On leaving - Sarah

This trip has gone by way too fast. I still cannot believe some of the places we have visited! In these three weeks Samantha and I have done so much and I can't believe it's all coming to an end. We have had the best time while here and I am leaving with a plethora of funny stories and memories to take with me. Here is my top ten list of things I will miss:
1. travelling
2. having great adventures with Samantha
3. 100 plus (an amazing sports drink which I cannot believe I haven't ever mentioned in this blog...I'm addicted)
4. tea tarik (aka teh tarik)
5. watermelon juice
6. cheap prices!
7. food: dim son, chili chicken, and lots of fresh fruit (that does not include durian of course!)
8. beaches...gorgeous beaches!
9. being TALL! That's right..you heard me..tall!! Everybody here is super short!!
10. Tiger and Bintang Beer

On leaving - Samantha

Well... first let me say I am NOT happy about leaving tomorrow morning. It's not just the horrible long flight ahead that's leaving at a really early time but it is way more than that. I have loved every moment of this trip and cannot believe it is really over. I am sure I will be in a funk when I get back just because every place we have been has been so beautiful, different and exciting. Here are some of the things I have grown accustomed to and will really miss:

1. My dad
2. being a tourist
3. not working or doing school work
4. when the exchange rate is awesome and you get so much for the dollar and things are really really cheap
5. teh terik
6. 100 plus
7. so many choices of ethnic food
8. roti canai (my breakfast of choice in Sibu)
9. fresh watermelon or dragon fruit juice
10. seeing monkeys on a regular basis

Last day in KL

We spent our last day in Kuala Lumpur sleeping in, doing some laundry and then heading to KLCC, the shopping center below the twin towers. We ate lunch, which we were both happy to find was very good (we haven't had the best luck finding out own lunch places). Around 3 we met up with my dad and headed out on the subway to Chinatown/Peddling street to do some shopping, grab the same dinner we had on our first night and be brave and try the much heard about durian. Dinner was absolutely amazing! Sarah had been craving the chili chicken since we had it and we thought it would be quite nice to end the trip the way we began. Durian on the other hand was in NO WAY nice. In fact, it is probably the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. We had heard that it smelled really bad but tasted good, this is not true - it smells like decaying animal and I cannot even describe the way it tastes. It reminded me of old beef that had been pureed and then served at room temperature, but this still does not do it justice. Sarah described it as mushed bananas and honey, but much worse. My dad might have summed it up best when he said "I would rather change 3 baby diapers with my teeth than ever eat that again." My fingers smelled so horribly that when walking away I actually gagged, needless to say - none of us will ever be eating that or recommending it to anybody we like.

Bali

Bali was amazing! Samantha and I both agreed that we are going back. The trip did not start off on a good note. The flight was delayed and then the going through immigration took almost an hour and the bathroom was abominable. Once we finally got to our hotel everything was okay! We had a good italian dinner and slept in the best hotel beds we've felt so far! The rooms were fantastic...the bathroom was just as big as our room, which was a HUGE change from Singapore! We also got to take a look at our motorbikes! We went into town to grab dinner and then went to a swinger's bar. It wasn't really a swinger's bar, but by the time we went there the only other patrons there was a huge group of free-loving australians. We took bets on who would be asked to dance first, and my bet was on Samantha, but it was Mr. Piper...who was asked by a braless, short-haired older drunken lady. They had a live band and the whole place was dancing. We had a really great time and decided that we had to go back.
The next morning we took our first spin on the bikes. It was a bumpy ride. We decided that we wanted to see the beach that was just down the road from the hotel. We managed to get to the beach in one piece...the only one who came close to dying was Mr. Piper when he tried to park the bike and it fell over. We were told that the beach was a surfer's paradise but we had to see it for ourselves. The waves were huge!! The sand was partially made up of volcanic rock so it was a light gray color and really course. We then decided to go to a more peaceful beach. Did I mention that it was more european too?? Other than the barely clad bodies the view was amazing. The sand was white and the ocean was so blue. The part we were at was used for seaweed farming so there were many varieties of seaweed being tended to in the waters. It looked very cool from the beach. We stayed there all day...literally. We sun-bathed, read, and ventured out into the sea all day. We went to see the sunset at a very swanky beachside bar called Ku De Ta. It was one of the coolest bars we've ever been too. After a few drinks we had a traditional balinese meal and watched traditional balinese dancers. We then hit up the swingers bar, but the swingers were not there to entertain us, which made it less fun.
The next day we went to Ubud and visited arts places and temples. The temples were very impressive and different. We also went to the monkey palace and, among other things, saw a water monitor lizard. After we walked along the streets of Ubud visiting different stores and stalls. When went back to the hotel to relax and then went to scope out the restaurant that we planned to watch the USA vs England match at. The food was good but we decided it would not do. After a nap at our hotel, we went back out around 2 to watch the game. We all know how that ended up...
The next morning we woke up early and had lunch on the beach. We then went shopping throughout the town and caught our flight home. Bali was very beautiful and relaxing. It's definitely a place we will visit again!

Singapore

So Mr. Piper's computer really hates me. Again, right before we left for Bali, I wrote up the Singapore entry and just as I was going to post it the internet went out. Samantha and I will post our blog on Bali tomorrow and add pictures. As for now, here is our old post for Singapore:

We just got back from our two day Singapore trip and it's already time to leave again for Bali! Singapore was a very different from our other side trips we have taken so far. This was our first trip as backpackers! Our hotel was located in Chinatown, which was very Chinese. I know that's probably what you would expect of Chinatown, but this was way more Chinese than any other Chinatown we've been to so far. It was really cool because they have really kept hold of their heritage! Unfortunately for us, our trip to Singapore was a very rainy one. Our first stop was to the Chinese Heritage Centre. We definitely would recommend this museum to anyone who visits Singapore. It is a smaller museum but the exhibits were well done and there were a lot of personal stories of immigration from China to Singapore that were very interesting. Also, we found out the history of the building our hotel was located in...it used to be a brothel! We weren't allowed in to the first temple we stopped by because we were not dressed appropriately (shorts and tank tops). The second temple we took shelter in was Sri Mariamman. It was a historical temple that had vividly painted statues and a grand courtyard, which we could not really go into because it was under construction. Then we ran to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. Once inside, we were immediately prompted to a bin of sarongs and shawls. The ground floor was the temple. It was very ornate and housed 100 medium sized statues of buddha! The decor was red and gold and very elaborate! On the second floor there was the museum. The first part contained old pictures and statues of buddha from all over the world. The back part of the museum contained all of buddha's relics. These included buddha's teeth, blood, liver, nose, etc. This part of the museum is regarded as very sacred for all Buddhists. On the third floor there was another temple that had an enclosed area that contained the  sacred buddha tooth. Since we weren't allowed in the enclosed area, they had a shot of the sacred tooth relic on a tv. We then climbed up to the rooftop to see the orchid garden, which was very beautiful. In the middle of the garden was a pagoda that contained a spinning prayer column. After the museum we grabbed lunch and headed towards our brothel hotel to check in and ditch our backpacks. Samantha and I decided that we definitely are NOT cut out for backpacking. Our hotel room was....quaint. It was a small room for a bed..and that was about it! Our bathroom was a shower that also contained our toilet and sink. Oh and our friends the brothel bugs! However, we were only staying in Singapore for one night, so the room suited our needs. And was entertaining!

The rest of the afternoon we headed towards the historic district. Singapore is so small that you literally can walk everywhere! In the historic district we stopped by the Armenian Church which was the first permanent Christian church in Singapore. We then continued on our church tour to CHIJMES which stands for the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. It was an old church surrounded by the convent building that creates a nice courtyard in the middle. The convent opened up into an orphanage at one point of time as well. Now, the convent portion is filled with shops and restaurants. We then stopped at St. Andrew's. It was a huge Anglican Church that is still having regular services. The architecture is what makes it such a site to see. We then crossed the street to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The building was undergoing renovation at the time, so we didn't take many pictures. We ended our church tour by having  Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel's infamous Long Bar. The bar was really cool and still has the huge leaf-like fans on the ceiling and the grand wood spiral staircase. The drink was a little too sweet for our taste and was super expensive..30 Singapore dollars! After our shared cocktail, we roamed around the old hotel for awhile. It had some very pretty courtyards scattered throughout the interior of the hotel. We then headed home to rest up and get ready for our night out at Clarke Quay (pronounced Clarke Key..get it right). Clarke Key was a restaurant/bar area located on the Singapore River. It was really big and modern. We ate dinner at an Indian Halal restaurant, where I lost my appetite for chicken and Samantha was mistaken for Megan Fox. The food was actually really tasty, I just am picky about my chicken! Afterwards, Samantha and I grabbed some drinks at a bar called the Crazy Elephant. We ended our night with a bicycle driven tuk-tuk ride back to our brothel...where we discovered that the mattress was indeed covered in plastic in case we were bed-wetters. Very comfortable!

The next day we wandered through some of the Chinese shopping malls and then headed towards the historic district when it started to downpour. We took shelter in the tube station which was connected to an underground shopping mall. We meandered around for a bit and then resurfaced to find that the rain had let up and headed towards the Singapore Flyer, their huge observation ferris wheel. Although it was a rainy, overcast day, the views were amazing! On clear days you are supposed to be able to see all the way to Malaysia! After the Flyer we headed towards the Singapore National History Museum. If you really do the museum it would take three days!! The museum was located in an old historical colonial building that had a big glass addition to the back. The tour was completely audio guided, which was actually very nice. You got to chose exactly what you wanted to hear! Also, once inside the exhibit you get to choose from two different paths to take through history: the events path and the personal path. Since we had already heard so many personal stories at the Chinese Heritage Center, we chose the events path. It took Samantha and I two hours to get through but we could have stayed all day! After the museum we headed to the airport to go back to KL.

Overall we had a great time in Singapore and were glad that we ended up staying for two days instead of the originally planned one day. We never would have fit everything in, especially with the weather being  so rainy! In a couple hours we are heading out to Bali. We are looking forward to another beach vacation! We will most likely not have internet access in Bali, so you won't hear from us till Monday..which is on of our last days in KL! 

Batu Caves

Today, after catching up on our sleep Samantha and I visited that famous Batu Caves. The caves located at the top of a small mountain. To get there you have to climb straight up over 200 steps! To the side of the steps is a huge gold statue of some Hindu god (Samantha and I had a hard time reading up on what all the statues were because there wasn't plaques or brochures anywhere at the caves, so I apologize for the vagueness). There were tons of monkeys on our climb up. One monkey stole a tourists water bottle! After catching our breath at the top of the stairs we entered the caves. They were huge!!! Inside there were multiple small shrines to the Hindu deities. And tons of pigeons and monkeys! Then we climbed another 30 or so stairs to another cave with more monkeys and shrines. The monkeys were really cute! The shrines were kind of disappointing because of all the grandeur of the other cool shrines we have seen on this trip. The walk down the stairs was much easier than the walk up! At the bottom of the stairs was another set of caves. To enter those caves, we walked over a pretty pond, teeming with koi fish. There were also a couple pretty waterfalls adorned with huge pink metal flowers. On the other side of the pond, there was a stage that had a traditional Hindu dance performance going on. We sat and watched the end of the performance and then went to see the other caves. On the way there, there were birdcages, a snake pen, and couple monkey cages. The first cave just had shrines, the second cave had shrines and a reptile exhibit. The reptile exhibit was very sketchy. These dangerous snakes were held in rickety cages. Some of the cages didn't have anything in them..which kind of made us think that the old inhabitant had escaped. It was very creepy. Overall, the caves were impressive and it was a very interesting place!

Bangkok

We flew into Bangkok late on Thursday evening. After checking in we hit the streets to find some dinner.  We soon found out that there weren't very many restaurants around our hotel and that thai people eat dinner very early. However, we lucked out big time on an open air seafood restaurant. We were worried about the food because we were one of two groups eating at the restaurant. The food ended up being amazing. The cook came out to ask us how we liked the food and we ended up talking for awhile. She was so sweet! She gave us advice on what to do, what wasn't worth it, and even lent us her tour books. She also gave each of us a key chain that had famous thai items on them. Samantha got a Hindu goddess, I got a river boat, and Mr. Piper got a tuk-tuk.

The next day, we woke up early and headed out to see the temples. We realized that our hotel wasn't in the prime location; in fact, the temples were on the complete opposite side of the city! We took the skytrain over to that area of town. We thought we had the right exit, but apparently we were far from it! So, instead of hopping back on the skytrain, we took a river boat tour through the canals that ended up in the area with all of the famous temples. On the boat ride we got to see a lot of the city when we were on the main river, and then we turned into the canals and got to see the residential side of Bangkok. The canal houses provide a very different way of living than what we are used to! It was interesting to see their lifestyle! We also passed a few riverside temples along the way. After the boat ride, we ended up running into a tourist police who planned out our tour of the temples for us, arranged a tuk-tuk driver for the whole tour, and gave us some great shopping advice. We went to the Buddha Museum first. It had a temple and then a small sanctuary for the remains of buddhists. The remains were kept in small urns and miniature houses placed along the side of a pond. Before our next temple, we stopped at an Chinese Export Mall that is normally not open to the public, but due to the poor economy we could visit. It was also their last day of tax free sales, luckily for us! Samantha and I both bought nice rings for a great price! We then went to a temple located on a hill. We had to climb quiet aways up to see it! However, once at the top, there was a fantastic view of the city. Our last stop with our tuk-tuk driver was the Grand Palace and National Museum. At these temples, you had to be appropriately dress. I was wearing a tank top and shorts so I had to put on a button up mens shirt and a sarong. Samantha had a t-shirt on so she only had to put on a sarong. Mr. Piper had to put on pants since he was wearing shorts. We looked fabulous...not! It was really hot out and the outfits just made it worse. However, the temples were breathtaking. They were very ornate. Every inch was covered in adornment. There were colorful mirror mosaics, gold leafing, carvings, and intricate murals. After that we grabbed a quick lunch and strolled down amulet street. This area was full of sidewalk peddlers hawking amulets that are said to have certain powers. They are taken very seriously and are a very big deal for the thai people. We then found another tuk-tuk driver to take us to the temple that is famous for their large reclining buddha. At the temple, we had a tour guide take us around. He was crazy. Literally. He was super energetic and very flexible. He insisted on taking tons of pictures of us and when he would take them he would do various yoga poses. He was also very loud, hard to understand, and had awful teeth. We were so worn out that he had more energy than the three of us! All we were interested in seeing was the reclining buddha statue..not the rest of the temple, but he took us through it all anyway...every last inch. The reclining buddha was absolutely massive and very impressive. It was really cool. After, Mr Dong (the tour guide), we just wanted to go home, but our sketchy tuk-tuk driver told us that if we went to this one place he would get free gas. We told him no, but he was really insistent on doing it and it didn't seem like he was going to take no for an answer. He ended up taking us to a tailor. We walked in, took one look, and walked out. He didn't seem very happy that we didn't fall for his trick, but he took us home. That night we researched an authentic mom-and-pop thai restaurant. On the taxi ride there it started to rain. The street it was located on was blocked off with construction so our taxi driver had to drop us off a few storefronts away. As we got out of the taxi, the rain really picked up. We ran to the nearest hotel for shelter to wait out the rain. The hotel was disgusting and much to Samantha's dismay, full of mosquitos. Just to top it off, the power went out. The hotel's back up generator kicked in and the lights came back on. The rain eased up and we decided it was time to go eat. However, our restaurant had no lights. So we went to the hotel across the street and ate at their modern-thai restaurant. The food ended up being amazing, so in the end it all worked out.

On Saturday we decided we were templed out so we hit up Thailand's famous outdoor market that sold everything from clothes to pets to housewares to art. It was huge. And crowded. And hot. And smelly. It was really interesting and we did have a good time. Samantha and I were looking for some cheap clothes when Mr. Piper decided that he had picked the wrong shirt to wear (a black polo...as if he had no idea how hot it was the day before...) and needed to buy a new one on the spot. He wasn't being picky...he just wanted a white or beige linen or silk button up shirt. So the mission started. We could have had the shirt made by the time he finally settled on a used pink-red, long-sleeved, not linen or silk shirt. At first, Sam and I were trying to help him, but after several hours of getting shot down we gave up. Finally, when we were about to leave and enjoying our second dragonfruit and pineapple juice smoothie of the day, he found it. We made our way to the skytrain station and decided to call it a day. We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and headed out to get thai massages. It was our first time getting massages and all in all it was a good experience. For dinner, we wanted to give our mom-and-pop thai restaurant that we could eat at the night before, a second chance. It just wasn't meant to be. We ended up eating next door at an Indian restaurant.

Sunday morning we packed our bags and headed out for the morning. We went to the Jim Thompson Museum which consisted of his historical house full of rare antiques and an art museum. His story was so interesting! For those who don't know, he was an american who came to Thailand and reestablished the silk industry. On the side he collected broken antiques, which in Thailand is considered to be extremely unlucky. He ended up disappearing in Malaysia when he was 61. There are many conspiracy theories as to what exactly happened to him. We then went to a the four-headed buddha shrine. At the shrine we got to see authentic thai dancers. This shrine is known for being very lucky. People rub their money on it and pray for winning lottery tickets here. After grabbing lunch, we headed to the airport.

Bangkok was a very interesting town and we definitely needed more than three full days there!