I believe the English translation of Bangkok means: land of smog. That statement might not survive a fact check, but it sure as heck should. It's too bad that my first impressions of places like Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur generally tend to be a bit negative. Because for all the charm they have, it is really hard to ignore the smog, pollution, and noise. Not that I was surprised by these things. I knew when going to these cities, I wasn't going to quaint little rustic lakeside villages. But it really has been a drain on the body touring some of these SE Asian cities. The constant harassment of tuk tuk drivers, scooters coming at you from all directions, the heat, the pollution, the crowds, the language barrier, and just flat out tired feet. Even a simple thing like going to the shopping mall can have you walking in circles wanting to tear your hair out. I went to the mall yesterday to find a bank and trying to navigate the maze of escalators to get out of there took far longer than one would reasonably expect. I distinctly remember during my travels to Europe, that I really didn't want to spend time in hostels because wandering around towns was a fun full day adventure. It is quite the opposite here. Half day jaunts around various parts of these cities make me yearn for those moments when I return to my air conditioned hostels and take the longest showers of my life.
I am not trying to discourage people from visiting these places and by no means do I regret any of these experiences. I went to a floating village today where people were selling goods on bulkheads outside their homes and on boats in a series of canals. I just think the heat and the general way that I travel have everything to do with my luke warm feelings towards these sticky hot cities. Since I can't change the heat, the only thing left to change is to allow myself extra time in each city. In fall like weather conditions, I could see the sights of any city in the world in a day or 2. I would get a general vibe of the people and the feel for the town and leave reasonably satisfied with my experience. Impossible to do that in Asia. You might be able to see and do everything in a day, but 50% of that day is going to be spent cursing the heat and humidity, 25% cursing crowds and motorists, and 25% enjoying food/sights/sleep. The longer you stay, the less you curse heat and crowds because you get accustomed to that way of life. In fact, it almost starts to add to the experience instead of taking away from it. Now that I am about 2 weeks into my Asian portion of the trip, I think I am finally starting to adjust. In general though, as Americans who would generally only have a 1-2wk vacation from work, we don't really have that luxury of getting to places like Bangkok, relaxing and adjusting. We need to see as much as we can in the short amount of time we have so that we can tell our co-workers we did more than just stay in our hotel rooms because it was so stinkin hot.
Man, those 2 paragraphs are a confusing read. Certainly no Pulitzer Prize coming my way for this post. Like my physical body, my thoughts are all over the map today. Apologies.
I do want to thank everyone at home and abroad who have been following my adventures. Nice to know that I have close family and friends thinking about me as well as friends and co-workers I haven't seen in yrs. Makes me feel a bit less lonely during some of these dog days of early spring knowing so many of you have me in your thoughts.
Off to Ban Pin tonight by train. I am going on a retreat of sorts and will be the only guest at this woman's home in rural Thailand. She is going to show me village life, give me some Thai cooking lessons, and just expose me to the scenery and general way of life of rural living. Then off to Cambodia after that to visit the temples of Angkor Wat. Go O's.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Remember when I told you to never look back, always look back? Well, don't look ahead either.
I just arrived in Penang following 3 amazing days in the Perhentian Islands. It was well worth the effort getting out there. Took an overnight bus, without issues this time, to Kuala Besut. Arrived at about 6am to the sound of prayers being blasted over the loudspeaker at the local mosque. Purchased my boat ticket to get me to and from the islands and then was treated to an amazing sunrise. The reddish purple sun just sprang up from the horizon as if shot out of the water. A good start to the trip. The boat ride made me feel like a contestant on Survivor. There were 2 boats of 12 going to separate islands. We were all strangers to each other anticipating island living in an area of the world where Survivor generally takes place. Anyway, I arrived on the islands earlier than I thought I would and was able to book myself on the full day snorkeling tour, which I would then do the next 2 days as well. Some of the most amazing underwater scenery. Better bang for your buck here in comparison to the Great Barrier Reef. For about 12 bucks you got buffet breakfast and 5 hours of snorkeling with gear. I saw the following aquatic life: angel fish, swordfish, barracuda, reef shark, nautilus, manta ray, clown fish, parrothead fish, sea urchin, turtles and too many other types of coral, anemones to mention. Having learned the shortcomings of my underwater cameras on the Great Barrier Reef trip, the pictures I got on this trip more than made up for whatever images I didn't get previously. It's almost impossible to put into words what I saw. Kind of something you have to experience. I did do some filming, but video upload takes forever. So you all will just have to wait until I get home to see what the pictures can't show you.
My lodging was average at best. I shared my accommodations with a gigantic cockroach and whether or not the toilet would actually flush was a 50/50 proposition. The shower was in the same place as the toilet, so you had to tread lightly on the tile floor if you had to use the bathroom following a shower. The sheets were kind of sketchy so I slept in my sleep sack. But I had an oscillating fan with AC, so it wasn't all bad. Food at the resort was above average and the lunch stop on the snorkel trip made the best banana mango smoothies, which I had 6 of during my 3 days. They also had this fried banana with chocolate dessert where they grilled the banana while still in its' peel. Delectable.
I saw some komodo dragons while I hiked around the island, so that was an unexpected surprise. The last day of snorkeling I was on the trip with 3 Dutch girls and we ended up having a pretty fun day and evening. It had been quite some time since I spent a day interacting with people, so the company was very much appreciated. 2 of the girls are med students doing an OB/GYN clinical in a Malaysian hospital. Be thankful all you mothers out there that you gave birth to your kids in America. The other is a social worker at an addiction clinic in Amsterdam. It was nice to be able to relate to them given some of the similarities in our fields of work. The night was a long night, made longer by the fact that I got lost in the jungle on the way back to my resort. Monkey juice preceding a nighttime jungle walk may not have been the best idea in retrospect, but just sitting in the sand with waves crashing, stars twinkling, and good conversation was well worth whatever pitfalls happened on my return journey. I think a 10 min journey took me 2 hours to complete. I kept ending back up where I started. By the time I got back to my resort I only got 90min of sleep because I had to get up and pack and catch the ferry back to the mainland so that I could take a 6 hour minivan ride to Penang.
Some random thoughts:
I finally figured out the answer to the question, "What part of your trip are you most looking forward to?" The answer is: TODAY. After my first day of snorkeling I thought to myself, "What in the world are you going to do for the next 2 days?" I am not a sit on the beach type of guy and there really weren't any other activities to do on the island but for snorkeling and I had just seen about everything I could see on my 1st snorkel trip. I got really angry at myself because not 24hrs earlier I couldn't wait to get out of the city to some peace and quiet. And now here I am on this beautiful island, snorkeling amongst the most beautiful aquatic life, and already having thoughts of wanting to be somewhere else. It annoyed me that I constantly find myself looking ahead to my next adventure, while failing to enjoy and fully appreciate the current adventure. I mean, what's the point of traveling if you always are looking ahead to being somewhere else than where you currently stand. It kind of devalues every other experience but for the one you are looking forward to the most. And when I gave it some additional thought, I often am the same way at home too. So hopefully I taught myself a life lesson on a remote island in Malaysia.
Follow up to the previous statement. Feel free to look ahead to the weekend or retirement or an upcoming trip. Just be sure to the make the most of each day leading up to those occasions.
Willis Carrier and Thomas Midgely Jr. These 2 men are not backpackers that I have befriended nor will I ever meet them. But they are 2 of the finest men this world has ever known. They are the inventors of the modern air conditioner and freon, respectively. How life ever existed in these parts without AC is beyond me.
Can someone please explain to me how anyone finds laying out on the beach enjoyable.
Muslim women have to wear their burkas and/or be covered from head to toe at all times, including during snorkeling and when giving birth. I don't know how they deal with the heat and humidity being covered up like that. There is no place for body heat to escape.
Note to Malaysian teksi cab drivers: Just because I am a caucasian tourist who looks out of place in these Asian lands doesn't mean I am lost and need a teksi.
Apparently, some gentleman has a very nice lady for me for the right price.
2 Asian girls came up to me at the Petronas Towers the other day and wanted to have their pictures taken with me. I thought they wanted me to take their picture in front of the towers. But they wanted a picture with me. I can only guess that they recognized me from the whynotfoto.com website and knew they were in the presence of a true American celebrity.
And now some pictures....
Unfortunately, picture download is taking forever so my underwater pics will be in a post to follow.
My lodging was average at best. I shared my accommodations with a gigantic cockroach and whether or not the toilet would actually flush was a 50/50 proposition. The shower was in the same place as the toilet, so you had to tread lightly on the tile floor if you had to use the bathroom following a shower. The sheets were kind of sketchy so I slept in my sleep sack. But I had an oscillating fan with AC, so it wasn't all bad. Food at the resort was above average and the lunch stop on the snorkel trip made the best banana mango smoothies, which I had 6 of during my 3 days. They also had this fried banana with chocolate dessert where they grilled the banana while still in its' peel. Delectable.
I saw some komodo dragons while I hiked around the island, so that was an unexpected surprise. The last day of snorkeling I was on the trip with 3 Dutch girls and we ended up having a pretty fun day and evening. It had been quite some time since I spent a day interacting with people, so the company was very much appreciated. 2 of the girls are med students doing an OB/GYN clinical in a Malaysian hospital. Be thankful all you mothers out there that you gave birth to your kids in America. The other is a social worker at an addiction clinic in Amsterdam. It was nice to be able to relate to them given some of the similarities in our fields of work. The night was a long night, made longer by the fact that I got lost in the jungle on the way back to my resort. Monkey juice preceding a nighttime jungle walk may not have been the best idea in retrospect, but just sitting in the sand with waves crashing, stars twinkling, and good conversation was well worth whatever pitfalls happened on my return journey. I think a 10 min journey took me 2 hours to complete. I kept ending back up where I started. By the time I got back to my resort I only got 90min of sleep because I had to get up and pack and catch the ferry back to the mainland so that I could take a 6 hour minivan ride to Penang.
Some random thoughts:
I finally figured out the answer to the question, "What part of your trip are you most looking forward to?" The answer is: TODAY. After my first day of snorkeling I thought to myself, "What in the world are you going to do for the next 2 days?" I am not a sit on the beach type of guy and there really weren't any other activities to do on the island but for snorkeling and I had just seen about everything I could see on my 1st snorkel trip. I got really angry at myself because not 24hrs earlier I couldn't wait to get out of the city to some peace and quiet. And now here I am on this beautiful island, snorkeling amongst the most beautiful aquatic life, and already having thoughts of wanting to be somewhere else. It annoyed me that I constantly find myself looking ahead to my next adventure, while failing to enjoy and fully appreciate the current adventure. I mean, what's the point of traveling if you always are looking ahead to being somewhere else than where you currently stand. It kind of devalues every other experience but for the one you are looking forward to the most. And when I gave it some additional thought, I often am the same way at home too. So hopefully I taught myself a life lesson on a remote island in Malaysia.
Follow up to the previous statement. Feel free to look ahead to the weekend or retirement or an upcoming trip. Just be sure to the make the most of each day leading up to those occasions.
Willis Carrier and Thomas Midgely Jr. These 2 men are not backpackers that I have befriended nor will I ever meet them. But they are 2 of the finest men this world has ever known. They are the inventors of the modern air conditioner and freon, respectively. How life ever existed in these parts without AC is beyond me.
Can someone please explain to me how anyone finds laying out on the beach enjoyable.
Muslim women have to wear their burkas and/or be covered from head to toe at all times, including during snorkeling and when giving birth. I don't know how they deal with the heat and humidity being covered up like that. There is no place for body heat to escape.
Note to Malaysian teksi cab drivers: Just because I am a caucasian tourist who looks out of place in these Asian lands doesn't mean I am lost and need a teksi.
Apparently, some gentleman has a very nice lady for me for the right price.
2 Asian girls came up to me at the Petronas Towers the other day and wanted to have their pictures taken with me. I thought they wanted me to take their picture in front of the towers. But they wanted a picture with me. I can only guess that they recognized me from the whynotfoto.com website and knew they were in the presence of a true American celebrity.
And now some pictures....
 |
| Batu caves |
 |
| Macaque monkey at Batu caves. They swarm the tourists at the caves. |
 |
| Petronas Towers |
 |
| Sky Tower |
 |
| National Mosque |
 |
| Rawa Island |
 |
| Perhentian Kecil |
Thursday, March 22, 2012
How a 3 lane highway becomes 9 in a matter of seconds
One of the things that I have noticed in my travels so far is that the 5 senses get a huge workout on a daily basis compared to every day living at home. I am keenly aware of every smell, fair or foul. My head is on a swivel with sights and surroundings. I hear everything. Every strange noise, person walking behind me, and dialect spoken. I feel every bed coil. And of course all of the unique foods. It can be a bit overwhelming at times. I can't really take anything for granted, nor do I want to. I want to experience everything I possibly can and not just sleepwalk through everyday life, which I sometimes have a tendency to do at home. But enough already Malaysia with your scooter riding horn honking and sidewalk driving. You want to know how 3 lane roads become 9. Let me tell you: sidewalk, shoulder, lane, lane road dashes, lane, dashes, lane, shoulder, sidewalk. That's 9. I don't want to have think about being struck by a scooter while on a sidewalk. They just hop the curbs, make U-turns, and generally just own the road. Lane markings are apparently just guidelines and nothing too strictly followed by any vehicle on the road for that matter. Crossing the street is an Olympic sport, or at the very least, like being in the classic video game Frogger. Crosswalks are also a relative term. If my legs are physically capable of getting me across the street, then any portion of road is a crosswalk. I asked a woman today how to get to the National Museum. "Go through the Hilton parking lot, cross the highway and hang a right." Can't recall ever giving instructions to someone at home that included the phrase, "Cross the highway."
My time in Kuala Lumpur has been enjoyable. Petronas Towers are striking. Malaysia is also a country that feels 3rd world with a splash of 1st world thrown in. They are really investing alot in infrastructure to become more of a player in the world economy by 2020, and it shows. But when you get to rural areas, it is really rural.
I was dining at the Hard Rock Cafe the other day on nachos, and man were they good. That's not the point though. Behind my seat at the bar was a framed poster from a James Brown concert back in 1968 that he performed at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. Was kind of nice to see that and think about home. I actually saw him perform live not too long before his death, and have gone to countless shows and festivals at Merriweather.
I also got a massage the other day, and man was that interesting. I bought a 45 min foot massage and sat down on this recliner with a Jean Claude van Damme playing in front of me without volume because US love songs and power ballads were playing in the background. Once that was finished, he asked me if I wanted I neck and upper back massage. Since it was really hot outside, I figured what the heck. I have been carrying around heavy bags for almost 7 weeks. Well I got a bit more during those 60 mintues than I bargained for. It ended up being a full body massage, only a towel separating me from the world. It was funny, strange and at times quite relaxing. It definitely did the trick, but understanding the language might have allowed me to stay clothed for the entire process.
Heading off to the Perhentian Islands to do some snorkeling and leaving tonight on an overnight bus. I already have my ticket, so hopefully there will be fewer mishaps than my last attempt at an overnight adventure.
My time in Kuala Lumpur has been enjoyable. Petronas Towers are striking. Malaysia is also a country that feels 3rd world with a splash of 1st world thrown in. They are really investing alot in infrastructure to become more of a player in the world economy by 2020, and it shows. But when you get to rural areas, it is really rural.
I was dining at the Hard Rock Cafe the other day on nachos, and man were they good. That's not the point though. Behind my seat at the bar was a framed poster from a James Brown concert back in 1968 that he performed at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. Was kind of nice to see that and think about home. I actually saw him perform live not too long before his death, and have gone to countless shows and festivals at Merriweather.
I also got a massage the other day, and man was that interesting. I bought a 45 min foot massage and sat down on this recliner with a Jean Claude van Damme playing in front of me without volume because US love songs and power ballads were playing in the background. Once that was finished, he asked me if I wanted I neck and upper back massage. Since it was really hot outside, I figured what the heck. I have been carrying around heavy bags for almost 7 weeks. Well I got a bit more during those 60 mintues than I bargained for. It ended up being a full body massage, only a towel separating me from the world. It was funny, strange and at times quite relaxing. It definitely did the trick, but understanding the language might have allowed me to stay clothed for the entire process.
Heading off to the Perhentian Islands to do some snorkeling and leaving tonight on an overnight bus. I already have my ticket, so hopefully there will be fewer mishaps than my last attempt at an overnight adventure.
Monday, March 19, 2012
How to leave a country and enter that same country without ever leaving the country.
Sounds like a Mensa riddle. My last 36 hours have been random, fun, funny, frustrating, exhausting, maddening, ridiculous, eerie, with a splash of deja vu.
Let's start from the beginning of March 18. Lazy morning at the hostel taking care of picture uploads and killing time. Pack my bags and leave them at the hostel so that I can pick them up at the end of the day when I set off for Malaysia. I set off on my quest to find a good Singapore Sling to round out my culinary adventures in Singapore but the places recommended to me were closed since it was Sunday. Not that big of a deal because I am in a part of town with plenty of restaurants that will obviously be able to serve their version of the drink. So I end up having my drink in a restaurant that is the first of its kind in all of Asia. HOOTERS. I have now had 2 experiences in American eateries to date: a $7 veggie foot long at Subway and a Hooters Sling. Who knows if their version of the Singapore Sling is anywhere close to what the real thing is supposed to taste like, but it was tasty anyway. Not that impressed with the Hooters girls for those of you keeping score at home.
My drink followed a delicious lunch of fish head curry. A gigantic fish head in a spicy bowl of red curry soup with some okra thrown in. Actually had quite a bit of meat on him too and some gnarly teeth, which were all the more intimidating since his eyes were no longer present. My desserts during the day were another yam ice cream sandwich followed up with a sweet corn ice cream sandwich. Call me a traditionalist, but I prefer my sweet corn with crabs or other BBQ fare and not in ice cream form.
Then the St Patty's Day 'parade.' More like a disorganized 1/4 mile stroll. I am told there are about 2000 Irish ex-pats that live in Singapore, of which, maybe 10 were in the parade. It was kind of strange to see Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian children playing the bagpipes, but they were quite good. There was a rugby team, girl scouts, a dragon boat racing team (which had all the Irish people), and our friends with Downs Syndrome. The parade coincided with World Down Syndrome Day. They were banging on their drums and just watching them interact with each other and everyone else always brings a smile to my face. The parade master was some Indian guy wearing a turban with a hooked staff held together with duct tape. Just flat out funny. Nothing says St Patty's Day like a turban wearing man leading a parade. The parade couldn't have lasted more than about 30min and I could walk from the back to the front of the parade in about 5 min. Lots of fun though. Topped off the experience with a DISCOUNTED $12 pint of Guinness.
Got back to the hostel and planned on just killing time the rest of the day, but I happened to be sitting on the couch next to guy who was reading a paper on PNF or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to those of us in the PT world. Turns out that he, along with like 13 other girls in the hostel were occupational therapy students in Singapore on holiday. So we got to talking and before long, one of the girls found an Ang Klung in the hostel which is a musical instrument made out of bamboo and in 7 sections for the notes A-G. Well 7 of us each took a section and she wrote out a traditional Thai song on a piece of paper and we played the song, shaking our portions of the instrument when our individual notes rolled around. That was good fun.
For dinner, I went back to the Hawker food center across the street and had some Chrysanthemum tea, a honeydew-mango drink, kaya toast, char siew pork with noodles and roast duck with rice. A very satisfying way to end my eating in Singapore.
Then my day just spiraled into disaster. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. For a trip that should have taken 90 min tops to get to the train station and buy my ticket, I allowed 3.5 hours just in case something went wrong. I should have allowed even more. Took the subway to the train station where I was to ride the overnight train to Kuala Lumpur (KL). After an uneventful 45min ride to the train station, I saw a sign that a train had been cancelled but from what I recalled in my reading, it didn't seem to be the number train that I was to take. So I walked for what must have been 10 min up and down stairs, across roads, over bridges just to get to where I thought I could buy my ticket. I arrived at customs, which I thought was a bit strange because I figured I would have had to buy my ticket before going through customs. But I proceeded through, except that I couldn't find a customs stub that I was supposed to have saved upon arriving into the country a few days ago. Of course, no one tells you that you need to save this stub. So I end up being taken upstairs to an office where they fill out a new card for and stamp my passport with a stamp that says I have now departed Singapore. Fine. Still no train ticket, but I figure once I got back downstairs and continued walking, I would come upon the ticket counter. The officer who escorted me to and from the office tells me to just go straight, down a flight of steps and then you can get your ticket. However, the next place I come to is customs, AGAIN. Except this time, it is the customs counter to get back into Singapore. But because I just left Singapore and didn't want to come back in, I had to have another officer take me back upstairs to the same type of office where my previous stamp was voided and they gave me a new re-entry stamp. Great, I just left Singapore for like 2min, now I am back, and I need to leave again, and still no train ticket. Turns out, that the train that was cancelled was the one that I wanted to take. So my only other option at this point is to take an overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur. So I go back through customs to leave Singapore and then through customs to enter Malaysia. Way more stamps than I anticipated at the start of the day. Well it is now 10:30pm and all that time I allowed myself has now turned to me running in the bus terminals to get on the last buses of the night that will take me to a bus station, that will take me to another bus station, that will take me to another bus station so that I can finally get on the bus to KL. Mind you, you need exact change to get your bus tickets. I had exact change for the first $1.10 bus ride. Got off that bus and onto the next where the fare was the same, but all I had was $10. So I paid 1000% more for that 2nd bus ride than was necessary. If you're confused reading this, imagine living through it.
So I finally get to Larkin, where I am to get on a bus to KL. But I have no money. Just spent all of my Singapore dollars and haven't had a chance to get to an ATM to get some Malaysian Ringgits (RM). This bus station is just filled with people trying to sell you a seat on their bus. The second I stepped of my bus, there was a guy in my face telling me for 30RM I can get on a bus to KL. I tell him I need to find an ATM and he leads me back to where there are 3 ATM machines. The first 2 I try don't work. Buttons and screens are broken. The 3rd one, Bank Islam, works just fine. It takes my card, and then for a moment it spits it halfway out telling me it is analyzing my card. For a brief moment, I thought to myself, "Just grab the card and take it out." But I figured the electronic grip would be stronger than my pull, so I just let it be. Well, that is last I will ever see of that ATM card. Bank Islam in Larkin, Malaysia is now the proud owner of Baltimore County Savings Bank debit card. So after a few vicious love taps to the machine, I repeatedly tell this guy that I have no money and that I won't be able to ride his bus. He didn't give a damn about me but I could tell he was horribly disappointed that he lost my business. Now, I don't know what to do. I sit in a McDonald's at the station to gather my thoughts in air conditioning and the employees at this place were straight out of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Cross dressing flamboyance was apparently a pre-requisite on the employee application form. I tried talking to a gentleman at the table with me as he was eating his fries and coffee. All he kept telling me to do was file a police report. So that conversation went nowhere. So I continued to wander this bus station which is just filled with little shops selling foods and goods during the day but is a ghost town with lizards, stray cats, and strange odors at night. Wouldn't you know it, there is a place on site that exchanges foreign currency. That would have been fantastic information to have about 30 min and 1 ATM card ago. I exchange 20 USD and now have enough money to buy a bus ticket to KL, except that I want my ATM card back. The exchange teller suggests I find the phone number on the machine and call to see if there is anything that can be done. I call Bank Islam and there are options for English. NOTE TO BANK ISLAM: If you are going to have operators that speak English, make sure they understand the English language. I called 5-6 different times, speaking to a different operator each time trying to find out if someone would be coming out in the morning to service the ATM so that maybe I could convince him to just give me card back. One person told me at 10AM someone would be there. Others just said to call my bank. Others told me my card would be destroyed. Thankfully my cell phone was charged because the Ipod touch I bought just before the trip had a dead battery. I thought it was turned off, turns out it was just sleeping the past 4 days draining its' battery. I have an app on there that will translate foreign languages, and now when the time came to actually use it, battery was dead. So I decided to just stay the night at the train station in the 24hr KFC and wait until 10am in the off chance that someone from the bank will actually show up to the ATM machine at 10am. That was a long night and slightly reminiscent of the time I slept in a 24hr bank ATM in Germany. At least there were people and bathrooms here.
You can probably figure out how the story ends. After spending the early morning hours at the KFC, my last 4 hours were spent staring at the ATM machine in case a technician showed. I also had my whistle in hand in case I got attacked. I knew deep down that no one from the bank was going to show and once 11am rolled around, I gave up hope and got a ticket for KL. Bus ride took alot longer than it should have and for a moment there it seemed as if the bus broke down. Both of the drivers got off the bus and looked at the engine. Their solution was just to turn off the AC for the last half of the trip. Carrying heavy bags through train stations and now the bus. If it is possible for there to be greater than 100% humidity, than these last few days have done it. I wasn't really sweating profusely today, like I was last night, but I was just watching my pants get wetter and wetter from condensation and placing my arms on armrests were cool and damp as well. Finally made it to my hostel. I have had no food or drink today, am physically and mentally fatigued and am quite ripe to say the least. The only good thing about having my ATM card taken from me is that I have lightened my load. Maybe without the weight of that card in my wallet, I won't sweat so much when walking around town.
Let's start from the beginning of March 18. Lazy morning at the hostel taking care of picture uploads and killing time. Pack my bags and leave them at the hostel so that I can pick them up at the end of the day when I set off for Malaysia. I set off on my quest to find a good Singapore Sling to round out my culinary adventures in Singapore but the places recommended to me were closed since it was Sunday. Not that big of a deal because I am in a part of town with plenty of restaurants that will obviously be able to serve their version of the drink. So I end up having my drink in a restaurant that is the first of its kind in all of Asia. HOOTERS. I have now had 2 experiences in American eateries to date: a $7 veggie foot long at Subway and a Hooters Sling. Who knows if their version of the Singapore Sling is anywhere close to what the real thing is supposed to taste like, but it was tasty anyway. Not that impressed with the Hooters girls for those of you keeping score at home.
My drink followed a delicious lunch of fish head curry. A gigantic fish head in a spicy bowl of red curry soup with some okra thrown in. Actually had quite a bit of meat on him too and some gnarly teeth, which were all the more intimidating since his eyes were no longer present. My desserts during the day were another yam ice cream sandwich followed up with a sweet corn ice cream sandwich. Call me a traditionalist, but I prefer my sweet corn with crabs or other BBQ fare and not in ice cream form.
Then the St Patty's Day 'parade.' More like a disorganized 1/4 mile stroll. I am told there are about 2000 Irish ex-pats that live in Singapore, of which, maybe 10 were in the parade. It was kind of strange to see Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian children playing the bagpipes, but they were quite good. There was a rugby team, girl scouts, a dragon boat racing team (which had all the Irish people), and our friends with Downs Syndrome. The parade coincided with World Down Syndrome Day. They were banging on their drums and just watching them interact with each other and everyone else always brings a smile to my face. The parade master was some Indian guy wearing a turban with a hooked staff held together with duct tape. Just flat out funny. Nothing says St Patty's Day like a turban wearing man leading a parade. The parade couldn't have lasted more than about 30min and I could walk from the back to the front of the parade in about 5 min. Lots of fun though. Topped off the experience with a DISCOUNTED $12 pint of Guinness.
Got back to the hostel and planned on just killing time the rest of the day, but I happened to be sitting on the couch next to guy who was reading a paper on PNF or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to those of us in the PT world. Turns out that he, along with like 13 other girls in the hostel were occupational therapy students in Singapore on holiday. So we got to talking and before long, one of the girls found an Ang Klung in the hostel which is a musical instrument made out of bamboo and in 7 sections for the notes A-G. Well 7 of us each took a section and she wrote out a traditional Thai song on a piece of paper and we played the song, shaking our portions of the instrument when our individual notes rolled around. That was good fun.
For dinner, I went back to the Hawker food center across the street and had some Chrysanthemum tea, a honeydew-mango drink, kaya toast, char siew pork with noodles and roast duck with rice. A very satisfying way to end my eating in Singapore.
Then my day just spiraled into disaster. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. For a trip that should have taken 90 min tops to get to the train station and buy my ticket, I allowed 3.5 hours just in case something went wrong. I should have allowed even more. Took the subway to the train station where I was to ride the overnight train to Kuala Lumpur (KL). After an uneventful 45min ride to the train station, I saw a sign that a train had been cancelled but from what I recalled in my reading, it didn't seem to be the number train that I was to take. So I walked for what must have been 10 min up and down stairs, across roads, over bridges just to get to where I thought I could buy my ticket. I arrived at customs, which I thought was a bit strange because I figured I would have had to buy my ticket before going through customs. But I proceeded through, except that I couldn't find a customs stub that I was supposed to have saved upon arriving into the country a few days ago. Of course, no one tells you that you need to save this stub. So I end up being taken upstairs to an office where they fill out a new card for and stamp my passport with a stamp that says I have now departed Singapore. Fine. Still no train ticket, but I figure once I got back downstairs and continued walking, I would come upon the ticket counter. The officer who escorted me to and from the office tells me to just go straight, down a flight of steps and then you can get your ticket. However, the next place I come to is customs, AGAIN. Except this time, it is the customs counter to get back into Singapore. But because I just left Singapore and didn't want to come back in, I had to have another officer take me back upstairs to the same type of office where my previous stamp was voided and they gave me a new re-entry stamp. Great, I just left Singapore for like 2min, now I am back, and I need to leave again, and still no train ticket. Turns out, that the train that was cancelled was the one that I wanted to take. So my only other option at this point is to take an overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur. So I go back through customs to leave Singapore and then through customs to enter Malaysia. Way more stamps than I anticipated at the start of the day. Well it is now 10:30pm and all that time I allowed myself has now turned to me running in the bus terminals to get on the last buses of the night that will take me to a bus station, that will take me to another bus station, that will take me to another bus station so that I can finally get on the bus to KL. Mind you, you need exact change to get your bus tickets. I had exact change for the first $1.10 bus ride. Got off that bus and onto the next where the fare was the same, but all I had was $10. So I paid 1000% more for that 2nd bus ride than was necessary. If you're confused reading this, imagine living through it.
So I finally get to Larkin, where I am to get on a bus to KL. But I have no money. Just spent all of my Singapore dollars and haven't had a chance to get to an ATM to get some Malaysian Ringgits (RM). This bus station is just filled with people trying to sell you a seat on their bus. The second I stepped of my bus, there was a guy in my face telling me for 30RM I can get on a bus to KL. I tell him I need to find an ATM and he leads me back to where there are 3 ATM machines. The first 2 I try don't work. Buttons and screens are broken. The 3rd one, Bank Islam, works just fine. It takes my card, and then for a moment it spits it halfway out telling me it is analyzing my card. For a brief moment, I thought to myself, "Just grab the card and take it out." But I figured the electronic grip would be stronger than my pull, so I just let it be. Well, that is last I will ever see of that ATM card. Bank Islam in Larkin, Malaysia is now the proud owner of Baltimore County Savings Bank debit card. So after a few vicious love taps to the machine, I repeatedly tell this guy that I have no money and that I won't be able to ride his bus. He didn't give a damn about me but I could tell he was horribly disappointed that he lost my business. Now, I don't know what to do. I sit in a McDonald's at the station to gather my thoughts in air conditioning and the employees at this place were straight out of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Cross dressing flamboyance was apparently a pre-requisite on the employee application form. I tried talking to a gentleman at the table with me as he was eating his fries and coffee. All he kept telling me to do was file a police report. So that conversation went nowhere. So I continued to wander this bus station which is just filled with little shops selling foods and goods during the day but is a ghost town with lizards, stray cats, and strange odors at night. Wouldn't you know it, there is a place on site that exchanges foreign currency. That would have been fantastic information to have about 30 min and 1 ATM card ago. I exchange 20 USD and now have enough money to buy a bus ticket to KL, except that I want my ATM card back. The exchange teller suggests I find the phone number on the machine and call to see if there is anything that can be done. I call Bank Islam and there are options for English. NOTE TO BANK ISLAM: If you are going to have operators that speak English, make sure they understand the English language. I called 5-6 different times, speaking to a different operator each time trying to find out if someone would be coming out in the morning to service the ATM so that maybe I could convince him to just give me card back. One person told me at 10AM someone would be there. Others just said to call my bank. Others told me my card would be destroyed. Thankfully my cell phone was charged because the Ipod touch I bought just before the trip had a dead battery. I thought it was turned off, turns out it was just sleeping the past 4 days draining its' battery. I have an app on there that will translate foreign languages, and now when the time came to actually use it, battery was dead. So I decided to just stay the night at the train station in the 24hr KFC and wait until 10am in the off chance that someone from the bank will actually show up to the ATM machine at 10am. That was a long night and slightly reminiscent of the time I slept in a 24hr bank ATM in Germany. At least there were people and bathrooms here.
You can probably figure out how the story ends. After spending the early morning hours at the KFC, my last 4 hours were spent staring at the ATM machine in case a technician showed. I also had my whistle in hand in case I got attacked. I knew deep down that no one from the bank was going to show and once 11am rolled around, I gave up hope and got a ticket for KL. Bus ride took alot longer than it should have and for a moment there it seemed as if the bus broke down. Both of the drivers got off the bus and looked at the engine. Their solution was just to turn off the AC for the last half of the trip. Carrying heavy bags through train stations and now the bus. If it is possible for there to be greater than 100% humidity, than these last few days have done it. I wasn't really sweating profusely today, like I was last night, but I was just watching my pants get wetter and wetter from condensation and placing my arms on armrests were cool and damp as well. Finally made it to my hostel. I have had no food or drink today, am physically and mentally fatigued and am quite ripe to say the least. The only good thing about having my ATM card taken from me is that I have lightened my load. Maybe without the weight of that card in my wallet, I won't sweat so much when walking around town.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
This post is brought to you by the letters V and L
I was writing to my friend Kristen the other day when it occurred to me how similar my everyday life as a travel PT in Baltimore City is to what I am doing now. My daily routine at home went as follows: Eat, sleep, meet new people in strange smelly homes, and treat. My everyday life on the road is as follows: Eat, sleep, meet new people in strange smelly hostels, and travel. So the only real difference is treat vs. travel and if you break that down even further, only the letters V and L in the word 'travel' aren't found in the word 'treat.' So essentially, everything I am doing now is just like being at home except for 2 letters of the alphabet. Could have saved myself alot of money had I thought of this sooner, but no turning back now.
I have spent the last few days in Singapore, where the capital of Singapore is Singapore and the national language is English. Makes perfect sense to me. I have done a ton of walking and eating. I have visited areas such as Kampong Glam, Little India, and Chinatown that celebrate the Malaysian, Indian, and Chinese cultures that comprise today's Singapore. Those areas have cluttered streets with vendors of food, textiles, and souvenirs. You really get the feel that you are in those countries and almost stepping back in time. Conversely, you have the very cosmopolitan areas around the harbor and Orchard street where the clothing and accessories sold are those worn by movie stars on the red carpets. I felt guilty just walking near those places in my backpacker clothing. After deciding not to spend 3000 dollars on a watch, I decided to do some eating and lots of it. Have dined on chili crab, chicken feet, BBQ stingray, chicken wings, claypot frog, yam ice cream and lots of tasty drinks. Will indulge in a Singapore sling today before taking off to Malaysia. I will also be attending the Singapore St Patrick's day Parade which happens to coincide with World Down Syndrome Day. I really hope some of our special friends are dressed up in their finest Irish clothing and enjoying the festivities. I know when I think about St Patrick's Day, I immediately think to myself, "What is going on in Singapore today?" I may be the only person of Irish descent in attendance, but I will enjoy my discounted $10 Guinness with everyone in attendance.
I have spent the last few days in Singapore, where the capital of Singapore is Singapore and the national language is English. Makes perfect sense to me. I have done a ton of walking and eating. I have visited areas such as Kampong Glam, Little India, and Chinatown that celebrate the Malaysian, Indian, and Chinese cultures that comprise today's Singapore. Those areas have cluttered streets with vendors of food, textiles, and souvenirs. You really get the feel that you are in those countries and almost stepping back in time. Conversely, you have the very cosmopolitan areas around the harbor and Orchard street where the clothing and accessories sold are those worn by movie stars on the red carpets. I felt guilty just walking near those places in my backpacker clothing. After deciding not to spend 3000 dollars on a watch, I decided to do some eating and lots of it. Have dined on chili crab, chicken feet, BBQ stingray, chicken wings, claypot frog, yam ice cream and lots of tasty drinks. Will indulge in a Singapore sling today before taking off to Malaysia. I will also be attending the Singapore St Patrick's day Parade which happens to coincide with World Down Syndrome Day. I really hope some of our special friends are dressed up in their finest Irish clothing and enjoying the festivities. I know when I think about St Patrick's Day, I immediately think to myself, "What is going on in Singapore today?" I may be the only person of Irish descent in attendance, but I will enjoy my discounted $10 Guinness with everyone in attendance.
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| Queenstown by air |
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| Chicken feet. You eat them for the skin. |
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| Marina Bay by day with the Merlion (half mermaid- half lion) that is all over Singapore |
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| A fellow diner asked me if I was an artist upon seeing this plate of food. |
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| Vanishing pool atop Marina Bay |
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| Kampong Glam |
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| Little India |
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| Yam ice cream...delicious |
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| Chili crab |
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| Poor little guy... |
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| didn't stand a chance. Although to be fair, that was the fullest I have ever been after eating just 1 crab. |
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| Singapore flyer |
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| Singapore at night |
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| So that Merlion that is all white in the photo under the chicken feet, becomes a canvas for a technicolor light display at night. |
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| Chinatown |
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