Singapore

Wow! All the things you hear about Singapore are actually true. I felt like I was in a mini America that's very clean and where the citizens obey the laws. Their government buildings look like they came straight from DC and the Singaporeans dress like Americans... and I never thought I could pick out Americans by their clothes but I guess I can, then in the supermarket (which is set up like in the States) they have ALL the American brands, lol. Its really funny. But the difference is that the people are truly friendly, you ask where something is and with perfect English they explain the directions at least twice and draw you a map on some paper or a napkin :)

Something funny about traveling to Singapore was how many times they warn you about how all drugs no matter the quantity or which drug carries the same penalty under Singapore law, the death penalty! And they are very, very strict about their laws. Also, every time I got directions I was told only to cross the street at cross walks... and every one really does cross only at cross walks and they wait for the cross signal.

Singapore has three main populations, one from China, one from Maylasia, and last from India. So, I got lucky and was there for the Indian's Deepavali festival, or the festival of lights. Which is a month long celebration after their new year. So, I stayed a night in little India and got to try very tasty Indian food and took a tour around the area to learn about the festival and the populations of Indians living in Singapore.


This is just a funny escalator in the middle of a beautiful green park in the middle of downtown!





Downtown by the river.
You can find any kind of food in Singapore. This is a shop that sells meet that looks like beef jerkey but taste more like bacon...






An Indian Hindu temple directly next to a Chinese Buddhist temple. The Singaporean's are very tolerant people! The stands in front of the Chinese temple are selling flowers to take in as part of the Buddhist prayers.


The beautiful Esplanade from across the river.

The center of downtown looks very organized, right?







Well, all-in-all I really enjoyed my experience in this Asian country that feels nothing like Asia!

Leaving Thailand

Tomorrow morning I leave Thailand for Singapore!!! I'm excited and scared! I really hope traveling around Singapore will be as easy as Thailand, and hopefully I can go to Malaysia and the Philippines b4 eventually heading back to Thailand....

Mae Sai

Here I am in Mae Sai the northern most town in Thailand and one of the few official crossing points into Myanmar. Its a bit different here for me because its the first time I've been on my own for 3 days in a town with so few western foreigners. But its nice I guess :)

Yesterday I rented a motorbike and drove to the Golden Triangle, the intersection of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. The town there, which is supposed to be a trading place for the 3 countries, was not to exciting.

Looking across the Mekong River at Laos on the right and Myanmar on the Left.

The little boy that kept following me, he wanted to take my picture for 5 Bath, so I took his picture instead and gave him the 5 Bath.

I went to some more caves. Tham Luang. Too bad you can't go through this cave in the rainy season because its flooded... its supposed to be 1 km long...

A cave not too far from Tham Luang.

Ok, and now I'm just going to rant a little about the poor Burmese people that cross the border into Mae Sai. First off, I've already seen plenty of poor people begging the tourist for money, so this is nothing new to me, but the Burmese people here is new to me. There are tons here and its not just one poor person, its entire families begging. Most of the time you get a little kid maybe 4 or 5 years old (maybe 3?) and their moms are not too far off watching with another little infant strapped to their back by a sheet. And you just have to give money or buy food for these people, the little boys' eyes are just too sad :( And then there are the old men that are not just poor and dirty but the are missing multiple arms and legs... And after a while you just can't give any more money because there are way too many of them and all of them are sad. And it just kills me because today I had a little boy begging and I'm not sure if he just had scratches on his hands or some kind of skin disease, but his hands were so scraped up and his face was so sad... (And of course I don't even need to mention he has no shoes.) So I saw his mom nearby (also with a baby) and took them to a food stand near by and she picked out some fried chicken feet and rice, and it cost me what 40 Bath, and what is that to me a little more than $1. Its nothing!! $1!! But at the same time its not really helping these people, tomorrow they will all still be on the streets here begging for money and the little boy's hands won't get any better... And so my $1 was nice and of course I will buy food for people like this again but what good is it???... and it doesn't really help me to rant like this... :(

Northern Thailand

As I've been saying northern Thailand is gorgeous! The forests are so thick and green!

Before I left Pai I took a motorbike trip with a friend to this caving town Tham Lawt (or sometimes called Tham Lod) about 75 km drive.

We passed through a Lisu village on the way there.

Then we took a kayaking tour through the caves. Which was so awesome, our guides were from the village of Tham Lawt and grew up on the river and exploring the caves bare foot. We had to use headlamps and lanterns to see where we were going while kayaking through the caves. Much of the river was white water and then we went over a dam (not inside the cave), I guess it wasn't that high maybe only 3 meters but it still scared the shit out of me... The picture is the exit of the cave. It smelled so bad because every night thousands of birds fly into the caves to sleep, so when you walk through the caves you're walking in 3-4 inches of bird crap, which was the only bad thing about the tour... gross!

The exit of the cave looking out.

The cave was much more amazing than this picture, and maybe I shouldn't post this. My pics didn't turn out well b/c the formations were too far away and too dark for my camera.

This cat became my friend at the lodge we stayed. So cute, I wanted to take her home with me :)

Drive home through the mountains :)

Thailand has stray cats and dogs all over the place. And the kittens and puppies are so friendly! My friend Damian (Switzerland) with a kitten at lunch.

And puppies!

I left Pai (the travellers mecca of Thailand) I think 4 days ago on a local bus heading east. I figured I would get to see a lot more of the Thai culture this way. And its true. My plan was to take the bus toward Chiang Mai and then change buses in Mae Malayah, go north to Tha Ton then take a boat south to Chiang Rai.

Here's what happened. I got to Mae Malayah and had to stay a night because that local bus to Tha Ton stops running after 4pm. Ok, 1 night in Mae Malayah, and nothing to do there the next day, we couldn't even find a taxi to go to the waterfalls. Took a bus tom Tha Ton, a much better town for tourists. And it has a beautiful location of the Mae nam kok river. Stayed there 2 nights (b/c of laundry) and visited this crazy 9 level wat on the mountain side, with huge Buddha statues and wats that look like they will fall off the mountain side.

Also took motor bikes through the mountains and to the town of Mae Salang, a small Chinese community... and the restaurant we ate at had really good food :)

Left: A Paduang village

Right: I think this is a Paduang woman... she was definitely smoking something crazy in that pipe!








The 4th level of the Wat in Tha Ton.

View from the top.


Another of the Buddha statues.

Then we took a bus to Mae Chan, where my friend Damian got off the bus to go south to Chiang Rai, and I stayed on the bus to go north to Mae Sai the northern most point in Thailand and a boarder crossing point to Myanmar. And here I am in Mae Sai the second day :)