Goodbye Indonesia - Hello Singapore
'Warm smell of bakso rising up through the air' will be my lasting memory of Indonesia. You find these bakso vendors
everywhere, and the sweet/spicy smell of the broth permeates the air in any urban setting. We loved the diversity of Indonesia - I was disappointed we didn't make it out to see the komodo dragons, but couldn't work it into our schedule.
Last week we flew from Jakarta on Java to Singapore to spend a week. We'll be in this modern city for about a week before proceeding on train up to Kuala Lumpur. There's a bit of sightseeing to do in this city, but mostly it's eating and shopping - something we both
enjoy doing.
I can't get over how clean and modern and efficient this city is - it's very simple to hop on a bus or take the subway. Marge has picked up a 'throw away' phone with 6 hours of calling to the US for about $50, so she's thrilled to be able to call everyone again. Actually, they have a pretty cheap method of acquiring phone service - you buy an unblocked phone, then purchase these SIM cards that contain a fixed amount of dollar value - when your SIM card value is used up, you go to the nearest 7-11 store and buy another one - it looks like we'll be able to do this throughout Malaysia and
Thailand for the next 3-4 months.
Bill's been feeling under the weather despite this city being a shopper's paradise - even more so with the Xmas season and everyone is out shopping. There's a lot going on in this city and it's quite fun to be here now...
more later..
