Wednesday, June 30, 2010

July 1st - Borneo

Not exactly the heart of darkness here.  Got whisked through customs when I landed because I'm a hasher.  Half hour ride in a hash van with a Malay guy missing a lot of teeth - same age as me - who told me that there were a lot of girls at my hotel.  I haven't seen any yet.

Everyone here seems very friendly.  But it's even more humid than Singapore; and I've managed to pick up a cold.  :-(  But after going to a Chinese medicine store and a 7 Eleven, I finally found a pharmacy where I've picked up some cold medicine with an antihistamine that seems to helping to alleviate some of the nasty symptoms. 

After I'm done blogging I think I'll get my hair cut.  I don't really like myself in short hair but comfort-wise it'll help.

Anyway, yesterday, after arrival and going to my hotel, I headed off to the main venue to register.  Got all my shirts and such.  It's 10:30 in the morning the next day now.  Around 1:00 the red dress runners gather.  That's always a hoot.

I made it to the post office this morning to find out about sending things home.  No problem.  But I now need to find a place to get a box to send things in.  No Container Stores here. 

Let's see, my hotel.  Kind of divey.  My window looks out on an auto mechanics shop.  And at night the metal awning outside my window pops as it cools.  I didn't know what the hell it was last night when it started!  Then, the reception people are kind of a trip.  There's only a guest register, handwritten, no computer records.  When I asked where an ATM is he sent me to a store about 1/4 mile down the road.  But there's a bank right next to the hotel, maybe just two doors down.  When I asked about laundry he said they closed at 5.  Again, about 6 doors down from the hotel, a laundry, open till 6.  I asked him to mark on a map where we were and he spent such a long time...for such a little map...

This place doesn't open till 10.  But maybe tomorrow if I get the chance, or perhaps Monday, I'll upload some photos.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tomorrow I'm off to Borneo - updated

Had a pretty good day yesterday - saw Little India


Arab street and Raffles.  Passed on the Singapore Sling.  After cleaning up I went to the Night Safari at the zoo.  That was pretty good.  Got to see the Hyaenas laugh.  Beautiful elephants, lepoards, zebras and such.  They were all pretty active.  I wasn't.  I've been feeling a bit drained from the humidity.  Went home and pretty much fell asleep as soon as I lay down.   Then got a call from someone speaking some language I didn't understand.  Couldn't go back to sleep - so I went out for a walk and ran into some Swedish hashers, Clever Dick, Blowqueen and Aunty-Climax.  We went out for a few beers and a snack - till 3 in the morning. 

Today I went to the art museum and Chinatown.  This picture at the museum was cool.  The pods would move up and down, opening and closing as they did so in response to movement in the room. Time flew by pretty quickly I guess. It's almost 6.  Got an email from my friend here in Singapore asking me when I'm going to get here.  I told him months ago. 

Anyway, I'm having a good time so far.  :-)  When I get a chance I'll try to upload some pictures here. - done.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

it's pissing down buckets - updated

Just an hour after getting to the Hotel 81 Palace, a hash hotel in the middle of Geylang - one of the red light districts here, the skies opened up.  The locals love it since it cools everything down.  I'm hoping it stops in the next few hours so I can go sightseeing without getting soaked. 

Anywho, I changed into some cooler clothing, caught my breath and went out for something to eat.  Had some sort of spicy lamb with noodles at a halal Indian restaurant, halal being Muslim kosher. Mee gerong or something like that.  Saw a hasher there who didn't have time to chat.

Now I'm at an internet resort, which, despite the many signs that say no smoking, smells an awful lot like old smoke.  Seems that people come here to play games at about a dollar an hour. The guy next to me is asleep. Online and asleep.  They've got those old style chairs, like from the 60s maybe, that  look like hands.

Well, I've landed

Whoo hoo!  Seemed like a long long flight.  I kept trying to figure out how long it was but changed my watch to keep up with the time zones when I landed.  The food at the Tokyo airport didn't look very appetizing.  So I had a Hagen Daaz bar while waiting.  Got into Singapore at their midnight.  Straight to the transit hotel in the airport. Great deal - a bed, flatscreen plasma, coffee, a gym and a swimming pool for about 25 bucks for 6 hours.  Now after check out I have to figure out how to get my bag.  The woman at the front desk didn't get what I was asking, like no one ever asked before?  This airport is ginormous!  They have a guide for what to do here during long layovers - botanical gardens, butterfly sanctuary and of course loads of shopping. 

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A map of my route

This link should take you to a map of my trip.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117890439990244957456.000489a024595fc3073ae

I really like how you can move the little man icon in Google's maps so that you get a street view.  It's amazing!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Got my Rough Guide from Amazon today

I've been planning this trip for such a long time, over a year.  Done a lot of research.  Waffled about going or not.  And now it's only a little more than a week off.  Wow wow wow.