With all that behind me I thought I'd better stay a few days in Singapore to see the sights. A gentle introduction into Asia. Many Chinese temples, Hindu shrines and mosques. An interesting place, even an area of primary rain forest surrounded by the city. One of two places on earth where this occurs, the other is in Brazil. It rained quite a lot too. It was the rainy season.
With trepidation, I set off on the bus from Singapore to Melaka in Malaysia. With memories of entering Singapore still fresh in my memory, to say I was a little nervous crossing into Malaysia would have been an understatement. Again still not satisfying entry requirements with that
pesky onward flight, but this time no problem. When traveling overland all the checks are not made.
Melaka was a really nice town. A relaxed and chilled out atmosphere prevailed. It is steeped in European history with the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British all having ruled here.
Some trivia: A scene from the film Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones was filmed on the river in Melaka.
Malaysia, I discovered, is a multicultural society, on one street in Melaka there is a Buddhist Temple, a Hindu temple and a Mosque. The street is nick named 'Harmony Street'. They must be more tolerant than me, I wasn't amused at being awoken at 5am with the call to prayer from the mosque next door to my hostel. The country takes pride in religious tolerance and ensures integration of the people by pursuing a 3 month national service for all 18 year olds. Military training takes only a small proportion of the time. The emphasis is on team based activities of mixed groups of Chinese, Indian and Malay to forge friendship between the religions. Malaysia isn't without problems but surely this would be an excellent path for Britain to follow.
Kuala Lumpur (KL) was the next stop up the peninsular. A city of contrasts, a city dominated by the Twin Petronas Towers. These are an incredible sight. Clad with stainless steel and glass and at night illuminated, they look like something out of a science fiction movie. The light radiates from them lighting up the sky. One night, just a little lost, walking along an unlit street with old wooden houses all around, the towers can be seen beyond. Walking down a street, crumbling two story 19th century Chinese town houses either side, the cities super modern mono rail flashes by high above the street. KL is a super modern city with towering building, huge shopping malls and again a booming economy (for how long....) but there is a an obvious gap between the rich and the poor.
Christmas day was spent in KL. Noodle soup and Tiger beer for Christmas dinner. Later in a local bar not far from where I was staying in Chow Kit, we had the pleasure of drinking with Malaysian guitar legend Osman Ghani. Long after the bar was closed we were still drinking and listening to his music sitting at the tables outside. Even the local vagrants stopped to see what was going on before carrying on there way, going though the rubbish bins for their late night snack.
The Cameron highlands were a welcome relief to the extreme heat and humidity of KL. Reached by a treacherous winding jungle road the high plateau of the Cameron highlands is home to tea plantation, fruit and veg growers and of course the the tourist resorts. Cream tea anyone, roaring log fire and tartan table cloths in the restaurant. All very strange in Asia. A popular area for hiking, through the jungle to the surrounding peaks. The area is unmapped and armed only with a 'not to scale' tourist map with corrections by the hostel owner, I was just a little apprehensive about going hiking. But I'm here to tell the tale so I must have done OK. Many people go missing, sometimes days before they are found. Bangkok based entrepreneur and silk tycoon, Jim Thomson, was never seen again after a pre-dinner stroll through the jungle there.
New Year was spent in Georgetown, Penang. An island of the west coast of Malaysia. An almost sober New Year's eve as well, you'd never believe it. Big open air concert with fire works but as this is a Muslim county no alcohol for sale at the concert. Georgetown had a seedy port town feel to it, hookers on the street and washed up characters in the bars. Again a big British influence here with some impressive colonial buildings. I even found a 'Downing Street' there.
Another border crossing, this time into Thailand. No problems here. First stop Hat Yai, described in Lonely Planet as 'a dodgy town'. Oh yeah, British foreign office advice for this area is essential travel only. It was essential that I made it to Thailand as far as I was concerned. The word on the street was that overland travel between Malaysia and Thailand was pretty safe now, but there have been bombs going off in this area in the past. British foreign office is quite alarmist in their advice on travel. Better taken with a pinch of salt I have found.
For the first time in my trip, I had no plans for the weeks leading up to my friends arrival in Bangkok at the end of January. This was a refreshing feeling, I think a refreshing time was also needed after traveling all this time. Traveling alone can become tiring at times, always making the effort, always having to think where next. Just to put the feet up now and again is nice. Traveling, with a girl I met on the bus to Georgetown, I found myself at Hat Ton Sai.
A beach, only accessible by boat, near Krabi town. Surrounded by towering limestone cliffs and palm trees along the beach front. It had an island feel about it. The peace only shattered by the constant drone of the 'long tail' boats. It's a mecca for rock climbers there and it was no surprise I found myself on a 3 day intensive rock climbing course.
Pretty full on but no way near as full on as the crazy dudes that base jumped from the top of the cliffs each day. Many lazy days on the beach, some boozy times, met a couple of people from my 1st trip to New Zealand. A definite paradise, spent almost two weeks there. Get there fast though, the bamboo bungalows are cheap just now but the developers will move in fast, I'm sure.
Island hopping to Ko Lanta and then to Ko Phi Phi. Almost fully rebuilt after the Tsunami of 2004, Ko Phi Phi Don is a beautiful Island, and fun at night. We take an early morning boat to Ko Phi Phi Leh and Maya Beach, where scenes from The Beach are shot. Snorkeling in the crystal clear water a remarkable thing happened. I was surrounded by a school of fish that circled round me just at arms length. Thousands of fish everywhere I looked.
And so to the final leg of this part of my journey. I'd taken the bus all the way from Singapore to Krabi town. I needed to travel by train again. The train to Bangkok. This was an important part of my travels. So I was 'on the train to Bangkok aboard the Thailand express'.... I listened to these lyrics, by Canadian rock group Rush, when I was a teenager. It was never in my wildest dreams that I would actually be on the Thailand express one day!! Thailand was a far off mysterious land. I took great pleasure listening to the song on the train.
Bangkok is a city I've heard so much about from people I have met on my travels. I hoped I would not be disappointed.
