this is the first part of several, which together will simulate a complete travel report. to see all posts of this group, click here.
singapore, nov. 2005
here comes the first batch of photos that have accumulated over the last 4 months.
after some serious planning, i decided to leave austria on november 7th – the day that allesandro volta presented the first battery in public. just kidding…
for the first part of my time in singapore [G], i was staying with peter, who gave me lots of advise on what to see and do.
since he was still working when i arrived, i was welcomed by his roommate, matteo from italy.
it was pretty …strange to hear “this will sound strange, but ‘welcome to singapore’.” from an italian guy ;-)
the first two days, i woke up at 3 in the morning. this turned out to be the only time on my travels, that i suffered from jetlag.
on november 09th at 0321, i took this note:
- i can’t sleep right now – still running on my own time, somewhere between european and singaporean time.
[lyrics quote of the moment]
it’s so beautiful here,
this moment now,
and this moment now.
and i never thought, i would find …
vienna teng – recessional
the following day i ran across the elderly australian couple, who were sitting next to me on the plane to singapore. they told me that they also got up between 3 and 4 am. with the time difference, that would be 9 in the evening (CET), though… so that doesn’t really make sense.
i spent a day wandering through chinatown and little india with peter from hamburg, who (amongst others) introduced me to lassi: a sweet-honeyish yogurt beverage from india.
for the second part of my stay, i “moved” to wee hui’s place. she and jaslin (“aircon!”) took me out on a photographic night-shot tour one evening :-)
other attractions i went to check out:
- singapore botanic gardens
- sentosa, an island resort
- jurong birdpark
- singapore zoo
- night safari, and
- sungei buloh wetland reserve
(these photos will follow separately – check for updates!)
little side-notes:
- singapore is not as clean & tidy as people told me.
- i was really, really tense when riding a taxi on the first day, because it drove on the *left* side…
- i decided *not* to try and to smuggle chewing gum into singapore.
- matteo
pointed out that singapore is a “fine city”, meaning that there are fines for everything in singapore.
- satay chicken is AWESOME!
- fresh watermelon-juice tastes so much better than it sounds.
- fresh papaya-juice doesn’t really taste as good as it sounds.
- unfortunately i wasn’t able to try a real durian. that is something i’ll definitely do next time!
- christmas-music seems really absurd in a tropical climate, especially if it’s only the beginning of november.
- compared to christian churches, hindu temples seem really crowded and noisy.
[view photos: RTW05 #1 singapore]
nice pics, markus!
those fruit / vegetable things are bitter melons. yep, they taste bitter. not sure if they are classified as a fruit or veg … ever since tomatoes got classified as fruit i got all confused!
loved the “no durian” sign, and your hot/cold flashes.
my mom likes durian. i don’t. and if she eats them (you can get them in the frozen food aisle at the Chinese grocery here), she eats them outside, not in the house. :) (on the other hand, i really love stinky tofu. go fig.)
thanks for the hint.
i think tomatoes are considered fruit because it’s a fruit that develops from a pollinated flower.
in german, there are two different words for fruit (most of the flower-products of angiosperms) and fruit (the sweet & raw-eaten part of most of the flower-products of angiosperms)…
however, wikipedia says it’s a vegetable.
a clarifying diagram can be found here…
one day, i’ll get to try a durian!
and if i’m lucky, some stinky tofu as well :mrgreen:
ok, i just changed the title, and EVERY SINGLE TIME i misspelled it as “bitter LeMons”…
talk about motor skill habits.