Books read

Century Rain - Alastair Reynolds

I don't read much science fiction but this was a really interesting mix of space opera and 1930's noir.

Brooklyn - Colm Toibin

My book group book and a beautifully written novel set in Ireland and Brooklyn in the 1950's.

The Broom of the System - David Foster Wallace

Foster Wallace's first book, before the behemoth that is Infinite Jest (which is on my 'to read' list but one which I'm apprehensive about attempting) - I enjoyed it well enough. And the cover art is fabulous.

Kidnapped/Catriona - Robert Louis Stevenson
These two are usually found in the children's classics section but the writing and the language are like attempting Dickens or Dumas for the first time - the writing seems antiquated but once you get into the flow very rewarding. Must read Treasure Island next!

Shakespeare: The World as Stage - Bill Bryson

Bryson points out how little we really know about Big Bill in his engaging, approachable style. I read it in a night.

The History of Love - Nicole Krauss

Well written novel about the weight of history and love for two Jewish Americans one 80, the other 15. Some of the themes bring to mind the books of Jonathan Safran Foer (who incidentally is Krauss' husband).

Casino Royal - Ian Flemming

I promised a friend I'd try some Flemming so I now have with the first in the Bond series. Quite enjoyable and I intend, over time, to read the series.

Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens

I'm glad I still have many to go before I've read every book he wrote - that's the good thing about starting to read Dickens later in life!

One of Our Thursdays is Missing - Jasper Fforde

The latest in the Thursday Next series and this time narrated by the written Thursday. It begs the question - where to from here for the series?

Singapore without the Sling

After my Chinese New Year experience of Singapore it was interesting to get back and see it in full swing. Initially this meant more food choices around the hostel - chicken rice, fresh soy milk and tofu pudding as well as, somewhat disconcertingly, an Australian themed place called Mad Jack which apparently serves ridiculously large burgers. So I had two full days to do - stuff. To be honest I was pretty exhausted by this point and didn't feel like doing much. Singapore is an interesting place but I felt I needed more time and energy to really do it justice. As it was on my first full day I spent hours in bookshops and found the bookshop of my dreams - Kinokuniya on Orchard Road. It took me 2 hours to browse through the fiction section alone! The store is so big when you do a computer search it prints out a map of where the book you are looking for is located. Heaven! I caught up with my old workmate again who showed me around his 'hood - he lives in Holland Village which consists of lots of high rise apartment blocks but in the middle is a single street of restaurants, hawker centres and bars that is a strange sight amongst the towering concrete jungle especially at night. On my final day I went to a couple of museums, had lunch at a hawker centre and had a wander to the Raffles Hotel thinking I might have a Singapore Sling in the Long Room bar. Well, every other tourist had the same idea, so much for romantic notions of a bit of old colonial charm! So I left without trying the cocktail it is famous for and Tom Waits sings about in "Shore Leave". It just felt too cliched. And with that my adventure drew to a close, 7 hours on a plane (have I mentioned how much I love Singapore Airlines?) and back to old Melbourne town and weather that doesn't have you seeking out mega malls just for the air conditioning.

From sand and palm trees back to the concrete jungle

After an overnighter in Mersing in a crappy hotel room I got up early for the first boat to the Tioman. The boat stops at various locations on the island with a variety of accommodation options. I opted for Air Batang better known as ABC - the backpacker beach. A good choice - this stretch of beach is quiet, beautiful and has a bar or 2 - just my kind of place. After checking out the accommodation options I found a bungalow which had a large balcony, plenty of room inside with fan and AC, a clean bathroom but best of all a kettle and a small fridge. All I needed for 4 days of sleeping, reading, eating and watching the ocean. So I settled in and did just that. The only real issue I had was the possibility that I was going to run out of books. I'd stocked up in Penang but read them all during my stay in Kota Bharu. Thinking I'd at least find a Stieg Larsson or something I scoured the book swaps at all the places on ABC only to find slim pickings. In the end I was rescued by Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby - not really the sort of thing you find in the "best summer reads" list but at 800 pages would keep me going for a while (6 days)! There's really not much to report about this section of the trip - I didn't even get in the water, outrageous as that may sound. The last day I was there it poured with rain - the kind of deluge that makes you want to break out the plans for an ark. A bit dramatic - it was really just a tropical downpour but it did mean that I didn't leave the bungalow until the rain eased later in the afternoon. Lots of reading. Many games of Solitaire (the old fashioned way with actual playing cards!).

In order to save money, I opted to go back to KL for 2 nights to do some souvenir shopping instead of going straight to Singapore. Possibly a mad plan as it would be adding to my travel time but it made sense at the time! I made the most of my 1 day shopping and eating. Really, food has been the highlight of the trip - so many things to try! Then it was off to Singapore from the shiny new southbound bus terminal TBS. What a weird place - its the size of a small airport and is decked out like one (minus duty free) - with departure boards and everything. Unfortunately this shininess did not mean it was particularly well organised. The bus left without me (and 4 other passengers) as we were waiting where the departure board said we should but the bus left from somewhere else. As it was it worked out better in the long run - we were put on a Nice (name of the company) bus which has enormous seats with TV screen in the back (that actually worked - unfortunately the only English options were old Meg Ryan films so it was left off), tray tables, and recliner chair type footrests. Talk about travelling in comfort! And it terminated in Singapore almost at the doorstep of my hostel. Result!

Low season blues

An uneventful cross country bus ride brought me to Kota Bharu - the Islamic City. Eschewing the usual backpacker dives I ended up in a mostly empty hotel. Kota Bharu is the through point to the Perhentian islands which are just coming back into season after monsoon. I attempted to book a tour of some nearby temples but none were running as I was ruefully told by the tour operator/hostel owner displaying a pile of keys - "they all went to the Perhentians this morning". So what to do? Sit in my hotel room and watch HBO evidently. But these sorts of days happen when you're solo travelling! So now I had a choice - persevere with Kelantan or head for the jungle train en route to the Tioman? I opted for the former spending 3 nights at a self styled home stay - in reality some nice bungalows a few kilometers out of town. It was certainly peaceful and picturesque and I got a lot of reading done. I did manage to get to the temples sharing a hired taxi with a fellow guest. Lots of buddhas - standing, sitting, sleeping. One temple had the preserved remains of its founding monk on display. I spent my last night as the only guest with all the bugs attracted to my solitary light driving me inside to bed! I did eat some incredible home cooked meals getting the veggie fix I'd been sorely lacking. From there I caught the 7.20am train from Wakaf Bharu that would spend the next 7 hours wending its way through the jungle. I stopped off for the night in Jerantut in a hotel that was recommended highly on Tripadvisor but again - where was everyone? So now it was more than time to get to the beach. In one day I travelled for 8 hours on two buses from Jerantut to Kuantan and Kuantan to Mersing - the jumping off point for the Tioman.

Hippies, Freaks and Fish Head Curry

There are many forms of backpacking. I believe the correct epithet for my find of travel (enough of a budget to stay in nicer accommodation and not skimp on food and sights) is "flashpacking". Chinatown in Georgetown, Penang showed me the "Asia on $5 a Day" type of backpacking. It was quite a shock to the system let me tell you! Chinatown it turns out, is the visa run bolt hole for the hippies and the freaks from Thailand. I arrived late in the day and had called ahead to a guesthouse I'd seen advertised in the Cameron Highlands. I paid $13AUS for a room with bathroom which in reality was an airless box with double bed (no sheets) and a cold shower over the toilet which wasn't fully partitioned off and a small louvered window overlooking an alley. While it was clean to say it lacked atmosphere is being kind. But I had no choice to stay at least one night. It was here however I would meet the people that made my time in Penang bearable. The next morning I did the guesthouse shuffle (a common occurrence in Chinatown) and found a new place a few doors up where I got a room that was better appointed and had a balcony for just 1RM more than the previous place. I could even see a tree from my window! So here I made camp and spent my days sightseeing and my evenings in beer and conversation watching the steady stream of late arrivals looking for a bed. To be on a budget is one thing but to arrive late and reject a perfectly good guesthouse for the sake of a few dollars I don't understand. A heartfelt thanks to my drinking compadres - voices of sanity amongst the clamouring herd.

So, Penang. Colonial architecture? Sure, but Ipoh's is much more impressive. Fort Cornwallis? Hmmm - a bit underwhelming. A restored Baba Nonya house? Beautiful to be sure but bought and restored by an antiques dealer who made it a stange hybrid of the original inhabitant's family history and possessions interspersed with his own antique collection. The Kek Lok Si temple consisted of souvenir stalls lining the stairs, an overcrowded pond of turtles and a huge statue of the Godess of Mercy that is reached by a small funicular that looked like the Great Glass Elevator out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! And I broke a mirror.

But there were some positives! I continued my exploration of food. Dim sum for breakfast, yam cake, murtabak and Ais Kachang - a crazy mixture of shaved ice, coconut milk, dark palm sugar syrup, jelly strips. red beans and corn kernels. It sounds horrid but I assure you its quite nice and refreshing! Best of all was the cooking class. It started at 7.30am at the wet market. I had the hangover from hell but after roti telur, coffee and fresh soy milk I was feeling human again. The morning markets were fantastic. Fresh coconut milk being made, curry pastes being assembled, pickled fruits being bought and lots of amazing fruit and veg. Nazlina our teacher was great. In the fish section one of the group pointed out some fish heads and I mentioned I wanted to try fish head curry. So that was what we bought and made. The class was held alfresco in the grounds of the Islamic Museum and we all had a hand in preparing the ingredients. The fish head curry was divine and accompanied by rice, stir fried sweet potato leaves, omelet and sambal belechan which is basically pounded red chillies mixed with toasted shrimp paste and lime juice. A bit too strong for my palate but interesting all the same.

I did manage to get out of Georgetown to Balik Pulau on the other side of the island where I had an incredible laksa and a wander through the villages. I got to Batu Ferrenghi on my last day where I finally found the strip of beach hidden from the road by huge resorts. I did confirm one thing, I need beach time. But first an eight hour bus trip to the east coast and Kota Bharu.

Cooler in the Mountains

After another day in KL and eight in total, it was time to move on. I decided to run for the hills to the Cameron Highlands which from all reports is the place to go. So back to the crappy temporary bus station and on to a bus that had seen better days. There were only 5 passengers including me - I think most travellers book mini buses from their guesthouses around 12.30 but I like to get an early start (and do things the hard way). After 2 and 1/2 hours up into the mountains we reached Tanah Rata, the main town in the highlands (and where every second restaurant was Indian). A mini bus from the guesthouse I'd booked was waiting for me, a blessing once I'd seen the steep stairs to get to it! I was there early enough to get my pick of the rooms and chose the one with a view. The guesthouse was one of those old, colonial places that had been converted years ago but now consisted of hard beds, paper thin walls and dubious shared bathrooms. Now I think about it a bit like school camp - though my first impression was it resembled something out of The Shining... At least there was beer. And good company. I spent my evening drinking with like minded travellers and my days doing not much - reading, playing patience, eating. The weather in the Highlands is mild and doesn't get much above 25 degrees, a welcome relief from the hot and humid lowlands. I did a half day tour to some tea plantations and the mossy forest - ancient, perpetually damp and well, mossy. It was beautiful as was the view from the highest peak with the mist rolling over the hills. The telecom towers spoilt it a bit though. Most exciting for me were the tea plantations - I got to both walk through one and have tea and scones overlooking another - bliss for a tea freak like me!

The Highlands are also known for their hiking trails. Many of my fellow guesthousemates had slogged their way up and along them but the day before I was leaving I was yet to check one out. I hadn't planned to but as these things go... I wandered away from the town for a look around when I saw a sign to some waterfalls so I followed it. This turned out to be track 9A which Lonely Planet claims is the easiest. The track was paved initially but as it went deeper into the forest became a dirt track. I started to double back being a wuss (or sensible) but met a girl from Scotland who let me tag along with her. Just as well, I wouldn't have made it without her! The track disappeared a few times and we both fell at different points. If this was the easiest track I doubt I would have survived the more difficult ones. I was very happy to see the end of the 2.5km track but the fun wasn't over. We decided to walk 7km uphill to a tea plantation. It seemed the better option as we were far from town and the call of tea and scones and a taxi back to Tanah Rata was strong enough to get me up that hill (but sooo not running). So I felt I had done justice to the Cameron Highlands and who knows if the heat gets all too much I may have to head back for a few days!

I wanted to check out Ipoh regardless that it is not on the backpacker trail. Ipoh and the surrounding cities of Kuala Kangsar and Taiping have some amazing colonial architecture. The train station in Ipoh is palatial, as is the town hall. The "new" town of Ipoh also has some interesting architecture - Chinese shophouses, art deco and many other styles. But I'd really gone to Ipoh to try the local speciality - chicken rice with bean sprouts. Apparently its the local water that makes the sprouts the best in the country. I tried 2 variations - one with noodles and the other with rice. They were both good (if a little monochrome) - the one with the rice won. And the bean sprouts were indeed tasty. I did a day trip to Kuala Kangsar, the old royal capital of Perak but my day didn't go so well as I kept getting lost - and in the midday heat. But I did see the school where Anthony Burgess taught in the 50's. I had an odd time in Taiping where my hotel room overlooked a mosque and I was the only backpacker in town. I did get to the museum - Malaysia's oldest. A mix of animal dioramas in the full sun and newer displays in climate control. I then rode the rails to Butterworth, the jumping off point for Penang and hopefully a cooking class.

Until next time.

Hot in the City

On my last day in Melaka I did some touristy things. The Melaka River Cruise does a 9km run up the river and was quite underwhelming. The local government has spent huge amounts of money (including 3.5 million - I'm not sure if that's ringit or dollars - on an amusement park that wasn't running) beautifying the riverside but honestly from the boat there is not much to
see. I checked out the Stadhuys museum where the history of Melaka was told in paintings (with the odd mini diorama and object thrown in) - the building itself is beautiful. Had popiah (a sort of fresh spring roll) for lunch at a traditional Nonya house and discovered egg roti. I'm now seriously addicted to its eggy bread-y goodness! I did enjoy my time in Melaka. The Riverside Guesthouse is wonderful and I met lots of lovely people there. But Melaka only needs a couple of days so it was time to move on to the big city - Kuala Lumpur.

A 2 hour bus ride in Club Class (essentially 3 seats across where there are normally 4 - so much leg room I couldn't reach the foot rest!) which despite my concerns about New Year traffic left and arrived on time. The main bus station is KL is currently being renovated so we were unceremoniously dropped at the temporary bus station out in the suburbs. But I managed to navigate my way to my guesthouse in Bukit Bintang. As the title suggests, KL is hot and humid but I'm coping OK, even with my insistence of walking everywhere. If it all gets too much I can always escape into the nearest mall. It took me a few days to get to grips with navigating this sprawling metropolis. The public transport is good but none of the lines connect particularly well, especially the monorail, my closest form of transport. Not to mention the freeways and flyovers that bisect the city. Outside of the gleaming malls KL is a crowded, dirty place with lots of construction adding to the madness. Chinatown is not very inviting and the famous Petaling Street is just another run of stalls selling knock off Gucci handbags and dodgy DVDs. However the Petronis Towers are pretty awe inspiring and before you ask, no I didn't go up to the Skybridge. I'm not a big fan of heights - certainly not just for the sake of it!

The bits I have enjoyed:

Islamic Arts Museum - one of the most beautiful museums I have ever seen and really informative especially about the Qur'an, the Holy Stone at Mecca and mosque architecture.

The Planetarium - the building from the outside is amazing (left) and they have a full dome set at an angle. I watched Passport to the Universe, a American Natural History Museum production narrated by Tom Hanks. Not sure what system they use as I couldn't find anyone to ask. (Yep, I'm a nerd on holidays too!)

The Batu Caves - 200+ steps past a massive statue into caves containing a number of Hindu temples and lots of monkeys. A bit empty but considering they get a million pilgrims at the end of January for Thaipusam they need the room! Around the corner near the train station is the relatively new Ramayana Caves - kitch concrete dioramas of scenes from the myths. Its even
easier to get to caves as the train line has been extended and drops you at the door. So new its not in the guidebook.

Klang - one of my day trips from KL. To be honest I just liked the name but I spent a lovely couple if hours there wandering around, drinking coffee in a proper kopitiam and checking out the old Sutan of Selangor's palace (from the outside) and the museum dedicated to the most recent but one Abdul Aziz. It was a really well developed museum but sadly empty of visitors - the guard had to power on the AV's as I went through. I think I may have been the only tourist in Klang that day - a shame as its a nice respite from the concrete jungle of KL.

And the food. Lord, the food. My guesthouse includes a very generous breakfast and I've been having egg roti every day. I love nasi lemak (coconut rice with sambal (hot!), egg, fried anchovies and usually chicken curry. Teppanyaki, char kuey teow, lots of chicken rice. There is so much more to try but the heat is suppressing my appetite to 2 meals a day. Not necessarily a bad thing!

I've met lots of great people at the guesthouse and have been getting into conversations with local women in the women only carriages on the trains. The owner of the guesthouse invited a group of us to celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. Yes, New Year is still going and families from different regions of China have their main celebrations on different days. I celebrated Hokkien new year with firecrackers, fireworks (all in the front yard!) and witnessed a lion dance. We then feasted on roast pig and duck underneath 5ft tall joss sticks. An incredible experience!

All this an its only day 12! Until next time....

Chinese New Year - the festival of the closed

The flight from Singapore was great - Singapore Airlines' A380's rock! The in seat screens are huge and the service impeccable, we even got to Singapore half and hour early. Got the shuttle bus to the hostel all to myself - $9, certainly cheaper than a taxi. I was told the reason was Chinese New Year, something I would hear many times (and many times more in the next few days I'm sure). The hostel is a bit out of the way but the train system is so efficient that it's a matter of minutes between trains. In my one full day in the city I spent the morning wandering around. First stop, Chinatown. Empty, so empty. As was most of Singapore. At times I felt like I had wandered onto the set of 28 Days Later or Day of the Triffids - without the zombies or killer pot plants. It will be interesting to see the difference when I get back. After Chinatown and its empty hawker stalls I headed to Orchard Road, home of the mega mall. Again, pretty bereft of people. But then it was time to catch up with an old work mate of mine who recently moved here. We met near Arab Street and he showed me his favorite street, Haji Lane. He says it reminds him a little of Gertrude Street, lots of little boutiques. Alas, all closed. We then headed to Clarke Quay, one of the more touristy spots complete with outside air conditioning! Very odd. After a few beers and a catch up it was time to part. So nice to see a familiar face.

The following day I made an early start to cross the border to my next destination - Melaka. Now, those of you who followed my last adventure will know I don't do things the easy way. I start off with good intentions and it ends up taking twice as long than if I'd bought a ticket straight through. But with the local bus running near my hostel and my trusty ez link transport card (like myki but it actually works) I got on the 170 that goes over the border to the big bus station in Johor Bahru. It was a lot of getting on and off the bus between checkpoints, but I got there in the end. $6 later I was on my way to Melaka. Doing it this way saved me $20 which is almost half my daily budget. Despite my worries (and memories of bus trips in other parts of Asia) the bus left on time and didn't stop once. Got to Melaka, another local bus and I was at my guesthouse. Excuse all the details but no guide book really tells you how these things will be, so if I can help another traveler through the finer points of getting around so much the better.

So. Melaka. Not at all empty. Packed to the rafters (damn, that never used to be a loaded expression - now its a show on channel 7). But still half closed. In my first afternoon and evening I managed to knock over most of the sights. The old Portugese fort is quite atmospheric at dusk. As night falls you get to see the trishaws at their crazy best - decorated in lights, flowers and god knows what else, they travel through the streets blinking crazily and blasting out music - I did hear Justin Bieber at one point... The Jonker Night Market in Chinatown was shoulder to shoulder - lots of stalls selling useless crap - Facebook thongs (of the feet variety) anyone? Away from the action I had a banana leaf tali in Little India - remembered to eat with my right hand.

Day 2 was more wandering. I visited my first museum, the Customs Museum. Small, free, airconditioned. Lots of displays of confiscated goods - knives, animal skins, porn - the usual. Had a new food experience - fresh soy milk. Laced with sugar syrup and surprisingly refreshing and nothing like the stuff from the carton at home and cost 30c. I still haven't quite got into the food as most of the hawker centres are closed. I did try an assam laksa that was so spicy I couldn't finish it. But don't worry food lovers, food will feature more as the trip goes on. So tonight is the last official night of Chinese New Year and I was treated to a fireworks display from a local backyard across the road from my guesthouse. Ahh, the days when fireworks were legal... And that is probably a good place to leave you for now. Hope you're all well.

Off Again!

I know its been a scandalously short time since my last trip but when you have the travel bug as badly as I do...
This time it's 6 weeks in Malaysia, starting and ending in Singapore. So I'm reinstating this blog to keep you posted about all my adventures and no doubt a bit of whinging about the heat.
My first adventure? The A380 to Singapore which will probably translate as long queues at the airport to check in, some so so films and maybe an inflight meal, then a long wait at the other end for my bag. At least I hope it goes that way - boredom and waiting are preferable to a mid flight emergency!
So au revoir my friends and I'll chat to you next from Singapore.