Bill Price

The project needed to finalise the details of the programme for our civil servants in their two week programme at the Singapore Civil Service College, so I went to meet the executives of the International Department on 1^st December.Marjorie volunteered to carry the bags, so I booked us into the Meritus Negara Hotel, just off Orchard Road.In order to avoid arriving at 6 in the morning, and going to a meeting at nine, we went by Thai Airlines to Bangkok, and got the Singapore Airlines connection from there to Changi. Easy taxi ride to the hotel, which kindly upgraded us to an executive suite and made us very welcome. There is a nice bar with live music, and a delightful buffet room for breakfast and lunch.In our free time, we went to the Marriott pavement restaurant, a street McDonalds, Jason’s Supermarket (for wine of course), the Changi Museum and a housing development called Bopines, which gave me an idea for our civil servants. More anon.

Donna cam to see us for two weeks , well one week in Dhaka, and one in Nepal with Marj. So she got a few more chops on her passport, and went to Nepal for the first time. Marjorie went with her, and noted how both Kathmandu and Nagarkot have changed in the last ten years.November in the Himalayas is cold at night, but too cold in a chalet with wooden beds!They took a flip on Yeti Airlines to Everest, and got commemoration banners for the wall - lucky devils!Once back to Khatmandu Airport for the flight home, GMG Airlines (Bangladesh’s finest) cancelled the flight, and put them up in a five star hotel, the famous Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu, dinner, bed and breakfast. They got to back to Dhaka one day late, but worth it! 

One of the benefits of living in Bangladesh is that we are just round the corner (well, the other side of Myanmar) from Barry, so we can go to keep an eye on him at intervals, much to his embarrasment. The end of October saw the back of Ramadan, and the Eid festivities. The national holiday in Bangladesh gave us the opportunity to visit Barry in Bangkok. Masud at Travel Channel organized our flights, pick-ups and hotel, at a very competitive rate.

The new Bangkok International Airport is very impressive, and a lot more efficient than the old one. We had a limo take us to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel in Bangkok, the tallest hotel in Thailand at 88 floors. We were upgraded to a Junior Suite on the 48^th floor, but had to take the express lift to the restaurant on the 77^th floor for breakfast – quite an experience!

Barry came and joined us on the first evening and he looked well, but didn’t eat well. He arranged for us to go on a river cruise the next day, and would pick us up at 11.

The next day came and went. Barry had drunk one or two too many, and had not surfaced in time for the river trip. Oh to be young again! I saw him a day later, when we went for a traditional Thai massage (not too hard please!) and he seemed to have survived alcoholic poisoning.

We still got to go shopping though, in various malls and Suan Lum, the great night market. Most importantly, we got several bottles of Chang to take back to Dhaka!

Just so you know, the project is called MATT2 – Managing At The Top 2. There was a MATT1, which people liked, but too small to make any real difference. It’s due to last 6-7 years from June 2006, and we are here for the first three years. Here are some pictures of Dhaka.* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated ** WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *

Sea Princess Cruise – 2nd to 19th August 2006Here’s the Itinerary and some nice photos of Greenland:

Manchester Airport

Southampton Airport

Taxi to Mayflower Dock

Stateroom B220

Emergency Drill

Straits of Dover

North Sea

Bergen, Norway

Lerwick, Shetland

Thorshavn, Faeroes

Arctic Circle

Akureyri, Iceland

Isafjordur, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

Swimming in the Blue Lagoon

Nanortalik, Greenland

St John’s, Newfoundland

Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Quebec City

Thompsonfly Quebec to Gatwick

Gatwick to Manchester Airport

Taxi home* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated ** WPG2 Plugin Not Validated ** WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *

^{At last, the contract arrived on July 14, and we just have a week to pack up and go - or ‘mobilise’, to use the expat jargon. We had to get visas from the Bangladeshi High Commission, flights with Emirates, sort out cases, clothes, medication and a whole load of other things, not to mention all the business affairs to be dealt with.On July 18 we got the flight details, and the next day we got the passports back with visas in. The packing was still to be finalised - what about books? - too heavy to take in suitcases, they would have to go by UAF - unaccompanied air freight. I rang Uniscope International to sort that out.}

July 20, and still waiting for the packers to come. Now they want a copy of my passport. Talk about last minute!

Next day the chauffeur came and picked us up, and before long we were in the T2 executive lounge at Manchester International, then by Emirates to Dubai, duty free, executive lounge again, and the Dhaka flight.

On the following morning, the driver from the Marriott picked us up and in the evening we had dinner with June Rollinson, Director of British Council Bangladesh, and John Wallace, the MATT-2 Team Leader.

Then to work!

Meanwhile Marjorie scoured Gulshan for a suitable apartment (found!) and cook/housekeeper (Taheera), and everything was sorted by August 8.

* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated ** WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *Marj, Donna and I went to Southport to see Alan Jess & Chloe. The various females did something with baby clothes. Here is Chloe modelling a new frock. We then strolled down Lord Street (see Jess, Alan & Chloe with the pushchair) to a nice restaurant where the waiter said Jess could have eight potatoes because she’s a big girl – much to Jess’s fury! 

I had the operation on 3^rd July, and the tissue was sent for biopsy. On the 10^th I got the result of the scan – all clear, nothing was evident in the vital organs or lymph glands. It looks like I will only need a three monthly check-up. 

On the 17^th I got the results of the biopsy – again all clear, nothing seems to have drifted away from the melanoma into the surrounding tissue – so great. All clear, but three month check-ups for the next three years just to be sure. 

Marj had said a couple of times that she didn’t like the look of a mole on my back. She urged me to let the doctor have a look. The practice nurse thought it needed checking properly, and booked me in to see a dermatologist at Bolton Hospital. 

The dermatologist removed the offending lesion, and arranged for me to see a specialist on 22^nd June. He needed to check if it had spread, so I had a blood test and an x-ray her and then, and was booked in for a scan on 30^th June, and an operation to remove the surrounding tissue for biopsy on 3^rd July. That’s quick – and shows the NHS can be brilliant. 

* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated ** WPG2 Plugin Not Validated * 26th May was a nice visit to Alan & Jess, and a lunch at the pub. Here’s some smiling faces from Grandad and Nana with a bemused Chloe.