Singapore, the end of Asia - Singapur, konec Asie

The first thing to say about Singapore is how modern and clean it is. Some of the buildings are amazing looking, all aroound they seem to be trying to out do each other. We walked around a couple of the most amazing shopping centers we'd ever seen, one was like some future utopia, relaxing music, rooftop garden, unreal!

Kdyz ted vzpomenu na Singapur, prvni vec, co se mi vybavi je, jak je tohle mesto moderni a ciste. Nektere budovy jsou absolutne uzasne, vypadaji jako z filmu z budoucnosti. Nakupni strediska jsou vsude, kam lidske oko dohledne. Ctrnacti poschodove budovy plne obchudku s prosklenymi vytahy, s vyhlidkou ze strechy, kterou promenili v zahradu. Uzasne!

We stayed in the little india part of town at a cool backpackers called The Prince Of Wales. One of our first evenings we decided to take a walk to find The Fountain of Wealth, and were really excited by what we found. The fountain itself was pretty cool, but the food court around it was the star, we promised ourselves that we'd come back for lunch on one of the other days.

Byli jsme ubytovani v casti s nazvem Mala Indie v super hostelu Welssky Princ. Hned prvni vecer jsme se rozhodli trochu se projit po nocnim Singapuru. Dosli jsme na misto, kteremu rikaji Fontana Stesti. Co jsme ale nasli bylo nad nase ocekavani. Rozhodli jsme se zajit do podchodu nez prejit silnici. Takovy podchod jsme jeste nevideli. V obrovskem kruhu kolem fontany byla restaurace na restauraci. Sli jsme smerem k fontane. Aby se prani vyplnilo, musite ponorit jednu ruku do fontany a jit 3x dokola v danem smeru. Potom jsme se parkrat prosli dokola a obdivovali speciality na jidelnich listcich. V ten vecer jsme si slibili, ze se do jedne z nich behem naseho pobytu urcite pujdeme najist.

Then Sara and Karen came to stay in PoW, so we spent some time with them, some more drinking, and then their last day was chinese new year so we explored some of the area where they were having festivities. The girls left to travel the opposite side of oz to us, we exchanged sad goodbyes, but still hoping to catch up with them somewhere further along our travels. That evening Veronika and I went back to see the colours, smells and tastes of Chinese New Years in the night.

Dalsi den dorazili Sara a Karen, stravili jsme s nimi dalsich par dni a obdivovali tak mesto spolecne. V jejich posledni den jsme si behem dne udelali prochazku do casti, kde lide oslavovali Novy Cinsky rok. Pak se holky museli vratit, aby chytli letadlo do Australie, tak jsme se s nima sli rozloucit a vymenit si adresy. Stale doufame, ze se budeme moct jeste nekde potkat na nasich cestach. Vecer jsme se s Petem vraceli jiz do barevne osviceneho mista plne atrakci, lidi a stanku s cinskymi suvenyry.

After a bit of an early rush to Singapore airport we arrived and checked the screens for our checkin desk . . . Flight Delayed . . . for 5 hours! Usually this would be a real pain, but the $40 Quantas complimentry food vouchers softened the blow and we took full advantage having 2 meals each and relaxing in chair/beds whilst watching the runway. Possibily our best airport experience to date.

Dalsi den brzo rano bylo na nas, abychom chytli letadlo do Australie. Dorazili jsme na letiste a tabule ukazovali . . . zpozdeni letu . . . o 5 hodin! Zpet doma by nas to asi pekne nastvalo, ale na Sinapurskem letisti, jsme nerekli ani pul slova a byli dokonce i radi. Dostali jsme poukazku na jidlo v hodnote asi 600 Kc, takze jsme meli super snidani i obed, sledovali televizi, zadarmo pouzili internet a pospali si v pohodlnych sedackach za pohledu na pristavaci plochu.Takze 5 hodin uteklo jako voda. Beze sporu nejlepsi letiste, z ktereho jsme odletali.

. . . and that was it, the end of asia for this part of our travels, what an experience, Australia will have a lot to live up to. To be continued . . .

. . . a tak tohle Singapurske letiste uzavira nase cestovani po Asii, nezapomenutelna zkusenost a dobrodruzstvi, Australie bude mit co delat, aby se tomu vyrovnala. Pokracovani priste. . .

Magical Malaysia (Part 2) - Kouzelna Malajsie (2. Cast)

From the Cameron Highlands it was on a bus for 6 hrs and then boat for 3 hours to arrive at the Taman Negara National Park. Before we left the boat jetty we bought our departure bus to Kuala Lumpur in 5 days for what seemed like a reasonable 80 Riggit (£16). We stayed in a small village just across the river in funky little double room for 50 Riggit. The first thing to strike us was the heat, coming from the highlands this was pretty shocking but we dropped our bags and went down to the river to have some dinner in once of the floating restaurants. The food was good but it was our first introduction to the crazy creatures of the night in the area, Cicadas! Although harmless, they are the ugliest, stupid creatures we've come across to date and to make things worse some are almost the size of your fist. Anyway, like a kamikaze, one dive bombed straight into my Beef in blackbean sauce, which was the sign it was time to finish up as quick as possible and get out of there. But, out on the street it was even worse, they see you coming with their 8 eyes and fly straight at you so Veronika and eye pretty much ran back to the guesthouse with storms of these creatures going nuts on our pathway behind us.

Z Cameronskych vysocin nas autobus vezl po 6 hodin a pak lod po dalsi 3 hodiny, nez jsme se dostali do Taman Negara Narodniho Parku. Nez jsme opustili pristav, koupili jsme si listek na autobus, aby jsme za 5 dni nemeli starosti, jak se dostaneme do Kuala Lumpur. Cena se zdala seriozni 80 rigitu, coz je 16 liber, coz je asi 480 Kc. Jak jsme dorazili na misto, byli jsme sokovani, jaky rozdil teplot to byl vzhledem Cameronskym vysocinam. Ale i tak jsme se odtrhli od pokojoveho vetraku a skocili si k rece na veceri. Podel reky se nadnaselo par prijemnych restauraci k posezeni. Jidlo bylo velice chutne az do te doby nez jsme byli prestaveni jednomu z nejvic nejodpornejsimu a stupidnimu hmyzu. Cikadam!!! I kdyz tento hlasity bzucici hnus neublizi, hned po prvnich naletech a dopadu jednoho do Peteoveho talire s Asijskymi hovezimi nudlemi s vybornou omackou, jsme se rozhodli, ze zbytek do sebe nahazeme, jak nejrychleji muzeme. Nezdalo se, ze by je lakalo jenom svetlo zarovek, byli totiz vsude, na ceste, v trave. Jako kdyby si nekdo predplatil leteckou exhibici na vecerni podivanou. S 8 ocima se jim lepe diva a tak vse se zda jako jasny terc. Fyzicky zdravi, ale s narusenou psychikou jsme par dalsich dni po setmeni zustavali na pokoji, divali se na filmy a s hruzou poslouchali, jak za dvermi propuka 3. Svetova valka.

The next day, after spending most of the day sheltering from the heat, we realised we were low on cash so went to find an ATM. Foolishly we hadn't bought a great deal out to the jungle with us, and to our painful surprise discovered the village, or resort across the river had no ATM, in fact the nearest was 2hrs bus journey away. We spent the rest of the day worryingly planning our journey to get more cash. We also came to the conclusion we were paying to much for our accommodation, so found our first dorm room for 10 Riggit each. The following morning the local bus to Jerrantut left at 7:00AM and at the other end we got talking to the lovely ticket lady about how best to get back. During our conversation it turned out that we'd seriously over paid our ticket to Kuala Lumpur, there were a few other hidden costs we'd not considered and to be honest the local bus was a lovely journey, and far more convenient. The lady suggested we call the guy to cancel and she offered to take us to him (an hour round trip) to collect the refunded money. We gratefully accepted and an hour later, with extra 80 riggit in our pocket we were shopping in a local supermarket with our new guardian angel. It was a wonderful example of how genuinely kind people are in Malaysia.



Po dalsim dni, hlavne straveneho v pokoji s vetrakem jsme zjistili, ze budeme potrebovat vice hotovosti. Blazinci jsme si nevybrali dostatek na 5 dni, protoze nas nenapadlo, ale melo, ze v pralese a ani v hotelovem arealu nebude ani jeden automat. Ten nejblizsi byl 2 hodiny cesty autobusem do nejblizsiho mesta. Taky nam prislo, ze preplacime za ubytovani a ze se da spat mnohem levneji na pokojich hlavne s poschodovkama s dalsimi lidmi. Temto pokojum se rika "Dorm" muzou byt od 3 - pres 20 na pokoji, tento byl 4. Takze jsme zmenili i ubytovani a platili jen 10 rigitu asi 60 Kc na osobu na noc misto 300 Kc za dvouluzko. Dalsi den v 7 hodin rano uz jsme stali na zastavce a cekali na autobus do nejblizsiho mesta. Po tom, co jsme dorazili do mesta jsme se dali do reci se starsi pani, ktera vybirala cestovne na onom autobuse. S hruzou jsme zjistili, jak moc jsme preplatili za nas Kuala Lumpur listek. Bylo nam receno, ze misto 40 rigitu, coz jsme zaplatili za osobu jede autobus z onoho mista za 17 rigitu. Tato pani se nam ochotne nabidla, ze kdyz listek zrusime pres telefon, coz bylo mozne, ze nas hodi jejim autem tam a zpet asi hodinu cesty na otocku, aby jsme si penize mohli vyzvednout. Je to dalsi z prikladu, jak mily a ochotni jsou lide v Asii. Vse bylo hotovo behem dalsi hodiny a pul, my meli penize a dokonce i pozvani na obed od teto mile pani, ktery jsme ale slusne odmitly, protoze jsme museli chytnout autobus nazpet.

So with all our little issues sorted, it was time to do what we came for and explore the worlds oldest Jungle. It really is an amazing place, with giant bugs, massive trees, we got to see a beautiful viewpoint high above the jungle and walked the tree canopy walkway but to us less hardcore trekkers it wasn't quite the experience some of the brochures would have you believe. Understandably most of the animals they talk about are hidden deep into this massive rainforest or they only come out at night and it just too vast to explore in one day. That evening we had dinner before the night time bug craziness began we met Karen and Sara, who were staying in the dorm opposite. We were travelling a similar route so exchanged some stories and tips and arranged to travel to Kuala Lumpur together the following day. So it was back on the bus, a quick hello to our friendly Malaysian ticket lady, the bus was much busier (I spent the journey sat on the floor), and then on the coach the other end to Kuala Lumpur 17 riggit each. Once in KL we went our separate ways to check into our different hostels but made plans to meet up for drinks later that evening at Reggae Bar. That was pretty much the theme of the next couple of days, we saw some cool sites, crossed the sky bridge at the Petronas Towers and hungout with Karen and Sara, one night getting into the spirit with sheesha and alcohol. KL was a really nice city, clean, modern, easy to get around, we stayed in a really cool backpackers but most of all it was great to share it with some new lovely friends.


Takze po vyreseni nasi financni situace jsme se rozhodli, ze uz je na case trochu prozkoumat nejstarsi prales na svete, hlavni duvod, proc jsme zde. Prales byl jako prava dzungle, veliky hmyz a stromy, krasny rozhled z kopcu, prochazka mezi stromy po konopi mostech atd. Ale protoze ani jeden z nas neni zase tam moc do vyslapu a hlavni zvirata jsou schovane uprostred dzungle a je mozne je spatrit jen pred noc, nebylo to az takova zkusenost jakou jsme si predstavovali. Nicmene dalsi den jsme si zaplatili pul denni vylet. Skladal se z "shooting rapids" a navstevy mistni vesnice Orang Asali, kde ziji puvodni obyvatele. Shooting rapids spociva v tom, ze mala lodka jede proti proudu do kopce a caka nekdy i chrli kyble vody do oblyceju... bylo to obrovska zabava. V jednu chvili jsme se smala ostatnim, tak moc, ze me to vzapeti vytrestalo a dostala jsem vlastich asi 5 kybliku vody najednou. Pak jsme dopluli do vesnice. Je to uzasna zkusenost videt, ze lide v dnesni dobe stale ziji timto zpusobem. Bylo nam vysvetleno vse, jak ziji, kolik jich je ve vesnici, jak je to z vdavky a hlavne jak ziskavaji potravu a lovi zver. Behem par minut nam mistni ukazali, jak vyrabi sipky namocene v jedu a jak se zachazi s loveckymi zbranemi. Kazdy z nas si to taky mohl vyzkouset. Pozdeji vecer, kdyz uz jsme byli pripraveni zavrit se do pokoje potkali jsme 2 super holciny z Anglie. Saru a Karen. Dali jsme se do reci a zjistili, ze holky maji podobnou cestu a tak se vsichni spolecne dalsi den vydali autobusem do Kuala Lumpur. Holky se ubytovali jinde nez my, ale pozdeji vecer jsme se vsichni sesli v Reggae baru. Byla to super noc, pilo se, tancilo dokonce jsme si i objednali "dymku miru s broskvovou prichuti" jmenuje se to Sheesha. Dalsich par dnu jsme stravizli s holkama. Navstivili jsme Petronovy veze, presli se po mostu mezi nimi atd. Mesto se nam moc libilo, ciste, moderni, jednoduche dostat se z mista A do mista B. Zustali jsme v super batuzskarskem dorm, ale hlavne jsme byli radi, ze mame nove kamosky.

The girls left to visit Melaka, but we would meet up again in a couple of days in Singapore. Meanwhile Veronika and I had one last Malaysian meal, a lovely indulgent curry, and took some great pictures of the stunning Petronas Towers at night and then the following morning it was onto the train to Singapore . . . . To be continued

Dalsi den se s nama holky na par dni rozloucili, protoze jeli navstivit mesto Melaka a ja a Pete jsme si udelali dalsi prochazku po meste, zasli si na posledni veceri a skocili se podiva,t jak vypadaji veze ve vecernim kabate. Dalsi rano uz jsme byli ve vlaku smer Singapur . . . . Pokracovani priste

RIP Indie Hat - Odpocivej v pokoji Peteuv indiansky klouboucku

RIP Indie Hat - Hello Cowboy hat.

So, as with 6 pairs of glasses, and several other items the hat has been lost. In my rush off a bus in Butterworth it must have fallen off my bag. It served me well though, guarding me from the elements in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Lets hope it finds a new owner who'll look after it better than i did.



Odpocivej v pokoji - Peteuv indiansky klouboucku

S 6ti pary ztracenych slunecnich bryli a paru dalsich uzitecnych predmetu, Pete ztratil i jeho kloubouk, ktery mu jeho kolektiv z prace dal jako darek na rozloucenou. Peteuv kloubouk ho diky svemu Indiana Jones vzhledu hrave prepravil pres Kambodzu, Vietnam, Laos a Thajsko. Doufejme, ze najde noveho majitele, ktery se o nej postara lepe nez Pete.