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.