Retreat in Bintan and Singapore - Villa on the Rocks

Among many world renowned resorts, I picked Banyan Tree where to spend 3D2N because of it's reputation in running premium resorts.

Welcome to my independent villa. If you really love the villa, you can buy it and then you are entitled to share profits with the resort developer. For me, I prefer to be a visitor.


2 reasons why I chose Villa on the Rocks. The first is private jacuzzi and the second is boundless ocean view.



The room.


In line with the destination, all decorations are in Indonesian style.



Very rural feel roof.


This sofa is very comfortable to lie on and relax.



Shower in front of the ocean.


Towel art is very common in hotels during recent years. This one is royal peacock.


Complimentary items: tree top bananas, sea salt and a beanie turtle.


A tree which probably provides the bananas above.

Retreat in Bintan and Singapore - Day and Night @ Bintan

Forget all fame and gain. Simply lie back and enjoy the nature in relaxing mood.

Ebb tide in early morning


Blue sky and white clouds




Sun set



Crescent moon with little stars

Retreat in Bintan and Singapore - T3 @ Changi Airport

Jun 7-Jul 1, 2009

Where is a good choice for retreat? Certainly a place where you can receive good friend's warm hospitality. And thus I picked Singapore again. To make the break more relaxing, we further retreated to Bintan, a beautiful place with international resorts. Bintan is a territory of Indonesia but is mainly managed by Singapore. It just takes an hour to there from Singapore by ferry. So convenient.

Let's stay in the city for some more moments before retreat. Here's the newly launched Terminal 3 at Changi Airport. Spacious and well-equiped. It's also the home of giant airbus, A380. This infrastructure demonstrates the Singppore governemtn does have determination to outperform its neighbours.

Weather Observation Course by Hong Kong Observatory - Lesson 2

Some weather information, such as temperature is not possible to be observed by our eyes. Thus, meteorological instruments are required.

This is thermometer shed. The open design allows better air circulation and can lead to more accurate temperature measurement in the air. The slanting roof prevents sunlight to affect the temperature inside the shed. This shed is a major source of our daily weather information.



Thermometer screen box is another instrument to measure temperature. Yet, the thermometer shed is better because of better air circulation.


This small bucket collects raindrop if any. With a cylinder, we can know rainfall information in Hong Kong. The instrument is called ordinary raingauge.


For heavy rain, more accurate information is needed. Show time for this drop counting rainfall recorder.


Apart from understanding the instruments, students also learnt about weather report and weather related proverbs. The former is very useful because we can now decode a lot of information from a simple symbol. The latter is more of fun. But it's good to know different season or geographical location may affect the accuracy of the proverbs.

The course combines only 2 lessons. Nevetherless, it's a serious course. We had lots of notes, including a CD version. We had a weather observation exercise to pracise what we had learnt in lesson 1. We had class graduation photos. The most important point is we are awarded a certificate. It really suprised me.

Moreover, we have a pen and a keyring. The yellow figure is Break representing Lightening in the "Weather Family" cartoon. Other members can be found at here.


Lastly, thanks for all earnest instructors' effort.

Weather Observation Course by Hong Kong Observatory - Lesson 1

Weather Observation Course
Organizer: Hong Kong Observatory
Date: Oct 11 and 25, 2008
Venue: Hong Kong Observatory Headquarter (Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong)

The 1883 Building is a heritage which was built in 1883. Now, it serves as the main office for the government department.


Practice is the best way of learning how to observe weather. This fish scale like clouds are altocumulus, Ac in short (高積雲). A member of middle cloud (中雲族) with a bottom height between 8,000 - 15,000 feet. Weather is usually good if only they are in sky alone.

Another practice is visibility. It's measured by distance between the farthest and visibly clear object from the standpoint. This information is useful for all types of transport.


Satellites for collecting weather information from observatories of other countries / cities. They are located on the roof of another building at the headquarter.



HK typhoon warnig signals displayed in the exhibition hall. Signal 8 is probably the most welcome by the majoriy of workforce / students as they can have day off.


Damage by the nature.


Meteorological instruments are also availiable in the exhibition hall.