1st stop CANADA! Nanaimo

We have long since returned to Toronto but I have a few pictures from the west coast that I would like to share.  My dad, Elwood, and his wife, Mlada, gave us a home for 3 weeks upon our return to Canada.  They live about twenty minutes south of Nanaimo.

After the dusty stifling heat of Saigon the cool, crisp air in Nanaimo was such a relief!  Towards the end of our stay it snowed - I had hoped to avoid winter altogether, but it was not to be, as the snow remained and the temperature dipped.

We became infatuated with Dave the dog.  Elwood and Mlada are fostering Dave while his owners are living in Singapore.  He is a mix between a chocolate lab and pointer.  He's beautiful to look at and he has a wonderful temperament.

Most of our time was spent watching the wildlife on the sea in front of the house.  We also explored a few of the closest parks and hiking trails.  I was most often in bed, still unwell, so Marcus was quite thrilled to have Dave for company on his walks. 

This Northern Flicker came to feed a few times at the feeder hanging off the end of the balcony.

View at Hemer Park. It was as peaceful and silent as it looks.

 

 

 

This rock outcrop is about 100 meters in front of the house.  It is a regular stomping grounds for the seals, always giving us something to look at.  I loved watching them turn somersaults in the water.

 

Marcus at Robert's Memorial Park thinking he might just want to stay in BC and not bother returning to Toronto!

 

 

 

 

Couldn't resist -one last picture of Dave.

Ho Chi Ming City - Saigon

Hello again!  Most of our readers know that we are back in Canada, in Toronto after an initial few weeks in Nanaimo, BC, to acclimate to North America. We still owe you a blog entry for our last week of travels. It is a short entry and you'll come to know why as you read it (how is that for a little suspense?)

Ho Chi Ming City

Initially, our plan for Vietnam was to fly into Ho Chi Ming City for two days, head south to tour the Mekong Delta - something I've always wanted to do - and then fly north to Hanoi and check out beautiful Halong Bay, which is something Marcus has always wanted to do.    Unfortunately, whatever bacteria/parasite I (Kristine) picked up in Cambodia decided we were having too much fun - so we weren't going anywhere!  After two nights in the "yes, definitely a quiet room" at the Sofia Hotel (adjacent to a construction project that involved constant use of really big metal mallets) we used our Marriott points and moved to the Renaissance club floor where Marcus could hang out in the lounge (free scotch!)and Kristine could...well, hang out in bed. 

Backpacker area

We did manage one day of exploring, checking out some of the main tourist sites such as the Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the American War Atrocities Museum), the Notre-Dame Basilica, and the Central Post Office, pictured below.    Outside the post office were two communist-style sculptures, which reminded us that Vietnam is actually communist underneath HCMC's capitalist veneer.  Despite its history and name recognition,  none of Saignon's so called tourist sites was really that interesting. In fact, the most exciting part of our stay was when we happened across the western looking Highland Coffee chain in the backpackers area and ordered a magnificent latte.  They had free wifi and a decent washroom - what more could you ask?

We walked to the Ben Thanh Market where I hoped to find some nice lacquer platters (because I love the ones my friend Karen has). I looked and looked but didn't like any of the ones there, so we bought a nice set of chopsticks for when we order in sushi at home. I am still having a hard time believing I came home without any lacquer ware. If it still bothers me though, I'll go to the Asia Design store on the Danforth and pick some up there. 

Food at the Ben Thanh market - trust me, I stayed clear of all of this stuff in SE Asia and still got sick!

It was hot!  Marcus would be drenched after 2 minutes of walking.  We always had water with us, but if we didn't we could have bought it from any one of the hundreds of young men toting Styrofoam coolers and offering either coconut juice or bottles of lukewarm water. 

It was loud!  In that end, it is what prompted Marcus to spend more and more time in the hotel lounge (periodically checking on the alien that had inhabited his wife's body. I didn't quite achieve the Exorcist head rotation routine, but it was pretty darn close).

Motorbike madness at night:  Earplugs would have come in handy with so many motorbikes on the roads and, in fact, we saw a few expats wearing them, but there are so many safety concerns with this we wouldn't even try.  Luckily, since Vietnam is fairly well developed, most motorbikes were new or at least they did not belch out the noxious fumes that plaque most of the other Asian cities we visited.  So our lungs were safe but our ear drums suffered.

There was a pool on the roof of the hotel and Marcus hung out there a bit, seeing if he could coax out a last few freckles.  He managed to take some aerial photos of the city (above, with the Mekong River).  

Since there weren't any signs that I was getting better, we sadly dropped our plan to head up to Mui Ne to sit on the beach. I thought maybe a nice beach resort would be a good place to suffer through my residual gastroenteritis, but I think we were both getting tired of the noise, the heat, being on the road and, most importantly, being worried about my health.  So we booked our trip to Vancouver Island.  And I can't tell you anything about the trip: to preserve my mental health, I have blocked out that entire 20-hour ordeal. 

To be fair to Ho Chi Ming City, we were not in the best frame of mind to appreciate it's offerings, so we look forward to one day giving it another try - along with the rest of Vietnam.

While our trip ended a little prematurely, it has been a fantastic adventure; truly, a trip of a lifetime. We hope you enjoyed traveling with us through our blog and we thank you for reading. We felt a little more connected to home, knowing you were there to share our stories.

Weighing and cutting up the stinky durian - a whole family affair in the middle of the sidewalk, of course.  We left before the smell overpowered us.

A lovely lady selling fruit

Cambodia

  While in Malaysia, we had planned to fly down to the  Malaysian area of Borneo to do some trekking in the national parks and visit a famous orangutan conservation sanctuary.  Unfortunately, things were really starting to book up because of the Chinese New Year celebrations, so we made the decision to instead visit  Cambodia. We flew to Phnom Penh and arranged a taxi to drive us the three (long) hours to our hotel on the coast. 

We knew we were in for a white-knuckle ride when, leaving the airport, the driver immediately pulled out into oncoming traffic, parting a sea of motorcycles, donkey carts, and miscellaneous vehicles as he slowly edged over to the right side of the road. While we've had our share of chaotic driving environments, this was special. Cambodian drivers perform a bizarre and unpredictable driving ballet that is incomprehensible to foreigners, complete with a myriad of vehicles never witnessed on North American roads. Driving in the midst of this mayhem was entertaining, to put it mildly.

Interesting sights included factory workers being trucked home, like so much cargo, fifty women standing in an open truck like bottles in a crate. There were tractors pulling all manner of trailers, bicycles, ox-carts, beater cars and Lexus SUVs, belching trucks, and the backbone of south-east Asian transportation, the 125 cc motorcycle.

Our driver certainly left no extra room when passing these scooters and motorcycles, and it seemed the closer the pass, the better. We would instinctively lean away from the door each time he'd pass a family of four, blithely riding the family scooter back home at the end of the day.

However, we finally made it to Sihanoukville, a beach town, and gratefully checked into the Beach Resort Hotel that, strangely, was not actually located on any beach. However, it suited us perfectly, as it was situated in a strip of restaurants and was minutes away from several beaches.

Our hotel was a little oasis from the busy street - it's a U-shaped, two-storey hotel sheltering a nicely sized pool.  It's one of the few hotels on the strip with a pool, so it is very popular - luckily we were able to extend our stay twice, which allowed us to recover from some minor ailments (a head cold and stomach bug). We befriended three other Canucks (from Salt Spring Island), a couple with two little kids from Birmingham, England, and a couple with their son from Austria. We ended up hanging out together a fair bit. 

A picture for our foodie friends - steamed red snapper with glass noodles, served at a beach-side restaurant 

Sihanoukville is a typical holiday resort area, complete with a beach scene, cheap food, cheap massages, and generally cheap fun. We rented a scooted ($6 for the day) and explored the area - we needed to fill up with gas, which was available at roadside stands everywhere in two-litre pop bottles.

Poverty is rampant here and they have a huge garbage problem, but this area has its own special beauty, including the people, who are unfailingly friendly. Kids are only too eager to shout greetings to us, and their parents are quick to share a smile.

Unfortunately, this area is not immune to development and huge resorts are just starting to move in, allegedly enabled by corrupt government officials that are behind the forced evictions and land grabs that pit the poor against powerful offshore investors. Contracts and leases are often cancelled with little notice or compensation. At the time we were there, a popular bungalow resort on Bamboo Island was forced out to make way for a large resort, with only a couple of thousand dollars in compensation. 

Sihanoukville is a relatively new town, so there's absolutely nothing of architectural or historical interest - it really is the only beach resort area in Cambodia. The very visible sex trade is unsavory - not knowing what terminology to use, we have adopted the word "guide" to define the young Cambodian girls hired by the older white men for the length of their vacations. Marcus had a very candid conversation with a regular customer and learned all the intricacies of the industry (I think he embarked on this research purely out of curiosity!).

We finally left our comfy little resort to head to a small town called Kampot. Since the three other Canucks were headed the same way, we traveled together. We stayed at a very decent guest house - they even made us whole-wheat sandwiches for our bus ride up to Phnom Penh. Kampot was interesting for its many French colonial buildings and it's relatively lively restaurant district. On a guided day trip, we visited caves where remnants of the Khmer Rouge once hid and is now the site of a Buddhist temple. We also visited a pepper plantation and bought some of the famous Kampot pepper. We toured around the town of Kep for lunch and had steamed fresh crabs caught just off shore. Marcus got up early one morning to take some fantastic pictures of the fish market. I just love the turquoise painted fishing boats.

We decided to head to Phnom Penh by bus.  Unfortunately the road from Kampot to PP was bad and it was a tough drive. We saw lots of rice fields along the way, brown and dusty in this, the dry season.  Every now and then we came across a square of brilliant, bright green - these were the rice seedlings, waiting to be taken and planted in rows into the fields once the high water returns.

Phnom Penh was chaotic, noisy, dusty and crazy busy. Kristine found a latte made with fresh milk and that was a real treat!  Our $40 hotel was also a good find, recommended by Jim and Jane (our Canuck travel buddies). We spent only one day there, visiting the Russian Market, Central Market, the National Museum, and the Imperial Palace.

Next stop: Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. The mysterious temples have again emerged from the jungle, and have been discovered by hordes of tourists. We regretted not visiting ten years ago, but are happy that we saw it now, before McDonalds opens up a drive-through in one of the Bayon temple gates.

The temples are amazing and hard to describe - one just can't do them justice. Some temples almost didn't look real, as thought they were plucked from a Hollywood movie set. Of course, scenes from Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones were filmed here. We bought a three day pass, but two days of visiting was more than enough. While our guide was excellent, after a while, you  give up trying to sort out the all the different kings (Suryavarman I, II, III and IV - I think it went up to 7) and which temples they built where and why. It would be interesting to return sometime at the end of the rainy season, when the waterways, moats, and ponds are filled and the jungle again lush.

The ever-present poverty is felt here too, with flocks of children hawking postcards, t-shirts, bracelets, guidebooks, and other souvenirs at all stops. One was not even able to exit the van before being offered all manner of goods. Competition is fierce and the sellers can become quite aggressive and belligerent.

On the road back from the temples, we stopped at the roadside where they were making coconut palm sugar fudge! We bought some, of course. 

Marcus then had to explain to our travel buddies  how I used to make a pan of home made fudge (using pretty much the same technique as here) and then proceed to eat the whole pan in ONE day!  If they didn't think I was nutty enough before sharing this little idiosyncrasy, no doubt they do now!

After having had our fill of the temples, we retreated to our restful hotel in Siem Reap where we recuperated with beer and a dip in the pool. After a couple of days rest, we were ready to move on to Vietnam.

All in all, we loved Cambodia.  Some Cambodian memories:

- friendly and very happy people who love to practice their English with the foreigners
- crazy motor travel with no comprehensible rules. families of 4 and even 5 traveling on one moto
- persons showing all the signs of acute poverty talking on a cell phone
- heat, dust and grime
- wonderful smelling food, putrid smelling streets
- barber shops in a shack on the side of the road
- a live pig being transported sideways strapped to the back of a moto (not to mention ducks, shelving units, huge bags of rice, boxes of fruit... you name it)
- buying petrol at the side of road out of old coke bottles
- the children asking you to buy something... their pleas turning into a sign song "please lady, you buy from me, lady, no money, go to school lady, buy from me, one dollar lady,"  their voices getting more pathetic as they persist in following you for more than a block.
- everything is negotiable - even the bottled water the side of the road.
- double menu system - same food , one price for the farang and one for the locals
- the dreadful bathrooms in guesthouses where the bathroom IS the shower, with a drain in the middle of the floor. 
- garbage everywhere
- rough looking dogs everywhere who bark and howl at night
- sickly looking stray cats
- water buffalo crossing the road, at random and unpredictably. We witnessed the aftermath of a collision, which didn't work out so well for the water buffalo
- flat landscapes of endless rice paddies, dry and dusty in the midst of the dry season
- terrible roads, even the major highways, being shared by everyone
- little ponds in front of houses where the inhabitants keep their fish
- getting a blessing from a monk

Are you enticed to visit?

Malaysia

Finding ourselves in Singapore, it made sense to next explore Malaysia.  We were told by two friends to skip the train and take the 5 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur.  The highway was very good - the roadside stops.... not so much!  ;-)

Kuala Lumpur is a very modern city of about 2 million people.  My sister Laura is going to kill me, but I just had to include the description she wrote to me in an email.

Kuala Lumpur sounds like a place made up by Walt Disney.  You can expect the very cutest fuzzy little animals falling from the sky instead of rain.  Naturally they just bounce around unharmed and tend to get caught up in one's hair but no one seems to mind as they are just so soft and cute. And they say sorry every time one lands on you (in a cute voice) so you can just imagine the din when there is a downpour.

Good thing it didn't rain while we there.  It was however extremely hot which made it hard to get out and explore the city.  After exhausting the attractions of the nearby mall, we decided the best way to see a bit of the city was to take an air-conditioned bus tour. 

Our hotel Maya was not far from the Petronas Twin Towers for which KL is perhaps best known - they are the tallest twin towers in the world.  Not all that impressive during the day, at night, spectacularly lit up against the dark sky, they look are straight out of a futuristic movie.  Our hotel had a skyview lounge which provided a great view of the towers at night.

KL is not all that impressive - it's just a big developing city.  We were anxious to get to Cameron Highlands - four hours north of the city, but decided to extend our stay in KL a two more days to fit in a bus trip to Melaka - an old Dutch colonial coastal town.  Mainly you go there to check out the Dutch colonial architecture and Jonkers street - what used to be the main trading thoroughfare in the early days, and now cluttered with antique shops, restaurants and other peddlers.  We were on a tour and a little rushed, so I don't think we got a full appreciation for this strip.  Here we also visited a recreated Sultan's palace.  The sultans ruled Malaysia up until the 500's and at that time many of these sultan palaces existed.  Those that remain are beyond repair as you can imagine what a few centuries of humidity and termites might do to a wooden structure. 

Today in Malaysia there are 3 dominant ethnic groups - Malay, Chinese and Indian.  Can you imagine at the time of colonization the cultural cross road a place like Melaka would be?  You had the colonizing presence of the Dutch, Brits, French and Portuguese and the various traders from the regions - Chinese, Indians, Arabs, and Siamese.  No doubt there were others.

We decided to do Cameron Highlands in style, so we stayed at the Lakehouse in Ringlet.  On reflection, it would have been more interesting to stay in Tanah Rata, the main town there. Nevertheless, it was a lovely, quiet spot.  We joined a tour with a bunch of backpackers to take in the tea plantations.  It was interesting to hear them exchange stories of backpacking experiences.  We sorta kept mum that we weren't part of this "roughing it" crowd.  One young woman complained that she was very cold the previous night, but that was ok because the hostel dorm cost only $10/night.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaa..... definitely too old for that!   Though I must say that speaking with the young backpackers from various countries was way more fun that the brief toot-a-loo from the crusty old Brits we stayed with.  In fact, we have found that our age group is a little underrepresented in the travel circles.  We meet people who are either much younger or much older. 

The tea plantation was really spectacular.  It's a bit of a shame to consider that this used to be all indigenous forest and it's been cultivated, and yet it is still beautiful.   The fog made it quite eerie and we were glad when it burned off so that we could get some good vistas.  The Boh plantation we visited has been owned by the same Scottish family for three generations.  Most of the tea produces serves the Malaysia market and it is not available overseas. 

After leaving the rest of the young hip tour group, we went with a guide to visit an Asli Orang traditional village.  Yes.... this is where you enter into a village home and hang out with the locals.  Marcus calls this eco-"poor"ism and in a way it is kind of voyeuristic, but we learned a lot and enjoyed it.   In another 5-10 years these villages will no longer exist since the younger generations are going to school and choosing to remain in the cities.  My favourite scene that I will take away is the small corrugated metal hut at the side of the road selling some product or service, the owner sitting at a makeshift table and sitting on a cardboard box, talking and doing business on a cell phone. 

We were very glad to have gone to Cameron Highlands.  No doubt in a few more years there will be a 5 star hotel like the Westin built in the vicinity.  Where there's a Starbucks the rest follows... look closely at the store on the left.  Of course I had to go. ;-)

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/Malaysia#

Malaysia

Finding ourselves in Singapore, it made sense to next explore Malaysia.  We were told by two friends to skip the train and take the 5 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur.  The highway was very good - the roadside stops.... not so much!  ;-)

Kuala Lumpur is a very modern city of about 2 million people.  My sister Laura is going to kill me, but I just had to include the description she wrote to me in an email.

Kuala Lumpur sounds like a place made up by Walt Disney.  You can expect the very cutest fuzzy little animals falling from the sky instead of rain.  Naturally they just bounce around unharmed and tend to get caught up in one's hair but no one seems to mind as they are just so soft and cute. And they say sorry every time one lands on you (in a cute voice) so you can just imagine the din when there is a downpour.

Good thing it didn't rain while we there.  It was however extremely hot which made it hard to get out and explore the city.  After exhausting the attractions of the nearby mall, we decided the best way to see a bit of the city was to take an air-conditioned bus tour. 

Our hotel Maya was not far from the Petronas Twin Towers for which KL is perhaps best known - they are the tallest twin towers in the world.  Not all that impressive during the day, at night, spectacularly lit up against the dark sky, they look are straight out of a futuristic movie.  Our hotel had a skyview lounge which provided a great view of the towers at night.

KL is not all that impressive - it's just a big developing city.  We were anxious to get to Cameron Highlands - four hours north of the city, but decided to extend our stay in KL a two more days to fit in a bus trip to Melaka - an old Dutch colonial coastal town.  Mainly you go there to check out the Dutch colonial architecture and Jonkers street - what used to be the main trading thoroughfare in the early days, and now cluttered with antique shops, restaurants and other peddlers.  We were on a tour and a little rushed, so I don't think we got a full appreciation for this strip.  Here we also visited a recreated Sultan's palace.  The sultans ruled Malaysia up until the 500's and at that time many of these sultan palaces existed.  Those that remain are beyond repair as you can imagine what a few centuries of humidity and termites might do to a wooden structure. 

Today in Malaysia there are 3 dominant ethnic groups - Malay, Chinese and Indian.  Can you imagine at the time of colonization the cultural cross road a place like Melaka would be?  You had the colonizing presence of the Dutch, Brits, French and Portuguese and the various traders from the regions - Chinese, Indians, Arabs, and Siamese.  No doubt there were others.

We decided to do Cameron Highlands in style, so we stayed at the Lakehouse in Ringlet.  On reflection, it would have been more interesting to stay in Tanah Rata, the main town there. Nevertheless, it was a lovely, quiet spot.  We joined a tour with a bunch of backpackers to take in the tea plantations.  It was interesting to hear them exchange stories of backpacking experiences.  We sorta kept mum that we weren't part of this "roughing it" crowd.  One young woman complained that she was very cold the previous night, but that was ok because the hostel dorm cost only $10/night.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaa..... definitely too old for that!   Though I must say that speaking with the young backpackers from various countries was way more fun that the brief toot-a-loo from the crusty old Brits we stayed with.  In fact, we have found that our age group is a little underrepresented in the travel circles.  We meet people who are either much younger or much older. 

The tea plantation was really spectacular.  It's a bit of a shame to consider that this used to be all indigenous forest and it's been cultivated, and yet it is still beautiful.   The fog made it quite eerie and we were glad when it burned off so that we could get some good vistas.  The Boh plantation we visited has been owned by the same Scottish family for three generations.  Most of the tea produces serves the Malaysia market and it is not available overseas. 

After leaving the rest of the young hip tour group, we went with a guide to visit an Asli Orang traditional village.  Yes.... this is where you enter into a village home and hang out with the locals.  Marcus calls this eco-"poor"ism and in a way it is kind of voyeuristic, but we learned a lot and enjoyed it.   In another 5-10 years these villages will no longer exist since the younger generations are going to school and choosing to remain in the cities.  My favourite scene that I will take away is the small corrugated metal hut at the side of the road selling some product or service, the owner sitting at a makeshift table and sitting on a cardboard box, talking and doing business on a cell phone. 

We were very glad to have gone to Cameron Highlands.  No doubt in a few more years there will be a 5 star hotel like the Westin built in the vicinity.  Where there's a Starbucks the rest follows... look closely at the store on the left.  Of course I had to go. ;-)

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/Malaysia#

Singapura

Singapore became our first stop on our SE Asia trip. We arrived from Dubai on January 10 and, despite the ominous warning on the customs form (printed in big, red block letters) that drug smugglers will be executed, we did not generate much interest from the customs folk. We cleared customs, made our way to our hotel, had a late night snack at "Kopitiam" (we learned later was an 'upscale' food court because it had air conditioning - open 24/7 and right across the street), after which we crashed.

Despite wanting to take it "easy" in Singapore, we still managed to do a lot and the best thing about our time this city was that we had a social life! 

On our first day we were picked up by our hosts and soon to be friends, Yin Leng and Boon (we were introduced to them via Marcus' uncle who used to work with Yin Leng). They took us a whirlwind tour of the city, starting with a drive through Little India, the Arab sector, the city center, and Chinatown. These ethnic enclaves speak to Singapore's multicultural nature as well as its colonial past at the heart of one of the world's trading crossroads.

In Chinatown, we stopped for a much-needed refreshing drink at the hawker center (their name for an open air food court). These food courts turned out to be a standard feature in this city, as people flock to them for cheap, quality eats. Whereas in Canada food courts are synonymous with bland, chain-store offerings in malls, these places appeared to be a destination of choice for many people.

We had coconut juice and watermelon drinks (we were to have many watermelon juices after that - yummy) and I tried a bit of Yin Leng's Tau Suan dessert: beans sweetened with potato sugar and sprinkled with pieces of sliced donut, which, I have to say, wasn't bad! We headed to Mount Faber for a view of the city, characterized by an seemingly unending expanse of high-rise apartments. We learned that real estate affordability for many residents is low. As such, as much as 80% of the population lives in public housing units, which are subsidized. Still, with costs of some of these units over $500K, home ownership is not for those without substantial means.

We then headed to the Vivo mall, a huge affair that involved a bewildering number of entrances, parking decks, lobbies, and shopping levels. We settled in for some excellent dim sum - our table overlooked the harbour (it reminded us very much of the Pearl restaurant at Harbourfront). We both really liked the bamboo oysters with glass noodles. Next we visited the beautiful botanical gardens which had a stunning display of orchids. At this point, we confessed to exhaustion and were dropped off at our hotel to combat our jetlag.

The next morning, we enjoyed a walking tour of colonial Singapore, which included an engaging account of the city, founded by Stamford Raffles in 1819 as a trading center for the British Empire. His accomplishments continue to be remembered throughout the city, with many buildings, structures, and institutions named after him. Our tour ended at the famous Raffles Hotel, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling...or it's just a good story to sell ludicrously overpriced cocktails. That afternoon found us at the Singapore Art Museum followed by a walk along Orchard Road, the swank shopping district, where we stocked up on books at Borders.

That evening our hosts treated us to a trip to the east coast.  Everything in Singapore is small scale (the country is an island of approximately 250 square miles, although they are growing by virtue of landfill) and so, while the term "east coast" may conjure up a grand journey of many miles, for Singaporeans it's about a 15-minute drive. The east coast is a refuge from the crowded city, with beaches, rental chalets, amusement parks, and of course, a multitude of restaurants. One memorable sight was that of an automated wakeboarding ride (no boat required). We finished our visit with a terrific dinner of local seafood specialties. Our hosts' daughter, Charmaine, was headed back to Cornell University after Christmas break and was dreading the cold weather. We learned that when Singaporeans head to cold weather locations for business they often get a winter clothes allowance and when we checked out a travel store later in Kuala Lumpur, half of it was luggage and the other half was hats, gloves, and parkas.

We extended our visit for one day, as we learned that a high school chum of Kristine's, Sandra (and her husband Dave), residents of Singapore, were back from holidays. This allowed us to plan a visit to the excellent Asian Civilization Museum, followed by a night out with Sandra and Dave. Drinks at Boat Quay (along the river in the business district) were followed by dinner at a "void deck" Chinese restaurant: void decks are common areas in the subsidized housing units in Singapore and it is not unusual for Singaporeans to visit the various restaurants and shops that open there. In a crowded city, one finds things in the most unusual locations.  Finally, desert was enjoyed in the Holland Village, named after the Dutch presence here many years ago.

Our final day was spent doing some casual sightseeing while doing chores (getting a bus ticket and sending a parcel home). We walked through Kampong Glam the Arabian part of town which was one of my favourite areas. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera along.  We stopped for a spicy Indonesian lunch (oops, excuse me... Padang Cuisine) at a restaurant called Wisury. I was quite happy with my potato/onion omelette and lime juice, while Marcus polished off a shrimp and veggie dish as well as the chicken with green chili.  Afterwards we happened upon some batik along what proved to be the textile street - just wish now I had bought more.

Singapore is an extremely modern city and everyone speaks English fluently so we felt quite at home.  But we also knew that it is not typical Asia, so we looked forward to moving onto Malaysia next.

 

Singapore pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/Singapore#

Dubai

There is nothing like boarding a plane in sub-zero wintry weather and to emerge hours later in tropical heat.  (Although skinny dipping in Georgian Bay with the northern lights flickering in the night sky above is certainly close!)   

Dubai is exactly as we expected.  A friend of ours once described it as Las Vegas on steroids.  We agree - it's sort of like Las Vegas and Disneyland mixed together.   We decided to stay on the beach resort area and chose the Westin Mina Seyahi Beach Resort which was a fabulous.   It was outrageously expensive (lattes at the poolside were $10 each), but it's that way everywhere in Dubai, except maybe in the old part of town.  So you just have to sign your name and not look at the tally!

We managed to pack quite a lot into the 5 days we were there.  Obviously we spent time by the pool soaking up the sun.  We had one dip in the ocean just to be able to say we swam in the Persian Gulf, but kept mostly to the bath temperature pool.  There was a bit of a cold front coming from Russia which kept the temperatures a bit low, around 25 degrees.  Perfect for sunbathing and sight seeing. 

After our first day of poolside bathing and being very thankful we had left the cold temperatures behind,  we spent the next day touring the old part of Dubai called Bur.  Unfortunately, quite a few things were closed as the UAE was in mourning (the ruler of one the seven emirates died), but we still managed to fill our day.  We took a tour of a typical Dubai home with wind towers.  To me the most interesting architectural aspect were the gypsum decorative panels and of course the "barajeels" or windtowers which supplied some form of air conditioning at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked the waterfront, found some lunch (kebabs) at a riverside restaurant and watched the busy traffic of dhows carrying mostly human cargo.  We then explored the souk, but it was not nearly as impressive as the one in Marrakesh.  The textile souk was closed which was very disappointing for me but Marcus was ever thankful.  We then made it to an area called Bastakiya - this is a old trading village that has been totally renovated.  We explored down it's narrow alleys and came across a courtyard cafe that served.... you guessed it.... Starbucks lattes!!!!  It was the perfect afternoon break.

Of course a trip to Dubai would not be complete without 4x4 dune bashing in the dessert.  It was fun but I am glad it was only for about 20-25 minutes.   I got the impression that the area where dune bashing is allowed is quite controlled, so my conscience was somewhat appeased.  I have to say that the 40 minute drive to and from the event was the most nerve wracking.  Obviously our driver thought he was in a race car - nothing like going through a roundabout at 100km a hour trying to pass a truck.  We went to the dinner in a recreated Bedoin village and tried shisha (otherwise known as hookah).  We had to get a demonstration because we weren't sure if you were supposed to inhale.  Even though we smoked herbal fruits it still made me feel a little sick, but Marcus was happy to finish it off.  I was glad to try it - our old neighbourhood on the Danforth has a store that sells them.  They look so exotic, but really they are quite simple.   

One our fourth day we signed up for the "modern dubai" bus tour which took us to a few malls and some of the main hotels including the Burj Al Arab and the Atlantis.  We were quite enthralled with the aquarium in the new Dubai Mall (which was so big it felt like an airport).  

Dubai Mall Aquarium

 Ski Dubai in the Emirates Mall:

Burj Al Arab Hotel and the 164-storey Burj Dubai (which will be the tallest building in the world)

If you are thinking of going to Dubai, talk to me as I have a place to recommend where to stay - a place that is close to amenities and a Starbucks!  Next we go to Singapore.

For lots more pictures of Dubai:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kristine.d.morris/Dubai#