Joys of Local Language Skills

Having skills in another language is both good and not so good.

I have vivid memories of screwing up over over the words for “wind” and “dog” in bahasa indonesian while still a beginner in the language .......it translated as “the dog coming through the window” when it should have been “the wind” an anjing [ dog] rather than “angin” [wind].

But being back on Bintan Island where Indonesian is widely spoken by the staff at the hotels, and with my now reasonably competent Indonesian language skills has great opportunities for rapport with the staff. That sort of rapport does help.

Indonesians generally seem to mix and enjoy interacting with Australians at the direct personal level. They enjoy a laugh and a joke, as well as a bit of repartee, even taking the mickey out of one another. That was quite a common theme when working in the country with my direct work contact staff.

But even at the hotel, a smile, local language exchange and they accept you more readily.

I guess the theme applies more widely, across many countries.

But Indonesia and Australia have definitely not always been such great buddies historically over the past 50 years. Yet in a wider historical context, there has been contact between Makassan traders and north Australia for about 400 plus years. The aboriginal word for white man is mostly “balanda”, a term thought to have come from the Makassans, who used it to refer to the white skinned Dutch.

But for travel around the region, Indonesian language which can substitue mostly for Malay as well, covers maybe 300 million people. A lot more than Australia.

It has been a useful skill to have acquired.......and getting a chance to practice is a lot of fun too, especially with the travel.

On the road again … oops, that’s in the air again, first.

We are on our way to Asia; first stop Singapore, and lucky for us, or our bank balance anyway; we will be there just over a week before the vroom, vroom of very expensive, very loud and very fast machinery hits the city streets of Singapore for the first ever night Grand Prix. Who would have thought that Singapore would close down its streets for a loud crowd of expensive, fast, Formula 1 racing cars. This is the city that had “encouraged” travel by (admittedly a very good) public transport system, by making ownership of cars out of the financial limits of most of the population, by its pricing of the cars themselves and the “on road costs”, plus city road congestion charges. I guess money talks as loudly there as it does anywhere else. If pricing of hotel rooms during the event is anything to go by, the hoteliers are definitely not missing out on the starting gun. $160 per night to $900 per night in just one day; and that’s not even at a front row seat establishment – you will need a lot more shekels for that type of genteel place to rest your head before and after the roar of the Ferrari’s and McLarens flexing their muscles. With three day passes ranging in price from $168 to $1388 there will be plenty of cash changing hands as there are expected to be 90 000 spectators attending. At least some would appear to be going Aussie way as Melbourne architect/engineer firm Kellogg, Brown & Root have been involved with construction.

So we plan to have a look at the Vietnam! From Myth to Modernity exhibition at the Ancient Civilizations Museum, do some street wandering with camera’s again and enjoy the beautiful street food of the place. And, I guess we will wander through Sim Lim Square and the Funan Centre, just to see what the latest and greatest electronic must haves are for the whiz kids.

Then we might go for a boat ride, not a slow one; but rather, a fairly fast one to Bintan.

But more about that later.

One of things that rather annoys me about travelling is the excessive cost which hotels charge for internet connection. One day charge can be as much as a two to three month charge for the average provider. Is it that they don’t want too many people using it – must be I think. Oh one of the joys – take up thy laptop and walk … to the nearest reasonable priced internet cafe or wifi powered venue, have a couple of coffees and upload and download. Wouldn’t it be nice to just sit at the desk in your room, which one has paid a reasonable amount for, and do it from there. But I refuse to “waste” that amount of money, so it won’t happen. I will just have to look a bit harder and move a bit further out of my comfort zone … again … and find a place which has the lot.

Christmas Dinner at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur

Just as we were arriving at the restaurant for our Christmas Eve Dinner, the carollers arrived at the entrance, providing the right ambiance for the evening. They sang quite a few traditional carols and then moved on to entertain other guests in other venues. We were settled at our beautifully decorated table, which was placed right beside a window so that we could enjoy the night lights of the city. We were brought a very nice glass of wine and invited to help ourselves to the buffet. Well, it was more like buffets; as there were several “live kitchens” set up around the edge of the restaurant with chefs to prepare your requests. Separate areas for Malay, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and European foods were set up plus seafood, salads and the largest dessert buffet I have seen in a long while. Death by chocolate is a phrase which flows to mind.

All the while we were entertained by a wandering minstrel group singing carols and other music from around the world. They were ably assisted by a small group of children who were delighted to be asked to be part of the entertainment.

The presentation was magnificent and the food tasted excellent too. Any apprehension we may have had about celebrating Christmas in a non Christian country was definitely dispelled.

For some photos of the dinner at the Le Meridien Hotel click on the thumbnail photo below.


by oldfartz99

Singapore Lights up for Christmas

Our return to Singapore is in time to see the Christmas in the Tropics lights of Singapore.

“Christmas in the Tropics is one of the key tourism drivers for Singapore, being a season that our overseas visitors look forward to,” said Ms Joycelyn Ng, Deputy Director of Leisure Marketing and Events Management, Singapore Tourism Board. “With a programme packed full of shopping, dining and entertainment options, it’s little wonder that one in five visitors surveyed last year planned their trips to coincide with Singapore’s Christmas celebration. We hope that this year will be no different as we create for visitors their most memorable Christmas experience yet.”

A key favourite of the annual Christmas in the Tropics celebration is the Christmas Light-up, themed “A Fairytale Christmas” this year. Scotts Road and the Orchard Road stretch from Tanglin Road to Plaza Singapura and the Marina Bay area from Hotel Rendezvous to Raffles Avenue will be transformed into a bewitching Crystal Forest decked with magnificent chandeliers, magic harps, glittering jewels, dazzling lights in red, gold and white, and even a magical carousel. Conceptualised by Mr Dick Lee who is the Creative Director for the second consecutive year, this fantasy land is the setting for the unfolding of a fairytale inspired by the Nutcracker Suite, which tells the story of handsome Prince Noel who goes in search of his missing true love, Princess Ballerina, through the Crystal Forest.

For the 17th year running, Hitachi is the sponsor of the Christmas Light-Up along Orchard Road. “The Hitachi Group is delighted to support the Christmas Light-up for the 17th year, raising funds for those in need of help with the hope of lighting up their lives as well. Our commitment to the community demonstrates our corporate philosophy to contribute to society through technology wherever Hitachi is located.” said Mr Shunsuke Ohtsu, Hitachi Ltd’s Chief Executive for Asia.

We take a trip by MRT to Orchard (at the intersection of Scotts and Orchard Rds) and as we exit the underground station the lights are really in your face. Immediately you see the display up high right across the road. Wooden soldiers in their turrets high above the road, beautifully lit and turning slowly on a turntable so that everyone can see them. Yes, the advertiser does have his name prominently displayed but we will disregard that little bit of commercialism for the moment and enjoy the display.

Walking down Orchard Rd there are beautiful displays on just about every shop. What appears to be a waterfall of lights down the full height of Tangs, discreet, classy displays in front of Prada and Yves Saint Laurent (the real bling is inside), huge white candle castles complete with Princess, large white moving doves at Robinsons and lights as far as you can see the full length of Orchard Rd and down Bras Basar Rd to Raffles Hotel. Christmas sentiments other than commercialism along with the lights are evident in many of the displays. Outside Raffles City shopping centre there is a huge tree, which continually has people being photographed in front of it. I stop to join the photographers and notice, right on the edge of the footpath, with the traffic whizzing past within centimetres, a couple of rickshaw drivers, would you believe, catnapping in their machines, resting between customers! They must have nerves of steel to even consider stopping there, let along sleeping!
For more photos click on thumbnail below


by oldfartz99

Watch This Space

We're on the move..........AGAIN! Although stopping to inspect the street art in Singapore is an interesting option too. A lot to see, but few stop to look.

So watch this space.......Asia again, or is it still, complete with RAIN and lots of it.

And remember, monkeys are two footed with two hands or is that four footed with no hands......until you lose it. A useful warning on a very upmarket golf course in Asia. How many Louis Vuitton golf club covers were stolen?

For no answer to this and other entrancing problems, read on.

Old Fartz on Tour

Never too old, but still bold - a good motto for the adventurous over 50s.

People with a travel bug that was caught in the 60s and 70s - to see the world on the cheap, the wallet has fattened a bit [or has it??]. But the bug is still latent, sometimes quiescent for a few years while other issues intervened. But the desire to get value for money, and plenty of adventure still left and now a bit more time to indulge in seeing all the bits that were not seen before marriage, kids, mortgages, divorce?? - well....follow the Nike advice -- just do it!

Travellers tend to be of two main groups - those that always hear of a new adventure to consider and explore, new places to see and visit and those that probably never want to explore that exotic location or any other for that matter.......... EVER again.

We are about to embrace a new adventure with plenty of travel, but tempered by being able to ignore the $1 per night in a crappy room [ mostly], get a good hot shower [usually] yet use cheap transport, eat local food, do your own thing, visit exotic locations, indulge in some adventure and generally have a great time, at your own pace and not be hassled by the young [they usually are] tour guide. But it does require a degree of research, planning and a belief that almost everywhere you might want to go, people live there, or live close by and they get around just fine, eat, drink, play some sport or indulge in leisure and generally have somewhere to sleep. But remember..........golf is NOT ON!

Five star hotels on the cheap are fine - never one to ignore that, but the focus is on value, which mostly comes lower down the scale. Clean, cheap and well located is a great option. But the occassional indulgence of upmarket accomodation is definitely pleasant. And afterall.....the net is a great place to shop for bargains. And it is ubiquitious....New York; Rabbit Flat in Australia [look it up if you do not know where it is]; Beijing; Buenos Aires or Addis Ababa. Try www.wotif.com for a bargain bed, world wide.

The development of a focussed new travel world for those a little older and bolder is what we are about.

Travel for the adventurous willing to explore some cheaper options, with or without a guide, and take on a few wilder adventures.

Lets begin.

The print is large enough for you to read too.