Bintan and Batam, Indonesia

Bintan and Batam are Indonesian Islands off the coast of Singapore. Each is only a 50-minute ferry ride away. Two weekends ago, Raphael and I spent on the white sand beaches of Bintan at the Banyan Tree
http://www.banyantree.com/bintan/index.html

and last weekend, we rode 150km with the ANZA team in Batam over 6 bridges.

http://www.kutu.com/indo/riau/6bridges.htm
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/522322


Burned over 5,000 Calories and probably ate about 10,000 back after the ride. This weekend I am trying a 200km to Malaysia over the causeway and loop around back into Singapore.
This what I love about Singapore- every weekend you can get away from it all.

This month, I learned how to use a bidet and Muslim toilet. I lived in France for years, yet I was always afraid to use the extra bowl that I thought was to clean dogs. The Muslim way has no TP, but a sprayer that looks like the nozzle on a sink that Americans use to clean lettuce.

So one day at the jobsite after doing my duties, I realize that the TP is out, but yey, there is still this Muslim cleaning apparatus. I gave it a try, but a blast of h2o almost shot my asshole out and soaked the back of my clothes. I was so embarrassed walking through the office with my wet backside.

Roche
My life is even more unpredictable now that Swiss pharmaceutical giants, Roche, have bid to buy out the remaining shares of Genentech. Today the board rejected it, but the bid war is expected to continue. One more reason to start learning German. If this deal goes through, it will be the largest financial deal in Switzerland.