I’d rather not be leaving Singapore but I know there are all these other great places to see still and in all reality I’m not sure my budget will stretch too much further here. It’s definitely a lot more expensive here than anywhere else I’ve been on this trip. I’ve really enjoyed visiting it though, I always thought I didn’t like big cities but this one is really nice and definitely worth another visit at some point.
So my flight out this morning to Penang in Malaysia is at 11am and there’s just enough time to meet with some friends of Micks, Joseph and his wife Christina before I have to leave. Unfortunately they weren’t around to meet up the last couple of days but have popped into the hostel to say hello before I leave. Joseph is someone Mick has met through all his visits to the Philatelic Museum here and over the years they have become great friends, I’ve always heard a lot about Joseph so it was really nice to finally meet him.
At Singapore airport I’m afraid I’ve succumbed again and headed straight for a MacDonald’s breakfast. I honestly don’t know what’s come over me…..for about 6 or 7 years I haven’t even touched a MacDonalds, and now that’s two in a week I think! Still beats rice for breakfast, I’ll never get my head around that one!
The flight to Penang only took an hour or so and on arrival I found the right local bus and was in Georgetown by early afternoon.
Once again I’m always trying to think of my next plan and right now although I’ve only just arrived I need to sort out a way back to Bangkok. I really want to go by train and I really want to be back in Bangkok in time to see some of the massive weekend market there so after a quick lunch stop and a wander around the colonial area I made my way to the train ticket booking office to see what was available.
Some sights of Georgetown
When I got there, there was a ‘harmless’ looking little old lady in front of me in the queue who had just booked her ticket to Bangkok leaving on Saturday as that was the first day they had available with lower bunks and as she was checking her ticket we started chatting.
Boy was that the worst decision of my day! Literally the first words out of her mouth was how Thailand have a crap government and how she lives in Bangkok and how her house has been flooded (immediately producing the photo for good measure) and how she’s lived through coups, the Tsunami (I wasn’t aware it had reached Bangkok but hey I could be wrong! (although I very much doubt it!) ;-)) and how she’s now lived through the flooding and this time she fully intends to get compensation from the Thai government, the very same Thai government she hates!!
I agreed at how terrible the flooding was and made the fatal mistake of commenting on all the other poor people who had nowhere else to go. Well that was her license to literally go into a spiral of anti Thailand and anti Thai people and how she doesn’t have a choice she has to live here etc, I have to be honest she immediately got my back up just by the way she was talking and the way she was then talking to the ticket lady.
I pointed out that in fact she did have a choice because she was here in Malaysia while there were so many other people in Thailand who really did have nowhere else to go. Well that was it she didn’t stop and in the end I just had to walk away from her leaving her still ranting after me and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever met someone on a trip that can make me feel the way she did. Before I met her I was feeling quite happy and relaxed and excited about the next few days and the trip to Bangkok and then of course coming home but after meeting her it was like a massive black cloud had loomed. What a really unpleasant person who I hope I never meet again!
I wandered back from the ticket office having not booked a ticket whilst also trying to work out what could have happened to the lady I had just met that had made her so unpleasant.
The last couple of days, especially in Singapore I’ve been wondering about the options of living in this part of the world and what I might actually be able to do, work wise, to make that happen. I know there’s good things about relocating to another country and there’s bad things, it’s not always a holiday, and probably as a woman on her own the bad may well totally outweigh the good but even so I was really quite taken back by her vicious words about a country she has decided to make home to make me really think again!
With that on my mind I took a leisurely stroll back to the GH in an attempt to try and understand her verbal attack but you know, I still can’t, so after a quick shower I head out to Little India for some yummy curry.
More sights of Georgetown
When I was in Singapore I was introduced to ‘the selection meal’ I have no idea what it’s called officially but each Indian café seems to offer it and you basically get a serving of rice with 5 or 6 different tasters of accompaniments. I have absolutely no idea what I’m eating but each time I have it I’m assured its vegetarian so that’s fine with me. I have to laugh sometimes because there was a time (which Pete I’m sure you’ll remember) that ‘foreign’ food was never, ever on my itinerary, Pete used to love taking the mikey out of me ordering chicken and chips in the local Indian or Chinese, and even more recently (maybe 10 years ago) I can recall going to Goa with work and just having bread and chips because I didn’t want to try anything! Now I love all the food from different countries I visit, probably shown by my waistline (!) and will try absolutely anything now, just as long as it’s vegetarian. ;-)
Chinese temple in Georgetown
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