I recently found the travel diary from the trip I took with my dad to Singapore back in 1999 (when I was still in high school). This was my first trip out of the country, and an amazing experience. To help preserve it, I’m going to repost bits of it here along with some of the pictures I have. I’ve added some annotations which are in italics. Enjoy!

Days 1-2: Singapore (Aug 13, 1999)

We arrived in Singapore at around 6:30AM after a very long flight (about 24 hours). Singapore is beautiful. The bus ride from the airport was spectacular, exotic trees lining the road, beautiful flowers, etc. Once you get into the city the trees start to disappear although that does depend on where you go.

While we were walking around we came to a Hindu temple where an elaborate ritual was going on. Drums, chanting, all that stuff. Next door was a Chinese temple which was also bustling – perhaps because it was Friday the 13th?

Our second day we continued to explore Singapore. We visited a “theme park” designed to teach Chinese mythology which was pretty interesting. However, it was pretty much empty, so I guess people aren’t too interested in learning that kind of thing. Afterwards we went to the Singapore Cruise center and then toured an old cargo ship. For dinner we went to the “Malay Village” which was disappointing because of both the rain and the lack of things there. We did have some good satay though.

What I remember being most surprised by when arriving in Singapore was the huge diversity of the city. Some streets had towering skyscrapers, giant malls, and video screen billboards – technology which wasn’t yet common in the US. Those areas felt like they could be any modern US city, although the streets were cleaner and nobody jaywalked. Other areas of the city had a completely different feel. The ethnic Indian and Chinese areas felt much more “real” than walking through china town back at home. In those areas it was clear that we truly were in another continent.

Days 3-4: Kuala Lumpur

This morning we took the train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It was a long ride with lots of palm trees along the way. On the train they showed us an interesting collection of bad American films and a British sitcom, none of which interested any of the passengers.

When we finally did reach KL we discovered that all the money changers in the area were closed (it being Sunday) also, the only ATM that accepted American Visa cards was out of order. We went to the tourist info center where they suggested we walk 10-15 minutes to the central market and gave us some very vague directions to help us on our way. Once we left the station and emerged into the sweltering heat, we quickly realized that one doesn’t walk far while in KL. We found a taxi which accepted our Singaporean money (meaning they got about 4 times the normal fare) and drove us to our hotel – The Coliseum. It’s a pretty nice place and costs us about $7 a night. I am writing from the lounge downstairs which is comfortable and air conditioned. Our room is also listed as “air conditioned” – meaning it has a fan.

My first impression of KL is that it is closer to New York City than to Singapore. Traffic is heavy and aggressive and things are somewhat rundown – although not everything, there are two giant syringe shaped buildings which are supposedly the tallest in the world if you include the big needles. I really haven’t been out into the city except for our cab ride yet, so I can’t really make a judgment yet. The cab ride was my first driving on the wrong side of the road experience, and was a bit disconcerting.

Kuala Lumpur has lots of interesting buildings and some trees. It is certainly prettier than some US cities I’ve been to. It is a small city too. Today we got lost and wandered for a bit until we found ourselves right near our hotel when we thought we were on the other side of town. Still, walking isn’t too much fun here. It is hot, polluted, and the drivers are crazy. Also, it is laid out strangely with streets at all angles. Big freeways and ramps get in your way while walking about. Now we are getting used to it, but of course that means it is time to move on… to the rain forest.

I don’t remember too much more about KL than the traffic and the heat. There were more arab influences in a lot of the architecture than in Singapore (not surprising since Islam is the state religion in Malaysia). Of course what I remember the best is the nasi goreng (SE asia style fried rice) and some of the Indian breads. Delicious!

Days 5-6: Taman Negara

Today we arrived in Taman Nagara on a little boat. The shores of the river leading to the park are completely overgrown with trees. I suppose that is what one should expect in a rain forest though. On the way up river we saw a fair number of water buffalo, but little else. In the evening we planned to watch a video on the park and then go on the night safari. After a long time of searching through the dark we found the place. Then we go to sit and wait for a while. Finally we got to see the movie, but I fell asleep and missed much of it – it had been a tiring day. We had to leave the movie early so we wouldn’t miss the safari, ingenious planning on the park’s part. The safari was okay. We didn’t to see anything interesting except a snake. Still, it was neat to be in the woods at night, the jungle was very dark and menacing.

Our second day we went on a walk in the jungle. It was hot and wet… very wet. The air was cool, but we were drenched from sweat and the mist. The climb was steep, but not too bad going up. Down was worse because it was much muddier. Afterwards we went on a rather disappointing boat ride through some rapids. It was really just an excuse to take you to the other resort so you could spend money there. Our driver did a good job of avoiding all the big rapids. I also got around to washing my clothes, which took a long time. Hopefully they will be dry by tomorrow. We have changed our plans and will be leaving here a day early so we can go to Penang. It is supposed to be very different from the places we’ve been to so far.

This was my first experience in a true rain forest. The humidity (and leeches) weren’t great, but it was really cool to see so much green. The picture above is from a tree top catwalk–this was a very nice way to see a whole new “layer” of the forest which we would have missed just being on the ground. Unfortunately we didn’t see much wildlife there–probably because some of the other tourists on the catwalk were having a great time jumping up and down on the bridges… stupid Americans.

We stayed in a small bungalow across the river from the main park. I think we had electricity, but it was very basic. Most of the village nearby did not have power, but amazingly enough there was a small internet cafe!

That’s all for now – I’ll put up some more of the trip soon. If you want to cheat and see the rest, the site I originally made after the trip is still online here.