Naples

Naples was a crazy, crazy, hectic, chaotic place, so different from the rest Italy. From the moment we stepped off the train, it was like this was a different country all together! It was dirty, stinky and loud. It seemed the cars drove louder and ejected stronger fumes. China Town [I was surprised there's a China Town (or more specifically 温州城) in little Naples] was perfumed by the paralysing stench of urine, and the ground was like an abandoned battlefield littered with discarded rubbish from businesses. And I know this comment will be controversial, but you could really tell the difference between the Napolese and Romans (and indeed any other Italian cities, particularly Milan) by their clothing: the former was clad in clothing of cheap and of questionable quality, and well...their fashion wasn't classy.

Besides being an afront to all of my senses, there also wasn't anything to interest me in Naples. There are quite a few ruin-sites nearby, but I had seen enough ruins in Athens and Rome to last me a lifetime (do I sound like an uncultured bimbo here?). The ruins of Pompei is literally the ruins of that whole city, covering a very large area and takes a few hours to see just the main sights. So really, unless you're an ancient history student, can you really handle 3+hrs of seeing parts of houses without being bored out of your mind?

Entertaining myself at Pompeii

OK so with all that is bad about Naples out of the way, we can talk about the good things. Just because what is good about Naples is so good that you might get too excited and overlook the bad. Admist the chaos and boredom, was pizza paradise. In Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert's Napolese friend told her to go eat the "best pizza in Naples" at Pizzeria da Michele. I had been reliving Gilbert's Italian experience (I also went to the gelato place she raved about in Rome) so we had our first lunch there. We were starving after our train ride but still had to wait 1hr to be seated. The queue system operates in the same way as yumcha restaurants, only in Italian. We had to ask a fellow queueing customer what ten was in Italian, and even then I would have missed out on lunch had Gaby not had a more keen ear. There is nothing to rave about the decor of the place, just that it was very unpretentious. There are only two options for toppings: with cheese and without cheese. I went for the one with double mozzarella (OK technically there are three topping options) because that's the one that Gilbert's friend told her to order. I liked it, but I have to say, the normal magheritta tasted the best as the cheese taste strikes a better balance with the tomato sauce: Oppa said (of mine) "All I can taste is cheese".

The couple and I waiting in line for THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD

Juxtaposition of Julia wolfing down her pizza and the moody head waiter who never smiles

Starving...getting ready to tuck into THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD

So what makes Napolise pizza the best in the world? I would say the base, which was chewy and fragrant. Taste-wise it was nothing spectacular, but it was simple. However strangely, the centre of the pizza was always soggy and the bottom of the base was a little bitter from bits of incinerated bread (this was the case no matter where we had it).

I nearly also forgot! We went for a drive along the Amalfi Coast whilst in Naples. It was my Uncle's recommendation. He particularly mentioned to make sure to sit on the right hand side of the bus (it's also better to sit in the front roll, if possible) to better appreciate "the infamous bus driver on the famous Amalfi Highway" and the impressive ocean scene. What is the infamous bus driver? From memory, my aunty described it as them driving recklessly fast on a windy road where right next to you is the steep cliff face with the ocean below and most-certain death. Half of it is true: yes at parts of the drive you just have to look to your right and you will see death staring right back at you, but no the drive isn't life-threatening, afterall the driver wants to live also. However it is loud, as the driver beeps his horn to signal drivers in the opposite direction whenever we reach a blind spot. There were many towns during the drive and some reminded me of Santorini, only more real and rustic. My advice for Amalfi happiness? Go on a sunny day, the view will be prettier, and do buy a day pass for the bus as those individual tickets really add up.