Jan Trabandt Travel Blog | notes from my travels

IT: Amalfi Coast: Atrani

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.

View from our hotel's huge rooftop patio (in Atrani) — View from our hotel’s huge rooftop patio (in Atrani)

View of Atrani from a bend in the road; the main square of the town is below and behind the "highway" bridge (our hotel is the pink building left of centre) — View of Atrani from a bend in the road; the main square of the town is below and behind the “highway” bridge (our hotel is the pink building left of centre)

Atrani water edge: there's a sandy/gravelly beach in between this concrete area and the side of Atrani on the hills — Atrani water edge: there’s a sandy/gravelly beach in between this concrete area and the side of Atrani on the hills

One of many churches in Atrani; this one is just off the main square

In lounge about to fly to NAP via CDG in biz class on Air France.

Nice little food spread and open bar. Terrible wifi as it comes from the main concourse.

Coming soon: Amalfi Coast (Italy) and Paris

Leaving on Friday with Susan for the Amalfi Coast, just below Naples, Italy.
Flying business class on Air France (cashed in frequent flyer miles)

SG: more food photos

A few more meal photos:

Uthappam Hawker in Little India hawker centre for S$1.20/US$1. Dosa too.

And here is the uthappam (lentil pancake) with the 3 sauces (the white one is coconut chutney)

Shrink wrapped fruit in Bugis St Market (seemed pricey)

Frog legs in the supermarket (in basement of a mall in Little India). Tastes like chicken.

Oxymoron: gourmet fruit loaf (in a bakery in an MRT station)

Dosa hawker in Little India hawker centre; there was always a line at this place. Note the little bar-of-soap-sized dough that gets kneaded out to the round shape

SG: more MRT photos

Some more photos from the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit);
see also my MRT notes related post for details.

Well designed southbound trilingual map at Little India on NE line

Sign at street level by MRT entrance showing next train time (in each direction). This one is at Little India MRT.

MRT toilet closed for cleaning 3 hours a day (6 half-hour slots).

That's planning! Alternate routes for MRT disruptions posted in the station (in all 4 official languages). — That’s planning! Alternate routes for MRT disruptions posted in the station (in all 4 official languages).

Map of MRT NS line (that's north-south :-) — Map of MRT NS line (that’s north-south :-)

I keep running into Alliance Française in foreign cities (this sign at Newton MRT)

Orderely bus queues at Ang Mo Kio MRT (where bus goes to Night Safari/Singapore Zoo)

SG: post-trip: fixed my smart phone finally

Woohoo!
I finally reformatted/reinstalled Android on my smart phone and it’s working again.
And it’s working better than before, though I had to reinstall everything…

SG: street scenes

Some random photos taken around Singapore

Walked by this cafe twice while looking for it, until I double checked the street number (even and odd addresses are next to each other!)

Large poster on side of sidewalk construction fence at a mall

Electronic sign showing parking availability at 6 different parking lots

Transponder for the ERP (electronic road pricing) in a car's dashboard — Transponder for the ERP (electronic road pricing) in a car’s dashboard

ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) with different prices for different type of vehicles listed above

SG: obligatory money shot

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.

SG: Day 4/Sun dinner with Sue and friends + info from locals

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):

Singaporeans go for the 5 C’s: credit card, career, condo, car and carat (as in wedding ring). i.e. big families are certainly not a priority with mine and younger generations
Before you can buy a car, you have to get a COE – Certificate of Entitlement. There are limited numbers of these auctioned off each month, sometimes as high as S$80,000/US$64,000!!!
The other way the gov’t limits cars in the city core is via ERP – Electronic Road Pricing on various roads/times in the core city. Every car has a little transponder box on the dashboard.
Good places for walks in gardens/outdoors: Southern Ridges (parks connecting to Mt Faber), Singapore Botanical Gardens, MacRitchie (tree-top walk), Sungei Bulok, Lower Pierce, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Lots of seafood (clockwise from bottom): clams, mussels, stingray, veggies and fried baby squid (crunchy!)

Closeup on the stingray - a more expensive dish, ok, but I don't think it's worth the premium price — Closeup on the stingray – a more expensive dish, ok, but I don’t think it’s worth the premium price

Sue, me and her friends on the bridge (Marina Bay Sands in background, after the nightly light show); Sue's boyfriend took the photo — Sue, me and her friends on the bridge (Marina Bay Sands in background, after the nightly light show); Sue’s boyfriend took the photo

Singapore Flyer (tallest ferris wheel) and the double helix bridge lit up at night

SG: Sentosa Island details/photos

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…