I am still alive... and almost wonder. I should call
Singapore... Toyland!
Those stores our nice singaporean frens suggested... woaaah!!! I was
dead and in heaven... needless to say I left like 200 SGD in the
store hahahaha I am crazy.
anyways I discovered that there is a local Singaporean Publisher...
called chuang yi, they have very nice edition, slightly more compact
than the American ones but about the same height, they have flap
covers, nice paper and the translations is reaaally not bad...
although slightly S'inglish at time (which makes me love it too... I
was laughing my ass off when I found the word brinjal in it...
referring to the eggplant. I hadn't heard that word in years since
of course my best friend used it!).
So I was led into temptation got Absolute Boyfriend and Love for
Venus here. See I was supposed to get these two titles in Italian
but I don't like very much the publisher for Absolute Boyfriend and
despise the one who acquired Love for venus so I was pretty happy...
not to mention... they cost 7.9 SGD wich makes it maybe around 5
USD.. with those covers and that paper? hell yeah!

But let's switch back to Singapore's wonders... They a load of
vegetarian food, there's a restaurant next to the temple of the
goddes of mercy in bugis... soooo good! I have Durian icecream on
bread... woah I hadn't had icecream on bread in ages, it's a
sicilian thingy... actually a lot of the tastes, flavors, smells and
the environment remind me of Sicily... of course Singapore is much
greener... wwgweee gweee I want to import a rain tree! T_T

Next I'll eat a durian. Everytime I pass in front of the store and I
see durian, rambutan, longans... I'm like... mhhhhh me wannnaaaa!
Now Durian really smells you know, one may think that somebody left
the stove open and the gas is spreading... actually there's a second
smell to it that's rather sour and then a third smell that's very
fruity and yummie... so if you learn to isolate the first stingy
smell... you really crave for the other two! O_O

On orchard road there's a huge takamiya mall with the biggest
Kinokuniya I've ever seen. Huge Japanese and Chinese selection of
manga and they also have the american ones not to mention their own
local publishing... with a warning on the back that says "not to be
sold outside of singapore" so you won't find this stuff online.

of course the best part, yesterday I saw the Esplanade (finally) and
my beloved merlion. I was in love with these two monuments ever
since I did the advertising campaign for Singapore (could not find
my posters here though I wonder what they used them for)... and I
had to draw them. I actually expected the explanade to be slightly
bigger... not too much but maybe a 10% longer on the side....
the Merlion was exactly what I thought it would be (only I figured
out that the waves at its bottom are made of glass so at night they
light up and I was thrilled to see that). I actually was surprised
to see how far he manages to spit the water of the Singapore
River...

I also finally saw the skyline by night but let me tell you... the
weather here is something incredible. I am used to hot, summer in
italy is 103 F... 45 Celsius in the shade with 80% of humidity and I
also lived in central florida for one year...
but there's something about perpendicular sun. I am not joking, I
have never bee this close to the equator and the difference is quite
noticeable... my limbs were swelling... especially my heels and
toes... also I am not getting sunburned or anything but my frekles
are spreading like crazy and I got like a brown stain on my forhead
(a few frekles joined forces dammit). The light is white and light
yellow while in San Francisco is ochre and purplish towards dusk...
I think all the green bouncing back the light is what makes it look
so glaring.

Sometimes during the day I feel my blood is boiling so I have to
stop and drink. I drink a lot, but it's not because I get thirsty...
for some reason I never do and I don't really sweat a lot.... but I
have to drink to cool down cuz my body temperature goes up... like a
car radiator without cooling fluids.

isnt' that weird? O_O

Yah, I'm loving it!
I love the rain trees who go to sleep at night! HEEE and taking
pictures of flowers like crazy.
I like vegetarian foor here: no garlic! yay!
but now I'm running around doing errands with my best fren as her
bridesmaid... so she is taking me super local places and malls.
yesterday we went to a car shop cuz her husband got into an
accident... we went to this place that looks like a parking garage but
every floor has a bunch of car repair shop, it looked like a scifi
movies.
so I was taking pictures and this uncle kept looking at us
like "what's there?"
I still have to eat durian but I already saw that it smells like gas,
I mean like a stove when you leave the 4 things open and gas runs out,
O_O

So yah, I'm in Singapore already lah!
and tell you what it's friggin' hot down here.
I have been going around only two days now... haven't seen the main
tourists place yet, mostly I am drinking lotsa cool juices, guava,
sugar cane, longan etc etc etc. eating fresh desserts... went to
moss burgers...s ooo funny... and eating lots of cool vegetarian
chinese food like fake shrimps, fake ham and so forth.
I went to see the national library, awesome!
and did a little shopping already. You know they have the same
snacks we have in Italy I was so thrilled hahahaha.
actually vegetation is amazing, they have Sensitive ferns growing as
grass on the side of the pavement... you know the type of fern that
if you touch it, it pretends to whiter and die?
I used to have it when I was a kid, and bought it constantly until I
moved to US... and here it's grass!! O_O
they have rain trees that go to sleep at night, and all kinds of
frangipanes, so different from the hawaaian ones, cuz they even have
deep red ones with no white center.
It's very green everywhere, now I know why my best friend felt so
deprived of green when she lived in SF.
I went to a chinese temple of the goddess of mercy yesterday and my
friend did a prayer+fortune telling thing... it was so great!
oh you know? they have no napkins in Singapore. I am enquiring with
everyone why is that... but everyone goes around with tissues in
their pockets cuz there's no napkins in the food courts.
Nobody can quite figure out nor tell me why... they have tons of
signs about fines though... and t-shrts that collects the sign and
says "What a Fine city" hahahaha.
On one hand this place reminds me a lot of Sicily.
On the other hand is clean and organized... then has little
loopholes like... cars don't stop if you are crossing so you have to
be careful (like in Italy! O_O) and there's no napkins.
So far I loved the wet markets and eating so much fresh food and
veggies... but my body temperatures was rising like crazy yesterday
so I was drinking like a camel to cool me down...
Apparently I am a bridesmaid... I didn't know... apparently I am one
of the sisters that's supposed to stop the groom when he tries to
come in the house and fetch the bride hahahaha.
but I think I am starting to understand what Jack Sparrow meant when
he said :Clearly you have never been to singapore.
This place si "cross and delight" at the same time hehehehe...
but I still have many more days to go, hven't seen the merlion
yet...

sono a singapore
cmq qua fa un caldo maiale, vado avanti bevendo succhi e te' tutto il giorno... hanno della roba da bere che uno nemmeno se l'immagina: l'aloe vera, la canna da zucchero, il frutto del guam, un frutto a forma di stella, ed un casino di roba che vista da fuori sembrano ricci, puzzano come i tubi del gas ma hanno un sapore buonissimo e si chiama Durian.
poi qua non c'hanno i tovaglioli di carta O_O
quindi andiamo in giro a mangiare e non ci danno i tovaglioli e quindi ti devi portare i tuoi fazzolettini... e' una cosa stranissima perche' il posto e' pulitissimo, super nuovissimo, hanno grattacieli dalle dimensioni mastodontiche, persino i centri commerciali hanno dimensioni mastodontiche... ma quando vai dentro ogni negozietto e' un bugigattolo.
Le strade ed i centro commerciali sono quotidianamente pieni di gente come da noi la domenica mattina al mercato. Ed e' normale.
Poi al di fuori del centro commerciale hanno chilometri e chilometri e chilometri di palazzoni allineati che sembrano tipo le nostre case popolari o le coperative... solo venti volte piu' grandi. Tutti di colore diverso. Cosi' riconosci casa tua da lontano.
Se vai in centro con la macchina paghi il pedaggio. Ma non ci sono i caselli. Hanno un tesserina magnetica che metti in una mcchinetta sul cruscotto e ogni tanto dipende dove passi senti bip bip e sai che hai pagato il pedaggio.
Ieri ho visto chinatown, ci sono tutte case degli anni 20 di stile coloniale, coloratissime.
poi siamo passati da orchard road che e' la strada con tutti i negozi. Ci sono dei centri commerciali dieci volte piu' grandi di Macy's... ed in giro decorazioni natalizie e canzoni di natale a tutto spiano... solo che ci sono 30 gradi!!!
Ma quando compri le cose costano pochissimo. Tipo io per mangiare spendo 4 dollari singaporeani, che sono poco piu' di due dollari... e ci sono un sacco di posti dove vendono mangiare vegetariano con finto prosciutto, finto pollo, finto maiale... tutti fatti di soia e di glutine, e non usano il glutammato ne' l'aglio e mi sto attrippando come un porco.
Poi ci sono tantissimi templi, buddisti, indiani e moschee.
Siamo entrati nel tempio buddista della dea della misericordia, dove grace ha fatto una preghiera speciale per Paul visto che poverino l'altro giorno e' stato coinvolto in un tamponamento a catena e gli hanno distrutto la macchina.
Si vede la forma del muso della macchina che da dietro gli e' entrata nel cofano! O_O L'ha portata dal meccanico... ed il meccanico e' in un edificio che pare un garage... ma invece dei parcheggi ad ogni piano ci sono tutti garage.
Una scena da film di fantascienza.
poi ho notato che invece dapperttutto e' cosi. Vai in un centro commerciale e ci trovi solo negozi di elettrodomestici, in un altro ci trovi solo negozi di telefonia... etc etc etc... sono tutti raggruppati per categorie e quindi la competizione e' altissima e sono costretti ad avere tutti gli stessi prezzi.
Pero' se hai amici o cugini che lavorano in questo o quel negozio... ti portano nel loro negozio o in quello accanto ed iniziano a tirare sul prezzo per te...
comunque c'e' tantissimo verde. Ad esempio hanno questi alberi a forma di ombrello chiamati alberi della pioggia che la sera si chiudono e vanno a dormire. Hanno pomelie di tutti i colori, da quelle come le nostre a certe che sono rosso fuoco e non hanno bianco nel fiore. Ci sono felci troppo snob per crescere per terra e che si accampano tra i rami degli alberi... e per strada tra l'erba c'e' la felce simpatica... quindi certe volte cammini, la tocchi e weeeee si abbacchia e fa finta di morire.
Hanno alberi grandi come case e viali alberati dapperttutto.
Non ho visto nessuna fauna particolare per ora. Solo questi merli bianconeri.
La popolazione e' molto diversificata. Ho visto un gruppo di ragazzi malesi giocare a pallone con una rete nel mezzo... si tirano la palla da parta a parte come se stessero giocando a volano. Possono solo toccarla coi piedi e con la testa. Certe volte la palla arriva da troppo in alto e devono saltare e sforbiciare, oppure mettono le mani a terra e scalciano.
comunque non ho ancora fatto il giro per monumenti vari, spero mi portino quanto prima, diciamo che per ora seguo grace nelle sue commissioni.