After sixteen hours we were finally in Singapore, India seemed but a distant memory. As we stepped out onto the city streets it was a different world: No noise, just the gentle hum of flashy BMWs and Mercedes cruising the streets. No smells, besides what was now the sweet aroma of exhaust fumes, well, sweet compared to the pungent odours of excrement, which punctuated the Indian air. And best of all no litter, this is after all the city where you used to be locked up for spitting chewing gum on the pavement, at least that's what I was told in A-level Geography.
The good points of Singapore ironically ended up being the bad points: the city is so clean and tidy that it almost feels sterile. Our hostel of choice was a pitiful place and a perfect example of this. The list of 'house rules' covered almost two sides of A4 and the owner ran the joint like a little fiefdom. It seems that the during the santitisation of Sinapore this poor chaps personality had been sterilised!
During our three days here we managed to do very little. Having slept little during the flight much of our first day was spent catching up on sleep. This we followed with some drinking, till late, to celebrate my birthday, consequently leading to a late start the next day. So again the next day we slept late and browsed electronics all day before again staying up late to watch football. Come Wednesday afternoon it was almost 3PM by the time we surfaced. We decided it was time to move on, the city was expensive, well relative to home, and everything about the place felt unreal somehow; too orderly and controlled. At this time I wished for a little of the Indian chaos we had left behind.
Kuala Lumpur was the perfect antidote; a cross between the modernity of Singapore and the chaos of India. After a relatively short, yet extremely cold, bus journey (the buses have two temperatures here: cold and polar) we arrived in KL. It wasn't long before we found ourselves an air conditioned cell in the bustling Chinatown, which was dotted with street markets and hawker cafes selling all manner of cuisine. After cooling ourselves down we headed out into the hostel and soon found ourselves chatting with an affable Brummie, well Solihullian, named Rich.
Rich had been travelling in south-east Asia for around two months and had been in KL just short of a week. In this time he said he had done very little and everyday he woke up saying to himself 'I'm going to visit the twin towers today'. This became a bit of a running joke as it took him until our last day to visit them. A short while later we were joined by an Ozzie named Cal and with this addition it wasn't long before we were drinking cans of Tiger beer.
Over the next three days some Irish lads suprisingly became the ringleaders and a Dutch fella along with occasional Swedes and a Dane joined in the drinking and general merriment. The drinking continued throughout these three days and was coupled with long nights, late starts and much football. On the fourth day Mark and I decided we needed to leave and made a concerted effort to get up 'early', well 10:30, and visit the Twin (Petronas) Towers. Upon returning we made plans to head to Taman Negara, a nearby national park, the next day.
The next day came, and after what seemed like a short bus ride we were on a boat making our way up the Sungei Tembeling river to Taman Negara. Taman Negara is a 130 million year old virgin rainforest, which doesn't look like staying that way for much longer. I had expected seriously basic accomodation, leeches and all manner of bugs and wildlife. Instead I found a modern resort offering a wide range of activities, having the feel of an Alton Towers in nature about it. Suffice to say I was a little dissapointed. Having made plans to stay for two nights Mark and I decided to book a rapids experience and to do jungle walk the following day, so after some awful food we headed to bed to make an early start.
An 8AM start in time to have breakfast before the events of the day. The food was lame and the 'rapids experience' amounted to a cruising up the river in a rickety old motor boat and passing over a couple of riffled sections of the channel. Not quite white water rafting, added to this is only lasted for 45 minutes after which we were given the opportunity to swim in the river, which I took. The jungle walk, coupled with a walk along a rickety bridge, which had been constructed high in the canopy of the forest was much more fun. I almost shit myself an number of times while negotiating this 'bridge', which essentially consisted of a 40cm wide ladder lashed together with some wood and rope and then suspended 45 metres above the forest floor! It was fun!
After spending two nights in a rainforest I felt a little disenchanted. The trails were all too clearly marked, there were too many people and the numerous tour operators around the area seemed more interested in securing a quick buck than anything else. I left with an eagerness to return to the city where at least it did what it said on the tin.
