The chilled out vibe started as soon as I got my taxi into town. The taxi driver was super relaxed, and to round things off, he followed the Malaysian custom of randomly punctuating his conversation with “la”.
“La” is kind of the Swiss Army knife for the Malaysian language – covering everything from agreement, DIS-agreement, indecision, anger, happiness, and everything in between. And, not to be confined to merely one language, the Malays often use it in English, giving a lilting, poetic feel to the conversation.
This really doesn't translate to writing, but this is a small sample: “So, la, I moved from Kubu-la because, la, there were too many other drivers, la.” I even gotten into the swing – nodding knowingly and saying (what else?)... “La.”
So, the trip was off to a good start. I popped into the Bedz hostel, where the basic name belied the great value; for the princely sum of $15, I got another immaculate room with the blessing of uber-powerful AC.
The next day was more of a “getting to know the city” session – I started with Lonely Planet's walk through Chinatown and an early breakfast of the region's signature dish of kokok gee. Tasty – with a bunch of noodles and seemingly the kitchen sink thrown in.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. I just kept popping in and out of the city's many odd alleys and temples...
...walked along the renovated riverfront, and finally retreated from the heat by ducking into the Hilton.
I know, I know – not particularly culturally adventurous but what can I say? I'm a sucker for good AC.
I redeemed myself with dinner though – walking up, up, and UP a bunch of stairs to the “Top Spot”, a collection of seafood stalls around a cheerful chaos of tables. It was absolutely worth it, as I ended up with an entire black pepper crab to myself, combined with brilliantly sauteed local vegetables and a beer for about £6. You have to love Asia.
The next day was fantastic as well, as I was able to squeeze in a bunch of fun stuff before I had to fly out to Singapore.
It started in the morning with freshly-made pork bao puns at the locals-only restaurant, and then I met up with our day tour group.
Now, normally, I'm generally a very independent traveller, and absolutely loathe the idea of blindly a tour guide holding a guiding umbrella aloft from sight to sight. But this tour was different – nice, mellow, and very laid back.
Our first stop was the legendary orangutan rehabilitation center... where they raise and release orangutans into the wild to rebuild the population. The bonus for the tourist? You get to see them up close and personal at feeding time – their human-like expressions are incredible, and they are often remarkably cheeky with each other.
I've also found a contender for the “Best Job in the Whole World”. Ritchie is the dominant male at the center. However, without predators, he just gets to hang out and impress the ladies.. Nice gig, huh?
We saw a half dozen other ones too – from a mom and her baby, to a male who just hung out about 15 feet away. Who was studying whom?
And of course, the young ones stole the show – check this little guy out... I think every guy in the place was wincing the entire time he struck this pose:
Oh, and did I mention cheeky? One young adult cottoned on to the fact that rather than forage, it was sooo much easier to just swipe the baby's food. He even mastered the “who, me?” expression of injured innocence.
The rest of the day was spent kayaking down a mellow river. No Class V rapids or anything, but as far as a great way to explore the countryside, this couldn't be beat.
We even got to check out a local village waiting for our guide, and I ended up taking some pics of the local schoolkids, who were born hams for the camera:
Once on the river, our first stop had us hanging out with some of the locals sampling everything from soursop fruit (delicious) to local pepper and a bunch of herbs, with some rice wine to top things off.
Throw in a beach lunch stop and some time for jumping off a log, and it was a good day all around...
My last night in Kuching? I admit it, I easily get caught in a rut – and headed back to the Top Spot. With that much choice and a great view to boot, I couldn't resist. In this case, it was corn/crab soup and sauteed cuttlefish in chili... mmm.
To close the loop of my time in Malaysia, I got to spend some time back where I started in Singapore. This time around, I wasn't fired up to see anything in particular; I just wanted to explore a bit more of the city.
So, after dropping my bags off, I headed back downtown to go check out the rest of the Colonial district. There were yet more massive malls (surprise, surprise), a ferris wheel (although London's is bigger [hee, hee], even an equally massive good luck fountain:
Once again, I left firmly convinced that the Singaporeans live to shop. Period. I'm not opposed to malls and such, but man, how much time can you spend just wandering around looking and buying stuff?
More interestingly, my next leg took me to (yes, overused word alert) MASSIVE new casino/living complex called the Marina Bay Sands. Three towers supported a fully-fledge park on the top level, it's pretty stunning...
The hotel's not fully open yet, and as your shorts-wearing correspondent, I wasn't able to pop my head into the casino. But with 550,000 visitors in the first three weeks, I'm willing to guess it's pretty posh.
Finally, I just headed back to Chinatown. While I avoided shopping, I finally gave in and got a seriously short haircut... clippers only. I guess my thinking was pretty basic... “must... get... rid... of as much heat as possible”. With so much skin exposed on my noggin, I think I'm on the right path!
With most of my last day in Singapore to kill before my flight, I decided to head over to Changi Airport early and just relax. It sounds weird to include relaxation and airport in the same sentence, but Changi does things absolutely right.
For anyone cursed with having to fly out of dull and dingy Heathrow or Gatwick, check out the amenities:
- free wifi
- free movies in a theater, 24 hours a day
- showers
- free butterfly garden
- tasty AND non-overpriced food
I had experienced all of this my first time through in 2009. But Changi had one more secret that elevated it into a backpacker's paradise... I wandered into the duty-free liquor store, and saw they had a cabinet with some bottles of whisky, port, and brandy with little plastic cups.
No attendants, no ID checks or pressure to buy. Nope, this was the rarest of all things... a SELF-SERVICE whisky bar. Brilliant.
21 year Chivas, 18 year MacCallan, Johnny Walker Green Label... and so on. I can't say I drank a lot, but it was an amazing way to sample some otherwise pricey booze. Lovely way to end my first leg of my trip, and send me on my way to Hong Kong.
Oh, and to finish on a Malaysian note... la.
1 comment:
Whisky. Me = Jealous.
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