I’ve had the chance to go to a bunch of places in Asia, quite a few times, so this will be a long and expanding post as I remember other bits and pieces.
New Caledonia
Back in 1999, my project doing Y2K upgrades to Short Messaging Service Centres around the world took me to a few Alcatel networks, one of which was New Caledonia. This is as far-flung as you can get, and is a French overseas territory. The project went well, my colleague Iain and I hanging out with a Compaq engineer for a few days, including venturing off-road in some downtime in our hilariously pathetic little Peugeot – we were lucky not to get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Once the project was done, we tacked on a few days and learnt to dive with a chap called Auban, which was extremely satisfactory.
Australia
I’ve been to Australia a few times with work, catering to telecoms clients including an off-site in the Blue Mountains (wine tasting, horse riding), a senior engineer for Telstra or Vodafone taking me out on his power boat round Sydney Harbour, and more recently a Big Deal meeting with a major agency. Always a fabulous pleasure. The photos below are from 1999 when a few of us went out for a friend’s wedding. It was all great fun, going up the coast from Newcastle to Airlie Beach in a minibus together. The Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, diving in Airlie Beach, general larking around. A subset went up to the Whitsundays too, more larking, and I dived the outer reef on a fast boat, what an opportunity. Two other fond memories, back in Sydney: the first, was getting a lift back from the wedding with a few guys I didn’t really know, but who happened to be going on a “stripper cruise” in the bay. Blazing sunshine, a bunch of lads, big boat, free buffet, well-stocked bar and a few strippers. I was happy to have been able to take the opportunity. Secondly, whilst in Sydney I left the rest of the gang in a bar whilst I went off to do the Bridge Climb. The gang had been intending to move on and explore, but when I got back, 4 hours later or whatever, they were still in place, and had clearly become a fixture in the bar. So as I opened the door and returned, I was given a ridiculous, but hilarious, hero’s welcome standing ovation.
Singapore
Singapore deserves its own entry too, given I lived there for a couple of months while at INSEAD, in addition to the various work jaunts over the years. Plus one night for our honeymoon on the way to Borneo, staying at the hotel that looks like a cruise liner has landed on 3 skyscrapers. In summary: love the place.
Bali
This was the first weekend before my INSEAD term started in Singapore. Unbelievably decadent, about 16 of us, I think, in 2 villas. We went to the Monkey Temple and partied on the beach – I remember it was quiet as it was the anniversary (1 year, 2 year? I was there in 2006) of the terrorist attack that had killed a bunch of Australians.
Vietnam
My 2006 summer was mainly spent in Russia (blogpost to follow), concluding with a fantastic flight from Vladivostok to Hanoi. Here I met up with some other INSEAD folk for a few days together before doing our 4th term (“P4”, for 4th period, in the lingo) in Singapore. We ticked off plenty of places! Nha Trang (bit of diving), Ha Long bay (boat trip), Hanoi (turtle temple) and Ho Chi Minh city (Cu Chi tunnels, firing an AK47, argument with a hostel-owner). I loved Hanoi’s feel of all the traditional quarters – the silk district, the spice district, that sort of thing.
Cambodia
This was the weekend at the end of my, Marwan’s and Luciana’s term in Singapore. Again, we managed the basics – Phnom Penh (the museum at the killing fields, and the school with photos of all the eliminated people – upsetting stuff – and also a Correspondent’s Club cool colonial-ish bar), a boat ride up to Angkor Wat, and visiting a ton of temples with a TukTuk driver we booked for a couple of days. Oh, and an elephant ride at sunset.
Taiwan
This was from my Telecoms days, not INSEAD, and only a single visit. Taipei back then was a weird combination of East and West – modern like New York, loads of bikes like China, except they were all motorbikes like Rome (only more so). The construction of enormous buildings was palpable. I stayed in one of the best hotels ever while I was there, I remember. I also remember having problems every day finding the office, as even with written directions, there’s a huge amount of ambiguity so basically everything needs to be explained verbally. Something about versions of pidgin/anglicisation at different times, or something.
Malaysia
I went to Penang to do my Advanced PADI while at INSEAD, but my main trip to Malaysia was with Marcus and Ben in 2001, I think. A fantastic trip with two main highlights – trekking for a few days in Taman Negara national park, with a night in a hide/lodge where there was such a huge electrical storm the sky was lit up for tens of seconds. And we saw a tapir. Oh, and had to deal with loads of leeches the next day while walking. There were a few moments of heroism – I managed not to panic when changing gas cylinder (I forgot to close the tap), Ben refused to let our new friend Amy stumble around in the jungle on her own, and Marcus led the singing of The Sound of Music, so we all played our parts. We then took a boat out and the “jungle train” up to the Perhentians and stayed on Perhentian Kecil (the small one). This was completely idyllic, a little strip of beach with just a couple of places to stay, a dive shop, and a bunch of restaurants. In addition to the great diving, and the lovely diving instructor there, I managed to get badly stung by jellyfish on the first day while snorkelling – it didn’t actually sting, but I had a bit of an allergic reaction, which was unpleasant. Thankfully, Ben had some Zirtek hayfever pills and they sorted me out quick sharp. Then the night’s revelries involved fire-breathing with paraffin, which I naturally joined in with. BUT, I didn’t rinse out with beer well enough at the end, so the next day was feeling pretty lousy – this was ok though as I sat in a bar with Gladiator in the background, voraciously reading the first 3 Harry Potter books. This was the time of the fuel strikes/shortages back in the UK, I recall.
Thailand
I’ve spent many happy times in Thailand – in Phuket with INSEAD, in Chiang Mai with Marcus (the visits to the orphanage and the elephant sanctuary are fond memories, as is the wonderful food, especially the beef salad we had somewhere) and a great trip with Aurélie taking in Ko Samui, Ko Pan Yang and Ko Tao. It was all rather quiet – there’d been floods not long before – but brilliant, as Thailand always is. Diving in Ko Tao was great, and our little hut listening to the (very loud) frogs croaking around sunset. The elephant ride on Ko Samui was nice, if a bit commercial. It was the time of William and Kate’s royal wedding.
Timsformational 