A Wild Rat & Frenzied Cancer's Adventure 2

It was really a fun trip, within 9 days; I have come across 2 cities and 2 countries. I arrived in Guangzhou early morning, then caught the express train to Shenzhen to see my friend, flied to Singapore at 23:45pm, arrived at 4:10am (1 hour delay...), started to explore the town since then, Singapore is such a tiny harbor city, apart from being wowed by the varieties of architecture, (as their land is also lease-hold like China, capital Land, one of the state-owned developers built majority of the high-rises) the view along the Singapore River was worth a visit. Like the iconic snow-white Merlion (actually it's not as snow-white as it looked like, this lion is just photogenic...), Raffle's Plaza, and heaps of Shopping centers adhered from one to another... Well, to a Wild Rat & Frenzied Cancer like me, such a concrete jungle had no difference from Shanghai, except for the slightly fresh air and a dash of tranquility for the sake of weekend... As a backpacker, being well prepared prior to departure is of great importance. I have booked the hostel in Singapore, but unfortunately near the Red Light District as you might have read in my previous article... That area had another name -- Singapore's second ‘famous’ night safari. To my delight, I didn't get the chance to stay there. When I finally located this 'Hostel' with my Singapore Friend, the hostel has already had its name changed, the mobile phone they left on a piece of slip stuck on the wall was out of service. Eventually I settled myself down in another backpacker's lounge situated in the hustling & bustling Little India District. One day in Singapore actually was more than enough to me... since I'm not the frenzy in neither shopping nor fancy nightlife. Singapore is not my taste:-p

I took bus to go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, only 5 hours, the bus and road condition was way better than the time I spent both in Vietnam and Cambodia. Thus 5 hours sounded more like a bonus rather than redundancy. The most tedious place could be KL, I was dropped near China town, the huge contrast almost blew my mind away, the stinky smell of the exhaust, a blaring car horn, and piles of trash in every corner... In a sudden, I started to miss the cleanness and tranquility in Singapore, maybe I was too tired to even bother going to the hostel that I booked (the pivotal reason was I don’t know where it was located to be honest), thus found a nearest hostel, dozed myself off in no time.

I ordered the breakfast from the hostel in the following day, happened to meet an old gentleman with three nationalities who joined me for tea. I was learnt he headed over to KL International Airport as well, as I knew nothing of this area; he kindly escorted me, so that I didn't eventually miss my flight.

My adventure didn't stop yet... I left for East Malaysia, and on the plane met another senior guy who lived in Kuching, the capital in Sarawak I headed for, for the following four days, he offered greatest help that I could never afford to return. I was considerably hectic before I went away for my holiday; I only hatched the specific routes that I was going to follow, but nothing about where I should go and what I should do once I arrived... He genuinely drove me around the town, showed the most special part of this little town, also introduced a good tourist agency to arrange a day tour for me, took me to the local restaurants for house specialty; brought me to meet up with his relatives for chit-chat. The touchiest thing he did was he came all the way from Kuching to Rainforest Music Festival in Sarawak Culture Village (1hr drive) with his cousin and his cousin' wife to pick me up at 0: 00p.m. then I had a nap for a couple of hours in his guest room and he drove me to the Airport at 5:20am. I was deeply moved by his selfless hospitality, when I was on the plane, I almost felt the whole journey in Kuching was just like a dream, but the best dream I’ve ever had, the sincerity from a stranger, beautiful smiles worn on each passer-by's face will be the most cherish memory beyond all the natural beauty in this East part of the peninsula.

It was a marvelous adventure! I should have stayed there for more days; btw, in the end I discovered the senior guy who accompanied me in Kuching used to own half of the land in his city. He was inherited from his great-grandfather who was the best mate of Charles Brook Rajah, the founder of Sarawak, but he never ever showed off his wealth, nor arrogance whatsoever, which makes him even more laudable...