Travel Notes With Love

Jumat, 16 Oktober 2009

Senin, 14 September 2009

BOSTON

Boston, MA Information by Rough Guides

Although the metropolitan area of BOSTON has long since expanded to fill the shoreline of Massachusetts Bay, and stretches for miles inland as well, the seventeenth-century port at its heart is still discernible. Forget the neat grids of modern urban America; the twisting streets clustered around Boston Common are a reminder of how the nation started out, and the city is enjoyably human in scale.

Boston was, until 1755, the biggest city in America; as the one most directly affected by the latest whims of the British Crown, it was the natural birthplace for the opposition that culminated in the Revolutionary War. Numerous evocative sites from that era are preserved along the Freedom Trail through downtown. Since then, however, Boston has in effect turned its back on the sea. As the third busiest port in the British Empire (after London and Bristol), it stood on a narrow peninsula. What is now Washington Street provided the only access by land, and when the British set off to Lexington in 1775 they embarked in ships from the Common itself. During the nineteenth century, the Charles River marshlands were filled in to create the posh Back Bay residential area. Central Boston is now slightly set back from the water, separated by the hideous John Fitzgerald Expressway that carries I-93 across downtown. The city has been working on routing the traffic underground and disposing of this eyesore (a project a decade in the making known as "the Big Dig"), though the monumental task won't likely be completed before 2004, much to the frustration of locals.

There is a certain truth in the charge leveled by other Americans that Boston likes to live in the past; echoes of the "Brahmins" of a century ago can be heard in the upper-class drawl of the posher districts. But this is by no means just a city of WASPs: the Irish who began to arrive in large numbers after the Great Famine had produced their first mayor as early as 1885, and the president of the whole country within a hundred years. The liberal tradition that spawned the Kennedys remains alive, fed in part by the presence in the city of more than one hundred universities and colleges, the most famous of which – Harvard University – actually stands in the city of Cambridge, just across the Charles River, and is fully integrated into the tourist experience thanks to the area's excellent subway system.

The slump of the Depression seemed to linger in Boston for years – even in the 1950s, the population was actually dwindling – but these days the place definitely has a rejuvenated feel to it. Quincy Market has served as a blueprint for urban development worldwide, and with its busy street life, imaginative museums and galleries, fine architecture and palpable history, Boston is the one destination in New England there's no excuse for missing.

Minggu, 13 September 2009

Hongkong

Singapore

Singapore may be small, but packs in quite a punch. Only about 655 square kilometers in area, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with about 6430 people per square kilometer. Although it is one of the 20 smallest countries in the world, its economy is a world leader, and has the world's busiest port in terms of tonnage handled.

Today the financial and technological hub of South East Asia, Singapore was once a sleepy Malay fishing village, which came into its own as a British trading colony in the 1800's. The population is a mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians with a smattering of other ethnic nationalities. There are four official languages in Singapore - Mandarin, Tamil, Malay and English. The Chinese ethnic population is originally from South-east China from the provinces of Fukian and Guangdong. Immigrants from the Malaysian peninsula, Sumatra, Java and other islands of the Malay Archipelago have thronged the state. About two-thirds of the Indians are Tamil, with a smattering of Malayalis, Punjabis and Gujratis.

Singapore consists of one main island, and 58 smaller ones. The terrain is flat lowland, the highest point being Bukit Tima Hills, standing at 164 meters. Its climate is hot (ranging between 22 and 30 degrees centigrade) and muggy (humidity remains at 75%). The rainy season is from November to January, although being near the equator, intermittent rains occur throughout the year.

Although about 50% of the land is occupied by vertical urban settlements in modern skyscrapers, Singapore has a thriving agricultural economy specializing in rubber, copra, fruit, orchids, vegetables, poultry, eggs and fish. It is the world's largest exporter of ornamental fish. It has thriving industries of electronics, chemicals, financial services, oil drilling equipment, rubber processing, food processing, ship repair and other industries, with the economy heavily dependant on its electronics and manufacturing exports.

With typical Singapore control and determination, the government has made up for its lack of natural flora and fauna by building gardens and zoos, waterfalls and underwater parks. Singapore has one of the best zoos in the world, and has the world's highest man made waterfall in Jurong Park, standing at 30 meters. The Bird sanctuary in Jurong even has simulated tropical thunderstorms.

Location: South East Asia, at the tip of the Malayan Peninsula
Geographic coordinates: 1 22 N, 103 48 E
Terrain: Lowland, gently undulating central plateau with water catchment area and natural preserves.
Religions: Buddist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Taoist, Confucians
Country Name: Republic of Singapore
Government type: Parliamentary republic