I arrived at the capitol of Malaysia around lunchtime yesterday. Made my way to Chinatown where I had one hostel reserved, but I was having trouble finding it and another one I came across had an empty room so I took it. Kuala Lumpur is a bustling city with a ton of diversity. It is in some ways advanced yet still has a wild-west feel a little bit. Honestly, my first impression is that it was a blend of Nairobi and Hong Kong.
Yesterday I spent most of my time wandering around. I went to the Petronas twin towers but couldn't get a ticket to the top so I went up the "KL Tower" instead, which is a really tall spire w/ a rotating restaurant at the top. Got a good view of the city that way but it was foggy so pictures probably aren't fantastic. After that, I went down on a hike on the side of a hill in a sort of nature-preservie-type-area (as much as there could be one in the middle of a city).
That night I asked the taxi driver to take me to "a good authentic Malaysian restaurant". He took me to this place, the name of which I tweeted earlier, that I quickly discovered was a total tourist trap. The food was dumbed down for a Western palate, and there were some "ethnic" performances that seem somewhat contrived. I was disappointed - will hopefully do better tonight.
During the day today I did some walking and then went to some caves, pictures of which I will post soon. The caves were originally the location of a Hindu shrine, although I think its been tourist-ized to some extent now.
I was originally going to take a sleeper train into Thailand but unfortunately I delayed and the tickets are sold out. I secured a last minute flight for not too much that will go direct from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket island, which is in southern Thailand, a good resort area with some beaches and maybe snorkeling.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
I figured out what was wrong with my craps game:
wrong continent.
I had two errands to do last night. First of all, my debit card got eaten by an ATM machine immediately upon arrival in Singapore. I am not quite sure why, but I was confused by the screen format and it was sending me mixed signals. In the time it took me to figure out what was going on it ate my card.
I have two other credit cards and another debit card but the backup debit card account is the one with only a token emergency reserve of money. I was thinking about alternative plans. Meanwhile, I wanted to go to the top of the boat-shaped hotel (the same one from the daytime) for night-time pictures and a drink.
Incidentally, the casino I went to on the first night is attached to the boat-hotel. I also knew that a casino can charge a credit card and return cash; the fee here was 2.3%, not an atrocious deal. So after enjoying the view at night and having a drink I headed down to the casino and took out a hunk of money for my travels. And what the hell, I didn't have anything better to do, and didn't lose (in the casino) on my first night, so I figured I'd play some craps.
There were a couple Americans at one point playing "the dark side" which in craps-speak means they were essentially betting against me. After losing few grand each they switched and started betting on me instead of against me. Earlier they insisted they were purely "dark side" players, so then they started calling me Luke Skywalker after I converted them. On an early roll, I hit the point four times; a later roll was over an hour long. (That roll was good but the statistic is a bit misleading. The casino had just opened craps 11 days ago and the dealers were VERY new. The wait between rolls was sometimes painfully long.)
I had to wake up at 6 am today to catch a bus so I *wanted* to leave the casino earlier than 3 am, but I kept winning. I suppose thats a good problem to have. Anyway, after increasing my total to 800% of my buy-in, I went home for a few hours of sleep and then woke and made my way to the bus rendevous to go to Kuala Lumpur. I made it to the meeting point 30 minutes early and I was absolutely starving. Went to this shop and they had a stack of eggs - I asked how they were cooked, and they said boiled - I was absolutely thrilled. So I sit down and they bring me a couple pieces of toast and two eggs in a mug of really hot water. I think thats odd, but in my mind the purpose of the water is to *warm* the eggs to make them taste better or something - not to cook them.
After the first egg got splattered all over my hand, I left the second one in long-enough to be what I considered sterile and then just downed it. Felt a bit like Rocky Balboa.
I had two errands to do last night. First of all, my debit card got eaten by an ATM machine immediately upon arrival in Singapore. I am not quite sure why, but I was confused by the screen format and it was sending me mixed signals. In the time it took me to figure out what was going on it ate my card.
I have two other credit cards and another debit card but the backup debit card account is the one with only a token emergency reserve of money. I was thinking about alternative plans. Meanwhile, I wanted to go to the top of the boat-shaped hotel (the same one from the daytime) for night-time pictures and a drink.
Incidentally, the casino I went to on the first night is attached to the boat-hotel. I also knew that a casino can charge a credit card and return cash; the fee here was 2.3%, not an atrocious deal. So after enjoying the view at night and having a drink I headed down to the casino and took out a hunk of money for my travels. And what the hell, I didn't have anything better to do, and didn't lose (in the casino) on my first night, so I figured I'd play some craps.
There were a couple Americans at one point playing "the dark side" which in craps-speak means they were essentially betting against me. After losing few grand each they switched and started betting on me instead of against me. Earlier they insisted they were purely "dark side" players, so then they started calling me Luke Skywalker after I converted them. On an early roll, I hit the point four times; a later roll was over an hour long. (That roll was good but the statistic is a bit misleading. The casino had just opened craps 11 days ago and the dealers were VERY new. The wait between rolls was sometimes painfully long.)
I had to wake up at 6 am today to catch a bus so I *wanted* to leave the casino earlier than 3 am, but I kept winning. I suppose thats a good problem to have. Anyway, after increasing my total to 800% of my buy-in, I went home for a few hours of sleep and then woke and made my way to the bus rendevous to go to Kuala Lumpur. I made it to the meeting point 30 minutes early and I was absolutely starving. Went to this shop and they had a stack of eggs - I asked how they were cooked, and they said boiled - I was absolutely thrilled. So I sit down and they bring me a couple pieces of toast and two eggs in a mug of really hot water. I think thats odd, but in my mind the purpose of the water is to *warm* the eggs to make them taste better or something - not to cook them.
After the first egg got splattered all over my hand, I left the second one in long-enough to be what I considered sterile and then just downed it. Felt a bit like Rocky Balboa.
Singapore day 2
Singapore is an incredibly clean place, extremely efficient, great standard of living. The buildings are often built around the good weather: open malls (with coverings for rain and sun), out-door escalators, things like that. The subways are paved with marble, look brand new, and the trains are fast and smooth. Singapore reminds me a lot of Hong Kong actually. I went to the national museum today, and got a good sense of the history here. It is no surprise that it has been successful given its perfect location for Asian trade.
There is another way in which Singapore is like Hong Kong: consumerism. If there was an Olympics for places that epitomize a culture of consumption, Hong Kong and Singapore would win gold medals every year. There is SO much shopping here it is ridiculous (really). Coming from someone who has spent a lot of time in NYC, it's saying a lot that New York doesn't hold a candle to Hong Kong or Singapore as far as obsession with 'things' go.
On the flight over, I saw a documentary called "the Light-Bulb Conspiracy" which was very interesting and touches on these subjects. I guess my parting thought would be that if China's 1.3 billion people want to someday behave like the rest of us have (not to mention India's billions), and especially like the people in Hong Kong and Singapore do, we (humanity) may be in a lot of trouble unless we make some serious breakthroughs in physics.
I think our species could use a good deal of soul-searching, but its easy to preach as a Westerner who has had a lot of opportunities. Fighting against consumerism is sort of like abstinence-only education. Both are bound to fail because you are trying to combat fundamental human urges and instincts by encouraging reason and restraint. Anyway. Tomorrow am I will wake up and take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Will be a 6 hour ride or so.
There is another way in which Singapore is like Hong Kong: consumerism. If there was an Olympics for places that epitomize a culture of consumption, Hong Kong and Singapore would win gold medals every year. There is SO much shopping here it is ridiculous (really). Coming from someone who has spent a lot of time in NYC, it's saying a lot that New York doesn't hold a candle to Hong Kong or Singapore as far as obsession with 'things' go.
On the flight over, I saw a documentary called "the Light-Bulb Conspiracy" which was very interesting and touches on these subjects. I guess my parting thought would be that if China's 1.3 billion people want to someday behave like the rest of us have (not to mention India's billions), and especially like the people in Hong Kong and Singapore do, we (humanity) may be in a lot of trouble unless we make some serious breakthroughs in physics.
I think our species could use a good deal of soul-searching, but its easy to preach as a Westerner who has had a lot of opportunities. Fighting against consumerism is sort of like abstinence-only education. Both are bound to fail because you are trying to combat fundamental human urges and instincts by encouraging reason and restraint. Anyway. Tomorrow am I will wake up and take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Will be a 6 hour ride or so.
Lunch
The Paulaner I had was a quarter the size of this glass...
The food was a four egg fried oyster omelet with spices from a traditional Singaporean Chinese street cart. I can only imagine how much cholesterol, but so good.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Singapore
First leg of the trip was a 16 hour flight from JFK to Hong Kong, and then a short 3.5 hour flight from Hong Kong to Sinagpore. I landed in Singapore at 1 am or so Singapore time. Given that 1 am would be mid-afternoon back home, my plan was to not to bother arranging a place to stay the night of my arrival. What would the point be? I'd get to the hostel/hotel at 2 am at the earliest and then probably not be able to sleep anyways (because my body would think it was mid-afternoon).
This logic seemed sound when I was thinking about it a few weeks ago but I didn't anticipate that I would be fairly tired after my travels and also I should have considered that, on a Sunday night, not a ton would be going on. After landing I'm sort of brainstorming about what kind of place will be open and happening at 1 am on a Sunday night. Something to entertain me until morning. Hmmmm.
Casino.
So my trip started with me playing craps for 6 hours or so while I waited for some daylight to appear. I won a little bit, but I made the other people at my table a TON of money. Since I was just trying to make my money last through the night (which I did successfully), I wasn't placing the big bets that in hindsight would have paid off because I was rolling well. I had to have made the guy to my left a thousand dollars. Oh well. Any time one spends 6 hours in a casino and walks with 10 dollars profit thats a big win.
Once dawn broke I headed to the hostel; I still got there much earlier than my check-in time, though. The owner was barely awake but she was nice enough to let me drop off my bag - but I couldn't stay until my official check in time. So I dropped off my bag and have been wandering aimlessly through the city for the last several hours. Which is good I guess, but I'm pretty tired at this point. I think a nap is in order.
Colonial-style is pretty common in Sinagpore.
We flew over the North Pole. Sweet.
Getting closer to Siberia. Please please please don't exile me here, Comrade Stalin.
My hostel is in Chinatown.
More colonial style.
Random shot of city.
George Orwell called and he wants his ministry name back.
Catholic Church (it looked neater in person, looks bland in photo).
Temple.
This logic seemed sound when I was thinking about it a few weeks ago but I didn't anticipate that I would be fairly tired after my travels and also I should have considered that, on a Sunday night, not a ton would be going on. After landing I'm sort of brainstorming about what kind of place will be open and happening at 1 am on a Sunday night. Something to entertain me until morning. Hmmmm.
Casino.
So my trip started with me playing craps for 6 hours or so while I waited for some daylight to appear. I won a little bit, but I made the other people at my table a TON of money. Since I was just trying to make my money last through the night (which I did successfully), I wasn't placing the big bets that in hindsight would have paid off because I was rolling well. I had to have made the guy to my left a thousand dollars. Oh well. Any time one spends 6 hours in a casino and walks with 10 dollars profit thats a big win.
Once dawn broke I headed to the hostel; I still got there much earlier than my check-in time, though. The owner was barely awake but she was nice enough to let me drop off my bag - but I couldn't stay until my official check in time. So I dropped off my bag and have been wandering aimlessly through the city for the last several hours. Which is good I guess, but I'm pretty tired at this point. I think a nap is in order.
Colonial-style is pretty common in Sinagpore.
We flew over the North Pole. Sweet.
Getting closer to Siberia. Please please please don't exile me here, Comrade Stalin.
My hostel is in Chinatown.
More colonial style.
Random shot of city.
George Orwell called and he wants his ministry name back.
Catholic Church (it looked neater in person, looks bland in photo).
Temple.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Malay Penninsula
I'd like to give a shout-out to my residency program for having the best vacation schedule a residency could have - two separate 2-week blocks. Having spent one block in Florida with the family, I'll use the second one to visit a few places that I've always wanted to see.
I will fly from NYC to Hong Kong and then to Singapore. Once there I will take the train north through Malaysia and into Thailand, stopping along the way as I so please. Right now the plan is to fly out of Bangkok two weeks later, routing again through Hong Kong before proceeding back to NYC. The current itinerary looks something like this:
I settled on this trip over a few other options. I thought about backpacking from Hanoi to Saigon, but I decided to pass - I'd prefer to do Vietnam with someone familiar with the local language or custom. Japan I considered strongly, but the weather has been crazy there lately and they've been having some major power issues with the nuclear disaster (cost in Japan is more of an issue too). South America is high on my list, but there will be a lot of hiking on the Inca Trail which would be more fun to do with someone else than solo (same goes for climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania).
The good thing about this trip is that I won't suffer through the language barrier as much; Singapore's official language is English, Malaysia used to be a British colony, and Thailand has a lot of English speakers come through anyway. Traveling by train is a plus; maximum flexibility, perfect for a solo traveler who has no plans other than to "wing it" each step of the way.
Additionally, the itinerary could change at the last minute. The only constant is that I need to make it back to Hong Kong by March 10th or so when I fly back to NYC. There are lots of cities in the area that I'd really like to see, so a detour could be possible if I can secure a flight back to Hong Kong:
Of these possibilities, Saigon is most likely. I had already applied for a Vietnam visa because I thought I might be going there, so routing through Ho Chi Minh City at the end could be cool if I have an extra 2-3 days.
I will fly from NYC to Hong Kong and then to Singapore. Once there I will take the train north through Malaysia and into Thailand, stopping along the way as I so please. Right now the plan is to fly out of Bangkok two weeks later, routing again through Hong Kong before proceeding back to NYC. The current itinerary looks something like this:
I settled on this trip over a few other options. I thought about backpacking from Hanoi to Saigon, but I decided to pass - I'd prefer to do Vietnam with someone familiar with the local language or custom. Japan I considered strongly, but the weather has been crazy there lately and they've been having some major power issues with the nuclear disaster (cost in Japan is more of an issue too). South America is high on my list, but there will be a lot of hiking on the Inca Trail which would be more fun to do with someone else than solo (same goes for climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania).
The good thing about this trip is that I won't suffer through the language barrier as much; Singapore's official language is English, Malaysia used to be a British colony, and Thailand has a lot of English speakers come through anyway. Traveling by train is a plus; maximum flexibility, perfect for a solo traveler who has no plans other than to "wing it" each step of the way.
Additionally, the itinerary could change at the last minute. The only constant is that I need to make it back to Hong Kong by March 10th or so when I fly back to NYC. There are lots of cities in the area that I'd really like to see, so a detour could be possible if I can secure a flight back to Hong Kong:
Of these possibilities, Saigon is most likely. I had already applied for a Vietnam visa because I thought I might be going there, so routing through Ho Chi Minh City at the end could be cool if I have an extra 2-3 days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)