Throwback: mission trip to Phnom Penh Cambodia 2015 Dec

Thanks to Cornerstone community church for organising this open doors couriers programme, I feel blessed to be able to participate and embark on a mission trip with some our our church members to Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Let me share on my thoughts before the trip. I was a on and off Christian. When I was young, I was told about the gospel when I was in Primary school. Although I was from a Buddhist family, I still pray to God at night. However, somehow during my sec sch years, I sort of backslide and was only brought back to Christ in 2014. So going on this trip kept me excited and worried at the same time, I am not too sure how I can make an impact to the people there. I just prayed that God will lead and guide us.

Before we met our pastors in Phnom Pehn, we arrived earlier to actually tour around the city.  Cambodia used to be under this Khmer Rouge ruling and alot of people had suffered during those times. So one of the must do is to go to the museum and the killing fields to know more of their history.

The first day, we stayed in the city area and walked around with the map, came across alot of temples which I really cannot remember the names.

We hired transport to take us to the killing fields where we hear about the history. Actually, quite sad to hear about how people were terrorized during that period. I left with a really heavy heart.

After that we went to the genocide museum where we learnt more of the killings during the period.

In the evening, we decide to get our minds off by going for a massage before this sunset cruise along Mekong river. The cruise is very relaxing and we were served food and beverages.

Ending off our own free and easy tour, we met our church mates to begin our mission trip. First day, we went to the local villages to share on the story of the gospel, we had a translator and most of the people were actually open to listen to us. At first, I thought we would be staying in places that might not even have proper sewage or water facilities but, I was wrong. The children were delighted to receive balloons and gifts from us.

I remembered second day, we went to the house of another pastor to share and pray for them. One of the things we did was also to go caroling in a university to invite the students to come to church.

I remembered we went to another village to share the gospel the next day, and during the last 2nd day, we held the service at their local church and I shared my testimony of how I was healed in my accident with them when I attended their service.

I do not know how much impact we made but i am sure we did sow the seeds in our very little ways, I am very much blessed by them and touched by the children's reactions to little things we gave them. May they slowly get to know God more and accept him as their saviour. 

Central Europe trip in November

Another over due post: 

It was a trip with the parents, aunties and more aunties. Originally, we wanted to travel to Changjiang Sanxia in China, but just during that time, there were news of a cruise ship that capsized and hundreds of people died. This got the old folks worried and they decided to give the China trip a miss. In the end, we had friends who recommended us to go Europe with Apple Holidays and, "mai tu liao", we checked with Apple, booked the trip in June and go ahead with our Central Europe trip in November. Those travel agents really know how to do sales, told us things like " must book early, now got early bird prices...blah blah blah... and you will have a free China land tour on top of it..." Sounds like a good deal eh, we paid like $1840 just for the package (accommodation and tickets included),there was a compulsory 380 euro to be paid for additional trips and tips, so that amounts to maybe around SGD 550. As we were also worried that we are not used to the food there, my dad actually packed cup noodles into his luggage, one travel kettle and even sambal prawn chilli with him.
My mum got her friends coming so our group alone has about 16 people. 

The trip began with lots of obstacles. We were supposed to go via Luthansia but there was a strike and we were informed that we had to change airline to Finnair a day before. I was supposed to have a room mate (my mum's colleague) but last minute she could not make it. So the whole trip, i had the room all to myself! Good and bad, cos sometimes i tend to imagine too much, so i would just pray for peace and a good night of sleep.

Day 1 Italy - Milan
It was not a comfortable flight, but thank God, we still reach Milan via Helsinki. 

Catching the sunrise in Helsinki airport and viewing the land of Italy from above

We got the coach coming to fetch us and the trip began immediately.

 Castello De Sforza

 This is all around the Leonardo Da Vinci Square area

La Scala Opera House

Statue of Leonardo Da Vinci

After that we walked over to the Victor Emmanuelle II Galleria where international renowned brands are found. They say, come Italy, you should buy Prada, LV and Gucci. As it was the first day of the trip, i decided to only see see and look look, don't really want to lug around branded stuff for the rest of the trip. There is this pizza place that serves big and relatively cheap pizza. We decided to share and try the pizza. We bought like 3 sets and share between 6 people. As you can see, the portion is actually quite big.  If you have old folks who do not fancy pizzas, there is a Macdonald nearby, make do with a McChicken meal for my Dad. Toilets in Europe are a problem, you have to pay to go in, if not, get something from Macdonalds and visit the toilets for "free".

 Victor Emmanuelle II Galleria 

Lastly, we walked around the 19th century gothic Duomo Cathedral and do what tourists will always do. Take photo, take photo, take photo...

Duomo Cathrdral

Day 2 Switzerland - Lugano and Lucerne

The day started early and we proceeded to Lugano where there is the view of the beautiful lake. 

After that, we were brought to the Foxtrot outlets where we start our shopping trip. I do not remember buying anything from there, most of the designs there are pretty outdated.

After that we headed to Lucerne city where we visited the Lion Momument, the old chapel bridge, old town and Bucherer, this supposingly No 1 shop for watches and jewellery where i bought my very own Tissot watch. That place is very much visited by tourists, from China especially. It feels like we are there to be "Robert cai4 "( a term i used to mean that we are sent there to spend money in which the items are super marked up kind)

You can see the shape of the lion carved in the hill and Bucherer on the top right corner of the photo

The old town and the old chapel bridge area

That night, we decided to try out this Chinese restaurant near our hotel. Wah pls pls never try Chinese restaurants, the fried rice costs like 25 dollars per plate and it is extremely oily. The prawns had a weird taste and it is just not worth the price.

That night, we were told that Paris had this shooting attack in which many died. Friends started messaging me to check if I am alright. It was so serious that Paris had tightened security so that they can catch the shooters. 

Day 3 Switzerland - Interlaken 

We visited Interlaken where it is flanked by 2 lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. We went on this tram which brought us up to the top most area of Switzerland Kleine Schiedegg. 

Over there, we view the alps and the scenery is just simply breathtaking. 

We climbed abit up this not so steep slope to catch this view.

Something that I have learnt, there was this steep slope up and it seemed really tiring to climb it as from the bottom we have no idea what is at the other side. I am so glad I climbed. The view there was just simply awesome!! There was this very clear lake right on top of the hill and the view of the lake against the alps is really awesome. See the photo and you were agree with me totally. 

The area around the top. This is this 9.5km sledge run track on the bottom left of the picture. As it was not really snowing, the track is not in operation.

We went back into this little town after lunch and walked around abit till dinner time.

That night,  we had cheese fondue dinner. The boss of the restaurant is so energetic and entertaining I think everyone had a fun time. 

Day 4 Switzerland to Germany - Schauffhausen / Titisee/ Rhineland /Heidelberg

Early in the morning, we visited Schauffhausen in Switzerland to visit the Rhine falls and used as much Swiss Franc as possible as that will be the last place we can use that before we change back to Euros. It was abit wet and cloudy so pictures were not so bright and nice. 

After that we made our way to Germany, the first town we visit was Titisee, i like this place alot. Very relaxing and things there seemed to be relatively cheaper than than the things in Milan.

We took a group photo outside this Cuckoo clock shop and attended this Cuckoo clock making demonstration. We bought a little cuckoo clock home too. At the same place, we had this pork knuckle lunch with black forest cake and this ice wine tasting session. The ice wine is good, and quite cheap too, at 30 euros, if i remember correctly, bought two bottles home, one for my family and one for the twin. We went taking photos around. If you can see the forest in the background, that is Black Forest in Germany.

That night's hotel was in Leonardo hotels which is like considered not too bad stay for the amount we pay.

Day 5 Germany to Netherlands - Cologne / Amsterdam

We went to Cologne and visited this world heritage gothic Cologne cathedral. The cathedral really looks gothic and majestic inside. There was a service going on inside and everyone was supposed to keep our volume down. The area around the cathedral is pretty crowded. 

My cousin and I decided to climb 509 steps to reach the top. Super good exercise yeah. The older folks walked around to wait for us.

On the left of the picture is the start of 509 steps, the centre picture shows us reaching the top by climbing this spiral metal stairs

The view of the city of Cologne in Germany

We met the folks after that to meet for lunch before making our way for a few hours on the bus to Amsterdam in Netherlands. 

Day 6 Netherlands - Amsterdam / Zaanse Schans

The morning began with a visit to Zaanse Schans. It was a rainy morning but the sky soon cleared when we reach the vast green fields there. There were real working fields and the air there is just so so fresh.

We made our way to this factory that sells wooden clogs and there was a demonstration also on how the clogs were made.

After that, we head to this shop that sells cheese. 

The area in Zaanse Schans, more greenery

and windmills

When all the shopping and phototaking is done, we head to this place called Volendam. It is a fishing village with nice cottages as shops. We had a little photo taking session, wearing traditional clothes that make us look like Dutch ladies and Dutch man. We went nearby for our 3 course seafood lunch.

After all the food, we head to Amsterdam where we had a city tour. The guide brought us to view the Dam Square, the Central Station and also the Royal palace. 

the dam square on the left

the Royal Palace followed by the Central station

He also took us a little walk along their red light district. And yes, there were glass panels along the shops and one will see super sexy ladies clad in bikini sitting or standing inside.

We were brought to a diamond factory, another place to "tok" tourists again. We just spent a little bit of time inside before we quickly head for our canal cruise.

That night, it was a Hongkong style dinner and guess what, everyone really enjoy the food. Days of ang moh food for the old folks are just too much to bear. My dad even tabao the roast duck so that he can have it for supper that night.

Day 7 Netherlands - Belgium - Frace / Amsterdam / Brussels / Paris

This morning, we made our way to Brussels in Belgium. We visited the famous market square, town hall and view the renowned Manneken Pis - thr pee pee boy. I bought quite an amount of chocolates there too.

We went to Paris after our Chinese lunch. It was heavy traffic when we are about to reach. I guess security was very tight these few days. Paris was closed at the borders for the past few days due to the shooting and it was finally opened yesterday.   

Day 8 France - Paris

We went to Eiffel tower on that morning, security was tight and there were two long queues.  We queued like almost an hour before we entered Eiffel tower.

 The views of Paris from the Eiffel tower

After that we went to somewhere further to take a shot of the whole tower instead. And dropped by to take a shot of the Arc de Triumph

Following that, we went to see  Place de la Concorde and the Opera House.

After lunch, we went to Montmarte. There were police patrolling the area and bags are checked when we enter the place. 

Going for the river cruise and signs of Autumn

The last night was spent on the Seine for a river cruise and the best shot was the Eiffel tower at night, showing the colours of the France flag. 

 Along the Seine River

Eiffel Tower at night

Day 9 Paris 

The last day of the trip was a shopping trip at Galleries Lafayette. It is a big shopping mall with alot of branded goods. Apparantly it's visited by many tourists, there is a big customer care centre that attends to tourists and a big counter for tax refunds. 

I did not really take any photos ad I am too busy with shopping for last minute branded stuff, did not buy alot either. Just a Furla bag that is more my style. I am not exactly a brand conscious person. And that is the end of my first Europe trip.

There may be obstacles along the way but I felt safety is something I should really thank God for. Everything still went on as planned. I am glad the folks enjoy. Praise the lord for the trip! :)

Boracay Philippines 长滩岛 6Nov -10Nov 2015

The beautiful island of sun sea and sand!

I have always wanted to visit Boracay, after seeing the awesome views of the island on travel blogs. I had the chance last year ( this is a pretty overdue post). With a group of 10 friends from various nations, we embarked together on a trip to this beautiful island.

M and I discussed about the trip in June and the trip was planned around 6 months before departure. Yeah! Kiasu eh! But at that time, the tickets were much cheaper and we thought we should just grab the opportunity, whether we can take leave or not,we shall try to arrange it around the trip, no dilly dallies, no hesitation, can join, JUST DO IT! So with M's wide network of friends, she managed to get 10 people to join us. And there were friends who were keen after that too, but we have to keep to 10 people. During that time, both Tiger and SIlkair has flights to Boracay direct to Kalibo airport, which is supposed to be the nearest to Boracay ( Actually Caticlan airport is the nearest!) However,  if we choose a round trip ticket via tiger, we have to leave on a Friday and fly back on a Monday, technically, we will only have 2 days spent on the island. So we decided on a one way trip via tiger on a Friday, and a return flight on Silkair on Tuesday instead, giving us at least another day to spend on the island. (total cost on air tickets: $155 (tiger) + usd 200 (silk air))

Next, since we have a group of 10, we decided to book villas instead of hotel rooms. There were lots of exchange of ideas and we finally booked through Agoda, this villa hotel called Cohiba Villas. It is a very big and spacious villa that overlooks the Bulabog beach. We book 2 villas, one 3 bedroom villa and one 2 bedroom villa. And for 5 days 4 nights, each of us only pay about $180 per person, seems like a pretty good deal! If you want to enjoy some peace from the busy white beach, this hotel would be nice. There are also shuttle bus services every one hour to D'mall, so the hotel is still quite accessible to the main tourist areas.

The long awaited trip finally began
It was about 4 hours flight from Singapore to Kalibo. Once we reached Kalibo, we would have to take a 2 hour trip to Caticlan jetty. There are many van drivers outside of the airport trying to get passengers to the jetty. You can just ask around different drivers and compare the prices. We got a van that cost 2000 PHP in all inclusive of our ferry tickets. With 9 people in our group at that time, it is still worth it. The journey there is super long, by the time we reached the jetty, it was almost 6ish already. The sun sets early in Kalibo, it was almost dark around 530pm. We paid this terminal and environmental fee for 175 PHP each and we went to alight the ferry almost immediately. It seems that the ferry schedules are quite frequent, it was not a long wait and the locals are like also going back to the island too. When we reached the island, there were many trikes and multicabs waiting for passengers. We took this open air multi cab for 300 in total that took us straight to the door step of Cohiba Villas. FINALLY REACHED! PHEW!!

Total of 6 hours, 4 hours flight on tiger. Thank God for getting a seat by the emergency exit which has alittle more leg space. 2 hours on the van, Yes Kalibo also has such transport. Everyone squeezing and standing on one open top lorry. It rained awhile but it cleared and welcoming us is a rainbow by the sea on the way there.

After checking in and putting our things down, we caught the shuttle service and went to the D'mall at white beach. There were alot of restaurants along the beach, the place where the touristy activities are. There were also vendors who are promoting their beach activities. Somehow, the guys managed to find one who give pretty good rates for a boat and snorkeling trip. We confirmed with him for our activities for the next day.

The boat ride with the locals was packed but we are still feeling excited for a wefie. One of the restaurants has performers doing some fire stunts. Our guy friends were mostly " on fire" . Btw the top right corner photo shows the view of our villa outside.

2nd day of sun and sea
We took our breakfast at D'mall before meeting the guy for our snorkeling trip in the morning, it is a half day trip from 10am to 2pm for 3000PHP for the whole boat and extra 375 PHP for the snorkeling gear for 10 people. They also charged this snorkeling fee for 180PHP each. Ok la, the total amount per person is like 16 dollars, for half a day, and 2 snorkeling venues. 

The beautiful beach as we make our way to our boat

We also had an island hopping trip to Crystal cove island which charges an entrance fee of 200PHP per person. We went to visit two caves and took quite a lot of photos there. The island is actually very beautiful especially when you take it against the blue blue sky. But please put lots of sunblock, it can get really hot!

The views around Crystal cove island

After returning to the white beach, it was just lazing on the beach, trying stand up paddling, it was quite fun leh, but i don't really dare to paddle too far and my legs were shaking as i tried to stand up. We tried to view the sunset before going for dinner which is about 530pm...

Handling the paddle boat with trembling legs

The sunset

3rd day : enjoying the hotel facilities
As some of the guys went for scuba diving, the ladies mostly R n R at the hotel, catching up on sleep. I had breakfast with M before heading to the pool to swim, chill and chit chat. 

The views around our villa, the awesome pool with the view of the sea

We went for lunch / tea at white beach and met up with the rest of the guys. Time passes by really quickly and most of us tried stand up paddling a second time.  Dinner was barbequed seafood along the white beach at this place called Casthof cafe and the price was very good. Food and beer in Boracay is relatively cheap, definitely not at super touristy prices. 

4th day: Parasailing, massage, sailing when the sun sets
M and some friends went for a fun dive. I woke up to see if i can catch the sunrise and then went back to bed to catch up on more sleep.

After which, i got brunch with the twin before going for a para sailing trip and a massage. We book the package with the same guy who took us on snorkelling trip, seriously i cannot really remember his name but he is always standing at this diving school. (Argh cannot remember the name) We met up with the rest in the afternoon and had our finale activity: a sailing trip with the sun setting in the background.

5th day: Heading back
We cannot do much today because it is a long journey back to Singapore. You know, when you have guy friends in the group, the ladies would just depend on them to check for affordable transportation to make our way back. I have no idea how much, we manage to get this van driver, who sent us to the jetty and then from the jetty, someone is there to receive us to send us to Kalibo airport. Oh if you are taking Silkair back, there is an additional tax of 700 php to be paid at the customs. We thought tax was just 200 php so most of us spend our pesos till we had enough to pay, in the end realise that it is 700 php instead. So some of us has to withdraw at the atm which charges an admin fee for every withdrawal of....(there is an amount limit...)
And that is the end of the awesome beach holiday in Boracay.