Hey, I'm back

Happy New Year, folks.

Guess which city I ended up in for New Year's Eve?   Details will follow in an update... 

Update:  So, I'm still busy, and caught a cold on the plane on the way back.  Anyway, here I was, with a few hundred thousand friends, at the countdown for NYE:

 

Yeah, I managed to reach the city state it's hard to keep me away from, Singapore, for a short break.   

New things done this time:

*  ate fresh durian at a street side stall (and it's better than I expected - will eat again.)

*  ate fresh jackfruit (pieces bought at a supermarket).  Yes, intensely sweet and fruity, like putting a couple of packets of Juicy Fruit gum in your mouth at the same time.   But gets less sweet towards the centre.   Pretty delicious, but leftovers will make your hotel bar fridge smell very fruity when you open it again.

*  ate at the vegetarian cafe in the basement of Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple.  I knew it was there, just hadn't gone down to it before.   Has a decent variety of food which is tasty and cheap, a large sitting area, and is pretty popular with women and men at lunch time.  (Somehow, I expected more women, but plenty of men there too.)

* made it to the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  Yes, been there half a dozen times, and had never made it to these gardens before.   As expected, they are huge and gorgeously tropical.  The orchid garden is probably the highlight for everyone, and now it features an airconditioned section that is a relief to hang around in after hours outdoors.   Very beautiful, and will upload some photos later.

* spotted some otters, but in the water off Gardens by the Bay.   Hench, the only proof I have is photos of an otter nose that would pop up every minute or so - the photo is like one of a small Loch Ness monster.   But there were two noses, and the swirl they made gave me confidence it was otters I was watching.  Unfortunately, though, did not witness them coming ashore.  Next time!

*  visited Mustafa Centre, the shambolically organised department store in Little India that is open 24 hours.   Some interesting and dubious electronics and other stuff to look at, but don't expect any sense at all from the layout, or to have guides as to where anything is.   

*  made it to the little Jade Emperor temple (only recently built) that is besides the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore,  the Thian Hock Keng Temple.   (Again, somehow I had never managed to walk down this street on previous visits.)   More about these temples in a later post, but just a note that the entry requirements to the (not open anyway) Jade Emperor's temple were really tough!