2004
One of the reasons we moved to Singapore was to be able to use it as a central place to travel from.
But before we even got to Singpore we stopped off in Paris and Lyon. We got to say hello to some old friends in Paris and get to see France's second city for the first time.
Our first day trip from Singapore was to the Indonesian island of Bintan. It's basically a resort island designed to accomodate vacationers from Singapore.
We booked a trip to "Interact with Dolphins", and we weren't disappointed. We jumped in the pens with our instructor and got to touch the dolphins and give them the commands to have them do various tricks. The pens weren't big enough, and the Dolphins all seemed to have scratches where they'd run into the sides of the pen. But they still seemed happy enough and certainly playful. We knew things would be good when Angela waved to the dolphins before we got in... and they waved back. Seriously. Each dolphin responded with repeated and unmistakable waving.
Our next trip was back to England for Sarah and Corentin's wedding. It was a great ceremony in a little church in the countryside in Elmswell, Suffolk.
Angela was a bridesmaid, and I was an usher. The weather was fantastic--hard to believe in England, I know--and everyone had a great time. We even got called on for extra duty as translators during the bi-lingual reception party afterwards.
When we first heard about Kerim's wedding in Istanbul, we wanted to go but weren't sure if we'd be able to. But in the end we were able to arrange our trips so that we spent one weekend in England and the following weekend in Istanbul.
We got there a bit early, so we explored Istanbul for a few days. They had great kepabs, and everyone was friendly--especially the ones trying to sell carpets!
We'd love to get back for a little longer sometime. But at least it was nice to see Kerim again and to see a little of Istanbul.
Our first chance to go scuba diving was in Tioman, Malaysia. The trip was a bit disorganized, but we some good dives.
I had a training session at corporate headquarters in Lyon. On the way there I stopped off in Paris to say hello to some friends.
In Lyon I got to know the other Sunopsis tech team better over cheese and cheese and meat and cheese and pototoes. The trip almost had to be postponed because 8 December is a holiday in Lyon. In the evenings the streets were crowded with people, the buildings and streets were all lit up, and most windows had candles in them.
Last modified: 6 March 2005