yshander

I am in the wonderful city of Singapore. (and that is not just my opinion - every Singaporean seems to think so, they are very proud of their city/country/whatever it is that they got here). It really is a nice way to break up my Malaysian vacation with some first-world amenities. Not to mention that there are a lot of really interesting things to see here. The whole city is a great collection of many different cultures, cuisines, religions and architectural styles that seem to co-exist very comfortably. All of this under the very paternalistic direction of the local government. It is hard to walk down the street without seeing a sign exhorting people to be kind to their fellow human beings and to not litter. They have a lot of rules and there is a ... read more

Yeah... I am back in KL and not all that happy to be here. Due to some problems with bus schedules (ie buses from Georgetown where I was yesterday and this morning only leave at 10am and 10pm, which is not much help when you get there at 10:30. 'Too hot' - that was the explanation I got when I asked why. Not sure what that meant, too hot to drive bus? So since there was not really even anywhere to wait there at the 'bus station' (just a parking lot full of buses and 1 kiosk) I decided to take a bus to KL with the thinking that it might be easier to catch a bus to Khota Bahru - my intended destination. And it might be... but not today. Its a 9 hour trip ... read more

After making into Kuala Lumpur (KL as everyone calls it) about 5 hours late I grabbed a taxi to the city, which turned out to be quite a long ride - about 40 minutes. Traffic is... pretty much like it is in every other developing country - extremely crazy-looking but def with its own sense of internal rhythm. the fact that they drive on the left here just makes it seem more disorganized to me but luckily by the time I had to walk around I seemed to have mastered this skill again (on my last trip to this part of the world it took a while to get used to). We had some trouble finding my hostel since there are no house numbers listed on the buildings. I have never stayed in such a strange ... read more

Today we had a very relaxing day in Uruapan. This city has a couple of good things going for it. It is warm - it has a tropical climate that apparently creates great conditions for agriculture and it has a wonderful park right in the middle. Other than that there is really not that much to do or see there. The park is called Parque Nacional Eduardo Ruiz. The river Cupatitzio flows out of a spring at the top of a hill in the park and then flows through a series of natural waterfalls as well as man-made cascades and fountains. Both man-made and natural elements harmonize quite well and create a very relaxing, beatiful sight. The park was full of people who come there to hang out, celebrate weddings, tourists as well as school groups. ... read more

Megan here.......so after a day in Morelia, we took the bus to Patzcuaro. If you´ve never been on a bus in Mexico, here is a brief description. If it is a first class bus, you are provided with the following, a snack and drink before boarding, comfortable seats, B American movies dubbed in Spanish, a door separating you from the driver so you don´t have to hear his cell phone conversations, and a lovely buzzer that goes off every time the driver exceeds the speed limit. A local bus has none of the above. Instead, you get a driver who goes as fast as he can especially on winding, hilly roads leading to inevitable motion sickness, stops in the middle of nowhere so that locals can give items to the driver to pass on to someone ... read more

Yesterday we decided to go the organized route and booked a guided trip for today to go see the Tiotihuacan site. The tour also stops in a couple of other places which turned out really well because we were planning to see them anyway and they are a pain to get to. First stop was the site of the ancient city of Tlatelolco which was very powerful at the time but not much has remained of it. You could see the different temples that were built one on top of the other. Apparently they would build a new temple every what they called ´century´ which is actually 52 years. At that time the old temple would be completely covered by a new, bigger temple. This site had 11 temples but not much has remained of them, ... read more

After some breakfast of the tastiest frosted cereal I have ever had we were off to explore Mexico City. Our first stop was the Palacio de Bellas Artest , a beautiful building designed in 1901 and built in a Art Nouveau style with marble imported from Italy. The inside is equally impressive, Art Deco style this time. On display on the lower levels were several Diego Rivera paintings, which are copies of those he painted for display in the Rockerfeller Center iin New York. Rockerfeller destroyed the originals due to Rivera´s leftist leanings. He specifically objected to inclusion of Karl Marx. (Or so at least say the signs next to the paintings). Conveniently entrance to the museum on the top floors was free today so we wandered up the grand staircase to see the large-format murals ... read more