Can you believe it's the end of January...?

It doesn't seem five minutes since we were sounding that wonderfully resonant temple bell in the first minutes of a brand new year, and now one twelfth of it has evaporated already...

However, if the number of photographs were the sole criteria, this fast-moving month (with its 619 images) would be the most interesting since NilAligned records began... And 20 PT posts is a record for January too.

We started the month in Japan -- first in Fukuoka, where we'd arrived half-way through December, and then in Nagasaki. It's hard to pick highlights, as it was all very memorable, but I guess, if pressed, I'd choose Fukuoka's temples, our trip to Yanagawa, and the various walks that told us something of Nagasaki's Christian heritage.








Exactly a week ago, we arrived back in Kuching.


The drenching rain has been a bit of a pain of late, but Kuching is, at the end of the day, a lovely place to come back to, and we're really enjoying the exuberance with which the Chinese community here is celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit.


(I'm loving all the bunny iconography, but some of it has been more controversial in China, it seems...)



One of my New Year's resolutions was to get my diary-writing habit back on track. I've kept a diary since 1992, but it really languished last year for various reasons. So, full marks to the Diarium app for giving PT's journalling a new lease of life. It's really easy to use, highly multi-media, and not expensive. Totally recommend.

So that resolution is in good shape.

Unfortunately, I can't report much success in my efforts to learn Japanese, or to bring the rest of my language-learning activity into some sort of order.





I need no resolutions to read, however -- maybe I need resolutions to read less... -- and The Velvet Cushion featured an eclectic selection this month. There were no fewer than four crime stories: The Girl From Kyushu by Seicho Matsumoto; The Mysterious Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo; The Canary Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine; and As a Thief in the Night by R. Austin Freeman. But we also had The Story of the Separate Ways by Elena Ferrante; Convenience Store Person by Sayaka Murata; and Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville. Oh, and there was a movie post, too.

Over the week since our return, we've caught up with a few friends already, had a ton of the casual conversations that are a feature of Kuching life, and started to work our way through our list of favourite eateries.

But we're in a kind of in-between space at the moment. In fewer than three weeks -- barring unforeseen circumstances -- we'll be setting off towards Europe. The end of next month should find us in Bulgaria... May it be. May it be.