Hello Dubai [YQrtw Day 9 Apr 16]

Burj Khalifa aka (current) tallest building in the world

Location: Dubai, UAE [Day 1]

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.

Until tomorrow, safe travels.

Bye Sri Lanka [YQrtw Day 8 Apr 15]

Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

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.

Until then, safe travels.

Happy Sri Lankan New Year! [YQrtw Day 7 Apr 14]

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!]

Sri Lanka: Doing nothing in Kandy [YQrtw Day 6 Apr 13]

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.

Tomorrow, Colombo!

Sri Lanka: To Sigiriya and back [YQrtw Day 5 Apr 12]

[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!

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.

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.

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.

At Dambulla, I ate a meal of rice and curry (featured on Food Friday!) along with a malt milk tea (tea with Horlicks).

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.]

#FoodFriday: The many rice and curries of Sri Lanka

[I know it’s Saturday now (and probably Sunday where you live), but I had mild heatstroke on Friday so the post is only up now. Bon apetit!]

When I first heard of Sri Lanka’s rice and curry, I thought it was a plate of rice accompanied by a bowl of thick curry (like Chinese curries in Malaysia).

Even after looking at pictures of rice and curry online, I still had the same old impression.

So I was kind of surprised when I was served my first rice and curry at a hotel (a “simple restaurant” in Sri Lanka, not the usual definition of hotel) next to Colombo Fort train station. It looked very much like a regular rice and side dishes served at Chinese places back in Singapore and Malaysia.

The vegetarian rice and curry I had in Colombo had a huge heap of rice with four sides: chickpeas, fibrous vegetable, dhaal and another veggie.

The rice was not the usual Thai rice I have back home, but small barley-like grain that were round and fun to chew. (Later I found out that other rice were also used in different places.)

The best rice and curry I had was in Anuradhapura. It’s a small shop called “Highland Cold Spot” (or is it Cold Station) that gets its packets of rice and curry from another vendor. The best part about the place was that the rice and curry along with a glass of papaya juice cost only 160 rupees (~S$1.60).

Other rice and I curries I have cost less than 250 rupees and every one of them had too much rice. I wonder how the locals manage to keep all that rice in their stomachs. I usually can’t move after having one. (Maybe because I also drink while I eat and this expands my stomach by a lot.)

Ii’ve made it a point to have one rice and curry dish each day but I have a feeling I have had too much of it and my stomach does not want any more.

While we’re at the topic of food, I am ashamed to say that I have not tried a hopper yet. Uh oh… It’s just that I’ve only seen pre-made hoppers at a food counter and that didn’t look too appealing.

Anyone knows where I can get hoppers in Colombo or Kandy?

What other food should I eat in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka: Lost in Anuradhapura [YQrtw Day 2 Apr 9]

I am proud to say that I have a good sense of direction. However, this skill turns out wonky whenever I travel. I would walk the opposite direction of what is the real destination and will have to walk back a long way after I realize my mistake.

Today was no different. The guest house owner gave me simple directions to Anuradhapura sacred city–turn left at police station and go straight.

I hesitated when I reached the “go straight” part. I took a left and ended up in a very different part of the sacred city. The sign taunted me as it showed “Sacred City 3km”. I was only 1km away previously.

I took a break and got a big bottle of cold water at an eatery. I asked for the right direction and cycled hard.

As I cycled, I realized that the left side of the road was a lot higher and I suspected it was one of the ancient water reservoirs.

Jackpot! Next to the bank was a large lake. The view was gorgeous and made my stupid directional mistakes worth the trouble.

I cycled on the bank. At one of the trees, I saw what I thought was an arm dangling. I have an overactive imagination and immediately thought that a child was murdered and parts of its body thrown in different places.

It turned out to be a man sleeping in the tree. Although I’m not too sure if he will ever wake up.

I also manage to sneak into one of the sites: Ranmasu Uyana.

The rock pools were fun. If I have a house, it would be awesome to have pools made out of rocks–as long as mold doesn’t cling to it.

[Today’s summary: Got very very lost. Bought 3G package to stop getting lost. Napped. Took bus to Mihintale. Missed stop at Mihintale, walked half an hour. Didn’t got up Mihintale. Came back to Anuradhapura before sunset. Ate Chinese at Casserole Restaurant.]

Packing for a round-the-world trip

I’m in Singapore for a night before I head out into the world. My bags are packed and my mind is calm…as if before a storm.

The night before my flight to Singapore, my mom made me pack my bag. (I wanted to pack it the next morning.) Thank goodness I did because there were a lot of things.

As I packed, I felt depressed by the size of my luggage. It was a lot more than what I had envisioned. I had wanted a feather light backpack with everything I need. Even My travel idol Nellie Bly only had a small carry on.

For this 4-month trip, I have packed a lot more than I would for a 10-day trip in Southeast Asia. For Indonesia, I wore a dress and brought along another two for my trip to Yogyakarta and Solo.

I included more things this time because I anticipate a lot more activities: running on treadmills on a cruise, swimming, sleeping on grimy beds.

Clothes for a 4-moth RTW

Most of my clothes:

It includes: 3 tops, 1 pair of pants, 1 long skirt, 2 dresses, 3 camisoles, 1 t-shirt, 1 pajama pants, 1 cardigan and etc.

I also have a sleeping sack made out of two pieces of sarong sewn together. I have another sarong as my blanket, towel, curtain, skirt…

IT stuff for a RTW

Surprisingly, my chargers and friends turned out to be more heavy than my computer and phone combined.

In the end, my bag turned into a bursting-at-the-seams backpack with a heavy accompanying handbag and laptop. The total package is about 15kg. Tomorrow, I will need to convince Tiger Airways that my backpack is as light as a carry on.

Luckily, D helped me repack my bag when I got to Singapore. After folding–instead of rolling–my clothes, a miraculous amount of space appeared. Like magic!

Now I will be able to bring only one backpack and my messenger bag. Less things to carry means less chance of things getting lost.

Well, that backpack will be with me this whole trip. Let’s all hope that it will not give up and burst halfway around the world.

Until next time, safe travels.

#FoodFriday Samsui Ginger Chicken in Singapore

My favorite meat is chicken so I want to introduce a chicken dish for today’s Food Friday: Samsui Ginger Chicken.

The chicken is served cold (versus steaming hot). You can wrap the chicken inside a sheet of cabbage, dip it into ginger sauce before eating it. (I would prefer inhaling the whole large plate of chicken.)

The chicken is slightly oily but very soft. The chicken skin melts in your mouth too.

Samsui Ginger Chicken from Singapore's Soup Restaurant — Samsui Ginger Chicken from Singapore’s Soup Restaurant

Soup Restaurant explains what is Samsui Ginger Chicken:

A traditional Samsui dish consumed by the Samsui women in Chinatown. Due to their low income, the Samsui Ginger Chicken was only consumed once a year, during the Chinese New Year. Chicken was steamed without much seasoning after which, dipped in ginger sauce before consumption. The ginger sauce is a fragrant and tasty compliment to the chicken. Ginger and sesame oil, as believed by the Chinese, removes excess wind from the body. You may wrap the chicken in lettuce to achieve that crunch when you bite into the popular Samsui Ginger Chicken.

I suspect this dish was an invention, and not really a Samsui dish. Or it could that the restaurant hyped up the dish.

The price of Samsui Ginger Chicken at Soup Restaurant is a little expensive for what is simply steamed chicken.

Do note that the Samsui women were real people in history and they played important role in the literal “building of Singapore”. The wiki for Samsui Women has a very good explanation of who they were.

YQrtw: Why Hong Kong

Hong Kong. Panorama of the harbour, Old timey Hong Kong

Today is the end of my stream of posts of countries I am visiting while on my round-the-world (RTW) trip.

The last stop of RTW is Hong Kong!

Credit: The National Archives UK

Confession: I’ve not been to Hong Kong. [Insert surprised gasp from the audience here.]

In Singapore, Hong Kong, along with Bangkok, seems to be taken for granted as a place everyone has been to. Not sure why these two locations are so popular among Singaporeans.

While I’ve not been to Hong Kong, I have been to Macao. Many people tell me that having been to Macao does not make up for not having been to Hong Kong.

My plan for Hong Kong is simple: Rest, shop and eat.

Since Hong Kong will be my first East Asian stop after many months, I will probably gorge myself with loads of Chinese food. YUMMY!

I was thinking of visiting Tim Ho Wan, dubbed the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant in the world, but after reading The Telegraph article about how horrendous the queue is, I think I’ll pass.

I’ll settle for a regular ole dim sum place and Hong Kong cafe where they serve cheese baked rice and milk tea.

Tag: travel