Spinning: Misread - Kings of Convenience
Of course I have to add a cheesy title image!
OK, I'm back both from Italy and the JCTs (which was a harrowing experience, fyi). Harrowed or not I guess I will blog about my adventures in Italia, a 10 day trip around this bubbling pot of culture and art - organized by my college as a humanities trip. Because the amount of things I have to say about this lovely country is - to put it simply - a lot, I'll have to post in parts. I know it's long and so I've included some pictures which are easy on the eyes -- click to enlarge.
Before I begin, maybe it'll help to know where exactly we went. Here's the list:
Ladies and gentlemen, here I present to you the first of the 'Ciao Bella!' series: an overview of Italy.
The People
I don't know about you guys, but I think that the locals of the country I'm visiting play a huge factor in determining my impression of that country. Though this trip didn't exactly give a very accurate impression (because we were travelling in a large group) of the Italians, I'll base my opinions on what limited encounters we had with the natives.
Italians are generally a very friendly lot - to us they may be strangers, but I think, to them; strangers provide opportunities to make new friends. We were in a hotel in Rome, and the floor we were staying in gave us access to a rather huge balcony. Technically speaking it wasn't really accessible - it's just that we'd climbed out of the window to gain access to it. We were on a natural high that day (it was the air, I think!), and we were just goofing around attempting to take jumping shots on the balcony. I suppose we made a lot of noise, because right then 2 Italian young men stuck their heads out of the balcony and began shouting random things in Japanese. They didn't sound like they were scolding us - I think it was more of trying to be friendly. After informing them we weren't Japanese (in English!) they switched to their mother tongue. And so they were rattling off incomprehensible Italian to us, and in the end, exasperated by the language barrier, I yelled a "I don't speak Italian!" (In Italian - how ironic.) and climbed back into the hotel room -- I know it sounds pretty err harsh lah, but it was rather pointless trying to understand what the other party was trying to say.
Our hotel in Rome - the open window was where we climbed out from :)
I also remember this occasion where 2 Italian waiters sneaked up and pressed their faces on the windows outside a small, cosy restaurant where we were dining in - and when invited in, they'd proceeded to stand up straight, army style, and had these goofy grins on their faces. It was a hilarious sight -- turns out they were scoping for good looking Asians. Heh.
ServiceIn terms of service, Italians can swing two ways - they can be very accommodating and polite, or if you're unlucky, you'll meet those who are rude and unobliging. In the same day whilst shopping in the Rialto (shopping district of Venice), I'd met shopkeepers of the 2 types. The rude and unobliging experience - I met a COUPLE who were rude and unobliging - a perfect match I must add. When we spoke in Chinese, they imitated us (openly, of course). I'm not sure if they found it disturbing that we spoke a foreign language in their shops - but in any case I'm pretty sure I'm entitled to that right without having to put up with their nonsense. And further more, when the impatient male half of the couple demanded if I'd wanted to BUY his goods, I'd gestured outside and told him that the stuff I wanted was (on display) outside his shop. I then made my way outside to the street, and I guess he'd misinterpreted that I'd wanted to walk OUT of his shop -- so he began making these rude gestures and stepped into my path. Shocked, I informed him that the stuff I wanted was right outside his shop, all while jabbing a finger in his shop's direction. It was only then when he shut his damned trap, dropped his rude gesticulating and proceeded to wrap up the goods for me. If you're going to ask me why I bought his stuff in the first place -- I'll tell you that his masks are much cheaper and much more beautiful than what I'd been seeing, so I'd put up with his nonsense.
Conversely when I proceeded to another shop, the service there was excellent! The young man there was accommodating, and when I'd bargained with him he'd turned me down politely. Though his masks were a tad more expensive (but also more beautiful), I'd decided to purchase them anyway, because he was showing a good attitude.
The shopkeepers there are also more resolute when it comes to bargaining. A word of warning - don't push your luck too far when it comes to bargaining in Italy; the shopkeepers don't care two hoots if you walk away, and they most certainly won't call you back to bargain more. In other words, you can't bargain in Italy like you can bargain in Thailand. :)
The waiters, I've found, are one of the best service staff I've encountered (not just in Italy). I think it's because Italians place heavy emphasis on an excellent dining experience - so the waitstaff are expected to be polite, friendly, and adept at their job. I hadn't encountered a single rude waitstaff in my stay there, and every of our requests they willingly obliged (e.g. more water) - so I guess in terms of waitstaff service, Italy comes up tops.
The ThreadsWhat do you think I'll say? Italy beats us hands down, and add feet down too, when it comes to outfitting themselves. Almost every single Italian is dressed to the nines - you can tell that they're wearing some sort of brand on them, and even if it's brandless, it's something fashionable nonetheless. This rule applies to Italians regardless of age and sex. We'd seen elderly Italian men decked out in a full suit, complete with a distinguished moustache/beard. The elderly Italian women didn't lose out in this aspect too - we'd seen them walking around in classy elegant threads. Of course high-end brands are scattered all over Italy - after seeing a series of Gucci, Prada, Pucci, and Armani shops in one block, the next one would be barely a block away. That's how popular brands are there.
Well maybe what they're wearing is not high end stuff -- but I happened to capture (unwittingly) these people all in leather jackets.
You can really tell the difference between a local and a tourist just by looking at his clothing. The tourist would be the typical shabbily dressed one - a pair of baggy shorts, a T-shirt, sandals, and maybe a big sun hat to go with it. Well; ok, I might be generalizing here, but I did see such examples there!
The WeatherItaly has a mediterranean climate, which means it has a hot dry summer, and a mild wet winter. So it happened that we were there during the end of spring and the start of summer. Lucky perhaps, because this meant that it wasn't so hot as it'd have been a few more weeks later. The sun was emitting a dry heat (because of low humidity), so much so I'd discovered that I'd tanned unwittingly upon my return to Singapore. How I realized this - there's a lighter shade of skin where my watch was.
The Sky in Italy
Whatever it is, despite the heat I'd loved the cool winds. Every so often these cool winds would blow (sometimes pretty strongly) at us, and call me crazy, but I really loved the feeling of strong gusts of cold winds blowing against me. I'd always go on a high after that.
The FoodThis one is hilarious. During our first meal, we were served spaghetti. We'd wolfed it down happily, completely unaware of what was to come. After having stomached the spaghetti (with quite great effort because it was a big serving), we were shocked to learn that the pasta was only the appetizer - we'd have to finish another plate of seafood/meat. And every meal was like that in Italy - they'd have the pasta as appetizer, a seafood/meat dish as the main course, and a salad/fruit bowl, and lastly gelato. That's about 4 courses - and we were doing this for 8 days without fail - lunch and dinner. And much to my disappointment - they didn't serve any cream-based pasta - they only served tomato-based pasta. Thus I come to the conclusion that Italians genuinely love their tomatoes - they're everywhere! Thank god for cheese.
Their lasagne - different from ours, eh?
MASSIVE! It serves 1 person.
Typical plate of tomato-based pasta. Pretty okay, but not fantastic
Italian fast food is of course expensive (but I guess cheap to them). But I think I prefer theirs over ours any day! We went to a joint called 'Pizzico' - and you guessed it - Pizza's their fast food. They'd give a huge slice of pizza (about the size of the local equivalent of 3 slices), not 1 but 2 piping hot hash browns, and soft drink.
A typical fast food meal costing approximately 6 Euros.
As for their reknowned gelato - how delicious it is depends on where you purchase it from. There were some which were really delish, but there were others which were pretty blah as well. The point is that ... you can have 3 big scoops of gelato at the price of 3 medium scoops in Singapore. Nice eh? So of course we went around on a gelato-eating spree everyday. Since one of my roomies ZH resolved to eat 1 flavour a day, I'd happily followed along too. :)
I don't know if this is Gelato, or Sorbet. More like the latter - not bad!
Gelato!... And we're all happy.
Looks pretty fancy - but it's just chocolate and vanilla. I like that they bother to make it look nice :)
The SightsOK. Not just your conventional, inanimate 'sights' but also the more, er..., animated sights too. And so basically for both types Italy was tops for me. Going to Italy is like entering a boot-shaped museum of art and culture on its own - everywhere you go, there'll be piazzas filled with huge monuments around - a statue, a fountain perhaps, and possibly a tower or two. It's that amazing. Perhaps it's not surprising that Italy is so beautiful - after all many great artisans and thinkers hailed from Italy - think Marco Polo, Michelangelo etc etc. If you look at a statue in Italy and say, "hey, that's nothing" - then think of it this way. If you were given a 1 by 1m marble block and were asked to carve a life-like statue of the human body - would you be able to do it using just a chisel and a hammer? According to Mr E., that's how artists constructed their statues back then. All in all, I can tell you that if you want to LOOK at things, go to Italy. However, I've got to say that Italy's beautiful sights are marred by the throngs of tourists everywhere. They are everywhere, I tell you; almost every photo I took, there's a sign of human life - a head or hand randomly popping up somewhere.
The Colosseum
St. Mark's Square by Night
One of the many statues in Florence - depicting a man conquering a centaur.
David by night. This is only a replica statue - the real one is located within a museum.
And then on to the other sort of 'sights' Italy may be famous for. Haha! Just fyi, Italians and their European counterparts are gorgeous. They are, they really are. Walking through the streets of Venice, I thought I was walking through a fashion walkway. The young men were the pretty boy sorts, the old men -- get this -- were charming in a very Richard Gere sort of way. I did think the men were better looking (I'm being objective!) than the women, maybe the beautiful women were hiding at home since it was so darn hot. I don't know. Just to illustrate - Yiming and I are not usually the kind who will gush at errr random people - but we both spotted a very, very, very, good looking man. So good looking that we wanted to take a picture of him (as EVIDENCE for you guys, okay!) -- but of course -- rare things are often hard to get; so yeah he quickly evaded our camera lenses - as if he knew we were trying to get a picture of him.
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So if you ask me if I'd enjoyed myself on this trip, yeah I did, certainly. I don't regret it although I did forgo 2 weeks of studying (I seriously doubt I would have used the time constructively anyway). It's just a very different experience you get :)
I'll elaborate on the sights later, I think they deserve a whole post each. I'll pick out the more interesting ones, though.
8 comments
8 Comments:
Hey!
Looking at these photos and you relating your experience, really makes me wish that I had the ability to afford going to Italy too. Sigh.
Hopefully we could all go overseas together next time. =)
I'm sure it'd be a delightful experience!
about time yoke pei!!!! hahah no jus kiddin im glad i finally been able to read yr account. soooo envious that i didn go along
I like your excuse for wanting to take the photo.
:)
Nessa> :) Indeed it's nice - don't worry, you'll get your chance soon enough. And yeah haha I'd like to imagine what will happen should our class go on an overseas trip together some time.
Isaac> About time Isaac! You finally showed up on my blog! :) Anyway you went to Prague - isn't that equally fun?!
Ym> what excuse?! :P
Wow! The clouds look beautiful! Haha...and the food! How in the world did you manage to take such good shots, especially of the chocolate and vanilla one? It looks professional man...
I'm glad you enjoyed yourself in Italy Yokey! =)
You should know that Im extremely envious!!!!!! The lights look beautiful. So does the pasta (they seem to look more tomatoish in italy), and the PIZZA!!! Yes the PIZZA.
*chews* Why didnt you stuff me inside your luggage?
indulgement> No lah, I just used this function called 'macro'.
Ivan> Yeah it looks and TASTES more tomatoish! The pizza is just damn huge. Why didn't I stuff you? Because you'd take up too much space, that's why! hehehe
it is certainly enjoyable to read your post about the italy trip. such interest conveyed even weeks after the trip does reveal a wunderlust in you that should be embraced. You certainly can go far, both in your occupation and across the globe. travel, high flyer!
Isaac tng,
tourism board executive and moonlighting model
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