Singapore to Bangkok
Arriving in Singapore
Every step of the trip from the islands between Kupang and Bali had been like arriving in some fantastic land of riches and surplus, but what can prepare you for the opulence of Singapore?!?
Aboard the comparative luxury of the KM Kelud, we steamed along what seemed a highway of freighters. The scale of shipping activity in this part of the world is staggering.
Overnight we crossed the equator and were now in the northern hemisphere.
As we neared Singapore the amount of shipping increased and then we could see the magical city in the distance.
We disembarked right on time at the small Indonesian island of Batam with the usual chaos of porters pushing their way onto the ship as everyone else was trying to get off, walked through what was one of the most dilapidated and dirty arrival halls - by which I mean a huge, empty, unlit tin shed - walked a few hundred metres and entered what seemed like an airport terminal! We went through Indonesian passport control, got on the small ferry and powered away to Singapore, 45 minutes away and entered an even more gleaming building for Singapore's customs and immigration formalities.
Bushwalking
It would be fair to say that Singapore isn't famous for bushwalking, but, after a few weeks on boats, trains and the odd overnight city stay, it was time for a stretch of the legs! I'd seen these green patches on the map of Singapore before and had read there was good walking to be had and so it was. One of the number of parks is the MacRitchie Reservoir park, where you could spend a good long day walking its extensive tracks and seeing a variety of tropical rainforest landscapes. It even has a tree-top walk!
Little India
My first experience of Singapore, two years ago on an overnight stop, was, entirely coincidentally, Little India, so I think I formed a slightly inaccurate view of the city as a whole. It's a bustling, colourful area with green grocers teeming with produce, the smells of garlands of flowers, incense, sari shops and jewellers and everywhere lovely, fresh Indian food - dhosa and idli galore!
Hobnobbing
They all say you should go to Raffles and have a Singapore Sling, so off we went in our finest to celebrate the remnants of British imperialism.
It wouldn't be true to say it was disappointing, but it would be less true to say it was impressive, though the Long bar is the only place open to the general public, so maybe it's more congenial away from the plebs. The bar seemed to have been designed by someone who'd had a long and successful career in designing Irish theme pubs and was trying their hand at British colonial. Anyway, what do you expect at a world-famous landmark where every idiot, even usually staunchly anti-imperialist ones, come, just for the experience? This experience included the privilege of paying for two drinks that cost almost $60 between them, so it was certainly memorable.
Gleaming #1
If there's one thing about Singapore, it's clean. If there's another thing, it's full of shops. Gleaming shops. Mile upon mile of gleaming shops, vast alleys of temples to consumption. If you need to find a shop you'll probably have to walk through a tunnel of shops or across an overpass of shops to get there. If you want to go outside you probably won't be able to. But if you do find an escape route, you will definitely pass by shops.
Gleaming #2
Once outside there are more gleaming things and, as easy as it is to mock (as I've just demonstrated) it is pretty impressive, especially if you like that sort of thing. I don't particularly, but still ...
Not gleaming
And there are actually lots of not-gleaming places in Singapore, including the delights of the Tekka centre in Little India and this shopping arcade diagonally opposite Raffles where I spent a greedy hour looking through the many new and secondhand bookshops. Heaven!
Malaysia
To get from Singapore to Malaysia you can get a public bus! The #170 in fact. Which is what we did, after getting a taxi from town through Singapore's dawn light. We entered yet another airport-style building and boarded the day train to Butterworth, just across to Penang.
If Singapore is a city of shops, Malaysia from the train was a land of palm plantations - in fact, all day, apart from towns and villages, that's pretty much all we saw.
The journey was therefore a little dull, probably accentuated by the fact that, as on Java, it was an early departure on little sleep. Like Java too, the carriage was freezing, though at least above zero, so Niamh didn't need to unpack her sleeping bag again!
There were a few old stations like the one below in the southern part of the trip, but it seems like Malaysia must be copying Singapore and going for gleaming, as we passed countless recently built stations, some still with plastic wrapping on the handrails like a hastily-opened Christmas present or, like Butterworth, they still had to bolt in the signs.
Penang
We arrived late in the evening and caught the ferry over to Georgetown, the UNESCO-protected old city on Penang and spent a few hours wandering around the next morning. We didn't have a lot of time, so my impressions may be unfair, but I did feel a bit like it was in a timewarp, or once all the restorations were done, would be - a place not so much catering to tourists as a place for tourists. Nevertheless, is was pretty and nice to see something more than 30 years old. Oh, and the famous Penang curries definitely live up to their reputation!
The night train to Bangkok
In the early afternoon we boarded the delightful Thai railways overnight train to Bangkok. The gauge is very narrow, so there's not a lot of room to play with, but the response to this is very creative and effective. On each side, in staggered sequence, are bunks, the lower wider than the top. The lower one forms two roomy seats facing each other during the day, with room to install an eating table in between. The upper bunk folds away into the wall. Above the corridor and next to the seats are the luggage racks.
When it's time to sleep the cabin attendant forms the beds, dresses them and attaches curtains for privacy and you have a very comfortable place to sleep.
The scenery was much more open and interesting than the endless palm plantations of much of Malaysia, with wide flats of rice paddies, palm trees and small villages much of the way, with sharp hills in the background.
Bangkok
We arrived in Bangkok's main Hualamphong station mid-afternoon and headed out to Niamh's mate Patsy's place, where we've been staying a few nights.