Leaving Bali at the end of March 2003, I headed to the city state of Singapore, and onwards to Bangkok.
The Great Journey – Part Eight
Leaving Bali
I started my day at 6am, hopping on to the rickety old boat that would take me the twenty minute ride across the bay to meet my airport car. Now with serious luggage in tow, I was concerned the boat would not be able to cope with the weight, but everything is “no problem, Mr krug!” in Bali, so I left it to the hotel staff to sort out.
With a fair chop and stiff breeze blowing, I was doused a few times with salty water from the bay, but soon dried off in the tropical breeze.
On the journey back, the rain started, and I counted three overladen brightly painted trucks upturned on the side of the road as we journeyed back to Denpasar. My driver must have been a distant relative of Michael Shumacher, and insisted on driving mostly into the oncoming traffic, indicator light and horn permanently in use, no doubt driving on tyres balder than Duncan Goodhew.
Singapore
The flight to Singapore passed without incident, and on arrival I grabbed a cab and headed to my hotel. On the way I was chatting about the reputation Singapore has as a highly controlled and planned city state.
The cab driver motioned to the large planters full of blossoming flowers in the central median of the airport expressway – he explained that these were designed to be removed in the event of bombings or disablement of Chiangi Airport, and that the road had no overhead obstructions to allow it to be used as an emergency runway. A sobering thought especially in the current climate of war that Singapore’s oasis of stability and success is situated in one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
I had chosen my hotel because it boasted one particular rare feature – all the bathrooms had octagonal windows facing out into the Marina, allowing panoramic cityscapes to be viewed whilst performing one’s ablutions!
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/si...ns/default.asp
It was early April, and the SARS epidemic was just hitting the news, and the war in Baghdad was still ongoing. Both the flight over, and the hotels were empty, so I thought I could probably try my luck staying at another hotel at a cheaper rate, and picked upon The Fullerton, which was the other side of the Marina, situated in the old Post Office Building
http://www.fullertonhotel.com/fullerton1.html . The best feature of this hotel was the electric curtains, which could be activated from the side of my bed and programmed to open when my alarm went off!
Whilst in Singapore, I went on a Duck Tour in an amphibious craft around the city and splashed in to the Marina, where a storm crept darkly upon us and the tropical deluge reduced visibility to about 20 feet. The only other non shopping/eating experience I did was a visit the fantastic Raffles Hotel.
Raffles Hotel and the Long Bar
The place has been perfectly restored, with pristine white walls and colonnades. I had the best Afternoon Tea, having not had anything to eat all day, I really enjoyed filling my boots at the all you can eat buffet! The place is very colonial, with Indian waiters in starched white uniforms making sure everything progressed smoothly.
Afterwards, I went upstairs to the Long Bar to sample a genuine Singapore Sling – and it really was like no other I have tasted – definitely the unmissable attraction in Singapore. A good ending to my three day sojourn in this small throwback to the days of independent city states.
On the whole, although Singapore cannot be faulted as a tourist destination, it is perhaps this very blandness which made me find the place rather dull and impersonal. A great place to experience first time on a stopover for somewhere else, but not, I think, a destination in itself.
With SARS publicity reaching fever pitch, there were noticeably more people sporting tasteful blue masks when I returned to the Chiangi airport. As I spent my last few dollars in the Duty Free, the assistants were noticeably keeping their distance from me, and turning away to speak. Although I get this a lot (!) I was sure I was not stricken with the breath of Beelzebub, so can only attribute it to SARS paranoia.
Bangkok and even more SARS paranoia
On the Cathay Pacific flight from Singapore to Bangkok, everyone was very conscious of the fact that this was a connecting service from Hong Kong, home to the biggest uncontrolled outbreak. All the cabin attendants wore surgical masks throughout the flight, and we were all given a free mask to wear optionally during the flight. Once we landed in Bangkok, we were told it was mandatory to wear our masks, and they should not be removed at least until we left the terminal building.
Having filled out a detailed health declaration on the aircraft, I was greeted by a crowd of nurses, who took my temperature, and then passed me on to a doctor who interviewed me in broken English and declared me fit, stamping my declaration.
I had decided to spoil myself yet again and stay at what is renowned to be one of the best hotels in the world, The Oriental in Bangkok
www.mandarinoriental.com . My two day stay there did not disappoint! I was picked up in a pale gold Mercedes Limousine, and chauffeur driven by Mr Adams (Car No. 1!) to the hotel in icy comfort, not worrying about the traffic, noise, pollution, heat or dust outside my window.
The newly renovated room was quite simply one of the best I have ever stayed in, with a Bose speaker system, and a great view over the river and swimming pool. The bathroom was supremely terrific, and I was impressed by the way that however many hotel soaps and shampoos I nicked during the day, my personal butler would replace them within the hour without batting an eyelid!
The first full day I woke at 6am and breakfasted on the terrace by the river, already sweltering in the humidity. I had booked to go on the River Kwai/Death Railway Tour.
The Bridge over the River Kwai
I visited the JEATH Museum at Katchanaburi, which stands for Japan, England, Australia, Thailand and Holland, the five nationalities who lived and died on the 'Death Railway'. The nearby town contains two cemeteries to the dead, which number over 100,000, most of whom were less than thirty years old, some as young as eighteen.
An abbot opened the museum twenty years ago to remind future generations of what happened in the war. Following the fall of Singapore in 1942, 60,000 POWs were marched north to the River Kwai. The Japanese wanted to build a railway for quick access for the troops to reach Burma from Thailand, linking the Japanese base at Singapore to India. Their experts told them 3 years, but the Japanese were going to use slave labour to do it in 16 months.
The museum itself is on the banks of the River Kwai, consisting of a war memorial based around a Bodhi tree and a replica of one of the huts. Inside were photos dating back to that era, and really brought the horrors home to me. There were pictures of Japanese soldiers standing beside the bridge, newspaper cuttings of those who were liberated, and a map showing the forty or more camps that were strung along the River Kwai.
More harrowing were the portraits: the British prisoner, Jack Walker, managed to make etchings on pieces of smuggled paper of what he had witnessed. These were elaborated when he was released and hung in the museum. They were not for the faint hearted.
Pictures of cadaverous men with skin afflictions and diseases being herded through the thick jungle, hollow eyed prisoners being beaten, and those in the cholera tent being laid out to die. But the worse were the tortures inflicted by the Japanese guards including crucifixions with barbed wire. This was very shocking stuff and I emerged from the museum in a contemplative mood.
Some History
More than 90,000 laborers (coolies) and 15,000 prisoners of war died of malnutrition, disease and abuse in the most terrible conditions during construction of the railway, giving rise to the name 'Death Railway'. Unbelievably, the bridge was used only once by the Japanese in their invasion of India. It was bombed by Allied Forces in 1945. Today, a bridge stands firmly in its place in a picturesque setting in Kanchanaburi. You can walk across this bridge, however, wooden planks are narrow and I found myself darting for one of the side overlook shelters when a train began moving in my direction!
That evening I went out to visit Pat Pong and the night market, where I managed to get some extremely genuine Cartier watches as knock down prices, and enjoyed my trip home in a multi coloured “Tuk Tuk” motorised rickshaw – very James Bond!
Having been on the move for a few days, I took a relaxing day by the pool and enjoyed free sorbets and cool towels in the humid sun of Bangkok.
My final day in Thailand saw another early start for a tour of the sights of the city, including the magnificent Royal Palace, Emerald Buddha, and Canals in a long boat – of particular interest was the miniature Angkor Wat temple in which a ginger cat had taken up residence.
Mr Adams took me back to the airport in supreme comfort, and I was off to Mumbai in India.
My next (and final!) instalment will cover my swift trip to Mumbai, then a week in Dubai and my return home.