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Published: March 14th 2009
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Singapore
Beer and ....food? From Vik:
Three countries and Steve is almost through yet another beard cycle since we last typed.
Our arrival in Singapore was like consuming a post-India recovery drink; everything went so swimmingly it was a bit like being part of some hugely efficient virtual world. We spent two days lurching from one air-conditioned shopping mall to the next, with the highlight undoubtedly being the fabulous food markets that we stumbled across. However our avoidance of the swanky restaurants in favour of the backstreet local options did mean that we often had no clue as to what we were consuming...I'm sure that the 'balls' bobbing around in the soup were vegetarian...and all the caged toads that we later saw must have been purely for the domestic pet market?!!
And then we moved - with the upper most logistical simplicity - into the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. A kind of comfy-er version of Singapore. Still a plentiful supply of the ubiquitous shopping terrian but a bit less virtual. Our days continued much the same; wandering, eating, marvelling at the way in which the sky turned from everton-blue to thundery-black within seconds (with an unbelievable quantity of rain in very close pursuit). Having
had our fill of the super-swankiness and bustling-cityness we made our break for the desert island that we had been dreaming of for days.
Opting (unknowingly) for the less popular route into Thailand, Steve and I spent seven hours perched on a bench (that we were not allowed to leave as we had officially been stamped out of Malaysia) whilst we waited for our boat to 'fill up'. Five more people later and we were able to cross the Malaysia/Thai border; me, Steve, five randomers, a pile of wrought iron and several boxes of wheat flour. Very glamorous. Add another journey or two, some familiar hassle at the border (apparently no ATMs allow English people to access cash in Thailand so you HAVE TO change your money at the border town. Sure.) and we made it to our tropical paradise.
Beautiful deserted beach...clear blue sea...the odd bottle of Chang (but no scouse pie to enjoy it with, Ian - you can't have it all!). Steve and I managed to operate a sensible policy of avoiding the sun at it's worst until the last day when we were inadvertently drawn into a game of midday beach boules (when I say 'boules'
it was shapes vaguely reminiscent of boules that the sea had kindly offered us) with the altogether unsurprising consequence that we left our lovely island looking like we had been deep-fried...and with particular damage inflicted to the feet - schoolboy level error!!
From the coast we headed inland to enjoy a bit of rainforest. It turns out that trekking in what I can only presume was 100% humidity was quite a slog. Especially when you can't quite locate your path back through the impenetrable forest. At this point we (Steve and I and another lost soul) took what we thought to be the sensible option and clambered down (using tree roots as our aids) to find the river, knowing that this led 'home'. Solid plan. Until of course said river was too deep to wade through and we had to swim...in all our clothes, with our bags. Luckily a crisp-bag (and Steve's excellent swimming technique) saved my camera! I was less delighted by the hitchhiker I had acquired on route without my consent - a rather unlovely leech. Enough drama, we are now off to do some more beach work. An unchartered mode of overnight travel for us...the ferry...nausea and
sleeplessness await...
From Steve:
this exciting entry will have to wait until it costs less than 7quid an hour!!!!!!!!!!!!! still on ko tao next place Bangkok
Finally! Singapore was a great escape from India, if a little sterile. The transport works, and its really easy to use. After you have done shopping or at least window shopping there was little left to look at. Next KL, homely, more used looking than Singapore. Another very easy city to live in - great food, friendly folk and no hassle. The architecture was generally very modern/super modern however they have managed to integrate lots of Islamic design, which made it much more attractive. We also made it to an enormous market, and set out to buy fruit... a little too much fruit, most of which we didn't know. The market was a real melting pot of smells from the flower and fruit stalls, to the meat and fish stalls via the Durian!! There was lots of breath holding.
Then another night bus, dropped in the middle of nowhere at some silly time in the morning, however it felt safe, and again friendly (especially when trying to buy some tea
Dinner
Dont know if to eat it or punch it and coffee from a tiny non English speaking bar). Our final arrival on the Ko Tarutao blew us away, a few huts, a cafe type thing, a gorgeous bay and a hilly jungle(including great noises). The days just shot by, no phones or net etc, electric for 4hrs a day, and the only food is what had been delivered that day. The sea was like a vast hot bath, with only the smallest of waves. It only rained once, the few thai on the beach on a day trip legged it, and out came the ferang (foreigners) who either ran around, floated in the sea (Vik and I) or just stood enjoying it. Whilst above a huge thunder storm raged. One day we found out how to knock coconuts out of the treas, hack our way in and drink the milk and eat the white.
Then another dash for the border to renew our visa (The Thai government in its infinite knowledge only gives 15day visa to overland border crossings), which means a farsicle walk over the border then turn around and come back in. Then via some dreadful town, we arrived in Khao Sok National park. This time a
The river
Taken just after we had had to swim through the gorge! bamboo hut (basically a giant sieve, that only seemed to keep out elephants) in the jungle. The jungle seemed to produce an endless array of great noises, our favorites were the Monkeys doing clanger impressions, and the frog that became known as the WFF (wet fart frog) which always raised a giggle. The restaurant had its own enormous frogs which ate all the bugs, and seemed to live under the beer fridge. After much sweaty trekking, we decided on a Thai massage, 5 minutes into having every bone in my body dislocated, and my muscles crushed i gave into the relaxing version. At the end of Viks massage when offered a bowl of drinking water, she kindly took the bowl thanked the lady and washed her hands in it... then turned red.
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Iain
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Hello
Hello again you two - all sounds good. Steve - I am sorry to report The Fox has closed...