Singapore

The hardest thing for me to adjust to here, is walking on the left side of the sidewalk. My body just doesn't obey, and I veer to the right, trying to let people walk past me on my left, and we invariably have an awkward moment of almost bumping noses. This probably means I should never drive in a country that uses the left side of the road.

Singapore is a beautiful city, very clean and orderly, but still with a lot of charm sizzling under it's shiny modern surface. There are numerous public sculptures and art pieces, and streets are filled with red and gold in preparation for Chinese New Year. There are FOUR official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin (China) and Tamil (India). The amazing mix of cultures means that English is the common language, even though it is everyone's second language, and each group speaks it with a different heavy accent. This leads to some confusion, which everyone puts up with very calmly.

Collecting fluid and insects from carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants, and leaves from Macaranga ant-plants has been a lot of fun. I head out into steamy humid jungle, and search for my species, scanning dense green vegetation for a certain leaf shape or the red spots of a pitcher.

People have been very friendly to me throughout the various ordeals of this adventure: the airline lost my baggage, I left my camera in a taxi, I had to get some stitches removed (it's a long story), and then needed an emergency passport because I didn't have the necessary 6 months left to get into Malaysia.

Now, after some strange and delicious durian fruit and many tasty Singaporean meals, I am about to head to the large island of Borneo, and to the two Eastern states of Malaysia: Sabah and Sarawak.