Buddah Stops - Lumbini, Nepal and Kushinagar, India

My new friend from Russia convinced me quite easily to make some short
detours to some locations important to Buddhism.
Lumbini is the birthplace of the prince who later became Buddha. The
bland brick building encloses the actual birthplace. There is also one
of Ashram's pillars here ( Kinda like a Kodak photo site marker but
hundreds of years older ;)

Kushinagar is where Buddha died. We had gotten up very early and it
was only when we were about to leave that the tour groups with
custom robes for the reclining Bbuddha started to arrive. One night in
each place and then onto New Delhi.

Pochara, Nepal

Dec 13 to 20th - Pochara, Nepal
Pochara is the Lake Louise of the Himilayas. It's the base
for treking in Nepal and has some of the most impressive mountains in
the country. It should be said though that while the Himilayas are
bigger they are necessarily more spread out whereas the Canadian
Rockies are denser and as a result more picturesque; but maybe I'm
biased ;)
I came across the two guys, Brice and Guillaume from France
who were with me much of my journey just up to and across the border
into Nepal. They were supposed to be trekking already but Guillam had
developed a stomache ulcer from the food in India and had to visit the
hospital here. I had a few drinks with them and they were treking the
next day. I (and the drinks) however decided my trip to Nepal was just
for reconaissance and any treking would be on another trip with more
time. A few recovery days later ( turns out the food from the bar
was worse for me than the alcohol ) I hiked up to a mountain village
nearby to get a look at the surrounding mountains. At the top I met a
Canadian couple from Toronto ( Mike and Kay on their Honeymoon ) and
they convinced me to stay overnight for the suunrise views. We had some
great conversation around the campfire and enjoyed the amazing night
sky. The next morning we were joined by a throng of tourists for the
mountain sunrise and then they risked their lives on an unmaintained
scooter down a partially paved trail and I hiked down. We were all
jealous of the paragliders way down! Some kids on the way down wanted
me to buy them a ping pong net.. I suggested they tie a scarf between
the poles ;) Had a good visit with them despite their frivolous
begging. I hiked up the other side of the valley to see the Peace
Pagoda and another great view this time of Pochara and the lake as
well as the mountains.

Kathmandu, Nepal !!!

Another marathon train, bus and and all day
jeep travel along with all the negotiations and the added border hassles
( three of us refused to pay the phoney India departure fee ) found me
in Kathmandu. I was hoping I had left the hassles of India behind but it
was not to be. At the end of my 5 hr treacherous mountain jeep ride I
learned from my trusty gps that I was being deposited on the furthest
ring road of Kathmandu and not actually in Kathmandu! When my luggage
was brought down from the roof rack I simply brought it inside and sat
expecting the driver to follow through on his sales-promise to drop me
in the tourist area downtown. A Nepalese passenger backed the driver up
which made me even more pissed off about my 'welcome' to Nepal. In the
end the driver took my suggestion to drop me at a mini-bus to the city
center. He had to walk me the last 5 min as he's not allowed to drive
into the city! My first choice for guesthouse was full so I took up a
suggestion frome someone I asked on the walk in - only problem was it
was a Korean guesthouse - Koreans only! After I described my welcome to
Nepal so far and given the late hour and a phone call to the boss I
was allowed to stay. Ended up there for 6 nights!
The tourist area in Kathmandu reminds me a bit of Bali, Indonesia... a
bit over the top. There are also many offers of illicit drugs on the
streets as well as glue sniffing kids rrunning around begging ( at
one point I saw them tearing down "Stop The Glue" posters
educating tourists on not giving to children begging - sniffing while
they ran around ) .
I spent my time in Kathmandu walking all over the city ( many signs
advertising a foreign education - Australia, Canada etc ) and up to the
Monkey Temple where I got a glimpse of the far away Mt. Everest. It
was suggested I take the Everest flight but after weighing the still
escalated fuel surchared price and seeing lame you-tube
videos of others flights I decided not to go. The 7am flight time
might've been a factor too ;) I had to take a 7am bus to Pochara the
next day anyways!

Bodhgaya

On my way out from Kalkutta on the train I read that the place
where the prince became enlightened ( and hence came to be Buddah ) was
in the vicinity.. so I decided I'd better make a detour.
Budhgaya is definitely the place to see all the varios robes assembled!
Many countries are represented with temples in the area. It was a good
stop despite the Dali Lama not being around to welcome me ;)

O' Calcutta!

Or as written in India: Oh Kalkutta!

Kalkutta used to be an amazing city. You can tell by what's left of
the immaculate old buildings that were constructed during their time as
a British colony. It's very sad to see the lack of care put into
the upkeep of those old buildings or even the once fancy sidewalks. Of
course there's a certain resentment here for those days of Imperial
rule but there is nothing Indian to stand in and instead there is a huge
inexpensive labour force just standing around amongst the litter and
grime.
I spent about 6 nights in Kalkutta and stayed in the backpacker area
despite a terrorist threat made to Sudder Street. It was
here in Kalkutta a mere 6 days after leaving Mumbai that I heard about
the terrorist attacks in the neighborhood I had been staying in there.
Kalcutta has what is said to be the busiest bridge in the world....
very hard to doubt given the sheer number of people and vehicles
passing over it. I've seen more vehicles on bridges but this is India
where each vehicle has on average 100 occupants.. I do exaggerate!

Picture from the Taj hotel

Here I am with some fellow travellers during our walk through the Taj
only a few weeks before the terrorists struck. All of us were staying
across the street. Florent from France (2nd from the right)
left after I did... only the night before the attack! He almost missed
his train too!
I ran around on my last day to take some pics of my 'neighbourhood'.
The first shows Leopolds looking east. Gokul, one of my haunts, is off
a little street to the left halfway back. You can see the NW corner of
the Taj at the end of the street. Next pic: The main part of the Taj
taken from the waterfront (east side). Main entrance is an annex just
off the right edge of the picture. The next pic is from the left
corner of the Taj pic and you can see the place I stayed.. back in tbe
trees kitty corner. My window is just in the trees. The last
building pic is a clearer view.. my dorm was the top floor. Last pic is
from the slums to the south and I understand was a terrorist boat
landing spot? It's the first non-walled access from the south. The Taj
and Gateway monument is hidden off to the left behind a
restaurant/wedding celebration jetty. You can see the naval shipyards
in the distance.

pics to add:
1106
1115
1121
1122
0997

Breaking News - Terrorist attacks a bit to close to 'home'

Nov 27 '08
Yikes... I've been in Kalkutta ( Calcutta ) for a few days now and
gone from Mumbai less than a week and just saw a newspaper... Mumbai
was attacked last night! They used grenades and automatic weapons at
about 6 tourist spots including The Taj and Leopolds' ( see my Mumbai
entry below ) as well as the train station I used and the hospital I stopped by as well as the other hotel I walked by and ... I think I've frequented or at least walked by every spot they hit ( including the Parel location way to the north and the two boat landing sites)! I
almost wish I could've done something about it (like what I don't know) but it's better I just
missed it by a few days as I'd probably feel even worse about not
being able to divert it in some way... or worse yet to be one of the
victims. At least 40 dead and climbing... and I imagine with two gunmen going into
tiny Leopolds many were from there.. and I'd say 70% of the people in
Leopolds at any time are tourists... there will be more sad news from
there.
I'm fine of course but have yet to talk to a few friends who may
still be there. Crossing my fingers. We were all staying two blocks
from Leopolds and across the street from the Taj.

Varanasi

Nov 23-24 '08
My friend from the train ride, Kadri from Estonia, and I
arrived in Varanasi at 7am or so and had much of two days to experience
Varanasi. I'm probably coming back through though so decided to
continue on with her to Calcutta where she was catching a flight to
Bangalore) instead of taking my usual few days to figure things out ( or
weeks as with Mumbai ). We walked down to the Ganges to see the
cremation fires.. not as spooky as you might imagine though.. but odd
none the less. The bodies are dipped in the Ganges before the open
cremation.. the shorter it takes the better a person you were. We
almost fell victum to a scam where people lead you up to a good vantage
point and other volunteers tell you that it's a hospice for old women
who come to die here ( which is what a lot of people do.. quickest
route to Nirvana and avoid being reborn yet another time - possibly as
a dog or rat or whatever bad karma you collected would dictate ). Back
to the scam: they tell you they are collecting money for the wood they
need to cremate their bodies. They exaggerate the cost and amount of
wood needed but that's beside the point.. it's not a hospice it's just a
scam that catches a lot of people because it's so unusual and deals
with a generally taboo topic. Sorry.. no "bonfire" pictures.. they
didn't allow that and it just seems too creepy anyways. Here I am on
the rooftop restaurant of my guest house.. I think it's the tallest
structure around!? No elevator though!

Varanasi Train Ride

Nov 21-23 '08
Varanasi was a 29 hour train ride from Mumbai for under 400
rupees ($8). I took a sleeper class ticket as I don't like the aircon
version.. but was tempted as aircon has electrical 110 v plugs at each
"cabin" ( not really cabins.. everything is pretty open ). In this case
the aircon 2nd and 3rd class did NOT have pulgins nor was it too hot so
I'm glad I didn't suffer the aircon for 3 times the price! The only
advantage I missed was the sheeting for the beds.. but I've got a
sleeping bag liner anyways. OK.. too much about the train.. new entry!

Mumbai ( Bombay!) and Bollywood

Oct 29- Nov 21 '08
I spent about three weeks in Mumbai!
I got settled in to the cheapest place in town ( within reason..
well almost ) - it was right across the street from the most expensive
hotel in Mumbai ( the Taj Mahal) which in turn was only a few blocks from the
edge of a slum ( but then you could almost say that about anywhere in
Mumbai). The slums however are full of amazingly happy people who are
overwhelmingly friendly.. they're just poor. The Taj across
the street had rooms from USD$300 to $7,000 per night. My hostel was
165 rupee or about $3 - the bugs were free. I made some good friends over those three weeks and hung out with one particular old British "Keith Richards" type a bit too much
(Peter). I have good reason to suspect that an undercover policeman
tried to frame me .. of course, it would probably just require a
pay-off so is not as alarming as it might seem - consider it more of a
near-mugging by a policeman. Nice huh? I understand the U.S. pays
India to keep drug offenders in jail.. which equates to an incentive to
put people in jail. How the U.S. makes sure it's legit ....??? If I had
indeed been framed and the cop wasn't just out to make a few extra
bucks It really would've sucked to have had to wait the three years for
trial! My insight into this was a South African woman who just had her
trial and was released after tree years. She was most likely guilty though and
despite not raising USD$500,000 to bribe the judge like others were
doing her judge took mercy on her and gave her a break. She's pretty
darned thankful... it was looking like 25 years... stupid mistakes..
and such a nice smart girl... needed the money for... Med School.

Gee.. a couple of guys with rifles and machine guns just walked through
the train... we're not that close to Assam ( on my way to Calcutta
from Vernasi)?? Assam is the trouble region to the north east where
there have been some recent bombings etc.

or go to video at youtube by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_VvgX_zu1Q

I've put a neat video on you tube of a ferris wheel I came across
at Chowpatty beach.. have a look. I'll get the link in here soon too.
I've also attached a picture from my day as an extra on a Bollywood
set. It was a nightclub scene complete with russian dancing girls as
you might ascertain from the picture. It was a 12 hour day and we were
paid 500 rupees ($10). It's a great ONCE-in-a-lifetime thing to do.

Bollywood Shoot:

Other people I met include a French kid named Florent who is trying to
get a short contract with Audi here .. he and I made more than a few
runs to McDonalds when they started their new brekfast service here..
mmm.. egg mcmuffin and pancake etc for $2... hey I was getting sick of
Masala Dosa.
Oh I bought a Chinese cell phone here that quit afer 6 days...
but I think I can fix it : It was supposd to give me bluetooth access
to the internet on the train... darned. Actually.. it's OK as I've had
a wonderful young woman from Estonia to talk to for hours instead. But
now I'm almost talking about the next entry which you've already read
above.

Goa

Oct 24-28 '08
Goa was promoted as a great beach hangout area. I didn't
find it so great but did manage to enjoy myself anyways. I was told the
south beaches are much nicer than the north ones I visited. It
might've been the death of a young woman last spring that dampened
everthing. I enjoyed walking along the rocky coastline between beaches.
After a dinner movie on the outdoor projection screen I made some fast
friends with a couple (who weren't a couple... just a friend who came
out to travel with his friend whom had been in Africa for a year )from
the U.S.. I traveled with them on a trip to the Portugese 'Old Goa'
townsite ( incedentally the only garbage-free place I've seen in India
thus far ) and an overnight sleeper bus journey to Mumbai.

Hampi

I'm quite behind on my blogs..
Oct 20 to 23 Hampi
After Bangalore I hopped on a train to Hampi and it's ruins.
They are numerous, quite spread out and remind one of Ankor Wat in
Cambodia but don't compare in age or majesty. They are worth a visit
though and I enjoyed a few days wandering around.
I've made a 3-d composition with which to cross your eyes for those
of you interested in trying. The top composition is of the river
temple and the bottom is from a central hilltop looking back over
another temple. Then there's me in front of the Royal Elephant stables
used back from the 1300 to 1500's.

Chennai - Bangalore... India!

Well, I´m definitely deep into the travel now. I wasn´t going to take on India and China in the same trip.. but it´s been awhile since China and I seem to have found my second wind for the umpteenth time.. oh and the cheap flights form Singapore didnt hurt either. So now I´m doing what I hadn´t imagined back in January... wandering around India on my own with no real plan other than to sight see. For some reason showing up in a new city/town with no idea where to stay doesn´t phase me - I arrived in India at 11:45pm in Chennai expecting to stay overnight in the Airport ( the internet made it seem high tech and new - but I think that´s the proposed new airport ) so was a bit put off when getting through baggage/cutoms etc and finding myself pushing away taxi touts on the streetside! I was happy to find the domestic terminal next door had a nice big waiting area for which I could pay a small fee to enter. Had a great meal at the airport and
waited for the next morning to brave the mass transit ( ie cattle car.. no, seriously ) to the center of town and the foreigner/backpacker only accomodation. Chennai was not the easiest introduction to India I was later told.. but I kept my cool hoping I could escape to a western style shopping center to steel myself. The western style shopping center was in its third phase and only a few years old going on 50. Like Asia.. things here get built and then ignored into disrepair. In many cases they dont even get fully completed before they are left to rot over time. That should be a reminder not to fully pay for anything here or in Asia before it´s been completed or you´ve reached your destination!
I´m now sitting in my hotel ( first time I´ve had a tv in my room in a long time.. for 310 rupees or about $7/night ) before going to hop on the 10pm overnight bus north of Bangalore ( Hospit.. on the way to Goa ). I still haven´t recovered from all my overnighters ( KL->Singapore, Chennai airport, Chennai -> Bangalore ) and I´m off on another one. It´s a bus though so maybe I´ll feel secure enough to get some sleep this time.

For the Record

A few notes after the fact...
Almost missed a flight... Just in time is becoming my motto... I went camera shopping in Jakarta and then barely got back to my hotel in time to get to the airport. Not a good idea when it´s the last day of your visa and you are in a country that will throw you in jail for a 10 day overstay. Daily penalties up until then are about $30USD a day and a chance for the immigration agent to make you miserable. When I got to the airport shuttle bus I realized the trip to the airport was a long one and that I hadn´t given myself anywhere near enough time! I got off the bus and hopped in a Taxi before realizing that wasn´t going to do it either.. my only hope was a delayed flight and sure enough.. it was 30 min delayed! I still had to run but ended up with 5 minutes to spare before boarding commenced.
Revisit Rabies - When I initially researched rabies ( having being bit by a mouse in Bangkok ) I read that in north America most of the rabies deaths are from people who were bit by a bat but didn´t realize they had been bit as teh incisions are so small. Just recently it clicked that when I was in Seattle I had woken up with what I thought was two small spider bites on the back of my neck... very neatly spaced and tiny. Now I realize there´s a good chance it was a bat bite as there were plenty of bats ( vampire bats??? ) around the area! I´m not sure what freaks me out more.. the idea of being bitten by a large spider or a bat. Anyways.. I´m sure glad there was no rabies in that bite.. that was almost 10 years ago!

Map

Here´s some sporadic gps mapping since I received my new webpad
while back in Malaysia. They don't include the trip before Taman Negara.

I'm at the grey dot at the moment ;)

Ubud

cross your eyes!

I headed up to Ubud on my own.. But ran into the Austrians again and was
invited to split costs on a chauffeured tour around the area. Couldn´t
pass that up! It included a bunch of Hindi temples as well as another
grand view of a Volcano.. But no hiking this time!
Did I mention that Bali is 90% Hindi? What that means to me is that
restaurants are open here (as they do not observe Ramadan.. A
Muslim holy month which involves fasting during daylight ). With one not
eating pork and the other holding cows sacred it´s amazing they are
countrymen!

Kuta Beach, Bali

Sept 11, 2008
This is it.. Kuta Beach.. Party Central. This is
also where the bombing took place... Twice.. In October and if they did
the same spacing this would be the year. This is the memorial (pic).
Kuta beach is a great place to learn to surf. I only did half a day
and just rented a surfboard for 30,000 rupee ($2.80) and gave it a shot
without surfing lessons. I was able to stand on the board almost on the
first try due to my practice with a pro
windsurfing board in Seattle. Note - I am not a pro windsurfer.. so
that never worked out well! In Kuta the surf crashes almost
immediately so it´s fun just to learn on the resulting whitewater. I
tried to catch the real wave a few times but didn´t enjoy getting
crushed when successive 4' waves came and crashed early... Right on
me! 4' is quite a bit when it's 4' over your head!

Bali! Medewi Beach

Sept 9,2008

Bali is the next island over from Java. Java is the most
populous of Indonesia´s islands but Bali is the most touristy and it
shows. Still travelling with the Austrians we stopped for two nights at
Medewi beach. Very inexpensive but not much else to do but surf.. But
only for experienced surfers due to the rocks and the large surf ( see
picture)! I immediately ran into Kim, an American Surfer who had shown
up at the hostel in Kuala Lumpur and then who I had run into in Jakarta.
It´s funny how often this happens travelling.

Ijen!

Volcano #2: Ijen !

Sept 8, 2008 - The tour guide picked up the Austrians and I
at our hotel first thing in the morning. We were pleasantly surprised
by the nice new sport utility vehicle. A few hours later we were at the
hiking point from which the volcano rim was only an hour and a half
hike. There were numerous other tourists sharing the trail as well as a
continuous stream of workers carrying about 70kg of sulphur each in
balanced baskets down the volcano! I can´t imagine this is still
feasable in this day and age.. Carts at least??? The hike was well
rewarded ( at least for the tourists ) by the sight of an irridescent
blue lake as one reached the volcano´s edge! The colours are amazing
as you take in the awe inspiring view. I was genuinely surprised as I
hadn´t taken the time to research what the hike was about or even
paid attention to the postcards on display at the base of the hike. I
was just trudging up another volcano but this one had a lake at the
top... but what a lake!

After hiking back down we took the even steeper winding trail back
down the other side of the volcano to the ferry crossing to Bali.. But
that´s another story!

Bromo!

Cross your eyes..

click a picture to see large photo

Sept 7, 2008

Bromo!
This volcano landscape is featured on quite a few postcards. I took a
train from Yogyakarta to Surabaya and then a bus to Probalingo where I
stayed overnight before the last bit to get to the edge of Bromo.
Probalingo is known for its tour scams and I´m very lucky that I
refused to pay for the bus up until I reached my destination as it was
obvious they had meant to strand myself and a Vietnamese tourist
(Ai - pronounced ´eye´) halfway up at a transfer point. They told each
of us that the other had already paid just like all the other passengers
( who were only going halfway up ).
The hostel was literally on the edge of the crater wall and the 3am
hike up to the viewpoint was quite an experience. Luckily Ai and I
( no pun intended ) were able to meet up with three Austrians
( Christiana, Christoff and Ralph ) on the trail and we all made it up
in time to see the fog block out the sunrise. There were about 150
tourists there almost all of which had taken a jeep up. They all had to
leave with the jeeps before the fog cleared but the rest of us were
able to get some great pictures.. Sure glad I didn´t take a
jeep up! The jeeps had all progressed down to volcano in the crater -
which we also did a bit later after we climbed back down and had some
breakfast. The walk across the crater floor to the volcano was surreal.
The dust was very fine and was easily thrown into the air. There were
stairs up to the edge of the volcano and massive amounts of smoke
billowing out from the volcano. The stench of rotten eggs given off
from the sulphur and steam was unpleasant as we were occasionally
engulfed by the edge of the plume.

I decided to go along with the Austrians as they had an interesting
plan for the next day. We stayed overnight at a hotel that at first
seemed out of our budget.. But they had backpacker rooms for 80,000 and
they let us go in the massive pool after hours!! We had trouble finding
food at 10pm and were lucky to find a street merchant with accompanying
curbside sitting blanket and table. The hotel was able to put us in
touch with a tour guide and vehicle for the next days adventure..
Ijen.. But we asked for a later start this time... Only 8 am ;)

Hello from Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bromo..

I'm a bit behind on my emails etc.. I've been hanging out in
Yogayakarta for almost a week.. But that was after picking up camp and
moving every second night for 3 cities ( Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung,
Yogyakarta ). I'm writing this on the bus after hanging out
in Surabaya for 5 hours after an all night train ride from Yogyakarta..
Or Jogya for short. Jogya is quite a neat little place. The city is
cleaner than most in Asia.. Almost comparable to Singapore.. But only
relatively. There are some good temple sites nearby as well..
Borobudur and Prambanan. Compared to Angkor Wat but only
relatively speaking there as well. I'll post some pictures. I made some
new friends and hope to see a few of them at the next stop.. Bromo..
(Ps.. Posting this almost another week later.. Oops )
#End

Hi from Indonesia!

Jakarta

Bogor

Hey everyone!

(update - Actually now in Bandung... trouble emailing in Bogor)

I'm now in Bogor which is just an hour and a bit south of Jakarta. I'm going against the travel advisory's notes once more as I find myself in a bastion of western influence... A shopping mall. Not only that but it's the brand new one with a KFC and A&W prominently placed at the front of the shiny new building. They are checking vehicles and the occasional person for explosives if that makes one feel better ;) They're missing the metal detector gateways that the fancy malls in Jakarta had though. Still not as thorough as I remember them being in Is r ael.
I arrived in Jakarta two nights ago. In the airport in KL I got talking to a high school student who spoke excellent english... turns out he goes to high school in Boston. He was in Aceh in north Sumatra (An island of Indonesia) visiting his mom who he later mentioned was a advisor to the new government in the region. They've gotton special status within Indonesia and this new regional government is a bit special.. It ends years of terrorism. His mom was one of the dissidents and it came out later that they had a good chuckle with a close family friend who had just been elected intelligence chief for the new government... A role he had held with the rebels.. So now the people in charge of his safety are the same ones who were hunting him just a short time ago. International observers are in Aceh now in force so he figures it's one of the safest places to be these days...
Some other interesting characters that came through KL while I was there:
My friend Thomas who overstayed his visit to Thailand by 8 years and has been stuck in KL the past year trying to get papers from his native Czech Republic.
Young woman from Edmonton heading to Bali
A guy from Edmonton.. All of a sudden lots of us!
A prof from Iran... from his comments and another Iranian it seems 90% of Iranians don't support their government!
Oh.. and last but least, some white trailer trash guy with fake breasts... ugh.. scary... ( of course.. this kind of stuff is a bit more common in Thailand.. )

First two from Jakarta. Last picture is from Bogor.

JJ

Attack of the leech... video

Monday, August 18, 2008

My first YouTube video.

I mentioned this video in my jungle email. YouTube shrank it down a little bit. Yes, that's my foot.

Ignore the camera noises.. focusing.. NOT the leech ( that would just be too freaky )

Here's the YouTube video link if you prefer. Might be a bit bigger than the one above.

http://www.youtube.com/v/nLBNgd-vHpo

I've attached a still shot of one that made it to another hiker's leg... lighter and pliers handy ;)

JJ

Singapore

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Hi All,

Spent 3 days in Singapore.. quick bus ride down from Kuala Lumpur to Johur Bahru where you get off the bus to get your departure stamp then get back on the bus if you can for the 1km ride over the causeway to then go through it again for Singapore immigration. It was easier to walk the middle 1km.

Singapore is amazingly clean compared to everywhere else I've been in SE Asia. The only place that might compare is Hong Kong. Singapore seems like one big national park. Singapore is a big shopping experience for most people. Orchard road is the main stretch of high end label shopping and was bustling with activity. They had shopping for me as well.. lots of computer tech stores and even a building dedicated to electronic parts and tools. My grandfather would like the selection of HAM radio supplies. Prices all around were not very good though so no deals to be had.

Little India was quite a neat place. I stayed nearby at a homestay so spent quite a bit of time there. Also went through the Arab section of town and visited Chinatown which is the high end. The Chinese make op the largest part of the population here. There are noticeably fewer muslims than Malaysia. Westerners make up 1 to 2% but are very prominent in the bar areas ;)

They are getting ready for a night Grand Prix race for the end of September. That would be quite an experience.

The most construction cranes I've seen in one place has to be the extension of downtown they are building here. It's all reclaimed land ( ie.. filling in the ocean ) and the casino is set to be done in two years.. a very ambitious schedule.

I'm back in Kuala Lumpur now..

Justin

Picture: downtown Singapore at night

picture 2: just to the left of downtown.. the reclaimed land construction area.

Hi from the Jungles of Malaysia

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Hey All!

I just got out of. the jungle... Taman Negara. I had a great hike into the middle of the national park where we (3 of us along with 5 others who had also reserved bunks) slept one night listening to the wild animals outside drinking, chasing and killing or at least injuring each other. Good thing we were about 20' up on stilts(see picture). It was a strenuous 6 hour hike in. The next morning most of the others hopped on a longboat at the river.. but there wasn't enough room and two of us could wait for another boat in an hour or hike back on a shorter trail. Myself and another decided to do the hike back as originally planned. We boiled some water for a liquid breakfast and some more for drinking on the way back and headed out. It was shorter but a much more difficult hike. We made it in very very good time - 4 hours instead of the estimated 6 hours. We only had one leech that made it to blood sucking stage and I'm happy to say it wasn't on me despite
more leeches making the attempt (I caught about 4 inching their way up - made a little video too). These aren't like the leeches I grew up with in the lakes of Alberta; they are litle spaghetti strands that reach out from the underside of leaves and from sticks on the ground to catch on as you walk by. they inchworm themselves to an opportune location before becoming engorging themselves on your blood. As for the hike, I've never sweated so much in my life. Others were quite jealous that I had a dry shirt and shorts to change in to. Even better that I had a towel as there was well water with a rudimentary shower; did that ever feel good! When I got back to the park entrance on the second day I had 7 ice teas and later found a place selling cans of beer (illegally) to top it all off.
We didn't see all that many animals. Wild Boar, Monkeys, Pheasant, Some kind of badger (Tamas???) and some large insects including a very large and poisonous looking centipede.
I´m not sure if I mentioned this already.. But I´m now toting around a Nokia N800 and it´s a great improvement over the previous one ( a slightly older model) that I had pickpocketed. I can now pop in the memory card from my camera directly and send you all pictures. I can also attach a keyboard much more easily so I can write more ( I´m sorry ;). It has a webcam as well.. But have to figure out what program to run on your end then maybe I can give a few live video tours if anyone is interested ?? Anywhere I have wifi I can video roam.. Which may limit me largely to Kentucky Fried Chicken stores.