Jimmy's weblog

Since I last wrote to most of you, I’ve moved from Stockholm to Singapore
via Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian jungle. Four more different places, I
could not imagine.

After having repeatedly complained that I hadn’t visited him for far too
long, Nick went and badly broke his leg three days before I arrived. He
was incapacitated for my entire stay there, and will remain that way for
quite a few weeks to come. He probably hasn’t told anyone about the
break, and if he has, I’m sure he had a good story about being chased by
a polar bear or the like. Let me be the first to tell the truth - he
slipped on some ice while walking in the woods.

Despite that, Sweden was good fun, and it was great to catch up with
Nick. Three timezone changes in five days (San Francisco / New York /
Stockholm) confused the hell out of my body and I never really adapted to
Swedish time during my stay. Bedtime was around seven most nights, and I
didn’t sleep in past five on any morning. I’ve got a few good night
photos of Stockholm as I was out and about most mornings before six.

Needing a change of weather, Kuala Lumpur was my next port of call. It
wasn’t all smooth sailing on the way - my plan from Stockholm to Vienna
didn’t like the heavy snow and we spent two hours on the tarmac before
the flight was cancelled resulting in a five hour wait at the airport. I
was rerouted to KL via Copenhagen and Bangkok which added another few
hours to my journey.

KL is like a kind of anti-Stockholm. It’s extremely hot and humid, there
are no footpaths in most places and the drivers are completely chaotic
and only stop for red lights when they feel like (imagine Volvo drivers
on speed and you’ll get the idea). It’s also very cheap which was a nice
change from my previous destinations.

I spent four days there celebrating Chinese New Year before I decided it
was time to chill out a little. A three day trip in to the Malaysian
jungle proved to be just the thing for a change of pace. Boat rides on
the river, rafting in tyre tubes and a couple of short treks through the
jungle were some of the highlights, as was meeting a lot of great people.
The one lowlight was the high price of beer, mainly due to the fact that
we were in a completely Islamic tiny town. My drinking partners (you
know who you are!) and I still managed a few, but not as many as we would
have liked.

After much too short a time, I was headed back to civilisation with three
fellow conspirators in tow. The four of us had an eight hour wait for
night trains, so we planned a pub crawl though another small Islamic
town. We found only two places serving beer, and we only visited one,
but the beers were cheap enough and plentiful enough to make the wait
most enjoyable. Thanks to Mariken (did I spell your name correctly?) for
her (sort of patient) tuition of how to play the card game “Shit head”,
and thanks to Elissa, Cindy, and Mariken for ensuring that they were by
far the biggest “Shit head” losers. ;-) I look forward to our return
date in Melbourne sometime in April.

The fun ended quickly when I boarded the night train to Singapore.
Having planned ahead as well as I normally do, I found that with no
notice I couldn’t get a seat on the train. This meant having to jump on
and sit wherever I could find a spot - this sounded fine in abstract
(after all, I’m a hardcore backpacker aren’t I?) but in reality it
absolutely sucked. I shared my train doorway with four other people and
have never spent a more uncomfortable night in my life.

Comfort levels rose when I checked in to my hostel in Singapore. To my
surprise, for the first time since I left Sweden, a warm shower, a
non-pit toilet as well as toilet paper greeted me when I opened my door.
Needless to say the train ride was quickly forgotten as I had my first
decent shower in nine days. Unfortunately my clothes still stink, but I
only have two days of my trip left. Too late to start caring now.

Today was spent walking around Singapore which is the cleanest city I’ve
ever seen, as well as having the most efficient public transport
imaginable. It also comes with heat and humidity that outdoes even KL -
something I never though could be possbile. It’s been a hot and tiring
day, so now I think I’ll just relax by the side of my hostel’s swimming
pool. Ah yes, it really is a tough life for this jungle adventurer.

To my new backpacker friends, keep enjoying your travels and I look
forward to hearing updates as well as catching up with a few of you when
you visit Melbourne. To my Melbourne friends, don’t work too hard, as it
will remind me that I’m back at work in two days, with a month of work to
catch up on. I’m not looking forward to the transition from holidayer to
employee.