Batu Ferringi is just up the road from Georgetown, on Penang Island. Getting there was easy - or could have been - but instead of taking a taxi at a cost of RM35, we walked on to the bus station - a non-air-conditioned bus cost RM2. It took longer, but you gotta do the bus thing sooner or later, or you're not a real backpacker, right?
So, we got off a stop too early and so ended up walking some way along the road that runs parallel to the beach. It was hot and the bags were heavy, but by now we're used to walking after all the walking up and down Georgetown that Alex made us do*...! Along the way we came across a giant wooden ship sitting a little way back on the tarmac (it turns out it's a restaurant, and Alex remembered it from last time) and then another building more obviously a restaurant but just as over the top, red pointy fin things sticking out the roof, and if you looked carefully there appeared to be tanks of fish just inside the entrance. I'll get back to that.
*I've been teasing Alex about this...it's just because she wanted, quite rightly, to see all the places in Georgetown that were familiar. But still, don't worry, I'm sure I'll pay for that comment : )
We arrived at the guesthouse eventually and there was a slightly awkward scene when we discovered that the room didn't have AC, which we thought it would have. We decided to stay anyway (it turned out not to be a big problem, actually) and after resting in the room for a while through the heat of the day, we decided to take our resting outside onto the beach.
The beach is great, you can see the bay in the distance and the sand, while not extremely fine, is comfortable enough... it's quite "lively" and by that I mean boats and banana boats and jetskis and horses and quadbikes zoom up and down the water/beach (select as appropriate) and some of the bars play Gwen Stafani and that bloody Umberella song at volumes that can be annoying. But anyway, we set down our towels and bathed away the afternoon.
After going back for a shower (the showers, incidentally, weren't great - but I'm starting to enjoy cold showers) we ambled back along the main road and came to the restaurant I talked about earlier, called Eden. Going in, there's a huge array of eels, fish, lobsters, crabs etc in large tanks, and walking past that there's an array of tables and a modest stage. We ordered a modest meal of rice and things (although, we did end up having several drinks and a bizarre ice-cream thing that included, as well as strawberry icecream, sweetcorn and butterbeans - very weird) and as we ate it there was a performance of Malaysian, Chinese and Indian dancing, that was very amusing (partly because the woman announcing the dances had a very unique talent for English).
By the time we headed back, it had been dark for a while and the pavements had been transformed into stalls and makeshift shops selling all the usual tourist stuff, t-shirts and knock-off DVDs and games and things, as well as some paintings and carvings that had a bit more merit. We're old hands by now and smiling and saying no-thank-you. The secret is not to stop walking.
The next day, we did next to nothing, shamefully. We walked to the bank where we had a bit of a fight with a cash machine, and then spent the rest of the day reading at a bar on the beach, and drinking milkshakes and ice teas until it started raining, so we went back to the room for a while. We went to a really nice restaurant we'd walked past the day before - it wasn't on the beach and, as a consequence, the decor, food and service were all really good. The service was a little frightening, actually - you'd finish a plate and before you could blink it'd been whisked away.
We wandered back along the main road, through all the stalls again. I ended up buying a couple of games for my Gameboy Micro. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before - I bought it in Singapore, basically because it's impossible to walk through endless electronic malls without needing to buy a gadget of some description, and this was the cheapest thing I could find.
The third day, we did nearly nothing, again. I could get used to this. We emerged at midday, and spent the afternoon at the bar on the beach, and then, without getting up, ordered food at the same place and ate it as the sun went down. We had an earlyish night, because we were catching an early ferry to Langkawi the next morning for which we needed to be up very early.
Tuesday 28 August 2007
Penang Part Two!
On the third day of Penang we decided to go to the Fort- Fort Cornwallis. This is the first point of British landing in Malaysia, to rival the Dutch's hold of the country for trading. We learned about the history of the island and the East India Trading Company, avoided the 'wild' horses that roam the place, and played with the old cannons. There were also two very impressive birds there, that said hello when you said hello, good-bye when you said good-bye, and wolf-whistled when you walked past. Amazing. The fort was also nice, smaller than those of India and more for show than for use. I liked the massive ships mast they erected in it, so when a ship approached the people in the fort could raise a flag- a sign to get the fat rich people in charge down from the cool Penang hill to meet them.
We brought an ice-cream each and then walked near the beaches in the direction of Gurney Drive until we found a taxi. We didn't, though we gave up pretty early as it was a nice day for a walk and to see more of the city, and walked the long walk all the way to Gurney Drive. The point of this destination was of course to see the other half of the old Uplands school from behind. I could feel the anticipation as we got closer and closer, past those tall apartment buildings that weren't there before, the old buildings, hotels and shops and- I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! The whole site was boarded from view- I mean completely, with massive sheets of metal from below the pavement 6 feet high. We were lucky to find little holes hear and there for a pin-prick view of the place.
We walked round the side (the tiny bit of land left between the building and tall apartments to the right) and through the hedges we managed to get a proper view. I wish I didn't. With no one in there you wouldn't think it would age that badly, but with the windows boarded up, the whole place overgrown, and the white walls stained it looked- defeated. It was also a bit worrying to see the stacks of building equipment where the swimming pool used to be. Darn. (P.S. Sorry to those of you who don't get the importance of this and instead find it a bit of a dull read, it is aimed at the ex-Uplanders and Penangers like me who used to love the old place. So I will change the subject.)
Back to Gurney plaza for a rest after all that walking. We ate a very nice meal at the new food court looking over the sea and browsed the shops again. From the food court I could see Island Plaza, another old haunt of mine, so we walked there also. The same old story as Midlands I'm afraid- empty shop slots, they even closed down the old cinema and indoor go-carts! We stayed for only a little while- for a Coffee Bean drink and then headed back to Midlands (so Rory could buy some more games for his GameBoy) and Gurney Plaza for a movie.
Our forth day there was pretty much spent booking the last bits of the trip we hadn't booked. We planned to go to the snake temple but time seemed to get away from us as we looked up car hire etc. It's expensive, the drive to the jungle in the middle a day long at least, and the forecast there rain rain rain- not worth it. So we walked back to the fort where the ferry's run from and got ourselves two tickets to Langkawi. We booked a flight from the island back to Kl (as we intended to drive there) and then headed to Komtar (the tallest building in Penang, marking the centre of Georgetown, housing a shopping mall) for something to eat, shop and spend a pleasant last evening in Georgetown.
The next morning we packed up, had our toast and banana cake, and took a bus to the north of the island- Batu Ferringhi (in English- White Mans Rock, tourist destination).
We brought an ice-cream each and then walked near the beaches in the direction of Gurney Drive until we found a taxi. We didn't, though we gave up pretty early as it was a nice day for a walk and to see more of the city, and walked the long walk all the way to Gurney Drive. The point of this destination was of course to see the other half of the old Uplands school from behind. I could feel the anticipation as we got closer and closer, past those tall apartment buildings that weren't there before, the old buildings, hotels and shops and- I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! The whole site was boarded from view- I mean completely, with massive sheets of metal from below the pavement 6 feet high. We were lucky to find little holes hear and there for a pin-prick view of the place.
We walked round the side (the tiny bit of land left between the building and tall apartments to the right) and through the hedges we managed to get a proper view. I wish I didn't. With no one in there you wouldn't think it would age that badly, but with the windows boarded up, the whole place overgrown, and the white walls stained it looked- defeated. It was also a bit worrying to see the stacks of building equipment where the swimming pool used to be. Darn. (P.S. Sorry to those of you who don't get the importance of this and instead find it a bit of a dull read, it is aimed at the ex-Uplanders and Penangers like me who used to love the old place. So I will change the subject.)
Back to Gurney plaza for a rest after all that walking. We ate a very nice meal at the new food court looking over the sea and browsed the shops again. From the food court I could see Island Plaza, another old haunt of mine, so we walked there also. The same old story as Midlands I'm afraid- empty shop slots, they even closed down the old cinema and indoor go-carts! We stayed for only a little while- for a Coffee Bean drink and then headed back to Midlands (so Rory could buy some more games for his GameBoy) and Gurney Plaza for a movie.
Our forth day there was pretty much spent booking the last bits of the trip we hadn't booked. We planned to go to the snake temple but time seemed to get away from us as we looked up car hire etc. It's expensive, the drive to the jungle in the middle a day long at least, and the forecast there rain rain rain- not worth it. So we walked back to the fort where the ferry's run from and got ourselves two tickets to Langkawi. We booked a flight from the island back to Kl (as we intended to drive there) and then headed to Komtar (the tallest building in Penang, marking the centre of Georgetown, housing a shopping mall) for something to eat, shop and spend a pleasant last evening in Georgetown.
The next morning we packed up, had our toast and banana cake, and took a bus to the north of the island- Batu Ferringhi (in English- White Mans Rock, tourist destination).
Friday 24 August 2007
Penang!
After seven long years of waiting, many moving of houses, and much teasing from Colin about the downfall of my beloved island, I am finally back in Penang!
Arriving in the airport after our short flight from Singapore, a flood of memories hit me. The shops, the waiting halls, the taxi stand, even the view of the green island and lovely blue seas as we are landing. But, in the taxi on the way to the hostel (in the centre of Georgetown, the main city of Penang and an area I hardly ever ventured into before) the years that have passed become more obvious. More rustic than KL or Singapore, Penang has many more Chinese temples, little shops, dirtier streets and old, rather dilapidated malls. After we checked in I was eagerer to see my parts of the island again, and so we headed out on foot to walk the cornice towards my old apartment building.
On the way we passed Wat Chayamangkalaram, a Chinese temple with the third (I think) largest reclining Buddha statue. The temple was beautiful, with the red and gold decorations everywhere that you think only exist in the movies. Unfortunately the minister or something was visiting so we weren't allowed inside the main part where the golden statue was, but we could see it well enough through the windows. From there it was just a short walk to my old apartment building.
I managed to sweet talk the security guard into letting Rory and me enter unescorted, and we walked round the beautiful swimming pool in the centre to our old ground floor apartment- Mum, it is exactly the same as it used to be! I wont bore everyone with the details, but it was amazing to be back there with all the memories flooding back (like all those times May and I beat Colin at table tennis, or my14th birthday party etc). We then walked down the road to Uplands school. This was a bit more heartbreaking. The primary school has indeed been knocked down and the front of the old secondary school blocked from view by a new modern glass filled building selling houses and apartments. I was disappointed, but forewarned about this destruction of history(!), and took comfort in the fact that later I could walk round the back to see it in full.
We then wandered over to Midlands plaza. This place is nothing special, only to me as a place where I would spend almost everyday after school with my friends. However, the warnings Colin etc gave me still didn't prepare me for the downfall of the mall. With more than half the shops closed, and my favourites lost forever, the visit to Midlands was nothing more than depressing. However I took comfort in the building itself and the few shops that had survived (McDonalds, KFC and a couple of DVD shops) and Rory fully enjoyed himself by purchasing many (cheap!) computer games and cartridges for his new Gameboy. At least the less-than-legal side of Midlands is still flourishing!
A short walk away from Midlands lies the culprit of the downfall of the old Malls. The new mall. Gurney Plaza. Large, fully air conditioned, new and full of western (as well as a few local) shops, this is the new hang-out for the locals who turn there noses up at the old. To be honest, it is pretty nice. We wandered around for a bit before deciding to give our feet a rest in the (as usual) cinema. After the film (Disturbia- weird but pretty good), we brought some snacks and drinks and took a taxi back to the hostel, Hutton Lodge.
Day two. After a simple yet pleasant breakfast of toast and banana cake at the hostel, we waited out the heat of the day relaxing and reading up about what tourist stuff we wanted to do on the Island. We decided on Penang Hill first, and took a taxi to the funicular railway station. We brought tickets for the next available train (in an hour and a half, they are only small things), and wandered the area. We stumbled across a 110 year old small Chinese temple, built into and around a cave in Penang Hill called the Bat Temple. When we went inside we discovered it was accurately named, as on the roof of the cave slept many black bats! The women who ran the temple told us the cave was best at dawn or dusk, when hundreds of the little animals fly in and out through the temple to the cave.
The funicular railway ride up the hill was unfortunately also less spectacular than it used to be. What was once a peaceful beautiful ride up the hill was now a game of 'how many people can we fit in each carriage'. The answer: too many. More than the recommended maximum allowance that the 50 year old trains were made for anyway, which made it a bit of a thrill ride. However my years in India prepared me for this, and I elbowed my way though to reserve us each a seat by the window, where the views were as spectacular as usual. At the top, when you look past the hundreds of signs telling people not to litter or feed the monkeys (and then past the people feeding the monkeys), the whole of Georgetown makes a spectacular view. You can see the tall buildings, the little houses, the smaller hills, the temples and the long (once the longest in Southeast Asia, but it has long since lost that title) Penang bridge that joins the island to the mainland. We wandered around the top of the hill, looking at the view, the little stalls, and as usual trying to avoid that ever-present loud man with an extremely large snake from putting the fed-up looking poisonous animal on your shoulders. You have to love this part of the world!
Then we saw the sign. The sign that made Rory start to dribble. The sign that said 'Devonshire Cream teas'. The man at the gateway to this hilltop restaurant called Strawberry fields pleasantly explained the 5 ringget (70p) admission charge to this sanctuary as 'a way to keep out the common riff-raff' (if not in those exact words then something close but probably a bit more politically correct), which is of course taken off the price for Malaysia's best tea and scones with cream and jam. Which indeed they were, not that we had stumbled across another place that sells them in the month of travelling! The garden was beautiful, immaculately kept with jaw-dropping views of the island and scrumptious food, so we stayed for a late lunch/early dinner. It was then time to head back down the hill as the sun set, and back to the centre of Georgetown where we enjoyed a very well made Mojito and a banana split before bed.
I will write more on the last two days of Georgetown soon, as we are now off for a few days of beach life in Batu Ferringhi. Just to let you know there has been a change in plan- due to the excessively large price for renting a car for a few days, the two full day drives it would take and the reviews of Taman Negara we have heard, we have decided to instead take the ferry across to Langkawi, and do the beaches (and some jungle!) there, before fliying back to KL LCCT and on to Jakarta!
Arriving in the airport after our short flight from Singapore, a flood of memories hit me. The shops, the waiting halls, the taxi stand, even the view of the green island and lovely blue seas as we are landing. But, in the taxi on the way to the hostel (in the centre of Georgetown, the main city of Penang and an area I hardly ever ventured into before) the years that have passed become more obvious. More rustic than KL or Singapore, Penang has many more Chinese temples, little shops, dirtier streets and old, rather dilapidated malls. After we checked in I was eagerer to see my parts of the island again, and so we headed out on foot to walk the cornice towards my old apartment building.
On the way we passed Wat Chayamangkalaram, a Chinese temple with the third (I think) largest reclining Buddha statue. The temple was beautiful, with the red and gold decorations everywhere that you think only exist in the movies. Unfortunately the minister or something was visiting so we weren't allowed inside the main part where the golden statue was, but we could see it well enough through the windows. From there it was just a short walk to my old apartment building.
I managed to sweet talk the security guard into letting Rory and me enter unescorted, and we walked round the beautiful swimming pool in the centre to our old ground floor apartment- Mum, it is exactly the same as it used to be! I wont bore everyone with the details, but it was amazing to be back there with all the memories flooding back (like all those times May and I beat Colin at table tennis, or my14th birthday party etc). We then walked down the road to Uplands school. This was a bit more heartbreaking. The primary school has indeed been knocked down and the front of the old secondary school blocked from view by a new modern glass filled building selling houses and apartments. I was disappointed, but forewarned about this destruction of history(!), and took comfort in the fact that later I could walk round the back to see it in full.
We then wandered over to Midlands plaza. This place is nothing special, only to me as a place where I would spend almost everyday after school with my friends. However, the warnings Colin etc gave me still didn't prepare me for the downfall of the mall. With more than half the shops closed, and my favourites lost forever, the visit to Midlands was nothing more than depressing. However I took comfort in the building itself and the few shops that had survived (McDonalds, KFC and a couple of DVD shops) and Rory fully enjoyed himself by purchasing many (cheap!) computer games and cartridges for his new Gameboy. At least the less-than-legal side of Midlands is still flourishing!
A short walk away from Midlands lies the culprit of the downfall of the old Malls. The new mall. Gurney Plaza. Large, fully air conditioned, new and full of western (as well as a few local) shops, this is the new hang-out for the locals who turn there noses up at the old. To be honest, it is pretty nice. We wandered around for a bit before deciding to give our feet a rest in the (as usual) cinema. After the film (Disturbia- weird but pretty good), we brought some snacks and drinks and took a taxi back to the hostel, Hutton Lodge.
Day two. After a simple yet pleasant breakfast of toast and banana cake at the hostel, we waited out the heat of the day relaxing and reading up about what tourist stuff we wanted to do on the Island. We decided on Penang Hill first, and took a taxi to the funicular railway station. We brought tickets for the next available train (in an hour and a half, they are only small things), and wandered the area. We stumbled across a 110 year old small Chinese temple, built into and around a cave in Penang Hill called the Bat Temple. When we went inside we discovered it was accurately named, as on the roof of the cave slept many black bats! The women who ran the temple told us the cave was best at dawn or dusk, when hundreds of the little animals fly in and out through the temple to the cave.
The funicular railway ride up the hill was unfortunately also less spectacular than it used to be. What was once a peaceful beautiful ride up the hill was now a game of 'how many people can we fit in each carriage'. The answer: too many. More than the recommended maximum allowance that the 50 year old trains were made for anyway, which made it a bit of a thrill ride. However my years in India prepared me for this, and I elbowed my way though to reserve us each a seat by the window, where the views were as spectacular as usual. At the top, when you look past the hundreds of signs telling people not to litter or feed the monkeys (and then past the people feeding the monkeys), the whole of Georgetown makes a spectacular view. You can see the tall buildings, the little houses, the smaller hills, the temples and the long (once the longest in Southeast Asia, but it has long since lost that title) Penang bridge that joins the island to the mainland. We wandered around the top of the hill, looking at the view, the little stalls, and as usual trying to avoid that ever-present loud man with an extremely large snake from putting the fed-up looking poisonous animal on your shoulders. You have to love this part of the world!
Then we saw the sign. The sign that made Rory start to dribble. The sign that said 'Devonshire Cream teas'. The man at the gateway to this hilltop restaurant called Strawberry fields pleasantly explained the 5 ringget (70p) admission charge to this sanctuary as 'a way to keep out the common riff-raff' (if not in those exact words then something close but probably a bit more politically correct), which is of course taken off the price for Malaysia's best tea and scones with cream and jam. Which indeed they were, not that we had stumbled across another place that sells them in the month of travelling! The garden was beautiful, immaculately kept with jaw-dropping views of the island and scrumptious food, so we stayed for a late lunch/early dinner. It was then time to head back down the hill as the sun set, and back to the centre of Georgetown where we enjoyed a very well made Mojito and a banana split before bed.
I will write more on the last two days of Georgetown soon, as we are now off for a few days of beach life in Batu Ferringhi. Just to let you know there has been a change in plan- due to the excessively large price for renting a car for a few days, the two full day drives it would take and the reviews of Taman Negara we have heard, we have decided to instead take the ferry across to Langkawi, and do the beaches (and some jungle!) there, before fliying back to KL LCCT and on to Jakarta!
Singapore (2)
The second day we took it reasonably easy. We slept in late and when we eventually emerged we took the MRT to Orchard Road and wandered slowly West, occasionally going into a mall if we saw something interesting, or if it looked nice. I found a store that sold bits of camera, and nearly bought a lens and adapter for my camera until the bloke started getting rude. Anyway. It's a nice area, wide and bright and western, loads and loads of people, and quite a lot of construction (of malls, of course).
On that note...I don't see how they can all be making money; surely McDonald's, say, has to have an outlet in each mall, or they'll lose that share of business, right? And the same follows for all stores. So if you walk into a store in Orchard Road, you'll probably find the same stores as there were in the last mall. Every new mall competes with all the others, yeah? And every new mall means that all the big shops have to outfit and staff another shop, which is competing with the previous mall, where they also have a store. It doesn't seem to make good business sense, but what do I know, eh?
We reached the end of Orchard Road and found ourselves in a Hard Rock Cafe. Mostly, it was good just to sit down in an air-conditioned space (notice a pattern?) and we just had coffees before heading back. A lazy day.
On the 20th (I think, it's hard to keep track of the days - is it Saturday today?) we decided to go to Sentosa, an island on the South coast that's best described as a well-developed tourist attraction. We got there by cable car, which was very exciting, or at least felt exciting after being stuck in a queue for ages for a ticket. Incidentally, how do you get to the cable car station? Through a mall, of course! Dangling over the island we could see the beaches, the diggers and cranes that were presumably creating another beach, or hotel, or something, and the dense jungle in the centre of the island, as well as a huge grey statue in the centre, which I'll get onto in a minute. Emerging through the gift shop onto the island it was obvious that it was geared for tourists - big open paved areas with cafes and Ben and Jerry's and things. We took the escalator (they love their escalators) down and gradually, this huge statue came into view...at first, it looks like the head of a lion, but as you get nearer you see - wait, is that...scales...a fish tail?
Looming over you is this giant (you can go up to it's head and stand in it's mouth for a fee) fish-lion thing. They call it a mer-lion. Everywhere you go on this island you see little statues and trinkets of this ungodly piscene/feline frankenstein, dreamed up by a tourist council that's short of ideas (I paraphrase the Lonely Planet). Maybe I'm being a little harsh. It's not ugly, as such, and it would be majestic if it wasn't so bizarre.
we headed off round the island. It's quite nice, really; there's little pedestrian train things, and lots of beaches (full of people) with convenient islands a little way out to hide the scores of ships in the bay (Singapore is allegedly the world's largest port, or has the largest turnover, something like that). So we wandered around, stopping to buy tickets for the show in the evening, and in some gift shops, etc, and eventually ended up in Underwater World, an aquarium. It was pretty good, again full of people, but there were some good exhibits, especially a display of shark eggs at various stages of development (you could see the shark wriggling inside) and, like the one in KL, an underwater tunnel. I think we would have been more impressed if we hadn't been to the one in KL, and this one was less imaginative and more crowded and expensive, and the exit was through a gift shop, but we still enjoyed it.
With our aquarium tickets were tickets to see a dolphin show. The pink dolphins were very good, balancing balls and jumping through hoops and the like - if you've seen a dolphin show you'll know what it was like, but it was still impressive. At the end, we decided to pay to have our photo taken with a dolphin! We lined up and then when it was our turn slowly waded towards it and stroked it's back, while we had a photo taken of us. The skin is rubbery and surprisingly lumpy and rough, actually! So now, we are members of the elusive band of people who have touched dolphins.
We grabbed some food from a 7-eleven (cheaper than fast food) and sat on a bench in the shelter to eat it, because it was raining.
Eventually it was time for the show. It was a bit weird, to be honest. The "actors" were mouthing along to dubbed voices and jumping up and down a lot, but there wasn't really a plot to speak of. The effects were amazing, though - they had multicoloured lasers projected onto walls of water, as well as video and animation, and loads of lights and fountains and fireballs and fireworks. The story was terrible, and I can't help feeling that, given the same number of fireball machines and fountains and lasers, something you'd see at Alton Towers would have better acting, story and choreography, but to be honest, that made it even more enjoyable.
We power-walked back over the island to beat the queue and took the cable-car back in the dark, seeing Singapore lit up around us.
The next day, the 21st (maybe) we went to Singapore Zoo and night safari. (Argh, I'm running out of time again). They say the Zoo is amazing, and it really is - the exhibits are buried in the jungle and you wander around through a rainforest to get to them. There's a canopy walk where the monkeys roam free above you (although we didn't see many) and orang-utans are free to go where they like. There was lots to see, and although we left it a bit late, we saw most of it. In the evening, we went to Singapore Night Safari (next door). After the entrance fee it turned out that you had to pay again to go on the tram tour thing (which they didn't tell you beforehand - Singapore's a pretty expensive place, to be honest), so we walked around instead, which I think we enjoyed more. The animals were dimly lit (photography was impossible) and there were bat caves to walk through (fruit bats are really big!) and things. We ended by going to a nocturnal animal show, that was amazing - the animals were really, really well trained, and I had no idea that otters could be trained like that (it was sorting plastic bottles, cans and paper)! By the time we headed back it was pretty late, but the MRTs hadn't closed yet.
And the next day, Penang!
On that note...I don't see how they can all be making money; surely McDonald's, say, has to have an outlet in each mall, or they'll lose that share of business, right? And the same follows for all stores. So if you walk into a store in Orchard Road, you'll probably find the same stores as there were in the last mall. Every new mall competes with all the others, yeah? And every new mall means that all the big shops have to outfit and staff another shop, which is competing with the previous mall, where they also have a store. It doesn't seem to make good business sense, but what do I know, eh?
We reached the end of Orchard Road and found ourselves in a Hard Rock Cafe. Mostly, it was good just to sit down in an air-conditioned space (notice a pattern?) and we just had coffees before heading back. A lazy day.
On the 20th (I think, it's hard to keep track of the days - is it Saturday today?) we decided to go to Sentosa, an island on the South coast that's best described as a well-developed tourist attraction. We got there by cable car, which was very exciting, or at least felt exciting after being stuck in a queue for ages for a ticket. Incidentally, how do you get to the cable car station? Through a mall, of course! Dangling over the island we could see the beaches, the diggers and cranes that were presumably creating another beach, or hotel, or something, and the dense jungle in the centre of the island, as well as a huge grey statue in the centre, which I'll get onto in a minute. Emerging through the gift shop onto the island it was obvious that it was geared for tourists - big open paved areas with cafes and Ben and Jerry's and things. We took the escalator (they love their escalators) down and gradually, this huge statue came into view...at first, it looks like the head of a lion, but as you get nearer you see - wait, is that...scales...a fish tail?
Looming over you is this giant (you can go up to it's head and stand in it's mouth for a fee) fish-lion thing. They call it a mer-lion. Everywhere you go on this island you see little statues and trinkets of this ungodly piscene/feline frankenstein, dreamed up by a tourist council that's short of ideas (I paraphrase the Lonely Planet). Maybe I'm being a little harsh. It's not ugly, as such, and it would be majestic if it wasn't so bizarre.
we headed off round the island. It's quite nice, really; there's little pedestrian train things, and lots of beaches (full of people) with convenient islands a little way out to hide the scores of ships in the bay (Singapore is allegedly the world's largest port, or has the largest turnover, something like that). So we wandered around, stopping to buy tickets for the show in the evening, and in some gift shops, etc, and eventually ended up in Underwater World, an aquarium. It was pretty good, again full of people, but there were some good exhibits, especially a display of shark eggs at various stages of development (you could see the shark wriggling inside) and, like the one in KL, an underwater tunnel. I think we would have been more impressed if we hadn't been to the one in KL, and this one was less imaginative and more crowded and expensive, and the exit was through a gift shop, but we still enjoyed it.
With our aquarium tickets were tickets to see a dolphin show. The pink dolphins were very good, balancing balls and jumping through hoops and the like - if you've seen a dolphin show you'll know what it was like, but it was still impressive. At the end, we decided to pay to have our photo taken with a dolphin! We lined up and then when it was our turn slowly waded towards it and stroked it's back, while we had a photo taken of us. The skin is rubbery and surprisingly lumpy and rough, actually! So now, we are members of the elusive band of people who have touched dolphins.
We grabbed some food from a 7-eleven (cheaper than fast food) and sat on a bench in the shelter to eat it, because it was raining.
Eventually it was time for the show. It was a bit weird, to be honest. The "actors" were mouthing along to dubbed voices and jumping up and down a lot, but there wasn't really a plot to speak of. The effects were amazing, though - they had multicoloured lasers projected onto walls of water, as well as video and animation, and loads of lights and fountains and fireballs and fireworks. The story was terrible, and I can't help feeling that, given the same number of fireball machines and fountains and lasers, something you'd see at Alton Towers would have better acting, story and choreography, but to be honest, that made it even more enjoyable.
We power-walked back over the island to beat the queue and took the cable-car back in the dark, seeing Singapore lit up around us.
The next day, the 21st (maybe) we went to Singapore Zoo and night safari. (Argh, I'm running out of time again). They say the Zoo is amazing, and it really is - the exhibits are buried in the jungle and you wander around through a rainforest to get to them. There's a canopy walk where the monkeys roam free above you (although we didn't see many) and orang-utans are free to go where they like. There was lots to see, and although we left it a bit late, we saw most of it. In the evening, we went to Singapore Night Safari (next door). After the entrance fee it turned out that you had to pay again to go on the tram tour thing (which they didn't tell you beforehand - Singapore's a pretty expensive place, to be honest), so we walked around instead, which I think we enjoyed more. The animals were dimly lit (photography was impossible) and there were bat caves to walk through (fruit bats are really big!) and things. We ended by going to a nocturnal animal show, that was amazing - the animals were really, really well trained, and I had no idea that otters could be trained like that (it was sorting plastic bottles, cans and paper)! By the time we headed back it was pretty late, but the MRTs hadn't closed yet.
And the next day, Penang!
Singapore
The overnight train was great. We had our own compartment with en-suite including a shower (Have you ever had a shower on a train?!) and TV. It was pretty noisy but we have earplugs, so it was fine. We were rudely awakened in the morning by a bloke who gave us some customs cards to fill in, and then rudely awakened again when the train stopped for customs, another new experience. Cue panicking and rushed dressing, and hastily filling out the customs cards, and dashing halfway down the platform, to be told that we needed to take all our baggage with us - cue dashing back to our bunks to cram everything in our bags and then rushing to the customs building, where we joined the back of a very long, very slow-moving queue! Oh well. Apart from that excitement, the journey was most enjoyable.
Singapore train station is a bit old and dilapidated, but then, with six arrivals and six departures a day, all to Malaysia, I don't suppose it gets much use. After asking directions from the inquiries man (who was very nice and gave us a map) we strolled out into Singapore.
First impressions - very developed. The raised highways and wide roads were similar to KL. I think if we hadn't just come from KL I would have been more impressed, but to me it seemed like it was all very modern and new a few years ago - although it's still very efficient, the concrete's a bit dirtier and the kerbs are a bit more scuffed. Although we've all heard about it, it was still wierd that, because the crossing-the-road man was red, no-one crossed, despite there being no cars. Apparently Singapore has relaxed its no-jaywalking laws (or enforcement), but most people still obey them.
After a short but tiring walk, with our bags, we arrived at the metro station. Singapore's metro is called the Mass Rapid Transport system, which I think is awesome. What's wrong with "metro", I have no idea, but still. Mass Rapid Transport. It sounds like something from Total Recall.
The metro's very efficient and easy. We bought multiple-use passes that you charge beforehand and then just wave at the ticket readers (still in your wallet, if you like), which I, of course, never tired of. Dotted around the stations and trains are screens showing how you should be vigilant for terrorists (in a rather sensationalist fashion...I can't believe that a similar film in London would actually show a train exploding). "Who is this man? What is in his heavy bag? Is he acting suspiciously or nervously?" As we were foreigners with huge, bulky bags, we felt slightly nervous. Which, of course, incriminated us even more. Still, when we got off the MRT we remembered all our bags, thankfully, or they would probably have been detonated in a controlled fashion...
The hostel was easy to find once we got out of the station. Our room was comfortable. It was brightly coloured and air conditioned. We rested for a few hours, and then headed out to Little India, a couple of stops down the line. We found a hawker centre and ate brunch (or maybe lunch) and then wandered on to a couple of cramped malls dealing exclusively in technology and gadgets and things. Which, of course, interested me more than Alex. To be honest, some of these malls are nicer to spend time in than others - the big chain shops are very western and let you get on with it, but in the older, more cramped malls, if you stop or show an interest in anything they will start talking at you. Still, it's not as in-your-face as India. Wandering on, we eventually found ourselves in Chinatown.
Chinatown, Singapore is very much like other Chinatowns we've seen - maybe not as crowded, but still full of T-shirts, watches, cufflinks etc of dubious authenticity...this time, we didn't buy anything (except a dragonfruit juice each). Eventually, Chinatown spat us out the other side, and we wandered East again, ending up in a collection of modern, huge malls. Of course, we were compelled to wander through them, casually heading towards the cinema. We watched The Bourne Supremacy - we're rapidly finding that the attraction of cinemas isn't just the film, but also it's a nice, air conditioned place to sit down for a couple of hours!
We emerged and headed downstairs and out, where we were confronted with a huge, brown floating donut-type thing, allegedly the world's largest fountain, the Fountain of Wealth. Neither of us was particularly impressed by it, but there were benches and I think we bought a juice of some sort. We were more impressed by the booming and cracking and the colourful reflections, off shiny skyscrapers, from fireworks that were being set off somewhere nearby. Eventually, they turned the fountain off and people started walking up to the middle and going round it multiple times. It turns out that it's meant to bring you wealth, or something, but as it was built about ten years ago, I don't know quite how that superstition got started!
We decided that as we weren't far away, we'd head over to Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. Along the way we got caught in immense crowds through the malls that we walked through (in Singapore, often the easiest or only way to get somewhere is through a mall; this is especially true of MRT stations) but eventually we made it, and after wandering around the hotel (which, unsurprisingly, is also a shopping centre) we eventually ended up in the Long Bar (where the Singapore Sling, a cocktail, was invented). It's a really quaint place, all dark oak and high ceilings, with a spiral staircase. And, strangely enough, loads and loads of peanut shells on the floor, from the peanut boxes on all the tables and the bar. There was a pretty good live band, but we only stayed for our drinks (we couldn't afford any more, the two drinks cost more than two nights accommodation) and headed back, on the MRT, to the hostel.
I'm getting worse, only one day this time! I'll write some more as soon as I can, gotta go. Take care!
Singapore train station is a bit old and dilapidated, but then, with six arrivals and six departures a day, all to Malaysia, I don't suppose it gets much use. After asking directions from the inquiries man (who was very nice and gave us a map) we strolled out into Singapore.
First impressions - very developed. The raised highways and wide roads were similar to KL. I think if we hadn't just come from KL I would have been more impressed, but to me it seemed like it was all very modern and new a few years ago - although it's still very efficient, the concrete's a bit dirtier and the kerbs are a bit more scuffed. Although we've all heard about it, it was still wierd that, because the crossing-the-road man was red, no-one crossed, despite there being no cars. Apparently Singapore has relaxed its no-jaywalking laws (or enforcement), but most people still obey them.
After a short but tiring walk, with our bags, we arrived at the metro station. Singapore's metro is called the Mass Rapid Transport system, which I think is awesome. What's wrong with "metro", I have no idea, but still. Mass Rapid Transport. It sounds like something from Total Recall.
The metro's very efficient and easy. We bought multiple-use passes that you charge beforehand and then just wave at the ticket readers (still in your wallet, if you like), which I, of course, never tired of. Dotted around the stations and trains are screens showing how you should be vigilant for terrorists (in a rather sensationalist fashion...I can't believe that a similar film in London would actually show a train exploding). "Who is this man? What is in his heavy bag? Is he acting suspiciously or nervously?" As we were foreigners with huge, bulky bags, we felt slightly nervous. Which, of course, incriminated us even more. Still, when we got off the MRT we remembered all our bags, thankfully, or they would probably have been detonated in a controlled fashion...
The hostel was easy to find once we got out of the station. Our room was comfortable. It was brightly coloured and air conditioned. We rested for a few hours, and then headed out to Little India, a couple of stops down the line. We found a hawker centre and ate brunch (or maybe lunch) and then wandered on to a couple of cramped malls dealing exclusively in technology and gadgets and things. Which, of course, interested me more than Alex. To be honest, some of these malls are nicer to spend time in than others - the big chain shops are very western and let you get on with it, but in the older, more cramped malls, if you stop or show an interest in anything they will start talking at you. Still, it's not as in-your-face as India. Wandering on, we eventually found ourselves in Chinatown.
Chinatown, Singapore is very much like other Chinatowns we've seen - maybe not as crowded, but still full of T-shirts, watches, cufflinks etc of dubious authenticity...this time, we didn't buy anything (except a dragonfruit juice each). Eventually, Chinatown spat us out the other side, and we wandered East again, ending up in a collection of modern, huge malls. Of course, we were compelled to wander through them, casually heading towards the cinema. We watched The Bourne Supremacy - we're rapidly finding that the attraction of cinemas isn't just the film, but also it's a nice, air conditioned place to sit down for a couple of hours!
We emerged and headed downstairs and out, where we were confronted with a huge, brown floating donut-type thing, allegedly the world's largest fountain, the Fountain of Wealth. Neither of us was particularly impressed by it, but there were benches and I think we bought a juice of some sort. We were more impressed by the booming and cracking and the colourful reflections, off shiny skyscrapers, from fireworks that were being set off somewhere nearby. Eventually, they turned the fountain off and people started walking up to the middle and going round it multiple times. It turns out that it's meant to bring you wealth, or something, but as it was built about ten years ago, I don't know quite how that superstition got started!
We decided that as we weren't far away, we'd head over to Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. Along the way we got caught in immense crowds through the malls that we walked through (in Singapore, often the easiest or only way to get somewhere is through a mall; this is especially true of MRT stations) but eventually we made it, and after wandering around the hotel (which, unsurprisingly, is also a shopping centre) we eventually ended up in the Long Bar (where the Singapore Sling, a cocktail, was invented). It's a really quaint place, all dark oak and high ceilings, with a spiral staircase. And, strangely enough, loads and loads of peanut shells on the floor, from the peanut boxes on all the tables and the bar. There was a pretty good live band, but we only stayed for our drinks (we couldn't afford any more, the two drinks cost more than two nights accommodation) and headed back, on the MRT, to the hostel.
I'm getting worse, only one day this time! I'll write some more as soon as I can, gotta go. Take care!
Friday 17 August 2007
KL (2)
By the way, there's a few pictures of us on our Flickr page. I'll put some more up when I manage to find an easy way of uploading them!
The third day, we started by strolling over to the mall (again) and going into the amusement park. The rollercoaster was surprisingly good (4 inversions! In a shopping centre!) and we went on all the other stomach-churning rides. I also had some corn...stalls which, in England, would sell Coca-colas and crisps and hot-dogs, here, sell Coca-colas and smoothies and sweetcorn with butter in little cups, and mashed potato with gravy. What a great idea!
Anyhoo, we had a few goes on the arcade...they're easy to find around here, and of course, they're about a sixth of the price, and then we headed out.
We took the futuristic and smooth monorail to Jalan Kuching, a main street that's flanked by pretty statues and colonial buildings, as well as some more modern, Islamic architecture. Strolling south, we eventually ended up in Chinatown. Like most chinatowns, it's a busy, bustling, colourful scene...we walked up and down Jalan Petaling, the main street crammed with stalls selling knock-off T-shirts, knock-off sweatshirts, knock-off watches (We both bought one, mine loses five minutes every six hours and broke shortly after), knock-off ties and cufflinks, knock-off zippos, knock-off DVDs, and other stuff. Once upon a time I would have found this bewildering, but after India, this was easy! We killed a few hours there, nearly buying lots of things, and then eventually headed futher afield with the vague idea of finding something to eat.
We ended up in front of a massage shop (parlour?). Don't worry, it was very upmarket and respectable! We decided to treat ourselves - an hour-long reflexology foot massage and then a back massage came to less than the cost of hiring a towel at a spa at home. It's a bit wierd watching someone spending an hour massaging your feet, but it was quite nice. An hour and a half later, we were both feeling very relaxed, comfortable and energised (although that might have been the green tea).
On the way back, we stopped for a sheesha (or, hookah) at an Arabic cafe, where Alex showed off her Arabic to the amazement of all (not least, me) and then ate at a traditional hawker court. It was refreshing to eat somewhere so lively and the choice was good - and it's nice not having to wait for the bill! Of course, it's really cheap, too, which is good. We headed back on the monorail.
Our last day in KL, and we felt we had seen plenty of malls. We went over to the Lake Gardens, a set of gardens and parks, with, unsurprisingly, a lake in the middle. It was good to get away from the traffic and noise, and the park was empty. We strolled down to the lake and had an ice-cream. We didn't hire paddle-boats, because they had a really long break for lunch and we didn't fancy waiting for an hour and a half in the heat. For the same reason we didn't go in the deer park. There's a bird park and a butterfly park, and we went over to find them, but they were expensive so we didn't go in. Maybe we were tired of deciding not to do things, but when we saw the planetarium we went in (well, it was only Rn1). It wasn't particularly groundbreaking, but it was fun, and it was a bit of a novelty to be in the cool and dark, with glowy things hanging from the ceiling, and buttons to press, etc. I don't know what plasma balls have to do with space, but it's always fun to be able to light up a flourescent tube with your bare hands.
I don't remember where we ate...we must have had something, because the train left pretty late. I might fill this bit in later. [edit: Alex says we ate in a food court again.] But anyway, we went back to the hostel for a shower and to get our bags, and then took the monorail to the station to catch the overnighter train, down to Singapore.
The third day, we started by strolling over to the mall (again) and going into the amusement park. The rollercoaster was surprisingly good (4 inversions! In a shopping centre!) and we went on all the other stomach-churning rides. I also had some corn...stalls which, in England, would sell Coca-colas and crisps and hot-dogs, here, sell Coca-colas and smoothies and sweetcorn with butter in little cups, and mashed potato with gravy. What a great idea!
Anyhoo, we had a few goes on the arcade...they're easy to find around here, and of course, they're about a sixth of the price, and then we headed out.
We took the futuristic and smooth monorail to Jalan Kuching, a main street that's flanked by pretty statues and colonial buildings, as well as some more modern, Islamic architecture. Strolling south, we eventually ended up in Chinatown. Like most chinatowns, it's a busy, bustling, colourful scene...we walked up and down Jalan Petaling, the main street crammed with stalls selling knock-off T-shirts, knock-off sweatshirts, knock-off watches (We both bought one, mine loses five minutes every six hours and broke shortly after), knock-off ties and cufflinks, knock-off zippos, knock-off DVDs, and other stuff. Once upon a time I would have found this bewildering, but after India, this was easy! We killed a few hours there, nearly buying lots of things, and then eventually headed futher afield with the vague idea of finding something to eat.
We ended up in front of a massage shop (parlour?). Don't worry, it was very upmarket and respectable! We decided to treat ourselves - an hour-long reflexology foot massage and then a back massage came to less than the cost of hiring a towel at a spa at home. It's a bit wierd watching someone spending an hour massaging your feet, but it was quite nice. An hour and a half later, we were both feeling very relaxed, comfortable and energised (although that might have been the green tea).
On the way back, we stopped for a sheesha (or, hookah) at an Arabic cafe, where Alex showed off her Arabic to the amazement of all (not least, me) and then ate at a traditional hawker court. It was refreshing to eat somewhere so lively and the choice was good - and it's nice not having to wait for the bill! Of course, it's really cheap, too, which is good. We headed back on the monorail.
Our last day in KL, and we felt we had seen plenty of malls. We went over to the Lake Gardens, a set of gardens and parks, with, unsurprisingly, a lake in the middle. It was good to get away from the traffic and noise, and the park was empty. We strolled down to the lake and had an ice-cream. We didn't hire paddle-boats, because they had a really long break for lunch and we didn't fancy waiting for an hour and a half in the heat. For the same reason we didn't go in the deer park. There's a bird park and a butterfly park, and we went over to find them, but they were expensive so we didn't go in. Maybe we were tired of deciding not to do things, but when we saw the planetarium we went in (well, it was only Rn1). It wasn't particularly groundbreaking, but it was fun, and it was a bit of a novelty to be in the cool and dark, with glowy things hanging from the ceiling, and buttons to press, etc. I don't know what plasma balls have to do with space, but it's always fun to be able to light up a flourescent tube with your bare hands.
I don't remember where we ate...we must have had something, because the train left pretty late. I might fill this bit in later. [edit: Alex says we ate in a food court again.] But anyway, we went back to the hostel for a shower and to get our bags, and then took the monorail to the station to catch the overnighter train, down to Singapore.
Thursday 16 August 2007
Kuala Lumpur
The flight wasn't enjoyable. An overnighter, I was sat next to the biggest Indian in the world. He was huge...it's no exaggeration to say that he took up a quarter of my seat. So I was very uncomfortable for that four hours, and neither of us slept.
Arriving at KL airport was a pleasant experience. We were met by a cool, vast corridor of glass and steel; signs were plastisized and lit, and there were phones and internet kiosks in stainless steel terminals sticking out the floor.
Alex says it's her favourite airport. I know why. (Also, it's got a small forest in a glass box in the middle!) It's a complete surprise after India!
We had a small crisis in the airport...none of the ATMs would take our cards. Alex made a very expensive call to the english number on the back of the card, and after numerous security questions, they declared that there was nothing wrong with it. Luckily, she had some ringgits from last time she was here, so we had enough for a taxi to the hostel. The taxi driver was very friendly - explaining what various buildings were, and his opinion of the Iraq war, and things - but we were very tired. I was more amazed by the state of the roads and infrastructure and the way people drove and the quality of their cars (smooth and wide; very good; curteously and within lanes; high and mostly Protons, respectively). The hostel is amazing - basic, but very friendly and colourful, free tea and coffee and cornflakes and toast (all from Tesco, bizarrely) and our room is simple but adequate. The first thing they did was to sit us down with a map and explain where the tourist attractions were and how to get there, and suggest some routes around.
We couldn't check in until later, so we went for a wander, with the idea of finding a bank to sort out our cards problem. KL is really nice - clean, and quiet (no horns), with wide pavements and frequent crossing points to navigate the wide, well-marked roads, traffic lights, and plenty of skyscrapers full of air-conditioned shops and malls and banks and hotels (more of that in a minute), and - how could I forget - monorails gliding overhead on concrete pillars, banking into the corners...anyway, I was very impressed, as you have noticed. Probably the fact that India has none of these things made it even more amazing. Not that I don't like India! I'll be really interested to see the rest of Malaysia, actually...it's incredible to think that theres all this here, and yet in the jungles there's still tribes living in communal huts.
So, anyway, we eventually sorted out the card thing after speaking to several banks (you have to tell your card company that you're in Malaysia! After mentioning it to the second girl at the call centre, she says, "Oh yes, there's a note about Malaysia..."). We went into the mall that's opposite the hostel. It's got ten huge floors of shops, two 5-star hotels (apparently), and an indoor amusement park with a rollercoaster, and and IMAX theatre. We would spend a lot of our time here.
We wandered back to the hostel to check in and had a sleep. In the evening, we wandered back over to the mall and ate on the food court floor, with a fellow traveller we had met in the hostel. Then, we went to watch Transformers on IMAX. Awesome.
On Tuesday we took the monorail to the KL Tower. It was quite a stroll to get there; I'm sure there's an easy way but we went up through the forest and nature park in the very middle of the city, and it's not small (and it's not flat either - in fact, it's a pretty steep hill, which I suppose is a good place to start if you want to build a really tall building). Eventually we made it, and with our wallets slightly lighter we shot up the express lifts for a bird's eye view of the city. Unfortunately it was quite hazy, but it was still an impressive view, and the electronic video and audioguides were very talkative, even if they did digress. We shot down again, and strolled back through the forest, which I might have mentioned, is quite big.
We ambled over to the Petronas Towers. I should point out that KL isn't really that big - it's fairly easy to walk from one point on the map to another. So anyway, they're really big and shiny, and you can feel the cool breeze of the AC even from outside. Inside is another huge mall, which we had a look round. You can't go up the towers unless you are there by 8:30am and queue for a ticket, so we had a coffee, and then took the monorail back (via our favourite mall to buy bread, cheese, pringles and peanut butter...we didn't feel like eating out).
As usual, I've run out of time...we've got to shoot off now to get the train to Singapore. I'll post the other two days as soon as I can.
Arriving at KL airport was a pleasant experience. We were met by a cool, vast corridor of glass and steel; signs were plastisized and lit, and there were phones and internet kiosks in stainless steel terminals sticking out the floor.
Alex says it's her favourite airport. I know why. (Also, it's got a small forest in a glass box in the middle!) It's a complete surprise after India!
We had a small crisis in the airport...none of the ATMs would take our cards. Alex made a very expensive call to the english number on the back of the card, and after numerous security questions, they declared that there was nothing wrong with it. Luckily, she had some ringgits from last time she was here, so we had enough for a taxi to the hostel. The taxi driver was very friendly - explaining what various buildings were, and his opinion of the Iraq war, and things - but we were very tired. I was more amazed by the state of the roads and infrastructure and the way people drove and the quality of their cars (smooth and wide; very good; curteously and within lanes; high and mostly Protons, respectively). The hostel is amazing - basic, but very friendly and colourful, free tea and coffee and cornflakes and toast (all from Tesco, bizarrely) and our room is simple but adequate. The first thing they did was to sit us down with a map and explain where the tourist attractions were and how to get there, and suggest some routes around.
We couldn't check in until later, so we went for a wander, with the idea of finding a bank to sort out our cards problem. KL is really nice - clean, and quiet (no horns), with wide pavements and frequent crossing points to navigate the wide, well-marked roads, traffic lights, and plenty of skyscrapers full of air-conditioned shops and malls and banks and hotels (more of that in a minute), and - how could I forget - monorails gliding overhead on concrete pillars, banking into the corners...anyway, I was very impressed, as you have noticed. Probably the fact that India has none of these things made it even more amazing. Not that I don't like India! I'll be really interested to see the rest of Malaysia, actually...it's incredible to think that theres all this here, and yet in the jungles there's still tribes living in communal huts.
So, anyway, we eventually sorted out the card thing after speaking to several banks (you have to tell your card company that you're in Malaysia! After mentioning it to the second girl at the call centre, she says, "Oh yes, there's a note about Malaysia..."). We went into the mall that's opposite the hostel. It's got ten huge floors of shops, two 5-star hotels (apparently), and an indoor amusement park with a rollercoaster, and and IMAX theatre. We would spend a lot of our time here.
We wandered back to the hostel to check in and had a sleep. In the evening, we wandered back over to the mall and ate on the food court floor, with a fellow traveller we had met in the hostel. Then, we went to watch Transformers on IMAX. Awesome.
On Tuesday we took the monorail to the KL Tower. It was quite a stroll to get there; I'm sure there's an easy way but we went up through the forest and nature park in the very middle of the city, and it's not small (and it's not flat either - in fact, it's a pretty steep hill, which I suppose is a good place to start if you want to build a really tall building). Eventually we made it, and with our wallets slightly lighter we shot up the express lifts for a bird's eye view of the city. Unfortunately it was quite hazy, but it was still an impressive view, and the electronic video and audioguides were very talkative, even if they did digress. We shot down again, and strolled back through the forest, which I might have mentioned, is quite big.
We ambled over to the Petronas Towers. I should point out that KL isn't really that big - it's fairly easy to walk from one point on the map to another. So anyway, they're really big and shiny, and you can feel the cool breeze of the AC even from outside. Inside is another huge mall, which we had a look round. You can't go up the towers unless you are there by 8:30am and queue for a ticket, so we had a coffee, and then took the monorail back (via our favourite mall to buy bread, cheese, pringles and peanut butter...we didn't feel like eating out).
As usual, I've run out of time...we've got to shoot off now to get the train to Singapore. I'll post the other two days as soon as I can.
Chennai 2
The second day in Chennai saw us browsing the city again. First we went to Fast Fashion and Fashion Folks to stock up on factory outlet shirts and tops (Prada, FCUK etc at 4 pounds each), and then to the newly opened subway for lunch. There Colin departed for a meeting (but no talk of work on holiday!) and Rory and I went to the 'Snake Pit'. As the name suggests, the Snake Pit was a park with all the different snakes of India labeled as either dangerous (venomous) or non-dangerous (non-venomous). I particularly liked how they put the Boa Constrictor in the latter category. It was good to know all these snakes could have been slithering feet away from us in the Jungle of Mudumalai!
We wandered around for an hour or two amongst the snakes and the pits of crocodiles separated from us by a knee-high wall. However it was the hundreds of primary school children running around everywhere shouting hello at us that was more scary! We decided it was time for some more shopping and went to Spencer's Plaza, an old favourite of mine due to the the mix of expensive western shops and little stalls to practice your bargaining skills. If, when you go, you block out all the calls and people trying to drag you into shops its bargain paradise, but the shopkeepers can get a bit tiresome so we left for the oasis of Park Sheraton hotel. (Mum- everyone from Gem Palace says hello!)
We met up with Colin again and had haircuts all around at the salon in the Sheraton (much cheaper than England), and Rory looks clean-shaven again finally! Colin decided to treat us to a drink at the Sheraton bar, and we indulged in a little western life of overpriced beer and gin and tonics. We could only afford to stay for one drink and headed off to Bella Ciao, a pizzeria near the beach run by an Italian friend of ours, for food, further drinks and good company. As always there were many offers for parties but it had been a long day, so it was time for bed!
The next day was a more relaxing day but started in pretty much the same way. We first went to the Crocodile Farm, a lot like the Snake pit but more crocs less snakes. It was designed in pretty much the same way (pits of animals you walk around), but this one had up to one hundred crocodiles in some of the larger pits! Not a place you wanted to fall into. We did get up close and personal to a baby croc that a keeper was holding and gave it a little stroke (crocodiles are surprisingly soft!), and also went underground to see the bigger ones swimming around in their tanks. There were some turtles in that tank too, and fish, who were surprisingly brave and swam up to those sharp teeth! But the crocodiles weren't interested and just watched us lazily (we probably looked yummier than small fish!)
After the Crocodile Farm we went to Mahabalipuram. This is an area of old Indian Cave temples, marvelously carved with pictures of people and animals. The signs said they were from the 6th and 7th centuries BC, and they held their shape really well sheltered from the elements in 'cave' like cavities in the rock. We strolled around the monuments eating ice-creams and taking photos up to 'Khrisna's butter ball', a large round(ish) boulder that is (naturally) balanced on top of a slope! I always think it should roll down into the buildings on the other side of the road, but it never does!
It was then time for some relaxation so we headed off to Ideal Beach, ordered a sandwich and a hammock each and read, gently swinging in the breeze between palm trees, and listened to the waves. We also went for a swim and some body-boarding in the rough waves, where very unfortunately Rory lost his nice watch that I brought him for Christmas. This dampened (pun, get it? awful I know) the nice relaxed mood a bit, for it was a very nice watch. But we managed to cheer ourselves up in the swimming pool by playing games and swimming till it got dark and we had to get out due to the sudden monsoon rain storm! (Note: Today in KL Rory brought a new watch, a Seiko titanium like the old one but a higher class with more dials and half the price of the one from England). As the storm subsided we headed back into Mahabalipuram for dinner and the back to the guest house. However the rain stopped pretty quickly so we had time to squeeze in a couple of races of go-carts on the way back (Rory won both times, just narrowly beating Colin in the second race). We had the whole track to ourselves and no safety requirements to worry about apart from a helmet, so we pushed the go-carts to the limit!
The final day in Chennai had a lazy start (yet again), where for breakfast at lunch-time we went to Mocha bar for sandwiches, milkshakes (with at least a slice of cake in each) and sheesha. We browsed some shops on the way back, mostly things Colin needed, and then relaxed with a movie back in the room. When the movie ended it was time to pack up and meet some old friends from India for dinner at a Chinese restaurant (Patrick and Elizabeth Davenport), and then say good-bye to India, hello Malaysia!
We wandered around for an hour or two amongst the snakes and the pits of crocodiles separated from us by a knee-high wall. However it was the hundreds of primary school children running around everywhere shouting hello at us that was more scary! We decided it was time for some more shopping and went to Spencer's Plaza, an old favourite of mine due to the the mix of expensive western shops and little stalls to practice your bargaining skills. If, when you go, you block out all the calls and people trying to drag you into shops its bargain paradise, but the shopkeepers can get a bit tiresome so we left for the oasis of Park Sheraton hotel. (Mum- everyone from Gem Palace says hello!)
We met up with Colin again and had haircuts all around at the salon in the Sheraton (much cheaper than England), and Rory looks clean-shaven again finally! Colin decided to treat us to a drink at the Sheraton bar, and we indulged in a little western life of overpriced beer and gin and tonics. We could only afford to stay for one drink and headed off to Bella Ciao, a pizzeria near the beach run by an Italian friend of ours, for food, further drinks and good company. As always there were many offers for parties but it had been a long day, so it was time for bed!
The next day was a more relaxing day but started in pretty much the same way. We first went to the Crocodile Farm, a lot like the Snake pit but more crocs less snakes. It was designed in pretty much the same way (pits of animals you walk around), but this one had up to one hundred crocodiles in some of the larger pits! Not a place you wanted to fall into. We did get up close and personal to a baby croc that a keeper was holding and gave it a little stroke (crocodiles are surprisingly soft!), and also went underground to see the bigger ones swimming around in their tanks. There were some turtles in that tank too, and fish, who were surprisingly brave and swam up to those sharp teeth! But the crocodiles weren't interested and just watched us lazily (we probably looked yummier than small fish!)
After the Crocodile Farm we went to Mahabalipuram. This is an area of old Indian Cave temples, marvelously carved with pictures of people and animals. The signs said they were from the 6th and 7th centuries BC, and they held their shape really well sheltered from the elements in 'cave' like cavities in the rock. We strolled around the monuments eating ice-creams and taking photos up to 'Khrisna's butter ball', a large round(ish) boulder that is (naturally) balanced on top of a slope! I always think it should roll down into the buildings on the other side of the road, but it never does!
It was then time for some relaxation so we headed off to Ideal Beach, ordered a sandwich and a hammock each and read, gently swinging in the breeze between palm trees, and listened to the waves. We also went for a swim and some body-boarding in the rough waves, where very unfortunately Rory lost his nice watch that I brought him for Christmas. This dampened (pun, get it? awful I know) the nice relaxed mood a bit, for it was a very nice watch. But we managed to cheer ourselves up in the swimming pool by playing games and swimming till it got dark and we had to get out due to the sudden monsoon rain storm! (Note: Today in KL Rory brought a new watch, a Seiko titanium like the old one but a higher class with more dials and half the price of the one from England). As the storm subsided we headed back into Mahabalipuram for dinner and the back to the guest house. However the rain stopped pretty quickly so we had time to squeeze in a couple of races of go-carts on the way back (Rory won both times, just narrowly beating Colin in the second race). We had the whole track to ourselves and no safety requirements to worry about apart from a helmet, so we pushed the go-carts to the limit!
The final day in Chennai had a lazy start (yet again), where for breakfast at lunch-time we went to Mocha bar for sandwiches, milkshakes (with at least a slice of cake in each) and sheesha. We browsed some shops on the way back, mostly things Colin needed, and then relaxed with a movie back in the room. When the movie ended it was time to pack up and meet some old friends from India for dinner at a Chinese restaurant (Patrick and Elizabeth Davenport), and then say good-bye to India, hello Malaysia!
Tuesday 14 August 2007
Chennai
So, we took a domestic flight to Chennai. The flight was unenventful, thankfully, because I was feeling a bit ill...
Our driver picked us up from the airport, and drove us straight to the guesthouse where we would be staying. Chennai is a lot more open and green than Delhi, and so has a slightly more relaxed atmosphere...there's also not as many tourists (probably because there's not a lot for tourists to see) and so there's less people hounding you. It's still India, so there's still traffic and people everywhere, though, and rickshaws and traffic jams, and stalls at the sides of the road (and trees in the middle of the road), but by now, I hardly notice that kind of thing!
The guesthouse was really nice. Large and open with lots of marble everywhere, our room on the second floor was spacious and comfortable - probably the most luxurious place we'll stay on this trip!
We went for lunch at a cafe called Amethyst...it had a secluded outdoor area with trees and shrubs and stuff, so it was a really nice, relaxed atmosphere. I didn't eat because I was still feeling ill. We decided to see what films were on at the cinema, with a view to watching a film later, and, on our way to the beach, we stopped and bought tickets to Die Hard 4! Alex warned me that going to the cinema in India is a different experience to going back home - especially in a big action film with someone like Bruce Willis in there was likely to be cheering and clapping.
So we went to the beach, and ambled down the sand for a bit. We all had goes at shooting baloons with air rifles - although the "bullets" were seeds and rolled up foil, it wasn't hard - the baloons were about 2 metres away, and attatched in rows to a wooden wall, so it was pretty hard to miss! Still, shooting things is always fun. We ambled back (Alex bought a coconut and the woman hacked the top off and gave her a straw) and then went over to CitiCenter, a shopping mall, to pass the time until the film. It's easier to find western clothes here than in Delhi, but it's still not that easy! Still, we found plenty to occupy ourselves with.
The film really was a different experience to back in England - for a start, the tickets cost about 95p each, and the popcorn the same, and once we got in, the audience really did cheer and laugh loudly (and often not at the points that I would have cheered/laughed loudly at, even if I had felt the inclination). Couple that with a couple of power cuts, and you have the Indian Film Experience! I enjoyed it, to be honest!
We all felt full from popcorn, and I still wasn't feeling that great, so we had the driver (who, we discovered, wasn't particularly talkative) take us back to the guesthouse for an early night.
I've run out of time again, I'm afraid! I'll do the other days tomorrow.
Love to all!
Our driver picked us up from the airport, and drove us straight to the guesthouse where we would be staying. Chennai is a lot more open and green than Delhi, and so has a slightly more relaxed atmosphere...there's also not as many tourists (probably because there's not a lot for tourists to see) and so there's less people hounding you. It's still India, so there's still traffic and people everywhere, though, and rickshaws and traffic jams, and stalls at the sides of the road (and trees in the middle of the road), but by now, I hardly notice that kind of thing!
The guesthouse was really nice. Large and open with lots of marble everywhere, our room on the second floor was spacious and comfortable - probably the most luxurious place we'll stay on this trip!
We went for lunch at a cafe called Amethyst...it had a secluded outdoor area with trees and shrubs and stuff, so it was a really nice, relaxed atmosphere. I didn't eat because I was still feeling ill. We decided to see what films were on at the cinema, with a view to watching a film later, and, on our way to the beach, we stopped and bought tickets to Die Hard 4! Alex warned me that going to the cinema in India is a different experience to going back home - especially in a big action film with someone like Bruce Willis in there was likely to be cheering and clapping.
So we went to the beach, and ambled down the sand for a bit. We all had goes at shooting baloons with air rifles - although the "bullets" were seeds and rolled up foil, it wasn't hard - the baloons were about 2 metres away, and attatched in rows to a wooden wall, so it was pretty hard to miss! Still, shooting things is always fun. We ambled back (Alex bought a coconut and the woman hacked the top off and gave her a straw) and then went over to CitiCenter, a shopping mall, to pass the time until the film. It's easier to find western clothes here than in Delhi, but it's still not that easy! Still, we found plenty to occupy ourselves with.
The film really was a different experience to back in England - for a start, the tickets cost about 95p each, and the popcorn the same, and once we got in, the audience really did cheer and laugh loudly (and often not at the points that I would have cheered/laughed loudly at, even if I had felt the inclination). Couple that with a couple of power cuts, and you have the Indian Film Experience! I enjoyed it, to be honest!
We all felt full from popcorn, and I still wasn't feeling that great, so we had the driver (who, we discovered, wasn't particularly talkative) take us back to the guesthouse for an early night.
I've run out of time again, I'm afraid! I'll do the other days tomorrow.
Love to all!
Sunday 12 August 2007
KL Airport
Very quickly - it's about 6:30 in the morning or something, we've just arrived in KL airport... it's nice to come somewhere modern and new with glass and steel and plastic instead of just plaster! And get this - I'm writing from an internet kiosk in the arrivals lounge! Anyway, must get on...we have a monorail to catch...
Saturday 11 August 2007
Ooty (and Coimbatore)
The trip to Ooty took about two hours. The first half was going through the jungle, and then we emerged out onto the hills; there was a particularly memorable sequence of 36 numbered hairpin bends, which were fun. The scenery is completely breathtaking, mountains of green with their tops in the clouds, and valleys with lowland areas visible in between. The road wasn't in too bad a condition, although it did get bad as we neared Ooty!
Ooty itself is quite a large place, set high in the hills. There's lots of evidence of colonial settlements, and we passed plenty of schools and technology academies, etc. It does have traffic, poor quality roads, cows, etc though so in some respects it's pretty unremarkable as a city. The climate, though, is very different to what we've been getting used to - it was cold! Being high in the mountains made it quite a drizzly and chilly place. I quite liked being cold, after being in the heat and humidity.
We had a drive around while Colin got his bearings and found the hotel that he'd been to before. It was an old place, and the main building used to be the hunting lodge of the Ma Ha Raga. It had lines of old photos along the long corridor to reception, which was a large dark wood desk behind a large dark wood wall. It seemed like quite a nice place, and after some impressive negotiation over price by Colin, the porter showed us to our room.
The rooms we had requested were in the "cottages" built probably for whiteys to live in over the hot summer months. They were large, with a few small rooms, old carpets and furniture. We ordered food in our rooms and ate it while they lit the fire in the corner, and then played cards around it. We were cold, that night, for a change...
The next morning we headed off pretty early after a satisfyingly English breakfast. We had a drive/stroll round Ooty and then headed back towards Coimbatore.
On the outskirts of Ooty we saw a building halfway up a hillwith "TEA FACTORY" written on the side. This (no surpises here) was the tea factory that we had talked about stopping by on our way back. A few minutes later we had bought tickets (about 13p each) to go inside and see how they make tea!
I won't go into great details, but suffice to say I found it very interesting, but then, I would! It's clever how most of the work is done by gravity: the leaves are dried on the top floor, and then pushed down a hatch, where the chopping and turning and firing are done by conveyors. It's then raised again, and the sorting of the different weights and the fibrous tissue are done by rollers and sieves, again using gravity. At the end of the tour, they even give you a cup of tea (although, tea here is usually served completely white - no water - and very sweet). I left very happy, having been to a real Indian tea factory.
Up the hill was a little tea shop, which also sold dry tea and other bits and pieces (medicinal olive oil, rub it on your skin, etc). Above the shop was a plantation, and for a small fee (about 7p) we strolled up to have a look. We saw the rows of tea trees on the terrace, stole a few leaves for our own personal experiments, and even met some women who pick tea! Of course, we couldn't understand each other, but we looked cheerfully at each other, and they were kind enough to let us take a couple of pictures.
The road back from Ooty was really good. Hilly and windy, but wide and smooth - probably one of the best roads in India! I drove some of the way in the 4x4 Colin had borrowed.
We arrived in Coimbature later, and went straight to Colin's apartment. We were all shattered, so we ordered a pizza from Domino's, and had an early night - we had to catch a plane early the next morning!
Ooty itself is quite a large place, set high in the hills. There's lots of evidence of colonial settlements, and we passed plenty of schools and technology academies, etc. It does have traffic, poor quality roads, cows, etc though so in some respects it's pretty unremarkable as a city. The climate, though, is very different to what we've been getting used to - it was cold! Being high in the mountains made it quite a drizzly and chilly place. I quite liked being cold, after being in the heat and humidity.
We had a drive around while Colin got his bearings and found the hotel that he'd been to before. It was an old place, and the main building used to be the hunting lodge of the Ma Ha Raga. It had lines of old photos along the long corridor to reception, which was a large dark wood desk behind a large dark wood wall. It seemed like quite a nice place, and after some impressive negotiation over price by Colin, the porter showed us to our room.
The rooms we had requested were in the "cottages" built probably for whiteys to live in over the hot summer months. They were large, with a few small rooms, old carpets and furniture. We ordered food in our rooms and ate it while they lit the fire in the corner, and then played cards around it. We were cold, that night, for a change...
The next morning we headed off pretty early after a satisfyingly English breakfast. We had a drive/stroll round Ooty and then headed back towards Coimbatore.
On the outskirts of Ooty we saw a building halfway up a hillwith "TEA FACTORY" written on the side. This (no surpises here) was the tea factory that we had talked about stopping by on our way back. A few minutes later we had bought tickets (about 13p each) to go inside and see how they make tea!
I won't go into great details, but suffice to say I found it very interesting, but then, I would! It's clever how most of the work is done by gravity: the leaves are dried on the top floor, and then pushed down a hatch, where the chopping and turning and firing are done by conveyors. It's then raised again, and the sorting of the different weights and the fibrous tissue are done by rollers and sieves, again using gravity. At the end of the tour, they even give you a cup of tea (although, tea here is usually served completely white - no water - and very sweet). I left very happy, having been to a real Indian tea factory.
Up the hill was a little tea shop, which also sold dry tea and other bits and pieces (medicinal olive oil, rub it on your skin, etc). Above the shop was a plantation, and for a small fee (about 7p) we strolled up to have a look. We saw the rows of tea trees on the terrace, stole a few leaves for our own personal experiments, and even met some women who pick tea! Of course, we couldn't understand each other, but we looked cheerfully at each other, and they were kind enough to let us take a couple of pictures.
The road back from Ooty was really good. Hilly and windy, but wide and smooth - probably one of the best roads in India! I drove some of the way in the 4x4 Colin had borrowed.
We arrived in Coimbature later, and went straight to Colin's apartment. We were all shattered, so we ordered a pizza from Domino's, and had an early night - we had to catch a plane early the next morning!
Thursday 9 August 2007
Mudumalai
The drive from Mysore wasn't as bad as Rory makes it sound (though the road was), he slept most of the way! But once you get out of the towns and villages and into the national park everything changes. The roads are new and, once your through the entrance, you suddenly find yourself in the jungle! This perked me up a bit as I was still recovering from a rather bad night of being sick on a train. I didn't hold out much hope of seeing any wild animals this close to an Indian version of a national highway (no bigger than normal roads in England). But then the driver slowed down and pointed to two wild elephants casually wandering through the bushes near the road! And it didn't stop there, the last hour of the drive to Gudalur to meet Colin was filled with sightings of elephants, deer, peacocks, monkeys, warthogs and bison, all wild. I would recommend Mudumalai to anyone!
The accommodation we booked was at a place called Jungle home, located just outside the gates to Mudumalai national park. We decided, when booking it, we would do it properly and booked the 'deep jungle home, surrounded by jungle on three sides'. In my mind I had it pictured as down a dirt track with the hotel just out of sight. In reality it was a kilometer away, past farms and down a flooded road. But that wasn't the biggest shock, that game as it got dark and the rains started. The roof was tiled in two layers, not joined together and not joined perfectly to the walls. This meant that, to shelter from the rain, it was the perfect home for rats. All night you could hear them scuttling around. And after we played some cards, ate dinner and went to sleep Rory was woken with a massive shock when one jumped from the beams of the roof and onto him! Luckily on closer inspection it turned out to be a mouse, but we're not sure what jumped on me the second night as it ran away through a hole under the wall before we could see it.
It wasn't all bad though, a good shower with hot water, plenty of food (Indian and Colin brought over some western stuff like Nutella) and helpful live in staff. In all the room was an experience, one we didn't want to repeat for the third and final night, not just because of the rats but also because of the unfortunate rains which limited what we were able to do. But while we were there we decided to do a day and a night safari. The day one was in the Jeep Colin borrowed, and we drove through the park. We saw all the same animals again and pulled into a nature reserve building to have a read about the place. On leaving the building we were greeted with the sight of a large elephant, slowly walking down the path to meet us. This one was very friendly, he walked right up to the steps and held out his trunk to meet our outstretched hands in a sort of elephant handshake. He was a tame elephant and had a chain around his back leg like he had escaped. When the handler came to collect him we followed him to the other elephants they had, one was a 9 month old baby! He was shy but very cute!
That night we decided to take a night safari. This time we were in a jeep with a driver, no doors and walls. No lights inside of course so, except for the headlights and torch, it was pitch black. The safari took 3 hours, and we saw all the above listed wild animals again, but this time at night. However, it was what we saw in the first 20 minutes that was unbelievable. A wild leopard ran down one side of the road, crossed it in front of the car and then walked down the other side! We stopped and watched it, amazed at the rare sighting of a wild cat and the fact that it was yards away from us in a jeep with no protection! It looked at us quizzically, walked through the bushes and then treated us to a roar! That made the week.
The final thing to do there was an elephant safari, but unfortunately due to the rains this wasn't possible. Because of this (and the kamikaze flying rats) we decided to head back to Coimbatore (where we caught a flight to Chennai), via Ooty to stay for one night.
(More to come soon, but please write comments to let us know you are reading this and we're not just writing to ourselves!)
The accommodation we booked was at a place called Jungle home, located just outside the gates to Mudumalai national park. We decided, when booking it, we would do it properly and booked the 'deep jungle home, surrounded by jungle on three sides'. In my mind I had it pictured as down a dirt track with the hotel just out of sight. In reality it was a kilometer away, past farms and down a flooded road. But that wasn't the biggest shock, that game as it got dark and the rains started. The roof was tiled in two layers, not joined together and not joined perfectly to the walls. This meant that, to shelter from the rain, it was the perfect home for rats. All night you could hear them scuttling around. And after we played some cards, ate dinner and went to sleep Rory was woken with a massive shock when one jumped from the beams of the roof and onto him! Luckily on closer inspection it turned out to be a mouse, but we're not sure what jumped on me the second night as it ran away through a hole under the wall before we could see it.
It wasn't all bad though, a good shower with hot water, plenty of food (Indian and Colin brought over some western stuff like Nutella) and helpful live in staff. In all the room was an experience, one we didn't want to repeat for the third and final night, not just because of the rats but also because of the unfortunate rains which limited what we were able to do. But while we were there we decided to do a day and a night safari. The day one was in the Jeep Colin borrowed, and we drove through the park. We saw all the same animals again and pulled into a nature reserve building to have a read about the place. On leaving the building we were greeted with the sight of a large elephant, slowly walking down the path to meet us. This one was very friendly, he walked right up to the steps and held out his trunk to meet our outstretched hands in a sort of elephant handshake. He was a tame elephant and had a chain around his back leg like he had escaped. When the handler came to collect him we followed him to the other elephants they had, one was a 9 month old baby! He was shy but very cute!
That night we decided to take a night safari. This time we were in a jeep with a driver, no doors and walls. No lights inside of course so, except for the headlights and torch, it was pitch black. The safari took 3 hours, and we saw all the above listed wild animals again, but this time at night. However, it was what we saw in the first 20 minutes that was unbelievable. A wild leopard ran down one side of the road, crossed it in front of the car and then walked down the other side! We stopped and watched it, amazed at the rare sighting of a wild cat and the fact that it was yards away from us in a jeep with no protection! It looked at us quizzically, walked through the bushes and then treated us to a roar! That made the week.
The final thing to do there was an elephant safari, but unfortunately due to the rains this wasn't possible. Because of this (and the kamikaze flying rats) we decided to head back to Coimbatore (where we caught a flight to Chennai), via Ooty to stay for one night.
(More to come soon, but please write comments to let us know you are reading this and we're not just writing to ourselves!)
Wednesday 8 August 2007
The Train, and Mysore
For a start, the train journey down to Bangalore was 34 hours, not 28. But it wasn't that bad. First of all we had to get a train back up to Delhi, and then we waited around in the train station (Nizamuddin) cafe for a few hours. When it as finally time to amble to the platform, we were both disappointed to discover that we didn't have our own two-bunk cabin, but we were sharing a four-bunk with two Indian men.
We boarded and, eventually, the train set off. It turned out that there was only one other guy, and by speaking to him we discovered that he had, before he retired, run the entire Indian rail network, and been chair of the Ghandi Foundation. So he wasn't too bad. The cabin was fairly large and comfortable, and they did indeed feed us as much as we were afraid they would, although the food was Indian and not incedibly appetising; the only "western" meal turned out to be a curry, but with noodles.. The waiter/porters were very helpful and polite, and with our books, sudoku and cards, and watching India go by, we whiled away the hours. For the last evening and night we managed to acquire a room of our own, which was nice.
That night, Alex was rather ill. She felt pretty queasy the next day, too, so it was good that we didn't have too much to do.
Arriving in Bangalore, we had to wait for a train to Mysore. We had a few hours to wait, but luckily there was a comfortable, air conditioned waiting room with fake leather chairs for us to lounge on.
For that train we were in First Class AC, which was probably even more comfortable than English first class! Lots of legroom, our own fans above the seats, and coleslaw sandwiches (yuck!). We were both feeling fragile, so we were very thankful that we'd booked ourselves into first class.
We had arranged for a car to pick us up at the station. We went to have a look round Mysore Palace, for an hour or so, it's a really interesting display of Hindu-inspired architecture (more accurately, indo-sacracenic) and has some colonial paintings and history, too. There was lots of very colourful, ornate detail, especially the cavernous main hall, with stained glass windows and long, thin pillars. We didn't stay too long. As we left, it started raining. Really, really raining.
Our driver then had instructions to go to Gudalore. He ended up trying to take us to a local "Cottage Industries" store, which sell tourist-friendly overpriced stuff and pay drivers a cut for delivering tourists. So we refused to get out the car. After a detour to swap cars for a four-wheel-drive (god knows why they didn't send one in the first place, they knew where we were headed) we were off.
The trip was long. As we got further away from Mysore, the roads got worse and worse, until we were bouncing along pot-holed roads in first gear, and driving round the herds of goats being driven down the roads ahead of us. The weather got worse and worse too, until it was raining torrentially. It was getting cooler, though, which was nice. Eventually, we bumped into Colin in Gudalore, and made our way to the hostel-type place, called "Deep Jungle Home".
We boarded and, eventually, the train set off. It turned out that there was only one other guy, and by speaking to him we discovered that he had, before he retired, run the entire Indian rail network, and been chair of the Ghandi Foundation. So he wasn't too bad. The cabin was fairly large and comfortable, and they did indeed feed us as much as we were afraid they would, although the food was Indian and not incedibly appetising; the only "western" meal turned out to be a curry, but with noodles.. The waiter/porters were very helpful and polite, and with our books, sudoku and cards, and watching India go by, we whiled away the hours. For the last evening and night we managed to acquire a room of our own, which was nice.
That night, Alex was rather ill. She felt pretty queasy the next day, too, so it was good that we didn't have too much to do.
Arriving in Bangalore, we had to wait for a train to Mysore. We had a few hours to wait, but luckily there was a comfortable, air conditioned waiting room with fake leather chairs for us to lounge on.
For that train we were in First Class AC, which was probably even more comfortable than English first class! Lots of legroom, our own fans above the seats, and coleslaw sandwiches (yuck!). We were both feeling fragile, so we were very thankful that we'd booked ourselves into first class.
We had arranged for a car to pick us up at the station. We went to have a look round Mysore Palace, for an hour or so, it's a really interesting display of Hindu-inspired architecture (more accurately, indo-sacracenic) and has some colonial paintings and history, too. There was lots of very colourful, ornate detail, especially the cavernous main hall, with stained glass windows and long, thin pillars. We didn't stay too long. As we left, it started raining. Really, really raining.
Our driver then had instructions to go to Gudalore. He ended up trying to take us to a local "Cottage Industries" store, which sell tourist-friendly overpriced stuff and pay drivers a cut for delivering tourists. So we refused to get out the car. After a detour to swap cars for a four-wheel-drive (god knows why they didn't send one in the first place, they knew where we were headed) we were off.
The trip was long. As we got further away from Mysore, the roads got worse and worse, until we were bouncing along pot-holed roads in first gear, and driving round the herds of goats being driven down the roads ahead of us. The weather got worse and worse too, until it was raining torrentially. It was getting cooler, though, which was nice. Eventually, we bumped into Colin in Gudalore, and made our way to the hostel-type place, called "Deep Jungle Home".
Thursday 2 August 2007
Agra
The day before yesterday we caught the train to Agra. For me the journey to the station, and waiting on the crowded platform, was particularly strained because, inevitably, I contracted a thankfully mild case of what they call "Delhi Belly". I won't go into details.
Watching the other trains coming and going, the economy class carriages were full to the point of (literally) overflowing. People were crammed into the entrances so that they were hanging out of the doorways...there were even some kids hanging on to bits of the outsides of the carriages. Inside it was crammed, but the stuffiness was allieved somewhat by the windows just being holes in the carriage with bars across! The trains don't go incredibly fast, but they are remarkably long. Really, really long.
When our train arrived, we strolled up to our carriage. We weren't in economy, thankfully, but 2nd Class AC, which gave us a couple of bunks in a compartament of four, sharing with two -thankfully polite and reasonably un-starey- Indians. The AC was a godsend!
Agra was only three hours away.
Our hostel here is quite nice - we have a room with a view of the Taj Mahal, which is brilliant, and from time to time you can also see monkeys hopping around on the rooftops. The shower is awful, and by now we've given up on the prospect of hot water, but apart from that everything's fine.
Agra itself is a lot like Delhi. Slightly cooler because it's not in an urban heat dome of smog and pollution. There's few main roads, which means that auto-rickshaw rides are even more manic, and you see more cows, dogs, goats and monkeys on the streets (actually, the monkeys don't come down much).
So anyway, that's Agra. Yesterday, we got up early to catch the Taj Mahal before the heat of the day. Getting in was fun - once you've faught your way through the tour guides trying to get you the hire them, and the other people selling tourist stuff, and the rickshaw drivers still, inexplicably, trying to persuade you to get a rickshaw away from the place, you have to pay 750Rs (about ten pounds) to get in, if you look like a tourist. Otherwise, it's 20Rs, about 30p.
Still, you can't come to India and not see it!
It's exactly like I imagined. The outer walls and buildings that you see first are beautiful too, all made of red sandstone. After walking through a large, central arch, you see it for the first time, at the end of the long twin paths and the stretch of water in between. We took a few pictures, and strolled down towards it. First of all, we walked onto the raised sandstone platform that sits underneath the Taj itself and the buildings on either side. The one on the right is a mosque, and the one on the left is there for no other reason than to make it symmetrical! We looked at this one first, and then walked round the back of the Taj and into the mosque (taking our shoes off, of course). The mosque and supporting building are not so widely known, but they're executed with the same attention to detail, and they're impressive buildings on their own.
Then we walked up the large marble plinth to the Taj Mahal. One thing that you don't see in most of the pictures is the detail in the marble edging, and the patterns cut into the rock. From close up there's lots to see. There are flowers and leaf patterns, and lots of calligraphy (in Hindi, of course). We walked all the way round. We ambled inside. It was surprisingly dark and echoey, and much smaller than I thought (although we could only go in the central chamber). There was the same decoration all over the inner surfaces, and the screen separaring the tombs were ornate. There's two tombs, the tomb of Aurangzeb's wife, and then Aurangzeb's tomb, which sits to the left, the only unsymmetrical part of the building. Apparently, Aurangzeb was arrested shortly after the completion of the Taj Mahal, and imprisoned in Agra Fort...he spent the rest of his days there, gazing over at the resting place of his wife (you'll see why I mention this in a minute).
We wandered back, taking a slightly different path through the gardens, watching the squirrels.
It was a good job we went early, because it rained heavily in the afternoon. We stayed in our room and watched the drip from the roof, and the monkeys sheltering from the rain outside.
Later in the afternoon, when the rain had subsided, we went to see Agra Fort. Again, we had to fight our way in, but it was large and peaceful inside. We wandered round, reading the signs and looking at the monkeys and parrots. We saw the (fairly luxurious) chamber where Aurangzeb was imprisoned by his son, looking out over the Taj Mahal. There's a good view of it from the fort, across the river.
I'd like to say more, but we've run out of time at the internet cafe! This afternoon we take the Rajdhani Express south, for 28 hours (in first class AC!) to Bangalore.
Take care!
Watching the other trains coming and going, the economy class carriages were full to the point of (literally) overflowing. People were crammed into the entrances so that they were hanging out of the doorways...there were even some kids hanging on to bits of the outsides of the carriages. Inside it was crammed, but the stuffiness was allieved somewhat by the windows just being holes in the carriage with bars across! The trains don't go incredibly fast, but they are remarkably long. Really, really long.
When our train arrived, we strolled up to our carriage. We weren't in economy, thankfully, but 2nd Class AC, which gave us a couple of bunks in a compartament of four, sharing with two -thankfully polite and reasonably un-starey- Indians. The AC was a godsend!
Agra was only three hours away.
Our hostel here is quite nice - we have a room with a view of the Taj Mahal, which is brilliant, and from time to time you can also see monkeys hopping around on the rooftops. The shower is awful, and by now we've given up on the prospect of hot water, but apart from that everything's fine.
Agra itself is a lot like Delhi. Slightly cooler because it's not in an urban heat dome of smog and pollution. There's few main roads, which means that auto-rickshaw rides are even more manic, and you see more cows, dogs, goats and monkeys on the streets (actually, the monkeys don't come down much).
So anyway, that's Agra. Yesterday, we got up early to catch the Taj Mahal before the heat of the day. Getting in was fun - once you've faught your way through the tour guides trying to get you the hire them, and the other people selling tourist stuff, and the rickshaw drivers still, inexplicably, trying to persuade you to get a rickshaw away from the place, you have to pay 750Rs (about ten pounds) to get in, if you look like a tourist. Otherwise, it's 20Rs, about 30p.
Still, you can't come to India and not see it!
It's exactly like I imagined. The outer walls and buildings that you see first are beautiful too, all made of red sandstone. After walking through a large, central arch, you see it for the first time, at the end of the long twin paths and the stretch of water in between. We took a few pictures, and strolled down towards it. First of all, we walked onto the raised sandstone platform that sits underneath the Taj itself and the buildings on either side. The one on the right is a mosque, and the one on the left is there for no other reason than to make it symmetrical! We looked at this one first, and then walked round the back of the Taj and into the mosque (taking our shoes off, of course). The mosque and supporting building are not so widely known, but they're executed with the same attention to detail, and they're impressive buildings on their own.
Then we walked up the large marble plinth to the Taj Mahal. One thing that you don't see in most of the pictures is the detail in the marble edging, and the patterns cut into the rock. From close up there's lots to see. There are flowers and leaf patterns, and lots of calligraphy (in Hindi, of course). We walked all the way round. We ambled inside. It was surprisingly dark and echoey, and much smaller than I thought (although we could only go in the central chamber). There was the same decoration all over the inner surfaces, and the screen separaring the tombs were ornate. There's two tombs, the tomb of Aurangzeb's wife, and then Aurangzeb's tomb, which sits to the left, the only unsymmetrical part of the building. Apparently, Aurangzeb was arrested shortly after the completion of the Taj Mahal, and imprisoned in Agra Fort...he spent the rest of his days there, gazing over at the resting place of his wife (you'll see why I mention this in a minute).
We wandered back, taking a slightly different path through the gardens, watching the squirrels.
It was a good job we went early, because it rained heavily in the afternoon. We stayed in our room and watched the drip from the roof, and the monkeys sheltering from the rain outside.
Later in the afternoon, when the rain had subsided, we went to see Agra Fort. Again, we had to fight our way in, but it was large and peaceful inside. We wandered round, reading the signs and looking at the monkeys and parrots. We saw the (fairly luxurious) chamber where Aurangzeb was imprisoned by his son, looking out over the Taj Mahal. There's a good view of it from the fort, across the river.
I'd like to say more, but we've run out of time at the internet cafe! This afternoon we take the Rajdhani Express south, for 28 hours (in first class AC!) to Bangalore.
Take care!
Old Delhi
After having successfully done New Delhi, we turned our attention to Old Delhi. Really we should have done it in the other order so as to 'fully appreciate how far New Delhi has come' as the guide books say, but the Red Fort was closed on the Monday. So we got up to banana pancakes again and leisurely strolled through the market to get a rickshaw to the Red Fort.
The Red Fort, or Lal Qil'ah, is filled with Mughal and Colonial history (see link for full information and photographs). However to see it you have to beat back the hoards of guides, fan sellers, souvenir sellers and rickshaw drivers. The rickshaw drivers are the worst, as soon as you step off one at the red fort they come from all directions offering to take you to other places of interest. It's the ones who tell you the Red Fort is 'closed because of a Sikh festival' and offer to take you to other places that are open that are the real bottom-feeders, I feel sorry for tourists who fall into that trap. Word of warning, when travelling never trust anyone who tells you some tourist monument is closed, whether they are cab drivers or tourist police, always check the guide book or see for yourself first. Because of course the Red Fort was open, why would it be closed for a Sikh festival when it only contains Muslim Mosques?
As usual throughout Forts in India, the British used the Delhi one as a base. They built barracks in one of the gardens near the entrance that where pretty close architecturally to the rest of the fort, even if they did get the arches all wrong. Opposite the barracks is the best bit though: a large lawn with a stepped stone in the middle serving as the place where visiting dignitaries could dismount from their elephants. The fort didn't have many buildings, mainly just the imperial quarters, the ladies quarters, a bath house, a couple of mosques and the central court. The rest of the are as filled with gardens that would have been beautiful and cool when the steams and fountains that filled them were full, but unfortunately the Yamuna river that red them has receded a mile since the Fort was in full use, so that even the moat is now just another unofficial rubbish tip in Delhi.
After seeing all there is to see of the Red Fort, we wandered through the outskirts of Chandi Chowk (another market like Parah Ganj we stayed) to Jamam Masjid, the principle mosque in Delhi. Having done the main places of worship for Sikhs, Hindus and Christians, this was the last religious stop on our list. Of course it was also the only place that charged us to go in wit a camera (though it was in the bag and we didn't want to take any photos), and the only religious place we entered where the men still tried to hit on me. At the entrance they were trying to get a lonesome white male traveller to leave his nice new expensive shoes outside the mosque saying it was forbidden to carry them inside, though everyone else was, including us. Tut tut.
The building itself was beautiful, though you couldn't go inside. As usual we had to take our shoes off, but the floor was scorching hot which limited what wandering around the area we could do. We settled for just walking up to the mosque and back again. After sitting and looking for a little while (something you get very good at doing when its too hot to keep moving all the time) we braved the streets in an auto again back to the hotel for some air conditioning, omelet and french fries. The late afternoon was spent relaxing, before a last wander of Parah Ganj in the evening to look at the shops. We tired of that quickly however due to the hassle, and went up for an early night so we could get up and catch the train to Agra in the morning.
Hope all is good where you are! xx
The Red Fort, or Lal Qil'ah, is filled with Mughal and Colonial history (see link for full information and photographs). However to see it you have to beat back the hoards of guides, fan sellers, souvenir sellers and rickshaw drivers. The rickshaw drivers are the worst, as soon as you step off one at the red fort they come from all directions offering to take you to other places of interest. It's the ones who tell you the Red Fort is 'closed because of a Sikh festival' and offer to take you to other places that are open that are the real bottom-feeders, I feel sorry for tourists who fall into that trap. Word of warning, when travelling never trust anyone who tells you some tourist monument is closed, whether they are cab drivers or tourist police, always check the guide book or see for yourself first. Because of course the Red Fort was open, why would it be closed for a Sikh festival when it only contains Muslim Mosques?
As usual throughout Forts in India, the British used the Delhi one as a base. They built barracks in one of the gardens near the entrance that where pretty close architecturally to the rest of the fort, even if they did get the arches all wrong. Opposite the barracks is the best bit though: a large lawn with a stepped stone in the middle serving as the place where visiting dignitaries could dismount from their elephants. The fort didn't have many buildings, mainly just the imperial quarters, the ladies quarters, a bath house, a couple of mosques and the central court. The rest of the are as filled with gardens that would have been beautiful and cool when the steams and fountains that filled them were full, but unfortunately the Yamuna river that red them has receded a mile since the Fort was in full use, so that even the moat is now just another unofficial rubbish tip in Delhi.
After seeing all there is to see of the Red Fort, we wandered through the outskirts of Chandi Chowk (another market like Parah Ganj we stayed) to Jamam Masjid, the principle mosque in Delhi. Having done the main places of worship for Sikhs, Hindus and Christians, this was the last religious stop on our list. Of course it was also the only place that charged us to go in wit a camera (though it was in the bag and we didn't want to take any photos), and the only religious place we entered where the men still tried to hit on me. At the entrance they were trying to get a lonesome white male traveller to leave his nice new expensive shoes outside the mosque saying it was forbidden to carry them inside, though everyone else was, including us. Tut tut.
The building itself was beautiful, though you couldn't go inside. As usual we had to take our shoes off, but the floor was scorching hot which limited what wandering around the area we could do. We settled for just walking up to the mosque and back again. After sitting and looking for a little while (something you get very good at doing when its too hot to keep moving all the time) we braved the streets in an auto again back to the hotel for some air conditioning, omelet and french fries. The late afternoon was spent relaxing, before a last wander of Parah Ganj in the evening to look at the shops. We tired of that quickly however due to the hassle, and went up for an early night so we could get up and catch the train to Agra in the morning.
Hope all is good where you are! xx
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