Part II

Singapore - Eating and camera shopping.

I am at the cozy corner back packers. It's ok. Good location, not too expensive, free broadband. They have what is supposed to be a bar up on the roof... except they've put beds up there too. Strange thing is no one seems to hang out up there so I went up and did some gongs, then the dude came up to show some people around and they though I was mad. Not surprising really, I would have looked like some tripped out hippy doing a silly dance. Was a nice spot for Qigong though, the lighting of the surrounding buildings developed an interesting scifi special effect like quality. There's a massive samoan dude in my dorm room, he snored all night and it sounded like an angry bear... oh, for a quiet bungalow on the beach.

Singapore is busy, hot and humid. It about 32 degrees here apparently, bit more full on than the pleasant 27 of Brisbane. The food is nice though, very tasty in fact and can be got for $3 in the right place. Can actually drink the water here too. Had a delicious yet savagely hot laksa yesterday which did a good job of sorting out the temperature issues. Had a tasty seafood noodle dish last night too. There are no mozzies or any other flying biting critters that I've encountered thus far. Government must have eradicated them all. I'm suffering from the hammering I took from the mozzies and midgies at Moreton though. Looks like I've got the pox.

I am trying to find a camera which is something of a mission. Can get them cheaper at home than a lot of the shops are offering here, I tell them that so they tell me to buy it at home...

Gotta watch out for dodgy money changers. I had one try to short change me by $100 on a $200 transaction. Greedy little tosser, if he tried for a few bucks he might have got away with it.

Looking forward to get out of this busy metropolis. Heading off to Sumatra by dodgy ferry on friday if all goes according to plan.. Apparently its cheaper to fly but its just not the same now, is it.

* leaves the sanctuary of Cozy Corner to do battle with the megalopolis *

Wicked, I now have a camera. May it function flawlessly for the rest of the journey and beyond. Shopping gives me the sh!ts, can never find what I want. Should have brought a chick with me...

I've run into 4 kiwis since I got here, yet I havent talked to many people, maybe its just that kiwis are friendlier than others of european descent.

It's getting hot again. Time for some more spicy food!

Jumped on the MRT to Orchard Road where well dressed people shop for the trappings of their materialistic lifestyles. I was there for another purpose, the nearby Fort Canning park. This provided a welcome respite to the general busyness, so I hung out there for hours. There are mozzies here after all, they attacked en masse while I was buzzing out to a particularly cool bas-relief depicting 14th century Singapore. Complete with monkeys, topless women and marauding Portugese seamen. I saw the first animal since I'ver been here... a cat. Ah, thats right, I saw some strange rodent like creature climbing a tree too. I would have gone to the rainforest park that has light fingered macaques but I stuffed around too much and didnt have time to venture into the burbs.

Had one of the best Qigong sessions ever while the sun went down. The colours of the park were incredible, from the red path to the varieties of green foliage including dayglo. The ground was hard but I managed to leave 10 mm deep foot prints behind. While wandering around in the dark I ran into some hindus (I think they were) burning candles and incense at some kind of holy place in the park where its a good spot to ask for favours apparently... although your're not actually allowed to burn incense there as its a heritage spot. Fair enough, I'd do so too... I did refrain from joining their little ritual however as I learnt my lesson re: asking favours of foreign deities the first time I went to Thailand.

There was a light house there in the park too. I don't know why, I couldnt see the ocean, just a murky sea of office towers.

There are chinese healers all over the place, saw one fulla sitting there with a jar of beans, a picture of the human digestive system at which he gesticulated mysteriously and a PA. Found a palmists stand too but he wasn't there.. bummer, wanted to ask him why my heart line is wrapped around my head line.

Time to have a kai. Did I mention the food is really nice...

Same the snoring samoan was in fine form my last night, sounded like the old man after a p!ss up.... so I slept on the roof. Wasn't too bad actually.

Sumatra - culture shock

Salamut pagi. I am now at Bukittinggi, Sumatra which is in Indonesia for those geographically challenged.

If you want to really through yourself in at the deep end, catch a ferry into Indonesia with no guide book! I caught the early ferry to Batam, the island group closest to singapore hoping to link with a domestic ferry that day to Sumatra. This was always going to be a tight connection but the VOA desk had pc issues and it took about half an hour to get my visa. They hand wrote it in the end. I got through immigration and discovered that no, there is no domestic terminal nearby, its at the other end of the island.

Batam is a dirty over crowded dump of a place and very few people speak english, those that do can do so barely. I chilled out in a cafe for an hour of so formulating a plan. The dude at the terminal information counter was resonably helpful, although they don't actually have any information there. He kept trying to sell me air tickets. I got a taxi into Jodoh (means mate apparantly) which is the CBD and sussed out my ferry tickets for the next day. Nothing to do but hang out for a day, the only white man in town. I got used to my celebrity status resonably quick. I found a tout, he appeared to be the only tout in town and had that woe begone tout look. He took me to a bookshop hidden away in a run down building. Sorted, I now had a dictionary and thus a means of communication. There was no internet facilities in sight. I checked into a mid range hotel, a bit Gucci for me but there was an abundance of them and nothing else. Dunno why anyone would want to stay there, maybe its a god place for singaporeans to get on the p1ss. The room was nice and rather peaceful until drunken asian women came in at 3am making a hell of a racket.

The fast ferry to Dumai was sweet. They're sleak little things and go pretty damn fast which is a good thing cos its a long way to Dumai, 7 hours in fact. They're air con and got comfy seats so no worries there. Indonesians are dirty buggers, they don't care about litter, it all just goes over the side, of off the pier, the street, doesn't really matter. Saw a dude catch a reasonable size fish off the wharf at one of the stops. Dunno if I'd like to eat what comes out of that muddy brown sea though.

From Dumai, a rather uninspiring place, I booked a bus ticket. I nearly pissed in these fullas well cos I asked for the toilet and it consisted of a concreted enclosure with a well in the middle. Not even a squatting pan. It some how didn't seem right to piss in the well so I asked this young fulla and it turns out you do you business on the concrete and wash it away, just as well I didn't need to take a dump.
They crammed 10 adults, 2 kids a TV and a dude hanging out the door, into a little van and took us to the bus station. The bus trip to bukittinggi was wicked. The road, which is a main one was little more than single lane with loads of trucks on it. There was an awesome thunder storm for half the trip. The trip took all night and wound its way through the jungle over a mountain range. I couldnt see most of this however for it was dark. We stopped at one stage in the middle of the jungle and it was nice chilling out to the sounds of the jungle. I think the bus was having issues cos we stopped somewhere else for ages too. Buskers come on the bus when it has a scheduled stop and they're pretty good too. They don't seem to botther with handbrakes here, just chuck a rock under the front wheel.

Went past some industrial complex (pulp n paper mill maybe?) pumping vast amounts of acrid white smoke from too big smoke stacks. I feel sorry for the people that live down wind from it, it was a couple of ks off and the smell was intense.

There are mosques everywhere, with mullas issuing fatwas (or whatever it is they do) from loud speakers on the tower. This is the most populous islamic nation on the planet after all. They come in modern metallic designs and old school tiled designs. There are huge fanciful mosques and run down rusty provincial mosques.

Bukittinggi is nice, apparently its touristy, I've only seen 2 others of european descent though. It's situated up in the hills. I've got another mid range hotel with an awesome view, this time by choice, getting used to a bit of "luxury". It has an excellent spot for qigong, right out front, overlooking an impressive jungle shrouded mountain vista. It's nice to have access to internet again too. Feels weird to be out of touch in this day and age. It a beautiful day here, not too hot either. I seem to have acclimatised really well. Must be qigong connecting me to the environment, I just seem to do one session in a place and the temperature is fine.

Going to stay put for a couple of days here, It's picturesque, laid back and actually has some facilities. Maybe if I'm luck, I'll actually find a map.