Mum and Bro join us in Ko Chang, Thailand!!

Ma pondering, Ko Chang

Drinking coconut water on the beach!

There's an article on Singapore's famous fines and the UK's attempts to emulate them here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/nov/02/localgovernment.ukcrime

Singapore!

The smallest nation in SE Asia, a city, and a country. It needs to be seen to be believed. Having visited in 1989 I was dying to return to see how things had changed (and my perception of them) and as H had not been, I was curious to see what he thought. It has a reputation of being quite an uptight kind of place where there are too many rules and regs about where you can walk, eat, chew gum, breathe... especially compared to other countries in the locality. What I found was although there are signs everywhere for fines for your misdemeanours (e.g. selling or importing chewing gum S$1,000 (£370), dropping gum or litter S$1,000, smoking in most public places S$1,000, hawking without a licence S$500, vandalism S$5,000 and public speaking without a permit S$2,000 to name but a few!) but because the laws have been in place for so long, people just 'behave themselves' and don't do those things- there are hardly any police around and no-one there to tell people not to spit or drop cigarette butts, people just don't do it. When I went there the first time there were guards at the tube station, who stopped me from taking my Coke on the train (!) but that whole generation of people who were kids then are now bringing up their kids and they all just look after the place and don't litter! Consequently, it is one of the cleanest, sparkliest, most efficient, least polluted (heavy taxes on private cars and abundant, cheap public transport) places I have ever been. Some say it is clinical but it didn't feel that way to us. Add to that a rich mix of cultures (who seem more Singaporean - lots of groups with one national identity, than in Malaysia where it is very much Malays, The Chinese and The Indians) and it is very exciting place. Of course there isn't a free press and other civil liberties are curbed, so it's not all roses!

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur- (which has to be one of the most happening places we have been to so far!)

There's been so much development that has occured in recent years, but the good thing is that it has all been planned and well thought out (which does not happen in most places we've been to!) The iconic KL Tower (2nd pic) and the Petronas Towers (twin towers) loom out of the sky and are so visible, that everywhere you go you can use them to help navigate your way home! They've been designed in a way that enables everyone to enjoy them, so rather than being in a separate business district, they're in the middle of town and have malls and cinemas on the lower floors and a huge paved fountain clad area for people to hang out in. The rest of KL is much grittier and rougher around the edges, and it's a very 'late' city, in that things kick off quite late in the evening (which suits me, not so great for Hugh!). Where we're staying there's loads of places to eat and live bands etc so it's a short hop to bed!

We had a day out to Melaka in Malaysia, 2 and a half hours from Kuala Lumpur today with Chris Teague and had a delicious dinner at his house this evening!

My new 36 year-old haircut!!

I'm so excited to be in a land of Hello Kitties!

View of the city from China Town Singapore

On Orchard Road, the Regent Street of Singapore

Eating dimsum in Singapore

Night scene, Singapore

Opening my birthday cards from Hugh and my Moomin Troll. It was such a sweet and soppy card, it made me all homesick and made me shed a tear :( Later Monty called and cheered me up :) Still having an ace birthday! xx

My last EVER day of being 35... :+}

Watching the sunset over the sea in Mt Lavinia, Colombo (from The Mughal Emperor, see next pic). One of the nicest things about this beach is that it is not just full of European tourists; families, locals and 'the youth' hang out here every weekend, especially on Sundays and they even pop down for a swim after school or work. This picture makes it look deserted but it really wasn't.

Relaxing at The Mughal Emperor on the beach.

Dinner on the beach in Mount Lavinia. Ahhhh...

New Year's Eve party in Colombo. The buffet was incredible! Have you noticed... we like eating a lot?

Lovely Auntie Vineetha and Uncle Cyril (- old friends of Mum and Dad's from London circa 1967). They picked us up and put us up in a top hotel for three nights as a wedding gift! Such luxury! The pool, AC and various other amenities were amazing. I could get used to it!

After around 6 weeks of being resident with our lovely cousin and Auntie in Dhaka, it was finally time to move on to the next leg of our journey. After the hideous ear infection painy times, and a teary goodbye, we finally made it to Sri Lanka. This is H in Changi airport in Singapore... it has to be one of the best (if not the best) in the world. If you have the time, google it.

My bro and H getting themselves kitted out at the tailors.

Christmas cake and mince pies... brought all the way from England for the party.

Meeting Santa on Christmas day... Bangladeshi stylee. It must have been hot in that suit!

Babysitting Yasmin in Dhaka while Mummy and Daddy were away. We went to Auntie Nasrin's house, played with Amber and Akif and ate candy floss and pizza!

Ammy, Yacoub and Yasmin on their way out for the day, Dhaka.