Singapore’s Botanical Gardens has the largest collection of orchids in the world. Simply stunning. Here is a selection, no words, just pictures to make you go ooh-aah. Click on the images to get a better view.
PS we have moved apartments and now have and 8 ft sq balcony but with room for 2 chairs, a table and a BBQ. Trying it out tonight, if the rain stops!
Dear friend Fi and husband RIchard dropped in for 24 hours en route back to England from Perth. This provided an opportunity for me to masquerade as experienced tour guide and catalyst for reuniting old friends. The photo gallery below tells the story! Click on each image if you want to enlarge
The Malaka river, with the traditional houses now decorated with top-notch graffiti
Sounds romantic, a name we have all heard of in history lessons, and it was a delight! Founded as a port in the 14th century by the Portuguese and fought over by the Dutch and then the British East India Company – it is bang on the old spice trade routes to the east and made a perfect stopping off point for the ships – the old town is a remarkably unspoiled mix of all these influences, charmingly entwined with Straits Chinese heritage and delicious Nyonya cuisine.
Detail of some of the graffiti
Our trip did not get off to an auspicious start, as we discovered we had left our crucial Singapore immigration exit slips behind…signal for being marched into a separate room where new forms were filled and an official painstakingly input everything on a computer…and of course delayed our bus by at least 20 minutes. The queues in and out of Malaysia were horrendous in both directions – first week of school holidays. Duh! So the four hour trip took well over five; even our return, where we had had to get a limo as all buses were full, took over four hours with overhead thunder, lightening and torrential rain.
But on the plus side: we met a charming American couple, Sue and Sean, as we wandered round the bus depot in the early hours – turned out they were veteran divers and photographers with inside knowledge of the Indonesian islands; notes were taken for future travels! Poor them, they had decided on a day trip which ended up being scarcely three hours (note to all: this is not day trip from Singapore!), so we took them under our wing and devised a whistle-stop tour of the main attractions, comprising the old Dutch town and the more contemporary 19 and 20th century Straits Malay quarter – Jonkers Street – now a hustling, bustling shopping and eating area.
Wonderful street food – 5 dimsum for R3, about 80p – and later Nyonya laksa and spicy seafood in a palm leaf with beers for about £10 (seafood is surprisingly expensive everywhere; had we stuck to veg or chicken we could have spent R5-6 each or about £1.25).
Ross on our gin-less hotel bar balcony!
Had found a boutique hotel –
the Sterling on booking.com – and it really was rather wonderful too, old colonial style, with a jacuzzi bath on the balcony But no gin! On the Sunday, after our river trip, we had a rather unremarkable lunch – but at least I had a glass of wine (beer is too gassy), the first for about 5 days; the jolly waiter with a limp, who spoke (in my hearing) French, German and Japanese, thought Ross looked like Piers Branson. Who? You know, James Bond….Aaah Brosnan!
Fast-food street style – here they are dry frying squid
Fascinating the number of tourists (made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008), mostly huge crowds of Malaysian and Chinese, in groups, taking photos of everything in sight, especially themselves. The Churchillian V sign is a favourite pose…and, thankfully, relatively few Westerners. It’s great when people love their own country to the extent that they visit its landmarks, something we in Europe rarely do.
The photos really tell the story better than words; but Malaysia I think has the potential for lots of wekeend trips – people are friendly, food delicious and access (relatively) easy.
As we drove back, I mused on what is the difference between what we used to call Third World and Second World countries. It hit me suddenly. In, say, both Kenya and Malaysia you will see modern buildings, high rise office blocks, huge shopping malls, town-house developments and the like. In Kenya (and other countries with outward trappings of wealth and development) you will still see thousands of people walking everywhere and an army of overloaded matatus
(minibuses). In Malaysia virtually no-one walks and there are frequent and smart buses gliding down the roads. There is enough disposable income to take public transport, to own a motorbike or even a car. Mind you, even in Malaysia, you have that Third World phenomenon, a police road block. We got stuck in one for 40 minutes!
The garish but luscious rickshaws, complete with boogie box reverberating with Hindi style pop songs!
My swimming pool
Where there is a will there’s a way…Wednesday found us down the Indian High Commission, efficient queuing system with numbers, but unfortunately no-one in the offices! And lots of people waiting patiently in chairs. Beginning to get grumpy at this stage: ‘I told you so’. Officials arrive and the numbers click through quickly as all these people are waiting for something else. So only one person in front of us! Long story short, ‘impossible’ to get business visa if you are non-resident and no work permit…have to get from London. But wait a minute…you live in Switzerland, not London? Ah, so you haven’t been in London for at least two months? No of course not, we came straight here! Then, under these special circumstances we can grant you a tourist visa, both of you…Phew! we will pick them up next Thursday, and we were able to take our passports away with us so that we can travel this weekend. I love India – but reading Dalrymple’s The Age of Kali gives a completely different perspective.
Yes, because travelling is what we are here for! This weekend we will visit Malaka (Molucca), 4 hours by bus into Malaysia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Then we leave for Bangalore on 25 March; quick turnaround in Singers, before we go off to Djakarta the following week. Then there’s a break for about a month (during which we can get our Indian visas sorted for Hyderabad in May) and then a flurry of India, Malaysia and Taiwan. Haven’t got as far as June yet!
On the bucket list is: Krabi, Langkawi, Bintan (1 hour by ferry in Indonesia), Bangkok where I have a friend…and who knows? Wherever else the low cost flights can get us for the weekend!
Pleased to report I swim 1km daily taking 35 mins, then settle down to reading Ma’s letters. We are now in Alexandria, 1942, having a great time – dances, swims, sailing, oh and a few watches and work in-between. She always said it was the best time of her life, and she felt slightly guilty about it. It is fascinating stuff and I can hear her voice as I read her words…amazing how character does not change.
Most nights I knock up a delicious meal as well. This week I made a kind of laksa with chicken, coconut and kow kee chye, local green veg not unlike spinach but VERY GOOD FOR YOU; last night a Burmese pork curry with Indian okra and pineapple chili salsa. No bought-in pastes allowed. The lime squeezer you have all been so rude about is being used at least three times a day – for morning papaya, Vietnamese-style salad dressing at lunch and in the evening for the stir fries. So there! Tonight we are going out with Mark and Lucie Greaves, and Tubby Shenfield. Light blues out in force!
Pleased to report that I also spoke to someone other than Ross this week…a nice woman called Louise (is this a sign?) who has been living here since before Christmas. I am now armed with topical tips and will sally forth next week on some expeditions in search of the under-$2 Japanese gadget store amongst other things….
vickygoestravelling 