Below are some shots of round 2 of our extended stay outside of the US.  I had some business to do south of the equator and we wrapped a lot of fun around it.

I flew from Zurich to Singapore while Sue flew to Bangkok to hang out with the Priebes, who were revisiting their past and enjoying the present!  Singapore is an architectural marvel as you can see from some of the pics.  The country grew by about a mile since I was last there.  They filled in a large area and built it out, including the Marina Bay Sands Casino, which looks like three buildings that were landed on by something from Star Wars.

Sue and I reconnected back in Sydney Australia, where we joined our friends, Gavin and Catherine and Tom Ryan and crew at the Royal Randwick for the Australian Derby races.  I am happy to report that Newgate Farms won 2 races that day, including a Grade 1 stakes won by Invader.  It was fun being on the trophy stand and drinking champagne in the winners lounge - I could get use to that.  We also toured around and took ferries out to Manly, Bondi and did some hiking along the coast finding a lot of surfing along the way.

From Australia we flew to Shanghai.  The city is huge - 24 million people.  The city is also an architectural showpiece, past and present.  Our EY office is in one of the showpiece buildings - the tall one in the pics that looks like it has a handle on the top of it.  We stopped for a drink in the bar on the 95th floor. There is a distinctly French feel to the Bund area and a number of amazing new buildings in the Pudong area.  We did a fun boat ride and had a meal on the deck on the 55th floor of our hotel that gave great views of the wonders. 

From Shanghai we went to Beijing, which is more of the cultural and governmental center of the country.  We toured the Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and hiked on the Great Wall.  The Great Wall is amazing and incredibly hilly.  Not sure why I thought otherwise, but that was the whole point of the Wall, connecting the top of the mountains for optimal viewing of your enemies (the pesky Mongolians). Sue found some time and a spot to read along the way.  We took a sketchy cable car up to start our hike and an even sketchier ride down on an alpine luge.  They are a little behind us in safety measures, but that just added to the thrill.  We finished off the trip with some tasty Peking duck.  They haven't renamed it Beijing duck yet.  Great fun.  Enjoy.