Singapore and Malaysia

 

 

After I got out of class on Thursday, I started to pack for my trip to Singapore and Malaysia. One of our friends, Trevor, who planned on coming with us got really sick and couldn’t go. He is better now though which is good!

When we arrived in Singapore the first thing we noticed was how clean the airport was. The bathrooms were immaculate as well. After checking into our hostel, we walked a block to find some food. Singapore food is very good, and we even had some frog for dessert. In our hostel room, there were 14 people. It was very much like sleeping on the porch in the sorority, but with most of the people being strangers and the room being extremely hot! Overall, it wasn’t as sketchy as I thought it would be.

I woke up early the next day to shower. The shower was in the same room as the toilet, and I showered in the one with the squat pot. After our continental breakfast, we headed for the MRT to go downtown. We saw a couple of snake charmers, and I took a picture with a snake! We then walked to see the Merlion. Yes you guessed it—it is a fountain with the body of a fish, and the head of a lion. It is apparently the emblem for Singapore. There was even a Starbucks right next to the Merlion.

After dropping our bags off at the train station, we took the MRT to the bird park. When we got off the MRT we where going to walk the rest of the way, but about a mile later in the sweltering heat, we had no idea where we were. So we hailed a taxi to take us the rest of the way. I don’t think we would have ever found it, even though it wasn’t that far. The first thing we saw at the bird park was the penguins. It was so sad, just like the one zoo scene in Happy Feet. One of the penguins was staring at himself in the mirror the whole time we were in there, even during the feeding. We then headed off to the Birds of Prey show. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me. The man doing the show asked for a volunteer. I raised my hand and then John turns to me and says, “Watch, he picks you.” The next thing I know, the guy was pointing at me and says, “You! In the purple shirt. Come on down.” (Just like Bob Barker on the Price Is Right, except with some kind of Indian accent. This was the first time I have ever been picked for anything like this. After telling the audience my name and where I was from, the guy said a bird would be flying out and landing on my arm. I put the glove on and the man put some cut up meat in my hand. He then told me to look off into the bushes to see what was going to be flying at me. Right as a recognized the bird, there was no turning back. Before I knew it, there was a vulture on my arm eating meat out of my hand.

Then it was off to Little India for dinner. We found a restaurant where a ton of locals were eating so we knew it must be good. We had some amazing food and drank coconut milk straight from the coconut. Then it was off to the train station. On our way there we ran into two other American travelers. They were brothers from California who had both gone to Dartmouth and now were backpacking. One of the brothers had been in Asia for five months and the other just came to join him. They were also headed to Kuala Lumpur. The train we were on was the first sleeper train I have ever been on. Our room even had its own bathroom and shower, which I did not want to shower in because the train was too wobbly. I liked the sleeper train except we had to get out go through immigration at the border in the middle of the night. When we were going through immigration, the man forgot to stamp my passport. Right after I went through I asked one of the officers if they are supposed to and he said yes and took me back to get it stamped. When the man was looking through to make sure I didn’t miss it, he then looks back, and says “oh shit”. Apparently he hadn’t been stamping anyone’s passports. Then when I was walking back outside to the train, I see the man running and trying to track down everyone who was in front of me in line. Good thing I caught that or else we all would have had trouble getting out of the country.

 

Me with a snake!

  

Singapore Merlion.

Holding a vulture at the Bird Park.

The next day we arrived very early in Kuala Lumpur. After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we went to the Petronas Towers; which are pretty famous and can be seen in the movie Entrapment. Also in Kuala Lumpur, we went to the National Mosque where we all had to take off our shoes they gave all of us robes to wear over our clothes before we could go in. When we were walking back to the train station, we witnessed a car accident. We were trying to cross the street and all of us were looking at this round about to see if any cars were coming and then it just happened—we could all see it coming too. It was just a little fender bender, but they were both mad at each other so we just got out of there as fast as we could.

We went and took a short nap after our busy morning, and then headed out to the Batu Caves. First we stopped in China Town where we ate lunch at a place called Beef Ball Mee, and then we got on a bus for the caves. The bus ride was…interesting. We saw a cockroach and every time the bus stopped for any reason, the driver would open the door and his partner, the one promoting the bus, would yell out “Batu Caves, Batu Caves, Batu Caaaaaaves” until the bus started moving again. When we got there the place was jam packed with people. Little did we know, we were there for the Thaipusam Festival (http://www.malaysiasite.nl/batucaveseng.htm). There were probably 100,000 people there. First, we witnessed people getting their heads shaved and painted gold. It was really sad when a mother sat down her young daughter to get her head shaved, and the girl started crying. We then saw people with piercings that went through both cheeks and tongue, and men with their entire front and back side of their chests pierced and attached were these large shrines above their heads. They would dance around and then sit when they got tired. Their friends and family would then help them drink water. Some looked like they were about to pass out, and this was even before they had to trek up all of the stairs. When we got to the top, the caves were amazing! They were all limestone, and there was a small hole in the top where the sunlight came through. When I was looking through this hole, I saw a monkey in one of the trees at the very top. I began to watch the monkey, and before I knew it, hundreds of monkeys were coming down the side of the cave. They were not afraid of people either: kids started feeding them bananas and peanuts. Going to the caves during this festival was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

 

Petronas Towers

  

National Mosque

  

Little girl getting her head shaved.

  

This looks so painful!

  

A view of the caves from the bottom.

  

The guy looks like he is about to pass out.

  

Sorry these pictures are blurry, my camera was dying.

  

 Momma monkey and her baby.

The next morning we flew back to Singapore. We didn’t have a place to stay when we got there because we had to be at the airport at about 4:00am to head back to Hong Kong. So when our plane arrived early in the morning we were still very tired. We took the MRT to a park where we found some nice benches and napped for a couple of hours. When I woke up, I was not feeling well at all. Lena and I went to the bathroom and I threw up a couple of times. The boys wanted to go sight seeing, and I just wanted an air conditioned place to sit. So Lena and I went to a mall. I felt so sick, I didn’t think I could walk the distance to the mall, so we took a cab. Our cab ride was about five minutes, and right when we got there I jumped out and puked in the bushes. It was not fun. Not to mention, I was afraid I was going to get a ticket or something because Singapore is very strict and has a lot of weird laws—like no chewing gum! When we got to the mall, fortunately there was a mother’s room with a few cozy chairs. That was where I slept for about four hours. After my resting, I felt a little better so we met back up with the boys and headed off to the famous Night Safari. We got to take a tram through the park and see lots of cool nocturnal animals! I couldn’t take any pictures though because no flash was allowed.

After the Safari, it was late so we just went back to the airport, slept for a few hours, and then headed back to Hong Kong. We landed at about 10:00am which was just enough time to make it home, shower, and go to all of my classes!