FEBRUARY

2005: JULY, JUNE, MAY, APRIL, MARCH, JANUARY,
2004: DECEMBER, NOVEMBER, OCTOBER, SEPTEMBER, AUGUST, JULY, JUNE

Monday, February 28, 2005 - KRABI to TONSAI BEACH, THAILAND - I knocked off some errands in the morning - burned a photo cd, finally found a pair of aviator glasses to replace the glasses I was glad to lose on Had Rin. Also got a haircut, another overpriced $3.75 job (they're $1.75 with my guy near Khao San, a legit barber). I love the haircuts in foreign countries where no exchange takes place before the snipping begins, just scissors of fury. When she finished, after about six minutes, I indicated that I'd like a little more. My pantomime was translated literally - she saw my fingers indicating "a little" and cut off a precise three quarters of an inch more: I got a short hair cut. No worries about combing, and this style will save me a lot on shampoo costs in the long run. No shaved head yet.
I got some cash at a sevvy ATM and decided to hop on to a saengthaew towards Ao Nang. I was planning on taking a boat all the way, but the melodious "Ao Nang, Ao Nang" drew me on to the back rail. I hung off the back of the pickup as we sped off into traffic. A large semi truck approached from the rear, decellerating quickly behind me. At the next stoplight they came even closer, laughing at how easily they could provide a very public, unpleasant death. At the next stop they came even closer and I leaned back into their front grill, much to the satisfaction of everyone involved in the comedy of errors. It was a nice ride down to the Phra-Nang peninsula to Ao Nang, where I immediately got a longtail for the short ride to Tonsai Beach.
I arrived around 1:30 or so and got some lunch at Dream Valley Resort, where Evan and Adam were staying. I finished reading an excellent article in Outside magazine about Tonsai and Rai Lay beaches and the effect of the tsunami. These beaches are on the west coast, in the Andaman Sea, but did not get hit quite as hard as Phi-Phi or parts of Phuket. I eventually found Evan on the beach. We surveyed the routes on the immense limestone cliff, overhanging over a thousand feet.
Evan and I jumped out on kayaks and took in Rai Lay Beach and the unknown beach to the south. We found a sea cave and circumnavigated some islands just off the coast. Nice ride. Adam was finishing up his first day of his scuba certification. We grabbed a BBQ dinner at Dream Valley - delicious barracuda and kingfish for $2.25 with free salad bar. If I go back, I'll have to see about getting that salad bar without splurging for the main. We headed down to the beach for a party at Freedom Bar. At ten pm there were a few dozen people there, but the bartender reminded us three or four times that the party did not start until 10:30. We ordered large Changs and threw Evan's lit-up frisbee on the beach with some peeps until one errant toss too many.
We headed down the beach to Insomnia bar and met Ing and Chai-T, the bartenders there. There was a good resident DJ there and a very chill vibe. Adam departed, and after a spell Evan and I headed back to Freedom Bar. We bought ice creams and watched the party increase in intensity: there were two girls dancing on the bar, but no one was looking at them - some guy was fire dancing with bowling pins. He was in a frenzy. Spring Break, 2005...

Sunday, February 27, 2005 - HAD RIN, KO PHA-NGAN, to KRABI, THAILAND - Woke up feeling something fierce and spent a long, hungover day of travel going to the mainlain on a 4 hour boat ride (watched School of Rock), then killed two and a half hours waiting for my bus reading Motoring with Mohammed. Got a bus at 6:30 for Krabi and listened to lots of good music, arriving here at 9pm. Evan and Adam are in Tonsai Beach already (those high rollas flew). Adam will take a scuba cert course and Evan and I will climb and dive for three days. Should be a nice change of pace from the licentious saturnalia of Had Rin. I'll meet up with them in the morning...

Saturday, February 26, 2005 - HAD RIN, KO PHA-NGAN, THAILAND - Breakfast, a swim, frisbee, snorkeling in low vis water, then another chicken sandwich. Back to beach now for a swim. The Hunter S. Thompson is now online. continued - We met up with Carly, Moira and Ashter - the Canadians, and Violet from Argentina and had a beer in the water, then headed over to our Beach, Leela Beach, for sunset. It didn't disappoint, but no green flash. What's a green flash? From mtwilson.edu - The green flash is an atmospheric refractive phenomenon where the top edge of the Sun will momentarily turn green. It is seen rarely by the naked eye, primarily because it requires specific conditions to occur, but also because it requires the observer to know what to look for. Despite the name, there is no "flash"; the event only lasts from a fraction of a second to at the longest, a few seconds.
The basic cause for the green flash is that refraction bends the light of the Sun. The atmosphere acts like a weak prism, separating the light into different colors. Bluer light is bent more strongly than red light. However, the amount of refraction even at the horizon is quite small: only a few seconds of arc (one second of arc is 1/3600th of a degree). This effect is magnified by the atmosphere itself. Layering in the atmosphere causes an effect similar to a horizontal cylindrical lens: the separation of the color bands is exaggerated in the vertical direction, so that the separation can be up to several minutes of arc.
What conditions are required to see the green flash? The green flash is best observed when you have a clear view of the horizon uncluttered by foreground objects and pollution free. This usually means you need to see a distance of several miles "out", almost to the point where the curvature of the Earth defines the limit. This is primarily why stories of seeing the green flash frequently occur at the ocean. This is due to the additional amount of atmosphere one is looking through at the horizon when the Sun is setting. In addition - and equally important - is the fact that the line of sight is nearly parallel to the horizon.
We showered and met up for some Thai food, then created a super bucket with red bull and Vodka. Things progressed with rapid intensity, and a good night was had by all...

Friday, February 25, 2005 - HAD RIN, KO PHA-NGAN, THAILAND - Evan and Adam arrived at 9:30am, waking me up in my bungalow. We went down to the beach and cheers'd with a tall Chang and walked down to get a bite to eat. We moved in to a nice bungalow at Coco Hut, then headed to Sunrise Beach. I ran in to Raf and Jen (see Jan. 15). They were in rare form, hanging with some guys from South Africa. We grabbed a shake and some beer and returned to the krew, but Raf and Jen had had another fight they won't remember and stormed off. We mucked about for many hours with the two S. Africans and 3 Canadians. It was a very hard afternoon, but we got through it. Violet, an Argentinian girl I met yesterday, stumbled upon us and joined us in the reverie. After sunset we departed back to our Bungalow, then on to the Lighthouse for dinner and drinks on the rocks. We listened to some tunes on my new cd player (thanks Lauren!) and enjoyed the evening. Evan and I headed out with Violet to meet up with the S. Africans and Canadians. We went to a club at the beginning of the beach for some trance and Vodka-R-bull buckets, then the Mellow Hut at the end of the beach to take in the view. The night progressed and we returned to the outdoor club. I watched Violet poi (fire) dance. Returned home at non-religious hour. Sorry for the just the facts entry, 2 baht a minute internet cuts into my other fiscal priorities...

Thursday, February 24, 2005 - SURAT THANI to HAD RIN, KO PHA-NGAN, THAILAND - A rude awakening this morning. First the inner-city roosters began crowing around 6am. I was trying to get a rhythm to their crows - every eight seconds, then 12 seconds - but there was no rhyme or reason to it, unlike the Beastie Boys' tours. At 6:45 I heard a tapper, of someone gently rapping, rapping on my chamber door. Eventually I answered it. A man from my ferry boat company was there to pick me up. I thanked him quickly and went back to bed. In 20 minutes I heard another knocking, it was the same man, apparently he wanted to take me to the ferry. I showed him my ticket for 8am and he told me to get my shit together in broken English. If I had a dollar for every time... nevermind. Eventually I got down outside a few minutes before 7:30. He told me that the bus left at 7:30. I was waiting for Robin and visited him and told him to get his shit together. We missed our bus and someone from the office took us around a few corners hurriedly and dropped us off in front of another building. Ten minutes later a nice woman told me ~ you come now. If I had a dollar for every time... nevermind. Robin and I got on a bus, then boarded a ferry around 8:30. The boat was packed, 250, maybe 300 passengers, 95% foreigners, very surprisingly of course. I relaxed in the sun, read a bit of the foreward to Fitzergerald's Great Gatsby and waited to get to Ko Samui. I talked with some Germans and drank cold Chang beers. Around noon we arrived in Kio Pha-Ngan and caught a pick-up taxi. Robin had gone to the west coast. I rode out with Trevor, the American from Texas, and Kelly and Clive from Australia. We got into Had Rin and walked to Coco Huts. Trevor got the Rainman suite for 2500 baht, while the Aussies and I walked on to Leela Beach Resort. They had one and a half bungalows left. The Aussies didn't want the bungalow, below their standards or something, so I took #91. I dropped off my bag and grabbed some beach gear, then walked down the beach back towards Coco Beach. The beach was filled with incredibly beautiful women, many topless. The water was clear and warm, though dirtier than last month. I settled in and met some people, some British girls, then a family from Brazil. I drank a Chang in the water and wasted the afternoon away beautifully. Trevor owes me 500 baht so I waited on his porch in his hammock, which was a few feet away from the beach. Splendid. I showered and shaved and would like to get my hair cut after this internet. I'd like to dye my hair red, out of boredom more than anything else, or maybe shave it, though that would look horrible. C'est la vie. So tonight shall be an experiment in what happens when one goes to the Full Moon Party not knowing a soul. I've met a dozen or so people I might run into, and I'm confident it will be anything but an eventful night. Set the controls for the heart of the sun...
the events of this evening are sealed until a further date...

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - LONG BEACH, PULAU PERHENTIAN KECIR, MALAYSIA to SURATHANI, THAILAND - More traveling. I rushed out of the bungalow, over the waist of the island to Aur Beach to meet my boat. Trevor was not there, but I thought he might have been on the boat that I couldn't get on. I waited for another 20 minutes until my boat arrived and enjoyed a nice, smooth ride back to the mainland. We arrived around 9:30. I hopped in a taxi with three others and headed towards Kota Bahru. We stopped there briefly, then a young German guy, Robin, and I headed towards the border. We checked out of Malaysia and into Thailand and headed on moto-taxis for the train station. We splurged an extra $5 and bought 2nd class air-con seats instead of the 3rd class. It was worth it - it was a ten hour ride. We had enough time to check Internet. I still had no idea whether I wanted to go to the West Coast to Krabi, or the East coast to the Full-Moon Party at Ko Pha-Ngan. I didn't have to make any decisions then, so I didn't, though I tried to call Evan to coordinate. He was screening his calls. We boarded the train at 11:30am and enjoyed a nice long ride north through southern Thailand to Surat Thani. I finished The Great Gatsby and listened to some music on Robin's cd player. We arrived at 9:30 at night and got in a crowded pick-up tuk-tuk into town. Robin and I checked into The Surath Hotel, then tried to buy tickets. I didn't know where I was going, of course, so I couldn't buy one east or west. I headed to the Internet Hut with the ticket man and checked in again. Evan gave the green light for the FMP, so I booked my ticket. We ate some Pad Thai on the street and hustled home to get a few hours sleep. I've been going on five, six hours sleep for too long. Ironic, since I just seem to be lounging on the beach or mucking about in the jungle. That's life as we know in this year of our Lord, two-thousand and five.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - KOTA BAHRU, to LONG BEACH, PULAU PERHENTIAN KECIR, MALAYSIA -

Monday, February 21, 2005 - TAMAN NEGARA NATIONAL PARK, to KOTA BAHRU, MALAYSIA -

Sunday, February 20, 2005 - TAMAN NEGARA NATIONAL PARK, MALAYSIA -

Saturday, February 19, 2005 - TAMAN NEGARA NATIONAL PARK, MALAYSIA -

Friday, February 18, 2005 - TAMAN NEGARA NATIONAL PARK, MALAYSIA -

Thursday, February 17, 2005 - KUALA LUMPUR to TAMAN NEGARA NATIONAL PARK,MALAYSIA - An early morning - quick kopi susu and two roti w/ eggs, then hopped on a bus from the Mandarin Pacific to Jerantut. I've booked three days and two nights trekking in the jungle, so I'll have a day and a night before and after to check out the lazy offerings at T.N. I'll be in the jungle for 3-4 days, not sure about internet access. I dub thee warned...

Thursday, February 17, 2005 - KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA- A tidy,compartmentalized day. I had a roti and kopi susu for breakfast while reading the New Straits Times, then shopped at the Central Market for a mask. I found plenty, bought one for my collection, either from Indonesia or Sarawah (Malaysia Borneo). I found another shop outside the shopping complex that had several hundred masks, as well as many other artifacts and weapons and SE Asian souvenirs. It was a good shop, and I spent 30 minutes with Lena Lee and her sales associate getting the right stuff. I found another mask from Sarawah for 150 ringgit ($36 or so, expensive but a sweet mask) and some blowguns. I found out that the bamboo blowgun I bought in Melacca is ornamental, decorative. They showed me the read-deal-holyfield, a wooden blowgun that can shoot over 20 meters. I tried it out, it was next level. I added one of those and another bamboo blowgun to the pile I intended to ship back. I headed back to Ananju Hostel, or wherever I'm staying, across from the Puduraya bus station and apparently a central part of town, and moved into the Pudu hostel. For no good reason. I gathered the rest of the stuff I wanted to send back home, picked up my laundry (mmm, clean clothes), then headed back to the shop to get the package ready to send to california.
From there, I got a sizzling beef plate in chinatown, paying 15 ringgit, which I felt was too much. The sizzling beef in Metro City in Shanghai is infinately better, and only 18 yuan. I poked my head into a temple, then bought a bus ticket to Taman Negara for tomorrow morning at the Mandarin Pacific, then slowly made my way to the Train Station. It was suffocatingly hot. I was sweating profusely and buying water and isotonic drinks every few hundred meters. I checked out the train station, beginning a futile walking tour of KL from the Lonely Planet guidebook, then crossed the street to the Islamic Center and the National Mosque. Being an infidel, it was not awe-inspiring. I took a picture of a clock that had "Times for Prayer" at different cities. I did not recognize any of the cities. I walked on to Pos Malaysia, the main post office. There was a big globe with all the petroleum-producing nations of the world highlighted. Except that it was under repair, and the giant globe hung over an empty fountain. I continued on to Masjid Negara, one of the main mosques. It was not a life-changing visit. I was ready for an air-conditioned room, or a movie, or a massage somewhere cool. Alas, I trekked, getting into a subway train for KKLC. I emerged under the Petronas Towers, the largest buildings in the world. They did not look very big, but I'm not very good at eye-balling the height of buildings above 500 meters. I walked around the upscale mall downstairs - Burberry, Cinnabon, Famous Amos Cookies, U2 - then decided to try and get to the observation deck of KL Towers, since the skyway on the Petronas Towers was closed. I made it about 200 yards before I got turned around by security in the middle of some parking lot. There was a lot of thunder and lightning, and though the thought of being in one of the tallest man-made structures in the world sounded appealing, I considered the possibility that they might not take more people up during this kind of inclement weather. I caught the MRT home and checked into my dorm room.
I headed out for dinner around 7pm and found some duck rice. Sonia turned me on to duck rice. Duck tastes very delicious if cooked right. The Chinese do a good job with it. I bought a pen at Sevvy and found a place to sit and write. Anatomy of a Malaysian Flophouse is completed, now I just need to transcribe it. I drank Carlsberg Special Brew, my new favorite beer, at an outdoor restarant near JL Penting in Chinatown. I have an early bus to Teman Negara tomorrow which I'm not looking forward to, but I know there is little I can do to get to sleep before midnight or one am. Time to go shopping for diazepam...

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - SINGAPORE to KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA- A few stops in Singapore today, tried to find a mask but they were all to expensive. After buying a nice $1 button-down shirt and getting lunch in Little India, I caught a series of buses to the Causeway (linking Singapore to Malaysia), across the causeway, then to the Johro Bahru bus station, then on to Kuala Lumpur. I like the idea of being in KL, it sounds exotic. I hope there are riots while I am here. I arrived around 7:30 and found a guesthouse to check in to. I got some dinner, more Indian food, then went to the night market to find some masks and blowguns. It is closed, so that's one of my chores tomorrow. I walked around, contemplated buying a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream; still contemplating (I deserve it). A beer at one of the sidewalk cafes sounds good too. It's hot, I'm thirsty, and Internet ain't free. Hasta...

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - TANJUNG PINANG, PULAU BINTAN, INDONESIA to SINGAPORE - I woke late, apparently not as late as I thought it was, as I didn't factor in yet another time change. I chatted with Mr. Bong, who knew a great deal about 70's and 80's music and movies. He was almost unbeatable in the song name and movie name game. I was throwing out the classics - un-skinny bop, hound dog, jesse's girl - everything I could think of. The man had done his homework. I had the feeling that Mr. Bong had little on the day's agenda, other than sitting on the sofa and playing this game with me, but I needed some breakfast and wanted to explore this fine city a bit. I had a very unrefreshing bucket shower - my first in almost 50 countries, long overdue - and headed out to change some money. I eventually got the same shitty rate I was quoted last night. I don't know who's in charge of keeping the almight Dolla at an untouchable level, but they're doing a damn shitty job. It justs keep going down, even against the f*%king Indonesian Rupiah. Yes, a currency that used to be 9,900 to the dollar is 9,260. That's money out of my pocket, which means thats money out of your pocket, because I'm going to turn this into a paysite very soon. Something along the lines of mandatory donations. I got some money, dined on some rice, curry chicken and vegetables and a kopi susu. My kopi susu has been served with much too much sweetened condensed milk lately. How has yours been?
After a little while on excruciatingly slow Internet, checking to see which ex'es were at home on messenger on Valentine's Day, I headed back to Mr. Bong's. There was a Swiss girl there. She's been biking all over the world or something. Not sure what she has to prove. I dropped some German on her to get the usual spooked reaction - But, but, you're an American!. Mr. Bong required more attention to his movie game, and I introduced him to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. He didn't like it - too complicated apprently. He stumped me with this gem - Kevin Costner and Sean Connery - (which movie title?). Robert De Niro is in it too. I got some dinner, chicken satay, roughly 12,657% cheaper than Singapore, then headed off into the sunset. I got another ferry back to singapore, and watched commercials on the bumpy catamaran. Indonesian/sinaporean commercials are not surprisingly very funny. I caught a bus to Bedok, bought some Hokkien fried prawn mee to break my ten'er and another bus to get me back to Betel Box. A nice shower and maybe I'll join them in watching a bit of Star Wars. Check it...

Monday, February 14, 2005 - SINGAPORE to TANJUNG PINANG, PULAU BINTAN, INDONESIA - Happy Black Monday. I went to the zoo and looked at many strange animals, many of which I'd never heard of before. I don't know how polar bears can exist in the tropics, but maybe they like it. I also saw a Malaysian sun bear, and lots and lots of different primates. The Singapore zoo apparently has the biggest collection of primates in the world, excluding Africa maybe. I ate a Roti John for lunch, grabbed my bags at Betel, then headed to the Tanah Merah ferry terminal. Indo baby, Indo. I got on an 8pm ferry and crossed the straight in an hour. I arrived at 8pm, the same time I left, which still continues to boggle my mind. When I begin to think about how I can leave Shanghai at 11 in the morning and arrive at 8am the same day, I lie awake dazed and confused for hours. It turned out I was at the north side - the "resort side" of the island, which meant the cheapest place to stay was around $90S. I inquired into a taxi, which was $50S and would take 90 minutes. After a few minutes of deliberation I decided I did not deserve a vacation at a nice resort. It was only a few dollars more - factoring in the cab ride, but I was in the mood to get some beers and hit the open road and head to Tanjung Pinang, the main town on Pulau Bintan. I got into a small SUV with Martin and struck up a conversation. He taught me some indispensable Indonesian Malay, and I taught him some wholesome American slang. We tried to change money over at a food stall emporium, but I didn't like the rate. Martin was hungry, and I figured this was as good a time as any to get some dinner, so we stopped about a third of the way to TP at a roadside snack shack. They tried to serve me up some chicken necks and noodles, but I kaibashed that for some mee goreng. They served me up a Tiger in a pint glass with large chunks of ice. Mmmm, cold watered down beer, muy delicioso (that's spanish for very delicious). I'm reminded of a song I learned (or learnt in Singapore) from a certain Canadian ~ Cold beer, I love you, where have you been all my life?!?! Ahem, inside joke, nevermind. We snacked on tapioca, which came in a form resembling a large tortilla chip. Whatever tapioca pudding I had as a kid has nothing to do with the tapioca here. The mee goreng was excellent. Martin ate his vociferously. Food that other people are buying for you always tastes better, I reckon. We chatted and I wrote down some more Malay and the teenagers chillin next to us laughed. I challenged their English, and apparently I'd already learned more Malay than they knew English [Ed. note: We're looking into the grammar in that sentence]. Martin and I continued on. I enjoyed the nice night drive, drinking more cheap Tiger beer, watching a large red crescent harvest moon hang on the Eastern horizon.
Soon we arrived in Tanjung Pinang, a town of 250,000 people. Martin gave me the low-down on prositution, continuing a trend of SE Asian taxi drivers and bartenders. I suppose there are certain expectations of me as a white-bread foreigner. We found a little alley where Bong's homestay was located. I was expecting something resembling a hotel or hostel, but this was just some dude's abode. He was excited to see a traveler and greeted me warmly. His English was fairly good. I signed in and saw that I was the first guest in 3 weeks. I also saw that Tony Wheeler had sent him a letter and a picture of his home, so that was a small good sign. This was the one and only place listed in the Yellow Bible. In a town of 250,000 that reaks of zero research. I kicked it with Mr. Bong (owner), who convinced me not to go out and find some action. C'est la vie.

Sunday, February 13, 2005 - SINGAPORE - I intended to get up early, and figured that would just naturally happen as I was in a 20 bed dorm room, but everyone remained quiet as mice and slept in as they should on a Sunday morning. I got up at 11 and made some toast with marmalade, a toasted peanut butter sandwich and drank two cups of coffee. In the shower I debated whether I should go to the zoo or to Changi POW museum and Pulau Ubin, an island just NW of Singapore, in between S'pore and Malaysia. I opted for the island, as I thought there might be too many people at the zoo. I think zoos are best visited during the week, when it is overcast and there is no one there and you can just chill and take it all in and not have kids running through your legs. If you want to have kids running through your legs, and if they are yours, that is one thing, but otherwise it flavor your trip a bit. They are supposed to have a really nice zoo there - it's supposed to be one of the few zoos in Asia where they don't keep the animals in small little cages, which I thought is what zoos did. I saw a poster today with a little bunny in a small cage. The poster read something like - Don't get imprisoned for your owner's crimes! Apparently it is illegal to mistreat or abandon animals here. The poster was really speaking to the bunnies, though, and I'm not sure how they'd be able to act on this bus stop poster. I was an English major, not a Pet Psychology, so it's probably best left to the boys upstairs.
I walked to the MRT, took the train to Tanah Merah, then caught a bus to the Changi Prison Museum. The POW museum is a tribute to the men and women who lost their lives while in a concentration camp of sorts during WWII. The Japs invaded Thailand a day after they bombed Pearl Harbor and worked their way down to Singapore. They occupied Singapore for three and a half years and committed the usual panoply of unspeakable acts and atrocities. Human spirit persevered and some the enterprising prisoners directed plays and musicals while others painted murals. It was an excellent, free museum, and I recommend it to anyone visiting Singapore.
I continued on to Pulau Ubin. I caught a small ferry out for a few bucks, then rented a bike and began my circumnavigation of the island. It's not big - 7kms by 3kms, and I made quick work of it. I had a shitty bike, but invested the two Singapore dollars I saved in to a fresh coconut. Mamacita hacked it served up some thirst quenching coconut splendor. I only stayed on the island for a few hours, as I ride with unflagging speed and was not intending to prolong my exposure to the midday elements while conducting strenuous exercise. I ate some duck rice back on the mainland - excellent - then stopped by my hostel, Betel Box for a shower and gear. I headed to Little India, which is supposed to resemble a Bollywood feature on Sunday night. It did. I wish I'd come to this neighborhood earlier. It was insane. It is what I expect India to be like - thousands of Indians on the street, walking hand and hand, sitting on the ground drinking tea and talking, shopping, spilling out of restaurants... I tried to find a place to eat but every restaurant was more than full. I got lost in the masses and eventually found Shur E Punjabi. They had an $8S buffet and an open table. I jumped on it. I filled my plate with their offererings, ordered up some garlic nan and set to work. After a second plate and several formulaic Indian music videos, I headed back out into the fray. I stumbled onto an alley a friend told me about. There is a seedy undercurrent of Singapore's Little India, and it has no name. The alley does not appear on any maps of the city, but is located between Desker Road and Rowell Road along Kampong Kapor Road. It is a red light district and has queues five or six people deep. Apparently, the migrant workers and lower class Singaporeans cannot afford $150S bottles of Chivas to get their hookas into the mood and just want some good cheap quick lovin. They tend to be repeat customers and will return to the same place every week at the same time. They don't mind waiting in line while others are *serviced* before them. I looked in to some rooms and saw what I was told I would see - hookers over 40 years old, transvestites and the usual SE Asian assortment of lady boys. I waited in line at a popular joint (traveler tip: always go to the places the locals go to!) but gave up after 45 minutes - I'm a busy man! Maybe it wasn't 45 minutes. I promised myself I would go back tomorrow to give myself a real Valentine. I walked on and stopped at Raja BBQ. I ordered up a ginger tea and watched two teams from Manchester, England play soccer. There were lots of people watching the TV diligently. I left at about the 70 minute mark. No one had scored. No one had come close. They showed highlights every ten minutes, and the highlights were boring. The highlights would show corner kicks and people getting tripped and nothing of any consequence. Baseball might be boring to watch, but at least there is scoring and diving catches in the outfield and beer. Soccer is an acquired taste. At least I don't call it football yet...

Saturday, February 12, 2005 - SINGAPORE - I left the Mayfair City Hotel around noon, went to the atm to pay the bill, then had some rice and curry with a coffee for breakfast. I spent the day catching up on email and finding a new place to stay. I'm at the Betel Box on Joo Chiat, a colorful street with many a KTV and overpriced pub. They have free internet and breakfast, and the dorm room is about as good as they come, though there are 20 beds in it. My Saturday night consisted of a hawker stand dinner and a coffee at a street cafe while trying to get my journal caught up to this week. Film at 11pm.

Friday, February 11, 2005 - SINGAPORE - Sonia and I tried to go to the Thieve's Market to find some cool shit. We walked down through a sleepy Chinatown and found the parking lot where the market used to be. We drank slurpees at 7-11 and decided to get into a cab and go back to our hotel to read in air-conditioned comfort.
Around six or so we caught the Metro to Tiong Bahru and bought cans of Carlsberg Special Brew at 7-11 (somehow its supposed to be cheap - on-sale for $3S. We drank them and walked to a hawker market and dined on carrot cake and duck rice. The carrot cake was not a cake and contained no carrots. I thought it was fried potatoes, as it was prepared in a large wok and looked like golden fried potatoes, but alas, it was a food of indeterminate origin. Not good, not bad, but I put it in my mouth and ate it all. We headed over to Sentosa Island, a strange magical mysteryland similar to Disneyland. There were no rides, but lots of attractions around the island - Volcanoland, an Aquarium, some resort hotels, a fake beach and other stuff we avoided. We headed for the Fountain of Light. Every night there is a musical fountain performance. The fountain is choreographed with the music, then large lasers project images on a screen of water. It was pretty cool, though the plot was geared more at three year olds. It's nice to know we have the technology. A little water monkey from the other side of the island beckoned the MC to come join him on the other side. The MC went through a little hole and into the fountain, emerging digitally. Apparently there have been some kids that have followed this storyline a little too closely and have drown in the waters on or near Sentosa Island trying to get to the other side. I love triumphs of the human spirit that end in tragedy. I mean I hate them. We drank Black Cat and coke and wandered around the park as it was closing. We found a Burger King and coaxed some free chicken fingers out of them before trekking back to the mainland.

Thursday, February 10, 2005 - SINGAPORE - After a rice and curry chicken and coffee breakfast, Sonia and I joined her parents across the street at the Asian Civilizations Museum. They had a great exhibit on Conceptual Photography from China. 58 pictures showcasing criticism of the government in one form or another. No surprise the photos were being exhibited in Singapore and not China. They only have one picture online. There were a lot of anti-McDonalds ads, which apparently represent Chinese acculturation or something. I'm no art critic though. We headed out later that night and walked along the river through the quays. There were lots of upscale restaurants. It was on par with New York in the summer or Vegas or SF. It was creepy to be somewhere so upscale and expensive and hip after slumming it through China, Thailand and Malaysia these past 8+ months. We bought cans of Carlsberg Special Brew and a bottle of Black Cat and sat by the river. We found the Liquid Bar a bit further along the river. It was a pretty nice, chill, downbeat place with a DJ and plenty of outdoor space. A glass of coke was $9 ($5USD), but two bottles of Tiger went for $10S, so ordered those and a suspicious glass of ice. Simon, our waiter, shared our contempt for the prices and didn't mind bringing us a empty glass, reminding us of their outside alcohol policy with a wink. We stayed until the beers were gone and Sonia spilled our black cat, then headed to Mohammad Sultan, Singapore's main bar street. It was ridiculously expensive. Most of the places had a line and a cover charge, though it was Thursday night and it did not look like anything was going on. We found a few places to go into and quickly kaibashed the street. I couldn't afford this place even when I was working at Y!, and for all the wankers and bad music that was being played why would I have. We cabbed home...

Wednesday, February 9, 2005 - MELACCA, MALAYSIA to SINGAPORE - Another early travel morning. The Canadians and I caught a taxi to the bus station, and a bus to Johor Bahru. I almost got left at a bus station there. We went across the causeway connection Singapore with Malaysia, exiting through Malaysian customs and going through Singapore customs. We made our way to the Mayfair City Guesthouse near City Hall and checked in after lunch. I got a very basic room with a bathroom for $30S - cheap for singapore, but expensive by SE Asian standards at $17 or so a night. It had a good location though. I waited out the hot hours of the day, then headed out to see the Chinese New Year festivities. I headed over to the Esplanade with the canadians and checked out the amusement park scene they had there. It was disconcerting. There was a fireworks show that lasted less than three minutes. At least ten thousand people were on hand in this extremely affluent asian country, and they couldn't afford more than three minutes of fireworks on the biggest holiday of their year. We walked around the eerie fair atmosphere and eventually headed into China town, which was a ghost town. I guess all the shit went down the previous night. I was unsympathetic. Sonia was sick so we made our back and all got some sleep. Chinese New Year fell inline with thanksgiving, christmas, and new years in failing to meet expectations. Why is that the random nights where you just go out for a bite and maybe a drink are more legendary than the biggest holidays you are looking forward to for months???

Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - MELACCA, MALAYSIA - Didn't do much today. Got some Roti and coffee where the locals dine, changed hotels, then did a good job of staying indoors doing the cruel, hot hours of the day. Headed out to the train station later to get my ticket to Singapore, then caught a bus to Chinatown for the New Years festivities. It was not as insane as I had hoped - Saturday night in Chinatown was too similar. Sonia and I found the Malaysians we'd met the night before and sat down to eat with them. We had some Mee Goreng and some 100, an isotonic drink. Anyone clever enough to find this site and make sense of these entries should know what isotonic means, but for those who do not, it is a synonym for isosmotic, meaning having the same concentration of solutes as the blood. Nevermind. We got some more Carlsberg Special Brew, keeping our man at the Choice Shop in biznit, and walked the length of Chinatown several times. There was a lame little show going on, the same kind I saw in Shanghai all the time: a few dancers prancing around onstage, not knowing what they're doing, bad music and unchoreographed lights. It was festive, in a very Chinese way. We drank Seven Seas with coke and met some German guys who looked like they were 14. I bought some beers at a streetside bar and we kicked it live. Sonia and I also met some Australians. Their shock at the scene was shock to us. Things got hazy towards the ends - lots of fireworks, and there was a near incident with a fire extinguisher, but I'm not yet at liberty to expound freely on all these topicas...

Monday, February 7, 2005 - PULAU BESAR to MELACCA, MALAYSIA -

Sunday, February 6, 2005 - MELACCA to PULAU BESAR, MALAYSIA -

Saturday, February 5, 2005 - TANAH RATA, CAMERON HIGHLANDS to KUALA LUMPAR, to MELACCA, MALAYSIA - I woke early and joined the Canadians at the bus station after a quick breakfast at the restaurant next to Restoran Kumar. It would have been my fourth or fifth meal at Kumar's and I should have had my last one there, on principal. Which is why I went next door, on principal. Anyhow. The ride to Kuala Lumpur was slow but very comfortable. The Canucks had chosen a VIP bus, even though there was another more reasonably priced bus leaving at the same time. $0.60 is sit E cen. We got some food stall emporium lunch, then caught another bus to Melacca. In Melacca we continued our long day's journey into afternoon with a cab to the Samudra Hostel, which was full, then walked over to the Traveler Lodge. I got a room and dozed through the hot hours of the afternoon. In the evening we all headed out towards Chinatown. Sonia and I got a tri-shaw. It was tricked out with tons of lights and fake flowers and other accroutements. We were big-pimpin downtown, all the way to Chinatown. There was a Chinese man holding a little streetside show to many a passerby. He was doing little tricks, and I got in on the action. He wanted me to throw a playing card at his face. I tried my best, but couldn't get it very close. He showed me up, possibly the first time this has happened in my life, and successfully threw several playing cards at least 30 feet up in the air. The crown roared with applause, casting a disappoined look at me. I answered back with some Chinese, and he shup up a bit, even telling the crowd that this was no half-baked American. I got on stage and played with some coconuts with him. He wanted me to put my finger through one of them. This was his whole gig, something he was just beginning to do, so I didn't want to publicly humiliate him by stealing his show. He continued for at least thirty minutes, pumping up the crowd. I prodded Sonia to yell "LESS TALK MORE ROCK", but nogo. Finally, after the lengthly wait, he put his finger through a coconut. It was an impressive feat, worthy of getting him into the esteemed Malaysian Guinness Book of World Records, but not worthy of 40 minutes of my time. Soni and I continued on, eating dim-sum and other street food. We found a Choice Shop and bought the first of many Carlsberg Special Brew (8.glorious8%!). We sat next to a bar that had live music and kicked it live. We delved into a lofty discussion on the nature of thoughts. Sonia argued that thoughts are limited by the language we apply to them. I contended that thoughts and memories both exist in a pure form free of language. We can visually recall an event, or daydream, and these do not exist in any sort of linguistic realm. We agreed to disagree, sorta. She bought some pop-pops - those little fireworks you throw on the ground. Chinatown was blowing up - near shoulder to shoulder people - and everyone seemed to be appreciating her shenanigans more than I would have expected. In America someone would have reprimanded her for a report they saw on 60 Minutes regarding these death traps. I put one in the end of my long Malayan blowgun I'd bought earlier that night and shot them into the crowd. It was a stimulating sight. We eventually continued back towards the hotel, stopping at the Maritime Museum. She called to me ~ come to me, climb my rope ladders, try to break into my Captain's Quarters. There was little I could do.
It was fun...

Friday, February 4, 2005 - TANAH RATA, MALAYSIA - I rose earlier than I would have liked - the joys of sleeping in a room with 3 other people. I dined on eggs and toast and some Cameron Highlands tea, then checked in to the Orient Hotel for a little quite and solitude. I napped for a bit after a lunch at Restoran Kumar, then went for a hike passed Robinson Waterfall and through the vegetable growing region of Cameron Highlands. I tried to go to Boh Tea Estate, but made it up the several mile ascent to find out they'd closed 40 minutes earlier. No high tea and scones for me today, such is life. I drank a warm can of Guinness at a small roadside shop, then hitched two rides back to Tanah Rata. I'm thinking its about time I get some Indian food at Restoran Kumar, then see what Friday Night at the Ranch is all about. Don't say a prayer for me now, save it for the morning after...

Thursday, February 3, 2005 - PENANG to TANAH RATA, MALAYSIA - I slept like shit in the Malaysian flophouse, lying in bed swatting at mosquitoes, sweating under my bedsheet, listening to the motorbikes upshift and downshift at all hours of the morning. At 7am my alarm did not have to do much to wake me up. It was dark out, which made me think that I had the wrong time. I showered and headed to the bus station to get a bus to Cameron Highlands. I still wasn't sure of the time. It could have been 5am. I had to wake up the chinese man sleeping on a chaise lounge in the lobby to let me out. It was 7:30 and Penang was alseep. No shops were open, few people were on the streets. In China people would have long ago finished their tai-chi, ate their xifan, read the newspaper, dropped their kids off at school and arrived at work. It was too hot to start the day so early in Malaysia. I got to the bus on time, very proud of myself for the pre-dawn accomplishment. I found a bus station cafe and ordered a cup of coffee and filled a bag with various fried items - a fried cruller to dip into the coffee, two sugar donuts, and a few hot pockets resembling an Indian samosa. I drank the coffee quickly, ordered another one to go. It came in a plastic bag. I had to drink the bagged coffee very quickly, as the bus would not allow drinks on board. The four or five other tourists figured this out the hard way as well.
The ride took six hours, half of which was spent in a semi-unconscious state. I'd had about 7 hours sleep total the last two nights and was not enjoying being up at 8am this morning. We eventually passed through Ipoh and ascended into the mountains. The road was very narrow, and we had several very close calls with the trucks descending. I figured our driver was a professional, and it wasn't that cowboy's first rodeo. I figured correctly and we arrived in Tanah Rata, the center of the Cameron Highlands at 2pm. I checked into the Cameronian and got a dorm bed, as they didn't have any regular rooms available. Tomorrow night I promised myself. I met a nice french/german couple and would see them later at the Ranch Bar. I dropped my pack and headed into town. I ate an excellent tandoori set lunch with a tea. Cameron Heights is a major tea growing region - on all the mountainsides you can see the tea bushes growing. It was a dream come true for me. I met a nice Canadian girl, six foot one, and would run into her at the bar later as well. I headed out on a trek - the region is famous for short jungle treks. I ascended a STEEP trail to Gunung Beremban, 2808 meters, then descended and returned back to the guesthouse to shower and get my team together for dinner. For lack of better options, I turned to Resoran Kumar for a similar Indian meal. It was very tasty and inexpensive. I was looking for a pub in Tanah Rata that had a Wild West theme, a mirror ball and chandaliers, played bad top 40 music and was hosted by a lady-boy. My prayers were answered when I found the Ranch Pub. I hung out with Ant and Crystal from Germany and France, Sonya from Canada and Vicky from Australia. A good time was had by all. I had a good conversation with some locals who had a lot of opinions on Malaysia. Malaysia is an interesting place, a melting pot of lots of cultures, as cliche as that is to say. Returned home at an hour not usually described as godly.