小小的新加坡／Singapore - it's a small country

一直都很清楚新加坡是个很小的国家，这次出门在外，我无时无刻都被提醒，新加坡到底有多小。
Whenever I talk to other people about Singapore, one of the first sentences I will make is,” Singapore is a small country.” But on this trip, I was constantly reminded how small Singapore really is.

碰到的人中，绝大部分的人都没有去过新加坡，有的甚至连新加坡在哪里都不知道，因此像，“新加坡是不是在马来西亚／泰国／中国？”是常常听到的问题。最离谱的是一次，有人居然问，“新加坡是不是在美国？”
Most of the people that I’ve met in my journey so far have never been to Singapore, some don’t even know where Singapore is. As such, one of the most commonly asked question is, “Is Singapore part of Malaysia/Thailand/China?” And the most ridiculous question I was ever asked? “Which part of the US is Singapore in?” No joking. Somebody did ask me that question.

除了要解释新加坡的地理位置外和新加坡有多大外，每次都得费一番功夫解释，为何我能说一口流利的英文和中文，为何没有所谓的“新加坡语言”，为何新加坡人都说英文等。讲解完，还要向他们介绍新加坡有什么好玩。或许我应该向新加坡旅游局索取“介绍费”，因为我很多时候都有自己是新加坡“大使”的感觉。
Other than having to explain where Singapore is located geographically and how big in size Singapore is, I also always had to explain to these people why I can speak perfect English and Chinese, why there is no such thing as a Singapore language and why most Singaporeans can speak English etc. After the explanations, comes recommending what they can see or do if they do go to Singapore. Hmm, maybe I should get the Singapore Tourism Board to pay me a fee for being the “tourism ambassador” for Singapore?

在各国关卡是最能体会新加坡的“小”的时候。入境俄罗斯时是坐火车，所以没有碰到什么问题。出境时是乘坐巴士，必须下车自己办理出境手续。结果每个人都没事，一到我就卡住了。负责人扣住了我的护照，然后一个电话接一个电话地打。问她是不是有问题，她就只叫你在一旁等。然后就先后来了几个人，都问同样的话，“你新加坡来的？来俄罗斯做什么？现在要去哪里？”问他们是不是有问题，他们都说没有，可是就是不把护照还我。就这样拖拖拉拉过了40分钟，全车的人都在等我，原有的负责人才肯盖章，让我过关。
The “smallness” of Singapore really hits home at the borders checks. From China to Mongolia to Russia, I’ve always travelled by train and leaving and entering the borders was never a problem. Leaving Russia, it was the first time I had cross borders on this trip by bus. This time round, instead of immigration officers coming to collect the passports, we had to get off the bus and go through customs ourselves. Everybody passed through without any problem. But when it was my turn, the immigration officer took a long time to look through my passport before making me stand in one corner. Next thing I saw, she was on the phone making one call after another. I tried asking her what was the problem, but the lady doesn’t speak English, and only waved for me to continue to stand in the corner. Then came a few other officers, one after another, all asking the same questions after scrutinizing me for a good while. “You are from Singapore? What are you doing in Russia? Where are you going next?” I asked if there was a problem, always, the reply was, “No. No problem.” But they just won’t give me back the passport. Finally, after 40 minutes, with the whole bus waiting for me, the lady officer made one final phone call before stamping on the passport and giving it back to me, all the while, never making clear what was the problem.

过了座桥，到了爱沙尼亚，情况更糟糕。先来了两个负责人，什么“你来爱沙尼亚做什么？来几天？要去哪里？之前有没有到过其他欧盟国家？几时去的？”等的问题，他们一直问不停，护照前后翻了几遍。好啦，问题问完了，以为没事了，哪儿知道，五分钟后又跟我说，“我们还想再问你问题，请拿着你的行李跟我们来。”就这样，我和同车的另一个亚洲人（猜对啦，又是韩国人！）被莫名其妙地带到拘留所，被安排坐在牢房外，然后就开始漫长的等待。根本听不懂他们在说什么，也没有人来问我们问题，只知道他们好像没有看过新加坡和韩国护照一样，一直拼命打电话问什么“新加坡、韩国”之类的事情。原本说只要一个小时就好，结果我们坐了足足两个半小时，他们才来跟我们说话，要我们买旅行保险，才肯让我们入境。再加上等巴士的时间，我们在关卡被折腾了足足五个小时。
I thought that was it. How wrong I was. It was worse when we crossed the little bridge that leads to the Estonian customs. First came two officers, one shooting all the questions, the other acting as the translator. “What are you doing in Estonia? How many days are you staying? Where are you going? Have you been to any other EU countries? When was that?” and on and on the questioning went. When the questioning finally stopped after ten minutes, I was sure that I was in the clear. But five minutes later, the officer who was doing the translation came back to tell me I have to grab my luggage and get off the bus because they want to question me further. Thus, me and the other Asian (of course, a Korean! They are everywhere!) were hauled off the bus and brought to the customs office and were made to sit right outside the lockups. We waited for them to question us, but nobody did. All we heard were the officers making one call after another and the words “Singapore” and “Korea”. It was as if these people have never seen a Singapore or Korean passport before and need to verify the authencity of our passports. We were told it will take about an hour. In the end, it was two and a half hours before they finally approached us and asked us if we have travel insurances. They finally gave us back our passports and let us go on our way, after making sure we had bought some form of travel insurances. Including the waiting time for the next bus to Tallin, we arrived at our destination six hours behind schedule.

新加坡的章宜机场再出名，李光耀的名字再响亮，知道新加坡的人还真是少。　　～伟
No matter how many times Changi Airport has been voted the number one airport in the world, no matter how famous and well respected Lee Kuan Yew is in the international politic scene, it remains a fact that only a small percentage of people know Singapore.　～wei

圣彼得堡／St Petersburg

虽然圣彼得堡不能算是我最喜欢的城市，但比起莫斯科，我更喜欢这里。单是从一踏出火车就立刻看到写有英文说明的招牌，就足以让我爱上的这地方了。要知道，俄罗斯真的很不喜欢游客。从乌兰乌德到莫斯科，一个英文招牌也没有看到。俄罗斯人就跟不用说了，一听到你说英文，不是挥手叫你闪一边，就是他们自己躲得远远的，要在俄罗斯生存就一定要学一点俄文和俄语。不过圣彼得堡就完全不同，不但有游客服务中心，路标都拼上英文，就连每个地铁出口也有地图。横跨整个西伯利亚被俄文折腾得半死，看到圣彼得堡将游客当宝，第一个反应当然是“谢天谢地！”。再加上，我本来就很喜欢海啊、湖啊和河等，圣彼得堡有不少河流贯穿整个城市，叫我怎么不喜欢这里呢。
Although St Petersburg is not at the top of my list of favourite cities, compared to Moscow, I loved this city much more. Just the sight of a big sign saying “City” the moment I stepped out of the train, is enough to make me choose this city over Moscow anytime. If you had been to Russia, you will know that this is a really tourist-unfriendly country. From Ulan Ude to Moscow, there was not a single English sign in sight. As for the Russians, the moment they hear you utter a word of English, they will quickly wave you away. Or else, they will disappear from your sights within seconds. It is a different story in St Petersburg though. Not only are all signs written in both Cyrillic and English, there are tourists information booths and at every metro exit, you can find a big map showing the surrounding areas. After being at the mercy of the Russian language for the whole Trans-Siberia experience, tourists-friendly St Petersburg is a real gem. Furthermore, I always have a soft spot for waters. With many rivers and canals running through St Petersburg, it is hard not to like this city. 莫斯科的建筑都是四四方方的共产建筑，圣彼得堡的建筑则有趣多了。这里有不少保留完美的旧建筑，有些已经成了博物馆，有些则成了服装店或书店。
The thing I disliked most about Moscow is the “communist” buildings. It’s different in St Petersburg though. The buildings here are way more interesting. You can find lots of old buildings and well-kept buildings here. Some are now museums, while others are now fashion boutiques or bookshops. 这个罗马式的建筑其实是一个教堂。
This Rome-inspired building is actually a church. 至于这个教堂，一看就知道是在抄袭莫斯科的华西里·柏拉仁诺教堂。
As for this colourful church, one look and you will know that it is a copy of the St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. 当然，这里一定少不了彼得大帝的铜像。彼得一世在位25年，被视为俄罗斯帝国最伟大的沙王，圣彼得堡的名字就来自这名在17世纪积极扩展这个城市的帝王。
Of course, the one thing that pops up on every St Petersburg postcard is that of the bronze statue of Peter the Great, considered by many as the greatest tsar of the Russian Empire. Peter I the Great was the one who undertook the task of revamping St Petersburg and making it into a great city. And as you can guess, the city is named after him. 看到那些船只在河上来来往往，画家在街上展现他们的才华，以及那一个又一个贩卖纪念品的小摊子，就觉得这是一个充满活力和朝气的城市。
With boats cruising up and down the many rivers, artists showcasing their works in the streets and stalls selling souvenirs at little corners, this is indeed a very lively city.因为是结婚季节，河边到处都看到结婚派对。发现俄罗斯人与华人一样，结婚时喜欢铺张。而圣彼得堡人的花样较多，除了每一对新人都会有一辆超大的豪华轿车接送外，他们还会安排放炮。而他们在河边喝完香槟后，会将酒杯甩在石头上，象征他们的婚姻美满。
Just like in the other cities, you can see tons of people getting married here. I realised that Russians are like Chinese; weddings are very grand affairs. Here in St Petersburg, they have more ideas on how to make their weddings big. Not only does every couple have a super long limousine to drive them around, some even arranged for someone to set off the canons once they have exchanged vows. And when they are done with drinking the champagne, they will smash the wine glasses as a symbolism of a happy marriage. 圣彼得堡有一个非常有趣的博物馆，即人类学和民族志学博物馆。其实这个博物馆是彼得大帝发起的，用来展示他收集到的稀奇古怪物品。博物馆的第一层展示的是世界各地不同种族的文化，有埃及、非洲，甚至是亚洲国家的文化。但这并不是博物馆吸引人的地方，有趣的是二楼的展览。这里可以看到很多畸形的婴孩浸泡在化学物品里面，有大头婴，有只有手没有脚的，有只有脚没有手的，有长“尾巴”的，有“美人鱼脚”的等等，这些都是在16世纪被保留下来做研究用的。不过因为不能拍照，所以你们就看不到了。
The first museum that I visited in St Petersburg was that of the Kunstkamera, otherwise known as the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Founded in 1714 by Peter the Great himself, it contains his personal collection of “curiosities” that were originally displayed to educate the populace. On the first floor, you can find exhibits of cultures of various countries, like those of the Africans, Egyptians, Chinese and Japanese etc. But what really interest me were the displays on the second level, where you can find ghoulish collection of babies in jars with a variety of physical defects. There are babies with no hands or no legs, babies with extra big heads, babies with infused legs resembling a mermaid and babies with “tails” etc. However, photography is not allowed for these exhibits, so you will have to visit the museum yourself if you want to see what it is like. 去圣彼得堡怎么能够不到埃尔米塔日博物馆去呢？这个博物馆是世界上最大的博物馆之一，展示的物品超过300万件，从石器时代到当代的世界文化艺术珍品，应有尽有。有人说，如果你在每一件展示品前面待上两分钟，用一年的时间都看不过所以的展示品！所以不用我说，你也可以猜得出这里到底有多大。展示庭分为西欧艺术部、古希腊艺术部、俄罗斯文化史部等等。
To most visitors, a trip to St Petersburg is never complete without a visit to the Hermitage. This is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 millions work of art (of course, not all on display at once). Somebody said that, if you spend 2 minutes in front of each art piece, you will not be able to finish viewing all the exhibits even after one year! Naturally, with such a huge number of exhibits, you can imagine how humongous this place is. 最后到夏花园走走，这里是为彼得大帝建造的。除了有很多绽放着的花朵，还有几十个雕像。　　～伟
Last but not least, was a stroll through the Summer Garden, which was built for Peter the Great. There are lovely flowers in bloom and many statues lining the small pathways in the garden.　　～wei