Hanging around in Singapore

For some reason my University likes me best when I'm not teaching in Australia. I arrived in Singapore (again) on January 31 and will be here until February 14 teaching a course on strategic planning in communications at the Singapore Institute of Management. As is always the case when I teach something I know nothing about, I'm learning heaps myself. Becasue of Chinese New Year, I lost a couple of days last week which resulted in me having to teach 15 hours in four days. Julia laughs at this as, apparently, TAFE teachers do more than this on a weekly basis. I guess there won't be much sympathy from the high school teachers among you, either. It would probably seem less onerous if I knew something about the subject.
I'm staying in the last room down the corridor on the top floor of the Sheraton Towers hotel. I hope there isn't a fire. The hotel management left a giant chocolate cake in my room on my birthday which I'm still trying to finish five days later. Where are Damian's kids when you really need them? I've been too busy to do much sight-seeing but things are a bit quieter this week and the plan is to see Woody Allen's new film (Matchpoint I think it's called) and go walking on this little island named "Pilau Ubin" in the straits between Malaysia and Singapore. It's a forgotten part of Singapore and a national park by default so it's nice and peaceful. There's a tiny village on the island with four food outlets all serving fresh seafood in filthy dishes so that's something to look forward to. Unlike last time I was here, there appear to be no plans to hang any Australian citizens and I'll do my best to stay out of trouble. A full report on Ash's birthday would be nice for those of us (Joe, Sarah, Daniel and maybe some of the John Roffs) denied access through the tyrany of distance.