Behold Youkali

I might never succeed in surpassing this holiday experience!

Monkey attack!

On my most recent trip - to Bali - I underestimated the lure of a simple plastic bag containing postcards and stamps!

This took place in Ubud. My hotel was just mere paces away from Jalan Monkey Forest, and disregarding the advice of my dear pal S, I climbed up a short flight of stairs to get a better look at the little monkeys, and was tempted to stroke some of them, but after getting pounced at and gradually surrounded in the assumption I came in peace with edible supplies, ulp, I had to make a slow and tactful retreat...

Sea Sux and Sun

Travelling with friends, I've learned at the ripe old age of 32, can be a delicate affair, especially when the burden of organisation falls on my inexperienced and disorganised shoulders, owing to the fact that I work from home and am thus automatically assumed to have more time than the average taxpayer. :) (I lead a tax-free existence for the moment, by the way, heh heh, only realising it when attempting to file my income tax declaration and learning that my category of income was tax-exempt!! :) )

That should not have come out as a complaint, as I was seeking a cheapo getaway to Thailand by rail through Malaysia - on my own, actually - but mentioned my plans to long-lost friend S (we'd lost touch for a good 5 years until I moved back and got her number through a mutual friend), who'd confided that she needed a break, too. I wasn't against the idea of having company, but I wanted to go to Hua Hin and S wanted to go to Phuket.

Note: No way am I ever going to Phuket since my mom was there just a few days before I'd hatched my getaway plans and told me how plastic and crowded it was, and no way was S going to Hua Hin as a friend of hers who had been there told her everything in Hua Hin was expensive (I'm not convinced, so will find out for myself one day) so we reached a compromise - Krabi. Ugh, I said yes before looking at a map and realising that it shared the same coast as Phuket and predictably, the same gimmicks. As for S, nothing mattered as long as it was not Hua Hin, and she didn't have to do any of the planning...

From what I had gleaned online, I'd thought it would be as simple as taking the 7.40 a.m train from Singapore to KL, killing 5 hours before taking a sleeper train from KL to Hat Yai and then a 4-hour coach ride to Krabi, ie, paradise, then checking into any hotel for as many days as we wanted before heading up to Bangkok to fly home. Wrong! We spent a total of 33 staggering hours travelling before reaching the "real" Krabi! Getting to Bangkok from Krabi wasn't a breeze and booking a flight home was just as tumultuous!

It went pretty much like this:
1/1/2009
- 7.40 a.m. to 3.p.m. - train ride from Singapore to KL

The KTM train station on Keppel Road

Inside the station

- 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. - time we killed in KL before our train to Hat Yai (no pictures taken as we were more preoccupied and worried about our passports not having been stamped upon our entry into Malaysia - it turned out that it was perfectly normal.)

- 8 p.m. - 11 a.m 2/1/2009 (Thai time, ie, noon, Singapore time) - sleeper train from KL to Hat Yai. Never mind that upon arrival, S and I excitedly stepped out of the train into what looked like a war zone and were harassed by a persistent tout demanding to know where we were heading (as if Hat Yai couldn't have been our ultimate destination)

After some successful dodging of touts and inquiring at a tour agency, we learned that the bus station where buses departed for Krabi every hour wasn't at all within walking distance, so we shared a "tuk-tuk" (a pick-up truck, really) with a sweet old lady who spoke some English and made sure we got off first and did not get charged a tourist fare, awww (faces had to be blurred):

We reached the bus station half an hour before the next bus was to leave, which was perfect. As planned, the bus took about 4 hours to get to Krabi, but we learned too late that the destination was Krabi town, which was about 20km from those idyllic beaches, namely Ao Nang, we were there to see!

It then became clear why there was another fresh set of touts greeting us at the bus station, ppffff... although I was pretty much drained by then, I knew from looking at a map that the 400 baht they were asking for couldn't have been a decent deal. As S and I were trying to avoid another insistent tout, strangers in pick-up trucks even slowed down to offer to drive us to Ao Nang for 300 baht.

By then, thoughts of punching S seemed appealing, for putting me through this and expecting me to know what to do next. Fortunately, we stumbled upon a lady who happened to be a Thai-English translator (she had a banner outside her house announcing her credentials) so I asked her how we could get to Ao Nang and she showed us the way to a bus station... that got me in a better photograph-taking mood:

Young buffalo looking at S.
It turned out to be a lot taller when I reached it,
I even jumped when it started to advance towards me, yikes!

After another 45 minutes in a pick-up truck (the ride only cost 60 baht!) with 12 other tourists and people the driver picked up along the way, AT LAST we reached Ao Nang at 4pm Thai time (5 pm Singapore time - effectively 33 hours after we boarded the train)!

I was close to punching S again when she told me not to be fussy and insisted that we look no further than the first hotel we walked into - before learning that it cost about US$150 a night! She then pleaded exhaustion (yeah, I was fresh as the morning dew!) and refused to budge from the sidewalk while I went around looking for something reasonable. We finally ended up in the more modestly priced Palace Ao Nang, in the last room they had for the 3 nights we'd decided to stay.

With a view like that, all had to be forgiven!

The rest of the stay proved to be equally trying on my patience as we were supposed to take a day trip to Koh Phi Phi but S eventually pulled out for no better reason than needing a massage. I wasn't keen on spending a day with a bunch of people I didn't know and probably would never see again, so I remained on land and tried to appreciate what I had:

Ao Nang beach

Some wildlife I found on the beach (snigger snigger)

A boat I spotted off the coast

Tsunami evacuation sign

The obligatory som tam street hawker

I was a little more than relieved to leave Krabi for Bangkok as I was rather disappointed by what was a flagrant tourist trap characterised by a total lack of Thai flavour, the presence of McDonald's, Starbucks and half-hearted masseuses (I'd had my fair share of perfunctory strokes on my aching body). Alas, as we chose to travel at the beginning of the year, thinking that schools would have reopened (we didn't count on schools abroad still remaining closed!), all flights to Bangkok were full, and so was the train from Chumphon! We almost couldn't find a flight home to Singapore as well! So much for our adventure... That left us with a bus, another whole 12 hours of commuting.

The bus that picked us up from our hotel to the bus station

If the bus above looked unsafe, it was! S got the seat next to the driver and I got the seat next to her, ie, next to the doorless doorway! I clutched on for dear life at every turn! Fortunately it only took us to the bus station to get to Bangkok.

I have no pictures of the bus that took us to Bangkok as it looked like any ordinary coach. However, the trip to Bangkok lasting from 8pm to 8am, I barely slept a wink before sunrise as the driver took mainly unlit unsmooth country roads that guaranteed a lot of violent rocking so much so that several times I thought the bus would snap in two, and being in the back row, I was sure I wouldn't make it to Bangkok! I also wasn't the only passenger to have shrieked during the ride! ;-)

But made it I did and was so grateful when the sun rose... ;-)

Looking back on this trip, it seemed that the journeys to and from Krabi were more eventful than the stay in itself! Maybe I'd have enjoyed the trip with different company, but I don't suppose I'll be going back there with Boy Scout...

Gasping for breath

Outrageous! Did a very eventful half-year just whoosh by without my being able to exhale???

Granted, barely 8 hours into the new year, I'd set off on a 9-day impromptu shoestring adventure to Krabi by land with a long-lost gal pal and survived one of the most harrowing bus rides in my life, to be greeted by a welcome pile of work upon my return to terra firma (anything is firmer than the land upon which the scary Krabi bus trundled!), before getting ready for a long-awaited never-long-enough visit from Boy Scout, before holing up for weeks on end to plough through yet another dense pile of work, before scurrying off for 2 whole months to see my son (and Boy Scout) in Lille, before returning to Singapore again to find my sister, brother-in-law and precocious little nephew who were visiting from Japan, before succumbing to the lure of another budget (not!) trek to Bali just 2 weeks ago.

Whew! That made for some decent blogging fodder, or at least a slideshow, but if I had 48 hours in a day at my disposal, all this would have already been old news here! And this doesn't even include everything that happened LAST YEAR!! I don't even know how to backtrack anymore but I am determined to post all the nice photos I took, and soon!! :)

I'll sign off for now with a colourful pretty picture I took in Bali that ruffled my feathers but I had to take it anyway.

Malaysia, Truly Asia!!!

I am not proud of taking this long to post these pictures, especially since I am closer to the anniversary of my maiden voyage to KL than the voyage itself, in late February this year. :P

This delay is particularly unforgivable as I had the honour of meeting someone I consider blogger royalty - the charming Lyrical Lemongrass who so kindly took the time out to come to my hotel with her usual makan kakis to pick me up and give me exactly the kind of meal I was looking for - roadside hawker fare that places taste over hygiene! :) (Thanks, babe! I owe you one!!!)

Hawkers on Peel Road, Kuala Lumpur

In no particular order: Mixed satays, pork noodles, BBQ chicken wings, sugarcane juice,
stir-fried noodles, popiah, minced beef noodles

There were only 4 of us, but as you can see, this was enough for 6! My only regret was that I couldn't stay hungry longer! :(

Nonetheless, if I couldn't fit more food into my belly, I remained thirsty, and so after dropping off the friendly folks from her Makan Club, Lyrical Lemongrass and I headed for Palate Palette, a quaint little bar where we waited for Bald Eagle.. :)

What we drank - too bad it was so long ago I don't remember their fancy names!

This being my first time to KL and my first trip to Malaysia in possibly a decade, Lyrical Lemongrass and Bald Eagle really made me feel completely at ease, that it was sad having to say goodbye even though we're not at all far from each other... :(

To backtrack from my meeting with these wonderful folks, a couple of pictures in chronological order...

The comfy coach I took from Singapore to KL

Saw this on my way out of the coach:

fortunately I was travelling alone :)

The inescapable Petronas Towers by night:


On Day Two of my stay, after waking up too late for breakfast at my hotel, I wandered across the street into a traditional Malay restaurant that has permanently raised my expectations of buffets and Malay food in general!

Seri Melayu

Gateway to rempah heaven!

Laksa Utara - nothing like the nonya laksa as I know it!

A trolley offering some curries that I shouldn't be finding exotic, but did...

Spread of other traditional Malay dishes

Surprisingly, fewer than 5 tables were occupied when I was there, which I have difficulty explaining off. The buffet cost 38 ringgit (SGD 16) before taxes, was in a central location and by its variety and quality alone, offered something for all preferences...

I'm bad at buffets since I always tend to discover the better things too late, but as I was led to my table, I did not fail to see the dessert spread, for which I tried my best to save some stomach space:


Little wonder why weight loss is such an uphill task!!!

What Wat? - Part 3

I come from a family that habitually makes strange requests of their kin travelling abroad and if such a thing could be measured, has possibly the most eclectic baggage contents as far as I know.

No longer contented with just Duty Free liquor, my mom took the cake months ago when I first hinted at a trip to Bangkok with Boy Scout! When her eyes started to sparkle, mine rolled, in preparation for her request for unreasonable quantities of something edible. I wasn't completely off course of course, but this time her primary desire from Bangkok was something she saw but didn't dare buy last year when we went to Bangkok together for fear of trouble with customs.

Oh, right, so I get it, it's OK for Boy Scout and me to get slapped with a fine or jail term if worse came to worst, but it's not OK if it was her! Neat, what a great mom! ;-)

This said, I minded much less potential trouble with customs (she'd promised to pay the fine if there was one to be paid) than I minded the complications behind transporting AN ASSORTMENT OF CACTI, which is what my mom asked for from Chatuchak Market!


Boy Scout had seen a horizon-widening documentary on TV about Chatuchak and I was intending to show him the little I'd seen of it anyway, so for the last leg of our Bangkok trip, I chose a neat little hotel in the Sukhumvit area, by the name of Citi Chic, which pretty much looked like what it did in the photos on their site. Good start!

What a relief upon check-in to see that this wouldn't be a hotel I'd have to endure like the previous one! :) Furthermore, it was a scenic 10 minutes or so from the BTS line that would take us to Chatuchak and the famous MBK Center, so bye bye transport touts! :) It also had free internet that I never managed to use, not only because there were always other guests hogging both terminals, but also for one intimidating little detail:


Since there were only two room types - with or without terrace - I decided the 200-baht difference wasn't much to scrimp on, so we had a small cozy terrace that we found so conducive to relaxation we spontaneously reverted to our indolent ways and decided to order room service (which both previous hotels didn't have) practically as soon as our eyes fell on the room service menu, in part to satisfy a joint craving for something NOT Thai:


When we were done, we didn't know what to do with the tray, as leaving it outside our room would have meant our neighbour tripping over our dirty dishes, so when Boy Scout dutifully took the tray back to the restaurant, the hotel manager happened to be on duty and was so embarrassed his eyes nearly popped out, haha! It turned out we were supposed to call for someone to pick up the tray.. ;-)

It is easy to get accustomed to being on holiday, so when we finally found an iota of will to step outdoors, we failed to realise it would be rush hour for most other mortals, hee hee...


We'd only managed a tour of MBK Center, which was sufficiently fatiguing:


It wasn't only until the next day that we trudged to Chatuchak for the cacti, but with all the lanes looking alike and most of the shops closed, our tour didn't last long and it didn't quite fit what Boy Scout saw on TV:


Unbelievably, I found myself squatting compliantly before the various troughs in the plant section looking for species I'd expect my mom to nod at approvingly, and got pricked and shed a few drops of blood in the process.

Besides shopping, I'd circled a number of parks to visit on my maps, in particular Lumphini, but with the oppressive heat as an excuse, we never made it there... ;-) Due to Boy Scout's development of a strange unwavering dependence on Starbucks' iced caffe mocha, though, we found ourselves sipping in various parts of town.

When our time in Bangkok was up, I thought we'd successfully managed to escape getting ripped off this time around, but our final taxi ride to the airport made me question the real motives behind the "I love farang" stickers seen on taxi windows:


When we'd checked out, the sweet porter helped us get a "Taxi-Meter", which has to charge according to the meter, and indeed, the jerk of a driver had his meter running when the porter was with us. But the moment we were alone with him and turned the street corner, he claimed that his meter wasn't working properly and asked us what we'd intended to pay him.

Oh boy. I should have seen it coming! I was in an irritable mood and didn't want to miss our plane, so I asked the creep what he wanted. He said 400 baht, and I said no more than 300. He said OK, but 300 excluding toll charges. I knew that was still rather generous, but I quickly realised I could beat him at his game. ;-)

With a wink, I showed Boy Scout in the backseat a couple of bills that amounted to 250 baht that I'd give the driver (which I know is still more than what the meter would have displayed), and made him agree that if the driver made a fuss, we'd tell him that's all the baht we had left. :)

So when I slipped the driver the folded bills and he trustingly slipped them into his breast pocket without checking, I felt a minor pang of guilt, but well, if he'd just been honest in the first place, I'd have gladly given him what I really had left in baht! ;-)