36 Hours in Singapore - The first 12 hours

13 November 2012

Unlike the last trip back to Port Moresby, I decided to take the first flight out of Sibu to Kuching this time. From there, I would be able to fly to Singapore and arrive by mid-day. My intention was to give myself time to explore more of Singapore before my flight to Port Moresby at about mid-night the same day.

On the flight from Sibu, I met a friend from JTH who was travelling with two friends to Singapore. During the conversation, I mentioned to her that I would be exploring Singapore but my mobility was quite restricted as I would be carrying my notebook PC, camera and a small bag. She suggested to me that I kept my bags at the left luggage. Though I was aware of the facility at the airport, I have read that it would be expensive. Anyway, on arrival at Changi Airport, the first thing I did was to find the left luggage office.

I felt so light without my hand-carry luggage and PC. I would only be carrying my DSLR camera. Then, I was off to the MRT ticket office to buy my MRT Tourist Pass for unlimited use for a day.

After getting the pass, I was soon on my way to my first destination of Bugis Station. Bugis Station was where I took the wrong exit and got myself lost finding my hostel the first time I ventured into Singapore City on my own nine months back. This time, I came more prepared.

On the way up to the street level from the underground MRT Bugis Station, I was really surprised that there were so many food stalls at the first basement level. I was spoiled for choice, walking from stall to stall to see what were on offer. In the end, I bought nothing and ended up having my first meal at Tong Seng Coffee Shop, which was situated at the corner of North Bridge Road and Liang Seah Street opposite Bugis Junction.

There was nothing of interest to me, so I strolled out of Bugis Junction and walked around the five-foot way. Then, I saw Bugis Street and decided to check it out. It was very crowded and there were many food stalls too!

After about 45 minutes at Bugis Street, I walked back to Bugis Junction. This time, I explored the floors above the street, including Food Junction. Food Junction was so crowded with diners. I did not want to order food at a counter and finding myself without a seat later on. So, I decided to go back to Liang Seah Street for my dinner. This time, I went to Yu Kee Duck Rice, which I later found out was a very famous duck rice franchise in Singapore.

At about 5:50 p.m., I decided to return to the airport. My Tourist Pass was redeemed at the same MRT office at the airport. Later that evening, I found myself queuing alone at the Air Niugini check-in counter. There was no flight that evening, and I did not know that. The flight was on the following day and I was in deep trouble. I had to act fast, to book a place to sleep for the night and to get a new ticket for the flight the next evening.

Fortunately, there was a reservation counter at the airport offering budget hostels and shuttle bus service for people in my situation. I booked myself into the cheapest room available in Singapore from Hotel Reservations (S) Ptd Ltd and took a shuttle bus to the hostel.

Maps and Software for Garmin eTrex 20

In the few months after coming back from Chengdu, I continued to learn new things about Garmin eTrex 20 and BaseCamp, the accompanying software for the PC.

I have also continued to find more resources on the internet, such as maps and software for the eTrex 20 and BaseCamp. For new users, the following would be very useful:

Malsingmaps.com
This was the first website which I know provides free maps of Malaysia and Singapore. I came across this website five or six years back when I got interested in Garmin GPS. That was when my ex-employer bought GPS units for its mapping project.

The original free maps created by a community of Malaysians and Singaporeans

myaseanfreemaps
The MFM map covers the whole of Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak and Singapore and parts of of southern Thailand in detail. However, coverage of waypoints of our ASEAN neighbours is not as extensive. Like MSM, MFM is free.

Another provider of free Malaysian maps, this time with maps of ASEAN countries included

OpenStreetMap
If you need maps, say for Myanmar or the various provinces in China, you are going to have a hard time finding good free img maps. There is one great source I know, and that is OpenStreet Map. It has an extensive database of img maps covering all countries.

The free img maps of all countries on Planet Earth

Besides downloading the img maps directly from the website, users can also request for customised maps. There are four different configurations of the maps that are generated and users can download them from links sent to the users' emails.

JOSM - Java Open Street Editor
Before going on a holiday, I would usually try to find out some details about the places I would be going. For examples, I wanted to know the hostels located near Xinnanmen Bus Station in Chengdu and where the boats were berthed in Nyaungshwe town (near Inle Lake). Google Map was useless in these instances because it neither has the detail nor the waypoints I was looking for. Fortunately, we have JOSM. JOSM will connect you to the OSM website where you can download the waypoints and tracks of the locations you are interested in gpx format. These waypoints could then easily be opened in BaseCamp and transferred to eTrex 20, where they can be used for your navigation during your stay there.

Garmin BaseCamp
The problem with BaseCamp is it opens gpx waypoints, tracks and routes saved in the PC but not the img maps. Img maps can only be opened when the gps unit is connected to the PC USB port.

In order to see the maps on BaseCamp, I have to plug my eTrex 20 to my PC USB port every time I used BaseCamp. This was very troublesome. I later read from a forum a way around this is to store those maps on SD or flash drive and then inserting it to the USB port. BaseCamp will read the maps from the USB drive and display them on its window.

A better way is to request for the customised maps with installers for Garmin BaseCamp from OSM website. The installers will install the img maps on the PC and enable the maps to be opened from BaseCamp without having to connect to the gps unit or SD card or flash drive.

Planning a Sichuan Trip

A friend announced in late July that she will be visiting Jiuzhaigou in October 2013. Yes, she is planning to visit the fairy land of Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan. She asked me for some suggestions on planning her ten day trip there and here are my suggestions, which I hope would also benefit other readers.

1.    Chengdu
1a.    Map of Traffic Inn Hostel and Xinnanmen Bus Station.

  

1b.    Map of Traffic Inn Hostel and Jinjiang Hotel Metro Station.

1c.    Recommended Hostel: Traffic Inn Hostel
The phone number is +862885450470 and the email address is traffic.nihao@gmail.com. It also has a website at http://www.trafficinnhostel.com. You can read more here also.

Traffic Inn lies on Linjiang Zhong Lu (Zhong Lu = Middle Road). Its address is given as No. 6 Middle Linjiang Road ( 武侯区临江中路6号) in my hotel booking confirmation slip.  The gps location is Latitude 30.64513, Longitude 104.07270 (N 030° 38.708, E 104° 4.362).

Do not confuse Traffic Inn Hostel with Traffic Hotel.

Why stay here? It has English speaking staff, is close to Xinnanmen Bus Station which is the hub to all the attractions in Sichuan, is close to the restaurants and convenient stores, is easy to get a taxi at Xinnanmen Station side entrance and is close to a metro station (Jinjiang Hotel metro station).

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

1d.     Recommended Places to Visit or Do
The following are all in Chengdu. You only need about 1 - 2 hours at each place. Go there in the afternoon/ evening after you return from your outstation trips.

• Stroll along the park beside Jinjiang River and soak in the atmosphere of Chengdu. It is also a good place to watch people.
• People’s Park (人民公園) - Go there and have a feel of the Chengdu tea culture. I went there but did not stop for tea. I would make a rather odd figure sitting alone sipping tea. 
• Wenshu Temple (文殊院) - It is famous, but temples being temples, I think you will have enough of the temples already. Anyway, go for the garden within the temple ground and the street food outside.
• Chunxi Road (春熙路) - This is Chengdu's shopping district. I am not into shopping and did not come here.
• Jinli Street (锦里街) and Wuhou Memorial Temple (武侯祠) - Jinli is an ancient street but because of the extensive renovations, it is more modern than old. It is also too neat and clean for me! Jinli Street and Wuhou lie side by side. Give Wuhou a miss. I find it boring.
• Kuanzhaixiangzi (宽窄巷子) - Like Jinli Street, it is more modern than old. Go there if you have nothing better to do in Chengdu.
• There are of course many other places like Dufu Cottage, parks, etc. but they were not in my own itinerary and so I could not recommend them.

1e.     Recommended Food   
My Chengdu friend in PNG (he has since returned to Chengdu) recommended a few must-eat food. However, I did not try them all, partly because I feel squeamish about some of them and because I did not know how to order them. This was what he wrote:

• Intestine Noodle 肥肠粉 (Fei Chang Fen)
• Rabbit Head兔头 (Tu Tou). This is a cold dish. Try it if you are not squeamish about eating rabbit.
• Spicy Beef with Stomach Slice夫妻肺片 (Fu Qi Fei Pian)
• Spicy Chicken Salad 棒棒鸡 (Bang Bang Ji) - also written as Bon Bon Chicken. Tasted ok. This is a famous cold Sichuan dish.
• Zhong Dumpling钟水饺 (Zhong Shui Jiao)
• Hot Pot火锅  (Huo Guo) - Tasted ok. This is the favorite dish of Chengdu folks and the representative Sichuan food.
• Baked Meat Pie 锅盔 (Guo Kui)
• Dan Dan Noodle 担担面 (Dan Dan Mian) - This was very good and highly recommended. It is quite famous too.
• Pig Blood and Pig Inside 毛血旺 (Mao Xue Wang)
• Boiled Fish with Chili水煮鱼 (Shui Zhu Yu)
• Spicy and Pepper Bean curd 陈麻婆豆腐 (Chen Ma Po Dou Fu) - Numbing and spicy. I hate the numb feeling in my mouth. Give it a try. This is after all a very famous Sichuan dish too.

My friend forgot to mention Spicy Diced Chicken with Cashews/ Peanuts宫保鸡丁(Gong Bao Ji Ding). This is also a very famous Sichuan dish. Like Ma Po Dou Fu, I hate the numbing sensation.

2.    Recommended Attractions outside Chengdu
Before flying off to Chengdu, keep yourself fit for the long walk at Jiuzhaigou.

• Jiuzhaigou National Park (九寨沟) - This should be the highlight for all visitors to Chengdu. See the separate section for Jiuzhaigou below.
• Huanglong National Park - I did not go there, mainly because there wasn't any public transportation to Huanglong. There was also no accommodation in Huanglong. With a big group, sharing the cost of a van makes it lighter on the pocket.
• Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛) - This is the largest Buddha in the world. Impressive. Don't miss it. Either climb it or view it from the river. I would suggest that you hire a van to Leshan Giant Buddha, leave your luggage in the van and climb the hill to see Giant Buddha. Then take the same van to Baoguo Village and spend a night or two at Teddy Bear Hotel.
• Emei Shan (峨嵋山) (Shan = Mountain) - If you are buying your bus ticket at Xinnanmen to Emei Shan (the city, not the mountain), make sure that the ticketing officer does not issue you a Meishan (嵋山) bus ticket. Meishan is a totally different destination. On reaching Emei Shan (city) take a taxi to Baoguo Village. Buses going to the three Emei Shan (mountain) bus stations of Wuxian Gang, Wannian and Leidong Ping depart from Baoguo Village bus station. Recommended hostel: Teddy Bear Hotel in Baoguo Village. Read this post from Teddy Bear Hotel
• Dujiangyan (都江堰) and Qingcheng Shan (青城山) (Shan = Mountain) - You can do Dujiangyan and Qingcheng Shan on the same day. Take the metro (= MRT) to Chengdu North Railway Station. From there, take the CRH high-speed train to Dujiangyan. Go to the bus station which is just outside the train exit. Do not be tempted by the cheap offers from the female touts waiting there. Take the public bus to Dujiangyan. The CRH train/ bus station setup at Qingcheng Shan is similar. Read more here
• Panda Research Base & Breeding Centre (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地) - This is after all the home of the cute panda. You cannot miss this. Take a taxi and go early before the feeding time at about 8:45 a.m. Besides the panda, you can find the red panda (firefox), swan, koi, peacock and rose garden within the centre. You can spend half a day here.
• Sanxingdui (三星堆) Museum - This was in my itinerary but I decided to skip it after considering all the hassles of changing buses. Sharing a van with your group members should make it convenient to go and bring down the cost.
• Luodai Ancient Town (洛带古镇) - Go if you like old towns and if you still have the time. There are also a lot of tasty snacks sold here. You can still see locals selling stuff the old ways and dressed in their everyday attires. I much prefer Luodai to Huanglongxi Ancient Town. Half a day here is good enough. Buy your bus ticket at Xinnanmen.
• Huanglongxi Ancient Town (黄龙溪古镇) - Although it is billed as an old town, there is not much "old" traces left. It is more modern than old. Skip it, unless you have nothing else to do.

3.    Jiuzhaigou National Park
3a.    Overcoming Altitude Sickness
I do not really know whether Hong Jing Tian is effective or not. Y, a native of Sichuan, advised me to take it. Indeed, I did not feel any headache while I was in Jiuzhaigou but then again, 3,099 metres elevation at Long Lake or 2,929 metres at Primeval Forest may not have the negative effect on me. On the way from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou, the altitude actually reaches 3,505 meters above sea-level at its highest elevation. That is higher than Vietnam's Mount Fansipan (elevation 3,143 metres). Prevention is better than cure, so I bought myself Hong Jing Tian and took it two days before the trip to Jiuzhaigou.

3b.    To Fly or Take a Bus?
Is it better to fly or take a bus to Jiuzhaigou? I think you should at least take the bus once. The journey will take 10 hours with a slow driver and less with a Formula One driver overtaking other vehicles on mountain roads. The route between Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou is quite scenic. You will pass through Wenchuan, Songpan, etc. The bus ride is very comfortable. If you are prone to travel sickness take a travel sickness pill or two.

If you decide to take the bus to Chengdu from Jiuzhaigou, make sure you buy the bus ticket on the day you arrive in Jiuzhaigou. Print out the accompanying photo below with the ticket office name on it and show it to the taxi driver. Getting bus tickets during the peak season in October is bound to be difficult at the last minute.

3c.    Accommodation in Jiuzhaigou
Initially, I thought of looking for a hostel only upon my arrival in Jiuzhaigou. However, Y advised me to book a room before I arrived. She said that it could be difficult getting a room during the peak season. The hotel rate was very high, until the last week of October. At that time, the price offered by Starway Snow Lotus Hotel had dropped to the level of the budget hostel and so I decided to take it. The down side was the staff at Starway could not speak English and it was two kilometres to the park entrance. Therefore, I have no recommendations to make on where to stay in Jiuzhaigou (more precisely, Zhangzha Village)

3d.    Recommended Scenic Spots in Jiuzhaigou.

If you have two full days (7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.), you can cover all the major lakes and waterfalls. Start your day at either Primeval Forest in Rize Valley or Long Lake at Zechawa Valley. If you don't have two full days, then take the Rize Valley first and cover the rest with whatever time left you have. You need to walk a lot to take in the sights.  

(Click to enlarge)

Buses will not simply stop because you flag them down. They stop to drop off/ pick up passengers only at the bus stops.

My suggestions:

Rize Valley

• Primeval Forest - don't spend too much time here. Walk to Grass Lake, and on the way you will catch your first glimpse of the colourful stream. Take the bus if you are short of time.
• Grass Lake - Average scenery.
• Swan Lake - Average scenery. Take the bus to Arrow Bamboo Lake.
• Arrow Bamboo Lake - if the water is calm and the sky blue, you would be able to take very beautiful photos of the lake
• Arrow Bamboo Falls - Don't miss this.
• Panda Lake - Average scenery
• Panda Falls - Don't miss the fall.
• Five Flower Lake @ Five-Colored Lake @ Colorful Lake @ Peacock Lake (not to be confused with Five Color Pool, which is near Long Lake at Zechawa Valley). This is the most beautiful lake in Jiuzhaigou. It was drizzling when I was there. The water and the sky was less than perfect for photography but the pictures still turned out alright.
• Pearl Shoal - Beautiful scenery
• Pearl Shoals Waterfall - Don't miss this. I missed this because I walked along the road-side trail. Instead of making a similar mistake, walk on the jungle-side trail.
• Mirror Lake
• Nuorilang Falls - this is one of the grandest falls. It lies 210 meters to the center of the "Y", i.e. the Nuorilang Central Station/ Tourist Center. Try to make it to Nuorilang before 3:30 p.m. I reached there when the sun was right behind the waterfall and it was very difficult taking good photos. Use the road-side trail.

Zechawa Valley

• Long Lake - It is quite nice but taking photos during late morning (about 11:00 a.m.) is frustrating because you will be pointing your camera right at the sun. That is the time when it rises above the mountains in the horizon. It is better to come earlier in morning or go late in the afternoon. Walk to Five Color Pool.
• Five Color Pool - The water is amazingly clear and blue. It is incredibly beautiful but if the sunlight is too strong, the reflection will make it difficult to take good pictures. Take the bus to Zechawa Tibetan Village.
• Zechawa Tibetan Village - You can't avoid coming here because you will be asked to alight here by the bus driver (during mid-day only??). Walk to Nuorilang Central Station/ Tourist Centre.
• Nuorilang Central Station/ Tourist Centre - Here, there is a huge building housing restaurants and souvenir stalls. Buses going to the different valleys are not centralised in one spot at this station but at different bus stops within the station ground. Take the bus to Shuzheng Lake/ Tibetan Village and give Rhinoceros Lake and Tiger Lake a miss.

Shuzheng Valley

• Rhinoceros Lake - Give it a miss, whether you have the time or not
• Tiger Lake - Give it a miss, whether you have the time or not
• Shuzheng Tibetan Village - If you have never been to a Tibetan Village, spend a little time here. You will also find that most of the houses have been turned into souvenir shops. Cross the road to Shuzheng Lakes.
• Shuzheng Lakes and Waterfalls - Do not miss this. Walking from the lakes to the falls is a really amazing experience. The water crushing over the many small falls is amazing and beautiful. The main Shuzheng Waterfall is just average in scenic beauty. Take the bus to Sparkling Lake.
• Trail between Sparkling Lake and Double Dragon Lake - Walk along the path linking the jungle- side trail and the road-side trail and you will be rewarded with the gel-like look of the water flowing down from Sparkling Lake to Double Dragon Lake.
• Double Dragon Lake to Reed Lake - If you have the time, walk along the jungle trail from Double Dragon Lake to Reed Lake. The walk is quite long and the scenery slightly above average at certain portions of the walk. There were not many people on the trail when I was here.
• Reed Lake - during autumn, the tall reed has all turned brown.
• Bonsai Shoals - average beauty and the last stop.

You can read more about Jiuzhaigou here, here and here.

Happy Jiuzhaigou trip and post lots of photos on FB when you are there!

Land of the Unexpected ... and here is why!

PNG prides itself as the Land of the Unexpected. The people behind the slogan must have thought of it as something cool to attract visitors to the country. However, expats living and working here are using that slogan to explain to their new foreign friends the culture shocks they experienced. Here are some typical "shocks".

The article that got me started with the collection of news that seems to happen only in PNG was my in-laws get upset when I beat my wife. Well, what do you expect from the Land of the Unexpected?

It must be tough to be a wife in PNG. Click to enlarge the article

It is also a land where you find a priest beating up his security guard, in an assault that lands three in court. This must be his way of teaching forgiveness and love. I suppose that this happens only in this Land of the Unexpected. Now you know!.

A priest teaching hands-on violence! Click to enlarge the article

PNG is a country known as one of the most dangerous place to live in. So far, I have kept silent on negative reports about PNG because I did not want to add more bad news to what is already out there on the world-wide web. It brings no benefit to anyone. However, I guess it is now time for me to give a more balance view of PNG.

The lawlessness in PNG can be attributed to pure criminal acts, tribal fights and century-old tradition of payback killings and witch-hunting.

In payback killing, it is alright to kill an innocent person from a rival clan or village. Click to enlarge the article

Criminal acts occur in all countries and in PNG, most incidents are not reported in the public media. It is extremely common in Port Moresby. Tribal fights and the ensuing payback killings and compensations payments are frequent occurrences too, almost always involving tribes from the highland regions and occasionally with the coastal peoples.

Coastal peoples always mention that highlanders like Tari, Engans, Chimbu, Wabag and Central people like Goilala are lawless people. They fear and dislike them. I don't think such generalisation is fair to them but that is the common perception among the coastal peoples. Go back home to your land, said one peace-loving highland reader to his fellow highlanders.

Tribal fights among highlanders are common. Click to enlarge the article

People would not expect the son of a PM to commit crimes. A five million Kina compensation demand on Somare was made when his son attempted to shoot the governor of East Sepik Province. We don't expect this to happen elsewhere but what is new in the Land of the Unexpected. For readers who do not know, Somare was the serving Prime Minister at that time.

Paying compensation to solve disputes. Click to enlarge the article

What do you expect from the cops or disciplinary branches of the government of a lawless country? You can expect police to be lawless too, such as the time when they put up a police blockade. Police beating up police is quite common here.

Police vs police happens regularly in PNG. Click to enlarge the article

On the prison front, you can expect correctional services officers to lock out their boss over unpaid allowance. This would never happen elsewhere.

Insubordination is accepted in the disciplinary forces. Click to enlarge the article

There is enough lawlessness in PNG. Corruption is another major problem. Ask anyone who has been stopped by the traffic police or who deals with government departments. If given half a chance to siphon off public money, the bureaucrats would do it without hesitation. Who to blame for the 10% cut game?

Almost every bureaucrat is a Mr. 10 percent. Click to enlarge the article

When corruption is of epidemic proportion, what is there left for the ordinary people of PNG? Nothing! They have to endure poor infrastructure and poor medical facilities.  Even the capital city of Port Moresby needs ambulances. Can you believe that? The government did not even have money for an ambulance! In fact, there are only two ambulances in Port Moresby, one provided by St. John's Ambulance and the other by Pacific International Hospital. Tough luck for people in emergencies finding both ambulances unavailable!

Port Moresby is probably the only city in this world without a public ambulance service. Click to enlarge the article

The corrupted are so bold. They even dared to cheat an elected MP by giving him a worthless cheque and fleecing him of K10,000. Talking about boldness! Nobody can measure up to the Papuan New Guineans in term of boldness.

Fooling an MP! Click to enlarge the article

The ordinary folks have somehow learnt from their corrupted bureaucrats on how to make easy money. Just be creative. For example, make a demand for K12,000 compensation for a dead cat if someone caused its death, say when it was hit on a highway.

A dead cat was worth a lot of money in PNG. Click to enlarge the article

Anyway, let's forget about all this negative news for a while. In this Land of the Unexpected, it is better to be seasonal fruit pickers in Australia. When farm workers return, they will be treated with great honour. They would be garlanded and welcomed home by none other than the Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations himself and feted to a dinner. I am not sure whether the Minister is encouraging more graduates to be seasonal farm workers or not.

It's better to be fruit pickers than doctors. Click to enlarge the article

If you are still thinking of visiting PNG, we would like to welcome you to the Land of the Unexpected. Just expect the unexpected.