其实早就想写这一部分的内容，到新加坡我的主要目的就是把自己已经胖的惨不忍睹的小肚子再加上小小的一圈，临出国之前，当老爸老妈都抱着新加坡住宿指南发愁找旅店的时候，我就已经抱着新加坡美食介绍坚持不懈地寻找其芳踪了，看得这叫一个口水横流，飞流直下三千尺，万里长江东逝水……

    新加坡著名的美食，在我看来都是综合了它那里多民族多文化杂交共存的优势，产生了很多各种派系的而且又以完全没有新加坡特色为特色的新加坡美食。了解新加坡的历史，可以知道新加坡的创始人分为这么四个部分：中国人，印度人，马莱人，欧洲人（欧亚混血人种），当初新加坡的成立是当地与英国政府签约的结果，和众多的英国殖民地国家没什么区别，不过新似乎没有经过什么革命或者起义就和平的建国了，大概英国也懒得把这个小小的地方放在武力征服的范围内，即使暴力独立也就是小蚂蚁摔了一跤，没什么实质性影响。作为马六甲海峡上重要的港口，新也得以将各种复杂的文化融会贯通，形成自己独特的一景。（至今还在对它没有自己的风格而耿耿于怀，可是说不定这就是人家的风格……）

    刚到的第一天我就强烈要求以海鲜作为我们这次新加坡之旅的开门红，老妈来过新加坡多次，而且是因为公务所以经常有奢侈无比的海鲜大宴伺候所以对当地海鲜颇有研究。于是我们找到了滨海湾鱼尾狮旁边的一家叫做Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant的餐馆，准备体验一下诱人的海鲜料理。

    这家馆子很小，进去以后鱼缸占了一半的空间，里面爬着各种各样硕大的螃蟹和龙虾还有各种鱼在游弋着，完全没有中国某些海鲜酒楼里那些可怜的水产们半死不活的样子，应该室专门新捞上来的，要不就是好生侍候当鲜活摆设的。我们点了非常有名的辣椒蟹和奶油虾，当然还有特色的海鲜拼盘。

辣椒蟹（Chili Crabs）——

（图片是网上找的，因为没好意思在吃饭的时候照相，不过样子差不多）

    端上来的时候香气四溢，循香而去，你简直没有办法把目光从那诱人的螃蟹上面移开。红澄澄的螃蟹上面浇着浓厚的汤汁，里面漂浮着黄色的蛋花，绿色的香叶点缀在红色之中，艳丽的色彩第一步就把食欲挑逗的迫不及待。端上桌后，那一团红艳艳的才逐渐转化为壳、钳子和腿，那么多白嫩的肉隐隐约约在红汤之中，等着你动手去发掘、品尝。看到这种螃蟹才知道以前吃的所谓的中秋螃蟹就是河里的小虾米，因为这个螃蟹一个钳子就有我的手那么长，腿也差不多有20厘米。掀掉背壳以后，里面就露出了切成块的螃蟹，做法大概和香辣蟹差不多，但是味道绝对比那个好。螃蟹的肉多味美，非常鲜嫩，吃起来有一种清新的甜丝丝的味道，裹上甜中带辣的汤汁，让人欲罢不能，连我这种正常情况下不吃辣的人都忍不住食指大动，吃完后还担心嘴唇会不会肿起来。掰开那个硕大的钳子，里面的肉多的就像鸡腿一样爽，你可以想像一下吃那么大一个螃蟹会有多么的开心。

    吃完螃蟹后意犹未尽，服务员还很主动地问我们要不要点一份米饭或者馒头来就剩下的汤汁。我们点了一份奶油小馒头，蘸着那回味悠厚的辣汁，实在是一种天堂般的享受。

奶油虾（Creamy Shrinks）——

    这张图片并不是奶油虾，原因同上。不过那些虾也是十分可观的大（是不是基围虾呢？不知道），肉质鲜嫩而且肥美，调料的味道不是很重，可以清晰地吃出虾的鲜味，虾壳却非常入味，吃起来爽脆可口，还有虾脑可以吮吸。最特别的是虾上面有一层虾籽一样的东西，做得有点像肉末，吃起来却又是海鲜的感觉。这种虾籽酱咸中带甜，还有脆脆的感觉，使得虾的味道更加出众。

    那天离开了海鲜餐馆以后，晚上我们又到了乌节路（Orchard Road）的一家大排挡去品尝当地的特色小吃当晚饭，在以后的几天里，我们也尽量都点当地最有特色的菜肴，所以算是狠狠地犒劳了一下自己的胃。

肉骨茶（Bak-Kut-Teh）—— 

   肉骨茶算是新加坡非常有名的小吃，其实根本跟茶没有关系，就是一碗浓郁的排骨汤。据说里面加了很多种调料，例如香料袋、桂皮棒、丁香、白胡椒粒、枸杞子、八角等，然后放在一个大锅中煮啊煮的，有人要点的时候，卖东西的老爷爷就会从一大锅肉骨中抓出四根，放在碗里再浇上同一锅里的汤汁，配上一碗米饭，肉骨茶就上桌了。吃的时候把汤汁浇在饭上，那股奇异的浓香就会蔓延到香喷喷的米饭中，再混合着肉的香味，实在是一种美妙的体验。这道菜虽然十分简单，也没有什么花哨的吃法，但是味道与众不同，和平常的炖排骨可是大不一样。吃完以后，我还特意到超市去买了一包肉骨茶的汤料，打算回家以后自己怀念这种美味。

叻沙（Laksa）——

    味道很特别的一种面（其实吃起来比较像米粉，开始想念学校送餐的桂林米粉……），传说中里面有Belacan（虾膏）、白果、姜黄根粉、香菜粉、柠檬草、椰奶等东西，所以吃起来又有海鲜的味道（因为里面也有大虾啊）又有椰子的味道，有些甜甜的又有些油，有热带地区特有香料的感觉，很像泰菜或印度菜，很特别，也很好吃。

沙爹（Satay）——

    沙爹就是特别风味的烤串，烤的似乎是牛肉和鸡肉。比较特别是它的酱汁，里面有花生碎、椰汁、虾酱，咸鲜的同时带着花生的清香和脆甜，裹在肉串上实在是芳香馥郁。

    还要特别提及的还有我在新加坡所喝的饮料，非常新鲜冰爽的椰子汁就不说了，还有毛丹汁、番石榴汁、芒果汁、柚子汁，甚至在一家泰国餐馆还喝到了感觉像是一根葱插在饮料里制成的香兰水，又甜又辣还有韭菜和茴香的味道，我的大地啊……还是芒果汁好喝，我的最爱啊……

   还有好多新加坡的当地美食我还没有吃到呢，大多都是印度餐系列里面的，以后看有没有机会啦。大家吃好喝好玩好~~~~~

    出国前一直觉得自己要去的是南方的一个省，因为相近的语言和地理环境，还有满大街遍地溜达的黄皮肤黑头发，没有感觉自己是要坐6个小时的飞机一路向南，拿着那张花花绿绿的签证。

    事实证明，我的冬季思维的确要转换一下。穿惯了毛衣把自己裹在糖葫芦垛子羽绒服里的我猛然置身与超短裙和吊带背心的世界，满眼蓊蓊郁郁的热带植物，尽管初到机场已经穿的很少，但仍然是长牛仔裤，与周围那些美腿形成鲜明对比，身心双重受挫。接下来让我继续狂受打击的是，出租车司机用怪腔怪调粤语版普通话对我们说：“你们能说英文么？中文我听不懂。”

    一滴汗无声的落下，这就是我对新加坡的初印象。

By HOWARD W. FRENCH

Published: February 4, 2008

WUHAN, China — As an 18-year-old student with an interest in the Internet, Zhu Nan had been itching to say something about the country’s pervasive online censorship system, widely known here as the Great Firewall.

When China’s censors began blocking access to the popular photo-sharing site Flickr, Mr. Zhu felt the moment had come. Writing on his blog last year, the student, who is now a freshman at a university in this city, questioned the rationale for Internet restrictions, and in subsequent posts, began passing along tips on how to evade them.

“Officials in our country claimed that Internet censorship is done according to the law,” Mr. Zhu wrote. “If so, why not let people know about this legal project, and why, instead, ban the Web sites that publicize and examine those legal policies? If you’re determined to do this, you shouldn’t be afraid of criticism.”

Mr. Zhu’s obscure blog post and his subsequent activism is a small part of what many here regard as a watershed moment. In recent months, China’s censors have tightened controls over the Internet, often blacking out sites that had no discernible political content. In the process, they have fostered a backlash, as many people who previously had little interest in politics have become active in resisting the controls.

And all of it comes at a time of increasing risk for those who choose to protest. Human rights advocates say the government has been broadening its crackdown on any signs of dissent as the Olympic Games in Beijing draw near.

For a vast majority of Internet users, censorship still does not appear to be much of a factor. The most popular Web applications here are games and messaging services, and the most visited Internet sites focus on everyday subjects like entertainment news and sports. Many, in fact, seem only vaguely aware that China’s Internet universe is carefully pruned, and even among those who know, a majority hardly seems to care.

But growing numbers of others are becoming increasingly resentful of restrictions on a wide range of Web sites, including Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace (sometimes), Blogspot and many other sites that the public sees as sources of harmless diversion or information. The mounting resentment has inspired a wave of increasingly determined social resistance of a kind that is uncommon in China.

This resistance is taking many forms, from lawsuits by Internet users against government-owned service providers, claiming that the blocking of sites is illegal, to a growing network of software writers who develop code aimed at overcoming the restrictions. An Internet-based word-of-mouth campaign has taken shape, in which bloggers and Web page owners post articles to spread awareness of the Great Firewall, or share links to programs that will help evade it.

In almost every instance, the resistance has been fired by the surprise and indignation when people bumped up against a system that they had only vaguely suspected existed. “I had had an impression that some kind of mechanism controls the Internet in China, but I had no idea about the Great Firewall,” said Pan Liang, a writer of children’s literature and a Web site operator who first learned the extent of the controls after a friend’s blog was blocked. “I was really annoyed at first,” Mr. Pan said. “Then the 17th Party Congress came, and I received an order that my Web site, which is about children’s literature, had to close its message board. It made me even angrier.”

Like others, Mr. Pan used his Web page to post solutions for overcoming the restrictions to some banned sites, and then he used a historical allusion to mock his country’s censorship system.

“Many people don’t know that 300 years after Emperor Kangxi ordered an end to construction of the Great Wall, our great republic has built an invisible great wall,” he wrote. “Can blocking really work? Kangxi knew the Great Wall was a huge lie: just think how many soldiers are needed to guard those thousands of miles.”

A 17-year-old blogger from Guangdong Province who posted instructions on how to get to YouTube, overcoming the firewall’s restrictions, was no less philosophical. “I don’t know if it’s better to speak out or keep silent, but if everyone keeps silent, the truth will be buried,” wrote the girl, who uses the online name Ruyue. “I don’t want to be silent, even if everyone else shuts up.”

The Chinese government seems particularly wary of video-sharing sites like YouTube, and has recently tightened regulations on domestic Internet providers in ways that are aimed at controlling such services.

Others, meanwhile, have gone beyond launching Internet-based responses like these and taken more direct action. One such person is Du Dongjing, 38, an information technology engineer in Shanghai who sued a branch of China Telecom for contract violation because of the service provider’s unacknowledged restrictions on Web content.

In this case what initially angered Mr. Du was the surprise blocking of his own business Web site last February. The site markets personal finance software, and had no editorial content of any kind. When the service provider failed to explain why the link went dead, Mr. Du took the phone company to court.

His lawsuit was rejected by a Shanghai court in October, but the case has been heard in appeal. “The Americans have an expression, ‘You can’t fight City Hall,’ ” Mr. Du said. “However, I believe that with the help of today’s Internet, the mood of the public, I can win this case. I can even make a contribution to improving Chinese democracy.”

Even as anticensorship activism spreads, views are divided about whether a grass-roots campaign can prevail. Some see strong continued popular resistance to the limits imposed by tens of thousands of well-financed government technicians operating powerful computers and predict a breakthrough.

Yuan Mingli, who created an anti-Great Firewall evasion group because of his love for Wikipedia, said the government was already at work on new generations of Internet technology aimed at insulating Chinese users even more from the rest of world. But he predicted its failure. “That’s impossible, fundamentally, because people’s hearts have changed,” he said, adding that the system would “eventually break down precisely because China cannot be completely disconnected to the outside world anymore.”

For some of the anticensorship activists, creating a broader awareness of censorship is itself a victory. “If you don’t know what’s on top of you, than you won’t fight back against it,” said Li Xieheng, a blogger who wrote a program he named Gladder, meaning Great Ladder, to help users of the Firefox browser overcome Great Firewall restrictions. “It’s just like many people not feeling that China isn’t free. They’re not aware of it and feel things are natural here, but that’s just the power of media control.”

Mr. Li said he expected the Great Firewall to continue adapting to the tactics of its opponents. The movement, though, has proved the power of public opinion as an important limitation of the censor’s power, he said. “Why don’t they just take Google down?” he asked. “It’s because they don’t want to have a scene and have everybody know. A lot of people came to know about the system because of Flickr, and that is something the system needs to weigh.”