Ibn Battuta and nostalgia (Singapore)
I had promised to show Lisa some interesting place. I was reading a book about Ibn Battuta (a Moroccan traveler who went all the way to China in the 1300s). I suggested that we go a Moroccan cafe that I sometimes visited in Singapore’s Arab Street area. We talked about Ibn Battuta’s travels in the subway. If you want to make friends with Moroccans, all you have to do is mention Ibn Battuta.
At the cafe, Lisa told the Moroccan owner that she is from Hangzhou, one of the cities in China that Ibn Battuta visited. The owner’s eyes lit up. Apparently, he had many Chinese tourists come to his cafe but she was the first person who knew about Ibn Battuta. Whenever other Middle Eastern customers walked into the cafe, he proudly introduced Lisa to them. Sure enough, we got free refills for the rest of the night.
The book we were reading: Tim Mackintosh-Smith’s Travels with a Tangerine. The author traces Ibn Battuta’s travels in this book.