For the last weekend of March in 2009, we had our first ever group retreat in Desaru, Malaysia. The main aim of this group retreat is to write up a student training program for our group, which was accomplished in those three days. Another aim is of course to relax and recharge. On Friday, we went on a firefly tour. There we sat in a little boat watching thousands of fireflies shining along the river. This is really a fascinating experience for me. On Saturday, our nice boss treated us to a sea food dinner, hehe. On Sunday, we went to the Desaru Fruit Farm. There we were provided with a guided tour, from which we learnt how banana, durian, dragon fruit, passion fruit etc. grow. As a girl from the temperate zone, I saw what those tropical fruit trees are like for my first time, hehe. At this moment when my graduation is so soon, the group retreat adds another treasure into my memory for my 4 years’ Ph.D. life in Singapore.

It was a special time of year, Boss was feeling extremely generous and so he treated the Huynh Group to a group lunch at Modesto’s located at Vivocity. It was a welcome break from labwork that resulted in much humour, “cute-ness” and well-filled tummies. As they say, “a picture speaks a thousand words”, so let our pictures speak for themselves.
Weiheng

A group dinner at Muthu’s Curry after the honors and UROPS students have finished their projects.
Such an event seems to have become a tradition of Huynh’s group. As the “oldest” student member in this group, I still remembered almost three years ago the three girls Chun Hui, Hui Xian and Ling Rong treated boss and me at Sakae Sushi happily after they finished their FYP. Four of us girls had a great time that year. At that time boss is the only guy in this group, hehe. In the following year, Basu joined. And then Andrew and Desmond joined as honors students. As a result, I became the only girl in our group that year. When Andrew and Desmond finished their FYP, they treated us at Samy’s Curry. It was my first time to eat curry fish head, hehe. But I realized it was too spicy for me. Time flies. Now it is my fourth year already. Looking at the group photos, I am happy to see our group growing. Our group looks really “big” on this year’s photo, with three graduate students in there, hehe.