[Note from Apr 29: Now that I finally have internet connection, I will be uploading the backlog blog posts.]
Location: Dubai, UAE [Day 3]
Location: Legend of the Seas [Day 1]
I woke up early that morning to pack my bag. I didn’t want to head out into the heat for food so I hibernated in the room.
Packing my bag was much easier than it was before I went on the trip. This is partly contributed by the carry on bag that I could distribute my things in.
Around 12 noon, the speakers from the mosque carried the Friday prayers and the very passionate speech made by the Imam.
Although I told my AirBnB host that I would leave at 12 noon, he wasn’t there. I had to send him a text but he recommended staying later for the prayer crowd to disperse.
So I did. This gave me a chance to plough through book 2 of Song of Ice and Fire, aka Game of Thrones series. But at 1:30pm, I was restless and hungry. If I went on the cruise now, there would be unlimited food waiting for me.
I finally checked out and got a cab to Port Rashid.
When I saw the ship, my heart swelled. It was lovely from afar: a white giant with blue lace trimming. It was just so gorgeous, and I would be staying in there for 15 nights! Imagine that.
Checking in wasn’t smooth sailing. I didn’t print out my SeaSail Pass so I had to fill out some forms.
The employees also told me that I cannot head to Egypt because of visa. I showed them the print out from the embassy, saying that Malaysians do not need a visa. I was allowed in but trouble will follow me.
When I got onboard. I was in awe of everything. The ship was HUGE! I was gawking at everything like the country bumpkin I am. I feasted on the lunch buffet at Windjammer Cafe after I put my things in my room.
I joined a tour of the ship by one of the Cruise Director Staff (meaning entertainment stuff) and got a feel of what the cruise liner has (almost EVERYTHING).
Legend of the Seas facilities
Before we set sail, there was a muster drill where everyone gathered at a location as a drill for safety evacuation. It was the most boring thing on this cruise as everyone stood there doing nothing.
The ship didn’t leave the port until well past 7pm. By that time, I’ve missed my time slot for the proper restaurant so I had dinner in the Windjammer Cafe.
That was Night 1 on the cruise which I will call home for the next 15 days.
One of the best things about the bus in Dubai is the bus stop. Some of the bus stops here are air conditioned! Inside, the temperature is a chilly 22 degrees Celsius.
Bus stop looks like from the front.
Isn’t it just awesome?!
Less awesome is a video of me giving you a tour of the bus stop. I look like I was very very bored. The truth is, it was rather sunny and I couldn’t open my eyes as wide as usual.
I got off the wrong stop (2km too early), took a bus to a nearby mall to get a croissant and milk for breakfast. Took another bus to the mosque.
At 10am, the tour began. First stop was the cleaning area where worshippers clean themselves before entering the mosque.
Then we got to go into the mosque, sit on the carpet and listen to the tour guide.
The tour was really well organized and taught me a lot about what Islam is about (Peace!).
Jumeriah Mosque in DubaiInside of Jumeriah Mosque
After the mosque, I took the bus to the zoo nearby (2 dirhams). When I got there, I remembered why I don’t like zoos. The animals were in their cages, looking bored to death. That made me feel sad.
One good thing about the Dubai Zoo (besides being cheap) is that you can get quite close to the animals.
But many visitors (1 adult, 1 teenager, 1 kid) banged on the cages to get the animals’ attention. I wanted to ask how they would feel if someone bangs on their windows for their attention.
Cute monkey is suspicious
After the zoo, I took Bus 8 which brought me to almost the other end of Dubai. On the way, I passed by many futuristic buildings. This is the place moviemakers should come if they want to film “The Future”.
I stopped by Mom’s Cafe for lunch. It was almost 3 p.m. and I was terribly hungry. Lunch was a taco-like roll because the shawarma wasn’t ready yet.
I also manage to hit 14 dirhams of transport fees with my NOL card. This meant that the next rides were free so my last ride back (4.30 dirhams) was free. I think this is a great system to encourage tourists to use the public transport.
After taking the metro back, I decided to stay in the room to rest.
Dinner was two shawarmas from one of the stalls downstairs. I love shawarmas to bits. They are so TASTY!
Tomorrow is Cruise Day and from then on I will not have Internet connection until the 4th of May. I’ve lined up a few posts for you so you won’t miss me.
Many travellers would argue that it’s worth paying money for experience. But I guess for me, the experiences listed above just aren’t my cup of tea.
Instead, I focused on the free and cheap.
First stop today was the Gold Souk which was walking distance from where I stayed. I didn’t have a physical map but I memorized the location the Souk was and tried walking in that direction.
I knew I was there, not from the all the gold shops or the large sign that announced Dubai as the land of gold, but from the tourists from tour groups. If you see any tour groups, you know you are at one of the Must Visit spots.
Not that there’s anything bad with Must Visits. I saw lots and lots of gold hung on mannequin necks. The souk was shaded and even though it wasn’t air-conditioned, the cool air from the different shops helped make the walk very pleasant.
Dubai Gold Souk
After the Gold Souk, I was supposed to visit the Spice Souk but I forgot where the exact location was in my mind’s map. I passed a few shops with spices and decided that it was enough spice for the day.
Then I realized that I’ve ticked off all the Must Visits I had for the day. That means I am free to do whatever I want.
Coincidentally, there was a direct bus to IKEA. I persuaded myself that I need a door stop so I should go. IKEA is located within Dubai Festival City Mall which was (as usual) freaking gigantic.
At the cafeteria, I had the most amazing meal of Chicken Shwarma. There were two pieces of pita bread, loads of chicken and fries (?), along with the non-meat stuffing. I used my hands most of the time since it was that good.
Super delicious Chicken Shwarma from IKEA Dubai
After IKEA and a grocery trip to the hypermarket, I walked aimlessly around the mall. It turned out to be my luck day as there was free screening of films thanks to the Gulf Film Festival.
Gulf Film Festival
I watched A Fallible Girl since it was the only feature film at that time slot. When the film ended, I wanted to ask for my money back but realized that I just watched it for free.
Luckily, the director/producer/script writer was there.He explained that he wanted a film about non-locals in Dubai and how the mushroom farm symbolizes a doomed dream (Hello, growing mushrooms in the desert?). I felt less cheated about spending two hours of my life watching the shaky camera doing close ups in the faces of the women.
The organizer kept wanting the director to say that he will make another film in Dubai but it seemed like there would be no chance. (That director totally didn’t give face.)
After the movie and an aimless walk, I found myself at M&S Cafe with an expensive tea time snack of cake and coffee as well as FREE WI-Fi.
Sometimes I do wonder if a round-the-world trip is meant to be filled with reading e-books and coffee. I could have done the same in Malaysia and Singapore.
Burj Khalifa aka (current) tallest building in the world and that damn dot that won’t go away on my camera lens
I reached Dubai late last night and only got to see lots of street lights and bright signboards.
Oh, I did get to see the inside of the airport and it was modern and clean. (I even feel that it’s surpassing Changi Airpot in WOW! factor.)
Back to the day’s activities. In the morning, I allowed myself to sleep in a little more because I slept quite late last night (a combination of a late flight and excitement).
First stop was Dubai Museum. From the outside, the museum looked tiny. But on the inside, it’s quite spacious because they have most of their galleries underground.
The underground museum part reminded me very much of National Museum of Singapore. In fact, a lot of Dubai reminds me of Singapore. I even think that Dubai is Singapore on steroids.
After the museum, it was back under the sun. I walked aimlessly and found one of the airconditioned bus stops. Unfortunately, the air conditioning of that particular stop was broken and I sat in the heat but sheltered.
Bus C07 came. I took a bus to nowhere (to Dubai Healthcare City, to be more precise). On the bus, the driver asked me where I was going. I told him I didn’t know where I was going. I think that confused him a little.
We chat a little about Malaysia and how many petroleum companies from Malaysia have set up business in Sudan where the driver came from.
Dubai buses are a wonderful escape from the heat. The air conditioning was so powerful that I could hear the wind blowing from the vents.
Besides the nice cool air, the buses are great to see what Dubai looks like. Some parts of the metro are underground so it’s not as good a choice.
Lunch was at a Filipino place I spotted when the bus drove by. My bottle of 500ml water cost me about S$0.60. Yikes!
After lunch, I decided to head to Dubai Mall because I have no idea where else to go.
From the metro, it’s a long walk to Dubai Mall but I didn’t have to worry about the heat because they had this passage connecting the metro to the mall.
The mall was crazy big and just plain crazy. Some of the touristy sides were like Resorts World Sentosa but 10 times more expensive and perfumed.
I saw a humungous aquarium, a gigantic indoor waterfall (more like water trickling down the wall), a gigiantic indoor ice skating rink.
Dubai Mall’s layout also reminded me of Singapore because the escalators are positioned awkwardly. I suspect the architects for Vivocity had a go at Dubai Mall too.
After walking aimlessly around and getting a not-so-cheap local SIM, I sat at a not-so-cheap coffee place (there is no such thing as cheap in the mall). There, I tried to finish Game of Thrones which I have been taking too much time to read.
Before 6:00 p.m., I went to sit outside to wait for the fountain show to start. This show is the top attraction on Tripadvisor for Dubai so I just had to find out how good it is.
Turns out, it’s very good. But it’s better to see the show after the sun sets. I saw two performances while the sun was still out and they were alright.
After the show, it was time to head back. I think I’m staying in Mobile Phone Accessory Land because there are just too many mobile phone accessories stores around.
I’m writing this post in the airport’s Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. My plane leaves for Dubai at 6:25pm.
Quick summary of today: I watched Inglorious Basterds well into midnight. In the morning, I went back to the “hotel” I ate yesterday. They didn’t have hopper or khottu roti in the morning so I settled with something that looked a little like mee siam.
It was pouring when I left the hotel. I wanted to take the train to Katuyanaka but the train person said the next carriage wouldn’t be until 2:30pm and suggested that I take the bus.
By the time I switched to the bus from Colombo Fort to Airport, the rain had stopped and the air was cool. I like this sort of weather although clothes will take forever to dry.
The bus passed by familiar sights I saw on my first day. I’m most interested in the Christian shrines that dot the road. I know that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country so it was surprising to see Mary hold a baby Jesus by the roadside.
I have mixed feelings about Sri Lanka. I dislike the touts and the crazy heat. But I like the curious children (“Where are you from?”), yummy food (Khottu, I love you!!) and cheap travels. It’ll probably take me a few days to digest and share my views of the country.
This morning at around 4 a.m., I was startled by what seemed like gun shots. I was too lazy to get out of bed to check out what it was but my extremely myopic eyes saw bursts of color at the window.
Fireworks!
Later in the morning, as I was packing for check out, one of the caretakers of the hostel told me to go down for New Year celebration.
A glorious spread of sweet things were on the table when I got down. I’m most glad that I didn’t have to worry about where to find food for the morning.
Everyone got a chance to light the oil lamps.
The sweets were really really sweet. I had a hard time biting off some of the pastries but it was a great sugar rush.
Look! The president even sent me (and probably millions of others) a message for the new year. Haha!
[Today’s summary: New Year feast. 3rd class train to Colombo, during which some passengers confronted a monk who might have harassed me. It’s complicated! Stayed in new hotel room after late-lunch/early dinner. Off to Dubai tomorrow night!]
After yesterday’s mild sickness, I wasn’t ready to jump into extreme-tourist mode. Instead, I told myself that I could go out in the morning when the sun was not too hot and come back to snooze around noon.
The slope from the hostel to the main street is rather steep. I imagined that it would be fun going down on a bicycle (if only there were no cars at all).
Near the hostel (actually, a bit far) is a supermarket. Upstairs is Dine-More which has a great view of the hillside. The restaurant was closed but the bakery downstairs (Perera & Sons) was opened.
I bought a pastry filled with potatos and sardines. As I walked down the slope (there’s a lot more walking to be done), I spotted another bakery. This had indoor sitting so I bought two other fish pastries and a coffee.
After devouring my pastries, I continued my walk to town. After checking Google Maps, I decided to risk getting lost and take a shortcut. The slope was even more challenging and I kept imagining myself tumbling down.
…More rambling…
Today was the Sri Lankan new year and a lot of families visited the Temple of the Tooth. I was glad to find not that many touts and fake-guides around, it’s good to know that they celebrate the new year too.
At Kandy Lake, next to the temple. I saw something strange in the water, it was swimming quite fast and looked like a plank.
After walking a lot more, I spotted a great big monitor lizard. It looked like it had either swallowed a turtle whole or was pregnant. I decided that it was pregnant and wondered what this would mean if my life were a novel.
At the edge of the lake, very close to the entrance to the temple, a family was feeding the ducks and fishes chunks of rice. Maybe it’s a new year tradition. The animals seemed like they had too much to eat previously and weren’t fighting over the food.
Next to the temple is the Kandyan Cultural Association. Usually there are handicraft on sale but today the place was closed. But there was a young man selling tickets to the Kandyan Dance at 5:30 p.m.. I bought a ticket (500 rupees) and looked forward to the fire eating. (I didn’t go in the end because of the rain.)
After a lot of walking, I headed back to the hostel. I stopped by the main Perera & Sons branch for a lunch of rice and curry.
I walked all the way up the hill because I was too cheap to pay for a tuk-tuk. At least that was good exercise.
I napped until it was time to leave for the dance. It was raining at that time.
When I got out of the house, the rain fell even heavier. I decided to skip the dance and stay in my room. Good choice since lightning and thunder appeared later in the night.
I sat on the floor of my room, typing and reading stuff from my Google Reader.
[Heat stroke on Friday meant more sleep and no posts. But here it is, a day late.]
My hostel lady recommend that I visit Sigiriya on Friday since the weekend was the New Year holiday when buses are not as frequent.
I woke up at 6:00 am for my tuk tuk. It only came at about 7:00 am and charged me an extra 100 rupees (~S$1.00) as he came because of hostel lady’s call. It’s pretty ironic since I could have caught any other tuk tuk during that time.
Anyway! At the bus station, I was pointed to a general location at the upper right corner for the bus to Sigiriya. The conductor for another bus said the Sigiriya bus leaves at 7:30 am and pointed in the general direction of a roofed building.
So I waited and waited. Finally, a man came up and asked if I was heading to Sigiriya. He guided me to the right bus.
On the bus, a family of four’s two young girls giggled at me and pointed me to their dad. Later at Dambulla station, the father came over and talked about the Temple of Tooth and his family (wife’s from Sigiriya while he’s from Kandy). He also gave me an ice cream. Thanks kind Kandyan man!
Ice cream from kind Kandyan father
The bus was quite empty when we started our journey. However, it got pretty crowded soon.
It took about 3 hours for me to get to Sigiriya. The conductor told me to hop off at the unpaved road leading to the rock castle. Unfortunately, that was the exit and I had to trek for about 10 minutes to the ticket counter.
There was a small stream by the road where I washed my feet. The stream turned out to feed into the moat. How cool is that.
Near the gates, a man asked if I was going to climb the rock. I ignored him because he felt like a tout. Instead, I asked the security lady where to buy the tickets. She pointed to somewhere further down. As I walked to the ticket area, the man said: “You have to buy your ticket first.” Hello sir, that is just what I’m doing.
In case the tout was following me, I headed to the public toilet. Outside the ladies, there were two men lurking. That’s not good news.
Turns out, the man was holding some tissue to try to scam people into paying him for his “service”. I used my own supply instead and was indignant when he dared hold out his palm–with a 50 rupee note on top.
The ticket for Sigiriya is slightly more expensive compared with Anuradhapura. US$30 but it’s worth 10 times better than Anuradhapura.
The walk to the castle on the rock is gruelling, especially in the heat. I ended up with heat stroke later in the day.
Sights of Sigiriya
A quick summary of The Rock. Cool rock. Not so cool weather. Very few left of half-naked-half-cloud-clad fairies (used to be 500 but were vandalized). View from top of rock amazing. Going up and down not so great.
Stairs of Sigiriya
After the visit to The Rock, I haggled a tuk tuk ride to Dambulla (from 300 to 150 rupees). At Dambulla, everyone gawked at the Chinese tourist (that’s me!). Brave ones come up and suggest a tuk tuk ride to Dambulla (that would be crazy money, no thank you).
The bus to Dambulla came. I gave 100 rupees to the conductor who didn’t give me any change back. (Hey! That ride should be less than 30 rupees.) Maybe that’s the universe’s way of getting me to pay the difference of my tuk-tuk haggling.
After lunch, it was time for the bus. The sun was crazy hot but I had to stand by the road for the buses that head to Kandy. An air-conditioned bus zipped past. A bus packed to the brim with people stopped. I didn’t want to be squeezed like a sardine so I waited.
The guy who pointed me to the site to wait for Kandy-bound bus told me that all buses will be packed as it’s the new year. I sucked it up and boarded the next Kandy bus.
Luckily, I had a standing space right in front of the front row. I stood there, holding on to the railings for one and a half hour, all the while trying not to fall on the passenger.
Nearer to Kandy, a lady told me to sit at the seat which she “reserved”. I demurred but she insisted. She dropped off a few stops afterwards and I am forever grateful.
However the passenger next to me thought the area around my hip bone was an elbow rest and decided to put his elbow there for the entire trip. This wasn’t as bad as having someone’s crotch on my shoulder during my ride to Mihintale.
The bus finally rolled into Kandy at about 7:00pm. I caught a 200 rupee tuk-tuk (I seem to remember things involving money) back to the hostel.
I didn’t have an appetite as my head was throbbing from the heat. After a few tumblers of tea, I went to bed at 8:30pm.
[Summary: Went to Sigiriya. Ate first pain killer of the trip.]
Guesthouse owner in Anuradhapura brought me to the old bus stand on a tuk tuk this morning. I was stuffed into the back of an airconditioned minibus.
During the 4-hour ride to Kandy, I juggled balancing my large backpack on my left thigh, my messenger bag and small bag on my right thigh and the head of the passenger next to me on my shoulder. Now I am prepared to become a sardine in a tin in my next life.
When I first got into Kandy, I had a great shock. There were so many buses, noise and people!
I got back into Kandy’s center after checking into my hostel and got another shock. There were so many people on the streets. I think I almost hyperventilated from the crowd.
Kandy is pretty. The view of the hill side from the diner near my hostel is fabuous (lower left). The lake next to the Temple of the Golden Tooth is peaceful and calm. The air is a lot cooler than Anuradhapura which is great since I sweat buckets every night there.
Despite all the good things, it’s business as usual as every one tried to sell the Chinese person on the street everything they have. I got so fed up that I even accidentally ignored an official temple employee because he shouted, “Madam! Madam!”
I remember that touts weren’t so bad in Indonesia but maybe it’s because I’m travelling with another person so it was better.
One day, I might just carry out my plan and talk to an invisible person next to me. Hope the touts get freaked out by the crazy Chinese tourist. That’ll show them.
YQtravelling 