29/05/09 Travel Tip
3:56 AM | Author: Tarko
For those traveling in Asia or Austral-Asia, you might what to consider looking at

Tiger Airways!

Really cheap flights.
Sometime all you have to pay is the taxes!

-Tarko
~Knowing is half the battle~
29/05/09 Update
3:08 AM | Author: Tarko
Howdy all?
How have been your 11 days without me? Hopefully you survived,as it would be hard for me to keep on living if I learn some dies because of my (lack of) updates!

For those not in the know; I'm still in Singapore after a month, looking for a job. The reason why I'm still in this lovely, but four-days-is-enough, city is because I need money (duh). I was expecting to get a wad of cash from my previous work done with Cornucopia(RedCross) Australia, but my most-anticipated 5K turned into smoke. Coupled to that un-settled debts by various agent; my money is low.. no, it's inexistent!

Once again: thanks CouchSurfing! Yet another angel, after Jeff and Elaine: Michelle. Without her I would have to go back to dumpsters and sleep under bridges, something I don't really fancy in Singapore. So, once again (and not for the last time):

THANK YOU MICHELLE!

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Now, if you guys saw the pictures (you DID saw the link to pictures on the top-right corner, right?), or specifically THOSE
You might notice half of them is food-related. There is a good reason for that; if you head toward CS and browse on Singaporea's profiles, you'll notice they mention two main characteristic about their city: Food and Shopping!

Altho most meals I had were alright, if somewhat exotic, a few of them require a bit more dwelling upon:

Ice Catchang

Typical Singaporean desert, the ice catchang is a sweet that my canadian palate have a few problem with. It's relatively easy to make back home, here's the recipe:

-In a bowl, put small Jell-O cubes (In Sin: grass jelly and such)
-Add on top some Red kidney beans or any redish beans
-Add Ice-shavings until it form a decent-sized heaps. (yai! Coooold dessert!)
-Add 3 kind of different, but sweet, syrup (Try any of Couche-Tard Sloshe'ones)
-Pour condensed milk on top of it all
-And finally put a cherry on top!... NOT!! No cherries but.. CORN! Yup, put some Corn on top.

There you have it, ICE CATCHANG!
After trial and error I ask mine without the beans and corn: much better!


Frog:
(The dish that looks like Chicken wings)

Those back home might remember that I don't even eat Frog's legs, but we're talking about the whole thing here, and frankly: it taste like chicken ;-)


Chicken Feet: (Same picture,lower-left dish.)
a few of you might remember my encounter with chicken feet in Australia; my feeling toward them haven't changed at all: the most disgusting piece of food (I shudder just to think of them as food) ever!

Other than that you have the usual yummy and cheap noodle dish @ pretty much all the food courts or hawker centers, which allows any local, or travelers, to eat for cheap.

I leave you for now with the guardian of Singapura, the MERLION

(and, in real life ,this thing is HUGE!)



-Tarko

~Adventure comes from poor planning~
18/05/09 Pre-Update
1:36 AM | Author: Tarko
Howdy all?
I promised an update within the week, here it is!


Many of you have mentioned, or at lest hinted, toward my, somewhat, restrictive 'world-tour'. many had comments on how they thought I would stagnate in Nz or Oz. After 20months, I can understand how this misconception arose. I DO think, nonetheless, that this conception of the reader is a biased one; while you are staying home, enjoying the comforting and lulling humming of daily life, I'm experiencing it through a different filter, the filter of cultural disparity. I know many of you feel left down by my lack of updates; I am the first to feel disappointed by my sporadic blogging entries, believe me. Not that I don't like writing or that there is nothing to write about, but I feel a Blog entry should be meaningful, or at least, somewhat exciting. Although the novelty for a Canadian to work in a grape orchard is something to be classed in the 'exotic' files, in the perspective of the subject, me, it boils down to only being a other job after all. Like many things in life (morality, art, etc..) it is important to draw a line; micro-updates twice per day would be a Twitter(tm) rip-off, a daily short-update falls better in a FaceBook(tm) perspective, where as a more slow and weekly(monthly?) updates falls in-line with the Blog.

What does this Wall-o-Text boils down to? I WILL try to do lengthy, weekly updates on the Blog. I WILL do daily updates on FB if I connect, meaning; if I take 3min to check my e-mails, I WILL take 45sec to update my status in FB. This decision, and engagement is fulled by different front: 1)An effort against my (legendary) procrastination. 2)Answer people's concern about my lack of updates. and finally 3)Build a followship of readers; you can see the last point as my effort to stay connected with my friends from all over the world.

The last point require a bit more of dwelling upon. Although most of you consider me a loner, I do, in fact, need a minimum of social contacts. In my travels I met many people, people who became friend, and close friend. But me being me, as I left the city, state or country they were in, contacts were lost too. i came to realize that this lost of social contact, this alienation was similar to the one I lived with my friends from home. Few conversation, few contacts; little by little, close friends become friends, and friends acquaintance, acquaintance .... This process as been mine for many years, unfortunately, but at least I know it and like the saying goes: Knowing is half the battle!



Stay tuned for a REAL update on Singapore folks!
This time, it WILL be on time ;-)



-Tarko
~Adventure comes from poor planning~
Update 10/05/09 (Future of the Blog)
1:03 AM | Author: Tarko
Wow! It's been FIVE months now that I haven't posted an Update!

Unforgivable! I can't build a Fanhood without a constant flow of updates, can I?
Therefore, here's my solution:

-Where mechanically possible, I WILL do a (smaller) Update once A WEEK!
-On a daily-basis, I will be using Facebook for spontaneous news.
-I will also use Facebook for pictures.

I will obviously use Facebook as a media for the updates too. Posting on FB when an new one is up and such. But the reverse is not true; I will NOT post on the blog to say there is new pictures up or a status update on FB. As such, pictures that are not directly linked to an update wont be mentioned on the blog, up to you to go have a look at the 'extra goodies' ;-)

*Random 'Spam'*
PLEASE become a member of CouchSurfing(.org). Without CS yours truly woulodnt have been able to travel as far as he did, he would most probably still be in australia or back in Canada! CS is a safe, secure, interesting and fun way to meet people from all over the world, to share cultures AND to cut-down your hostels'bill. As Uncle Sam would say: I Want YOU! ('I' in this case being th CSing community)


------------------------------------------------

I know this blog as underwent many face-lift and change in direction and such, but please bear with me one last time, I think we'll be able to turn this thing in the right direction and align it in such a way it will be viable for me to update more often.

I realized That I still buy books on the go, which is stupid.... I know.
1)Bulky and heavy
2)cost money

BUT this addiction of mine might be your salvation. If I can get my hand on a light-weight e-book(kindle for example). Not only will I cut down the weight, but I would also have access to a device that let me write on a DAILY-basis updates... ON THE GO! So I'm looking into, being in Singapore with all the electronic stuff.

That's pretty much all for this update, stay tuned for the 'real' one!

-Tarko