Mercure Batam

... by the amount of rainforest on the island, literally this place had no new development work happening and a handful of convenience stores. It felt like we had discovered a cool little place not many tourists come to, as all day we only saw 2 or 3 other westerners (and hardly any locals either!!). The scenary was stunning, the rainforrest was so dense and humid, it felt like we were in the jungle and the soundtrack to ...

... open space and any type of animals you can imagine can be found here, even aligator turtles!!! Sarka enjoyed the monkeys and anything that looked like an animal.. Then there were these monkeys with a human-like nose and these tiny little punk-monkeys -I am sure they listen to "London ...

... Whoever you are be it King, doctor, lollipop lady or food vendor, manners cost nothing but demonstrate the true character of some people - quite frankly, a rude consultant says to me that he's far too much up his own backside to care about the patient and is probably thinking about the next round of golf. If I were a patient and saw a consultant on a ward round treating students with contempt and ignoring them I would actually make a complaint as my best interests are not at his heart ...

9th July<br>Singapore City Sightseeing<br>Fine 32 Degrees<br><br>After Jayden and Taylor went to preschool, we went by taxi into the city to see the sights. We started at Chijmes(pronounced Chimes), a historic Catholic Convent complex with a Gothic Church, a real contrast to the new skyscrapers. Next we stopped at the famous Raffles Hotel a colonial style hotel built in 1887. We also went to ...

... know I am in a program at GW in which we travel and study media and how the media can hold a given government accountable for past or present actions. This was very interesting to study in Singapore because the government has a very tight hold on the media and has several laws prohibiting many topics or attitudes being published in the news. We met with several journalists and the like while in Singapore and most expressed the challenge of publishing stories that ...

... and ended up staying at the same place we did last time, we had already seen all the sights of KL so being typically british we headed to borders and read some books in starbucks! (nothing like getting involved in local culture!) had a quiet night and got ready for the early morning flight to Singapore. Got to singapore really early in the morning as it was only at 30 min flight from KL, jumped on the bus and headed to our ...

... prosperous city. There is no litter or graffiti and neither is there any freedom of press. The whole place is neat and tidy and well cared for. It lives up to its reputation. Later that day we collect Ruth and James from the airport.We've been there before so we've speeded up now. Its months since we've seen them so its good to meet up again. They both look very brown and disgustingly healthy. Its good to see them looking so well. We visit the ...

... piano abbia cominciato a sbarellare, fatto sta che il bel giorno di viaggio si e' trasformato in un odissea di 3 giorni, tra discoteche, notti in bianco, autobus scassati, motori rotti, traghetti persi e casini con i visti. Ma andiamo con ordine. Data astrale 8 novembre 2008, ore 22: a Singapore con le due canadesi, pronti per andare a dormire in vista della levataccia di domani mattina. Il traghetto per Batam parte alle 7.30, quindi dovremo svegliarci alle 5.30. All'improvviso la ...

... about 25$ each. They took a boat from Singapore's lovely, plush Cruise Centre. The boat took about an hour and, a 30 day visa fee of 25$ each later, they stood on Indonesian soil. Batam is pretty forward by Indonesian standards (we are to understand) but pretty backward by Singaporean standards - which raises the question of why it's a popular destination at all ...

After five hours of sleep in a day hotel. Well, a room I suppose the red light district of all places. Anyway, the bed was clean and I was able to get some rest and walk around a bit before catching the taxi to the Tannah Merah Ferry Terminal. Too bad it was night time , could not see much. Many xray machines to go thru - another stamp on my passport.