The Curse Is Lifted

It's hard to figure out where to start a blog post when I haven't properly updated for weeks. Oops. Well first, the Mandy and Paloma's Travel Curse is lifted, finally. After her nearly-not-making-it-to-Thailand debauchle and aside from the minor mouse incident, we had a brilliant time. Her delay in the beginning allowed me to explore the finer points of Bangkok vegetarian cuisine (including overdoses of fresh pineapple and fruit shakes) with my new vegetarian friend!!! Then the three of us cried laughing over silly faces and fruit shakes for three days, while exploring new bits of Bangkok together (Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, was very cool, for those who have not yet been and are not templed-out).


Paloma and I then went to Ayuttaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, and cycled around the old ruins (What's a little heatstroke amongst friends? Don't all smart people hire bicycles in 100 degree heat?) including some temple climbing and than a (much cooler) evening night cruise arund the city. Then we had the best pizza in Thailand courtesy of an Italian man who spoke English with a Thai accent.

Then, as you know, it was on to the islands for Christmas. After the islands we flew to Kuala Lumpur, which, I gotta say, was ... disappointing. The Petronas Towers were amazingly beautiful and the Orchid Garden was nice too, but the rest ... what is there to see? Chinatown was a poopoo hole and the smell of durian permeated our noses in the most unsettling way. If you've never heard of nor smelled durian, it's a ... how shall i say ... FRAGRANT fruit. Some people say it smells like shit but tastes like heaven. I agree with the first part. It smells like rotting fruit mixed with a sewer. Not so nice. Lots of hotels/hostels designate themselves as durian-free zones because the stuff is so powerful (mom, remember the rotting noni fruit in my bag, yeah, similar to that).

But I digress.

Other than the aforementioned, there's not a whole lot going on. We went to Batu caves (after asking at least 6 different people and getting 10 different answers as to which public bus to take and where to get it). The caves were okay but not well-maintained. But we saw lots of monkeys - they were cute, but relentless; I saw one take a drink box out of a girls' hand. Crazy! There were 272 steps to the top, and lots of Hindu shrines inside. Afterwards we ate authentic (and strange) Indian food. We were the only ones not using our hands, but I just couldn't work out how to not make a mess, so ... oh well.

The planetarium was nice and cool (as in, freezing, but a nice way to escape the heat). I was chased down the markets by people wanting to sell me everything, and we were constantly stared at because we were white tourists -Which I don't quite get, because there were a fair few tourists, and ex-pats living there as well, so white skin is not such a rarity. I even had to look at one guy in the train station and say "what!?" because he wouldn't go away.

But we did encounter a lot of nice people who went out of our way to help us, like the Indian man who walked us to the hard-to-find bus stop after prolaiming "I like white people. I always try to talk to them because they are nice." And another lady who chased us down to tell us some bus information she had forgotten. Everyone wanted to talk to us. I was glad to have helpful locals. So KL was interesting, but not a place I need to go back to. I would like to see other bits of Malaysia that I missed, but we ran out of time.

And now, after saying bye bye to Paloma and taking a night train, I am in Singapore, where I spent a very religious afternoon (no I am not searching) - I have been inside Buddhist and Hindu temples and a mosque as well. The new Buddhist temple was amazing with hundreds of buddhas inside and great exhibits. And another nice person I met outside (whilst escaping the rain) tole me about the FREE vegetarian food inside the temple. Apparently all the Chinese temples in Singapore offer free vegetarian food - that's a goldmine find for a shoestring traveller!!! I only have a few days here and was expecting to be bored, as I'd been told all there is to do is shop, but I was pleasantly surprised today. Tomorrow, a night safari at the zoo!

So that's me. I think that covers everything. Phew! Sorry if I bored some of you.

Oh, and mom will be here this month - yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.