Some photos from Amalfi Town, which yesterday barely won the annual rowing race against Pisa, Genoa and Venezia in the 57th annual regatta, held in Amalfi this year. Preceded by a parade, and followed late last night by excellent fireworks.
We’re staying the first few days in Atrani which is a small town 10 minutes’ walk from Amalfi Town.
Food is good, the weather is great (sunny and a comfortable 25C/77F), and of course the scenery is fabulous: a whitewashed jumble of architecturally interesting buildings squashed between the blue (and clear!) Med and thousand foot lush green cliffs.
A few more meal photos:
Some more photos from the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit);
see also my MRT notes related post for details.
Some random photos taken around Singapore
The common Singapore bills and coins.
The smaller bills are plastic (as will the larger ones in the future), so Singapore is joining the likes of Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada with plastic bills.
I met up with my friend Sue and her boyfriend and two more friends for dinner on Sunday,
Starting from City Hall MRT, it’s a 15 minute walk through underground shopping arcades to and malls to reach the Esplanade on the north side of Marina Bay.
We ate a tasty seafood dinner at the open-air hawker centre with a view on the water, despite it threatening to rain (luckily we only got a handful of drops, as the covered tables were all taken). Family style of course. With a beer, dinner came to S$23/US$18 each.
While I enjoyed the stingray and always enjoy trying something new, I don’t think it was worth the premium price (though not as expensive as chilli crab!)
Good conversation, nice to meet new people, good food, being outdoors. Excellent evening!
After dinner we walked south along the bridge (towards Merlion Park) to watch the nightly light show put on by the Marina Bay Sands hotel (both laster lights and a lit fountain).
Some tidbits of enlightenment about life in Singapore from that evening (i.e. from locals):
Don’t ask me why it isn’t called Pulau Sentosa. Oh wait, it actually is. Never mind…
Sentosa Island is an entertainment island complete with beaches, hotels, amusement parks (inc. Univers@l Studios), a casino, restos, golf, the “southernmost point of continental Asia”, etc.
It’s almost free to go to the island (S$1/US$0.80 if you walk the bridge, or S$3/US$2.40 to take the monorail from HarbourFront to the island)
Tip: the monorail is free coming back even if you walked.
I enjoyed watching the vertical wind tunnel, brought back memories of skydiving…
Some amusing signs around Singapore:
Pulau Ubin is an island (why yes, “pulau” is Malaysian for island) located in the northeast corner of Singapore, sandwiched between Changi Village (after which the SIN airport is named) and not far from Malaysia. The island used to be home to granite quarries
Getting there takes about 90 minutes, so plan more than half a day for this excursion:
The bumboat lands at a little kampong (village; the last one in Singapore), where there is an informative display by the clean wahsrooms, and there are literally hundreds of bicycles for rent; also a few seafood restaurants
Rent a mountain bicycle (S$10/US$8 per day) and head for the eastern tip of the island to Chek Jawa Wetlands Nature Reserve (3.5km), where there is a coastal boardwalk and a mangrove boardwalk (the latter with lookout tower)
Tip: time your visit for low tide as both the mangrove and coastal walks are more interesting (the water level changes 2.5m/7ft between low and high tide!)
Tip: try out the bicycle including seat height, gear shifting, and make sure it has a lock as you can’t take it into the nature reserve!
Tip: there are a few hills – both up and down 
Tip: the rest of the island wasn’t that exciting, though biking along the mostly shaded road through jungle is relaxing.
Unfortunately it was exactly high tide when I went so I saw fewer sea critters than expected.
Definitely worth going though!
