Another bare 36 hours of weekend. Lots less, if you subtract sleeping time and recovering-from-migraine time.

Sogo was fun on Saturday evening. It was a Members' Special Discount Day, and so was absolute bedlam. Except in the Japanese restaurant, Suma, where we had smoked duck salad, tori katsu don, mochi tossed in ground peanuts, and Japanese tea, all in an atmosphere of serene calm. Afterwards, we braved the crowds again to buy a nice big Malaysian-made teapot in which to make our Bangladeshi tea.



On Sunday morning, after dosas, we walked to Titiwangsa Lake. It's always nice here. There are always new things to snap.



For Sunday lunch we had Hakka food at Ying Ker Lou. Really tasty stir-fried veg, barbecued pork, and eggplant with basil (which also had a subtle star anis flavour). Accompanied by chrysanthemum tea (which is nice, except the bits of flower get in your teeth). And followed by custard with black sesame paste. A kind of yin/yang thing.

The highlight of the weekend, however, had to be Carmen, a semi-staged performance by the MPO and friends. The last time I saw Carmen, in Hannover, I had to leave before the end for fear of missing the train home. This time, we got an abridged version, but the whole story.

The music is bewitching. So many wonderful TUNES. Patricia Bardon, the star, has a voice that really does make you think of honey. Or maybe honey and whisky... The simple staging -- black clothes, plain chairs, red roses -- worked well.

And it still makes you think... I read the French libretto on the bus to work the next day. And you can't help but think of "othering". Spain and the "gypsies" represented the epitome of lawlessness, hedonism, and exoticism. All mantillas and flamenco; capes, castanets, and fortunes told in cards.

So the flower-flinging, feckless subversive, who breaks men's hearts for fun ("l'amour est enfant de boheme, il n'a jamais connu de loi") is contrasted with the solid little Micaela, chastely delivering mother's kisses and mother's prayers. Two visions of womanhood...

Of course, the result is catastrophe. Everyone ends up dead or heartbroken. You can't mess with this stuff and not come away burnt...

Great weekend. I'll just sign off with a squiggle: