Of course I never forget talking about trips! This year I have been on….7 trips! apparently :/ Malacca with Mel n ZL, to whom I still owe photos , Port Dickson for church camp, to Taiwan for work, Palembang for work, Nikoi with the girls, Batam and JB with yoggers & Laos with zuzhang & jens. Driving to Port Dickson or rather being driven to Port Dickson was quite an adventure and going from one place to another in a resort plus the challenging messages and the even more challenging time in small group discussions made my 1st church camp after more than 10 years (i think) quite a memorable one…. Taiwan was more like a boot camp than anything but it was nice getting to know some of the younger players and attending Easter service there, the GUO TIE shop was/is a HAVEN! Koky was in Taiwan at that time too, which was nice and I dragged her to drink the bubbletea which I thought was the nicest JB was a trip I almost forgot since it was so short but it was good time catching up with friends and realising how wimpy a gokart driver I actually am, plus the bakuteh yums! Palembang, I will remember for the funny boys in the van who insisted on making the driver send us to the right place even though they were not sure where we were going and our bargaining with the police/army/guards at the gates. Batam, I had real fear about, fear of being bored out of my wits and fear of irritating the rest who really wanted to sit and do nothing. Thank God for a waterproof camera, goggles, tv, a swimming pool. Nikoi! Also with fear (I’m obviously not a keen fan of beach holidays) but I liked the rustic huts and all the water sports. I also liked that the staff were genuinely friendly and not just smiling for the tourists. It was nice spending time with the girls, brought back many memories of stayovers (sans nice view of the sea & massage). Memories of Laos will be of the smiles of the villagers, hiding from the tiny frog, cycling around town to ‘leave stuff, oops’, the wind that sweeps across the face as I freewheel and watch the countryside. Memories of Laos will also be on that tiny van driving through mountain passes and realising again how small I am, we are, in creation.

I’m never one for resolutions, since I’ve never been able to keep them and there’s not much point if one changes a resolution along the way but I will resolve to pray more and to love more.

This year I’ve been blessed, much by the new people that have come into my life, people from cell group, from testimonies, from colleagues.  This year I’ve learnt a lot more about God. This year I’ve realised I’m not cut out for my profession. This year I’ve gone for rallies, listened to rallies online, voted, TWICE (yes I’m yelling). This year I’ve prayed a lot more, cried some, been quiet a lot (more), attended many weddings, went for a few walks, played a ton of tennis. This year I’ve been on board wayyyyy to many boats/ ships (SG-2, Nikoi-4, Batam-2, Laos-1, which in total is 9 more than I would have liked). This year is ending, I thank God for all the abovementioned (very civil servant lingo) and much more and I’m waiting to see how God will take me into the next year.

If you’re reading this, be blessed and I hope you’ll look back and see God’s faithfulness and give thanks too

I should be used to the coming back home and feeling like I never wanted to come back home and feel like crap emotions but I’m still not. Although it is nice being able to drink from the tap, not having to perpetually dust off your feet…..

Things I miss about the trip, yes I use the word miss and it’s only been a day.

1) Waking up to awesome scenery or to the expectation of seeing awesome scenery

2) Stress free day

3) Plodding along the streets without checking the time

4) Waving to random children and playing with them

5) FRUIT SHAKES

Laos was a really good getaway. Their version of cities is even more chilled out than Ho Chi Minh City. Cycling up the roads that snaked around the mountains on our 2 day cycling trip was painful but it was great to see the countryside and to feel the wind that sweeps over your face when freewheeling after a hard climb. Cycling through stony dirt paths to get to a hidden waterfall and having to ask village kids for directions was an adventure. Ramming your kayak into some plants in the river amid rapids, TWICE, and capsizing was super fun (the into plant direction was not planned for….). I miss the children who seemed genuinely happy to see strange asian falang. Strange=dyed hair + short hair on female + wearing glasses so yes, I quite enjoyed being the weird one who screamed hello (Sabaidee) and waved like a lunatic to any kid and getting responses of huge smiles and even louder hellos back.

I used to think I was a city kid, I love the vibe of cities, of the busyness, the bustle, the activities but after the semi road trip in SA last year and now this trip, I’m swaying towards loving the countryside more. Granted waking up at 5 am cos mr rooster was screeching his skinny chicken neck off (neighbouring roosters would respond with extreme screechy vigour) wasn’t always pleasant but the sitting in a hammock, watching the mist/clouds rise and more of the cliffs/ mountains emerge into view whilst doing QT was a fabulous experience.

I thank God for no food poisoning, quite a restful trip, for good travelling companions and for the time to be in awe of God’s creative work in nature.

took a half day off, I have approx 60 hours more of time off. the noise around me is immense as I sit along orchard road. boys bantering over I have no idea what have finally left, decibel level was way too high. then it was disgruntled employee auntie who was mumbling above the music blaring from the speakers, no mean feat… and I realize Spore is a proper city, the noise the mess the number of malls… or at least this part is. Inordinate number of cars and judging by the number of people on the roads, attracting tourists or the falling birth rate hardly seem to be problems.

The final clue that spore is a city, too much of a city (I m suddenly dreaming of waking up and seeing mountains in the distance. wanderlust is rearing it’s head again) … a pigeon trying to wolf down a greasy French fry. Y-U-C-K

Travelled to 3 countries

Youth Camp

Nolly’s wedding and KTV plus boatride and stuff with the girls

Vic & Ivy’s wedding coupled with MEGA LCCF get-together

failing then passing driving test

the Games!

Yay Izy is born!

Taby’s first bday (so fun, SO MANY PPL ATTENDED!)

So many things to give thanks for….

Yet I shall still try to recollect all the things that happened….

Day 2 in South Africa started bright and early, except that the weather was hardly promising. We had booked ourselves on a cycling tour in Soweto which was at that point the highlight of the trip (thus far…). A lady (of whose name I cannot for the life of me remember) came to pick us up and took us on a drive out of Joburg, all whilst trying to find out where we were from, explaining to us that she couldn’t possibly tell us what the weather would be like in the next 5 hours and singing to gospel music.

So on the cycling tour, our guide whose name I cannot remember too (I am terrible…..) gave us an extremely informative introduction before we had to crank our stiff legs and do a bit of cycling. Going into the township, the scent of poverty really hit home. Mothers were walking with their toddlers with babies tied to their backs and rummaging in the rubbish heaps for stuff to play with. The children were immensely cute, running after our bicycles and yelling ‘hello!’. Prior to that, we had been forewarned about how dangerous townships were, and it didn’t help with the news of the murder a couple of days before we reached SA. I honestly felt safe cycling there with our guide, and even in the hostel area where we shared beer from a pot (umqombothi, that is pronounced with a click) in a shebeen with the ‘elders’. It was an experience but it was in an aluminum shack.

The tour kinda gave us an idea of what it was like living there, we had to cycle around bulldozers, past heaps of rubbish, past schools lined with barbed wire, walk quickly past the communal washing area. I can still see the scenes in my head, the poverty startled me (it always does) but what I remember with greater clarity is the smiling faces of the kids.

Went back to joburg after the tour and went to the museum. Eclectic is the only possible adjective for the collection in the museum. I went a little bonkers over the camera exhibition, vintage cameras…. Then we decided that we wanted to go to the hippy/artsy area in joburg and asked around in Market Theatre for directions, stopping for a coffee first of course. We were given directions to take a taxi and for some strange reason (I would like to attribute it to a general lack of sleep and jetlag) I didn’t connect the dots that the taxi that was referred to was not the metered taxis that we were used to. So we stomped through the CBD area through to the taxi rank (taxi rank – a place where taxis park while awaiting customers) which was like a basement taxi depot with a LOT OF people, a LOT OF taxis and absolutely no signs or directions. Already sticking out like sore thumbs coupled with the ominous feeling that we were not getting anywhere nearer to where we wanted to go, after 5 more blocks from the taxi rank, I decided we should turn back.

On hindsight, actually right after we turned back and got back to our starting point, I wondered if I could have felt less fear, let my guard down a little, and soaked in more of the atmosphere. The streets were jam-packed with people, there were hawkers selling everything from fruit and vegetables to knock-off cds and clothes, people running after buses, taxis honking. It was like watching a movie really but no one seemed to notice we were there until we stopped at traffic junctions (I would like to think it’s cos we were walking really quickly) but it might also be cos no one really bothered. I wonder if India will be 10x what I saw that day….

Day 2 ended with a nice dinner and completely overpriced wine plus Fern berating us for putting ourselves in danger (walking around). I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have liked joburg a little more if my opinion of the place was not already tinted. Am still glad we had a walk around, even though it probably wasn’t the safest thing to do….

Bunny chow! (what it is)

see…. unpredictable weather….

BE NOT AFRAID

Be not afraid, for I have redeemed you.
Be not afraid, I’ve called you by name.
My love for you is everlasting,
My love for you shall have no end.
When you pass through the waters, I will surround you.
When you pass through the floods, they will not sweep oer.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be consumed.
You are my child, you are so precious to me.

You are my child, and I’ll love you always.
Just hold my hand, and I’ll lead you home.
When you feel lost, always remember:
I am right here, just call out my name.

When you pass through the waters, I will surround you.
When you pass through the floods, they will not sweep oer.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be consumed.
You are my child, you are so precious to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3re8UIqMBA

Flew in to SA and landed in Joburg. The flight there was fantastic, there were so few people on the plane that all passengers in my section of the plane had 3 seats to themselves, I of course took the opportunity to stretch out after watching some movies. 10 hours later, it was strange arriving there and becoming the ethnic minority, we were so stared at (there were 2 main reasons why I think we were stared at. 1. OBVIOUSLY ASIAN in a completely non-Asian area   2. Bigass backpacks that screamed ‘hey look at us, we’re tourists!’ ). Fumbled around in the airport for a little while before finding our way and taking the spanking new train to meet Fern.

We sat around in the cold and watched people watching us and watched people walk past us until Fern’s car pulled up beside us. We got back after driving through bends and u-turns and rolling over the roundabout bumps. Walking around the neighbourhood, we became very aware of how seriously people take their private security. There were people walking around with mean looking batons and I think actual guns, not tasers. We had a coffeebreak in a cafe, which we soon realised belonged to a chain, very much like starbuck$ except that their muffins were GIGANORMOUS, and the meringues were STUPENDOUSLY FLUFFY! Went for lunch at a very pink and flowery bakery cafe which had great food before we were dropped off at a mall.

Boring does not even gloss the surface of how I longed to do something somewhere. The jetlag helped a little by making me tired. The mall, was… a mall. Nothing spectacular about it except for signs that said ‘WE CLOSE LATE ON WEEKENDS…. closing time has been extended to….* insert tribal drumroll here* 7pm’.  =_=

Watched a play at the Market Theatre. Riveting, the acting was great with depth and intensity. The stage set-up was simple and plain but did very well in keeping the audience interested as the plot moved from chapter to chapter…. The play ended and we stepped outside only to be enveloped in a huge mist/fog that had settled upon the city. We scurried to the car and Fern drove through the fog and mist and it was a beautifully grey city scene……

Day 1 of SA saw us in the more opulent side of town. I flipped through countless books in order to while time again. Told myself Day 2 would need NEED to be more exciting. Although learning to eat blueberry muffins with cheddar cheese was fascinating

Day 2 another day!

so in short,

I drove, canoed, paraglided, fell, cooked, hiked, swept off bugs, prayed, had jaw-dropping moments. Some pictures, wont suffice…. but still….