mth! backpacking through southeast asia

SAWAT DII KHRAP:travels of a farang in south east asia

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We are well. Thanks for your concern. Neither disease nor war will daunt us. We'll be home in a matter of days now anyway. PS. On a day of bad news, this gives me a glimmer of hope.

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Singapore & Kuala Lumpur
"There's something deeply satisfying about dismissing entire land-masses as second rate" -- Don DeLillo, The Names*

DeLillo is one of my favorite writers, but I have to disagree with him. I found it quite frustrating. Which doesn't change how I felt about Singapore. We went to Singapore looking for modernity and Western lifestyles, and we weren't disappointed. It was part of Operation Dengue Recovery 2003. But I discovered I wasn't ready to return to the West just yet. I wasn't ready to be assaulted by advertising again (one of the greatest things about Laos was that there were virtually no ads). I just wasn't ready.

I didn't dislike Singapore, per se. There just wasn't much to it in the way of an Asian Experience. It reminded me of Atlanta or Phoenix or any other big, hot, modern, sprawling city that apparently was built in its entirety just last week (something which, judging by the number of cranes you see around Singapore, doesn't seem so far-fetched).

We went to the Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful. We ate chili crabs al fresco at Newton Circus and spectacular Indian food on the Boat Quay. we strolled through the old Colonial district (what little is left of it) and the colorful streets of Little India. It was all very nice. Yet ultimately devoid of charm. Shopping and Spas seemed to be the top draws. (Well, shopping, spas and 1st person shooter gaming joints which were on just about every bock). Yet Singapore is a hyper-expensive city. On par with San Francisco, even. (Food and drink were more expensive than in San Francisco, even.) We didn't have the cash for shopping and spas, even if we'd had the inclination. We found ourselves in a perpetual state of "What now?"

As Harp pointed out, Singapore is FutureCity. It's what every city aspires to be these days: shockingly clean, affluent, homeless-free, and business-friendly. It has an excellent public transit network. It's decidedly safe. The food is top-notch. Yet lifestyle laws and affluence don't make make for a romantic city. Singapore's modernity comes at a price, literally and figuratively. In addition to being crushingly expensive, Singapore lacked soul.

We couldn't really afford to do too much in Singapore. And I think we might have had a totally different impression of the place if we were, well, loaded. I mean, hey. Everything is in English. The malls are lousy with Polo and Chanel and Camper stores. We splurged a few times, like having our S$18 (US $10.36) Singapore Slings at the Raffles Hotel (where they were invented). And we spent about S$50 (US $28.78) on dinner every night. Across the street from the gorgeous Raffles Hotel is Raffles Place (or center, or row, or something), which I wanted to check out because it was designed by I.M. Pei and, hey, you know. He's I.M. Pei and I've only been in one of his buildings before and he's great and it's art you can walk on, how cool. It was soaring and shining and clean and modern. It had fantastic shops and neat-o fountains and cold, cold, air-conditioning. And you know what? I liked smelly old Thanon Khao Sanh better because at least it has character.

While we waited, on our last day, for the bus to Kuala Lumpur (KL), I crossed the street and went to the market for some water. The Chinese (possibly Vietnamese) guy who I bought it from looked at my shirt and said "Ahhhh! You come here from Vietnam?"
"No, but I was there two months ago."
"Oh! Yes, yes. Vietnam, very beautiful country."
"Yes," I agreed, "very beautiful. Wonderful people, too."
"You come to Singapore from Vietnam, you think Singapore very expensive."
"Yes, it's very expensive."
"You go Singapore, Japan, very expensive."
We both laughed and I went back across the street and waited on the bus for KL.

KL, on the other hand, rickety rocks. I really wish we had come to Malaysia earlier in or trip, I dig it. Like Singapore, it's chock-a-block full of fancy stores and shopping malls, but it has infinitely more character. We're staying in Chinatown, back to the backpacker digs (Harp's parents in their continuing largesse were financing our hotel in Singapore.) One way you can tell you're in the backpacker zone is by the proliferation of bootleg everything. The bands have rotted off both watches I brought with me, so I picked up a new Nike watch clone for RM $10 / US $2.63. (I then promptly scaped off the logo with my pocketknife.) We bought the DVDs for Gangs of New York, Harry Potter II, LOTR II, Catch Me if You Can, 8 Mile, Chicago and About Schultz for RM $34 / US $8.90 because we figured it would be cheaper to buy them here than rent them at home. Even better, they're subtitled in Chinese and Malay below the letterboxing. Rock and roll. I also picked up a cracked copy of Dreamweaver MX for RM $9 / US $2.36. For educational purposes only, you understand. They had copies of Windows XP, Photoshop 7, Final Cut 2, you name it, for the same price.

The city itself it pretty easy to get around, both on the train and the busses. We went to Petronas towers, but arrived too late to go up. Alas. I took pictures from below and told myself it was just as good. Here in KL, we did go shopping (everything seems so cheap after Singapore). We bought some handicrafts at the Central Market, fruit and vegetables from local vendors, and of course, the aforementioned, um, copyright-challenged materials. (No, not really SPA and MPAA goons! I'm just kidding! It's all a joke! Ha-ha! I kid. I'm a kidder.) KL seems like quite an affluent city as well, and the people seem very well-educated. It's got Singapore's money (nearly) and Bangkok's character. It would have been a good place to start the trip. I wish we had a few more days to explore, but with April 2 approaching fast, we've got to move on.

So tomorrow we're off to Georgetown, on the West Coast. We'll be there a few days and then it's back to Thailand, to finish up our trip on Ko Chang, where we began. Nina went back to The States a few days ago, and I'm anxiously awaiting to hear how she's adjusting (hint-hint). After Singapore, I'm afraid I'm going to be in reverse culture shock when we return. ("What do you mean this water's a dollar!?! A whole dollar!?! That's outrageous! I'll just sit here and slowly dehydrate instead. That'll show you.")

*I'm quoting DeLillo from memory here, so I'm quite sure I've gotten it wrong.

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