Romania 2001

Travel tips

10 August 2001 09:00

Singapore:

The LP book is a bit out of date. The building with the hostels I tried to find (with hostels on the 4th and 7th floors) has been closed to foreigners staying there. The building is too hazardous.

The nice guy at one of them who spoke English took me over to the Waterloo Hostel which is in a building owned by the Catholic church and so (apparently) has not been closed because the government wouldn't dare. So I got accomodation before midnight local time. A bit more expensive than I was looking for but it was quite good, basically a cheap hotel room, and they provided a toast, eggs and fruit breakfast as part of the deal ("for free").

The local shops seemed to only open at 10am. The next day I moved to the Hawaii (?) Hostel which was a lot cheaper but had communal showers, toilets. The air conditioner (essential equipment) was very dodgy with controls seemingly not working consistently and performance sometimes just OK and sometimes non-existant.

The Night Safari took a long time to get to (and I'm really glad those mass transit things and the buses are aircon'ed) but I was disappointed by the food I tried there. Same meal as earlier in the day in Malaysia but rice and duck were just not anywhere near as nice. (And as for the stupid foul iced lemon tea crap...) I'm not completely convinced that more can be seen of "nocturnal" animals by seeing them at night, tho.

The room where I was at the Hawaii Hostel had no window and that caused a bit of anxiety when my watch stopped, having not been wound since I left NZ. Got to the airport OK (and on time) though. Just found a bus stop which said it had the M36 or whatever. I remember thinking that the LP book listed the wrong number.

I feel like I didn't see very much and huge amounts of time seemed to just vanish travelling around the place. I partly blame the oppressive humidity. When it rained it was quite heavy but easy to find somewhere to hide for a while (eg, bookshop or Internet cafe).

Malaysia:

Caught an air conditioned bus over there [from Singapore] no trouble. No good signage about how to get back again. Eventually I figured it out, partially with the help of a (rare) English speaking local [who looked Indian]. Cross the railway/main road, so you're heading back on the left. Sounds easy, don't it? Not in my humidity befuddled state that day.

The difference between Malaysian and Singapore customs is amazing... or something.

Bangkok:

I first picked up a tourist map inside the airport. It was fantastic and I didn't need any other map while I was there. Get at least two copies.

There are three (or maybe four now) buses that head from the airport to different parts of the city. They are numbered A1, A2 and A3. I think I caught the A3. It was quite easy to find and the girls selling tickets understood just enuf of what I was saying to tell the driver where I wanted to get off. When he stopped I had no idea at all that's what he had stopped for. Ever had a bus driver jabbering at you expectantly (in a completely unknown language) with the rest of the bus looking at you also expectantly? So I got off a block further down when I saw the number of the next side street. Returning to the airport I flagged the A3 down at a suitable bus stop and bought a ticket on board.

Side streets have the same name as the main street they come off but are numbered odd/even sides. The place I stayed at was on number 13 off one of the main shopping streets, and I think was called the Miami Hotel, for 550 baht/night ($30/night). It was quite easy to find. I did not swim in the pool or drink the water. It was the first time I've brushed my teeth with Raspberry Fanta!

I also found another Hotel (can't remember the name if it wasn't Hawaii) on number 1 side street off the same main street. It's a lot further down the sidestreet than the LP book shows. It was just slightly cheaper but I couldn't be bothered moving from where I was for the amount I'd save. The room I was shown also didn't have a nice view of the pool.

The light rail system was quite good but probably doesn't go far enuf. The only buses I was brave enough to try were the airport buses. I did not try the three wheeled things. The prices some of their drivers were yelling at me were VERY suspect, but I never felt threatened anywhere, but I also didn't get my vid cam out whereever I wanted.

A couple of things I wish I'd photographed were a couple of roughly 12 year old buddhist monks walking down the sloping side/curb of a stairway instead of down the stairway itself [basically just being kids, not "monks"], and (later) a couple of older monks using a telephone booth outside the monk house in a downpour. One was inside the booth and the other was holding a large umbrella just outside. Very funny.

Take a lightweight but very waterproof rain jacket because when it rains it really pours. I think I liked Bangkok more than Singapore because although it was hotter it was a fair bit less than 99% humidity. Remember to drink PLENTY. I also seem to have seen a lot of Bangkok, and walked at least 10km on the full day I was there.

I saw the Golden Mount (and connected monk house), and the Giant Swing Thing, plus a couple of really big roundabouts with things in the middle of them. From the top of the Golden Mount I could see most of the other monk places so there didn't seem any reason to go to them. I felt I saw a lot even so.

McDonalds in Bangkok has pineapple juice as a standard menu item!!! I didn't eat any "ethnic" meals while I was there, for some reason.

Hope that keeps you going for a while. I'm going to Sibiu tomorrow to track down a child that a woman in my church sponsors.

La revedere.

Ian
8 )

Previous | 2001 Index | Next

Contact:
Return to ianman HOME | Return to top