June 23, 2014

Singapore

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I realise that I skipped the Final Thoughts post on Malaysia (which I’ve skipped on so many countries anyway), but honestly, in many ways I feel that Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur especially, and Singapore are alike: people are friendly and speak good english, it’s insanely hot, and feels very western. I like it.

We arrive somewhere in Singapore after 14 hours on a sleeper bus. It’s the comfiest one I’ve ever been on, so it definitely lived up to its name, which is Supernice. We have booked two nights at The Green Kiwi on Lavender Street, which is apparently a little over 1 km away, so naturally we just walk. When will we ever learn!? We arrive at our hostel, all sweaty and awful-looking, and the staff quickly offer us some water and super helpful directions to all the places we want to go. Oh, and their breakfast is amazing.

OK, enough with the hostel-reviewing. We don’t do much the first day but eat at a food court and go to the movies, where we watch 22 Jump Street, which has to be one of the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I am crying from laughing so much. Definitely seeing that again very soon.

The next day we meet up with Geoff and go to Little India, Orchid Garden and Chinatown. In Chinatown, I buy a mono-pod. This is what happens when you spend too much time in Asia, you guys. I put on this screenshot of mono-pods so you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Now, lots of pictures from the park and Orchid Garden:

A BLACK SWAN, YOU GUYS. And some turtles.This had me laughing SO hard for SO long. I’ll call it The R. Kelly Angel

We then rush to see the Merlion and Marina Bay Sands Hotel. We head up to the skydeck on the 56th floor and enjoy the sunset and a strawberry slushie with rum – so basically a Strawberry Daiquiri. It’s so amazing, I could stay up there forever. And I’m going to one day, because I am currently forcing my friend Angel to split a room there someday, because you can’t go in the infinity pool unless you are an actualy guest at the hotel.

Doing the standard, super classy touristy photo.

Possibly the most Singaporean photo ever IMG_3369-2

Needless to say, I am exhausted when we get home. The next day we have all day in Singapore before catching our flight to Bangkok, but have to check out at 12. I am hopelessly slow at packing today, and end up being the last one left in the dorm, just packing away. Our weird, intense and Brazilian roommate, Harry, then enters and we start talking casually. I only understood a fragment of what he is saying, but the conversation is about me leaving, and he’s sad to see me go – or with his words, leave him. He then points out that we’re all alone right now, which I find a bit weird, but I just ignore it. Harry asks for a hug, and I intentionally put on my backpack before saying “sure”. He does the most annoying thing you can do to a backpacker: taking it off my shoulders, to make it easier to hug me. You can’t really hug people with a 20 kilo tumor on your back – which is kinda the reason why I put it on in the first place!

I am a bit annoyed at this point, because the most painful and irritating part of being a backpacker is putting on and taking off your backpack. I give him a hug anyways, and immediately, he gets this insulted look on his face – as if a hug is not enough. He pushes me against my bunk bed and rests his arms against the bed, one hand on either side of my face. And then he tries to kiss me. UGH! I turn my head say “no”, but he doesn’t seem to understand and keeps asking me why, without moving. Finally I escape and hurry out of there with my stuff.

We go to the malls on Orchard and do a bit of shopping. Again. We spend like two hours in a giant H&M, where I end up running around, telling all the staff members that I think I’ve lost my phone in one of the dressing rooms, when I really have had in a puch around my neck the whole time. Embarassing. Then we go to Sentosa, an awesome island full of activities. I’ve been wanting to zipline for ages, but have felt that it was too expensive, but this is my last chance, so I do quite the hike by myself to get to MegaZip Adventure Park and zipline with a big group of anti-social Asians! Ziplining is amazing!!! And so, I’ve crossed off yet another thing on my 22 things list.

After landing, the two guys in the picture above want a picture with me. They have been ziplining down to the beach with me. I find it funny, so I want a picture with them, too. Then 12 other Asians proceed to take a huge group picture with me, all doing the peace sign pose, of course.

We almost don’t make our flight, as we are a wee bit late at the airport, but hey, wouldn’t mind being stuck in Singapore. Ever.

June 19, 2014

Getting there!

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Crossing off a few on the list. Hopefully another two will be down within a week!

June 18, 2014

Georgetown

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People have told us so many times: “go to Georgetown, GEORGETOWN DAMMIT”. So we do.

What we didn’t realise until we arrived, is that Georgetown is just full of museums (boo), temples (more boo) and some street art. After 4 months, it takes a lot more to impress us.

So we get to Butterworth and take the ferry to Georgetown, followed by a few kilometers walking around looking for our hostel, Clockwise. It’s very new, very small and very nice. After the cold weather in Cameron Highlands, it seems even harder to endure the walk in what feels like 50 degrees with 25 kgs of extra weight on me. We make it to the hostel after asking like 5 people though – Indians in Malaysia are much nicer than the ones in India, I tell ya. Well, we of course have a nap after check-in and then go to a mall to go see a movie.

We do a stop at Watson’s to buy chapstick or whatever, when we run into Geoff from our dorm in SpicyThao, Chiang Mai! We chat for ages and he’s trying to convince us to come to Singapore with him, and he decides to tag along to the movies. I reluctantly agree to watch the new Tom Cruise movie, Edge of Tomorrow. The one where he keeps dying. Wow action much movie! Geoff smuggles in some whiskey, which I mix with my water and a multivitamin. I get a bit tipsy to say the least.

The following day we are on a mission to find the bigger mall in Georgetown, I’ve forgotten the name. We go to the mall from yesterday first and talk to travel agents, and decide “hey, let’s take the night bus to Singapore later!” That makes us run home, pack and ask for our money back for the nights we have already booked at our hostel. Needless to say, we aren’t so popular.

We then take the bus to the giant mall and spend like 70 minutes in Sephora and an hour in H&M, no joke. We also go for waxes, and I have a full-on normal conversation about shopping, travelling and age guessing while I am pantless and this person I’m talking to is touching my lady parts. Good times.

So after all this, we hurry home and book a hostel in Singapore before going to the travel agent to catch the bus. I am on it now, and it’s the best sleeper bus I’ve ever been on, so I’m confident I’ll have a decent nights sleep. Toodles.

Cheeky Snapchat from me

June 16, 2014

Cameron Highlands

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Today I’ve learned something new about myself: I become a cranky bitch when I have to climb a mountain.

We’re in Cameron Highlands and it’s so cold, I must wear this outfit at all times:

Sara and I have booked a half-day tour around Cameron Highlands, which includes a hike in a mossy forest, a visit to a tea plantation and a strawberry farm. We are told to jump on the same bus as our French roommate Jeanne, who has booked a full-day tour, but we don’t think much of it at first. 4 hours of hiking later, we realize that we are on the full-day tour too, but for half the price. Score!

The first hike is up a mountain, and it’s brutal. I am almost hyperventilating, sweating profusely and spitting everywhere like the total babe that I am. We make it to the top in around an hour and admire the view, before having to fucking climb down again. Ugh.

We also go to a tea plantation and cut some tea leaves – like trimming the hedges, basically. We have malay food for lunch, and then go to a Butterfly garden. It’s pretty cool, and one of the butterflies sit on my finger at one point, and I’m like ohmygoshiamananimalwhisperer!

Then we head to a strawberry farm, buy some souvenirs and have some of the berries. It’s delicious, even though I accidentally knock over my bowl of strawberries and cream.

Last stop is at a tea place with a view over some of the plantations. I have an awesome cup of masala chai, which I’ve really missed.

Jeanne’s polaroid of the beautiful view from the mountain earlier

So our 8 hour trip out in Cameron Highlands has been an exhausting success, but now I feel like I can stop feeling so guilty about being a lazy tourist.

June 14, 2014

Taman Negara

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SONY DSC Going to a 130 million year old rainforest with only a small village and no ATMs? It sounds like a piece of cake, really.

We begin our journey to Taman Negara early in the morning, by getting on a private bus. I have the pleasure of sitting next to a French guy that sleeps with his legs wide open and rests his head on my shoulder. 3 hours later, we are waiting for our jetty boat to our destination, another 3 hours away. The journey is beautiful, although it’s slightly uncomfortable sitting in a narrow canoe with no leg space whatsoever. We then have the pleasure of climbing a lot of stairs and walk around for what seems like ages to get a hostel. We regrettably settle on the first thing we find, Liana Hostel, where we share a dorm with Allison and Matt from England. We spend the night reading and enjoying the AC in our room as it is uncomfortably hot and humid here, before falling asleep.

The next day, we all get up early to go on a hike in the rainforest.

We get to the canopy walk, which is a few suspension bridges that add up to around 500 metres of walking. Every bridge seems to take us higher up above the ground, and it’s amazing.

After that, Sara and I hike back to the village to meet up at our travel agency, where we have booked a visit to the Orang Asli tribe. We get on a jetty boat to do rapid sailing – you know, where they rock the boat and sail as fast as they can while you get soaked. Then we arrive at the tribe.

Orang Asli means “original people” and is a tribe scattered around. They are nomads, so they move every now and then without warning. They live in simple huts, their chief is their medicine man, and they hunt and gather every day – only what they need, not more. It’s quite admirable seeing how they manage to live a life without greed.
The chief shows us how they make fire, and then he makes a few arrows for the blowpipe, their hunting weapon of choice, followed by a demonstration. Then our group take turns aiming at a teddy bear with the blowpipe – and I am pretty good. Surprisingly.

The arrow on the right, next to the teddy bears face? That’s mine! The chief’s is the one stuck on its face.

Taking pictures of cats, of course

At night, we go on a safari at a plantation. We sit on top of a jeep and the guide points a flashlight at everything in hopes of seeing some animals. We see quite a few: a slow loris, cows, wild boars, owls, kingfishers, foxes and… LEOPARDS!!

Blurry picture of a tiny animal that our guide assured us is a leopard