We left Tamara Negra on
the bus with our two new Dutch friends Sarah and Laura. The bus was
old, older and oldest and there was a sign indicting that we could
not spit on the floor. I'm glad they made that clear! The bus ride
was only 1 and half hour and unusually pain free? We landed in a town
called Jerantut, and we said goodbye to the girls and went looking
for the train station. We asked a number of people and they all
said,”over there behind the temple”, and we just could not see
any temple? Maybe they were all pulling our legs? So we did what we
always do, sing and walk and sing and somehow we always seem to find
what we are looking for. Kiddi bought us tickets on the train. There
was no first class, no 2 class, no 3 class, no nice seats, all the
same seats and as a special treat no AC. Joy. We had some time to
kill so we sat in front of KFC until it opened at 10 o'clock. We
watched people and they watched us? Well, Kiddi? We sang and danced
to Lady Gaga that was blearing out from the nearest phone shop. Life
was good for now. We boarded the “all the same seats” train and
it was crowded, noisy and hot! We sat down and we were instantly
miserable. 8 hours to go! Yeah! We tried to sleep but there was
talking, there was shouting and children crying. We got more and more
hot, sweaty and the smallest things started to annoy us. The only
bright moment was the 10 minutes when Kiddi did my hair in pony tails
and all the muslin women around us chuckled. We had promised
ourselves that we were going to go down a star or two accommodation
wise, but after 7 hours and 5o minutes on the train we both caved
in. We decided to stay in a 4 star hotel. We needed pampering, hot
shower, proper TV channels, Egyptian cotton and room service. WE ARE
FLASH PACKERS AT HEART! So after confusing the immigration a little
bit by being Icelandic and beautiful, we got a stamp in our passport
and checked into our hotel. Heaven!
We decided to jump on the
hop-on hop-off buses and see the city. On the bus it read that they
were “topless for our pleasure”. We did enjoyed the view and
the sights a lot but we got a little hot and bothered by being
topless for two hours. We forgot to hop off and cool down in the
shade. We walked in Little India during the day and passed stalls and
shops selling watches and materials for saris. There was a lovely
smell in the air of spices and Nan bread. We walked in Little India
in the evening and saw crowds of men walking, sitting on the street
or standing talking. This time we decided to enjoy the food so we
inhaled two types of curries with bread and diet coke. We went to the
Singapore Flyer (big wheel like the London Eye) and saw 360 degree
view of the city from air. We walked in China Town and went to an
Internet cafe to Skype home. We were not so impressed as China town
in the big Apple is all around more impressive. We took the cable car
to Sentosa Island and I nearly died on the way there because I've
developed a fear of heights (more about that later). We got there and
realized that it was a huge tourist trap so we got the first train
out of there. Phew! We've been out a few times. We went for a drink
at Raffles Hotel and of course drank Singapore Slings. Oh, they are
delicious! I drank all of mine and half of Kiddi's. We went to
Swissotel, which is the tallest building here in Singapore and we
took the lift to 70th floor and drank Vodka and tonic.
View was amazing! Kiddi has now 4 new BFF. Two (hot) Australian guys,
one British guy and one very tall Chinese guy. We have also managed
to relax a little bit and eat some what normal food like bagels with
cream cheese.
On a personal note, I've
officially become an old woman, or so I'm told. I think this might be
due to over exposure to the sun causing free radicals to go bonkers
in my brain, lack of fruit and vegetables in my diet (vegetable
crackers do not count and neither does vitamin C Mentos), and
pollution causing me to..... experience fear of heights.
This has taken me totally by surprise as I was hoping this would in
fact happen later rather than sooner. But instead of getting
depressed about it I'm going to embrace being a senior citizen so
I've ordered a state of the art zimmer frame, hearing aid, reading
glasses and booked an appointment with my dentist so I can have
dentures fitted. Happy days! I just wish Kiddi was more
understanding, as he continually whispers under his breath, KERLING!
