Well, I really had no plans to visit a ninth country on this adventure, but I decided on a whim to pop into Singapore for some last-minute shopping on my way back to Perth. I had a four-hour layover in the city-state and felt I knew the town well enough from my many business trips here to make a mad dash on the subway into Sim Lim Square to buy a DVD burner.

Fortunately for me, they were still celebrating the Chinese New Year here, so I was bestowed with nice candies the second I stepped through customs. There were also celebrations going on around town.