Singapore is another of our "homes", and we always enjoy returning. There are plenty of familiar things to savour, and there's always something new to explore.

Catastrophic immigration lines on the way in (two whole hours...), but that was the only low point in an otherwise highly successful trip.

The old this time included the Innotel and its cozy pavement bar, HopHeads (a great place to hang out, especially with a serendipitously encountered friend); Ya Kun (of course); TCC (mille crepes this time); the Shaw Centre's cinema (where we saw the absolutely fabulous Absolutely Fabulous, which excels in little digs at contemporary British life); and a catch-up with friends (at the Indochili this time, an excellent Indonesian restaurant where we corporately surrounded eggplant balado, awesomely tasty tofu and egg, tender oxtail soup, and ikan bakar).





Familiar, too -- and indeed the raison d'etre of the visit -- was the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, which put on another of its always excellent ASEAN roundtables (where I even got to take a fuzzy picture of the secretary-general). And of course there was the familiar compulsory splurge in their goldmine of a bookshop...



All this was great. But there was also plenty of new:

-- Walking the old railway track. We caught the MRT to Kranji, where a short walk, alongside the go-cart track, brought us to the access point. Strange in a way. It's just over six years since we rode that bit of track, en route for Seremban and thence Langkawi. Now it's quiet, grassy, and butterfly-filled. We walked as far as Dunearn Road. King Albert Park metro station, to be precise. The surroundings vary constantly, as you move from an industrial area to an HDB area to a leafy upper-class area. There are picturesque bridges and cuttings. There are good views of Bukit Timah. And alongside the Junction 10 mall you can watch cute little rubber-tyred railcars-cum-buses wending their way along their overhead tracks. An onward MRT takes you to Little India, where you can enjoy lunch at the Tekka Centre (very nice tandoori chicken with a mint and onion relish, plus piping hot crispy naan, and sugar-cane juice, all for very little money).









-- Checking out Tiong Bahru. Breakfast at the famous food court, for example. Lor mee with deep-fried shark. Delicious. Follow it up with the ginger tea you didn't have room for at the Tekka Centre. And notice what an interesting little area this is. Go back then, another evening, for more of the "streamline moderne" residential architecture from the 1930s. Call in at the Tiong Bahru Club for tapas (deep-fried crispy okra perhaps, or squid stuffed with spicy pork and beef) and a couple of glasses of New Zealand chardonnay, and then pop back into the market for desserts. By that time there'll be just a few stalls and customers, plus the clearing lady, her trolley radio tuned to a Chinese music station as sweetly old-fashioned as your almond and longan pudding. After that, walk home, via the river, in the warm Singapore night.







-- Walking the Southern Ridges. You do this by means of the string of paths linking Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill, Hort Park, and Kent Ridge Park. There are two awesome pedestrian bridges (the Henderson Waves and Alexandra Arch), a lengthy metal walkway that zigzags over the forest, and a canopy walkway (the only bit we'd done before, when we lived here). There are fabulous views of the port. And Hort Park is a miracle of pretty little spaces. Altogether, foot-punishing, but totally worth it.









-- Starting to nibble at the edges of the newly minted and enormous National Gallery Singapore, where we had a brilliantly informative day. The building -- or rather, buildings, as the former Supreme Court and City Hall have been sandwiched together -- is awesome, and we interspersed our gallery viewing with trips to the Rotunda (inside and out) and the superb roof gardens, which are green, water-coated, copiously supplied with breathtaking city views, and totally an example of what to do with roofs. In terms of art, we started off with Siapa Nama Kamu, an exhibition of art in Singapore since the 19th century. Fascinating to watch the different schools emerge, reflecting and interacting with Singapore's unique environment, location, and historical development. We also looked at the exhibition by Chua Ek Kay, entitled After the Rain. Much of this really resonated. I would paint lotus ponds and decaying shophouses and reed-beds like that, if only I could paint... Chua travelled widely, and adapted his techniques to reflect the different environments he found himself in. Another lesson...













-- Taking a break from all that art by heading downstairs to Saha, which offers "modern Indian cuisine, interpreted with an innovative twist by renowned Chef Patron Abhijit Saha". It was a superb lunch. Mini poppadoms with two tasty chutneys. An orange and mint "popsicle" as a palate-cleanser. Garlic naan and butter naan. Mushrooms in a faintly spicy fresh green sauce. Velvety smooth chicken korma. Buttermilk with cardamom. An appam to try. Delectable petits fours. And masala chai.

-- Visiting the Cathay Gallery, an interesting little collection focused on the Loke Yew family, film-making in Hong Kong, and the chain of Cathay cinemas. Before or after you can visit the nearby ice-cream emporium, The Daily Scoop, for waffles with avocado ice-cream.



-- Visiting a lovely little exhibition at the Visual Arts Centre, called The Victory Icon: Contemporary Ganesha Art (a highly diverse set of depictions of Ganesh, from the old and wise, to the cute and flirty), talking to some of the friendly artists, and enjoying a little evening relaxation in the adjacent park's new swing chairs.



Whenever we leave, we miss it. Till next time...