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After traveling in Indonesia by land and sea, from Timor to eastern Java, on 5th August we took a short flight from Jakarta to Singapore. We had been in Indonesia for a full two months and so needed to hop over to Singapore in order to renew our visas.

1995 Travel Diary (Part 3)

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2005-12-23 14:37:15

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After traveling in Indonesia by land and sea, from Timor to eastern Java, on 5th August we took a short flight from Jakarta to Singapore. We had been in Indonesia for a full two months and so needed to hop over to Singapore in order to renew our visas.

Singapore was just as I had expected it to be - modern, efficient and super clean. It was interesting walking around the different quarters of the city. The Indian quarter was surprisingly unsanitized, but had some great Indian food at give-away prices. The famous 'Hawker Centers' food halls were exceptional and it was fun to try all of the different Asian dishes. The old colonial downtown was fairly interesting, but for me the highlight was a visit to the grand old Raffles Hotel. Michelle and I put on our 'best' clothes and went for High Tea in the Tiffin Room, before retiring to the Long Bar for a 'Singapore Sling' or two. It was an expensive little treat that just had to be done!

After just 5 days in Singapore we took a ferry to the nearby island of Batam in Indonesia. From Batam we caught a high speed ferry through the Riau Archipelago, a bus up to Pekanbaru and then an overnight bus to Bukittinggi in western Sumatra. Due to it's 1000m altitude Bukittinggi had a cooler climate and made a comfortable base from which to explore the region. We spent a week or so in the town and did some day trips out to see the Buffalo fights at Kota Baru and the huge Rafflesia flowers - the world's largest blooms with a diameter of almost a meter! From Bukittinggi Michelle and I traveled up to Lake Maninjau, a huge flooded volcanic crater with 600m high walls. We found a great little losman (guest house) and spent several days swimming in the lake and generally relaxing in the idyllic surroundings.

After Lake Maninjau Michelle and I decided to go our separate ways. Michelle wanted to go off on a ten day trip to Siberut Island and I preferred to ...