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Published: March 18th 2008
Esplanade - Theatres on the bay
Messing with the setting on the camera.I know it’s been a long while since I posted a blog on here and my apologies for being hopelessly behind and for the lack of photos to accompany this particular blog however all will become clear.
The flight from Brisbane to Singapore was pleasant and uneventful however the arrival into Singapore could have been a different story. I arrived at about 20:30hrs and I should have learned by now to book my first nights accommodation in advance, especially when arriving late in the evening. So after a couple of phone calls thinking I was going to have another night like my first in Melbourne I managed to book in at the Summer Tavern. I bought a pass for the excellent super clean and ultra modern underground system which made the trip downtown easy and quick. The hostel was located just around the corner from Clark Quay which has been transformed over the past few years to house loads of trendy bars and restraints which I went to have a look around once checked in to the hostel. Keeping in mind this was Valentine’s Day the Quay’s were full of couples all looking very lovey dovey which made me
think just how lonely travelling can sometimes be when you are on your own. Now I know my lonely planet said drinking wasn’t cheap in Singapore but I nearly fell off my bar stool when the bartender told me the price of the bottle of Heineken I had ordered. $14.20! that’s about £5 to me and you and there was me thinking I had come up to South East Asia to aid my spiralling budget.
The following day I hit the sights, first of all having a walk along Boat Quay which is really quite quirky. A line of old bars and restaurants that sit on the banks of the river dwarfed by the skyscrapers behind them. From there I walked around the colonial district which is home to some imposing remnants of British rule. City hall sits in front of the Padang which is a cricket pitch apparently still used for the odd game. Nearby are the Supreme Law Courts, Old Parliament House and St Andrew’s Cathedral all of which would look at home in London. From there it was back across the river and past the splendid Fullerton hotel which used to be the post office
The Emerald Green Buddah
Wearing his winter coat. and round to the Merlion statue which sits at the mouth of the river and is just downright weird. I then hopped on a traditional bumboat for a cruise along the river before heading up to Chinatown for some lunch.
The afternoon was spent on the other side of the city in Little India and on Orchard Road having a look at the shops. Now when I say shops I mean shops. There are countless malls full of every designer name under the sun and to be honest I think its a little bit overkill, however they all looked to be doing good business and the locals all looked to be having a good time carrying there designer labelled shopping bags round. That evening I met up with a couple of lads and a few girls who were staying in the same dorm as me and we all went for a few beers to a bar called Eski where the temperature was a cool minus two. It was great to cool down however after ten minuites or so it was a bit too much. We rounded the night off in an Irish bar chatting with a couple of
Singapore at night
The Fullerton hotel with the skyscape all lit up.
Yank Navy pilots.
The next morning after a quick look on the internet I moved hostels. The hostel I was in was charging me $35 per night for a large 22 bed dorm with very uncomfortable beds so I hopped on the train over to Little India and booked in to the Fragrance hostel for $20 per night. This place was much better, very clean with only 6 bed dorms and air conditioning that would make Antarctica feel warm. I spent the afternoon looking round a few electronics malls before heading downtown for the Asia’s Greatest Festival. It was a parade that celebrated the end of the Chinese New Year and lasted for ages with dozens of floats and hundreds of dancers. It even included a drive Formula 1 drive by to promote the night Grand Prix scheduled to run round the city’s streets later this year. Back to Little India next and a couple of night caps before bed.
For my last full day in Singapore I caught the train to the harbour front where a cable car takes you over to Sentosa Island however I got on the wrong one and ended up at
The Merlion Statue
Some keen individual in the 60's thought it up.... I think he was fired soon after. the top of Mount Faber, I say at the top of it however it is only 116M tall. From there I Went to have a quick look around the financial district but it was a little deserted because of course it was Sun day (Doo!) so I visited the Long Bar at the very swanky and expensive Raffles Hotel. For a posh hotel there is a very strange ritual, on each table there is a big bowl of monkey nuts which everyone eats and then just throws the shells on the floor which is littered with them.
The trip to the airport the next morning turned in to a bit of a rush after I underestimated just how long the train would take. I made it to check-in 35 minutes before departure and was surprised they still let me on. Flight number 16 on my itinerary took only 50 minutes and my plans for a quick getaway in to downtown Kuala Lumpar on the KLIA express were scuppered when we landed at the budget terminal which is situated on the opposite side of the airport to the main terminal. So a bus it was down to KL Sentral
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
The godfather of Singapore. station which is only one stop on the subway from China Town.
I checked into a budget hotel for RM50 per night (£8.50) which gave me a single en-suite room which was nice considering that I have been staying in dorms for such a long time. I jumped back on the underground and headed down town to have a look at the fabulous Petronas Towers which at 452 metres were the tallest buildings in the world for about 7 years and still are the tallest twin towers. Later on I went back to China Town for something to eat before having an early night.
The next morning I had a walk down in to the city and took a trip on the monorail which circumnavigates the centre, It was surprisingly rickety for something that looked so modern however it took me up to the main shopping street in KL. Similar to Singapore there are some massive shopping malls seven and eight storeys tall fitted out with gleaming marble and all the top designer shops. Next it was a taxi to the KL building which is situated on the top of a hill right in the middle
Boat Quay
Old Singapore meets new. of the city. The KL tower is the fourth highest communications tower in the world and I took the lift to the viewing platform at 276 metres (I think the full height of the tower is 415 metres) which gave some fantastic panoramic views of the city. Back over to the petronas towers for a look at the visitors centre and a look around the KLCC gardens situated behind the towers. It was then back to China Town for a shower and some food before heading back down town to take some great night shots of the city (but I can’t show you them) and having a few beers in a great bar that had a Malaysian 80’s DJ who liked to join in on the songs, quite surreal. In the bar I met up with some more brit’s and we partied the night away until the early hours.
For my final day in KL I visited Batu Caves which are located about 20km outside the city and to get there I jumped on a local bus and the journey took about 45 minutes. The caves are located at the top of a hill and you have to
climb up 272 steps to access the main cave which contains a Hindu temple. At the base of the hill is a massive golden statue and the caves are visited by almost a million pilgrims each year. From there it was back to the centre of KL and a look around Merdeka Square which is a formal parade ground and the symbolic heart of the city. My last stop was at the Masjid Negara which is one of the largest mosques in SE Asia. From there it was back to Chinatown for some food and to collect my bags before heading for Central Station to catch the overnight train to Thailand.
I had booked in to a second class sleeper car for the overnight trip into Thailand and the journey was smooth and the bunk surprisingly comfortable. The next morning we crossed the border and were unloaded at a station in the middle of nowhere to complete the immigration process. Back on the train and another hour to Hat Yai where I had a to wait for four hours for the next train which would take me to Surat Thani. The only class available for this journey was third class
(105 bhat or £1.60) which gives you a five and a half hour train journey sitting on a very narrow, very uncomfortable bench. The train arrived past midnight and it was a relief to get to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Oh, I need to mention at this point that I booked my bus and boat trip over to Koh Tao for the next morning and was told to be in reception for 07:00hrs.
I was waiting in reception at the agreed time for a good twenty minutes when a young guy on a scooter turned up. He duly told me he would be taking me to meet the big bus and so started the saga of being shunted around the town on the back of a scooter (with backpack on) looking for the mythical ‘big bus’ At one point he asked me to ride the scooter because his wrists were hurting! (I think I did a better job anyway!) As you can probably guess, I never caught the bus and therefore never caught the ferry. I kept my calm and arranged to go the following day. The remainder of the day was spent looking around
the market and catching up on lost sleep.
The next morning I managed to catch the ferry for the 5 hour trip to Koh Tao and it wasn’t until I arrived that I noticed my camera was missing from my daypack. I had it when I got on the ferry so it must have been stolen during the journey. Damn, that’s two cameras now and worse still I hadn’t downloaded the brilliant night pictures from KL. So my apologies for the lack of pictures in this particular blog.
So Koh Tao is a beautiful Island in the south of the Gulf of Thailand and is the home of Thailand’s thieving diving industry. There are dozens of dive schools in the two main villages of Mea Hat and Hat Sai Ri of which I chose one in the latter. The majority of the hotels are affiliated to dive schools and I took a deal for four nights accommodation in a air conditioned room and 8 dives for 8,800 Bhat (£145) which I thought was a good deal. The atmosphere to the island is very relaxed and the bars and restaurants line the beach with entertainment provided by fire spinners who perform
nightly at the more popular bars.
I was a little disappointed with the diving, the visibility was very poor and the marine life was sparse in comparison with Fiji. There were high points though, Reef Sharks, a Jenkins Ray, some wonderful Nemo’s and lots of Batfish. The island is really devoted to people learning to dive for the first time and the reefs are very well trodden and if I were a fish I would probably go and find a quieter spot to swim in. I also took a trip to the police station to report my stolen camera and get the report for the insurance company. The station was one small room with a casually dressed policeman sitting behind a desk tugging on a cigarette, just the way you would expect really.
Back on the road again and this time a ferry ride over to Phumpton on the mainland and a five hour wait for the overnight sleeper train to Bangkok which eventually arrived two hours late. I slept for the majority of the journey which arrived in to Bangkok at 10:00hrs the next morning. The whole point of my visit to Bangkok was to have my
passport fitted with a visa for Vietnam and to meet up for the start for the impending trip through Cambodia and Vietnam. So after finding the meeting point hotel I headed over to the Vietnamese Embassy who told me to come back the next day to collect my passport. I then went to buy a new camera (number 3) from one of the many malls that adorn Bangkok.
The next couple of days were spent seeing the sights of Bangkok which included a couple of river cruises and a visit to the Grand Palace which was quite spectacular.
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jeremy
non-member comment
Yo!
Dave, its been a while since I met you in the lamb - it looks like you have truly been living the dream! Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading your next post. Take care. Jeremy