四月, 2012: 米兰, 意大利

I reckon this being the shoulder season, room would be easy to come by. What's more I am staying near a friend from Singapore  who is in Milan on an university attachment program. He is staying away from the city centre, so I guess the hotels wouldn't be in as much demand as the centre. The first first priority was to meet up and have dinner with the guy. Over a pizza dinner, I heard good news: there isn't much to see in Milan. I call this the local-zoo symptrom, the same way I would not be interested in visiting my local zoo, I guess he has been here in Milan for a few months and had ran out places to visit. It was good news to me, as I could take in most of the sight in a couple of days and then head north.

After dinner, started my hunt for a room for the night along the way back to the friend's apartment. Room seems to be aplenty, but all the hotels were above my budget (including one with a TCM herbal chest of drawers on display in the lobby.)
 
It goes to show how true these words (踏破铁鞋无匿处，得来全不费工夫) are when I found the perfect hotel right across the friend's apartment. I was shown to a clean single room, but after settling in, it was apparent the air-con wasn't working. The staff on duty came for a look-see and declared that he would have to move me to another room. Turns out he was moving down to a large double room with a courtyard. With his assurance that I would be charged the price of a single, I settle for a good night rest.

The sunny summer day gave way to a wet morning the next day.
 
I have a very shortlist of places to visit, including the Duomo and the shopping malls nearby, the city centre and back to Milano station to arrange for my ticket out. The part of Milan I am staying is closer to the city Expo halls than the centre. If not for the buildings and the trams, it would easy to mistake this to be somewhere in Asia. There are many Asian walking around the streets, and when they speak, it is easy to guess where they are from: China, Vietnam, Philippines and the Indian sub-continent. In fact, near the hotel, there was a minimart selling food and spices flying the Sri Lanka flag.

I made my way out downtown on the tram. It is easy to tell the Italian apart from the recent immigrants on the trams or buses. The Italian validate their ticket (hence making a deduction), while the newcomers don't even to fish out the ticket from their pocket (assuming they do have a ticket.) When I validate my day pass, a Pinoy near the ticket machine was looking at me like I am an idiot.
 
I witness this conversation between a Chinese mum and her young plumb son on one of the tram trip:

Son: Mummy, don't we have a ticket?
Mum: Yes. In my pocket.
Son: But I thought you already used it this morning. Is it still valid?
Mum: No problem, still can be used.
Son: So why are we not validating it?
Mum: It's ok. No problem. There is no need.
The inquisitive son would have gone on, but was stopped by his mum. Another non-paying customer in the making.

The drivers do not bother checking and there are no one from the tram or bus company that come on to do spot-check. No wonder Italy is so deeply in debt.

The Duomo is the symbol of Milan. It is a white church, and like all churches, merchants will start their business around it. But this being Milan, what you get are not small stalls and shops, but malls and shops bearing the names of luxury brands. In fact, at the back of the church, a huge banner for Longchamp was hanging from the church wall.

 
Right outside the main shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II by the Duomo, some No-TAV activists were getting ready for their protest. TAV is the acronym for "treno ad alta velocità", the high-speed train railway the will link France and Italy through the Alps.

It looks like Milan is hosting a World Expo, I tried looking for a Singapore flag but couldn't find one.


It seems there is another kind of "planking" going on in Milan (and most of Europe's bigger cities, as I would later find out.)

Almost directly opposite the Duomo down a long shopping promenade is the city main park right behind the red-brick citadel Castello Sforzesco.
 
The moat has been long dried up, covered with grass. There were no crocodiles in the moat, only a fat tabby cat on it.

The fat cat in the lower left corner

Making my way to the Milano Centrale station again, I was worried about language problem with the TrenItalia counter staff. That was unfound, the staff speak good English and I quickly got my ticket for Munich. I thought I have everything ready for my trip out the next evening. I would be wrong, as it later turn out. Anyway, reaching the head of the long queue was actually the harder part. Even though there was rows of automated ticketing machines, the customers seem more comfortable buying tickets from a fellow human.

The previous day, I have left the station in a hurry, now I could check out vicinity at a slower pace. While the Duomo is the shopping and commercial centre, Milano Centrale is the business centre with blocks of office building. There are many small business hotels on the streets and lanes right next to the station.

Near one of the hotels, I saw a familiar shop, one that was ubitquous back in Singapore just a few months back. A massage parlour. With its Chinese signboard, I could imagine any minute now, a satisfied Ah Peh with a copy of Shin Min Daily under his armpit coming out the door with a smile.

I read in a news article that, like their Singapore counterpart before the crackdown, these massage parlours are front for prostituition and mostly run by Chinese immigrants. Even in Italy current economic situation, they are one of the fastest growing businesses in the city. One other were pawnshops. That shouldn't come as a surprise: Milan is the capital of Lambardy, and even today, pawn shops in Russia are known as Ломбард (Lombard.)

It was almost dinner time. Having been in Africa for about a month, I was craving for some Chinese food.
 








The city Chinatown was next to the tram route on the way back to the hotel.
 
I stopped over for some takeaway. Like chinatwon all over the world, this one doesn't lack restaurants. But everywhere I look, the signboards are for Dim Sum. I was looking for something more substantial than morsel of Har Gaw or Siu Mai, but it looks like there were nothing but Dim Sum shops.
 
I decided that I will take a look at what was on their menu. It looks like they are not Dim Sum shop at all, selling the full range of Chinese fare: from rice to noodle, from fried beef to fishball soup. I guess the Italian associate Dim Sum with good Chinese food, hence the signboards.

I bet there must be at least one "Milan Photography" bridal shop in all the major cities in Asia, riding on Milan reputation as a fashionable, artistic and romantic city. This one is the real Milan Photography.

I cap the day with some homecooked food, courtesy of my Singaporean friends.