Singapore

Cyclone Yasi caused my original plans to be cancelled (I hope everyone in QLD is making a speedy recovery) so I found myself in Singapore for a further 7 days on top of the five I had already spent here. Too long.

My first hostel was Tresor Tavern. I've been traveling around S E Asia for 4 months and this was by far the worst hostel I have stayed in. Dirty, smelly, the rooms were damp, and cramped. It was disgusting! Thankfully that was only for one night. The next day I moved to the (its fun to stay at) YMCA.

The (its fun to stay at) YMCA is in an ideal location. The MRT (Dhoby Gaut) is a 2 minute walk away and acts as interchange station for 3 lines. Perfect. Based on Orchard St, it is shoppers haven. They are mostly designer malls which didn't really interest me as a budget traveler.

The one good thing the re-scheduled flight was that I got to spend Chinese New Year in Singapore. This was actually the first time I had celebrated CNY in an Asian country. I was in the mall at Raffles Place (I only go to the malls for the food halls. So much choice!) when I overheard two Caucasians wishing each other a happy Chinese New Year. I was like, wow, this most be a big deal, EVERYONE celebrates it! Or maybe because the population of Singapore is 75% Chinese so EVERYONE gets at least 4 days off work. Huzzah. Good times! The only bad thing for tourist is, well , there's nothing to do if all the shops are closed...

Of course because of the occasion, everything was going down in Chinatown. I thought the MRT peeps did an excellent job controlling the crowd, and running later trains which was good for me for since I was still staying in the (its fun to stay at the) YMCA at this point. I shuffled down Pagoda street with the rest of the crowd, and turned the corner into Smith Street for some food. I have to say I wasn't too overjoyed with the selection of stalls available but the buzz of people made up for it. After this, myself and Pete wondered around for like an hour and a half waiting for the countdown in which time Pete managed to fall into an open drain (what the hell?!) and fractured his wee nose :-( We didn't know this at the time, and ignored the advice of a kind nightshift guard telling us to visit the hospital thinking that he did not want messy blood on his steps rather than because he had experienced several others fall and break something outside his block.

Anyways, with a wee roll of tissue up his nose we wandered back to South Bridge Road where there was a big stage set up, and people singing. I kept trying to speak to people here in Cantonese because the place reminded me of Hong Kong (but with little personality), and because they don't really look like they're from China. Its mostly Mandarin here though, and so I did not know what the woman was singing about. It was raining, and you had to pay to get into the seated area facing the stage so we just hid under the shelter of the mall.

waiting for the CNY countdown

So many different coloured brollies. It was a great sight, and the fireworks were worth the wait for sure. One of the best I'd seen I'd say. They had so many firecrackers on top of this one building I thought it had caught fire at one point. Not joking.

The next day we moved to Chinatown to a hostel called a beary good hostel which was actually really great. They had a lion dance show in the lounge area for CNY! The cymbals and drums were quite loud in such a small place but it was good fun, and they put on a show at their sister hostel a beary nice hostel on Smith Street too.

Offering for the lions

Lion dancing at Beary Nice Hostel

As part of the performance the lions crouch down and I guess open up the satsumas and use the segments to create lucky numbers. I've never seen this done before.

Lucky numbers from the lion

A nice welcome. Then we sat and played the Wii for two days because everything was closed, haha. I will write about the food in Singapore in a seperate blog because there's so much to say.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!!

Places to stay, Bali

The Island, Legian

Legian- stay at The Island. Its a little more expensive here at 250,000rp for a dorm bed but the dorms are the nicest I have stayed in with lots of space, there's curtain partitions for extra privacy and the place is spotless. They have a pool, rooftop hangout area, dvd lounge area, and its only like a 5 min walk to the beach. Free breakfast. The staff make the place.

Ubud- try to stay on Monkey Forrest Road. We stayed at Jati3 bungalows which is down a gang across from the Three Monkeys. A double room is 400,000rp or you can get your own wee hut with two double beds for the same price. We were in the latter and we were just relaxing one night when all these moths folded themselves in half and edged their way in under the door. It was so gross. In like 5 mins there was hundreds of them. When we told the staff member he just said, 'its ok, he won't harm you, he just likes the light. Turn off the lamp.' Sitting in the dark wasn't really an option for us so we moved room. It was the second hut down from reception. We didn't have any problems in our new (family) room. Which was nice. You can definitely find a cheaper place on Monkey road butthere is a nice pool here, a spa, free breakfast too. Wifi is hit and miss.

Lovina- the shuttle bus will drop you off on the 'main road' here in Kalibukbuk. We looked at most the hotels here, and although cheap- 150,000 for a twin, they aren't that nice. Instead walk round to the road that's parallel to it and check in at Rini hotel. Its quite a big complex with rooms with fan and cold water to rooms with a/c and hot water. We chose the latter which was 350,000rp but the guy gave us a discount price without us even asking- 270,000rp. So its a little bit more expensive than some of the other hotels in Lovina but its worth it. They have a inhouse masseur who will creep you out but she's harmless. They have a couple of cats and dogs who hang around too. There is a pool, breakfast is free, as standard. No wifi.

Tulamben- the only reason we came here was to dive the US Liberty wreck. You can't even call this place a town, its just a strip of hotels which are mostly all dive schools too. We stayed at the Matahari, and did our diving with them too. The wreck was great, we just walked along the beach and walked into the sea with our gear on. The ship was like 50m offshore. Amazing.

You can get to each of these places by shuttle bus or if there is a few of you it sometimes works out cheaper to charter a car.

We took the public ferry from Padangbai over to Lombok. It cost 50,000rp but will take 4-6hrs depending on the weather. The fast boat takes like 1 hr but can cost up to 350,000rp. It will cost you a further 100,000 per person in a shuttle bus to get to Sengigi. We had a stressful time here because we didn't get there til like 8pm and we hadn't booked anything in advance. The hotels on the main road are mid- high range budget. We stayed 5 mins out of the centre at .... but then the next day moved to the Beach Club. The bungalows are beautiful at 500,000rp but we couldn't afford that luxury and took the fan and cold water room for 150,000rp. When its so hot you don't really need a hot shower. We were in Bali and Lombok in the rainy season though so after getting soaked, having a cold shower isn't the best.

Over to Gili Trawangan. We booked to dive with Dream Divers. They have a office in Senggigi and they provide you with transfer over to Gili T if you do 2 dives with them. We were going to do the one day package but decided to pack our things to check out the island as well. It cost $2.5, about 25,ooorp for their driver to pick us up, take us to their private dock and take us to Gili T which took about 20 mins. Stayed at the Pesona hotel which was directly next door to Dream Divers. Rooms were 400,000 for a/c or 250,000 for fan. We haggled it down to 200,000 but no breakfast, and of course we spent more than 50,000 on breakfast everyday so that didn't work out in our favour. We didn't eat there out of principle. Instead we went to Scallywags for the free wifi and the tasty food. A little more expensive at Scallywags but it was one of the few places where the price includes tax so it probably works out to be the same. There is no freshwater showers on Gili T ! So after a day at the beach or diving you have to come home to a salt water shower! But its the same on the whole island, so what can you do.

We stayed at the Island again on the way back to the airport.

Kangen Kamu Bali !

Legian beach

I got a massage on the beach today from a 75 year old lady called Nyoman. I didn't know her age or her name before we started but she looked cute and I like old people. You know at school when you're told not to talk to strangers - I shouldn't talk to old people because if they are cute, and they have a sales pitch, I'm normally sold.

She came and sat down on my lounger, 'you want massage?'

'No thanks'

She gives my foot a wee squeeze (haha)

When you say no, they always look (or act) sad and then look around for their next target. Sometimes they will stay put for a bit, waiting for you to change your mind or just use the time to take a rest in the shade.

'Why not?', she questions.

I liked this. It's simple English but normally they're just like whatever, and move on.

'How much?' I ask her.

'50,000 for half an hour.'

'No, too much.'

'Not too much... how much you like?'

'30!' (50,000 is really not much at all but I always feel the need to haggle. Almost like their opening price is kinda them trying their luck.)

She gives me a playful slap like c'mon, 'Not 30, you give me better price.'

'It's 70 for a one hour massage! 30.'

'40.'

'30.'

'Ok, one hour is 70, half hour-35.'

She had a point. She sticks out her wee granny hand. I take it and shake it, we had a deal.

'Wait here. I get my coconut.'

Her wrinkly hands felt like they had sand on them but I guess they were just experienced. Is experienced a nice way to say old? They were old. Her coconut massage oil didn't make much difference but it was an ok massage. Supporting the locals! I've had a few Balinese massages on my trip, and they aren't shy. A bum massage is not so uncommon in their routines - one of the guys we are traveling with, Malcolm, got his bum squeezed by his male masseurs which surprised him a little bit. I don't think it went down too well. A tummy massage is also pretty standard - big circular movements which sounds strange but it's nice, and everyone likes a tummy rub. My friend Liz got her baps 'massaged' when she went for a massage in Ubud. We can't figure out if her masseur was just chancing her luck or if it was actually routine... Nyoman didn't bother. My breasts were left alone but I guess we were at the beach, or maybe it was the tan lines?

There is also some surf at Legian beach. I went with the Quiksilver surf school who charge $39 for one lesson (2.5 hrs) or $100 for 3. Although, for a lot cheaper, there is always a few guys hanging out on the beach who will rent out boards to you for an hour or two, or give you lessons. I think it would be about 50,000 rp for one hour hire. I'm not sure because I didn't actually hire one but if you don't like the price they ask for just move to the next stall. Depending on the time of day, there is often loads of surfers out so you can just sit and watch too if you're into that. The only bad thing I would say about the water is that there is quite a lot of rubbish floating around which is not very nice! 

There will constantly be people coming up to you asking if you want to buy ice cream, fruit, bracelets... just the usual tourist beach business but then there's also guys offering tattoos, incense holders... there was a guy carrying around buddha statues today! They were pretty big ones too. I don't know, some people might like to pick up a Buddha after a sunbathing sesh. And then there's the make shift bars which involve guys sitting around on cool boxes playing guitar, and serving up Bintangs and drinks. Pretty sweet deal.

Oh yup, and Linda will probably find you. I talked to her the first time I was in Legian and she recognised me today. She went in a right huff when I didn't buy anything from her the last time. She was trying to fob off elephant incense holders on me today. I actually really liked them but not at her Linda prices. She has a hat with Linda written on it. You can't miss her. She is a charming woman though, with good chat. I bought some bracelets from her today but just don't waste her time. I only gave her chat the first time, and she didn't like that.

Legian beach is not the prettiest beach out there but you'll meet a few characters for sure. Good times.

Gili Trawangan

sorry i have neglected you for so long...

just back from 5 nights in Gili T. freakin LOVE.

horse and cart. diving. cats, everywhere. DVD? amazing clear turquoise sea. bicycles. afternoon rain. scallywags. empty beaches. coral. saltwater showers. bintang. mosquito lotion. white tip sharks! shisha. seafood BBQ. a turtle or two. cheeky waiters. music? thunderstorms. fear of dengue fever. yoga in pants. happy hour. surfing.

photos soon.

xxxx

Koh Tao

One of my favourite places on our trip so far.

I got my Open Water diver training and cert here with Scuba Junction. Ko Tao is pretty much just diving and partying. There are some schools on the island that churn out students like a factory. Scuba J was a good wee school, with max of 4 students per instructor. We stayed at their accommodation for a discounted student price but I understand some schools will provide you with free accomm if you take a course with them.

'Class' started at 9am. The only place around open for breakfast was the Coffee boat. They must coat the tables in syrup because there is so many FLIES. Pretty gross and a wee shame because the food is ok.

Class (theory and videos), lunch, dive and practise skills, cold shower, dinner, homework.

Our 1st visit to Koh Tao was all about diving. Maybe because it was where I first got diving but its definitely one of my favourite places. The sites were all beautiful. Most memorable was my 4th dive. The waters were rough and before the 3rd dive I was already thinking I can't wait to get back to the mainland. My instructor Linzi asked if I wanted a sea sick pill. 'Will it not make me drowsy?' I ask. 'I dunno, probably not.' I went without. 'As soon as you get in the water its okay.' while she was briefing us I had to go be sick over the side of the boat !! Not nice.

Dive 3 was good. Still looking for a turtle though.

Dive 4 we moved to calmer waters. I was warying of eating anything on the break but also realised my lunch had gone so hopefully I'd be ok. I'm still not sure whether diving is a strenuous activity or not... The site was called 'white rock', really pretty. Near the end of the dive Linzi made the hand gesture for a turtle, and I put out my hands like where?!?! And flippered quickly over to her forgetting that turtles are slow creatures. He was just hanging out. It was ace. And the perfect end to the diving, after feeling so horrible earlier too. It seemed all the dive schools had groups surrounding him but he was just minding his own business.

Koh Tao means turtle island and I assumed that was because there was lots of turtles there but apparently its because the island is shaped like a turtle shell. Our video was shown at Hippo restaurant/bar and I guy said he had been on over 100 dives and still hadn't seen a turtle... I guess we were lucky!