Flowing Asia: France - return

Halo, I've been back in France for a week and let tell you what's happening: it's cold, it's wet, it's... THE WINTER!
I don't want to carry on blogging but my life keeps on being fantastic so I feel obliged!



I've had 2 great experiences since I've come back! The first one being "la Fete des Lumieres" aka festival of lights in Lyon. If you want to know what it is, read this (can't be bothered to explain it):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fete_des_lumieres
Here are the picture I took from Thursday night (I think it's way too busy in the weekend):
-Dans le VIe:

-Opera:

-Place des Terreaux (place des heteros):

-Hotel de Ville (arigato gozaimasu):

-Rue de la Republique:

-Crocodile:

-Les Quais de Saone:

-Cathedrale St Jean:




Also I went back home to the village. It snowed all day yesterday, it was a mega ballache (sorry about the use of swearwords but that's the nicest one I could find!). Today was good tough, I had snow up to my knees, and my legs aren't that short. I jumped on the occasion to take some pictures, you might have noticed I like taking pictures...
Welcome to my white village:

 




Just a cheeky entry... Goodbye!

Flowing Asia: Singapore

The last days of my Asian trip were wisely spent in Singapore!
Singapore is an island in the South of Malaysia (which it used to be part). It's easily the most advanced (and most expensive) country in South East Asia. Very urban too!



As always, let's start with a little walk of the city. It's all very modern and clean, it could well be an American city with more Asian people (obviously)!
-Downtown aka Riverside (mofo):


-Marina Bay, there is a massive boat on top of the buildings, WHAT?!?!

-The Esplanade theatre and the river...

-The Merlion, landmark of the city:

-Fort Canning Park, first used by Muslim Malays, then the British colonials, then the Japanese occupation and now, a tourist attraction:

-Most people live in big buildings outside of the centre, what's your flavor?

-The subway system is very efficient and clean (drinking and eating is not even allowed on platforms):

-They have great swimming pools here, £0.50 to get in, why not?

-Orchard Road, shopping paradise!




Of course, I went round the different ethnic neighborhoods (but to be honest, it all starts looking the same, there's only so many China Towns you can remember):
-Little India:

-China Town:

-I saw the Buddha tooth relic in this temple, pretty impressive:

-Arab street:

-All these houses are typically Singaporean, having been built for the Brits during colonization and now mainly used as shops...

-There are a lot of churches around:

-Most importantly, I found a synagogue! All religions have been represented on the tour, everyone's happy, now stop fighting!




There are two very important things you should know about Singaporeans: they're big on shopping and they love Christmas! So they have loads of stuff in malls!
-Trees:

-Stars:

-Decorations:




Dancing wise, I will say that this is where practicing has been the easiest! People train inside and sessions are pretty regular:
-Esplanade:

-Scape (this picture is not staged by the way... Kids!):

-Cheeky airport session:




On another note:
-I've seen a lot of free shows this week, I love live music:

-An amusement park called "Gay World", that is amusing indeed:

-Ice cream and colored bread?

-Psy came to do a free concert, I was there, I'm so cool! This is actually what I saw, the side of the stage:

-They're pretty big on clean toilets:

-I guess there must be a few suicides, so please, value life!

-This is weird, squat above the loo, not ON the loo!

-I got my hair cut in there for £2.50. Most expensive place so far and the dirtiest too! Wild Style:

-Some pretty big fans!

-Best restaurant in town!

-I have to show you this picture because it's GANGSTA!




That was the last city on my Asian tour... But maybe there is more to come?

Flowing Asia: Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

Going from Japan (the cleanest country in the world) back to Malaysia (pretty raw and rugged) was a bit of a shock to the system. It took me a good hour at the airport to get used to this new situation. But do not worry, I'm fine now!



I got a nice view of Kula Lumpur on the way down:

I also did an express visit of Penang and I finally had the chance to be on the famous bridge:

It is a nice bridge, yep!



Here I am in KL, capital city of Malaysia. I don't know why but I loved the city straight away, it's a mix of modern and cool with traditional and oldschool.

The modern bit is located in the business/shopping area of the city, the Golden Triangle. You have the Petronas Twin Towers, probably the coolest building ever made:

Even better at night time:

With the fountains in the KLCC park nearby:

The KL Tower, you can't miss it:

There are loads of shopping malls too:

But I didn't come all the way to Malaysia to end up at H&M...

The public transport system is also very reliable, efficient and cheap. Forget about rip off taxis, that's what we like! This is the Monorail, get in:




But KL is also a very traditional city with temples and older buildings. You have some for all tastes:
-Chinese:

-Hindu:

-Islamic styled museum of textile:

-Moghul architecture with the Sultan Abdul Samad Building:


If you start venturing out you will also come accross China Town (here Petalling Street):

And Little India:



The city is also packed with Muslim temples, this is the National Mosque, with a European feel to it:





In the North of the city, you can find the Batu Caves, which is an important Hindu shrine.

Shrine:

Big statue of Murugan (40 meter high). On the left you can see the steps to go to the actual caves! It's hot and difficult, the fatties struggle I'm telling you!

When you get up there, there are a temples and statues... You get a nice view of the city:

And there's loads of monkeys, misbehaving, trying to steal anything that smells good:




In other news:
-Rusty jungle!

-Wow it's Christmas soon, it doesn't feel like it when you're wearing shorts!

-Sand drawing at an Hindu wedding!

-Big pole!!! (the biggest pole and flag I've ever seen was in Texas, it was impressively enormous!)

-Graffiti, I haven't seen much of them:


-Houses in the suburbs:

-Mhhhhh food:
Curry mouton with rice & poppadoms on banana sheet... 1 EURO!!!

Back on the fruit tip, papaya party:

-This picture is unedited, true story!



I also went to a jam called Circle Free here. It was fun. be reassured, I still got it

I'm sorry but for once, I will finish on a bad note. For weeks I've heard and read about a fruit called Durian. Some people say it's delicious, some say it's horrible. The general consensus and is that it smells really bad but once it's on your mouth, it can be a pleasant surprise (no dirty joke intended!).

So I decided to try since there are a few stalls selling it next to my place... 

The bottom line is... IT HATE IT!!! I couldn't even finish it, I hate wasting food but I just couldn't eat it!

-The stand:

I would put a picture of the actual fruit but I dont want to promote it...

It's a tough life!