Welcome to Jang Island, Telunas writers!

There’s a lot of interest in the visitors. They don’t have many on Jang Island.

We are expected.

On the rough jetty between rickety stilt houses, a guard of honour is forming. Kids from the Jang Island school beat out a deafening rhythm on hand drums as our open pancung boat pulls up and we file ashore.

Twenty students, two teachers and a visiting Australian author have come to do a writers’ camp at Telunas Beach Resort, in Indonesia’s lovely Riau Islands, a couple of hours across the water from Singapore. Each morning we set off on a different adventure. Each afternoon we gather back at Telunas to discuss and write about our experience.

There is never a shortage of material.

SINGAPORE’S LITTLE INDIA – hotels, restaurants, and a guided walk

Regular readers of RT’s LOTR will know I was in Singapore a few weeks ago.

Here’s the full story of my stay in Little India, the part of the city that I’ve come to know best, and which I was writing about for Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper.

SIGNS OF SINGAPORE #2 – the bleeding obvious

It's for your own good, you know. Suppose your bike didn't float, where would you be then?

Street signs in other people’s countries offer an endless source of entertainment…

MARINA BAY, SINGAPORE – glass and chrome in black and white

It was the shapes that appealed to me.

I’ve been wondering what to do with my photos of the extraordinary new buildings around Singapore’s Marina Bay. I was there early in the morning, but there was little colour in the sky. So I had an idea – how about making everything black and white?

It’s my first foray into this sort of photography, so while unconditional praise is welcome, please bear in mind that constructive criticism could be discouraging to a beginner.

DON’T MESS WITH KALI – Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, Singapore

I was assured that Kali only does this sort of thing to people who've been very bad.

My favourite Hindu god is Ganesha, the one with the elephant head, the god of wisdom, patron of arts and sciences and the Remover of Obstacles.

He’s the god we non-Hindus all recognise, but I didn’t know much about him until my guide Charlotte took me into the Veeramakaliamman Temple in Singapore.

I like him even better now, though I’m not so keen on Kali, who eats people’s entrails and seems to enjoy it.

HIKING IN SINGAPORE?? – yes you can, at Bukit Timah

There may not be a great deal you can do about this, but you can't say you weren't warned.

Singapore is the second most densely populated country on the planet (see below for what is number 1*) but there is still some green space left, and it is well worth spending at least a couple of hours exploring it. In tropical jungle, green is very green indeed.

Singapore was once wild enough for Alfred Russel Wallace to spend time here, for people to avoid the area because of a tiger plague and, more recently, for Jane Goodall to get involved in a monkey protection project at Bukit Timah.