Day 15 - After Jungle Motorcycle Ride & Return To BANGkok

Today we picked up three keelograms of laundry, clean and folded, then rented a jankey Honda scooter and blasted round and around Old Chiang Mai for three hours.

The speedometer didn't work, and barely anyone noticed the lanes suggested by the broken white lines, or the red lights, so it was a harrowing and extremely exhilarating experience! We visited four of the thirty seven temples nearby:














 this is the oldest

Now we are on a train back to Bangkok, where we will meet the newcomers for the second half of our G-Adventures tour of Thailand. Layne's sister wrote in an email that the situation in Bangkok has escalated a bit, so we will probably hang out in the hotel a lot, go swimming,
write the entries for the last four days..

Day 12- first day mountain people

It started at around 2am. The panic. Ever since landing in Thailand, I was a bit over zealous with the curries and my stomach hadn't yet figured out how to manage. So to speak. The prospect of going three days in the northern Thai jungle without a toilet with a group if people I had just met had me nervous.  Also, no wifi.

The day started with a breakfast at the hotel. Nick spent the time reassuring me that if I was to be the girl who had to duck into bushes, he'd try to distract the group for me. Before we knew it, we were covering ourselves with mosquito spray and loading into our trucks. 

By the drop-off point deep in the forests, my fears melted away. Not only was the scenery breathtaking, but surviving the windy road up the mountain in the back of a flatbed without feeling woozy fueled me with an new burst of confidence. On the way, we had stopped at a stunning waterfall for a quick dip and some photos, and we popped into a local market to stock up on food and drink for the next few days. Once our bags were full of supplies and our cameras were full of photos of pigs heads and salted crickets, we were on our way to the first village. 

We were warned that the first day was going to be the hardest- a 4 hr hike to a village with the Karen tribe (yes mom I thought of you). Some parts were difficult, mainly the section that was about an hour of uphill, but the views made it all worthwhile. The first half of the trail seemed more like a forest, much like some nature walks in Nevada county. Slowly, however, the scenery transitioned into a lush jungle, complete with bamboo shoots and hanging vines. Luckily, we weren't too bothered by mosquitos and the temperature was mild. 

We arrived to the village in the early evening and got a chance to use the "basic toilets" and change into comfy clothes. We were all staying in one stilted house, each person was supplied with a mattress, pillow, blankets and a mosquito net. Soon, our guide, mr anan and two Karen people, Sam and Super Moon (dubbed by our group) had whipped up an dincredible dinner of spring rolls, rice, curry and KFC (Karen fried chicken). All cooked without electricity, gas or running water, it ended up being the best food we'd had on the trip so far. 

We ended the night drinking beers and talking around the campfire. We all tried cricket snacks (surprisingly meaty), played 2 truths 1 lie, and slowly one by one we turned into bed to rest up for the next day of the trek. 

Day 11- Chiang Mai exploring

We arrived in the northern city of Chiang Mai early in the morning after a long overnight train from Bangkok. The romance of the rails kept us in good spirits despite the thin mattresses and overdone AC. It was still fun to sleep to the motion of the train, waking up to the feeling of stopping at a far flung station and seeing lights of distant highways far away. Our car also had a wonderful waitress- she barely spoke English but made a great connection with our whole group with words like more beer? Ladyboy!! And in the morning "time to wake!" She had a great sense of humor and ended up taking pictures with some and hugging everyone. I think she had a thing for nick too, often patting his knee and calling him handsome. Could it have to do with his inability to say no to her offers for more beers? :]

The first thing we did in Chiang Mai was take a few taxis up to Doi Suthep temple, one of the most sacred places in the north. We got to hear about its history, but also learned about Buddhism and monk-life from our guide who studied as a monk for some time. We had our fortunes read, snapped some photos and were on our way back for lunch. 

After that we mainly just wandered around the city. It reminded me so much of Uppsala, except here the students are on Motorcycles instead of bicycles. 

That evening, we had a meeting with our trekking guide, Mr. Anon, who gave us a briefing on what we were about to do and see on our three day hike up into the northern jungles. Will I be able to survive 3 days without wifi?? We shall see... 

After, the group went to the famous night market where we got a few warmer articles of clothing, I haggled myself a $10 backpack and got some gifts. Now for the last sleep in bed before the big adventure! 

Days 9 & sìp

A protester parade is marching past our next-to-hotel cafe hideout, all flags, whistles and loudspeakers.
Layne and I left Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon and negotiated Bangkok municipal transport well enough to arrive at our G Adventures hotel just in time for a six o'clock initial meeting. "Touch" who will be our Chief Experience Officer took us out to eat last night, with the fifteen or so others who will be joining us for or eight day trip from Bangkok to the Chang Mai Valley and back.
While many of the others took an optional tour of the river by longtail boat, we spent the morning doing laundry, then started what was going to be a simple, long walk along the river, possibly to look at Wat Pho.
Today Layne and I learned about minor scammers and about genuine nice people! At our first major intersection, we were approached by four unrelated people, all of them asking a variation of "where you going?"
one very nice stranger pulled us off the sidewalk near a temple, told us Chinatown was closed, then outlined for five minutes a full day's itinerary, starting with a cheap ride in the nearest túk túk. We really liked him and thanked him for all his help, but when it was clear we weren't going to jump into the cab, he disappeared saying he didn't speak English.
We found the river (which was great because we were hella thirsty) and proceeded down an ancient trading alley, where we were meet with five stray skinny dogs and a billion túk túks, drivers pacing us, "Where you go? 20 baht!"
A new nice guy speed us and asked us where we were going.  Though we had resolved to answer anyone asking us where we were going with taoist, "Here. We are going 'here'." this guy insisted we were about to run into protesters, and hailed another túk túk.  We couldn't see how he might have been connected to the túk túk conglomerate, so we decided he was telling the truth and changed direction, walked back to our favorite Bangkok restaurant and just saw the protest parade pass by.
We did see the largest golden buddha ever on out way back.
We'll be meeting the group in half an hour to start or night train journey to Chang Mai at six.

Day eight- BATU CAVES

Batu caves. What to even say about this crazy/exciting/intense/amazing/horrifying day? 

We were so lucky to have planned our trip to KL the same week as one of the biggest Hindu holidays, Thaipusam. Check it outhttp://www.fest300.com/festivals/thaipusam

Ok ok it really wasn't as painful and intense as that link makes it look. Yes, there were a few people there who had punctured their skin with hooks and needles to carry large offerings up to the caves, but they were all surrounded by priests and supporters and we could only really see a shoulder or an arm. 

Otherwise, we saw tons and tons of people! It seemed like the entire population of Hindu devotees came to celebrate. All the young teen girls were dressed to the nines, mothers carrying tearful babies, young boys shaving their heads for the first time, old women setting up henna booths, food stands, blasting music- it was overwhelming at first. 

We made our way to the center point of the festival, temple cave. Here was the finishing point of the process that many undertook to show respect and sacrifice for their gods. As a lovely woman on the train explained, people go to the caves to make a large wish. The more things they carry up the stairs, the bigger their wish. If they being milk, they have a pretty big wish. If they carry the large religious needle poking container throne type thing, then you had a huge wish. 

After a few hours we were pretty exhausted. We poked into one of the caves, but managing the crowds got pretty tiring. We elbowed our way onto a train, and back to KL then  putrajaya for our last night in luxury before the backpacker trekking begins!! 

Day 7 Patronas Tower, I<3KL, Old Mosque

Today we cast ourselves at expecto patronus towers! We saw Kuala Lumpur from 41 storeys and 86. Layne felt giddy.  the city is immense!, and we saw Lord Murugan from far far away.
next, we revisited the oldest mosque in KL during open hours, and Layne and my dad put on respectful costumes, pictured here.
I was so modestly dressed, they let me take some clothes off.  Very cool place, the mosque, built where the two rivers converged, giving Kuala Lumpur its name: muddy estuary.  learning things!
lastly, we visited the I <3 KL, ah, muzium.  And that was really neat, because it is the home of Arch, which i gathered was an organization of artists that specialize in designing and building models, or making relief sculptures out of wood. They have the largest model of the city; it filled a room and features buildings that are planned to be built. Soon the Petronius Twin Towers will not be the tallest buildings in KL.
after all that we took the eight o'clock shuttle back to the castle to do laundry :]

Day six- national museum, Chinatown and general KL wandering

Kuala Lumpur is growing on us more and  more. Discovering the different neighborhoods of the city is like flipping through the pages of an encyclopedia- every turn reveals something seemingly unrelated, but it all has an underlying uniformity in the way it's packaged.

In the morning we went to the national museum which is close to the central station. It was a great collection of Malaysian history. Each section was a snapshot of the country. It went from primitive tribes to the ancient kingdoms to colonization to the unification of modern Malaysia. Even though we didn't give ourselves much time in this museum, it was a perfect introduction to the country. It described the reason why it's such a multicultural country, predominately Islam, their system of politics and royalty and their struggle for independence. So cool. 

After the museum, we headed over to KL's Chinatown for some lunch at their hawker stalls. Such a different area! The Chinatown is a jam-packed system of streets filled with shops, street food, temples and backpacker lounges. Here I had a delicious fried rice with crispy chicken along with a sweet lychee drink. So good! 

We wandered the markets in the area for some time and scoped the souvineer spread. After, we walked to the old mosque which was unfortunately closed but a great spot for some photo ops. 

Kuala Lumpur translates to "Muddy Estuary" as it was placed at the convergence of two rivers. This mosque is placed right at the y right in the place that they come together. 

We then wandered until we were hungry again, passing through Merduka "freedom" square, the national mosque, and finally down to the Hindu temple, where we were lucky enough to see the silver chariot preparing to depart to the Batu caves a few hours later. 

We'll describe more of this festival once we go to the caves on Friday. 

We wound up the evening at the backpacker haven called the Regge bar. We made it in time for happy hour and Anna and I enjoyed a round of peach sheesha. It was such a cool spot and we all had a great time, despite the hazy details. 

Day five- KL but not much to report

We made it to Malaysia!

 As one would expect, we were pretty testy and tired after a long 7 hr train ride overnight. We parted ways with Anna, then made a plan to visit the patronus towers and kill time until we could check in at two. 

MAP

Went to the towers (breathtaking) and bought tickets so that we could travel up to the observation deck that Thursday. We then grabbed some lunch at the mall under the towers and decided that that was enough KL for one day and headed to the hotel down in Putrajaya. And let me say, after experience with only youth hostels and couch surfing, this was a serious upgrade. This hotel was located at 101 resort city- naturally it was OTT swank.

 Chuck hooked it up. By the time we found our way to the hotel and had a bite it was around 7 which is a decent time to camp out in the hotel and call it a day. That was ok by me. 

Day four- zoo and travel tribulations

Hello! Our last day in Singapore was a phenomenal one. We had heard from multiple sources that the zoo on Singapore is pretty good and decided that we should check it out. After purchasing discount tickets at the hostel we headed to the unexplored center of the  city to see some critters.

We were not disappointed. The zoo was incredible. It had a huge variety of animals- from the savannas of Africa to the polar wilderness to the Australian outback- I feel like I went all over the world in one day. Nick chuck and I agreed that our favorites were the primates.  protrubius monkeys, gibbons, baboons, chimps and orangutans all were so cute and entertaining we could have watched for hours. 

The setup for the orangutans was especially interesting. It was an "open" pin- meaning there were ropes and platforms for these monkeys all over the front area of the park. Low hanging wires deterred the animals from getting too close to us, but you could be walking well away from the orangutan area and look up to see one hanging over your head or swaying on a platform. They're so human and and interactive I felt like waving goodby to them as we left. 

That night we had our last Singapore hawker meal. Anna and I finally tried chili crab which turned into one of the messiest meals we've ever had. It was delicious but we had chilli dripping down our elbows by the end. 

That night the four of us had an overnight train ride up to Kuala Lumpur. Chuck wrote the best depiction of the fiasco that ensued- so I'm just going to paste his story here:  

"The train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. 

We bought tickets online and through circumstances beyond our control, had only the receipts to show the train masters on our arrival at the Singapore station.
It was to be an overnight ride to Kuala Lumpur, so we arrived at a reasonable time ahead of the near-midnight departure time. We got there woefully late for the purposes of the police checkpoint guys, as they demanded to see our tickets! There was then neither time, nor facility (the office was closed at the Singapore boarding station) to get our tickets printed. The train was to leave! 

We were told by the policemen we could get the tickets printed on the Malaysian side as their office was still open. All we had to do was hustle across the boarder and catch the same train as she loaded passengers there...

And so we did, hustle. 

It was about this time a guy shows up all friendly like talking to us about having the same difficulty (with him having an "e-ticket"), and he sort of joined our group. We later gave him the name Leo, Leo the Liar, because none of us really had caught his name (if he even said it). His English wasn't all that good but his demeanor was exceedingly amicable, and throughout the border checkpoint passage process he kept materializing again and again. It was as though he would get ahead of us and then somehow be where we were going when we caught up to him. Strange, but not unnerving. He was a nice fellow.

Our difficulty on the ticket-for-train front got worse on the Malaysian side of the border. The ticketing office was just closing (they really wanted to turn out the lights and go home), and the two women in charge of it immediately saw that we had screwed things up for them that night. We had only minutes to get our tickets printed before the train would pull out of the station, the office women were hesitating, unsure what to do, or outright stalling until it would be too late...
Can you see our dilemma?

And still hovering, offering no advice or sympathy, was Leo, Leo the Liar. He was stuck to us like some sort of "Traveling Hopefully" companion. At little weird. It was midnight, nobody but us, a few policemen, Leo, and the ticketing girls in this huge cavernous train station.

There were three others, thank God. I found them in a nicely presented Information Booth against the far wall. Layne and Anna were locked into their Quixotic endeavor to get our tickets printed. I sauntered over to the other booth and struck up a conversation with the two women and one gentleman there, all in uniform and one of them with a tag naming her as the "Facilities Manager". I inherently knew this might be a helpful new friendship, so I ingratiated myself ever so gently...

Then I returned to the counter with our party, and of course, Leo. Things there had gone from "not easily done" to "unlikely" and tending toward the "no freakin' way" level of success.
Ok, I know what you might be thinking, that Leo came in and saved the day with just the right half-truth to motivate the counter gals so that we could get our tickets and board the train seconds before it pulled out of the station.

Nope. But close.

I walked back to the issuing counter just in time to hear that things had worsened. The woman was now telling the kids she could not issue the tickets, something about being too late and wrong station and office was closed, etc. And the only way for us to board that particular train would be to buy another round of four tickets! Otherwise, at midnight, we we simply on our own in Malaysia without Ringgit until the next train...hours away.

I did an about face and went back to my new friends and pleaded with them to please help in any way they could as our train was minutes from leaving without us. The manager had this wonderful pitying look on her face and said she would speak with them. She and I, along with her two other workmates began walking across the large lobby. I saw the women at the counter had turned out the lights and hung out the "closed" placard, and completed their effort to turn cheerful faces into frustrated, somewhat dejected ones! 

Three words. None of us could understand what the Facilities Manager said to our nemesis, the ticket lady. But three words from her did the trick. Less than two minutes later we had a passage guarantee in hand for four people, ran down the steps, hurried along by a conductor that wanted us out of there, to the last car on the train. As we ran by, I blew my newest friends a kiss and salute for their help. They smiled and nodded. I am almost certain they held the train for us, for there seem to be no one at the station unaware of our plight.

Lets not forget Leo. Yes, Leo ran with us, entered the car with us, became one of us! One big happy family of tourists getting out of a jam together. Leo found a seat just across the aisle from our assigned seating, everything hunky dory.

So we all shared a huge sigh of relief, found the most comfy position we could in the seats facing backwards, and settled in to catch a few winks during the overnight ride that would stop at every station between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Perhaps an hour later, I was sleeping two rows ahead of Nick and Layne when the conductor came through checking tickets. The kids had noticed Leo was gone when the conductor first came through, presumably to the toilet, and then returned once the conductor had made his pass. Leo's plan would have worked I think, except the conductor came back on a second sweep of our car. That's when he earned the "Liar" part of his name. When asked for his ticket, he told the conductor he was part of our group. Conductor saw through this of course and turned to Layne to confirm. Sweet Laynie was then put into the role of unwitting accomplice. She kind of liked the guy, but was gently honest, saying that he seemed a really nice guy but...
No, not one of us.

Leo was escorted somewhere else, and never seen again (by us). Perhaps they have a jail-car?

Day Three Botanick Gardens

Yesterday we inoculated ourselves in the controlled rainforest of Singapore's Botanic Gardens, in preparation for the jungle trekking of Thailand (for Layne and me), Bali (for Dad), and in the case of Anna, Sweden.  We started out the day with two solid ideas that got sidetracked or ambushed by other things that were just as good or more interesting. First, in the Botanic Gardens, we gave up our resolve to eat purely Asian meals and ordered pizza Capricciosa from the Cafe Verde in the Visitor's Center.  We then set out to explore the orchid and ginger gardens but found ourselves drawn to the sound check of the BEST a cappella group we've seen in Singapore!: MICappella.   Here is a video of us enjoying them:

After that, we dodged a spider in the Rainforest near a spikey tree.

Then we went home to the hostel to shower and prepare for a night tour of the National Museum of Singapore:

But when we got there, we discovered that the hostel's information about the museum was outdated, and the museum was closed!  (Above is a picture of us pretending to have visited the National Museum.)

We decided, with the Museum closed, to spend our time wandering the Colonial District, maybe find a nice restaurant and find a G 'n' T for pops.  We found Mr. Bean's Cafe near the Singapore Management University, and after a nice walk through tunnels and back alleys, we ate a late dinner at the Straight's Cafe in the Hotel Rendezvous.  Layne and I ate something that came in a stone egg, blackened like a dragon's.  It was good, and now we are back on track, Asian food wise :]

We closed the night by sneaking Anna into our hostel, which was overbooked and are now preparing to visit the Zoo, which is "Actually, Pretty Good!" according to our hostel advertisements.

Day two

It was reunion day! I *finally* got to see Anna! It was do good to spend the day with her again and I can't believe 6 months went by so fast. I also got to meet her backpacking companions who were total sweethearts and we meet up with Alan, a Singapore local who I met in Uppsala. It was great to catch up with him and get a locals perspective on the city.

We met Alan at the station then took the train to Chinatown where we saw the huge markets. People are getting ready for Chinese New Year in a few months so there were tons of goods in red and lots of decorations. I was tempted! Next we saw the wet market which had lots of interesting goodies- giant catfish, squids, turtles, frogs, and huge shrimps swimming around crates. Amazingly the smell didn't deter our appetite and we went upstairs to a hawker market where Alan showed us the classics. He was jetting around to the different stalls, placing one of us at each one to wait for the food and being it to the table. Before we knew it, a massive smorgasbord of food was crammed onto our table. We had clay pot rice, chicken rice, laksa soup, fried oysters, rice pancakes with chili sauce, kaya toast, chicken feet skins (!!!), iced coffees and beers. Alan gave us a crash course in chopstick use, and we dug in. Everything was great- I loved clay pot rice which was rich and spicy. I even helped myself to seconds on the chicken feet.

After we were well stuffed, we went down to the gardens by the bay which were lovely, but were chased out by some nasty looking clouds rolling in fast. We used it as an excuse to grab a seista before the evening. Although we did get hit by the rain on the walk from the station to the hostel we made it back ok. 

That evening we went back into little India and after a good 20 minutes of menu-deciphering with a very patient server, we ordered some  amazing Indian food. Samosas for an appetizer, followed by a pile of rice with different curries and veggies to mix in.  So good. We had some drinks, then elbowed our way back through the astonishingly busy streets to the hostel and some well needed sleep.