On The Road

Sibu, then Niah National Park, Malaysian Borneo 

In this blog: on buses and boats with the Borneo travel gang, a quick city stop, and one of the biggest caves in the world.

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After nine months of travelling on my own - happily and willingly, but largely by circumstance rather than choice, I've managed to group up with two sometimes three other backpackers who are heading the same way as me, and over three days we've travelled up the north coast of Malaysian Borneo stopping at cities and sights on the way.

Logging barge on journey from Kuching to Sibu

Because of it's huge rivers, thick jungle and relative lack of population, Borneo doesn't have a lot of roads, so it turned out the best way to take the journey from Kuching to Sibu, was along the coast by boat - a four hour journey vs eight hours by bus. The other guys had left the day before so I headed off alone on the local bus to the ferry port, grouping with three other travellers to find the port amongst a maze of industrial estates once the bus had dumped us in the middle of nowhere. The journey was really interesting, albeit a bit uncomfortable - on the outside deck it was so noisy I could feel my eardrums rupturing, but inside the aircon was turned down so low that early signs of frostbite were visible. The solution I decided was to spend whole journey flipping between the two, thus only being part cold and part deaf, the best of both worlds. The scenery was fantastic though - leaving Kuching and heading up the estuary, going out to see for a couple hours then back inland up another huge, and I mean really huge river, lined by jungle, small villages and over a hundred sawmills along the way, whilst passing huge barges of trees being towed downstream. Deforestation is a big concern in Borneo - the oldest rainforest in the world, and it's very clear they're flat out working at it.

We reached Sibu - a commercial city about fifty miles inland from the sea which was pleasant enough, if not a little short on anything interesting to see or do. With Max who I'd met in Kuching, and Alan, a Dutch guy we'd met earlier that day, we got a little lost looking for a guesthouse, by chance bumping into Canadian Rene and Belgium Christophe on the street by chance who led us to the place they were staying at. The rest of the day was spent sometimes as a group, sometimes apart, having a look around. The biggest market in Malaysia was interesting, particularly seeing the way they sell chickens - live,p but wrapped up in newspaper and string. I had a look in the Sibu Heritage Centre, learning more about the British colonial days and the huge numbers of Chinese immigrants who now dominate. I stopped at a beautiful seven story Chinese pagoda nearby on the riverbank, where I bumped into Dutch Alan again and we climbed it to see the view. He was a bearded guy, slightly older than me, who told me of how he'd visited every county bar three in the Asian continent, and lived in Calcutta, India for six years doing social work on the streets - an very interesting and nice guy, if not a tiny weeny bit of a travel snob with it occasionally. We all met up again that evening and walked to the town's night market, where under a bustle of blue gazebos people sold everything and anything. The food section was what we were interested in, and I took a pick and mix of Pork Bao (steamed Chinese buns), Malaysian thick noodles, and some meat on a stick- chicken, baby squid and an unidentifiable meat as sometimes happens in Asia. 
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Live chickens in market, Sibu

Chinese pagoda, Sibu

Night market, Sibu

Half a day in Sibu was enough and the next morning with Canadian Rene and Belgium Christophe, we took a bus five hours north-east which with it's comfy seats and air-con was a total contrast to my experiences in India. Rene and I talked travelling and decided to travel together for next few weeks round Borneo. Christophe slept. Deforestation of ancient forest, both legal and illegal but controversial nonetheless was quite visible out the window. We passed many longhouses, kind-of the Malaysian version of British terraced housing, and many freshly built big empty property developments en-route - over speculation perhaps, or just people putting all their oil and gas money somewhere safe. Most of the journey though, the scenery consisted of nothing but 

Jungle

Palm oil plantation

Jungle

Palm oil plantation

River

Swamp

Longhouse

Jungle

Palm oil plantation

Jungle

Palm oil plantation

We hopped off at a little service station in the middle of nowhere, and made the short journey to Batu Niah via my first experience of hitc, a slightly odd little untouristy town outside the gates of Niah National Park. It had a bit of a frontier outpost feel to it, being full of drab concrete buildings and pick-up trucks thanks to being based around logging and palm oil we assumed. We shared a two bed room between three in the only hotel in town, with Rene on a bed, Christophe volunteering to sleep on a rock hard bed base, and me on a mattress on the floor - the things you do as a backpacker to save a few quid sometimes! We went for a wander, laughing at all the fake bottles of spirits in the supermarket, before buying a £3 random bottle of a Chinese spirit to try later which turned out to be a bit like rum. Rene spotted a basketball court, and we watched some locals playing for a few minutes before before they invited us to join in for a mess about, speaking a little bit of English between them. All of us were rusty as can be but it was a good fun nonetheless. 

Me making friends with the locals, Niah Batu

Playing basketball with the locals, Niah Batu

The next morning we walked a couple of miles to the park office then took a boat across the river into the main area. Niah National Park. The park is based around a huge limestone outcrop which sits in the middle of an otherwise flat area, and people visit to see it's network of caves within as well as some prehistoric rock graffiti, and excavations of the oldest evidence of human settlement in south-east Asia - about 40,000 year old. 

We walked along a raised wooden pathway through the jungle, passing over swamps, seeing a variety of small and very different looking insects. An excitable Malaysian girl stopped and chatted to us, later inviting us to meet up for drinks in Miri in a couple of days (which we forgot) - that would never have happened in India I thought. After half an hour we reached Traders Cave - a huge overhang set into the hill, sported by huge natural pillars, looking like a piece of cutting edge modern architecture, except as natural as can be.

A little further up the valley we entered The Great Cave - one of the largest caves in the world, with a 250m wide by 60m high entrance. My jaw dropped, it was bigger than anything I'd ever seen - I reckon you could park five jumbo jets in there, with space for a small stadium beside. The scale was just beyond what my mind could process, truly awesome. Within the spcave were various wooden poles which went from the ground right long way up to the roof, which locals precariously climb to collect the nests of Swiftlets for Birds Nest soup. Believe it or not, this expensive Chinese delicacy contains actual birds nest - the saliva of the swiftlets dissolves to give it it's flavour.     

We spent a couple more hours exploring further into the networks of huge cave passages, walking on wooden boardwalks, sometimes lit by other entrances and sometimes requiring torchlight. It sometimes felt like the whole mountain above was just a hollow shell, such was the scale of it all. After sheltering from yet another huge downpour, and seeing some ancient rock paintings which really didn't do anything for me despite their significance, we were on the road again heading for the city of Miri.

An incredible sight we spotted on a washing line, Niah National Park

With some HUGE butress roots, Niah National Park

Traders Cave, Niah National Park

The Great Cave, Niah National Park

Ancient rock art, Niah National Park

Red millipede, Niah National Park

Big Nose Monkey

Baku National Park, Malaysian Borneo (map)

In this blog: a gentle jungle walk, rare monkeys and a whole load of insects.

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Proboscis monkey heading out for lunch

Borneo is known for it's jungles - one of the big draws for visiting - and the small National Park of Baku seemed like a nice gentle introduction to the wilderness, so since Christian, the German traveller I'd met in Kuching was heading there I thought I'd tag along. 

Despite it still being on the main island, there's only one way to enter Baku and that's by boat - a pleasant half hour journey up a river estuary then along the coast, a fun start. Being just an hour from the capital of Kuching the park is quite popular with tourists and therefore reasonably commercialised which kills the adventure a little - the paths even have distance markers every hundred metres - but it wasn't enough to ruin it. Christian and I set out straight away, walking a four mile loop through the trees, my first experience of proper tropical jungle. We crossed a wooden bridge with wild bearded pigs rummaging in the mudflats below, as well as a plethora of brightly coloured odd-looking mud crabs. The path through the jungle was well kept and very clear, but the vegetation dense, lush and exotic. The whole time I was spotting new and interesting things which were larger, more colourful, or more weirdly shaped than anything I'd seen before. It was however pretty humid though, which made it much harder work than normal over such a small distance.

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Back at the park centre we sat down for a drink and a rest. Christian opened a can of Sprite and took a sip, and we watched a rehesus monkey rummaging around in the grass outside. It looked our way then away again, slowly walked towards the cafe, climbed a wall, and before we knew it grabbed the can of drink and quickly scurried away, leaving Christian a little dumbfounded and heading back to the fridge. The jungle in Baku is also home to the Proboscis monkey - found only in Borneo and very unique with it's big nose. We were fortunate enough at dusk to see them hanging out in the trees nearby, picking leaves and buds, swinging between trees and just hanging out, unphased by all the camera lenses around. Fantastic.

We went on an organised night walk that evening along wooden boardwalks, hoping to see a few animals, but were largely disappointed on that front instead coming across heaps of creepy crawlies - stick insects, millipedes, frogs, and some pretty large spiders. Seeing a circada hatching, leaving it's old skin on a tree before flying away was particularly good.

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We went on an other jungle walk the following day, ending up at a small beach where we discovered we could climb the climb a little way up the cliffs and jump back into the deep water below; great fun. After a couple of hours of turning red, forgetting I was so close to the equator where the sun is strongest, I left Christian dozing in the shade and headed off alone a couple of miles further into the park, passing spiky-limbed palms, roots everywhere, peeling bark trees, before reaching a waterfall after an hour or so. The water below was a deep shade of black, surrounded by mossy rocks and even lusher vegetation than before. It was absolutely beautiful, reminding me of the movie Avatar, and a perfect place for a quick swim to cool down.

Some other folks we'd met at the hostel in Kuching showed up that night which was nice, though tainted by an rather odd short bald guy from Israel. This guy was something else, from the off argumentative, rude, annoying, arrogant, butting in constantly and very pedantic - it was hard to get rid of him. It was a shame as travellers I've met on this trip have been nice, but later all these character traits made sense. He was a lawyer. Still, it didn't ruin the experience, and Baku was the perfect introduction to wild Borneo.

Bearded wildboar

At Baku lookout

Proboscis monkey with its big ol' nose

Loop walk with Christian 

One of the best I've ever seen.

Night walk - huge spider

Night walk - tree frog

Hidden beach

Pool below the waterfalls

Borneo Begins

Kuching, Borneo Malaysia (map)

In this blog: arrival in Borneo, seeing some Orangutangs and exploring Kuching

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The journey since July 2013

Nearly there

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Borneo is an island - the third largest in the world - and divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. It's a place that's been in my mind ever since I was fifteen, reading a feature in Mountain Biking UK magazine about Steve Peat and Hans Rey - two of the top riders at the time - exploring by bike in the jungles. I remember how exotic, how wild, how adventurous the place looked, and the back of my mind it's stayed ever since as somewhere I must see one day. Until now.

Flying from Singapore, I looked out the plane window as we started to descend and smiled, seeing first sight of the lush green jungle and mountains I'd dreamed of; what a view. Soon there was another reason to smile since I was on a Air Malaysia flight that did actually reach its destination, always pleasing. I'd decided to head to the Malaysian part of Borneo first which is more developed than the Indonesian side, and thus allowing me a little while longer in normality before I head to Indonesia. First stop from the airport was into Kuching - the biggest city in Borneo and appealing if nothing else for the catchy name. Kuu-chiiinnng. In total contrast to the cities of India, it's very clean, green, well laid out and surprisingly relaxing given it's size and I ended up spending five days there.

Malaysia was a former British colony, in Borneo's case claimed in 1841 and released in 1963 and Kuching the main city in Borneo, so I found it very interested to see various colonial architecture from that era such as a courthouse, large post office, museum and ladies social club all built in a typically Victorian style. The British influence and history was quite prominent around town, as well as that of the Chinese. 

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Heading out for a walk the first day, I was still re-adjusting from India. I'd become that accustomed to it that it genuinely seemed strange that there were proper pavements, no beggars, no litter, no chaos, and none of the cars were beeping - a very welcome change. Another contrast to India was the weather - after months of pretty much nothing but sun, it was time for a spot of moisture - for the weather in Borneo is constantly humid and there's a thunderstorm most days somewhere nearby. And when it rains it doesn't do it by halves - thunder, lightening, and the heaviest rain I've seen in a very long time.

Travellers Hub

I had no idea how popular Borneo would be for backpackers but soon found it to be brilliant, with many around it was easy to meet a good number of like minded folks, mostly at the hostel I stayed at - quite refreshing after India where I was surprised to meet relatively few most of the time. There was no bus from the airport into town, so after a bit of waiting and asking around I managed to share a taxi into town with some other travellers including a German guy called Christian, and from then on we ended up hanging out for the next week. We'd both travelled to similar countries before, both worked in design, and I spent a few days in his hometown last year so we had quite a bit to talk about, and we also grouped up with three other guys at the hostel from Belgium, Germany and Canada. There was never a shortage of yarns and laughs, often til late at night on the rooftop of the hostel.

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Bits and Pieces
My time in Kuching was a bit fragmented - there was no complete day where I managed to just relax and look about, what with a half day at the Post Office then writing, a day at the Indonesian Embassy getting a visa, half a day on buses and boats, and half a day of reading and planning the journey ahead. 

It wasn't all dull though, as the other part days I managed to have a good look around this pleasant little city, seeing a Chinese temple, Indian Mosque, and relaxing waterfront area, as well as the colonial buildings I mentioned - a really interesting mix. Another afternoon I took in the city history, art, ethnology and natural science museums, which had some great exhibits on traditional long houses, mammals of Borneo, and colonial history. All very civilised I must say.

Along with Rene and Christian I managed to catch a film at the local cinema one night - Sabotage starring Arnie himself, a bonus of English being widely spoken in Malaysia, and I even went to a planetarium  one day - something I've not done since primary school. It was sad to find their projector was broken effectively rendering the building useless, with the Malaysian government not forking out to repair it. They make do instead with just showing short films which are projected onto the domed roof which was a surprisingly good substitute, the graphics at one point were so trippy it was as if I'd taken some sort of hallucinogenic drug.

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Orangutans

Borneo is known for it's orangutangs and whilst I hope to see them in the wild at some point, the opportunity to see be pretty much guaranteed to see some semi-wild brutes up-close was too good to miss, so I headed on a little day trip to to Semengok Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. On the local bus I got chatting to a nice Italian girl called Ambre who's been working and travelling abroad for three years now, and we spent the day hanging out together thereafter. The orangutans are fed a couple of times a day and we arrived for the afternoon feeding, held on a wooden platform in the forest.

Seeing two adults and a baby for the first time was a amazing experience - nothing can prepare you for the sight of these majestic and powerful animals swinging along ropes with such ease, or hanging effortlessly whilst eating. Their legs may be weak, but they have amazingly strong arms - up to eight times more than a human. At one point a female impressively picked up a coconut, smashed it against a tree, then quickly drank the water that poured from it - all done in such a humanlike manner since they're one of the closest primates to us. The centre also housed a couple of Esturine crocodiles in cages for people to see in case the orangutans decide not to show up - whilst I've seen crocs before, I'd never had the opportunity to be less than a foot away from them behind some concrete and steel, and it was a powerful experience. After a beer and some food in Kuching with Ambre that evening, it was time for yet another travellers goodbye, before I headed out into the real Borneo with the gang from the hostel.

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With German Christian (centre) and
French-Canadian Rene (right)

Original Victorian styled city museum

Chinese Temple

Kuching government offices

Chinatown

British colonial building

City park

Waterfront area

Photos: India and Singapore

A couple of photo albums for you lovely readers -

India VI - click here

Singapore - click here 

As ever, no Facebook account is needed to view them

Enjoy!

On India - Final Thoughts

In this blog: final thoughts, the India awards, and India insights

If you only read one of my India blogs, make it this one which sum up the whole mad experience (but get a cup of tea and sit comfortably first).

My route through India over 4.5 months. Interactive map here.

FINAL THOUGHTS
India was quite the travel experience. So much so that having now left the country after spending all that time there, I thought I'd bring together my highlights and insights on this weird and wonderful country.

I'd planned to spend about six weeks to two months there - I thought that would be enough. Somehow this turned into four-and-a-half months - that tells you something about both how relatively easy India is to cope with (after a bit of adaption), and how endearing it is to visit. It's probably the first country I've ever been nervous about visiting beforehand, you hear so many stories and everyone has an opinion, and it certainly took a while to get used to. I had total culture shock at the start but was so comfortable with it by the end that I struggled to leave, and now every comparison, story and reference I make ends up being about it.

They say you either love or hate India, and I'm a lover. It certainly takes a while to understand it, and I wouldn't blame anyone for disliking it if they only stayed a couple of weeks, but over time you learn to tolerate the bad things and enjoy the good. As masochistic as it might sound, I genuinely enjoyed my time in India more than Germany. Travelling in India is exciting - you never know what's going to happen next. It's raw - there's no gloss. The people are ever curious and friendly, the sights interesting, the cost of living unbelievably cheap, the food fantastic. It's often so old fashioned, and a trip back to days gone by in the developed world, what with the regular sight on the streets of hawkers, shoe shines, hot-coal clothes ironers, street typists, and ear cleaners. One of the things I like most of all about travelling around it is the feeling of freedom - the western world is so full of laws, conventions, rules, social norms, but in India you can do what you want. Jumping onto moving trains then hanging out the open doorway, walking across someone else's land without worry, or buying anything from a pharmacy without prescription. Sometimes the country feels pretty lawless and often it is a bit, it's often a bit sad, the way things work often isn't always right or normal, but as a traveller it's just fascinating to see.

India is a bubble. Despite outside influences and westernisation, they still often operate as if it's the only country in the world. Immigrants are minimal, they're fairly self sufficient, have their own way of doing things, many unusual traditions, their own style of dress, and a million festivals. It often defies logic, but somehow everything just about works, and I was quite taken with how developed it actually is. Though there's still a long way to go, and only by stopping government corruption will they finally get to where they deserve to be. 

Would I go back again? I have the route planned already. 
Might not be for a few years though.

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Indraha pass in the Indian Himalayas

THE INDIA AWARDS

So here follows the India awards - in a glitzy Oscars style manner, sometimes counting down and sometimes not, here's the best and worst parts of my travels through the country. You can follow the links to the updates they feature in:

Best Experience

5. The colour and energy of Holi festival

4. Being invited into many homes at the world's biggest kite festival

3. Following a wild Bengal tiger whilst sat on an elephant

2. Seeing a night sky full of thousands of Chinese lanterns

1. Winner: Without doubt, my highlight is hiking the Indraha pass in the Himalayas - sleeping in a cave with a dog, getting lost 4000m up the mountain, running short on food and plenty more, but the most exhilarating experience of my life.

Runners up: playing cricket with a group of psychiatrists, going skiing for an hour, nearly having my skin boiled off in a hot spring, cruising the backwaters of Kerala, Christmas Day at the Taj Mahal, Hassan literary festival parade, getting a free meal in a Sikh temple, going to a Bollywood cinema show, hanging out with Jodhpur locals, sea kayaking at Palolem, cycling around Hampi.

Worst Experience

Winner: getting bitten by a dog and having to have five anti-rabies jabs over a month.

Runners up: the freezing cold and rattly overnight bus to Manali which arrived at 4am, nearly being attacked by a pack of monkeys, loosing my credit card, multiple sleepless nightbus journeys, trying to organise a safari in Ramnagar, adopted dogs killing someone's chicken, getting ill in Udaipur, three bus breakdowns and one car breakdown.

Favourite Place Visited

5. Varkala

4. Munnar

3. Dharamasala

2. Galgibad beach, Goa 

1. Winner: Honey Valley, Coorg - a beautiful spot in the green hills of South India where the people and place combined to form somewhere beautiful, relaxing and interesting.

Worst Place Visted

Winner: Delhi - a schizophrenic city of two halves, not really fitting of a capital city. The old half is extremely overcrowded, dirty, noisy and a wild experience.

Runners up: Agra (away from the Taj Mahal, a dump), Srevenbelagola (underwealming).

Most Dangerous Episodes

Winner: bus journey up the Rohtang pass - going up a snaking single-lane mountain road, set into the cliffs with a big drop to one side, no barriers, on sometimes unsurfaced roads, with a driver who drove very fast, overtook everything in sight, and chanced it round blind bends. Terrifying. 

Runners up: having rocks thrown at me by a teenager, hiking Indraha pass, jeep journey to the flood disaster zone in the Himalayas, high-speed bus journey from Kumily to Kottayam, getting bitten by a dog, walking past a large Indian Python in the wild.

Most Shocking Moments 

There's no winner. In most cases these were the first time I saw such sights, the next time was often less shocking but no more right.

• Seeing a homeless man sleeping face down in the dirt, Jodphur
• Driving past destroyed homes in a huge flood disaster zone, Himilayas
• Passing through extremely overcrowded old Delhi
• The first time I saw cows eating from a rubbish bin, Kalka
• Walking past a young guy passed out from glue sniffing, Kanyakamuri
• Witnessing hundreds of people defacating by the railway tracks, Agra
• Seeing a whole family living on a pavement, Jaipur
• Finding out that ten people a day die on Mumbai rail, Mumbai 
• Cycling past farm workers living in tarpaulin tents, Pune
• Finding out the most firecrackers are made by kids, Pune
• Indians throwing stones at a bear in the zoo, Jodhpur
• Hundreds of people sleeping on and around train station, Ambala 
• The first time I saw wild monkeys, Dharamsala

Most Bizarre Moments

There were so many. Winner: Going to the home of a crazy prince in Udaipur

Runners up: 

• Going for a beer with a mad professor in Kochi
• Being blessed by an elephant
• Seeing a peacock eating out of a wheelie bin, Delhi
• Sleeping beside a dog in a cave
• The monkeys of Shimla running between rooftops
• Walking round a lake in socks whilst jumping over goose poo in Pushkar
• Registering at a hotel with my thumbprint
• Seeing a pavement full of tattoo artists sat cross legged
• Waking up to hear laughter yoga 
• Cows and ear cleaners on the beach
• Seeing a 450 year old corpse in a glass box
• The one-armed beach poet
• Meeting George Osbourne's drug dealer
• Visiting Galta monkey palace - a valley overrun with thousands of monkeys
• The constant stream of people taking my picture because I'm foreign

Best Accommodation 

Winner: Green View Hotel at Varkala. Spend a bit more, get a smart clifftop hotel, brilliant.

Runner up: Pearl Palace, Jaipur, homestay at Kumily

Worst Accommodation

Winner: Panchayat Bhawan hostel, Chandigarh - a huge sterile white room with dirty walls, no curtains, a window pane missing, no hot water and a nasty hallway. 

Runners up: Lahesh cave 3274m up a mountain (or was it the best?!), sleeping on the floor at the doctors hostel of a Delhi mental hospital.

The Most Lost I Got

Winner: hiking from Rishikesh to Kunjipuri temple - with no decent map available and only a rough idea of the way, I hiked a hill bigger than Ben Nevis and got extremely lost on the way.

Runner up: hiking at Indraha pass, roaming backstreets of Jodhpur 

Lowest Prices

Winner: 3p bus journey. OK it was only for a mile or so, but I couldn't believe my ears when the conductor quoted me this price.

Runners up: 4p boat ride, 50p hair cut, £2.10 a night guesthouse, 30p train journey for 4 hrs, 45p meal.

Most Hippies Spotted

Arumbol, Goa, closely followed by Rishikesh

Most Remote Place Visited

Kandara village, Himilayas

Most Pain Encountered

Trying Yoga in Rishikesh 

Most Humbling Moments

Tibetan guy telling me about his parents who were killed by the Chinese army

Visiting creches on building sights, Pune

Helping to give out blankets on a trip to a flood disaster zone

Best things about the country

6. Fresh produce grown locally

5. The relatively low carbon footprint (not by choice)

4. How tolerant and patient people are 

3. Beautiful scenery in Himilayas and Western Ghat mountains

2. The feeling of freedom you get as a traveller

1. Very friendly, curious, helpful people

Worst things about the country 

6. Architecture - everything is a painted concrete box

5. Poverty - still a huge problem

4. Slums

3. Pointless beaurocracy 

2. Litter (how even educated people overlook litter)

1. Child labour

Most memorable food

Poori bhaji, Vagator

Veg jalfreizi, Manali

Parota bread, Mumbai

Chicken tandoori, Pune

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INDIA INSIGHTS

You've probably read enough by now, but for anyone still interested, here's my personal insights into different India as a country. They're not extensive or necessarily well written, but it gives an idea.

The Streets

Everything seems to be done on the street - making, selling, chatting, eating, drinking, urinating. And they're completely dominated by men. I'd say on average only one-in-twenty people you see in a city are female, as traditional roles dictate that women should stay at home and perform household duties. Of course amongst younger women, and particularly in cities this is beginning to change, but right now it's certainly a man's world.

Era

Travelling through India is like a journey through time; I constantly tried to work out what era I was in, and there is no true answer. When you see people breaking rocks beside the road, wearing traditional robes around them, you think you might be in Medieval times. When you pass a man driving a bullock and cart along the road, maybe you're in pre-Victorian times. When you're on the streets with all the moustaches, side partings and tank tops you think you're in the seventies. And when people drive past in a brand new VW Golf, talking on the latest smartphone you know it is 2014. But to generalise, in terms of development, fashion, motorbikes and architecture, the seventies constantly come to mind for me personally.

People

Indians have character coming out their ears, a refreshing contrast to the often dull and conformist population of the Western world. Diversity is the key word - in terms of religion, levels of wealth, types of dress and everything else. They're overwhelmingly friendly and curious, as you might have noticed from my writings, and few would hesitate to chat with me. 

They're extremely tolerant people - we could certainly learn a thing or two from them. Occasionally this is a bad thing though as they're sometimes too tolerant to noise, filth, bad habits, discomfort, poor hygiene, rudeness, corruption, danger and so on, rather than demanding change, thus leaving things more stuck in the past than it should be. Violence and aggression doesn't seem to be in their makeup, of course you see arguing but I only say one mildly violent skirmish the whole time. I guess when there's so much noise and chaos all the time, you have no option but to be pretty mellow, they'd have killed each other a long time ago otherwise. 

Both sexes take great pride in their appearance, no matter how rich or poor, always wishing to try and look smart. The women generally dress in wonderfully bright patterned sarees, though in more affluent areas you see more tunics and trousers, and amongst the younger generation the odd female wears western clothing. The typical man conforms to the 'Side parting and neat moustache' look, often with a pen in his short pocket. Most men wear a shirt and trousers for both work and leisure even if they do very dirty stuff, but you commonly see them wearing everything from orange robes, to white linen outfits, to what looks like bedsheets. 

As a nation they are extremely conservative and old-fashioned, with exceptions of course. Couples rarely hold-hands in public and kissing is certainly never seen, not even in movies as it's considered behaviour for behind closed doors only. A bizarre flip side to this is that you often see men holding hands in public, or with an arm around each other, maybe even stroking each other's shoulders - it's not considered gay, but an act of brotherhood. So yes, men and women can't hold hands, but men and men can - It's a little odd to an outsider I must say.

Manners

Eh? Huh? What? The concept of manners barely exists in India, except among the more privileged and affluent minority, and certainly isn't generally seen in day to day life on the streets. Staring, spitting, touching people, being nosy, queue jumping, weeing in public, beeping, shouting, invading personal space - there is no issue with any of these. Please and thank you certainly don't get much use.

On the flipside, you never eat or pass things with your left hand (the toilet duties hand), and their lips never touch a drinks bottle that's being shared.

Religion 

India is the world's most religious country. Religion is not just something they do, it's an inseparable part of the fabric of being an Indian, and people are extremely proud of that. It's everything, and everywhere - many businesses have religious names, people pray as they pass a temple on a bus, everyone has shrines at home, at work and even in their cars. Whilst there's sometimes a little segregation and the odd tension, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and the other minorities all seem to get along and mix together remarkably well on the whole. However when it comes to Muslim dominated Pakistan next-door, I have heard the odd mutter between the first two - Pakistan and India are defiantly not a love match made in heaven. 

Road Transport

Chaos - the roads summed up. The standards of driving are fairly poor, road discipline is terrible, people don't always stop for red traffic lights, and everyone is out for themselves - there's never any courtesy. The roads are full of a mixture of buses, cars, lorries, auto rickshaws, cycle rickshaws (in the north), and people with pushcarts, all vying for space. There are some big and fairly well built dual carriageways between the big cities, but the rest of the time roads vary considerable and occasionally on smaller roads the surface to turn to gravel for a while then back to dirt, or exist as permanently unfinished roadsworks. In the Himilayas, the roads are generally pretty terrible all round. Buses vary from the quality and order of the south, to the battered bangers of the north, and the same applied to the quality of roads. Buses rarely stop fully, you often jump on as they move. 

Rail

The railways work surprisingly well though the trains are often late. The booking system is unbelievable confusing, the trains often fully booked, but the standard of carriage in the AC classes surprisingly good, and more than comfortable enough. One of the biggest biggest problems as a tourist is actually getting a place on a train, as they are regularly fully booked on many routes, sometimes weeks in advance. The cheap classes are great fun for shorter journeys which in Indian terms means six hours or less in my mind, with an eclectic range of passengers and feature everything from ladyboys, chai sellers, beggars, and fruit sellers to keep you amused.

Architecture 

Dreary concrete boxes, poorly maintained, and sometimes painted garish colours is the norm. This isn't always just due to economics, often just a lack of taste or a desire for quality. Only in places like Mumbai do you see the odd cutting edge building which is a shame, as people are a product of their environments, and concrete doesn't make anyone smile.

Landscape

On the route I travelled, the Himilayas in the north were amazing, as were the western ghats in the south, but the scenery between the two was on the whole fairly arid and dull, save for the odd area like Hampi. The beaches are Goa were however beautiful. 

Food

Just fantastic. I ate Indian food three times a day, pretty much every day and loved it. That's over three hundred Indian meals my my rough workings! The food often isn't nearly  as spicy as you expect; a vindaloo is much spicier in the UK for example. I only had one meal I really didn't enjoy, and just two or three fairly average meals the whole, and whilst I started the trip avoiding meat entirely, after a month slowly weaned myself back on with no problems. I did eat western food as a bit of a break maybe every couple of weeks and a little more often for breakfast, but that was it. The only spot of illness came from, I think, eating some street food that had been sat around for a while - I should have known better. The standards of hygiene were a little questionable at times, and it was sometimes the case of what you don't see you don't know, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. 

Drink

Chai - Indian milk tea made mostly with milk instead of water, some masala spices and a whip ole lot of sugar is national drink and found everywhere, and I was an addict. Fresh fruit juices are both popular and cheap and a favourite, as was freshly squeezed sugarcane, though beer more heavily licensed and expensive than at home.

Waste

One of my biggest bugbears with India. Litter is everywhere, and people drop it with no thought whatsoever, no matter how educated they are. It seems to be a mixture of a lack of education, the assumption that it will rot like fruit and veg does, and the guess that someone else will pick it up which generally they don't.

Poverty

Still a big issue, and quite apparent in the slums in big cities. I made some insights into real life through the volunteering work, wandering from the beaten track, and getting invited into a few houses, but life is pretty basic for many. There was less people sleeping on the streets than I expected, but it still happens. Beggars are a regular sight, but generally not that persistent.

Language

Two things surprised me on this front. Firstly just how commonly English is spoken - there's more fluent English speakers in India than Britain, and it's rare that language is a problem, even if one guy did say to me on the phone 'I'm sorry, I can't understand your English accent!'. The second surprise is that there are so many regional languages - most states have their own language - Hindi, Malaylam, Karnataka to name just three. English is the universal language, and used as standard in politics and business.

Infrastructure 

On the one hand, India was much more advanced than I expected, on the other hand there's still a way to go. Power cuts are a big issue and away from big cities places get cut off often daily - many people have batteries and inverters, or a generator to see them through - a huge waste just cause the government can't get its act together. There's not always enough water either, and water tankers sometimes do the rounds delivering direct to houses.

Arumbol, Goa

Back To What You Know

Singapore (map)

In this blog: back to the developed world, hanging out with old friends, and a spot of hiking

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Marina Bay, Singapore

Imagine the relief a sailor might feel upon reaching land after five months at sea. In a funny sort of way, and without planning it, Singapore for me turned out to be pretty much that. Following five months in developing countries, Singapore was a revelation; a home from home. I was back in the developed world that I know, with orderly disciplined traffic, well manicured greenery, no rubbish, no hawkers, no rickshaws, no poverty, no cows on the street, proper pavements, western clothing, road signs, modern architecture, supermarkets, and everything else you expect from a developed country. I hadn't planned it intentionally, and I'm not saying I didn't love the chaos of India, but Singapore was a very welcome change. 

Singapore for those who don't know, is a small island at to the south of Malaysia and both a country and a city. A British colony which was founded in 1819 as a free trade hub, it gained independence in 1965 and today is a very cosmopolitan place that makes it's money mostly from shipping and finance. Three-quarters of the population are Chinese, with the rest a mixture of Malaysian, Indian, and European expats, which this along with its colonial history gives the city a curious east-meets-west culture. With it's glossy architecture and public transport, world class attractions, perfectly kept roads, and green public spaces; it's visibly an extremely modern city in every way possible. It's also known for being extremely clean and tidy - the streets are completely free of litter and it's actually illegal to sell chewing gum, so no spotty pavements. All in all a very pleasant place.

Reunion

Nin and Adam Porter

I hadn't really planned to visit Singa at all on this trip but all the onward flights from India to south-east Asia seems to go via Changi airport, so remembering my good friend Adam Porter from university had moved there I decided to stop off for a few days. I flew from Trivandrum in south India - a four hour overnight flight - and with just three hours of sleep I blearily made my way to the fantastic eighth story flat Adam lives in with his wife Nin. We'd not seen each other in more than nine years, and I'd not met Nin before so it was really great to see them both, and to see a familiar face for the first time in many months. We spent the morning catching up, reminiscing about uni days and all the nonsense we got upto, and life since then, realising just how quickly life can pass by. 

I'd been to Singapore before on my last big trip five years ago and had visited the main sights then, so this time with my pair of local guides I was shown a few other spots. We had a wander around Arab Street, one of the few original authentic streets of the city where some middle-easterners still call home, as well as nearby Chinatown, an area which seems ironic now given that most of the population is Chinese. After a break back at the flat, Adam took me to the Marina to see the nightly light show, where lights, lasers and water fountains combine into an impressive, if slightly tacky waterfront show. I'd been to this area before and couldn't believe how much it had changed in five years, with land reclaimed from the sea now developed into crazy looking museums, an Asian interpretation of the Eden Project, one of the biggest shopping malls I've ever seen and most impressive of all, the Marina Bay Sands towers - the world's most expensive building which has to be seen to be believed. 

Pool outside Adam and Nin's flat. Just fantastic

The following day was much lazier. The lovely flat that Adam and Nin rent comes complete with a load of leisure facilities, so when Adam and I weren't sitting in the sun on the balcony we spent a chunk of the day hanging out by the beautiful swimming pool down below, a lifestyle I couldn't even comprehend a few days before in India. It was a great to be back to reality, well a reality of sorts. 

Urban Jungle

Singapore was almost completely jungle-clad originally, and despite the massive urbanisation there's still a few natural spots left, so with a bit of guidance I took an early start and headed to McRichie National Forest the following morning. The hike was a bit different to what I've done of late; a very sanitised version of nature, what with the endless amounts of signposts, wooden board walks, gravelled paths and even a bridge sponsored by HSBC. It may have been unadventurous, but it was still nice, and I ended up doing a seven mile hike through original forest and around a reservoir. On one dirt path something quickly moved in the leaves by my feet. I did a hop-step to one side to see a well-camouflaged 3ft long monitor lizard walking up the bank, looking for insects. Harmless it seems, but a bit of a shocking sight when you've not seen one in the flesh before, nor were expecting to!

History

On my third day in Singapore I headed to the National Museum. Now I always think it's a bit dull to write about a museum so I'll keep this brief - it was excellent. It keeps the story of the country fairly succinct (unlike my blogs sometimes) and told the story of the city's days from fishing village, to British colonisation, Japanese WWII invasion, and intense post war development in a lively and interesting way. It also reminded me that fifty odd years ago it was anything but the world class city it is now. 

Grub

Apart from the national obsession with shopping, Singapore is renound for it's food. Interestingly rather than cooking at home, a large amount of people regularly eat out at what are known as hawker centres. These are food courts where street food vendors were relocated in the sixties, which now serve just about every food you can imagine at pretty cheap prices. I went a time or two both on my own and with Adam, trying local dishes such as Chinese Chicken-Rice and Beef-noodles which are much tasty than their descriptive names might suggest. On other occasions we went to a famous local restaurant that serves a dish called Laksa, as well as a Turkish restaurant on Arab street. All very nice, and quite a contrast after months of Indian food.

Moving On

Three days turned to four, and on my last day I still had no plan for the next step of the trip. I'd met so many people over the course of my travels who advised me to go to Burma sooner rather than later, as it's changing quickly from it's old-fashioned ways, and I'd also been thinking to head to Indonesia with it's huge range of Islands. I also had to consider travel costs, lengths of visas, and other practicalities. In short, I had too many options, and not much time to decide. A luxurious problem I admit! This or that? A or B? Right or wrong? I did some reading, I looked at flight costs, I chatted to people, then finally decided any option was a good option. At 3am I finally booked a flight... for the following morning!

Singapore had been great, and in many ways I really didn't want to leave - it was normal, easy, comfortable and my friends were there. It was a bit soulless as a city, a common criticism, but for a few days it was perfect, a great antidote to the incessant chaos of India. It had been so nice to hang out with Adam and Nin, but I'd invaded their life for long enough so reluctantly I said goodbye and headed to the airport, bound for neither of the counties I mentioned, but instead Malaysian Borneo! Excited? Just a little.

On the roof of a Chinese temple we visited

 

The amaxing Marina Sands resort building

Arab Street

Adam at Marina Bay

McRitchey forest park