with me on what it takes to be a successful private banker. I found him to be a very humble guy (and I told him that). In response, he said to me:" I found out that the higher you climb up the social ladder, the more humble you have got to be." Ahhh..........words of advice from the private banker.

We spoke about everything under the sun. From books we read to thoughts on environmental issues and how these ultimately impacts the way we behave and the life that we lead.

2 things he said that is stuck firmly in my mind: Importance of Networking (I suck at that)and Making your money work harder for you. (I suck at that too)

Note: He recommended a book: "Rich dad Poor dad". I'll make sure to get my hands on it the next time I visit the book store, you should too.

Blog in Thailand

I'm in Thailand. Staying in Centerpoint, Widthayu (which means wireless in thai - so its Wireless Road). 10 minutes walk to the office.

Not bad....much better than omni hotel (another service apartment at a sleazy part of Thailand - I like to think). Centerpoint is a service apartment and it has got quite a presentable kitchen. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow when my phone is charged up.

Anyway, I was just surfing the web and decided to come and blog abit. I noticed that blogspot auto-detected that I'm in thailand and gave me the Thai log in. How cool is that?!?!

I love Thai words...but they are so hard to read....I had to agar-agar the log-in link based on my recollection. I got it on the first try.....haha!

P/s: My colleague previously taught me how to write my name in Thai. Even that, I could not manage.................:P

Marine consultant......sir..erm mdm

April 19 - On SQ flight from HCMC to Singapore

Yay! Yay! Yay! I'm going home.

I meet a marine consultant on board and had a short chat with him. He asked me what book I was reading and commented that it looks like heavy stuff. Yay, its heavy, all right..Its that same old financial accounting book.

Marine Consultant: "Are you student?"
Jamie: "Nah, I'm already working"
Marine Consultant: "Then why are you studying"
Jamie: "Erm..., its good reading for me..."
Marine Consultant: " Do you enjoy reading it?"
Jamie: *weak smile* "I admit its a little dry"
Marine Consultant: "I could never do something I didn't like. Life is too short for that..."

He then tells me about his life on the sea...wonderful life of being his own boss and how we should do things that we like.

*Jamie speechless*

Hey, life is not that bad for me because I'm reading a financial accounting book leh....

Anyway, he is quite big sized so....the air stewardess got a little confused and addressed him Sir and Madam in the same sentence. I think Mr marine consultant was quite upset with her.

Triet and traditional Vietnamese dinner........

April 18 - Met up with an ex-colleague and now-friend Triet.


She took me out for dinner. Initially, she wanted to get her motorbike, pick me up from the hotel and take me out for a ride. It would be fascinating to whiz around Vietnam on a bike, I think. Its like close brush with death.

How cool is that!

Heheh...Just kidding. I trust I'm in good hands with Triet. By the way, she's one of the smartest, most hardworking and diligent person I know.

We were having such a great time talking and laughing. We chatted and ate till the lights started to dim and go out one by one. Oops, a subtle or not so subtle hint for us to GET OUT of the restaurant.


Took a shot of Triet and our big bittergourd soup hotpot but the photo turned out to be quite dark. Anyway, here we go.................





P/s: The servings in that restaurants are HUGE and Triet, I had a fascinating time.. the dinner 3 weeks later will be on me.

Kim do Hotel - And the imitation "old" phone

April 17-19: Vietnam, HCMC


I'm staying in a 4 star hotel in Vietnam - Kim Do Hotel. Its right next to my office (2 mins walk) and the other hotels are fully booked. I can't complain.


The hotel is old and they try to make it look like they meant for it to be that way. My hotel room is HUGE - Senior Executive room....ooohh-hooo!!

I can do 3 cartwheels from one end of the room to the other and still have some more space to swing my arms without hitting the wall. I have free internet..lots of complimentary fruits and a good number of tv channels to watch. Okay, its not so bad.


The room design is slightly confused. I give you an example: Right next to the bed, you have a high-tech Panasonic phone. Those kind that you can find in your regular hotel room. But on the study table, there is this imitation "OLD" phone.







It feels funny when you pick up the handle and the hand set is curved in that way. Its a little heavy and I'm figuring out if I should make a call by tapping on the handle...like morse code. I'm exploring the phone and then I pull that little ring that you see there and

VOILA!!!!

It opens up!!!

If you look closely at the buttons, you can see that this phone has "Flash", "Redial" and "Pause" functions.

The best part is that.....................

IT WORKS GREAT!

Small world - after 12 years

April 16 - On an SQ flight from SIN to HCMC.

Was in a rather crappy mood. Tired and just want to be left alone. I'm sitting in *surprise surprise* center seat in the center aisle. Okay, I thought to myself: I'm just going to sit here and not move and do some studying. I look to my left and to my right, squashed between 2 chinese elderly man...all right, never mind, positive thoughts.. I'll just focus on my financial accounting book.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see this lady coming on board. She's seating 2 seats away from me across the right aisle. Hmm..she looks slightly familiar. I put on my ipod and shrug it off. I'm alone in my world. Ms anti-social is going to start cramming for her paper right here...right now.

Nodding off to sleep..its not even noon!!! (Well.........if you have ever read a book on financial accounting, you'll know what I mean.)

I steal a glance to my left, look out of the window, ho chi minh city approaches closer and closer
I steal a glance to my right, see ms "familiar" - she's taking a nap. Strange..., where have i seen her before?!?

We've landed. I'm busy getting my cabin bag out of the overhead compartment. The flight is so full. Everyone is heading over to Vietnam nowadays....same like Shanghai, the latest fad....the land of opportunities. :)

Our eyes meet. She smile..I smile. I finally say:"Hey, you look familiar". I feel pretty dumb...I hate that line. She mouthes the word "St Nicks!". Of course, st nicholas...st nicholas...where I spent many memorable days of my life.......

Okay, now I know where she is from....her name...got to get her name...We both look awkward and then she asked the question I wanted to ask. "Erm...I kinda forgot your name..."
I relax, let out a laugh, tell her...and ask her for hers.

Still can't remember her, of course, we were never that close before but we kinda know kinda know kinda know (that's 3 degrees there) the friends we used to hang out with.

Its odd.........She meets up with my friend Jocelyn...but I meet up with Jocelyn's dad more.. (her father is in insurance so our circles meet)

Jeannie, it was nice to meet up with you again, of all places, on a flight from Singapore to Saigon. Let's catch up sometime.

Note: While writing this blog, I'm educated by a sweaty sweaty quin:
Seats on the left aisle of a plane aka port
Seats on the right aisle of a plane aka starboard
Center seats....center SEATS LARRRR

Cool Concept - Park Hyatt Saigon

Was staying in Park Hyatt - Saigon.


Pwah...the service there was fantastic. Picture this: Someone waiting at the hotel front entrance as your limousine pulls up and escorts you directly to your room. When you turn the corner towards the room, you see a bell boy, dressed in white, (and cute by the way) waiting by the side of the room door, with a white cloth wrapped around his arm. He smiles and opens the door for you as you approach. Is It FANTASIC OR WHAT....................

The rooms in park hyatt had a very interesting concept as well so I snapped a couple of pictures to share online.



This is the bedroom.

Nothing very different except that the style of the windows and the ceiling fan gave it a very rustic feel.

You can't see very clearly here but on the walls, they have these black and white pictures of saigon back in the early days. Very interesting!

This picture is taken from the inside of the bathroom. I deliberately took the picture of the closet in the bath room. The mirror is actually a sliding door.

This is the same closet but taken from the outside of the bathroom.

Yes you can see that the closet opens both ways. This means that you can access your clothes from the bathroom and let's say you are going to take a shower, you don't need to carry your clothes into the bathroom because you can access directly from your bathroom.

The actual shower and bath tub is separated from the main bathroom by a glass cabinet and with the rain shower ON, you can sit and have a nice rinse on the "spa-like" bench.

Seven Wonders of the World

The number 7 is a special number.

In Judaism, we have seven days of mourning, seven days of celebration following a wedding, seven days for the creation of the world (which are our familiar days of the week), the seven commandments and others.................

So let's talk about the seven wonders.............

Seven Wonder of the Ancient World
Today, only one is left standing. Listed in order of construction:
1) Great Pyramid of Giza - Still standing (Egyptians)
2) Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Earthquake (Babylonians)
3) Temple of Artemis at Ephesus - Fire (Lydians, Persians, Greeks)
4) Statue of Zeus at Olympia - Fire (Greeks)
5) Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus - Earthquake (Persians, Greeks)
6) Colossus of Rhodes - Earthquake (Hellenistic Greece)
7) Lighthouse of Alexandria (Hellenistic Egypt)

Seven Wonder of the Middle Ages
1) Stonehenge , UK
2) Colosseum, Rome
3) Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, Egypt
4) Great Wall of China
5) Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
6) Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
7) Leaning Tower of Pisa
------Also famous wonders of the middle ages------------
8) Cairo Citadel, Egypt
9) Ely Cathedral, UK
10) Taj Mahal (India)
11) Cluny Abbey, France

Tourist Travel Wonders:
1) Great Pyramids of Giza
2) Great Wall of China
3) Taj Mahal
4) Serengeti Migration (Tanzania, Africa)
5) Galapagos
6) Grand Canyon
7) Machu Picchu (Lost City of the Incas ,Peru)

Jamie's Wish List:
1) Acropolis in Athens
2) Pyramids , Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa and Cairo Citadel
3) Taj Mahal
4) Stonehenge
4) Grand Canyon
5) Machu Picchu
6) Leaning Tower of Pisa
7) Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
8) And many many more!

There should be a lot more travelling for leisure now :)

Geography Lesson 004 - Continents and Europe

Well, as usual, if I should be studying for my Jap paper, everything else is suddenly so much more interesting. Taking a break from my 日本語の勉強。。。。。I'm once again back to looking at maps. Big interesting world.....

Although some listed in the World Atlas cannot really be considered as continents, we have 7 continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antartica, Europe and Australia/Oceania. (ranked from largest to smallest)

In terms of population, Asia has the largest followed by Africa and then Europe. Taking another slice at the data, terms of countries per continent, the largest would be Africa (53), followed by Europe(46) and then Asia (44 - including middle east).

Having a closer look at Europe today.

From the map above, we can see that Europe is separated from Asia by Russia's Ural Mountains on the right, Caspian Sea and Black Sea from the bottom.

For a nice list of countries by continent, please refer to:
World Atlas - Countries by Continent

One of the interesting things about Europe is the formation of the Euro which is the attempt by Europe to have a single currency. The euro is the currency of 12 European union countries namely Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. As of 1 Jan 2007, Slovenia will adopt Euro as their currency as well.

The Euro banknotes are managed by the Eurosystem which consists of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central bank of the 12 countries. The Eurosystem has the exclusive right to issue banknotes. Meanwhile, the 12 euro-area member states are allowed to issue their own euro coins. This is managed by the eurosystem that allocates the total value of euro coins issued by each country. So the next time, you see a euro coin, you can find out which EU country produced it!!

Geography Lesson 003 - North Asia (and recap on Southeast Asia)

Before I start on North Asia, I would like to share a conversation that I've had which I found rather interestng. Just the other day, my colleagues and I were talking about Egypt. And whilst talking about Egypt, "Egypt" and "Middle East" were used interchangeably throughout the entire conversation. And then it dawned on me: Hey...are we talking about Egypt or Middle East here?

So, being the usual pain in the arse (that's just me :P), I had to ask and I learnt that due to to the Arabic influence in Egypt, it is often related with Middle East in the business world.
In reality, ladies and gentlemen, Egypt is on the African continent. But hey, before I had even started on this blog, I would not have even thought about this at all. So I would say that this blog is not an entire waste of my time :P

Okay, so now since Middle East is on the Asia continent, here's a little tribute to Asia (before I start on North Asia) *drum rolls*

Did you know.....
Asia is the largest continent on the planet covering up to 30% of the world's landmass and includes 44 countries and assorted islands. Significant features of the continent of Asia include:
a) World tallest mountain - Mt Everest 8,850m (Nepal and China)
-> Are you going to tell me that K2 is taller?
b) World lowest point - Dead Sea 392m below sea level (Israel/Jordan)
-> Yes, that is middle east.
c) World most populated countries - China and India
d) World longest coastline
e) World deepest lake - Lake Baykal (Russian Federation)
f) Some of the most important rivers (more on this at a later date)

And now, here is a list of countries in North Asia:
1) Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
(HORRORS! I had it the other way round)
2) Japan
3) Mongolia
4) People's Republic of China (Include Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR)
5) Republic of Korea (South Korea)
(Once again, I really thought this name had more of a communist flavour)
6) Taiwan

And as you can see from the map, Russia (largest country in the world) is divided into Russia (Asia) and Russia (European).

Also, just to avoid confusion, I need to do a recap.

There is South Asia (includes India, Sri Lanka and etc) and there is Southeast Asia

Here's recapping the countries in Southeast Asia:

1) Brunei (Tricky, Tricky I always connected it with West Malaysia. Pai seh)
2) Burma
3) Cambodia
4) East Timor (Tricky, tricky, I missed this out the last time)
5) Indonesia
6) Laos
7) Malaysia (East and West Malaysia)
8) Philippines
9) Thailand
10) Vietnam