Bangkok, 9th of December

From Singapore, we took a local bus to Kuala Lumpur. We ended up spending five days in all hanging out in Singapore. Having a reputation as a sterile city, most people can't wait to get the hell out of there but we enjoyed the spotlessly clean athmosphere and soaked up the sterility!!! What did we do there? What does one do in Singapore?? I bumped into two pals I had travelled with in China so we ended up having a wonderful time doing all the touristy sightseeing walks. Singapore is superbly healthy looking although a glance skywards will convince you otherwise. The sun is hidden by the continual haze from the Indonesian forest fires.

They call it a fine city. A city of fines, that is. S$1000.00 fine for littering, for smoking, for chewing gum, ...the list of fines goes on and on and on...... Friday night at Raffles for their legendary singapore slings, Saturday night... a trip to the cinema at last!! Sunday night...Molly Malones Irish pub for a few drinks. Postcards on the walls made me a tad homesick...and my two pals sampled Singapore's Guinness. What can I say?? SHITE!!! A tropical thunderstorm greeted us in Kuala Lumpur so we didn't get to see all that much there. We did however trek down to the twin buildings to view the tallest buildings in the WORLD!! BIG DEAL!

From Kuala Lumpur to Penang
We hopped quickly along up to the coastal Malaysian island of Penang, formerly known as Prince of Wales Island. An English chap, F. Light, came over in the 18th century and claimed it as a British settlement. A visit to the local Museum had me intrigued. At one point this town of Penang had its own Royal Cricket Club. Light built Suffolk house, his humble shack in a landscape reminiscent of Scotland.

From Penang, we crossed the border into Thailand and camped ourselves in Krabi for a week to re-energise. The beaches here were just heavenly...a very laid back atmosphere. It was quite amusing to see everyone lighting up and getting stoned. Despite all the laws and signs reminding folk that drugtrafficking gets the death penalty?!!??!, nearly everyone there was out of it! We tried our hands at rock climbing - a real craze in this part of the world. Apparently, Krabi has world famous rock climbing routes so we really had to see what all the fuss was all about. We rented the climbing gear and all our worries centred on our fear of heights. What if we freeze and freak out?? What if - blah blah blah!! Well, we didn't actually get beyond the first steps of putting on our shoes and the harness!! The routes were just too difficult for beginners like ourselves!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!! The truth?? We made absolute shows of ourselves!!!!!!!!!!! We hadn't a clue! Ah, no. I'm being too harsh! You basically needed a ladder to hop on to the first rock.

When we got back from our ordeal, we heard about a beginner who had fallen that day and chipped her vertebrae. She was causing all sorts of grief by wanting to sue and cash in on her own stupidity. You know the sort. Someone who claims to know more than they actually do.

From Krabi, we sailed to Ko Phi Phi and suntanned there for yet another few days. Wanting to experience mass tourism and the sordid sex trade first hand, I popped over to Phuket for a night. Oh, dear!! Dirty old Europeans, mostly German men drooling after young, and I mean young, Thai girls!! GROSS!!!! An overnight bus to Bangkok and we were in the City of no limits. Murray Head kept surfacing.""One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster.... da da da da da da da .....I can feel the devil ...da da da"!! Anyway, I have three minutes left. I'm back in Bangkok for a night and then off to yet another island for five days. I'll e-mail from Singapore. Our two weeks in Myanmar were spectacular. There's so much to say about the country. It truly was the highlight of our whole four month journey.

Until next time,
Ita

Ita - I got a brief letter on the 25th Nov. from Bangkok, but no other ones from KL. Sorry :-(
Were there any Irishmen in the "dirty old Europeans"? Anyone from around here? It'd be fun to do an expose story on the site.
Keep well,
Ralph