All 13 entries tagged Travel

Travelling in time and the end of things

Have you ever wanted to travel in time? Well, believe it or not, it's easy! Just come to Thailand, where right now it's the 14th September 2548. No, really. It's because they started counting the years from when Buddha was born not ol' JC so they have a 500 year+ head start on us.

And in the year 2548 they have massive shopping malls that stretch further than the eye can see, and internet cafes that have gigantic armchairs for people to relax in. Unfortunately they haven't come up with a replacement for oil and theres no cure for AIDS yet.

Our last week out here has been spent relaxing and treating ourselves and making the most out of cheap asia prices. These include:

• Albums (pirated of course): 1.50p
• Shoes (probably fake) : 6.00p
• Tailormade suits (actual quality): 61.00p
• T-shirts: 3.00p
• DVDs (of films that aren't even out yet): 3.00p

The awful Khoa San Road is best for cheap music and the MBK shopping centre in the centre of town is by far the best for clothes. I'm here right now in fact, with Ewan and Claire around somewhere.

Tonight we're having our last proper Thai meal – as you may have guessed, the food is something I'm really going to miss. Along with:

• The hot weather (although its the rainy season now!)
• The beer (BeerLao and Singha mostly)
• Exceptionally friendly people
• Feeling safer than I do back in the UK
• All the people I've met, from Thais, to Cambodians to Israelis, Aussies and Canadians. A right old mix.

Things I'm not going to miss however are:

• The Dogs – mingy rabid strays – there are around 120,000 wandering around Bangkok alone
• The cats – mingy rabid beggars, who make it obvious they want your food by sitting next to you and meowing incessantly
• Long bus journeys – 12 hours has been the average length of a journey..the worst was 20 hours getting from Bangkok to Siem Reap
• Thai Kareoke. Trust me, it blows.
• The toilets. Squatting. Enough said.
• People constantly trying to rip you off.

But it was all worth it for the past nine weeks. I've had a brilliant time and a proper detox from the Warwick bubble. The others I've had the fortune to hang out with from Kat and Haris, the Slovenian couple, to all my uni buddies, have made the summer an awesome one. Even if it's been a little expensive!

I've been able to do some awesome stuff to and getting down with the Thais and Laos and Malaysians and Singaporians and Cambodians has been well worth it. Each country is, well as they'd say out here, Same Same, but different. The Cambodians have an overwhelming friendliness and optimisim considering their past; Malaysians meanwhile are so honest it puts the rest to shame. And the Thais, well the Thais are always laughing at something, and that's enough to put a smile on your face.

So I'll be sad to leave, but there's loads to do back in Blighty, namely queueing for petrol it seems.

This then is the last "dispatch". Thanks for all the emails from everyone, and I hope you've enjoyed it as a brief distraction from Sudoku. Ta ta!

: 14 Sep 2005 12:07 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Cambodia

Well here I am in the fifth and final country of this jaunt round South East Asia, and quite frankly I can't think of a better place to end on: Cambodia has grabbed me and shook me like no other place, and I've fallen for it, completely and utterly.

I'll be blunt: you really must come here.

We (the four remaining: Claire, Karen, Ewan and myself) pitched up in Siem Reap, in the north of the country at 3am. An unpleasant hour, made worse by the fact that from the Thai border, just 150km away, it had taken us 10 hours to reach our destination.

This is definitely not like travelling in Thailand. Our small poxy bus with broken windows pitched up 3 hours late and hobbled for 3 hours over the worst roads I have seen in Asia – muddy and riddled with potholes. Either side of us stretched miles of untamed grass and rice plants; looking at them I couldnt help but wonder if they were riddled with landmines, a serious problem in the Cambodian countryside. Then at 8pm, some important stick between the 2 front wheels broke in half and we grinded to a halt. Stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark, some people started to complain but the rest of us were in high spirits. Above us stretched a sky of the brightest stars, unpolluted by any light. We sat on the muddy road and chatted to Lee, a young Cambodian guy who was hoping to become a tour guide, but saving the enormous licence fee of US$1,000 was taking time.

The stick was taken 20km away to a nearby village and returned, welded together. We were off again, and as I said, it was the early hours before the hard road was replaced by a less hard bed.

The following day, we fought fatigue to head out to the main, nay the only reason to arrive in Siem Reap at 3 in the morning: the lost city – Angkor Wat, and the surrounding temples, famously one of the great man made wonders of the world.

And they are amazing. Hard to put into words in fact, so I wont waste your time. All I'll say is that one of the best things is that either through resistance or just lack of development, this ancient site has not yet become a DisneyLand Angkor. You dont get coralled into a tourist group and sent round a predetermind route. Instead you pay an entrance fee to the archeological park and then you're free to wander. Inside Angkor Wat itself, a 900 year old building, there are dozens of small passageways, nooks and crannies to explore. And you can do that without any sign saying "staff only" or "do not enter". I felt like a right Indiana Jones!

Elsewhere in Siem Reap we found great food for thought (and some alright food for the stomach too). On Saturday night we went to a concert held by an enigmatic Doctor/celloist called Beat Richner. This Swiss guy has spent the last 3 decades working in the country, even when it was at its worst, opening Children's hospitals that provide free healthcare. To raise money, he performs with his cello every week and in a bizarre mix of Bach and videos showing the treatment of sick children, he asks old tourists for cash and young travellers for blood. The healthcare system is in such dire need and suffering from corruption as well as international ignorance, you can't help but feel the need to help. The next morning I went to the hospital and parted with some of the red stuff, and felt all the better for it.

We also visited the Landmine Museum, also opened by a brave man who spends his days clearing the country of the last of its mines. There seems to be a no-bullshit approach to museums around here: they don't tell you the awful affect of landmines on people, you can see it for yourself in the disabled children, some as young as 7 or 8 walking around the museum and talking to you. We were shown round by a 19 year old guy called Hak who lost his right leg and his 2 siblings when he trod on a landmine. What makes me angry is that even today, over a dozen countries still produce these pathetic excuses for weapons. The USA has a stockpile of over 10 million.

So it's been quite a rollercoaster week so far and a week that has made we really want to a) return and b) do more to help this country. It's been 30 years since the darkest days under Pal Pot and the Khmer Rouge – 2million people died, and yet just 10 years after peace was restored people are moving on. The friendliness, dignity and optimism of all the people we've met is overwhelming considering their lives so far.

We're in the capital Phnom Penh which I'll talk about soon, but until then, come to Cambodia - you really should!

: 05 Sep 2005 16:27 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Life in Laos

Sabadai! In keeping with the usual theme that's Laos(-ian?/ish?/adian? Ah, who knows..) for howdy.

I've spent the last week in this funny little country that I had no intention of visiting well, until a week ago. Claire and Rob were heading to the islands on the West and I kind of fancied some time on my own, as I've been in constant (albeit pleasant) company for 2 months now, and a guy needs a bit of alone time!

I got an overnight bus from Bangkok which dumped me unceremoniosly at the Laos border at 6am. Much to my shame, it was only now, on seeing the huge red flags with their hammer and sickle embossing that I realised I was entering a communist state. Cheers for telling me that one, Lonely Planet. Still, for a student doing some kind of reputable degree at some kind of reputable university, I'm sure I should have known that.

Anyhoo, after some commie style bureaucracy and passing of US dollars (yes they take US dollars round here!) I was herded onto a bus and taken to the heart of the Laos capital, Vientiene. I can honestly say that this is the strangest capital "city" I've ever been to. Stranger even than Ouagadougo (strange for the name!). Basically, it's tiny. Really tiny. Warwick friends, think Stoneleigh. Family members think Minster Lovell. Everyone else, think of somewhere small.

You can walk the entirity of the city in about 2 hours, and the traffic is so light you almost forget to check both ways before crossing the road.

It's a nice little place for chilling out though, and I spent a relaxing few days wandering around the dusty roads, watching the sunset over the Mekong River and eating delicious and disgustingly cheap French cuisine (I'll always love ex–French colonies for this reason alone!). I've also been sampling heavily what is possibly the finest thing to come out of Laos: Beer Lao: hands down the best beer in Asia.

After a few days of this, I got on a bus for an even stranger place known as Vang Vieng about 150km north of Vientiene. To get there, I was finally given the chance to not be a tacky tourist and get the bus that everyone else gets. It was packed full of normal Laos(–ians?), and blared out Thai kareoke VCDs at full volume. And it didn't leave until the driver decided it was full enough (people were nearly falling out of the windows). Still a great experience, and best of all, not another backpacker in sight!

We passed dozens of tiny villages and paddy fields along the way, and suddenly the bus stopped by one of them. The driver motioned that it was my stop although it didnt look anything like a popular tourist spot. The bus pulled away showering me in dust in the midday heat. Once again I'd landed myself in the middle of nowhere. Nice one Adam.

I wandered over what seemed to be a disused runway, and still nothing resembling a town could be seen. I followed a few paths and the odd sign for guesthouses, and suddenly as if from nowhere a bustling street appeared in front of me. Walking down this street was bizarre to say the least – it is lined with bars and restaurants all playing Friends on a loop, very loud. From being into the middle of nowhere, to sitting down and watching "the one where no–one proposes" was just too funny. OK, you had to be there.

Vang Vieng lives in the shadow of a huge limestone escarpment just across the river, that rises hundreds of feet into the air, and is covered in greenery. Waking up and seeing this in front of you in the morning was awesome. Besides chilling, watching more Friends and drinking Beer Lao, the thing to do in Vang Vieng is go tubing down the Nam Xong river. Basically you're thrown into the inner tube of a big tyre and sent down the river. Nice. It was fun in 2 respects: first the views were simply stunning as you floated right beneath the huge rocks rising out of the ground. Second the river is lined with bars. Selling Beer Lao. Yay!

You shout "Beer Lao very loud and someone pulls you into the river bank where you're offered a seat and a cold beer.

Now I don't know how they did it, but the people of Vang Vieng somehow looked up what backpackers like most: adventure sport, beer and US TV comedies and somehow combined them all into this bizarre town next to a deserted airstrip. Will I ever go anywhere stranger? Who knows?

Well, I'm back in Vientiene now, still as sleepy as ever. Tomorrow I leave once again for the craziness of Bangkok, and after that Cambodia beckons! Despite my short stay here, I think Laos has left its mark on me.

Or at least its beer has.

: 29 Aug 2005 11:31 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Life's a beach

Hello all - another (sand covered) dispatch from Thailand here. In fact it's probably fair to point out that "dispatches from the colonies" is a misleading title for my visit to Thailand, as the country was never colonised before it forged its modern state and Thailand literally means "land of the free". Ironically after it took this name it was briefly occupied by the Japanese in WW2 but hey, who's counting?

The last week and a bit have been spent island hopping and lounging around on beaches. Yes, it's a tough life. Travelling from Chiang Mai with Rob, Elliot and Claire, our first stop was a beach on the popular island of Ko Samui. We stayed in cheap as chips A-frame huts on the beach, but I'll be honest: I wasn't particularly impressed with the island. It's forsaken it's natural and cheap image in favour of glitz, glamour and expensive resorts. It's a honeymoon island nowadays, and a stroll through town at night is like walking through a mini Vegas: long streets of flashing neon lights and pounding music. It seems 90% of all establishments on Ko Samui are bars, all lined up next to each other, the result being that none of them ever get more than 3 customers a night.

We found a way around this dolled up night life though – a bottle of Sansomg (cheap Thai rum), a bottle of coke, a bag of ice and some plastic cups = a cheap and cheerful night on the beach away from the pole dancers.

Needless to say we didn't stay long. We headed across the water to the smaller and still relatively under developed Koh Pha-Ngan, or effectively Khoa San road island style. Herded with hundreds of other backpackers onto a boat showing Nicholas Cage movies, I havent felt like this much of a tourist, well, since Bangkok I guess. Oh well, such is the nature of the Thai tourism industry and when in Rome…

The week that followed has been brilliant though. The plan (which has been in formation since last year) was for the four of us to be joined by 4 more mates: Ewan and Karen (his-pol) travelling up from Singapore, and Ally (history) and her friend from home, Laura. We rented 3 bungalow type constructions next to each other with a balcony over the beach and a hammock to laze in. The beach on the north west of the island – Hat Yao – was a perfect choice and well done to Ewan for the recommendation. It's a quiet strip of perfect white sand – more developed than the Perhentians were, but not exasperatingly so like Samui.

Seven days were then effectively executed in the laziest style possible. We meanered over to a cafe around 10ish for breakfast which we managed to stretch out to between 1 and 2 hours. The hottest hours of the day were spent lying in hammocks reading and discussing politics(*), before hitting the beach around 3.30. A sunbathe and a swim in the crystal clear and bath warm water followed. This strenuous activity had to be rewarded of course, and as the sun set reliably at 6pm we all settled down on the beach with a cold beer. Can't beat it really!

The most strenous activity of the last 10 days though has been the world famous Full Moon Party – the world's largest beach party, and a thief's paradise. Picture the scene: a perfectly healthy strip of beach descended upon every 28 days like Manchester city centre on a friday night, by Brits and other Europeans on a mission to get drunk and get laid. It's famously known as apocalypse now without the napalm but with the monthly damage to the environment it may as well be naped every month.

The drink du jure is a Sangsom bucket - 2quid gets you a 1/3 of a litre of rum plus a can of coke and a bottle of redbull all mixed in with a load of ice. Understandably Brits with too much money have more than their fair share of these and by midnight probably need hospitalisation but collapse on the sand instead. The mushroom heads (yes people still do drugs out here despite the strict laws) peak at around 3am and the pill heads are still dancing at 8am as the trance music pounds over the sand. By sunrise I was surrounded by some sorry cases (although not anyone I know thankfully). There was one guy who'd been robbed, and one particularly tragic case on the verge of tears who'd spent all his money on booze having forgot that he needed to pay for a boat to get back to Ko Samui where all his stuff is. We'll never know if he ever made it.

One overweight guy also decided to celebrate dawn by stripping naked, much to the mocking jubilation of the rest of us. However that was one more naked fat man than I wanted to see that night so at 7am I decided it was time to head home.

As you may have guessed I'm not the biggest fan of the party unlike most people who will go and tell you it's "the greatest thing ever". I'm glad I experienced it, but I just feel that, like many other places in Thailand, 10 or 20 years ago it was once a great and new thing – who doesnt like a beach party after all? – but over the years its become so commercialised and tourist-ised that its lost its vibe. Any muppet with a passport can make it to Koh Pha-Ngan nowadays, and they come to the party expecting to get drunk and expecting to get an easy lay because that's what everyone has told them happens. The result is a very sinister atmosphere, and the girls were approached several times by quite aggressive men expecting their share of the experience.

It seems though to be the way Thailand is heading – it still has it's reputation as the ultimate backpacking place, and a place to "travel" and "see the world" but trust me, this isn't travelling by any means and you might as well save the air fare and go out in Milton Keynes.

Ooh that all got a bit negative and cynical there. Thailand is still a gorgeous and overwhelmingly friendly country, and I'll no doubt regale that when I leave. But for now, I've decided to leave for something much different. The 8 of us have gone our separate ways, and tonight I'm heading over to Laos for a few days. Not on the original itinerary I know, but everyone's raving about it, so I figured I'd go check it out.

I'll let you know.

Hope you're all well!
Adx

(*) Ok, not really…what do you think I am, an intellectual?!

: 23 Aug 2005 14:10 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Hello Chiang Mai!

Sawat-dii-khrap!

That's Thai for hello, and just one of a whole bunch of Thai words and phrases that sound rude. Well, I'm about half way through the whole trip at the moment, and the last time I left you, I was in Georgetown, Malaysia, in a bit of uncertainty.

In the end, Claire did decide to head on back to the islands for a 4 day PADI scuba course, and so we went our separate ways as I got an Air Asia flight to Bangkok. If you're in this neck of the woods, I highly recommend Air Asia – it's a bit of a sardine can plane, packed to the brim, but you can book just a few hours before the flight and check in was the easiest I've ever done.

By 2pm I was in Thailand's capital, which is, quite simply, a human Stir Fry of chaotic roads, big dirty buses and taxis, messy streets, neon lights, all sizzling away under the impossible sun. I wasn't looking forward to getting around, but luckily the tourist dollar has made its impact around here, and an airport shuttle bus took me and several other pasty backpackers straight to the Kho San Road – the traveller's international capital and a parody of itself.

I met up with Rob and Elliot and after a quick day in the city, we headed off (Elliot popped off to Laos, as you do, while Rob and I headed for trip to Kanchanaburi, 3 hours north of Bangkok). If you've never heard of Kanchanaburi, you may know it as the site of the bridge over the River Kwai, and home to an awful POW camp in WWII. The bridge is still in use along the morbidly named Death Railway, and there's also a cemetry for the 16,000 British, Dutch, American and Australian soldiers who died making the railway.

We stayed on a floating hostel on the river, which sounds cool, but the novelty wears off as the 20th floating kareoke barge, packed with Japanese tourists, glides past, blasting out cheap kareoke!

The next evening we boarded a V.I.P. bus to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. Before you accuse me of ditching my shoestring style of travel, I should point out that the 12 hour trip cost me 200 Baht (roughly 2.80p) and despite the name, had nothing VIP about it. It had Hello Chiang Mai scrawled on the side, but there was no leg room and the air con kept breaking – in short, a shocking journey!

Chiang Mai though is a very cool city – it's quite small, but very relaxed, and is full of leafy lanes lined with bookshops and cafes. We spent 3 dirty but great days on a hill trek into the mountains north of Chiang Mai. The first day was pretty hardcore with 4 hours trekking uphill in the afternoon heat. We arrived dripping with sweat at a small rural vllage where we spent the evening in the company of our guide and a village family. The next day we trekked downhill and had lunch by a very refreshing waterfall, and the third day saw us riding elephants and white water rafting – we got soaked, but it washed out the elephant snot from our shirts so we didn't complain!

Back in Chiang Mai, we were rejoined by Elliot and Claire, and yesterday we did an awesome Thai cookery course, and I cooked and ate no less than 7 meals, from Thai Green Curry, to Tom Yam soup, to Mango and sticky rice…gorgeous! The food out here is quite simply superb, and when you can get a hearty plate of fried noodles and prawns for the equivalent of 50pence its easy to explain why I eat so much out here! Still not putting on any weight though!

Well, tonight it's time to say 'Goodbye Chiang Mai' – Elliot and I are getting another "VIP" bus back to Bangkok, and spending (hopefully) a luxurious day in the company of David, a politics student at Warwick who has netted himself an amazing apartment in the city for the summer. Saturday night (Which is Rob's 21st birthday by the way) we're getting a train down south…yes, it's time to hit some more islands!

Don't forget you can see a few of the early pictures by clicking on Claire's Photo Gallery on the left, and send me more emails! I love 'em!

Till next time

Adx

: 12 Aug 2005 08:21 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Island paradise

Hey everyone, sorry it's been long time no contact.

We've been all over the place since I last wrote, so there's much to catch up on, and tonight is my last night in Malaysia so I'd better get it all in now!

We left K-L on Sunday lunchtime, after Claire was starting to feel a little better. Our next destination was the perfect restbite after the chaos of the capital: The Cameron Highlands, set 1,600 metres above sea level, is a mountainous region in the centre of the country, where, due to it's height, the temperature remains firmly between 18–23 celcius. After 5 days in smoggy sweaty 34 celcius K-L, this place was heaven!

We splurged a little on a nice room, to help Claire get better: attached bathroom (woo!) a carpet (double woo!) and a TV with cable (triple woo!). Unfortunately the TV was controlled by the manager so it flicked between BBC World and movie channels at the most inappropiate moments.

The Highlands themselves have colonisation written all over them. They were discovered and named by a British surveyor, and since then the region specialises in Tea plantations, strawberry farms and garden centres (grandma, grandad, nana and grandpa- you'd love it!). We went on a tour of the area and visited more garden centres than I care to remember.

The following Wednesday (I think!) we got on a night bus to Kota Baharu on the north east coast, hoping it would save us paying for accomodation. That it did, but the sacrafice was sleep. We were unceremoniously dumped at the side of a road in Kota Baharu at 5.15 am and a great haggling battle ensued with several taxi drivers to get a good price to our next stop.

We arrived by (cheaper) taxi to Kuala Besuh in the early hours of the morning, a sleepy fishing village, which is invaded by backpackers at 6am, 12pm and 5pm everyday, as this is when the speed boats leave for Malaysia's pride and joys: The Perhentian Islands. 2 perfect islands, full of all those cliches you only ever see on holiday programmes: white sand, deep turquoise seas, swaying palms, falling coconuts..this place has it all. We got dropped off on the smaller and cheaper island and had a job finding anywhere cheap to stay. We found the cheapest option at RM20 a night, but this was essentially a shed, which we shared quite generously with many insects and 3 different species of Ghecko.

The highlight came on Friday when we, our 2 Slovenian friends, a Kiwi, an Aussie and another Brit hired a boat for a snorkelling trip. Our guide, a smooth mover called Pirate Mat (or indeed, the Panther, after his attempts on Claire!) took us to several spots, and we saw some incredible things. A huge turtle that came up to the surface to breathe and dived back down with us in tow; Clownfish (as in Finding Nemo) hidden in their anaenomies, which could be teased out by waving your fingers at them; and we also saw at least 7 Black tipped reef sharks swimming just a few metres below us. We were assured by Pirate Mat that they were harmless, and luckily he was right.

The rest of the time we spent lounging on the perfect sand, and drinking several Snickers milkshakes, a fantastic invention which I can't believe I had to come all the way out here to discover. We've met loads of cool people on the island as well, and so it was really hard to leave, but with a flight to catch we had no choice.

For Claire though, leaving was too much, and she's thinking of returning to the island tonight for another week to do a Scuba course. Not my sort of thing though so I'm going to head on up into Thailand as planned. We're both currently on another island this time on the west coast – the first British colony in Asia apparently: Georgetown on Penang island. It's a nice old colonial town and we're staying in a cool hostel just off the edge of Chinatown. We've met a British couple our age who are both at Exeter Uni and so we've been hanging out with them today. We spent the day at a HUGE buddhist temple on top of a hill over looking Georgetown – a very relaxing place, with incense drifting through the air, perfect for personal reflection and mushy stuff like that.

So tonight is my last night in Malaysia – its been great fun and a very relaxed and friendly country that has been surprisingly easy to get around. I recommend it to anyone, especially for those beach lovers out there – you know who you are! Wednesday lunctime and I (and maybe Claire..she still hasn't decided!) will be in Bangkok – a city that quite frankly scares the hell out of me. But we've got several friends waiting for us there: Rob, Eliott and Ewan,with Ally flying out on Thursday – it should be a great laugh when we're all together.

So until then, keep safe, and keep in touch!

Love
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: 02 Aug 2005 10:10 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Hanging out in Kuala Lumpur with Slovenians

Now if I had to list 100 things that I thought might happen on this trip of ours, seeing the sights of one of Asia's leading metropolise in the company of 2 Slovenians would have come in very very far down the list.

But backpacking is funny like that.

We met them on the bus from Mersing (on the east coast) to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and it seems we've been leading parallel lives. They're called Katarina and Haris, and they arrived into Singapore on the same day as us, headed to Pulau Tioman when we did and were staying in the same resort as us as well. And they're future plans for Malaysia are bizarrely similar. So we got chatting on the 6 hour journey, on a coach that could have gone faster in reverse, and decided to check into the same hostel and 'do' KL together.

Which was a godsend really, because on Wednesday night Claire came down was a nasty bout of food poisoning. She's been bedridden for 3 days with all sorts of ailments, which has meant she's missed most of the city.

Haris and Kat have been brilliant – very kind and generous and good humoured: they let Claire sleep in their air conditioned room (while I've been relegated to a hot, airless box with a crappy fan!) and have kept me company while Claire sleeps off the bug.

On Wednesday night we took a stroll through KL's bustling Chinatown – it consists of a long covered road with 2 lanes and stalls selling everything from "genuine" Levis jeans to "authentic" watches. I bought a pair of Oakley's sunglasses for the equivalent of 2.00 and The War of the Worlds DVD with mispellings on the cover. You'll be happy to hear that my "genuine" Oakley's snapped in half this morning. Oh well, you get what you pay for!

Entrapment

Friday morning saw Haris, Kat and myself up at an ungodly hour (6am) to get onto the skybridge at Petronas Towers for a great view over the city. Completed in 1998 they claim to be the tallest buildings in the world and we (OK, I) know them best for their appearance in the film Entrapment. They give out 800 free tickets everyday on a first come first served basis, and we'd been warned that people start queuing very early. So we rushed to the ticket booth, only to be the 2nd group of people there at 7am. 2 hours later we had our few minutes on the bridge, and it was a beautiful clear morning with exceptional views over the city.

But KL is a very hot, smoggy and dirty place that probably plays havoc with all asmatics – its very intense, and a few days is all we really wanted here. But Claire is still feeling no better, so we headed to a hospital down the road this morning and she was given a ton of drugs to flush her system. Hopefully we'll be moving on tomorrow – Haris and Kat have left for the peaceful Cameron Highlands and we hope to follow them soon. In the meantime its a bit frustrating sitting with nowhere to go!

It's also been very strange being out here when so much is going on back in London. I'm heading out now to get myself an "authentic" radio in Chinatown for some World Service lovin', but I'm half expecting it to work as long as my Oakley's did.

We'll report in soon no doubt - hope you are all safe and well!

Till next time!
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: 23 Jul 2005 09:10 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Coast to coast

Selemat Datang everybody!

That's Bahase (the official Malaysian language) for welcome. But don't think I'm clever or anything, it's 1 of 2 words I've learned so far.

Sorry it's been a while since I've been in touch but I did mention we were heading for some isolated islands for a few days…but first we got a bit sidetracked…

You might remember (or have just scrolled down to see) that the last time I wrote, we were about to catch a bus to a place called Mersing on the east coast of the peninsula, to catch a boat to an island called Pulau Tioman.

Well, we overslept and missed the bus.

So, in one of those spur of the moment things, we decided we'd head to the old town of Melaka instead for a couple of days and then go to the island. So, instead of heading east, we soon found ourselves on the west cost of the peninsula.

The historians among you might know Melaka (or Melacca) as one of the major trading posts of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Dutch, Portuguese and British have occupied the town since 1511. Unfortunately all that really remains is an old (but newly renovated) Dutch fort called Stadthuys: a dull museum that we managed in an afternoon. Outside of that, we stayed in a lovely hostel, and ate at an Indian place where the food was served on a palm leave.

After a few days we made straight for Mersing as originally intended (this was last saturday) and by the evening, we were relaxing in a chalet beside a gorgeous tropical bay: white sands, calm turquoise seas, and a generally very chilled atmosphere. Now something similar in say the Maldives would probably set you back hundreds of quid, but on this undiscovered idyll, we were paying about 1.80 each a night for the chalet.

We trekked across the island through dense jungle to an even more deserted beach and generally spent 4 days snorkelling (amazing fish and coral) eating (great seafood barbeques) chilling (hammocks. enough said) and congratulating ourselves for finding somewhere so dirt cheap.

There were probably 2 dozen other visitors on our stretch of beach and everyone (tourists and islanders alike) were all amazingly friendly. We'd got settled after the 4th night and so it was quite hard to leave. But we got ourselves up at 8am this (wednesday) morning and a 2 hour boat trip and a 6 hour bus trip later we've found ourselves in Kuala Lumpur!

...but there I'm going to keep you waiting! Keep emails winging my way - I'm trying to reply to them all, and Claire's photos from the last week should be online very soon!

*Until next time kids,*

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: 20 Jul 2005 15:43 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Slingin' in Singapore

Days 1 – 3

So yes, as I mentioned we're here, in the cleanest city in the world: Singapore. This place is superb - everything runs smoothly, no-one litters (you get fined $1000) or deals drugs (you get hanged); in fact there's little you can do in the nanniest of nanny states. I like it though.

But first a little about how we got here.

The flights were cheap – for a reason. Gulf Air is pretty budget, and the electrics on the plane kept failing (not in mid air, luckily), the air con didnt work when we were on the ground (London was 27 celcius on monday) and the hostesses were pretty rude.

The food was good though. The first leg went pretty well, apart from a minor scare at the airport where we werent sure if we'd be let into Singapore because of immigration laws. The plane took off an hour late though, which left us just 10 minutes to check out and back in at Bahrain International Airport.

Interestingly, we only realised that Bahrain was not the capital of the United Arab Emirates, but a country…and also an island, just 5 minutes before touching down – how else does that ever happen?

After literally spending 15 minutes on Bahrainian soil we were off again and touched down at 9,30 am local time in Singapore. The airport is the best in the world and we almost didn't leave, but well, 8 weeks in airport might get a bit tiresome.

We're going budget on this trip, which is quite hard in Singapore. However we've showed Lonely Planet who's boss, by finding a hostel just down the road from the Raffles Hotel which is at least $5 singaporian dollars cheaper than anywhere else mentioned in the book. It's called the Ah-Chew Hostel, and it's right above a Hawker Centre, where greasy (but ooh so tasty) street food is sold 24 hours a day. Sneezing puns aside this place is nothing to turn your nose up at – the rooms are quite nice and clean, although the squatting toilets aren't so fun. We've also spotted Gheckos and rats in the showers, which at least means we can skip the Singapore Zoo.

So fighting exhaustion as best we know how, we've been wandering around all parts of this brilliant city. It's divided into racial quarters – a recommendation from Singapore legend Stamford Raffles. There's the Arab Quarter, and China Town, the financial district and the Colonial Disctrict. Today we've wondered through China Town and last night we saw some brilliant mosques in the Arab part.

However there is only 1 thing to do in this place and that is shop. There are about 6 huge shopping malls and we've done our best to go to about 4. There are bizarrely more Marks and Spencers here than in London but the Great Singapore Sale is on and we got some good prices for stuff.

There are some great things to be said about this place. It's vibrant and despite the over nannying state stuff gets done and the city is constantly rebuilding itself. As a result, everything looks new. The MTS subway network puts London to shame and the skyscrapers do the same for New York. The buses are cheap and quick and even have LCD TV screens in them. You might run the risk of doing a mischief eating street food, but not round here. The government ensures all street vendors maintain excellent hygiene. Which is great as we've been able to eat for less than a quid and not shit to high heaven afterwards.

Which is good considering those squatting toilets.

We're thinking of being a bit crazy though and moving onwards ahead of schedule. The problem with this place is its easy to spend money and we're over budget already. Next stop is the tropical island of Pulau Tioman on the south eastern coast of Malaysia. We're hoping to chill out with some coconuts for a long weekend, so I'll return with more after that.

Until then keep any emails coming in - I'm doing my best to reply to the ones I've already received. And visit Singapore - you may indeed find me living here one day.

Until next week, me love you long time!

P.S. And yes, we did get a Singapore Slinger at the Long Bar in Raffles. Full of businessmen and the rumours about the floor being littered with peanut shells are true! Pictures are hopefully going online soon – click on "Claire's Photo Gallery" in the left hand column to see them!

: 13 Jul 2005 16:52 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

We've arrived!

Day 2 9:51am

We've arrived in Singapore safely – still in the airport as its got free internet and nice shops. Promise we'll go into the city soon!

Been a long day – almost 24hours with little sleep so once we've got our stuff we're going to crash in a hostel for a few hours.

That's all I've got time for right now…more soon!

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: 12 Jul 2005 03:04 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem