Christmas 2016

Christmas at my step-sister Sandra's in Cambridge.

Christmas Day 2016

Spring One 2016

Spring One is one of Paul's company's annual developer conferences and he went this year to do some pre-conference training for delegates.  This is something they do every year now.  It started as a way to raise the profile of training within the company but has proved so successful it covers the costs of attending the conference and actually makes money!

We were all staying in the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas (recently featured in the "Now You See Me" and" Jason Bourne" movies).  The assumption is that the company got a good room rate because everything else was exorbitantly expensive.  Typical Vegas hotel with bars and a massive, tacky gaming room with the conference centre attached.

In Vegas with work Colleagues

Casino's are a very good example of it costing a lot of money to look that cheap.  Wiwat loves them (fortunately he wasn't there!) but they bore Paul rigid and certainly we are not nearly rich enough to gamble anyway.  There are lots of bars, but you can go to a bar anywhere. A show would have been nice but there wasn't enough spare time for that.

In Paul's opinion: Vegas is "an experience - and now I've done it, I don't feel the need to ever do it again!"

Some of us did take a walk down "The Strip" and saw the musical dancing fountains outside Caesar's Palace.  Very similar to the fountain display we saw in Dubai a few years ago outside the Burj Khalifa.

Easter in the UK

I had already decided to fly to the UK for Easter from Bangkok, but it became even more important when my step-mother Sheila died whilst we were in Thailand.  I am so glad I went to the UK in May last year as it was my last chance to see her.

Went with Dad to Eastbourne on Good Friday for a stroll along the front and lunch.

We spent Easter Sunday with Sheila's sister and her family in Kent.

Another Thai Wedding

At the end of March we flew to Thailand for another wedding - this time Wiwat's nice Ni and her fiancé Beh (Ni stayed with us a few years ago when she was doing her Masters in Business at Macquarie University).

Afterwards we all piled into a mini-bus, including the bride and groom, and drove south-east of Bangkok, to near Pattaya, and took the boat to Kho Larn an island in the Gulf of Thailand (south of Kho Sichang where we went for New Year a few years ago).

Tony and Laura

My cousin and his girlfriend came to visit, conveniently coinciding with my sister being in Sydney too.

We took the ferry from Parramatta to Circular Quay which is a great way to see Sydney Harbour upriver of the Bridge and Opera House.  Then we went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens.

Out and about in Sydney

San Francisco

Our final stop saw us return to San Francisco to stay with Ian and Hong Mei in San Ramon (35 miles east of San Francisco - past Oakland and keep going).

On the first day we headed to Alameda to get the ferry to San Francisco.  It's a great view as you head across the Bay towards the SF Ferry Terminal on Embarcadero.  Then on to Fisherman's Wharf.

San Francisco

New York City

A short flight south from Burlington VA took us to Newark Airport NJ followed by the airport train to Penn St station NYC.

Nik and Tanya live in a great little apartment literally on the south side of Central Park.  A terrific location for playing tourist.

First stop the Metropolitan Museum to see the Egyptian Galleries and an incredible exhibition on Chinese inspired Western fashion.