G&J's Excellent Asian Adventure, final chapter

Singapore
Gary and Sue stayed on to explore the Mekong Delta and then hop into Cambodia so it was just Jennie and me who took the shortish flight south to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.  Dad was stationed there with the RAF in his early career and we were keen to see the place, even though it had obviously completely changed in the intervening years.  It's an island of some 700 sq km with a population of around 5 million of mainly Chinese and Malay descent.  It's connected to the Malay Peninsula by road bridge and is a business hub for S-E Asia with strong British connections.

Leaving the airport for our hotel late afternoon, we were immediately struck by the cleanliness and orderliness of the place.  The 15-odd km from the airport to our downtown hotel was planted with beautiful, flowering shrubs the whole way - looked like something out of Fantasy Island!  Singapore has an international reputation for strongly enforcing the rule of law.... the death penalty for drug trafficking, right through to $1000 fines for littering, smoking and drinking (even water!) on public transport and so on.  Jumping ahead a bit, but to illustrate the obsession with orderliness, we took a photo of a sign hanging in an amphibious vehicle we took a trip in.  Apparently, yawning on the trip is right up there in the heinous crime stakes along with eating and smoking - absolutely hilarious!

 No yawning, by order.  Understood?

 The central city and river waterfront is a curious place by day.  The Singaporeans are all tucked inside office blocks and shops, making money.  The only people wandering about in the mid-day heat and glare are tourists, and not too many of them either.  It's true what the song says about "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun" !  It's only after dark when Singapore kicks off with a vengeance.  We had our first meal by the river at Clarke Quay in an open air restaurant not far from the hotel.  Like most Asian food, it was utterly delicious and beautifully presented.  However, priced like Vietnam it wasn't!  Costs were higher than an equivalent meal in NZ and it was a good job that we were only staying for a couple of days.

Mmmm... and what culinary delights will we try tonight?

 Fantastic colour-changing fountain at Clarke Quay

Despite the high prices at the more upmarket restaurants, prices were more reasonable (but not by Vietnam standards) at the ethnic eateries outside the city centre and in the Little India area, there were kiosks catering for every taste.

 Bewildering food choice - Little India

During the day, we explored the city and whilst there's some old architecture, Singapore seems hell-bent on staying as modern as possible.  Fortunately, the quality of the modern architecture is beautiful and innovative so it's not an uninspiring eyesore like many modern cities.

 Arty-farty shot of 4 lane river bridge from below

The photo below is of a 280 metre high triple tower hotel with a casino in the basement and a boat-shaped observation deck on top, complete with large infinity pool.  Hmmm... not sure about swimming in that!  The lotus flower-shaped structure is a museum of technology and art.

Not your usual skyline

A visit to the botanic gardens had us slack-jawed for the whole time we spent there.  It's absolutely world- class and the volume and variety of orchids and lilies growing there in the open air is simply staggering.

Just some of the incredible orchids

That evening, we went on a "Night Safari" which was excellent.  It's a sort of zoo which has been designed to look like a natural jungle.  After dark, a small truck pulling open carriages takes you round to see the animals including tigers, rhinos and so on.  There's only low-level lighting to heighten the atmosphere and with no flash photography allowed, it wasn't possible to get any photos.  Innocuous animals like deer and so on wandered freely where we were but the things that were keen on eating you or trampling you to death were separated by very discreet security measures which were difficult to spot.  A really worthwhile outing.  I did take one photo there though - among the food and souvenir stalls at the Safari was an elongated tropical fish tank with a seat along one side.  For a modest charge, you could dangle your feet in the tank and the tropical fish would nibble off the hard skin.   It was extremely popular among womenfolk and by the delighted screams, I sincerely hope that their partners aren't going to find themselves redundant.

Well I never........

Next day, we'd booked a morning trip on an amphibious vehicle to see sights on the river and around town.  Close to the departure point, there was a tent selling "Drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini convertible  round the Singapore streets".  Really tempting but suspect that it would have needed a wallet considerably fatter than mine!

Serious toys

The combined river and road cruise in the amphibian was an absolute delight with great views of riverside buildings.

Amphibious vehicle - tacky paint job but great fun!

World's biggest observation wheel

New botanic gardens temperate house - opening in 2012

Stainless steel pedestrian bridge with a human DNA helix design

Museum of technology and art - lotus flower design

The photo below is a temporary self-contained apartment for tourists, $175/night.  It's built over a large statue which comes up through the floor from the steps below!  Due for removal in the near future.

Wonder where the waste water discharges???

Riverside pits for the Singapore F1 GP

Blue buildings complement the water very well

A word about things automotive......

Big bikes abound and as stated in the first post about our trip, Singaporeans seem to scoot over to Malaysia for their fun on account of the better motorcycling roads and undoubted more relaxed attitude of the gendarmerie to a bit of speeding.  Given the strong approach to law and order in Singapore, speeding probably rates up there with drug trafficking in terms of penalty.

All the cars are modern and immaculate.  We speculated that there were laws against dirty vehicles too but one local told us that an immigrant labourer kept hers clean inside and out for $30/month!  Owning a car in Singapore is pretty expensive.  There seems to be a thinly-disguised congestion tax as the local said that even before she bought her 1600cc car, there was a $40,000 ownership permit which had to be applied for, lasting just 10 years.

Ducati Hypermotard with Chinese single cylinder cruiser in the background

As we headed for the airport to catch our flight back to Kuala Lumpur and then bound for home in NZ, Jennie and I reflected on our Singapore experience.  Architecturally-stunning and immaculate but pricey compared with other Asian countries.  Some of their laws, especially for serious crime seemed pretty fair whereas other lesser ones appeared a bit draconian. Maybe that's the price to be paid for a regulated society where crime statistics looks to be exceedingly low.   However, Jennie's remark that the place lacked soul, was sterile and resembled a giant theme park summed it up perfectly.  On further reflection, it also reminded me of the town in Jim Carrey's movie, the Truman Show!  We'd certainly recommend it for 2 or 3 days as a stop-off point en route to somewhere itself but definitely not as an end destination.

Well, that concludes our Excellent Adventure and hope that you've enjoyed the ramblings contained in each part. If you fancy going to intriguing, adorable Vietnam, my recommendation would be not to put it off for too long as it will inexorably drift closer towards western culture.  It would be a tragedy if that happens too quickly.

Finally, an amusing incident which has never happened before.  We got home late on a Sunday afternoon and because our body clocks were out of whack, sleep was a pretty broken affair.  The next night, we crashed except that I needed to visit the bathroom in the middle of the night.  The scrambled remains of my brain said that we were still in a hotel in Vietnam but which one?  I shuffled round the bedroom in the pitch black trying to find the bathroom entrance.  Having failed dismally, I then found myself in an another bedroom which I took to be the bedroom of another hotel guest and fled back to our room where I sat on the edge of the bed for a good 5 minutes until it all clicked.  You'll be delighted that I then found the designated receptacle with no further difficulty and slept the sleep of the innocent!  Funny what sleep deprivation does!   

G&J's Excellent Asian Adventure, part 1

Jennie and I have just got back from a holiday in Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore, a bit jet-lagged, unshaven (err..in my case) but very happy about the way it all worked out.  This is the first of  a few posts about our encounters, food, fun and lots more besides - even motorcycles!

Malaysia 
The capital of Kuala Lumpur was a convenient stopping-off point 10 hours flying time from NZ to give us time to catch our breath for 3 days before heading on to the main part of our holiday in Vietnam. I'm not sure what we were expecting but the surprises started on landing at KL airport.  It's as modern and organised as the best airports anywhere, with a rapid transit system to other parts of the airport within a few metres of getting off the plane - simply superb. The second surprise was the motorway systems connecting different parts of the country to each other and the airport and again, as good as you'll find anywhere. By and large, the motorists were pretty well-behaved although speed limits seemed to be largely advisory. Apparently, all the expenditure on good infrastructure and city development has come about through relatively recent large finds of oil and gas and although some of the smaller provincial communities still seem a bit down at heel, that applies pretty much anywhere in the world.  Religious tolerance is enshrined in Malaysian law and relationships between various ethnic and religious groups appears to work well in practice from what we saw and read about.  Everyone was very friendly and went out of their way to be hospitable to us, even out in the backblocks.

Petronas Towers - glass and stainless steel

One of the tallest buildings in the world

There are huge numbers of bikes in Malaysia but most of them are small capacity scooters which are used for cheap family commuting.  However, there were plenty of teens who rode jazzed-up scooters and small bikes who will probably become the enthusiasts of the future.  There were also quite a few big bikes, both cruisers and sports-oriented.  Difficult to know whether these were locals or not as Singaporeans duck across the border to misbehave as the Malaysian roads are better for bikes and the cops rather more forgiving of ummm... a brisk pace! The freeways are bike-friendly and on major toll roads, there are toll booth bypasses for bikes.  The photo shown below shows the bike lane diverting from an urban freeway toll booth.  The bike lane on the freeways is exclusively for bikes although the fast boys seem to prefer mixing it with the cars rather than tangling with slower scooters.

Lane splitting at speed is the norm in Kuala Lumpur and at traffic lights, there are always dozens of bikes at the head of the queue.  Despite a lot of the bikes being 2 strokes and the consequent blue haze covering cars when the lights go green, there's never any horns used in anger like the western world; everyone seems remarkably tolerant.

One practice which we never got to the bottom of was how jackets were worn!  Protective gear for general commuting was virtually non-existent apart from light helmets.  Flip-flops were the safety footwear of choice - eek!  Jackets were light nylon zip-up affairs, presumably as a nod to the high temperatures and humidity.  Here's the thing though...... most commuters wore them unzipped and backwards so that they were open to the rear!  The only reason we could think of  was as large-scale ventilation to stop getting sweaty at low speeds!

Motorcycling toll booth bypass

Kawasaki ER6 

A very rare example of protective gear in Malaysia!

Backblocks village in Malaysia - Street Triples get everywhere!

Leaving the motorcycle scene for a bit, we toured round the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and came upon the Batu Caves, a significant place of worship for the Hindu religion.  By the stairs to the cave was a 48 metre high statue of a Hindu deity, an impressive piece of sculpture by any measure. The steepness of the 300 steps to the cave mouth were a real trial, especially with temperatures in the mid 30's C and humidity to match.  We were knackered and wringing wet by the time we got to the top!  The main cave itself was impressive, albeit choking with incense.  We had a quiet chuckle at the enterprise of the (presumably) approved vendor at the top of the steps.  He was enthusiastically selling tacky religious artifacts to the devoted whose resolve had been eroded by the steep climb, but we struggled to find religious significance in the model helicopters and toy guns he also had on prominent display.  Safer not to take a photograph methinks!!

Impressive 47 metre high Hindu deity outside the Batu Caves

We also visited the world-renowned Royal Selangor pewter factory and saw some beautiful workmanship ranging from pewter tankards through to the most intricate pieces of art.  Training the craftsmen not unexpectedly takes several years.

 

 Pewter trophy from the 2007 Malaysian F1 GP

A bit bigger than your usual pewter tankard!

Traditional skills in this part of the world are very much in evidence and on the way back to our hotel, we called in to a small enterprise where Batik textile painting on bolts of cloth was being carried out, mainly on silk. Although the work was stunningly beautiful, we couldn't see Jennie wearing a sarong at a traditional Kiwi BBQ back home, so opted for a magnificent hand-painted orchid on silk cloth to get framed in NZ.

Batik hand-painted orchid on silk

The following day, we headed for an elephant sanctuary some 2 hours away from the capital.  There is still a large amount of wildlife in Malaysia, even close to to the major freeways which seems a bit bizarre by western standards.  Stopping for a roadside pee and ending up as a light snack for a tiger or a big python brings an interesting dimension to motorcycling thrills in this region!  

Stopping at a village eatery on the way was also interesting.  Putting aside our reservations about hygiene (mainly because we had sufficient pills to cure most diseases known to mankind), we dived in to sample authentic Malaysian cooking.  It was a buffet arrangement  where for a miniscule amount of money, you could help yourself to as much as you liked.  Some items which looked like entrails cunningly disguised with lots of sauce were carefully avoided but anything which resembled real meat and fish were gamely tried.  A few selections were eye-wateringly hot, but delicious.  Even better, there were no repercussions a few hours later!  The proprietors and locals eating there were good-natured and welcoming, making it a really enjoyable occasion.

Ingredients unknown but absolutely delicious!

 Being the butt of jokes

A bit of padding would have been nice... (wince)!

One of many spectacular dragonflies

An ant over 10mm long - would hate to be bitten or stung

Three days in a new country is grossly inadequate to make any meaningful assessment but we very much liked what we saw.  Friendly, industrious people, religious tolerance and appearing to develop in a thoughtful and planned manner.  Oh, and very few western fast food outlets in evidence.  That's got to be a measure of a society with its head screwed on, hasn't it?

Onto North Vietnam.......