Ben Tshin

So I’m leaving now…

So I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again…

Yah, I’m leaving SE Asia for a short while at least. It’s sad to leave here esp. with all the friends I’ve made here. But I’m quite certain that I’ll see most of them again.

Anyway, I can’t fully reflect on the past four months. I’m still in the midst of SE Asia (I’m at Bangkok Int’l Airport, actually) so I’ll have to wait until I’m back in ‘Sauga and back in my old haunts.

Travel legs:
Leg 1: April 25, Singapore to Mersing, 5hrs by bus
Leg 2: onto Tioman, 1.5hrs by high speed boat
Leg 3: April 26, Tioman to Mersing, 2hrs by high speed boat
Leg 4: onto Kuala Lumpur, 6hrs by overnight bus (10pm to 4am)
Leg 5: April 27, Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, 2hrs by AirAsia AK106
Leg 6: onto Tawau, 9hrs by overnight bus (8pm to 5am)
Leg 7: April 28, onto Semporna 1.5hrs by bus, and onto Sipadan 1hr by boat
Leg 8: April 30, Sipadan to Semporna 1.5hrs by boat and onto Tawau 1.5hrs by van
Leg 9: onto Kota Kinabalu 8.5hrs by overnight bus (8pm to 4:30am)
Leg 10: May 3, KK to Labuan 3hrs by boat
Leg 11: May 4, Labuan to Muara, Brunei 2hrs by boat
Leg 12: onto Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei 1hr by bus
Leg 13: onto Seria 2hrs by bus
Leg 14: onto Kuala Belait 1hr by bus
Leg 15: May 5, Kuala Belait to Miri 2hr by bus
Leg 16: onto Batu Niah 2hr by bus
Leg 17: May 6, Batu Niah to Bintulu 2hr by bus
Leg 18: onto Kuching 11.5hrs by bus
Leg 19: May 8, Kuching to Johor Bahru 1.5hr by AirAsia AK603
Leg 20: JB onto Singapore (NUS) 1.5hr by bus/taxi

So I’m still in Brunei. And once again I’ve missed my connection to where I wanted to go. Now I’m stuck in Kuala Belait, a small town of barely 20,000 and no cheap hotel/hostel. I might have tried sleeping on the beach to save some $$$ but I haven’t used too much since KK so I decided to splurge… I guess I will have to bite the bullet here, althought I would rough it if I were properly prepared. I should’ve brought that sleeping bag!

Okay, it is boring. A bit more life than Labuan but that’s trying. The bus came earlier than expected and I saw the “wonderful” Brunei countryside which isn’t as wonderful as the KK countryside. Oh well, I’m only in transit here anyway. It reminds me a lot with Singapore: clean and orderly. But also not much to do here either.

I hope the alliteration for this country is not Boring Brunei. No alky, no late night partying (hic) and an economy built almost entirely on oil. Sounds already pretty dead. Well hopefully it’s a bit more interesting that lots of golden mosques and more of the sultan’s gold. Zzz. Nothing to do but wait around. Zzz.