An apple a day

Strange as it may seem to my gadget loving friends - Eddie and Steve, you know who you are - I have never owned an MP3 player, until a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure why, when I think about it, but there it is. So I decided to open the door and now I can't believe what I was missing. Now the proud possessor of a mint green iPod nano, I listen to it all the time and have to remember not to sing out loud and dance along when I'm in public places - or at work early in the morning. Then again, what the hell!

Chris is not an MP3 sort of a guy, but he has been seduced by the MacBook Air (http://www.apple.com/macbookair/) - Apple's latest laptop which is as thin as a New York socialite, and just possibly slightly lighter at under 1.5 kilos.


As it happens, I am writing this post listening to music on my PC - another revelation! Current favourite is Duffy. I had forgotten what a powerful influence music is on mood, and on memory. Listening to some songs brings back the moments that I associate with them so strongly that I feel as if I am right back there in the moment. I can't listen to Paul Simon singing "Diamonds on the soles of her shoes", Roberta Flack singing "The first time ever I saw your face" or Everything but the girl singing "Tougher than the rest" without being transported back in time. Magic.

Other favourites: anything from the dance scenes in Dirty Dancing, Peter Gabriel "The book of love", the Corries and the Proclaimers. You can take the girl out of Scotland...........................................

Why not share your favourites? All you have to do is leave a comment.

Mercifully, I took the iPod with me to Malacca last weekend. I say "mercifully" because the trip - all of 290 km - took almost 6 hours each way. Almost half the time was spent in the queue for border controls - out of Singapore and into Malaysia. So, was it worth it? Just about. Malacca is both a town and a state - one of the oldest in Malaysia. It was originally a sultanate (as some of the Malaysian states still are) and a very prosperous trading port. Malacca was ruled by the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries and many of the public buildings were built during this time. We stayed in a small hotel in the historic heart, close to Chinatown, which had been converted from an original Peranakan house. Regular readers may remember previous references to the Peranakan culture in the blog - Peranakans are the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to Malaysia. At the time, it was illegal for Chinese women to leave China which meant that male emigrants had to marry non-Chinese women and so Peranakans were born.

Another connection to a previous post (the one about mangoes) is Alfonso de Albuquerque, who was there in the early 16th century. Malacca seems to have spent much of its past being occupied by one European nation or another; we were a greedy lot in those days, weren't we?

This weekend we are resting up, catching up and - in my case - listening to music. Have a good one.

Not all mangoes are created equal

I'm not that big a fan of the mango to tell the truth; I'm more of a papaya person, so the vexed question of which is the best variety of mango has largely passed me by - until last week that is. I was in Chennai (aka Madras for those of you missed the reclaiming of the traditional name) and in Mumbai (Bombay as was) last week, and found myself drawn into a heated debate about mangoes. Who would have thought?

It turns out that the Alphonso mango (named after Alfonso De Albuquerque, a 15th century Portuguese nobleman) - see picture on the right - is deemed by most mango lovers in India to be the daddy. It is orange skinned and fleshed, and tastes - to my palate - like sweet toffee flavoured soap. My vote goes to the honey mango, shaped like a large teardrop, with pale yellow skin and flesh, which tastes like toffee pure and simple, without the soap.

Those of you who are regular readers will know that I found my first trip to India (Delhi and Agra last year) pretty challenging. This trip was quite different, and I can see myself being seduced by India over time, although I would like that seduction to take place in luxury hotels please!

Time for a short history lesson: Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and the second biggest city in the world. Its original name "Bombay" emerged from the Portuguese term "Bom Bahai" meaning "good bay "or "harbour". My hotel room overlooked the harbour and the Gateway to India - a ceremonial arch built in 1927 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. The Gateway holds historical significance as the last of the British troops leaving the newly independent independent India by sea, marched through its portals.

It's been a while since my last film review, but last weekend we saw "The Notebook " at the Tanglin Club. It was released in 2005, but it never crossed my path till now, and it was both delightful and heart-rending - a great combination for a movie. My friend Steve (who introduced me to blogging - check out his blog at blogfromthebarn.blogspot.com) has taken to writing movie reviews in the form of haikus - 17 sylable 3 line poems - so here goes with ours for The Notebook. This is Chris's:

Young love thwarted, thrives
Mem'ry fades but not passion
Oh, my aching heart

and mine:

Young lovers grown old
She cannot remember but
His love is enough

Just in case the haiku was not enough detail, here's the story:

The film is a love story which centres around a man in his seventies (James Garner) who reads aloud to a woman (whom we later discover is suffering from Alzheimers). From a faded notebook, his words bring to life the story about a young couple separated by her parents (she is posh, he is not) and then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths in life. It sounds sad, and it is, but really worth seeing. This weekend it's a bit of Sex in the City and Indiana Jones, so watch out for more movie reviews.......

Sleepless in Singapore

It's not like me to have difficulty sleeping, but tonight was an exception, so you find me sharing my thoughts with you at 5am Sing time on Sunday morning. That's 10 pm and 5 pm on Saturday for my UK and US readers respectively, and 8 am on Sunday for my sister in Oz.

Perhaps it was the excitement of last night's Murder Mystery Dinner at the Tanglin Club (it was Rupert, the long-lost son who dunnit) or the effect of dessert (the largest creme brulee I have ever seen) giving me a sugar buzz, but being awake with time on my hands gives me the opportunity to tell you about the Great Singapore Sale. This is an annual event and for two months from the end of May to the end of July (it's not called "great" for nothing) there are bargains to be had island-wide.

I have shared with you before the Singaporeans' love of shopping, so you can imagine the effect on the national psyche of discounts of up to 70 per cent on just about anything. The sale is actually organised by the Singapore tourist board in order to promote tourism, and visitors get special privileges on shopping, dining and various tourist attractions.

The sale begins with the Great Singapore Shopping Challenge - an event which seeks to elevate shopping to the status of a sport. This activity, now in its 5th year, involves teams of two (27 in total, with only a third of them from Singapore, so it's clearly an international sport), each of which is given S$1,000 and three hours to bag the best bargains from selected categories. The winning team is the one that manages to achieve the biggest savings in the time, and they get to keep their purchases as well as trousering a bucketload of shopping vouchers. Hmm, I wonder if my friend Kerry fancies entering next year...........

Neat things about Singapore

Chris and I were chatting the other night and thought it would be fun to share with you some of the really neat things about Singapore - the things that make living here really easy and fun.

Travel

Lots of the really neat things fall into this category, and we should definitely start with Changi airport - absolutely the best airport in the world. If you have not had the good fortune to pass through Changi (more like "glide through" really, since it's so easy), think of the horror that is JFK, then its complete opposite, and that is Changi. The staff are charming, everything works smoothly and efficiently, they have wonderful shops, restaurants and public spaces, you get through immigration in a matter of minutes - in and out of the country - and by the (short) time you get from the aircraft to the baggage hall, your luggage is waiting for you. Class!

Moving on to cars. All cars that you buy in Singapore are fitted with am IU - an in-car unit, which is equipped with a smart card, which you load with cash and from which money is automatically deducted when you pass into the ERP (electronic road pricing) zone. The ERP is a form of congestion charging, but better in my view (differential pricing according to time of day; hence three or four times as much during rush hours). The result is that, for the most part, the roads are remarkably quiet and free flowing. The smart card also works in virtually all car parks, so the appropriate amount of money (a pittance by UK standards) is deducted at the leaving barrier. Clever stuff. Car parks themselves are pretty clever: there are signs at the entrance telling you how many spaces are available on each level, and in some car parks, a green or red light above the actual space will indicate whether it is occupied or not, so cruising for an available spot is made easy.

We have a car here, although I have decided not to drive in Singapore, so I have the pleasure of being driven to work and picked up most days by the lovely Chris. Now that is one of the really neat things for me about living in Singapore! When we get back to the apartment block, there is an LCD sign next to the security barrier that lights up with the words "Welcome home SGV 7085" (the number plate). I smile every time I see it.

And we drive on the left

And taxis are a fraction of the prices in London

Anf plugs are the same as in the UK

Leisure

It's fair to say that leisure opportunities are limited somewhat by Singapore's size, but it punches above its weight in this department, as in many others. Worth a special mention are the Botanic Gardens (http://www.sbg.org.sg/) which are centrally situated (within walking distance for us, although it's a half hour walk and if we attempted it most days in the heat of Singapore we'd be little more than a puddle of sweat by the time we got there), extensive, and free. You can see individuals and groups doing Tai Chi (and line dancing, bizarrely, on weekends), there is a concert stage set on the water and two fabulous restaurants inside.

Worth an extra special mention is the orchid garden set within the Botanic Gardens. It is absolutely amazing, and all the visitors we have taken to see it have been blown away. They began an orchid breeding programme in 1928 and today there are over 1000 species and 2,000 hybrids in the collection, displayed in the most beautiful tropical setting. Did you know that there are two basic types of orchid - terrestrial and epiphyte? The terrestrial grows on the ground, naturally enough, and the epiphyte establishes itself on trees. Just thought I'd let you know.


If that's not enough outside space for you, how about the MacRitchie reservoir? Named after James MacRitchie, one of the engineers involved in its construction, this was Singapore's first reservoir and today, as well as fulfilling its water catchment role, it has more than one square kilometre of primary forest that includes rubber trees dating back to the 19th century, acres of secondary forest, turtles in abundance, frolicking baby monkeys and a tree top walk which gives stunning views of the island.

If you're into music, you can have the indoor stadium experience minus all the hassle of getting to and getting from a venue like Wembley. Singapore Indoor Stadium is a 15 minute drive for us and while it's obviously a whole lot smaller than the big UK venues, it's just the right size for Singapore and you can get into and out of the car park in 10 minutes flat.

Sticking with the cultural side of life,the Singapore Arts Festival starts this weekend and we went to the launch event last night, which was an amazing piece of water theatre on the Singapore river. The picture below gives the teensiest flavour of what was going on. It's a show called Water Fools, by a French street theatre company, and the "plot" begins with a man driving a mini and towing a caravan (on the water). His car breaks down, so he gets out and reads a newspaper (not clear whether he was waiting for the AA to arrive in a speedboat). A cyclist passes by and sprays water into the man's face and then his head bursts into flames.

Surrounding this activity, there is a woman in a big red frock (she of the piccy below) sat atop a giant hamster wheel being driven around the river by a (seriously perspiring, I imagine) young man. Fireworks are going off, there's a giant four poster bed occupied by a young woman with pigtails (don't ask) a woman with a bicycle and coloured balloons and all manner of strange goings on. Ah, the whimsical French.....

And finally - the prices. Apart from housing, cars and cheese (no cows on Singapore), pretty much everything here costs less than a half of its UK equivalent. Hot lunch at a hawker centre can be had for a couple of quid and the taxi ride from Changi airport (about the same distance as Heathrow to the West End) is about 20% of the price of a black cab. Go figure.

Skiing in Dubai

It's a natural high!

A couple of months ago, I set myself the target of having at least one new experience every month. Last month was the trip to Bali, which included some new experiencettes, like having lunch at the rim of a volcano, but this month is set to wipe the floor with March. First up, dune bashing in the desert. For those of you who are new to this sport(?), it is the name given to a roller coaster ride up and down the sand dunes in Dubai in a 4 x 4. It was great fun - although best undertaken on an empty stomach, especially if you are sitting in the back seat! Apparently you can also engage in a spot of sandboarding on the dunes, but that will have to wait for the next trip. I also fitted in a camel ride - more of a lurch really - and saw the palest sunset I have ever experienced. It was so white, it was like watching the moon set.

But the piece de resistance was the skiing. My friend Steve - he of the super cheffing skills - is also a huge fan of taking your life in your hands on the powdery white stuff, but has never been able to persuade me that this was a sensible use of my limbs. How wrong I was! Now you are probably wondering if the Dubai I was camel riding in is the same Dubai I went skiing in. Can there be two Dubais, one existing in a parallel universe, as cold as the other is hot? Not quite, but close, since the ski slopes (there are 5 of them) exist in a huge shopping mall - the Mall of the Emirates - and I consider all giant shopping malls to be part of a parallel universe. But enough of my shopping prejudices and on to the skiing.....

My only previous experience of skiing was on the nursery slopes at Aviemore, in north east Scotland one rainy February many moons ago. In fact, I never actually got to ski, although I did do a fair bit of falling over. I had to borrow the skiing instructor's skis because they had run out of skis the right length for me, the nursery slopes had almost no snow on them (remember, I did say that this was a rainy February) and the instructor was an impatient sort, with no gift whatsoever for teaching beginners. Not the perfect mix of ingredients you will admit, for an inspiring introduction to the sport. Suffice to say that after falling over a few times I did actually manage to ski a few yards downhill, but not to stop. Fortunately (my opinion, not shared by Mr Nasty who was more worried about his skis than me - imagine!), there was a picket fence at the bottom of the slope, with gaps the width of a ski between the fence posts and my skis, swiftly followed by my legs, slid through and stopped when I sat down on my (by now extremely damp) bottom. So, not a great start. After that, I gave up and have never really fancied trying again, but there was something so surreal about the thought of snow skiing in the desert that I had to give it a go.

There was a group of us, several of whom were beginners, and we had two really great instructors. I managed to get the hang of the snow plough (the action that makes you slow down and stop) early on, and after that there was no stopping me. I came flying down the hill (well maybe I had not entirely mastered the snow plough) screaming and laughing and didn't fall over once. Magic!

I really thought the trip couldn't get any better, but a couple of days later I learned African drumming as part of a team building event. It was totally and absolutely the business! I have attached the drumming and skiing links so that you can see for yourself. Next month's new experience is Tai Chi, and I'm hoping to persuade Chris to come along, since he has a bit of catching up to do.

http://www.dubaidrums.com/about.html

http://www.skidxb.com/English/default.aspx

War on Buffet (geddit?)

Not a mis-spelt reference to the sage of Omaha, but a comment on the prevalence of buffet deals in Singapore restaurants. I don't know about you, but buffets are generally anathema to me ( I will make an exception for the Sunday Champagne brunch at the Four Seasons and my sister would insist that I exclude the chocolate buffet at the Fullerton), but the attraction of the all-you-can-eat offerings so beloved of Singaporeans passes me by. That said, I think you would like to hear about some of the more exotic buffet choices on offer - at pretty knockdown prices by comparison with most UK dining opportunities. So here goes:

Sunday brunch (a favourite pastime here) first. How about a Taiwan Porridge Buffet? This is rice porridge, of course, not hot oatmeal as eaten by men in kilts, and comes with a variety of "toppings", I suppose you would call them - like sweet potato (atop the rice in the picture to the left), roast chicken, duck, silverfish ( a sort of teeny weeny whitebait), carrot cake (it's carrot cake, but not as we know it), fried wontons, fish cake, mushrooms, stewed peanuts (yes, really), bamboo shoots and black fungus, to name a few. I'd like to say that the black fungus tastes better than it sounds, but since I have never plucked up the necessary courage to put any in my mouth, I'm afraid I can offer no opinion. I am sorry to say that this is true of many of the items considered a delicacy in Asia, and quite frankly, I blame my upbringing. This has nothing to do with my mother's cooking; she hated cooking as it happens, but that's beside the point. It has to do with custard. Now I am sure you must be asking yourself the question, "How so? How can an innocent substance like custard be responsible for my culinary cowardliness?" Allow me to enlighten you.

Those of you who know me well may already have encountered my aversion to "slippy pudding", by which I mean anything sweet and gelatinous, like cold custard, tapioca, blancmange and jelly, for example. This aversion also extends to savoury slippiness, like aspic jelly and gravy, and emanates from a meal I ate about 45 years ago, every detail of which I remember as if it were yesterday. It was a weekend lunch, and pudding was tinned peaches (slippiness epitomised) and custard, which started out hot and therefore not too slippy, but when cold and congealed was gag inducingly so. It became cold and congealed because I refused to eat it - because of the slippy peaches - and I was made to sit at the table when everyone else had left until I did. Of course, every time I tried to get it past my throat, I would gag. To this day I come close to hyperventilating whenever I come across a tin of Bird's custard powder, and since many Asian dishes are fairly slippy (innately so, like shark's fin soup and some of the fungi, or made so, like many of the sauces), I tend to interrogate the waiting staff and insist on "dry" food, whenever I go out. But enough of my phobias; back to buffets. There are seafood buffets, dim sum buffets, high tea buffets, Thai buffets, Japanese buffets, and Indian champagne brunch buffets (the food is Indian and the champagne, fortunately, French).

I mentioned the chocolate buffet at the Fullerton Hotel earlier, which is served from 8 to 11 pm on week nights. Just the thing for a stressed chocolate lover after a hard day at work.

Movie news

I'm conscious of the fact that I haven't contributed any movie reviews to the blog recently, so let's rectify that right away. First up, "The Other Boleyn Girl". I saw this yesterday, having read the book when we were in Bali, and I am in two minds, If I'd not read the book, the film would probably have impressed me more, and to be fair, I was mightily impressed by Eric Bana as Henry (yum!), but because the book was able to develop several plot lines by virtue of its being a book, and a pretty long one at that, the film seemed rather superficial by comparison. That said, definitely worth seeing, if it's just to wonder how they managed to disappear Scarlett Johansson's bosom in those frocks.

A book that I have not read is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which has now been made into a film of the same name. It describes the life of the writer - Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a massive stroke when he was 43, which left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome - completely paralysed apart from the ability to blink his left eyelid. He managed to dictate his book by dint of blinking his eyelid when the relevant letter of the alaphet had been reached. The film makes for quite harrowing viewing, but it is quite brilliant.

Beautiful Bali

I don't know about you, but Bali is one of those places that I wish I had visited years ago - the first time I heard about it. In my case, it was when I was about 17, and I met an Australian bloke called Kerry, who I thought was incredibly cool (or I would have thought that if the word "cool" had been in my vocabulary at the time). Bear in mind, I met him in Motherwell in the early 70s, so it probably didn't take much too look cool in those circumstances, but he did have long, blond, surfer-dude hair and a beard. Kerry was the son of a friend of a friend of my parents, who was backpacking around the world, and had started his travels in Bali. The way he described it made it sound so laid back and hippy, yet glamorous at the same time, that I wanted to pack my bag there and then and set off.

The reason for this trip down memory lane is that we have just returned from a trip to Bali, and I was wondering what it would have been like all those years ago. It's a busy place nowadays, especially the stretch by Kuta beach, which is probably where Kerry would have stayed all those years ago. We had a lovely villa in Seminyak, near to Kuta, but much less busy, and close to some fantastic restaurants. I can particularly recommend Ku De Ta, mainly for the most amazing beachfront location, although the food was good too (good, rather than great).

One of the best meals we had was the mutant lobster we ate on Jimbaran beach. I say mutant because while it clearly was a lobster, it was the meatiest (if a shellfish can be said to be meaty) lobster I have ever encountered. We chose it ourselves, and on the outside it looked like a normal lobster, but there was something of the Tardis about this beastie, and it just kept on giving. It was barbecued over coconut husks and served very simply, but will remain in my memory, and has probably spoiled me for all other lobsters from now on.

Our villa was set inside a small, but perfectly formed, courtyard garden, with its own swimming pool. It was like living inside one of the exhibits at the Chelsea Flower Show, but without the cast of thousands of visitors obviously. I am always amazed at and humbled by what people with imagination and creative flair can do with a small space; this garden was full of lovely touches - a statue of Buddha set into a little alcove in the wall, the swimming pool tiled with stone so that it looked like a pond at one with the garden, clever use of concealed lighting, and no fewer than 3 fountains. It was particularly beautiful in the evening, with the lights shining in and on the water.

It would have been very tempting to stay put, but there is lots to see apart from the sea, so we hired a car and a driver a couple of times and set off armed with our Rough Guide. One of the things that Western visitors to Bali really notice is how inexpensive most things seem, especially after the traditional bargaining dance has been performed. We had some hilarious moments, especially with young kids, who develop a strong commercial instinct early on. I am now the proud possessor of several fans and bunches of brightly coloured fish-topped pencils, which I am sure will come in handy one day. The children are sometimes in pairs, and so it's really hard to buy from one and not the other, at least it was for me. Our guide was great; he told us what the "local" price was, and then looked on as we bargained down to a mere 2 or 3 times that figure.

Bali has some spectacular scenery - lush greenery, dormant volcanoes, spectacular waterfalls and terraced paddy fields of the most vivid emerald green - as well as beautiful stretches of beach. It was pretty busy when we were there, but it has taken a long time to recover from the effects of the terrorist bombing in 2002, which put many people out of business, as well as claiming, and ruining, hundreds of lives. What a terrible, pointless waste. The Balinese have a great spirit, though, and they are proud of their beautiful island. We will visit again, I am sure, and probably weave some more tales from this trip into future posts, so keep reading.

It's a fair cop

Dear readers,

I have just been taken to task - very gently it must be said - by one of my oldest and dearest friends for not having posted anything for some time, so I plan to rectify that right away. Sorry Eddie!

A quick update on matters familial first, I think, for my regulars, who will know that my sister has been staying with us in Singapore for the last few months. She was my tennis partner - until she thoughtlessly developed tendonitis and had to stop playing - style guru, and partner in movie going, and she has just gone back home to Australia. She was with us for 6 months, so it takes a bit of getting used to, but next week's holiday in Bali should help me get over it! I booked this a few months ago, on the basis that I was bound to be absolutely knackered after year end, and I was right. The photo above is where we will be staying, and if you fancy having a look at more pics, the link is attached at the bottom of this post.

I have never been to Bali before, and I'm not really sure what to expect, but I'm certainly looking forward to some serious rest and relaxation. On that subject, work/life balance is something that I have never really mastered, despite the best efforts of my friend Steve to lead me to the light. That said, I think I owe it to my team to be a better role model, so there it is - my 3rd and last resolution for 2008.

Now, what to do with the time not spent at work, that's the question. Culturally, Singapore has a fair amount to offer, but it's complicated and somewhat idiosyncratic. I've shared with you before (in the post that featured a mention of the film "Lust, Caution") the issue of censorship of the arts, but you're going to love this one. We had planned to attend a performance of the Singapore Complaints Choir which was scheduled for last month. For those of you who are new to the idea of Complaints Choirs, it's an idea that got started in Helsinki a few years ago, based on the premise of transforming the energy that people put into complaining into something else.

The performance scheduled for Singapore did not take place, however, since the authorities did not want non Singaporeans in the choir complaining about Singapore. Apparently, the complaints are mostly about daily irritations like "People put on fake accents to sound posh", with the odd political complaint thrown in, but it was not to be. You can't help admiring the national pride that motivates such a decision, while simultaneously wanting to give the decision makers a good slap!

All in all, I love living in Singapore, despite - or perhaps in part because of - its idiosyncrasies. Most people know about the chewing gum rules - not allowed in public, and spitting it out entails a hefty fine. You can't buy chewing gum in Singapore in fact. This has never been something I have missed, but when our HR team went to Bintan in Indonesia for an offsite, no sooner had we docked than almost everyone in the team was stocking up with cartons of the stuff! I'm not sure whether it's because they really love chewing gum or if it's because it was a shopping opportunity that they can't experience at home, and I have written before about how much Singaporeans love shopping.......

I've also said before that Singapore really punches above its weight, economically speaking. Much of this is down to Lee Kwan Yu, who was Singapore's prime minister from 1959 to 1990. He ran Singapore with a firm but masterfully entrepreneurial hand, and turned this tiny city state into the “Lion of Asia.” He is still a huge presence in the region, and writes regularly for the daily free sheet "Today", giving his views on everything from homosexuality to democracy. He is quite some guy.

http://www.balivillaex.com/

All the best till the report from Bali!

The Year of the Rat

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Lunar New Year to all my readers. As we enter the Year of the Rat, I have made several resolutions, one of which is to play more tennis (actually, to play any tennis would be a start) so my sister and I have booked the court for 7 am tomorrow. We are hoping it will be cool enough to play at that hour (and also that nobody will be watching our sorry excuse for a game). Another is to write these posts more regularly, so keep a look out for more notes from Singapore.

This is the first time I have experienced Chinese New Year in Asia, and it is very special. There are special rituals and foods associated with the new year period, which starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year - February 7th this year - and ends on the full moon 15 days later. Today is the first day of a 2 day public holiday and, unheard of in Singapore, the shops are actually shut!

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are typically celebrated as a family affair. Most of my team at work were out at their "reunion dinner" last night, which seems to be a bit like Thanksgiving in the U.S.. Families come together from wherever they are living and there is a special menu. We have sampled a couple of things, and the Yu Sheng was great fun. It's a combination of raw fish, raw vegetables (which symbolise the renewal of life), and pickled vegetables, mixed with condiments and tossed high in the air with extra long chopsticks, while shouting out "Lo Hei!" The higher the toss, the greater the prosperity for the new year.

There are many rituals associated with the new year, like taking a gift of mandarin oranges (two, wrapped) to anyone whom you visit during the new year festivities. You give these to your host when you arrive, and they give you two when you leave. We did get to wondering whether it would be possible to have only two mandarins, that you constantly recycle - give two, receive two, give two, recieve two etc, but maybe not.......

In terms of New Year entertainment, lion dancing is the thing, accompanied by the loudest drumming you can imagine. We saw two lots of lion dancing today - not as good as in Hong Kong, according to the lady standing beside me in the crowd - but it looked pretty fine to me. Judge for yourself from the picture above.

Hunting the haggis

As I am sure all of you know, January 25th is Burns Night, the night that we Scots celebrate the birth of one of our national heroes, the poet Robert (aka Rabbie) Burns. He is the writer of such wonderful poems as "My Love Is Like Red Red Rose" and "Ae Fond Kiss" - a personal favourite - and is credited also with "Auld Lang Syne".


Like most expat Scots, my feelings of Scottishness are massively multiplied as a result of being abroad, and so hosting a Burns Suppper here in Singapore became an imperative. No sweat, I thought, I've done it lots of times in London. Alas, I had reckoned without the import controls on the ingredients that make up my national dish. So all that I could find was haggis in a tin. Haggis in a tin! How can you use Burns' wonderful words to address a tin? Well, needs must when the devil (in this case, tinned haggis) drives, and so we made the best of it. We had 10 guests, most of them new to the wonderful world of Burns, and the party went on till the wee small hours.


Now, despite being Scottish (and proud of it) I have never much liked whiskey (I'm more of a Chateau Margaux girl really), but since moving here, I've developed a taste for the stuff, and we were the fortunate recipients of several bottles of malt on the night. So if you think you don't like whiskey, try one of the Speyside malts like the Macallan Elegancia - 12 years old, and matured in sherry casks. It's like drinking vanilla flavoured brioche smeared with the finest honey. Divine! I have it on the rocks (no alternative in this climate) which really brings out the flavour. Slainte!





It's a while since I've shared my movie thoughts with you, but the critic in me just has to recommend "Dan in real life". It stars that guy from Evan Almighty and the lovely Juliette Binoche, and is a wonderful mix of poignancy and moments of complete hilarity. Go and see it now! And "Stardust" too.


A few posts ago I wrote about the film "Lust, Caution" which we decided not to go and see because the Singapore film board had censored out all the lusty bits. However, the club that we belong to has a little cinema which shows movies every weekend, and we saw the unexpurgated version there last weekend. Wow! and wow again! There was much speculation at the time of the movie's release about whether the sex was the real deal; all I can say is "wow"!

Till the next time.........