Oh Australia! How long I had waited for the day I would grace your fair plains! And I did have to wait a long time- it took me 23 hours to get to Sydney, door-to-door, from the Gili islands. I had a boat ride, a bus ride, a plane ride, a long layover, another (long) plane ride and two train rides. Dang. I was therefore absolutely WIPED when I finally got to my hostel in the Kings Cross area of Sydney on the morning of November 14, and slept until the mid-afternoon!
Once up, I decided I'd better go and see what all the fuss is about so I set out for a long walk to the Royal Botanic gardens (the first of many I would see down under. It used to be forts, now it's gardens) and through to Bennalong point to see the Sydney Opera House and the harbor bridge. Well folks, it is fantastic. It was a beautiful day and the water glittered around the harbor. I had a lovely mosey around, stopped to listen to some live music, then walked to the opposite side to visit the area known as The Rocks. This is where the city of Sydney began when European settlers claimed the land in 1788. Lots of little windy streets and boutique-y shops- lovely place to wander around, after which I walked all the way back the way I came to the hostel aaaand passed out!
The next day was poury rainy so I hid out in an Internet cafe for most of the day. Nothing interesting to report UNTIL...I decided the time had come to start celebrating the best day of the year: MY BIRTHDAY! I managed to corral a guy staying at my hostel to join me for a pre-birthday tipple...just the beginning of what would be a very LONG birthday celebration, given the MASSIVE time difference to the States- 16 hours to the East Coast and 19 to the West!
The next morning I woke up to phone calls and messages from friends and family wishing me a happy Australian birthday. I took myself out for a PROPER brunch after that- I was not doing peanut butter and apples for my 27th! At the restaurant, I opened a few cards and things that my dad had brought to me in Singapore, leading the waiter to inquire about the occasion. I told him, and at the end of my meal I was presented with a little heart-shaped cookie and a candle! I was SO touched by this, especially as it was the only candle I would blow out that day. Whoever you were, waiter in Sydney, THANK YOU.
Once fed and watered, I had a little think: What's the best way for a poor backpacker to spend her birthday on her own? Why, spending money she doesn't have of course! Armed with my credit card, I set off. Though I felt a bit of a traitor to all that comes with backpacking, I decided I couldn't take ONE MORE MINUTE without a pair of high heels. So, yes folks, I bought a pair and...aaaah! It was like putting on a comfy pair of woolly slippers! They were a good buy though, because it meant I was ready for my birthday date...with someone who's already been made famous by this here little blog of mine.
Perhaps you recall a tale from many moons ago in Croatia about a slightly awkward Italian man, an extremely premature proposal of marriage (or something) and a daring rescue by a brave young Australian? Well, you guessed it, I had a birthday date with Fabrizio!
Ha! Only joking! My dinner date was with my Australian savior, Kyle. It was EXCELLENT to see him again and swap travel stories. Afterwards, the icing on the cake was a drink with my friend Kate (a high school pal who now lives in Oz) and her boyfriend Paul. I hadn't seen Kate in, oh, five or six years, so it was a real treat to catch up with her as well.
The next day I packed up and faffed around, getting ready for my overnight bus to Byron Bay. I had another fantastic treat before I set off though- Kate's mom and sister were visiting from our hometown in Connecticut and I got a delicious home cooked meal and we had a lovely time catching up before I hopped on the Greyhound bus. Where I found cockroaches. What is this folks? India?
I arrived in Byron Bay- famous for its laid-back vibe, beautiful beaches and excellent surf- at about 11am the following day. As you may have gathered from past updates, the overnight buses are killer- for me at least- and I was wiped so I hopped straight into my bunk. In the early afternoon I joined a Canadian from my dorm room for a walk to the supermarket. I didn't feel quite satisfied with this being my only activity of the day, however, so I decided to go to a yoga class- Bikram, which I've never tried. It was, um, hot. I know lots of girls like to say that we don't sweat, we glow, but sorry folks, I sweat like it's my J-O-B and let's just say I don't think I'll be doing hot yoga again anytime soon...
Still, I felt accomplished and once back at the hostel had a nice evening chatting with folks and watching Office Space which, horror of horrors, some of the little kids (the 1988ers and so on) had never seen! It was therefore a pleasure to introduce them to this classical classic!
The following morning I was feeling unusually energetic, and though it was (surprise) raining, I decided to go on a 'run' along the beach to take in the lovely views. It didn't turn out to be much of a run in the end, because I stopped every few minutes to take photos, and climbed up to a lookout to watch the surfers. I was much engaged by their skills (ahem, sexy surfer bodies. What? Sorry?), and it was quite some time before I could tear myself away.
I spent the rest of the day Internetting and the like, and in the evening joined hostel friends for some 'goon' drinking (boxed wine- THE thing to do in Australia. Why? I don't know). We then went out for one of my favorite activities- KARAOKE! No doubt that my rendition of Pink's 'U + UR Hand', accompanied by new friend Laura, was one of the best that Byron Bay has ever seen. Fact.
The next morning it was off to Brisbane. It's only about two hours from Byron, so I was settled at my hostel by mid-afternoon. I went for a stroll around the city and along the river that runs through it- it's a fairly small city, manageable but there isn't TONS to see. Later that evening in the hostel I met Sara and Julia, from Holland and Germany respectively, and joined them for a trip to once of Brisbane's nightclubs, Victory. It was a good time with a live band playing Men at Work songs (yep), but it was jam-packed so we decided to head to a highly recommended bar called Down Under. (This amused me, as did restaurants in India with names like 'Taste of India'. You don't say.) It was good fun, and there were surprisingly quite a few Australians in this Australian-themed bar in Australia. Other than that, it was backpacker central, with many a drunken European stumbling about. We stuck it out for the free ladies drink at midnight, and got outta there.
The next morning I went on the walking tour of Brisbane as laid out by Lonely Planet. Awkward thing about this- one tends to keep running into other travelers doing the same thing. I think one Dutch couple thought I was following them and, well, they'd be right! I ended up at the Botanical Gardens where I people-watched for a bit and documented recent happenings in my journal. In the evening after some supper I rolled back to the hostel, where I met Shane and John from Idaho (awesome) who were in town for business. We had a lovely chat about the trials of spending time in Oz (um, there aren't any) and made a plan to have breakfast the following morning before they had to go to meetings and I had to bus up to Hervey Bay for my trip to Fraser Island, where part two of this tale begins...
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Indoblog*
After the wild party that was Singapore, I departed with Dan and Jen bound for Ubud in Bali, that most famous of Indonesian isles. We arrived in the late evening of November 5, and unfortunately I was a bit out of sorts for that night and most of next day, thanks to some serious Singapore-lag after all the revelry and some general freaking out about only having six weeks left of the trip. Dan and Jen were lucky enough to have to deal with my completely insane self, and for this I am both extremely grateful and very apologetic! I imagine they are now thoroughly sick of me gate-crashing their holidays, though I like to think of it as 'chaperoning'.
Anyway, once I was back to normal-ish and had relocated to my own room at the Ubud Sari Health Resort (oh yes dahling!), I joined the ever-fabulous Whites for dinner and we made a plan to do some sightseeing with a driver the next day. Wayan (as those who have read Eat, Pray, Love will know, there are only about four names for both men and women in Indonesia) picked us up in the mid-morning and we set off to see some of Ubud's incredible sights. Although I was a bit of a dummy and didn't write down the names of everything we saw, we visited a few temples and what's considered the most impressive ancient site in Bali, Gunung Kawi. We were having a lovely wander around when, suprise surprise, we got monsooned on! (Seriously folks, if it starts to rain when I'm around, blame me. I appear to have carted rubbish weather around the world with me). We figured it would pass in, oh, maybe ten minutes. Nope. An HOUR later we were still crammed into a sheltered pavilion with a number of local holy people, who had been praying at the shrines just as the rain hit. Wayan must have either thought we'd gotten lost, drowned or been converted to Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever! EVENTUALLY we made it back and the rain had stopped by the time we settled down for lunch overlooking beautiful terraced rice fields. It was breathtaking and romantic, and as we chowed down on classic Indonesian fare (satay and rice and pumpkin soup) I thought to myself, 'I REALLY cannot win! I end up in the most romantic places in the world either with my brother or alone, OR with a super-in-love, gorgeous couple like the Whites!' Sigh. My time will come, eh?
Later that afternoon we made more plans with Wayan for sightseeing the next day, and wrapped the day up with a dinner out followed by some hookah-smoking to cure my withdrawal! The following morning Wayan was there bright and early to pick us up and we set out to see some gorgeous lakes around which we planned to hike, but guess what? It started TIPPING down. (I'm sorry I'm sorry!) So, no hike. Instead we went to see the famous floating lake temple which was lovely, and followed that by another delicious lunch overlooking more stunning rice fields. To burn off our luncheon, we spent the remainder of the afternoon hiking through some MORE rice paddies, which was fabulous. Beautiful terraces of rice plants as far as the eye can see.
In the evening I did a little gift shopping (recipients of these gifts better freakin' love them, given that I've been carting them around for almost two months, AND we all know how rich I am. Just joking- I love buying pressies- really!) and then it was time for the FINAL DINNER with the Whites. I was very, very sad to say goodbye to them- as Dan pointed out we have now partied in FOUR countries! Quite a feat, methinks! Though I imagine they were glad to see the back of me, I want Dan and Jen to know what a FANTASTIC time I had with them and how lucky I feel to have them as friends. You guys rock- I will pop up again in your lives again as soon as I can! (Evil cackle)
The next morning I was up at an un-Godly hour to start my journey to the much-celebrated Gili islands. This little trio of tropical loveliness consists of Gili Meno, Gili Air and Gili Trawangan. The last, Gili T (as it's affectionately known), is the party island and my destination!
At 6:30am a lady called Ayu, through whom I had booked my journey, came to pick me up on her moped. I looked from her to the vehicle to my GIANT backpack in disbelief- how were all three of us (yes, the backpack is BASICALLY a living thing at this point!) going to get down the road to the bus on her little scooter? Ayu, however, is a pro at this- she clambered on, then I clambered on, backpack tightly strapped to me and me clinging to her, and we wobbled our way down the bumpy street to the minbus. Phew!
It was then a two-hour ride to the port, then a VERY bouncy two-hour speedboat ride to Gili T. The boat pulled up to the beach and everyone waded ashore across the beautfiul white sand in the dazzling sunshine, holding backpacks and suitcases above their heads. All the passengers were then bombarded by locals yelling at us about accommodation, and in the confusion I found myself following a local boy (man? He was definitely young) named Yudi down a dirt track to a guest house. It was decent enough, though a tad out of my price range, so I haggled a bit and batted my eyelashes and wore Yudi down, with the approval of his boss.
After a little nap, I ventured out for lunch and to hang out on the beach but GUESS WHAT? It started to POUR with rain out of nowhere! Luckily I entertained myself at the restaurant with three Aussies from Brisbane who gave me lots of tips for my upcoming trip to Oz. In the late afternoon the rain eased off and I did manage a bit of beach time before heading out to meet the Aussies again for the evening, during which much bar-hopping and beer-drinking took place. Standard.
The following day was more beach laying, and in the evening I took myself out to a yoga class. Ah- heaven! The class took place in a beautiful outdoor studio and began just before the sun started to set. Relaxed and happy, I then went to meet the Aussies and some other travelling friends of theirs from Austria and Italy. We went to a massive beach party at the local Irish bar, where I THEN met travelers from San Diego! Having not met any Americans for a while (other than the Whites, but I expected to see them!), it was actually good fun to chat about the homeland. In fact, when one of the Cali guys and I started singing the Fresh Prince theme tune at the top of our lungs, another guy ran over to us and said, 'You guys MUST be American!', and he turned out to be from D.C!
The next day was, guess what, more beach and more yoga. I had plans to meet the Italian and Austrian girls for dinner, but when I couldn't find them, I ended up joining the San Diegans instead after running into them on the street. That's what I love about travelling- no fixed plans, just go with the flow. Gili T very much encourages this too- there are no cars or anything on the island, and no police force, so everyone is just strolling around, high as kites (but not yours truly- am far too good a girl!), up for anything.
After dinner and a few drinks, I turned in early because I wanted to take a yoga class the following morning. I strolled back to my guesthouse and upon entering the bathroom, noticed I had a little friend in there- a scorpion. Now, under normal circumstances I might have freaked out, but a Bintang or two too many meant that actually, I stayed pretty calm. 'Hmmm,' I said to myself, 'I know the little ones are the most dangerous, so what do I do?' After musing on this for a minute or two and watching the little guy (he didn't move), I thought, Aha!, and ran for my family-sized bottle of bug spray. Well, big surprise, that did nothing but agitate him! He took off running around the edges of the bathroom while I did a crazy dance to keep him from under my feet, going at him with the bug spray every couple of seconds.
OK, I thought, new plan- I'll drown him! I managed to fill a bottle of water from the sink while lil Scorps was on the other side of the room and then proceeded to pour the whole thing on him. Nope, that didn't work either, he just ran away. Moving on.
During the water attack, some toilet paper that was on the floor had gotten soaked, which led me to my next idea- 'I'll suffocate him!'. I then proceeded to start throwing wet toilet paper at Scorpi, which drove him NUTS and his little stinger just kept curling up tighter and tighter.
All right, I thought, time to get serious. I closed the door to the bathroom and went outside my room, where I looked around for a rock or something. It was about 1am at this point, but luckily, Yudi happened to be walking by and I told him I needed help. Though I'm pretty sure he was stoned out of his mind, he came into my room with the end of a broom handle and proceeded to mash my venomous little friend to death with it. I was relieved that I would be able to sleep in peace, but as Yudi unceremoniously carried little Scorpi's body outside in an empty toilet role, I actually felt a bit sad for the wee creature (the scorpion, not Yudi!). I mean, with a November birthday I'm a scorpion myself. Had I just set myself up for a horrible 27th birthday and unlucky 28th year? Mehoped not.
Despite the scorpion episode, I did manage to get up for my yoga class the next day and spent my last day on Gili T just lounging in the tropical paradise. In the evening I took myself out for a goodbye drink and met some lovely Irish folk at the bar. I turned in quite early again that evening (carefully checking for poisonous things in my room!) as I had an early start and a LONG journey to Sydney the following day.
All in all, my short time in Indonesia was a real treat. The people are lovely, the food is delicious, the scenery is fantastic and I was lucky to spend part of it with great friends. Selamat tinggal, I'll see you again.
*A word on the title: This post has been on my to-do list for ages as 'Indoblog' and now I can only think of it as such!
Anyway, once I was back to normal-ish and had relocated to my own room at the Ubud Sari Health Resort (oh yes dahling!), I joined the ever-fabulous Whites for dinner and we made a plan to do some sightseeing with a driver the next day. Wayan (as those who have read Eat, Pray, Love will know, there are only about four names for both men and women in Indonesia) picked us up in the mid-morning and we set off to see some of Ubud's incredible sights. Although I was a bit of a dummy and didn't write down the names of everything we saw, we visited a few temples and what's considered the most impressive ancient site in Bali, Gunung Kawi. We were having a lovely wander around when, suprise surprise, we got monsooned on! (Seriously folks, if it starts to rain when I'm around, blame me. I appear to have carted rubbish weather around the world with me). We figured it would pass in, oh, maybe ten minutes. Nope. An HOUR later we were still crammed into a sheltered pavilion with a number of local holy people, who had been praying at the shrines just as the rain hit. Wayan must have either thought we'd gotten lost, drowned or been converted to Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever! EVENTUALLY we made it back and the rain had stopped by the time we settled down for lunch overlooking beautiful terraced rice fields. It was breathtaking and romantic, and as we chowed down on classic Indonesian fare (satay and rice and pumpkin soup) I thought to myself, 'I REALLY cannot win! I end up in the most romantic places in the world either with my brother or alone, OR with a super-in-love, gorgeous couple like the Whites!' Sigh. My time will come, eh?
Later that afternoon we made more plans with Wayan for sightseeing the next day, and wrapped the day up with a dinner out followed by some hookah-smoking to cure my withdrawal! The following morning Wayan was there bright and early to pick us up and we set out to see some gorgeous lakes around which we planned to hike, but guess what? It started TIPPING down. (I'm sorry I'm sorry!) So, no hike. Instead we went to see the famous floating lake temple which was lovely, and followed that by another delicious lunch overlooking more stunning rice fields. To burn off our luncheon, we spent the remainder of the afternoon hiking through some MORE rice paddies, which was fabulous. Beautiful terraces of rice plants as far as the eye can see.
In the evening I did a little gift shopping (recipients of these gifts better freakin' love them, given that I've been carting them around for almost two months, AND we all know how rich I am. Just joking- I love buying pressies- really!) and then it was time for the FINAL DINNER with the Whites. I was very, very sad to say goodbye to them- as Dan pointed out we have now partied in FOUR countries! Quite a feat, methinks! Though I imagine they were glad to see the back of me, I want Dan and Jen to know what a FANTASTIC time I had with them and how lucky I feel to have them as friends. You guys rock- I will pop up again in your lives again as soon as I can! (Evil cackle)
The next morning I was up at an un-Godly hour to start my journey to the much-celebrated Gili islands. This little trio of tropical loveliness consists of Gili Meno, Gili Air and Gili Trawangan. The last, Gili T (as it's affectionately known), is the party island and my destination!
At 6:30am a lady called Ayu, through whom I had booked my journey, came to pick me up on her moped. I looked from her to the vehicle to my GIANT backpack in disbelief- how were all three of us (yes, the backpack is BASICALLY a living thing at this point!) going to get down the road to the bus on her little scooter? Ayu, however, is a pro at this- she clambered on, then I clambered on, backpack tightly strapped to me and me clinging to her, and we wobbled our way down the bumpy street to the minbus. Phew!
It was then a two-hour ride to the port, then a VERY bouncy two-hour speedboat ride to Gili T. The boat pulled up to the beach and everyone waded ashore across the beautfiul white sand in the dazzling sunshine, holding backpacks and suitcases above their heads. All the passengers were then bombarded by locals yelling at us about accommodation, and in the confusion I found myself following a local boy (man? He was definitely young) named Yudi down a dirt track to a guest house. It was decent enough, though a tad out of my price range, so I haggled a bit and batted my eyelashes and wore Yudi down, with the approval of his boss.
After a little nap, I ventured out for lunch and to hang out on the beach but GUESS WHAT? It started to POUR with rain out of nowhere! Luckily I entertained myself at the restaurant with three Aussies from Brisbane who gave me lots of tips for my upcoming trip to Oz. In the late afternoon the rain eased off and I did manage a bit of beach time before heading out to meet the Aussies again for the evening, during which much bar-hopping and beer-drinking took place. Standard.
The following day was more beach laying, and in the evening I took myself out to a yoga class. Ah- heaven! The class took place in a beautiful outdoor studio and began just before the sun started to set. Relaxed and happy, I then went to meet the Aussies and some other travelling friends of theirs from Austria and Italy. We went to a massive beach party at the local Irish bar, where I THEN met travelers from San Diego! Having not met any Americans for a while (other than the Whites, but I expected to see them!), it was actually good fun to chat about the homeland. In fact, when one of the Cali guys and I started singing the Fresh Prince theme tune at the top of our lungs, another guy ran over to us and said, 'You guys MUST be American!', and he turned out to be from D.C!
The next day was, guess what, more beach and more yoga. I had plans to meet the Italian and Austrian girls for dinner, but when I couldn't find them, I ended up joining the San Diegans instead after running into them on the street. That's what I love about travelling- no fixed plans, just go with the flow. Gili T very much encourages this too- there are no cars or anything on the island, and no police force, so everyone is just strolling around, high as kites (but not yours truly- am far too good a girl!), up for anything.
After dinner and a few drinks, I turned in early because I wanted to take a yoga class the following morning. I strolled back to my guesthouse and upon entering the bathroom, noticed I had a little friend in there- a scorpion. Now, under normal circumstances I might have freaked out, but a Bintang or two too many meant that actually, I stayed pretty calm. 'Hmmm,' I said to myself, 'I know the little ones are the most dangerous, so what do I do?' After musing on this for a minute or two and watching the little guy (he didn't move), I thought, Aha!, and ran for my family-sized bottle of bug spray. Well, big surprise, that did nothing but agitate him! He took off running around the edges of the bathroom while I did a crazy dance to keep him from under my feet, going at him with the bug spray every couple of seconds.
OK, I thought, new plan- I'll drown him! I managed to fill a bottle of water from the sink while lil Scorps was on the other side of the room and then proceeded to pour the whole thing on him. Nope, that didn't work either, he just ran away. Moving on.
During the water attack, some toilet paper that was on the floor had gotten soaked, which led me to my next idea- 'I'll suffocate him!'. I then proceeded to start throwing wet toilet paper at Scorpi, which drove him NUTS and his little stinger just kept curling up tighter and tighter.
All right, I thought, time to get serious. I closed the door to the bathroom and went outside my room, where I looked around for a rock or something. It was about 1am at this point, but luckily, Yudi happened to be walking by and I told him I needed help. Though I'm pretty sure he was stoned out of his mind, he came into my room with the end of a broom handle and proceeded to mash my venomous little friend to death with it. I was relieved that I would be able to sleep in peace, but as Yudi unceremoniously carried little Scorpi's body outside in an empty toilet role, I actually felt a bit sad for the wee creature (the scorpion, not Yudi!). I mean, with a November birthday I'm a scorpion myself. Had I just set myself up for a horrible 27th birthday and unlucky 28th year? Mehoped not.
Despite the scorpion episode, I did manage to get up for my yoga class the next day and spent my last day on Gili T just lounging in the tropical paradise. In the evening I took myself out for a goodbye drink and met some lovely Irish folk at the bar. I turned in quite early again that evening (carefully checking for poisonous things in my room!) as I had an early start and a LONG journey to Sydney the following day.
All in all, my short time in Indonesia was a real treat. The people are lovely, the food is delicious, the scenery is fantastic and I was lucky to spend part of it with great friends. Selamat tinggal, I'll see you again.
*A word on the title: This post has been on my to-do list for ages as 'Indoblog' and now I can only think of it as such!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
More Travel by the Numbers and Other Thoughts
With just under three weeks left of my journey (yep, sorry folks, that's how fast time has flown!), it seems a good time to update some of my numbers from a few months ago, and maybe add some more. Here we go...
Plane rides: 27
Train rides: 14
Boat/ferry rides: 27
Airlines flown: 16
Books read (not including travel guides!): 26
Mosquito bites (cumulative): It's horrific...
Longest time without a shower: Still 3 days
Family members travelled with: 3
UNESCO sites visited: 49 (I decided I'd look at the list and count all the ones I've ever seen in my life to make myself feel better- now I only have 862 more to see!)
Dollars spent: About $11,000 (Ah yes, I am SO broke folks, so broke...)
Biggest local currency exchange rate to the dollar: $1 = 8600 Indonesian Rupiah
Watches broken: 3
Sunglasses lost/broken: 3
Nationalities encountered most often (unscientific): The Brits dominate, followed by the Germans, Dutch and Swedes in equal numbers, then the Israelis, the French, the Aussies...and a smattering of others. Very few Americans- come on folks!
- A girl CAN live on apples, peanut butter and bread for a week, but I DON'T recommend it!
- Many travelers I meet are Atheists. I find this, well, just interesting, really. I believe that I believe in something, and I suppose I'm surprised that more folks don't think there's something bigger than us, given the incredible natural wonders and whatnot that we've all seen. (Note: I do not intend to start a religious debate here, it's JUST an observation!)
- I hate how money can get in the way of stuff I want to do- eating, going on a cool day trip, buying something awesome I can't get anywhere else. Everything (especially at this point) has to be calculated, and it can take the fun out of stuff. I think society should revert to bartering: "A dirty travel towel and an Old Navy pair of leggings for a hostel bed?" or "A pair of used earplugs and some Ziplocs for that sandwich?" Yeah, I think that would work.
- A load of clean laundry can brighten a traveler's day more than you can imagine!
- In hostels, it's always the GIRLS who snore like overloaded freight trains. Eye masks, ear plugs and sleeping pills are also sacred to the budget traveler!
- I love my travels, but I'm looking forward to going home and seeing everyone (Plus, Christmas carols and decorations in hot, sunny weather is a head trip!)!
Plane rides: 27
Train rides: 14
Boat/ferry rides: 27
Airlines flown: 16
Books read (not including travel guides!): 26
Mosquito bites (cumulative): It's horrific...
Longest time without a shower: Still 3 days
Family members travelled with: 3
UNESCO sites visited: 49 (I decided I'd look at the list and count all the ones I've ever seen in my life to make myself feel better- now I only have 862 more to see!)
Dollars spent: About $11,000 (Ah yes, I am SO broke folks, so broke...)
Biggest local currency exchange rate to the dollar: $1 = 8600 Indonesian Rupiah
Watches broken: 3
Sunglasses lost/broken: 3
Nationalities encountered most often (unscientific): The Brits dominate, followed by the Germans, Dutch and Swedes in equal numbers, then the Israelis, the French, the Aussies...and a smattering of others. Very few Americans- come on folks!
- A girl CAN live on apples, peanut butter and bread for a week, but I DON'T recommend it!
- Many travelers I meet are Atheists. I find this, well, just interesting, really. I believe that I believe in something, and I suppose I'm surprised that more folks don't think there's something bigger than us, given the incredible natural wonders and whatnot that we've all seen. (Note: I do not intend to start a religious debate here, it's JUST an observation!)
- I hate how money can get in the way of stuff I want to do- eating, going on a cool day trip, buying something awesome I can't get anywhere else. Everything (especially at this point) has to be calculated, and it can take the fun out of stuff. I think society should revert to bartering: "A dirty travel towel and an Old Navy pair of leggings for a hostel bed?" or "A pair of used earplugs and some Ziplocs for that sandwich?" Yeah, I think that would work.
- A load of clean laundry can brighten a traveler's day more than you can imagine!
- In hostels, it's always the GIRLS who snore like overloaded freight trains. Eye masks, ear plugs and sleeping pills are also sacred to the budget traveler!
- I love my travels, but I'm looking forward to going home and seeing everyone (Plus, Christmas carols and decorations in hot, sunny weather is a head trip!)!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Singapore, where I WASN'T a backpacker!
If you come across another backpacker who's been to Singapore, he might tell you that it's VERY expensive and there isn't much to do...but that wasn't the case for me. I got a fabulous break from the life of a backpacker thanks to some very generous friends and an extremely generous dad! (And actually, I reckon there's lots to do there- museums, the zoo, etc., plus it's super safe, very clean and there are no mosquitoes because of laws about standing water. Brilliant!)
I left Melaka on October 30th and hopped an afternoon bus to Singapore ($7 for a five-hour ride from one country to another- not bad!). As has happened to me before, I was dropped off at an entirely different place than what I'd been told. Singapore is so small and easy to get around however, that it was easy to hop a cab to Dan and Jen White's apartment. Upon arrival, a bedsheet was thrust my way and I was informed our Halloween costumes would be togas- easy and fun.
Some have been surprised to learn that Halloween is indeed celebrated in Singapore. This has much to do with the massive ex-pat population, but there were many native Singaporeans dressed up as well- the sexy lady cop and dead sexy lady cop being the most popular costumes of the night. We went down to Clarke Quay, a central hub of bars, restaurants and shopping, and met up with a few of the Whites' local friends. It was absolutely RAMMED with people down there, with lines out the door of every watering hole. We wandered through the crowd for a while, checking out some of the crazy costumes and looking for a decent place for a drink, and it wasn't long before we were asked by some locals to be in a photo. No problem, we said. Oh, another one, sure. OK, one more. Oh, you'd like a photo too? Sure thing. Yep, you can have one too... aaaaaaand on it went! I estimate we were asked to be in about 100 photos that night, we couldn't go a step without someone running up to us. I imagine it's the closest I'll ever come to knowing what it's like to be famous. Sigh.
Eventually we settled on a place called Cuba Libre that had a live Latin band and we boogied there for a while before moving on. It was really hard to get into places, however, so we settled on grabbing a drink at an outside cafe and watching the millions of people in crazy outfits walk by. Later on, Dan ventured back into a club for a drink and Jen and I went back to Cuba Libre to get our dance on. We tired out after a while, and having no concept of time, decided it must be at least 3am and we should probably go home. We went wandering for a taxi (Singapore is ridiculously safe, even for two girls alone in togas) and eventually got in one, where we learned it was actually 4:30am!
As you might imagine, the following morning was not productive at all- in fact it was well into the afternoon before Jen and I ventured out of the apartment. She showed me around Little India (almost like the real thing!) and Arab Street, we had some henna painted on our hands and browsed in some adorable little boutiques. Later on we met Dan for a little snack and a sit down, and then it was time for me to get my stuff together to go and meet my dad, who had just arrived in Singapore on business.
I'm a super lucky girl, because my dad was staying at the Mandarin Oriental and was happy to have me to stay with him for three days. It's a very posh hotel, and the folks behind the check-in desk seemed a bit surprised to see a smelly girl in dirty clothes, a backpack and flip-flops (they ask guests to refrain from casual footwear- ooh so sorry!) walk in. I'm pretty sure they thought I was in the wrong place at first, but they did in fact let me go up to the room where my dad was waiting. It was great to see him, as I've been missing my family loads, and after I was settled and changed into slightly less smelly clothes, we went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel for dinner, and then out for a wander around the city. I'm such a city girl- I often get more excited about huge, lit-up skylines than I do about gorgeous natural panoramas- so I insisted on stopping every few minutes to get some shots of Singapore's brilliant skyline.
Afterwards we went back to our room, as my dad was exhausted from jet lag having just arrived from London, and I was exhausted from Halloween-lag! Funny thing was, at about 2 or 3am, both my dad and I were wide awake, unable to sleep for various reasons, so we turned on all the lights, turned on the telly and just hung out for a few hours until he went out for a run and I went back to sleep. I said to him, "Daddy, I don't know what other daughters do with their dads, but we hang out at 4am in Southeast Asian cities in fancy hotels. And I like it!"
Later that day, my dad was out doing businessy things, so I took myself to the hotel gym (damn this travel chubbiness...), then out for a bit of sightseeing and then to the fantastic hotel pool which has a brilliant view of the city. In the evening I went to the gym AGAIN (it's true!) and then we went out for an Italian meal- it's said that eating is the national sport in Singapore, you can literally get ANYTHING you want, anytime!- and then wandered back to the hotel and to one of the bars, where I had the MO Singapore- a lychee-flavored, overly sweet cocktail thing- before bed.
The next morning I went to the gym yet again (yes!) after a delicious buffet breakfast where I had to physically restrain myself not to eat every morsel of free (well, for me!) food! After that, Jen came over for a pool date and we thoroughly enjoyed the cold towels and fresh fruit brought to us as various intervals! Later in the afternoon, I went to the gym AGAIN (no, really!) and then got ready for dinner out with some of my dad's work people and the Whites to celebrate my birthday early, as I was to be alone on my actual birthday two weeks later. Seven of us met up and went out to Din Tai Fung, an excellent Chinese food spot that's actually a chain around Asia and has restaurants in NY, LA and Sydney as well- I highly recommend it for a group thing, delicious!
Afterwards my dad, his work buddies (Richard and Ian) and I decided we would walk back to the Mandarin to burn off our dinner. I discovered that on the way, we would pass the famous Raffles hotel, home of the equally famous Long Bar. Somehow, I managed to wrangle the old folk (er, I mean, you know..) to join me for a Singapore Sling, the drink the bar is famous for and something one just HAS to try when in Singapore! It's a bit of a cheesy place, the Long Bar, but fun to see, especially as the thing to do there is eat shelled peanuts and then just toss the shells on the floor. We were almost ankle-deep in these shells, I kid you not, and the addictive nature of these snacks is that the four of us managed to tear through the whole huge box of nuts on our table in about three minutes!
The next day my dad was out on business again, so I had a nice pool loungey day before saying goodbye to him in the afternoon when he left for Kuala Lumpur- thanks so much for the treat Daddy, it really was a fabulous few days!
In the evening I packed up the backpack (sigh) and hopped a taxi to my friend Tom's apartment. Tom is a family/childhood friend that I've known for years and he's lived in Singapore for ages, so it was brilliant to catch up. We went for dinner at the Singapore Cricket Club (ooh la la, I know!) and then met up with a few of his rugby team buddies and proceeded to get rowdy with them, first at a bar called Altitude- the highest in Singapore. It's nine million stories off the ground or something and offers INCREDIBLE views of the city. Well, of the whole country really. Then it was back to Clarke Quay, of Halloween night fame, for a couple more drinks before we went back to Tom's apartment, as he had to work the next day. Ah yes, I remember what that was like...
The following day while Tom was at work I took myself for a mosey about, sightseeing and visiting the Asian Cultures Museum. Later on, when Tom was back from rugby practice, we threw our gladrags on (well, I did my best with what I had in the backpack!) and went out with two of his friends to a VIP Johnnie Walker promotion party, thanks to his roommate who works in PR and represents the brand. I'm not a huge fan of whiskey, but I AM a huge fan of free drinks (well, I'm a fan of free ANYTHING at the moment) and I had a nice time meeting Tom's friends and just being fancy for a bit! After the party we went down to Clarke Quay again to a club/bar place called China One- a super rowdy spot with a live cover band and a packed dancefloor full of revelers. Although it was Thursday, the following day was a public holiday, so hardly anyone had to work and the party went on ALL night. I don't think we stumbled out of there unil 4am-ish!
The next day (or should I say, later that day) was another of those unproductive ones owing to such a late bedtime! There was just enough time for brunch with Tom and one last catch-up before I had to pull the backpack together again and head back to the Whites for our trip to Bali.
Thanks to all who showed me such a fabulous time in Singapore- I'll be back. But only if you'll pay for everyhing.
Jokes.
...
I left Melaka on October 30th and hopped an afternoon bus to Singapore ($7 for a five-hour ride from one country to another- not bad!). As has happened to me before, I was dropped off at an entirely different place than what I'd been told. Singapore is so small and easy to get around however, that it was easy to hop a cab to Dan and Jen White's apartment. Upon arrival, a bedsheet was thrust my way and I was informed our Halloween costumes would be togas- easy and fun.
Some have been surprised to learn that Halloween is indeed celebrated in Singapore. This has much to do with the massive ex-pat population, but there were many native Singaporeans dressed up as well- the sexy lady cop and dead sexy lady cop being the most popular costumes of the night. We went down to Clarke Quay, a central hub of bars, restaurants and shopping, and met up with a few of the Whites' local friends. It was absolutely RAMMED with people down there, with lines out the door of every watering hole. We wandered through the crowd for a while, checking out some of the crazy costumes and looking for a decent place for a drink, and it wasn't long before we were asked by some locals to be in a photo. No problem, we said. Oh, another one, sure. OK, one more. Oh, you'd like a photo too? Sure thing. Yep, you can have one too... aaaaaaand on it went! I estimate we were asked to be in about 100 photos that night, we couldn't go a step without someone running up to us. I imagine it's the closest I'll ever come to knowing what it's like to be famous. Sigh.
Eventually we settled on a place called Cuba Libre that had a live Latin band and we boogied there for a while before moving on. It was really hard to get into places, however, so we settled on grabbing a drink at an outside cafe and watching the millions of people in crazy outfits walk by. Later on, Dan ventured back into a club for a drink and Jen and I went back to Cuba Libre to get our dance on. We tired out after a while, and having no concept of time, decided it must be at least 3am and we should probably go home. We went wandering for a taxi (Singapore is ridiculously safe, even for two girls alone in togas) and eventually got in one, where we learned it was actually 4:30am!
As you might imagine, the following morning was not productive at all- in fact it was well into the afternoon before Jen and I ventured out of the apartment. She showed me around Little India (almost like the real thing!) and Arab Street, we had some henna painted on our hands and browsed in some adorable little boutiques. Later on we met Dan for a little snack and a sit down, and then it was time for me to get my stuff together to go and meet my dad, who had just arrived in Singapore on business.
I'm a super lucky girl, because my dad was staying at the Mandarin Oriental and was happy to have me to stay with him for three days. It's a very posh hotel, and the folks behind the check-in desk seemed a bit surprised to see a smelly girl in dirty clothes, a backpack and flip-flops (they ask guests to refrain from casual footwear- ooh so sorry!) walk in. I'm pretty sure they thought I was in the wrong place at first, but they did in fact let me go up to the room where my dad was waiting. It was great to see him, as I've been missing my family loads, and after I was settled and changed into slightly less smelly clothes, we went down to one of the restaurants in the hotel for dinner, and then out for a wander around the city. I'm such a city girl- I often get more excited about huge, lit-up skylines than I do about gorgeous natural panoramas- so I insisted on stopping every few minutes to get some shots of Singapore's brilliant skyline.
Afterwards we went back to our room, as my dad was exhausted from jet lag having just arrived from London, and I was exhausted from Halloween-lag! Funny thing was, at about 2 or 3am, both my dad and I were wide awake, unable to sleep for various reasons, so we turned on all the lights, turned on the telly and just hung out for a few hours until he went out for a run and I went back to sleep. I said to him, "Daddy, I don't know what other daughters do with their dads, but we hang out at 4am in Southeast Asian cities in fancy hotels. And I like it!"
Later that day, my dad was out doing businessy things, so I took myself to the hotel gym (damn this travel chubbiness...), then out for a bit of sightseeing and then to the fantastic hotel pool which has a brilliant view of the city. In the evening I went to the gym AGAIN (it's true!) and then we went out for an Italian meal- it's said that eating is the national sport in Singapore, you can literally get ANYTHING you want, anytime!- and then wandered back to the hotel and to one of the bars, where I had the MO Singapore- a lychee-flavored, overly sweet cocktail thing- before bed.
The next morning I went to the gym yet again (yes!) after a delicious buffet breakfast where I had to physically restrain myself not to eat every morsel of free (well, for me!) food! After that, Jen came over for a pool date and we thoroughly enjoyed the cold towels and fresh fruit brought to us as various intervals! Later in the afternoon, I went to the gym AGAIN (no, really!) and then got ready for dinner out with some of my dad's work people and the Whites to celebrate my birthday early, as I was to be alone on my actual birthday two weeks later. Seven of us met up and went out to Din Tai Fung, an excellent Chinese food spot that's actually a chain around Asia and has restaurants in NY, LA and Sydney as well- I highly recommend it for a group thing, delicious!
Afterwards my dad, his work buddies (Richard and Ian) and I decided we would walk back to the Mandarin to burn off our dinner. I discovered that on the way, we would pass the famous Raffles hotel, home of the equally famous Long Bar. Somehow, I managed to wrangle the old folk (er, I mean, you know..) to join me for a Singapore Sling, the drink the bar is famous for and something one just HAS to try when in Singapore! It's a bit of a cheesy place, the Long Bar, but fun to see, especially as the thing to do there is eat shelled peanuts and then just toss the shells on the floor. We were almost ankle-deep in these shells, I kid you not, and the addictive nature of these snacks is that the four of us managed to tear through the whole huge box of nuts on our table in about three minutes!
The next day my dad was out on business again, so I had a nice pool loungey day before saying goodbye to him in the afternoon when he left for Kuala Lumpur- thanks so much for the treat Daddy, it really was a fabulous few days!
In the evening I packed up the backpack (sigh) and hopped a taxi to my friend Tom's apartment. Tom is a family/childhood friend that I've known for years and he's lived in Singapore for ages, so it was brilliant to catch up. We went for dinner at the Singapore Cricket Club (ooh la la, I know!) and then met up with a few of his rugby team buddies and proceeded to get rowdy with them, first at a bar called Altitude- the highest in Singapore. It's nine million stories off the ground or something and offers INCREDIBLE views of the city. Well, of the whole country really. Then it was back to Clarke Quay, of Halloween night fame, for a couple more drinks before we went back to Tom's apartment, as he had to work the next day. Ah yes, I remember what that was like...
The following day while Tom was at work I took myself for a mosey about, sightseeing and visiting the Asian Cultures Museum. Later on, when Tom was back from rugby practice, we threw our gladrags on (well, I did my best with what I had in the backpack!) and went out with two of his friends to a VIP Johnnie Walker promotion party, thanks to his roommate who works in PR and represents the brand. I'm not a huge fan of whiskey, but I AM a huge fan of free drinks (well, I'm a fan of free ANYTHING at the moment) and I had a nice time meeting Tom's friends and just being fancy for a bit! After the party we went down to Clarke Quay again to a club/bar place called China One- a super rowdy spot with a live cover band and a packed dancefloor full of revelers. Although it was Thursday, the following day was a public holiday, so hardly anyone had to work and the party went on ALL night. I don't think we stumbled out of there unil 4am-ish!
The next day (or should I say, later that day) was another of those unproductive ones owing to such a late bedtime! There was just enough time for brunch with Tom and one last catch-up before I had to pull the backpack together again and head back to the Whites for our trip to Bali.
Thanks to all who showed me such a fabulous time in Singapore- I'll be back. But only if you'll pay for everyhing.
Jokes.
...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Malaysia: Loves it!
Apparently, Malaysia has a reputation for being a bit boring, in that it lacks the crazy party scene in other parts of Southeast Asia and there's not much to do there. I absolutely did not find this to be the case- I definitely recommend a visit!
I began in Pulau Penang after taking a succession of mini-vans from Krabi. I left at 11am, but after waiting in long immigration lines and whatnot, I didn't arrive in Georgetown (the city on Penang) until 9:30 that evening. I didn't have anywhere to stay (I've stopped booking stuff in advance unless I'm arriving somewhere really late at night. I now prefer to just rock up and look around), but luckily the guest house someone had recommended to me had a room. Well, I suppose you could call it a room. Essentially, I was in a big room where the beds were separated by flimsy plastic wall things and doors to make single rooms- no window or anything. It had a fan but it was absolutely stifling in there! Still it was $6 a night, sooo...
The next morning I was pretty tired from a restless, sweaty night in my little cell, but I roused myself for a day of sightseeing. Georgetown is a really nice little place, and I went to the Penang museum (entry free approx. 33 cents) where I learned loads about the history of the area (settled by the Brits, you know, that old story). Basically a guy called Francis Light was the man back in 17 hundred and something, and you can't turn a corner in Georgetown without running into something related to him. I then went to Fort Cornwallis (I mean, I gotta have some fort action pretty much everywhere I go now) and wandered around learning about how ol' Francis kept things under control from there. Next I went for a walk through Little India (heaven!) and then down Armenian Street, which in addition to representing (surprise) Penang's Armenian bit of history, also features some lovely temples.
I had a lovely day out with myself, seeing as I hadn't actually been alone for a while. People ask me a lot what it's like to travel alone and honestly, I'm rarely alone! It can be a bit boring on long bus journeys and things, but otherwise one has to try fairly hard NOT to meet people!
Anyway, that evening I went down the road from my hostel for dinner, where a local guy decided to sit down and chat to me. I'm always happy to meet locals and get the lay of the land, but this guy's opening line was, "Wow, you look really tired," so he sort of put me off! (Plus it was true, I was, and wasn't reeeeeally in the mood for a chinwag!)
The following morning I set out for a hike up Penang Hill, which years ago was a sort of holiday retreat for wealthy Georgetonians. At the bottom of the hill are the botanical gardens, and I always like me a pretty flower or two. I asked a man there where I would start the hike up the hill and he laughed at me. "No no," he said. "You should take a car." "No no," said I, "I want to walk." "But it's FIVE KILOMETRES!!!!" he said, incredulous. "Yep, I know, no problem." He laughed again, but did eventually, in a state of disbelief, show me the way!
So, I set off. Aaaah, yes, I see the point about the car. It was RIDICULOUSLY steep and it was a VERY hot day! I was about three minutes in when I started to think, uuuuggghhhhhh! But I soldiered on, both desperate and absolutely dreading to see the mile markers that popped up every so often. I was just thinking that I MUST have walked a kilometre by now, when I came across the little blue '0.4' marker. Ack! But still I kept going. After a bit, I did actually really start to enjoy myself- it was very quiet and there was beautiful forest and/or jungle around me, plus it felt good to be getting some exercise (MIGHT have gained a travel pound or two or five- let's not talk about it). However, just as I was getting into a rhythm, I heard a sound from behind me and was blown away to see a local man, probably about 300 years old, positively SPRINTING up this massive hill! "Hello!" he said, cheerily. I huffed and puffed something in response and watched him continue on up. A little while later, I passed another older man sitting taking a break. "You go to top?" he asked, and I responded in the affirmative. "Ah, still long way to go!" Yes yes, thank you I know! About fifteen minutes later, however, I turned around to see the same guy had caught up with me! What is WITH these people?! We started chatting about where I'm from and how I'm enjoying Malaysia and whatnot, and he told me he does this walk up the hill three times a week. "I have to stay strong," he said, "I'm dying." Excuse-moi? Yes, the poor man has a kidney disease and is on dialysis half the time, but was absolutely (pardonnez le Francais) kicking my ass on this hill! I resolved to get in shape sharpish the moment I get home.
I parted ways with this lovely gentleman about halfway up when he stopped to rest again, and I kept on trucking until I got to the top. Phew! It actually only took me about two hours in the end (Lonely Planet said three so HA!), and I treated myself to a snack and an ice-cream at the top as I took in the lovely views of the island and looked around a temple. I then caught a lift down the hill with a couple from Kuwait on their honeymoon, and was chatting with the wife in the backseat in her full burqa, face covered and everything. I saw a lot of this in Egypt (Malaysia is also predominantly Muslim), but it was the first time I'd actually had a conversation with someone, face-to-face, yet had no clue what she looked like!
Once back at the hostel, I booked a trip leaving the next morning for the Perhentian islands, and was up at 5am for the bus. I had been warned that the weather might be bad as the monsoon was coming, but I was determined to check the islands out as I'd heard amazing things about them on my travels. After a four-hour bus ride and 35 minute speedboat ride, I arrived on Pulau Perhentian Kecil...and it was INCREDIBLE! The islands (two of them)are jungle islands surrounded by crystal clear bright blue water. The sun was out and there wasn't a drop of monsoon in sight!
When the boat pulled up to the beach I waded through the surf with my luggage, and dumped my bag on the burning hot sand next to a girl sunbathing and asked if she'd watch it while I went to find a bed. I ended up finding a hostel dorm bed for $6 a night or so and booked in there. Once settled, I was into my bathing suit in a flash and out to the beach, where I napped and soaked up rays for the rest of the day.
The following day I met some fellow backpackers, and learned that the island was indeed shutting down for the monsoon season. It was actually a great time to be there though- the weather was still good and it wasn't nearly as crowded as it can be in high season, when apparently people sleep on the beach because there's no accommodation. In the afternoon I went out with a new Canadian friend, Andrew, on a little snorkeling trip where we swam around with sharks (just little ones!), giant sea turtles and stringrays. Very cool. Once back on the beach we met up with a few more folks and walked over together to the west side of the island to watch the sunset, eat dinner, grab some drinks and smoke some hookah! I ended up meeting a lovely girl from Holland, Mel, whose roommate was leaving the next day, so she wondered if I'd like to move into his spot in their hotel room. It was only a few more Ringgits a night to do that- plus we had our own bathroom- so I agreed to move in in the morning, and then spent the day beaching it!
The next day, things were really starting to shut down- half the restaurants on the island were closed so we were running out of places to eat- but there was still a good crew about. When Mel was done with her diving course for the day, we went for a little hike around the island and found some even more gorgeous beaches, totally deserted! In the evening we went to dinner with two crazy Austrian guys also staying at our hotel, and then to the 'end of season' party at one of the beach bars. We had planned to throw our own Full Moon party the following evening, but we all ended up being too wiped to do anything! The full moon was incredible though- it lit up the whole island like it was daytime. As I've always lived in our near cities, I don't think I've really ever seen that before- beautiful.(Also, I have to say that I was much happier to be chilling on the Perhentians for the full moon than downing buckets in Thailand!)
After five nights on the island (I was only going to stay two or three, it's that sort of place!), Mel and I left together for Kuala Lumpur where we would room together again for three nights. It was really nice to have a travel buddy on the nine-hour bus ride, plus she had been to KL before so took me straight to a really funky guest house where we split a room. Our first evening in KL we went shopping (me window, Mel actual) for counterfeit sunglasses and whatnot, then had the little fish eat our feet, followed by a visit to the local Reggae Bar (Southeast Asians looooove reggae for some reason- have seriously been to a bar called 'Reggae Bar' in every SE Asian country!) where we met some fellow travelers and even ran into a friend from the Perhentians- who used to work with a woman that I used to work with in San Francisco. Small world!
The next day Mel wanted to continue shopping for gifts, so I happily joined her for a wander around some of the massive shopping centers in downtown KL. I mean, these places were unreal- absolutely GIGANTIC. Some were 10 stories high, just jam-packed with shops. One even housed a full theme park. They were also all chock-a-block with people. I guess there's not much to do in KL! Still, it was nice to look around and window shop, given my teeny tiny budget. ('Oh, really Susie?' I hear you- or my conscience- say...'What about the sandals, watch and two pairs of sunglasses you bought?' Oh, er, well, those were so cheap it doesn't count, or, something...)
On our last day in KL we did some more window shopping (for real, this time!) and in the evening went to the see the Petronas towers- those huge twin structures connected by a sky bridge. They look fantastic all lit up at night, and Mel and I got some good snaps before heading back to the hostel for bed.
The following morning Mel left early for China (still miss you girl- had so much fun!), and I got up later to catch the bus to Melaka. It's only a two-hour ride so I got there in the mid-afternoon, found somewhere to sleep and had a rest, grabbed some dinner and then went to listen to a live cover band in a local bar. There I met Robin and John, two buddies from England travelling around Malaysia together for a couple of weeks. After a couple of beers with them, we made plans to go sightseeing the next day and I was to meet them at about 10 in the morning.
Melaka is a lovely little city- very easy to walk around with lots of cute little streets and shops. It's had a long history of being ruled by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the Brits, then the Dutch again, etc. There's a fort (phew!) and a lovely old church on top of a hill with great views, but what was really good fun was a visit to the 'beauty museum' which we stumbled across. It's basically a detailed look at fashion and various beauty rituals from around the world: the corset, tattoos, those massive African lip plates, body piercing, etc. Very very interesting! We also went for a mosey along the river, where some university students were doing a canoe relay for 100 hours to break the record currently in the Malaysian Book of Records! We hollered at them (nicely!) for a while to cheer them on, and then sat down for a rest and a nutritious lunch of Pringles and fruit. The boys also wanted to stop for a cendol, a local treat of ice-cream, noodles, beans, shaved ice, green stuff, pink stuff, what-the-hell-is-that stuff...I wasn't really a fan, but Robin and John loved these things! After that I persuaded them that they HAD to try to fish foot-eating thing, so I dragged them to a local spa. And yep, they loved it, plus I got to do it for the third time. Such fun!
In the evening we met back up for dinner at one of Melaka's most famous restaurants, Capitol Satay. While waiting for a table we picked up another English guy and two English girls and we all sat together. Everyone sits around a metal table that has a big vat of burning hot oil and other stuff (it honestly looked like they put coffee grounds, washing powder and Ovaltine in there). Everyone chooses things on sticks to cook in it- it's essentially Malaysian fondue! It was really good fun cooking everything up and then trying to figure out what I was actually eating as nothing was labeled. At the end, the waitress counts everyone skewers and you pay for as many as you had. I was stuffed for about $5! The new and improved gang then walked back to our hostel for some beers (purchased from the fridge in the living room of a 900-year-old Chinese man in his underwear- brilliant!) and to hang out with a group of crazy German travelers and swap wild SE Asian travel stories.
The following day I was back on my lonesome, but had a lovely day doing a little gift shopping and visiting some other sites. I popped into the Heeren House, an old Dutch shop/home that's been renovated to look as it would have 200 years ago. I was the only visitor, and after a look around sat down with the gentleman who runs it- Colin. He must be about 70, has lived in Melaka his whole life and is an absolute history buff. I essentially got an hour-long, one-on-one history lesson from him. It was fantastic and I learned a ton.
In the evening I went with a girl from my hostel, Saima, to Jonker Street, just parallel to where we were staying. Every Thursday and Friday the street becomes a night market- all the stores bring goods out onto the streets and food hawkers set up lots of stalls of yummy stuff. We had a wander and Saima bought some gifts for her family, and after a snack of tornado potatoes (aaaamazing- basically a potato is sliced into a coil, pulled down a skewer and fried. YUM) we watched the famous ninja 'coconut man' break open a solid coconut with his index finger! And that was one crooked and messed up finger, lemme tell you! After that spectacle we wandered some more, ate some more and generally rambled about before heading back to our hostel. Saima was headed home to England after nine months of travelling, and I was bound for Singapore the next day, where I got an amazing break from this backpacking life! As always, stay tuned..
I began in Pulau Penang after taking a succession of mini-vans from Krabi. I left at 11am, but after waiting in long immigration lines and whatnot, I didn't arrive in Georgetown (the city on Penang) until 9:30 that evening. I didn't have anywhere to stay (I've stopped booking stuff in advance unless I'm arriving somewhere really late at night. I now prefer to just rock up and look around), but luckily the guest house someone had recommended to me had a room. Well, I suppose you could call it a room. Essentially, I was in a big room where the beds were separated by flimsy plastic wall things and doors to make single rooms- no window or anything. It had a fan but it was absolutely stifling in there! Still it was $6 a night, sooo...
The next morning I was pretty tired from a restless, sweaty night in my little cell, but I roused myself for a day of sightseeing. Georgetown is a really nice little place, and I went to the Penang museum (entry free approx. 33 cents) where I learned loads about the history of the area (settled by the Brits, you know, that old story). Basically a guy called Francis Light was the man back in 17 hundred and something, and you can't turn a corner in Georgetown without running into something related to him. I then went to Fort Cornwallis (I mean, I gotta have some fort action pretty much everywhere I go now) and wandered around learning about how ol' Francis kept things under control from there. Next I went for a walk through Little India (heaven!) and then down Armenian Street, which in addition to representing (surprise) Penang's Armenian bit of history, also features some lovely temples.
I had a lovely day out with myself, seeing as I hadn't actually been alone for a while. People ask me a lot what it's like to travel alone and honestly, I'm rarely alone! It can be a bit boring on long bus journeys and things, but otherwise one has to try fairly hard NOT to meet people!
Anyway, that evening I went down the road from my hostel for dinner, where a local guy decided to sit down and chat to me. I'm always happy to meet locals and get the lay of the land, but this guy's opening line was, "Wow, you look really tired," so he sort of put me off! (Plus it was true, I was, and wasn't reeeeeally in the mood for a chinwag!)
The following morning I set out for a hike up Penang Hill, which years ago was a sort of holiday retreat for wealthy Georgetonians. At the bottom of the hill are the botanical gardens, and I always like me a pretty flower or two. I asked a man there where I would start the hike up the hill and he laughed at me. "No no," he said. "You should take a car." "No no," said I, "I want to walk." "But it's FIVE KILOMETRES!!!!" he said, incredulous. "Yep, I know, no problem." He laughed again, but did eventually, in a state of disbelief, show me the way!
So, I set off. Aaaah, yes, I see the point about the car. It was RIDICULOUSLY steep and it was a VERY hot day! I was about three minutes in when I started to think, uuuuggghhhhhh! But I soldiered on, both desperate and absolutely dreading to see the mile markers that popped up every so often. I was just thinking that I MUST have walked a kilometre by now, when I came across the little blue '0.4' marker. Ack! But still I kept going. After a bit, I did actually really start to enjoy myself- it was very quiet and there was beautiful forest and/or jungle around me, plus it felt good to be getting some exercise (MIGHT have gained a travel pound or two or five- let's not talk about it). However, just as I was getting into a rhythm, I heard a sound from behind me and was blown away to see a local man, probably about 300 years old, positively SPRINTING up this massive hill! "Hello!" he said, cheerily. I huffed and puffed something in response and watched him continue on up. A little while later, I passed another older man sitting taking a break. "You go to top?" he asked, and I responded in the affirmative. "Ah, still long way to go!" Yes yes, thank you I know! About fifteen minutes later, however, I turned around to see the same guy had caught up with me! What is WITH these people?! We started chatting about where I'm from and how I'm enjoying Malaysia and whatnot, and he told me he does this walk up the hill three times a week. "I have to stay strong," he said, "I'm dying." Excuse-moi? Yes, the poor man has a kidney disease and is on dialysis half the time, but was absolutely (pardonnez le Francais) kicking my ass on this hill! I resolved to get in shape sharpish the moment I get home.
I parted ways with this lovely gentleman about halfway up when he stopped to rest again, and I kept on trucking until I got to the top. Phew! It actually only took me about two hours in the end (Lonely Planet said three so HA!), and I treated myself to a snack and an ice-cream at the top as I took in the lovely views of the island and looked around a temple. I then caught a lift down the hill with a couple from Kuwait on their honeymoon, and was chatting with the wife in the backseat in her full burqa, face covered and everything. I saw a lot of this in Egypt (Malaysia is also predominantly Muslim), but it was the first time I'd actually had a conversation with someone, face-to-face, yet had no clue what she looked like!
Once back at the hostel, I booked a trip leaving the next morning for the Perhentian islands, and was up at 5am for the bus. I had been warned that the weather might be bad as the monsoon was coming, but I was determined to check the islands out as I'd heard amazing things about them on my travels. After a four-hour bus ride and 35 minute speedboat ride, I arrived on Pulau Perhentian Kecil...and it was INCREDIBLE! The islands (two of them)are jungle islands surrounded by crystal clear bright blue water. The sun was out and there wasn't a drop of monsoon in sight!
When the boat pulled up to the beach I waded through the surf with my luggage, and dumped my bag on the burning hot sand next to a girl sunbathing and asked if she'd watch it while I went to find a bed. I ended up finding a hostel dorm bed for $6 a night or so and booked in there. Once settled, I was into my bathing suit in a flash and out to the beach, where I napped and soaked up rays for the rest of the day.
The following day I met some fellow backpackers, and learned that the island was indeed shutting down for the monsoon season. It was actually a great time to be there though- the weather was still good and it wasn't nearly as crowded as it can be in high season, when apparently people sleep on the beach because there's no accommodation. In the afternoon I went out with a new Canadian friend, Andrew, on a little snorkeling trip where we swam around with sharks (just little ones!), giant sea turtles and stringrays. Very cool. Once back on the beach we met up with a few more folks and walked over together to the west side of the island to watch the sunset, eat dinner, grab some drinks and smoke some hookah! I ended up meeting a lovely girl from Holland, Mel, whose roommate was leaving the next day, so she wondered if I'd like to move into his spot in their hotel room. It was only a few more Ringgits a night to do that- plus we had our own bathroom- so I agreed to move in in the morning, and then spent the day beaching it!
The next day, things were really starting to shut down- half the restaurants on the island were closed so we were running out of places to eat- but there was still a good crew about. When Mel was done with her diving course for the day, we went for a little hike around the island and found some even more gorgeous beaches, totally deserted! In the evening we went to dinner with two crazy Austrian guys also staying at our hotel, and then to the 'end of season' party at one of the beach bars. We had planned to throw our own Full Moon party the following evening, but we all ended up being too wiped to do anything! The full moon was incredible though- it lit up the whole island like it was daytime. As I've always lived in our near cities, I don't think I've really ever seen that before- beautiful.(Also, I have to say that I was much happier to be chilling on the Perhentians for the full moon than downing buckets in Thailand!)
After five nights on the island (I was only going to stay two or three, it's that sort of place!), Mel and I left together for Kuala Lumpur where we would room together again for three nights. It was really nice to have a travel buddy on the nine-hour bus ride, plus she had been to KL before so took me straight to a really funky guest house where we split a room. Our first evening in KL we went shopping (me window, Mel actual) for counterfeit sunglasses and whatnot, then had the little fish eat our feet, followed by a visit to the local Reggae Bar (Southeast Asians looooove reggae for some reason- have seriously been to a bar called 'Reggae Bar' in every SE Asian country!) where we met some fellow travelers and even ran into a friend from the Perhentians- who used to work with a woman that I used to work with in San Francisco. Small world!
The next day Mel wanted to continue shopping for gifts, so I happily joined her for a wander around some of the massive shopping centers in downtown KL. I mean, these places were unreal- absolutely GIGANTIC. Some were 10 stories high, just jam-packed with shops. One even housed a full theme park. They were also all chock-a-block with people. I guess there's not much to do in KL! Still, it was nice to look around and window shop, given my teeny tiny budget. ('Oh, really Susie?' I hear you- or my conscience- say...'What about the sandals, watch and two pairs of sunglasses you bought?' Oh, er, well, those were so cheap it doesn't count, or, something...)
On our last day in KL we did some more window shopping (for real, this time!) and in the evening went to the see the Petronas towers- those huge twin structures connected by a sky bridge. They look fantastic all lit up at night, and Mel and I got some good snaps before heading back to the hostel for bed.
The following morning Mel left early for China (still miss you girl- had so much fun!), and I got up later to catch the bus to Melaka. It's only a two-hour ride so I got there in the mid-afternoon, found somewhere to sleep and had a rest, grabbed some dinner and then went to listen to a live cover band in a local bar. There I met Robin and John, two buddies from England travelling around Malaysia together for a couple of weeks. After a couple of beers with them, we made plans to go sightseeing the next day and I was to meet them at about 10 in the morning.
Melaka is a lovely little city- very easy to walk around with lots of cute little streets and shops. It's had a long history of being ruled by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the Brits, then the Dutch again, etc. There's a fort (phew!) and a lovely old church on top of a hill with great views, but what was really good fun was a visit to the 'beauty museum' which we stumbled across. It's basically a detailed look at fashion and various beauty rituals from around the world: the corset, tattoos, those massive African lip plates, body piercing, etc. Very very interesting! We also went for a mosey along the river, where some university students were doing a canoe relay for 100 hours to break the record currently in the Malaysian Book of Records! We hollered at them (nicely!) for a while to cheer them on, and then sat down for a rest and a nutritious lunch of Pringles and fruit. The boys also wanted to stop for a cendol, a local treat of ice-cream, noodles, beans, shaved ice, green stuff, pink stuff, what-the-hell-is-that stuff...I wasn't really a fan, but Robin and John loved these things! After that I persuaded them that they HAD to try to fish foot-eating thing, so I dragged them to a local spa. And yep, they loved it, plus I got to do it for the third time. Such fun!
In the evening we met back up for dinner at one of Melaka's most famous restaurants, Capitol Satay. While waiting for a table we picked up another English guy and two English girls and we all sat together. Everyone sits around a metal table that has a big vat of burning hot oil and other stuff (it honestly looked like they put coffee grounds, washing powder and Ovaltine in there). Everyone chooses things on sticks to cook in it- it's essentially Malaysian fondue! It was really good fun cooking everything up and then trying to figure out what I was actually eating as nothing was labeled. At the end, the waitress counts everyone skewers and you pay for as many as you had. I was stuffed for about $5! The new and improved gang then walked back to our hostel for some beers (purchased from the fridge in the living room of a 900-year-old Chinese man in his underwear- brilliant!) and to hang out with a group of crazy German travelers and swap wild SE Asian travel stories.
The following day I was back on my lonesome, but had a lovely day doing a little gift shopping and visiting some other sites. I popped into the Heeren House, an old Dutch shop/home that's been renovated to look as it would have 200 years ago. I was the only visitor, and after a look around sat down with the gentleman who runs it- Colin. He must be about 70, has lived in Melaka his whole life and is an absolute history buff. I essentially got an hour-long, one-on-one history lesson from him. It was fantastic and I learned a ton.
In the evening I went with a girl from my hostel, Saima, to Jonker Street, just parallel to where we were staying. Every Thursday and Friday the street becomes a night market- all the stores bring goods out onto the streets and food hawkers set up lots of stalls of yummy stuff. We had a wander and Saima bought some gifts for her family, and after a snack of tornado potatoes (aaaamazing- basically a potato is sliced into a coil, pulled down a skewer and fried. YUM) we watched the famous ninja 'coconut man' break open a solid coconut with his index finger! And that was one crooked and messed up finger, lemme tell you! After that spectacle we wandered some more, ate some more and generally rambled about before heading back to our hostel. Saima was headed home to England after nine months of travelling, and I was bound for Singapore the next day, where I got an amazing break from this backpacking life! As always, stay tuned..
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Too much Pad Thai(land)
Ah, pad thai, that most delicious of dishes, those most noodley of noodles... Well folks, let it be known: it IS possible to eat too much of this fabulous stuff! I literally had it for almost every meal for the two weeks I was in Thailand, and I MIGHT be OK if I never see it again!
I arrived in Bangkok from Mumbai very early in the morning and with no idea where I was going to stay. However, after India, Thailand seemed the very height of civilization- not a cow, goat or chicken in sight- and it was easy to get a cab and have the driver take me to the backpacker mecca of the Khao San Road. Once there, I stumbled about for a bit in an exhausted haze until I found a decent place called New Joe's Guesthouse and promptly passed out.
After my nap, I roused myself for a walk down Khao San to find some food, drink, and hopefully some friends. I was successful in all areas, meeting some lovely fellas from London and a nice girl from somewhere in England and a bunch of her buddies. I had a nice time with them, but after some pad thai (surprise!) and a few Tiger beers, I was once again very weary and had to call it an early night.
The next morning I slept very late- I couldn't figure out why I was SO tired, but I think now that I hadn't realized just how exhausting India had been and I was getting over it! Once up, I had a late breakfast and a walk down the Khao San to find a new cheap bag. It's an insane place, the Khao San Road. Absolutely jam-packed with bars, restaurants, hostels, massage parlors, 7-11s, people selling cheap clothes and hawking bootleg DVDs and electronics, taxi and rickshaw drivers shouting at every passing backpacker and so on. After spending all of $3 on a new cloth bag (which started to fall apart within 24 hours), I decided to take advantage of a ridiculously cheap manicure, pedicure and massage. It took two hours for all that and cost me a whopping $15. Brilliant.
In the evening I took myself out for dinner and a drink. On my way out I ran into Jade and Alan, the couple I had met at Benson's homestay in India, and we made plans to meet up the next day as they were exhausted from their journey from Mumbai earlier that day. Out at the bar, I met up with the English girl and her friends again and went with them to a bar with a fantastic live cover band- it was amazing to hear local Thais singing classic tunes in English so well!
The next morning I went to meet Jade and Alan, but was either confused about the time or the place, as I couldn't find them. Instead I went out for breakfast and then made plans to meet up with Faine, the girl from Sacramento that I met in Haridwar, India, just before the horrible sickness ordeal happened! I took the metro (clean, easy, no one staring at me!) to meet her in the centre of Bangkok and we went out for a fabulous meal at a local restaurant she had read about. We had all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff and it was great to be the only Westerners in the joint. We then went for a ramble around the famous night market, where every sort of counterfeit product is on offer, right down to fake Calvin Klein underwear! Next we hopped a cab back to Khao San for a few drinks, and met two guys from England, Henry and Adam, who were just starting an eight-month trip together. I hit up a local club with them after Faine went home, where I ran into my friends from the night before, and after same late-night pad thai (shocker!), called it a night.
The next day was again fairly uneventful- I was still quite tired from my travels a couple of days before and my recent late nights, plus the rain was torrential! I did manage to get the next legs of my trip planned- a bus to Chiang Mai for a trek, and then a flight down to Phuket to meet up with my buds Dan and Jen White, who have recently moved to Singapore from Cali.
That evening I went to bed quite early to catch up on some sleep, but alas my plans were foiled as when on the verge of slumber, the most almighty crash roused me from my bed! At first I thought someone was breaking into the room, but then I realized the sound was coming from the bathroom. I went and peeked round the door, only to see that the ENTIRE bathroom ceiling had caved in due to the rain. Thank God I hadn't been sitting on the loo at the time, as I'd probably be dead or have a broken neck at least! Now wide awake, I took some photos of the destruction and walked down the five flights of stairs to the reception to show them what had happened. Luckily they were kind enough to give me another room just across the hall, but it meant moving all my stuff over in the middle of the night, upping the tiredness factor!
The next morning the rain was still crashing down, but I decided that I absolutely HAD to get out and do some sightseeing before my 6pm bus to Chiang Mai. I took a stroll down to the waterfront and found myself a small fort to look at, though fort expert that I now am, I was quite unimpressed! I then went to a lovely temple, where I learned that it was Buddha Day, or something, so all local cabs and rickshaws were half price. EVERY other person I came across on the street wanted me to know this, and were absolutely beside themselves with disbelief each time I explained that I actually preferred to walk. "But, taxi cheap today, miss. Special day, no expensive. You take taxi." No, no thank you, I'd say, I like to walk, I'm trying to get exercise, and then I'd do what I'm sure is the international sign for exercise, the Running Man.
I rambled along some more, snapping pics of various temples and palaces, before it was time to go back to Khao San and hit 7-11 for some snacks. The clothes I'd been wearing all day were wet with both sweat and rain, and I did not want to sit for 12 hours on a bus in them, so I did the obvious thing- bought some baby wipes and new t-shirt, wiped myself down in a hotel bathroom, changed and threw the dirty t-shirt in the bin. Sorted.
I then went back to my guesthouse to wait for the bus, and there I met Scott from England. He was at the end of a year-long journey around the world, and being that we were both on a tight budget, we decided to split some accommodation together when we got to Chiang Mai.
The bus ride was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Chiang Mai at about 7am. We found a decent room where I slept for about four hours, and then Scott and I went to investigate the various trekking packages on offer. After a bit of research, we found a good two-day/one-night trek for about $40, so we booked that and then wandered around the city of Chiang Mai a bit. That evening we went out for dinner and a drink, and lo and behold, who should walk into the bar but Jade and Alan! Woo hoo! I was so happy because I thought I had lost them for good! They ended up getting on well with Scott and made plans with him for the full moon party (sorry folks, judge me if you want to but I just wasn't interested in it!) and I was pleased to have introduced some new friends!
The next morning we were up early for our trek. We packed small backpacks and left our massive ones at the hotel, and then hopped in a van with the rest of our crew, which randomly included some people I'd met in Bangkok- a few of the English girl's friends! Our first stop was an orchid farm, which was beautiful, followed by a visit to a snake farm, which was insane. These crazy old Thai dudes put on a show for us, and were literally kissing cobras and letting boa constrictors strangle them. Nutty! Afterwards we went to a local market where I bought a massive bag of delicious lychees for a dollar, and then we went to see a longneck hill tribe. These are the folks whose women stretch their necks out with gold rings- they add one each year. I later learned that their necks don't actually stretch, but the rings push their shoulders and rib cages down, so they're actually compressing their upper halves.
We then had lunch, after which we set off for the first part of the actual trek, a two and a half hour hike up to a hill village. It was quite a challenge in the heat, but was so worth it once we arrived in the village and could shower and relax. We stayed in a large wooden hut on stilts with incredible views. We had a lovely dinner of curry and rice, and then sat around in candlelight chatting, joking and hanging out. Everyone was exhausted from the hike, so it was fairly early when we all (about 16 of us) went into the big dorm room- just two long rows of mattresses on the floor, covered with mosquito nets- and went to sleep! It began to pour with rain, and we all dozed off with the sound of it hammering on the wooden roof- really lovely!
We all slept surprisingly well, and the next morning the group split as some people were doing two nights. Those of us that weren't- including me, Scott, and two sisters from New York, Christina and Dina- set out for a two-hour hike to a beautiful waterfall where we had a swim in the freezing cold water, which felt great after our sweaty walk!
After drying off, we continued our hike to the elephant camp, where we had lunch and took an elephant ride. I actually didn't enjoy this very much. The little seats on top of the elephant's back were very uncomfortable, and I didn't like the guys working at the camp hitting and poking the ellie to get him to walk. It was fun to feed him bananas though. Scott and mine's elephant was a real muncher, and we called him Chubby Charlie because he wouldn't go one step without a banana first!
Next it was time for white-water rafting, which I've never done. I was actually a bit scared, being that I'm so NOT a water person, but it was actually seriously good fun and real laugh. I WAS a bit afraid for my life as we bounced around massive rocks and sailed down sharp drops, but we survived and had a blast. Then we switched boats onto bamboo rafts, and I had a go at steering ours along.
After that, our trek was over, and once back on land I peeled off my disgusting clothes and threw them away. Yuck! We bussed it back to Chiang Mai, and I then set out for the airport for my flight to Phuket where I was to meet the Whites! It turned out that Christina and Dina were on the same flight, so I got to hang out with them for a while at the airport which was nice!
The flight was delayed, but I met up with Dan and Jen just after midnight, and we caught a shuttle bus to a hotel that Dan had booked just for the night, as our plan was to go to Ko Phi Phi. The hotel wheeled a spare bed into their room for me, and the next morning after breakfast we went down to the jetty to get the two-hour ferry to Ko Phi Phi. It's the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed, and it really is beautiful. It was also extremely badly damaged by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, though much has been rebuilt. Once we arrived we had lunch and took a long boat over to Long Beach, which is slightly more relaxed than the fairly rowdy Ko Phi Phi town. Dan and Jen chose a room, and I traipsed up and down the beach looking for a good deal. I ended up in the same place as them as it was the best value for money, and once we were all settled we met up and all got massages on the beach, followed by dinner and some drinks.
(A note on how I know Dan, in case this seems random: We used to work together at my first PR agency. He still works for the company, and was transferred by them to Singapore earlier this year, making travel in SE Asia very easy for him and his brilliant wife, Jen. This little jaunt in Thailand was not the last I saw of them!)
The next day after breakfast and some chilling on the beach, we hiked through the woods into town for lunch and a bit of shopping. Jen and I did the fish massage, where tiny little fish eat the dead skin off your feet! SUCH a weird and ticklish sensation at first, but you get used to it and it's really funny to see hundreds of little fish sucking at your legs! That evening we each had another massage and then walked down Long Beach to find somewhere for dinner. We found a good place with decent music and some fire dancers- more on them later!
The following morning we got up early to see if we could go on a snorkeling trip, but it was too windy and so we had to postpone until the afternoon to see if the weather would improve. Luckily, it did, and at around 2pm we set off in a speed boat to visit some snorkeling spots and various beaches. One of our stops was Monkey Beach, where visitors can feed the monkeys snacks and things. They even drink Coke right from the bottle. It was amusing, if a bit sad, and I was enjoying it until I made the big mistake of sitting on the monkey swing! They are VERY territorial, apparently, and suddenly three monkeys attacked me from behind! One gave me a nasty scratch on my shoulder which started to bleed. My first thought was, uh-oh, rabies! Even though I'm vaccinated, many times if someone is scratched or bitten by an animal, they need follow up shots. Nothing I could do at the time though, so we carried on with the trip. We visited a beautiful lagoon where the water was absolutely bright blue and clear, surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. Then we went to Maya Beach, which is ACTUALLY where 'The Beach' was filmed. It was fantastic and we hung out there for a while and paddled in the water and took some snaps. We had one more snorkeling stop before being dropped off in Ko Phi Phi town and hiking back to Long Beach. That evening we decided to go back to the restaurant with the fire dancers, and after dinner we went to sit close to them so we could see better. Um, probably a bad idea. We met two other travelers from England, Steve and Chris, and while chatting with them, suddenly there was a wall of fire in front of my face and I screamed at the top of my lungs! I actually thought I was on fire. A second or so later, once I was oriented again, I looked down to see one of the firey batons at my feet and one of the fire dancer dudes running over to get it and mumbling a vague apology. It seems that the fire dancer let go of the baton, and it flew past Jenny, hit Dan on the head burning his face in two places and singeing his eyelashes, then flew to me and whacked me, burning my arm. Crazy! We managed to get a free whiskey (served in a wine glass?) out of it for Dan, but otherwise the proprietors of the bar seemed unfazed by this episode. Moral of the story: don't hang out near rookie fire dancers- try to get some credentials or something!
The next day Dan and Jen got ready to leave, but first we stopped by the Ko Phi Phi hospital to get my monkey scratch checked on. They cleaned it properly and let me know that my vaccination from the US should still cover me, and not to worry. I asked what symptoms I should be looking out for, just in case, and the nurse said, "Headaches and confusion." Oh, really? Because that's me every day! Still, nothing serious has come up yet, so I think I'm all right!
After the Whites left, I spent the rest of the day moseying about and getting massages and things. I decided to stay two more nights, and the following couple of days were more of the same, except I couldn't really hang on the beach because the weather was terrible. My next stop was Krabi, and after two days on Phi Phi I hopped on the ferry over- very bouncy and uncomfortable- and found a decent place to stay in the city. My plan had been to go from there to Rai Lay beach which is supposed to be incredible, but surprise surprise, the weather was too bad! I therefore spent two days in Krabi wandering around, getting some errands done, strolling along the river and resting up. It's not a very exciting place- people really just stop off there on the way to other fantastic beaches and to go rock-climbing. On my second day, however, I saw something very strange: it must have been some coming-of-age event or holy day or something, because walking along the street I suddenly heard lots of firecrackers, and looked up to see a parade coming towards me. Many of the people walking along, both men and women, had metal spikes, knives and barbed wire rammed through their cheeks on both sides, and were absolutely pouring out blood. Several of them looked so pale and wobbly they could barely walk. Others were running alongside them, pouring water on the wounds to wash away the blood. It was insane- I still haven't been able to find out the purpose of this, and I was a bit shaken by it yet couldn't tear my eyes away until they'd all walked past. I also had to take some photos, as it was such a bizarre scene I wanted some photographic evidence to help me explain it!
My second evening in Krabi I met three crazy English/Irish dudes, and ended up staying out way too late with them, drinking the 'buckets' that Thailand is famous for (basically disgusting cocktails served in, you guessed it, buckets!) and playing pool with crazy locals. This was repeated for a second night in a row, and then it was time to get out of there. As is the privilege of the solo traveler, I could decide exactly where I wanted to go next and when, so I made plans to head to Malaysia. The guy who owned my guesthouse, Rek, organized a cheap bus ticket for me to Pulau Penang, from whence I would begin two fabulous weeks in Malaysia. Really loved that place, so stay tuned for those adventures...
I arrived in Bangkok from Mumbai very early in the morning and with no idea where I was going to stay. However, after India, Thailand seemed the very height of civilization- not a cow, goat or chicken in sight- and it was easy to get a cab and have the driver take me to the backpacker mecca of the Khao San Road. Once there, I stumbled about for a bit in an exhausted haze until I found a decent place called New Joe's Guesthouse and promptly passed out.
After my nap, I roused myself for a walk down Khao San to find some food, drink, and hopefully some friends. I was successful in all areas, meeting some lovely fellas from London and a nice girl from somewhere in England and a bunch of her buddies. I had a nice time with them, but after some pad thai (surprise!) and a few Tiger beers, I was once again very weary and had to call it an early night.
The next morning I slept very late- I couldn't figure out why I was SO tired, but I think now that I hadn't realized just how exhausting India had been and I was getting over it! Once up, I had a late breakfast and a walk down the Khao San to find a new cheap bag. It's an insane place, the Khao San Road. Absolutely jam-packed with bars, restaurants, hostels, massage parlors, 7-11s, people selling cheap clothes and hawking bootleg DVDs and electronics, taxi and rickshaw drivers shouting at every passing backpacker and so on. After spending all of $3 on a new cloth bag (which started to fall apart within 24 hours), I decided to take advantage of a ridiculously cheap manicure, pedicure and massage. It took two hours for all that and cost me a whopping $15. Brilliant.
In the evening I took myself out for dinner and a drink. On my way out I ran into Jade and Alan, the couple I had met at Benson's homestay in India, and we made plans to meet up the next day as they were exhausted from their journey from Mumbai earlier that day. Out at the bar, I met up with the English girl and her friends again and went with them to a bar with a fantastic live cover band- it was amazing to hear local Thais singing classic tunes in English so well!
The next morning I went to meet Jade and Alan, but was either confused about the time or the place, as I couldn't find them. Instead I went out for breakfast and then made plans to meet up with Faine, the girl from Sacramento that I met in Haridwar, India, just before the horrible sickness ordeal happened! I took the metro (clean, easy, no one staring at me!) to meet her in the centre of Bangkok and we went out for a fabulous meal at a local restaurant she had read about. We had all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff and it was great to be the only Westerners in the joint. We then went for a ramble around the famous night market, where every sort of counterfeit product is on offer, right down to fake Calvin Klein underwear! Next we hopped a cab back to Khao San for a few drinks, and met two guys from England, Henry and Adam, who were just starting an eight-month trip together. I hit up a local club with them after Faine went home, where I ran into my friends from the night before, and after same late-night pad thai (shocker!), called it a night.
The next day was again fairly uneventful- I was still quite tired from my travels a couple of days before and my recent late nights, plus the rain was torrential! I did manage to get the next legs of my trip planned- a bus to Chiang Mai for a trek, and then a flight down to Phuket to meet up with my buds Dan and Jen White, who have recently moved to Singapore from Cali.
That evening I went to bed quite early to catch up on some sleep, but alas my plans were foiled as when on the verge of slumber, the most almighty crash roused me from my bed! At first I thought someone was breaking into the room, but then I realized the sound was coming from the bathroom. I went and peeked round the door, only to see that the ENTIRE bathroom ceiling had caved in due to the rain. Thank God I hadn't been sitting on the loo at the time, as I'd probably be dead or have a broken neck at least! Now wide awake, I took some photos of the destruction and walked down the five flights of stairs to the reception to show them what had happened. Luckily they were kind enough to give me another room just across the hall, but it meant moving all my stuff over in the middle of the night, upping the tiredness factor!
The next morning the rain was still crashing down, but I decided that I absolutely HAD to get out and do some sightseeing before my 6pm bus to Chiang Mai. I took a stroll down to the waterfront and found myself a small fort to look at, though fort expert that I now am, I was quite unimpressed! I then went to a lovely temple, where I learned that it was Buddha Day, or something, so all local cabs and rickshaws were half price. EVERY other person I came across on the street wanted me to know this, and were absolutely beside themselves with disbelief each time I explained that I actually preferred to walk. "But, taxi cheap today, miss. Special day, no expensive. You take taxi." No, no thank you, I'd say, I like to walk, I'm trying to get exercise, and then I'd do what I'm sure is the international sign for exercise, the Running Man.
I rambled along some more, snapping pics of various temples and palaces, before it was time to go back to Khao San and hit 7-11 for some snacks. The clothes I'd been wearing all day were wet with both sweat and rain, and I did not want to sit for 12 hours on a bus in them, so I did the obvious thing- bought some baby wipes and new t-shirt, wiped myself down in a hotel bathroom, changed and threw the dirty t-shirt in the bin. Sorted.
I then went back to my guesthouse to wait for the bus, and there I met Scott from England. He was at the end of a year-long journey around the world, and being that we were both on a tight budget, we decided to split some accommodation together when we got to Chiang Mai.
The bus ride was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Chiang Mai at about 7am. We found a decent room where I slept for about four hours, and then Scott and I went to investigate the various trekking packages on offer. After a bit of research, we found a good two-day/one-night trek for about $40, so we booked that and then wandered around the city of Chiang Mai a bit. That evening we went out for dinner and a drink, and lo and behold, who should walk into the bar but Jade and Alan! Woo hoo! I was so happy because I thought I had lost them for good! They ended up getting on well with Scott and made plans with him for the full moon party (sorry folks, judge me if you want to but I just wasn't interested in it!) and I was pleased to have introduced some new friends!
The next morning we were up early for our trek. We packed small backpacks and left our massive ones at the hotel, and then hopped in a van with the rest of our crew, which randomly included some people I'd met in Bangkok- a few of the English girl's friends! Our first stop was an orchid farm, which was beautiful, followed by a visit to a snake farm, which was insane. These crazy old Thai dudes put on a show for us, and were literally kissing cobras and letting boa constrictors strangle them. Nutty! Afterwards we went to a local market where I bought a massive bag of delicious lychees for a dollar, and then we went to see a longneck hill tribe. These are the folks whose women stretch their necks out with gold rings- they add one each year. I later learned that their necks don't actually stretch, but the rings push their shoulders and rib cages down, so they're actually compressing their upper halves.
We then had lunch, after which we set off for the first part of the actual trek, a two and a half hour hike up to a hill village. It was quite a challenge in the heat, but was so worth it once we arrived in the village and could shower and relax. We stayed in a large wooden hut on stilts with incredible views. We had a lovely dinner of curry and rice, and then sat around in candlelight chatting, joking and hanging out. Everyone was exhausted from the hike, so it was fairly early when we all (about 16 of us) went into the big dorm room- just two long rows of mattresses on the floor, covered with mosquito nets- and went to sleep! It began to pour with rain, and we all dozed off with the sound of it hammering on the wooden roof- really lovely!
We all slept surprisingly well, and the next morning the group split as some people were doing two nights. Those of us that weren't- including me, Scott, and two sisters from New York, Christina and Dina- set out for a two-hour hike to a beautiful waterfall where we had a swim in the freezing cold water, which felt great after our sweaty walk!
After drying off, we continued our hike to the elephant camp, where we had lunch and took an elephant ride. I actually didn't enjoy this very much. The little seats on top of the elephant's back were very uncomfortable, and I didn't like the guys working at the camp hitting and poking the ellie to get him to walk. It was fun to feed him bananas though. Scott and mine's elephant was a real muncher, and we called him Chubby Charlie because he wouldn't go one step without a banana first!
Next it was time for white-water rafting, which I've never done. I was actually a bit scared, being that I'm so NOT a water person, but it was actually seriously good fun and real laugh. I WAS a bit afraid for my life as we bounced around massive rocks and sailed down sharp drops, but we survived and had a blast. Then we switched boats onto bamboo rafts, and I had a go at steering ours along.
After that, our trek was over, and once back on land I peeled off my disgusting clothes and threw them away. Yuck! We bussed it back to Chiang Mai, and I then set out for the airport for my flight to Phuket where I was to meet the Whites! It turned out that Christina and Dina were on the same flight, so I got to hang out with them for a while at the airport which was nice!
The flight was delayed, but I met up with Dan and Jen just after midnight, and we caught a shuttle bus to a hotel that Dan had booked just for the night, as our plan was to go to Ko Phi Phi. The hotel wheeled a spare bed into their room for me, and the next morning after breakfast we went down to the jetty to get the two-hour ferry to Ko Phi Phi. It's the island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed, and it really is beautiful. It was also extremely badly damaged by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, though much has been rebuilt. Once we arrived we had lunch and took a long boat over to Long Beach, which is slightly more relaxed than the fairly rowdy Ko Phi Phi town. Dan and Jen chose a room, and I traipsed up and down the beach looking for a good deal. I ended up in the same place as them as it was the best value for money, and once we were all settled we met up and all got massages on the beach, followed by dinner and some drinks.
(A note on how I know Dan, in case this seems random: We used to work together at my first PR agency. He still works for the company, and was transferred by them to Singapore earlier this year, making travel in SE Asia very easy for him and his brilliant wife, Jen. This little jaunt in Thailand was not the last I saw of them!)
The next day after breakfast and some chilling on the beach, we hiked through the woods into town for lunch and a bit of shopping. Jen and I did the fish massage, where tiny little fish eat the dead skin off your feet! SUCH a weird and ticklish sensation at first, but you get used to it and it's really funny to see hundreds of little fish sucking at your legs! That evening we each had another massage and then walked down Long Beach to find somewhere for dinner. We found a good place with decent music and some fire dancers- more on them later!
The following morning we got up early to see if we could go on a snorkeling trip, but it was too windy and so we had to postpone until the afternoon to see if the weather would improve. Luckily, it did, and at around 2pm we set off in a speed boat to visit some snorkeling spots and various beaches. One of our stops was Monkey Beach, where visitors can feed the monkeys snacks and things. They even drink Coke right from the bottle. It was amusing, if a bit sad, and I was enjoying it until I made the big mistake of sitting on the monkey swing! They are VERY territorial, apparently, and suddenly three monkeys attacked me from behind! One gave me a nasty scratch on my shoulder which started to bleed. My first thought was, uh-oh, rabies! Even though I'm vaccinated, many times if someone is scratched or bitten by an animal, they need follow up shots. Nothing I could do at the time though, so we carried on with the trip. We visited a beautiful lagoon where the water was absolutely bright blue and clear, surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. Then we went to Maya Beach, which is ACTUALLY where 'The Beach' was filmed. It was fantastic and we hung out there for a while and paddled in the water and took some snaps. We had one more snorkeling stop before being dropped off in Ko Phi Phi town and hiking back to Long Beach. That evening we decided to go back to the restaurant with the fire dancers, and after dinner we went to sit close to them so we could see better. Um, probably a bad idea. We met two other travelers from England, Steve and Chris, and while chatting with them, suddenly there was a wall of fire in front of my face and I screamed at the top of my lungs! I actually thought I was on fire. A second or so later, once I was oriented again, I looked down to see one of the firey batons at my feet and one of the fire dancer dudes running over to get it and mumbling a vague apology. It seems that the fire dancer let go of the baton, and it flew past Jenny, hit Dan on the head burning his face in two places and singeing his eyelashes, then flew to me and whacked me, burning my arm. Crazy! We managed to get a free whiskey (served in a wine glass?) out of it for Dan, but otherwise the proprietors of the bar seemed unfazed by this episode. Moral of the story: don't hang out near rookie fire dancers- try to get some credentials or something!
The next day Dan and Jen got ready to leave, but first we stopped by the Ko Phi Phi hospital to get my monkey scratch checked on. They cleaned it properly and let me know that my vaccination from the US should still cover me, and not to worry. I asked what symptoms I should be looking out for, just in case, and the nurse said, "Headaches and confusion." Oh, really? Because that's me every day! Still, nothing serious has come up yet, so I think I'm all right!
After the Whites left, I spent the rest of the day moseying about and getting massages and things. I decided to stay two more nights, and the following couple of days were more of the same, except I couldn't really hang on the beach because the weather was terrible. My next stop was Krabi, and after two days on Phi Phi I hopped on the ferry over- very bouncy and uncomfortable- and found a decent place to stay in the city. My plan had been to go from there to Rai Lay beach which is supposed to be incredible, but surprise surprise, the weather was too bad! I therefore spent two days in Krabi wandering around, getting some errands done, strolling along the river and resting up. It's not a very exciting place- people really just stop off there on the way to other fantastic beaches and to go rock-climbing. On my second day, however, I saw something very strange: it must have been some coming-of-age event or holy day or something, because walking along the street I suddenly heard lots of firecrackers, and looked up to see a parade coming towards me. Many of the people walking along, both men and women, had metal spikes, knives and barbed wire rammed through their cheeks on both sides, and were absolutely pouring out blood. Several of them looked so pale and wobbly they could barely walk. Others were running alongside them, pouring water on the wounds to wash away the blood. It was insane- I still haven't been able to find out the purpose of this, and I was a bit shaken by it yet couldn't tear my eyes away until they'd all walked past. I also had to take some photos, as it was such a bizarre scene I wanted some photographic evidence to help me explain it!
My second evening in Krabi I met three crazy English/Irish dudes, and ended up staying out way too late with them, drinking the 'buckets' that Thailand is famous for (basically disgusting cocktails served in, you guessed it, buckets!) and playing pool with crazy locals. This was repeated for a second night in a row, and then it was time to get out of there. As is the privilege of the solo traveler, I could decide exactly where I wanted to go next and when, so I made plans to head to Malaysia. The guy who owned my guesthouse, Rek, organized a cheap bus ticket for me to Pulau Penang, from whence I would begin two fabulous weeks in Malaysia. Really loved that place, so stay tuned for those adventures...
Thursday, October 14, 2010
India: The saga continues
So, where were we? Ah yes. After recovering from my ailment, I hopped a SpiceJet flight down to Fort Cochin in the state of Kerala. Wow, WHAT a difference to the north! It was just much...quieter. Don't get me wrong it was still India and dodging cows and rickshaws or whatnot is all part of the game but it wasn't Delhi, let's put it that way.
Anyway, a driver was waiting for me at the airport to take me to Costa Gama Homestay run by Benson, an accountant, and his wife who's a teacher. What super lovely amazing people! They were extremely concerned about my health and wanted to make sure I was happy and comfortable and well fed. Once checked in, they sent me downstairs to my room in the home of Trevor and Fiona, the couple who rent Benson the space to run the homestay. More lovely people! They too sat me down in the living room and brought tea and suggested all sorts of remedies for my lingering cough. After a nice chat with them I took myself out to supper down the road, and then promptly fell into bed for a good 12 hours!
The next day I planned to do a bit sightseeing of Cochin, but alas the rain was torrential, so I had to sit inside and read- plus there was no way Trevor was letting me out in that weather, vigilant as he was about my recent illness! Eventually it eased off and I set off with a borrowed umbrella to see various churches and whatnot. There's a huge Catholic influence in the south of India due to the arrival of the Portuguese to Goa in the 1500s. I had a lovely walk, including a peaceful rest in St. Francis church. Although raised Catholic, I'm not really sure where I stand on religion- my own or others- but I have to say that when one is feeling a bit lonely and/or homesick, something familiar can do wonders and, well, a church is a very familiar place to me! It was like a spiritual Starbucks!
After that I hauled myself to the Internet cafe for a much-needed blogging session and took myself out to supper again down the road from Costa Gama. Afterwards I had a chat with Benson about what he suggested I do next. He was very keen that I take a backwaters trip around the Kerala waterways so I planned that for the next day. I was up early for the shuttle bus, and we (about 20 people) were taken aboard a rice boat for a leisurely cruise around the canals. It was gorgeous and unbelieveably peaceful. The boat has no engine, so it just floats along, guided by a man with a stick. I promptly fell asleep, rocking to and fro'! We stopped along the way twice to learn about some of the cottage industries of the area- a limestone factory (I'm still vague on this, something to do with shells, not ACTUAL limestone?) and a coconut rope factory. By factory I mean, mud hut and one piece of makeshift machinery, but hey. We stopped one more time for a delicious lunch served on a banana leaf, and I had a lovely chat with two French girls on holiday for the week as they're studying for a year in Delhi (may the force be with them!). Afterwards it was more floating, more napping, more picture-snapping. Lovely day.
In the late afternoon I was dropped back off at the homestay and Trevor and Fiona immediately sat me down to hear all about my day ("Well, I slept a lot...) and before long I was hearing all about their son and daughter (who's in PR!) who both live in Mumbai and looking through the latter's wedding album from the year before- Trevor and Fiona are Catholic so it was a traditional (well, to me) white wedding. Trevor then told me that their 26-year-old son was having girlfriend problems, and wanted Fiona to come and visit and sort it out. They were soon on the phone with both children and at one point Trevor said to his daughter, "Don't worry, Mummy's coming!" Mummy's coming! Oh my goodness I would have given a lot to hear someone say that to ME- you know all is well in the world if your mum is on the way! It was lovely to spend that short time living a bit of family life and I'm really grateful to Trevor and Fiona for their kindness to me.
Later that evening I went to see Benson to pay for my stay and sort out the final details for my trip to Munnar and then ongoing journey to Goa. While waiting for him, I met Jade and Alan, a lovely English couple just starting an eight-month journey together. Turns out they would be arriving in Bangkok the same day as me- great, more friends in SE Asia! More on that in an upcoming post...
The next morning I was up at five to catch my rickshaw to the bus station for the four-hour journey to the tea fields of Munnar. I was planning on the 6:30am luxury express bus. Yes, well. If 'luxury' means a bus with absolutely no suspension, crammed full of about 900 people and with no windows (well, there was no glass or anything), then yes, it was extremely luxurious. My goodness- by the time we were bouncing along the twisty mountain roads of Munnar, I was not only about to vomit on everyone, but I had to use ALL my body strength to stay in the seat and not fly out the window. I had to wedge a foot on each side of the bar under the seat in front so that I didn't completely slide either into the aisle or through the window every time we turned, and I had to push upwards on the top bar of the seat in front so that I didn't fly through the roof over every bump. Nightmare- but a decent workout!
Munnar really was spectacular though- rolling hills and mountains of lush green tea plants in every direction. I found the guest house Benson had booked for me, run by a lovely guy called Deepak, and settled in for a rest after my early start. Later on I took myself out for lunch and a walk, and later out to supper where I met some nice Israelis who gave me tips on other parts of India, SE Asia etc. I went to bed fairly early that night, so as to be well-rested for my trek through the tea fields the next day, which was to prove an epic voyage in itself...
At 6:30am Deepak knocked on my door to tell me the weather was good enough for the trek and to be ready by 7. Once downstairs I met my fellow trekkers- a German couple and an Irish guy and his Polish girlfriend. We set off at 7:30 on a fantastic walk- fabulous views, good weather, good company. I was really enjoying myself, and then suddenly my ankle began to really sting. Figuring it was a bug bite, I looked down to see a massive leech sucking on my leg through my sock! I screamed like a little pansy-pants and reached down to tear it off. Man, that thing got me! It bled a TON and the guide had to give me a big ol' bandage to stop it. I was super paranoid after that and was anxiously looking at my feet the whole rest of the day- probably the reason I slipped and fell down about 17 times over the course of the hike, while no-one else fell once, seriously. Embarrassing.
After the leech episode, we stopped for a snack and a rest...and spotted three wild elephants! It was incredible to watch them wander about and we sat there for quite a while just looking. We then set off for about two more hours of walking, which was when it started to get quite difficult and I started to fall down. A lot. Still, the scenery was fantastic. One minute we were in the jungle, the next in the tea, the next in a valley of sorts. Our next stop was for breakfast (I was confused, but gladly gobbled down the bread and jam) and then we got on with four more hours of walking, again fairly treacherous in some spots. We saw all sorts of crazy bugs and things that we marveled at as we walked along, and occasionally came across the little mud huts of people who live in the forest and they would give us a friendly wave, to which I would generally respond by falling on my ass.
So, we continued to amble along and then, suddenly, it struck- the monsoon. It came CRASHING down (I though I'd seen the worst during ziplining in Jodhpur- no sir, not even close) and we had to run to some makeshift rickety hut thing for shelter while our guide dug out some ponchos and whatnot as none of us was prepared! We waited out the worst (we thought) and then dashed out towards our next destination, where it was rumored lunch would be served (it was 4pm at this point). After a little bit, a rickshaw came along and our guide managed to get all six of us in (seven including the driver- this SHOULD be illegal) and we were dropped off at another guest house in the woods where we were able to dry off (a bit- putting back on wet, blood-stained socks has GOT to be one of the worst feelings in the world) and get a yummy veg lunch/dinner. We hung out there, chatting and relaxing for about two hours, hoping the rain would ease, which it didn't really but eventually we had to get on our way (cue socks), and we set off again in our ponchos towards the main road where we were to catch a bus back to town and our guest house. After ten minutes or so of standing on a pitch black road in the pouring rain, a bumpy, windowless bus came to our rescue and we hopped on. But this was no ordinary bumpy windowless bus, friends. Oh no, this was...wait for it...the Catholic Party Bus! Woo hoo! This was validated by three things: 1) the rockin' Bollywood tunes blasting from the specially installed speakers; 2) the flashing red and green disco lights above the driver and 3) the massive picture of Our Lady looking over the passengers. I have to say, regardless of how I feel about religion and whatnot, I'm very glad the Mother of God was there watching out for us as we careened along mountain roads in the darkness, in a monsoon and crazy fog and in a 50-year-old bus likely not with sound brakes! Eek!
We made it back though, at about 7pm, and I have never, ever, ever been so thrilled for a hot shower, itself a rarity in India (unless you're at the Hyatt, dahling!). After 18 kilometers and massive monsoon action, I was OUT the second my head hit the pillow, feeling like I might never wake again!
I did, though, and the next morning I was up for another hellish bus ride back to Cochin to catch my train to Goa. It was as nightmarish at the first but I managed to keep my breakfast down somehow and arrived in Cochin at about 5pm. Benson came to meet me at the train station to give me my train ticket and then was kind enough to take me out to supper while I waited for my 8pm train. SUCH a great guy! Afterwards I went into the station and while waiting had a chat in broken English with a lovely old lady called Elsie (I think) who wanted to know if I was a Christian and if I was married. I answered yes to both, as I think that's what she wanted to hear!
The first thing I noticed when I got on the train- where I would be for the next 16 hours- were the cockroaches. Lots of them. YUCK! But, what was I to do? I set my bag down and took my seat, hoping I'd be able to find a way to sleep, and shortly another passenger approached me and was urgently trying to tell me something. I didn't really get it, but after a few minutes I realized he was trying to tell me there were RATS on the train and I should keep my feet off the floor. Oh Lord! 'Well,' I thought, 'that's it then, no sleep for me!' However, I couldn't maintain my vigil for that long, and eventually I did fall asleep and was lucky not to see a rat for the duration of my journey!
I arrived in Goa at noon the next day after almost 23 hours of traveling since leaving Munnar. I rickshawed to the bus stop to head down to the beach spot of Palolem and as luck would have it, there on the bus were two lovely English girls, Hannah and Emily, who would be my beach buddies for the next few days! When we got off the bus in Palolem, I joined them in looking for a place to stay- the options being limited as it was still the low season- but we found a decent enough guest house and settled in.
The next few days were spent on the beach, or in a beach cafe when the monsoon hit, or in the Internet cafe, or in the travel agency getting the next leg of my trip to Mumbai sorted. There was much girly chat, beer and wine drinking, hookah-smoking and such- lovely time, thanks so much again girls- such a pleasure! One particular activity involved avoiding getting into conversations with the Indian ladies who traipse up and down the beach trying to sell things. Every conversation begins with, "You have lovely skin, such lovely color, where you from?" and before long it's "Come to my shop, I give good price." There's nothing wrong with this in theory, they're just trying to make money, but I seriously couldn't get through ONE line of my book before I heard "Hello, lovely skin.." Sad thing is, though, some of these ladies had scars on their faces and bodies where they had tried to BLEACH their skin whiter, and there we were, trying our darndest to make our skin darker. Bizarre.
On my last day in Goa I had to get ready for another gut-wrenching (literally) bouncy bus journey back to the main station to catch my overnight sleeper bus to Mumbai. It was all right, but as is India's way, 12 hours soon became 15 and I missed my appointment at the US Consulate to get more pages in my passport, which was entirely full up. Grrr. My first day in Mumbai was therefore uneventful as I was exhausted so I found my hotel, slept, ate and slept again.
The following morning I attempted again to go to the US Consulate, armed with a new appointment time thanks to my friend Dan in Singapore who has mostly been in my time zone lately and therefore able to help me when I'm in a pickle! It was easy enough to drop off my passport with instructions to pick it up the next day, and afterwards I went for a little walkabout in Mumbai and found a shopping mall with AC for some breakfast. Then I caught a taxi to the Gateway of India where I snapped some pics and set off on the walking tour as described by Lonely Planet. Because I am sooo good with maps and things, I was lost almost immediately, but found myself in front of a museum where I overheard a hilarious conversation between a giant balloon seller (don't ask) and two Australians. I just had to join in, and was lucky enough to then meet Gabriel and Rohan from Brisbane with whom I proceeded to spend the rest of the day and night! They were in India because they had just spent 15 days driving auto-rickshaws across the north for charity- they had some INCREDIBLE stories! I abandoned the walking tour and we set off in search of bar because Rohan was in desperate need of a beer and I of air-conditioning. After a nice chat over getting-to-know-you beers, we caught a taxi to a famous antique market in the city, and moseyed around there for a while looking at all sorts of treasures. In the middle of all this, our beers caught up with us and all three suddenly became DESPERATE for the loo. There are something like 17 loos for every 1 million people in Mumbai, so it was a real challenge to find somewhere, but we ended up in a hospital...? At least we could relieve ourselves!
After that adventure, it could only be time for more beers, so we went back to the area of my hotel and had one of those 3-liter beer jug things with a tap that they bring to the table. We called them 'girafs' or something when I studied in France. I had a bit, and then while the boys polished off another 2-liter jug, I dashed across the road to get my glad-rags on for a fancy dinner as it was my last night in India and my new friends were willing to join me. We went to a brilliant place called Indigo and had a super fancy-pants dinner of risottos and duck and tortellini and things, paired with wine and whatnot. After dinner I headed home to bed so as to be up on time for my appointment at the Consulate, where I picked up my newly fattened passport with plenty more room for the numerous visas and stamps I am acquiring!
Afterwards I checked out of my hotel, and then tried to reach my Aussie friends to meet up again, but my phone kept saying Rohan's number was no longer in service (geez, thanks guys), so I gave up and took myself out for the sightseeing I didn't do the day before. The map I had was rubbish, and combined with the fact that I'm rubbish at reading maps, I basically ended up walking around a slum, which was lovely, as you can imagine. Soon enough though, I came across the bus entrance to the famous Victoria station (you know it from Slumdog Millionaire) and walked through it until I could see the impressive building that houses it, now a UNESCO site (check!). After a little wander, I found the post office and thought, ooh, I'll get some stamps now while it's open, and then find some postcards and drop them in a mailbox. Easier said than done! Getting the stamps was easy, but apparently, Mumbai is very modest and doesn't like to sell postcards with pictures of itself on it. WHAT a mission! It too me almost two hours to find some postcards and when I did they were RUBBISH, but I was literally running out of time in India and I'd already bought the stamps, so I had to get them. To the recipients of said cards (Tracy, Kristy and Mike, Steph T), as I wrote, I'm sorry to send you those horrible things clearly printed in 1975, but know my intentions were good!!
After the postcard saga, it was just a few hours until I had to go to the airport for my flight to Bangkok, so I did the obvious thing with my remaining rupees- took myself out for a glass of wine at the eternally posh Taj hotel (that which suffered the horrific terrorist attack in 2008). It was fantastic, and minus a security gate to get in, you wouldn't know such atrocities had taken place. I had a lovely glass of fancy wine and met two MORE Australian guys who had ALSO just done the auto-rickshaw thing across the north of India! Had a lovely chat with them until it was time to pick up my baggage and cab it to the airport.
As I boarded my Air India flight at one o'clock in the morning (which didn't let me down- flight attendants in sarees and 'dinner' served at 2:30am when everyone was asleep), I was genuinely sad to be leaving- India had taken excellent care of me for the past five weeks, and I had really gotten into the rhythm of life there (as much as there is one within the chaos!) and was getting a handle on, well, how to handle it! I will be forever fascinated by the culture, the people, the food, the colors, the smells, and I ASSURE you, Mother India, I will come and see you again. From the very bottom of my most humbled heart, NAMASTE.
Anyway, a driver was waiting for me at the airport to take me to Costa Gama Homestay run by Benson, an accountant, and his wife who's a teacher. What super lovely amazing people! They were extremely concerned about my health and wanted to make sure I was happy and comfortable and well fed. Once checked in, they sent me downstairs to my room in the home of Trevor and Fiona, the couple who rent Benson the space to run the homestay. More lovely people! They too sat me down in the living room and brought tea and suggested all sorts of remedies for my lingering cough. After a nice chat with them I took myself out to supper down the road, and then promptly fell into bed for a good 12 hours!
The next day I planned to do a bit sightseeing of Cochin, but alas the rain was torrential, so I had to sit inside and read- plus there was no way Trevor was letting me out in that weather, vigilant as he was about my recent illness! Eventually it eased off and I set off with a borrowed umbrella to see various churches and whatnot. There's a huge Catholic influence in the south of India due to the arrival of the Portuguese to Goa in the 1500s. I had a lovely walk, including a peaceful rest in St. Francis church. Although raised Catholic, I'm not really sure where I stand on religion- my own or others- but I have to say that when one is feeling a bit lonely and/or homesick, something familiar can do wonders and, well, a church is a very familiar place to me! It was like a spiritual Starbucks!
After that I hauled myself to the Internet cafe for a much-needed blogging session and took myself out to supper again down the road from Costa Gama. Afterwards I had a chat with Benson about what he suggested I do next. He was very keen that I take a backwaters trip around the Kerala waterways so I planned that for the next day. I was up early for the shuttle bus, and we (about 20 people) were taken aboard a rice boat for a leisurely cruise around the canals. It was gorgeous and unbelieveably peaceful. The boat has no engine, so it just floats along, guided by a man with a stick. I promptly fell asleep, rocking to and fro'! We stopped along the way twice to learn about some of the cottage industries of the area- a limestone factory (I'm still vague on this, something to do with shells, not ACTUAL limestone?) and a coconut rope factory. By factory I mean, mud hut and one piece of makeshift machinery, but hey. We stopped one more time for a delicious lunch served on a banana leaf, and I had a lovely chat with two French girls on holiday for the week as they're studying for a year in Delhi (may the force be with them!). Afterwards it was more floating, more napping, more picture-snapping. Lovely day.
In the late afternoon I was dropped back off at the homestay and Trevor and Fiona immediately sat me down to hear all about my day ("Well, I slept a lot...) and before long I was hearing all about their son and daughter (who's in PR!) who both live in Mumbai and looking through the latter's wedding album from the year before- Trevor and Fiona are Catholic so it was a traditional (well, to me) white wedding. Trevor then told me that their 26-year-old son was having girlfriend problems, and wanted Fiona to come and visit and sort it out. They were soon on the phone with both children and at one point Trevor said to his daughter, "Don't worry, Mummy's coming!" Mummy's coming! Oh my goodness I would have given a lot to hear someone say that to ME- you know all is well in the world if your mum is on the way! It was lovely to spend that short time living a bit of family life and I'm really grateful to Trevor and Fiona for their kindness to me.
Later that evening I went to see Benson to pay for my stay and sort out the final details for my trip to Munnar and then ongoing journey to Goa. While waiting for him, I met Jade and Alan, a lovely English couple just starting an eight-month journey together. Turns out they would be arriving in Bangkok the same day as me- great, more friends in SE Asia! More on that in an upcoming post...
The next morning I was up at five to catch my rickshaw to the bus station for the four-hour journey to the tea fields of Munnar. I was planning on the 6:30am luxury express bus. Yes, well. If 'luxury' means a bus with absolutely no suspension, crammed full of about 900 people and with no windows (well, there was no glass or anything), then yes, it was extremely luxurious. My goodness- by the time we were bouncing along the twisty mountain roads of Munnar, I was not only about to vomit on everyone, but I had to use ALL my body strength to stay in the seat and not fly out the window. I had to wedge a foot on each side of the bar under the seat in front so that I didn't completely slide either into the aisle or through the window every time we turned, and I had to push upwards on the top bar of the seat in front so that I didn't fly through the roof over every bump. Nightmare- but a decent workout!
Munnar really was spectacular though- rolling hills and mountains of lush green tea plants in every direction. I found the guest house Benson had booked for me, run by a lovely guy called Deepak, and settled in for a rest after my early start. Later on I took myself out for lunch and a walk, and later out to supper where I met some nice Israelis who gave me tips on other parts of India, SE Asia etc. I went to bed fairly early that night, so as to be well-rested for my trek through the tea fields the next day, which was to prove an epic voyage in itself...
At 6:30am Deepak knocked on my door to tell me the weather was good enough for the trek and to be ready by 7. Once downstairs I met my fellow trekkers- a German couple and an Irish guy and his Polish girlfriend. We set off at 7:30 on a fantastic walk- fabulous views, good weather, good company. I was really enjoying myself, and then suddenly my ankle began to really sting. Figuring it was a bug bite, I looked down to see a massive leech sucking on my leg through my sock! I screamed like a little pansy-pants and reached down to tear it off. Man, that thing got me! It bled a TON and the guide had to give me a big ol' bandage to stop it. I was super paranoid after that and was anxiously looking at my feet the whole rest of the day- probably the reason I slipped and fell down about 17 times over the course of the hike, while no-one else fell once, seriously. Embarrassing.
After the leech episode, we stopped for a snack and a rest...and spotted three wild elephants! It was incredible to watch them wander about and we sat there for quite a while just looking. We then set off for about two more hours of walking, which was when it started to get quite difficult and I started to fall down. A lot. Still, the scenery was fantastic. One minute we were in the jungle, the next in the tea, the next in a valley of sorts. Our next stop was for breakfast (I was confused, but gladly gobbled down the bread and jam) and then we got on with four more hours of walking, again fairly treacherous in some spots. We saw all sorts of crazy bugs and things that we marveled at as we walked along, and occasionally came across the little mud huts of people who live in the forest and they would give us a friendly wave, to which I would generally respond by falling on my ass.
So, we continued to amble along and then, suddenly, it struck- the monsoon. It came CRASHING down (I though I'd seen the worst during ziplining in Jodhpur- no sir, not even close) and we had to run to some makeshift rickety hut thing for shelter while our guide dug out some ponchos and whatnot as none of us was prepared! We waited out the worst (we thought) and then dashed out towards our next destination, where it was rumored lunch would be served (it was 4pm at this point). After a little bit, a rickshaw came along and our guide managed to get all six of us in (seven including the driver- this SHOULD be illegal) and we were dropped off at another guest house in the woods where we were able to dry off (a bit- putting back on wet, blood-stained socks has GOT to be one of the worst feelings in the world) and get a yummy veg lunch/dinner. We hung out there, chatting and relaxing for about two hours, hoping the rain would ease, which it didn't really but eventually we had to get on our way (cue socks), and we set off again in our ponchos towards the main road where we were to catch a bus back to town and our guest house. After ten minutes or so of standing on a pitch black road in the pouring rain, a bumpy, windowless bus came to our rescue and we hopped on. But this was no ordinary bumpy windowless bus, friends. Oh no, this was...wait for it...the Catholic Party Bus! Woo hoo! This was validated by three things: 1) the rockin' Bollywood tunes blasting from the specially installed speakers; 2) the flashing red and green disco lights above the driver and 3) the massive picture of Our Lady looking over the passengers. I have to say, regardless of how I feel about religion and whatnot, I'm very glad the Mother of God was there watching out for us as we careened along mountain roads in the darkness, in a monsoon and crazy fog and in a 50-year-old bus likely not with sound brakes! Eek!
We made it back though, at about 7pm, and I have never, ever, ever been so thrilled for a hot shower, itself a rarity in India (unless you're at the Hyatt, dahling!). After 18 kilometers and massive monsoon action, I was OUT the second my head hit the pillow, feeling like I might never wake again!
I did, though, and the next morning I was up for another hellish bus ride back to Cochin to catch my train to Goa. It was as nightmarish at the first but I managed to keep my breakfast down somehow and arrived in Cochin at about 5pm. Benson came to meet me at the train station to give me my train ticket and then was kind enough to take me out to supper while I waited for my 8pm train. SUCH a great guy! Afterwards I went into the station and while waiting had a chat in broken English with a lovely old lady called Elsie (I think) who wanted to know if I was a Christian and if I was married. I answered yes to both, as I think that's what she wanted to hear!
The first thing I noticed when I got on the train- where I would be for the next 16 hours- were the cockroaches. Lots of them. YUCK! But, what was I to do? I set my bag down and took my seat, hoping I'd be able to find a way to sleep, and shortly another passenger approached me and was urgently trying to tell me something. I didn't really get it, but after a few minutes I realized he was trying to tell me there were RATS on the train and I should keep my feet off the floor. Oh Lord! 'Well,' I thought, 'that's it then, no sleep for me!' However, I couldn't maintain my vigil for that long, and eventually I did fall asleep and was lucky not to see a rat for the duration of my journey!
I arrived in Goa at noon the next day after almost 23 hours of traveling since leaving Munnar. I rickshawed to the bus stop to head down to the beach spot of Palolem and as luck would have it, there on the bus were two lovely English girls, Hannah and Emily, who would be my beach buddies for the next few days! When we got off the bus in Palolem, I joined them in looking for a place to stay- the options being limited as it was still the low season- but we found a decent enough guest house and settled in.
The next few days were spent on the beach, or in a beach cafe when the monsoon hit, or in the Internet cafe, or in the travel agency getting the next leg of my trip to Mumbai sorted. There was much girly chat, beer and wine drinking, hookah-smoking and such- lovely time, thanks so much again girls- such a pleasure! One particular activity involved avoiding getting into conversations with the Indian ladies who traipse up and down the beach trying to sell things. Every conversation begins with, "You have lovely skin, such lovely color, where you from?" and before long it's "Come to my shop, I give good price." There's nothing wrong with this in theory, they're just trying to make money, but I seriously couldn't get through ONE line of my book before I heard "Hello, lovely skin.." Sad thing is, though, some of these ladies had scars on their faces and bodies where they had tried to BLEACH their skin whiter, and there we were, trying our darndest to make our skin darker. Bizarre.
On my last day in Goa I had to get ready for another gut-wrenching (literally) bouncy bus journey back to the main station to catch my overnight sleeper bus to Mumbai. It was all right, but as is India's way, 12 hours soon became 15 and I missed my appointment at the US Consulate to get more pages in my passport, which was entirely full up. Grrr. My first day in Mumbai was therefore uneventful as I was exhausted so I found my hotel, slept, ate and slept again.
The following morning I attempted again to go to the US Consulate, armed with a new appointment time thanks to my friend Dan in Singapore who has mostly been in my time zone lately and therefore able to help me when I'm in a pickle! It was easy enough to drop off my passport with instructions to pick it up the next day, and afterwards I went for a little walkabout in Mumbai and found a shopping mall with AC for some breakfast. Then I caught a taxi to the Gateway of India where I snapped some pics and set off on the walking tour as described by Lonely Planet. Because I am sooo good with maps and things, I was lost almost immediately, but found myself in front of a museum where I overheard a hilarious conversation between a giant balloon seller (don't ask) and two Australians. I just had to join in, and was lucky enough to then meet Gabriel and Rohan from Brisbane with whom I proceeded to spend the rest of the day and night! They were in India because they had just spent 15 days driving auto-rickshaws across the north for charity- they had some INCREDIBLE stories! I abandoned the walking tour and we set off in search of bar because Rohan was in desperate need of a beer and I of air-conditioning. After a nice chat over getting-to-know-you beers, we caught a taxi to a famous antique market in the city, and moseyed around there for a while looking at all sorts of treasures. In the middle of all this, our beers caught up with us and all three suddenly became DESPERATE for the loo. There are something like 17 loos for every 1 million people in Mumbai, so it was a real challenge to find somewhere, but we ended up in a hospital...? At least we could relieve ourselves!
After that adventure, it could only be time for more beers, so we went back to the area of my hotel and had one of those 3-liter beer jug things with a tap that they bring to the table. We called them 'girafs' or something when I studied in France. I had a bit, and then while the boys polished off another 2-liter jug, I dashed across the road to get my glad-rags on for a fancy dinner as it was my last night in India and my new friends were willing to join me. We went to a brilliant place called Indigo and had a super fancy-pants dinner of risottos and duck and tortellini and things, paired with wine and whatnot. After dinner I headed home to bed so as to be up on time for my appointment at the Consulate, where I picked up my newly fattened passport with plenty more room for the numerous visas and stamps I am acquiring!
Afterwards I checked out of my hotel, and then tried to reach my Aussie friends to meet up again, but my phone kept saying Rohan's number was no longer in service (geez, thanks guys), so I gave up and took myself out for the sightseeing I didn't do the day before. The map I had was rubbish, and combined with the fact that I'm rubbish at reading maps, I basically ended up walking around a slum, which was lovely, as you can imagine. Soon enough though, I came across the bus entrance to the famous Victoria station (you know it from Slumdog Millionaire) and walked through it until I could see the impressive building that houses it, now a UNESCO site (check!). After a little wander, I found the post office and thought, ooh, I'll get some stamps now while it's open, and then find some postcards and drop them in a mailbox. Easier said than done! Getting the stamps was easy, but apparently, Mumbai is very modest and doesn't like to sell postcards with pictures of itself on it. WHAT a mission! It too me almost two hours to find some postcards and when I did they were RUBBISH, but I was literally running out of time in India and I'd already bought the stamps, so I had to get them. To the recipients of said cards (Tracy, Kristy and Mike, Steph T), as I wrote, I'm sorry to send you those horrible things clearly printed in 1975, but know my intentions were good!!
After the postcard saga, it was just a few hours until I had to go to the airport for my flight to Bangkok, so I did the obvious thing with my remaining rupees- took myself out for a glass of wine at the eternally posh Taj hotel (that which suffered the horrific terrorist attack in 2008). It was fantastic, and minus a security gate to get in, you wouldn't know such atrocities had taken place. I had a lovely glass of fancy wine and met two MORE Australian guys who had ALSO just done the auto-rickshaw thing across the north of India! Had a lovely chat with them until it was time to pick up my baggage and cab it to the airport.
As I boarded my Air India flight at one o'clock in the morning (which didn't let me down- flight attendants in sarees and 'dinner' served at 2:30am when everyone was asleep), I was genuinely sad to be leaving- India had taken excellent care of me for the past five weeks, and I had really gotten into the rhythm of life there (as much as there is one within the chaos!) and was getting a handle on, well, how to handle it! I will be forever fascinated by the culture, the people, the food, the colors, the smells, and I ASSURE you, Mother India, I will come and see you again. From the very bottom of my most humbled heart, NAMASTE.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)