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Published: June 25th 2006
It's hot in Singapore!!!
I forgot my hat and the sun is burning my head!Greetings from Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
Wow, loads to tell as usual, starting with last weekend, when we had 3 days on tour with Acacia in Kruger National Park. When we booked this, I thought we might have been safari'd out a bit, what with nearly 3 weeks with Dragoman, but luckily I needn't have worried.
We transferred from Joburg with Miles, in a clapped out Astra type mobile & it took us 6 hours to get there, starting @ 5am. Miles drove without shoes, and I imagine without a recent shower, and managed to get us lost in Pretoria in the dark, which is NOT a clver place to stop and ask directions!! Nevertheless, we joined our new gang, led by TJ a strapping ginger South African at lunchtime and set off for our campsite.
We were about to find out just what a total bunch of FREAKS we had hooked up with. Compared to lovely Dragoman, these guys were from a different planet. Let me explain....
Most overlanders seem to be between 20-40, wearing flip flops, smiling, waiting to meet new people and then go off exploring and so on. However, we had a sniffling Scottish girl, who was a stranger to shampoo (head & shoulders, love), a young couple from Sheffield (damn blades fans) and when I say young, I mean they looked about 12, and two couples from Australia. After meeting Ness, I thought all Aussies HAD to be pretty, friendly and outgoing, it's in their rules after all. But no. Terry & Roz didn't like camping, didn't like getting up early, and didn't like having to actually think for themselves. Now I may have been down on Terry because he chain smoked and laughed like Mutley, but the guy was as thick as 2 very short planks. Sample questions to TJ:
" Do I need to show my passport at Kruger?"( Er, no, we're still in South Africa)
"Is that the sunrise?" (Pointing at the big ball of fire coming up over the horizon. Yes, of course it's the sunrise, you stupid, thick monkey, it happens every flippin day)
"Where are we going tomorrow?" (read your trip notes, have you?)
"Why is the grass all flat?" ( I don't flippin know!!!!)
"Are we going to Vic Falls tomorrow?" (No, it's a THREE DAY KRUGER tour. Says on your trip notes. Can't you READ!?)
It was great fun trying not to laugh at the back of the mini bus. (No monster truck this time, more like your average high school sports minibus. Not overly-conducive to good game viewing, Dragoman, you have spoiled us!). Sadly, the rest of the group didn't want to giggle along with the rest of us, spoilsports. Monique, the Jock, had a perpetual cold & the young couple just wanted to hold hands. The boy actually kissed the girl everytime they spotted a new animal. Seriously. I wanted to slap them both.
So, the game viewing was superb, we can proudly say we have now seen the Big 5, Rhino, Leopard, Cheetah, Lion & Buffalo. I know, buffalo are just cows with meaner looking horns, but they are one of THE Big 5 nonetheless. We hadn't seen leopard or cheetah in the wild, (Cheetah park only) so we begged TJ to try and find us one (Kruger, incidentally, is the size of Wales) and lo and behold, we finally got sight of a leopard prowling down a dry river bed. Our picture came out badly, so you have to trust me, we saw one. Very, very rare to spot one as they are seriously shy creatures, and pretty small too.
And then guess what? 20 mins down the road, a mummy cheetah and 5 cubs decided to cross the road in front of us. Again, a sighting of a cheetah, let alone cubs, is rarer than a Norwich away win. I smacked my head on the bus roof and TJ swerved to let us get pictures. This blocked all the oncoming traffic for a bit too, so we got mega video footage & pics. Going to send them to National Geographic! Not.
All in all, Kruger was well worth it. I had been a little bit nervous, as I'm sure some english female tourist was murdered there in the 90's. They tried to blame it on wild animals but it was the tour guides or something? Couldn't find the story on Google, can anyone remember it or am I confused? However,the campsite was nice, showers with no roofs, so you could wash your hair under the stars and the owners were fantastic. Dean, very strong Afrikaans accent, only had his thumb & index finger on his right hand. He delighted in telling us how a Black Mamba (it's a snake mum) bit him and the poison meant his fingers had to be chopped or he'd lose an arm!! Terry the annoying Aussie asked great questions like "Why didn't you move your hand out of the way?" Dean, to his credit, didn't smack him over the back of his head with firewood, like I would have. Basically, the Mamba bites you so quickly, there's not much you can do, except run away asap. Good job Dean was left handed. At least he is now.
We were shattered by the end of Kruger, we had three 5am starts in a row and we knew we had a 6 hour transfer back to Joburg (with the young couple, who really weren't that bad, and who weren't 12 yrs old, they were at Uni!) so I was definitley looking forward to Singapore, as we were hoping to catch up on some sleep.
So, quick (!) 10 hr flight across the Indian Ocean to Singapore, with funnily enough, Singapore airlines, who were very good. Almost edible food too. I'd like to say I slept, or wrote in my diary or watched an educational vdeo about Asia, but I watched Nanny MPhee, some kids film instead! My only excuse is that Colin Firth was in it, and even that is a lame excuse. Most of you know my taste in films sucks, with my all time faves being Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, Hary Potter & National Lampoon Vegas. Goodbye any remaining credibility!
Singapore was amazing, even though it bucketed down with rain in the taxi from the airport. It truly is the cleanest, shiniest, loveliest place we've ever been to, which is exactly how it was described to us. Nobody really told us about the incredible humidity though. Walk 100m down the road and you need a change of clothes. I could have provided drinks for most of the small children staring at us by wringing out my top!!! Boy do we get stared at too. I guess we must look pretty weird to most Asians, what with the fact that we tower over most people here by at least a foot, and especially because I have blonde hair & blue eyes, I am the most non-asian looking person ever. Lucy Lui I ain't. Although I could use her money.
We travelled around mostly on foot, seeing Raffles hotel & a statue of Mr Raffles himself (he founded Singapore as a city, it used to just be a small fishing port). We saw the Singapore river, Boat Quay, which is a road full of restaurants (have avoided eating dog thus far, and intend to keep it that way) and also walked along the esplanade, which is very pretty and gives views back over the city. Will try and publish some of photo's on here or email me and I will add you to Kodakgallery. We also treated ourselves to a new digital cameram, very flash and advanced, it even talks to you. Sadly, it has an American acent, so I need to find the voice OFF button asap, so it stops drawling at me like Jerry Hall. "Plaaayback Moooode. Fooocus." Argh.
Singapore has Orchard Road, a shoppers paradise. It makes Oxford Street on the last Saturday before Christmas look like Elm Hill. We managed to wander along it for almost a half a day, marvelling at the neon, video screens and massive sky scrapers. We ate at a hawker stall, in one of the air conditioned food courts, and I think we spent about two quid between us. It's fantastically cheap, except for alcohol and the food was yummy. Well, I thought so, but Ju's chicken & noodles had a large drizzle of fish sauce on it, which didn't go down too well!
We also visited Sentosa Island, a sort of island getaway with a beach, rides, woodlands, shows and stuff. You have to get there by cable car, and we also had a go on the luge ride. That was hilarious. We must've been the only adult westerners to hurtle down a winding hill on what amounted to little more than an over-sized skate board with handlebars. It was great sport frightening the lives out of the small asian children who were too scared to go full whack around the corners, I was on 2 wheels for most of it. And Ju looked very fetching in his crash helmet!!!!
A little walk along the beach, a splash in the sea, ice cream in hand (Hokey Pokey flavour, seriously, what is WRONG with these people!!?) it doesn't exactly feel like we are truly backpacking, and for that I make no apologies.
So, onto our current location, Kuala Lumpur. We came by train, it took 7 hours and it was a much better train than any I've been on in England. Air con, TV, reclining chairs all for about a tenner each. You do have to disembark after 30mins though, to cross the Malaysian border. Once again, more stares at the only english people on the train! I don't mind, most of the time I say Hello and everyone is so friendly, they really just want to look at the tourists!
KL seems filthy after Singapore, but it isn't really. It reminds me of London, a big sprawling metropolis, every road crammed with people, shops, restaurants, market stalls, taxis. it literally buzzes. We have seen the Petronas Towers, although I have to admit, we didn't go up them. You have to queue before 8.30am every morning for tickets and we haven't been up that early yet! We did go up the Menara, the actual KL tower, which is taller ( 4th highest tower in the world, fact fans) and you get great city views, so the pics will be good. It hasn't actually been sunny here yet, just downpours followed by ominous looking clouds, but it is BOILING. How do people work in this heat?? We keep going into shops just to feel the air con. Well, that's our excuse, I have bought the odd new top or five.
Last night, we stopped at a huge bar, Carnegie's for a beer. Big mistake. Three and a half hous later, we crawl out, 15 pints & 13 shooters worse off. We only know we drank that much because they gave us a receipt and 2 free t-shirts!! We were only watching the world cup highlights, dressed in shorts and flip flops and the next thing, all the bar staff are suggesting shooters, having their photo taken with us and topping up our Tiger beers!!!!! We staggered to McDonalds, our first non-breakfast McDonalds in years, and munch out on grease. Again, I assume it was a Big Mac and not a McGuinea Pig sandwich. So, that's why I'm blogging it today, instead of seeing the sights and taking yet more pics. I'm hungover. And so is Ju. Breakfast was a muffin and a Snapple, couldn't face fish head soup. Our hostel has air-con, but sadly no mini bar, so we had to force on some clothes and trudge through the heat to this internet cafe! It's only 60p an hour, again Asia is even cheaper than Africa. God we get ripped off for everything at home.
I'm loving this trip. We wander round our hostel barefoot (it's a Muslim thing), eat, drink, sightsee, sleep, travel on somewhere else. Talking of travel, it's off to Thailand tomorrow and the weather is not looking good for swimming and sunbathing! Then again, I suppose I don't have to go to work either.......
Come on England tonight vs Ecuador, it's on at 11pm here and funnily enough we won't be watching it in Carnegie's! I have a feeling we'll crash out, especially with that muppet Hargreaves starting.
Take care out there, as always please keep in touch, it's lovely to connect with home either through messages on this Blog or email. Mum, I'm sorry if the phone bill was huuuge when you rang the hotel in Joburg!
Kelly & Ju xxxxx
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Auntie Sally
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Just read your journal
lovely to read your exciting adventure, look forward to reading more, we are all well back home, Julian just to let you know sarah has had a little boy last tuesday seven weeks early but all is going well. I spoke to mum and dad last week so they gave us your web site, I am not very good with computers so do hope you receive this, love to you both and do keep well and safe, lots of love sally norman and family xxx