Singapore and a crappy airline

Singapore is awesome.

That's pretty much the best way to put it. Other fitting descriptors would be 'expensive', 'ultra-modern', or 'fascinating'... but 'awesome' probably best encompasses all of those things. We showed up a couple of days ago and found a nice and relatively affordable hotel with modern amenities like a flat screen TV, A/C, and hot water... the first time we've had any of those things in 2 months. The 'MRT', which is Singapore's subway system, is cheap, fast, and made for easy transportation all over the city. Our first night we just hung around Little India and enjoyed the urban environment. The next day we met a friend of Michelle's Aunt and Uncle that took us to see her home on Sentosa Island, and then to what was indisputably the best meal of the entire trip. After lunch we went to the local aquarium, which was another awesome experience (Thanks again Bonnie!!) The next couple of days were spent checking out the waterfront areas, strolling the nice tourist areas and side streets, and taking a great city tour. The whole experience was awesome, and Singapore has beaten Bangkok for the best city on the trip so far.

One of the most interesting things about this place, at least to me, is how successful it is without having conformed to the rules that most western countries conform to. It is thoroughly modern, with all the amenities found in Europe and the US. It has a welfare system, subsidized housing for the poor, one of the most free economies in the world, and an average income per-capita of $50,000... all signs of a thriving State. Politically, however, it's a very intense single party system that has virtually no opposition. There is very little political freedom, nor has there ever been, and Singapore is notorious for it's odd practices like public canings and huge fees for seemingly arbitrary acts (sitting in the back of a truck with your head to high, carrying durian (a type of fruit) on the subway, etc). $1000 seems to be a pretty common fee amount for almost anything and consequently crime is absolutely non-existent. But what's great about the whole system is that it really works. Everyone seems happy, the streets are clean and crime free, and nobody seems to mind a little less political freedom when more tangible benefits such as health, safety, and money are easy to come by. Funny how that works. The city seems to be a great example of the 'other' way to become successful.

In other news, our flights got screwed up. Air Asia took the liberty of canceling our flight to the Middle East (not just the flight, but service to the entire area). Since we already have our flights within the Middle East (and home) booked, we have to go there... and our biggest flight into that area was of course the one that got canceled. Flights from Malaysia to Dubai are ridiculously expensive, so the entire ordeal will cost us a descent amount of money. On the plus side, however, we found that the cheapest way to get over there is to take a small budget flight from Malaysia to India, then make our way by land to Mumbai and fly from there to Oman. This method will save hundreds of dollars in flights, and we also get to go to India, which we wanted to do anyway. Exciting!

Finally, all pictures are up. Indonesia (Sumatra) is completely up to date, and all our pictures from Singapore are up too.

Adventures while Jason was Sick

Today we arrived in Singapore! I've been really excited to come here because my Uncle Bill and Aunt Lucy used to live here, and I've been hearing about it since I was very young. We are staying in Little India and haven't gotten to do much yet, but tomorrow are meeting with a friend of my aunt's who is going to show us around a bit. It should be a nice treat!

It was a bit sad to leave Sumatra--probably the hardest it has been to leave any place so far. We spent our last few days at Lake Maninjau, which is another crater lake. Unfortunately, Jason was sick the whole time so we didn't do very much. However, we had a cabin with a porch less than 20 feet from the water, so it's not a bad place to just sit. And it rained a LOT. It definitely made up for the 2 1/2 months that we didn't see a drop. Bingo, the man who owned the homestay, was wonderful! I enjoyed some nice conversations with him, and got to use the kitchen and cook with him a bit. One day I decided to occupy myself by going to town and getting ingredients to make chicken quesadillas while Jason rested. Iwan, one of the guys who worked at the homestay, offered to take me on the motorbike and help me get what I needed, and we had a great time driving around. We stopped and got vegetables and fruit, and then I said I needed chicken. Iwan took me to the home of an older couple and we walked around back to the large chicken coop. I figured they raised the chickens and kept the already prepared ones in their home, but Iwan told me, "You can choose your chicken." I couldn't bring myself to choose which chicken would be my dinner so I let the old woman pick one, and watched as she slit its throat over a sack her husband held. The sack became red as the chicken flopped around, and after a few minutes it was still. I almost lost it when they took the bloody chicken out--until a few months ago I didn't eat meat and this was a bit much for me! Fortunately she skinned it for me and put it in a plastic bag. We ate it less than 2 hours after it was killed--probably the freshest chicken I've ever had! Slightly traumatic but an interesting experience--Jason was disappointed he missed it.

Last night we encountered our first unpleasant Indonesian. We took a long and chaotic bus ride to Pekanbaru, which is where we flew out of this morning. Apparently we reached an area where almost no one knew English, and took about 30 minutes trying to convey we wanted to go to a hotel. We finally got a cabdriver who could take us there--he didn't speak a word of English but was very nice and took us to a hotel and then to KFC. The meter on the cab had been running the whole time, but when we came out of KFC we noticed it had been turned off. When we reached the hotel I handed him 50,000 rupiah, which is what the fare should have been based on the meter (a little over $5 US.) He shook his head at me and said he wanted 150,000! I shook my head and tried to hand him the correct amount again. He became quite agitated and slammed his wallet down on the roof of his car. Jason and I walked toward our hotel and fortunately the owner, who spoke good English, came out. We explained the situation and he spoke to the cab driver and told us we were right, but the cab driver refused to leave. He came to our door and continued to demand more money. Jason offered another 10,000 and he wouldn't take it. After about 15 minutes of talking with him and the owner, Jason said he would give him 20,000 more, but if he wouldn't take it he was closing the door and eating dinner. The guy finally accepted and Jason handed him the money with his hand out to shake it. The cab driver grabbed the money and yanked on Jason's arm. I probably would have hit him, but Jason only lost his temper a little and called him a bad word in English. Apparently he used the one English word the guy knew, because he lunged at him. Fortunately the owner was between them and ushered the guy out. Other than him we've only encountered wonderful people! Sumatra is the place, more than any on the trip, that I wish everyone I know could see. I guess that's part of why it's so great though, there are so few tourists there.

The next month is going to move rather quickly--we only have a few days here, then fly to Jakarta to work our way through Eastern Indonesia. We are working on putting pictures up now that include orangutans from our trek and both of the lakes. Jason is fortunately feeling much better and we're hoping for good health for awhile! It's difficult to stay healthy out here, we're always eating weird things.

Welcome to the Jungle

We've been in Indonesia for almost a week now, and it's been one of the best of the trip! From the moment we walked off the plane we have encountered the kindest people of the whole trip. Even the immigration officials in the airport were welcoming! We spent our first 2 nights in Medan, which is the 3rd largest city in the country. Many people and the guidebook described it as too chaotic and haven't enjoyed it, but we liked Medan quite a bit. Everyone on the street was saying hello to us and wanted to know where we were from. We hardly saw another foreigner there.

While there we gathered some info on Bukit Lawang, which is the small town on the edge of Gunung Leuser National Park. This is one of 2 places left in the world where orangutans live in the wild, and there is also a wildlife center to help rehabilitate them. We chose a 2 day/1 night trek into the jungle that included rafting down the river the second day. The trek was the best we've ever done!! On the first day we saw 5 orangutans including 2 babies, and got to watch them for quite awhile. It was an extraordinary experience to be so close to them in the wild rather than just seeing them in a zoo. We also saw Thomas Leaf Monkeys. That night when we reached camp it started to rain a bit, and immediately 3 Monitor Lizards came out. They're huge! This was the first rain we'd seen since November 16th and was really refreshing! We spent the night under a tarp on the ground but slept great. The next day we were fortunate to see some black gibbons (a kind of monkey) which we were also quite close to. At the end of the trek we tubed down the rapids of the river in inner-tubes tied together. The trek was quite hard and I was clearly not in shape for it, but seeing the animals and being in a real rain forest was really incredible! The humidity in the jungle was unbelievable, as Jason said it felt like you were taking a drink with every breath. It made breathing a bit hard at times (or maybe I'm just that out of shape!).

Now we are in Danau Toba (Lake Toba), which is a huge crater lake with an island the size of Singapore in the middle. We are staying on the island and it's lovely! Last night we stayed in our cheapest room yet--$2.50 for the two of us, and it was quite clean and nice! The owner of our hotel is so friendly and hospitable, it's a nice change from a lot of what we've encountered in other countries. We will probably rent a motorbike one day and travel around the island, do some swimming and hiking, and lots of relaxing! It will be our first motorbike encounter since the crash at the beginning of the trip, but we'll be careful and the conditions will be better! It's so green and beautiful here, hopefully we can get some pictures that capture it. Internet is quite slow so our pictures from the trek may not be posted for a bit.

Unfortunately we only have about 10 more days on Sumatra (the island of Indonesia that we're on). I think we could spend a lot more time here, it's my favorite place so far on the whole trip. From here we will spend a few days in Singapore and then fly to Jakarta and head through Eastern Indonesia. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the country is like!

Departing Thailand, Arriving Indonesia

Well it's about time to leave Thailand. We've been here 3 separate times now, totaling around 40 days, and we're ready to move on. The last few weeks have been spent in typical southern Thai fashion- on the beach. It tops 90 degrees everyday even during this (the cold part of the year) and the water temperature is perfect. The beaches were great, and we're super glad we came, but the sheer number of tourists here is a bit aggravating. Things are consequently more expensive, and the Thais in general have a tendency to try and rip tourists off. We were outright lied too on multiple occasions in an attempt to get extra money out of us- it worked the first time and the first time only.

Anyway, we spent the first 6 days on Ko Lanta, a beautiful little island with a very laid back feel. We didn't do much. We were told there wasn't any snorkeling off the beach (an attempt to get us to buy a snorkeling package offshore), but we went exploring anyway and found, among other things, thousands of fish, coral, 2 puffer fish, crabs, and best of all a gorgeous spotted moral eel. Not bad for there not being anything to see.

After 6 nights on Lanta, we moved to Railay. Railay isn't exactly an island in the traditional sense. It's actually a peninsula, but the part of it connected to the mainland is 100% blocked off by limestone cliffs, so everything has to be brought in by boat and it's just as isolated as an island would be. We chose to go to Railay because it has world-class rock climbing, and we spent a full day climbing routes and then quite a bit more time bouldering. It was a blast, and the only place we've been climbing where you see world class beaches and beautiful oceans from the top of a climb.

We are in Phuket, Thailand right now and we fly to Medan, Indonesia (Sumatra) tomorrow. Volcanoes, crater lakes, orangutans and lush rain forests (not to mention very few tourists) await, so we are looking forward to it!

The itinerary on this page has been updated through the end of the trip, and all pictures thus far have been uploaded. Also, I got a pretty good reaction out of the pictures last time, so here is a link to the 'select' pictures from Thailand in an easy-to-view form.

Pictures from Thailand

Thanks for reading!

Big News!!

Well, we finally finalized the rest of our trip plans! We'll spend the next few months in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia as planned. Then on April 11 we are flying to Abu Dhabi, UAE. We'll travel there and to Oman, then fly from Dubai to Amman, Jordan. From there we'll travel Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, then fly to New York from Cairo on June 16! A big change in the itinerary but we're really excited about it, and all of our tickets are booked so it's a done deal! This will make the trip about 9 months which I think will be a good length for both of us. Right now we're on the beach in Koh Lanta, Thailand, and have spent the last couple of days snorkeling, so not too shabby! Thanks for everyone's compliments on the blog and pictures, glad everyone is enjoying them!

Picture Update

As I mentioned in the post yesterday, I've put together an easier-to-view version of all our Myanmar pics. I put up about 150 (down from 600) pictures in an album on Facebook; they should be easier to view, faster to load, and you don't need a Facebook account to see them. Just use the link below- thanks!

Click here for pics

annnd... we're back!

Hello everyone! It's been quite awhile since we last updated. My apologies for the delay, we've heard reports of lots of people asking where we've been. We appreciate that! The reason for no blog updates is that we've been in Myanmar, and the government of that country does an exceedingly good job of blocking foreign websites/influences within their borders. Our blog was blocked, as were all blogs, so we simply couldn't do anything. E-mail access was sporadic... gmail worked in quite a few places, but hotmail rarely worked at all and only by accessing via a certain roundabout web address. Anyway, despite that, Myanmar was truly amazing- one of those places that is very unlike anywhere else. There are an infinite number of little oddities that can only arrise in a country blocked and sanctioned by the entire international world.

Our adventure started right as we arrived, when we realized that their money system is seriously screwed up. Hotels take US Dollars and US dollars only. Restaurants and most (but not all) other services only take Kyat (local currency, pronounced chee-it). There are no ATM's in the entire country, and banks can't give money out of US banks because they are sanctioned by us (I had no access to my Chase or Bank of America accounts online, either). We knew those facts in advance and brought a lot of US$, but changing money was a pain. The main reason? The bills must be perfect. Any American money most be absolutly flawless or no one will take it at all, even currency traders in the banks. A scratch, a pinprick, dirt, even a barely noticable crease and they will be turned down flat, and they scrutinize every single bill you have. All banks are government owned, so we assume this is a government rule. To spend the US$, they would have to change or filter it in a relatively friendly country like China, who is probably very aware of counterfeit money. It's quite amazing to pay for something with a near perfect $100 bill (over a months wages for most Myanmar citizens, easy) and have it turned down. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Kyat is hands down the most worn down, nasty currency I've ever seen. Bills are ragged, torn, covered in tape, and often not worth the paper their printed on.

Another of the more constant menaces in the entire country was the lack of consistent power. If one sound will stay in my memory from the trip, it will be the omnipresent sound of diesel generators. Yangon (the capital) is a city of over 5 million people, and yet power is sporadic at best, probably adding up to around 5 hours a day. Standing on the roof of a huge city and looking out over a pitch black city is an eerie site, perfectly illustrating the incompetance and idiocy of the Burmese military government. Truly sad.

From the perspective of the government, the entire country is merely a company: a means of profit. The government was directly involved in all production. I'm not talking about subtle guidance of vital industries, but directly creating goods in an attempt to drive the compeition out of business. Water, beer, jelly, transportation, hotels... virtually any industry or sector of the econmy is dominated by the government, and taxes on private enterprise are so high as to make most competition fold immediatly. We talked (very privately) with many people who mentioned this to us, including an artist on the street who was trying to sell paintings without having bought a ridiculously expensive liscense (he said they would take his motorbike and paintings if he were caught, which is nearly all of his worldly posessions). The taxes on hotels are so high that only a few can afford to be open, as they have to stay at near full capacity to make any money. This made finding a not fully booked hotel a pain, despite the fact that there were virtually no tourists.

All this makes Myanmar and the Burmese government sound terrible. Well, the government is terrible, but the country itself was amazing. The people were probably the nicest group of folks we've ever met. The scenery was absolutly fantastic; the 4000+ temples of Bagan may be one of the most impressive sights I've ever seen. In fact, Michelle and I both agree that it was far more impressive than the already magnificent Angkor Wat we saw a couple months ago. We visited Inle Lake, a beautiful body of water hemmed in by mountains, where the locals live on stilted houses over the water, miles from any shore. They make their living fishing, and occasionally selling goods to any tourists that manage to make it all the way out there. We bought some cool stuff! All over the country we had many in depth conversations and interesting experiences with the locals, including monks that gave us personal tours with no interest in money and lunch provided by monestaries and meditation centers simple because we came by. Even the powerless, dirty cities of Mandalay and Yangon were great because of how different they are from any other city we've ever seen (or are likely to anytime soon).

I can't really describe how pretty some of these places are, and I can't describe the atmosphere the whole country had. Because of that, I won't say any more, I just hope my pictures can do a slightly better job of showing how great of a country Myanmar is (and can be). We took and kept 600 shots, which I split up between 2 folders that you'll see to the right. I'm in the process of uploading them right now. I know most people have neither the time nor the interest to sort through 600 pics, so in the next day or so I'm going to take a much smaller selection of my best pictures and put them up seperately and in an easier to see way. I'll post again with the link to that when it's ready! In the mean time, if anyone wants to know anything about the country, our trip there, or anything at all,. feel free to comment on this! We'll respond, I promise.

We're in Bangkok right now, and tomorrow we are heading south to the famed beaches of the area for snorkeling, lazing around, and rock climbing over some crystal clear waters. Not bad for January, not bad at all.