Advertisement
Published: September 30th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Sunday 29th
We take a short taxi ride to the coach station in plenty of time for the departure. We're not taking any chances of not getting on. We bought our tickets three days ago and were the first to do so. So bearing in mind they could give us any seats, they have incredably given us two seats in different rows! Luckily a local swaps one seat and we are seated one behind the other for the 7 hour trip.
Before we leave the local Medicine man gets on and tries to sell us his Nutmeg Balm which is good for itching, vomiting, pregnancy and ear ache! We decide that as good as it might be we're not suffering from any of those.
The trip takes the full seven hours as the driver seems to have only just passed his test (if they have one) as he rarely gets over 40 mph.
To make matters worse the conductor is a Jason Statham fan and we get 4 films of mindless violence. Enough to make us sleep nearly all the way.
In the evening we go to the harbour front for dinner, spagbol ! or was
it noodles ?
This evening we experience our first evening in dorms. There was no room at the inn for a private room !
It was chaotic with our things always in the wrong bag in the wrong dorm. I was amazed at how considerate the other boys were. Coming in late on tip toes and whispering. I got a great nights sleep ! on my bottom bunk. Christine wasn't so lucky but was ok on the ladder to her high level bed despite one of the German girls offering her a bottom bed as she didn't think Christine would manage it ! They seem to think we're geriatric !
Monday 30th
We nip out first thing and top up our spending money before heading to the jetty and getting a speed boat to an island opposite. Sepi is about 10 k offshore and we fly over the waves, and crash into the troughs, and get there is 20 mins. We don't enjoy the experience much, after all we're the ones that never go to theme parks.
Sepi is a tiny island with a good beach and small reef ideal for snorkeling. We hire a
mask and snorkel for Christine, I'm not taking any chances with my eyes this time around. She sees quite a few fish but nothing she's not seen before.
The boat back is less "exciting" as we keep on the water.
The weather's starting to change as the day has been generally hot and overcast.
After dinner we take a walk around the night market and get caught in a deluge. Good job we've just bought a new hair drier !
Tuesday 1st
This morning we take a short taxi ride to the Wetlands Centre just outside of town. It's a large mangrove area with board walks and is good for seeing birds. As usual however we only hear them and there's not a bird in sight ! I'm starting to think they just play bird song for the tourists.
We're standing quietly giving the birds a chance to show themselves when three Chinese "birdies" walk past with cameras having lenses the size of rocket launchers ! If only they were quiet we might have a chance but they're the noisiest bird watchers we've ever seen. We give up in the hide and go elsewhere.
We're rewarded by seeing a little heron and that's it for the morning.
In the afternoon we take the "short walk", as recommended by a couple of German girls, to the Heritage Centre. They had suggested we might be better off taking the bus ! It takes us about an hour as we lose our way following their directions of a short cut.
It's a great place full of original style Malay buildings of different tribes through the ages. The sort I was hoping to stay in, but now I've seen them I'm not so sure I would have liked it. They're very open to the mozzies and later we start much scratching ! Glad we didn't stay overnight.
Wednesday 2nd
We go to our favourite cake shop first thing and take a final walk around KK. Then it's back to the hostel for final packing. We're getting it down to a fine art now of balancing the weight between all of the bags.
We drive to the airport and the taxi drivers a very proud man. He explains that his car is his hobby and he's spent a fortune having the interior, including dashboard and roof lining, covered in brown plastic "crocodile" skin ! He drives fully reclined and the gear stick is 2' long in stainless steel and glass. He plugs something in and the gear stick lights up! He's a really nice chap and doesn't try to over charge us !
The Air Asia flight goes smoothly and we check in at our Singapore hotel around 6.30. This gives us plenty of time for a night out at Clarke Quay. An area that has been redeveloped with waterside restaurants and is really lively. If only our budget allowed us to eat in any of them !
Thursday 3rd
We have a final walk around Singapore in the morning and have another look at the stunning buildings before having lunch in one of the waterside restaurants. A treat before we go!
The afternoon is spent mainly at the airport waiting for our flight to Perth.
We are finally leaving Asia, our first continent on our travels. I will leave with memories of Singaporeans being a fairly ernest bunch, mainly rushing around plugged into their I phones or I pads. The spend a lot of time sending texts or emails and will probably be the first of the human race to develop longer thumbs !
The Malayans, although poor by western standards seem a happy lot, always smiling and laughing. They're hopeless at giving directions and we gave up asking them, preferring to get lost on our own. The country is VERY hot and humid and -------- they eat a lot of rice !
Advertisement
Tot: 0.193s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 20; qc: 67; dbt: 0.0826s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Dave and allys
non-member comment
Made us chuckle
Glad you enjoyed the backpackers:) enjoy oz