Okay, you can be honest with me. Spit it out. You did not come halfway across the world for this, how they call it, “Banana Pancake Trail”? I know exactly how you feel. I can tell how much you would like to throw a chair at that guy who’s mesmerizing a full table of other exemplars of the backpacking species with his bragging rights, just over there. His tales of having seen this and that tourist attraction on the ultra-cheap contradict with the reality that his clothes would pay for two months’ worth of food for a local family.

You feel like you would be better suited outside, grasping for a change of air, like an amphibian in dire need of a habitat change. At least, back home you would know where to go bang your head, turn your anti-social behavior into loud drunkenness, and raise the horns to the Devil’s music.

But how can you do it in Asia-town? My friend, today is your lucky day because I’ve been there, and done that, and I am going to give you six places to find the rock underbelly in some of East Asia’s sprawling cities. If you thought they didn’t rock, well, you should get back into that hostel lounge, sit next to the bragging guy, and start clapping your hands.

1) Soundmaker, Penang, Malaysia

Literally hidden at the second floor of a tattered building along Pengkalan Weld, about half a mile down the road from the Jetty, this is the place to rock in Northern Malaysia. Check their show listings before you go because this place is not a bar, therefore, it is not open when you want. Rather, this is a real do-it-yourself underground venue,where heavy metal, punk, death metal and alternative rock spray the walls with sweat.

The showroom is decently sized and the sound system is quite good for an underground enterprise. The fact is that in Malaysia — a country who forced a ban on metal music in 2001, and whose Islamic party has given a hard time to Elton John because he is openly gay — you cannot really get much better than this. Soundmaker is the place to rock away your sleepy weekend afternoons and early nights, as no show can go on after 12 a.m. As a tip, buy some beer at the Chinese food court downstairs, as there is no bar inside.

Soundmaker

2) Yuyong Yishan, Beijing, China

Beijing had an amazing alternative rock and punk club called D-22 in the Wudakou student district where the Chinese bands of the ’90s made the history of Beijing punk. Unfortunately, it closed last year. D-22 an institution for Chinese underground rock, and has been the backdrop of many of my more interesting Chinese nights. Now, the megalopolis’s new focus of rocker attention is Yuyon Yishan.

As a reflection of the cosmopolitan and never-sleeping Beijing art scene, the club offers a mix of proposals coming from the realms of rock, electronic music and much more to keep your feet moving and your head banging. And in case your recent activities included Great Wall hiking, be warned, this may not be the best place to rest your aching legs.

Yuyong Yishan

3) The Overstay, Bangkok, Thailand

With Bangkok’s reputation for vice and all sorts of other mischievous evils, it comes quite as a surprise that its music scene is so dead. Luckily enough, not too far from Khao San Road tourist enclave, you can find a pretty particular example of postmodern subculture in Pinklao: the Overstay.

This 6-story building functions as a rock/alternative venue, and a very cheap hotel with artsy character and an alleged ghost haunting the upper floors to spice things up. Come to enjoy live bands from all sides of the rock/alternative/electronic spectrum, and bring along your instrument for the occasional jam sessions. And if you’re hungry, you can try out the open kitchen to cook up some vegetarian food for your new friends.

The Overstay

4) Rumah Api, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In a place called the “fire house,” you may expect amplifiers to burst out sparks of white heat and set your eardrums on fire. If you know what a real punk house is, and I mean an independent space where DIY is the law, welcome to Rumah Api, one of the places in Kuala Lumpur that dares to object to the city’s rampant, over-constructed technologic wealth and high-class loving youth.

A stone’s throw away from the Ampang LRT station in the northeastern part of the city, Rumah Api is to Kuala Lumpur what CBGB was to New York during its heady punk days. Catch a dose of local and international punk, hardcore, crust, thrash and grindcore bands sweating — literally, as the only wall fan provided resembles a World War II airplane’s engine — on the nonexistent stage, and mingle with the most alternative youth in the capital. This place has plenty of character, but you gotta have some to enjoy it too. Otherwise, please keep on reading your book at the guesthouse or do not sway too far from Petaling street, I have warned you.

Rumah Api

5) Sharky Bar, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The self-described “longest running Rock ‘n Roll bar in Indochina,” Sharky’s Bar has been entertaining Phnom Penh for the past 17 years. Which, let me tell you, is a great accomplishment in terms of having given a space for rock music to a country that had seen many of its best musicians exterminated by the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal fury.

Situated not too far from the riverside at Road 130 in the Kahn Daun Penh district, Sharky is a cosy, American-style bar with pool tables and plenty of beers on tap. Come for the fun “beer pong” every second Tuesday, and expect to find local and international bands playing their brands of bluesy, rocking or rolling fury on stage.

Sharky Bar

6) Bad Monkey Bar, Dali, Yunnan, China

Dali keeps transforming since I first visited, and Bad Monkey Bar is one of the better improvements to the city that I’ve seen. This club brews its own beers and sits in the main center of the Old Town, a perfect location to break your journeys to and from the mountain side and the lake. The setting of Dali itself is awe-inducing, and a night out here is a great way to top your stay with some doses of unhealthy international and Chinese rock, punk and more.

Bad Monkey Bar

By Marco Ferrarese

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marco Ferrarese has visited 50 countries and lived in Italy, the United States, China, Australia and Malaysia. He started vagabonding as a punk rock guitarist in Europe and North America, hitting the most famous and infamous stages across the two continents. In late 2007 he relocated to East Asia. He is currently a PhD candidate at Monash University, Kuala Lumpur, researching the anthropology of punk rock and heavy metal in Pacific Southeast Asia. He posts a weekly column at Rolf Pott’s Vagablogging and writes about hardcore Asian travel and extreme music in Asia at MonkeyRockWorld.com.

The post 6 Clubs To Rock To In East Asia appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Monsoon rains in Thailand have been causing an already drenched country to get even wetter, with water now sweeping from the north southward into Bangkok, one of Asia’s largest cities. As the WSJ reports:

Most of Bangkok’s central business district remained dry on Thursday and operating more or less usual, thanks to a series of makeshift barriers in northern sections of the city that have kept the biggest flows of water at bay. But floods have inundated at least seven of Bangkok’s 50 districts, mainly in the city’s northern outskirts, and more are at risk.

To get an idea of how bad things are, take a look at Gawker’s photo gallery of 27 images of the flooding in and around Bangkok (the above photo shows a woman taking to an inner tube to get around).

The post Images From The Flooding In Bangkok appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

BootsnAll has this great overview — with requisite food porn shots — of what you should expect to be dining on during your stay in the Thai capital. In addition to the above delicacies, make sure to save room for some hearty Kaeng Massamman, sweet Khao Niao Mamuang, and, well, orange Cha Yen (plastic bag with straw optional).

The post What To Eat In Bangkok appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Oh, Bangkok. What will we ever do with you? Some love it, some hate it, some have both feelings towards it — often at the same time. It grabs travelers for indefinite amounts of time when they were simply passing through. It’s conflicted, it’s beautiful, it’s Bangkok, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The complex culture and contradictions pose some obstacles for the millions who travel there, so when I found a post on some tips to Thailand, over at thrillingheroics, I took notice.  It’s written by an expat, self described as being “marooned” there:

It’s a  developed metropolis in the middle of the developing world where ancient tradition meets cutting edge technology. Bald-headed, orange-robed Buddhist monks wander the streets toting the latest iPhones; gray-haired Alabama exports sport handlebar mustaches and transgendered girlfriends.  You will see the Old juxtaposed with the New, the East juxtaposed with the West. Thailand feels a bit like the Wild West meets The Fifth Element. I came to Thailand in 2008 after a bad breakup (two actually), quitting my office job, and many months of stagnation and boredom with my suburban existence in the States. I wanted to live for a year abroad, somewhere as different as I could possibly find. I wanted to create a location-independent  lifestyle, free up more time to read, learn, travel, and work on personal projects, test my self-reliance, expand my understanding of other cultures, and of course lounge on the beach.

I can remember having a ridiculous amount of questions before I boarded my first plane to Asia. Luckily, this post covers a wide range of topics that may trip up a first timer. It’s loaded with tips, from when to go (Oct. to Apr. to avoid the monsoon season), which cheap airlines to use (AirAsia, Tiger, and Nok Air… avoid Jetstar), to the legendary Thai food (go street stall), and the numerous scams you should be aware of (NEVER get in a taxi that doesn’t have the meter on).

Despite all the intimidating madness, riots, and scams, the author’s voice never turned negative (which could have happened). I mean, how often have you seen monks standing on the same street corner as prostitutes? In fact, the craziness may just be what us travelers have come to expect, what we want, and what we need to discover by traveling there.

“Bangkok almost feels like it’s experiencing a bit of a renaissance right now — there are a lot of creeps in this town, but there are also innumerable creative types out here trying to make the world a better place.”

Perhaps Bangkok may have it figured out more than we will ever know.

The post Bangkok Tips For The First-Timer appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.