RTW05 #1: singapore

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
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.

chinatown in singapore

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:

(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
    singapore is a fine city

    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]

 
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3 thoughts on “RTW05 #1: singapore

  1. 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.)

  2. 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:

  3. ok, i just changed the title, and EVERY SINGLE TIME i misspelled it as “bitter LeMons”…
    talk about motor skill habits.

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