Singapore to Kuala Lampur

I watch out the window as the rest of Singapore goes by. I pass by the Gardens on the Bay that I regret not visiting, the giant ferris wheel, and outside the city center a gigantic shipping yard, industrial and science centers, some odd-shaped apartment buildings. There is jungle everywhere as landscaping, but no unused space. I switch to a pair of unoccupied seats and pull out my laptop to write this and settle in for the 6-hour journey. Within minutes the bus stops and everyone gets off. I leave my bags and head through Singapore immigration. I wonder what would happen here if I had lost my disembarkation ticket.

I follow everyone else until an official points me to an area for foreigners. Everyone else from all the buses outside are in a line for Malaysian passport holders. Singapore is an island connected by bridge to the Malaysian peninsula; I'm the only tourist here, everyone else is crossing the border to go to or from work. We get back on the bus and cross a long bridge to Malaysia, then do it all again, except this time all the immigration officials are females wearing hijabs. At one point I had researched all the countries I would be visiting; I have notes on exchange rates, visa requirements, and the best way to cross each border. But with no internet access I can't look this stuff up. Thanks for locking my phone AT&T. I'm pretty sure I don't need a visa to enter Malaysia, but I still breath a sigh of relief when I pass through. I rush into a convenience store and ask them if they take US $. He says no, but he sees my Singapore dollars and says he'll take those. I snag a package of cookies and cold can of something with a coffee bean on it.The register rings up 7.40 Ringgit, and I'm trying to convert my guesstimate of a Ringitt being around a quarter, and a SD being around $.70, so if I times the total at the register by one-third I can convert it to SGD and figure out how much I'm spending in USD...The bus driver is leaning out staring at me. I fumble around with change and the cashier says 'tell you what, give me this and go' as he takes $4. I give up converting it in my head, it seems cheap compared to $12 beers and $3 gatorades. I'm back on the bus and I'm going to check the conversion rates now...and it looks like he took me for about 40%. The good news is the price of goods looks like it is going to be half what it was in Singapore. In 28 hours in Singapore I spent about $150, even though I slept for 18 of those hours.

We just stopped at a gigantic rest stop with two markets and a dozen fast-food joints and a half dozen buses out front. It is hotter inside than outside, and it is really hot outside. I've only had the package of cookies in the last 15 hours, so I need to find a money exchange quick. I get directed to the office, which looks to be the pay office for the workers. I ask about exchanging money, he shakes his head at first when I tell him USD; he wants SGD. Eventually he says he'll do the USD 'for 2.5'. Losing 2.5% on exchange is not a good rate, but it is about what I paid at the airport and the tailor took 2.8%, so I figure it is not good but not too bad. I'm tired of being out of money so I exchange give him a hundred dollar bill and my last Singapore dollar. He gives me back 252.5 Ringgit. At this point I realize that 2.5 was what he was willing to give as a rate of exchange for both USD and SGD, not just the vig, which leaves me with a whopping 30% exchange fee. I've only been in the country for an hour and I've already lost 30 bucks.

Singapore was a rich, modern place full of concrete; the infrastructure was modern and well maintained, there was no litter anywhere, and the jungle showed only where it was allowed to for landscaping purposes. Malaysia is a jungle with a few islands of concrete carved out. I'm used to seeing the harsh cliffs of the Cottonwood Canyons where trees struggle to cling to bare rock. Here I can't tell what the mountain would look like, every inch is covered in foliage. I pull in to Kuala Lampur; it looks like a poorer, more run down version of Singapore. The sidewalks are broken, there is litter everywhere, and there are homeless in the park. The bus stops and I ask him if I get off. He says get off. I ask him again if I should get off. He says get off. I grab my things to get off. He says 'You're getting off'??

I figure since I don't know where I'm going it doesn't matter where I am. I get off. I see a Starbucks and head there searching for wifi. Everything is in English. The Starbucks menu is identical to back home. So are the prices. I use the wifi to find hostels. I read the name 'Reggae Mansion' and figure that's the place for me. I stumble in absolutely soaked in sweat. I get a bed in a 24-room dorm for 45 Ringgit ($13). I lay on the bed until I stop sweating, then head to the rooftop bar where I hear reggae blasting. The heavens open and it is pouring rain; I can probably expect it to rain every afternoon around 3pm. Within a few minutes I'm hanging out with Stef and Peter from Holland. They just arrived and are trying to deal with the jet lag. They are headed to Thailand too, so we discuss the Full Moon Party this Saturday. It's not really my scene, but it is a huge deal around here; kind of a right of passage to backpacking Thailand. I end up playing cards with three guys from Toronto: Alex, Austin, and I can't remember the last guy even though I've asked his name multiple times. They were in Singapore for five days, and said not a single person would talk to them. They ask if I'm going to the Full Moon Party too. I tell them to keep me awake and we go out in search of food. It's 6am in Utah, if I can sleep tonight I think I have a new sleep schedule down.