Travel Virus

Singapore’s location near the equator provides the city with a big variety of inexpensive exotic fruits, and of course I have to try them all!

In the top left corner you see the dragon fruit. Despite its name the taste is very mild, and the soft texture is pleasant. On the right side it’s the Rambutan, similar to Lichy but not really, it has a funny hairy shell. Not my favorite, though. There is also a yellow version of the watermelon, not better than the red one. Finally on the bottom left corner you can see the Durian! Called the king of the fruits, and the most famous fruit in Singapore, is the worst smelling fruit in the world! Inside it’s yellow and soft, a bit like kaki. It feels hot inside the stomach when you eat it… it’s very strange but you’ve got to try it to experience the real Singapore! Local people love it… but I’m still investigating on understanding that

Yesterday we had a very nice dinner with the CS community of Singapore. It’s always amazing to meet people from everywhere around the world and still have so many things in common… probably it’s truly the travel virus that we have in common!
We met at Ghandi canteen, in Little India, 3 euros each for all the food you see on the table!
Most CS people that i met are on a world tour, but some others are actually living in Asia: I even met one English guy yesterday who is living in Phnom Penh! wow quite brave, so there are more crazy people than myself!

Singapore zoo is the first zoo in the world to offer night view of the wildlife. I’ve seen many zoos but this one is really good, probably the best!

There are many species of strange animals that can’t be seen in western countries, like the one here in the picture. Unfortunately I couldn’t manage to take any picture of the wildlife for lack of light, I’ve only got some picture of the night show. The Indian lady running the show is really great, certainly worth seeing it (included): it runs at 7.30, 8.30 and 9.30 pm.
The entrance price is not cheap: 22 S$ plus 10S$ for the tram ride, but you can often get discount coupons. The tram ride is a must, otherwise you can’t see much of the zoo. The guides on the tram also also very good.
There are also walking trails that let you see some animals from closer, such as leopards, porcupines, bats (many and giant!), otters, flying squirrels, etc.
This zoo is really packed with animals so the chance to see all animals is quite high (unlikely many other zoos where sometimes animals are shy and hide away from the crowd). Really worth seeing it.
Just a tip: the zoo is far from the city and far from the mrt (metro), it’s better to take the zoo shuttle from the city center or a taxi (it took me over 2 hours to get there by public transport).

It’s a clear day and I can see Indonesia cost from my room!

Wow I’m amazed… make me look forward to see it from closer

Actually Indonesia is about as far from my room as my office at the university (about 20km)!

If you are wondering why there are always so many boats in my pictures… Singapore is the 4th busiest port in the world (incredible for such a small country only 42 km wide)

Yeap, II moved again! My travel virus is getting worst… 6th country in 9 years!
I’m now in Singapore and will be here for about 10 months, at the National University of Singapore.

I found a beautiful room in the east cost, from which I can actually see the sea! It’s a great location, near the beautiful (and very crowded) east cost park.

But there are always tradeoffs… I’ve been sinking in bureaucracy last week and I’m still in “camping style” at the university, since they are not planning to assign me a computer any time soon (= slow wireless Internet and no printing from my laptop).

Never mind, sushi is very cheap, actually food is very cheap in general and there is a great variety of cuisines, and Singapore is a very unique place, very safe and very multicultural!

note: I updated the picture because I realized I can take out the safety bars, so happy!

Crossing the border from Cambodia to Thailand one can notice a striking difference in development. Thailand has huge hyper-modern highways, 4 lanes, fully illuminated, underpasses and overpasses everywhere, luxurious casinos and 5 star hotels, big SUVs and no motorcycles.

This is Thailand in 2009, to many extents it’s more developed than Italy!!

At the same time is still quite exotic with colorful houses on the waters and little carts selling local food. Thousands of 7Elevens in between local vendors, air-con malls and tuc-tucs, an amazing mix!

The best thing is that Thailand is very safe, especially compared to other Asian Countries. People are very friendly, positive and talkative.

I avoided the main tourists spots in Bangkok and took a bike tour around the city, 20 Km in 4 hours, cycling on the little bridges connecting the floating houses and the small canals (much smaller than in Venice!), passing through local food vendors who seldom see tourists there and smile at me, surprised.

The reclining Buddha temple Wat Po, is of great shining beauty: it’s a big temple area with several golden temples and stupas, that look even more shining at night.

Holidays are over …

The main tourist attraction of Cambodia is Angkor, the ancient capital and city of thousands of Khmer temples. Millions tourists come every year but it doesn’t fee like. The temples site is so huge that you only find some crowd in Angkor Wat, the most famous temple. We went there for sunrise, but the sun was shy that day and didn’t show up. Never mind it’s still good to explore the temples at 6 in morning when the air is fresh and not many people are around.

My favorite temple is Ta Phrom, wild and conquered by the forest… feels like Indiana Jones discovering forgotten treasures! It’s amazing to see the huge trees growing around, inside and on the top of the temples!

Bayon is also one of the must see temples, with thousand faces looking at you, very picturesque!

Banteay Srey, also called the women citadel, is a temple complex 38 Km from Angkor Wat, but worth the trip: it’s made of pink sandstone with very fine and minute carving, extremely rich in details.

Overall all the temples are beautiful and different from each other but on the same artistic line, some Hindu, some Buddhist, some very tall, some very large…

What is amazing about Angkor is the huge number of temples spread in an area of around a hundred kilometers, there are beautifully carved temples at every corner, often hiding under the greenish forest, the atmosphere is unique, reminiscence of the Khmer splendor.

Since the climax in XXI century ,Cambodia has been subject to continuous decline, touching the bottom with the Khmer rouge regime. In 1979, when Pol Pot regime felt under the Vietnamese army, there were only 300 people left in Cambodia with a higher degree (Henry Kamm, 1988, pg.11). Emerging from the stone age is not easy when in a whole Country there are only 300 educated people, and schools and hospitals were destroyed when not used for tortures and mass killing. Khmer people are now slowly recovering from the hell where Pol Pot took them only 30 years ago, but it’s a long way that needs international support.

I’m exploring Cambodia, an amazing Country with striking contrast. A incredibly rich past with the immense and beautiful Khmer temples of Angkor, and an incredibly sad recent history of cruel tortures and killings by the Khmer rouge (see CNN report). In the 70s the population of Cambodia when from 7 million people to 4 million! An immensely sad number of people dead by the Khmer rouge (est. 2 millions), U.S. secret carpet bombing during Vietnam war and consequent famine and starvation.

Cambodia is now a safe and slowly developing country with 50% of the population under the age of 18!! It’s still very poor but with big hope for the future (I think). It’s the land of the beautiful Angkor temples, and many other beautiful and immense temples of the Khmer empire, about 1000 years old, with well preserved carvings. The temples are spread in an area of 160 km, and they are really astonishing.

Cambodia also offers beautiful scenaries always featuring water: the Mekong river,  floating villages in the many big lakes, boat rides between the main cities… and very friendly (but sometimes desperately poor) people.

I like Cambodia way much better than Vietnam, it’s a place that will touch your hearth, a place that you have to see once in your life (but hurry up, before mass tourism arrives). My suggestion is to dedicate at least a week or better 10-15 days to explore the deep contrasts of this land: don’t go just to Angkor Wat, you would miss so much!