On My way to Denpasar

Hello, hello-

I'ts the morning of my final day in Singapore and before I leave for Bali and the adventure awaiting me in Indonesia I'd just like to share some information about this place.

Yesterday, as you know, was a thoughtful day for me. I spent a large part of it in the museum of asian civilisations, learning more about the history of the region. I oftentimes find myself fascinated with origin of cultures and social evolution of man. The museum was a treat! It so interesting and wild to see a map of trade routes and influence that other nations have on eachother over time. For example, Cambodia for the longest time was on a trade route between india and china hence its former name indochine. You can go right next door in any direction and nobody looks like the cambodians because they mixed with the indians they traded with for so long. Angkor Wat was actually inspired by Indian religious beliefs. The Indians historically have had a huge roll in developing and changing the world. Buddhism ofcourse comes from there and has spread all over the world.. perhaps most importantly to china. Here's a disclaimer, I'm no expert and I just write this stuff off the top of my head. But here's the coolest thing that I learned yesterday. Singapore was founded by a man named Sir Stamford Raffles in sometime around 1819 who was looking for a port that could serve the needs of ships traveling from east to west and vise versa. Only a few natives lived in the area (starting to sound familiar) and after development, the place became a huge success. Over time, waves of people migrated there from india, china and europe to clear jungles and build a town, leaving their families and lives home for a new one. This is the asian story of America on a much smaller scale. Ofcourse singapore has a much different and scattered history. They've only had true independance since 1959 but the story is there. But Wow!

That's it.. Morning thoughts with Brian- I'm leaving on a Jet plane.. Air France .. Ugh!



Just Kidding!