Harry Potter Hits Asia 6 hours before Houston

There was a big launch of Harry Potter this morning at 7:01am Singapore time. That's 6 hours before we understand it will be released in Houston at midnight on Friday. Our friend Ade had been texting us earlier in the week to see if she could secure a copy for Heidi in Jakarta when you gets hers this morning.
Message from Ade:
Lynn,
I’ve already reserved and put some money down for the books for Heidi and myself (discounts applied for reserved books). It won’t be a problem at all, I’ll get the books at the store and then meet you at the hotel.
Ade.
Kip & I are amazed by all this .... there is something here that captures the imagination of this planet. How can we bottle this and do some good with it?
More from jakarta.... bye

Last evening in Singapore

G&Ts again - still working on our quinine levels. Then out for eats along the river.
Everyone crashed at the end. Time to move on. Great times in Singapore.

6 degrees of Separation - Wait ,,, less than that!

Wandering around the old condo yesterday Daniel & Heidi were hanging out with VJ, the guard, just like the good old days. When VJ asked them if we were going to visit Teresa too, the kids explained how we had lost track of her. He told them to go to one of the units at Balmoral where Teresa's friend Amy was still working, and hey presto within minutes we had her latest cell phone number and we were talking to her on the phone making arrangements to meet up the next day --- her only day off this week! That was meant to be!!!
So, we met up late morning on Friday and the kids hung out with Teresa all day, eating Chicken Rice at Great World City (again - yes, 4th time, if anyone is counting), getting double-chocolatte-frappa-whatsits at Starbucks and then on to a movie. When they returned to Jenella's they then had to get setup to be Friends on MySpace.
I then spent time with Jenella hanging out a the Chocolate Factory on Clarke Quay. Very strenouous afternoon.... again. Can I keep this up for 2 more weeks?

Visiting Arab Street and the Mosque

Daniel has threatened to do bad things to me, if I publish this picture, but I can't stop myself. Hope I survive. His long baggy shorts were not long enough, even with significant sagging (hidden under the t-shirt, of course), so he was asked to please wear a robe.
Don't you love it.
We were greeted by a lovely lady who gave us a great description of the pillars of the muslim faith. Would love to have engaged in more dialogue, but we were running up against the Noon prayer hour and the mosque was closing.

Then we went on down the street shopping, buying cool shades, arabic perfumes and admiring the beautiful materials. We stopped at an arabic cafe, where we lounged on the carpets, sipped mint tea, and nibbled on pita, hummus and babaganoush.
Great afternoon. Back home on the bus to take in a swim.