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)