Hi everyone,
So after months of telling everyone that I was going to do a world trip Its suddenly happening. This is the first update of many (hopefully) to keep you up to date with what is happening to me and to share some of the experiences.
The flight from London (Sat 17th April) to Singapore was 12 hours and reasonably uneventful – no forget that, it was totally uneventful. Haven’t really suffered from any jet lag and feel adapted to the time already.
Since starting the trip time has flown and loads has happened. I’ve already finished 1 diary and 9 rolls of film !! We’ve met loads of people and seen some pretty amazing things some of which I have only dreamed about before. It was difficult to decide on a format for this – I’m not going to regurgitate my diary as I’m sure you’ve better things to do with your time so I’ll simply go through some of the highlights up ’til now and some impressions.
Singapore (Lion City)
We arrived on 18th April as the first stop of the trip. I really liked Singapore, It appears at first to be a very clean, green and organised place with a good infrastructure. A tad too clinical perhaps but nice. It provided us with an easy introduction to
traveling. We stayed at the YMCA complete Air Con, Gym and pool. Prices compared to the pound are very cheap for
accommodation, food and entrance tickets to the attractions.
If you like going shopping then Singapore is the place – I have never seen so many shopping centres in my life. Orchard Road is the famous one and it is just Shopping Mall after Shopping Mall after Shopping Mall (Stop salivating girls!!). Asians seem to have a slightly different way, from westerners, of viewing competition. If they see a store that is successful then instead of thinking:
“That’s a good idea I’ll open one the other side of town where they don’t have one yet”
they decide to open it next to the original one and try to put him out of business !! This attitude leads to areas that seem to specialise in a certain product. We found a shopping mall that only sold watches ?! In another they only sold electrical items and software and in another they only sold Lamps.
Actually its a dream for male consumers because then you only have to go to one place, check all the prices, buy what you need with the best price and then get home, put your feet up, grab a beer and spend the saved time watching the sport on the telly.
The food in Singapore is unreal – excellent quality, choice and price. They have lots and lots of so-called “Hawker” places. These are basically small stalls
that sell a certain limited range of food. Put them all together and you have a great choice. I tend to like Japanese food and although it is more expensive than the other food its still dirt cheap – a good Teppanyaki for $8 (thats about GBP3.00 DM8.00).
Singapore has quite a few contradictions which seem unbelievable when you think how efficient they are. Firstly the transport system appears good, lots of busses and the MRT which is like the
underground but strangely enough they haven’t produced a map to show you where the busses go or how they interconnect, so planning a route to somewhere unknown is virtually impossible !! Also software is unbelievably cheap in Singapore: Microsoft Office 2000, brand new, $16 (GBP6.00, DM16.00) and completely pirated but its not off of a market stall but from one of
numerous legitimate shops in a shopping mall !!
The people are a mix of Indian, Malay, Chinese and westerners. They are not unfriendly but more
courteous than sincere. We were very politely but firmly asked to leave a tower block.
Highlights
- Zoo and Night Safari. Animals in natural looking enclosures and always somewhere where you can see them. They had all sorts of animals and even a special Snake enclosure which you can walk through and see snakes on the trees at the side of the path. They even had a sign saying “Please do not touch the snakes” – as if !!! Its even built in the middle of the forest and you were sometimes left wondering if there were more animals
outside the zoo than in it ! - Sentosa. Sentosa is an island to the south of Singapore and is a kind of park with lots of different areas. It’s really good, if a bit artificial. The Underwater world is good and has a Perspex tunnel 80m long through the Reef and Shark tanks which give an amazing view of the animals. Here also I was able to part fulfill one of my dreams. I have always wanted to dive with sharks – strange but true. I would like to dive with them in open water but at the underwater centre there was the opportunity of diving with scuba gear in the tanks and not just looking but also touching and interacting with the sharks, rays and Moray Eels.
This was a chance not to be missed !! So in I went. I was more nervous of the people than the fish !!! I hadn’t dived for a year and a half and then having to do it in front of loads of tourists was horrendous. It was Ok though and the sharks etc were amazing. Funnily enough the Moray was one of the best – it was beautiful and feels the way a Wispa chocolate bar tastes. (Use your imagination). - Friends. I have a friend Pauline, who I met through some German friends whom she met in New York and who I met in Cairo confused yet ??). She is Malaysian but lives in Singapore and works for Singapore Airlines. It was great seeing Singapore with her as we saw some things that we ordinarily would have missed – Including Bernies BFD and Elvis’ – a bar in the Concourse centre where the atmosphere was great and with lots of good music and dancing – we even ended up on the tables. We also met some of her friends which made it even more special. Including a small Indian girl call Haini, with a sweet face, lovely smile and a very natural and easy going personality who turned out to be a Narcotics Officer in the Singapore police !!! You never can tell !!
- Singapore Sling. A trip to Singapore would be incomplete without trying the famous cocktail or 3.
We stayed in Singapore for 8 days in the end before moving on to Malaysia.
Malaysia
First stop in Malaysia was Melacca a small historical town on the west coast. The accommodation changed to what was more normal – bare room with a fan and shared cold showers and Mandi (basically a sink of cold water and a plastic saucepan) !!! Could be worse – at least the toilets are western style !! Actually its Ok – its so hot that a cold shower is normally quite welcome.
The Malay people are very friendly and helpful – sometimes a bit too helpful. I’m sure that if you asked them about a place whose name you made up, that they would give you directions rather than see you disappointed at their lack of help. Very sweet, unbelievably frustrating !!
The Malay language is also quite funny. Imagine English spoken by a Chinese person and then written phonetically and then you have the basis of Malay (Grossly simplified I know but humour me). This leads to words like Restoran (Restorant), Ais krim (Ice Cream) and Teksi (Taxi) after a while you find that you can pick up bits and pieces. If Singapore was cheap then Malay is unreal. The currency is called a Ringget but everyone calls them dollars, or in our case Ringlets or Onion Rings. There are just over 6 to the Pound and when accommodation costs RM10 a night and good food at a hawkers place RM4 then you get some idea of the prices.
Pulau Upeh. This is a small island 25 minutes boat ride off of the coast of Melacca. We read somewhere in an old tourist leaflet that turtles laid their eggs there. This, we thought, was something not to be missed. We tried to get to the island but the boat times and frequencies had changed and it basically took a lot of effort to get there. On arrival we found that the Island was an exclusive resort charging RM200 a night !!! Being determined and they having a special offer we got a luxury chalet with aircon, evening meal, breakfast and a days use of the pool and other facilities for RM60. Expensive by Malaysian standards, nothing in pounds. When we asked how many were staying at the moment they replied “2, including you !!”. Basically we got the island all to ourselves, with exclusive use of the pool, great food, etc for 10 quid!! They did say that the turtles laid from March through to August but mainly in June and July and so although theoretically we might see one we would have to be very very lucky. I guess that we must have done something good a some point in our lives as thats exactly what we were !!! You cannot imagine the feeling of seeing this immense Leatherback Turtle heaving itself around in preparation to laying its eggs. I was so happy and awestruck that I thought that I was going to cry !! Also on the beach were literally thousands of hermit crabs – another amazing sight.
After Melacca we went up “to the Big, Bad city of KL” (Kuala Lumpur). If you imagine a big black rapper type saying that then you get the meaning. (If you know Sean Gilkes then he’s a good role model for the rapper !!! Cheers Sean !). KL is hot, full of traffic but good. Crossing the road is not for the faint hearted and there is even something called Malay Merge which is the act of vehicles joining the flow of traffic without even bothering to look if anything is coming !!!
In KL the two increased to 3. We are now traveling with a Swedish girl called Anneli from Malmo. She’s just stopping in Asia on her way back to Sweden after being in New Zealand for the last 8 months. Everything is purely platonic – not that I have to justify myself – and its actually really good to have someone else to talk to and a bit of variation. We’re not sure how long the three of us will stick together but at the moment its cool. A few days were spent in KL (yo brother!) replacing my wardrobe to something lighter and more suitable (perhaps more backpacker’ish), seeing the KL Tower and the Twin Towers which are the biggest twin towers in the world and are shown in the film Entrapment which is showing at the moment (I’m beginning to sound like a tour guide), and some other things the Batu caves I’ll see next time because we are going back – more of that later.
Currently we are on the Island of Penang – which means Betel Nut. The Betel nuts is chewed by the older women in the region and apparently gives then a bit of a buzz. It also turns your teeth red which can be stomach churning when they give you a nice smile !! Here we are staying with another friend of mine, called Amanda (Grenfell for those of you that are interested). She is teaching at an International primary school here. Its great to see her and again its good to get a personal perspective of
what’s happening here.
It seems that the integrated Malaysian culture isn’t quite as it appears on the surface: with government controlled seemingly anti-western media and press and official discrimination against Chinese and Indian Malays apparently rife. Don’t get me wrong, the people are lovely – whatever the ethnic background and I have never seen any kind of racism on the street but it seems that in official circles all is not well, with, for example, Malays always given precedence for university places and paying interest free mortgages while other pay interest. We have also heard that English is not longer taught in Malay schools. This seems ludicrous, not because I think that English is best but because in today’s world it is difficult to get far (particularly in international business) without it !!
Oh well…..
So where do we go from here ?? The basic route for the next couple of months is..
Sunday we’re into Thailand (Krabi, Ko Phi Phi and the Similans (which are great for diving) then back into Malaysia to the Prehentians, the Cameron Highlands and then KL again. Then to Kuching in Sarawak (Borneo) for some real jungle traveling, back to KL and then into Indonesia (Sumatra, Java and Bali). We are obviously keeping an eye on things there but we’ve met quite a few people who have said that it fine as long as you avoid crowds and demonstrations and don’t look Chinese !!! So unless someone mistakes me for Buddha I should be alright !!! Talking of which I have lost 4Kg (1/2 a stone) since being away, so soon I’ll be a lean, mean, something or other !!
So thats about it for now. Take care and drop me a line sometime.
With affection,
Iain
View Singapore & West Coast Malaysia in a larger map
