Erik travels to Gardens By The Bay in Singapore, to answer the question: Can the power of the sun pour a cocktail from a height of 72 feet? (Read more about this video on Erik’s article on Treehugger.com.)
National Geographic Travel, May 2013
A narrative guide to some of Singapore’s signature dishes, and the hawker food centers to find them. (National Geographic Intelligent Travel, May 2013)
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 22, 2005
DAY 488: Singapore, the island off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, was once a part of Malaysia. However, the former English colonial port seceded from Malaysia in 1965 and went their own way due to “creative differences;” apparently the Singaporeans were a lot more uptight than the rest of the country. They soon developed a modern city state with a reputation for being boring, clean-cut, and above all, very anal retentive, so much that locals, ex-pats and tourists alike jokingly started calling it “a fine city,” a pun pertaining to the many steep fines imposed for really benign offenses: littering, jaywalking, spitting, carrying durian fruit, and even chewing gum. (Concurrently, less benign offenses result in the death penalty; everyone knows the story of the Australian backpacker who was executed for possession of marijuana a couple of years back.)
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 23, 2005
DAY 489: Singapore is a hodge-podge of other cultures — Malay, Chinese, Indian, British — all masked by a sleek façade of modernization. The city-state has often been criticized, even by its own people, of having no real Singaporean identity. While Carol’s boyfriend Zac described Singapore culture as “like Malaysia, just more Chinese,” Singapore struggles to find its unique place on the world culture stage, other than its regular reputation of being a boringly clean haven for multinational corporations with business in Asia.
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 24, 2005
DAY 490: The city-state of Singapore is small enough that one can see all of its points-of-interest in just two or three days, and this being my third day in town, it was time to wrap things up before heading off to Indonesia that night to catch up with my old friend Henricus. However, before catching up with an old friend, there was still time to make a new one.
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 28, 2005
DAY 494 (4 days since last Singapore entry): Flying across the equator from Jakarta back to Singapore was just one leg in a long gradual journey back home. However, there were still ten days left until The Return To New York, and I had no intention of letting the fun of travel let up just yet.
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 28, 2005
DAY IN LIMBO: Remember this conversation in India from Day 386: Trinidad. Erik Trinidad.?:
“Which way are you going?” [Bea from the Miami Ski Club] asked me [en route to Udaipur’s Lake Palace].
“The way that you earn a day.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know how when you cross the International Date Line [across the Pacific from the west] and you lose a day but then you gain it back?” I said. “I’m only gaining a day.”