Kutching

The trip down to Kutching was much longer than I had thought. Had an unexpected stopover in Sibu when my bus arrival was later than the only boat departure of the day. Sibu is a port town with a Chinese temple. But it really didn't make up for the day I lost that could have been spent in Bako, the park everyone has been raving about since I arrived in Borneo. Like everywhere else, I'll just have to go on my next trip! Seems the places I want to visit are adding to my list and not being scratched off! Had an exciting stop by the Polis (the Malay-English spelling is great!) who were looking for illegal immigrants.

Kutching is a peaceful, relaxed city on the Sarawak river. So relaxed that I seemed to have a problem keeping my eyes open. Could it be 4 months of travel is tiring me out? Or maybe it was all the food I ate. Ramsay (the artist I met a couple months ago in KL) just happened to be at his Kutching gallery when I arrived. He invited me to join his brother and wife to see the outskirts of the city. We drove to a Malay village on the other side of the river and ate seafood... my favorite being the salty, crispy, muscle omelette! After my 3rd attempt at eating crabs, I think I'm starting to get the grasp of the whole process. Jungle ferns, ochre and lady's fingers, we had a feast. Then got in the car to find an ais dessert--what is this name? Shaved ice on top of red beans (and an option of green jellies), sitting in coconut milk. Not bad but I was about to burst. P

Kenyah Longhouse Part 2

It's been a few days now, I'm starting to forget the details! I must include the second night of festivities. Olong Ulu means "upriver people" and Kenyahs are one of these groups. One of their traditional dances has each person performing individually as either a warrior (men) or a hornbill (women). My past never included flying or dancing, never mind being graceful! I think I would have been much better suited to the warrior capturing dinner with a few taekwondo kicks. So the men with a sword in one hand and the sheild in another, with a few shaking stomps on the floor, captured their prey in their hornbill coat. And the women with upright feathers on the head and feather pom poms in the hands, slowly turned, bending closer to the ground and up again, arms flying away.

Once the dance has been danced, someone else offers them (not that you have a choice) a shot of rice wine called tuak. It's simple ingredients are sugar, yeast and rice. White rice makes white tuak and burnt rice makes red. For some reason I was offered 2 glasses, one of each kind. There was only one older man to refuse the wine because of heart conditions. It just so happened I was the offerer which meant I had to drink his shot! A few of us had personalized songs sung to us. It was completely not in English, but the beaming smile of the singer, the interested audience around, sitting on a wooden longhouse veranda with a few candles glowing our only light, in the middle of the jungle, made for a deeply moving experience. It ended with a glass of tuak. Yes, another drunk night.

The morning started with some unstraight walking and a chicken ceremony. Which included (you guessed it), a glass of tuak. Back upstream the river we had come down 2 nights ago, we collected a couple durian on the way and headed for Long San. The larger town was not as traditional as Long Moh, but contained so many beautiful murals. Flowered pictures above the hotel room doors, black and white mirror images, the Malaysian flags of each state. Children played football and hung in trees and waved hello. There was an electric orange sunset over the river. The evenings plan was to party at a longhouse, however a recent death in the village meant 2 weeks without ceremony.

Back to Miri, the last couple days already seemed so far away. This was a glimpse at a fading culture as the younger generations prefer to study and work in the cities. Hopefully the future will bring more tourism to keep their tribes alive. But will tourism make the dances less genuine and their lives more dependable on the modern world? I suppose no matter how many animal species and tribes that become extinct, the world will continue to go through it's metamorphosis. Hope lies in the people who don't want change and put effort towards preserving what we still have. P

Niah National Park

A 4km trek to see the two caves was much easier than it could have been, not having to touch the natural ground. A raised wooden boardwalk had black lizards racing across it, beautiful mosses growing between the planks and long red millipedes that I first noticed when I was about to grab the rail, and then decided against it. A procession of 5 men passed by with heavy bags of gauno on their backs. It can be used for fertilizer, the other uses I'm not sure of. Niah is also well known for nests, that harvesters collect for the Oriental restaurants to make their special birds nest soup. Yum, I've always wanted to eat noodley strands of bird saliva!

The great cave was grand, a huge cavern, the rock surface covered in greens and reds. This is where a human skull was found aged 40,000 years old! Further inside was a narrow tunnel that led to the interior of the massive cave. Intensely white holes above let streams of sun pour through. Bats screetched and flickered as they circled in and out of the light. It was pitch black, I'm glad the fading batteries of my rental flashlight held out! Dark shadows whipped by infront of me, the indented ceiling only a few feet above my head had bats hanging upside down. How they hold onto such a smooth surface amazes me. I searched for paintings hidden within the darkness, but the only markings were white scratchings trying to cover up the "W.K. heart P.L." (haha!) graffiti. The real drawings were at the next cave over, proof cave men had lived there so many years ago. It was exciting, even though the reddish paint had faded, and the cave was quite dark, and the barbed wire and chain link fence were infront, AND it was 10m away! But still fascinating.

I have just been inspired by an Australian artist. John showed me his travel sketchbook and has made the effort (I had intended to make myself!), of making 1 painting each day. P

Kenyah Longhouse Part 1

I just came back from an incredible excursion within the interior jungle of Sarawak. So much has happened, I'm filled with so many thoughts and events, I'm not sure it will all fit into this entry.

I was gratiously accepted to join a group that had arranged a trip to visit a traditional Kenyah tribe. A dozen of us packed into three 4x4's to drive a full day along the rough, twisting, mountainous, dirt road. Beautiful black and green Rajah Brooks fluttered past (Malaysia's national butterfly). The perfectly straight, tall Tualang trees (I think I got this right!) loomed above the main forest canopy. A man posed for our photographs with his freshly hunted wild boar. A happy couple stood with one of his arms around her and the other holding a blow pipe. The smiling woman sentimentally shook my hand and motioned "from my heart to yours".

The main highway deviates from all rules of driving. Left and right applies when the hand painted arrows direct which side of the road you need to drive on when ascending a hill or turning a bend. Sometimes there is only one track when the mud is too slippery. Or a stop to wait for a logging truck to pass by. The ends of the bridges had stacked tires on each side to bump into if the car happens to sway. Fortunately the road were in good condition (considering) for us!

After an evening longboat ride from Long San to Long Moh, we arrived in the small village Usun grew up in. We entered her longhouse that she had not seen in six years. We were greeted with introductions, delicious food, traditional songs and dances, and A LOT of highly alcoholic rice wine! The girls were invited to wrap rice in banana leaves which is so much harder then it looks. Everyone went to bed drunk and slept soundly until the early cockling of the screetching chickens.

The day started with a trip to the newly cleared rice paddy. The trees are burned down which left the steep slope covered in fallen, charred logs. The men start at the bottom poking holes in the ground with their sticks and the women follow, baskets of rice on their backs, precisely throwing several grains into each hole. The sun was hot, the bees swarmed and we were accidently and purposefully covered black in soot. After a well deserved wash in the rapids, roasted chicken scewered and set upon on a BBQ constructed with slats of bamboo, and boar steamed inside a hollow section of bamboo, we were happily content and satisfied! To be continued... P

Into Sarawak

"The first real sight of the Borneo kingfishers was equally startling. Brighter than any illustration could ever be, apparently radiating blue and orange from its back and stomach all around itself into the background of green..." Into the Heart of Borneo, Redmond O'Hanlon

I have started reading this book at the same time I am actually seeing and relating to these amazing things he writes about. P

Warning about the youth hostel in Brunei

Arhugh!!! Of all places, I was the victim of a theif in Brunei! Even Lonely Planet states it is comparably safe to the rest of Asia because most people are wealthy enough to not need a backpackers old stuff. I'm going to write them not to reccommend this place anymore. The one budget accommodation in the city is a youth hostel dormitory. The dorms were strictly separated into women and men rooms. However something is going ary where the men in charge freely roam into the women's side to request fees or whatever. One girl caught a couple of them peering through into her shower! And our room had been rummaged through by someone and all my belongings were scattered across my bed. One girl had a shirt missing that was replaced with one of the theives. I had a change purse (Lisa, the one the matches yours!) stolen, but even more maddening, all my photo cd's. Those are the most important possessions I have of this trip and they have been taken by someone who will get no value from them at all. He has taken all my memories! I made copies of each and sent them home, I just hope they make it. P

Thailand to Borneo Photos

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Originally uploaded by Art Journey.

More new photos! From a green snake in Thailand to the beautiful flora, fauna and friends in Sabah. P

Boat, Mosque, Museum

Kampung Ayer (means 'water village') edged the shores and also had a cluster of houses in the middle of the river, creating an island. Laura (Italian, living in Holland, also 29) and I proudly bargained down the boat driver from $20 BND for 1 hour down to $10. But this isn't Malaysia anymore and the consequence was a really fast drive-by view in half an hour! Maybe the photos will not be great but it was great to see a whole community of homes, stores and schools for 30,000 (half of the city!) people built on stilts. Plus driving through the natural AC was relieving on this really humid day.

Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque (had to check that name!) is the largest in the country and is expensively beautiful. Intricately carved wooden doors, mosaic tiled fountains, the circular stained glass above... and then we were told we should not enter until after 5pm. Which actually worked out since these two quick glimpses gave us the opportunity to see the museum as well. The Islamic Arts section was full of illuminated Qurans and decorated sabers, ceramics and fabrics. There was the oil gallery and others too but at that point they had already closed and we were told to leave yet again. So that was my whirl-wind tour of Bandar Seri Begawan! P

Brunei

The first thing I saw pulling up into the harbour were all the oil rigs. The mark of Brunei, the wealth it is known for and the main industry many survives on. I spoke with Ramil, Philipino, on the bus ride to Bandar. He is trying to find a job here and was returning from KK to have a medical exam for applications. The second thing I saw, as he pointed out, were all the huge, extravagant houses lining the highway and the shiny new cars on the road. Apparently the rich own a couple cars each and build all these houses, many of which remain empty because there are not enough people to fill them. He asks, "Why do they need all of this?! 2 or 3 is good, but 12 is too much!" My expectation of the capital, BSB, was to see a busy, crowded city with a downtown core of high skyscrapers. However, it turns out, the population is only just over 60,000 and the high percentage of Muslims make it a non-alcoholic, cafe-drinking, safe, quiet and pleasant atmosphere. All the young people drive to Labaun or KK in Sabah or Miri in Sarawak to have a night life! I am excited to see the mosques and (another) stilt village tomorrow. P

Pulau Labuan

The museum had an excellent miniture creation of the Patau-Patau Water Village. All of the houses are built on stilts with raised, wooden pathways connecting them all together above the water. I went this morning to explore and discovered all the wooden planks were replaced with concrete walkways, which even had railings! It seemed very unfortunate for my aesthetic tastes, however, it is much more practical for the residents who live there. One man told me it took them 6 months to build and it's an improvement from before. Almost every house had dozens of plants lining their property. The man was very proud to point out his small mango and apple tree that beared no fruit. I wanted to ask him more questions but he kept responding with a "Yes" which meant he didn't really understand what I was saying. In such a small village, there were so many children and each one either jumped to say hello or just laughed at me hysterically! P

Sukau

Well the homestay wasn't what I expected (it's a B&B), but still had a great time. Was immersed among avid insect-bird-animal watchers and I love nature even more than before. There was so much to see, including some rare animals that are unique only to Borneo. My first glimpse of a truly wild orang-utan was a dark clump in a tree about 100 metres away. At 6am it was just waking up with the sun rise and for a few seconds I saw it swing from it's nest and climb down the trunk. Our guide on the night boat cruise was excellent and would quickly scan the dense forest with his flood light and suddenly stopped when he found animals that took me sometimes a long moment to spot once the light was on it! There were a couple owls who looked back at us with wide, round yellow eyes. A beautiful blue eared kingfisher sleeping on a branch. The flying fox hanging in a tree, walking, and then flew away. The gulping, fat frog that took me the longest to spot as he looked like one of the stones he sat on. The reflection of 2 tiny lights on an aligator in the river, the reason most animals and humans do not swim in the murky water. Groups of dancing fireflies. And an evil giant, black bee that stung me on the neck. It was so painful for the rest of the evening, as though it kept stinging me over and over again. My whole neck was stiff the next day but it's fine now. I realized there's no way I'd survive in the jungle!!

The morning cruise was even more spectacular which included a long monitor lizard, a curled mangrove snake in a tree, a couple swimming otters, and numerous birds. In the sunlight, the kingfisher has a brilliant shiny blue back and bright orange tummy. The monkeys were exciting to watch, within a small area we saw 3 species of probosis, gibbons, long tailed and pig tailed macaques. The male probosis is so unusual with it's long nose. I think it must have been inspiration for the creation of the muppets! I saw 3 out of the 8 species of hornbill birds. The best was the rhinoseros hornbill, which can grow to 1 metre in length and has a red-orange horn on top of it's beak. They are so huge, they rock an entire tree when they land in it. 4 oriental pied hornbills landed in the tree only metres from us and gorged themselves on the papayas. A butterfly later landed on the open fruit to taste some of the leftovers. The cycle of life! Unfortunately my camera is terrible at long distance shots as most of the wildlife I had to view through binoculars. But it was so amazing to spy in and watch nature go about it's daily routine.

The small peice of primary jungle I saw was packed with life. But everyday, acres of land are being burned down and cleared to plant palms for palm oil. The plantations are everywhere and are taking away one of the only places you will find virgin forest. Like everywhere else, animals are decreasing, but as the forest gets smaller, the space left for them to go on this island is limited. P

Sandakan

In the afternoon I have been here I have seen the least number of tourists than in any of the other cities I have been in Malaysia. About 5. I ate roti serat (vegetable pancake with 2 types of curries), but not until almost every person in the restaurant had a chat or at least a look at me. Ana is Philapino and was my waitress and took a good interest in my hand sanitizer. Fadila has 3 children and makes an effort to welcome all of the foreigners to her town. The girl cleaning the glass next to my table, wasn't really looking at the window. Every mouthful I ate was watched by whoever could see. It was funny! Or I had to think that so as not to let myself get too self conscious.

I have signed up for a homestay in a village on the Sungai Kinabatangan (the longest river in Sabah). Tomorrow I will live a couple days with a family in the jungle! I don't expect there will be internet? P

Mt. K. Close Up & Poring

Wow! Kinabalu was very moving. Well, it itself did not move, but the clouds around quickly swept towards it from below in Crockers Range and totally engolfed the mountain. One moment it was this cold, hovering rock in clear view and the next it was invisible. Helena and I walked a trail that led us to a view point of the tall waterfall pouring down one side. Right before sunset, the light turned the leaves, flowers and clouds a warm orange. We were high enough to see some clouds almost skim our heads as they sped by quickly above us. The rest of the clouds rolled in giving me loads of options for so many photos and videos! Truely spectacular. I am satisfied even after not seeing the view from the very top.

Next was Poring Hot Springs which had some outdoor sulphur baths. Not exactly what I anticipated but the warm water felt great. The tropical and orchid gardens were filled with colourful insects, exotic flowers, interesting pitcher plants and curling vines around twisted trees. Every branch on the canopy walk made me paranoid thinking it could be a tree snake. The only thing I saw in the trees was a guy swinging from one of the vines. And I think the ape sounds made by the tourist group behind me would have scared them away anyway! Jackie the orang-utan, didn't even make a noise. She was lonely and just had her mind set on the male a few hundred metres away. She swiftly climbed up a trunk, hung with one arm from a branch to get a better view, and then swung tree to tree towards him. There was a huge variety of bugs and moths (and 1 bat) in the hostel's kitchen, which was many more species than the 3 I saw in the butterfly garden.

I'm so glad to be on the internet again, I almost died, it's been more than 4 days!

Mount Kinabalu From a Distance

Well, there was more rubbish than wildlife to see at the bird sanctuary, but there was an amazing view of Mt. Kinabalu! In the distance was a line of mountains and a cluster of white clouds above, which I thought included a darker cloud. The rented binoculars finally came in useful at that point when I realized it was the mountain peaking out and up from behind. It's the highest mountain in South East Asia standing at over 4,000 metres tall. It's shape doesn't ascend to a single peak like a regular mountain shape. It has several angled granite slabs cutting into the air. Almost every traveller who comes here is going to hike the 2 day climb. I hear it's much harder than the volcano I climbed in Nicaragua which I found difficult. I've decided to decline this once in a lifetime opportunity and admire it's beauty from below. Tomorrow I'll go, take a few pictures, maybe paint one too and think about what the exercise could have been like while skipping that part and going straight to the hot springs! Actually I would really like to do it but I had decompression sickness from diving and the effects are still lingering. If anyone was to get altitude sickness it would probably be me! I would also love to be diving as well as I am passing through the best diving sites in the world. However my body seems to prefer air pressure at ground level :) P

Kota Kinabalu

Lately there has not been too much to say because I've been in transport on many buses, taxis and a plane the last few days. Now I'm in Borneo! The amazing view from the short flight over looked like a painted map. The small islands were solid green with a sand coloured border outlining each shape. I'm in the capital, but still tiny city of Kota Kinabalu. I've already seen all the markets (lots of dried sea cucumbers that I have seen snorkling), museum (beautiful costumes of Sabah's tribes), art gallery (a bit uninspiring) and the clock tower. It is so refreshing to be back in Malaysia, the people are so friendly, they talk to me for no reason. I was crossing the street and a young guy passed and said "Have a good day mame". The waiter at the restaurant offered to show me around the handicraft market during his break between 2 shifts. A couple of the girls on a school trip at the museum saw me sketching a costume and said "HI!" When I replied with my hi, the rest of the class individually said hi to me and I ended up repeating the word as many times as there were children in the group. They were so excited and ended up doing the same thing when I approached the stairs to go down and was followed with a chorus of bye, bye, bye!!! That really made my day actually!

And more wildlife to report. I was a bit annoyed to be stuck on a top bunk, but was completely grateful this morning when I woke up to the entire bed trembling. I asked the girl down below if she was ok, and she said that a mouse just ran across her. On closer inspection there was a huge rat running amongst our stuff on the floor! He ran away once the door was opened, but hopefully will not return. Oh, and I still feel a mild guilt for the cleaner who will discover those 2 cockroaches under the pail in Koh Phangnan! P

awol_sqft

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Originally uploaded by Art Journey.

In Toronto, there will be 500 paintings by 500 different artists... check it out! P

It's war!

Last night I came home to discover a new cockroach, much bigger than the other, scurrying around the bathroom. There is a step down onto the tiles which made it run in circles unable to escape. There is a bucket of water with a smaller pail inside which is used to pour water down to flush the toilet. I grabbed the small pail and dropped it upside down to trap the thing inside. I heard it bump into the plastic a few times before it stopped, realizing there was no way out. Then another one came! It looked like the culprit that bit me the other day and he seemed to be in search of his friend. Tracing the familiar smell, he located the bucket and circled it. His slow pace gave me the opportunity to trap him inside too!!! So who knows if they're mating and making more, or fighting each other, dying of starvation, or just sleeping. I'd like to get the pail back to make flushing a bit easier but I think it's more important to teach those guys a lesson! AH HA!!! No more messing with me, I win, you lose, I'm in control, don't fight back or you will DIE!!! I have a plan that is "thoroughly thought through" (The Star's Tennis Balls, Stephen Fry). Ah ha ha haaaa... I think I'm losing it, the sun is getting to me or that book really messed with my mind. P

Beach Bums

I have decided that I cannot leave Koh Phangnan without experiencing the full moon party. So I will be living the beach life amoungst immature, drunk, drugged, early twenty-somethings for a week. Although there are a few who have surprised me by straying from the usual groups of girls who all wear the same frilly mini skirt or sarong wrapped exactly the same way. Or the boys who lie on their towels pretending to read, but really getting a long glimpse of the topless sunbathers. It's all so much funnier when you have someone to laugh about it with. Thank God for Angela who caught me wandering aimlessly and asked me to join her for drinks at her empty table. I've never agreed to anything so fast in my life! Finally another single traveller! I'm convinced all the girls make a pact with eachother to never be seen alone or to talk to girls outside their group. Angela and I like to believe it's because they don't want our competition. Haha, got to make yourself feel better somehow in difficult times! We took the Magic Reggae Boat Tour yesterday and found out Reggae wasn't referring to fun music on the boat, but some freshly rolled smokes passed around. I've heard there are tonnes of undercover cops looking to make arrests the night of the party, so I'm not risking anything.

I had planned to tell people I'm 24 if they happened to ask. Just so I can blend in a little more and avoid the "Oh my God, you're so old!" expressions. But the ones who know me a bit better have already seen my slightly older mannerisms. They even guess more than 18 to 22. More like 26 now! Is it possible I'm looking more my age? Oh no! P

More Ugly Creatures and a Thought

I had the nastiest wake-up call this morning at about 3am. There was a tiny pinch on my right side and I immediatetly searched in complete darkness for the light switch behind the mosquito net. Beside me twitched a brown cockroach, ew, yuk, ah! I yelped (been doing that a lot lately with all these crazy bugs and animals) and stood up and scared him away behind the bed. There was no use in getting him outside because the little bungalow huts always have gapping holes everywhere to the outside. Out came the electrical tape and I patched every little hole I could find. I was so freaked out from ugly sudden awakening that I tucked the net under the mattress just to be sure nothing could crawl inside. Drapping the net over the bed just isn't good enough anymore! I kept the light on for the rest of the night.

I have written a lot about my problems, scary events and negative situations on this trip. The only reason being, these are the most interesting things to tell! In retrospect it is usually funny (except cockroaches which are never amusing), or a learning experience. On the other hand, I wonder if I do not write enough about the amazing people I meet, the genuine acts of kindness or the beautiful landscapes in every city? I have found that traveling is not like a vacation. It's just like living at home except I'm in many places, where I cannot escape the personal ups and downs, goods and bads, satisfying and frustrating situations. I just do not want to give any of you the wrong impression of the countries I visit. This is only one opinion. I only hope to entertain you with my story of stories. P

Koh Phangan

Oppositely from Koh Tao, I placed myself in the middle of the most touristy places in Thailand. A beach town that has become famous from it's full moon parties that started as a birthday bash back in the 80's. I went to the beach where all the people lay and all the people kept to themselves. I am among many people but still have nobody to talk to :( Oh, except for the Thai guys handing out flyers for FREE LADIES NIGHT and a ROCKIN BOAT RIDE. I swam in the water and felt prickly all over. Heard there are some little bugs that swim in schools and bite you, I wonder if that was them calling on me? Then I started reading my new book which is really exciting! I drew some boats but got bored of that because I did that yesterday. My feet got figity and started playing around in the sand. The mound grew into a turtle and he turned out pretty cute. I hoped this was my chance for some charming young man to come over and distract me from my sand sculpture. No, but there were many women trying to sell grilled corn and a boy who passed by several times saying 'mango, watermelon, pineapple'. I think he started getting bored because later in the day he was making the perfect imitation of a motorcycle motor! P

Tsunami Photos

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Originally uploaded by Art Journey.

New photos to see! Here is an example of the destruction of the tsunami. Also some sketches...

The Lizards and I

I am jealous that the guesthouse next door is full. I'm in this strange situation where the owner, Pu, has decided to go to her hometown for a day and 2 nights. She made an appointment with the bank in Saran Thani. She even invited me to go with, to a temple and hot springs, but I will end up there eventually, and didn't want a repeat of the KL incident (I'm doubtful of that though). She said her lady-boy friend would come in the morning before my taxi arrived to take care of the place while she is gone. He never came. Either did my taxi. The free service is offered with the accommodation since it is so far out of the way of everything. But only until 5pm, which I discovered my first evening when I ended up having to pay 400 baht to get back. So I called her and she arranged for a new pick up, but it meant a 3 hour delay in my plans. Plus the water isn't working for the 2nd night in a row. I just had to wash off 2 days worth of sea salt, sun block and bug spray, so made the trek and used the neighbours shower.

So my only company are the lizards. I like them, they are cute. Pale little bodies stuck flat against the white walls. Four fingers on each leg, spread wide apart. Stone still figures in an elegant curl. This one behind the computer is fixed upon the small moth that buzzes past. The tail lifts up and stiffens like a cat about to pounce. The head is alert and quickly jerks back and forth. He got it! In the mouth, chew, chew, chew, savour, swallow. He's on the hunt for more, still hungry. The largest one I've seen so far is on the beam behind me, maybe more than a foot long with the tail. I was talking to him and asked if he could make a sound. He just stared back. I stared too. Then explained, "I am the only one here, there is nobody for me to talk to except you. Please make an indication that you understand." He walked a few inches away from me. "How do you sound?" Stare, walk, stare. "You're boring". I heard a small one, it's between a chirp and the sound your tongue makes against the inside of your front teeth. Are you doing it?! P

Koh Tao

I am the only guest at my guesthouse. I have my own cute hut on a cliff looking into the rocky bay below and there are steps leading up to it made of green, upside down beer bottles. I've already spotted a spider and am not looking forward to a night alone in there. It's a little bit at the edge of nowhere, it took me an hour to walk into town. Pu is the cook, cleaner and all the associated jobs with running the place. Sometimes it is so busy and then today there is just me. She liked my portrait of Conor and asked if I could teach her to draw. I'm going to try! Not really sure where to start but will see how it goes tonight. P

Visa Run in Ranong

A few bus trips lately, so not too much to report except for my exciting visa run. Decided to stay longer in Thailand. I've been avoiding the motorcycle taxis but ended up on my first ride when arriving in Ranong. The driver sensed my fear and gave me his helmet. Backpacks and everything, we were off. He drove safely so I'm ok with motorcycles now and even let him wear his own helmet again. From the police station to the pier, took a longtail boat to Thai immigration and further across the bay for about half an hour. I stepped onto Burma! Immediately I was greeted by a few smiling guys in long sarongs, including Ali, brother of the boat driver, who led me to get my passport stamped. Then said I am to be in Burma for 20 minutes. Naively, I follow them around the block while they try to get me to buy whiskey, cigarettes and viagra (the necessities!). I buy some water and go back to the pier to see my boat driver yelling at Ali. Thai immigration closes in 30 minutes! And then they tally my bill to 100 Baht for my 5 minute tour of convenience stores. I imagine myself sleeping on the dock by the small, stilted office for the night. We make it back to Thailand and my book was stamped at exactly 6pm.

My night ended with an echoing scream in the bathroom as I unraveled some toilet paper and a thick, black spider the size of my hand, crawled out of the holder. AHHHHH-HHHH-HHH-HH-H...!! P

Khao Sok

I don't really mind the little lizards crawling on the walls of my room, or the occasional frog resting on the mosquito net. Even the moths are quite elegant and the ugly grasshoppers amusing. But today, a long, black snake about a metre long squiggled past my path. It appeared so suddenly and moved so quickly the only reaction was to run away backwards. But that is the path to my hut, which I must use several more times.

Yesterday, exploring Khao Sok National Park, we discovered the place infested with leeches. I thought they only existed in water! But these ones crawl somewhere among the damp leaves covering the dirt path. Like an inchworm, they grabbed onto my shoe (while I was walking) and moved up towards my ankle. The first little bugger was noticed when I felt large ants biting me. The next 2 didn't get a chance because I was watching my feet more than the jungle surrounding me.

But these are the things I see, how much is out there that has not caught my eye's attention? I have fished out tiny ants in my soup and dirt in my jam and avoided the honey jar with a layer of ants inside. What am I really eating? How true are the "CleanFood Good Meals" signs? How many puddles I step in are infested with waterborn parasites? How many mosquitos that don't mind my repelant and bite me have malaria? What lives in the river I went tubing in? Is the fish okay that came from the sea where so many lives were taken? What caused me to be ill in all ways a couple days ago? I will never know! P

Khao Lak

A couple hours north of Phuket are a string of beaches called Khao Lak. There is one road that runs through it with the beach off to the west. The land is very flat which made it the most effected place in Thailand by the tsunami. The wave washed in 1 or 2 km from the shore. Like PP, all the Thai's and a lot of volunteers are rebuilding and doing various projects. Unlike PP, there is no tourism at all. In a place that used to be as busy as the islands on the East side of the country, there are no boat trips, no diving, no vendors on each little side road and not one person on the beach. I thought my shock was wearing off, but it just happened all over again.

Through John, the person I met on my first day in PP, I had the pleasant opportunity to meet Chatchada. She is an art teacher running a camp that allows orphans to paint their thoughts of the tragedy onto canvas. Tomorrow I hope to meet more children, but today I worked with the women making purses they will sell for funds. There were square foot paintings hung all around us, each representing a different version of one event. Some of these will be made into other products. I tried a couple myself, and ended up with the most dramatic abstract painting I've ever made... actually haven't done many abstracts before :) I later noticed I had been in a trance, swashing large strokes up and down. Blue for all the water, green for the trees and everything in it's path, red for the lives it took and black for the grief that continues. With a white top and a sandy bottom, I created a huge wall of a wave which looked as powerful and mean as what I imagined it to look if I had been there on the beach that day, watching it come towards and down on me. P

Couldn't Risk It

I decided to try a smaller restaurant with just one local eating at one of the four tables. The vegetables on rice was really tastey, I enjoyed every mouthful until she brought over my glass of water. It was yellow. Almost the colour of apple juice, I'm not kidding. I decided to keep smiling, not drink the water, and believe if my food was made of that water, at least it's cooked. The other guy was eating what I had and he seemed fine. Then he asked how much Thai I knew. After I listed all 3 of my words, we all laughed and had a good broken conversation. He works security at the airport. She asked if I travel alone. Instead of the surprised looks I got in Malaysia, here I get thumbs up and "that's good!" responses. It was all fun until she came over and asked if I was going to drink my water. How do you indicate nicely that you don't want to drink yellow water? Automatically she turned away looking upset and pretended to be busy. I thanked her for the delicious food and she politely smiled, but I felt so bad... :( P

Kata and Karon

I had intended to go swimming today but the red flags were out on both Kata and Karon beach. Goh has a row of beach chairs that he rents out for 50 baht each. They had probably been full when he had been working on Dec 26th. He saw the water go out all the way to the small island in the middle of the bay which must be more than a km out. Thankfully he ran the other way and the wave was blocked from going any further than the road because the beach has a slope and is lined with trees. Karon wasn't as lucky and there were people and bulldozers out today restyling the beach and walkways. Today Goh had the time to sit with me on the sand, as the chairs were already swept off, but there was nobody to sit in them.

On Karon, I waded just to get a little bit wet. I was only in less than knee high and the force of the water pulling back into the sea was so strong I had to struggle for balance. The waves were about a metre high and the undertow about 1 foot. Imagine the waves 10 times as high with 10 times the strength coming in and then pulling back... I just started to understand how the water had been so powerful as to break through the concrete walls on PP.

I ate a delicous crispy catfish. It was cooked with fried basil leaves and sticks of peppercorns with a little bit of red chilies. This was at Natural Restaurant which is overloaded with plants and decorated with statues and violin clocks and goldfish in tanks inside a TV shell. A very romantic atmosphere for me and the mosquitos! P

Phuket Town

It was sad to leave what I had left behind, it's too easy to become attached to something you like and become comfortable with. As much as I love travelling and seeing new things, I think most people strive to find one place where they can stay put. Constant change and moving around is exhausting. Although, I think the stay on PP was just long enough for me to be in one place, but not too long that I regretted not leaving sooner. I left the little paradise-in-repair and had a not too rough ride West to Phuket. The sun was out, the ipod on, and I watched Phi Phi Ley get smaller and fainter into the sea and sky.

There is a market in Phuket Town where I bought 3 sticks of banana that had been sliced, grilled and then flattened. 1 was enough so I offered the other 2 to a couple of girls in uniform who had just come out of school. They hesitated at first, but when I passed them over, their eyes widened and the smiles stretched wide, they were so happy! I was so happy they were happy, it made me really happy :) P

Bye PP

I now have my Open Water certificate! Thank you, thank you everyone at Hippos!!! It was so comfortable being in your company over the past week and a half. It actually seems much longer than that, I feel this has been home for a while and it is strange to be taking off to a new city tomorrow. Pip and Jason, have a safe flight and best wishes back in England, Mr. Ha, thank you so much for your generosity, Mr. Ahn, the Japanese curry was great, Young Hee, good luck becoming a diving instructor, Dao, I'll remember the walk up the hill with the stunning sunset, and Bao, you are a fantastic painter! You made Phi Phi much more meaningful than I ever expected. Kup koon ka.

More sightings today: squid, blue sea stars, star fish, baracuda, sea urchins, bubble coral, red coral (name?), porcelain crab. P

Scuba

I went diving!!! After 6 days of painting, I started the Open Water course. Yesterday we spent in the pool practising assembling the equipment, putting it on, taking off the mask and regulator under water... still a little bit scary only a couple feet under the surface! Today went out on a boat to Phi Phi Lay (the island where The Beach was filmed!) and had 2 dives up to about 11 metres. Breathing under water became the least difficult thing to do, keeping my buoyancy at a constant level was another thing. Rose all the way up to the surface a couple times! Besides the awkwardness (everything is supposed to come much more naturally tomorrow on the 3rd dive, I hope this works for me), I got to see a leopard shark! It's actually in the mural. Also a scorpion fish, Nemo!, parrot fish, angel fish, baracudas, fan and table coral. There was a squid but I missed it, oops :) Sometimes we were surrounded by a school of what seemed like thousands, wow! Now I must do some reading and finish my homework... P

The Perfect Place

If you want to see the most amazing scenery you've ever seen, come to Phi Phi. There is a lot of construction and clearing still need to be done. But there are many options for food and accommodation. Yesterday I walked on a white sand beach and swam in a clear tourquoise blue lagoon with stunning lime stone cliffs around, almost all to myself. It was great to enjoy that perfect secluded beach that everyone searches for, but it was disturbing to think it didn't used to be this way that long ago. I imagined the resorts lining the beach. Peoples voices joining together into one continuous sound. Children laughing and splashing in the waves. Colourful blankets lying on the sand. And now it's all gone without a trace. Until I look behind me and see the scattered palm leaves, plastic bottles, broken glass, tiles.... All I want to say is come to PP! It needs the tourists to take the boat rides, do the scuba lessons, stay in the hotels, eat the pancakes and relax with a drink on the beach. This is my home for only a week, but home forever for those that live here. They remember how it was and I'm sure wish to see it that way again soon.

I was interviewed by ABC news the other day while painting the mural. I'm terrible at answering questions and hope it doesn't air. But if it does, you can look out for any documentaries on what is happening with the tsunami 6 months later. See you! P

The Mural

Three days of painting and the mural is going well. All of the Hippo Divers are fun to be around and are even helping out with the painting. I've got them all working hard so I can sit back and drink shakes all day (haha, just kidding). Hope to finish it off tomorrow and will take a final photo to show it off to you! Then I'm going to jump in the water. P

Hippos and Rain

Last night Hi Phi Phi had a meeting informing all interested volunteers the jobs that need to be done on the island. They put me to work using my "artistic skills" and I started painting a mural for the Hippo Divers shop. There is so much to do I have decided to stay longer, at least the rest of this week. It sounds like I may get to try a dive! Mr. Ha (I think, who's name means Hippo in English), the owner of the shop took a group of us out for a feast tonight, I'm soooooo full! But it was delicious and had the chance to try several Thai dishes from sweet chili fish, vegetables, chicken cashew, lemongrass seafood soup, greens (something like spinach) and a great watermelon shake. I haven't done much volunteer work in the past, and I have to say it is so rewarding to see how many people are grateful to have the extra help. It's the perfect job, except for the part that you don't get paid!!

I love the little things... everyone is so relaxed... this morning I was just about to step out of the Harmony Garden where I had a Thai pancake, when it suddenly poured with rain (this happens a lot). So I stayed under the roof, along with a few other people and the owner brought over some chairs for us to sit on while we waited. It was so communal. We didn't know each other but were laughing together at the fact we were just there. Instead of running through the rain to our scheduled destinations, we watched the rain and waited for it to stop. P

The Tsunami on Phi Phi Don

I'm on a beautiful island just south of Krabi. About an hour and a half ride by speed boat which was not much better for sea sickness as the boat I was on yesterday. I think I'll wait a couple days before getting on the water again!

Phi Phi Don has a narrow piece of land with beach on both sides that was lined with bungalows and resorts. The North side was completely wiped out by the tsunami. The South side has some remaining stores. What happened was a wave came from both sides, covering the entire piece of land in water, with the 2 waves crashing into eachother in the centre. A poor fishing village was destroyed. Bungalows were washed out to sea, with traces of floor tiles and small shampoo bottles still embedded in the sand. Palm tree roots are exposed. Almost 40% of the islands population was killed. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing first hand, and almost 6 months after the fact. All day, all around, people are hammering, building, constructing cobbled pathways, painting and digging holes for septic tanks. Yet even though so much is destroyed, a lot has been rebuilt and cleaned up and the cliffs and water and scenery is probably the most amazing place I've ever been. Many tourists are volunteering their time to help, yet there are still many enjoying the resorts and beaches. Tourism is so important right now to get things up and running the way they were before.

To think where I am sitting at this moment was covered in that wave is so hard to comprehend. I met John today who was here on that day and survived the tragedy by seconds. He asked me to take his photo infront of a hill. I didn't think the hill was anything spectacular, but that was his place of refuge with others who ran up for safety, thinking another wave was approaching. Later they came down to look for people buried beneath several feet of debris. John heard a small cry below a destroyed house. He rescued a small girl and put her on a helicopter. He is now back on the island in search of where she went. And here he is alive to tell his story and half a year later, finding the answers to another story. It's been a solem day and there is so much more to say, but I will end here. P

Krabi, Thailand

The landscape changed dramatically from Malaysia over to South, Western Thailand. Like the sounds of frogs, the mountains change in every country. They look like the tall, cliff mounds I expect to see in Vietnam. Really beautiful and so amazing. Yesterday I had a little boat ride to see the mangroves and a cave. The cave was a little scary on my own (the driver stayed in the boat). There was a bat squeek once in a while and crap falling from above, making a soft carpet of turds for me to walk on. I took a couple pics and left fast!

Today was great, did an all day boat tour, which took us around 4 islands to go snorkling. Amazing coral and fish, but didn't get to see a shark. The water was really rough, almost had a case of sea sickness on the ride back. Now I know why the driver said it's low season. Since I've been here it has rained off and on. But still warm and I have my first burn to show for it (doh!!) P

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

IMGP2243
Originally uploaded by Art Journey.

I have a new batch of photos up on Flickr! Just click on the tea men and it will bring you there. P

Penang Hill

Ascended Penang hill on the steep, slow train. Decended by foot for a couple hours, ending up in the Botanical Gardens where everything was caged up except for the scary monkeys that snarled for my ice cream. I ate it in time for it to lose interest and turn away, but if not, how do they expect tourists to obey the sign "do not feed the monkeys"? I'm loving all the satay, samosas and fruit juices! Starfruit, guava, pineapple, apple... all with a little froth on top :) P

Dragon Boat Opera

This weekend, the National Dragon Boat race is being held in Penang. The three of us ended up hanging out under a tarp, watching the boats with the Penang team... we won three times! and cheered, ate cinnamon buns and talked about all the various religions and languages in Malaysia. Other teams were there from Australia, Germany, Japan, and the rest of South East Asia. Indonesia and China have the strongest teams because their government pays for them to train full time, where everyone else has their regular day jobs. Toronto was there last year and a couple commented they did really well (yay TO!). 6 boats race at a time, 10 rowers in each, with the drummer up front beating a rhythm for the paddles to follow. Everyone had very nice arms!

Tried durian... I may have to give it another chance. We ordered a small one which was white (yellow should be sweeter). First thing is getting over the non-juicy, slimy texture. The smell sticks around and apparently anyone speaking with you can identify it for the rest of the day. Washed away the taste with some mangosteins.

The evening was a traditional Chinese Opera. The actors do this for fun as a hobby to help keep the culture alive. A lot of banging drums, loud singing and bright sequence colours made for some great photos! Had a "back stage tour" to see the makeup being re-applied and heavy costumes changed. P

Penang

Left on the bus this morning with a freshly made pineapple roti for the road. That was our favourite restaurant (went there 3 times in 2 days!). Arrived this afternoon in Georgetown, a city on Penang Island. I like the city already, very small but filled with character. Many mosques and temples, samosas and fruit. Wandered around with Mindy and Conner, almost getting hit by motorcycles a few times. Sidewalks and pedestrian crossings are even rarer in this town! I hope to rest here a few more days than usual, lots I could draw... P

Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands have been a beautiful escape from the city. My wish also came true, and I met 2 single travellers at the bus station, Maggie and Trent. We ate rambutans (a furry but delicious lychee-like fruit) and found accommodation for $2 a night. It's so amazingly cheap here, I'm in heaven! Breakfast was a roti (thin crepe) folded with banana and coconut inside with a cup of sweet Masala tea ($1.50). Dinner last night was a mound of Indian curries, naan and things I don't have names for ($2). A half-hour drive in a 1965 mercedes taxi out to the amazing tea plantations ($1.75 each). Honestly, my travel for 1 year is expected to be less then the amount of rent I payed for 1 year in TO!

The tea pluckers (they like that word here) were very happy to get into and look at our photos and videos of them in action. I hope the footage is good, but definitely the hardest I've laughed in a while. Our cab driver was also quite the character and became todays ongoing conversation. The children here are adorable, makes me want to have one (did I say that!?), they love to say "Hello"... we could go back and forth for hours.

Good times. I miss you all though, and think of you often. P

Yes, ONE!

Maybe it was a little funny at first but now I'm resentful. The second most asked question after "Where you from?" is "Only one?" Well, yes, just me and hey, if they're surprised then maybe I should be a little proud to have the guts to do so. But the reaction doesn't state, wow, that is amazing, you're so brave. It looks more like a state of horror, what, no family, no boyfriend? It would be more fun to travel with a boyfriend. Well, ok maybe so, but I don't have one!!! I encounter this every time I ask for directions or buy a mango or walk into a store. Actually, I don't even have to do anything at all, everyone just wants to know who I am and what I am doing by myself. The worst is going for dinner. I would really enjoy some conversation, to share food and just not take up a whole table for myself. Everyone travels in couples or groups of 4-8. When I order my meal, my aloneness is reinforced several times. Only one? Yes. So one plate? Yes. A drink? Yes. One glass? Yes!! Where you from? Ahhhhh!!!! P

The Weirdest Thing

I have to mention this because it's happened 2 times already since I've arrived in KL. I'm not sure if there is some tourist scam going on or if I am having the wrong assumptions about these genuinely honest people. Everyone is really so helpful and quick to start up a conversation, that I feel bad to be suspicious.

So... my first day here I sat down and not more than a minute later there was a happy 30-something woman commenting on how white I am. Here name was Vanessa and her friend sat on my other side. When I said I was from Toronto, she said her sister will be moving there in about a month and her family is very worried for her. Vanessa asked me if I would like to chat with her sister and give her some information about Canada. I felt there was no harm in that and if their place was only a few minutes away, why not? We ended up in a cab out in some KL subburb and I was introduced to her Uncle. Apparently her mom was ill and the sister had to take her to the hospital. She would return soon and in the meantime the Uncle made small talk about Canada, what I do, what he does. He has worked in casinos all around the world. He volunteered to teach me a fool proof way of winning Black Jack. In 10 minutes he taught me the game and how to cheat with hand gestures. The subject changed to his friend Mr. Chow who would be coming over to play a game... for money. Everything happened so fast and next moment I was sitting next to my partner (Vanessa) with $100 US of the Uncle's money in my pocket to bet against Mr. Chow who placed $2000 US on the table. Flaberghasted is probably a good word here! Everyone was so smiley and nice and said "don't worry, this is for fun!". I took Vanessa aside and said I wasn't comfortable betting someone else's money, that I expected to only be talking with her sister, and that I need to get back to the city. Ok, it was fine. As quickly as it all happened, I was back in a car downtown. Vanessa was smiling when she said bye, but I also saw a glint of sadness which made me wonder if I was over-reacting.

And then... today as I waited to cross a road, a different 30-something named Kaka asked me where I was from. "Where you going?" To the monorail. "I'll take you!" She grabbed my hand and guided me across the road down the street to Burger King. "Here, come." She bought me an iced Milo and we sat down to talk with her cousin who had followed us (but remained behind us). When I replied "Toronto" to their question, the eyebrows raised and what would you know, she has a sister moving there!!! "Yes, many Malaysian are moving there because it's easy to get a Visa, not like the United States." I am then invited to go to Kaka's house and have her mom's home cooked Malay meal and talk about Canada. I said thank you for the offer but how about we meet at a coffee shop tomorrow? I ended up on her cell talking to Lisa the sister, and her telling me it has to be today, at her house. I said no a hundred times but thanks for the drink and felt awful for refusing her generosity. And there was that exact same glint of sadness in her eyes. What is this, REALLY??!!! P

In the Middle of Nowhere

There is one more thing to mention about Melaka, because the photos cannot describe it. The last day there, Mark and I spent 5 hours to get to Pulua Besar Island. It was a round about way of getting somewhere by getting ferry and bus information from people who didn't really know. After the ferry wouldn't leave because they didn't have at least 12 passengers, racing in a cab to the other dock to find out we had to take a bus to another place, taking a bus that took an hour to catch, getting to a transfer station to take another bus that took us a 30 second walk from where we originally started, then arriving at the dock to discover the last ferry left 10 minutes ago and the next one wasn't for another 2 1/2 hours, we finally arrived at 3pm! Anyway, the part I wanted to mention was being in the middle of the rainforest with the cicadas humming so loudly, it was an intense shrill. It was like an opera with the audience being the immense trees looming above us so tall. I wish I took a video, but the last ferry was going to leave soon. P

Kuala Lumpur

My first meal here was sting ray! A little spicy and hard to eat with the bones right through the middle of each peice, but it was really good. Have experimented with a few of the hawker stalls in Chinatown that are presented so well. Tried some crab balls mixed with veges on a stick. You dip it into the boiling water (or oil?) for a few seconds and dip it in sauce. There were these tiny rotis with potato and fish inside (pronounced "fiz" by the Malays, which took me a few confused expressions to figure out). And then some chick peas mixed with some spices but not too spicy for me. I'm hoping my tolerance is getting better :)

Yesterday I went to a Butterfly Park and it was quite amazing. Met Alex the biologist who is doing a round the world tour in 4 months, travelling specifically to see the best flora and fauna and later to write a book about it. Apparently the other places he saw did not match up with this one, so it was worth it even more! Was filled in on a little inside information. The Malaysian butterfly has long, narrow black wings with a green stripe running through them. The females have a white dot. I took a video of one of the largest in the park, which has a poison that would kill any birds that try to eat it. For this reason, it will linger on one flower for quite a while, knowing it's black and yellow warning colours will keep away any predators. P

Scarves

The Muslim culture here is so different from what I expected. All the women wear headscarves, but almost as an accessory, along with their jeans and t-shirts, as if they hardly know it's there. On motorcycles, the long fabric ripples behind them underneath the helmet. The younger girls especially, look so sweet with the scarf lightly wrapped around their faces and big brown eyes. They laugh with eachother and smile freely at strangers without feeling self conscious. They are really beautiful people and their acts of kindness are so genuine. On the bus, a girl came over to Mark and I to say "Welcome to Melaka. I hope you enjoy your stay here." Smiling, she quickly turned away and hopped off the bus. I couldn't believe it, when does that ever happen?! P

On to Melaka

I was so glad to leave Singapore on a much more positive note than how I'd been feeling the last couple of days. Sherry had just arrived a few hours before we met from LA and still managed to inspire me and gear my thoughts in a new direction. We talked about art, careers, life, love, and how much better life is in your 30's! She showed me a few paper shops to drop off samples of my greeting cards (maybe I'll soon be selling internationally!). Also went to a small art shop where she buys all her Chinese paper. I'm now set up with some large sheets and a tube, which has made my pack a bit bulkier, also with the extra repellent I stocked up on for Malaysia.

After 3 stops on the bus (Singapore customs, Malay border, and then the first bus breaking down) I got to Melaka. It's a historic town, the original in Malaysia, where the Chinese and Malays intermarried and created a new race that later migrated to Singapore. There is a lot of colonial architecture also evident throughout the rest of the country. I met Ali who took me on a rickshaw ride around Chinatown, past some temples and ended with a churry chicken noodle soup. Ali is Malay, and hasn't left the country, but has travelled within. His fun personality and knowledge of history, I'm sure won him an acting part in a movie called "Veronica goes to Asia". It's supposed to be playing now, so if anyone watches it, let me know if you see him! Met another Hollander, and watched the light and sound show with 5 others in the audience. It was so bad! A half hour I will not get back:) P

Starting Over

Yesterday was the coolest day so far, and half way through a huge waterfall of rain was finally released from the sky. This happened once in Hong Kong too, I've never seen so much water fall so strongly at once. And it was funny to hear the travellers just arriving at our hostel complaining about how hot it is. Ah ha! Now that it's back to normal hotness already, I wonder what they'll say about today?

I've spent the last couple of days pacing myself much more than trying to run around the city seeing everything there possible is to see. Now that I've been here about 10 days, I feel like I could be a pretty good Singapore tour guide! I've decided to buy a tube so I can carry around large sketch paper, to draw on a much bigger scale. I feel the small size of my sketchbook has limited my ability to draw without thinking so literally about everything. I want to blend my design skills into my artwork but it seems this should come later and not be forced. Right now I want to erase all the restrictions I've felt since working for other people and start from the beginning...

Emmeke from Holland had been working on a film in Japan and is now on her way to Bali. It's been refreshing to speak with someone a little older (but not as old as me) about conversations other than the usual 20 year old discussions about tans. We had an elegant cup of English Breakfast tea at the Raffles Hotel. Raffles is the British founder of Singapore that made the economy boom from an old fishing village to the modern city it is today. And ate an Indian lunch of naan, cottage cheese and spinach, and butter chicken by Boat Quay. A delicious way to eat my last meal in a place I am so ready to leave. In 10 minutes I get to meet Sherry, a local artist I have been emailing the last few months. The reason I am still in Singapore! P

Shuffle

I am reading I Have Seen the World Begin by Carsten Jenson. In the latest chapter, I just read "As a traveller, you are nobody in the eyes of others". I felt this mostly today wandering Little India and being constantly bumped and cut off and walked into through the small corridors. The heat felt the worst today and I had a quick snooze in a small peice of shade. I got up, unrefreshed and dragged myself forward in a slow daze. My clothes were soaked and sticking to my skin which made it harder to bend my knees. Now I know why so many Chinese shuffle their feet :) P

People

The great thing about traveling alone as a foreigner is that people are much more inclined to approach you. I meet so many people in one day that I do not have the chance to be alone. Although, the conversation usually starts off with one question and there are only so many different ways of answering, which repeats itself as:
"Where are you from?" Canada. "Oh, a very nice city!" Have you been? "No. Where do you go next?" Malaysia, Melaka first. "You'll love it! Alone?" Yes. "You are very brave!" and then the next comment has been 50/50 between, being very careful there and it's very safe for travellers, so I'm going to trust the second, but keep a strong hold on my wallet.

But I am starting to cherish these little chats because each person has a unique conversation within them, ít's just spending that extra minute or so to get to it. Today, I started at the MICA building to take a look at some galleries of local artists. One girl helped me locate on my map every single gallery I intend to visit. The next guy commented that he did not have the patience to paint for more than 5 seconds, but admires the artists who work 12 hours a day standing on their feet. He gave me 2 books on Indonesian art and asked me to comment on his graphic design skills (uh...). Then referred me to Art Seasons gallery which I hadn't heard of and came across 2 new painters I admire. After taking my order I realized the friendly sandwich guy was plastered all over the wall in reviews from various papers. His chicken pot pies are famous, I must go back to try one! Hong was my personal tour guide at the Asian Civilizations Museum. I was his first tour group! And then Prince (really!) from Nigeria insisted that I buy a cell phone so that I have a number for him to call. Nice try! The woman at the Taiwanese restaurant insisted I get the Oyster Vermiccilli soup and not the chicken curry (you can get that anywhere). "Is it good?" Yes! Except for the occasional mucousy-like clumps. And one of the hostel upkeepers was trying to fix the broken air conditioner. If I stay in the room, I'll get $2 off each day it's not working! So those are my encounters for the day. More to come. P

Noodles

I thought I had been fairly clear about ordering the Hong Kong noodles. But she shoved a plate of rice and BBQ pork infront of me and decided it would only be worse if I tried to explain this is not what I wanted. Uh, the pork was gross and dry, the things that looked like potatoes tasted fishy and the bok choy was cold. While I looked at my plate unimpressed, she came over to me and started yelling that I had taken another customers order and grabbed the plate and stomped away. I didn't say anything for a moment while the entire food court stared at me. I went after the girl and she handed a new plate to me which I am so glad tasted much better! I tried to smile it off, but the glares continued and nobody smiled back (oh, I'm so bad!). And then to make things more embarassing, one of my chopsticks was the wrong way. Ah!

I've made a painting of the Southern most point in Asia. And will finish off the Buddah in modern day SG. P

New Do

I just had a hair cut for free at Toni & Guy Academy for being a model infront of a class of five! I had the full experience of being immersed in Singlish. I tried so hard to listen, but only understood about half of the lecture. I'm not sure if they use too many sh's, or if it's just a lack of pronounciation, or a blend of Malay-Mandarin-Indian-English, but they may as well have been speaking Chinese! Anyway, I have a $200 cut which looks good I guess. The teacher kept saying how dry my hair was so I'm sure there's an improvement. Yay!

Where is the Inspiration?

To be honest, I've been frustrated with the lack of finding inspiration. I am comfortable and welcoming the safe, clean atmosphere of Singapore. However, it seems to hinder me from painting. I've spent the last 3 days roaming the streets and parks and shops, and looking at every flower, temple and person but nothing strikes me as art. Yesterday morning I found a few art stores and specialty paper shops, so I was set with a couple boards and some peices of beautiful papers. The Theaters on Bay at the Esplanade had an underground tunnel covered with cool cut and paste paintings. There was also an exhibition on by a Korean artist who had clear puzzle pieces hanging in the lobby, with other displays dipicting dreams vs. reality. This was the first time I was full of creative juices, so I went outside to find something to draw. So I explored the Marina, and then Memorials in the park, the Durian-looking building, Suntec City, The largest man-made fountain in the world, the tallest wall fountain in the world, the Sculpture garden where an art class was drawing... nothing! It is all too clean or sterile or boring. There is great art, but nothing to make great art from! I forced myself to paint the sleek new building lit up last night from the hostel's roof top patio, but it's no good. I'm empty. P

Hot

I know I always say I'd rather be warm than cold, but this is HOT! I am constantly sweating, even at night under a fan. It's even hotter here than China, but I can't really tell the difference, it's just hot and my clothes constantly stick to me :(

Saw the Singapore Botanical Gardens, so many orchids! The celebrity section even had two named for Princess Diana and Ricky Martin. My 1 gig memory card is full! I must have used quite a bit for the videos I took of the remote-controlled kites flying around last night. They were so cool! Time to do some burning. I think I'll make prints of a few as reference for my paintings... it's been too awkward to pull paints out on location. P

Singapore

I'm in Singapore! Had a full day of travel so have not seen much of the city yet. Seems as though there will be a lot happening here in the next month so may stick around a while. Hope to see the dragon boat race! And must check out a temple on the 22nd, there is an annual celebration for Buddah reaching Nirvana, sounds cool. Plus it's so English and clean here, it will give me a chance to recover from the pollution and stomach pains from China.

Still glad I went though, and hope to go again and see more parts of that huge country. Had to say bye to Paul at the taxi, then Krissy at the bus and then finally Christine at the departure gate. Whoa, the tears sprung, I won't see any of you for a year, now I'm really on my own! I know we all know this but reality only sets in once in a while, a little bit at a time. P

Strange World

We each had a massage last night which put us straight to bed with the best nights sleep so far. It seemed more like shiatsu mixed in with some reflexology. My back is a little sore today but she found some pressure points and hopefully squeezed all the extra tensions that had built up my last week in TO.

There are some strange things about this place: Crossing the street is suicidal. The bikes/scooters/cars/buses do not stop at a cross walk, they hardly even slow down! It seems best to follow close behind a local and just assume the cars will swerve at the right moment. I hear there's a city like this in Vietnam, so this will be good practice; Line ups are just for show, if there is room for you infront of someone else, get in there!; We're feeling a bit like some rare breed of animal in a zoo. Us 3 girls are attracting many indiscreet stares. Just waiting for one of these passer-bys to bump into a tree or something; You can get anything from the variety store wrapped in plastic, from chicken feet to pickled eggs; If you show interest in a shirt, the staff will be sure to suggest a different one that is completely unrelated in any way.

It's all funny though, but not really. I accept the Chinese more. Here, they have each spent their lifetime in a city packed full of so many people. It's competitive. Some are so poor they look for, or are passed the empty plastic bottles to make a few cents. Others more well off have made a living manufacturing or selling products. Consumerism is big. Everything is made in China. And everyone with a few dollars or more to spare, is one more person to buy this stuff because it's there. They fill the malls and the shops and the markets. They commute in the cars and taxis and bicylcles. They eat the frogs legs and chicken intestines because food is precious and nothing can be wasted. But the styrofoam and plastic is thrown out on the streets and cars without any emmision tests are shooting toxins into the air for all the millions of people to breathe in each day. Tradition vs. modernization. Their customs are still there but are adjusting to Western influence. They add whiteners into face creams to lighten their skin to be more beautiful. They eat our fast food to be more modern. And then we want to learn about their natural medication, and practice yoga and spirituality. They think we're right. We think we're wrong. Who's right? Will there be a role reversal? Hopefully we can blend into one big right. Hm... good night :)

Hong Kong & China

I'm here! After the longest day ever (39 hours, missing Friday completely!) I landed in Hong Kong safe and sound :) The first thing I noticed was tallness... mountains, buildings, buses. Layers of high rises, some shiny and new, while right next door looking like they'll collapse into dust at any moment. It's chaotic and noisy and polluted like crazy, I love it! The millions of signs, stores, taxis, people staring at me look so different from Toronto, but at the same time it's just another city, I felt right at home.

Waiting to check into the hostel, I explored Kowloon Park just a block away. Since it was still early, people were all over it doing their Tai Chi in groups or pairs or even on their own in the middle of a garden. A few people playing instruments, others singing, or practicing Kung Foo moves and something with a stick (Kendo?). And a few women by the pool doing a fan dance. I took about 2 or 3 rolls of films worth in 1 day... yay for digital!!

Christine and Krissie met me at the room later in the evening and we caught up on each other's airport stories. There was an art display in San Francisco that was so cool, will post the photo if I can download on this computer. A guy created over 5000 3x3 inch paintings while commuting to work. It reminded me of how the sqaure foot show will be set up (I'm in it! This August at AWOL I think). Explored the city and all the stores it has, driving me crazy that I'm limited to what I can buy, my backpack is already way too heavy! It must be the sunscreen.

Monday we explored Lantau Island which took a couple ferries and buses from HK to go see the big Buddah. Ended up so foggy, we could hardly see him. When a cloud passed in front he disappeared completely. Didn't see any facial features at all but still looked like a friendly guy! Really, his huge silhouette had a graceful presence which was even more mystical sitting in a cloud. I'll post this photo too! Then it poured like mad on us, not just a storm, it looked like buckets of water being thrown on us. I discovered my waterproof jacket is a lie. And the bus air conditioning was on extra freezing, I don't understand, are they really that hot? A few minutes away was a fishing village called Tai O which was so amazing. All the little houses on stilts and old boats filling with water, and falling tarps not really accomplishing much.

Now we are in Guangzhou, China! Only difference is less people speak English... I've learned to count to ten and maybe more and I think can say thank you properly but no matter what they'll always laugh. Ah, it's fun. Markets instead of 7-11's... live eels, frogs and chicken's galore. Good for pictures only!

I'm not sure how this blog will work, I hope to see some comments from you!!! Pam

flowers

flowers
Originally uploaded by Art Journey.

watercolour, acrylic, paper and pencil on canvas

Starting in May

I leave for China on May 5! Keep checking for updates. See ya!

P