I can't believe I'm in my last destination for the summer

Family & Friends,

Where has the summer gone? I can't believe I'm in Bali, Indoensia. It seems like just yesterday I was departing Paris and wondering if I should go to India. And here I am in my last (boo hoo) destination before I return to the States.

Here's an update of what I've been doing since I was in Thailand. My last night in Phuket, Thailand, I ended up going out clubbing (I know, I said in my last journal entry that I was avoiding that scene). Anywas, Robert (England), Paul (Australia) and Mick (Australia) 3 blokes who were staying in my hotel chatted up with me everyday that I was in Phuket. They asked me if I wanted to join them for clubbing on my last night in town. Why not. We went to Scruffy Murphy's, an Irish Pub. An American guy was singing that night. Then, we decided to be adventurous and go to some go-go bars (t--- bars). What not? What an eye opener. These women did not mind exposing and showing everything and I mean everthing from top to bottom. Robert just cracked up laughing because he said my eyes were wide open and my mouth fell to the floor. We then went to 2 other go-go clubs. More excitement including one chick who was hitting on me. Thank God Mick came to the rescue and told her I was his wife. She then said the 3 of us could have a threesome for 2,000 baht ($50) and eventually she came down to 500 baht ($10). I don't know if that was an insult or not or a bargain. Nonetheless, we quickly left that club. At the next club, some chick (read Hooker) was hitting on RObert. This time, I told her that he was my husband and she'd better back off. I;ve learned that you need to go to these type of clubs as a couple or a group of people.

The next day, I flew back to Bangkok. I was able to get an earlier flight than scheduled which worked better for me. I took a taxi from the airport to Stan & Noi's house. They were in the midst of unpacking everything (all of their stuff had just arrived from Brazil). Sharon, their furniture and decorations are gorgeous. Way too much stuff for that house, though. That night, Stan, a co-worker of his, Noi and I went out to eat. Yes, Thai food. Actually, it wasn't bad. Must be getting used to it. Then, we went to Central Hotel to have a few drinks.

The next morning, I took a tour to Bridge over River Kwai. I know, you're probably way more knowledgeable about this than me. Anyways, during WW II, Japanese decided to build a railway from Burma to Thailand to help in their fighting. Earlier, Britian had tried to do it but stopped becuase of the infeasability and danger. Not Japan. They took POW's (British, AMericans, Dutch, Australians) and made them build this railway, I think it was 417 kilometers long. The work conditions were unbelieveable. OVer 17,000 people died because of starvation, beatings, malnutrition, diseases, etc. We first went to the Kanchauri War Cemetery. Over 7,000 of these POW's (including 350 Americans) are buried here. It reminded me alot of Arlington National Cemetery in the way they set it up. The soliders are buried by nationality. Mostly British soliders. Very somber place.

Then, we went to JEATH Museum (rhymes with death and stands for Japan, English, American/Austalia, Thailand, Holland). Unbelieveable the sights and pictures of what the POW's wenet through. It's a wonder any of them survived. The work conditions were bad enough but the Japanese soliders abused and beat the workers. Pictures of them with scars, covered with various diseases was sickening.

Finally, we went to the Bridge over River Kwai, the last bridge built on the railraod. Now, the original one was bombed and destroyed so this is the replacement. However, we all had to walk across it. Then, we took a 1.5 hour train ride over the bridge and up to the Burma border on the actual railway (called Death Railway).

That night, I ate dinner at Stan & Noi's house. Stan & I ate grilled steak and baked potatoes with sald while Noi and her sister, Pyow, and her husband, ate typical Thai food. Sharon, it was good to see Pyow again. She gave me a big hug.

The next day, I took another tour to the Floating Market. Sharon, not what I expected. IT was so crowded. Took the boat ride thruogh the canals and lots of people come up to you in longtail boats and sell you clothing, food, drinks, etc.

Then, we went to a snake farm, cobras. Interesting show about cobras. Watched a cobra being milked for venom. Did you know that the way they create anti-venom serum is by injecting the venom into horses consistently for 3-6 months (apparently the horses become inmmune to the venom). After 6 months, they extract it and it is used for anti-venom. If a cobra bites you, death in in one hour. One other interesting thing, male snakes have two things (male organs). They showed us. Just what I wanted to see.

Then, we went to the Rose Garden. Basically, this is a Thai cultural center. They demonstrated typical wedding ceremonies, dances, children's games, etc. It was quite interesting and a nice ending of my time in Thailand.

That night, I ate dinner with Stan & Noi and then repacked all of my laundry (Noi's maid did it for me because I was too cheap to pay to get it done in Phuket--just bougth 3 more t'shirts instead). Left behind all of my purchases from Chiang Mai and Phuket because Noi is going to take them to Oklahoma for me when she flies there in late July.

On July 15, I flew to Singapore. Once I arrived, I booked myself at a Backpackers's hotel and took an airport shuttle to the hotel. Shuttle driver gave me a nice introduction and tour of Singapore enroute which was helpful.

The Backpacker's hotel was $25.00. It was a DUMP! I decided to stay there for the night since I had already paid for the night but was determined to move on to somewhere else. I remembered that a guy I met on Bridge over River Kwai tour told me about a hotel in Chinatown. As luck had it, the hotel was just 10 minutes from Backpackers Hotel. Walked down there and booked a room for the next 4 nights ($35.00/night with a full breakfast).

Singapore, I really liked the place. Immaculate! Lots of strict rules I(no smoking in public places, no purchasing or selling gum but you can chew it, no spitting, no jaywalking, etc). But, it's because of these strict rules that the city is so clean and sparking nice. The people are really friendly. The official languages are Chinese and English. Everything was printed in both languages. Also, Malayese and Indian since they also comprise Singapore's population.

Singapore has an interesting background. In early 1800's, known as Malay Village but no one really lived here. In late 1880's, Sir Stanford Raffles of England settled and declared this place a British territory. It was named Singapore because someone claimed that they saw a lion on the island. Singa pura is sanskrit for lion city, thus SIngapore. From then, it was under British rule (after they fought with Dutch to keep it). During WW2, British set up two forts, one on Signapore and one on SEntoas Island, off of Singapore, to protect it from invaders. As it turned out, British army wasn't prepared because after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they bombed Singapore. Many lives were lost.

The Japanese took over SIngapore from 1842-1945. During that time, they captured many people and made them POW's. Now, get this. These POW's were the very ones who were sent to build the Thailand-Burma railway (Death railway). Those who were left behind had to adapt to a very horrible lifestyle. Everything about Singpaore was changed by the Japs. The changed the currency, time (Tokyo), calendar (year was not 1942 but 2062 or something like that). They made the people speak their language (or get beat and abused), they raised the prices of everything (example: 10 pound bag of rice was 5,000 Singapore dollars and then raised to 50,000 Singapore dollars). It was a horrible time for Singapore. In late 1945, British were able to reclaim Singapore and Japan surrended it back to the Brits. in 1962 or 95 I believe, Singapore became an independent nation. So, I stand corrected. I thought they were part of Malayasia but they are not. Go ahead, cane me now.

Anyways, Singapore has the best metro (MRT) in the world. Every station is spotless, has signs telling how much it cost to go from place to place and a sign telling what tourist things and the location of them in the area. It cost anywhere from 40 cents to $1.25 (US prices) to take a trip. I could go anywhere via the MRT.

WEnt to Chinatown. Lots of interesting shophouses, old houses where the shops were on ground level and owners lived on top of the shops.

Explored Malay village (these people are intereresting) and LIttle India. Guess whree the only dirty place was in Singapore? Yup! LIttle India. The smell of the scents, the sights, the people brought back all of those memoories of my journey to India. I guess I stillo have a bad taste in my mouth of India.

Went to the night safari, the only one in the world. This was neat. It's opened from

7 pm -12 am. They have designed the zoo so that the animals are in their natural environment without any fences (by using moats instead).It was awesome. Discretely placed lights helped you to see as you walked through the jungle and took the tram ride. It was really neat. Giraffes, monkeys, elephants, and lots of animals I've never seen before.

WEnt up and down Orchard Road. For those of you who are shoppers, this is your heaven. 22 malls. That's 4-5 story malls each. I chose 6 only because I knew you could literally wear yourself out.

Cost: a bit expensive but the exchange rate is $1.71 Singapore Dollar for each US Dollar so it was good for me. Basically, the prices were what you'd pay in the US. Now, mind you after being in cheap places all summer, it seemed a bit expensive but it really wasn't. I found the food to be the most expensive.I usually paid $12-15 a meal regardless. I didn't even drink an aclohol because it cost $8.00 bottle. Forget that. EVen a pepsi cost $$2.50 to $3.00. Best deal in Singapore, the S1.40 (US 90 cents) Big Gulp pepsi. Sharon, no Fanta in Singapore. Boo hoo.

Explored Chinese and Japan Gardens. They were nice. Wanted to go to Orchid and Botantical Garden but ran out of time.

Took a day trip to Sentosa Island. Arrived via cable car. The cable car goes from Mt. Faber (highest point on Singapore) down across the land and then across the water to Sentosa Island. That was pretty cool. The waterway it crosssed is the one of the busiest ports in the world. Every 3 minutes, a ship arrives or departs.

Sentosa Island is a Resort and beautiful. Rented a bicycle and rode all around the island. Visited the Fort (the one I mentiooned earlier) and went to Images of Singapore Museum (great background on Singapore). Then, rode along 3 beaches. Crossed a long swinging bridge to go to the Eastern most point or was it the Southern most point of the Asia Continent.

The next day, I took a boat ride around the various islands of Singapore. There are 47 islands there.

Changed my plane ticket to fly to Bali 3 days earlier. Basically, after 5 days, I had seen and done all that I wanted to do. Oh, the last day, I saw the movie, 'Bend it like Beckham.' Great and funny movie. NEver heard of it before but good British humour. I recommend you see it. Ironcially, main story line involved an Indian family so that kinda of tied all together for me. Oh, no charge to change my ticket (lucky me).

One last thing, Singapore still has lots of British influence from the shops, restaurants, etc.

On July 20, I flew to Bali. I had a horrible first impression of Indonesia. Once we got off the plane, we had to wait 40 minutes in a line to go throgh customs. There were just 2 of us left in one line when the customs man said he was closing shop and we had to get into another line. What? Finally, through customs. Then, had to get my luggage and try to exchange money. They wouldn't accept my traveler's checks. Then, they wouldn't take my $100.00 bill because it was the old US $100 bill and not the new one. I told them that this was valid US money. Went to 3 different exchange places at the airport and they all told me the same. Finally, I remembered that I had tucked away $100 in 20's in my wallet and exchanged that. Then, paid for a taxi but had no clue where I wanted to sleep for the night. By now, it was 10 pm, I was tired and grouchy and not in a good mood. Taxi man said he'd take me somewhere cheap but nice. He did good. I'm staying at a hotel that's one block from the hotel. $18.00/night with full breakfast and a beautiful swimming pool and nice gardens. Also, only 5-10 minute walk from everything. I'm staying in Kuta, where amost of the tourists stay in Bali. Also, my hotel has a booking/travel agency so I can book my tours through them. I walked to a nearby McDonalds and got some dinner and went home and crashed for the night.

Bali is cheap. I know there are cheaper places to stay but I don't feel like trucking around and moving again to save $5.00/day.

Get this, the exchange rate is 8,700 rupiahs to $1.00. Oh my gosh, I'll have to carry a calulator with me for sure to know what things cost. It's wierd to see something costing

300,000 rupiahs ($35.00).

Today, I'm just walking around and getting oriented. I will have 10 more days here so plenty of time to do tours, go to the beach and explore Bali. I have seen lots of Western restaurants (McDonalds, Chi Chi's, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc). The food is cheap and beers are only 8,000 rupiah (less than a $1.00). So, I think I will live it up good. One girl told me she stayed for 10 days and spent $150.00 total (not counting her hotel). Can't beat that. Especially since my wallet is getting thinner by the day.

Well, I guess that should bring you up to date on my travels. I fly out on August 1 from Bali and arrive August 1 in San Francisco.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers and keep those e-mails coming.

Love,

Julie

P.S.Tyanna, Bali is 88% Muslim. Temples and places to worship are everywhere. I haven't been able to go to a church all summer, but I've surely had my fill of religion. Oh, I met my first Christian in Singapore. EVerywhere I've been this ssummer, I've meet Hindu's, Muslim's, Buddhists or something else. This lady working in a shop noticed my guardian angel hanging on my book bag (the one Karen STatler gave me before I left) and we struck up a conversation. It was nice to talk to a Christian.