The Night Safari section of the zoo was an absolute blast. Because there are a lot of nocturnal animals that can't be seen during the day in the zoo, unless they're kept in unpleasant cages, the zoo has an entire section just for visiting at night, lit up with special lights and with a tram and guide.
My favorite piece of commentary, by far, was on a civet that looked like a half bear/half cat. "Like all civets, the bear-cat (forgot the name of it) excretes a sweet smell from its anal scent glands, somewhat similar to popcorn or bamboo."
Today was a 11km walk through the MacRitchie Reserve and Reservoir. Very beautiful, lovely in every way, quite hot, and a really long walk. About four hours, I think, but we took some breaks. I got some great photos today, although I didn't have any film last night at the Night Safari, and my digital is unfortunately not in any way capable of standing in for my Canon in the dark - or in the daylight, for that matter.
Tomorrow is my final full day in Singapore, and I am probably going to go out with J., from Birmingham, and my German friends. I'm packing tonight, and I am beyond excited to be finally leaving. Today, there were moments when I actually enjoyed being in Singapore. I think my adjustment to living in this climate and in these living conditions took a lot longer than I expected it to. But, I have clearly adapted to the rigors of the climate if I can walk 12.5km in one day (my road was closed this morning, had to walk for 1.5km in the morning to catch the bus to church). Regardless of my body's ability to acclimate, I'll be happy to come home, to the blessed, beautiful rain, and the constant gray skies. :)
Showing posts with label sightseeing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sightseeing. Show all posts
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Accompanying Pictures for KL
Here's the dude in shorts with the woman in the black tarp
Yes, that's chocolate. A chocolate dragon. TWO chocolate dragons! Awesome!
Petronas Twin Towers (now the tallest in the world, thanks to 9/11 - this was pointed out multiple times by multiple people there) and downtown Kuala Lumpur from the KL Tower
Monday, August 06, 2007
KL Recap
My time in Kuala Lumpur was great, in spite of one big mistake initially that eventually worked itself out. I was a little worried about traveling there by myself, I ended up not going with a package tour, although I did go on a city tour while there, and walked around the city a lot by myself. I was thinking that maybe Malaysians would have a problem with Americans, since Malaysians are very proud about being an Islamic culture. However, everyone was really nice, and I was really impressed. The service there is fantastic, only one taxi driver tried to cheat me, and prices are dirt cheap.
A few comments about things I saw. The Petronas Towers are really nifty. I didn't go up on the bridge because the line to get a ticket up was too darned long. I got some good pictures, though. Malaysian women wear the prettiest head scarves! Some of them were simply beautiful, and they're all so well-coordinated. Still, I saw how sweaty their faces were - they are not particularly comfortable, especially when you're also fully covered in tropical heat. There is definitely a generation gap - a lot of the younger women wear jeans and t-shirts, or even short skirts. If any of you have heard about Gwen Stefani's concert in KL, where she will actually be wearing clothing due to protests, you can see why this is interesting. The Muslim men's organization that protested her concert said she would corrupt the morals of the young. By the time you're worried about things corrupting the morals of the young, you're probably already too late.
Most annoying thing I saw - women wearing burqas (the full covering with just the eyes showing) walking dutifully two paces behind their husband, who wore the traditional garb of shorts, Birkenstocks, and a polo shirt. Why does HE get to wear Western clothing that's comfortable in the heat, and make HER wear some horribly ugly and uncomfortable drape? If the Malaysian women wearing headscarves were uncomfortable, I can't imagine how a huge black thing that made me look as shapely as a barrel would make me feel. The whole concept that it is a woman's fault that a man can't keep it in his pants is beyond me. If they're so worried about moral corruption, maybe they should look in the mirror first - Mr. Shorts-wearing-Western-looking-man. Okay, rant over.
My hostel, Pondok Lodge, was reasonably clean and decent. My 'blanket' was a thin linen sheet, but that was sufficient enough for the climate. The bed was lumpy and so was the pillow, which was also rock hard, but I've slept in enough backpacker's hostels that I expected nothing else. The breakfast also was typical hostel fare - one piece of sweet bread, a piece of fruit (peach colored banana), two pieces of white bread toast, and jam/butter packs. I also asked for tea. Anyway, it was satisfactory. The thing that annoyed me was that it is directly above a club, and being Saturday night, they were open and loud until about 2am. So, trying to sleep was a bit of a problem.
All in all, I really enjoyed my weekend, which is good, because I haven't been enjoying my stay overall very much. I'm still looking more forward to Melaka, but that's because I find the history of Melaka interesting, whereas I find KL and Singapore of passing interest, at best. Singapore is so safe, and the toilets are real toilets, not squat toilets (which I was also expecting, so it didn't bug me as much as before), but it's also a little boring. So, if you're ever in East Asia, you should go to Malaysia. :)
Final note - Starbucks saved my sanity. Because I missed my first bus in the morning (the mondo mistake), I also missed my tour to the Batu caves, which I was pretty mad about. Then after I arrived, I started walking and got overheated, and then arrived at a shopping center with a Starbucks, whereat I immediately bought a caramel frappuccino. I love those things! Drink them no more than every couple months, though, piles 'o calories. Anyway, it was fantastic. There are so many Starbucks in KL that it almost rivals Seattle. And that's impressive. I still feel slightly ambivalent about the fact that I went to Starbucks only once in Vienna, and have already gone a good five times since I've been in Asia. I guess I've needed the homey comfort of a fattening coffee drink to keep me going. :)
A few comments about things I saw. The Petronas Towers are really nifty. I didn't go up on the bridge because the line to get a ticket up was too darned long. I got some good pictures, though. Malaysian women wear the prettiest head scarves! Some of them were simply beautiful, and they're all so well-coordinated. Still, I saw how sweaty their faces were - they are not particularly comfortable, especially when you're also fully covered in tropical heat. There is definitely a generation gap - a lot of the younger women wear jeans and t-shirts, or even short skirts. If any of you have heard about Gwen Stefani's concert in KL, where she will actually be wearing clothing due to protests, you can see why this is interesting. The Muslim men's organization that protested her concert said she would corrupt the morals of the young. By the time you're worried about things corrupting the morals of the young, you're probably already too late.
Most annoying thing I saw - women wearing burqas (the full covering with just the eyes showing) walking dutifully two paces behind their husband, who wore the traditional garb of shorts, Birkenstocks, and a polo shirt. Why does HE get to wear Western clothing that's comfortable in the heat, and make HER wear some horribly ugly and uncomfortable drape? If the Malaysian women wearing headscarves were uncomfortable, I can't imagine how a huge black thing that made me look as shapely as a barrel would make me feel. The whole concept that it is a woman's fault that a man can't keep it in his pants is beyond me. If they're so worried about moral corruption, maybe they should look in the mirror first - Mr. Shorts-wearing-Western-looking-man. Okay, rant over.
My hostel, Pondok Lodge, was reasonably clean and decent. My 'blanket' was a thin linen sheet, but that was sufficient enough for the climate. The bed was lumpy and so was the pillow, which was also rock hard, but I've slept in enough backpacker's hostels that I expected nothing else. The breakfast also was typical hostel fare - one piece of sweet bread, a piece of fruit (peach colored banana), two pieces of white bread toast, and jam/butter packs. I also asked for tea. Anyway, it was satisfactory. The thing that annoyed me was that it is directly above a club, and being Saturday night, they were open and loud until about 2am. So, trying to sleep was a bit of a problem.
All in all, I really enjoyed my weekend, which is good, because I haven't been enjoying my stay overall very much. I'm still looking more forward to Melaka, but that's because I find the history of Melaka interesting, whereas I find KL and Singapore of passing interest, at best. Singapore is so safe, and the toilets are real toilets, not squat toilets (which I was also expecting, so it didn't bug me as much as before), but it's also a little boring. So, if you're ever in East Asia, you should go to Malaysia. :)
Final note - Starbucks saved my sanity. Because I missed my first bus in the morning (the mondo mistake), I also missed my tour to the Batu caves, which I was pretty mad about. Then after I arrived, I started walking and got overheated, and then arrived at a shopping center with a Starbucks, whereat I immediately bought a caramel frappuccino. I love those things! Drink them no more than every couple months, though, piles 'o calories. Anyway, it was fantastic. There are so many Starbucks in KL that it almost rivals Seattle. And that's impressive. I still feel slightly ambivalent about the fact that I went to Starbucks only once in Vienna, and have already gone a good five times since I've been in Asia. I guess I've needed the homey comfort of a fattening coffee drink to keep me going. :)
Saturday, July 28, 2007
National Museum of Singapore et al
Today being Sunday, my usual day off, I intend to do something interesting. Today's plan is to revisit the Catholic Church here, The Good Shepherd, but arrive early this time. No more getting overheated and almost passing out. I went back to the Anglican church last week because they have air-conditioning, but it's just not the same, and the sermons are, quite frankly, too long.
After church, I plan to visit the National Museum of Singapore, which I have now seen multiple times from the bus, but haven't ever actually stopped to visit. After that, I'll probably go to the library and hang out for awhile. Pretty much anything to keep from having to go directly back to my tiny, claustrophobic little corner of the earth I currently call my room.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Fourth of July Celebration
According to the US presence in Singapore, yesterday, June 30, was the 4th of July. For those who know me, you know I don't really go in for most of the "America is so great!" stuff that most of us were fed since we were kids. Yes, I live in a reasonably nice country. Yes, I have a reasonably nice life. But somehow celebrating the fact that I have plenty and others don't is rather stupid to me. Kind of like when your mom used to say, "Clean your plate! There are starving kids in Africa!" and you'd think, "So? I'M not a starving kid in Africa, and I don't WANT to eat these vegetables!"
Anyway, I do sincerely enjoy Independence Day celebrations, especially the bad food and fireworks. I kept the bad food to a minimum - had root beer, a corn dog and corn on the cob - but the fireworks were quite nice. A little too short of a show, but nice. The best part of it was how close they were. A. kept collecting bits of the cardboard shells and I got bonked on the head with bits of firework debris on multiple occasions.
Today I went to St. Andrew's Cathedral for service, as I was under the impression that it was a Catholic church. In actuality, it's Anglican. My first clue was when half the words to the prayers were from a different translation, but what really convinced me I wasn't in a Catholic church is when the visiting speaker mentioned his wife and granddaughter. Last I checked, that wasn't allowed. Nice church, though, and a fun praise band. Next week, I'll check out the actual Catholic church, which is across from an old convent. The convent has now been turned into shops and restaurants and bars. Kind of ironic.
Today I went exploring in Singapore, as Sunday seems to be a good day for me to have off for all of us. I went to Orchard Rd, the shopping artery through the "old" part of Singapore (there's maybe two or three old buildings left, all the rest are new high rises), and bought some nice stuff. I'm most pleased with my new silk pillow covers. Very classy, very simple yet elegant design. And they were cheap! Then I spent lots of time reading a book seated in the courtyard at the Raffles hotel. It's still a hotel, but it also has a gift shop, a Tiffany's and some other stuff. The main thing I learned today is that Singapore is, by and large, a shopping tourists haven. Not much else happening here other than the nature preserves and zoo, which I also intend to visit.
Side note: I have seen MANY, MANY mixed couples with a white dude and an Asian (here meaning anywhere in Asia plus the Indian subcontinent) woman. I saw so many, in fact, that I began to wonder why I saw no white women with an Asian dude. Today, I saw one such couple, and he looked half Indian, half white. There were lots of single white women walking around, though. I have a couple hypotheses as to why this is:
Anyway, I do sincerely enjoy Independence Day celebrations, especially the bad food and fireworks. I kept the bad food to a minimum - had root beer, a corn dog and corn on the cob - but the fireworks were quite nice. A little too short of a show, but nice. The best part of it was how close they were. A. kept collecting bits of the cardboard shells and I got bonked on the head with bits of firework debris on multiple occasions.
Today I went to St. Andrew's Cathedral for service, as I was under the impression that it was a Catholic church. In actuality, it's Anglican. My first clue was when half the words to the prayers were from a different translation, but what really convinced me I wasn't in a Catholic church is when the visiting speaker mentioned his wife and granddaughter. Last I checked, that wasn't allowed. Nice church, though, and a fun praise band. Next week, I'll check out the actual Catholic church, which is across from an old convent. The convent has now been turned into shops and restaurants and bars. Kind of ironic.
Today I went exploring in Singapore, as Sunday seems to be a good day for me to have off for all of us. I went to Orchard Rd, the shopping artery through the "old" part of Singapore (there's maybe two or three old buildings left, all the rest are new high rises), and bought some nice stuff. I'm most pleased with my new silk pillow covers. Very classy, very simple yet elegant design. And they were cheap! Then I spent lots of time reading a book seated in the courtyard at the Raffles hotel. It's still a hotel, but it also has a gift shop, a Tiffany's and some other stuff. The main thing I learned today is that Singapore is, by and large, a shopping tourists haven. Not much else happening here other than the nature preserves and zoo, which I also intend to visit.
Side note: I have seen MANY, MANY mixed couples with a white dude and an Asian (here meaning anywhere in Asia plus the Indian subcontinent) woman. I saw so many, in fact, that I began to wonder why I saw no white women with an Asian dude. Today, I saw one such couple, and he looked half Indian, half white. There were lots of single white women walking around, though. I have a couple hypotheses as to why this is:
- there are more male expats than female expats, so men turn to local populations of women rather than fight for the limited quantity available of "their own kind"
- women are more capable of being alone for long periods of time than are men and thus do not feel this need to turn to the local populations
- women are more racist in their choice of partner/men are more sexist in their choice of partner - I'm going for hamburger B, having heard enough comments about Western women not acting like "real" women
- women care more about scent - meaning the Asian women will probably smell fine to the Western man, but the Asian man may not smell so great to the Western woman. Here, I am referring mostly to laborers, but this was true even of nicely dressed men in Myanmar. They ALL smelled. A lot.
- I just haven't been searching in the right places
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