Hip Hop Freestyle _ Jazmine Cox _ Series of 4

Better late than never...MALAYSIA = > SINGAPORE

  *I'm currently in Singapore and have been since February. Can't believe it's been so long since my last blog update but here goes. This is dated late January. Will catch up with Malaysia first before describing the dream that is Singapore...!

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur:

Arriving in an airport you've never been to before is always somewhat of a daunting experience, but throw in a huge AirAsia argument, no booked hotel and an array of other random and frustrating things and you'll find yourself pretty stressed out! After a lot of help, patience and a very, very deep breath (thanks Bikram), we made it into Kuala Lumpur.

Cherrelle, Tina and I stayed at the Eclipse Guesthouse for one night before signing up for a whooping 6 week stay at Ribbon Stayzz in the heart of the city. Literally based in the equivalent of Oxford Circus in London, crazy!The air there is thick and smoggy, the roads are all different levels and the sewage vents smell pretty bad. Vagabonds line the streets and the food stalls sell the most amazing Indian, Filipino and Malaysian delights all under £3. The buildings differ between huge, warehouse style, dull squares to grand, complex detailed designs like the Petronas Towers. My biggest battle with this city however was...smoke. Cigarette smoke to be exact. Not only do people smoke as much as they breathe but they are not lucky enough to have the smoking ban which we do in England. Instead you find smoke everywhere, from the local corner shop to the clubs and even in hotel rooms! DISGUSTING and INSANE!

The night scene in KL is quite cool once you remove the potential cancer you could develop. Just like London, you have the swanky uptown clubs around the Twin Towers or the travellers area in Chang Kat Road for the more humble consumers. There are a few balcony garden areas in the clubs on this road which can make the smoke somewhat bearable.

Plenty of places to eat including the standard Western fast food joints. There are local Indian street stalls with the freshest roti while Chinatown offers many different dishes such as Oyster Kale and marinated Chicken. Yum! Little India, near Central Market, is where I found my favourite dish. It is actually an Indonesian dish made up of grilled fish, rice, vegetables, a boiled egg, chilli soup and tofu. All served with sweet soy sauce and a side soup. DELISH!

Random Story:

I joined in with a few traditional dances with a Malaysian group performing on the street celebrating a local festival. We danced on the streets of Central Market which was quite exciting and it was only for a short time but it was refreshing to do something different to Hip-Hop, after almost 11 years in that field. They taught me the steps which were quite basic and repetitive but allowed them to perform with great energy and ease. The costumes were grand and detailed with that touch of glamour essential for any performance.

Fact:

Never, and I mean never, go to the British Embassy in Malaysia for any sort of help or assistance with anything to do with Passports. They are officially useless. Everything now runs from Hong Kong and eventually will only operate out of the UK.

 I've experienced everything from a job scam, an illegal offer to work, the worst case of flu EVER, almost losing my voice, gym stints, bed bugs and more! KL has been one huge, drawn out cocktail of smiles and tears. Speaking of which, the amount of CRACKS I have met have been immense. Lovely people but totally random and crazy. Ha! Shout out to Stefan, Timmy, Sofi, Ally, Joy, random Algerian dude who I thought was stalking me, Far East, Sasha, Sara, Stuart, Lamar and more. No less than 7 nationalities shared our dorm and we had special moments.

Annoying Fact:

My body clock whilst in Malaysia was absolutely upside-down. I would wake up at 2pm and go to sleep near 8am the next morning! Messed up! Seriously. I tried everything but sleeping pills. Luckily the transition to Singapore and full time working life sorted that problem out very quickly. 

Birthdays:

Cherry's birthday included Tina and I hiding balloons, banners and signs as well as small gifts in the room whilst Stefan distracted her at the mall. It was all worth it in the end. Jam (Cherry's brother) came to stay for 10 days which was fun and we all went out to Chang Kat Road for some good times and funky moves : ) 

Bboys:

There is a club in town that holds training sessions and competitions weekly for local and international Bboy crews. I watched this for a quite a while. It was very impressive. The only downfall however...the smoke in the club! I could hardly breathe let alone dance, really don't know how they managed it!

Finally...

I seem to have something that attracts men from the Middle East. At least over here. It's almost a guarantee that someone will approach me, which is crazy! I got love for everyone but when it's at the point that they were seriously contemplating selling camels to who they thought was my boyfriend...it was pretty scary! Eeeeeeeek! KL has since come to a close but I remember anticipating the departure in February with hopes of travelling around Malaysia. Life is amazing, the lessons I'm learning everyday. Here is to happiness and health. 

"To making it count." Jack Dawson 

 

 

Thailand...It's been REAL

LIFE IS AMAZING....It's really overwhelming how much can happen in such a short space of time and whilst recapping and noting it all down, it really does make you stop and think how MUCH can occur and how much fricking fun you had doing it. BREATHE AND STOP.

Krabi, Thailand
Finally the light at the end of the tunnel was upon us. Cherry and Tina had completed their TEFL and successfully passed. YAY! It was time to celebrate and what better way than to visit Koh Phi Phi for the SECOND time. The first time had been so good, meeting all sorts of people and drinking all sorts of buckets and getting all sorts of drunk! Ha! 

Unfortunately the second time ended up being quite the opposite....

Koh Phi Phi TAKE TWO
After watching a Muay Thai match between drunken tourists, two females and then the scarily strong locals, we met a large group of rowdy English lads. Everyone was drinking, joking and dancing and we all decided to head on down to the beach. Just before embarking on what would be one of the most surreal and weird nights, we went to the toilet aided by an all to helpful attendant. We then continued to dance on the beach and on the tabletops and the attendant kindly offered to watch my bag so that I didnt have to hold it whilst dancing. Such a nice young man, SAFE! Then we all moved on to the beach clubs with the dance stages and the attendant stayed with us and offered to hold it as he joined our crew dancing down the beach. At the time I naively thought nothing more than it being a nice gesture. DUMB!

So we were all dancing at the same place and Tina and Cherry decide to move on and leave with their things. In the middle of some semi-drunken dancing I realise they've gone and look to where our bags were. I see nothing. 

No bags, no man. PANIC ZONE. 
It's fine my shizzle is probably with the girls at the next place. 
NEGATIVE; okay, so now I'm in Panic Zone.

All of sudden an hour had passed, the police were involved, the attendant guy had disappeared and it was a hype! Long story short, we end up almost sleeping at the police station where I file a police report and they actually catch the attendant dude with my bag and all its belongings intact!!  SHOCK!!!He was handcuffed and interrogated by the officer who seemed to threaten him. Not like me, but I felt sorry for him despite him almost stealing ALL my shizzle and pleaded with the police to not harm him physically : (

Lesson learnt. Never drink alcohol. Never leave your bag in anyone elses possession! Trust noone and carry only what you need. Moving on....

Random story
So I slept in a teeeeeeny tiny shack in the jungle with no AC, no toilet, no ANYTHING LOL with a random stranger after him taking pity on me when I got lost! But randomly I met one of the nicest guys EVER. He shared so many stories on his travels and had the best attitude in life. He was so positive, happy and willing to help. Refreshing moment and lovely individual. Thanks DUDE!

Mike
Crazy but happy go lucky friend of Tina and Cherry's who we spent Xmas and New Years with. Thanks again for everything : ) 

Ao Nang
Beautiful beach, loads of travellers, everything you need as a Westerner especially the traditional roast dinner on a Christmas day on the beach! We went to an amazing restaurant called A1 which had the best food ever and despite the sad events from the night before, made Christmas a great day.
Definitely met some cracks in Ao Nang including an interesting Egyptian Ozzie and an alcoholic buddhist.The long tail boats from Ao Nang to the nearby islands are sooo fun, especially if you brave standing the whole journey. You literally feel like you're flying across the water. It's breathtaking. We took this over to Hat Rei Leh which was beautiful but unfortunately it decided to rain randomly. No worries, swimming in the warm rain was good times : ) 

IMPORTANT NOTICE!
Never organise a day trip to the other side of a country the morning after you get absolutely smashed. I couldnt remember at least 1-2 hours of what happened. Ha! Not a good look. The journey the next day was EPIC. EPICCCCC! For real.


1. Mini bus to the bus depot.
2. Bus to Surat Thani port.
3. Ferry to Koh Samui port.                                   = LONG 11 hours journey!
4. Drive to our hotel.

Let's just say I had to leave my sarong on the ferry because I couldn't reach the toilet in time. YUCK.

Koh Samui
Craziest night life ever and a congregation of the prettiest people all in one place I have ever seen in my life. My favourite place in Thailand by far for soooo many reasons. We even extended our stay here! 

The hotels are beautiful especially KANDI BURI (totally go here if you want to go on a romantic holiday of a crazy high standard), infinity pools, banging night clubs, beach bars and more. This is, however, where Macdonalds became an integral part of our lives. Long story.....

Met a lovely dude from Dubai who despite his extreme appearance was the most level headed, generous and spiritual guy I have ever met. And so confident to spread the word! Surprisingly I met some more crazy Ozzies as well as two American dudes who were soo happy and safe. One of whom was a guy who made a very wealthy living from being a Voice Over, big Hollywood movie styleee. Madness.


Random Story
I saw an American woman being arrested by the Thai police for...wait for it.....stealing a decorative statue from outside a hotel. For all the reasons to be arrested. CAN WE HAVE A MOMENT. Ha!

FULL MOON PARTY
Another eventful night to add to the ever growing list. Not only does Tina's bank card and purse go missing but it also randomly rains. OTHER THAN THAT..it was amazing and one of the best ways I have ever seen a new year in.Stalls were lined up ready to sell death buckets of every type of alcohol. 

Beach clubs next to eachother blaring out the latest music, mushrooms shakes, glo-paint, huge banners and buildings, bikinis, full moon tshirts and so much more. An amazing fusion of people from all over the world all there to have a good freaking time. BIG thanks to Mike for letting us crash at his...otherwise it would have been one wet slumber party on the beach.

Interesting Fact
You can buy many recreational drugs (Valium etc.) from over the counter from pretty much every pharmacist. Just saying.

The ferry journey back from Koh Phangan to Koh Samui was special. In short we all thought we were going to die at one point. I even filmed short videos to show the waves and how scared and upset people were. People were throwing up, crying, praying....It was a lot!

Ministry of Sound WORLD TOUR!
Ten minutes from our hotel was the venue for the Ministry of Sound World Tour and what better way to make up for Tina's mishap than to party hard to music we LOVE. And to make it even more amazing...the sexy and talented DJ Smokin Jo was there to take us all through the night till 8 in the morning!! 

BEST NIGHT EVER. I'm hoping to find some video footage or photos from this event as we posed for millions so watch this space! Our stay in Koh Samui was absolutely amazing and I recommend to every single person to visit this place AT LEAST once in their lifetime. The food by the beach was out of this world and you felt the sand in your feet as you tasted fresh seafood, duck in orange sauce or other Asian delights. There are bars that play chilled atmospheric classics and a random swing if you feel like drifting away. I cannot wait to return...LOVE

Phuket to Malaysia...FAREWELL : (
So after the most amazing two months we said farewell to our friends we had made, especially the lovely staff at PJ Tours and boarded the flight from Phuket Airport to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Totally sad to go and randomly bumped into Drum and Bass DJ Goldie....but we came to explore, leave our mark and now it was time to say goodbye. After sleeping at the airport due to MORE passport dramas, AirAsia forcing me to buy a departure ticket to Singapore, no hostel booked and a race on to reach the British Embassy in Malaysia, we reached what would be our home for over 6 weeks.

RIBBON STAYYZ....... The journey continues.

Thailand - 1 month in....Continued.

THE BEACH or Maya Bay - Koh Phi Phi
 As breath taking as in the film, starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Everyone must visit this place at least once in their life time. The mountains, forests, white sand, turquoise waters and zen can't be replicated anywhere in the world. PERFECTION. Love.

Patong Beach - PHUKET
Now, I don't know where to begin when it comes to the subject of SEX but the way in which it has been displayed throughout our trip so far has been many, many things. Lady-boys, thai wives and more. At first it was funny, entertaining and exciting. While we were in Bangkok we even visited the infamous street packed full of naked girls (and boys) desperate to sell their shows. But after being here almost 2 months, the whole sex industry is just saddening. Girls that look only 12 years old publicly grope and court men that look at least 40 years old. It's just something we have had to get used to but it makes me sad that these girls exploit themselves so horribly, and for what? It's all in conjunction with the cosmetics made available here too, all in aid of being more 'white'. There are products that make their faces and armpits whiter with bleaching cream, nipple cream to make it pinker, and a female tightening serum for downstairs. In the eyes of young Asian women, this is what makes you more glamourous and appealing and of course the mother of all accessories....a Western white man on your arm. It has been in every city and town here in Thailand which must be expected, although here in Krabi it has been less apparent which has given me the opportunity to reflect somewhat. Sighhhh.

Ko Phi Phi/Phuket
Party playground for the Westerners. Sunbathe all day, sleep off the alcohol, or wake up in some hotel room, then around 6pm get some delicious and oh so affordable food, let off some lanterns by the beach and then from 11:30pm hit the clubs or beach parties all alligned along the sea front. This takes you up until 9am the NEXT DAY haha! just in time to catch the ferry back to the island with your hotel. NUFF SAID!

These are some of my stories so far and are but a small glimpse into my amazing journey here in Thailand. Currently we are in Krabi, revising and studying, resting and reflecting as we apply for jobs in different parts of Asia and prepare for the part of the century....THE FULL MOON PARTY in Ko Samui!!

Hope everything in England is going well and will post another update soon..

J x