Walk a Mile in my Flip-Flops: Hot, Crowded and Smelly

I recently emailed a friend describing my time here in Asia as "hot, crowded and a little smelly", to which they replied "aren't you on vacation?!" I got quite a laugh out of it because those were never three adjectives I would use to describe my ideal getaway, but surprisingly I am loving every minute!

Even though Singapore and Kuala Lampur are some of the most "westernized" cities in Asia, I still felt serious culture shock when stepping off the airplane from Australia: * I am no longer surrounded by smiling Ozzy men and women saying "g'day mate", but am instead the obvious minority, with Asian and Indian people everywhere I look. * While the Australian dollar was pretty easy to figure out in comparison to the American Dollar, the Singapore dollar and the Malaysian Ringgit leave me seriously questioning my ability to do second grade math. Needless to say, the new low cost of things are a breathe of fresh air compared to OZ! * I have had my first run in with a true Asian toilet - a hole in the ground with grooves on the side where you put your feet and a hose to clean yourself, which I am still at a loss of how to use (all it does is leave an inch of messy water on the floor and you soaking wet.) Not to mention they don't provide toilet paper, so it was one of the first things I had to buy and now carry with me everywhere I go! * Even though there is MacDonalds, KFC, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut and even Long John Silver in every country I have visited so far, to eat real Malaysia food I've had to step out of my comfort zone. Food stands down dirty alleys and on the sides of streets, nearly falling down, filled with asian workers who prepare the food with their bare hands, that I would have called "dodgy or sketchy" at home are now where I eat every meal. Throwing hygene to the wind I eat where the locals eat, devouring some of the best meals I have ever had for the price of a bottled water in Australia.

Tim and I arrived in Singpore on Wednedsay the 31st, and headed to our respective hostels. I stayed at The Drop Inn on the other side of Little India where I met up with my friend Rego (a friend from Australia), who I will be spending the next three weeks with travelling into Thailand. When Rego said there was a "food court" near the hostel I got quite excited for pizza, pasta and other things I would expect to find at a typical food court, but instead got 30 choices of Asian food, from Frog soup to sauteed liver to fried asian noodles - I had mystery meat dumplings.

The next morning Tim and I met up to hike Mt. Faber, which is really one of the only outdoor activities I could find in my lonely planet book to do in Singapore. It was like summer in Florida with phenominally high temperatures and maximum humidity leaving us both soaking wet, but the views were pretty great. If you remember one of my previous posts about the underground opal mining city in Australia, you will understand when I say that Singapore is more underground than Coober Pedy. Under every building in town there are what seems like miles of shopping malls, and more shopping malls, and more shopping malls.

There are so many shopping malls that I had trouble finding my way out of them! We spent the rest of the day exploring the malls and trying to find places to walk that weren't underground. The next morning Tim and I met up again, and walked to the Botannical Gardens where we saw a group of Asians dancing to techno music, waterfalls, and the Orchid Garden (from the entrance gate because we didn't want to pay $5.)
That afternoon Rego and I took a stroll through Little India, shopped around for the lowest possible price for a bus ticket to KL (Kuala Lampur), went to the food court (again), and stayed up late (as it was our last night in Singapore.)

The next morning we walked with our backpacks for about 30 minutes (the lowest priced bus also happened to be the farthest away) and began our 6 hour bus ride into Malaysia. Rego is an amazing bus-sleeper and slept the ENTIRE way, but I stayed up for most of it looking at the Malaysian landscapes (mainly because I lent him my travel pillow and clearly wasn't getting it back.) Our Kuala Lampur hostel is in the heart of Chinatown, a fast moving place, where crossing the street is "at your own risk", booths lines the streets selling the most amazing knock-offs for next to nothing, cats hide in every corner, the ground is littered with garbage, and funky smells fill your nostrils.

After a walk through the markets, Rego had to remind me that backpackers are not carrying around huge Luis Vutton purses, so i settled for a $7 bikini instead. Dinner on the street costs between $2 - $3, a train ride is less than $.50, an amazing purse will cost you about $15, and brand new Nike sneakers would only cost about $8. The following morning we were on a mission to get to the Malaysian Grand Prix and ended up scoring tickets which included a 1 hour bus ride there for only $30. After we were accidentally let into the "nice area" we headed to our cheap seats on the hill, saw jets fly overhead and then the race began -- it was 5 hours in the sun of watching cars go vroooom vrooom vroooom at light speed, not even knowing who was winning. Needless to say the experience was once-in-a-lifetime (literally, I will only subject myself to that once!)

I chatted up some fun English guys on the bus who happened to have umbrellas (which I conveniently sat under during the race) who we met up with the next morning to hike around the city - headed to the botannical gardens (where we got to look at the infamous Mousedeers), the planetarium, Petronas Towers (formally the tallest buildings in the world), and ate another amazing meal of true Malay food.

Tomorrow Rego and I take an 8 hour bus to Khota Bharu, where we catch a ferry out to the Perhentian Islands to spend 4 days basking in the sun, surfing and just plain relaxing. On the 13th we fly from KL to Thailand - Bangkok for the Thai New year (13th - 15th) where there is a HUGE waterfight on the streets and then head to Koh Tao (a southern island) for 4 days to get PADI scuba certified.