Hi, Hello, Apa Kebar and Sawasdee Khrap!

Just got back in from a near-Death March from Changi Singapore to Hellfire Pass, Thailand by rail and foot. I should’ve listened to my mum who, on the eve of my departure, said: “You don’t have to do it.” She was right of course, but then the storyteller in me always wins out, and so I headed off with Paul Pilkington to retrace his father’s footsteps as a rubber planter, British Army captain and POW for ‘In the Shadow of a Scarecrow’.

It was brilliant: met some very worthwhile people who helped us join the dots of history, especially Ganan, the yellow flip-flopped police guard at the Sime Derby estate in Malaysia, Stella Wee from the Singapore Archives, Diana and Mr Ang at the Alex Hospital, and Rod Beattie from the Thai-Burma Railway Centre in Kanchanaburi. Not to mention ASP Letchumanan from the Ayer Molek Prison in Johor Bahru. Our night in the desolated and haunted jail was perhaps the highlight and lowlight of the trip, simultaneously. I personally smashed around 40 cockroaches with my prison-issue slippers, but still managed to get eaten alive by the bastards running riot over me all night (thankfully, it took my mind off the mosquitoes!).

All the while, we were on the Railway Rations: I lost around 10cm off my waist in two weeks. Nutritionist Jo Beer (don’t you love that name?) was right when she said: “After day three, the effects of caffeine and alcohol withdrawal will be the least of your worries.” We followed her advice to consume at least four litres of water a day otherwise face disorientation and possibly death from dehydration. When the mission ended, I took no chances and replenished my fluids with – conservatively – about 10,000,000 chilled Singha beers.

In Singapore, I signed a publishing contract with Phil Tatham from Monsoon Books for ‘Gone Troppo!’. Yeehaaa! This will come out early 2006 some time, with USA/UK/Oceania launches to follow shortly after.

Heard a joke related to that recently: this manic depressive had gone off on holiday and wrote a postcard to his psychiatrist: “Having a great time. Why?”

‘Hardship Posting Vol 1’ has just been reprinted for the 13th time. All three volumes should be in a good bookstore near you but, if you’d like to get a signed copy, order from my website and I’d be happy to scribble a personal message in the front for you.

All the best for the festive season.

Cheers, Stu.