It's a Party in KL

Wow.

Every Friday and Saturday night the hostel hosts a party on their rooftop bar... didn't have to think much about going along last night!

Everything here is ridiculously cheap compared to Singapore and back home. The Carlsburg beer tower pictured above was 110 ringgit (~$40AUD). Buckets of spirits run for 25 ringgit; mine had over 5 shots in it.

Fitzey and I partied into the early hours of the morning until we got kicked out at 4am. Needless to say we spent most of the day sleeping...

The view from the rooftop bar is incredible. The photo below was just before a huge thunderstorm started, and the light is actually coming from the Patronas Twin Towers which are in plain sight usually. 

We wandered out to get lunch today in Chinatown, and bought a Xiaomi portable charging battery (read great things about these) and Tiger beer singlet which makes walking in this heat bearable! 

Last Day and KL

Our last full day started off by Fitzey and I checking out the Gardens by the Bay, a recent $1.2bn garden build near the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The massive Supertree structures feature a skyway 22 metres off the ground and providing great views of the city skyline and surrounding gardens.

We finished outing for the day by checking out the world famous Merlion stature overlooking the bay.

That night we went on a walking food tour run by the hostel.
The cost for those staying at the hostel was only $30 and we had the opportunity to eat a share of thirty different Singaporean dishes.

The tour lasted around 6 hours starting at 6:30PM at our hostel, and was not just about food, but also the heritage and economy around Singapore.

First off, we went up a state-built apartment building and had explained to use how the government enforces the fact that each building must be occupied by a certain ratio of Singaporeans (a split between Chinese, Malay and Indian, with Chinese having majority share).

The main event consisted of going to a Chinese restaurant and eating three different restaurants food from here; we tried chilli crab, crunchy baby squid, fried frog, squid cooked in its own ink and much much more. Needless to say we were all very full afterwards and there was still plenty of leftovers!

We were completely bombarded with great insider information, covering everything from strange laws; cost of housing; how the economy works; what people earn; how much cars cost - SHIT LOADS - and more. Alongside the choices of food throughout the whole 6 hours, it was an incredibly worthwhile experience.

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Today we had an early start; 7am wake up. We packed up our stuff and said goodbye to those in the hostel as we were off on the bus to Kuala Lumpur via a coach.

The bus itself was awesome, great air con - too cold if anything - and big comfy seats. It was a 27 seater bus but only had eight other passengers!

Out of pure coincidence we started talking to a Singaporean girl in the seat opposite mine, who as it turns out used to work for a couple years in the hostel we just came from!

We checked into our hostel, Reggae Mansions in Chinatown KL, which is a notorious party hostel, which should be good fun!

First impressions of KL are good; everything is way cheaper than Singapore! I think it will be a good stepping stone to introduce us to the dirtier parts of South East Asia, with the city being less refined and first world than Singapore, but not quite as full-on culture shock as Bangkok and beyond is sure to be!

Exploring Singapore

Well the Zoo didn't happen, oh well.

Tuesday we hired bikes from our hostel to go check out the beach. The bikes were pretty shoddy - brakes barely worked, gears skipped a lot..

After riding for about 3km I managed to pick up a puncture .. in a big way. I tried to ride on it a little more and somehow the tube ended up getting totally wrapped around the rear cassette; it was messy.
Half an hour of pushing it back to the hostel I managed to get another bike and we were on our way!

The beach/park area was pretty cool, nice trees and very clean.

The beach itself was actually no swimming; its more to look at than anything!

The number of massive shipping boats waiting to port was incredible however. Easily hundreds of boats across the entire horizon!

Later that night I hung out with a couple blokes from the hostel; an American and a London'er. The pom, Colin, had been traveling for 7 months to date and had some very interesting stories to tell. It was good to get insider knowledge from people that have been doing this more than we have, could definitely learn a lot!

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Wednesday morning we headed up to the Botanical Gardens. The garden was just so expansive; so much walking around!

I dont have much to say, so I'll just put up some photos!

At night I checked out the Marina Bay Sands hotel's light show.

From the bay in front of the hotel they shot giant mists of water in which they created a hologram effect using lights and lasers, telling the story of Singapore from what I could gather. 

Later, I headed up to the Skybar on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands for a couple drinks; one of which being a Singapore Sling. 

Wow what a view. The Singapore skyline is incredible; the buildings are so new compared to what I have seen before in Japan, very cool architecture and lighting. 

Tonight is our last night in Singapore; tomorrow morning we are jumping on a (6 hour) bus ride up to KL. The coach only cost $30 and has wifi, so see how we go!

The original plan was an overnight train but every train ex Singapore was completely booked before we had a chance to try!

Australia Day

January 26th; Australia Day back home.

We started the day by bussing into Chinatown to check out the temples and the food.
Busses are very much like back home, you can buy a touch card to get on and off and the fares are only a few dollars, great value.

The first stop was the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum, which was a functioning Buddhist temple and museum full of old relics.

When we rocked up there was some kind of procession occurring; people attending the Buddhist equivalent of a Church service. 

I was aware but didnt remember; when entering temples you must have your shoulders covered. Luckily they had shawls to use to cover up so that I could still enter.

Inside this museum was incredible. The detail that went into making these ancient relics is just incomprehensible. Carvings of all the different incarnations of Buddha and related gods were very impressive. 

The top-most floor was covered in gold, lining the walls and ceiling.

After, we grabbed a bite to eat from a stall in Chinatown's food court. A few dollars here buys incredibly tasty and filling noodle or rice meals.

We continued to explore the nearby temples, but the first was by far the most impressive.

We decided to head home but in the process stumbled across what turned out to be a great discovery.. an Aussie pub with free wifi that served Aussie beers, but much more importantly, was playing the Triple J Hottest 100!
Needless to say we stayed here for a couple of ($8) pints of Pure Blonde and listened to the tunes.
The staff here were all wearing Australian flag temporary tattoos and were kind enough to give us one, what a great service!

We then came back to the hostel, went out to a local hawker food stall for dinner. Once again, only a few dollars for awesome local food.

The plan for tomorrow is looking like the Singapore Zoo, we'll see what all the fuss is about!

It Begins!

We made it! Air Asia didnt let us down in getting us to Singapore (via Kuala Lumpur) on the last ever Adelaide flight. 

It was a late arrival in Singapore after the two hour stop over in KL, left the airport around 8:30PM. 

Managed to negotiate the local buses and catch a $2.10 fare to the hostel without wifi, a small achievement in itself.

First impressions of Singapore is what everyone says; its expensive compared to the rest of SEA.

Our hostel is located on Joo Chiat Road, which is no where near the skyscrapers I was expecting to see in Singapore.. we're in the 'burbs with lots of locals doing their thing.

Almost there...

Now inside the two week mark.

The weeks have been spent with planning, researching, buying, organising, booking..

I have now organised cash to cover a couple nights accommodation and food in each of the countries we are flying to (Singapore dollars, Malaysian Ringgit, Japanese Yen, Thailand Baht and some USD for backup).. so many currencies to keep track of!

Between all of the gear and clothing I have bought for the trip I may well end up looking like a walking Kathmandu catalogue..

Tomorrow I start my final week at work... it's getting more and more real.