A lazy morning, because there was a thunderstorm and I was tired. There was torrential rain for about three hours. We asked the hostel people to do some washing for us - they had a bank of six washing machines and tumble driers outside, and then we went into town to see some of the things we'd missed.

We went back to Chinatown to see the Hindu temple there, which was lovely. Loads of painted cows along the walls, bright blue people looking down with very large eyes, plenty of colour and interesting things. On the way out, a man tried to make us some clothes but we used our own subtle blend of subtefuge and fast walking to escape. Then it was back on the metro to see the Esplanade theatre centre, which is an impressive durian-fruit shaped silver building, all spikey curves and reflections. Unfortunately, as we ascended the escalator from the metro we realised that the rain had started again. Neither of us really felt like getting drenched, we'd seen the building from a distance and we were only taking photos for you guys, so I'm sorry, but we had a sandwich instead. Which was very nice. By the time we'd finished the rain was almost over, but it was getting pretty dark. We had a look to see if any cinemas were showing anything and had a long walk back to the metro station. Once back in Little India, it was raining again, and we managed to navigate a way into a shopping mall without going outside for more than a couple of minutes. We wandered a bit more, because I wanted to try a durian fruit. We found some in the supermarket, and I realised that that was what was causing the awful smell there. Mikey wasn't too impressed and didn't want me to buy one. And anyway, where would I have eaten it? They're banned on public transport, you can't eat out in the open and I doubt that the hostel would have greeted it with joy, so I decided to postpone it. We had supper in a giant food court and I found a stall selling durian fruit puddings. It was disgusting, like sulphur and cabbage with the texture of something stringy. I'm not sure if it was the durian or the pudding that tasted bad, but I'm glad I didn't buy a while one!

We went back to the hostel and wrote some diaries in the coolness of our room. Mikey uploaded them and I packed my bag before realising that the hostel still had our laundry. The nice man told me it would all be dry tomorrow evening or the next day. When I said we'd be leaving at 7 in the morning, it provoked a flurry of activity and we were handed a bag of damp clothes. Some creative furniture-rearranging in our room provided drying space for it all. I was going to get to sleep early but we got sucked in to watching a TV show where a bunch of annoying Americans race round the world and are rude to taxi drivers.