"Bright lights, big city" that's a term often used to refer to New York City.  But I personally think that title has been captured by Las Vegas, Nevada.  The city is awash in light. Heck, they built the Hoover Dam just to power the city up!  It's also the "city that never sleeps".  You won't find a single clock in a casino... and time doesn't really matter.  It's a 24-hour town.   When I disemabrked off the plane at McCarren Airport - a hop, skip and a jump away from the casinos - before I even had a chance to claim my baggage, I was already playing the "one-armed bandit" as they call it.  The airport actually has slot machines!  Eventually, I made it to my hotel room at the Luxor without losing my shirt, jet lagged and in sorely in need of sleep.  I collapsed onto the bed, slept for several hours, took a quick shower, dressed and then stepped out into the night to explore the neon jungle of Vegas...   

So, I made my way down Malaysia to its Southern tip, crossed the Johor Straits and made it over to Singapore. While it is similar to its neighbor in many ways, in other ways it exceeds it. I don’t want to compare the two, but Singapore is impressive. It’s a port, financial center, a cosmopolitan city and a shangri la of food! The great thing about my trip there was that there was so much to see — and I didn’t have to go very far. Yeah, we’ve all heard about not being allowed to chew gum and that American kid who was caned years ago for vandalizing cars, so you would think it’s squeaky clean. Yeah, it’s clean… but squeaky no. I actually saw some litter in a park and some on the streets! But back to what I saw — besides a wee bit of litter — there’s a lot of diverse neighborhoods in this checkerboard of a city. Besides Sentosa Island, which tops my list of sites to visit, of course, you have to visit Singpore's various ethnic neighborhoods.  You've got a Chinatow...

The flight over from NYC was a long one and I wondered if it was worth it? Malaysia was a mystery to me before I went there.  Was it modern? Or was it backwards?  Was it exotic? Was it safe?  Was it clean?  Was it like Singapore?  Answer: all of the above. My visit to Kuala Lumpur was truly fascinating.  It’s a melting pot of cultures and the modern and the old. The Petronas Towers are truly magnificent and stand out like tall silver sentinels over this diverse capital.  At the base of these towers is a huge mall called Suria KLCC, which was as good as some of the malls at home, if not even better. But the park behind the towers — and the mall – were even nicer.  There was paths to walk around and the views all around were amazing.   Perhaps what stood out most to me was the food! And tons of it!  So unusual, so colorful… and so tasty! The melange of Malay, Indian and Chinese influences have produced flavors to die for. Be warne...