I wake to the sounds of bells and scooter engines. Australian time still lingering, I am up before it is properly daylight. There is a man singing beneath my window somewhere, a cat crying nearby. I walk early as everything is unfurling. The streets are slow and lazy before the shops open, the heat still lying down around the gutters. I pass through clouds of steam and cooking smells billowing from the kopi tiam that crowd every corner. I think I can smell the fragrance on my clothes for the rest of the day. The movement, the smells and the sounds of this city are intoxicating.

– Harriet