Journal #5, Part 2 of 3--March 14, 2001
So, I arrived at the immaculate Singapore airport on January 1, 2001, at around 10 a.m. I jumped in a shuttle that was heading into the city. Singapore is pretty much a sterile, shopping emporium. Yes, there is a bit of culture to be found, but the focus of the city-state is on shopping and business. The grass and bushes are manicured perfectly, there is little garbage, and it is true, there is no gum to be found. I set up shop at a hostile above "the best 24-hour Indian restaurant in Singapore." Just on Bencoolen Street, the Peony Mansion Travelers' Lodge is a popular place with "reasonably-priced" rooms with private shower. Singapore was expensive. For less than I received at any other place during my travels, I paid about three times as much. I spent the afternoon sightseeing and wandered into Singapore's famous "Little India" for lunch. Although Singapore is predominantly Chinese, "Little India" is a colorful district, complete with markets, shops, temples, and restaurants, all catering to the Indian population of Singapore. I found a busy restaurant with the help of a local shopkeeper. Basically, I asked him where he goes to lunch, and he pointed me in the right direction. After a few turns on alleyways and sidestreets, I walked in to a dining room of about 50 Indian men eating with their right hands off of large, green banana leaves. The menu was the same for everyone, except with a choice of meats. I requested the chicken, washed my hands and my banana leaf with the jug of water on the table and waited. Within minutes, I had five different piles of colorful, extremely spicy food on my leaf and was about to begin eating to the amusement of the men at the table. The food cost about US$2. The glass of lemon-lime soda cost about US$0.50. The look on the faces of my Indian tablemates when I declined three offers of a fork...priceless. They thought it was great that I wanted to eat with my hand. When in Rome..., thus, I finished my delicious meal of curried chicken and vegetables with exotic spices, paid my bill, and headed out of Little India. It was drizzling all day, but I braved the rain to wander through the city. Wandering through the Colonial District, I made my way to Orchard Street, a strip of miles of malls and shopping. It was literally ridiculous. I couldn't tell the difference from one mall to the next. I made my way up and back and settled on Movenpick for dinner. Movenpick is one of those restaurants that has twenty different stations, you order what you want, and they stamp your card. Then, you tally up and pay as you leave. Good food, in any case. As rain continued, my plan to walk around outside along the waterfront was scrapped, and I opted for a movie. I saw "Meet the Parents," which provided me with quite a few laughs. And, more of a reason for mentioning it here is that there is a mention of Ko Samui, Thailand, in the film, the island I had just come from that morning. Weird how that happens...
Anyhow, I slept well that night and spent the next day deciding how to get out of Singapore. I had a sweet, Indian coffee with the hostel manager, a friendly and chubby Indian man. With his help, I decided on an evening bus to Malacca, Malaysia, a place I had not heard of until that morning. I found the bus station and gathered the information. For about $2, the bus would take me across the Malaysian border, where I could catch another bus to Malacca. I had lunch and quickly returned to my hostel. Up on the door was an advertisement, which read: "Looking for crew for sailing trip to Langkawi, Malaysia. No experience necessary." How amazing, I thought, it would be to sail up to the supposedly gorgeous island of Langkawi for a few days. I contacted the owner and came very close to doing it, but he wasn't sure when they were leaving. Plus, I needed to be in Bangkok on January 10th in order to fly to Hanoi, and he couldn't guarantee an arrival date. Next time, though...Thus, I spent my final afternoon in Singapore at the famous Singapore Zoo. It was pretty wild to get so "up close and personal" with the animals, although a few were a little too close for comfort. After the zoo, I headed back into town to pick up my backpack and walked about six blocks to the bus station. After waiting in a long line to buy my ticket, I jumped on the bus that would take me across the Malaysian border. After about an hour of getting on and off the bus as I went through immigration and customs, I was finally at the next bus station in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Here, I bought a ticket for the three-hour trip to Malacca, Malaysia. The busride was painless, and I arrived in Malaysia's historic center a little after 11pm. As I stepped off the bus, a kind, older man approached me and offered his "hostel" for the night. He showed me pictures, along with a "write-up" in Let's Go S.E. Asia, which stated that the Samudra Inn was run by a "friendly, former schoolteacher that spoke perfect English." I asked if he was the schoolteacher. He said yes. Thus, I jumped in his antique car and drove ten minutes to the hostel, which was in the colonial section of town. I was put in a clean, private room, in a newly renovated wing of the home. The Samudra Inn is simply a home....clean, comfortable, relaxing, safe, and conveniently located to all of the historic city's culture. Malacca is filled with Indian temples, mosques, churches, and Chinese temples. It is rich in history, complete with cheap, delicious restaurants, a former Sultan's palace, major antique shopping, and a lovely, new mall on the edge of town filled with McDonald's and KFC and everything a western traveler who had no cultural curiosity could want. Needless to say, I stayed clear of the mall! Malacca was peaceful and quiet. Malaysian food is delicious, with different dishes of noodles and satays. It was spicy, yet savory. I wandered through the remnants of the colonial era in Malaysia, and I made my way down the quiet streets with endless antique shops. I bought a few things and shipped them back to the States. Hopefully, they will arrive at some point this year...After two days, I was ready to move on. I hopped on a bus and headed on a three-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur. The busride was easy, and I found a clean, quiet room with hot shower and a.c. opposite the bus station within five minutes. KL is basically just a city like any other...loud, polluted, busy, with shops, skyscrapers (the "Twin Towers" were pretty damn big), and restaurants galore. I wandered through the city for the afternoon, stopping for a coffee at Starbucks (it was hot and the picture of the Iced Moccaccino looked delicious!). I treated myself to dinner atop KL's version of the "Space Needle." It was an all-you-can-eat Malaysian/Western buffet in the spinning restaurant. A fabulous view of the city and unbelievable food. I slept well that night, I tell you! The next day, I headed out on a daytrip to the Batu Caves, the site of an annual Indian festival that involves body piercing with large metal objects, like hangars and giant needles. Things people do to "purify" themselves...Unfortunately, I missed the festival by about a month, but it was still interesting to see caves and bats and monkeys...Anyway, that evening, I jumped on an overnight train to Penang, Malaysia, a former colonial island in northwest Malaysia. The trainride was smooth, and I found a room with hot shower easily through my taxi driver in Penang. I found out quickly that Penang is built-up, quiet, and relatively boring. Not many other travelers around, so I did my own thing. I relaxed on the beach, ate well, and even saw the movie, "Unbreakable," in the local theater. Penang is famous for its seafood, so I asked the owner of my hostel where to go. He directed me to the end of the island, literally, where there is a local restaurant next to the boatdocks, where all of the islands seafood is brought in by the fisherman. Thus, this restaurant gets the best of the catch...I simply sat down and was brought the day's special, which included fresh, grilled calamari, with a lemon-garlic marinade; a blackened fish (no idea what kind) that absolutely melted in my mouth; and a fresh plate of fruit to finish it off. All was complemented with an ice-cold Malaysian beer. A fantastic meal! The next morning, I arose early to go on a daylong snorkeling expedition of the Langkawi islands (previously mentioned when I almost became Gilligan for a few days). I took a two-hour speed boat ride to an area of white beaches and crystal-clear water. The water was gorgeous, and one could easily see the baby sharks that we were swimming with in the water! Yes, I swam with sharks. It was pretty scary, I have to admit, even though they were pretty small. They still looked like Jaws! After a delicious seafood lunch and fresh fruit afternoon snack, we headed back to Penang. I spent my last night there having a delicious salad and Tandoori chicken at a quiet, open-air Indian restaurant. The next afternoon, after a morning of sleeping late and a little beachtime, I jumped on train and headed back to Bangkok on an fifteen-hour, overnight train.
Back in Bangkok, I found a quiet room about three blocks away from Ko Sanh Road. As always, the food was delicious and inexpensive. I got two massages in two days, ate like a king, and relaxed a bit more. I had dinner with a friend of my friend, Joey, that recently moved to Bangkok to work for a travel magazine. I ended up seeing two English guys that I had been in Ko Samui with about two weeks earlier. It is amazing that when you are traveling for a time, you end up running into people in different cities or countries. It happened to me in Europe and now in Asia. And, of course, it happens at home. Three continents down...
On January 10th, I made my way to the airport to catch a flight. Destination: Hanoi, Vietnam.