IP: Singapore Diary #2

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

First till 9 July at 0700  Singapore time, I can be  reached on my Singapore cell phone number (65) 97155532

Nothing very technical in this edition. After what appears  to be a very successful keynote that should be online soon 
(let you know) we went for a few days between meetings to the Banyan Tree - Bintan resort on Bintan Island Indonesia. 
It was very very nice.  We had a Villa with a private pool and Jacuzzi overlooking the Bay. It was fantastic. The food 
was very good with a European and an Asian restaurant -- both very good and with prices that matched US prices 
numerically  but they are in S$ (about 1.61.S$ to one US$). (everything on Bintan seems to be priced in Singapore 
Dollars) Nothing much to do except sleep, swim, eat and if you do golf, play. (I don't).

The ride from Singapore was a fast 45 minute hydrofoil in a  heavy thunder storm. It was actually fun. The staff at the 
Resort was great and friendly . Their knowledge of English was marginal but they tried hard.

It gets a ranking right up there with Kona Village Resort .  

BTW the Cellphone service is Indonesian and they seem at least here in Bintan  to have a variety of GSM services. My SG 
number has no roaming but my (rather GG's) Omnipoint and my ATT World Cellcard worked like a charm BUT I refuse to use 
it in such a marvelous place. So . I am typing this in Bintan but will post from Singapore .

Now back to work  and catching up on a Hugh email backlog

More after a visit to the computer stores etc.

Dave

ps when I get back to the US on 9 July  I will report on my perception of Singapores progress in IT