around the world page 4

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south east asia 6 weeks

This is when the real culture shock hit home. Moving on from the english speaking world to Bali was hard work and I'd suggest to anyone considering making a round the world trip to visit the more difficult countries first, whether that's asia, africa or south america. You'll have a lot more energy to cope with the constant hassles of a totally foreign culture. I landed in Bali and within minutes had been seriously short changed and ended up in a dive in Kuta.

Years later Kuta was to become the scene of the tragic Bali bombing in which so many tourists were to lose their lives - Muslim terrorists targeting the mainly Hindu island of Bali. Bali has a huge variety of resort varying from the lively (Kuta), upmarket (Sanur) and laidback (Ubud). Waking up in Kuta, I soon realised it wasn't for me, hopped on the bus and headed for Ubud. Before I'd even got off the bus, I'd arranged comfortable, inexpensive accommodation. The thing that strikes you first about asia is the noise and smell and Ubud was no exception - barking dogs at night, incredible cooking smells, frogs, insects and being woken at the crack of dawn by cockerels. Hiring a small motorbike (£3 a day), I began touring the island, from the spectacular Lake Bakur, through the farming terraces (top), along the coast to Candidasa (nice) and getting lost several times around the capital Denpasar.

I then succumbed to the inevitable Bali belly, food poisoning to you and me. This lasted for the next two weeks. I've managed to avoid a similar fate in Africa (Morocco and southern africa), just be very careful about meat and salads, and drink plenty of coke. I was given this tip by someone who'd travelled extensively in Africa and it seems to work (fingers crossed). On from Bali, I landed in Jararta still feeling a bit below par, a quick look around outside the airport, though "nah" and booked myself on the next flight to Singapore.

Singapore is very much the Switzerland of the south east asia. No not the scenery! It likes its rules. No chewing gum, no smoking in public, low crime rates, commerce, banking, clean streets, multicultural (chinese, indian and malay), money, money, money. Very much a westernised city which makes a good stopoff if you don't enjoy the hassles inherant in places like Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

After a couple of nights in Singapore, is soon got tired of it's shops, but appreciated enjoyed the food. I then took the train all the way up the west coast of Malaysia to Butterworth, then a short ferry over to Penang, which although clearly less wealthy than Singapore, was also Chinese dominated. I had no problems finding accommodation here, since the Gulf War (1), had just started in earnest and many foreigners had packed their bags and left, feeling unsafe in a predominantly Muslim country. Penang has beaches but I doubt it's at the top of anyone's holiday list, I found it a bit grotty. Penang is a place where various europeans come to renew their Thai visas before returning over the border to do whatever they do. I managed to miss the bus north into Thailand but overtook it in a shared taxi at the border thanks to tipping (bribing) the border guards, tut tut.

Krabi beach, in southern Thailand is stunning (see above), relatively unspoilt and definately worth a visit for a few days. Bangkok on the other hand isn't. I could waffle on about Thailand but I didn't particularly like it. It has the scenery and culture to be one of the top destinations in the world, an opportunity they've somehow managed to squander. They've ended up with a bit of hotch potch of great resorts and beaches, mixed with grotty Bangkok and a sex and illegal drugs trade. A shame.

I then flew to Hong Kong, which at the time was still under British control. And it still had it's notorious old airport. Landing at the airport was better than any funfair! Large commercial airliners used to have to approach the runway at seemingly crazy angles, just missing the tops of many of the tower blocks. Quite a ride. I stayed in the well known Chung King mansions, in a B&B hotel high up in the tower-block. This gave excellent access to downtown Kowloon and the ferry across to Hong Kong proper, from where I took daytrips to Portuguese Macau and Aberdeen Harbour. I liked Hong Kong and found it more interesting than Singapore but less annoying than Bangkok. I had intended to take the Trans Siberian railway home from here, but as usual, lack of planning (it was Chinese New Year), prevented me getting to Peking without having to wait for a week or so. So I hopped on the next plane home. The end of this amazing trip, but in reality, the beginning many more. I'd caught the travel bug :o) And there's no known cure!

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