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Stepping off the plane at Singapore we were blasted with the tropical heat that we will be in fro the rest of our travels. The temperature this close to the equator hovers at around 30 - 32 degrees and the humidity is generally pretty damn high. Singapore is a small island state lyig at the bottom of the Malay penisular. In former times it was a super important trading 'entrepot' for the british in Asia. It was given its independence in the 60's and the first Prime Minister took somewhat of a Iron grip of the place which meant that some civil liberties were waivered in favour of the suposed good of the nation. This is still apparent these days with very tough laws on trivial things such as Jay walking and chewing gum etc. The up shot is that the place is super safe and very very clean but on the whole a bit too sanitised for the traveller looking to experince Asia. The fact that the economy is very strong and standards of living are high pays testament to the governments hard line aspproach in the early years and on the whole more freedom is being given to subsequent
Hawker Centre
Super cheap food and lots to choose from. A favourite here is frog stew!generations which is good. The main highlights of the place for us was the food, of which there is amazing choice and variety, and the diversity of the people hailing from India, China, and Europe as well as the original inhabitants.
After a couple of days we moved up into Malaysia stopping first at Melaka (the nations most historic town) and then on to Kuala Lumpur. We had already booked flights over to Borneo so the next day we jumped on the plane for the flight over to this famous Jungle Island. The Island of Borneo is split in half, the top half being Malaysia and the bottom belonging to Indonesia. We are in the region to the north called Sabah (not Shabba!!). The first day was spent wreckying out itineries for our 10 day stay.
Yesterday, we ventured out of the capital of the province (Kota Kinabalu) to a small 'water Gypsy' community to the north. We had to jump in the back of a pickup truck to get to the village and luckily met a local guy on the way who spoke good English and offered to show us around. This was cool because we got
Having a kip
This fella is meant to be peddeling the streets of Melaka. Lots of these colouful rickshaw types here. to meet the chief of the community plus many of ther guys family members and visited 3 or 4 homes in ther village. We caused quite stir! The whole village is suspended on stilts above the water and getting around is done by bridges or in canoes. The guy, Jiji, was super nice and basically took us to see all his Aunts, Uncles and cousins in several different homes! They were all so kind, even though they are probably one of the poorest groups of people we've seen. They even sent us away with a gift bag full of homemade sweet potato crisps (Qae). The funniest event that day was visiting his parents who had just celebrated his sisters wedding at the home. They insisted that we tried on the wedding outfits (they wear several throughout the day, all handmade by Mum!) and posed for pictures. They were highly entertained! Partly a reflection of their Islamic beliefs, they found it very strange that we were unmarried and travelling together.
Buzzing from the interaction with the locals and the sups of strong coffee (Kopi) that we had to drink in each house, we said our farewells and reurned to the
Shisha action
mmmm apple shisha, hostel in Kota Kinabalu.
We have booked up a three day trek into the jungle so we are looking forward to that now!
Hope everyone is good xxxxxx
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Dooog
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Getting in the mixer I see. Good boy, good girl