SE Asia

Leaving Chengdu I said goodbye to my family and the closest thing I could call home that I have had for the last 6 months. I really enjoyed it and hope that I can visit them again in the near future.

 

From Chengdu we took the longest train ride I have ever had to Hong Kong. Well not to Hong Kong but the majority of the distance. The plane to go to Hong Kong was actually totally unplanned. We originally wanted to go south to Kunming and then to Vietnam, but there were several reasons we opted for a flight from Macau to Kuala Lumpur.

 

Anywhos the train to Hong Kong was a 40 hour trip with the only seat available being some first class sleeper seats. As a last resort to get out of Chungdu we bought them since after you do the math, two nights on the train for 90 USD is actually quite cheap in comparison to what you would pay in a western country. The 40 hours really weren't too bad, we had AC, cards, and our portable chess set. We killed the time with mainly Gin Rummy and Crazy 8's. The train only took us to the Chinese city formerly known as Canton, I think it is Guangzhou now... Anyways, arriving there we then loaded up on a bus that shuttled us to the "border" of China and Hong Kong. It's rather neat you get to more or less just walk over the border through the border check points.

 

Once inside Hong Kong we took the "Local" train to the only place we could that of that would have cheaper accommodation. We were quickly lost. TO solve the problem I found the friendliest person around, which happened to be a Mormon, and asked if he knew of a cheap place. He didn't but he quickly directed me to a free Internet place, shook, my hand and gave me a flier. The flier didn't make it too far, but the tip for free Internet was gold. We quickly found the address of a cheap place to stay and after a short Metro ride we were there. The man running the place seemed more then eager to give us a room, and showed up the private double room for 150 Hong Kong dollars a night. We told him we were fine with the 60 doallar dorm but he insisted we take a private room. After just a little bit of confusion we bought a room for 100 dollars with one bunk bed, no window, but a glorious Air Con. We spent several days in Hong Kong, and compared to China it is quite a bit different. Instead of just dropping your trash on the ground you actually have to put it in a waste basket, or face a steep fine. This place was spotless, and really something you have to see. The giant buildings that make up the skyline are even more magnificent when lit up at night. One of the strangest things you encounter in the Central town area is the complete lack of outdoor walkways. The entire city has more or less been made into a giant mall that is located in the base of skyscrapers all linked by various indoor bridges. After a few days in Hong Kong we took a ferry to Macau.

 

Macau was interesting. It reminded me more of the portion of Spain I saw then China, and seeing everything written in Portuguese as well as Chinese is kinda fun. The city has a couple interesting sights, but truly it is more of the Las Vegas of Asia, as some travel books would say. After just the afternoon we made our way to the Airport to await our flight at 2:45 in the AM. The flight to KL was fine, we arrived nice and early and started the day with a McDonalds Breakfast. (I know McD's is a horrible thing but when you haven't had food for a while and it's the only thing you forgive yourself. Plus Maude was bought off by the free coffee refills.) The KL airport is about 75 km from the city, so we were able to enjoy an hour bus ride into the city. From there we took the Mono-rail to Our hostel which cost about 5$ a night. KL is a pretty cool city, really rather small compared to the other Asian giants, but it is a size just big enough for me. KL has a couple sights such as the Petronus(sp?) Towers, and the KL Tower, some of the tallest structures in the world. While we were there we went to some supposedly famous caves where a monkey didn't like me taking my picture and hit me.

 

After KL both Maude and I were looking for a nice beach to relax on for a day or two before we hit up Singapore. We randomly chose a spot on the map that was actually labelled "beach" and we made a days effort to get there. Once there we quickly found out that this "beach" was much like something you would find on the side of a harbor, Polluted, rocky, and no one but locals. The "beach" was no longer then 5 yards and all the children in the water were fully dressed. We decided that this wasn't the spot for us, and made our way back to the main city where we found out we would have to wait a night before continuing to Singapore.

 

In Singapore it didn't take much time to find a place to stay. Quite honestly I didn't know what to think about Singapore before I got there. It was not what I expected, quite comparable to Hong Kong. We spent a few days there wanting to get away from the city, filling our days in the botanical gardens or the museums. 

 

From Singapore we went straight to Tiomen Island. A good sized Island of the SE coast of Malaysia. We fell in love with it almost the first day we were there. Maude found another girl from Quebec who owned a restaurant on the Island and immediately became friends. We spent our days sitting on the beach reading, or swimming in the warm bath like water. It was amazing. When we wanted to get back to the mainland, we loaded up onto a pretty good sized boat and as soon as we do it starts blowing wind and pouring rain. Within fifteen minutes the boat starts going through some waves that I would rather not spend the next few hours in. These waves are giant, we'd go up them and come down on the other side and the boat would drop to the point that the window next to my seat was totally under the water. We kept going, and there were several points where it felt like the boat was in the air. After a good bit water started coming in through the "Emergency door" and getting all of our luggage rather wet. We stopped at another port still on the Island, and I started throwing up in the little plastic bag that the boat staff had handed out several minutes before. Maude got herself off the boat but I was so busy throwing up I almost missed it. Everyone around me were saying "Oh, it looks like you're going all the way." Looking out the window the dock was leaving me. I got real upset and just kept throwing up. Luckily I wasn't the only one that wanted off the boat and in a few more seconds we were back on the dock. I got off and we checked into another room and waited until the next day to head back.

 

After Tiomen we headed up the the Perhintians(SP?) A spot which almost every traveler says you have to go. Once we made it we realized that it had more or less been converted into an overcrowded tourist trap, but that's the price of paradise, eh? Actually it wasn't too bad, I bought some snorkeling gear and swam in the coral with manta rays and rainbow fish. 

 

From there we headed up to Thailand, where we literaly walked over the border, cars driving by and everything, over a bridge that we could look down and see people crossing by less than legal means. Pretty cool really. On the Thailand side we found a cheap place to stay and waited for the next day when we got on a train to go North. We were surprisingly tired of beaches and wanted to get to a mainland spot to avoid them and the backpacking beach bums. The train was horrible. First off we had 3rd class due to that being the only available seat, and second we had to ride for about 20 hours. The third class seat wasn't as bad as it could have been but try sleeping on a bench built for one and a half people while you are sharing it with someone. Needless to say I didn't sleep much that night and my but still hurts for the haul. 

 

That was two days ago now. We're at Kanchaniburi (SP?) Anywho it is the place the Bridge over the River Kwai is located. It's a pretty neat place, we've just been hanging around and doing the tourist things again before we move on tomorrow. Maude leaves on the 17th back to Germany and then Montreal. It will be interesting traveling alone again, I'd rather not, I enjoy sharing the experiences with someone but you can't always get what you want, eh? I still have no solid return date, but I am definitely looking for flights towards The North American continent. I've started to actually miss home, and I know there are more then a handful of you that would like to see me sometime soon. 

 

=Logan, Thailand

 

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