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Published: April 15th 2008
So Kuala Lumpur wasn't much to look at. I checked out the Petronas Towers, the tallest towers in the world, and wandered around for much of the morning. While waiting for my ticket up the towers, though, I met a really nice Malaysian guy who I then went to have tea with at a nearby Indian place. He told me a lot about how SE Asians want to be as western/ American as possible, which explained the number of Starbucks, which rivaled San Francisco in number. It was very interesting to hear what he had to say about these people, straight from one of their own.
The towers were incredible from the ground, but again, not much to see from the top. This was partly due to the fact that you couldn't actually go to the top, just about halfway up to the skybridge. I got some great pictures though, which hopefully I'll be able to post sometime soon.
Other than that, the city was pretty nasty. I ventured over to Chinatown, which was nothing but rows of stalls selling fake Gucci, Rolex, etc. Nothing to do, so I headed back to the hostel.
The next day I caught the bus to Singapore to meet up with Dad. Just buying the ticket at the bus depot was a thing in itself. People yelling at you from every direction, trying to get you to come buy from their company. In the end I went to the booth that didn't have anyone dragging me to it, just to prove them wrong. I considered it a moral victory.
After a fairly uneventful 7 hours on the bus, I got dropped off on a street corner in the middle of Singapore. I had no idea where I was, and there were drunk Asians everywhere. They all had something that looked like baby powder on their face, but I didn't hang around long enough to find out first-hand. After a few miles of walking, I reached the hotel, only to unload my stuff and take a cold shower. Since our hotel was in the Little India area of Singapore, they had a huge night market going on in the street, so I went outside and snapped a bunch of pictures. It was kind of wierd being the only white face for blocks, but no one seemed to pay any attention to me, so I didn't mind. After a while I caught a cab to the airport to see Dad... his flight was late and didnt get in until almost 1 AM. I was happy to see him, but we were both exhausted so we just went back and crashed.
Singapore is a beautiful, clean city, but definitely not geared towards tourism. It's cleaner than Disney World, but at the exact opposite end of the spectrum for entertainment. We had a great time there, but in the end we were really having trouble finding interesting things to do. Considering we were only there for a day and a half, that says a lot about their view of tourism.
So after some late night searching last night, I found us a flight from Singapore to Phuket, Thailand for something like US$80 apiece. An excellent deal, made even better by the fact that we would have had to spend 12 to 16 hours on a bus otherwise. Right now we're at a hotel north of Phuket, in the middle of nowhere. Very hot, and a few mosquitos, and no AC in the room, but I'm in Thailand and you're in Louisiana, so I can't complain.
Well we all know the best way to go to sleep in the heat is 5 or 6 cold beers before bedtime, so I'm off for my nightcap. Maybe I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow. We'll be out snorkelling all day... I'll have to see how it compares to the Bahamas.
I hope everyone is doing well... I'm having a great time but missing you all. Looking forward to your comments!
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Mom
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So I'm sitting here at my desk at work reading about what you guys are doing half way around the world!! Sounds great! I'm so glad you're getting all this experience travelling - I know who my tour guide will be now. I'll just travel with you and let you make all the decisions and get all the directions, etc. - as you're getting all this experience. How did you find your way to the hotel after being dropped off in the middle of the city? I love and miss you both. Mom