December 21, 2005
Two days ago, December 19, we left Kuta Bali for Singapore and the next leg of our journey through Malaysia. In our last hours in Bali I learned a new game to play with the many solicitors that line the street offering transport, massage, accommodation, and art. I wondered what they would do if I made a loud noise similar to those made by people suffering from terrets. Jodi and I were walking along and we came upon a group of four guys that wanted to sell us something and when they converged I let out a loud "whoop." I totally scared them and they did not what to do and let us proceed without a word. I did it several more times with different levels of success, with one guy thinking my noise indicated that I was excited about what he was selling. I had to tell him "no" and that I was trying to make the most of a situation that was driving me crazy. He seemed to understand.
During our short time in Kuta I noticed many stores selling Xbox games, DVDs and software and I visited one to see what was up. I could not believe the selection and they each had the latest movies, King Kong, Harry Potter and Narnia with each costing $1USD. I guess international copyright laws are not enforced in Bali. I purchased two movies to help liven up some slow nights on our upcoming travels through Malaysia.
Next our hotel transported us to the airport where we boarded a plane to the entirely different world of Singapore. In recent days I had become rather excited about Singapore because it offers many of the conveniences of the modern world, good food, clean water and interesting sites. Also I needed some bike supplies and Singapore seemed the most likely place to find them.
When we arrived I found a book store to get a Lonely Planet and while I was gone Jodi was approached by a Canadian fellow who was curious about our bike boxes. Jodi told him that we were traveling by bicycle through SE Asia and he indicated him and his wife did the same thing several years ago. He suggested we ride 3km from the airport and camp on the beach for free. When I returned Jodi told me about the exchange and thought that’s nice but we don’t have gear and figured it was out of the question. I sat down and started looking through the Lonely Planet reading up where to stay and what to do when the Canadian returned. He introduced himself and told me his story. He said two years ago he was doing the same thing I was currently doing, looking through the guide book looking for places to stay and feeling completely overwhelmed by this big city. He said he learned during that visit and subsequent visits that camping on the beach was they way to go. He also said we were really lucky to be here right now since durians are in season and if you visit the fruit stands early in the morning you can get the durians that they are throwing out and have them for breakfast. I was skeptical but continued listening and told him that we had not planned on camping since and did not have any gear, that’s when he gave me a tent he had found on the beach. At this point I was all for it because of my growing frustration with several things. First it was getting late and second I was having a really tough time talking on the phone because of the airport noise and the accent of the person on the other end. Most of my phone calls consisted of my not understanding what was said and the person on the other end getting frustrated. I just wanted to find a row of hotels find out the market price and settle on one and lay down. Since it was dark, late and I had no idea where to go I thought a 3km ride and a setup sounded like a great idea. I invited him to sit with us while I assembled the bikes. He told us that he loves Singapore and because he travels so much between Japan and Vancouver he often uses his frequent flyer miles to go hangout here. As he told us his stories he kept taking more and more things that he had found out of a box that he was carrying and giving them to us. In all he gave us a tent, a tarp and a sleeping pad. When I had almost completed the assembly of the bicycles he disappeared and returned with some bananas and a pack of tofu that he insisted we take to help with energy. I think he would have given us the shirt off his back if I had asked. He then needed to leave for his flight so Jodi and I thanked him for his help. At this point I was good to go but as we all know when you travel in groups there are always different agendas. Everybody knows that I am a dirt ball and have no trouble pitching a tent and sleeping anywhere but my wife is a different animal. She doesn’t have the benefit of trusting the wind and sleeping on the beach in a big city seemed a very scary proposition. So instead I loaded up the bikes and we tried to make our way to the trains for transport to the city where we would try to find accommodation. For me the whole thing was a big let down because I thought it would have been a great story and now that is all it was going to be, "a would have been." Pushing our bikes through the airport I could not find an elevator big enough for our bikes or a passable passage to the second level where we could catch a train. If was all very frustrating. One guy suggested that we go outside and push our bikes up the car ramp outside. We tried but since it was against traffic it looked rather unappealing and we spent the next hour going around in circles trying to find our way. To me it seemed obvious, lets ride our %^&#ing bikes to the city and be done with it, but again to Jodi riding in the dark on a crowded highway was too scary and seemed much to like the "tunnel" for her liking. Eventually she also became frustrated, put on her shoes and said lets go. We turned on our lights and proceeded to ride down the highway as the Canadian suggested. The riding was scary but with some patience it was manageable. At the 3.5km point a road left the highway to a quiet frontage road and we found ourselves riding through groves of palm trees. We found a nice bike trail the followed the beach front and along our way we could see where people were camping and it all looked pretty harmless but during the riding time I began to think about how I would worry about my bike being stolen and wouldn’t sleep all night. We decided to try an area called "Little India" and slowly made our way there. At one point we pulled out the map under a street lamp on one of the many busy streets when a cab pulled up next to us. The driver hopped out and excitedly said, "You came from the airport, I saw you when you passed in front of my car. Where are you going?" I told him and he said "I will show you, ride quickly to the next intersection and I will meet you there." Jodi and I peddled faster than we had all night for 0.5km and at the next intersection there he was waiting. He gave us great directions and we found our way to the Hotel Tekka, a newly opened hotel for business travelers. It was 2 in the morning and the guy at the counter saw me roll up and he cut me a "backpacker" rate. He allowed us to put our bikes in his locked storage room and we went off to bed.
The next morning I awoke early, ate some breakfast and called my parents. It had been over a month since I had talked with them and thought it would be a good idea to call them before Christmas and say hello. They were thrilled.
Jodi awoke around 10 am and I spent the rest of the morning doing some laundry while she wrote a blog. We eventually needed some lunch so we asked the hotel manager where there was a good place and he asked several questions and walked us two places down to an Indian restaurant where we both had the best Indian food we had ever had. After lunch we boarded a tourist bus and did a lap looking at the city. It is really amazing to think that Singapore arose from a third world country to the modern city in just 40 years. It is very orderly, clean and the buildings look as if they were assembled of some really nice lego kits. The bus dropped us at Sim Lim square so we could buy a splitter for our CD player and some headphones. I noticed a really good looking building that I later learned was the National Library and after our shopping I suggested we have a look. To me it was an amazing place and we spent an hour looking at the art exhibits and learning about how and why this place happened.
Late in the day we returned to our hotel and I was pleasantly surprised to find that my computer was able to connect to some unknown unsecure wireless network. We checked our email and I posted some blogs and pictures.
For dinner we road the bus to the city again to an area called the Boat Quay. The restaurants all featured outdoor dining along the inland water way with selections of mostly seafood, along with Thai, Indian and Sushi. We settled on a seafood joint where we had really good food but were surprised when the bill came and they charged us for some peanuts and hand towels that were on the table when we sat down. It kind of hurt because I had enjoyed the dinner and now I felt less satisfied because I had been tricked by yet another scam. Oh well such is life. We returned to our hotel and went to bed.
During our short time in Kuta I noticed many stores selling Xbox games, DVDs and software and I visited one to see what was up. I could not believe the selection and they each had the latest movies, King Kong, Harry Potter and Narnia with each costing $1USD. I guess international copyright laws are not enforced in Bali. I purchased two movies to help liven up some slow nights on our upcoming travels through Malaysia.
Next our hotel transported us to the airport where we boarded a plane to the entirely different world of Singapore. In recent days I had become rather excited about Singapore because it offers many of the conveniences of the modern world, good food, clean water and interesting sites. Also I needed some bike supplies and Singapore seemed the most likely place to find them.
When we arrived I found a book store to get a Lonely Planet and while I was gone Jodi was approached by a Canadian fellow who was curious about our bike boxes. Jodi told him that we were traveling by bicycle through SE Asia and he indicated him and his wife did the same thing several years ago. He suggested we ride 3km from the airport and camp on the beach for free. When I returned Jodi told me about the exchange and thought that’s nice but we don’t have gear and figured it was out of the question. I sat down and started looking through the Lonely Planet reading up where to stay and what to do when the Canadian returned. He introduced himself and told me his story. He said two years ago he was doing the same thing I was currently doing, looking through the guide book looking for places to stay and feeling completely overwhelmed by this big city. He said he learned during that visit and subsequent visits that camping on the beach was they way to go. He also said we were really lucky to be here right now since durians are in season and if you visit the fruit stands early in the morning you can get the durians that they are throwing out and have them for breakfast. I was skeptical but continued listening and told him that we had not planned on camping since and did not have any gear, that’s when he gave me a tent he had found on the beach. At this point I was all for it because of my growing frustration with several things. First it was getting late and second I was having a really tough time talking on the phone because of the airport noise and the accent of the person on the other end. Most of my phone calls consisted of my not understanding what was said and the person on the other end getting frustrated. I just wanted to find a row of hotels find out the market price and settle on one and lay down. Since it was dark, late and I had no idea where to go I thought a 3km ride and a setup sounded like a great idea. I invited him to sit with us while I assembled the bikes. He told us that he loves Singapore and because he travels so much between Japan and Vancouver he often uses his frequent flyer miles to go hangout here. As he told us his stories he kept taking more and more things that he had found out of a box that he was carrying and giving them to us. In all he gave us a tent, a tarp and a sleeping pad. When I had almost completed the assembly of the bicycles he disappeared and returned with some bananas and a pack of tofu that he insisted we take to help with energy. I think he would have given us the shirt off his back if I had asked. He then needed to leave for his flight so Jodi and I thanked him for his help. At this point I was good to go but as we all know when you travel in groups there are always different agendas. Everybody knows that I am a dirt ball and have no trouble pitching a tent and sleeping anywhere but my wife is a different animal. She doesn’t have the benefit of trusting the wind and sleeping on the beach in a big city seemed a very scary proposition. So instead I loaded up the bikes and we tried to make our way to the trains for transport to the city where we would try to find accommodation. For me the whole thing was a big let down because I thought it would have been a great story and now that is all it was going to be, "a would have been." Pushing our bikes through the airport I could not find an elevator big enough for our bikes or a passable passage to the second level where we could catch a train. If was all very frustrating. One guy suggested that we go outside and push our bikes up the car ramp outside. We tried but since it was against traffic it looked rather unappealing and we spent the next hour going around in circles trying to find our way. To me it seemed obvious, lets ride our %^&#ing bikes to the city and be done with it, but again to Jodi riding in the dark on a crowded highway was too scary and seemed much to like the "tunnel" for her liking. Eventually she also became frustrated, put on her shoes and said lets go. We turned on our lights and proceeded to ride down the highway as the Canadian suggested. The riding was scary but with some patience it was manageable. At the 3.5km point a road left the highway to a quiet frontage road and we found ourselves riding through groves of palm trees. We found a nice bike trail the followed the beach front and along our way we could see where people were camping and it all looked pretty harmless but during the riding time I began to think about how I would worry about my bike being stolen and wouldn’t sleep all night. We decided to try an area called "Little India" and slowly made our way there. At one point we pulled out the map under a street lamp on one of the many busy streets when a cab pulled up next to us. The driver hopped out and excitedly said, "You came from the airport, I saw you when you passed in front of my car. Where are you going?" I told him and he said "I will show you, ride quickly to the next intersection and I will meet you there." Jodi and I peddled faster than we had all night for 0.5km and at the next intersection there he was waiting. He gave us great directions and we found our way to the Hotel Tekka, a newly opened hotel for business travelers. It was 2 in the morning and the guy at the counter saw me roll up and he cut me a "backpacker" rate. He allowed us to put our bikes in his locked storage room and we went off to bed.
The next morning I awoke early, ate some breakfast and called my parents. It had been over a month since I had talked with them and thought it would be a good idea to call them before Christmas and say hello. They were thrilled.
Jodi awoke around 10 am and I spent the rest of the morning doing some laundry while she wrote a blog. We eventually needed some lunch so we asked the hotel manager where there was a good place and he asked several questions and walked us two places down to an Indian restaurant where we both had the best Indian food we had ever had. After lunch we boarded a tourist bus and did a lap looking at the city. It is really amazing to think that Singapore arose from a third world country to the modern city in just 40 years. It is very orderly, clean and the buildings look as if they were assembled of some really nice lego kits. The bus dropped us at Sim Lim square so we could buy a splitter for our CD player and some headphones. I noticed a really good looking building that I later learned was the National Library and after our shopping I suggested we have a look. To me it was an amazing place and we spent an hour looking at the art exhibits and learning about how and why this place happened.
Late in the day we returned to our hotel and I was pleasantly surprised to find that my computer was able to connect to some unknown unsecure wireless network. We checked our email and I posted some blogs and pictures.
For dinner we road the bus to the city again to an area called the Boat Quay. The restaurants all featured outdoor dining along the inland water way with selections of mostly seafood, along with Thai, Indian and Sushi. We settled on a seafood joint where we had really good food but were surprised when the bill came and they charged us for some peanuts and hand towels that were on the table when we sat down. It kind of hurt because I had enjoyed the dinner and now I felt less satisfied because I had been tricked by yet another scam. Oh well such is life. We returned to our hotel and went to bed.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 6:28 PM
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