Virgin voyage across the causeway

A bunch of friends asked to go to Johor Bahru together, of course I couldn't resist the urge to travel, albeit just a couple of kilometres (I wish the train ride from Tiong Bahru to Kranji was faster, but I couldn't ask for more). So to Kranji and then to take 170 to JB, after being teased a couple of times when I didn't understand customs procedures (you get off the bus, go in to get checked, get on the bus again, get off to do something again, and on again, absolutely confusing).

Anyhow, first stop was to get some teh tarik. And then onward to walk to City Square for some "high class shopping" (read: we didn't buy anything, Eugene did hustle the optical shop assistant for the price of a Tag Heuer frame though), we never once went beyond 100meters of the entrance. This where our tour guide of the day, a cousin of Kinwai, met up with us and kindly showed us around the city for the rest of the day.

Next stop, Holiday plaza. Plenty of -ahem- DVD shops which "deliver" and plenty of butiks and hair salons.

Holiday Plaza, about RM 5-6 taxi ride from City Square.

This is where the boys got their haircuts and stock of DVDs and computer applications before we headed down to Taman Perling, and endearing little fishing village far removed from the city centre (20-30 minutes taxi ride).

The endless drive up to Taman Perling.

Running into peak hour jam.

Random artistic lamppost shot.

The beautiful sunset en route to Orang Asli kampong.

We were brought to Karim Restoran Orang Asli (head in from the main road, then veer to the right when you see the kampongs, walk for 100 meters till you see this:



Pass the "gate" you'll find to your left, Karim Restoran Orang Asli (Address: Kg. Sungai Temon, Kg. Bakar Batu, Taman Perling, 81200 Johor, H/p: 019 715 1916, 019 725 1916, Business hourse: 1pm-11pm). It's a pretty remote area, so travel in a pack of no less than three for safety's sake. Remote, but so beautiful.





And here, I had the biggest, best seafood dinner I have ever had. The crabs were swimming fresh, as were the frogs with their soft tendons that slid of the bones oh-so-deliciously (both gong bao and jiang cong style were great). We had six crabs all in all, I know it's disgusting, but the crabs were not, the four wasted on black pepper and curry powder, we mourn for their death, but for the two steamed in egg, we exalted them. brilliant brilliant crabs. yum.

The heavenly crabs.

Starting off slow: sambal kangkong, white sand clams, and frog legs fried with dried chilli and sweet sauce.

The remnants of our dinner.

The bill then came up to about S$25 per pax which is totally reasonable given the amount we ate (I think we depleted half the sea and killed our gastric, not to mention the skyhigh cholestrol levels). The restaurant also provides cab-calling service, since there's practically no other way to get out of that place unless you swim across the straits. Now, that was worth the time travelling across the causeway.

Thai gluttony

They say the obsession with food is a Singaporean thing. I say it's true. Herein lies proof, (even in a foreign country, we couldn't shake our second nature):


TAKE-A-SIT RESTAURANT

The previously-mentioned Take-A-Sit restaurant located on Phra Athit Road, next to Four Sons House (there are many guesthouses going by "Four Sons" save for slight variations in the attached synonymous words such as Village, Inn, Guesthouse etc). Pretty easy time being a waitress here, when there's nothing to do, you get to sit down and watch the big screen tv. Besides the usual Thai fare (rice with beef and such), Take-A-Sit also serves up pretty decent cabonara for 55baht only.


CARBONARA AT TAKE-A-SIT FOR ONLY 55BAHT (SGD$2.20)


A SCOOP OF MOCHA ICECREAM (HEAVEN) ON A SWELTERING NIGHT (15/20BAHT)


WE ALWAYS DRINK TEH REAL THING AND NUTHING ELSE

Speaking of which, there's this restaurant called Kruan-- (I forget the full name) down the road from Four Sons House, in the direction of the Phra Sumen Fort, away from Take-A-Sit, which serves excellent Coke (cold and gassy). Of course, the main attraction was the deep fried catfish with basil leaves and chilli:


DEEP FRIED CATFISH (75BAHT)


AND THE BIG FAT RED HOT CHILLIS THAT THEY SERVE UP WITH ALL THEIR DISHES

The green curry is also pretty good there, and not quite as lethal as I had expected it to be. Something odd on the menu also caught our attention:


SWIMMING CRAB LEGS INDEED.

Sometime in the middle of our trip, we moved to Mahboonkrong (MBK) area to facilitate ease of shopping at Pratunam market, Siam square, and elsewhere (we found out about Bo Bae too late :\). The short stay near MBK had us discover yet another cheap and good (that's what it's all about isn't it) eatery called Pranee Restaurant, located along Rama I, at the intersection with Soi Kasemsan 1 (which offers a host of guesthouses, only some of which are really worth the Baht. More on this in the next post). Here, we encountered even cheaper prices for our one-course meals (25baht) with more varieties:


RICE WITH MINCED CHICKEN AND BASIL LEAVES


RICE WITH SEAFOOD

Or if you hate prudish restaurant fare, and like to get your hands dirty, here's a few alternatives you can take to along Soi Rambutri (just behind Phra Athit Road), and may I say very very good ones as well too:


ROADSIDE CORN WHERE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH BUTTER AND SALT (10BAHT PER STICK)


MUSSELS AT POPIANG HOUSE. ENJOY A PLATE FOR 40/50BAHT ONLY (SERVED BEST WITH COLD BEER ON A HOT NIGHT)


ROADSIDE CLAMS FOR 50BAHT (NO SIGNS OF FOOD POISONING AFTERWARDS)


PHAD THAI FROM PUSHCARTS AT 15BAHT OR 20BAHT WITH EGG (TASTES LIKE VERMICILLI WITH LOTS OF RICE WINE)

One more week there and I think you'd have to drag me back by my feet.

Bangkok -- Pre-mortem

When getting a kilogram of laundry done costs as much (or as little) as an hour of internet usage (30baht) or three minutes of a phone call back home on an advertised “good line” (I could barely hear them say hello) or even a meal, it may be hard to decide what best to spend your baht on. 

So for the benefit and convenience of self and others, here’s a lowdown on the prices in Bangkok (July 2005):

(If you plan on spending some time in Bangkok, get Nancy Chandler's map before you go. Just US$9.95 inclusive of international delivery)
Getting around

• Airport bus - 100THB from the airport, regardless of distance (with some places in Banglumphu/Khaosan offering 60 – 80THB). If there’s two or more of you, a metered taxi would be a better choice but not from the airport taxi stand (surcharge applies). Just a 2–minute walk will bring you outside of the airport grounds and you can avoid having to pay the surcharge. To provide a rough estimate, metered fare through a moderate jam from the Airport to Banglumphu/Khaosan area will cost you about 165 THB
• Non-A/C public buses – 3.5 THB onwards depending on distance
• A/C public buses – 12 -14 THB onwards
• Chao Phraya Express Riverboat – 7 to 11 THB (Separate daypasses can be bought Chao Phraya Express and the BTS skytrain for 100baht per pax but you wouldn’t really need it unless you plan to transport yourself all over Bangkok within a day.)
• Tuktuk – 20 THB for short distances up to 40 THB. Anything further it is advised that you take a metered taxi (unless you love breathing exhaust)
• Metered taxi – Request before boarding that the driver uses the meter just by saying “Meter?” or if you want to in Thai, “Buet meter noi”. 35THB for flagfall and 4.5baht/km for 2km – 12km, 5baht/km for 13km onwards. 1.25baht/min in a traffic jam.
• Saamlaew/Saangtaew – anything from 2 to 5 THB for short distances
• Train tickets _{[Train schedules and prices here]} – 3rd class Ayutthaya: 20THB 1hr40min to 2hrs  |   3rd class Kanchanaburi: 25THB 3hrs. (3rd class train tickets can be bought from 20 minutes before the train is scheduled to depart. 1st and 2nd class tickets have to be booked in advance)

Other notes:

Coins: Keep small change like 10baht coins handy, when you negotiate fares with tuktuks, the tuktukman will often tell you he has no change so you’re forced to pay more than you bargained for if you haven’t the exact change.

Touts: Tuktuk drivers (more so than taxi drivers) may try to bring you to places like jewellery shops etc. where they get “tea money” just for bringing tourists. They’ll tell you that your destination is closed for the day because the monks are praying, or that the temple is closed or there’s some government meeting at some place yadda yadda. “Grandpalace close today, but standing buddha open, I bring you see standing buddha?” Don’t be taken in by those scams, just reiterate that you wish to go to your original destination and they’ll give up after a few seconds.

Munchies

Food ought to be secondary (who needs food when beer goes for 30baht per can?! Like a friend said, it’s a beautiful country already upon hearing the beer prices), but here’s some of their prices anyway:

• Mineral water – 5baht from grocery stores, 6–7baht from 7–eleven and 30baht from the airport.
• Roadside BBQ corn slapped on with sinful amount of butter and salt – 10baht
• Bottled coke – 10–20baht depending on which restaurants you have them at. Smaller bottles at 7–eleven for 9baht
• Phad Thai (fried noodles) – 15baht, 20baht (with egg)
• Singha beer, Chang beer – 30baht (7eleven), 45–60baht at pubs/cafes/guesthouses. (Chang beer tends to be slightly cheaper at pubs than Singha)
• Rice with stir-fried chicken/beef/pork/squid/prawns on the side (I recommend beef with garlic and pepper) – 30–40baht
• Western cuisine: pasta – 55–75baht, steak – 125baht onwards
• Fruit shakes (along Soi Chakkrabong and Soi Rambutri just behind Phra Athit (Banglamphu area, walking distance from KhaoSan). Enjoy a big bag of fruit shake created before your very eyes for only 15–20baht. A really refreshing choice on a hot day.
• Cup noodles – Back at home when you are running low on cash, we resort to Maggi, what we’ve affectionately come to use as an umbrella term for all brands of instant noodles. Abroad it’s not much different. Try the Mama Cup Pork flavour if you need a quick breakfast and haven’t got much money left. 9baht for a small cup and 12baht for the usual size.

7–eleven also retails mini-bottles of shampoo, bath foam, powder, moisturiser, facial wash, mini-toothpaste and every other thing imaginable that a travelling soul might need.

More to come.

"We love farangs!" (what Thais call foreigners) or Bangkok Day 1

Budget airlines’ trade secret revealed:

1) Use the same staff at the check-in counter and have them walk quickly over to attend to you at the departure gate after the last passenger has checked in. 2) Arrange for assigned  departure gates to be in most desolate corner of airport so that travellators do not need to be turned on. Savings on electricity then transfers from airport to budget airline. 3) Delay flight till the latest possible moment so that the highest possible number of seats are filled. 4) Do not serve food onboard; instead, sell cup noodles and drinks at prices that are higher than usual and profit from the sales. Also, when passengers enquires about payment in other currency, quote them a higher exchange rate than normal e.g. a 30baht drink would translate to SGD3.00 when the the exchange rate is S$1 : 25 baht.

Our 20–dollar ride rolling in, about an hour later than scheduled take-off:

The non-too-shabby interior of AirAsia Boeing 737, no complaints at all, in fact, I found the PVC leather seats more comfortable than the usual which gets scratchy and hot after a while:

Two hours later, we arrived at Bangkok International Airport and set off to find the public busstop only to realise that there were only locals waiting there (many of them too, and it had seemed impossible to be able to find a place for us and our backpacks should a probable bus come by) and that there didn’t seem to be a sign telling you what buses stopped there. We didn’t want to take a cab from the airport (high airport surcharge on top of usual flagfall)neither did we want to take the airport bus (100 baht each) so we took a cab from the main road just outside the airport, happy that we didn’t have to pay the surcharge. On metered fare, we found ourselves at Phra Athit (Banglumphu) nearly 45 minutes later and paying 165THB.

We greeted Four Sons House _{[you can email them here]} with open arms finally being able to find respite from our ridiculously heavy backpacks (I don’t remember packing much!) and killer camera bags. With 20% discount, we managed to secure a double-room with airconditioning (A/C) and private shower for 440baht (about 18SGD).

A little crammed, but really comfortable after you settle in:

It almost feels like home already!

There’s a cosy cafe next to Four Sons House called Take-A-Sit which serves food at nearly roadside prices (30baht for rice with beef) Banglumpoo turned out to be a pretty fun area with lots of pubs and roadside stalls along Soi Rambutri and Soi Chakkrabong to spend the night out at. Colourful cocktails for only 60baht and fruit shakes for 15 and 20baht (all yet to have tried though. Tomorrow!). Other various interesting stuff:

A TATTOO SHOP-IN-A-VAN

“RICE+FRIED PROBABLY WITH CRISPY PORK” AT TAKE-A-SIT CAFE NEXT TO FOURSONS HOUSE

A sumptuous dinner for two all for only 85baht (30baht for rice with garlic and pepper beef, 35baht for rice with chilli squid, 10 baht each for coke). Less than SGD4.00!

THAI SATAY, SWEETER AND WITHOUT THE PEANUT SAUCE LIKE BACK HOME. OR WHAT THEY CALL “CHICKEN STEAK”.

And then it is to bed, Kanchanaburi awaits on the morrow.

North Vietnam - Central Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa

There was this friendly bloke called Jelle (pronounced Yeh-Ler) whom we met on the SG-Hanoi flight. Upon further conversation after the initial Hello-excuse-me-I'm-sorry-I-took-the-window-
seat-but-I-need-to-go-to-the-bathroom-now friendly shift-and-squeeze to get him onto the aisle, he recommended a guesthouse for us to put up at that was very popular with backpackers, mostly because it is the first place mention in the Lonely Planet guide under Budget stays and it never occurred to said backpackers that there are about a few hundred others with the same publication. Anyhow, we decided to all pile into a cab and share the fare to get to Thu Giang after arriving in Hanoi airport where we found 1) the exchange rate to be a hell lot better than in Singapore and 2) that people could smoke in the enclosed baggage claim area where we held our breaths as long as we could while the Vietnamese happy to be back at last gleefully collect their Pampers/Various odd boxes, plastic wrappings-wrapped luggage. Strange. Anyhow, we arrived at Thu Giang Guesthouse unscathed from the hustling of the cabbies to find that there were fortunately vacancies at the guesthouse. And for 6USD per room per night for a twin bedroom, it was pretty decent:



It was a short stay at Central Hanoi and we departed for Halong Bay the next day, a 6 -hour long minibus ride to the legendary limestone karsts created from the swishing of the tail of a dragon who descended from the heavens.

The stones.

And the people who live amongst them.

Halong City looked like a pretty charming place too, probably would have been more novel to explore the rustic village than to have lunch onboard a boat amidst the karsts.

Another 6-hour ride back to Hanoi only to prepare for leaving that very night. To Sapa we go! Land of many tribes and minimal visibility. Up in the highlands, the french-colonial tourist town of Sapa coexists with tribal saleswomen who travel up and down everyday to earn the big tourist bucks.

"Hello, what's your name? Where you from? You buy this from me, I be your friend?"

Daughter of the Hmong family we visited.

Tribal beauty to-be.

But boys will be boys.

"What are you lookin' at?" "What are YOU lookin' at?" "You want a piece of me?"

Adventurous trekking in the foggy and damp air led by Lok, our guide. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.

And the ducks who are trying to run from bird flu.

And then back to Mountain View Hotel just in time for dinner. And to prepare to head back to Hanoi the following evening. Rush, pack, desperately try to dry wet jeans and socks with a feeble hair-dryer.

Bi (pronounced like an obstinate "Bee", pouty onset with a slight puff of air), son of one of the owners of Mountain View Hotel, Ninh Hong.

He's like the vietnamese child version of Won Bin.

As much as I hated being sick in the cold weather and trudging around in my wet jeans, I was to come back to Singapore only to realise that I had loved what time I spent in Hanoi. Lovely times, more lovely because you were there.

(Photos were taken by the boyfriend, with a Canon 300D)