Friday, January 19, 2007

the end

Hello from Lowestoft. I'm home. This is my final blog entry. I left my hotel in Bangkok at 6am on 17 January in a taxi, and reached the airport around 7am. My flight left at 9.45am, took six and a half hours, and got me as far as Muscat in Oman. I then waited in Muscat for about three hours for my second flight to London (Heathrow) which took another eight and a half hours. Both flights left and arrived punctually, I didn't sleep on either, and no-one sat next to me on either so I was able to spread out across several seats and relax.
I touched down in London around 9pm (UK time) on 17 January, having gained back seven and a half hours due to time differences. The last train from London to Lowestoft left before 9pm, so I didn't try to make it all the way home that night. My friend Andrew met me at the airport and I stayed over at his place in nearby Englefield Green for the night. Once we'd dropped my bag off at his flat, we went for a couple of beers to catch up, re-aquaint, and debrief. I stayed over at Andrew's the night before I left the UK back in June, and we went for a couple of beers at the same pub on that night also (I wrote about it on this blog). Going back and doing the same on the way home gave nice symmetrical ending to things.
I caught the train home from Englefield Green to Lowestoft, via London, the next morning. I left around 7am and arrived back in Lowestoft early afternoon, at around 1.30pm. This journey took longer than expected because the train services were disrupted by high winds. By 1.40pm my Mum and Niece had picked me up from the train station, and I found myself finally at home. The adventure over. All complete.
It feels good to be back, if a bit surreal at the moment. It's been good to see everyone and I feel very happy to be 'home,' but it does feel odd being here, a strange feeling which I can't quite articulate.
Since I've been home, aside from catching up on some sleep following those flights, I've spent much of my time trying to remember how to do things like check and load credit on my mobile phone (I've remembered now - you dial '789'). I've also been to see my grandmother, sorted out the stuff in my back-pack a bit, all whilst trying to take in that my South East Asian jaunt is over. It's going to take a while to sink in. The big question now is: what next?

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

my last day

This is it: day two hundred and two, and blog number one hundred and one. The end. My last full day in South East Asia. I almost can't believe it.
It's been the trip of a lifetime, it really has, and the best seven months of my life without doubt. I'm facing one of those bitter sweet moments now: I'll be sad to leave it all behind, what an amazing part of the world South East Asia is, but I also can't wait to see home, my family, and my friends.
As it turns out, I faced one last trial this morning, my last I hope, when I was unable to get any money from the cash machines in Bangkok. My remaining travellers cheques bailed me out - I did need them after all - and have provided me with just enough to pay my hotel bill, get by today, and then over to the airport first thing tomorrow morning. The House of Bury is at last in order and ready to come home. Soon Bury will no longer be abroad.
I just wanted to say a big thank you to all those who've followed what I've been up to, and have emailed me with encouragement and kind words. I've really appreciated it, and it's really helped me to keep going.
I've learnt a lot on this trip, both about travelling and about myself, and I've messed plenty of things up too along the way. I suppose it was inevitable. But, as the late Peter Cook once said, 'I've learnt from my mistakes and I'm sure I can repeat them exactly.'
See you soon!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

trip rundown

1. Trip Statistics
Countries visited: 8 (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore).
Total days travelling: 200.
Bus journeys made: 40. Aeroplane journeys made: 7. Train journeys made: 5. Boat journeys made: 15. Mopeds hired: 1.
Total number of hotels stayed in: 53.
Beaches visited: 9. Mountain ranges/highlands visited: 6.
Currencies used: 9 (Baht, Riel, Dong, Kip, Peso, Ringgit, Singapore Dollar, Brunei Dollar, and the US Dollar). Average amount I spent day to day during the trip: 20USD.
Books read during the trip: 11.
Total disposable razors used: 8. Amount of times I've had my laundry done: 29. New items of clothing bought: 2 (a new t-shirt on my birthday in Laos, and a new pair of sandals in Malaysia).
Nervous breakdowns: 0.
2. Blog Statistics
Number of blog entries made: 100.
Length of blog: 58 000 words.
Number of photographs taken: 784.
3. Bests List
Best country overall: Vietnam.
Best city: Bangkok (Thailand). Best town: Luang Prabang (Laos). Best village: Kampung Ayer (Brunei).
Best Beach: Boracay (Philippines). Best mountain range: Sapa (Vietnam). Best natural wonder: Halong Bay (Vietnam). Best river: the Mekong Delta (Vietnam). Best historical building: Angkor Wat (Cambodia). Best modern building: Petronas Towers (Malaysia). Best royal palace: the Cambodian Royal Palace (Cambodia).
Best hotel stayed in: Mi Mi Hotel (Vietnam). Best bar: Reggae Bar in KL (Malaysia). Best beer: Tiger Beer (Singapore). Best restaurant: Brothers Cafe in Hanoi (Vietnam).
Best journey: the bus journey from Vietnam to Laos. Best transport used: Jeepney (Philippines).
Best activity: tubing in Vang Vieng (Laos). Best activity watched: Muay Thai kick boxing (Thailand). Best 'dubious' activity: firing a machine gun (Cambodia).
Best currency: dong (Vietnam). Best bargain: my open bus ticket across the whole of Vietnam (16 USD).
Best actor in a supporting role: Raj Chadha (UK).
4. Record breakers list
Angkor Wat (in Cambodia) - the world's largest religious building.
The Petronas Towers (in Malaysia) - the world's largest twin towers.
Istana Nural Iman (in Brunei) - the world's largest royal palace.
Taman Negara (in Malaysia) - the world's oldest rainforest (allegedly).

Saturday, January 13, 2007

how to travel?

Over the last seven months I've travelled and moved around more than at any other time in my life. It's been a tremendous experience, and I've amassed some amazing memories. But aside from actually doing the travelling, I've also had the chance to investigate and think a bit about what back-packer travelling is about and how best - for me anyway - to go about it.
As I see it there are three main ways I can spend my time as a back-packer: a) seeing and observing things, like natural wonders, man-made buildings, or people and towns; b) engaging in activities like canoeing, hiking, cooking, teaching, or shooting machine guns; and c) relaxing and resting. The first two bring the most rewards, and ultimately seeing the sights is - for me - the most important. It's astonishing to go and look at buildings like Angkor Wat, the Petronas Towers, and at natural wonders like Halong Bay and the Taal Volcano. They're brilliant to go and witness and marvel at. Activities can be great fun to engage with and provide a different kind of stimulus. They involve physical and mental work and bring the reward of achievement. Relaxing is also important, and we all need to rest. There's no point wearing yourself down to nothing on a trip, you'll end up not enjoying anything. What's needed, I think, is a blend of all three with greater emphasis on the first two.
Should I travel alone or with a friend? There are good reasons in favour of doing both. The most obvious advantage of travelling alone is that there is no compromise involved: you go where you want to when you want to, and you concentrate hard on the place you are visiting. You also tend to make more new friends when you're on your own. You do this because you have to. If you don't you really are alone. Completely alone. I've been more sociable by necessity over the past seven months than I've ever been - it's done me a lot of good - and I've met some terrific people as a result, both back-packers and locals. However, travelling with a friend also brings benefits. The most obvious being: you have someone to share experiences with, someone there when things go wrong, and also someone to dissect and unpack things with: 'earlier today, did you notice...' It seems to me that travelling with a friend will always be easier* and possibly more fun, but you will be much, much more challenged on your own. I'm proud I've made this trip by myself and would like to travel solo again (although perhaps not for so long), and I'd also like to make future trips with friends too.
How far should I go off the beaten track? I'll be honest: I've been off the beaten track a lot less than I imagined I would at the beginning of this trip; it's something that's not always easy to do. I'm talking about throwing the Lonely Planet in the bin, and heading out to areas unvisited by any tourists and trying to live like a local. In reality, off the beaten track, in my limited experience, can mean nobody being able to communicate with you meaningfully, and such areas are usually untravelled for a reason - there's not much there to see or do. I like the idea very much in principle but have found it hard to carry through most of the time, and whenever I've ended up somewhere remote I've found it a real struggle to talk with people, a bit isolating, and lacking in things for me to engage with, look at, or understand. Maybe I've missed out a bit and should have tried harder with this, but it just hasn't come naturally to me, and I suspect it won't in future either.
What sort of attitude should I have when I travel? Philosophical and calm seems best. Be prepared for things to go wrong, and when they do act Buddhist. I need to remember it will make an interesting memory once I've got through it, and that I might even learn something about how to cope better with setbacks and challenging situations. Looking back, my most interesting experience on the this trip was when I got stranded for over fifty hours (because of typhoon related landslides) on a bus at the Vietnam/Laos border. Everyone else on the bus was from Laos and only one person could speak English. At first I became stressed and weary (especially as my Vietnamese Visa had only hours before it expired), but slowly the situation turned into the most magical of experiences. Being stranded forced me to start getting to know the people on the bus, and by the end of the journey I felt like they were all family - even if half our communication was through single words and hand gestures. As we got to know each other they insisted on buying me meals from the roadside, introduced me to Beer Laos, sticky rice, and beef laab, and began teaching me to speak a few words in their language. Experiences like that can turn out to be pure gold if you keep your head.
How long should I spend visiting a country? I think a good month is needed to explore most countries, but after that I begin to feel saturated and struggle to take more in. Small places like Brunei and Singapore are obvious exceptions, because they are just too tiny to spend that much time wandering around.
How careful should I be? I wouldn't advocate taking a holiday in Iraq right now but also feel it's important not to be frightened off visiting places unduly. Risks should be assessed carefully but we lose out if we are too cautious. I'm in Thailand, as I write, which has recently been bombed and subject to a military coup, but I feel perfectly safe here. On balance, I've judged it safe enough to come back for my last few days and I've had no problems. It's also important to be willing and unafraid to meet and engage with new people whilst abroad I think. It's frighteningly easy not to, and many people go to new countries without ever really speaking to a local person. This reminds me of Danielle (one of the girls Raj and I went out with on New Years Eve). In Danielle's presence I exchanged some banter with a street seller who'd jokingly called me 'handsome.' She shocked me by saying after, 'I can't believe you actually talk to them,' as though Malaysian street hawkers were space aliens. 'I just keep my head down and keep going,' she said. I think she's missing out with that attitude. In regard to food and being careful: I've come to think that it's important to just try it and not worry about the consequences. If you're sick for a few days so be it.
How should I get around whilst abroad? By using as many and as varied modes of transport on the ground as possible. This is part of the fun. Riding on old local buses, tourist minibuses, motorbike and sidecars, tuk tuks, mopeds, bicycles, and trains is all part of the experience. I plan in future to continue my habit of not flying where practical because, aside from being murder on the environment, it's also a very sanitised and boring way to move around. You can't see anything except the flight cabin, and fly over (and miss) the country you're supposed to be visiting.
What type of accommodation should I stay in? I say keep it basic but not squalid. Basic for me means a clean room with a clean bed to sleep in and a reasonable lock on the door. That's it. Squalid means rats, cockroaches, plywood walls, and filth. My room is just a place to sleep or grab a quick rest in between looking around and finding out about the place I'm visiting, and as such I don't need or require much. I also think that expensive posh rooms can be a disadvantage: you end up spending too much time in them lying down or watching television, or in the hotel bar, and that's not why I'm abroad. There's a place for pampering and it's on a health farm in Hertfordshire.
What should I take on a trip? There's no doubt in my mind that as little as possible is best. It's hard work packing, unpacking, and carrying your back-pack, and the lighter it is the better. It is better to have less valuables to worry about, less clothes to get washed, and less weight on your back. My most valuable possessions on this trip have been my digital camera and a good pair of sandals.
What should I bring back? I think it's a bit pointless going overboard with souvenirs, especially on a long trip - you end up having to carry them around everywhere you go and worry about breaking them if they are delicate. My strategy has been to leave the tourist nik naks out and instead keep this blog diary, take a manageable amount of photographs, and I've also kept hold of a lot of my old ticket stubs (and such like) which I will put in an album when I get home. These are my souvenirs, and the advantage they have over a wooden Buddha statues is that they tell me where I've been and in many cases the date I went. They can bring back memories, so on further trips I will approach this the same way.
Finally, why should I bother to travel? For education more than anything: to learn new things and see as much as possible of amazing places and different ways of life (and compare them with my own). But also to challenge myself. Can I drink snakes blood? Can I sleep in a longhouse? Can I handle it if I see a scorpion in the jungle at Taman Negara? How far can I go from home? How long for? What can I cope with and what are my limits? I've hit several limits on this trip and have found it fascinating to learn more about what they are and in consequence more about myself. And, you know, a nice side effect of boundary testing is that it often gives you extra confidence. You can come out of it knowing: I can drink snakes blood, I can sleep in a longhouse, I can stand with a scorpion at my feet, I can fly six thousand miles from home, and stay for seven months and survive. It's at the very least interesting, and at the most very useful, to know.
The end. If you couldn't be bothered to read all this and just skipped straight down here remember at least this if you go away: get yourself a good pair of sandals and camera and try and behave yourself...you're a guest in their country.
* Assuming you don't end up getting on each other's nerves, which can be very easy if you're spending twenty four hours a day with someone.

Friday, January 12, 2007

last tango in bangkok

I've made it back to Bangkok. It took me two trains and thirty six hours to get up here. The first train was from Kuala Lumpur to Hat Yai (a border town in Southern Thailand) and took a bit over fifteen hours. I then stood/sat/laid on the station platform for five hours until the train from Hat Yai to Bangkok arrived and jumped straight on it when it did. It came two hours later than scheduled and took another sixteen hours before pulling into Bangkok. The journey wasn't as bad as it sounds, because I was able to sleep comfortably through the night on both trains. Both journeys were smooth and largely uneventful, and made very bearable by fold down beds and air-conditioning. This way of doing things also had the advantage that I didn't need to pay for two nights of accommodation - the train was my hotel on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
After I arrived in Bangkok I checked into the Four Sons Hotel, a hotel just behind Khao San Road, and a cut above my usual choices - it has air-conditioning, a television, and a private bathroom with hot running water. Khao San Road itself is much as I remember it although there is more security on show at the moment, which I take to be a consequence of the Christmas bombings. Each end of the road has been barriered and at night people are periodically searched as they enter and exit. There are lots of army guys with machine guns wandering up and down, and I've also heard a number of police helicopters hovering over-head, suggesting further that the Thai authorities are on red alert.
Once I'd had a shower, and a bit of a rest on my bed, it was early evening and I went out to a local bar I like called Hippie De Bar, and had a couple of beers to relax and celebrate having made it to my final stop before home. I really felt them after. I only had the equivalent of about three pints but still had quite a hangover this morning, and was sufficiently spaced out when I returned to the hotel after for the cheeky receptionist to ask me how many fingers she was holding up before she would give me my room key (she was holding up three and I got it right). This highlights a fact of which I have been aware for sometime: my drinking tolerance has slowly been ebbing away over the last six/seven months because, although I do often have beer, it is usually served to me in bottles (pints are pretty much unavailable out here) and I mostly have had only one or two per sitting. I'll have to do some work when I get home at rebuilding my capacity. Bit of practice and hopefully I'll be back.
This morning I went to the dentist and had my teeth checked, cleaned, and polished. It was good to learn that they are still in good working order, and wonderful to have them nice and clean again. They were beginning to feel the effects of backpacking and electric toothbrush deprivation. While I was there I asked the dentist if he thought I should consider having my teeth whitened. I was pleased to be told that he thought it really not necessary. I then went on to a beauty salon where I had my hair washed and cut, my feet pedicured (my hard and worn feet are now magically soft again), my hands manicured, finishing off with a full body massage. I feel like a new man, as the actress said to the bishop. I've also bought a nice photograph album for my trip pictures, and have begun looking at what I can chuck out of my back-pack. The House of Bury is slowly getting itself into order.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

good vibrations

After writing my blog entry yesterday evening I went over to my favourite haunt in KL, the Reggae Bar on Jalan Tun HS Lee, for a last couple of Carlsberg beers, and to toast Malaysia before leaving.
I've come to feel very fondly about the Reggae Bar over the last month; in fact it's probably my favourite bar in South East Asia. Time and again it's provided me with cool sanctuary whilst I've been hopping in, out, and around Malaysia, Singapore, and Borneo, and it was also the venue for part of my New Year's Eve celebrations. The bar staff have got to know me a bit, and one woman in particular, called Emmy, sees to it that my glass always gets refilled before it is empty whenever I am resident for a few hours. The low lighting at night time allows you limited vision of the grey stone floor and the green walls which are covered with framed Bob Marley memorabilia. At the back is a pool table and outside the front entrance a small stall selling pizza. It's nicely done out, it has to be said.
They played Bob Marley's greatest hits on frequent repeat last night, but also fitted in lots of other music too: Malaysian Ska for a while, and stuff like Massive Attack and that song which has the chanting monks - can't remember what it's called, but you know the one I'm talking about. 'Red Red Wine' by UB40 came on around midnight, and I was very pleased to hear it. Last year when I did some travelling across Indonesia with my friend Raj we seemed to hear UB40 in every bar we went to, leading us to eventually feel short changed if we went somewhere and it wasn't played. Hearing it last night brought back happy memories of Jakarka, Kuta, and Lovina Beach - another great holiday I've been lucky to have.
They consistently get their prices wrong in the Reggae Bar (this is something you have to watch) and you get charged a different amount for a beer each time you go in, and sometimes as frequently as each time you order. This got on my nerves a bit to begin with, but I've come to find it endearing and I accept it now as part of the charm of the place. Last night I was charged yet another price, ten ringgit a beer, which is lower than the last time I went in but higher than some other previous occasions. The difference is negligible to my English purse so I can't say as I care all that much.
I feel rather sad that it's unlikely I'll ever go back to the Reggae Bar again, but I can at least recommend the experience to others who might be passing through - so if you're ever in Kuala Lumpur I suggest you pop in, say hello to Emmy, buy yourself a couple of beers, and enjoy the Marley-fest. Here is their address should thoust require it:

Monday, January 08, 2007

taman negara

I left the Pudu Hostel for Taman Negara, the world's oldest rainforest, at 7.45am on Saturday morning. I was driven up by two Malay brothers as were a Dutch couple called Arnaud and Danielle, an Australian couple called Matt and Danielle, and a Swedish woman called Anna. The first part of the journey was by minibus and took us to the town of Jerantut. This took about three hours. Then at Jerantut Jetty we got on a longtail boat and rode up into Taman Negara itself. This took another two hours along wide brown river bordered by thick, tall, and lush green jungle undergrowth. Most visitors to Taman Negara stay at Kuala Tahan, a small village nestled on the edge of the park, and it was here that we eventually arrived late afternoon.
After a brief rest I went on a jungle night walk with Herman, a brilliant local guide, and everyone who had been on the minibus decided to come along with me. They made the right decision because we saw quite a few things creeping along in the undergrowth with our torches: snakes, all manner of frightening insects, and even some deer. Most exciting, and most frightening, was the large black scorpion we encountered. Herman coaxed him out of his hole and he ended up standing right in front of my feet with his claws snapping. It took all my inner-resolve not to cry like a baby, or jump into Herman's arms, but I managed somehow to stay calm until we moved on. I'm pleased to say that I coped again later when we saw several enormous spiders (tarantula sized monsters) although I kept my distance as much as I could...just in case.
Day two got off to a bad start when I accidentally dropped my watch down the squat toilet in my dormitory. It shot straight down the hole and disappeared without a trace. Gone forever, another fallen soldier, off to join my old flip flops in backpacker equipment heaven. This bad start marked the beginning of a challenging day, the main challenge turning out to be the bad weather. It poured down. All day. It rained and rained and rained. It rained so hard that the brown water level of the river rose steadily, noticeably, and significantly. I plugged on with activities regardless and went 'rapid shooting' with Herman and the others. We also visited an Orang Asli tribal village where I was able to have another go on a blow pipe (my aim has deteriorated since my last effort in Borneo) and watched a guy actually make a blow pipe dart. That was very interesting. Eventually, mid-afternoon, I gave up and went back to the guesthouse and just sat on the front porch feeling wet and - excuse my language - pissed off. I had been supposed to go on the park canopy walk in the afternoon but there was no hope of this - they close it off during heavy rain. This was a big disappointment, but, as we all know: you win some and you lose some.
On day three, I made the journey back down through the rivers of Taman Negara and then back on to the minibus. Anna, Danielle, and Matt came back with me, and Arnaud and Danielle headed north for Penang. The same two brothers picked us at the Jerantut Jetty. The older of the two asked me how it went. I told him, 'I went out there a boy but came back a man,' pausing for gravitas and then adding, 'I'm a hunter now.' He laughed (in my face) and said, 'now the jungle your supermarket uh.'
Whilst in Taman Negara at Kuala Tahan I stayed in a dormitory at the Tahan Guesthouse. The place was painted all different colours and had signs all over the place written on which were things like 'you have to be awake to live your dreams,' and 'life is a journey.' It was Taman Negara meets Woodstock. The strange thing about this though, was that the owners didn't seem to be hippy types as far as I could make out. In fact, they seemed to be a fairly straightlaced Malay family. So why all the 'dream catchers' and primary colours? Far out man.
Also to note: I stroked a python whilst up in the jungle. Not out in the deep of woods as you would imagine, but in a floating restaurant while I was having breakfast and a cup of tea (not masala tea). A local guy walked in with it round his neck, saying that he'd 'found it' in his bedroom the night before. I gave it a stroke but declined the offer of drapping it about my person. He then took it off to the restaurant next door and showed it to a toddler who kept touching it and screaming.

Friday, January 05, 2007

the last leg

Captain's log:
star date - 05.01.07
location - Kuala Lumpur
weather - bloody hot
Sat next to the computer terminal on which I type are two tickets. The first is for a three day jungle trekking trip to Taman Negara (Malaysia's most famous national park). It records that I leave tomorrow morning at 8am, am entitled to 'economy shared' accommodation in the park, and that I will be returned by bus to KL on the evening of 8 January. The second is a one way second class train ticket to Thailand. This ticket records that I will depart from Kuala Lumpur on the evening of 9 January arriving in Hat Yai some fourteen hours later. Between them they give you an outline of the plans I've made today, and a rough picture of my next four or five days.
It's been an administrative day as you can perhaps tell. I spent the morning riding a bus back up to Kuala Lumpur, having first had a dosa (aka dosai, thosai, or dhosa) with masala tea for breakfast (thanks for getting me hooked Raj). I got back to KL around 12pm, booked the above tickets, and also checked myself into the Pudu Hostel. It's competitively priced, I'll give it that, but I'm not sure the chi is right. If I remember my Feng Shui rightly: ideally buildings should be located in front of a mountain and behind a stream. The Pudu manages neither. Its rooms are located on the third floor of an old office block building opposite the bus station. I appreciate it may not be practical to run a river through Jalan Pudu now, or build a mountain behind, but they could bung a few more plant pots in reception and get some new throws for the sofas. Until they do - bad energy.
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Except that whilst at the Dutch Cemetery in Melaka, I was compared to Daniel Craig.
Find something funny?
I suppose to be fair the comparison was made by a complete nutter. He accosted me at the entry gate and also told me that he had met Princess Margaret in Harrods, that the Da Vinci code was all lies, that he had ridden a horse through Hyde Park, rounding up by asking: did I have any idea how to find a telephone line to Jesus? His ramblings went on for about half an hour, while I tried to find a polite way to remove myself, but no break in the stream of verbal incontinence ever came, so in the end I just had to say as best I could that I was leaving and goodbye. 'You think I bullshit. You think this bullshit! CANNOT BULLSHIT THIS!!' was how we left things. He gave me a headache so I went over the bridge to Chinatown, and had a quiet sit down and a Coca Cola.
It's just started thundering outside. I'm glad. It hasn't rained for ages in my vicinity and it will be good for the heat to break. I'll blog again when I return from Taman Negara.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

what next?

I imagine Richard Sharpe (the Napoleonic soldier played by Sean Bean on ITV) would like Melaka. There's an old Portugese fort here he could ransack, a local bar called Jessie's where he could drink Tiger Beer the night before battle, and plenty of beautiful local women wandering around for him to effortlessly ravish. I'm just embarking on my second day here, and I certainly like the place. I've discovered Melaka has an interesting history, and a vibrant, if compact, cultural scene. My last entry, which suggested Melaka is lacking in atmosphere, was a bit rash because once you get into the historical city centre and Chinatown it's a lovely place and definitely worth a day or two of wandering about.
I was in uber-tourist mode yesterday and knocked off most of the sites on foot. To give you a quick run down: I went to the Melaka Sultanate Palace, Stadthuys (the former residence of the governor), St Paul's Church, Christ Church, St Francis Xavier's Church, Port Da Santiago, Cheng Hoon Temple, and all over Little India and Chinatown. I enjoyed visiting the Melaka Sultanate Palace (which is a replica) the most. An enormous and beautiful wooden stilt house, it was built without using a single nail. All of these buildings sit around the town square, and are all pretty much next door to one another, so it wasn't hard to nip in and out of them all.
Nonetheless by late afternoon I was feeling tired, and so went into a nearby shopping mall with the idea of going to the cinema to get off my feet. On my way in a toddler walked in front of me looking rather serious and concentrating hard. She was holding her mum's mobile to her ear. It wasn't switched on, and I think she may have had it upside down, but this didn't seem to matter. She was making an important business call, and thinking hard on it. This sent me in to the screening of 'Night at the Museum' with a smile on my face. I enjoyed the film - it's very far fetched but who cares, and it got me and the Malay audience laughing several times.
I've received several emails asking what I'm doing next, and more specifically when I'm coming home. As you may have picked up: my trip, which is now tipping seven months and eight countries, is almost - finally - over. I fly back from Bangkok to the UK on 17 January. This leaves me enough time to finish off here in Melaka, go on to Taman Negara, and catch a train up into Thailand. I'll spend my last four or five days in Bangkok (back where I started) reflecting on everything that's happened to me and preparing myself to come home. Once home, I'll be heading back to my Mum and Dad's house (in Lowestoft) for a break and a rest, and to give my Mum a hug.
So what next? I'm not quite sure is the honest answer. If I get home and feel enough has been enough I will take a few weeks break and then start looking for a job and a return to normal life. However, if once home I have itchy feet again I will start planning a second shorter trip somewhere (I still have sufficient funds remaining to do this). A part of me would like to do this and thinks this may be an ideal time, but another part of me feels very tired and wonders if perhaps I haven't had enough of travelling now for a while. My tiredness is now outwardly visible too - my wallet has almost fallen in half, my digital camera is malfunctioning, my back-up credit card has been cancelled by Barclays, my brown diary (used for recording my day to day tasks) only has a couple of pages left unwritten, and I'm down to my last razor (I've used only eight disposable razors since 28 June believe it or not). Anyway, ultimately, coming home, and discovering how I feel about being back home, will make the decision for me as to whether I do a bit more travelling or move on and back to 'life.' That's the most I can say right now.
But the trip's not over just yet. It's time I got out of this internet cafe and saw a bit more of Melaka...

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

down to melaka

Raj left for the airport last night, and - if my calculations are correct - he will have touched down at Heathrow by now. I was sad to see him go, but we had a good run through West Malaysia and for that I must be thankful. Cheers Raj!
Kuala Lumpur bus station had the atmosphere of the New York Stock Exchange this morning when I went in to buy a one way ticket down to Melaka. It was manic.
While I was waiting in the queue a guy tried to push in front of me. I closed ranks and blocked his way. He kept on pushing. I kept blocking. He kept pushing. I should have said 'do you mind?' and he should have said: 'let me through,' but neither of us said a thing. We just kept pushing and blocking each other. Pushing and blocking. Nobody said a word. This dragged out for a while until, in the end, I decided it wasn't worth it and let him through. The woman at the counter then refused to serve him - he only had a fifty ringgit note and she couldn't change it. So he had to leave empty handed. I, on the otherhand, had a more manageable ten in my pocket and got my ticket no problem. I gave him a big broad false smile as he left. Victory does sometimes favour the meek.
I got to Melaka around 3.30pm, having left KL at 12.30pm. The bus dropped me at Sentral Bus Station, which is conveniently located seven kilometres outside of the city. With little choice in the matter, I caught a taxi into the city centre, congratulating the driver on the way for not owning a boring Proton like all the rest. He drove a Toyota Crown. 'Protons,' he muttered back contemptously, shaking his head. He took me to my guesthouse via most of Melaka's historical and noteworthy sites, giving me an informative running commentary on everything as we went. By the time we arrived I almost felt like asking him to make it a round circuit, and to just drop me straight back at the bus station. Instead I elected to give Melaka a little longer and decided I would stay as planned for two or three days.
I'm staying at Sunny's Guesthouse (Room 11) which, at sixteen ringgit a night, is my cheapest accommodation in Malaysia yet. It's quite nice for the money and well located for sites and amenities. As I write Sunny is washing all my underwear and t-shirts.
Tomorrow I'll begin having a proper look around Melaka, and hope to get a better view of the place. My initial impression is that it is quite nice but a bit lifeless and lacking in atmosphere. It's one of those towns, it seems, where the streets are wide, well spaced, and cleanly swept, but nobody seems to be on them. Where's the action?

Monday, January 01, 2007

new year in kuala lumpur

Happy New Year and welcome to 2007. I survived New Year's Eve, and am in surprisingly good condition today. No serious hangover, or enforced retreat to my bed this year. In fact I feel the best I've felt for many a New Year's Day.
I had a good time last night: things worked very well considering how unplanned it all was. There were four of us altogether who went out: me, Raj, and two British girls we met called Danielle and Liz (the former is on her way to Korea, and the latter is about to fly to Sydney). We started off drinking a few Carlsberg's in the Reggae Bar and then walked down to the hustle and bustle of Bintang Walk where we had a few more before moving on to the Petronas Towers for the midnight firework displays. The displays were spectacular and very loud; a big crowd was gathered. After midnight we walked our way slowly back to the Reggae Bar and had a few more drinks finally calling it quits around 4am.
I've enjoyed doing something different this year, and being somewhere different for a change, and wouldn't mind doing something like this again in the future. New Year's Eve is generally so hyped that it often ends up being an expensive anti-climax. I'm glad that hasn't been the case this year.
Today is Raj's last day in Malaysia, and my last before going solo again. We've completed all our points of business, so we're just relaxing at the Hotel China Town Inn. Raj fly's back to Heathrow this evening, and I'm going to leave KL by bus tomorrow - I'll be heading two hours south to my next stop: a visit the historical city of Melaka where I will stay for a few days.