SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE

I was so lucky, again using intentional thought i managed to get a bed where there wasn't one on the sleeper train from KL to Singers. A very smooth journey, leaving one modern city and entering another very super high tech city. In fact Singapore the country is actually Singapore the city. Same Same. There is no difference in geography or size. That is how small Singapore is, but size takes nothing a way from its economic clout as a very important financial business and trading hub in South East Asia. In fact as far as places go to work in Asian capitals, Singapore offers well paid jobs, 10% income tax and a great location for exploring the rest of Asia and for living a very comfortable if not a tad humid. It reminds me of a greener, more advanced version of Dubai where ex-pats come to work, make some money and leave. Slightly transient, but a bit like Brussels in that respect, but without the fraudulently high taxes we pay. I could work there if the opportunity arose and fantastic food and shopping for all.



I visited the most fascinating museum in Singapore, the Contemporary Asian Arts Museum which gave an in-depth insight to not only the art but the culture and religions of Asia. A huge colonial building with many large rooms and several floors depicting the different religions such as Hindu, Islam and Buddhism. I learnt a lot about their beliefs, cultures, gods and of course their art and culture. I took some pictures (albeit illegally) of some of the beautiful sculptures and artifacts. i have added a couple of pictures from both the Hindu and Buddhist religions. I hope you like them.

I also visited the Singapore zoo (i was about to write prison ooops). I have mixed feelings about zoos as may some of you. On the one hand we are trying to conserve a species or animal on the verge of extinction, of which there are now so many. So many in fact that it's unprecedented in humans history on earth (aside from ice ages). When I looked closely at the animals I could tell some were very sad, mentally, emotionally and possibly physically. But what to do. I did see these amazing White Tigers of which i read there are only a few hundred left in the wild. They lay there on their rocks looking dormant and lethargic, but such magnificent creatures. The children loved it, helping feed some of the animals at feeding time. A great experience for them.

I met up with some good old friends such as Brian, Osman and Chloe which was fun. I did find Singapore expensive though, i guess you just have to know where to drink or eat but if you go to the fun and busy central Circle quay area be prepared to spend some money. Oh and don't come on a travellers budget!

Visiting Singapore on my way to Indonesia was always going to be a whistle stop tour but i am glad i visited the city and would definitely go back again, both for work opportunities, to see my friends and do some serious shopping at the many AC malls. Well its off to Indonesia now of which i am really excited about.


Well its off to Indonesia now of which i am really excited about.

MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA

I always find it very exciting entering a new country because you just don't know. All is knew. Not knowing what to expect, just keep an open mind, low expectations and living in the now.

Well, rightly or wrongly i skipped the Perhentian islands of the Northern Malaysian east and west coast and headed directly to the mountains, to the Cameron highlands in the middle of the country. I do like to mix it up a bit but i think you know that by now ;-).

Anyway, my first experience of Malaysia and its people was just over the border from Thailand, i was a little lost, there were these three old men sitting on the pavement smoking cigarettes and having a discussion. I thought should I or shouldn't I, I felt it was ok so I asked the guys for directions to the train station. Well they told me in perfect English where i needed to go, asked where i was from, how long had i been in Malaysia and wished me a pleasant onward journey. Well my first impression, i will say it has remained that way, i found the Malay people to be very friendly and calm. Good first impression. I stopped overnight in Ipoh and then headed into the highlands.


The Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands is famous for its tree growing estates, one of the biggest being the BOH tea estate still run by the Scottish family who set it up over a 100 years ago. Malaysia being an ex-British colony does produce some excellent tea which i found out to my delight. First decent cuppa in yonks.

Aside, i have to say i wasn't too impressed with the highlands, basically because the tea estates were more like manufacturing plants with tourists stalls at the end. However I did find an unexpected jewel on my travels in the highlands. The Rafflesia flower. The largest flowering plant in the world, previously only seen by me on life on Earth with David Attenborough.

The hunt for The Rafflesia

When I go to my hostel, settled in etc, i had a look round and had chat with the manager. Apparently the following day was going to be the first of five days visiting a Rafflesia flower that had been spotted by the local tribal men in the nearby rain forest. Day one is apparently the best day due to the flower being in full bloom, the remaining four days it dies a little each day. Well i just couldn't miss such a rare opportunity as this so i booked myself on it immediately.

The Rafflesia is a parasitic flowering plant that lives off a vine, the largest flowering plant in the world no less and only found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. The plant doesn't actually have any roots, stems or leaves, all you can see outside the host vine is five huge petals, each as big as my arm. Actually it can grow up to one metre in diameter and weigh 10 kilos! It grows very sporadically and i later learnt that in the 500square hectares of rain forest they had only found one at a time in bloom.

We had a excellent local guide, Francis (see pic above, Francis with us), who was so enthusiastic about the flower and so knowledgeable about the rain forest and its fauna and flora that it was just a joy to trek with him through the rain forest in search of this beautiful gem. Having a great guide i have found can make all the difference between a ok/good day and an excellent. I was fortunate. After having trekked a couple of hours over streams and through dense forest he spotted it. We all stopped and just beheld the moment, in awe to be honest. It was so huge! and it didn't smell, normally they stink of dead meat, the vile smell attracts insects that transport its pollen.

Of course you couldn't touch it, why would you, we just sat next to it and admired it while Francis talked in more detail about the flower. I have taken some photos and good video (see below). i hope you like them. I was so lucky and this has been a definite highlight of my trip in Malaysia. On the way back we came across this waterfall and pool so i couldn't help my self, i had to have a dip as you do...

A great day out! A couple of days later i headed on towards the Taman Negara rain forest.

Taman Negara Rain forest

The Tama Negara national park in Malaysia is home to the oldest rain forest in the world, some 130 million years old, it wasn't affected by the last ice ages. Well for my south east Asia trip, this was a must experience highlight. I know rhinos, tigers and elephants live among other animals and birds in this forest although i was under no illusion of seeing anything. One just doesn't these days. Too few animals, too many humans and well, the animals are all shit scared of us and rightly so. Either way i wanted to trek in this dipterocrap rain forest and see the tall buttressed Tulug trees (see me next to one), third tallest in SE Asia growing up to 65m high. (see my pic). See the many wild orchids and ferns growing along with all the butterflies and insects. I was not looking forward to the leaches though!

Me and a mate i met in the highlands, Danny boy from the US headed south to Taman Negara and were up for doing a three day two night trek, however when we got there we soon realised prices were high for just the two of us. We did finally find another two but they wouldn't afford the much more reasonable price per person for four. After much deliberation it was decided by the others we would go on our own into the rain forest without a guide. I didn't like this idea one bit. Apparently the first part was easy, take a boat up stream for an hour then follow a path for another hour to get our hut. Well, we were taken in a boat up stream through the forest to the drop off point, got all our gear, water bottles, food etc together and started trekking.

In fact to be fair we did get to our destination ok that first night. A wooden hut built on concrete stilts in the forest. Used as a look out point for animals. Bit of a joke though, no animal would go there in their right mind. All the lights and noises. Anyway we nestled into our wooden bunk beds, ate crackers and canned food and slept.

The next morning was the true test. We planned to walk to a cave where we would sleep that night, some 5-6hrs away, if you knew where you were going. We started off a little late, 11am, the leaches were incredible, just everywhere. They got through my socks and start sucking my blood. Sometimes i found them so late that they actually fell off when i flicked because they were so bloated, full of my blood! The forest itself was extremely beautiful, partly primary but mainly secondary forest. No big animal sitings but lots of insects, birds, some magnificent trees. We had only been gone an hour following a path when we first realised were lost. We had a crap map and my compass. The path just stopped. The undergrowth just took over. That's why you have guides i was thinking to myself. After standing and talking, looking around at the dense jungle, the group finally realised that this was incredibly stupid and dangerous. I said we should turn back and try and make our way to base camp while we still had a fresh idea of where to go. Sleeping here overnight just wasn't an option i said. One minute the compass said north, the next south and yet we thought we were gong in the same direction. Well i have trekked in the Amazon, but only with a guide. Its just what you do. Finally fear started setting in and the group agreed we should head back. We did finally manage to get back safely to the hut (see pic below), but this night we were not alone, it was a full house with some 8 other trekkers.

They had a guide! I chatted with them and heard their stories about walking from the cave and sleeping the night there. Sounded exciting. I can't hide the fact that i was somewhat disappointed we didn't get a guide, i just felt we didn't get the most out of the experience and certainly learnt far less about our environment. I knew all this before we set off, but what to do?

I ended up only spending two weeks in Malaysia but before heading further south to Singapore i did spend a couple of days in KL.

Kuala Lumpor

Kuala Lumpor has quite a mixed origin of population, bit like Malaysia really. Of the 23million in Malaysia, 60% are Malay with as many as 25% being Chinese and some 8% being Indian. The rest are other nationalities, but you do see many Indians and Chinese in KL. Malaysia along with Singapore are the two most economically advanced countries in South East Asia and the Malays English, thanks to British colonisation at the end of the 18th Century is very good.

Anyway, i did bare the 35C, 90%+ humidity and took some walks around the city. I must say i saw some splendid Islamic architecture (Malays being mainly Muslim not Christian), amazing arches and domes with beautiful mosaic tiled floors in the mosques. I visited the national Islamic art gallery and the national mosque of Malaysia and the picture at the bottom is of the ceiling within the art gallery. How beautiful!

A voluntary guide showed me round the national mosque of Malaysia and towards the end of the tour we started having a conversation about God, Islam etc, as you do...well this other gentleman joined our conversation. This other gentleman, a knowledgeable scholar i found out, ended up spending over an hour with me in the mosque explaining Islam, their ways, beliefs and culture. He drew a matrix diagram to help explain to me and answering my further questions. I found it super interesting. A kind man to take his time and explain all this to me.

From my experience here in Malaysia i have found the Muslim people to be very calm, friendly and patient. A far cry from what is propagated by the western media. If one actually took the time to see and understand Islam and their beliefs one would realise it is a peaceful harmonious religion in what it teachers. Its an important part of travelling around this world for me, to learn more about the other religions, cultures and their peoples. Although one might like to think we are all cultural islands, deep in the core within all of us we are all the same. Just simple people who want to live happy, harmonious, healthy and peaceful lives, but we have lost are way, so this doesn't happen anymore. Its very sad, BUT we are working on it....

THAILAND

THAILAND
All i knew was that i had a plane ticket out of Ho Chi Min to Bangkok (thank god) and that i needed a break i just wanted to chill out for a week, recharge and do nothing before heading south. That's also the beauty about travelling and the mindset one develops, to live in the NOW, go with the flow and just see what happens ;-).

So, i am on a plane, thinking, ok, l land at 7pm in Bangkok, l don't want to stay the night there, what to do? As i was pondering this thought l heard a conversation going on in English from the seats behind me. After a short while, when there was a pause i turned and spoke to them. It turns out that the chap talking to the American couple was a Thai tour guide! So i started chatting with them. It turns out that in Spring, which is when i was here, i should head to the East coast and not the West, due to the clarity of the water. Cool i thought, very good to know and what about the different islands l asked. He told me about them and l narrowed my choice down to two, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Kho Tao being a divers mecca, Koh Phangan being aside from the Full Moon party in the south but he said it is extremely chilled in the North. Well, i didn't think about it, I just took his word for it and decided on Koh Phangan. When l landed l found there was a bus to the central train station in Bangkok which i took with a hope of finding a spot on a sleeper train to head south. Well of course when i got there it was full (days in advance it seems), but using the power of 'intentional thought' and being persistent but polite, well it worked and i managed to get a seat on the sleeper train. Not my best nights sleep but early the next morning i was on a boat heading to Koh Phangan. By Lunch time i was settled into a bungalow on a very quiet and beautiful palm fringed beach with turquoise blue. How cool is that!

Mae Haad Rin, Koh Phangan

I didn't take the first place i found but the second, a simple wooden bungalow by the white sandy beach. The house coral reef was one of the best i have seen on my trip so far, hardly damaged at all so i managed to get some decent snorkeling in and even did a refresher scuba dive since doing my PADI last August in Honduras. Fantastic.

After having chilled for a few days just sun bathing and having massages i did do a little exploring of the island on a motorbike which was a lot of fun as always, the freedom of the road and then the night of the Full Moon Party came. Well i said to myself, if i go, it will be early just to have a look (i had been 3 years before). Well the group of people i was with were still drinking until 2am and then wanted to go in convoy, eight motorbikes, heading 45mins south to the party. Well at this point i decided No, it was too risky, accidents, police, no helmets etc so i stayed. I know, you are all in shock, how funny. Trust me, at the time it was the right decision.

During my time here i did make some very good friends here, sometimes hanging out at the local Rolling Stoned Bar. I also met a very special person called Claudia from Germany. We spent time together talking and getting to know each other, we visited a local Thai music festival and tested the local Singh beer. One morning we woke up very early and watched a beautiful sunrise together on the beach. The sun just rising over the back of the mountains in the distance. It was so peaceful and romantic. A very special moment for me and for us.(The photo below is the view from Claudia's/our bungalow onto the beach and sea. Simply gorgeous).

It was really hard to leave everyone but i guess it was just time. Claudia and the gang were going back home so i decided I would head on south into Malaysia. I was sad to leave...

Its funny how a conversation with a stranger on a plane can lead one to certain places or circumstances. Some people call it fate...(Claudia and I below)

I loved my break from travelling in Thailand, it did me the world of good to switch off after the intensity of Vietnam and now i feel a lot better about continuing my travels, feeling fully recharged again. Happy Chappy.