Last days NZ, on to Singapore and Malaysia

My last days in NZ where nice and relaxing. I managed to sell my car to the local garage without all the hassle of spending days in a backpackers car market. Probably would have got more for it selling to backpackers but it was a loss I was willing to take. Instead I spent my precious time by going to see a movie with Trudie, having lunch with Sinead and catching up with Mark, who had just come back from his holidays on the North Island.

Wednesday was my last day and also a big day on the farm. It was the big sheep sell. Grasslands used to bi all sheep and beef but is in the transition to becoming a dairy farm with 6 to 8 dairy units. The auctions started around 1.30. They basically draft about 100 sheep out of one herd and put them in a pen. The brokers go from pen to pen, value the sheep and then the bidding starts. Unfortunately Trudie and I missed almost everything because we where treating ourselves to coffee and something fattening in Darfield! They had predicted that the bidding would go on all afternoon but it only took about 1,5 hours.

The rest of the day the sheep and beef guys would be busy loading the trucks. Quite an emotional moment for some who have worked with the sheep for years. Luckily this also went very smoothly and didn't keep them busy till midnight because there was a bbq and drinks that night. It would have been a bit sad if they all had to work while we were having a good time. Mainly because it was all about them and the ending of an era.

It was nice to catch up with everyone while enjoying a nice Kiwi bbq and drinking my bourbon. Although I felt sad I was also excited because tomorrow a new adventure would start!

Trudie drove me to the airport and all though I have been able to manage the tears till then this was quite an emotional goodbye for me. But we said good bye with "See you soon" so who knows...I might be back!

After a good flight I was able to give to of my friends a very big hug. Nathalie and Tineke were at the airport to pick me up! I was overwhelmed by the heat and humidity and the next day I experienced how it feels to be back in a city of 4 million people. A big contrast to the peace and quite of NZ and especially the Canterbury plains.

The first day we went shopping, off course! What else to do in Singapore. That night one of Nathalie and Brams friends had a birthday party in an open aired lounge bar on the roof of a building right in the center! Really amazing! The next day we chilled out on the beach (nothing compared to NZ I must say, it was a artificial island where the people from Sing come to escape the fumes and crowds) but very relaxing! It was a new very trendy bar with big beds draped with curtains where you could easily fit 4 people. Those were all booked so we went for the "normal" sunbeds.

The next day Tineke and I said goodbye to Singapore and entered Malaysia. We wanted to go straight trough to the Cameron Highlands but all the buses from Kuala Lumpur (KL in the popularised way of saying) were full. So we had to spend one night there. Seeing as the bus would leave from Puduraya bus station and Chinatown is right next to it we went there to look for a hostel. Not a good idea, also because it was probably even more crowded that normal because of Chinese New Year!

It was crazy with people and where Singapore is clean and feels a bit western this was really Asia! We found a hostel and got a room without a window, they had tried to make it look nice by cutting pictures out of magazines and using it as wallpaper. The bathroom facilities are basically a hole in the floor and no toilet paper. You flush by getting a big scoop of water out of a bucket in the corner and throwing it in the hole. And the shower is usually right above the toilet and cold water! This is what I call surviving or maybe I'm just really spoiled with the standards of the hostels in NZ ;-)

Cameron highlands is famous for the tea plantations and the cooler climate! Oh how I loved that, nights where you can actually feel it cooling down and maybe even feel like putting on a jumper. Back home I always complain about the cold but now I realise that I could never live in a country where it is constantly hot. I do love our seasons!

We spent three days there and then left for Langkawi, an island on the west coast near Thailand. We had to overnight in Penang and found ourselves once again in a shabby run down hotel, but ok it was only for one night.

Langkawi was amazing! The hostel was like you would picture paradise. we had our own cabin which was painted tropical blue on the inside. There was a nice communal area and plenty of trees around to feel relatively cool. It was your basic holiday feeling. White beaches, sunshine, clear blue water, dinner on the beach with a beautiful sunset.

One day we rented a motorbike and thanks to plenty of practice on the farm we were off! The feeling of freedom is so great, with the wind trough our hair we drove all day. We climbed up a steep set of stairs to discover the beautiful "7 Wells", starting point of an waterfall, then drove to find a nice and secluded beach. For about 5 minutes we thought we had found paradise but the came the monkeys!

The are truly cheeky bastards and when we wanted to chase them away one of the males looked so scary that instead of us chasing them away, they chased us away. The are cute from a distance but you just don't know how they react so from now on I'll stay clear.

Our last night in Langkawi I couldn't sleep. I had changed my flight and only had 2 weeks left. The plan was to travel one week down the east coast by myself, Tineke was flying home the next day, and then spend one week with Nathalie in Singapore. But stupid me had made these plans without talking to Nathalie and as I turned out Brams parents were going to be there that week. So what to do... in the morning I surprised Tineke by telling here that I was going with here to the airport and would try to catch a flight to Cambodia!

I know, quite impulsive but I think those are the best decisions one can ever make. That's when you follow you're heart because you don't have time to rationalise and consider what others would do or think. So I flew with Tineke to Kuala Lumpur, had to stay there one day which I spend by visiting the Batu Caves, a Hindu temple, and arrived in Cambodia yesterday!

I'm in a great hostel with a deck overhanging the lake, have met nice people, survived my first day wondering the city of Phnom Pehn by myself and are so happy I made this decision!

It seems to be a perfect order to do this trip. It's one step at a time to get used to Asia. First in Singapore it was the weather and so many people, but everything is so western. Then we entered Malaysia where Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist live together, a real cultural melting pot. It feels more Asian but still it's one of Asia's best developed countries when looking at infrastructure and building. Then now Cambodia... My first impression from the sky was that it's very dry and poor. You could see paddocks but everything was burned off. Phnom Pehn has a real small city feeling because there are no high building, no real city center as we are used to in western countries. Every street is equally busy, crammed with little shops, food being prepared everywhere and moto's driving like crazy. I think 2 weeks is enough for me!