matero.net

Three countries in one day. I ate my breakfast in Singapore, my lunch in Malaysia, and had my dinner in Indonesia. To top that, I was in the northern hemisphere in the morning and the southern hemisphere in the evening.

Instead of flying directly from Singapore to Indonesia, I decided to save $40-$50 and fly out of the airport next door in Malaysia. Too bad it didn’t go so smoothly and was kind of complicated:

1. Take east west line subway
2. Transfer to north south line subway
3. Get on bus 170 blue.
4. Get off and go through immigration to exit Singapore. There were long lines here that I wasn’t expecting!
5. Get on another bus, cross the bridge over the river.
6. Get off the bus, enter the Malaysia immigration. This one went a lot faster.
7. Get on a bus again to get to the bus terminal. Well, I didn’t get on the bus because I didn’t see anyone else get on the bus. It drove away empty, so I assumed it was the end of the line or something. So I walked instead. And I walked through the city, through shopping malls, sweating the whole time, hurrying so I wouldn’t miss my flight.
8. Finally at the station, take the Airport Express bus to Senai airport. Luckily I found the station on my own. On the way I changed my Singapore dollars to US Dollars and 10 Malaysian Ringgit. 8 for the bus ticket and 2 for some food. I walked up to some small place and said I want a plate of food for 2 Ringgit.

Then I took AirAsia from Johor Batru, Malaysia to Surabaya, Indonesia. I was the only westerner on the plane and I was the only person getting a Visa in the airport when I arrived. So I paid my $25 for the visa sticker and got in the country. I ignored the taxi drivers and I saw a big airport bus waiting outside.

The hostel I found had some instructions on how to get there using public transport, so I figured I’d give it a try. The conductor and driver understood where I had to go and helped out out. I got off the bug bus and then got on a minibus. And then he dropped me off at the correct spot. Then a local food vendor showed me the rest of the way to the hostel, which was in a house in a quiet neighborhood.

I found out I’m the only foreigner staying in the hostel. I had the dorm room all to myself. According to the guest book, I’m the 75th person to stay there in over a year. Surabaya isn’t a big tourist destination.

The British founded this city, so English is an official language and the primary language here. Many signs are only written in English. I can hear some local people talking to each other in English too, it is really strange for this to happen in Asia!

Today I headed to the National Library to do some research for my trip. As expected the library is new and perfect. If I remember, 16 stories tall and for the first time since Hong Kong I could walk in and read books without registering for a card or answering any questions. I miss doing that. Plus most of the books here are in English. But first they had an exhibition on the 10th floor about the ancient Indian influences to South East Asia. Then on the 11th floor I read a travel guide on Indonesia without feeling guilty about it like in a bookstore. I didn’t want to buy a heavy book, so I just read, memorized, took some notes, and copied a few pages. Traveling is like an exam and it really helps if you study first.

Later I walked through more of the city and ate some Roti John for dinner. Tastes kind of like a hamburger. Later I visited the Asian Civilizations Museum, which is free on Friday evenings. I thought it was really well done and wish I had more time to learn things there.

From the hostel, I walked to Chinatown and saw the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, which was just constructed and opened last year. It is five stories tall plus a garden on the roof. Afterwards, I had another try with Chicken Rice. It was ok.

Then I walked down the street some more to the Sri Mariamman Temple. In the back I noticed a eating area and a few people having lunch and it looked free. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to try it. I don’t think many tourists or non-Hindus eat there. I had no shoes on, I sat down and they gave me a banana leaf to use as a plate. Then some rice and some Indian curry foods spooned on. And then I ate it all with my right hand. Probably by best meal in Singapore. It was good and filling. They gave me a lot of food because they were closing the eating area for the day from the looks of things.

Then I went to Orchard Road, the biggest shopping area around. I found Borders Bookstore, but it was too crowded (today is a public holiday). I noticed huge trees all along the street providing shade. Again, Singapore has a nice environment. Then I found a building with all Japanese department stores. It is like Japan here! In the bookstore here I looked at some travel guides.

Then I walked all the way to Little India and saw another Hindu temple here called the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. It was nice with intestine eating deities and all. Another pretty nice day in Singapore. I can appreciate a clean, modern, developed place like this.

This guesthouse just opened a few weeks ago from the looks of it. Nice and new, but still some weird things. You can eat corn flakes for breakfast, but there is no milk here. Some people were just using hot water. And the living area is just outside my bedroom door so it is hard to get much peace and quiet since it is like 20 people living in a 4 bedroom apartment here.

I got out of the hostel and made it to Vivocity shopping mall, the newest and largest mall in the country. I noticed they had a nice Canon showroom there, a big movie theater, a park and wading pool on the roof. Then there was a train that I took across to the nearby resort island of Sentosa. It is like a theme park, but I walked around and did the free things. The beach there looked perfect. On the way there I got a good view of the port and all the containers and the ships. When you look out to see you can see dozens of ships parked for refueling.

Today I kept trying to compare Singapore to Japan. Which country is more modern, which is more clean? There are a lot of trees here, a lot of green. It is needed since the sun is so high and strong. I’m only about 1 degree north of the equator!

I set off to the west train station about 8:30 in the morning in Beijing, China. The train left at 11:00. Later I noticed there were electrical plugs in the hallway of the train, the first I’ve seen in China, so I could charge up my computer. I forgot a book in Wuhan, but my train stopped there for six minutes on the way to my destination. My friend was able to give it back to me right on the train platform, which was so nice.

In the morning I arrived in Guangzhou after 21 hours on the train. I looked at the news and noticed there was a huge train collision the same night I was on the train, killing 70 people. And the train that crashed (T195) left the same city and same day as mine (T15), but had a different destination.

In Guangzhou, I walked from the train station to the airport express buses to Baiyun International Airport. It was one of the nicest airports I’ve ever seen. Then I flew on Tiger Airways to Singapore.

Getting off the plane at Changi Airport, I felt the blast of hot and humid air. I decided to walk around this airport since I was here. There was a new terminal which opened this year. Then I took the MRT (subway) to the hostel I reserved. It was a little different than I expected since the “hostel” was just a guy’s 4 bedroom apartment on the 23rd floor of a building. So it was really small and crowded, but oh well.

When I walked to the hostel, I was shocked that cars would stop for me when I cross the street. I was wondering why the drivers were not trying to run me over after spending so much time in China and other countries like that.

By this time I was hungry, so I went out to look for food. I didn’t see much around besides apartment buildings in the area, but one local resident asked me if I needed directions in English. I said, “Food” like I was starving. He told me to go to the train station. And there I had some kind of Malay style chicken and then a hamburger (with egg, of course!).

After 30 hours of traveling, I was tired, but Singapore seems like a nice place to stay at least.

My time is running out in China. My visa is valid until April 29. Recently, the government has made it difficult to get visa extensions due to the Olympics coming up. I’ve heard the prices for visas have gone up to over $1000. So I have to leave.

I had two choices: 1) Go directly home from Beijing. The cheapest and fastest option. 2) Go visit some more countries and try to make it to the Computex computer show in June.

My tentative plan is the following:

1. Singapore (5 days)
2. Indonesia (2 weeks)
3. Thailand (4 days)
4. Taiwan (2 weeks)
5. Hong Kong (3 days)
6. USA (return around June 10 or 11)

In the mean time I’ve been visiting friends here in Beijing, eating at a lot of restaurants, going swimming in a 50m pool, visiting an antique market, visiting the family I stayed with here before, and watching movies.

I had a lot of ATM trouble recently in Chongqing, China. And looking at my bank records, the problems didn’t end. It says I withdrew 1000 RMB ($143) when I didn’t. The day after that I was counting my money and I had only a little over 300 RMB. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do. I just have to lose that money.

For the first few hours of the train ride, a Chinese woman near me was spitting onto the floor of the train. Well, fairly typical in China and I’m not too surprised by now. After some time some people left and not every spot on the bench was full. I was able to lie down across the seat and sleep a few hours in the night. It did not turn out too bad.

The next morning I made it to Wuhan. One of the larger cities in China again. I took a bus across the Yangzi river to the Wuchang area of the city, where Wuhan University is located. I was able to meet my friend who is a student here and I had a simple room to stay in for free. There was no shower in the building, so I had to go to a hotel nearby and take one there for a small charge.

Wuhan University has a nice campus around two hills. There is an old World War II tunnel that goes through a hill which was used as a shelter during the war. Now it is a walking tunnel and a shortcut for getting around.

The airline I wanted to take to return to North America went out of business. Oasis Hong Kong Airlines was the only long distance discount airline in Asia and one of the reasons for me coming here. But now it is gone and I’ve been thinking about alternative plans. It really changes my whole plan, since now the cost of one overseas flight is the same price as spending months here.

It was another early start, waking up at 5:30AM or so. I was running low on money, so I tried an ATM, but it didn’t work (I tried last night too). I didn’t want to take any chances so I got a taxi to take me to the correct bus station for the Yangzi River bus and hydrofoil boat. I got to the ticket office and remembered I don’t have enough money to get a ticket, so I went to search for more ATMs. I found two more. One said “Communications Error” the other said “Transaction Refused, contact bank.” I had less than an hour to figure this out and get money. It was dark, raining, and I was climbing the steps of the “City of Mountains” searching for my goal. Since I tried 3 ATMs in different parts of the city I thought it must be my card, so I had to call my bank. I walked and walked trying to find a phone where I could call the US. I didn’t want to use my mobile phone since it would probably last only 2 minutes and I’d have to be on hold at least that long.

In my attempts to get to a phone, I got in a taxi, but he wouldn’t turn on the meter. I asked and asked and he said no. I didn’t want to fall into this trip, so I opened the door while the car was going down the road and he was forced to stop. I was sliding my feet along the street and got out before the taxi even stopped. I decided to walk through the city.

I realized I didn’t have enough money for a ticket today and I wouldn’t be able to call my bank in time, so I had to abort my entire Three Gorges idea. Now my goal was just to call before my bank closed. I did finally found a place with pay “IP Phones.” I called, my bank said there are no blocks or anything wrong with my card. They said the ATM was the problem. At least I narrowed down the problem.

I tried ATMs 4 & 5, same problems “Authorization Communication Error.” On the 5th ATM in the bank, I hear other people taking out money just fine next to me. Is my bank blocking transactions from China by accident? Finally I go to ICBC bank in the center of the city and it works. I don’t know what happened. I’ve been able to withdrawal from those banks and ATMs before.

I tried and tried to go on this boat through the famous Three Gorges and to the biggest dam in the world, but I gave up. I wanted to take a train to the next city instead. The train left at 3:00PM, so I killed some time sitting in KFC (which had a Starbucks and Wi-fi next door). Then I took a bus to the train station with the help of some police officers. I didn’t see the train station, so I got on another bus, but later learned I was supposed to walk down a hill and I’d see it.

It was another long wait to get a ticket at the train station. I was sure to get a bed in the train because I needed the rest and I started to get chills and felt sick today after everything I went through. I got to the front of the line they said no beds, but sold me a seat instead. This conversation is all in Chinese, by the way, so I’m just saying ok, ok, whatever to move the line of 50 people behind me along. I wish I would have asked for the train tomorrow and maybe a bed, but there is so much stress in that situation.

They directed me to the “Soft seat waiting room” for some reason. Because I was a foreigner? It was nice with big soft seats, clean bathroom, and not crowded. I skipped the X-ray machine, but I was surprised when the security guard asked if I had water and made me drink some of it for some reason.

The train ride last night was not very pleasant. I didn’t have a bed, only a seat. And it was crowded too. The seats in Chinese trains face each other. They are in groups of 4 or 6 seats, with a small table in the middle. Some people were putting their head on the table to sleep, others stretching out across the two or three seats. I didn’t get much sleep the night before and it was the same for tonight again.

The train arrived at 8:00AM, but the buses to get to the boats left at 7:00AM. So I had a 23 hour wait until my next chance. At least I could get some rest in the hostel.

Today I made my second attempt at seeing one of the largest caves in China. I woke up at 5:30 after not getting much sleep at all the night before. Then I rushed to check out of my room and then get a taxi to take me to the bus station. I was hoping the first bus was at 6:30, but it was at 7:00, which I knew would start to make things tough for me. The bus left 10 minutes late, but then after a little while it got a flat tire and spent about 30 minutes changing that. The rest of the 5 hour ride was very wild and bumpy winding around mountain valleys. A man near me vomited, for the 3rd time in one week! Along with public spitting and urinating, vomiting must be normal in China too. I guess it is all the same when you think about it.

My goal was to get to the cave and back in one day, but it was looking like at least 6 hours before I could even enter the cave, and then 2-3 hours to see the cave. Plus I wanted to catch a train later in the night. I decided I would turn around while I was in the city of Zhijin. I didn’t want to get stuck in this strange city all alone with little to no hotels. I did stay there for lunch and to see the dirtiest toilet I’ve ever seen in my life.

The ride back was a little less stressful because of the decision I made. And I wasn’t feeling too bad because I had just seen some nice caves yesterday. I did get some nice people photos from the bus window through a slow, crowded street in a village.

When I arrived back in Guiyang, I was lost. But then soon found out I was on the opposite side of the bus station I left from. Then I had to deal with rush hour traffic. I made the mistake of getting inside a bus when I saw people walking outside faster than me. Finally I asked the driver to open the door and I got out, walked the rest of the way to my hostel and got my bag. Then I took a bus with a slow driver to the train station and stood in line for a while for tickets. I saw the guy in front of me buy tickets for the train I wanted. So I tried the same thing, saw it was the same price for me and got a ticket. I was about to walk into the waiting room and noticed it was the wrong train! I got a ticket fro 3228 leaving at 8:33PM, not 3002 leaving at 7:50PM. I don’t know why I was sold the other one, maybe because I was too close to the departure time (5-10minutes) or the train was full? But it was mostly my fault because I didn’t confirm the number. It is stressful standing there with 50 people in line behind you.

I didn’t want to get on this train because it would arrive in Chongqing too late to make the bus/boat down the Yangzi river through the famous Three Gorges. I had no time to stand in line again, so I decided to go back to the hostel. And if I still wanted to take this train, I had 45 minutes to get back. I took the bus, got back quickly and asked for a room. They took my passport and membership card like they were going to check me in, but 5-10 minutes later they said no beds! Why didn’t they say that earlier? This is the only hostel in the entire province, so I had to go back to the train station. I took a bus again, but arrived outside the station at 8:33PM (the time of departure). I hoped the train would be a little late. I got through security and ran inside at 8:34PM, but all the signs for the train disappeared. It was on time, and I missed it.

I have no choice but to take the next train, so I went back to the ticket office, stood in the long line in the room with hundreds of other people again. I know I can use my unused ticket as credit to get a new one. Once I got to the front of the line, I found out I was standing in the wrong line for doing that. I was directed to another place and got another ticket that left about 10:30PM for Chongqing.