Skylab

Traveling the world with it’s music

Archive for August, 2009

Singapore

Aug 31

Posted by Skylab in Singapore | No Comments

How the hell am I going to be able to describe 8 nights of Singapore in one blog? Considering how much I write, what I did there, how delayed this entry really is (I‘m writing this on 13/9), and it was my last days in Asia. I’ll try my best I suppose…

Singapore is… clean, fashionable, artsy, expensive, safe, beautiful, fun, friendly, delicious food, and diverse.

Safe
Train ride from Malaysia to Singapore was good for the most part. I say for the most part because my right ear was hurting as if someone shoved a pen into my ear several times throughout the day. This was the result of scuba diving in Malaysia and not properly equalizing my ears (I was forcing it). Not only was my body a complete wreck from diving several days in a row but now my head is absolutely killing me from the pain of my ear. 2 days into Singapore and I just couldn’t take the pain anymore as it seemed like it was getting worse and I was getting no sleep as a result. Bitching about it wasn’t going to help unfortunately so I got a taxi over to the hospital. The taxi driver was friendly and very concerned about me. First question he asked was if I had a fever which I didn’t. Singapore has this impression that any signs of a fever means swine flu or something even worse so they go into a panic attack about any sickness. The hospital was better then any hospital I’ve ever been to in the United States. Everyone at the hospital was required to wear a mask including me to prevent spreading anything. Felt a bit weird wearing it but it does make sense. Doctors concluded I had an Ear Infection which is common for new divers. I kept making it worse whenever I took a shower and water went in. I was provided medication and in one week I was all OK again. The pain was really depressing me so I’m glad that’s over with.

I’ve been a few months now in countries where there are no rules on the road and now here I am in Singapore and people actually wait to cross the street. There’s a huge fine for jaywalking so nearly everyone waits for the little man to turn green. The locals are scared to death about jaywalking and you’ll see them sprinting across the street to avoid anyone seeing them actually do it. Oh and yes it is true that gum is in fact illegal in Singapore. To make things even further “off”, there are commercials in the subway system of a reenactment of a terrorist attack. A guy leaves a suspicious bag on the subway, leaves the train, and presses a button in which blows up the entire subway leaving everyone dead. Pretty graphic for a subway wouldn’t you say?

Friendly
Upon arrival, I got a taxi from the train station to the hostel LP recommended. The taxi was equipped with a GPS where he put the address of the hostel and he had a credit card machine. How convenient! Ok I know most taxi’s already have this in NYC but for the last 3 ½ months I’ve been use to taxi drivers hardly speaking English and especially in Malaysia, most taxi drivers were very rude. Taxi driver and I just started chatting away and he gave me a quick run down on the city. For the most part, all I’ve met were really friendly people in Singapore.

Fashionable and Expensive
Everyone is dressed up but where are they going? Probably just to 711. Shopping is one thing you can easily go overboard in Singapore. There are just too many options. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to do some shopping but in reality I’m a complete idiot for not doing it sooner while I was in Bangkok when it cheaper. Since I was going to Australia, I had to get a pair of shoes. My previous shoes were lost/stolen(?). I’ve also had to throw away some shirts that were completely wrecked. Next purchase was new glasses. My older set was a complete wreck and scratched up due to partying at the Full Moon Party in Thailand. Coming out of that party, you are due to have something break, stolen, or injured so new glasses isn’t so bad. Next. I don’t have anything all that fashionable for going out. I had plans to go clubbing and some bars however they have the same restrictions as at home with attire. New pair of jeans and shirt did the trick. So now I’m walking with a whole new set of clothing and even a haircut.

The exchange rate isn’t that great. I’ve seriously spent way too much here between shopping and going out. I could have done Singapore for less but then it’s just not as fun. Alcohol has a crazy expensive price tag on it. I could defiantly get alcohol cheaper in the states.

Fun
Nightlife is alive and well in Singapore. Clare Quay area is very vibrate area. A walking street filled with differently styled bars. They had a bar called Clinic in which gives the look of a hospital but in fact it’s a bar. It has wheel chairs you sit on and they give you an IV filled with a red looking alcohol to give the impression of blood which you drink. Wrong in a sense but pretty funny if you ask me. Open a place like that in the states and it’ll never have a chance to even open.

Zouk Nightclub. World famous club for it’s sound, performances, DJ’s, and design. I can see why. I went on a Saturday night to hear Loco Dice. Zouk consists of three nightclubs all having separate entrances in the front. We bought a ticket that gave us entrance to all the clubs plus 2 free drink tickets. We were allowed to come in and out as we please to all the clubs all night. The first club called Velvet Underground was very posh playing mostly house/funk house/soulful house, chilled out type of music. It’s a good place to get a few drinks in and talk. Next club was Phuture and they played all commercial and hiphip. Then came Zouk and I was simply amazed. Even the staff was friendly which is rare in NYC clubs. Loco Dice played an awesome set. Crowd was loving it. By law all venues must provide water for free which means the venue understands the safetyness of the people rather then just tossing them outside the second they are sick. There were even signs displayed to let a staff member know if you feel unwell to take care of you. Now that’s service.

Singapore Night Zoo! Went with a quite a good group of friends from the hostel. I saw everything from lions, pumas, hyenas, leopards, fruit bats literately in front of my face, and tons of other animals I’ve never heard of or can’t remember the name of. Good times.

Friends
The hostel I stayed at was called Classic Inn. I’m mentioning this in my blog because it was easily one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at. The staff was helpful in tons of ways. Plus they played awesome awesome house music. That alone gives them a few points in my book.

Katharina: Met her the first few days I was in Singapore. From Germany. Tons of fun to talk to and hang out with. Learned a good amount of German because of her. Gave me the run down of Australia which hyped me up quite a bit. She just got back from traveling around Oz for a few months and is nearly at the end of her trip about to go home. She got me even more excited for Europe on my next journey.

Dan: From the U. S of A! Guy from LA. Chilled out and did a lot of random Singapore activities.

Jemma & Clare: After a failed attempt from meeting in Thailand, we finally met up again! Miss these girls. Best part of my trip were with these girls and Chris when we were all in China. I’d love to relive those days again. Good memories.

Met tons of other travelers but my memory is terrible today which is why I should have wrote this earlier.

Mmm Food
Chinese and Indian food heaven! Luckily the hostel was conveniently located in Little India, the home of cheap amazing food. For the first time (and perhaps only at least till I get to India) I ate full out with my hands only with true Indian food. Not as easy as it sounds. Try eating rice, curry, and other random sauce stuff only eating with your right hand. It’s really a mission and pretty messy. Indian food was my diet for most of my days in Singapore.

Eating Chinese food brought good memories of how good I had it in China. Chinatown was fantastic. The best Chinatown area I’ve seen so far. With over 70% of the people in Singapore being Chinese, it’s no wonder there’s a good Chinese culture here.

Change of plan
I was suppose to go to India however I had to delay my flight due to my ear just being totally screwed and hurting way too much. After a lot of thought, I can’t do India in only 1 month. I have to do it properly for a few months to experience it fully. Instead I decided to go to Australia and spend more time there. Flight was changed from India to Perth, Australia and I stayed in Singapore longer then expected to give myself time to heal. Tom (whom I met in Thailand) was nice enough to let me stay in his place in Perth.

I’ve fallen in love with Singapore honestly. It’s a wonderful peaceful city. I highly recommend it.

Tags:

Malaysia in one blog entry

Aug 17

Posted by Skylab in Malaysia | 1 Comment

Kulula Lumpur (Capital of Malaysia), the biggest diversity of people and culture I’ve seen so far. Three nights was quiet enough for me there and really I wanted to only stay two but bus tickets were sold out till the follow day. Stayed in Classic Inn Budget Hotel which was across the street from Times Square mall. A mall consisting of 14 floors, indoor amusement park, university, and a shopping haven. The stores were just like at home and so were the prices. I need to get out of here.

I was on a mission to find the iPhone 3Gs in KL. Been wanting it for awhile now. I’m a technology freak so the addiction kicks in every now and then. I suppose I don’t really “need” it but hell it’s darn cool. What really attracted me was the Unlocked version of the phone to use any SIM card. I eventually found it (after a bit of searching around) across the street from Times Square where there was a technology mall. Price was 3000RM. Crazy I know. First and hopefully only biggest technology purchase I’ll make in a long time. Loving the iPhone and all of it’s features. Highly addicted to it. Translate any language, listen to music finally on bus rides, read books without carrying a book, and heck play a game every now and then.

I absolutely loved the Indian food in Malaysia. So many choices of food at inexpensive prices got me eating all the time. I need to get ready for the food in India anyway so I guess I might as well start eating Indian food now! Eating with my hands is something I would need to get use to. For tourist attractions in KL I went to a bird park. It was known for the biggest free bird park in the world and it really was fascinating. Birds of all shapes, sizes, colors, and sounds. Loved having of having all the parrots, owls, and eagles all over me eating food out of my hand.

The famous Petronos Twin Towers in KL quite the mission to get to the sky bridge. I met Steve (Works in South Korea, originally from Canada) and we went on a mission to get there. First we had to get the free tickets and in order to get it, you have to get on the line at 7am. Tickets are limited so the sooner the better. After over an hour on the line, we finally got our tickets that gave us a time when to come back. A few hours later we went back for our scheduled time. Pretty nice view of all of KL. Not much to see really besides big buildings, cars, and more buildings. I find it funny that such a large oil company can be the icon of an entire country. Regardless, it was still neat. After that we made a random entrance to a traditional Malay dance show. The dances were highly complex and took many dances from its surrounding countries and used it in their own form of a Malay dance. You could tell the mixture of India and China was well blended in Malaysia from it’s dance form and music. Beautiful dances and even got a group shot with the dancers! Very productive day I must say.

KL Tower was way better then Petronos Twin Towers although I did have to pay an entrance fee this time. It was another view of the city but this time at night. The city lit up bright especially the Petronos Twin Towers.

Cameron Highlands

The drive to Cameron Highlands (a few hours from KL in the middle of Malaysia) was an adventure in itself. Our driver thought it would be great to go 100kmph up hill in a one lane road made for two ways with 90 degree turns every half a second. It was a roller-coaster. The weather in Cameron Highlands was the coldest I’ve felt since I left from home! It wasn’t actually cold but it had a chilly feel to it which made it very comfortable. It’s perfect trekking weather and that’s what Cameron Highlands is famous for with backpackers.

Steve and I had done trek path 1 which is good for a few hours up hill completing in one day. We had thoughts of going with a tour to a few different places but we wanted to go budget and figured it was going to be a better experience going on our own anyway. And we were right! Path 1 took about 2 1/2 hours to get to the top. The path was nearly straight up at times having a rope to climb up with, very muddy covering our feet with mud by the time we got to the top, and extremely tiring. Eventually we got to the top highly accomplished that we made it up in one piece lol. The walk down was simpler since now there was a road. One our way down we stopped by a Tea Plantation. The surrounding smell of the tea growing around us was refreshing. By now though our legs feel like their going to fall off doing whatever it takes to get back quicker before dark or rain. We had many hours of walking to go so we decided to stick our thumbs out and didn’t take long before a truck stopped and picked us up. It was like a farm truck and seems like they usually have animals in the back where we were sitting. Quick and easy ride down to the bottom though. Next was somehow getting back to our town from where we were. No buses in sight and just one main road that led to our town. We had no choice but to walk it which really would take us hours to get back. We had our thumbs out once again but got distracted by a strawberry picking farm we made a stop at. Delicious strawberries! Ok so again we continue our walk and no one was stopping for us. About an hour later a bus eventually comes and picks us up on the side of the road. It took us exactly where we needed to go. Very adventures day and a way better deal then a tour package.

Penang – Georgetown

The drive to Georgetown was just as wild. Road safety is unheard of but the ride is fun. Penang was a British colony many years ago so it’s still got that sort of British feel to it with it’s buildings. Quiet and peaceful village with again great Chinese and Indian foods. Steve and I rented a motorbike and simply just drove around the entire island. I love renting motorbikes and driving around, I get to see what I want when I want to at my own pace and even discover new and hidden things. We stopped by random attractions along the way at pretty much anything that looked interesting. 2 nights in Georgetown was enough to see everything on the island.

Perhentian Islands

Guess how the ride was? Ah I’m sure you’ve guessed it. Crazy. Perhentian Islands required me to take a boat there which instantly reminded of the Thailand beaches. Steve and I stayed in Long Beach which has the majority of the backpackers and the prices are reasonable I suppose. I was determined to get my Scuba Diver Open Water PADI Certificate. The certificate basically means I’m an official Scuba Diver that has been trained the basics of scuba diving and can go to some sites that require me to have at least a Open Water Certificate. The cost was around $200US and it included 3 days of intensive diving from 8am till about 6pm of nonstop videos, books, and diving. Well worth the money if you ask me. It would cost a fortune in the states or Australia. The corals and fish lit my eyes up. Surrounding walls covered in corals of all different shapes and sizes. And the fish, whoa! Crazy world down there. I have my divers log book filled in with everything I saw for memories sake of all the dives and diving experience I have. As for the island itself, real chilled out. Ate tons of fish, relaxed, and slept early. Easy days.

Train to Singapore now. There’s an express train that goes there on the Jungle Line. About 12 hours through the jungle. I was suppose to take the morning train but it got filled so instead I’ve booked the sleeper train which I don’t mind anyway. I just had 10 hours to kill waiting for the train and thankfully there’s a Tesco to kill time in. For the folks at home, Tesco is England’s answer to Walmart but it’s also in some areas of Asia. Time flies in Tesco lol.

Reminder: Pictures are uploaded via Facebook. I can’t be bothered to put pictures here. Too much work and it’s hard enough to find time to write blog entries.

Tags:

Full Moon Party

Aug 9

Posted by Skylab in Thailand | No Comments

For the last 6 nights, I’ve been in Koh Phangan. It’s been a really crazy week. I’ll try to break it all down.

The island itself is wonderful. Tom and I drove motorbikes around the island and explored the area. On some off the beaches, the water was very shallow where the water would come up to my knees for a mile long. The crystal clear water made the view from the top of the mountain and on the water both fascinating. You could walk for quite some time into the water. Haadrin beach was packed with backpackers but when you go to the other beaches on the island, you feel like you’re in a totally different island.

The hostel I stayed in was called Dancing Elephant. There aren’t many hostels here but I usually always prefer hostels for the social environment and other benefits. The owner David made my stay comfortable, easy, and relaxing. He explained how the whole Full Moon Party works and what to watch out for. The advice actually helped and was true. The hostel had 5 Wii’s to play from so you can imagine how much Mario Kart I played. 4 player Mario Kart while intoxicated was tons of fun and made you remember why drinking and driving is not a good idea.

The friends I’ve met was the most memorable part of my stay in Koh Phangan. First two people I met was Tom (London) and Craig (Australia). Hung out with Tom quite often just exploring the island with motorbikes and having great drunken nights. We discovered a beautiful beach on Koh Phangan just driving around. Water was shallow enough to walk for at least a mile down and only come up to your knees. Beautiful water and sand. We had some pretty crazy party nights on the beach together. Always somehow lost each other in the mayhem but met up again at the hostel completely beat. Then there’s Tom, Heather, and Anna from Perth and Alex from London. We had the perfect group going and really great people. Fun crowd and real chill. I’m seriously going to miss them. I’ve been invited to go to Perth to visit and I might take them up on that. Really wonderful people and even paid for dinner before I left. There are days when traveling with certain people that I wish I could stick around with them a little longer. Good friends :)

The Full Moon Party was out of control. Another level of partying that I cannot explain. 20,000 people on the beach with several stadiums blasting music. Buckets of alcohol pouring out in every direction, fire shows lighting up every corner, naked drunks running around, singing, fights by the cool kids, face painting that made you feel two years old again, glow sticks make a come back, sex in the ocean, then right next to them someone pissing in the ocean, and of course dancing. Ah I’m not really describing it to its full potential but believe me when I tell you that it’s a party like no other and you absolutely have to go there once in your lifetime or even more then once. If you want some real house music, the mountain bars is a must. I went there to start my night out pretty much every night. Real chill and awesome music. Then I’ve had at least a bucket enough to enjoy the cheesy music on the beach and sing along to music I’ve heard everyday since I got there or any other party throughout Asia I’ve been to. I suppose Kings of Leon – Sex is on fire.. can’t be played enough? Good times though lol

The whole 6 nights 7 days in Koh Phangan was a blast. Everyday was a good day. A week I’ll never forget. Friends that I’ll never forget. Just perfect memories and happiness.

Malaysia is next. More beach, scenery, and diving. Plan to get my PADI Open Water license there.

Beautiful Railay.. then to Phangan

Aug 2

Posted by Skylab in Thailand | 3 Comments

I need to leave Railay today and head to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party happening on the 6th. Again I don’t really want to leave Railay as I’ve really fell in love with this beach. It’s the best beach I have EVER been to.

I have a few hours before my boat ride to Koh Pangan so we walked over to the south side of Railay Beach. Our new friend from the reggae bar brought us there. This beach was the best part of Railay and exactly what I expected. Really unreal. I’ve never seen such smooth white sand before. There was a small island a few meters up so I swam there since the water was shallow for the most part although the current was strong. Once I got there I got a view like no other. Seeing all of the beach from far ahead. All you heard was the calming sounds of pebbles coming in from the small waves and the peaceful wind blowing at you. I saw there for quite some time just taking everything in.

Time to leave for Phangan. I’ll keep this short. This is what I went through to get to Phangan. Walk in the water into a small boat > shuttle bus > big bus > switch buses into another big bus > a big boat that I slept in > then a tuktuk to my hostel. What a journey. But hell at least I got there.

Tags:

First time diving and Railay Beach

Aug 1

Posted by Skylab in Thailand | No Comments

8/1

Woke up quite early to go diving. Matter of fact, I haven’t woke up this early (6:30) probably since the start of my trip. I was really excited and a little nervous for some reason. Luckily there was no group at all and I had my own personal trainer. The guys name was Henry and a real cool guy. Explained all the rules and what to do while I was gearing up and we took off for Koh Phi Phi Leh island. It seemed simple enough until I got into the water. Diving itself is really simple but staying calm is really the key to diving. For the first 10 minutes underwater, there was just too much information going to my head. A whole new world opened up that I’ve never seen before. I was breathing a bit hard and you could tell from the amount of bubbles I was releasing. After awhile I got use to breathing a bit more normal but it’s something I need to keep working on. I dove twice both for about 45 minutes and went 10 meters down. I saw sharks, turtles, and tons of other things. It’s a world you HAVE to see in your lifetime. I loved it so much that I’ve decided I’ll be taking the full Open Water PADI course. It’s a few days worth of diving and I’ll be learning many new things about diving. PADI is internationally known so the certificate is good anywhere I go. I’ve already taken one course and I think I’ll be taking the rest of them once I get to Malaysia.

So Laura and I took a boat over to Railay beach. All these boat rides lately and I love it, though we did have to jump from a big boat to the small boats. Their like fisherman small boats. Theirs no peer so the big boat can’t go into shore and requires us to take a small boat over. Since the water is shallow, not even the small boat can make it all the way so were forced to get off the boat with our backpacks and into the water. Imagine a small fisherman boat full of immigrants coming into a first world country for the first time. It was like that lol. Checked into a beautiful resort that was cheap.

Railay beach is small and super chilled out. Way more chilled out then any other beach I’ve been to. It’s a beach that comes straight from your dreams. Even after being there, it’s hard to imagine such a beach existed. Slept a bit on the perfect white sand. At night we went out to eat and hung out at a reggae bar. At the reggae bar, they had a local Thai DJ and somehow we ended up talking. Great guy and has a big sense of humor. Dancing, fire shows, drinks, beach side, and just relaxing. Can’t ask for more. It was a good night.

Tags: