2009 Holidays in the 3rd most populated city in the world

A quick note to tell you all that Reiko and I are (eventually!!) leaving for holidays to attend our friend's wedding, in the 3rd most populated city in the world.
It'll be the first time I enter the country.

Any guess at the place?

See you in 2 weeks!

P-A

Ballade au bord de la Riviere Singapour - Afternoon walk by the Singapore River

Bonjour a tous!
Apres quelques semaines un peu tourmentees nous voici enfin de retour a Singapour! Au programme du week-end: une petite ballade autour de la Riviere Singapour.

Hello everyone,
after month of hard work, we are now back in town. We decided to spend our sunday walking leisurely along the Singapore river.






Nous avons donc demarre notre ballade sur la Baie de Singapour, a cote de l'esplanade, admirant au loin le Merlion, symbole de l'etat de Singapour. Cliquez pour agrandir.

We started our walk by the esplanade, overlooking the Merlion, symbol of Singapore. Click on the pictures to expand.












What a hot day! A trishaw driver decided, rightfully to take a rest until the cooler evening.
Qu'elle chaleur! On est tout de meme plus a l'aise a faire la sieste sous un pont, plutot qu'a marcher en plein soleil. Ils sont fous ces etrangers!



De nombreuses statues de bronze jonchent les rives. Elles marquent l'evolution du simple port chinois-malay en une place boursiere ou les traders font foule.
Reiko ne paye pas de mine, mais essayez de vous asseoir sur une plaque de bronze, exposee en plein soleil :)

Several bronze statues along the way, reminders of the evolution of singapore from its humble trading port origins into the economical platform it is today.
Reiko doesn't show her pain, but imagine sitting on one of these bronze cushions, directly exposed to the sun :)


















Tiens, la statue de Mr Stamford Raffles, qui a fonde notre chere ville-etat!

Hello, Mr Stamford Raffles. Thank you for founding our beloved city-state.





Sur l'autre rive: Boat Quay, et sa multitude de bars & pubs

On the other side of the river: Boat quay, with its numerous bars & pubs.







Apparently somebody found that drying clothes from the 40th floor of a skyscraper was an effective way to dry clothes!

Il semblerait que quelqu'un apprecie le fait d'etre au 40eme etage d'un gratte ciel... pour pouvoir fair secher ses affaires!







Un peu plus loin, le ministere de la communication et des arts, et sa facade multicolore.

The Ministry of communication and arts, and its colorful building.




Il est temps de prendre un peu de repos en face de Clarke Quay, un autre lieu privilegie pour les soirees arosees. Plutot calme pour dejeuner cependant :)

Time to take our lunch in clarke quay, the other famous night spot along the riverside. Its banks are rather quiet for lunch though.

















Have you ever seen a Burger King night bar? Well, now you know where to find one: in clarke Quay!

Vous avez deja vu un bar/pub Burger King? Eh bien maintenant vous saurez ou en trouver un :)





Passe Clarke Quay et Robertson quay, nous continuons notre bonhomme de chemin, longeant la riviere a l'ombre des arbres, et admirant les nouveau condominiums du bord de rive.

Past Clarke quay & Robertson quay, we continue our slow walk, enjoying the breeze in the shadow of the trees by the Singapore River, and admiring these new condominiums by River valley road.















Nous voici enfin arrives a notre Destination: le centre commercial Great World City, ou nous nous offrons un petit cafe glace bien merite.

J'espere que cette petite ballade en images vous aura fait decouvert l'ambience de notre chere Singapour!

We eventually arrive to our destination: Great World City shopping center; time for a well deserved ice coffee.


We hope that this little walk in pictures by the Singapore river has given you a good glimpse of Life in Singapore!


A bientot!

Sejour de Plongee a Bali! - Dive Trip in Bali!

Hello everyone!

Barely 2 months after my first 5-6 dives in Tioman, here we are back again, with a new dive trip in Bali!

Bonjour tout le monde!
Seulement 2 mois apres notre petit sejour a Tioman, nous revoici en route pour un second sejour de plongee... a Bali!


A Video being worth a thousand pictures, here is the video of the trip, taken by our great Dive instructor YP, from Deep Blue Scuba Singapore.


Wreck diving in Tulamben, thousands of Jacks whirling around, forest of Garden Eels, micro red sea horse, then in Nusa Penida: the main purpose of our trip, the famous Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish), a Monstrous Ocean Frankenstein of 2-3 m in height; we finish the video with our flight with the manta rays.. up to 5 manta at a time!

Click on the link for the Video

La video de nos aventures sera plus parlante qu'une longue entree blog. Au programme: Plongee sur l'epave du navire de guerre americain a Tulamben (nord est de Bali), vives des sables, Bancs de bars tourbillonnants, hypocampes rouges (minuscule!), foret d'anguilles des mers, le but de notre vyage: le Frankenstein des mers: le Mola Mola (poisson lune). C'est un poisson de 2-3 m de haut, pesant 1500-2000 kg, assez rigolo :).. Enfin, notre rencontre avec les raies manta..

Cliquez sur le lien pour la Video!

Enjoy!











P-A

Premiere Plongee - First Dive

Hello everyone!
I decided to go through the Open Water PADI dive course before going on holidays in France later this summer.
Yes, that's right. I am picking up Diving! He he..
To be fair, I have been postponing it for about 6-7 years now. We live in one of the best places for divers, with litterally hundreds of outstanding diving sites in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines..

The PADI open water course, is the most basic diving course out there, but enough to enjoy diving in open waters in daylight (no night diving, no cave diving, no deep-diving..). It consists in:
1/ a theory test (easy, 2-3 evening lessons, plus a book to read)
2/ a set of pool sessions (5-6h in the water overall..)
3/ practical skills in actual diving environments (also rather easy if you can get your buoyancy right)
.. and so I went to Tioman for a great diving week end last week. What a great idea that was!












Tioman is a small island on the east cost of Malaysia, a 6-7 hours journey from Singapore (depending on the boat you take, and the amount of time you spend at the Singapore border..). It offers multiple diving spots: from Ship wreck to Car Wreck (yup!! I saw it myself.. how did a car end up down there..), as well as great marine life.

The village in Tioman is revolving around Divers and diving life. Waterfront active duringthe week end, the back absolutely quiet and peaceful.. :)

People do not usually go to Tioman for swimming, but it offers also some pretty nice beaches. :)















... and some interesting finds! I never thought I'd see a "spongebob Moped" in my life. I can now die happy! ;P






"Go places, Meet People, Do things" did they say when taking the Diving course. They are absolutely right.

I would recommend it to all of us in or visiting Asia. There are so many great sites for diving here.