Author: carminamasoliver

On route to London, we had to make a stop, so we decided to spend a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We arrived in the evening and ate a pretty mediocre meal at a nearby restaurant. The hotel was average – it had two rooms, making it really spacious, and the beds were comfortable. However, the bathroom was a bit grubby and little things like not having breakfast included, and the tax being added onto the quoted price, meant that it could have been better. But still, nothing to complain about too much. There was also a pool, and we took our first dip that night.

We booked a free shuttle service for the next morning at 11.30am, so we had a lazy morning. We arrived in the city centre, and popped in the Pavillon, before walking to find some food. We ate a cheap but quite tasty. We managed to walk to most places that day, and we spent a lot of the afternoon at the Menara Tower. We went to the observation deck, and although it was quite misty outside, it was still cool to walk around. 

We had a pack of activities with the ticket, which included a 6D cinema experience, a F1 driving game, an aquarium, a zoo, and an up-side-down house. The best part of this, aside from being quite fun to do kiddy things, was seeing such a wide variety of fish, and holding parrots! 

Next we walked to the Petronas Towers, though we didn’t go up. We walked around the park, which was really nice. I had expected Kuala Lumpur to be similar to Singapore, having spoken to another couple about it. It wasn’t quite as swish and shiny, and it felt bigger and not quite as easy to get around (but still walkable) but it had a relaxed vibe to it that I liked. We ate in the mall and also had these delicious fruit smoothies! 

We then tried to figure out the trains, which are easy enough… if you can find the station! We eventually got to it but the hotel had given confusing information, so we ended up walking around the wrong station. Eventually we made it back and knew where to go the next day. We had another evening pool session and another late night.

The next morning we started only slightly earlier than before. Maybe I’m getting a bit tired travelling around so much, but it feels like my capacity for long days is lessening, and I woke up with my feet still aching from the previous day’s walking. We got the train to Masjid Jamek with the plan to walk from there to park. Sadly, around the mosque was under construction, so we were unable to get a close look, but it looked more traditional than the ultra-modern architecture of the National Mosque. 

We walked through Merdeka Square, where we stumbled upon what looked like a big rehearsal for a dance routine. My boyfriend was approached by a man who asked him to speak on camera and wish Malaysia a happy 59th Independence Day, telling us that it was oh forefathers who had colonised them. My boyfriend had found this out on the taxi ride from the airport, but I had read up on it previously… To be honest, there’s probably not many countries that the British haven’t colonised, and being faced with it in such an up-front way was a stark reminder, but an important one. I’ve often found that people will address my boyfriend before me, and have even spoken as if I’m not there, saying complimentary things, but nevertheless, in a way I’m not entirely comfortable with. 

My boyfriend was embarrassed by the whole situation, and joked that I would have been better to ask to speak. As someone who performs poetry, I couldn’t help but agree, bug instead I stood there silent, as he introduced both of us to the camera, and I fought back the urge to chime in and force them to do a third take. It felt strange to stand there like a magician’s assistant, for my boyfriend to be addressed as “sir”, and for him to be told things such as “she’s pretty, like a doll”. Culturally, it gets into that sticky situation whereby you’re faced with your white privilege, and when my boyfriend tells the girl complimenting me that’s she very pretty too, something I may be a tad jealous about otherwise, I am glad and wish I had said it myself, but then I’m a bit awkward in those situations. 

We walked on towards the park and got to the Islamic Arts Museum. It was highly rated in my guidebook, and though interesting and informative, it wasn’t as extensive a I expected. The highlight was the photography exhibition upstairs, which included a range of pieces, some that wet visually stunning, some creative and humorous, and others extremely emotive, such as one piece with a family breaking fast at their ruined house on the Northern Gaza Strip, taken by Nidal Alwahidi, which had me choking back tears.

We carried on into the park, but by then we were extremely thirsty and so once we got to the other side, we caught a train to Chinatown, where we ate a cheap meal and spent sometime tasting Chinese tea at a tea shop. We walked through the market streets, and I bought a couple of pairs of loose trousers to replace the two that were ruined over my time travelling. We were pretty tired by that point, so we headed back on the train. 

I had a swim in the pool and read a bit outside; though it wasn’t sunny, it was still warm. I felt a bit awkward because the women covered up when they swam, or sat on the side fully-clothed. Still, I think that would be the same if it was the other way round, if you were covered up whilst others were not. It’s mostly in your head. In the light of the Burkini ban news in France, I think everyone should be able to wear what they want. Though I became paranoid when I noticed the hotel had put up an extra sign about appropriate swimming attire. Though there was a dad who was swinging his trunks in the air and laughing the other night. And the award for most embarrassing dad goes to… 

I used to cover up my thighs with a skirt and never showed my stomach, but I got to the age of about 19 or 20 and went on holiday with friends for the first time and it felt like it would be more strange for me to cover up than it would be for me to just wear what everyone else wore. It was my first time in a bikini. So, for me personally, wearing a bikini is somewhat empowering, even though that might seem silly to others. To me, it reminds me that our bodies are just bodies and not inherently sexual. I love seeing a range of shapes and sizes in bikinis because it really works at dispelling the myth of the whole beach/bikini body thing, and there’s something really humanising about it… I’m not sure that’s the right word, but I’m too tired to think.

Anyway, we had a meal at a great find called The Bad Boss, which actually has a punching bag and is supposedly a place where workers can let of steam. The food was great and the dark hot chocolate was delicious! We actually plan to go there again tomorrow before our flight, and I’ll see if I can get up early enough to fit in one last swim in my bikini! 

Thankfully Lombok didn’t rain at all during our trip – it was meant to be the dry season in Indonesia after all, hence why I timed it for the end. We were based in Sengiggi in order to go to the port in Bangsal and go to the Gili islands, storing our luggage at the hotel. The place wasn’t that great (the bathrooms weren’t very clean), but it had a pool and was literally across the road from the beach. 

The sea here was probably one of the best of the trip – calm, clear water and nice sandy shores. So, we spent that afternoon swimming and relaxing in the sun before having a very disappointing meal, where there was also a power cut. Some people had reserved a big table there – I can’t imagine why! 

The next day we went on a shuttle to the port that I had arranged, and booked a return with the same company. To be fair, it mostly went smoothly, but they have a really bad first impression that day. We arrived near the port where their office was, only to be told to wait about an hour until 10.15am, when the boat would leave. It was coming up to 10am when we were escorted to a horse-and-cart and asked to pay an extra 50k. We refused and we caught up with another couple who had done the same. We arrived and the boat was leaving, completely overloaded with people. We were going to Gili Meno, and after an hour of waiting with no information, I went to find out what was going on and because Gili Meno is quieter, we had to wait for more people to come to fill the boat, which could take until 4pm when the last boat leaves. After lots of back-and-forth discussions with other tourists and a guy who claimed to work there, my boyfriend had the idea of buying all the remaining tickets. Sadly, others didn’t pay him back enough of the money he paid, as we had agreed at that point we would pay 50k each, when actually it was only 20k each to buy the remaining tickets. However, with less people and coming up to midday, I began to fear for my life as the boat travelled to Gili Meno, completely open, life-jackets impossible to reach. Most people seemed calm, but the girl next to me was also worried, and we laughed that we had made it on arrival.

We were really hungry again, but it seemed things were against us as after checking-in, the place we sat down at ended up forgetting our order, so we didn’t eat until around 3pm. The place we were staying looked nice, but the bathroom was totally exposed, so anyone could see you on the toilet. That evening I was also irritated that the DVD player was impossible to get to work. Anyway, it had seemed things were looking up when we were swimming in the beautiful, crystal-blue waters of the island. 

However, it wasn’t long before I ended up stepping on a sea urchin. My boyfriend picked part of it out, but I didn’t realise that I had 3 pricks and it was agonising. I had shook him as he snorkelled, and I was thankful I did, because it’s not like me to ask for help so urgently in these situations, but you never know what lurks in the sea! A couple of local people said the traditional remedy was to kill the venom by hitting it with coral. They said that way it won’t hurt at night, and that if you didn’t do that you would not sleep that night. I don’t know how true that was, and my boyfriend also kindly hacked at my feet with some tweezers and I seem to be okay. I’ll ask my doctor about it, but it was probably lucky I didn’t have the Internet at that time because sometimes you need it surgically removed, and it can present long-term health problems. I really hope it’s okay and I’m feeling fortunate that it was only three pricks, when others have had lots more.

I spent the rest of the day reading in the sun, whilst my boyfriend snorkelled. I took another dip because it was too tempting, and also had another swim before the boat in the morning. That evening set the tone for the rest of the Gilis and Lombok – beautiful sunsets and good food. 

Although the water looks lovely, not all of it is good for swimming. When we arrived at Gili Air, we swam on a stretch of water that was shallow and could be painful when standing or walking due to the coral. We ended up spending most of the afternoon walking around the island, and eventually found a cheaper place to stay for our second night, which happened to be right outside our accommodation for that night. We swam in the pool while we had it, enjoyed some sunset dining, and watched a film called “About Time” on the DVD player, which worked but sadly went very jumpy at the end, when we looked, we saw lots of the discs had scratches and stains, almost as if they had been used as coasters rather than for entertainment.

The next day I squeezed in a morning pool session after breakfast, then checked into the new place. It was about three times cheaper, but literally just a room and balcony, with a toilet across the street. That said, it was the only place directly on the beach. That day we headed to Scallywags, as that was where I read the best part of the beach was for swimming, and it was also the most congregated. 

I finished my book, and went for a walk, finding only old books that didn’t appeal to me, or were too big for me to carry. I went back and got a copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It turns out I’m familiar with a lot of the stories in it, but it also made me think that I should have read it before Shakespeare. For example, Titus Andronicus takes segments of it directly, and yet I couldn’t know that context without reading it. 

I spent the day in and out of the water, and we ate after watching the sunset from our balcony. We returned to Sengiggi the next day and did more of the same, as well as making use of the pool there. We had another full day between the beach and pool, and had a couple of good meals there, including one with live music, where I drank some local beer. On the last night, my boyfriend bought us some wooden pendant necklaces with geckos, or “mosquito killers” as the guy selling them said. It was a nice souvenir, considering they are something that has been with us throughout our time in SE Asia.

The next morning we left for Kuala Lumpur – our last stop before home.

Like Laos, landing in Bali smelt of incense, but neither were quite what I expected. We arrived late at night and the taxi whizzed past big bars and large ornamental structures lit up in the night’s darkness. We were greeted by a bed with an elephant towel design and petals scattered around it. We had a pool with fountains, and a garden view, and the next morning we explored the grounds. Our host told us that every family has a temple, and she explained the function of various parts, stating that traditionally the home is small and the temple makes up most of the living area, whether used for ceremonies or everyday tasks such as getting rice.

It rained most of our first day, and on the long way round to the monkey forest, we stopped to eat and got a platter of twelve bite-size traditional Balinese dishes. We didn’t know it then, but that was our first try of Tempe. Once the rain had lessened, we carried on our way, and eventually it stopped, and the clouds cleared to make way for a glorious sun. 

Monkey Forest is a sacred place, with temples not open to the public. You could buy bananas to feed the monkeys, which my boyfriend did (and they went away very quickly – those cheeky monkeys!) It could be scary when they ran after each other and fought, as well as seeing them climb on people, but thankfully I was able to just watch from a safe distance. The forest is worth going just to look at the greenery and waterfalls. It was definitely the major selling point for Ubud, which was a lot busier than I expected. The traffic was unmoving at certain points, and I had the displeasure of having an American man yell at me to watch where I was going, when in fact I had seen him and he had not seen me cross the road in front of him. I’d also had an immigration officer on a power trip patronise me when I wanted to double check the visa exemption was correct as I had checked and there was different information available for Indonesia, and one source said a visa was needed and cost $20. That was thankfully incorrect, meaning we saved money, but the interaction left a sour taste in my mouth.

That night we spent at least an hour looking for Pondok Bambu, and I was thankful to get there on time as I had the wrong start time from the Internet, which was proving ever-more ill-informed. I used to go to the Little Angel Puppet Theatre with my Gran in London, and I wanted to see a shadow puppet show in Bali, and to show my boyfriend one. Sadly, it didn’t measure up. The music and atmosphere was good, but the place was quite dirty and amateur, with the puppets not fully placed down. I didn’t know quite what to make of the mixture of languages, but it’s likely there were better shows in Ubud.

The next day I had booked the Bali Silent Retreat, and we were up early for the taxi, which arrived around 8.30am. After breakfast there, we went on a rice terrace walk. This part wasn’t silent, and I wished we had water with us because it was about 3 hours long, but it felt like a good start to the day. We had lunch, then soon after was the yoga and meditation programme. I enjoyed this part, but was quite embarrassed that I felt asleep during the first half hour of meditation and when I say up, I saw that I was the last one. To be honest, when we had to promise to ourselves that we went going to fall asleep, I didn’t trust myself. I really didn’t want to sleep though as it always makes me feel sick! 

I had read a bit of the Grimms Tales, but later that afternoon I started “An Abundance of Katherines” after doing a labyrinth walking meditation. I ended up buying it to pick up when I get home after reading it for hours. I felt like me reading was a bit of a cheat as it meant I wasn’t really meditation, but after eating again I read all afternoon into the sunset, where I moved from the indoor sofas to the outdoor hammock, then stared at the stars until I got too cold. We were picked up at 8pm and I had never felt so relaxed and at peace.

The next day we were told there was a mass cremation and as we approached, there were hundreds of people gathered. Most tourists were wearing sarongs, and so we were ripped off a bit buying one each; I didn’t mind if it meant showing respect as it was a cremation after all. There were already smaller parts burning, but one of the royal family had died, and for that there was a grand ceremony with marching and lots of drumming. It was very drawn out, and I left my boyfriend there to make our booking at the silver workshop.

Though he came soon after, it was a shame he didn’t stay on longer as he wasn’t as impressed by the silver workshop. I left happy with my crescent moon ring, where I engraved the word “gratitude” into it, which I think will serve to be a useful reminder in future. Being away I’ve very much felt still with myself, and it hasn’t felt transformative or given me whatever grand thing you’re meant to feel when travelling. I didn’t come here to “find myself”. I know myself pretty well already. But it has given me a wealth of experiences, and lots of time to think and reflect. Away from pressures I’ve put on myself, I now write this whilst missing a poetry night I was very much looking forward to attending and reading at in Kuala Lumpur. So, not much has changed there. I’m still putting these expectations on myself and others and left feeling disappointed when they’re not met.

That night I ended up seeing a Kecak Fire and Trance show alone. I thought it was incredible. It turned out I already knew the story as I’d been reading lots of myths and legends prior to going away. But understanding the story didn’t matter as it was just amazing to hear the sounds along with the visuals of the dancing. It was something that couldn’t be captured, though I tried in photographs. Something about it was really powerful and meditative, though at the same time I laughed with another tourist as we both failed to time a photograph. It was perhaps an hour and a half long, but unlike other shows I’ve seen, it didn’t feel long at all and something about watching it was quite healing, and I didn’t get to go to a healer, so that was as close as I was going to get. 

It takes a lifetime to heal old wounds, and we keep getting new ones, but still we carry on. Just like these never-ending mosquito bites…

Singapore was our first stay in a non-private room. It was a capsule hotel called “Bunc Hostel”, and I’m pretty sure it said we would have privacy screens, but in reality it was just like any other hostel, except we had a double bed, our storage was within the bed, and it was very neat and clean. There was something I liked about it though – things like the zines that lined the common room walls, and just the general aesthetics of the place. Plus, they gave you a device that was basically like a phone to help you navigate the city. As we were only there for one day in total, it was really useful! 

That first night we went out locally, in Little India, and had a range of dishes we hadn’t tried before at a really cheap price. We made our way to destination:ink at Blu Jaz, where an amazing international network of poets arranged for me to read some poems at. Beforehand, we stopped off at the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali. 

We arrived at a part of town where I felt completely at home at – one of the things that made me feel I could live there. I was second on, which meant I could sit back and relax to enjoy the show afterwards. I shared two new pieces and it felt good to be on stage again. It was fascinating to hear everyone read. Firstly, the poetry was all amazing, and incredibly varied. There was music too and each one deserved to be big, because they were all so talented. Secondly, it was interesting to hear the range of English accents, as well as the use of Singlish. I even bought a Singlish dictionary and hope that maybe I can write a poem inspired by it. I met a poet who had been in London for four years, who I had crossed paths with, as well as someone who is coming to study in London – just as I am leaving!

The next day was the only full day we had, so we bought a tourist travel pass and walked around Little India and Chinatown. There were incredibly colourful buildings, a mixture of different languages, street art, and places of worship. And we managed to get a cheap meal at a place in Chinatown – soy sauce, noodles and some of the best chicken I’ve had in ages, straight of the rotisserie. 

We tried to get to the Botanic Gardens and failed because my guidebook is a couple of years outdated and it didn’t say there was a stop right outside it, and the stop we came off was too long a walk and we couldn’t figure out a bus route. So we decided to view a bit of Singapore from a bus, once I had found one that went towards Sentosa. Being us, we got off at the wrong stop, but got some cool views from a boat port area. They asked for S$10 for a bottle of water; we asked for tap water instead. 

We managed to get to the right area after a bit of a walk, and then ride over to the beach. With no swimwear on, and not much time, we soaked up the views and some afternoon sun. We stopped off and saw a kind of fake Merlion that you could climb inside, before heading back to the mainland. 

The next stop was Marina Bay Sands, which was a grand building that joined three large towers, and led us to Gardens by the Bay. We walked around and looked at the impressive “sci-fi” trees, which were all lit up. We watched a bit of the light show they had there, but quickly dashed back to the water and light show that was on the other side of the big building. This show was really spectacular.

We ate at the food court, determined we would get up early to discover more of Singapore. Thankfully, we did get up and at some point I also realised there is a “Botanic Gardens” stop, so we went there first and it was such a lovely way to spend the early morning. Already warm, there was a nice freshness to the air that you don’t get in other places in SE Asia. The population isn’t too high, so everything felt more spacious, rather than the crowded London I know. Like my friend had said, this was one place I could see myself living. It has all the Western comforts you get used to, but the cultural landscape is amazing, the poetry scene is alive and kicking, and we didn’t even touch upon the art galleries and museums.

The morning of our flight, we saw a few pieces of art after a quick detour from the official Merloin. The figure, spurting out water, made an amazing scene of Singapore’s high-rise buildings. We felt glad that we had made the most of the morning instead of having a lay-in. All that walking meant my feet ached a lot – and at the airport, we found just what we needed, which was a device where you put your legs in this massage device and, it was so good it almost felt like real fingers using reflexology. We were sad to leave, but had hope that we would return for longer one day.

My main attraction to Vang Vieng was for tubing down the river, having seen my friend do it on her travels. I didn’t quite get that it was meant as a party destination, and with a non-drinking boyfriend, that wasn’t really what I came there for – hoping for more nature than anything else. As I write this, I’m on my final night, sitting on the balcony of a private room, looking across at mountains and trees, the flow of the river Nam Song below. 

The first night we got here, we decided to cancel the Organic Farm once we found it wasn’t central. It had said it was central online, so I felt a bit cheated, and having spent seven hours on winding roads, albeit with fantastic views, we just crashed at the first place we saw. I booked Chillao Youth Hostel as it seemed like fun and the breakfast looked great. However, I was then kept up by horror stories from my friend and people online about this hostel – people drinking whisky at 10am, peeing and vomiting up the walls and in showers, as well as staff stealing from someone’s private room. That I night I was kept up by drunk people from Gary’s Irish Pub, but more so my own anxieties about what could happen at the hostel. I made a swift decision at midnight to cancel and then try to get our booking at the Organic Farm.
The next morning, we get a tuktuk there as soon as we woke up. We were tempted by the balcony and the swings at. The bottom, but regret not picking the cleaner and air-conditioned room. It also had twin beds, and sharing one fan has not been fun. I feel pretty silly for staying near the river too, as my blood type (negative O) means I’m more prone to bites, and being in a country that is high risk for malaria and dengue fever adds another layer of anxiety to being covered by these horrible sores. There were also holes in the mosquito nets, and the bathroom had little protection from insects getting in, meaning lots of ants were everywhere. We had a nice breakfast (which I was shocked wasn’t included at all, considering the price of the place) but it took a whole day for it to be removed – ants were everywhere!

But less about the accommodation, and more about the place. At worst it felt like it could be anywhere that they’ve stuck a bunch of tourist activities on, and at best it was a haven of relaxation and fresh air. It’s been eventful… which is why we needed a but of a beak this afternoon. The first day we went back into the town, and by the time we got round to doing that, we ate lunch before doing anything but walk around the area. Initially just wanting a snack, I got a cookie and drink from the bakery, which was really good. We ate far too many times at a place called ‘Arena’ – we could have had cheaper meals, but this one tasted so good, especially the chicken satay, spring rolls and Pad Thai. 

We hired bikes afterwards, once I realised I had a photocopy of my passport that one place took – you need it as a despot to do basically anything, but I’d read that it was dodgy to do this, so wanted to avoid it… plus, we had forgotten our passports and Organic Farm is a 45minute walk, which we had just travelled for the purpose of hiring bikes. Anyway, it was the first time I had ridden a bicycle since I was at least eleven years old, so about 15/16 years ago! It’s true what they say… I was able to do it all right, though my bum ached (and still does). Even in the rain I loved it. I felt like a child again, getting wet and not caring. In this rain, you would also see Lao children playing, naked in the street. In fact, on our journey down there were a few kids slipping and sliding in the rain. We dried off and changed before heading out again. Luckily, the rain stopped, but we tried to go to the waterfall and failed to make it before we had to return the bikes, but it was worth it for the scenery alone.

The next morning we went tubing. I got a little scared at times as I seemed to go down a lot faster than my boyfriend, and I guess I was just afraid of the unexpected – if I did it again, and if there were more people doing it, then I’d have enjoyed every minute. Some parts were like Rapids, but once you realised it wasn’t a waterfall you were hearing, those bits were the most fun. We followed the very small crowd of people from bar to bar, and the second one was the best – drinking Beerlao from a hammock and chatting to others was great fun. It was easy to see how you could spend the whole day there. But we spent about 4-5 hours doing it before we saw the sign indicating the end. There were two cows chilling where we were meant to get out, so we got out a little later beside the kayaks.

That afternoon we got a motorbike and just rode through the mountains for hours. It was like Cat Ba, so beautiful and hard to capture with cameras. It would be have been perfect, but there was a moment where I fell off the bike, thankfully it was still and I was just trying to get back on. I rolled down a hill, and by this point I ached a lot anyway, so the sunset was a little tainted by this, as well as having to rush back to drop the bike back in time. We ate at a place near the river which would have been nice to chill out at, but since moving to Organic Farm, we couldn’t risk staying too late. The night before we had walked 45 minutes, which wouldn’t haven’t been so bad in the cool night air, but the only light we had was from passing vehicles. A tuktuk back cost about 50k, which is around £5, so basically £1 a minute! 

Anyway, it was a great drive with amazing views, and I took this photo which really captures of the lively things I’ve found in Laos – family life, cute children and, in this case, paternal love.

Today has been tiring and stressful, but at the same time had its good points, having had new experiences. We rented a buggy out for off-road travel, but we hadn’t considered the rain would make it very muddy and had no protection whatsoever. I’m now praying my phone still works after my not-so-clever boyfriend sped into a muddy puddle just after telling me to take a photograph of the surroundings… I didn’t have much fun after that, especially as I was then bombarded by muddy puddles, and later on drier muddy ground, I had big chucks of mud flung at me. Needless to say, I was horribly muddy, and then when we stopped off the crawl into a cave, I could only half enjoy it, just wanting to be back on dry ground. The wheel of the buggy had no mud-guard, so I had it worse than my boyfriend, who drove us around, and the smell of petrol was a bit concerning, to say the least. That said, I also took the wheel for a bit and  it was really fun, just a shame the mud ruined things. On the way back we were held up by a funeral procession, and eventually after stopping behind it for a long time, had to go through the crowd, which was really embarrassing! It was interesting to see that a lot of women were dressed in white, there were monks leading the way, and a white casket was decorated with elaborate designs and carried on its own transport. Others followed behind on foot in multicoloured clothes. There and back we had to cross two bridges, one of which was extremely rickety and we worried about making it over! 

As I’ve said, it’s been eventful, and there are maybe some things I’ve missed out. For instance, at one point, my boyfriend nearly stepped on a snake when we were getting into our accommodation, and a massive spider fell on me at dinner once. We will probably have a wander around the farm here, and then get an early night for our return to Luang Prabang.