So fresh, so clean

Welcome to the city where spitting out chewing gum is a crime, where so many different cultures live in one city-country, where you get constantly educated about your duty to be attentive to any possible terrorism dangers, where shopping and eating are valid and popular leisure time activities and where so many places look like a part of a holiday resort, welcome to Singapore.

After visiting Meet in Hongkong I decided to reunite with one more friends and hopped on a bus to Singapore to see Kana again. I also met Kana in Brazil while I was working and traveling there last summer. I was really looking forward to this weekend trip as I was happy to hang out with my friend and was curious about this city - and I didn't get disappointed. The weekend was great. We spent the days with discovering the many different neighbourhoods, going out for drinks, smoking so much sheesha (mmm peach-mint flavor, so delicious), simply hanging out and chatting and eating very nice food.

I did my best to capture the memorable moments in random photographs - below you find a selection. Singapore is a really beautiful place and I most say so far my favorite big city in Asia and probably the only place where I could imagine to live some more months. On the downside it is a bit too neat and clean cut, but that is made up by it's nice quarters, the multicultural atmosphere and the cosy places you can find. Also you are not constantly seen as a source of money since you are a foreigner and can therefore enjoy strolling down the streets in peace without being screamed or honked at constantly. The fact that I had great hosts and was able to spend some time in Kana's and Dave's home added to my positive and welcoming image of the city.

The entry to Raffles hotel - Allegedly the place where you can get the authentic Singapore Sling,
but as it is so expensive there, I had one somewhere else.

Sitting along the river in the evening, drinking beer and chatting.

The botanic garden

The different ethnic neighbourhoods: Arab Street, Little India & Chinatown

A very nice sheesha that we enjoyed together with
Turkish apple tea in one of the little nice restaurants

Above all the main highlight was the reunion with my former teammate which once again showed me how small the world is. As she is from Australia, I didn't expect to see her that soon again, but was very happy that she came for our New Year's Eve team reunion to Prague andvisited me in Vienna a couple of days later. And we all know that it was a bit of a conincidence that I ended up here in Southeast Asia and got to travel to her new home. I guess that proves that goodbyes are not necessarily meant to be final at all, so often it's just a "see you later" - somewhere, sometime.


current music: Maksim - Croatian Rhapsody