Fake me harder!

Hi...again some pictures from a beach! but this time it's a little bit different from the others beautiful coast i saw. Here is Sentosa Island: Palm trees, sand, restaurants, sea...nothing special! yes it is...it's a fake a island. Everything is fake here but the water! the island was already there (what did you think!!!), but they brought the sand, they built the coast with beaches, they brought palm tree, even the rock are fake!!!Sometimes you can see some holes on it...from a wild island they have built a perfect Tourists paradise, and it's like Disney if you want seeing Mickey you have to pay to go in. (I took these picture from the skyline we took to go there.)

As you know (or maybe not), Singapore is the 1st harbor in the world...so guess how the water is clean and how the view is beautifull with all these tanks passing away.

In the other hand, the little island is just close by Singapore (45 minutes by bus), you could find some place where you can't see the boat, and finally it is still great to have a place to chill out for theweekend and to lye on the beach...so...fake is not so bad, i like it!!!!

Bikini, shoes, medicine....Tioman Island go!

At Singapore, study is not a joke! People study very hard and they compete for everything. But the great thing is, you can build your own timetable!! So, i have my friday off!!! that's give it to me a long WE to travel!

This WE, we decided to go to Tioman Island. It's less far from Singapore than the last island i went, but it's still take around 6/7 hours. It's the biggest Island in Malaysia...very famous for its underwater world, waterfall, its jungle and the trekk you can do here ...

Of course, the team was the same...with a new arrival: Sandra from Sweden (they are everywhere!)...so, we are 4 now.

For the first time, i took a taxi for a 2 hours ride (so cheap)...and unfortunatly we nearly died...the driver was crazy, and the car a crap, i dunno how we arrived safely. anyway. We were on the highway, and 100 meters after the road split in 2 different ways, the driver stopped, and he tried to move back!!!!on the highway....as everyone screamed he stopped again, and he decided to turn back!!!!yeap!!!on the highway...so for around 100 meters, we were on the wrong way, face to face with the other cars!!! hopefully nothing happened, but it was really really scary!!!(below: freak out in the cab!)

We finally arrived on the island,and did nothing!! i was ill (cause of the aircon here!in class it's freezing, and oustide it's so warm!), so i spent my time between eating, laying on the beach and sleeping a lot, climbing palm trees :-).
The others didn't do anything either. it's pity!! That's why i don't have a lot of picture to show you :-(

As it is the biggest island, a lot of things are done for tourists, too much concrete in some place, and more dirty...i prefered Perhentian cause it was more a virgin Island, but it was still awesome!!!!!

work in progress! (dsl pour la bannière!)

once upon a time in paradise island...

last week i went to the Palau perhentian. We left Singapore Monday night...and we arrived tuesday morning. It needs nearly 10 hours by bus to go there, and more when you bus broke up in the middle of nowhere, and you needed to take 3 bus instead of 1!!! :-). Finally, we needed around 12 hours to go there.

Here are my travel buddies: Johann the German boy, Kristoffer the Swedish...

We lived in one bungalow for the 3 of us...not a lot of space, but it was cool. The only problem i had on this island was: the toilet. desgusting and...one flush. two flush. no flush. You flush (i'm not kidding!!!maybe Germain and Charly have seen the same thing...)... so believe me, you have to be patient! (Bcoze first you have to fill your tiny bucket and then to flush :-) ) anyway...

This is the view from our room, the restaurant where we ate so much time...

We spent 5 days to do nothing: laying on the beach, swimming, snorkelling, sunburning (speciality of Johann:-) ), dancing, drinking, eating. And you know what: the less you do, the less you want to do.

I didn't dive there, i just did snorkelling...and i have already seen a lot things! of course many many nemos and their houses, 1 green turtle (at least 1 meter) and many babies turtle, a shark (hopefully a little one), some coral, feeding fish...




it was hard to came back and started classes afterwards!!!

Campus life in the National University of Singapore!

Take a look at the map to know exactly where i am...Singapore is this tiny island just under Malaysia. It is located just 1° above the equator, that's why humidity is very high with a quite regular temperature around 30°C (and soon a lot of rainfall).
4.2 million people live in 697 KM² (remind: france is 550 000KM²!). Population is mainely reparted between Chinese, Malais and Indian. The main Religion is Bouddhism...anyway...

i have been there for 2 weeks!
First of all, this is my room:Room type B, about 12m² (restrooms for all my floor, with a sink in my room), that is not the best but it could be worse: some has a room type C (without sink and of course without bathroom!). But, now after fews days, i am felling great inside! i have just move out...because it was a temporary room, they have just given me a brand new room today! ( i am moving in, that's why it's quite messy :-) )

To survive here, the most important thing is the "transbonder" (it sounds like a science fiction movie!!!)...(the transponder, say it with a strong german accent, is the black thing in my hand)

it is as important as the bagde in INT. You can't go anywhere without your transbonder! for example,i need it to take the lift!!!!and i can only go to my floor...even in my block...so you guess that i can't go to the other block. After that (because, it is not enaugh secure like that!!)...on my floor, you have to open a kind of main door at each floor with the "transbonder"(on the picture)! And of course, you open your room with the magical transbonder! It looks quite secure...but as everywhere you can cheat!

Now the campus....
26 000 people study at NUS, and there are 13 different schools.

here is one of the Hall where you can live...

NUS provide a lot of activities: there is a swimming pool, a lot of tennis courts, squash courts, football playground, basket ball playground and you can do a lot of sport: diving, canoe, windsurf are the most amazing for me!!

and the last but not the least: the food!...everyone agrees here to say, that you 'll not fine the best Asian food here, me, i have no idea so far!
you don't eat in a self like us...here, the canteen is pretty strange for a french guy...you don't have a place to pick up your food, but many places. the place is a "food court" (easy to understand) and there are many tiny restaurants called "hawkers"...each hawker has its speciality: muslim food, veggi, chinese, japonese, noodles, thai, local delight...so you can change every day.



My first day was a little bit difficult: jetlag, worries, knowing no one...i tried to be social and played "netball" (famous sport here), but i could only recognised my team thanks to their shirts' color :-) ...but, now it is okay! i know some people, i am going out, i visite the town and i have even already done a trip in malaysia...

SHIFUMI at Bangkok (27/07/06 au 31/07/06)

Jour 1 :
Seulement 24H après être arrivée à CDG, j’ai enfin débarqué en terrain inconnu (ct vraiment long !). J’avais beau savoir qu’en sortant de l’aéroport la chaleur allait me tomber dessus, ben ça surprend quand même. J’ai atterri à 14h…mais le temps de passer à la douane, récupérer mes valises, faire du change, trouver le bus, attendre le bus, d’arriver en ville avec les embouteillages de malade qu’il y a, et de trouver la rue des « guesthouses » il était 19H. La nuit tombe très vite ici, et à 19H il fait nuit. J’étais crevée alors j’ai pris le 1er hotel qui avait l’air pas trop mal. Normalement pour 400baht (8€) t’as une chambre déjà bien…moi pour ce prix, j’ai eu un truc…comment dire…pas top ! ils ont du voir arriver la touriste en sac à dos :-) ! J’ai vite fait le tour de la chambre pour voir s’il n’y avait pas de scorpions ou d’araignées avant de dormir moyennement rassurée.


Jour 2…à la fin :
Je me lève…et qu’est ce que je trouve au pied de mon lit ? un énorme cafard…mais énorme ! il gisait les quatre pattes en l’air, j’ai pas cherché à comprendre ce qui avait tué ce colosse (la vieillesse, un poison avalé plus tôt, une bêbête encore plus grosse…) j’ai refais mes bagages pour un nouvel hôtel !!!!y a pas moyen, je reste pas là. Pour le même prix, j’ai trouvé une chambre propre, grande et en plus une piscine sur le toit ! cool…pour se rafraîchir un peu en fin de journée.
Voici la rue grouillante de monde où se situe mon hotel.

alors au programme : visite de la ville, des temples, des marchés
Je me suis baladée un peu dans Bangkok…je dis un peu parce que Bangkok c’est une ville champignon très étendue. Même si j’adore marcher, ici tu peux pas trop: la ville n'est pas faite pour, il fait super chaud et y a plein de circulation. Pour vous dire, la ville ne compte que 10% de la population thai (plus de 10 millions d’habitants quand même) mais avec 90% des voitures de tout le pays !!!!Donc oui, Bangkok est très bruyante, vraiment pollué et ça se sent ! De toute façon ici, ça sent toujours quelque chose tu n’as jamais le nez reposé. Ca peut être l’odeur de la pollution (comme après qu’il ait plu sur un sol chaud), les poubelles, le poisson séché ou pourri (g pas su faire la différence à l’odeur) et la bouffe à toute heure de la journée. La grande majorité des personnes sont minces, et pourtant tu as l’impression qu’elles mangent tout le temps !!! Leur spécialité c’est les petites cantines de rue…c'est-à-dire une petite charrette avec de la nourriture et tout le nécessaire pour faire cuire . Ils se baladent comme ça ds la rue pour proposer à manger. C’est marrant à voir et très pratique…un peu plus difficile à supporter après un petit déjeuner tôt le matin :-)


Sur la photo à droite, on ne voit pas bien mais le gros tas à gauche ce sont des sauterelles frites, à côté il y a des grillons, des criquets, des larves…il parait que ça à le goûts de poulet…ouai ben c’est ça, je leur fait confiance, moi j’ai pas pu !
Voici un marchand de fruits…avec des superbes couleurs, des fruits inconnus et des goûts délicieux


Les rues sont bondées, il y a plein de gens de cultures différentes et il n’est pas rare de croiser en pleine rue des « monks ».

En effet, en Thaïlande 95% de la population est bouddhiste. Proportionnellement, il doit y avoir plus de temples en Thaïlande que d’églises à Rome, donc le bouddhisme est très présent dans la vie quotidienne des Thai. Les temples sont des lieux ouverts et conviviaux où les Thai vont pour différentes occasions (mariages, funérailles, prières, enseignement…). J’ai donc pu en visiter quelques un.
Tout le monde doit poser ces chaussures à l’entrée, et les femmes n’ont pas le droit de parler aux « monks » !
Ces temples (« wat ») sont vraiment impressionnants : les couleurs sont vives, superposition des toits colorés, façades recouvertes de faïence multicolore, de verre, de miroir, des bouddhas dorés, sculptures mythologiques…bien loin de nos églises tout ça !!

Voici le temple du Bouddha couché, "Wat Pho"...il mesure 45m de long et 15m de haut, et se trouve dans une enceinte a peine plus grande.

voilà un autre temple, "wat Mahathat" plus petit que le précédent mais coloré tout de même.


Voilà petit tour d'horizon (rapide!!!) de Bangkok. Je vais m'améliorer sur la position des photos, parce que la g un peu galéré à les placer
bisous a tous..prochain post:from Singapore!