Travel Virus

Finally Malaysia!
After 7 months in Singapore i crossed the land border to Malaysia, visiting the border town of Johor Bahru, to find out it’s actually just an extension of Singapore with malls everywhere!
I suppose it’s like Tijuana in Mexico, which does not actually qualifies as Mexico to me… so I’m not sure i can say I’ve been to Malaysia… I hope to have the chance to see more of this country! anyway i had a few hours taste of it, and seems like the Chinese are running most of the businesses and the Singaporeans are the only clients!

Globalization: I’m Italian, living in Singapore, go to Malaysia, buy shoes branded “Fabiano Ricco” imported by chinese who went to Italy to copy the design and produce it in china and sell it in Malaysia for Singapore tourists!

The area around Raffles Place MRT, along the river, is very lively at night, with fancy & expensive restaurants and cafes. The Christmas lights give it a fairy-tale atmosphere…. I like so much to see the Christmas lights on palm trees at the equator
Walking around the streets here doesn’t feel like it is Asia… this area is very popular with tourists, you’ll find many western people around and no local dining places, everything is aiconditioned, so bring a jumper because it’s freezing (inside)
If you want to experience the real Singapore, just take the metro, two stops, alight at Bugis!

These last weeks in Singapore I have been working hard to collect data, conducting an experiment on cross-cultural differences in the reception of business visualization and I didn’t get any free time to explore, so I’m posting a picture I took last September at the Chinese Garden. You see the garden was decorated with colorful lanterns for the mid-autumn day festival, a Chinese tradition happening at the beginning of October (depends on the moon calendar).

The Chinese Garden is in the north-west of Singapore, and can be reached with the MRT (metro) green line, the ride takes approximately half an hour from the city center.

It’s a beautiful garden, although totally man-made. The most amazing part is the Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum, where I have seen the absolutely most strange turtles on earth! It’s a must see if you go all the way up there to the Chinese garden: there are hundreds of turtles and several amazing species:

44 hours in the air and 500Km on the road…
October has been a wonderful month, traveling in America, Europe and Asia… 5 countries, exploring new places (Philadelphia, Atlantic city, St. Gallen), meeting new people, and above all a chance to spend some time with my friends again.
Like the Chinese say, time is circular and everything comes back… and yes indeed, I went all around the world and here I’m back again in Singapore, working…
Feelings too go round round, up and down, and come back to the start. That’s life.
The good news is that here is still summer!

I was really looking forward to spend some time abroad, I was thinking Lugano is so small, always the same, same people… but when I was living there i forgot to appreciate the beauty of the lake, the safety and low bureaucracy of Switzerland, the familiar feeling in the university, so small and so intercultural…
And after being away for six months I must admit I really miss Lugano!! The lake, the mountains, the university, and above all… my friends!
As zucchero says ” è andando via che si rimane…”
It’s almost time to go back to Singapore, luckily it will be summer again there and i’ll come back to beautiful Lugano in spring!

St. Gallen is a gracious little city in the north east of Switzerland, near lake constance (Bodensee). There is a prestigious management university there, the University of St. Gallen, specialized in management. The city is tiny and cute, very well kept and stylish. The people are all elegant and dressed up, the shop’s windows are fair of formality and stylish elegance… very expensive elegance!
The very center of the city is closed to cars, so it’s very enjoyable. There are several churches, of which one is really huge. The atmosphere is vibrant, especially around the market square, with fancy restaurants and clubs.
I was there to teach and experiment, and surprisingly it was very hot and we could hear the cows’ bells during the class

Last Saturday Chinese people celebrated mid-autumn festival with mooncakes. It’s full moon and the story tells to look at the moon to feel connected to the beloved ones that live far away… very romantic

On my way back to Italy I brought mooncakes to my family and friends, to share with them this Chinese tradition… my relatives enjoyed to try it but my friends did not…mmm… not global citizens yet!

Too bad I wasn’t in Singapore to see the celebrations! The Chinese garden was all decorated with lanterns for the event!

Several happenings in Singapore this weekend… the celebrations for the upcoming Deepavali (diwali), the festival of lights, are starting in little India, all beautifully decorated with colorful lights and bazaars… dangerous bazaars (on the left side of the pic) where i got trapped by the amazing colors of the Indian cloths! i love the Indian textiles, so colorful and elegant… i wish i could wear them everyday without looking like an idiot

In a few minutes the formula 1 race will start… I was hoping to be able to see it for free but it doesn’t seem possible, too bad. The circuit is just around the city center, along the route I usually take to reach the university, so basically I’ve been racing there! (See below)

Last night Jennifer took me for a nice dinner in a Swiss restaurant… yes so swiss that it totally looked like Manora, plus some decorative cows, waiters in semi-Bavarian cloths and alpin chalet interior design. Pretty fake but fun! We got spaetzle, roesti and cordon blue in pure Swiss style. It’s called Marché, at vivocity, you can even see Sentosa from there.