Cape Town, South Africa

This is the last post on this blog because I have discovered that this second blog is linked to my first blog and that means that I have not enough space in my album to post photos from our African trip. SO I have a NEW BLOG SITE you can take this link or note the address below.

lilandjohninafrica.blogspot.com

See you there. It will be up and running as soon as John starts posting about his time in Cape Town at the World Cup Soccer.

Tampines, Singapore

I caught the metro to Ling's station and then a bus to her place. She was at work but I was able to chat with her mum and repack the gear I had left behind. Her mum and I sat outside in the open residents' garden area watching the children at play to cool off as the sunset.

Ling finished work at the university early and we headed off to eat at her favourite seafood restaurant and managed to get finished before the rains started.

The next day Ling's mum and I took the metro into Orchard road and ate and she did some shopping at the Marks and Spencers' store and a Japanese supermarket. It rained so hard that we had to jump on the first bus that came to get out of the city. Orchard Road had flooded the previous week so she was a bit wary that it may happen again and we would be trapped.

We bus hopped a few times to get back to the bus routes that she knew and ended up doing a trip around the city and having a good laugh.

That night I headed for the airport to catch my 2am flight to CapeTown to catch up with John, Evan and his boys.

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

After Tioman Island I caught a bus to Johor Bahru and checked into a hotel not far from the Singapore Causeway. I had borrowed a young Australian guys guidebook and looked up where there were hotels in JB. I photographed a couple of pages and was able to refer to them to find a local bus from the intercity terminal. I managed to get directions to the area that has budget hotels from some Muslim schoolgirls who were more than happy to help me out and then giggle about their encounter with an English speaking tourist.

The hotel was quite expensive but the only one I could find with a single room and I had to ask the manager to spray the cockroaches in the bathroom and then ask him to come and sweep up the 20+ dead ones that the ants were starting to eat!

There were lots of street cafes on the footpath so I ate roti and dahl with teh tarik (milk tea) at a Muslim run place under an overpass even though there were mega malls with Mc Donalds and other food courts nearby. The locals were friendlier on the street.

The next day I headed for Singapore. I had to walk to the JB Sentral Complex where I was able to get stamped out of Malaysia and buy a 1 ringgitt ticket for the causeway link bus to Singapore immigration. There were lines of Malaysian heading for various parts of Singapore to work so it was pretty busy and there were lots of people that could help me to find the right buses I needed to get back to Ling's place in Tampines.

Tioman Island, Malaysia

I met a British couple who said Tioman Island was a nice place so I decided to head there. I really wanted to go to Taman Negara National Park but it was raining everyday and the leeches love that kind of weather and I decided that I didn't want to be battling with leeches and would like to do the park another time.

I caught a bus across the middle of the peninsula to the port town of Mersing. I had no guidebook or map so took a guess as where I thought the main CBD was situated and happened upon a tourist office that looked barely finished. I booked into a hotel here that had internet and TV so I could watch the New Zealand soccer team play Paraguay.

There is not much in Mersing to see and do and most tourists don't bother to stay long in the city as they are only here to connect with the ferries to the islands off the east coast.

In the morning I caught the ferry to Tioman Island. I got off the ferry and walked along the concrete path that serves as the local footpath and motorbike and side car highway. I had no bookings but found a cheap wooden chalet across from the beach and checked in there.

I spent a lot of time reviewing my French for our trip to West Africa, chatting with the locals, and walking everywhere I could reach in half a day. In the evening there was a beach bar restaurant with a huge screen showing the World Cup Football games in South Africa so it was a fun place to meet people in the evening.

One day the chalet owner told me to walk across the island to the other side and said there were lots of people on the jungle trail everyday. It was a dull cloudy morning so I set off before the temperatures got to the middle 30s. Not far along the trail I saw a snake cross the overgrown path ahead off me. It was as long as me and about 80mms across with yellow and black markings. At this point i decided it was not a good idea to be walking in the jungle alone as all the people that I had been told would be walking the trail were no where to be seen. I turned to go back the way I had come after watching the snake disappear in to the grass opposite to where he had come from only to discover that he had turned and was headed straight for me with his flickering tongue pointed in my direction. Now I was stuck and didn't want to continue along the path alone and couldn't get back out. I stomped on the concrete path, rattled the fence beside me and threw rocks at him but he wouldn't budge. By now I was bathed in sweat and trapped, hoping someone would appear to frighten him off or tell me he was not a danger, but no one came. He slithered back and forth in a circle in front of me and I just had to wait until he slid off into the grass so the track was clear for me to go back and wait for others to come to join me. After half an hour I gave up and went back to practising my French. That was enough excitement for one day.

The sea is a beautiful colour but the locals just dump the rubbish on the sand, burn it and leave all that cannot burnt to be washed into the sea. The macaque monkeys come down everyday and troll through the litter for food and spread it around the place. The monitor lizards then chase the monkeys away and gobble what they can.

A lot of money is being spent on the area near the airport with a new marina for the fishing boats and water taxis as well as a tiled path along the low tide mark on the beach. I can see this will be wrecked by sea water in no time but someone thinks it is important.

There was a large gathering of people for Sea Week at the Marine Park. There were tents in the park grounds and divers were gathering crown of thorn starfishes, photographing them, and burying them on the beach. I was told these starfish eat the coral and destroy the beds.

Everywhere there are cats. I read that the indigenous Malay cat is born with a crocked tail and there were many of these lazing around any where there was food.