In search of new rivers...

Everything flows, nothing stands still

[shanejjs]

Apo Island, Part 2

Electricity gets cut-off at 7 pm, if I recall correctly. So, we ate and slept early. We opened the balcony door to let sea breeze in but it was more of a heavy gust than a breeze. It was stifling in a way to have to close the doors and windows, in addition to not having any ac or fan, but it beats being blown away by the wind while asleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, we explored the island. Walking through the neighborhood, small as it is, to the other side to see the marine sanctuary. The marine sanctuary was damaged a few years past, so no swimming is allowed until the corrals and ecosystem has recovered.

My mother and sister by the beach in front of the resort

My father and I

My mother and I

Walking through the neighborhood

To the Marine Sanctuary

Ad for a private theological college on the main island, Dumaguete

Mangroves

Marine Sanctuary

The five species of Sea Turtles you can see on the island waters

There was a woman selling traditional rice cake snacks walking around the neighborhood. We bought some and I was a little surprised to see a white girl buying from her. She must be staying at one of the “homestays.” If she really was, she must be very adventurous and on a strict budget. All of these houses do not have indoor plumbing. You can see people getting water from a well, too and taking a bath/shower outside. I sometimes think that I am too old to put up with that.

Anyway, back to swimming with sea turtles until lunch. We asked the resort manager to arrange for our boat back to mainland at 11am. She told us that it’s probably better to leave at 1pm so we won’t be rushed. I wanted to go that day to another island, Siquijor, instead of staying the night at Dumaguete, the main island. It turned out, there was another group leaving around the same time so they were minimizing the trip that the boat would have to take. It was fine by us. But, we later found out that we were waiting, too, for someone to come back from a dive. Well, that didn’t sit well with me, since neither the manager nor the boatman appeared to know when exactly that diver will be back. I was eager to move onward to my next destination. They probably saw our displeasure because I heard the manager arguing with the boatman about the uncertainty of the time of the arrival of the diver and how unfair for us to wait this long.

We left the diver behind but this was early in the afternoon and the wind has picked up already. The waves were strong and there was no way to get into the boat without getting wet. The ride back took longer, too, because of the big waves. We gave our bags to the boatman and assistants since they have surer footing than we do. They held our hand and assisted us onto the boat, one by one. Of course, most of the females and wanna-be females shrieked everytime a big wave hits them. Needless to say, our bottom half was soaked.

I made the mistake of not arranging for a van pick-up from the port to the capital. Our boat companions, did, so the van was waiting for them. I thought getting a bus back to the capital would be easy. My sister and mother used the public restroom to changed into dry clothes. I opted to be wet the entire journey back as I found the restroom too muddy and envisioned my clothes falling onto the muddy floor.

We waited a while for a bus but luck was not smiling at us. We decided to board a jeepney which was the wrong decision. It took forever to get back to the capital and do they pack the jeepney up! They even put benches in the middle so people can sit on them. I know there are stories and pictures of how they maximize every space on these provincial conveyances but this was actually my first experience of this. On top of that, my shorts were wet.

Once we arrived at the capital, we took a tricycle to the port. Unfortunately, no fastcraft was scheduled to leave anymore. There’s a roll-on roll-off ship that takes 2 hours at least and it docks on another port, opposite the one where I wanted to stay.

After deliberating, we decided to stay the night in Dumaguete. We asked a tricycle driver about hotels. He recommended a pension house that’s cheap. I, however, wanted a nice bed and nice bathroom even for just a night. So, I told him to drop us off at a hotel. We haven’t eaten lunch and was tired to do much exploring. It was a good thing that Jollibee was across from the hotel so after eating, we slept early as we had to wake up early anyway to catch the first fastcraft leaving for Siquijor.

More sea turtle pictures

My Sea Turtle Vids

[shanejjs]

I feel like this today.

[shanejjs]

Apo Island

After spending some days in my hometown, Alabang, my parents, sister and I went to Apo Island. It is a small island in Negros Oriental, known for diving and sea turtles. We flew from Manila to Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental. Then, we took a bus going to Zamboanguita. We told the bus conductor to let us off at Malatapay to go to Apo Island. We were dropped off at the side of a 2-lane highway. From here, we walked through a street to get to the boat jetty. There’s a small office where you can put down your names to await for a boat that will take you to the island. Fortunately for us, there were day guests of a resort waiting for their boat pick-up. We were asked by the port officer if we have a reservation at the resort but we didn’t. He, however, called the resort to ask if we can use their boat to get to the island since they’re bringing their guests in anyway. It was a go. In any case, I planned on staying overnight at that same resort. Only for a night, since I read that the electricity is rationed and there’s really not much to do at the small island. It is only .9 miles long and .6 miles wide.

When we got to the resort, we immediately inquired about a room for a night. We were given a beachfront room with a balcony over the dive shop. The balcony was nice but that night, the seawinds were too much. The real shocker was the bathroom. There was no door, only a curtain. If one of us had to do number 2, the rest had to vacate the room. There’s a shower with no running water. The caretaker brought a hose and filled up a small cistern with water. My mother worried that the water didn’t seem clean. I told her, it could just be the tiles of the tub. It’s a good thing we brought 2 big mineral water with us. We used that for brushing our teeth as well as drinking water. It’s only for a night, we told ourselves. And there’s really not that much choice. There are 2 more resorts, so to speak and plenty of homestays but for a night, we can live with this. The lodging also included 3 meals a day, so it was really a good deal.

After lunch, we went in search of sea turtles. When we asked the locals about where to swim to see sea turtles, they pointed out, “right there.” Sure enough, we see turtle heads over the waves. The locals said they’re always there. We tried to negotiate the price of the snorkeling gears but we’re a captive audience, and they were not budging on the price. They were really expensive. I was very surprise about the rental prices. But, we were eager to rendezvous with the amazing marine creatures.

On the boat toward the island

The island in the distance

Green Sea Turtles, there were lots, I screamed the entire time (hard to do with the snorkel in your mouth) because I was so thrilled…

So Beautiful

I was very close….

Chasing one

More turtles the next day.

[shanejjs]

To the Philippines

We took a taxi to the KLIA2 airport. It was a little cheaper to take the MRT to KL Sentral then transfer to another train that will drop us at the airport itself. Given that we were not exactly at the best of shape, lugging our luggage around didn't seem appealing.

I booked an Air Asia flight to Manila. It was our first time flying this metal. And it was a very dramatic flight.

Asian carriers still make their passengers turn off their cellphones. No put it in airplane mode, please. Behind us, an Indian man started berating a Chinese man about him not turning off his cellphone yet. The Indian, passenger 1, exclaimed that the Chinese, passenger 2, was putting his life in danger! Passenger 1 called the flight attendant to complain that his seatmate was not following instructions. More instructions about electronics needed to be turned off was given. Apparently, more but slight physical altercations happened during the flight. The next thing I saw was passenger 1 talking to flight attendants at the front of the plane. A flight attendant talked to passenger 2 about him pushing passenger 1's arm. He was asked to apologize to passenger 1 so they can put this incident behind them. Unfortunately, passenger 2 was a principled man who refused to apologize for something he didn't do. In his view, passenger 1 was too sensitive. He may have brushed his arm against passenger 1 but in no way did he physically assault, however slight, the other passenger. Well, no one was giving in, so the pilot was called. The poor pilot talked to passenger 2 to no avail. The pilot told him that the other passenger wanted to press charges. If passenger 1 was not placated by an apology, the pilot was required to summon the local police to deal with them. The pilot did not want this hassle. It would be inconvenient for everyone involve and an apology seems to be the easiest alternative. No.... passenger 2 was true to his principle. In no way would he apologize for something he did not do, no way, sir! The pilot went away to talk to passenger 1, then came back and told passenger 2 that eventhough he refused to apologize, he would still tell passenger 1 that passenger 2 did. Well, this seems okay with passenger 2. Since neither of the passenger seem to be talking to each other, the other wouldn't know that the other didn't apologize at all. Drama over.

I looked over at the girl seated beside me to remark that Air Asia seem to be a very exciting airline. We shared a laugh. What with the recent Air Asia flight crashing into the Java sea, I bet there would be a lot of cheap airfare to encourage people to fly with them.

Well, we were back home in Alabang. I met old friends while I stayed there. After a couple more days in Metro Manila, we went to the Visayas- Dumaguete, Apo Island and Siquijor.

[shanejjs]

Petronas Tower

I forgot about Petronas tower. We went there after Merdeka Square. The MRT station dropped us off at a mall with no signs as to where we were to exit to see the Petronas tower. When we went out of the mall, we realized we made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up across the street. We should have turned left when we turned right when we exited the station (or vice versa).

Philam, a high school friend, is living in Kuala Lumpur. I messaged him about meeting up somewhere but unfortunately, he was in Penang. Sent there for work at the last minute. Too bad as it would have been nice to catch up.

After Petronas, we went through Jalan Alor street by our hotel to scout the food offerings. But as I mentioned in the previous post, we weren’t really hungry and bought desserts. The one responsible for our suffering the next day.

Petronas Tower, there’s a fee to go up to the bridge.

In front of the tower.

Back of Petronas

Nice fountain behind the building

Jalan Alor street

[shanejjs]

More Kuala Lumpur

The hotel we stayed at was right on the corner of Jalan Alor. There are plenty of restaurants on the street but it really comes alive at night as a food haven, which is the main reason why I picked the hotel.

We weren’t hungry since we had a late lunch. So we walked along the street to gawk at different foods and the people who love them. We settled on eating just desserts for the night. We got some jackfruits, dragon fruits, a coagulated lychee looking sweet thing and some fruit shakes. We brought our stash back to our room.

In the middle of the night, my stomach started hurting. I didn’t think much of it. It always happen when you eat something not usually part of your normal diet. It usually passes after a couple of hours. It was not unmanageable when I woke up in the morning. My sister, too, complained that whe was not feeling well. Troopers that we are, we went with our plan to visit Batu Caves that day.

We hopped on the MRT to KL Sentral station. From there, we transferred to another train line that will stop at Batu Caves station. Batu Caves is a Hindu shrine dedicated to Lord Murugan, the Hindu god of war. There are three main caves - Cathedral Cave, which is free; Dark Cave, which is more of a spelunking adventure for a fee and was closed when we visited; and, Cave Villa, which you can visit for a fee at the foot of the hill. To get to Cathedral Cave, we climbed up a steep 272-steps stairs with monkeys waiting to ambush you and I was ambushed on the way down.

KL train

Lord Hanuman near the entrance to the Cave Villa

The limestone hill

Lord Murugan and the stairway to the main cave

Entrance to the Dark Cave on the right. You can only go in with a tour guide.

More stairs once you get into the main cave

A shrine

A woman stopped me on the way up telling me my shorts were too short. Apparently, her business was to rent sarongs to cover up bare legs. Unfortunately for her, my sister brought her scarf so I used it to cover my legs up.

On the way down, after exploring the caves and looking at the shrines insides, a monkey ambushed me at the stairs. It grabbed my water bottle and for a few seconds,we played tug, until a well-meaning Malaysian man shooed him away.

The train was waiting on the platform when we got back to the station. We also found the female-only car. While we were seated, a Caucasian guy sat down. I wondered how he can miss all the pink decorations and signs. In any case, no female inside the car really minded him there. When a Caucasian woman came in, he told the guy the car is female only and though she wouldn't mind him being there, the local women might. So, off he went. Well... we were enjoying the view! Oh,well!

Since Lanie and I were not really feeling well, we headed back to the hotel. We also found a restaurant directly across from the hotel that served congee. We thought it would help settle our stomachs. Lanie spent the day sleeping. I spent the day cycling through sleeping, stomach pains, throwing up and diarrhea. It is official, I was suffering from food poisoning. Our sightseeing plans were cancelled. We need to be well enough for the plane ride to the Philippines the next day. So, rest it was for the rest of the day.

[shanejjs]

Onwards to Kuala Lumpur

I suppose I could have taken more pictures of even mundane places like the bus terminal in Malacca. I can only reason that at that time, I was more intent on getting from one place to the next. In my defense, I was not as hurried as my past trips, where all that matters is one famous stop to the next. Recently, I tend to just stop and take a breather in a quaint shop or restaurant.

The bus terminal in Malacca is pretty decent. There were shops, restaurants and foreign exchange offices inside. The terminal in Kuala Lumpur was very nice as bus terminal goes. I was also told that it’s also a train terminal. In a way, it looks like an airport.

There were plenty of bus services to different parts of Malaysia. I bought tickets to Kuala Lumpur on the first counter for a bus leaving in an hour. After we bought the ticket, we went outside to the bus platform indicated on our tickets. The seats were also assigned. The bus was not very new but it was clean and the seats were comfortable. It was also half full by the time we left. It only took 2 and a half hours to get to Kuala Lumpur.

We took a taxi From Kuala Lumpur bus terminal to our hotel on Jalan Alor. There’s an MRT station near the hotel but I didn’t want to deal with changing stations. I chose Jalan Alor as our base, again, because of the night market/food market on that street.

The hotel was cheap and clean but no elevator. When we checked in, it was too early so we left our luggage on the front desk and killed time by going for a foot massage at a shop below the hotel. I was also roped in into getting a body massage. Then, I roped in my sister into paying for it.

We went back to the hotel, got settled in and went out to a shopping mall/food mall to get a late lunch. The MRT was not hard to understand. They use a token system; you insert money, choose your destination station and out comes a token. You touch the token onto the turnstile to get in, but on the way out, you insert the token into a slot. If you don’t want to use the vending machines, they have cashiers/counters, just inform them on what station you are disembarking from. I should have taken pictures, I know.

When we got off at the station where this shopping place is, we were not sure what street to turn to. I stopped a couple of women, maybe mother and daughter, but they didn’t speak English and asked me if I spoke Bahasa. Well, after I put their mind at ease that hand gestures were fine, I was able to get a general information as to where the place is.

We found it, but looking back, I think we happened upon the annex of the mall rather than the main mall. But, we found food and we were near the other touristy places so it worked out well.

Lunch

Dessert, Japanese crepes in Malaysia

Sign in front of the City Gallery in Merdeka Square

National History Museum

Library

Victorian Fountain

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

Field where the British used to hold cricket matches. Royal Selangor Club on the left.

St. Mary’s Church, an Anglican Church on the Square.

A large gathering of motorcycles around the Square

[shanejjs]

Malacca, Part 5

I swore there were 10000 steps from the bottom, where the old gatehouse is, to the top of the hill, where the ruins of St. Paul's Church is. As with any tourist spots, there were plenty of vendors along the steps selling God knows what.

St. Paul's Church was built in 1521 during the Portuguese colonization. It was given to the Jesuits under St. Francis Xavier. Since Jesuits are known educators, it was not surprising to learn that they also built a school there. St. Francis also used this church as the base for his journeys to Japan and China. When he died in China, he was temporarily buried in this church before his remains were shipped to be permanently interred in Goa, India. There is a fenced off area where his grave was.

Dutch and Portuguese tombstones littered the inside of the church ruins.

Down we went the steps again to our waiting Hello Kitty-mobile. We then went to the Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum. It's a building reconstruction of a palace of a Malay sultan. The building displays the life story of a Malaccan legendary hero, some artifacts, weapons and old dresses. There was also a black and white movie of, what I presumed, the legendary hero. Lanie and I sat down on the floor to rest and watch the movie.

What a sultan hearing/gathering looked like. You don't want to be the guy kneeling on the far right.

Become a sultan and sleep on this bed.

I really didn't want to leave the palace but our ride charged us by the hour. So, onward to more tourist spots. Han Li Po's well.

Hang Jebat's tomb. The moral of his story is be careful in choosing your friends. One of them may be too loyal to a king and kill you.

We also stopped at a shop that still makes the bound feet shoes. I cannot even put my hand inside of one. I forgot exactly how much they were asking for for a pair. I would guess $30-$50 range.

After the tour, we asked the driver to drop us off at the Church square to have some snacks. We saw some tent with food stalls there and we were eager to try the local dessert called cendol. According to wikipedia: "The dessert's basic ingredients are coconut milk, jelly noodles made from rice flour with green food coloring (usually derived from the pandan leaf), shaved ice and palm sugar. Other ingredients such as red beans, glutinous rice, grass jelly, creamed corn, might also be included." We just dove in and forgot to take a picture. We also saw people the night before walking around with some spiral thing on a stick. We found out that those were potatoes. We just had to walk around with those in our hands, too.

Making the potato spirals. After they make the spiral they dipped it into flour, fried, then sprinkled with whatever flavor you like. I chose barbecue flavor.

For dinner that night, we went to that same truck we had the night before. The everything-on-a-stick truck. After we gorged ourselves there, we went to the seafood isle to get some grilled oyster for me.We also saw fried carrot cake everywhere which didn't look like there was any carrot in it at all. I tried one, tasted okay but definitely no carrots.

Oysters with thai dressing (with carrots, this must be where the missing carrots from the carrot cake ended up) and oysters with black pepper sauce.

There was this one restaurant which serves the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls. It must be very good for people to line up all around the block. We were intrigued but didn't feel like queuing up.

The next morning, we rode a bus for 2.5 hours to get to Kuala Lumpur.

[shanejjs]

Malacca, Part 4

Hotel Puri provides a breakfast buffet. They had a nice selection, in my opinion. I wasn't disappointed. They had an egg station, eggs cooked the way you liked them - scrambled, fried, omelets. Although, in my experience, it is rare to get fried eggs over hard. It's a good thing I do not mind gooey yolks even though I prefer hard ones.

Time to tour Malacca.

House across from Hotel Puri

Queen Victoria's fountain on the town square. They call the square, the Red Square or Dutch Square

Christ Church Malacca. 18th century Anglican Church

We sat down for a while by the fountain. A local tricycle driver sat down beside us and showed me a laminated picture of a tour he can give us. It wasn't unreasonable and riding one of those decorated tricycles seem to be the thing here. I thought that we can walk around since the sites aren't that far from each other. However, I overestimated my stamina under the hot Malaysian sun. After we walked around the church into a Dutch graveyard, we decided to head back to the town square to score a tricycle tour.

Information board in the graveyard

We were heading up the stairs into the Stadthuys Museum when another tricycle driver started negotiating a tour with me. After bargaining hard, we settled on a price. A bystander who was eavesdropping on our conversation told me I was a good bargainer. Athough, really, I didn't even bargain that hard. It was the same price the first driver offered when I refused the first time. I really wanted to take the tour so didn't push for any lower by this time. If the tour was in my "nice-to-do-but-can-live-without" list, I would have really pushed for a lower price.

Off we went in our Hello-Kitty-mobile.

Our ride

First stop - some old ship. You pay to get in. I decided, not worth it.

Right - Transport plane that the Royal Malaysian Army used. An old plane from the (UK) Royal Air Force. Left - The driver said it was a car train from Japan

Smurf-mobiles

A Famosa. ruins of an old Portuguese fortress. The Porta de Santiago is all that remains.

Directly above the old gate house is St. Paul's Hill.

[shanejjs]

Malacca, Part 3

An old fort on the river bank. A waterwheel, not old, built in 2007, I think. Plenty of cafe and restaurants along the river. We already had our fill from the skewered-food truck. We saw some boats running up and down the river, so when we happened upon the ticket booth, we bought tickets to ride one of them. A group of loud and obnoxious men were in the boat with us. Lanie said they were acting like they were in a beerhouse. After the river cruise, I found myself craving for seafood. This was taken one street off Jonker. Squid cooked Portuguese style. Spicy. Clams Portuguese style There was a stage where Jonker and another street meet. People were watching and listening to those who were brave enough to get up there and sing karaoke. Mostly old people, so old Chinese songs were being sung. After listening for a while, we went back to the hotel to rest.

[shanejjs]

Malacca, Part 2

We walked through Jonker street to see what restaurants and stores they have. First encounter, glass jelly drink. Second encounter, durian pastry. It had to be eaten in few bites as possible, or you may not like the smell so much. Unfortunately, no picture. There was a square where a bodybuilder doctor's bust was displayed. He was credited in revitalizing Jonker street. A Buddhist temple A masjid Where Jonker street starts Seems so out of place Malacca river Street food Loved this! LABIT!!!! All the skewered goodness have colors at the end with corresponding price posted on the truck. You can just dunk the skewers on one of the boiling pots or ask the vendor to fry it for you. We had no idea what most of them were but they were all good. After stuffing ourselves with skewer heavenly foods, we got some boba tea. Night market in full swing. It was very crowded especially at the front end of the street. The crowd thins out as you get near the end. There were also plenty of stalls, cafes, restaurants on the side street as well as one street over. These beacons of neon lights and heavy but themed decorations were ubiquitous in Malacca. We rode something similar the next day. Malacca river at night We went sightseeing some more along the river and we also took a river cruise. More pics next post.

[shanejjs]

Malacca, Part 1

I bought the bus tickets online to Malacca the day before. The journey is supposed to be 6 hours or so in addition to immigration processing at the border. We took a taxi to the bus station quite early. We had about an hour before departure when we arrived at the station. The ticket booth where I showed the attendants my online receipt was a small kiosk on a service street. There was no place to sit down and wait except for this small table occupied by 2 taxi drivers - one Chinese and one Indian. They were kind enough to make room for me to sit on the table. They were quite talkative, in their limited English, and were joking with my backpack and luggage. They warned me to be careful of pickpockets and robbers in Malaysia. When the Indian guy learned we were from Manila, he mentioned that he had been to Cebu on a business trip and enjoyed the place. The online booking service bus map when I chose our seats were incorrect. We were stuck at the last row. There was a slight mishap when this Korean family have the same seat number as us. So, I motioned for him to follow me to back to the kiosk to have it straightened out. We were still stuck on the last row, just different side. Nothing exciting happened at the Singaporean immigration. We got off the bus to get processed but we didn't have to bring our luggage with us. For some reason, the officer took far longer processing me through while my sister's was quick. The bus traveled a few miles before we had to get off again for the Malaysian immigration. The Malaysian immigration building was quite old, in sharp contrast to the Singaporean one. This time, we had to bring our luggage for security screening. I learned that land border restrooms are always filthy, both in my experience in Thailand-Cambodia and now Singapore-Malaysia. But, if you have to go, you have to go. I was going to get in line for the women restroom when I saw a sign pointing to another one upstairs. Score! There was no one there and it was clean enough. When we arrived at the bus station in Malacca, we followed the sign for the taxi stand. I was informed by the drivers that they do not use the meter, it's always a flat fare. I was skeptical but I didn't want to argue. I booked Hotel Puri in the center of Malacca. The hotel is one street over from Jonker street where they have a night food street festival on the weekends. Which is also the reason why I timed our visit on the weekend. The hotel is a restored Peranakan house. That means, no elevator. That information didn't hit home until we checked in and was asked if I needed help with the luggage. When I refused, the receptionist asked me if I was sure, which struck me as weird. So, I asked, "You do have an elevator, don't you?" When she replied no, I gladly took the offered help. The room also came with buffet breakfast for two at their courtyard cafe. We were also given maps and recommendations on where to eat. Our room Koi pond Furnishings inside the hotel Reception/Lobby Looking up from the reception/lobby courtyard Looking up from the courtyard where we have breakfasts Breakfast courtyard We arrived early in the afternoon. Quite early for the night market. After we rested for awhile, we checked out the Chinese temple and the Masjid, both within walking distance. More pictures next post.

[shanejjs]

Singapore Day 3

It was lunch time by the time we decided to leave the hostel. The hostel common area was pretty deserted that morning. So, I was able to grab a stool and eat at the high table leisurely. We walked to the Maxwell Hawker Center in Chinatown. After looking around, we settled on fish soup of some sort. There was a line of people so it must be good. While my sister was in line for the fish soup, I went to the fruit stall to get fresh fruit shake/smoothie. The food center does not have a high standard for cleanliness but it was not bad. My sister and I have seen worse. One guy came over and joined our table. We thought he was a local. My sister noticed that he was eating chicken rice meal which our cousin mentioned is what you eat when you're running out of money. I felt bad talking about the guy in front of us in a language he clearly doesn't understand so I engaged him in a conversation. It turned out that he's from Thailand and he just arrived in Singapore. His family and friends will be joining him later that day. Maxwell Hawker Center

The Fish Soup stall

Our fish soups. Delish...

Avocado smoothie and Watermelon shake

After lunch, we walked to the Sri Mariamman Temple. As you could tell from the name, the temple is dedicated to the goddess Mariamman. Entrance to the temple is free but if you want to take pictures, you have to pay. Shoes have to be removed before you enter the temple. Just imagine walking barefoot on cement at noon. There was a Japanese tour group when we went inside. We stood with the crowd eventhough we have no idea what the guide was going on about. And no, we didn't take pictures 'coz I'm against that kind of thing. *smirk* So, we just took a picture outside with the colorful gopuram.

We then walked to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. The 1st floor has the temple and the 2nd to the 4th floor of the building houses the museum. At the rooftop, they have the large prayer wheel. There were monks and people in the temple holding prayer and ceremony. We watched for a little while. I enjoyed listening to Buddhist chants.

We lighted some incense and offered prayers, just because, might as well, you know. Lanie was wearing a sleeveless short dress. The temple, though, provides shawls to cover up. They had anticipated that most tourists won't be attired properly for a temple visit. When we got to the rooftop, the monks who were done with the ceremony below was also there. So, they did their prayers and chants again while spinning the prayer wheel. Me and prayer wheel

Lanie's turn We weren't quite sure what to do next so we both agreed to check out some shopping districts. On the way to the subway station, we passed by traditional medicine shops. The dried seahorses dismay me. I shudder to think what other dried, powdered or preserved endangered species they have for sale. We didn't end up buying anything, we were underwhelmed by the shopping. After wasting time window shopping, we made our way to the Merlion Park. When we got out of the subway station, a man, seeing our confusion as to whether go right or left, pointed us to where the Merlion is. I asked him if it's so obvious that we were lost. He said that most people are there to look for the Merlion. We did the obligatory Merlion photos. Swanky hotel on the way to the Merlion Selfie with Merlion and MBS The night was still young, so we checked out the infamous 24-hour Mustafa Mall. We were again, disappointed. It looked more like a flea market, really. We looked around, didn't buy anything. We took a taxi back to Chinatown for dinner. Dinner in Chinatown Outdoor Dining Our last night in Singapore ended thus. The next day, we left for Malacca.

[shanejjs]

Everyone should have a travel journal

One thing I regret not doing, and would probably have to remind myself and disciplined myself to do, is keeping a journal for my travels. There are a lot of details, could be petty but may be amusing still, that you tend to forget months or days after. If I had a journal with me, I could have written down anything that stroked my fancy, little things that made me smile or laugh, or incidents that prodded some thinking on my part, right at that specific moment. Now, while I'm trying to rock my brains for the what, when, where and how, my mind jumps over some details as it look at the big picture. Only afterwards while I'm thinking about what I wrote, that I remember something that tickled me (in a metaphorical sense). I will try to write it down here as soon as I remember it. After the safari, we didn't go back to the hostel right away. We went to a restaurant within walking distance of the hostel for dinner. The inside of the restaurant was small and already full but they had table set up outside, on the sidewalk. Besides, there was a large group of Japanese guys having celebratory dinner inside. They were quite loud and rambunctious, which was a source of entertainment for the rest of the patrons. On the table beside ours, there were two Chinese guys having dinner. They were also smoking, dropping ashes and cigarette butts on the sidewalk. One of them even hacked and spat on the sidewalk while we were having dinner. Spoiled my appetite. I thought you weren't allowed to spit on the sidewalk in Singapore?! I guess my intel was wrong.

[shanejjs]

Night Safari

I asked Rowena months before about the Night Safari. She said she heard it was not worth it. However, I liked the idea of zoo visit at night. The chance to see nocturnal creatures active.

The hostel sells ticket to the Safari but by demand only. I ended up trying to use my phone to buy tickets. To my dismay, the website kept timing out on me whenever I tried to buy. The netbooks that the hostel provided were fully occupied so I had to wait. After I got my hand on one of the suckers, I bought the tickets, they were e-mailed to me and off we went to catch a taxi.

The zoo was quite aways from the city center, 30 minutes or so. The taxi driver also pointed out where we can catch a taxi back. Lanie wanted to go to the zoo, too, but I was not interested in visiting the normal zoo. I offered to pay for her ticket if she wanted to go alone. That is, we can go our separate ways tomorrow. When we saw how far the zoo was, she decided to scrap the idea.

At the entrance

Pilot explorer statue. For some reason, he looked like Machete to me.

Right by the entrance, a fire show started. Two nearly naked buff guys came out and played with fire. We watched for a while. They also conned a member of the audience on the stage. The dude was ready to swallow the fire. I think he did. I was too far to be certain and I stopped taking pictures then.

Starting the fire

Swallowing the fire

After we showed our e-tickets, we were asked if we wanted to see the animal show first as it was starting. We walked towards it when Lanie mentioned she wanted to watch the tiger (or lion, don’t remember, but one of those cats) feeding. We went back and took the foot trails. There was also a tram tour. We took it after we finished the foot trails.

Since it is night time and we do not have good night vision cameras, most of our pictures were crappy. The first creatures we saw were pygmy deers.

Next was a bearcat. I told Lanie, she could go on and leave me there as I could spend hours just watching that furball.

The zoo was laid out like there was no barrier between you and the animals, similar to the Animal Safari in San Diego. One thing that I really really loved was the enclosed fruit bat area. You can go in and walk through it and watch the bats eat fruits. Most of them were juvenile as they were very small. But, I ADORE FRUITBATS!!!

Fruit bats!

Close up but blurry

Lanie was freaked out when the viewing area for the leopard showed no leopard. And at night, with the sounds of the jungle all around you, you kinda’ tend to think the worst. While we were walking, there were some noise in our vicinity, so Lanie screamed. I, a sympathizing older sister, screamed along with her. Another noise, then a mouse run across the trail, and more screaming ensued. The missing leopard is to blame, according to my high-pitched sister.

We missed the tiger/lion feeding. The paths were very long on foot and we spent lots of time gawking at the night creatures. When the trail circled back to entrance, we rode the tram. There was also a small cafe along the trail where we had dinner. Nothing grand but sated our needs.

This is one of the highlights of my Singapore trip, I really, really enjoyed this attraction.

Back at the hostel, I did laundry. The reception guy offered to transfer our clothes to the dryer so I can rest. I took him up on it. I got my laundry back the next morning. That afternoon, though, the little girl receptionist told me I still have my laundry downstairs. When I told her I got them that morning, she said that there were some left on the floor. True enough, there was my underwear. I thanked her, yet, at the same time, I thought of why she didn’t pick it up from the floor. Well, at least, she was smiling more at me. I swear she was sour-faced towards the guests. Only heard her laughing when she was talking to the guy receptionist. She warmed up a little bit. So, it’s cool….

[shanejjs]

Sentosa

I was a little underwhelmed by Singapore. Maybe, because it's so urbane, in a sense, and in my mind, Asia should be nature and ancient sites. Not that I didn't enjoy it, only that it didn't leave me with a sense of wonder as Cambodia or Japan.

Our hostel provided breakfast, just cereals and toasts, coffee and tea, which was enough to get us started for the day. To my surprise, our floor bathroom was rarely occupied. We never had to wait to use the toilet or the shower and there was only 1 of the former and 2 of the latter. When I went down for breakfast before my sister, I made tea for her and coffee for me. A small high table with four chairs were occupied, so I decided to use the center coffee table and sit on the floor in front of these 2 older gentlemen who seemed out of place in a hostel. For some reason, I was surprised that they would stay at a hostel, they didn't seem to come with a family of 5 and even then, getting a hotel room would have been more cost effective. In any case, I didn't care, I wanted to plop my ass down, eat, drink and check information on my phone.

I asked my sister before I went down to check for a change of towel, she came back unsuccessful saying that the staff today said we're issued one for the entire stay, which was contrary to the conversation I had the day before with the guy who checked me in (sorry, forgot his name). I went down myself to have a chat with the new person. To my surprise, it was a little girl. In my eyes, she couldn't be more than 12. Yet, the next day, when she was chatting quite merrily with the first guy, she said "people our age." WHAT?! Apparently, she's of the same age as that guy. In any case, after telling her about what I was told and my expectation, she relented. Can you blame me for wanting fresh towels? Singapore was hot and humid!

Our first stop was Sentosa. I wanted to ride the cable car. That was my only intention. The fee gave us access to the park, as well as the cable car ride. Any other rides inside the park, you'll have to pay. They offer several packages, but I just wanted the cable car. If Lanie wanted rides inside, we'll decide then. Besides, Sentosa was not cheap.

We started from Chinatown station

The cable car

They were having a superhero themed car and we got Wonder Woman! I am scared of heights, by the way, but I soldiered on!

Wonder Woman!

Dos Marias

I think that's a cruise ship from Star Cruises

When we got to Sentosa Island, we weren't quite sure whether the buses were free of charge. After we observed for some time, it seems that it's included in the fee, so we rode one to one end where the beach tram stops. We took the beach tram along the beach side.

Palawan beach at Sentosa

Chicken rice for lunch. Cannot leave Singapore without eating this.

After the beachside, we hunted the Sentosa Merlion.

Took a picture of the Universal Studios globe.

Walked around the Aquarium to find ships and boats.

Lanie preferred the cruise ship.

I liked the old ones.

A junk.

We went back to the hostel to rest before we head off to the Night Zoo.

[shanejjs]

Singapore

The flight was uneventful. I was seated next to a Chinese guy at the last row of the plane. I had to ask the lone Japanese girl on the row in front of me if it was okay to dim the window on her row (she was on the aisle seat).

It was interesting to find out that when I went through Singapore immigration, all the officers were of Indian descent.

After I exchanged money, I looked for a shared van ride to the Beary Best Hostel in Chinatown. When I got to the hostel, I couldn’t figure out how to open the front door. I found out later that there’s a button you’re supposed to push on the side wall. Anyway, the front desk staff opened the door from the inside. I told him that my sister was supposed to have arrived earlier and he assured me that my sister is upstairs in our room. He made me fill up some papers, asked for my passport and then showed me around the hostel. There are no elevators and access to the rooms are restricted by our room cards. I also asked him if we could ask for fresh towels daily and he said we can get fresh ones. Since we booked a private room, that must be one of the perks.

The bathrooms are shared but segregated. Although he mentioned that the female can use the male bathrooms if they are so inclined. When I saw one of the male guests come out of the bathroom, I was very tempted to use it (RAWR! BWAHAHAHA!). There was also a bathroom on each floor and we’re welcome to use whichever floor we want. Our room was in the 3rd floor. He was kind enough to carry my luggage for me.

Breakfast is free every morning - cereal, bread, coffee and tea. You wash your own dishes. Free wifi, there’s tv and wii in the common area. Bears is the theme of the hostel, thus the name.

The room was very small, barely enough to fit a double deck bed. My sister chose the top bunk. I messaged Rowena to let her know I arrived at the hostel. She was supposed to meet us at the hostel and go to dinner together.

Rowena, along with her 2 cousins, took us to Makansutra Glutton’s Bay which is across the Marina Bay Sands (across the bay). This is an outdoor eating area. There are plenty of kiosks of restaurants to order from and you seat at whatever empty table you find. There are also other cafes, restaurants and pubs along the waterfront. Pretty nice area, actually. I would have loved to linger more there after dinner but we walked along the promenade to the Helix Bridge and to the Marina Bay Sands mall.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel Glutton’s Bay Restaurant counters Food porn ahead…. All the gluttons at glutton’s bay Rowena, Lanie (my sister) and I. Rowena and I haven’t seen each other in 12 years or so. Lanie and I Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Helix Bridge on the left Me at Helix Bridge lookout

I was surprised when I heard Rowena talked to the taxi driver in English with a Chinese accent. Lanie told me that our cousin who also lives in Singapore (who picked her up at the airport and accompanied her to the hostel, thanks Ruel!), speaks the same way. It was a good enough accent (or bad depending on your perspective), that when our aunt and her family came to Singapore for a visit and heard him talk, they thought he was speaking in Chinese.

We walked through the Helix Bridge and straight to the mall beside Marina Bay Sands hotel. I was not tired at this point but my feet and their hundred thousand blisters were clamoring for rest. So, after a detour at a pharmacy to stock up on band-aids, we called it a night. Ah… I would have loved to stay where we were earlier at one of the cafes or bar and watch the lights from MBS and the people walking by.

The mall was connected to the subway station. My reunion with Rowena was short but sweet. Thanks for the dinner, Weng! I enjoyed the Seafood noodles I got you. Next time, dinner’s on me, whenever that is.