Suited and Booted?

What should Damian wear on 22 July?
A blue sailor suit, with a white hat
Shorts and a hawiian shirt
A 2-piece suit
Something ethnic
His birthday suit
Black tie
Sunday best
Not bothered either way
Current results

Laura

Fingers crossed, my sister Laura, should be able to make the wedding. Here she is with my dad - when she was a wee, young thing:

It will be great for Laura to finally see where we live and nice for us to catch up. As living overseas, means that we only get to see her once a year at most.

The last time Matt was in Singapore....

His team, West Ham United, got relegated from the Premiership and the poor chap was somewhat overcome with emotion (or was it the booze?) and ended up close to tears!

Here he is at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal – where you can catch a ferry to go to such places as Bintan, which is always useful to know... So, with his beloved Hammers one game away from the twin towers of Cardiff (doesn’t seem to have the same magic ring as ‘Wembley’ does it? But at least they have a national stadium, that was built on time and only a few quid over budget), young Matt doesn’t want to jinx things again by agreeing to come out in July.

Though, if the truth were to be told, the real reason lies with the fact that Matt’s daughter, Maddy, is only a little 'un and Di has school (which, as Di is a teacher by profession, means work). But I still prefer my version.

Anyway, here’s Matt and Di, somewhere in London. ps Good luck, Matt, with West Ham in the semi-final of the Cup. But if you get through, your team’s going to lose to either Sarah’s (Chelski) or my team (Liver-5*s-pool) anyway!

RSVP

Please RSVP, via email to: 22July2006@gmail.com.

I know it may seem ages away, but an early indication as to whether you can make it would be really appreciated. As there are tables and chairs to sort, eats and drinks to get in, not to mention folding all those napkins. And don't get me started on the seating arrangement and table plans!

Dietary/Liquid Requirements
If you are a fussy eater / drinker (e.g a veggo or do not like Thai / spicy / foreign food - yes there are some out there!), please shout so that we can get some Pot Noodles in for you.

Gifts
It's your presence we want.. not your presents!
Also due to the fact that we currently live overseas, it kind of makes things a little tricky when it comes to gifts - for both you (ie lugging the items over) and us (for eventually bringing them back with us!).

If you do wish to provide a gift, we ask that you consider the 'Hong Bao'(aka 'Red Packet') as an option. This is a traditional Chinese custom: the colour red represents prosperity and the monetary gift is intended to bring newlyweds good fortune and a happy future!

Other
We may ask certain individuals to help by bringing over some duty-free champers to get the bash on the 22nd off to a bubbly start.

Watch this space for more details closer to the Big Day!

Damian & Sarah's Itinerary

We are actually having two weddings: a) the legal bit here in Singapore and b) the big bash in Bintan on Saturday 22 July.

For the Thursday, the 20th, we get hitched in the Botanic Gardens, followed by a spot of lunch with those brave souls who've made it out from Europe and then we (all?) hop on a ferry to Bintan in the afternoon (5pm ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, out by the Airport).

We will therefore be in Bintan from the Thursday evening until the Monday morning (with the main bash being on Saturday 22nd July). And will probably take the Weds off work as well (19th July).

We are not going on honeymoon until the 4th of August.

Damian is currently in negotiations about when he will be playing golf. He is keen to play both Fri 21st and Sat 22nd. Sarah has other ideas! However, if you are keen on joining him for a round [or two!;-}], please let us know.

We are hoping we can all have breakfast together on Sun 23rd Jul, probably at Mayang Sari. [Though when we say 'breakfast', we mean that as a state of mind, rather than a specific time. And Damian is already envisaging ordering a Bloody Mary with his scrambled eggs, with marmite on toast!]

We are planning to return to Singapore on Monday 24th July in the afternoon.

Around SE Asia

Here are some rough travel thoughts / suggestions on where else you could visit - just to give you a flavour of the place. Plus it does make it cheaper if you stop off en route to Singapore.

Thailand

Strictly speaking it is the rainy season in the summer months in Thailand, however we have been to BKK in August and Krabi in Oct and we saw no rain what so ever, similarly we went to Koh Samui in Feb (the ‘dry’ season) and it rained every day – but even then it was only for an hour or two at most.

To quote: "While the typical rainy season pattern is of sunny days punctuated by short, heavy afternoon showers, you could just as easily end up with ten days of straight rain - or sun!”

In short, SE Asia is a tropical weather system.. so it can rain any time of year.

If you do decide to go to Thailand in July we are told that the weather will be better in the South. You could try Koh Samui (you can fly there directly from Singapore on Bangkok airways Bangkok Air) or Krabi. Having checked out Tiger Airways, currently you can fly to Krabi (Southern Thailand) on the 26th July – return to Singapore on 2st August for S$153 (55 pounds) per person.

Or there’s Bangkok. There’s some great cultural things to see, and some cool bars/restaurants. Air Asia, Tiger Airways and JetStar Asia (part owned by Qantas), all have cheap flights from BKK-Sing and vice-versa so you could quite easily fly in/out of Bangkok rather than Singapore if the flights from London are quite a bit cheaper. At the moment flights from BKK to Sing are available at 35 pounds return on JetStar Airways.

Indonesia:

It is however the perfect time of year to go to Bali.

Don’t know your thoughts on going there given the bombings. but we have been there a couple of times – and love the island, the Hindu culture and the people. Plus the food and beer's not bad either!

There’s lots to see.. in terms of temples/culture/rice paddy fields (there’s more to Bali than the beach – in fact the beaches in Thai/Mal are much nicer..)

Having checked out JetStar Airways, you can currently you can fly to Bali (Denpasar) on the 25th July – return to Singapore on 1st August for S$155 (55 pounds) per person.

Malaysia:

There are many beautiful islands including the Perhentian/Redang islands (North East Coast) or Langkawi (North West) or Tioman (you can fly there from Singapore in about 45 mins). The east coast is the more beautiful.. amazing coral and snorkelling (though the big turtles there once were are few and far between). If you are feeling adventurous.. you could do something like get the overnight train from Singapore up to Kota Bharu, visit there, then get another train up to Thailand near where you get the ferry to Koh Samui – and then fly from Koh Samui up to Bangkok. Depends on the hassle vs adventurousness..

Alternatively Air Asia operate flights through Malaysia. You could also consider Sabah/Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) to climb Mountains (Mount Kinabulu) or see Organ-Utans in the world.

There are also National Parks in Peninsula Malaysia (Taman Negara) or you can visit Hill Stations/Tea Plantations in the Cameron Highlands or visit the more historic towns of Penang/Melaka.

Other Suggestions:

Australia: It’s a good time of year to go to Northern Australia (Cairns/Great Barrier Reef) and flights to Oz tend to go via Singapore anyway.

Vietnam/Cambodia:
Neither is a beach holiday really…. We went to Vietnam in August, weather was hot & dry (despite it in theory being the rainy season) – you can get cheap flights to Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City with the airlines above now.. In Cambodia you could visit Anchor Wat – and in either you can do a Boat trip down the Mekong.

If you're really stuck...:
You can always email us at 22July2006@gmail.com
and young Sarah has promised to don her travel guide hat and name badge on to try and help you make the most of your trip down to Singapore

What to do in Singapore?

What to do?
Apart from eating, shopping, drinking, sleeping and chilling by the pool, there are a number of things to do in sunny Singapore.

For instance, there's the Night Safari / Zoo, Sentosa / Mount Faber, The Botanic Gardens, Chinatown [a few temples, good eats and, at the rough end of the scale, you can always lunch with Damian], Little India – [pretty much like Tooting High Street, without the red buses), Arab Street [good for buying fabrics], Bukit Timar Nature Reserve [to work off all that food & drink!], the Singapore River/CBD/Colonial District [boat trip, touristy photos and the like], Raffles Hotel/Esplanade [posh hotel, Singapore Slings and a bit of culture], MacRitchie Reservoir [for walks, mosquitoes but plenty of monkeys]... the list is endless.

You can check out the Singapore Tourism Website for more info.

Where to stay?
We would recommend that you stay in the Orchard/CBD or Chinatown areas. We actually live in the West - just past Holland Village (bit of an expat enclave). Singapore is only the size of the Isle of Wight - so nothing is that far away!.

In terms of proximity to where we live two of the closest hotels are Orchard Hotel or Traders Hotel. Go to www.multimap.com (for Singapore) for specific hotel locations.

You can easily book accommodation for Singapore online. Good sites to try include:-
www.asiahotels.com
www.asiatravelmart.com
www.zuji.com.sg

We've booked stuff through all three.. I think Asia Hotels is best for hotels (funny that.. :-))

22 July, 2006

The Big Day:
The main thing to note is the time that everything gets underway: 16:45. Oh yeah, and the location: Baan Aarya Thai Restaurant, 1 Indra Maya Villas, Nirwana Gardens, Bintan Resort, Riau, Indonesia. For a map of the place – and also to browse Baan Aarya’s website – please click here

Other details on Bintan, accommodation, getting there, etc can be found below!

About Bintan:
Bintan is under an hour away by ferry from Singapore, and part of the Riau archipelago of Indonesia; however the area we are travelling to (Bintan resorts) is an extension of Singapore in many (but not all!) ways. Bintan is a very big island, and you can do day trips to see the ‘real’ side of Bintan, but if you are only there for a weekend then the sea, pool, golf etc. are quite alluring..
NB: Bintan is one hour behind Singapore time and that you will need to get a visa on arrival (SGD$18 or USD$10). Plus a useful map showing Bintan Resort in relation to Singapore and other background info on Bintan can be found here

Getting there and away:
Ferries run directly from Singapore to close to the Bintan resorts. Ferry times can be found by clicking:here. For those arriving from outside Singapore we can make arrangements for ferries/accommodation for you, for Singapore based friends we will leave it up to you to organise your own travel arrangements.

Accommodation:
There are numerous accommodation options within Bintan resorts, see:- here. However as Baan Aarya is located within the Nirwana Gardens group, we recommend that all guests stay at one of the following:-

Indra Maya Villas
Mayang Sari
Nirwana Gardens
Banyu Biru

More details on these can be found at Nirwana Gardens. (Most confirmed guests are staying at Mayang Sari although we will be staying at Indra Maya villas).

For those arriving from outside Singapore we can make arrangements for accommodation for you, for Singapore based friends we will leave it up to you to organise your own accomodation arrangements.

20 July, 2006

The 'legal' bit
The legal part of the wedding will take place at the Bandstand in the Botanic Gardens, at 11:30 on Thursday 20 July.

An interactive map of the whole Botanic Gardens can be found by clicking here. But you only need to worry about getting to Tyersall Gate.

The ‘lunch’ bit
Afterwards, we’ll take a short stroll in the Botanic Gardens to the Halia Restaurant in the Ginger Garden. [Halia is the Malay word for ginger. And is also the name of our pesky kitten!]. For those who worry about such matters, the full address is Halia Restaurant, 1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden, (via Tyersall Avenue), Singapore Botanic Gardens, S.259569

The ‘launch’ bit
Around 3pm, we’ll head off home to pick up our bags (and say au revoir to our cats, Jaffy and Halia) and rush off to catch the 5pm ferry to Bintan, Indonesia.

The ‘later’ bit
No plans, as such, have been made that evening but I am guessing that we’ll have a little drink and some eats by the beach/pool/villa with whoever can make it.