Singapore

Here I am in Singapore (for a conference). For the first three nights, I've been staying in a hostel called Sleepy Sam's Bed & Breakfast, located near the Sultan Mosque. In this photo, Sleepy Sam's appears in green on the left:



On the first full day, I remained in the neighborhood of the hostel, visiting the Malay Cultural Centre, followed by a few Hindu temples in Little India:



I thought of entering the MRT (subway) at one point to get away from the heat, but it turned out this was impossible since I was carrying a bag of durian slices:



The durian, incidentally, was disappointing (nothing like Thailand).

On the second day, I went for a jog in the morning (5:30 am) along the Marina Promenade. This was nothing really to write home about; portions of the promenade were blocked off for construction, and I ended up running part way in the middle of the road. After two breakfasts (Penang stewed noodle + the hostel breakfast of toast and fruit), I walked over to the Asian Civilizations Museum, where I encountered a Late Tang Luoyang epitaph on display (which was very cool since I'm into Late Tang epitaphs these days):



At lunch time, I strolled down the Singapore River, looking for food:



The restaurants on the bank of the river seemed overpriced, but I found a South Indian restaurant one street off the river.

That evening, I met two colleagues (Khee Heong and Von Glahn) for a dinner of Hainan-style chicken.

In subsequent days, I will be occupied with the conference, and probably won't post any additional information. I'll be moving out of Sleepy Sam's and into the university visitor's lodge later today.