Saturday, December 31, 2005

Back to Korea via Bangkok and Taipei

I’m the most behind I’ve ever been. I’m writing about things now that happened over a month ago. It’s time to get caught up, I guess.

So I spent a night in Georgetown, Malaysia at some little hostel that hosts people competing in Koran reading competitions. I again spent time only in Little India. I was the only one using utensils, also the only non-Indian so I guess that’s what made me stand out a bit more. I returned to my room only to find that I was locked out. I remember getting into the room and not only was some guy awake he said something to me that made me think ill of him. I can’t remember what. It was also very hot.

I had a cold shower and worried I wouldn’t make my bus to Hat Yai. I waited where some guys told me to wait. An hour after my bus should’ve left I went to the counter where I bought my ticket. I guess I was supposed to go there to begin with. Shame on me for listening to people who worked at the bus station. Anyways, I had to repay the fare, I got a slight discount on account of me being a retard and I was off….. about 4 hours later. I sat and read the last of my Harry Potter books.

I read all the way to Thailand and then across the border as well. I decided I would just go to the airport when I got to Hat Yai. I was in some kind of weird mood near the end of my trip where based on poor logic I decided that since my trip was so close to almost being over that it might as well be over. Also I plan to journey through Thailand some other time so I wasn’t very keen on seeing all that much. I got to the airport and tried to buy a ticket from Bangkok to Incheon so I wouldn’t have to do it later. It turns out that they had no flights to Korea. All the flights had been cancelled, probably because not enough people were flying. I decided I would sort it out in Bangkok and just fly there that night. So that’s what I did. Harry thwarted his nemesis en route. I got to Bangkok and didn’t plan on leaving the airport but went airline to airline asking for fares. They were all grossly overprices. Like $600 one-way whereas my cheapo fare would’ve been $240 one-way had there been flights. I really didn’t know what to do. I thought I’d even fly to Macao and then go through China and take the ferry again. I ended up on Kao Sanh road. A Thai friend of mine found me a cheap place to stay despite her being in Chicago. I think my room was less than $1. Yeah, like 20 baht or something. I also found a cheap fare back to Korea on China Airlines.

The next day I toured Bangkok. I got up late. Had something to eat and went with some Tuk Tuk driver who told me that I was there on the only day that all these temples and things were open. Buddha Day. I doubted him really until his cohort inside the Lucky Buddha temple affirmed his story. It was also supposedly a time when all suits were on sale. It was the last day of this massive sale. I don’t know how but I got kind of swept up in this so now I have a Thai suit. I really don’t know what possessed me to buy it. It wasn’t that expensive but something about the custom-tailored part persuaded me. I even got 2 custom made shirts. I don’t deny that I was scammed but it wasn’t that bad a deal, well for Thailand it was but what’s done is done. I saw a few temples and sat around some places but didn’t do many noteworthy things.

I went to bed early which is pointless on Kao Sanh road since I couldn’t get to sleep until the bars closed. I caught the 5am shuttle to the airport and then boarded the biggest plane I’d ever been on. I still don’t understand why they need a huge double decker plane to fly from Bangkok to Taipei. Well only first class was on the upper deck, you know what kind of plane I mean. I sat next to a woman from Malawi and a Chinese man. She was one of the few who actually wanted to go to Taipei. Hardly anyone wanted the customs declaration for the Republic of China. I don’t think I saw Taiwan anywhere in the Taipei airport. I checked my email there though and some middle aged American kept saying ‘Fuck’ about something.

So after my next flight I was back in Korea and immigration went much smoother than I thought it would. I imagined myself being detained for not having an ongoing ticket, which seems a bit silly now. He asked me a few questions though which is actually nicer than just being stamped and ignored as a living being. I took the bus to Seoul station and within 2 minutes of entering the station was offered a job. I kind of wish I’d asked for some details but knew I wouldn’t be returning to the job market for a few more months. I called Alex and then boarded the KTX bound for Daegu, well it was bound for Busan but that would be misleading. I was almost able to take the newly opened second line but I was lucky to get on line 1. I took a taxi and was back at my old sleeping ground. I even had a little greeting party awaiting me. Alex, his newly acquired girlfriend Young Mi, and his co-worker, Nathan. It was nice to get back to somewhere kind of familiar.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Pulau Pangkor


Well I can't sleep so this is the most productive thing I can think of doing without leaving my bed. Laptops are great aren't they.

Anyways, I left Kuala Lumpur headed for beach and relaxation. The monsoon limited me to the west coast of Malaysia. I picked Pangkor since it was described as being more lowkey than any of the other places on the west coast. I don't know how you heavily promote something as being lowkey but that's what the government is trying to do. It was pretty lowkey actually.

I took the bus to Lumut to catch the ferry. We stop in Lumut and these Scandinavian girls ask the driver about the ferry terminal. He says 5 minutes. I assume, as the girls do, that this means in 5 minutes we will go to the ferry terminal. I could tell there were others left on the bus besides these Scandinavian girls. The driver gets back on the bus and tells us to get off. Turns out the other people on the bus were European tourists as well. Stupid tourists. I thought there were natives left on the bus.

I end up spending the next few days with the Scandinavian girls. We got along but had only lowkey fun. They were waitresses from Sweden but waitressed in Oslo. One was Vivian and the other Tess I think. We shared a triple and went to the beach and ate at restaurants together. I ended up getting burnt the one day I spent at the beach. It was hardly even sunny. Not a bad burn though. It was pretty cloudy the second day and the girls decided to leave. I ended up deciding to leave as well. It was a nice beach though. It just wasn't beach weather. I decided to just cross over into Thailand as soon as possible. I really don't know why. I was getting a little tired of traveling. I'd been traveling for about 5 weeks at this point and it was just a random trip with no particular destinations or things to see. Plus I didn't want to see very much since I'd imagined I'd be back in South-East Asia at some point.

I ended up in Georgetown that night on Pulau Penang. Nice town and I could've spent more time there. I was only in Little India though. That was the only place I saw Indians eating with their hands. My 6 hours in India outside of trains didn't expose me to much. The next morning I went to catch the bus to Hat Yai, Thailand. I ended up missing it because I was supposed to go to the ticket booth where I got the ticket and not to the place where the people who run the station told me to go. So I had to buy another ticket and wait for 3 hours at the bus terminal with my book. If only I hadn't had to lug around a heavy backpack with me everywhere I could've seen a bit more of Georgetown.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Kuala Lumpur

Let me think back to my time in KL. I wasn't there very long and didn't really do all that much. I woke up early enough and left Singapore. I slept for most of the bus ride. Malaysia and Singapore both kind of have little slogans that they hang up at immigration. 'Death for drug traffikers.' I was there before the Australian was executed in Singapore so 'death to' signs were more comical to me then. Oh, Israelis aren't allowed to go to Malaysia. I've been a few places where people have said that Israelis are the worst tourists. I know that's not why they aren't allowed into Malaysia. Malaysia's largely Islamic.
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I really can't think of anything that interesting that happened to me while in KL. I met some guy from Korea. Why are Koreans that aren't in Korea so untypically Korean. This guy had a big bushy head of hair. An Asian 'fro if you will. He didn't do anything but hang out at the hostel from what I could gather. I tried to go out sightseeing one afternoon but those monsoon rains got in the way. I ducked into the National Museum of History. My shoes were all wet and squeaky since I'd been wandering around in the rain in a little plastic poncho and had submerged my whole feet in water. My pants were soaked right through too. I really only felt bad because I had followed a woman who had just cleaned the floors. I relearnt about Malaysia's rotating monarchy. They've actually have 13 kings or something since independence in 1960 (I think) and only 4-5 prime ministers. The country has 9 sultans but only one can be king so they take turns.

I went to the Petronas Towers. I didn't go inside though. I meant to go the next day but they say you need to get there early since they limit the number of people who can go in. I woke up too late and knew it was my last day so I went to the Kuala Lumpur Tower which is uglier but has a higher observation deck. I also discovered I had seen 3 of the 10 highest towers on my trip. One in Seoul that I only saw in passing and the strange tower in Shanghai. KL's tower was 2 or 3rd.
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I really like being in Islamic countries. I think it's something about the mosques and architecture. I've really only been to Turkey and Malaysia but it just makes them feel so much more foreign. Sarajevo was actually my first Islamic city. Downtown Sarajevo is actually really nice. Malaysia though was the only one where the women covered their heads. I'm not sure what it was but for some reason I found myself staring at them so much more. Something about it being mysterious or just different. The men were dressed pretty securlarly though. Funny to see some guy in t-shirt and jeans walking around with a woman in full muslim get-up. Malaysia has a fair number of Indians and Chinese, obviously. I took a photo of some women waiting for the bus outside of 7/11. Turned out blurry though. It really is a diverse Asian country.
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My pics of the Petronas towers look incredibly unnatural. I swear I didn't do anything to them.
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I really liked the base of them. Some strange reflective material makes it look there's motion. After I took it I looked at it my little screen and thought what the hell? After I took this some guy started talking to me in Portugese. I just look at him like what are you saying? He was from Brazil and thought I was too. We had a little chat but I think he was disappointed. He really wanted to be a fellow countryman. I really should be a masterspy or something. People have thought I was so many different nationalities. The strangest one happened while I was in Seoul. I was in Dongdaemun market and some guy says to me "Japanese?" I did have a hat on though but still. Then other people are sure my ancestors are nothing but northern European. People have thought I was Turkish, Chilean, French, Russian. I know I've mentionned this before but it seems to be a recurring theme in my life. Do I really have this ambiguous nationality look?
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For the record, I'm quite a mutt. in decreasing order, I'm part English, Irish, Spanish, Scottish, Austrian, German, French, Welsh, and a teensy bit Dutch. Not Danish at all, or Turkish or Japanese for that matter.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Singapura

I'm calling it Singapura since I'm pretentious and it's more fun to say it that way. I arrived in Singapore around 4am. It was a pretty nice airport. I never get to spend much time in nice airports. They are always crummy airports. So I was tired and dirty but really that was nothing new. I remember stepping outside and it being really humid.

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Bad pic but I like it.

I walked over to the Terminal 1. I never understand why people take the escalator or trams in airports. You've either just been on a long flight or are about to be. What do you have against movement? The moon looked nice. It was actually too early for the busses to run so I had to sit and wait for them to start. I had some burgerking and exchanged the rest of my Chinese yuan. The subway started at 6am (not sure why I didn't to talk about the busses instead). I found my hostel alright. Luckily I used the 15 free internet in the terminal to research a place to stay. Lonely Planet didn't really have their act together on accommodation for Singapore. Of course, I wasn't able to check-in at 7am. I walked around for a bit. Found the Raffles Hotel and tried to buy some things that fell out of bag on the flight.
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Tried to take a nap but just rested really. Then I went out in search of something to do. I decided I would go to Little India since my trip to India wasn't that Indian. It was monsoon season in Singapore so suddenly it starts raining like mad and I duck into an Indian restaurant. I'm a bit hesistant about the food since I'd never eaten Indian buffet style. I ordered rice and chicken. Of course, I get all these sauces to dip stuff in or pour onto things. I like my food plain. I'm a gastronic dullard, what can I say? I try my best to eat it the proper way but I guess I failed because the guy next to me asked if I'd ever had Indian food and told me I didn't look like I was enjoying it.

He seemed nice enough this guy. He was there to have his fortune told by this other Indian guy. Once I'd finished and it was still raining, this guy Joe, told me my fortune. He foresaw good things in terms of relationships and friends or whatever. I forget really. He did tell me that I was unable to stay put very long and like to be on the move. Gemini is an air sign you see (so that's what it is). This first guy left and Joe and I talked about Buddhism.I have a very limited knowledge but he explained the basics to me. He also told me about yoga. I didn't realize it was about waking up centres and bringing it all in line. I'm not the least bit spiritual.

Actually, I had some kind of weird desire to go to Singapore. I'd been there before you see. Most people would say I haven't.I was there in February or something of 1982. I was born in June. So yeah, a prenatal vacation (maybe that's what it is). My parents had a layover in Hawaii too. I had a kind of strange experience when I went to Hawaii a few years ago. I sometimes wonder if I left a part of myself in Singapore back in 1982. Anyways, it's kind of beside the point but I wondered if anything would happen in Singapore. It did strangely feel like I'd been there before but that could've just been it was the most Western place I'd been since coming to Asia and people spoke English everywhere. My uncle had been working in Singapore at the time. My parents were never big travelers. I didn't even leave Alberta until I was 8 or something. A big fishing trip on the border with Saskatchewan. Well and when I was 2 I went to Vancouver but only because my aunt was working there.

Later I was invited to say since they were having some kind of gathering.2 British graphic designers, one a prof. So I had a few beers with them and told one about teacher in Korea. The one prof seemed quite interested despite my warnings. Who knows? Universities are much better places than hagwons. Joe also took me to his Hindu temple and showed me around. So he taught me about 3 religions or disciplines and he was into astrology and all that too. He was in his late 40s. We had some roti and he showed me around the department store for south asian expats where things were really cheap, well for Singapore I guess.
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I had gone here at night when it was a lot more lively. I always feel like such an outsider at religious places. I don't take pictures.

Then we went back to the restaurant. A native Chinese Singaporean with a crazy laugh joined us for a bit. Very strange lady. The some native Indian Singaporean who was in 70s came. I guess they didn't get along because the crazy lady gave the odd man the finger to the back of his head. This guy had had a stroke a few months before. They said he was always a bit weird though. He had just gotten up but had been awake for 25 hours. He found out that I had been an English teacher and told me to take lessons from Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love. He sang the theme song to me. Then started asking me all kinds of personal questions. "Was I able to make love in my country?" I thought I must have misheard but nope. "Did I enjoy making love? How long have I been making love? With whom had I made love? etc." So strange being asked these questions by some old Indian man in Singapore. I learnt a lot that day.... and had my drinks and food paid for. (I actually had donated $10 Sg to something for the children. Maybe there is such a thing as Karma, or at least in Little India there is).

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The next day pales in comparison since I only did typical tourist things. I did get to experience the embarrassing accompaniment (if that's the word) to an ATM. I could've sworn I had my credit card. I also tried to go see the largest fountain in the world. The Fountain of Wealth. Closed, probable an omen. Singapore was nice but really I felt like I'd been there before and that I'd be there again so I wasn't that sad to leave it after 2 days.
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Pleasant Singapore. I ate at one of the restaurants across the water.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Kathmandu to Kolkata (or 48 hours of nothing)

I've got to write this very carefully or it will switch to Korean. I'm not sure how it's happening but I can't use this latin script long because it keeps switching to Hangul for some unknown reason.

I haven't been in Kathmandu for nearly 3 weeks according to my passport. I left Kathmandu on a Tuesday I believe. I had a message at my hotel but I didn't return it for awhile because I like to procrastinate. It was my travel agent where I bought my bus and train tickets to Calcutta. He was calling to tell me to take an earlier bus, the bus that was leaving in 15 minutes. Needless to say I was unable to catch that bus. I took one that left several hours before I was planning on leaving. It was an interesting journey to Calcutta. I asked the guy when I would be arriving in Calcutta and he told me 12:45 on Monday. That's right I left on a Sunday. So we were driving along in this Nepalese bus, we being myself and Nepalese people. I figured out how to switch back to latin characters. Shift + alt. As I was saying, I met some guy sitting near me. I didn't really feel like having a conversation in broken English so I just answered his questions. I'm a pitiful conversationalist to begin with.

I'm not sure why I brought that guy up so soon. I was told the bus ride would last about 3 hours. I've been on this bus for about 5 hours already and it's getting quite dark. Actually, there was no daylight left. We stop a few places along the way for bathroom breaks and some food. There's no toilet on the bus. My diarrhea had subsided by this point (thank god). I thought it was just a 3 hour ride so I never bothered to get much. The guy bought me some kind of fruit. Like an orange but they didn't quite look like oranges. I had 2 of them I think. At 9pm, the bus pulls over one last time. It doesn't go anywhere for the next 8 hours. The bus just pulls over to the side of the road and we all sleep there on the bus. I wasn't told about this. I'm a bit concerned that I'm going to miss my train plus I'm still in Nepal and haven't even crossed the border. I guess it's because of the Maoists that we pull over. The guy tells me the busses used to run all night. So I slept crammed between 2 seats with no real jacket. Lucky me am right at the front of the bus also with the door wide open bringing in cool breezes. It isn't warm at night in Nepal.

Finally at 5am the bus starts up again and we press on towards Sunauli. The scenery is nice at least. Very green and hilly. Nepalese music is a bit uncreative though. The songs last forever and basically just repeats 10 seconds of music again and again. At least you could learn to sing along rather quickly. It could have been Indian music. I didn't really developed much of an ear for it.

Finally we get to the border. I guess the guy must have said 13 hours to reach the border and even that I now realize it a bit of an underestimate. It looks so close on the map. I catch a rickshaw to the agent who has my train ticket. That goes smoothly enough. Then the rickshaw driver takes me to the border. That goes rather well also. I was kind of worried about the Indian border since I had a transit visa but didn't have my onward ticket since I bought it online and had to give my printed copy to the Indian embassy and never bothered to reprint it. I left them but would see them again shortly.

I got to the guy who is supposed to give me the bus tickets. I somehow managed to lose my train tickets despite having had them for only 15 minutes or so. The rickshaw driver goes back to Nepal while I stay at the Indian immigration office. I left it at Nepali immigration. That bit of stupidity aside it was alright. The rickshaw driver charged me a stupidity fee, well extra hassle or something. He made me give him the rest of my Nepali money for the drive (not much though I doubt it's illegal to take Nepali rupees to India, I'd removed some from my wallet beforehand though). I'd already paid him before that so I had to give him Chinese Yuan since it was all I had.

India didn't go very smoothly. I did understand where the 12:45 Monday came in. That's when the train left for Calcutta. I had no idea it would take so long. The bus guy tells me that if I take the bus I will miss the train. I need to take a taxi now. I wonder if that's even true. I'm a favourite target of small scams. I believed it though since I only had about 2 hours to get to the train station which was in another town. I had no money for the taxi so I had to give a deposit in Chinese Yuan and then they would take me to an ATM in Gorakhpur. After driving about 2 hours we finally get there. They tell me I need to give them more money because my ticket is a sleeper with AC. I tell them no, that I needed some kind of proof that I owed them more money. Anyways, I really have no tolerance for these kind of things, hence the reason I didn't want to spend much time in India. I relented, since I always relent.

I still haven't eaten since I left Kathmandu aside from 2 pieces of fruit or possibly just one. I'm rushed into the station and onto a train. I don't know how long I'll be on this train. I know it's overnight and that I'm not getting to Kolkata by 12:45 on Monday since it's about 12:44 on Monday. So I find my sleeper, top bunk, no access to a window. I end up reading the whole time and sleeping. I finish reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I end up being on the train for 25 hours. Not what I was expecting to say the least. I buy some water at some station and a little stuffed bread thing. I was hungry, not having eaten anything substantial in oh, 40 hours or so. I didn't even get to see much of the countryside. Quite boring.

I had planned on spending 2 days in Kolkata/Calcutta but due to a misunderstanding I have 8 hours total. My flight is at 10pm that night. I try to leave my bags at the train station but they refuse to take them since I don't have a train ticket. I end up wasting all my time in Calcutta. I just take a taxi to Sutter street, eat some tandoori chicken, go to an internet cafe for 4 hours, have some more tandoori chicken and then go to the airport.

Of course, I didn't take out many rupees since I knew I wouldn't be in India long. The taxi which was agreed to be 200 rupees, jumps to 300 when we arrive at the airport and I want to go to the international terminal 200m further. It ends up being a moot point since I don't have anything less than a 500 note. He won't give me any change either since he didn't pick up a passenger. I really had no use for a few dollars worth of rupees so all I had was a 'fuck you' left for him. I'm such a relenter.

Luckily my plane ticket was ridiculously cheap. Only $100 US from Kolkata to Singapore. I really expected the international terminal of the airport to be a lot bigger. There were only 2 gates. I had to stand around and wait for immigration to start their shift. I guess no one flies into Calcutta or out of for that matter. I board the plane and am the only non-South Asian on the flight. Actually that's not true, the pilot was Australian and the flight team as they call flight attendants plurally were based in Singapore. Jet Star Asia was a good airline though. That brings me to the 16th of November now... ok later.