Did you know ...

-- that it is possible to win victories against the dreaded BITs? (Nigel achieved a major step forward with one of our banks; and no fewer than two insurance companies coughed up the goods this week, one most mysteriously -- I'm very grateful to our anonymous fixer)

-- that they grow coffee in the Johor region (and you can drink it at Purple Miao, a nice little cafe with a cute logo)

-- that lagrimas (apart from being the Spanish word for tears) are the bits of meat from between the ribs of the pig, and they have the most delectable texture: not quite crunchy, not quite chewy, but somewhere in between)

-- that Malaysia has some really awesome young musicians (as we witnessed at an MPYO concert on Wednesday -- which also brought the revelation that Shostakovitch has the capacity to be really not depressing at all)

-- that excellent chicken rice can be obtained from the Nam Chew Coffee House on the corner of Tun Perak and Tun H. S. Lee (not quite such good soup as we used to get in Taiping, but the other components of this simple-but-complex dish were very fine)



-- that pai mu tan (or bai mu dan) tea (which is white tea from Fujian) is really delicious (especially when drunk with a scone in the depths of a big plushy sofa at Newens Tea House)

-- that Debenhams has gone from the Starhill Gallery... (below are the slightly spooky remains)



-- that Christmas has gone completely CRAZY this year, with trees sprouting everywhere



We didn't have to find out, but you might not know...

-- that no-one can ever get bored with KL's contrasts







-- and that today is the 32nd anniversary of our engagement (we may be a bit more cat-eared these days, but we're still doing just fine)