After my fantastic trip down under, I returned to SE Asia. I arrived at the airport in Singapore about 3am and was flying out around 8pm that night. Singapore is a very small country - it's just one big city, really. The airport is quite nice; it won the "Best Airport" award this past year (unfortunately beating Incheon airport in Korea, which I still believe is the best!), but I wanted to do a little more than sit in airport cafes all day! Therefore, I headed out into the city for a few hours during the day. There isn't a lot to do except for shop and buy expensive Singapore Slings at Raffles... so I chose to go to the zoo. I wasn't super impressed by the zoo; it's a very nice zoo, but I've been to so many zoos nothing about it was new to me. It did, however, provide me with something to do for a few hours, and, hey, it's never a bad day when monkeys are involved!
After the zoo and sitting in Starbucks for several hours, I boarded a flight to Bali, Indonesia. Due to having only a few days in Bali I chose to stay in Kuta for my entire time there. The beach was disappointing, in my opinion, and the guys were, um, a bit more "touchy" than I care for... but I managed to enjoy my few days there: swimming and lounging by my hotel's pool during the day and (cheap but wonderful) massages at night!
I flew from Bali to Jakarta... then took a train overnight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta. If I had thought ahead I would have taken a bus from Bali to Yogya, but, um, it was a bit of a last minute decision to go there. The train was an interesting experience. The train station in Jakarta was very hectic and confusing, with many trains coming and going from the same platform. My train was late; over an hour. Nothing was in English so I had to enlist the help of some nice Indonesians to make sure I got on the correct train. The train itself was definitely old, but I managed to curl up in my seat (I had one to myself) and sleep for a decent portion of the night.
I stayed with a couchsurfer in Yogya, which was a good experience. She is married and has a kid so I got a little insight into an Indonesian family for a couple days, and ate some (free!) delicious Indonesia foods. There wasn't a lot to do in Yogya. The Kraton, or Sultan's palace, was a disappointment because you don't get to see much. The Taman Sari, or water castle, was small but nice. There were some cool temples, apparently, to see but they required some planning to get to as they are outside of the city and I only had about a day and a half there. I did, however, eat at a great place called the Ministry of Coffee which was recommended to me by some friends, and my couchsurfing host took me out to a nice little bar/cafe place one evening where we enjoyed some delicious banana desserts.
After a couple days in Yogya I took a train up to Bandung where another friend of mine from Korea (Melissia McGraw) now teaches at an International school. I spent a couple days with her, and sometimes a few of her friends. We enjoyed chatting at Starbucks, went to a peace-promoting concert (featuring an Indie Christian band from the States called North of Here), and also an Angklung performance (that also included a wooden puppet demonstration and some dances). We even got to try our hand at playing the Angklung ourselves, which was quite fun!
From Bandung I took a mini van back to Jakarta and caught my flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I stayed with another couchsurfer in KL. She still lives with her family so I once again got a fairly "authentic" Malaysian experience. I again got to eat some (free - again!) delicious foods, and even went out with her and her friend a couple times to the local restaurants that are popular for snacks at night. They typically serve Indian food and various hot drinks (like milo, coffee, and teas). During the day I had there I went up KL Tower and shopping at the mall located in the first few floors of the Petronas Twin Towers.
After a couple nights there, I headed to the Cameron Highlands for a few days. It was sooo calm and beautiful there! I went on a tour that included many places around the area: a strawberry farm, the BOH tea plantation, a butterfly farm, rose gardens, and a Chinese temple. I spent a lot of time just relaxing, reading, and chatting with fellow travelers.
I returned to KL after a couple days in the Cameron Highlands. I went with my couchsurfing host and her family to Pekan. Her dad led a workshop (or something like that...) at a church there, and then her friend gave the message on Sunday morning. After we returned to KL I had one more day to spend in the country. I actually returned to the shopping mall and basically wasted my day... but that night I went to see Iron Man 2 with my cs host and a couple of her friends before heading to the airport. I spent the night at the airport as I had an early flight out the next day.
From KL I flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand... but I'll get to that in the next post!
For pictures from the Singapore Zoo, Indonesia, and Malaysia, go here!
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