Singapore day trip

We had numerous stopovers on our way home, one of them being Singapore.  We spent the day in the architecturally diverse city, and marvelled at the creativity on the skyline.  

In the photos below, see if you can spot a shopping mall in the shape of a durian fruit, the Singapore high court (which looks like a mini White House, except that it's grey and green), a 'boat' sitting on top of three towers. I know, improbable right, but if you look hard enough you'll spot it!

Marina Bay Sands is the name of the eye-catching architecture above (not really sure what to call it, a tower, a skyscraper, a boat?!).  It's a fairly new building, opened in 2010, and is the world's second most expensive building.  Pretty much it's 55 storeys of lux hotel rooms, with a ship on top, housing a 150m long infinity pool and mini forest, commanding a massive view of either the city scape or the boats out to sea.  When we finally found the lift, we had a giggle at the number sequence on the buttons.  Yep, we zoomed up 57 floors in only a few seconds, our ears popping on the way up.  The three towers are joined by the floating boat structure, which apparently is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall. It's impressive!

Spectacular 360 degree views greeted us.  Between Marina Bay Sands and the deep blue sea is a 101 hectare garden, complete with two bubble-like glass houses (one cool-dry and the other cool-moist), and sculpture after sculpture, all oversized.  We saw a grove of 16 storey tall tree sculptures, with solar catching technology, and walkways through the top of the trees to an opulent cafe.

If you're into shopping, Singapore is the place to be.  On a 15 minute stroll downtown, we passed four massive shopping malls.  We looked around the Marina Bay Sands 'Shoppes' mostly.  We're not tons into buying stuff, or having to store it, but it was window shopping heaven.  One Rolex was going out the door for $250 000 NZ, which was a little out of our league.  Funnily enough, it's overdose of diamonds made it utterly unattractive.

There's a canal that runs through the shopping complex, you can pop into the world's largest Louis Vuitton boutique, or skate at the 600m square indoor skating rink (on synthetic ice).  In the mall there are two theatres, seating a combined total of almost 4000 theatre-goers (that's a lot).

The time had come to head home.  Seeing the Air New Zealand staff at Singapore (and Melbourne) airports was cool.  They were a smiling ray of sunshine in the otherwise monotonously blank faced crowd that is Asia.  Kiwis are so cool, we love to connect, we love to share stories, and we know how to live meaningful lives.  We're looking forward to heading home.  Home ... maybe the sweetest word that exists!

KL (Kool Look-about)

After touching down in Kuala Lumpur, the Air Asia slogan caught our eye.  After recent events, maybe that byline should be modified.  We were entirely grateful to make it in one piece onto the tarmac.  

There are two best restaurants in Kuala Lumpur's KLIA2 airport.  Both eateries are near the exit to the city-bound shuttles, and both serve delicious vego dahl and roti.  The second pic below is from NZ Curry (nothing to do with our NZ), and both of us ate for 3.60 Malaysian Ringitt.  That sounds unbelievably cheap, but in kiwi dollars it's even better - $1.29NZ.  The place is packed with locals, so that's high praise.  Next time you're there, splurge out!

We headed for Jalan Petaling, which is Chinatown's main street.  The cantankerous hawkers and street food vendors jostle for your attention as you meander through.  Above us were row upon row of crimson Chinese lanterns, festively welcoming in the new year.  Kuala Lumpur is known as the city of lights, which is a juxtaposition because Lumpur translates as mud.

KL's Chinatown is the place for you if you're after a new pair of sports shoes, electronic gadgetry, tshirts depicting beer logos and silly sayings, faux branded wallets, replica Rolex watches, or some greasy duck noodles.  It's a glorious tack-fest, with a few gems chucked in.  We were in our element!  

How does that work actually?  How do you get a massive pedestrian mall with perhaps 1000 mini stalls, that have only seven or eight types of products for sale?  Does a guy just turn up one day and say 'there's a fake watch stall, they look like they're doing well, I'll sell them too.'  Then that scenario happens a thousand times, and you end up with Chinatown?

We haven't really talked about haggling with shop keepers in other posts, but it's been a constant feature of our time here in Asia.  I've learnt that I detest conflict, and haggling feels like such a nasty argument to me.  It's also become apparent that the locals are experts at haggling, and unless you have a plan in ya head before you start, you may walk away disappointed.  Offering 60% of their bargaining opener is a good start, and usually you end up with paying about 75% of the original price.  It's helpful to remember that it's all a game.  And Asians hate to lose face, so a happy smile and a good natured banter is always appreciated by the locals.

We've found an effective strategy is to wander around to find multiple shops with the items we're wanting.  Politely ask each shop keeper the price, and see what the response is.  As you walk away, they'll often drop the price incrementally to their lowest offer.  If it's good, turn around and do the deal. 

West of Chinatown is the Central Market and Kasturi Walk, worth a check out.  What caught our eye was scenes like the one below.  Old world buildings mix with modern skyscrapers.  Rich and poor go about their business.  Asia is a melting pot of the dapper and the beggars.  The chill of air conditioning co-exists with the Asian wet and warm newspaper smell.  The haves and have-nots all eat rice, meat and veggies.

We were glad to try some new fruit in Malaysia.  Ciku are similar to feijoas, except crunchy and a more mild flavour.  Josepine and nashi pears taste a bit similar.  Jackfruit have a banana-like flavour.  And sengkuang is a crunchy, and rather dull version of a pear.  

Kuala Lumpur is a burgeoning town, and quite a young town in Asian standards.  About 200 years ago settlers made their home on the fertile plains between the two rivers and began the sprawling Malaysian metropolis.  Now it boasts the sixth best airport in the world for people who wanna sleep over (Singapore's Changi airport is number one).  There's even a website dedicated to such information!  We had late arrivals and early departures, so we did it twice ... Highly recommend it if you can cope with hard floors and bright lights.  Cheers KL!

Home. The most beautiful place!

NZ is SUCH a stunning place, as we flew towards the Land of the Long White Cloud we saw the cool blue waters of the Pacific lapping the edge of Aoearoa and felt a surge of joy.  Yay!  How marvellous to call this country ours.  We've been away a long time, and we've had the best time.  And now it's time to make happy memories in NZ too.  Bring it on!

We reminisced about all the brilliant kiwi things we love so much ...

People - we're thankful for our families and friends who we cherish, and the memories still to be made

Clean air to breathe.  It's such a pleasant reality we often forget to be gratefulful for

Crunchy apples

The taste of tap water.  Especially from the bathroom tap (there's something about the taste of water that's been through copper pipes!). We've purchased so much bottled water over the past months, but nothing beats kiwi tap water!  

Salad sandwiches made with fresh iceberg lettuce, sunblushed tomatoes, carrot, beetroot, cheese and lashings of avo.  Mmmm!

Toilets that you don't need to squat over (it's hard if you're trekking and have sore thighs, especially when you need to do a 'long squat')

The smiles of people who are genuinely friendly and want to be helpful (Melbourne airport take note!)

Clean beaches, that you can relish without a hoard of six million others stepping over your towel

Vogels bread with Marmite and avocado

Green.  Green hills, green forests, green parks

Riding our motorbikes on long roadies 

Tui choruses 

Finding the Southern Cross in the night sky

Goody gum drop ice cream on Wainui Beach

The logic and efficiency of how things happen, and how officials are up front about expectations

Going to work and spending our days in a way that benefit our community

Being able to cook whatever we like

Not having to lug a backpack around

Having multiples shoe options

Stuff like that!  And we're looking forward to seeing YOU and catching up over the next few days and weeks (perhaps a bit longer for those far away!).  Thanks for reading our yarns and checking out our pics, thanks for loving us and sending us soooo many messages. We're definitely the luckiest lasses on the planet!

We've planned another getaway in a couple of years, so tell us your travel stories and best hangouts to explore.  This planet is ninety-three million miles from the sun, with still so much to explore on the earth, let alone venturing into space!

Over the next couple of months Blandy is gonna get her builder's belt on, and craft a tiny house.  It's an exciting project to come home to.  If you're keen to follow that adventure then keep your eyes peeled for our new blog over the next week or so.

Bry is gonna be working in Gisborne, so if you're around that way, be sure to pop in!

Big thanks for journeying with us.  Long live our beautiful planet

Bry and Blandy xx

PS the next posts on here will be about our adventures in spectacular New Zealand.  Can't wait!

                                         

           

Borneo. Miri. Family.

We have been so super lucky to have spent a week in Miri, on the island of Borneo, with Bry's family.  In the photo above you can see generous Pauline, beautiful Annatasya, cheeky Bry, hilarious Agan, and  the very handsome Abel.  Uncle David was off flying around the world, but that just means we'll need to visit again to catch up with him!  Thanks for the free reign of your 4x4 Dave, it really helped us learn our way round town.

The local golf club is a second home for the cousins, and Pauline manages a canteen on the course.  The locals love her laksa, and a refreshing drink in the shade is always a good idea.  We tried lots of tasty food, pictured below (starting left, clockwise) is fern fronds, dried bitter gourd, Malaysian spinach, roti, and dahl.  We could live on roti and dahl, it's the perfect combo at any time of the day or night!

The family has a huge fishpond in their yard, teeming with lively specimens.  The kids explained how Pauline brought a bag full of jungle river fish home on the plane from a visit to Bario one time.....and now they sometimes end up on the dinner menu.

Pauline introduced us to Ming Cafe, which is also a second home for the family.  The staff are really friendly, and led Bry astray as you can see in the photo below.  Lots of people in Asia eat their meals out, as it's often cheaper than dining at home.  

We had a blast playing at the Boat Club playground.  9 year old Abel definately knows how to have a good time. 

Abel was eager to show us the Crocodile Farm, and what enormous specimens we saw.  Lucky for us the fences were secure.  Unlucky for the crocs though.  We learnt in Chitwan, Nepal, that crocodiles open their mouth in warm sunny weather, to lift their body temperature.  Their tongues absorb heat fastest, and they might stay in that position for a few hours at a time.

Not sure who is more scary in the photo below, Abel or the favourite coloured snake.

Definately the snake.  Abel was a brave man to get so close to our slithering friend's head.  When the snake's wiggling tongue poked out, it suddenly seemed like the zoo man was nowhere to be found.  We kept calm though, and our serpentine mate curled his tail around my back.  Their bodies are literally muscle, and it's like a ripple of strength gliding around you.  Their cold scaley skin feels ethereal.  Abel did so well to handle the albino snake, nice work buddy!

A sun bear was thirsty, and Bry needed to practice feeding a bottle for when she catches up with her nephew Dallas next week, so the furry teddy made herself right at home.  Thank goodness the bear had a handful of bottle cos those claws could have done some serious face rearranging.  The jungles of Borneo are filled with wild creatures, we hear.  We later saw some framed examples of massive bugs, stick insects, colourful butterflies and scary critters at a souvenir shop.  They'd frighten the bejeebies out of ya every time you turned around, so we left them for someone else.

Various birds were in aviaries at the zoo.  We saw the hornbill which is the national bird of Malaysia.  A small eagle looked like he wanted to destroy his enclosure and fly free (wish we could've pulled that off for him).  There were emu, parrots, cockatiel, and chatty birds like the one pictured below.  They're called Burung Tiung, and they live in the jungles.  They said a few phrases, and copied a few different whistles we sang to them.

Thanks Abel for a fun day out.  Annatasya introduced us to her favourite shopping mall, and to some of the finest ice blended coffee and banana caramel we've ever had.  Thanks!  

We had a super time with these guys - thanks for being cool and thanks for making us feel so welcome.  We felt privileged to be introduced to so many aunts and uncles, and uncle-aunts, and friends.  We were able to see inside the homes of locals, and that was amazing in itself.  Thanks for the karaoke, the home made ice cream, all those plates of local veggies, the laughs, the massage chair, and the insights into life here in Borneo.  We are so grateful for our new handmade treasures from Bario. We'll be back!  

And with that we headed back to KL, to start moving in the homewards direction.  We don't feel quite ready just yet, so we're glad there's a few spots to check out on the way.  

Brunei - Abode of Peace

Our lovely kiwi friend Lynda happened to be checking out some cows (professionally!) on the other side of Borneo, and flew down to hang out with us for the day.  We felt super lucky to be with Lynda, catch up on stories, and have an adventure together.  Lynda is one of those rare souls who is delightfully kind, who recognises and highlights the beauty in others.  In short, she's an actual legend!

Driving on the coast road northwards, we passed the town of Miri, the beaches of Sarawak, and soon came to the border of Brunei.  Brunei is a mini kingdom on the north-western flank of Borneo, possibly most famous for its Sultan.  As Brunei is a Muslim state we covered our shoulders at the border, put out our cigarettes (just kidding Mums, no one's taken up smoking!), and felt super amped as we heard the thud thud of the customs guy stamping our passports and letting us through.

We drove on waterlily-lined roads for an hour or so, spotting less than a handful of people en route.  Bry's cousin Abel's description of Brunei was spot on - not many buildings and hardly any people.  Until we got to the town of Jerudong for lunch and a coconut.

A beautiful theme park is in Jerudong, which in any other town could be expected to be jam packed at lunch time on a non-school day.  The sprawling theme park was absolutely deserted, except for the ticket lady and the men trimming already trimmed hedges.  Elaborate sculptures and ornate decorations filled the super-sized theme park, but its rides were empty.  Kind of tumble-weedy ghost-town style.  Or a life that is saturated with work but not relationships.  Or a big bank balance, but no crazy memories with those we love.  Like the whakataukī says, the most important thing in life '... is people, it is people, it is people.'

For us on this adventure it has definitely been the people who have made a place beautiful.  We're grateful to friends we've rendezvous-ed with, the locals who've shared their stories with us, and for each other's amazing company.  

So ... In the end we kept driving past the empty theme park!

The coastline of Brunei is curious.  Long stretches of man-made rocky shoreline are suddenly interrupted where resorts and country clubs start.  All of a sudden, there are exclusive sandy beaches that have been formed for the pleasure of holiday makers.  The beaches were also deserted.

On one beach we spotted some tiny sand bubbling crabs.  We'd noticed them in Thailand too, but hadn't taken any pics.  The little creatures pop out of their burrow and start sifting through the sand looking for mini organisms that they munch on.  With the leftover sand, they form a ball and shove it out behind them.  Each little crab spends the whole day doing this, forming what looks like sandball flowers around their burrow.  Then the tide comes up and washes them all away.  Then incy wincy crab  starts all over again.  Have you ever noticed how crabs and spiders are cousins?

Spinning in the dry sand on the way out, our borrowed four wheel drive jeep got a bit stranded.  A local guy wandered over, taught us how to twist the unlock mechanism on the wheels and the jeep rolled out easily.  We were entirely thankful, and started chatting with our rescuer.  Abidin was his name - and what a gentleman!  Being Bruneian, he had a few insights to share.  Brunei has a population of 400 000, most live on the coast.  The country is mostly jungle, and oil is the primary economic driver.  The Sultan is on all of the money, and the dude generously gave us our very own Brunei dosh.  He offered to convoy with us to show us the iconic mosques, what a nice guy!  Lynda rightly commented that he restored our faith in humanity.  On our way, our new friend Abidin bought us some barbecued corn on the cob, and a refreshingly yum lemon and cucumber drink.  What a welcome!  In town Abidin arranged a couple of selfies, and was off, no doubt to be amazingly cool to whoever else he bumped in to!

We wandered around the mosque, just as the Friday afternoon prayers started.  Men in their traditional gowns slipped off their shoes as they entered the mosque.  Many greeted us saying 'welcome to Brunei' or nodded their head in our direction.  The world headlines over the past few days have been chocka with news of Parisian sadness caused by a couple of psychopaths claiming to be Muslim, as well as a Muslim police officer who died defending the freedom of his adopted countrymen.  In contrast to those Paris scenes, the mosque was beautiful. 

The loud-speakered prayers drifted out into the air surrounding the mosque, and we left them to it.  Crossing the road, a modern shopping complex was a relief from the heat.  And we also found all the local people!  Shopping seems to be the most popular time-passer here!

On one souvenir tshirt we found this logo.  The irony of combining the word peace and the oil rig symbol was not lost on us.  

Driving home, we got stuck in a traffic jam while trying to get to the boarder crossing before it closed at 10pm.  We had tons of time to share stories with Lynda on the way, and got through the border in good time.  It's such a happy thing to see people you love on the other side of the world!