“This is it,” I thought to myself as I stepped through the customs at Changi International Airport after waving goodbye to my teary-eyed family and friends. Backpacking isn’t common in Singapore, not to mention alone. It was a blasphemous decision to everyone I knew. When I belted up on the plane and felt the familiar vibrations of a take-off, I thought, “Fuck, this is it. THIS-IS-IT. There’s no turning back now.”

Transit at Amsterdam. They wanted to check my hotel reservations, I left everything in my check-in luggage – a 60 litre backpack I named Mr Tatonka. Lucky I had my iPod Touch on me with my e-mail receipts stored, they let me through. It was cold and quiet in Schipol Airport. My cheery yellow cotton shawl did little to save me in T-shirt and jeans during the 2-hour transit. Time crawled.

Finally, Paris, Charles De Gaulle (CDG). A smile peeked through the gloom as I stepped out of the airport. Paris probably has one of the most complicated train system by far. Doesn’t help that I don’t speak French. I took my first train to Gare Paris-Bercy where my next train heads to Rome in the evening. Noted that EUR to SGD was 1.898 and I donated more than I should dropping what I thought were shillings to a not-very-friendly man playing an accordion.

Paris - Bercy

First meal, Bercy Cafe on 118 Rue De Bercy where I ordered one of the set menus at 18.30 Euros. I vaguely recall reading filet on the menu which I mistook for fillet. Slightly surprised when I received steak instead of fish but I kept quiet.

Pate de Campagne

Formule E/P

Time: 1248hours. My initial plan was to explore Paris for a bit before the night train to Rome but the complexity of the Paris subway threw me off, even though there was absolutely nothing to see around Gare de Lyon. I didn’t know how to get to Champs Elysee or know how long it’d take me. Being the virgin backpacker I was, I have to admit that I was afraid of hiccups.

Gare de Lyon

This is the waiting area on the second level of Gare de Lyon. Now that I look at the Eurail timetable again, I realised there are only morning trains and night trains. There wasn’t a single passenger except me for a long time until a man arrived and slept across a couple of seats. Five more hours to go. The silence, the emptiness, the waiting and the loneliness was driving me crazy! With my backpack strapped to one of my arms, I set my alarm clock and tried to sleep. It got colder, I pulled over another sweater and continued to force myself to sleep.

Soup machine

More and more people gathered at the train station as I drifted in and out of sleep. I think I drank two cups of tomato soup from this vending machine in between. I followed the crowd due for Roma Termini at 1859 to the trains and got out of the station, it was so much colder outside and a wind was blowing. As much as I’m afraid of the cold, I like it and it got me all excited.

I shared the cabin with a quaint, old Italian lady whose name is Emi, if I recall correctly. I cannot remember her age, probably 70. I remember that she loves cats and she’s got adorable grandchildren, whose photos she showed to me on her mobile phone. Emi was full of vigour for her age and she stole quite a few cigarette breaks during our ride to Rome. She couldn’t speak English and I didn’t understand Italian so our conversations didn’t get us very far. She taught me to be careful and locked the cabin before we went to bed.

Non Smoker T3 Lady Upper

Emi

Sleeping on the upper bunk, there wasn’t any space for me to sit upright. It was dark outside. I was supposed to arrive at 0950 but the train was retardo (delayed). I got hungry. That meal at Paris Bercy was the only meal I had 24 hours ago. I didn’t buy dinner on the train when they offered because it was like 25 Euros and I thought no way am I gonna pay that sorta money for train food. I nibbled on my only pack of crackers that my sis insisted I bring for the trip and washed it down with the complimentary sparkling water. I don’t think breakfast was on the menu but they served us coffee and buns. I gobbled them up.

Breakfast for Emi and I

After about 20 hours on the train and hours of forced sleep, I finally got to Rome.

Someone came to pick Emi at the station, I think it was her son. I wonder how she’s doing now.

Non Smoker T3 Lady Upper

Warm lighting and an assortment of cushions

I only get to meet up with Shiyu like once a year or so because she was studying in Australia and now I am going to work in China. After a quick search on hungrygowhere, she came to pick me at my place and we went to People Like Us Cafe, one of the few cafes that open till late on a weekday. It doesn’t look like much from the outside or on the first level but the second floor was really cozy and it’s so near where I live! A pity I only just discovered it. Foster’s $7 for a stubby and $10 for a Heineken. I wanted to try their Choconana crepe but they were sold out. Hope I’ll get to give this place one more shot before I go! Photos were photoshopped, taken with my new Panasonic LX3.

Dear Michi,

All is well over here, please let Pa and Mummy know and tell them not to worry.

Golden Sweat has been very accommodating with my nonsense and makes sure I get to school on time every day. He is very smart and helps me a lot, especially on grammar and phonetics. When I get too stressed with school, he encourages me. He also packs food for me when I am rushing for my assignments and makes Milo for me every morning.

I bought a new Paul Frank bikini on Saturday and have been swimming every day since. (Splurge, I know.) The pool water is cleaner after the rain, or maybe I can’t see too well at night.

The Pool - Day & Night

My classmates are awesome. I think it’s the Western culture. They’re very friendly and generous with compliments and encouragement. I’d love to say the same to them, and I truly mean what I say, but somehow I just find it hard to express myself.

I taught a new pre-intermediate class and got an “above standard” for my lesson today! It was probably my lesson plan that scored. I had a good warmer leading in to my context for teaching comparatives and superlatives and I used my students as examples. My little “invention” of a bigger or smaller game where they form sentences like “A cat is bigger than a rat,” or “My eraser is smaller than a rat,” went quite well even though I was running a little late into the lesson. The pre-intermediate students took a little longer than I’d anticipated for a worksheet they had to complete. I miss my students from the intermediate class!

Origami dice

Kenji visited us over the weekend and they helped me with these origami dice. I got the instructions off this YouTube video. School’s been absolutely exhausting and I have 3 lessons and an assignment due this week! Kenji and Golden Sweat went to Ayuthaya on Saturday but I didn’t join them. Just gotta tide over this week and the next two weeks will be more relaxed!

Working hard and healthy!

Love,
Jie

Me with 3 chewing puppies - taken by Boon

Dogs are hard to photograph

Thanks to the new Circle Line, we can now conveniently visit the Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) by alighting at Bartley and taking a 3-minutes stroll from the station. The Singapore SPCA looked like it never upgraded in 20 years (it’s actually my first visit) with very few animals in the shelter. Drop by for a visit and you may just be inspired to volunteer.

Reminds me of a sphinx

Sleeping cat-ortionist

Ear-marked

The Singapore SPCA is closed on Thursdays and the adoption shelter is only open till 4pm (3:30pm on Sundays and Public Holidays).

http://www.spca.org.sg/

Not a good photo-taking day, I only like these 2 shots. Kenji’s camera is kinda broken while J’s Holga rewind-misfortune probably cost him the entire roll.

Reflection

J

Kith Cafe serves yummy milkshake, try strawberry yoghurt or peanut butter! Reasonably priced at SG$5.50 each. Free parking at Waterfront condominium if you let them know that you are going to Kith Cafe (limited parking lots).

I love wood and chalkboards.

http://www.kith.com.sg/

Taken with Ling's Canon 50D

Wendy, exclaiming that the strawberry’s heart-shaped.

Me, taken by Ling

Love this photo with my Afternoon Tea at Harrods bag that I bought last year in London, how apt! Reminds me of the “Faceless Portrait” angle in Hot Shots.

The Cookie Museum, formally known as the V Tea Room, isn’t really a museum per se. It’s more of a cookie lab with flavors like Rose and Lavender to Chicken Rice and Nasi Lemak. You’ll be surprised how much flavor they can jam into a tiny, penny-sized sample. I think critics use the term “taste explosion”. A pot of tea costs around SG$15 (serves 1) and a tin of cookies costs around SG$40. I bought their Rose cookies during Valentine’s Day this year because it was simply oozing with love, to me at least. They have a lovely Victorian interior but sadly, they also have a “no photography” rule.

Esplanade Mall
#01-02/04
T: +65 6333 1965
Opening Hours
Mon-Thu,Sun (12pm-10pm), Sat (12pm-10.30pm)
Last order:
9.30pm (Sun – Thu)10.30pm (Fri & Sat)
http://www.thecookiemuseum.com/

Related link:
Esplanade – The Cookie Museum

Best part about “re-uniting” with Kenji after all these years is to find a spontaneous photography buddy! Not to mention, my new friend, J – the unknowing victim who willingly jumped into our crazy whirlpool of film/digital SLR/DSLR/toy cameras after a spontaneous decision to meet in Taipei! Sooo… the 3 of us went on a little excursion last Saturday…

魔鬼！

Geek specs!

Notebooks

More notebooks

Kenji and his SLR

Cat Socrates is a bookshop that also carries a variety of tin toys, CDs, tote bags, notebooks, stationery and other zakka, with a tiny corner that serves coffee (for like only 6 people!). They’re organising a Space Tin Photography Competition, submission deadline 30th June, chekkit!

Cat Socrates
苏格拉底猫·新生活阅读·创意杂货
ttp://www.catsocrates.com.sg/
231 Bain Street
Bras Basah Complex
#03-39
Singapore 180231

As we couldn’t get seats at Cat Socrates + it was getting too dark for some lomo action, we headed over to the Mint Museum of Toys for coffee. J getting trigger happy with his funny conversion lens (wide angle) that Kenji and him bought from Cat Socrates at only SG$8.50.

J

Me & my Sony α

MINT cafe

Mint Museum of Toys
http://www.emint.com/
26 Seah Street
Singapore 188382

p/s: They sell the funny lenses at Strapya World too, but at US$9+! Pricey!

To ease a bit of the Taipei-hangover, Shaun introduced me to Casual Poet, a laidback cafe tucked away in an inconspicuous shophouse in Chinatown. I told J about it and we went to check it out on a lazy Saturday.

布告欄 with Shaun's drawing!

Owned by a very young lady-boss in her early twenties, this little hideout sits less than 20 and houses a good stock of zakka for sale.

A sunny day

Vintage typewriter

I <3 Notebooks!

The food and drinks are rather pricey at about SG$7 for a strawberry shake and SG$10 for the chilli butter chicken rice (I can’t remember exactly). I like their chilli butter chicken rice even though it was a little too dry. On the other hand, the drinks and J’s fried rice didn’t do it for me (he claimed it was alright; that, or my tastebuds are just more sensitive). There’s free Wifi but my iPod Touch refused to connect to it somehow.

Skinny girl

Yummy!

Wooden shelves are nice

I probably will not re-visit unless there’s an event going on because I feel the food and drinks are overpriced. However, it’s a nice-to-visit-once sorta place that I’d recommend to get out of the usual Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf monotony.

Casual Poet
http://casualpoet.com/
273B New Bridge Road
Singapore 088749

Jiufen (九份) reminds me of somewhere in Japan (I forgot)… You’ll need to take a cab or bus to reach here as there isn’t a train station. Lots of food, souvenir shops and tea houses with smashing views. They say it’s easy to identify the tourists, especially Singaporeans, because we’re usually in shorts/berms and slippers while everyone else is wrapped in layers during this pre-summer weather. I wore a jacket only because Jiufen is located on the hills and it was raining that day. Slightly chilly but lovely, I like!

Signature 九份 photo point

下雨天

J & I had tea at this scenic 忘情小巢茶坊, which literally means “the little nest to forget love teahouse”.

忘情小巢茶坊

茶道

小盆栽