Observations

Ice Cream makes everything better. Find yourself watching a beautiful sunset or wandering around some ancient ruins? Have some ice cream and it will be that much better.

Bring some interesting stuff to share without words. I often found myself alone and surrounded by people who I could not communicate with by means of language alone. Frequently it would be for an extended period of time. I have a deck of cards, I want to get some more things like a shark's tooth or a small piece of a meteorite. Some things which I could pull out when I'm trying to make friends with someone who I can't talk with.

Have a place for everything and everything in its place. This helps you remember and lessens the chance that you'll lose it.

Anytime you're in a place for 2 consecutive nights, always do the laundry. They measure the laundry by the kilogram, so its okay if its just a few items because the price will be the same.

Perhentian Islands

The minibus was like a converted van. We took off down a long curvy road toward the coastal town of Kuala Besut where there was a jetty for boats to the Perhentian islands. The driver was kinda fast and the road was often narrow. There were two lanes, but the driver would often pass slow moving vehicle along blind turns where there could be oncoming traffic. It was like this for about 4 or 5 hours. I wanted to read my book, but I couldn't because the motion would have made me sick. We stopped at a gas station near the town and the driver told us to use the ATM because there weren't any ATMs on the island. I already had my money though.

We made it to town and stopped at a travel agent near the jetty. She gave us our tickets and told us to come back in a half hour. I went to a Chinese restaurant and had some chicken. Finally it was time and we were ushered onto an open air boat. The boat took off toward the islands. I could see the islands a few miles away. They had big hills and looked like they were covered in jungle. There are several beaches where there are hotels, so we stopped at a few different places to drop off other passengers. A small boat would pull up next to our boat and the passengers would use that boat to land at the beach. That first night I stayed at Paradise Resort on the big island. The room was basically okay, I had my own bedroom and shower in a kind of shack a short distance from the beach. It was a little expensive though at 80 ringgits or about $25 usd, so I opted to find somewhere cheaper the next morning. I inquired at some other shops and found out that the backpackers usually stayed on Long Beach on the small island. I also asked around at different dive shops about taking scuba diving lessons. Most of the places were about $350 USD, and that was a bit out of my price range, but the last place I checked had an open water course for just under $295. So I opted to go with that dive shop: Turtle Bay Divers.

The rest of that first day I just lounged around the beach and swam and kept mostly to myself. It was a nice beach resort area, but kinda boring especially when the sun went down.  The next morning I took a water taxi across the sound to the small island to find cheaper accomodations. I found a room for about $12 a night and reserved 3 nights there. Then I went to the Turtle Bay dive shop on Long Beach and signed up for the scuba diving course. I met the other people in the class. Trevor, Rhys and Hannah were three brits, along with Jennifer from Holland and David from Germany. We meshed pretty well and quickly became friends. The first morning we watched some DVDs teaching us diving theory and safety information. We also got a book. We had to read through a chapter and answer some questions at the end of each chapter. After awhile we took a break for lunch. Then we got some hands on training. We learned how to use the gear and how to put it together and take it apart. The instructor made us do this again and again until we got it down pat. Its not to hard to use, you have a regulator to breathe, a backup regulator, an instrument gauge, a buoyancy control device that you wear so that you can float on the surface or sink to the bottom, masks, goggles and a wet suit. After we learned about all that, we got our first taste of the water. On the beach in a shallow section there's a roped off area for learning diving. In about neck deep water we went under and scuba dived for the first time. We learned basics like controlling ourselves, hand signals, safety measures, we practiced taking our mask off and putting it back in again while staying under water, stuff like that.

After that we were done with the first day. There is a volleyball court in front of the dive shop, so we all went out and played volley ball for awhile. We all talked and got to know each other pretty well. Then we had dinner before I retired to my hotel after a long day.

The second day of diving class was similar to the first. However, first of all that morning, we were all told to swim out about 150 meters into the ocean and to tread water unassisted for about ten minutes. I wasn't quite ready for this, but we all went out and did it. The treading water was pretty easy, but swimming to and fro was tiring. By the time I sat my foot on the seafloor again I was glad and exhausted.

In the morning we watched a couple more instructional DVDs about diving. Then we went into the water to do our first dive. Again we prepared our tanks and our equipment. What started out as daunting was now commonplace and easy. This time we would take our equipment onto a small motorboat and go up to D'Lagoon to dive. The day before we merely dived in shallow beach water with an occasional fish swimming by.

This time there were reefs and schools of fish swimming by. Joe, our diving instructor, first told us a bit about the different fish that we could see and warned us not to touch anything or to land on the floor. We had to hover above the bottom. There are certain fish that have poisonous stings if you touch them. We jumped in the water and put on our fins and the tank and our weight belts. After adjusting our masks and checking our dive bodies to make sure they were ready, we began the dive. A rope was connected to a buoy floating at the top. We all sank down holding on to the rope. Some of the others sank straight to the bottom. I went a bit slower. The pressure in my head would build every few inches that I went down. The only way to resolve this problem was by swallowing or by blowing your nose. The pressure between your nose and your ears can build up and it feels like a painful sinus headache. The others went down pretty quickly but I had to go really slowly. A few feet down, then equalize my ears, a few feet more, then equalize again. So on and so forth for about 30 feet. It was a bit worrisome for me because it was my first time diving below the surface. To equalize I tried to swallow, but the air from the tank was very dry and so was my mouth. There was no spit to swallow! I would blow my nose when it built up. I would blow harder and harder. After awhile I got a bloody nose from blowing too hard. I could see the blood in my mask. I wasn't able to concentrate and I started drifting up. Its easy to drift up when you're diving. I started going up and up and felt like a balloon. The instructor came up with me to check that I was okay. I let him know that the pressure was so big in my sinuses. He told me to take it easy and not to rush. He also said that bloody noses were normal from blowing too hard and that lots of newbies get them. He asked if I wanted to try again, and then we went back down.

This time it was easier, I was more relaxed and found a way to equalize my ears as I went down. After a minute I was down on the very bottom with the other divers. All around were different fish and algae and aquatic plants. We started exploring the landscape. It feels like a dream down there. You don't feel like a human anymore. The breathing is easy and you forget that you are a land animal. Many times I started feeling like I was in a video game. It felt like you can do anything and there are no consequences. I was constantly reminding myself that I was 30 feet below the surface in a dangerous spot if I didn't keep my wits about me. There were some dangers from the fish if they were aggravated or provoked. I forgot about the pain earlier, everything felt fine and easy. We practiced some more moves and then our air started getting low so we slowly ascended to the surface.

We took the boat back to the dive center and had a debriefing then adjourned for lunch. The class all had lunch together at a restaurant nearby. The food there was good but both the waitresses were ladyboys. Some of the other people eating at the restaurant were familiar faces so we got to know each other. Eventually I ended up meeting a lot of other tourists. For some reason there were tons of Dutch people on the island. I would guess that about a third of the tourists were Dutch. There was another group of young backpackers and one of the people in his party was always getting sick at the same time everyday. He would sit on the beach under an umbrella with a look of horrible discomfort on his face. The others were talking and apparently he would get sick at the same time every day and then feel better and it was repeating again and again. Their group had just got in from Indonesia and people were starting to suspect that he had malaria. I haven't heard about what happened to him, and I probably won't know, but I hope he made it to a hospital.

There were other people that I met too. A French family that was always ready to play volleyball with us when we got done diving. There were a few hippis that were into Reiki and mystical oriental medicine. There was an Australian guy with long hair that seemed kinda nerdy, I suspected that he probably had every Rush album. One day I saw a dark skinned guy walking by and was told that he pulled a knife on some tourists. Whether or not that's true I have no idea. The island seemed pretty safe though. The tourists were all friendly and it was easy to walk up to somebody and shoot the breeze with them.

That second day we spent most of the afternoon just practicing skills in the shallow water and learning more about diving. Afterwards we played volleyball of course and then had dinner.

The next day we went out diving again. This time we went to another reef called T3. There was a small outcropping off the shore of three rocks. It was such a small area I wouldn't even call it an island. The tops were just above sea-level and the waves would crash into the rocks covering them with sea foam. However underneath there was a world of flora and fauna. I saw a bunch of different fish. Lots of sea cucumbers, urchins, some barracudas, Nemo fish like in the movie, and many other colorful fish that I know not the names of. This was rather fun because there were deep narrow canyons that you could swim in. On either side the walls are covered with plants and beautiful fish. I would glide along and perfect my skills and agility. Alas though, my air started getting low. Jennifer, a Dutch girl in our group was also low on air and we went up first. We waited at the boat while the rest of the group finished up. The diving assistant, named Ollie, told us some tricks about saving air. Air goes quick down there. The lower you are the more pressure there is and the more faster your breath it. If you kick around and move a lot the air will go really quick. One of the tricks is to take slow easy breaths.

After everybody got back up we went back to the dive shop and watched one more video. This time we learned about decompression sickness and how to prevent it. There is a rather complicated chart and system for determining how much nitrogen you have in your system. If you dive repeatedly without resting enough time on the surface, you risk getting a couple of diseases. We practiced using the charts and making sure that we understood how it worked.
That night we again played volleyball and had dinner together. We were kinda becoming diving geeks at this point. I was planning on going back to the mainland the next day and having that as my last night, but the rest of my classmates convinced me to stay another night, so I decided to prolong my departure. That night we had some fun and drank some liquor. But we didn't get too worked up because the next day, our last day of diving classes, we would have a written test on the diving concepts.

The next morning it was kinda hard to get up but I made it to the test and did it pretty easily. There were a few difficult questions about using the dive tables and determing how much nitrogen you had after three dives. However he checked my scores and I only got one wrong, so the dive shop gave me a free t-shirt.

Everyone else did pretty well and the German guy got a perfect score. After that we had one more dive to finish our course. We got our gear ready and took the boat to a reef Batu Nisan. I was starting to get the hang of it. It was still difficult going down to the lower depths, but I was more relaxed and knew what to expect. This dive wasn't as good as the previous dives, but it was still fun. There had been a few showers overnight, so the visibility was less than 5 meters. But either way diving is always fun and I enjoyed every second.

I was now officially a certified diver. I have to send some papers to the PADI office in Australia and after that they will send me a card with my picture on it. In the meantime I have a temporary card and I hope to do some dives in Thailand. I could do other dives with Turtle Bay for a discount, so I decided to hire them one more time before I left the island.
One of the most famous dives in the Perhentians is to a shipwreck. In 2000 a cargo ship carrying sugar sank midway between the islands and the mainland. Its now a popular wreck for divers to explore. So that afternoon I went on another dive to that site.

Joe wasn't able to be my guidemaster, so they had one of the other guides take a couple of us from the class to the dive site. This time it was all business like. I was no longer in training, so it didn't feel like they were there to hold your hand. A couple of other divers from the Netherlands were also on this dive.

We took the boat for a long trip out away from the islands. It was difficult to talk because the engines were loud, so we all just sat in the boat with our wetsuits on as the boat took us into the open sea.

Eventually we pulled up to a buoy floating in the water and tied up to it. We put on our weights, put on our gear and our masks and went into the water. The buoy was tied to a rope that went down to the shipwreck. The ship apparently was really big. It was only about 6 meters from the surface to the wreck. It came up quick out of nowhere as I slowly descended down.

The ship is laying on its side. There are several masts and poles that were on the top and now they're laying broken on the seabed. There are fish and coral all around and the wreck is busy with aquatic life. Its also in the open ocean so there is a lot of current at the surface and still some around the bottom. I had to use more precision as I swam down to it. We followed the line down then went to the side near where the cabin was located. I could see the mast broken to one side and there was a crow's nest at the end. All sorts of string algae and material was wrapped around the mast. We swam underneath the pole and saw schools of brightly colored fish. The ship is covered with barnacles and coral and algae so thick that its hard to tell that it was once a ship. We swam around the ship once, it was long, it just kept going on and on. Here and there were curious looking fish. We could see inside the cargo holds and pieces of wreckage around the floor. The second time we went around the ship we swam into the cargo hold. There were two big doors of the cargo hold so we swam in one of the doors and swam out the other one. Inside it was very dark though. Again I had to remind myself that this was not a video game and that this was real life. I had to be careful not to touch anything. Who knows if something is sharp or will bite you if you bother it.

At last my air was getting low and it was time to go up. We went up very slowly to be safe. At about about 3 meters we stopped and did a safety stop. We waited there about 5 minutes to help our bodies get used to the difference in pressure and to get our blood back to normal. This wasn't strictly necessary but it helps keep things safe. I was not really in danger of getting the bends, but that is one disease I would not like to die from!

That dive was a lot of fun. It was the highlight of my trip up till that point. I didn't have any pictures, but the memories are what's important. That night I stayed one more night with my British friends. It was my last night so of course we had lots of drinks. Trevor, who said he went to Oxford, knew all sorts of crazy drinking and parlor games. The hourse went late in the night as we were played and got drunk. After awhile some of us gave up and headed back to the dorms. It was a pretty long day, I took the test then had two dives. The next day I would go back to the mainland and onto the other side of the penninsula to the colonial city of Penang, Malaysia.

A few notes about the islands. They are about 10-15 miles in circumference each. They are almost entirely thick and deep jungles. There are only a few paths that go in the jungle and there are no buildings or settlments of anykind outside of the beach areas. It is really just a tourist kind of place. Apparently in the winter time the islands are basically deserted and only a few people live there year long.

There is lots of life everywhere on the island. It seems like you can stoop down and look closely at any inch of land and it will be full of life. Insects, ants and mosquitos crawling everywhere. Big, leafy plants and tall palm trees. The ecosystem is vast and well-suited for the tropical weather. I saw a couple of montior lizards. They look kind of like small dinosaurs. There tongue is really long and it seems to find insects in deep holes. They aren't too afraid of humans, one walked right in front of me and could perceive my presence but paid me not mind as it looked for insects. I've heard that they can be really nasty if you get biten by one though. Its not the bite, but their mouths are full of bacteria and if that gets into your wound you have a good chance of getting infected.

There are also geckos everywhere. They kind of look ugly and they seem to get everywhere. At night they will crawl on the ceiling. I've seen them in showers all across Malaysia. They move and slink all around. They would probably be a hated pest, but they are held in high regard by local and traveler alike for no small reason:n they eat mosquitoes. For this they are lifted from mere pest to the noblest creature of the tropics. In the war between humans and mosquitoes we'll take any ally we can get. The mosquitoes are horrible on the Perhentians. My ankles have had quite a few bites and I saw those pests everywhere. Many people wore mosquito nets before sleep. I would spray insect repellant before bed and that would usually do the trick.

Map of Malaysia

Here is a map to get an idea of the geography of Malaysia. Singapore is in the bottom, then I went to Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Tanah Rata and eventually Pulau Perhantian island in the north and Georgetown on the island of Penang before going on to Thailand

Cameron Highlands

The highway up to the north was nice and smooth. I was able to relax and get a bit of reading done while we were heading out of KL. But about half way we turned off the highway and started going up a narrow, curving two-lane highway up into the mountains. So much for reading, the road was way too windy to read without getting car sick. For several hours we went up into the mountains. The road was full of cars and it was slow going. The bus driver was a bit of a daredevil and he wasn't afraid to take the full size bus and pass another bus or a truck up around the curves of this mountain road. We went higher and higher. Passing through tea plantations and farms and sometimes side by side with the clouds. Finally after so much twisting to and fro and side to side we made it to the town Tanah Rata which is kind of the hub for tourists visiting the Cameron Highlands. The town is full of guest houses and tea shops and small restaurants. I was walking down one of the main streets and shocklingly they had a Starbucks in this little town.

My hostel was okay, nothing great. It was close to the center of town so it was easy to find food and supplies when I needed to. I didn't really know much about what to do in this little town. All I knew beforehand was that this was a tourist destination between Kuala Lumpur and the north. The weather here was really nice. As I write this in another hot hostel in Penang, I look upon with envy the cool and mild air up in the highlands. At night it actually got cool enough to necessitate using a blanket. The locals were wearing jackets and long pants, but I found this to be a bit extreme. The town is a bit boring at night so I just sat on the porch of the hostel with the other backpackers and talked about different places and the weather and things back home.

The next morning I went on a countryside tour. A minivan picked a group of us and took us around the highlands. This was more of a family type tour. There are rose gardens and butterfly farms, we walked around a bee hive farm and then they tried to sell us honey for our health. The associates at the honey store made it seem like honey was a sort of panacea that can prevent or cure all kinds of diseases. The only interesting thing to me on the tour was when we went to the Boh tea plantation. Boh is the biggest producer of tea in Malaysia. You get to walk around the tea fields and see how the tea is grown, cultviated and processed. There is a tea factory where tons of tea comes in and is mixed and dried and prepared. The Cameron Highlands is a good place to grow tea because it is relatively cool and it never frosts up there. There are lots of tea plants and the rows look a bit pretty over the rolling hills. There's a little museum where you get to learn about how noble and sublime the tea company is and how they started from small roots and grew into a massive corporation. They have a tea house/restaurant that sits on a kind of balcony over the tea fields. Its a bit like the protruding structure at The House on the Rock in Wisconsin. I tried some delicious fresh tea and relaxed at the edge of the balcony in the cool mountain air.

After the tour I went back to the hostel and mostly just sat and read my book. The town was kinda boring but that was okay. I've been enjoying the moments when I can relax and read. Especially as the climate there was temperate. I spent one more night there, going to bed early for the next day when I would go to the Perhentian islands on the Northeast coast of Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur

A two hour ride from Melaka took me into the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. I was expecting to arrive in the main bus station, but as I found out later the main bus station was under renovation, so all the buses were using a parking lot on the outskirts of town for the bus station. This was an indication of what was to come with KL's mass transit system.

There was no information or anything. I talked to some other foreigners that were on the same bus as me and we were all baffled about where we even were. Taxi touts seeing us started to approach us and offered us rides into town for outrageous prices. I decided to leave the area and head to the main road where I'd hope to find a taxi driver passing by. I walked for a bit and noticed there was an LRT station (one of KL's mass transit trains). This was a little easier and cheaper, but the station was close to the end of the line so it took awhile to get into town.

Eventually I made it into downtown and quickly found my hostel. The hostel was probably the highlight of my stay in KL. It was a modern hostel with nice big beds, lots of lighting and big closets. The rooms were furnished nicely. The bunk beds were built into the wall, so that when your bunk mate got into his bed it wouldn't wake you up. At $12 a night it was a bit expensive compared to other places around town, but it was well worth it. Another backpacker was in there and I got to talking to him. He was an Australian guy who was travelling around Asia before going to Britain to look for a job. We talked for a bit and he wanted to hang out so we decided to head into China town. I looked around the different shops for a towel, but didn't see any. I was getting hungry so I found a place with Sweet and Sour Pork. I was surprised to find pork in a Muslim country, but it was delicious.

Then we took a bus to the northern suburbs to see the Batu caves. There are some hills outside KL and in one of these are some huges caves that the Hindus have taken over and built shrines and temples.

The caves are up a long steep staircase up the cliff. Beside the staircase there is a big golden statue. The caves are really massive inside. It is hard to show with pictures and its a little difficult to describe. They're really high, high enough to fit a cathedral inside. Inside there are lots of idols and relics for hindus to pray to. Some of the people were covered with white or blue paint all over their faces and their arms. Monkeys hang and play from the cliffs. It was like somehting out of Indiana Jones. After exploring the caves for a bit, we headed back down the stairs and took the bus back into town. By the time we got back it was night and getting late. I stayed up a bit and read from my book before falling asleep.

The next day I spent mostly walking around and exploring the city on foot. First I took a subway to the Petronas towers to see them up close. These towers are beautiful and the pearl of Kuala Lumpur. The lines are clean and smooth and it still looks shiny and new. The metal casing around the towers look perfect. I just walked around them and admired them from a distance. Then I started walking toward a sort of observation tower on a hill about a mile from the Petronas Towers. The KL Menara is sort of like the CN tower in Toronto or a taller Space Needle. It holds a restaurant and a deck for panorama views of the city. I walked up the hill and was sweating profusely from the midday sun. Thankfully the tower was air conditioned. I took the elevator up to the top and was treated with great views of the city. From the height of the observation deck it is just a bit shorter then the top of the Petronas Towers. In the bottom there is a sort of heritage village where you can see the styles of houses from different parts of Malaysia. Then they have a show where some dancers do Malaysia dances and songs. This was kind of hokey and more for a family style experience. After that I walked through a sort of arboretum and back to my hostel. Later that day I went to a couple of malls and explored the night market of Chinatown.

The next day I went back to the Petronas towers early so that I could get a ticket to go to the sky bridge. This took up most of the morning because the line was long and it was slow moving. The only real advantage of using my morning up was that it was free. Finally I got up to the sky bridge, which is only about 40 stories up. It was pretty cool, but I wouldn't rank it as something a visitor must do. The KL Menara had much better views. After that I had lunch and went back to that godforsaken bus terminal on the outskirts of town to catch a bus to the Cameron Highlands.

KL Menara Tower

All in all Kuala Lumpur was kinda disappointing. Their subways system has a lot to be desired. Its dirty, its slow and inefficient. In the main station there was construction going on and the commuters have to walk around tools and piles of dirt and materials to get inside the station. Some of the hallways aren't very well lit, one tunnel was nearly completely dark. If you want to change lines you have to buy a new ticket on each line, then at one of the main stations you have to jaywalk through traffic to get from the elevated platform to the subway. That's another thing I hated about KL, it was extremely unfriendly to the pedestrians. Jaywalking is a national pastime in KL. Many of the lights don't work and people just ignore them. Often sidewalks just disappear and you'll have to walk in the street or the gutter to get from place to place. And like most third world countries, there is no such thing as yielding to pedestrians. You take your life in your hands when you walk around KL. I was pretty glad to be on that bus getting out of Kuala Lumpur.

Melaka, Malaysia

Coming into Malaysia I had no idea what to expect. I knew the basics, that it was a Muslim country in Southeast Asia, the capital was Kuala Lumpur, things like that. However I had no idea what it was like.

Exiting thru customs and immigration in Singapore was a breeze. Singapore had a clean and modern new building. Malaysia's immigration on the other hand was the opposite. It was kind of grimey and old, but the officers were polite and I got thru quickly. Then for about 3 hours the bus went along the highway towards Melaka. The scenery was mostly uninteresting. A few small hills here and there or a rubber plantation. No big cities, just rural towns along the way. I dived back into The Count of Monte Cristo while I waited to arrive.

The Melaka bus station was a big market/bazaar. It was a bit dodgy so I didn't linger very long. There were people from every culture. The women were mostly muslim, with burkhas. Some had their entire face covered and only their eyes were visible. Occasionally I would make eye contact with them and it would make me feel uneasy. There were also many hindus, Chinese and white backpackers. I did not feel like I stood out or like I was an alien.

The bus station was a few kilometers from the city center, so I had to take a local bus into town. This local bus was an ancient and decrepit old bus. It was like a school bus only old and rusted. As the bus got into the city center I could smell the fragrances of many different spices and foods. I realized that I was truly in Malaysia.

Ruins of St. Paul's Church

The bus dropped me off in the town square. There are a few churches there an old warehouse built by the dutch, lots of shops and restaurants and a few museums. I dropped my luggage off at the hostel and went to a maritime museum. This was interesting to me because I am kind of a history nerd. There was a lot of displays and information about the old sailing ships and the history of Melaka. Part of the museum is a replica of a Portuguese galleon.

Melaka is interesting because it had a long history. The Portuguese conquered the town in 1511 and set it up as a trading port. Melaka is important geographically because it is on the Malacca straight, the fastest way between the West and the Far East. At its glory the port could hold thousands of ships from nations all over the world. Later on the Dutch fought a war with the Portuguese and took the town from them. I thought about how the Dutch at one time seemed to rule the world, they owned New York City, they had a colony on Taiwan and they controlled this essential port.

On the hill overlooking the town the Dutch built St. Paul's church. The gravestones are still there from when the Dutch owned it. The rest of the town still has a European feel. The buildings have an old world feel to it. The authorities probably preserve it this way to keep the tourists coming back.

It was very hot when I was walking around the streets. I came back to the hostel for a bit to relax in the air-conditioned room. From my room I could hear the Muslim call to prayer from a local mosque. I realized how rigid and pervasive Islam is in this part of the world.

I tried some of the food on the famous Jonkers Street. I went to a Chinese restaurant and had some wonton soup and tried a few snacks on the street. In the evening I realized that I fogot my towel in Singapore so I searched in vain for a shop with towels. The town seemed to shut down once the sun set.

The next day I walked around aimlessly and explored a bit more. There were a few more museums but they were uninteresting things like about the history of the Malaysian Navy and the Customs police. In the afternoon I made my way back to the bus station on the decrepit old bus and took an express bus to Kuala Lumpur.

Singapore

Breakfast in Singapore

I took JetStar from Taipei to Singapore. They are an okay airline, but the staff seemed really lackadaisical. We loaded up on the plane and then waited more than a half hour before they finally closed the door and we left the gate. The flight was basically uneventful. It was kinda long about 4 hours during which I mostly read from The Count of Monte Cristo.

Previously I had made some friends on the internet from Singapore. This turned out to be a great bonus. Jeannie and KC are both locals that live and work in Singapore. They met me when my flight landed just after midnight. KC has a car so he was able to drive me into town, saving me a hefty taxi fee. KC is a programmer and Jeannie works in the administration at a hospital. Singapore seemed to have a lot of medical facilities and I think a lot of people go there for medical tourism.

Merlion, the symbol of Singapore

Before we went to my hostel, my hosts wanted me to try some local food. So we went to a street cafe and I tried some Prata. It is kind of like a pancake thing that you can get with cheese or mushrooms or onions. I liked it. I am getting better about trying Asian foods.

They told me that my hostel was kinda close to the red light district. But when they took me there it seemed like an okay place. It was close to the MRT and there were a lot of backpacker hostels nearby. I got into my hostel room and turned in after a long day of travel from Yilan to Singapore.

The next morning Jeannie met me at my hostel. We headed toward Sentosa island on the MRT. First we stopped at a cafe in the mall. We had some coffee and a kind of toasted bread with some butter and spices inside. It is called Kaya butter toast and its a local favorite in Singapore. Next we took the monorail into Sentosa island.

Sentosa island is a kind of resort island at the bottom of Singapore. It is kind of like one big Disney park. There is actually a Universal studios there. The rest of the island is full of beaches, imax theater type shows, underwater aquariums, adventure rides and family type activities. Everything on this island is very expensive so I didn't do any of the family stuff. My main interest was in a fort on the end of the island.

During World War 2 there was an important battle in Singapore. The British built a huge expensive fortress here as the waters around Singapore were the fastest way between the Indian ocean and the Pacific. This geographical location is why Singapore has been so important in history. The British fortified the island for a sea invasion but were not sufficiently ready for an attack from the Malaysian mainland. At the same time the Japanese were bombarding Pearl Harbor they were also invading Malaysia. In a few months they were on the shore facing Singapore. The British were not sufficiently prepared and a battle ensued in which the Brits had to surrender the island. This is the single biggest surrender in British history. This must have been a dark time because it was only a few months after Pearl Harbor and the British were just kicked out of their strategic location in Singapore. The soldiers that surrendered were put in a dismal POW camp and had to wait out the end of the war in appalling conditions.

Anyways, my interest was in a fort because they had a museum there now. There are several buildings with lots of artifacts and displays about the history of Singapore during the war. It was kind of nerdy but really interesting to me.

Sentosa Monorail

Jeannie had to go meet some friends, so I walked around Sentosa island for a bit and then headed into the city. I went to Chinatown to see what it was like. It was an okay place, but after living in Taiwan Chinatowns aren't too interesting. Next I went to Fort Canning park. This is on a big hill in the middle of downtown. This is where the British command was located and it is where they made the decision to surrender to the Japanese. There is another museum here. After that I headed down to Orchard road. This is a very famous road because there are tons of big malls on this road. Everywhere people are shopping. I went to a couple of malls to see what they have. I found an English book store and found a copy of the The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest for only about $12 USD. I am almost done with Count of Monte Cristo, so I am excited to read that book next.

I met up with Jeannie and KC and we went into downtown to have dinner. We went to this cool gallery of shops next to an old church. We decided to have some Western food and they treated me to a good juicy Hamburger at an Australian restaurant called Hog's Breath. Afterwards we went to a series of museums that were having a special night art show. Everywhere there were artists doing interesting things. In front of one building they had a four story temporary structure with artists walking around putting big letters on display. People were sending SMS's to a special number and the artists were putting the text messages on a huge display. The museums were packed full of people and we looked at the displays. We didn't stay too long though, we were all a bit burned out from a long hot day.

We drove around Singapore a bit but the traffic was messed up. They were doing a rehearsal for the Singapore National Day celebrations in a few weeks. We headed back toward my hostel and I fell asleep easily.

White Tiger

The next day we went to the Singapore Zoo. I was really lucky because Jeannie can get a free pass to the zoo from her work. Singapore has a world famous zoo. I was mainly interested in seeing the animals from southeast Asia. We saw so many animals that I lost count. I saw a Komodo dragon for the first time. It was huge, like a dinosaur. We also saw elephants, tigers, jaguars, polar bears and snakes. The zoo was very big and we didn't have time to do it all. It was very hot and muggy and they had a Ben & Jerry's so we all had a delicious scoop of ice cream.

Komodo Dragon

It was my last night in Singapore and I was kinda sad to leave my friends and hosts. We went to a place called the Esplanade in downtown Singapore. The area was very nice and classy. There was an opera house and lots of expensive hotels. I think one night in one of those hotels would cost more than my entire budget for this whole trip. The esplanade is a walk front along the harbor. It is extremely clean and modern. There was a stage set up and there were musicians. There were also stages with Chinese puppet theater and another stage with a Chinese opera. We walked down to see a giant sculpture of a lion fountain. It is called the Merlion and it is like a symbol for Singapore.

After that we drove around a bit to see some more sights. They took me to Little India. That neighborhood was really just like India. The streets were packed with people and there were so many different Indian shops and restaurants. Then they drove me thru the red light district. That was quite eye-opening. I won't say much about that, but you can imagine what a red light district in Asia might be like haha.

Then we headed back to my hostel and I packed up and got ready for the next day. I would be going into Malaysia to the old colonial town of Melaka.

Back in Taiwan

I only had less than a week back in Taiwan before my trip to Singapore. I landed in Taipei early on Monday morning. After paying a visit to Miguel before he left for Shanghai I met up with Sam for my favorite Taiwanese breakfast: dan bing. Next I made a surprise visit to Uncle Sam to see my former co-workers and the children I taught. This was pleasant. I didn't realize how much I missed the kids. Ya Chu came to Banqiao and we had lunch with Caleb and Dino at the rural park. Later I went back to Miguel's and read a little bit of The Girl Who Played With Fire before I fell asleep from the jet lag.

The next morning Claudia came up from Hsinchu and we made our way to the East coast. Along the way we went thru the Xueshan Tunnel. This is a long tunnel that goes thru the mountains and shortens the distance between Taipei and Yilan considerably. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant near Yilan then continued down the coastal highway. The coastal highway is a windy road similar to the Columbia River Highway or the 101 on the Oregon coast. It rides along the cliffs of Eastern Taiwan and cuts thru countless tunnels on the way south toward Hualien. It is only 2 lanes wide but it is very busy as it is the only highway from North to South on the East. There are many trucks, buses and cars, and a few hours to get to Hualien. We finally made it to a hotel outside of Hualien near the entrance of Taroko Gorge.

Taroko Gorge is one of the most famous natural parks in Taiwan. It is a very deep cliff cut by a narrow river between the limestone and marble mountains. The road is literally carved into the cliffs and it presents many beautiful vistas. It is also a bit of a dangerous road as the rocks on the mountains above are unstable and can fall without warning. The government is doing constant work to protect the road from rock fall, but occasionally rocks the size of baseballs can come tumbling down. 

Fortunately we were safe as we rode in Claudia's air-conditioned Nissan. At one point there is a place where you can get out and hike along the cliffs. This is called the River of Nine Turns. It is a nice walk where you can breathe the fresh air and listen to the loud torrent of water as it courses thru the canyon.

The road is one of the few cross island highways that can reach the other side of Taiwan. However we wanted to spend a few days on the East coast, so we came back down to Hualien after spending the morning exploring the gorge.

This was the first time I visited Hualien and I then understood that it was a beautiful city on the ocean against the backdrop of the mountains. We went to the beach and walked around a little bit, but it was really hot, so we continued going south looking for a hotel. The highway we were on before was 8, but then we went on a side road that followed along the coast. This was more like the PCH as the 8 is like the 101. The side road, highway 11, had sparse traffic and it was easy to forget that we were in Taiwan. There were only very small towns and no 7-11s as we ventured further south. Claudia told me that the people in these towns were native aboriginals that were a different race and spoke their own languages. Most of the towns seemed to be Christian owing to the influence of missionaries.

Finally we found a sign for a hotel at the top of a narrow gravel road. We decided to check it out. The road went down steeply with sharp switchbacks to a flat area near the ocean. The hotel owner made a sort of village near the beach. There was a main building with a restaurant and about 5-6 little one room huts that were the hotel rooms. There was also a kind of open air building with several platforms where people could set up tents. I envied these tents as they were high enough to catch a cool ocean breeze in the summer heat. There was a little courtyard full of artwork and there was somebody playing saxophone in the shade. It was kind of bohemian, every where there was artwork made out of trees or the local nature.

Our hut didn't have a/c, but we had a fan and we kept the windows open. After the sunset (unfortunately we were on the east side so the sun set behind the mountains). We left the windows open and could hear the ocean waves on the beach. I woke up early the next morning and started reading from my next book, The Count of Monte Cristo. We drove back into town and checked out the university campus in Hualien. It seemed like a cool place. Very new and clean. There weren't many students there because it was summer. Then we headed back up the highway towards Yilan. It was almost time for me to go to Singapore and we were still a long ways from Taoyuan airport. We stayed near Yilan one night. I did some laundry in the bathroom sink and the next morning we headed back toward Taipei. We got back pretty early so we decided to see that new movie Inception. That was a good movie, I think it will be one of the best movies of the year. Claudia and I dropped me off at the airport and I waited a few hours for my flight to Singapore.

For the next post I'll talk about my experience in this new country and some new friends I made here.

Yushan Part 2

I woke up a few minutes before 1:30 am. Everyone was still asleep and I could here the breathing and snoring of everyone else in the room. A few minutes later alarms started going off and people shuffled out of their beds.

While breakfast was being prepared I packed my backpack and got ready for the hike. I went outside to use the w/c and admired the stars. The air was much clearer and there were thousands of stars. The milky way made its way across the sky like a faint cloud. I looked for the southern cross but I couldn't find it. Eventually breakfast came and we quietly ate it and drank coffee while mentally preparing for the hike.

From Paiyun lodge it was only about 3.5 kilometers to the summit. This seemed easy but in effect it was a twisting and steep trail through boulders and up the slope of the mountain. It took us two hours with an occasional rest to make it up. The trail was dark and we only had our flashlights to lead the way. Some of the trail went underneath fragile rocky cliffs. We didn't stay in these places very long for fear that a rock might slip up above and come bouncing down the slope. In many places there were chains attached to the cliff so that we could hold onto it while we walked the trail. Slipping in one of these places could've meant a fatal fall.

In one spot there was a kind of tunnel built along the trail. This was made of wire mesh above to catch the rocks that would slide down. In addition this helped keep the climbers safe during high winds. However during our ascent the winds kept calm and we didn't have to worry. Near the top the steps became steeper and steeper.

By this point I was getting exhausted. It was hard to tell how far away the summit was, and we just kept pushing on. Eventually we reached it and we could see the other side of the mountain. Below the mountain sloped steeply into a wide and deep valley. More mountains were visible on the other side. Fast approaching dawn glowed behind them. We settled into a comfortable seat to watch the sunrise while our guides started boiling water to make tea and coffee.

It was a nice sunrise, the first I have seen in some time. We lounged around the summit drinking coffee and taking pictures. There were other groups up there too. In all there were probably about 50 people on the summit.

It was cold, but I had enough layers on to keep me comfortable.  The strenuous hike to the summit was all but forgotten as we took in the vista. I looked around thinking about which places are in which direction. They call this the roof of Taiwan because its the highest mountain here. It has certainly given me a new perspective on this country. Most of my experience in Taiwan has been in extremely urban environments. In Taipei it seems like everywhere there are people, scooters, trucks, buildings and pavement. It is easy to get molded into that same landscape everyday.

After awhile we decided it was time to head back down the mountain Ahead of us was a long descent back to the shuttle van. We left the Summit at about 6 am. Back and forth lower and lower to Paiyun lodge. Hiking downhill is in some ways just as difficult as going up. It requires much more precision and control on where you place your foot. Step after step this exertion takes its toll. In addition the weight falls on your knees and joints. I was glad that before the hike I cut my toe nails.

By about 8 am we made it back to the lodge. We had another quick breakfast and packed the gear that we left at the lodge. Then with full packs we started going back the 8.5 km trail to the trailhead. This was very slow and grueling. The occasional signpost with a report of our progress came slowly and the kilometers seemed to trickle by. There was one section where we had to climb up about 4 or 5 flights of stairs and I was left winded and exhausted at the top. We took occasional brief rests, but everyone was anxious to get back so we kept a good pace.

I made it to the shuttle at about 11:30 am. Already a few from our group were there. The rest of the group was behind me and we waited for them. After everyone got back we had a snack and got into the shuttle bus for the long drive back to Taipei.

Again we had to take those snaking mountain roads back down the mountain. It took us about 2-3 hours just to get to the highway. Finally we were making our way up north. We passed Changhua and Taichung, then Hsinchu and we stopped in Taoyuan for dinner. It was also the birthday of one of the kids in our group so we had cake and relaxed. After awhile we got back in the bus and headed back to Taipei. By this point I was starting to worry about getting my apartment arrangements situated. When the bus dropped us off I said goodbye to Ya Chu and all my new friends then quickly caught a taxi and went to meet Sam at my old apartment. Ivan the roommate who is taking over my room met us there. I took a quick shower. Ivan gave me the deposit for the apartment and I gave him the keys. I went over to McDonalds to fulfill a craving I had for a cheeseburger.

Sam helped me take all my stuff to the street and I caught a taxi. The taxi took me to Banqiao in my new temporary apartment. Jess, my new roommate, wasn't there yet, so I carried my three bags up 4 flights of stairs to the landing of my new place. A half hour later Jess showed up and brought me into the room. I got ready for bed and collapsed at about 11pm, after a long, long day. The next morning I went into school and got back to work.

Yushan Part One

Rising 12,966 feet (3,952 meters) above sea level is Taiwan's highest peak: Yushan Mountain (Wikipedia). This was my goal for June 21st. Coincidentally this date is remarkable because it is the summer solstice and it is the one year anniversary of my arrival in Taiwan. I arrived just after sunrise on the 21st of June in 2009 and if everything went according to plan I would be on top of Yushan at sunrise this year.

Before I started the journey to Yushan I had to take care of some things back home. My apartment contract finished on June 19th, the same day that the hiking tour left Taipei. In the morning before the hike I packed up all my possessions and put them in a few bags that I left with Sam. After cleaning my apartment out Sam and I went to Shida to meet Ya Chu for lunch. We ate at Grandma Nitti's before we met up at the tour bus. Another apartment was available near my work in Banqiao, so I arranged it so that I could move in there after the hike.

Yushan is in the center of Taiwan. It is a long ways from Taipei. The nearest road is about 13 kilometers from the summit. On the first day of the three day tour our destination was a hostel near the trailhead for the summit. To get there we had to take a long, windy road up into the heart of Taiwan's mountains.

The road is still in poor shape from the last years Typhoon Morakot. The roads were built into extremely steep cliffs of a river basin. The drive along the mountain road lasted for several hours. Everywhere there were tell-tale signs of the destruction wreaked by previous typhoons. Cliff faces were naked of vegetation. Boulders were strewn across the river valleys. There were remnants of old roads and tunnels that had been abandoned after massive rock slides. Frequently we passed heavy duty construction machinery. Trucks full of rocks, tractors and cranes slowly plyed their way along the lonely roads. Often there were cliff faces covered with concrete to add some stability to the fragile walls of the mountains. Some of the mountains were so big that the structures to hold them up looked only like matchsticks.

We plied our way along the road higher and higher. Often there would be warning signs as the road up ahead was overflowing with the debris from a landslide. Construction crews were cleaning it up and the road would narrow to one lane. On one side of the road was the near vertical face of the mountain, on the other side there would be a steep drop of thousands of feet. It was a tense journey as we vied with intermittent construction traffic on the road up the mountain.

As we got higher and higher the temperature got cooler. We eventually became parallel to the clouds and later we could look down into the clouds and see the occasional mountain top in the sea of clouds. As the last light of dusk evaporated we reached the Tataka hostel where we'd lodge up for the night.

The accommodations here were dorm like. There were about 20 people in our group and we shared bunk beds in the hostel. In other wings of the hostel there were other groups that were also climbing the mountain. We were the only group that had any foreigners. Most of our group were Americans and Canadians. There was also a French family and a Norwegian family along with a Swiss, a Brit and a couple of Taiwanese. I played cards with Ya Chu and Josh for awhile before everyone went to bed.

Hiking

The next morning we woke up early. After packing up our gear and eating breakfast we made our way up to the trailhead. At the trailhead there was a small police station and a visitor's center. We watched a video in English that described the trail and gave basic safety advice. The official at the visitor center checked our passports then we began our hike. The trail was 8.5km and had a net gain of 900 meters in altitude. The trail was in good shape, but it was long and taxing. We officially started the trail around 8:30 am. For several hours we hiked along the slope of the mountains.

The scenery here is startlingly different than anywhere else in Taiwan. There are lush green forests. Abundantly filled with pine trees, the alpine landscape reminded me of hikes I have done in California and Oregon. The air was clean and fresh. As we went around each bend of the sinewy mountains we could take in the vista of mountains rolling into the distance. As the valleys thinned out there were clouds over the coastal plains. It was mostly a clear day and while the temperature was cool, the sun burned cruelly on any exposed skin.

We ate lunch at a shelter built about 5 kilometers up the trail. Our guides had some burners and boiled some water and made us some tea. We ate lunch box style rice with sausage and some vegetables. After a spell we packed up and got back on the trail. Higher and higher we went up the mountain. The trail snaked through forests and up steep switchbacks. Finally after several hours of patient and exhausting hiking we got to Paiyun cabin on the slopes of Yushan.

I was exhausted as I made the final steps up the stairs to the Paiyun. I headed straight for our designated dorm and dropped my pack off at the foot of my bunk bed. My head was splitting with a headache from the gain in altitude and all my limbs were sore. I felt every ounce in my pack.

Inside my backpack I carried a down coat, a bag with some snacks, warm clothes, rain gear, toiletries and a small backpack. It wasn't very much stuff but carrying along the trail was taxing enough.

We had dinner early at 5:00 pm. The plan was for us to get to bed early and wake up at 1:30 am to have breakfast and start the hike before sunrise. Every one was pretty subdued and exhausted from the day's hike. I think we were all in bed by 9 pm. Most of the evening I was wracked by my headache, so I kept mostly to myself and took more and more Tylenol until the pain went away.