I am up early. In a cold place, the first thing I will do is to boil water. It is my habit to get a hot drink early in the morning. I did the same routine in Canada when we were living there. In the last 13 days, I have been doing the same thing - boiling a pot of water for hot drinks. Usually tea and sometimes coffee.
In Singapore and Malaysia, it is so easy step out of your house and hot tea and coffee stalls are everywhere within reach in less than five mins. Okay, we drive to the hawker centres or shop lots in Malaysia. Then we get a wide variety of choice at low price - teh-o, teh, teh-c, teh tarik, teh halia, ... And if you like designer's choice for people who need ego boost and snob appeal - caffe latte, coffee americano, TWG Singapore breakfast tea and the like.
Best of all, our water tastes heavenly. In Italy, the water in all the cities I have been are hard. So is the water in North America (US and Canada). I am happy to go home soon to drink greating tasting drinks and even water. (Those who know me well knows I hardly drink water;-)).
My regular coffee stall in AMK Ave 5 hawker centre opens at 4:30am. No cafe is open for breakfast before 7am here. We have a choice of fried bee hoon, fried carrot cake, wanton mee, nasi lemak... need I go on? In Italy, breakfast is crossiants or sweet pastries. No crispy fried chicken wings or curry vegetable to go with your carbo.
As I wind down my trip to Italy, I reflect on my observations. We are incredibly lucky to live in Asia at this time. There are lot of histories and past glories in Europe - museums are everywhere celebrating and displaying the works of great artists and scientists. There is great tradition and the electric trams still worked after 100 years. This trip open my eyes to history. I am glad to see and experience history. The future is back home in Asia.
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