Farewell Singapore

On my last day in Singapore, I got to taste some wonderful “Bento” (a box packed meal see pic below) from this veggie café that I’d spotted before. It did not disappoint. It’s amazing just how delicious simple food can be, with a little bit of skill at preparing it:

Fragrant rice, soup (remarkably tasty, served with every meal, perhaps aiding digestion?), beans and carrots cooked in some kind of sesame and soy sauce that was delicious, potato and various other veg curry (ooo that was good) and a squidge of chilli sauce, and some veggie gyoza (dumplings- below):

Well, what an incredible Southeast Asian adventure I’ve had! And I am very much going to miss these lovely people who have hosted me so very ably in Singapore. I feel very fortunate to have found such kindred spirits all over the world, who have offered me such amazing hospitality. There was a lump in my throat saying goodbye to these lovelies.

Apparently, when astronauts return to earth, there’s a phenomenon they experience where they cease to be able to understand why nations war against each other. From the viewpoint of space, we are really all just human beings on our one tiny planet, and it seems crazy that we should ever not just get along with each other. (I read about this in The Book of Joy, a very thought provoking and readable book by Douglas Abrams about the Dalai Lama meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu.)

I know it’s more complicated than that, when people’s land, or means of survival has been taken from them. But then, actually, is it? Why should it ever even enter our brains to take things away from each other? And why should we ever not offer hospitality to a human being in need of it? (Especially those fleeing war or threat of torture or death.) Today it’s them, tomorrow it may well be us, after all.

Nearing the end of my three month journey around the world, I am beginning to feel a bit like the astronauts.