Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 11 - October 14th 2008

2008-12-28T08:07:00.005+09:00

Last morning overseas today. Chinatown was our destination before returning home. Quite warm. Quite a bit to see too. One or two shop owners in Chinatown got upset when asked for a discount. One Indian man told us that the price was S$6 for one item but that we shouldn't pay attention to that as he would discount it. It was only S$3 a few doors down and it was quite difficult to tell the shops apart once you'd finally made up your mind what you wanted to buy.

Singapore - old meets new.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Inside Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Another shot inside Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Chinatown markets.

The Boy got a seat on the MRT. Premium item this.

I bumped into the t-shirt seller from Bugis Junction market who recognised me from a few days ago. Miky found a Chinese antique dealer just outside of the markets and haggled seriously with him for a jewelry box. He discounted below his normal price because it was our last day of shopping and looked in great pain to sell. Further down South Bridge Road we came across the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. [Editor's note - I had to search through my credit card statement to find the jewelry shop name, locate the street, use Google Maps to find the temple so that I could work out what the name was.]

We headed over to Food Republic (where else?) for lunch, and I had delicious Thai food - pad thai, after I called my friend Vanessa who couldn't make it. It was a bit much expecting her to be able to meet us at such short notice.

We decided to buy some luggage and Miky boasted about how well her bag had served her for 10 years. As a freebie we received a pearl for purchasing the bags. Back at the hotel we repacked our luggage and the concierge said that he would dispose of our old bag. They were so helpful at the Concorde.

I got in a little bit of trouble at the airport when my bag was x-rayed and I was told that there was a bottle of water inside. Well, I knew damn well that there wasn't and said so. After looking through my bag the lady official didn't find it and so she rechecked. Right down the bottom at the back was a bottle of water, and a magazine, that had been weighing me down the whole time we'd been walking around Singapore. I rather sheepishly apologised but it was an honest mistake. I had no idea that the bottle was there or had any intention of smuggling it onto the plane.

On the flight we were split up again and I said that I'd swap seats with Miky to play games against Yu-Jin. Following the meal I went to change seats and when I told her that I was sitting next to a fat, smelly older bloke for some strange reason she was happy in her seat and refused to change. Dammit. Watched Indiana Jones and read The Financial Times. The plane, being code-shared between Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic, was pretty well packed and the cabin crew offered great service. As we came into land one of the overhead compartments opened, which is something you don't see too often, and it was a bit shaky. We didn't have any problems with immigration/customs bringing in our wooden jewelry box, coral collected in Thailand and chocolate.

Weight gain for the holiday was 1.5kg. Once we returned home Miky's old luggage pretty much disintegrated. Perfect timing.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 10 - October 13th 2008

2008-12-27T08:03:00.008+09:00

A friend from uni, Asher, dropped in to see me at the hotel around breakfast time. It was great to see him but he was only able to hang around for 30 mins or so because he was supposed to be working. No rest for the wicked in Singapore. He mentioned that Arab Street was good for fabrics. Our plan was also to visit Little India.

Wet in these parts.

"Hairy" tree.

Singapore tropical downpour.

By the time we arrived in the vicinity there was a tropical downpour. I thought that it might pass relatively soon so we waited a few minutes before deciding to buy an umbrella. We wandered around Little India for some time and the goods throughout certainly weren't cheap. So much was on sale in the markets but it was cheaper when Miky went alone.

Little India - Deepavali Festival time.

Stop your umbrella wetting the floor. These Singaporeans are so consciencious.

Buildings in Little India.

Marketplace in Little India.

Madras Street in Little India.

Rundown buildings in Little India.

Masjid Abdul Gafoor (Temple).

Rochor Centre apartments. Something groovy in Singapore.

We happened across a China shop and bought some dishes. I asked the lady if there were any fabric shops on Arab Street and she said, "No fabric on Arab Street." Undetered we ventured on and one block away found quite a few fabric shops. Miky bought some nice silk.

Sultan Mosque.

Ali Baba fabric shop.

Aladdin's fabric shop.

Journeyed to Food Republic at Wisma Atria again. Lovely food once again. This time I ate some India food. Lunch was at 3:30pm - too busy shopping to eat. Miky kept shopping whilst Yu-Jin and I returned to the hotel to shower before having a dip in the pool.

Taxi driver pranged a Mercedes. That's gonna hurt.

Singlish sign that made me laugh.

Rang an ex-pat friend's sister and she invited us out later to Newton Circus if we weren't too late from the Night Safari that we planned to take later in the evening. We caught a shuttle bus out the back of the hotel and they offered us a $1 discount to the Night Safari if we purchaed the ticket from them. I didn't have enough cash to buy the ticket but he ended up not charging me for Yu-Jin's bus ticket so we saved the $2 anyway.

We should have caught the earlier bus as we just missed out on viewing The Creatures of the Night show. Somebody wanting a blasted cup of coffee wouldn't be the cause, would they?

The tram ride for the Night Safari was very informative and almost all of the animals were on display. Disappointed at the park that we were unable to see anything other than the tram ride - the place needs to be open for another hour or so. All the food was S$13-17 a serve - nothing like you could buy in the city. We arrived back at the hotel around 11pm and The Boy slept whilst we ate something for tea. Asher had left a message if it wasn't too late to ring him and he could take us for a drive. Damn, too late.

Night Safari (rampant commercialisation) - couldn't photograph any of the animals.

Doctor Fish nibbling dead skin off feet.

Tired boy.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day9 - October 12th 2008

2008-12-16T05:35:00.006+09:00

We arrived safely in Singapore. After a late night the 8am deadline to vacate the room was a bit difficult. Didn't have as much breakfast as usual. Perhaps the cruise was just long enough. Disembarkation was done by deck numbers and started at deck 7. We were on deck 3 therefore the second last group to depart. We were separated at the escalator leading to immigration. Our bags were already waiting for us so there was no time wasted.

The Boy with the crew saying goodbye.

We caught a taxi and the driver was quite funny but when he informed us that the Australian dollar had dropped from S$1.13 last week to S$0.98 the laughing was over. He referred to the Singapore PM, an Indian, as a "nigger" which I thought was a bit much, especially as he didn't know us.

The Le Meridien Hotel had had a name change to Concorde so there was some confusion when we arrived. Flight Centre failed to inform us of this little fact. The driver asked me to stop them from unloading the bags just in case it was the wrong hotel. Apparently it is a common theme for Singaporean hotels to change their names and confuse taxi drivers and tourists alike.

Once that was sorted out there was no authorisation for our included breakfasts even though I had a voucher for it. They couldn't find the booking for us either! One of the girls who served us had the name Fence! We took a king-size room on the smoking level. The room wasn't as comfortable as the Holiday Inn Park View however. After a brief rest to freshen up our mission was shopping.

Took the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) from Somerset to Orchard. There are quite a few department stores in the area. First stop was Food Republic at Wisma Atria Shopping Centre where we had Taiwanese food. Then we hit the shops before Miky blew a gasket. She couldn't find exactly what she liked and with the dollar being so low the purchases hurt a bit more. Saw a money exchanger offering S$0.96 to the dollar.

Temple in Singapore.

Closeup of Temple in Singapore.

Another closeup of Temple in Singapore.

Inside Temple in Singapore.

It's busy in Bugis.

We split up with Yu-Jin coming with me to Bugis where there are some markets. An India money exchanger offered S$0.95 and wouldn't go to S$0.96. Over at the Sim Lim Square Building an exchanger had an advertised rate of S$0.975 but he gave me dollar for dollar. I shook his hand afterwards I was so happy. The Boy and I purchased matching t-shirts. The first shop we saw them in wanted S$25 but we got them for S$20. Caught the MRT back to the hotel, showered and had a swim. Miky rang twice while we were swimming. She rang again just after and wanted to meet us at Food Republic but we only wanted to go to the street stalls next to the hotel. She said she'd meet us there.

We waited for quite some time, talked to another family that was on the Superstar Gemini who also had problems with Flight Centre, and went to the supermarket for water before returning to the hotel. Miky showed up half an hour late as she had gotten lost - headed the wrong way on Orchard Road. Went back to the supermarket at 10pm, on a Sunday, and found it was still open. I like this place but it is so crowded. Can't imagine what it is like during the sales Singapore is famous for.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day8 - October 11th 2008

2008-12-05T17:32:00.004+09:00

Ship-bound.

Slept in this morning as there was no port of call for tours. Had a workout on the bike when Yu-Jin went to child care. After meeting Mr Ng and Mr Tan as they disembarked, and we had decided to have a lead pencil drawing done, had lunch followed by a disembarkation information session with a funny English slideshow, which came before a chocolate banquet. Gee, they know how to make you fat on board the cruise ships. Not long after that was the mini Olympics where Yu-Jin took part in quoits and volleyball. I was a participant in quoits with Brad and scored zero after he opened with scoring zero leaving me a score of 30 to beat. We were called for sit-down volleyball which our team won and so I picked up a gold medal.

Dude on ship's CCTV.

Gold medallist sit down volleyball.

Yu-Jin had a swim whilst I had a sauna. After tea we stayed out on deck and Yu-Jin ate six slices of lemon meringue pie! We spoke with Rod and Maz from the Gold Coast whom we’d met in Penang. Took a short walk on deck where we played shuffleboard. You can’t go on a cruise and not play shuffleboard. Back to our room afterwards. I had to collect our passports and pay our bill and then wait for the artists to finish our picture. This didn’t happen until about 11:45pm. Not bad for something they started at lunchtime. I must say the boys worked really hard to get it finished in time. All of our luggage had to be ready for collection at 6:30am so there was much packing to be done.

Ladies night out.

Artist Suriyan Namwong sketching our family.

The two artists who worked on our portrait.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 7 - October 10th 2008

2008-12-03T21:01:00.009+09:00

We had breakfast in the Ocean Palace Restaurant this morning. It felt a little strange to wear a collared shirt at breakfast. The staff treat you so well that you're not even allowed to carry your own drinks. Yu-Jin had a Danish pastry which must have had nuts in it. We wandered about on shore around the Porto Malai Resort before returning to prepare for our tour to the Langkawi cable car.

Fatso on deck chair at Porto Malai Resort.

Picturesque Porto Malai Resort.

Langkawi Eagle.

Rosalina Ismail was our teacher, er guide, on the bus trip to the Langkawi Cable Car. She was very funny with her, "Aaaah!", and, "Eh?" comments all the time. Taking a tour bus on Langkawi you don't expect the guide to ask you if the anaconda is a reptile or a mammal and then explain to you why your answer is incorrect. She even had maps to teach us from. She was good value though.

The Langkawi Cable Car took us up to 710m above sea level where the view was fantastic. We even saw the clouds rising above us and subsequently dropping a few spots of rain. It was a real pity that the bridge through some of the mountains was undergoing repair as I'd have loved to have walked it. We shared a gondola on the way up with a South African couple.

Langkawi Cable Car.

Mountains on Langkawi.
Walkway on Langkawi at lookout.

View atop Langkawi.

More silly finger gestures.

Liz (who won everything aboard the ship).

Going down on the Langkawi Cable Car.

There was a bit of shopping at the base station where I was told off for spending too much money. Down the bottom we went to collect our water that wasn't allowed in the gondola and were disappointed to discover that somebody had taken our water. Only later when we caught up with Rosalina did we find out that she had taken it back to the bus.

Next stop was Underwater World in the town but we weren't interested in it as we have one back home. Shopping was on the menu and Miky had her sights on the duty free shops. She bought clothes, shoes and cosmetics. We had lunch at a Korean restaurant we stumbled upon after waiting to be served in a grotty Chinese restaurant which we left after being appalled at the way they cleaned the table with a cloth soaked from a bucket of dirty water. We certainly weren't having any of that.

Toilet sign on Langkawi.

Shop doesn't open for long.

Miky met our Malaysian friends, Mr Ng and Mr Tan, in the duty free shop. They had a rental car so we didn't need to worry about paying for a taxi to return to the ship and could shop for a bit longer. After arriving at the ship I wanted to take a few more photos. The crew called Miky to make sure that I was ok as I hadn't boarded with them. Mr Ng lost his duty free cigarettes on the wharf after unloading them from the rental car.

Long way from home.

Fishing village and resort in background.

Superstar Gemini in port.

We all met for dinner at the Mariners' Buffet and it was Asian night where all the crew dressed up in asian dress. Great seafood, cha cha beef and Malaysian Kueh (cake). The mango sticky rice (sago) was great.

Just had time after talking to get to the Galaxy of the Stars for the Broadway musicals. Spoke with Matt James, who was part of a party of 11, about the trip so far. The musical was great and included Cats, Hair, Chicago, Cabaret among others. Later I collected Yu-Jin from child care for the 9pm pool and pizza party on deck. It rained which dampened the spirits somewhat.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 6 - October 9th 2008

2008-11-20T04:56:00.008+09:00

We didn't have to be ready for our tour this morning until 10am so I did a workout on the exercise bike prior to breakfast. Our tour today was to Patong Beach in Phuket town. The only thing to do at Patong Beach during the day is shop for copies by bartering. By night it is apparently pretty lively as a bar scene. I'm not good at bartering but Miky is. I didn't look forward to the experience at all. Miky would look them straight in the eye and say, "Give me your best price and I'm going to check other shops." Many shop owners didn't want to give her a price after that.

Rather humid in Phuket, as you can tell from the photo.

Humidity removed and the scene returns to normal.

Interesting sign - Take a Bath. But where do you take it?

Petrol price compares well with Australia - about 25 baht to the dollar.

We found some salt and pepper shakers in the shape of animals and talked the guy down from 200 baht to 180 baht. A lovely cushion cover was offered to us for 450 baht. The guy wouldn't deal with Miky after she asked for his best price for four of them but in the next shop she managed to talk the owner down from 250 baht each for the same cushion covers and 500 baht elephants down to a total of 450 baht. It was difficult to find something that you wanted to buy in several shops as they all seemed to sell different goods. Miky got one t-shirt down from 300 baht to 120! And it appeared to be reasonable quality too. Bangla road had lots of shops to visit.

Tuk tuks. Everywhere. Bothersome drivers.

Bars in Patong, Phuket. This place must be alive at night time.

Every man and his dog owns a motorbike in Patong, Phuket.

Miky wanted to visit the shopping centre to buy cosmetics and lunch. We ended up having sushi and Pringles for lunch. With only an hour after lunch before we had to be back at the bus, we had three and a half hours in total, we went wild and spent all but 17 baht (about 75 cents). I was quoted 100 baht for a 250 baht kids t-shirt, but not in a market stall, but when I came back they wanted 200 baht. Miky ended up throwing the money at them and taking the shirt. A deal is a deal. We got the salt and pepper shakers for 170 baht in the end. The stall owner still had a smile on her face afterwards.

No safety for welder. This dissapoints me to see a lack of worker safety.

Construction workers must be thirsty - they have a drinks truck just for them.

I'm not too keen on electrical work.

Crazy wiring.

This wiring is a real rat's nest.

Made the bus with less than five minutes to spare but couldn't find our stickers that we required, sort of like a boarding pass, as Miky had them and she wanted to spend the last of her money. Sat next to Westley and Shelley, the performers, on the bus and talked about all of the places that Westley has toured, how he is friends with Konishiki and Akebono, etc. Looked at the old bombers at the port before having afternoon tea. Yu-Jin wanted to go to child care and so I headed to the sauna room for a dry sauna followed by a steam sauna. Lovely.

Shelley and Westley.

No idea what these signs mean.

Markets at the port.

Some old planes at the port, Phuket.

Got dressed for tea at the Ocean Palace restaurant onboard - pretty swanky, posh place. No wonder your shirt had to have a collar. Great service and great food. Yu-Jin ate very well which isn't like him at all. Just finished in time to see some entertainment in the form of the Mr & Mrs Game (how well do you know your spouse?) with John and Val who'd been married for 56 years, Peter and Lyn for 17 years and Paul and Donna-lee 25 years. Very amusing.

Swank restaurant onboard the Superstar Gemini.

Couple after a hard days shopping.

The Boy after being dragged around shopping all day.

"This is it!" was then performed by the crew. There was cross-dressing, striptease, singing and dance - the show had it all.

Don't ask me what my finger sign means. I was just getting down with the homies.

Hot babe.

Changed some money for the Langkawi cable car tomorrow as they didn't accept credit cards. Went to write my diary in the Bar Gemini and ended up chatting with Rosemary, Brian, Rod and Liz (they only work 6 months a year and holiday the rest). Late night, great day.

Going back to the cabin and Miky thought that I had gone to watch the crew show again because I was gone for so long. We went for a walk around the ship and bumped into the two Malaysians we'd met earlier, Mr Ng and Mr Tan. Chatted with them for the next hour and a half. Upon returning to our cabin Miky discovered that she'd lost her access card. I retraced our steps but there was no sign of it. I went to the reception area to cancel the card, as there was a S$1000 limit on it, when Miky came to me. The Malaysians had brought the card to her. Thank goodness for that. Bed at 1:30am.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 5 - October 8th 2008

2008-11-13T21:15:00.009+09:00

Today we anchored off the coast of Krabi, Thailand. We didn’t intend to go to Krabi today instead our plan was to head for some beach bumming on Koh Poda (Island). Transport to the island was by water taxi and there were quite a few available. A busy cog in the local economy, no doubt.

First view of Thailand.

Koh Poda (Island) at rear - our destination.

Our destination from water taxi.

Unloading the water taxi.

Beach on Koh Poda (Island).

Rest of beach on Koh Poda (Island).

The first noticeable thing upon landing was that the monkeys were roaming around in packs and annoying people. The monkeys rifling through everybody’s belongings whilst they were swimming or snorkelling. Not long after we landed a lady was bitten by a monkey she was trying to chase away. She had to return to the ship for medical treatment and I heard later that she was taken away to hospital. Not a nice, abrupt finish to the holiday. Another lady stepped on a sea urchin and they were unable to remove the barbs so she had to go back to the ship to see the doctor. Perhaps a warning about the dangers faced with monkeys and sea urchins might be advisable from the tour operator.

Koh Poda is a beautiful island. There’s a small shop and it costs 10 baht to use the toilet and 30 baht to have a shower. Kayaks or sea canoes could be hired for about 80 baht – that’s cheap.

The range of tropical fish, coral and sea slugs was very similar to Hawaii. The tiger fish nipped Miky and Yu-Jin. I didn’t like the way the small school of these fish encircled you. We did quite a bit of snorkelling and met Tony and Lorraine from Wales, after a monkey tried going through our belongings. In actual fact, the monkeys were great for helping you meet other cruise passengers. You had to stick together to protect your things! I was videoing a monkey who was doing some thieving and it was Lorraine behind me yelling at a monkey to go away. She and Tony said they would take care of our gear whilst we snorkelled. This couple took five or six holidays a year, not all cruises, so they’ve seen some fantastic places.

Cheeky Monkey on Koh Poda Island in Thailand

Thieving monkey.

There was another island nearby and I decided to swim to it. Next to it was a smaller island in the shape of a jet ski. The round trip took me 25 minutes and it was about 300m offshore. It was a little disconcerting not being able to see the seabed for quite some time and it only reappeared once I was about 10-15 metres from the small island. There was a huge school of silvery coloured fish however and a great many sea urchins.

Nearby island to Koh Poda (Island).

Fair way back to the ship.

Coconut trees everywhere.

Looking back at the mainland.

Welcoming sign - Poda Island.

Not so welcoming sign - tsunami warnings.

Three hours on the beach was enough so we headed back a little early and prepared for a late lunch. Miky had a workout upon returning, Yu-Jin went to childcare and I had a sleep. Too much swimming (that’s my excuse). Excellent meal after Yu-Jin had a swim later.

Back on the water taxi.

Me on the water taxi.

Heading back to the ship.

The next stop was Phuket which we reached that evening but we weren’t interested in leaving the ship for any of the night shows. We went ashore at the port to have a look at the markets there but it was only for about two minutes before the rain and wind drove us back. Whilst walking around the ship’s deck we noticed lots of people heading towards the Galaxy of the Stars so we ventured in. It was for the gameshow “The Weakest Link” and I was chosen as the seventh and last contestant. Matthew, a year nine student, was voted off first. I remember his father entering the room and announcing, “Here are the losers,” which was rather ironic with his son being the first loser. Matt James, a software engineering student from UWA, was voted off next. I was left with four women, Liz, Susan, Mary-anne and Rosemary, who worked for a politician but wouldn’t explain further, gave me three votes in the next round and I was voted off. I can safely say that I was never the weakest link so I’ll have to satisfy myself with the title of Smartest Man On Board. It was good fun in front of everyone – mainly older people who might forget by tomorrow anyway. Before I headed to bed I listened to some singing in the Bar Gemini.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 4 - October 7th 2008

2008-11-05T22:02:00.013+09:00

Today's stop was Penang, Malaysia. I didn't hear the alarm again this morning. The very dark cabin disorients you a bit. We had breakfast outside at the rear of the ship. It was a lovely experience and setting.

Pulau Pinang (Penang) Harbour.

Must be a Chinese boat - junk.

Our boat to get to shore.

Tender boats were used today to take us to shore and they carried some 200 people at a time. We had a free day and intended to go shopping at KOMTAR mall which was included on one of the tour itineraries. I was informed by the tour crew that a taxi was expected to cost 20 ringgit. After disembarking the tender boat and reaching the entrance to the harbour we were swamped by taxi drivers. I ignored the first two and the 3rd offered us a ride for RM30. I asked for RM20 and he said, "Too cheap." He countered with 28, then 25 and finally 20. Then he kept asking if we wanted to go anywhere else. He also sad that KOMTAR was old and not very good.

We met some passengers from the ship in the Prangin Mall and they had been happy to pay RM20 when their initial offer was RM40. Not many of the shops were open before 11am and it was a little run down. We wandered around outside in a car repair and tyre sale business area amongst coffee houses. It was obvious that a Chinese festival was due yesterday or today.

European style buildings in Penang.

Building in need of renovation.

Chinese festival in Penang.

Float for Chinese festival in Penang.

Rich person's home, maybe.

Watch out for the drain. Must have some decent rainfall in these parts.

Stranger public phones in Penang than Singapore.

Penang has a lot of motorbikes.

Strange business hours in Penang.

Back in the mall and Miky discovered that contact lenses, same brand, were half the price of Australia. I was looking inside KOMTAR for cheap t-shirts and they were few and far between. From our earlier walk outside we knew that there was a dim sum shop nearby but we struggled to locate it. When we finally found it we discovered that it was only open from 12am to 12pm - it was already closed! Found a nice dim sum shop in Prangin Mall. Whilst checking out the menu and old couple from the ship, Ray and Dorothy, asked where McDonalds was. Lunch was nice.

Miky bought shoes for Yu-Jin and then they went back to the ship. Took a taxi from the spot outside the mall where we had arrived. The driver asked us how much we had paid to get here and I said it was RM15. He didn't have a problem with that. Bastard! - first taxi driver that is. This guy was young and quite chatty.

Buildings near the harbour.

Must be a tough job or business is slow today.

I tell you it was warm but I wasn't going to waste my time in Penang and so I wandered down to Clan Piers which is World Heritage Listed. There are basically seven families, and subsequently seven piers, congregating on the sea. They made their houses on jetties after migrating from China and it looks as though they have extended them as required. Now the fishing industry has died down a bit and they can't afford to buy actual land so they are stuck. Judging by the plasma screens and other items I noticed I don't think that they are that stuck. What an interesting place. I walked along Lim Jetty and Chew Jetty.

Shrine at Lim Jetty.

Lim Jetty, Penang.

Lim Jetty all on stilts, Penang.

Lim Jetty stilts.

Chew Jetty, Penang.

Rubbish after Chowing down.

Chew Jetty houses.
Chinese locals still follow the old festivals.

Make-do renovation work.

Next it was time to walk around Georgetown. At least that was the old British name for Penang. Methinks the Brits weren't too imaginative with naming places.

Interesting sign - Parking on your o(w)n risk. Something lost in translation.

Funny sign - Chin Fook. Maybe he has a side job as a boxer.

If it's too hot just whack on another air conditioner.

Malay area in town.

Georgetown.

Impolite way of saying post no bills.

Stop sign - not too difficult to work this one out.

I'd run out of time and had to go back to the ship. Wow, it was so humid I had to drink so much water.

Superstar Gemini in Penang Harbour.

The shopping in Penang was a disappointment but the old buildings and the Clan Piers were definite highlights. On board I did a workout with Miky and had a swim with Yu-Jin late on. After tea we had a walk together on deck and watched "Twice as Nice" with Wesley Stevens and Shelley Dartez. Even the Boy enjoyed the show. Wesley used to be in The Commodores and The Stylistics and had a hit with "You make me feel brand new".

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 3 - October 6th 2008

2008-10-31T05:05:00.009+09:00

Buffet breakfast - love it. We all gathered for tours in the Star Lounge. This morning we arrived at Port Klang in Malaysia. It is situated about 40 kms from Kuala Lumpur. Our tour guide for the day was Larry and the bus driver was Mr Tulasi. Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is known, has a population of 1.6 million during the night and 3 million during the workday. Larry told us so.

First stop was the Sultan Salahuddin Afdul Aziz Shah Mosque. I was looking forward to visiting the "Blue Mosque of the East" as it seats, or is that kneels, 25,000 people as I have visited such grand places of religion such as Notre Dame Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Nidarosdomen. That was until Larry informed us because we aren't Muslims we aren't considered to be clean and so are not welcome inside. The bus pulled up probably half a kilometre away and we had five minutes to jump out and take photos. Very disappointing. There was quite a bit of traffic in the area.

Pretty busy roundabout in Malaysia.

Blue Mosque of the East in a picturesque setting.

It's putty in my hands - every tourist has to do this.

Next stop was an old (Wikipedia tells me that construction started in 1981 however) Chinese temple by the name of Thean Hou. It was quite lovely with all the statues of the animals from the Chinese zodiac and I even had my fortune told. Yu-Jin wanted to place some burning incense in the bowl but burnt himself on a piece that was already there. Downstairs they had souvenirs for sale. And a good selection. We wanted to buy Yu-Jin a Petronas Twin Towers statue but as we were going there later in the day thought that the best deal would be had there.

Nice highrise apartments.

Thean Hou Temple.

Inside Thean Hou Temple.

The Boy finding out his fortune.

Similar hairstyles the monks and I.

It's not all highrise apartments.

My fortune.

Off to a hotel for a buffet lunch. It was actually a good way to meet other travellers as we were forced to sit next to other people. Spoke to Rod and Maz from the Gold Coast. Third stop for the day was Dataran Merdeka - Independence Square. This is the spot where Malays cried out for independence from Britain and were granted it. There is a 100m flagpole and that was pretty impressive.

The 100m tall flagpole at Dataran Merdeka.

Fourth stop of the day was the 421m high KL Tower which had an observation deck at 271m. I love going to the highest place in a city and looking around. The view from the tower was pretty spectacular and worth a visit.

Sprawling metropolis that is Kuala Lumpur.

Petronas Twin Towers from KL Tower.

Look closely to see the 100m tall flagpole at Dataran Merdeka.

A special police force is required just for pesky tourists in Malaysia.

KL Tower.

Finally we visited the Petronas Twin Towers. They were quite, well, awesome. And to think that they were constructed from stainless steel. We did some frantic shopping at Suria KLCC. Yu-Jin wanted to go to the toilet and went to a pay toilet where it cost RM2 (two Malaysian Ringit) which is approximately A$0.80. There was a stall nearby which was advertising for a sales marketing person for RM5.50 after one month probation. The shopping wasn't bad - so many department stores. Six stories of them in all. Outside we were viewing the lake and some guy came up and asked if I wanted to buy a Rolex. The most disappointing aspect of the shopping was discovering that the best, and cheapest, range of souvenirs were at the Thean Hou temple.

Petronas Twin Towers.

Petronas Twin Towers go straight up.

Lake and garden at rear of Petronas Twin Towers.

I'm wearing the Petronas Twin Towers like a jetpack.

You get the idea just how tall the Petronas Twin Towers are.

Back at the bus and Larry couldn't find the driver. It started to rain. Larry checked the other buses. He rang the driver but no answer. After some ten minutes huddled together in the rain the bus driver woke up, inside our bus, and opened the doors for us.

Back on board the ship and Yu-Jin wanted to go to child care. They had a computer, TV and games. I read the paper and then went for a walk around deck. We had a BBQ tea on deck 8 and were joined by two Malaysians who'd just joined the cruise and were finding it difficult to find a table to eat at. They were Mr Ng and Mr Tan. Yu-Jin went to child care after our meal whilst we attended the gym.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 2 - October 5th 2008

2008-10-29T05:07:00.009+09:00

After going to be past midnight Miky wanted to walk prior to 7am. Upon her return we had a swim then a quick shower before a lovely buffet breakfast. My friend Vanessa was meeting us at 9am to go out. We visited the Raffles Hotel firstly.

The Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

The inside courtyard of the Raffles Hotel.

And then we walked to the Singapore Flyer. The tickets that Vanessa had bought for the previous night were ok to use. What a brilliant attraction. Exciting too. You could see for miles. Well worth the money and definitely a highlight of Singapore.

Singapore is quite a futuristic-looking city.

No sleeping sign in an underpass.

Obviously this is an illiterate Singaporean.

Welcome to the Singapore Flyer.

Amazing soccer pitch in the harbour.

The Singapore Skyline.

Massive works going on in the harbour.

View atop the Singapore Flyer - 42 stories up.

View of the grand prix track.

The Singapore Flyer from below.

We had lunch in a foodhall but not at Famous Amos or Yu Kee. There was a tropical downpour during lunch so it didn't matter that the Boy took a little bit longer to finish his lunch.

Famous Amos - I work with a Singaporean called Amos.

Yu Kee - not a perfect name for a restaurant by any stretch of the imagination.

US Presidential election fever has obviously hit those in Singapore who think they can make a buck out of it.

PISSA health ceatre - marginally better English than in Hong Kong.

The girls went shopping at OG near Bugis Station whilst we boys went to the Sim Lim Square Building which contains six stories of electronic goods. We compared prices for a Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit and a Canon Ixus 90IS digital camera. It was a bit exhausting and there were no fixed prices. One guy offered me the camera for S$390, which was about S$40 more than other shops and when I told him that it was too expensive he dropped the price to S$330. Disgusted that he'd shaved S$60 off the price just like that I walked out. He shouted out to me that he could sell it for S$280! I think it's a disgrace to try to make S$110 profit like that.

Met the girls before going back to the hotel. We grabbed our belongings and checked about 3:30pm, as the Holiday Inn Park View offered a late 4pm checkout, and took a taxi to Harbour Front to check in for the cruise. Arrived at 3:55pm which was only 35 minutes before check-in closed. It had opened at 2:30pm. The travel agent never told us where to go or what time to check-in.

First view of Superstar Gemini.

One of the first things to do on board was take part in a safety drill. Several hundred people with life jackets on was a funny sight. Before tea I checked out the facilities. We had a lovely buffet meal, followed by a tour guide presentation followed by Hot! Hot! Hot! - an entertainment extravaganza with Brazilian dancers, Chinese acrobats and a Belarus ballroom dancing championship winning team. Great stuff. Yu-Jin was able to have a swim in the pool on deck eight and Miky worked out in the gym.

Cool dude in a life jacket.

Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 1 - October 4th 2008

2008-10-20T21:17:00.003+08:00

Time for another trip. This time as an anniversary present as well as for a holiday. We had planned to take a cruise from Singapore to Malaysia, Thailand and back three months earlier but were unable to obtain a cabin that we were happy with. It didn't have to be anything special. No need for a porthole because if we wanted to look outside we would go outside. All they were able to offer us firstly was a room with an obscured view for A$900 more than we were willing to pay. So, we waited three months until the next holiday period.

Finally the time came around. We'd only had three days to pay for the initial booking but had to wait seven months to take the trip. You can imagine how excited we were.

My itinerary informed me that we were taking a Qantas flight at 12pm. Therefore we rocked up to the airport at 10 to 10 because we had plenty of time. After a quick check of the e-ticket, which said our booking was on Singapore Airlines, I thought that it was a bit strange that Singapore Airlines and Qantas would be doing a codeshare flight as they are competitor. Then it dawned on me - my itinerary didn't match the ticket and we had missed our flight which was scheduled for the morning. That was an "Oh shit!" moment. And a rather large one at that.

Unfortunately Singapore Airlines' desk was closed at this stage so I had to ring our travel agent - Flight Centre. It hurt having to pay $2 for a local call as I didn't have any change. And I was kept on hold for some 45 minutes whilst waiting for the travel agent to contact Singapore Airlines. I explained that the e-ticket didn't match the itinerary and three months after the ticket was created I'd paid for something else or received a quote and the paperwork produced still informed that my booking was with Qantas. The travel agent couldn't understand as there had never been a booking made with Qantas - that was a bit difficult to swallow seeing as I had paperwork stating otherwise. There was absolutely no mention of Singapore Airlines in an itinerary and, in fact, an updated itinerary was never presented to us. A little bit later I recalled changing the initial flight to an earlier one to Singapore but the rest of the paperwork being incorrect was still very mysterious. And it wasn't going to help the fact that we had missed our flight. And the ticket says if you miss your flight you've missed your flight.

Waiting on the telephone for some 50 minutes for help from the travel agent.

The travel agent managed to get us booked on a flight at five past one the next morning but that would mean our hotel booking was lost and we would have nowhere to stay for half a day before boarding our cruise. Not ideal. Our best bet was to waitlist for a five to four flight that afternoon and wait it out. I went upstairs to Singapore Airlines' office, which was closed but they answered the doorbell, and they informed me that the flight was already overbooked. Another lady came who decided to try her luck as she wanted to go to Paris a day earlier than planned if she could. Once we'd had lunch and waited downstairs there was another chap who was waitlisted also.

Had to ring my friend Vanessa from a public phone and tell her that we wouldn't be arriving until late in the evening, at best, and that it wasn't possible to use the tickets that she had purchased for a ride that night on the Singapore Flyer. As luck would have it the call only cost me $2 and I found a two dollar coin near the phone.

We could have purchased three business class seats which were available at the cost of A$2600 each and saved a lot of hassle but I couldn't see the logic in spending $8000 just to be guaranteed of landing in Singapore a few hours earlier as we were booked on a flight at 1:05 the next morning if the waitlisting didn't come through.

It was a nerve-wracking wait. We had to wait until 40 minutes before the flight was due to leave and if people hadn't checked in by then, and only then, the seats would be allocated to people on the waitlist. Thankfully everyone who was waiting was allowed on the plane. We hastily checked our bags and grabbed our boarding passes. Miky wanted to buy a handbag in the duty free area and asked if she had time. And I thought that she was kidding. When we reached immigration there was a large cue. Then we had to go through a security screening area. Only then did we reach the gate with some 10 or so minutes until the plane departed. We weren't the last to arrive but were pretty close to it.

Service on Singapore Airlines was good. I wasn't impressed with the middle-aged women in front of me who were out for a good time as they fail to consider others. You know, the sort of people who push their seat back as far as possible so that you can't see your screen properly and talk quite loudly about what they are watching on their own screen. Managed to read the Financial Times from front to back.

At the airport I found the information desk ladies to be quite helpful. Couldn't understand the taxi driver and he probably had as much trouble with me. The staff member at the Holiday Inn Park View was most kind. When I replied that our holiday had been started off so poorly he gave me an iPod shuffle for my trouble and said, "When I go on holiday I would like to have a nice holiday." Man, I was enjoying the Singaporean hospitality already.

We wandered around the eateries on Orchard Road and visited Istana Park. The night life appears to get going around 10pm.

Busy place late into the evening.

La La, Gon Gon and Su Su. This made us laugh.

Istana Park by night

Litter in Istana Park. Shock, horror.