My girl's pre-birthday parties in 17 years

My girl was born in September 23, 1999; 2 days after a major earthquake in Taiwan (a.k.a. 921 earthquake ). My wife gave birth to her through Caesarean section because the lovely girl was positioned transversely in her mom's womb.

Anyway, as the operation was scheduled in the afternoon; doctor ordered my wife not to eat nor drink after midnight. Hence I brought my wife to Burger King, the only in-hospital restaurant opens late, to have some more calories at night time. Then I first met my girl 15 hours later.

Afterwards, it becomes a "ceremony" in my family to have a brief dining at BK as a pre-birthday party every September 22. The collages photo contains almost every moment of the ceremony.

My girl is 17 now. We'll surely move on till the day I cannot do it anymore.

Three days in Istanbul

I had a brief biz trip to Istanbul in late October, 2003, that's my only visit there by far.

It takes two stopover, Singapore and Dubai, to reach Istanbul. No photos were taken in Singapore with very limited transit time. Some more hours are allowed in Dubai.

Burj Dubai (now Burj Khalifa) was still in the poster in Oct 2003.
The construction started in Jan 2004 and opening ceremony is held 6 years later.

Win a Bently as you shop in Dubai duty free.

First thing amazed me after arriving Istanbul is the exchange rate: 1 US Dollars is equal to 1,490,621 First Turkish Lira.

According to Wikipedia:
"...The Guinness Book of Records ranked the Turkish lira as the world's least valuable currency in 1995 and 1996, and again from 1999 to 2004 ... In December 2003, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey passed a law that allowed for redenomination by the removal of six zeros from the Turkish lira, and the creation of a new currency. It was introduced on 1 January 2005, replacing the previous Turkish lira (which remained valid in circulation until the end of 2005) at a rate of 1 second Turkish lira (ISO 4217 code "TRY") = 1,000,000 first Turkish lira (ISO 4217 code "TRL")."

My USD200 got me 285,600,000 Turkish Lira cash in hand.

It rained when I boarded a taxi and became sunny halfway. 

Nice taxi driver, we had a pleasant conversation in very limited English vocabularies.

Young boy standing in roadside Istanbul.

An alley with mixed old and not-so-old buildings.

Urban side of Istanbul.

Throughout several customer visits in suburban area in one day; I took a brief city tour with my colleague in local team the next day. My initial impression of the historical city is branded with a local touch.

The restaurant we a brunch at Asia side of Bosporus straight.

Mmmmm....

Bosporus bridge is so close. 

After brunch, we took a long stroll along with piers. Then had a ferry and car rides across Bosporus straight. Not a step into spots like mosques and bazaars. That chilled sunny afternoon is so unforgettable to me after almost 13 years.

Ferry pier.

Boarding the ferry from Asia side to Europe side.

Beautiful passengers

Drive to Asia side thru the bridge.

Lovely sunset

My short trip to Istanbul is quite close to conclusion. After the lovely sunset, I rushed back to hotel then airport. Throughout these years, Istanbul is still the city that impresses me strongly.