MATT MYERS APARTMENT READY FOR VISITORS

3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms - the works. Plenty of room for guests. Anyone?

MOONCAKE AND LANTERN FESTIVAL

Here are some photos I took down at Clarke Quay here in S'pore. The Mooncake and Lantern Festival has just ended. This is a photo of an enormous lantern on display across a foot bridge.

From Frommer's: "Traditionally called the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was celebrated to give thanks for a plentiful harvest. The origins date from the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 970-1279) when Chinese officials would exchange round mirrors as gifts to represent the moon and symbolize good health and success. Today, the holiday is celebrated by eating moon cakes, which are sort of like little round hockey pucks filled with lotus seeds or red bean paste and a salted duck egg yolk. Children light colorful plastic or paper lanterns shaped like fish, birds, butterflies, and more recently, cartoon characters. There's an annual lantern display and competition at the Chinese Garden."

A BRIEF HISTORY OF KAMPONGS

Kampongs, Malay for villages, were, once upon a time, home to most of Singapore's population. Chinese, Malays, and Indians lived side by side in small clusters of houses that were built from wood and attap thatch and raised on stilts. Built along the shores of the island and close to jungles, the houses and buildings were nestled against backdrops of idyllic grenery surrounded by banana and coconut groves and marshes. Homes had land for chicken coops and kitchen gardens, and backyards in which children could play. The kampongs had central wells, provisions, shops and sometimes temples and mosques. Despite their poverty, the kampong villages reprsented a community. The 1950s and 1960s were the heyday of kampong life. Later the houses were improved with corrugated metal, concrete, and linoleum, all of which rusted and rotted over time, making kampongs look more like slums than the homey villages they once were. Inside, modernization brought government-mandated running water, lumbing, and even elecctrical appliances like TVs, refrigerators and telephones. Still, all in all, life was hardly oppulent (Frommer's).

KAMPONG VISIT IN MALAYSIA

Here are some photos I took while on location in the little town of Pasir Gogok near Desaru in Malaysia. Our colleague, Jay Anania, is directing a film entitled "Drinking Sand" (that's the English translation of Pasir Gogok). We shot the film in a kampong at Pasir Gogok. The Muslim community in this kampong were so hospitable. One of the women in the kampong cooked us all one of the most delicious fish curries I have ever tasted in my life. The fish was probably caught that morning by her husband, Muhammed, who is a fisherman in the kampong. Here are some shots of Jay directing, lots of children who probably had never seen the likes of us before and the Malaysian flag which looks startingly familiar...

KING COBRA ON CAMPUS

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A King Cobra, one of the deadliest snakes in the world (one dose of its venom could kill 20 people), was found hanging out on campus, underneath the gazebo (legs of the bench are seen here). The Cobra made a brief appearance before he was whisked away to the Singapore Zoo where he will now luxuriate in a heated glass box. According to reports, Zoo officials named the snake "Tisch" after the school. The Cobra could not be reached for comment, however, eyewitnesses reported that the snake was not particularly happy about being stuffed into a sack.

1 MONTH IN SINGAPORE...

It's almost exactly my one month anniversary living in Singapore, and so much has happened. The school is still a work-in-progress, but we have officially started classes, so the tiger is out of the cage. It seems like a blur. Spent the last two weekends in Malaysia, visiting a kampong (small village/community) helping out on a colleague's film. Malaysia is a beautiful country, and easily accessible by ferry or car. The people who live in the kampong quickly have become our friends here, and we're thrilled to have been a part of their town for the past two weekends. Lots of pictures to follow - stay tuned for more news.