I'll start this post with a cliche statement-- one of the best parts of this trip are the people I meet... for better or worse. An example of the good would be the daughters of my host in Malaka. I got to go see the older daughter, Yasmin's (I'm totally guessing at that spelling) university. She's studying biotech at one of the best universities in Malaysia. During the trip I was able to talk to her for a nice long time and getting some perspective. At Hamilton, yes, the academics can be hard, some of the dorms are a bit small, but really I studied in the lap of luxury. I had a beautiful campus on which to learn and a clean bed in which to sleep. I greatly admire Yasmin (and her little sister who is at boarding school) for succeeding in their academics despite barriers and conditions that I think would make most American students (including myself) give up. She's not planning on stopping there. When our conversation turned to boys (as conversations go between girls of our age) she told me she wanted to wait a long time to get married. She said she had things to do; she wants to travel, and also wants to get her phd in biology in the UK or Australia. With her drive, I think she just might.
On the day I went from Malaka to Singapore, Yasmin's mother dropped me off and gave me a blessing to have safe travels and to find a good husband (those being mutually exclusive.) My bus ride went very smoothly until we reached the border. I remember thinking half way through that I wouldn't have anything to write about on my blog, and then singapore customs happened. We got off the bus and got all of our stuff to take up the stairs to the boarder control. (As a side note-- planning a RTW trip? I have two words for you-- rolling backpack.) We were given 20 minutes to make it through, otherwise the bus would leave without us. I looked at the stairs (which had a large sign that said no suitcases) and looked at the long line for the elevator. Without stopping I undid the straps and put it on... I thought I looked awesome, but I highly doubt anyone noticed.
Luckily from then on out I was safe. I joined a line of people with European passports and we flew through. I was back in 16 minutes (oh, yes I was counting.) The bus driver waited for another five and then left half of the people on my bus. Half! I couldn't believe it. A British couple and I gave each other "oh my gosh" looks as we saw people sprinting down the stairs.
Once being dropped off I realized Singapore might be the place for me...if I could just move it off the equator. The streets are clean, there's a beautiful subway system, cheap good food, tons of flowers, and everyone seems to be so polite. Still, there are nice little reminders everywhere such as "the punishment for drug trafficking is death" on your entrance form and "the punishment for molest is jail and caining" on the subway.
The bus had run into some problems on the way down so I was late for my check in. After getting a bit lost I finally made it and luckily they were still there. I happily sat down while chatting with the woman that "yes, I am a woman, yes I booked a female room, and no Mackenzie can be a girl's name." I got cleaned up, went and got something to eat. The place I had chosen sold porriage, but it was unlike any porriage I had ever eaten. The name said porriage, the texture said oatmeal, and the flavor said egg drop soup. My choices were chicken, raw fish, frog & preserved egg, brain, fish innards or various pork intestines. I opted for the chicken, but they were out. To couldn't see anywhere else open so I ate frog and preserved egg. Honestly the egg got me way more than the frog. The frog was a bit slimy but the egg was black and had the texture of a mushroom. Still, I'd probably eat both again.
Century Egg
Full of frog and months old egg (the things I write) I settled down with a book back at the hostel when an Irish man in his late 50s sat down next to me. Douglas would be an example of the "for worse" or at least the "weird" people I meet. Now I'm used to having random people sit down next to me and tell me their life stories. It happens to me all the time, and it's basically a requirement for the one middle aged man at a hostel where everyone else is in their 20s to be a bit weird. But Douglas decided to really take it a step further.
He made normal conversation for about 2 minutes and then out of nowhere just said, "You know this reminds me of my nephew. He died in Afghanistan." Despite the abrupt turn in conversation, for no reason, I do what any person would do and tell him I'm sorry. He pulls out a laptop and I proceed to watch a sideshow of his nephew, and his grave... But I notice the name of the solider isn't the same as the name he told me, and this guy died in Iraq. Suddenly his phone rings, he answers and says, "yes, I'm willing to talk... If you're not with me you're against me...as of tomorrow I'm taking the law into my own hands. You know you follow the rules but then sometimes you need to make your own law... That's what going to happen unfortunately... I'm sorry I need the money, my mother is dying." (That's verbatim, as I typed it while it was happening.) After this phone call the suspected mob boss next to me told me that for the last 9 months he's been chasing a woman who cheated him out of a lot of money, so he's here because he's "run out of options so (he) needs to go see her and smash her face in." Needless to say I left the conversation after that thinking, "well at least I now have something to write about."
