An Aussie Christmas

No more sightseeing for me. It would be nice to see more of the city, and some of the beaches, but I'm especially disappointed I won't see the Blue Mountains. That's why I hate buying tickets in advance, because they impose a deadline on you. and today I had to deal with the fact that Quantas won't let me on the plane to Singapore if I don't have an onward ticket. They will gladly sell me an expensive "fully refundable" ticket back here, of course, which is really stupid. i don't want to deal with that, so I decided to buy my train ticket out of Sigapore. This necesited figuring out where I wanted to go, so first I had to buy my Lonely Planet and do some reading. I'm of course aware of the State Department's advisory on Malaysia, so I will only be making a couple of stops, proceeding pretty quickly to Thailand. As a lone traveler, traveling with the Malaysians, I should be fine, since the terrorists go after large groups of tourists. By avoiding US and Israeli airlines, tour busses, Western nightclubs, and international hotels I am confident I will be fine. In fact, I had always planned to avoid these things. This is where I get to brag about being a "traveler" instead of a "tourist." :) Also, a little common sense should go a long way.

So I bought a ticket from Singapore to Melaka, and had to pay a AU$25 booking fee and a AU$25 rush fee. All told it cost me AU$90, which I'm sure is much more expensive than in Singapore. Also, the train doesn't go all the way to Melaka, so getting there should be my first big adventure in haggling.

I also needed to buy a new day pack. I've learned that this, not my main pack, is what I wear 99% of the time, so I need a nice, comfortable one. I also wanted one I could use as a main pack if I go ultra-light in the third world. I found a really nice one for US$66, made by a German company called Deuter, and it just so happened my friends from where I used to work sent me a Christmas gift that covers it, plus a pair of new Tevas. So I'd like the thank Bob McLeod, Brandi Weese, Jeffrey Brown, Grace DiPietro, Clay Fink, Chris Latimer, Ken Lohr, Bruce Miller, Ken Ryals, Kim Shaw, Kevin Smith, Web Smith, Dave Steigerwald, Rick Tschiegg, John Cristion, and Pat Ferat. Cheers, mates! Stand by for pictures.