The last 10 years, Kuala Lumpur exploded in the retail industry. New shopping malls sprouted up like wild mushrooms in the city. International designer brands have begun to appear in malls in Malaysia to capture the flourishing Asian market. Coach is one of the brands that is gaining popularity among locals.

I am surprised at the price these bags are selling in Kuala Lumpur. The price in the US is probably less than 50% or more compare to the local price here. Therefore, I was asked to get Coach bags to resell in Malaysia.

I was glad I did. I got over 15 bags of different designs, sizes and colors. I sold all of them except three.

Designer collections are expensive in most Asian countries. In the years I have worked in retail, I find that New York is the best place to shop. The seasonal collection goes on sale very quickly, and it is always at steep discounted price. And, you can find almost any brand names in New York. Take a walk along 5th and Madison Avenues, and you'll find overseas tourists are the ones that keep the stores going in today's competitive retail climate.

I've known people from Malaysia who come to New York with empty bags, and when they leave, they have two full luggages of brand names collection with them. So the next time you travel to Asia, think of buying some well-known brands from here, and resell them in Asia.

Borobudur is one of the top destinations in Indonesia. Its ancient Buddhist temple is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We (Jeffrey, my brother-in-law and Jack, history teacher in New York and I) arrived at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta at noon. Weather in Yogyakarta or better known to the locals as Jogja was pretty hot and humid. After we checked into our hotel, we went for a buffet lunch. Jerky beef, oxtail soup, fried chicken and fish, sauteed vegetables, and rice. It was a very good meal and cost us $20.

The commercial district in Jogja is along Jalan Malioboro. This is a major shopping street for both locals and tourists alike. Souvenirs, tee shirts, teas, local arts and crafts, batik, tidbits and knick knacks, or anything you can think of is available here. Vendors display and sell their merchandises on the sidewalks of most shophouses. Therefore, the sidewalks can be pretty narrow. As we walked, we began to wander off to the side street. We were approached by a gentleman who claimed that he has a nice collection of paintings, and today was his last day here in Jogja. "Today's your lucky day" he said. Jeffrey wanted to take a look, so me and Jack went along. Later, we found out that he was selling the paintings for a commission.

Jogja is known for its silver work, leather puppets used for 'wayang kulit' (shadow plays) and batik. It has a very active underground art scene (like the one we were lured to see), and its gamelan music has a very unique sound, and it's very popular. As we wandered back to Jalan Malioboro, we came across this huge store. In the store front, there were teak wood furnitures, and something caught my eye; two gigantic birdcages beautifully handcrafted and made of wood. Welcome to Mirota Batek, a renowned batik and handicraft center. Once we got in there, we were entertained with traditional Javanese live music. I found a colorful bag made with 100% recycled papers.

In the evening, several open-air side-street restaurants, called lesehan, started to open up for business. Some of the favorite local dishes here are nasi gudeg, nasi langgi, mee goreng Java, and yam goreng Kalasan. Less obvious to the tourist, but more for the local population, side streets, lanes and structures that lead on to Malioboro are as important as the street itself.

The next morning, we rented a car for a day (cost $15 plus gas) to take us to Borobudur. Borobudur is a 9th century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang, Central Jawa. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relics panels and 504 Buddha statues. It is the biggest Buddhist monument of its kind in the world. Like most developing countries, entrance to most historical sites are extremely high for tourist. In this case, we had to pay $15 each to enter the site!

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage; once a year Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument, where the journey begins. It follows a path circumambulating the monument while ascending to the top through three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely Kamadhatu (the world of desires), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness). During the journey the monument guides the pilgrims through a system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the wall and the balustrades.

From there, we went to Mount Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia and it is in direct vicinity of Borobudur. In fact it is so active that the area where the river used to flow was dried up with traces of volcano activities.

Besides Borobudur, there are other Buddhist and Hindu temples in the area, including the Prambanan Temples compound. Pramanan is a 9th century Hindu temple dedicated to Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). This temple is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is one of the largest Hindu temples in South-East Asia. It is characterized by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m (154 feet) high central building inside a large compound of individual temples.

We ended the day with some cold beers and coffee with Prambanan behind as a backdrop.

When people think of Indonesia, Bali always comes to mind. Indonesia comprises of more than 17,000 islands, and they are scattered over both sides of the equator. It has around 300 ethnic groups, each with cultural identities developed over centuries, and influenced by Indian, Arabic, Chinese, and European sources. A country full of diversities, and landscapes, so the next time you plan to go to Indonesia, think of places like Danau Toba, Banda Islands, Kelimutu, Pualu Biak, Sumba, and Labuan Bajo just to name a few.

Betong is a town in southern Thailand, near the border of Perak, Malaysia. It is often refer to as the 'town in the mist' as evidenced by the mist that tends to bathe Betong in the early morning. Almost surrounded by rubber plantations, Betong is famous for three unusual reasons.

First it is the Siberian swallows that migrate here every year to perch on the city's rooftops, and weigh down the electricity cables, and not to mention the poop they bring with them to the small town. Secondly, it has the world largest mailbox, located at the Clock Tower Intersection in the tower center. It was built in 1924 by Mr Sa-Nguan Jirajinda, the former head of Betong Post and Telegraph Office and the Lord Mayor of Betong. It has a total height of 320 cm (126"), and it is presently used as an ordinary mailbox.

I came to Betong for the third reason. Betong is home to the Piyamit Tunnels - tunnels excavated by the Malay communists in 1976 to avoid bombardment by the Malaysian government. My brother-in-law, Jeffrey drove me and Jack to the border between Perak and Betong from Kuala Lumpur. It took about 4 hours in driving. We parked the car in Perak, and hired a taxi to drive us to Betong.

It took us another hour before we arrived at the Piyamit Tunnels. The entrance fee was 50 bht ($1.50). To reach the bunker, we had to walk up the hills through lush forests where sounds from the insects were deafening. Once we reached the bunker, I could feel that the temperature dropped as the weather became less humid and cooler. The Pyamit Tunnels stretches for over one kilometer (2 miles) in the jungle. The tunnel was dug by the Malay Communists Party fighting for their ideologies in the 70s'. It served as a hide-out with resting and sleeping areas, and a cooking area. There is a museum that displayed the artilleries and communications tools used during the party occupancy. As it was Chinese New Year, firecrackers were set off from a nearby temple for the devotees.

We met an Ex-Sergeant from the Communist Party, Mr Chiam, who was a survivor from the camp. He was involved in building the tunnel from 1976 till 1987 when the tunnel was eventually closed. Although Mr Chian is a Malaysian citizen, he is not allowed to return because of his involvement. So now he stays there to help run the place.

Betong is compact and a pretty interesting place to explore. The locals are friendly, and the cuisine is a mix of Chinese, Malay and Thai. Not too many tourists know about the place, but I hope more will do after reading this.

I've been to Frankfurt am Main twice before but both times were in the summer. We left Kuala Lumpur at a near record 90 degrees Farenheit (32 C), and came to Frankfurt am Main at a 30s' F (almost 0 C) temperature. With a huge drop in temperature in less than 12 hours, I felt cold when we got off the plane in a chilly Thursday night in March.

Jack and I left our luggages at the Frankfurt International Airport, and we took a train (cost €3.80) to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station), where our hostel is located.

Situated in the Main River, Frankfurt is a major financial and transportation center in Europe. The Stock Exchange is one of the world's most important exchanges, and there are over 300 national and international banks represented here in Frankfurt. In fact, it is the only German City listed in the top Alpha world cities. You may not think of Frankfurt as a tourist destination given the fact that it is a major key player in the financial and commerce sectors, but Frankfurt does offer a lot more.

Along the Schaumainkai in Frankfurt's district of Sachsenhausen, on the left bank of the Main River, there is an extraordinary concentration of museums and galleries, and some of them of international standards. This area is known as Museumsufer (Museums Riverbank). If you walk along the area, don't be surprised to see houses that are transformed into museums and galleries. It was getting really cold as we walked toward Römerberg in the rain and wind. This is the central square of Frankfurt's Alstadt (Old Town). All kinds of festivities are held here yearly. There are 6 picturesque reconstructed half-timbered houses known as the Ostzeile in Alstadt. In March 1944 bombardments flattened the whole historic district, including Römerberg. Some were rebuilt soon after the war, but the Ostzeile wasn't reconstructed following historical models until 1981-1983. We stopped by at a restaurant for beers and lunch, where I had sausages with sauerkraut, and Jack had pot roast with potatoes. Meal was very good.

We went to the Historisches Museum, just south of Römerberg. The museum covers the history of Frankfurt, including its destruction after the war. It also traces the history of the city from prehistory to the modern times. The most popular attraction in the museum is a set of three scale models. The scale models were created between 1926 and 1955 by the brothers Hermann and Robert Treuner. The largest of the three models shows Frankfurt's Inner City in the Middle Ages and shows a city center full of half-timbered houses. The two other models show the inner city after it was obliterated by two large bombardments in March 1944 and after it was reconstructed in the mid 1980s. Other museums worth mentioning here are Stadel Art Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Ancient Sculpture, Museum of Applied Arts and Craft Museum.

To end our day in Frankfurt, we went to Kaiserdom (Saint Bartholomeus), a Gothic building which was originally built in the 13th century. Twice reconstructed after a fire in 1867, and the war in 1944, it has been recognized as a symbol for the national unity to Germany, especially in the 19th century. St Paul's Church (Paulskirche) is another national historic monument in Germany because it was the seat of the first democratically elected Parliament in 1848. Partially destroyed in World War II, it has a modern interior appearance now, and used mainly for exhibitions and events.

Most of Frankfurt was destroyed in the 1867 fire, and later in World War II. What you see today, is either new modern infrastructures or a reconstructions of the Old Frankfurt like Römerberg.

The following morning, we flew to Berlin on Air Berlin. We had a little trouble locating our hostel, but when we got there, I was surprised to find that the hostel was actually pretty nice although linen was not provided. Unfortunately, the weather in Berlin was just as cold.

What was so interesting about the hostel is that it is located in a neighborhood where part of the Berlin Wall is still left standing. We stopped at Alexanderplatz where we had lunch at Dinea in Galeria Lafayette. Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. Not too far from the train station is the Neptune Fountain. Built in 1891 and designed by Reinhold Begas, it has the Roman God Neptune in the center, with four women around him representing four main rivers of Prussia: Elbe, Rhine, Vistula and Oder. The tallest structure in Germany, Fernsehturm (television tower) is also located here. Further away, is the Museum Mile, a major highlight of any visit in Berlin with superb museum collections and stunning architectures. Some of the interesting places around here are: DDR Museum, which offers hands-on experience of what day-to-day life in socialist Germany was like; Alte Nationalgalerie, offers three-level collection of 19th century art; Lustgarten, a garden known for its visual pleasure and Pergamonmuseum, a massive wealth of information regarding classical Greek, Islamic, Middle Eastern and Roman art and structural design.

The Berliner Dom is a Baroque Cathedral located on an island in the River Spree, also known as the Museum Island. It was severely damaged during World War II, but reconstruction only begun in 1975. One of the most interesting items in the richly decorated interior of the church is the reconstructed pipe organ, built by Wilhelm Sauer. The organ, originally built in 1905, has more than 7.000 pipes. A number of members of the Hohenzollern family are buried in the church, among them Friedrich I and his wife, who are entombed in beautifully sculpted sarcophagi. The oldest tomb in the cathedral (1530) is the tomb of elector Johann Cicero, elector of Brandenburg. We spent sometime in the Dom, and as night time approached, we decided to head back. The ensemble on Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. It is the only remaining gate of a series which Berlin once entered. It was heavily damaged in the war, but now fully restored in 2002. Today it is regarded as one of Europe's most famous landmarks. The Reichstag building is another historic building in Berlin. It has a large glass dome at the very top. The dome has a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. I had wanted to view the interior of the building (the next day), but unfortunately the line was way too long. The Reichstag is one of the few famous buildings in Berlin that does not charge a fee to enter. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe also know as the Holocaust Memorial consists of a 19,000 squares meters (almost 6,000 squares feet) covered with 2,771 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. Designed by an American architect, Peter Eisenman, the slab are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.

Berlin does have lots of history significance, after all, it was here that Adolf Hitler and his subordinates had great plans to transform Berlin into a center fit for his new empire.

Before we could stay any longer, it began to snow heavily. We detour to one of the streets and found a nice little restaurant. We had soljanka (a spicy sour soup), kartoffelsuppe (potato soup), and eisbein (ham hock). It was a delicious meal to end the night.

Weather was better the following day. The sun came out, and we went to Kurfurstendamm, one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. It has very long, broad boulevard with lines of trees (in this case, trunks), and full of luxurious stores, shops, hotels, restaurants and houses. This is also where the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church located. I bought some Easter chocolates at KaDeWe, a famous departmental store in Berlin. We went back to Brandenburg Gate for another look.

Berlin has a population of more than 3 million people. Following German reunification in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of all Germany hosting 147 foreign embassies. Berlin is a world city of politics, media, and science. It is known for its diverse culture, arts, architecture and historic legacy. Like New York, it is the city that never sleeps.

As we were on a train back to pick up our bags from the hostel, we were asked to show our train ticket to the inspectors. We did not buy our tickets that day. As I was pretending to look for them, Jack just acted dumb. To make the long story short we were ticketed and asked to pay a fine. "We don't have any money left. Can I pay later?", I said. "Yes, you can. You can send us your money" he said. The inspectors took our information. We left Berlin for Frankfurt in the rain that night. Snow, rain, wind, and sun - we had it all in Germany.

After a few hours of sleep, we flew back to New York the next morning. And, I still have not pay the fine yet!