TRAVEL: Sample this yummy UNESCO heritage designation

Tracking a snow leopard in the Himalaya; catching Yosemite's Firefall; restoring the ‘other’ Paris river; Madagascar’s tiniest reptile [TRAVEL]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [TRAVEL]( [National Geographic]( [THE BIG TOPIC:]( [STREET FOOD THAT WINS A WORLDWIDE HONOR]( Tuesday, February 2, 2021 PHOTOGRAPHS BY MINDY TAN By [George Stone]( TRAVEL Executive Editor Festivals, handicrafts, poetry, and music are among the nearly 500 vibrant practices and expressions inscribed on UNESCO’s [intangible cultural heritage lists](. [Chinese]( shadow puppetry and [Argentine]( tango are tantalizing. But for me, one treasure rises above all others. And not for its subtlety. [Singapore]( clanging, banging, buzzing, fragrant, affordable, utterly delicious hawker centers sublimely merge cuisine, economy, comity, cultural identity, hospitality, and so much more into Malay noodles, Indian curry puffs, Hainanese-style chicken rice, and [Peranakan]( laksa (lemongrass-coconut noodles). The city-state’s lively but endangered street food scene, featured in movies like [Crazy Rich Asians]( now has UNESCO status. (Pictured above, one Singaporean street food feast.) “Some civilizations chronicle their pasts with art or books. Others pass on history orally through folklore. In Singapore, the tale of how a humble fishing village in Southeast Asia evolved into a buzzing modern metropolis often comes in spoonfuls of peppery pork rib soup or bites of fried egg noodles at its hawker centers,” writes Singapore native Rachel Ng [in our story](. Protecting street food traditions is not just about flavor. “It’s about more than the hawkers and their food,” says local food legend [K.F. Seetoh]( who worked on the campaign to get hawker centers on the list. “It’s about the government’s play, the private sector’s part, and people’s affinity for it.” I had the privilege of living in Singapore for a few years, and my dreams are still painted in a psychedelic swirl of scents, scenes, and piquant plates from my [local food peregrinations](. There is no better way to discover a community than at the dinner table. (Above left, a hawker preparing teh tarik—a traditional milk tea drink; on the right, a satay hawker cooking meat over charcoal.) Historians and foodies hope that the UNESCO recognition will help raise the status of hawkers and inspire new cooks to join the fray. “We need to honor our hawkers,” says acclaimed food blogger [Leslie Tay](. “We need to put them on a pedestal and make them our local cultural heroes.” “My most vivid childhood memory was going to the wet market with my grandmother and having a breakfast of chwee kueh (steamed rice cake with preserved radish) and warm soy milk at the hawker center,” says [Ng](. While tasty bites might not last long, the creative genius of these “cultural heroes” should last a lifetime—and beyond. (Pictured below, Customers sit at a [kopitiam (coffeehouse)]( in a hawker center next to the [Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club]( Do you get this daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward this to a friend. TODAY IN A MINUTE The ‘other’ Paris river: The Bièvre used to meander from Versailles northeast to Paris and through the Left Bank before it flowed into the Seine. Since 1912, the entire part of the river in Paris was hidden under concrete. Now, “many passionate Parisians have harbored a long-standing dream of resurrecting a river that, to them, has taken on mythic status,” [Mary Winston Nicklin reports](. Your daily wonder: Madagascar is an enormously fertile land of one-of-a-kind species. Recently discovered: A creature the size of a sunflower seed, which could fit on your fingertip, and may just be the world’s tiniest reptile. Jason Bittel [has the latest on this tiny chameleon]( which feeds on mites and springtails. [See it here](. Catching ‘Firefall’: February is the month when sun and water come together at Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall to produce, during some sunsets, an enchanting orange glow known as Firefall. The National Park in California [requires reservations]( to enter after February 8, and they are going fast, [CNN reports](. The expected viewing dates for Firefall, if skies are clear and the water is flowing, are February 13 to 25. [Here’s what it looks like](. Can’t go there? Cook it anyway: Stuck at home? Several recent cookbooks with far-flung culinary specialties are worth your time, [the Washington Post reports](. Unable to travel abroad, Vermont-based writer Jen Rose Smith singles out books on Indonesian and Central Asian cuisine in her latest cookbook roundup. What’s she doing in her kitchen now? “I’ve tucked into crema Catalana and crispy Persian rice, and unearthed the battered copper coffeepot I bought in Jerusalem’s Old City,” she writes. THE BIG TAKEAWAY PHOTOGRAPH BY GAB MEJIA What bulging eyes you have! Meet the Philippine tarsier. The world’s second-smallest primate has bat ears, suction cup–like fingers, and giant golden eyes. “They really look like little aliens jumping from tree to tree,” says [Gab Mejia]( a National Geographic Explorer and [photographer](. Trying to save the tarsier and 700-some endangered species on its 7,600-plus islands, the Philippines has promoted biodiversity tourism and showcased four national parks that are home to many of these species, [Jason Bittel reports](. [READ MORE]( YOUR INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY PHOTOGRAPH BY TRAN TUAN VIET, [@VIETSUI]( Where the lobsters are: For nearly three decades, central Vietnam’s Phu Yen Province has been a center for farm-raised lobster. Photographer Tran Tuan Viet took this image of the lobsters’ homes, 13-foot square cages, linked together and placed in up to 33 feet of water for a year or so. OVERHEARD AT NAT GEO PHOTOGRAPH BY PRASENJEET YADAV Tracking the snow leopard: Imagine the commitment of photographer and National Geographic Explorer Prasenjeet Yadav. Using camera traps, he observed this mature male snow leopard (above) for two years in northern India’s Spiti Valley. Exploring the region, Prasenjeet accompanied Nat Geo’s Peter Gwin in the latest episode of Overheard, [our popular podcast](. Up three miles in the Himalaya, along ledges where the leopards prowl lynx and blue sheep, Prasenjeet shows Peter fresh leopard tracks and takes him to a cave where a big cat had urinated. [What happens next?]( [LISTEN IN]( IN A FEW WORDS [QUOTE] It’s the tenderness I care about. That’s the gift this morning that moves and holds me. [Raymond Carver]( American writer, poet; from [The Gift]( DID A FRIEND FORWARD THIS TO YOU? Tomorrow, Victoria Jaggard covers the latest in science. If you’re not a subscriber, [sign up here]( to also get Rachael Bale on animals, Whitney Johnson on photography, and Debra Adams Simmons on history. ONE LAST GLIMPSE PHOTOGRAPH BY AMANDA MUSTARD, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Egg boy: That’s the informal name of an 18th-century statue in southern Thailand that has suddenly become popular since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Early fans claimed the statue brought winning lottery numbers and other wealth and success. Now thousands of Thais, many suffering from the collapse of the tourism industry, have begun streaming daily to Wat Chedi, the provincial Buddhist temple housing the statue. One tourist, named Diw, [told Nat Geo]( “I don’t really believe in this stuff, but I thought I’d give it a try.” (Pictured above, a pilgrim takes a selfie with a dressed-up replica of the statue outside the temple.) [READ ON]( Correction: Moving too fast, we misspelled the first name of legendary Black address Cicely Tyson in yesterday’s newsletter. Apologies! Readers, here are two things I couldn’t squeeze into yesterday’s brief. Tyson had once been married to jazz giant Miles Davis. And her last tweet, posted a day before her death last week, [was a message to the young poet]( at the inauguration. “Your words remind us that we will rise, rebuild, reconcile and recover,” she wrote Amanda Gorman. Tyson was 96. Publishing note: Because we’re upgrading our digital publishing system, we won’t be emailing a TRAVEL newsletter next Tuesday, February 9. The TRAVEL email will resume the following Tuesday, February 16, and [our daily newsletters]( will resume on February 10. This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, and Jen Tse selected the photographs. Kimberly Pecoraro and Gretchen Ortega helped produce this. Have an idea, a link, an international food you’re cooking up during the pandemic? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. And thanks for reading! [NGM]( [NGM]( SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey. 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