January 28th 2009: I meander back toward the Hive Backpackers to pick up my second passport. Malaysia can be a bit hard on people with more than one passport so I had left it in Singapore. On the way I pick up a microphone to help with Skype calls. The hostel has my passport--they're good to have held on to it for the 40 days I was in Malaysia. A girl with a North American accent starts asking all sorts of questions. She's a Canadian who has been working in Korea teaching high school for the last 6 years. She has an interesting looking brass-colored round necklace and a few rings, perhaps things she picked up on her travels. She's not very interested in traveling. On vacation for a week she just wants to plop down on a beach somewhere to escape the cold Korean winter. It always shocks me to discover other people have been enduring cold weather, what with all the swealtering of an Australian summer and tropical Asia. I do my best to suggest possibilities for her vacation. I tell her about the bed bugs at the hostel and she gets nervous, but when asked they say they've dealt with them. She keeps me company while I scarfe down a proper meal at the Lavender St.

January 27th, 2009: I wake at 06:30, finish packing up, and head for the ferry. Just before I leave, mad Aussie Brian asks for some more of the packing tape to reattach the very important no smoking notice that fell down. I tell him he can have the whole roll of tape. I ask Ben how to get to the jetty and walk down, about a 15 minute walk. On to the ferry. The sun just peaks over a hill as we cross the water. It is a beautiful sunrise, the light catching ships and the windows of the Komtar tower lit up and reflected in the water. A few girls are standing at the front of the ferry, making a good composition against the lit water. Cranes are visible in the distance. I stop for breakfast, a couple of egg rottis, and in the process discover where all the ticket counters were hidden. I grab a nasi lemak for a later snack, a plan which proves fortuitous later on. There are two women at the ticket vendor's office this morning. A young Malay girl is talking on a cell phone while a middle-aged Indian woman of medium complexion, wearing a dark dress and carrying a few extra pounds, says to wait until the bus shows up.

we would like now to return you to our regularly scheduled programming. we apologize for the interruption in service caused by technical difficulties and hope you enjoyed looking at pretty pictures while we sorted out our new equipment.

Coming to a new country is one of the most exciting parts of travel. Granted, going from Singapore to Malaysia is not an earth-shattering experience, yet it still manages to take me out of the usual zone of familiarity. I was in Singapore for 10 days. Singapore does not hold much attraction for me. It is a big city. Clean. Shiny. With many shops. What do you do in Singapore? Shop. Shop till you drop. It's equatorial and humid, so you also get to sweat, but to me it felt cool after the heat of the Northern Teritories in the build-up to the Wet. Walking around the Raffles Shopping Center, a large modern shopping complex, I wondered what it would be like to grow up in Singapore. The experience would include a lot of shopping. There are a few other things to do in Singapore, and perhaps I might even avail myself of them when I return.

How to travel by train in Singapore & Malaysia
http://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm

Camping stores in Singapore
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1703918&tstart=0

I've uploaded pictures from Singapore and Australia, including from the Overland Track.