Day 9: China Town

Today Logan and I walked from our hostel to China town (almost). On the way we stopped in the Raffles hotel for a look and almost ordered a Singapore Sling as a mid morning refreshment but didn't. Apparently that's where they were invented. Instead we went to a Hagaan Das cafe and had milk shakes.

One of the problems I am finding about being in Singapore is that there is too much choice for food. I love all the different types of Asian food here but I am also attracted to the Western stuff since we don't get any (not good anyways) in Japan.

Chinatown was so colourfull and full of character. There were markets and Mosques and alot to see.

We ended our day with Pizza hut...hehe! (and no...there was no corn, mayo or tuna on our pizza!!!)

Day 8: there's more...

Tonight a group of us from The Inn Crowd went to the night Safari. Singapore sure knows how to create zoos thats for sure! It was incredible! We took a tram and then followed all the walking trails. The different animals were incredible and it actually felt like you were in their natural habitat. We saw giraffes, elephants, hipps, tigers and lions and bears oh my! (ok ...no bears)
The neat thing was that there weren't any visible cages. The animals were allowed to free roam (kind of) except they were restricted from the paths by electric fences (invisible electrical force).

When we were walking I kept creeping myself out by thinking about Jerassic Park. I actually tricked myself into thinking that the shadow of some of the palm leaves were dinasaur heads. (im not joking).

Two thumbs up for the Night Safari!

Day 8: Singapore- through the eyes of a local

Wow what an unexpected surprise! Paul (the singaporean ex alt from last year) was gracious and sacraficed his time to give Logan and I a tour of Singapore.

He picked us up at the hostel in his spiffy car at 8am to start the day. The first stop was breakfast in a very local open air Indian cafe type place. Logan was brave and tried the 3 min soft boiled egg and soy souce specialty local breaky and I had toast with butter and this green jam type stuff. yum!

The colonial district and harbourfront was next. We saw the theatre, the opera house and had a great view of the harbour and the Merlion. Paul provided the important historical facts as well his personal view of singapore over his life. We took a cable car from Mt. Faber to Sentosa island and posed for pictures infront of the Sir Stamford Raffles statue.

We had lunch at Prima Taste cafe on Orchard street and Paul made sure to order all his favourites and local specialties.

I hadn't seen Paul in over 6 months but the day was confortable and relaxed and I believe he was truly happpy to be sharing his country with us. Logan and I were extremely thankful.

What a fantastic day!

A new following

Just wanted to thank my new following of readers....MY FAMILY!! They discovered my blog at the begining of my trip and have been keeping a close eye on all my adventures! Apparently my dad was getting impatient waiting for my next entries...hehe.

Thanks for reading everyone!!

BTW Carla...the crossing guard did come back (i made an entry about it) but he has been gone again for a long time. :) hehe

Love ya!!

Day 7: Two's company!

Im back in Singapore now. After my last Hyatt breakfast buffet and a dip in the pool I said goodbye to Sabah. Of course today was the nicest day, weather wise, with not a cloud in the sky. Oh well.

Air Asia is a good budget choice but there business practices are a little sketchy from what Ive seen. I have taken 4 flights with them now and 3 out of the 4 were delayed. (not including all the delayed signs I saw on the flight status board) I gave myself lots of time this time to transfer (3 hours) and with the delays I was still cutting it close and when I asked for help they said they would work something out wiht my baggage and when I did what they told me they hadn't followed through on their end. I realize they are a budget airline and it's by having a fewer services that they can offer cheaper flights, but next time I think I will pay a little more for a higher standard of care. Maybe it's just the season though. It is a busy one!

Well my day was mostly filled with travelling so no real news. Except that I when I signed on to my msn about 20 minutes ago I had a little chat with Steve (an American ALT from Iwaki who left this past summer) and he told Paul (another ex Iwaki ALT who actually lives in Singapore) I was here so now I'm making plans to get togteher with Paul tomorrow. Its kind of fun that I'm meeting him on his home turf! I'll let you know how it goes!

Day 6: The Padas River and me!

Today was my day of white water rafting and it was by far was the best day of my trip so far!

I got picked up around 7;45am by the tour guide and after picking up some more people we hit the road and went to Beaufort (about 1.5 hours). In Beaufort we waited around a bit then finally boarded a train - the 'oldest' train in Borneo. We road past some towns and shacks and saw farms and fields and forests. I can't believe that people actually use that dilapidated old train as a form of transportation everyday. Not only was it old and slow but it was 45 minutes late! Overall, if I didn't look at the rundown houses etc the scenery was very beautiful.

We got of the train a few stops before our actual destination to change and ditch our belongings then we continued on our way to the start of the tour. After a short snack and safety brief we hit the water! It was brown and a little 'different' than the other places I've rafted but I went with it and figured that if the locals were ok and they go in it everyday then I would be ok too.

There were 6 of us (foreigners) on my raft and 3 guides. The main guides name was Lao and I have no idea who the other two were. Lao was the only English speaker and although he introduced the other two I didn't catch their names (hehe he pointed to them and then said in first person "My name is (insert random Malay name here)." ) 4 of the other foreigners were Aussies and had just finished a 2 week tour around Sabah similar to what Liz did last year and the other one was a Chinese Canadian guy who lives in Hong Kong. He cracked us all up because he was a little out of it. When people asked him where he was from he said Hong Kong. Which confused people because after talking to him you would find out he was actually from Canada. I live in Japan but it doesn't' t mean im from Japan and when I would answer the same questions but answer Canada he would smile at me. He was also trying to plan a trip up Mt Kinabalu. The other 4 in our boat had already done it so he was asking them questions. Well it turns out he was going to climb the mountain in teva sandals, shorts and a tank top. The mountain is 4000 meters high! What was he thinking? Anyways...That was my boat!

We were the 'funnest' (ya ya its not a word but I like it ok?!) boat on the river! We also spent the most time actually IN the river than any of the other boats. Yup, at every rapid at least one person fell out and on more then one occasion our whole boat flipped over. It was GREAT and I loved every second of it! I was a bit apprehensive at first because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get back into the boat but after the first fall and recovery I was ready for another! Eventually we even got bored with our own raft so we pirated the others. We would paddle as hard as we could to catch up to the others then a couple of the Aussies and a couple of our guides would jump into the other rafts and throw people out. ahh....soo fun!

After a couple of hours on the Padas river we ended up back at the station where we left our bags. So we changed again and sat down for a BBQ lunch (more like a midafternoon meal). This was my first time in two years eating BBQ'd lamb chops and proper BBQ'd hots dogs. It was the perfect end to a fantastic river rafting experience.

High Fives (when everyone holds up their paddles and smacks them in the middle and cheers) to the best river raft out there!!

Day 5: Mt Kinabalu

MT. Kinabalu, South East Asias highest peak and a world heritage site, towers majestically at 4095m and is located a short distance from KK. Today I visited Poring Hot Springs located in Kinabalu park and got to see the Mountain Garden at MT Kinabalu HQ.

Day 4: Christmas in the sun

Merry Christmas!

As far as Christmas' go this one was unique. Santa even found me at the Hyatt. When I returned from using the internet last night I had a xmas card and xmas dessert in my room. (care of Santa Hyatt himself).

It's Sunday and in KK that means a morning market on Gaya st. I wondered through the market and did a little shopping to start my day. Some of the things for sale were really different. They had live fish for pets, pet mice and dogs, spices, fruit, coffee and then the regular handicraft stuff. It wasn't anything spectacular but it was neat.

After the market I booked my tours for the rest of the week. I was pretty limited because most of the tours had a two person min but I am happy with my plans. Survivor Island (Pulau Tiga - where they filmed the first survivor) was on the top of my list but it didn't pan out....tear, sniff, ...oh well. That had a four person min and apparently isn't a popular tour. I don't know why? :) So tomorrow im off to kinabalu National park and on Tuesday Im white water rafting. FUN!

My island of choice today was Pulau Mantukin. It is one of the smaller islands included in the TAR islands. I caught the boat like I did yesterday and spent three hours on the island. There wasn't much there except a public bathroom, some BBQ pits and places to camp. But it was quiet and relaxing and the water was refreshing. It was sunnier today then yesterday but still a little overcast.

The best part of my Christmas was definitely the xmas dinner. I hadn't had turkey in two years and it was as YUMMY as ever! (although xmas dinner is not really xmas dinner without mashed potatos or grandma's trifle!)

I also got to thinking. I remember having a conversation with Carla once. I can't remember exactly when it was (like highschool or university and what year) but we were at the movies with her friend Jenny W (other people were there too) and we were talking about doing things on our own. As far as I can remember Jenny went to Australia or something and was saying how different and weird it was when she went out for dinner and saw a movie in the theatre by herself for the first time. Carla and I had never done anything like that and wondered how it would feel. Well I thought about this again for the first time about a month ago when I was at a restaurant for lunch by myself. I had a book with me then and remember thinking that reading a book is still something that detracts you from being alone. Well tonight I sat in a restaurant and ate Christmas dinner by myself. I didn't rush it (like I had at other meals this trip) and I didn't take a book. I ordered a glass of wine, sat back and just relaxed, people watched and enjoyed my festive meal. I even prolonged my meal by ordering coffee (overall it was an hour and half of Christmas food goodness). So as weird as it may sound, tonight I am truly proud of myself and feel that I have accomplished something that only a few years ago (or however long ago) I thought was totally out of my comfort zone.

I hope everyone's Christmas are filled with family, love and lots of good food (hehe)!

Have fun!

Day 3: Swimming in the South China Sea

Today was my first full dayin Kota Kinabalu. I spent the morning walking around and really getting comfortable with my surroundings. As far as a tourist destination, KK is probably one of the least touristy 'tourist' destinations i've ever been to. I would consider it more of a starting off point, or finishing point for other Sabah province Borneo vacations, however, the potential is there. It just needs a little cleaning up.

KK has lots of shopping. There are many markets and stores that are covered wall to wall with beautiful, bright fabrics for the Muslim scarfs and outfits etc. The multiculturalism here made me think about Torontos own unique areas. Aside from one grade 10 geography trip, how often do I ever go there? NEVER! But here I am in Southeast Asia on a vacation to see them.

This afternoon was spent on Manukan Island. It is one of the 5 islands that make up Tanku Abdul Rahman National Park. It was a 20 minute boat ride from KK. This island is the second biggest and many locals go there for a day on the beach. there is one resort on the island that is really pretty but low key. I felt safer and more relaxed on this beach than I did anywhere in Thailand. No one was selling anything or haggling me. It was just families with little kids building sandcastles and swimming. It was quite peaceful. I went for a swim and read my book and just enjoyed the view of mainland Borneo and the South China Sea.

Tonight for din din I went to a dim sum restaurant. The streets around my hotel are filled with open air restaurants serving dim sum and other asian foods. It was my first dim sum experience and I enjoyed it.

Not a bad way to spend Christmas Eve Day I think!

Now back to the Hyatt for a some CNN, reading and a good bath!

Friends at the Hyatt

This morning I discovered the Hyatt breakfast buffet and it was delicious! For the great price of about $3 Cdn I had the choice of Malay food, fresh fruit, baked goods, omlette bar, pasta?, french toast or waffles with super toppings made to order and more! The best thing I tried was the Malay roti and curry type dish. It wasn't a strong curry but it was savory and worked well as a breakfast food.

On top of a great breakfast I also made a friend. His name is Ziadnoon (i have no idea how one might pronounce that) and is the French toast/waffle/fried egg station guy. I would say he is about my age and heis really friendly. He asked me about my plans and where I was from. When I told him I lived in Japan we chatted about Tokyo and his plans to visit friends in Tokyo. He gave me some good advice on where to go for a more relaxing beach atmosphere on top of other interesting tid bits about KK. I realize he was doing his job, but he was by far one of the friendliest people I've met so far on my trip.

Day 2: Too close for comfort

Getting to the airport worked out well. I left the hostel around 5am and walked to the bus terminal/taxi stand. I ended up sharing a taxi with two Singaporeans. There was supposed to be 4 people in the taxi but we waited and noone else came so I paid the fare of two people (I couldn't wait any longer). IT was $16 S for two people. That took us right across the causeway into Johor Bharu in under 40 minutes. Going through customs was a sinch. The taxi driver even had the proper customs forms for me to fill out.

I found it interesting that the road from Sing to JB was dead at 5:45 am (the buses don't even start until 6am) but the JB to Sing road was crazy busy. The road was packed to a halt with buses and cars and people were walking in hords across the causeway towards Sing. I guess people in JB take advantage of the lower cost of living in Malaysia and higher wages in Singapore. Smart!

Once we passed customs I had to switch to a taxi that would take me to Senai Airport. On the way to the airport I saw people getting off what I can assume was a night shift at a hotel/resort waiting for buses. They were all in matching uniforms standing in huge crowds. It kind of reminded me of Mexico when we would see all the hotel employees on the buses.

I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare so I thought I would try my hand at a Malaysian breakfast. WEll what looked like yummy noodles turned out to have hidden fish heads in it. YUCK!! Needless to say, I didn't eat it!

This is when my day took a turn for the worse. When I checked in the airline told me that I did not have enough transfer time between my two flights. They said in the terms and conditions on the website that there was a minimum transfer time and I didn't adhere to it. Well I pulled out the terms and conditions (i had printed a copy) and didn't see anything like that. I also called the airline and emailed through the customer service site a couple of weeks ago to check and didn't get any replies. I had checked the kuala Lumper airport site and thought I would be able to transfer easily. As it turns out, Air Asia was one of the only airlines that was not included in that easy transfer procedure. The guy at the counter was sympathetic to my plight, thankfully, and let me put my big backpack on the plane instead of checking it. He gave me specific intructions on where to go to check in for the my next flight-I had 30 mins to get off the plane and check in again or I the check in counter would close and I would be stuck. As backup we had checked to see if there were any later flights that I could book but there were no other flights available to KK today.

Obviously it all worked out. I booted it off the plane soo fast and weaved in and out between all the slow people walking through the arrivals area. I felt like I was in a human frogger game. I ended up cutting in line at the check-in counter in KL (sorry to all the people I budded in front of) and still had 10 mins to spare. Phew! But I tell ya, waiting for my first flight and sitting on the plane was in no way relaxing.

I am in KK now and the stressful day made my private hotel room and big, clean bathroom all the more welcoming.

I has a restless sleep last night and got up at 4:30 this morn I think its going to be early to bed tonight. What a day!

They're everywhere!

That's right- they're everywhere- JETS that is. Yup, last night I was packing up my backpack getting ready for today when two new people came into the hostel. We started chatting and it turns out they are both American ALTs in Saga city near Fukuoka in Japan. How random! We ended up walking around Little India and finding a local cafe type restaurant/ Indian hang out place and having a Tiger beer and some curry for din din. We talked about Japan, our travels etc and had a nice night. It was muc hbetter then spending it alone.

Yeh JET!

Day 1: A Shoppers Paradise!

I just returned to the hostel after a long day of just walking around Singapore. I hit Little India and Orchard Rd. Wow...Singapore truly is a shoppers heaven! Lucky thing it was my first day or else I would have spent more $$. But since I have two weeks to go I exercised self control.

It is a unique feeling being in such a diverse Asian culture after living in Japan (homogeneous society). I catch myself doing Japanesey things, such as giving little bows when people are polite to me and saying 'sumimasen' and 'hai' instead of just saying excuse me or yes in English.

Cindy, who lived in Singapore for two years, gave me some advice on places to see and food to eat. So today I went to one mall specific (out of many) and went to the food court. Food is soo cheap and diverse! For S$4 (about $3 Cdn maybe) I got this wicked chicken curry, noodle dish. It was so delicious and filling and such a great price!! Another neat thing abut the food courts are that people with little carts walk around selling sides for your meal so you don't have to more then one stall and stand in more then one line. There was a drink cart, rice cart and Indian side cart. soo smart!

There are Christmas decorations, sales in the malls, carols playing and gift wrapping but its hot and im walking around in a skirt! WEIRD! It didn't feel like xmas in Japan but this doesn't 'really feel like it either. Interesting feeling that's for sure.

well my time is up for using the internet. I have to decide how to get to Malaysia tomorrow. My options are a cheap bus that should get me there in time but might take longer then anticipated which will make me miss my flight or pay a lot more for a taxi. I am leaning towards the taxi but it is like S$35 more which hurts my daily budget. MMmmmm.,...

I Made It!!

I made it safe and sound to Singapore. I just woke up from my first night at the Inn Crowd Hostel. Very cool! My first day will be spent walking around and just taking it all in!! WOOHOO!

Tomorrow im off to Borneo bright and early in the morn!

New House

This past weekend Carla and Mike bought a new house. They are moving to Bolton at the end of January. I am soo excited for them. The house is beautiful and new. The current owners did an excellent job decorating it and had never intended on moving so they put alot of energy and money into it.

They have three bedrooms, a fully finished basement, a two car garage, and three bathrooms. The ensuite bathroom even has a jacuzzi type tub and a stand up shower. SWEET!

The last month for Carla and Mike have been incredible. How will they ever top it??

Don't worry..im still alive and kicking

So it seems that I suck at keeping up with my blog. But im here in full force ready to catch up!!

So here's a brief list of things that have happened in the last three weeks that are worth writing about!

1. Kristin, Liz and I had a wicked fun party night in Tokyo. The three of us crashed in a single hotel room in Shinjuku and we partied in Roppongi. We started our night with a fantastic Mexican dinner and tasty margaritas. After our din din we got all primped and primed and headed out on the town at about 11. The night ended at 6:30am when we got kicked out of the last bar/club we visited. We hit various clubs/bars such as Paddy Foleys (the Irish bar that made Liz's night), Gas Panic, and 911. It was my first time really partying in Tokyo and I would def. do it again. We spent Sunday walking around Shibuya and shopping. Thanks for a great weekend ladies!

2.I took a the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in Sendai. I went for level 4 (the lowest level) but I wont know how I did till February. The process was a whopping 4 hours long and I was tested on kanji (Japanese characters), vocabulary, listening, grammar and reading comprehension. Listening was supposed to be the easiest section, or so I thought, but I think that was my weakest area on the test. The biggest positive about studying for the JLPT was that is got me to study and improve my Japanese even just a little.

3. I had three weeks of elementary and kindie visits. Japanese kids are by far the cutest kids I've ever been around. I hokey pokied it up and brushed up on animal sounds and actions like never before! It was great! I definitely prefer elementary schools over JHS but it takes way more energy. The kids are soo excited to see you and they try soo hard. They fight over walking you to the principals office and holding your bags (that are way to heavy but they struggle with it anyways), they want to give you high fives and they ask for your signature as if you were famous. What an experience!

4. Last Thursday marked my last school visit of 2005! Woohoo!!!

No more school until Jan. 16 2006

5. This past Thursday my eikaiwa (adult English class) had a Christmas Party. We went to this great restaurant that I have never been to before. We had two hours of all you and drink and all you can eat (nomihodai, tabehodai). I am lucky to have such a great conversation circle. They tried their hardest to speak English all night and they were soo keen on introducing me to different foods and drink that I had never had before. We had a secret Santa Christmas card exchange and Ryoko (this young women in my group) planned an alphabet BINGO game and brought BINGO cards and prizes. Great night!! Thanks Capetown!

6. On Friday the BOE had their bonenkai (end of year party). It was held at the Tokyuu Inn in Taira near Iwaki Station. The restaurant was really nice and the food was better then all the past enkais I've been too. Everyone had to bring a hyaku en gift (about 1 dollar). We had a janken competition (rock, paper, scissors) to decided who got to be Santa Claus and pass out out the gifts. Following the enkai a group of the ALTs headed to Yamazaki Mansion for a party in Henrys apt. Overall it was a very interesting night.

7. Dec 2 was Daves Birthday! Happy Birthday Dave!

8. Dec 12 was Evas birthday! Happy Birthday Eva!

That about sums up the past few weeks!! Wow...it would be way easier to keep up with it on a regular basis. Maybe that will be part of my new years resolution..hmmm.