Life, Travel, GRACE

 After my first entry on Stockholm last year, I guess it's time to continue sharing my experiences, albeit a year later. Let me briefly share my experience in Stockholm's old town, Gamla Stan. We signed up for a free walking tour on the day of our arrival. We reached the meeting point late but fortunately managed to join the group as we walked toward the starting location. To be honest, I don't quite remember the exact route we took, but it's easy to find one online. A better self-guided walking tour is also available  here . The old town offers many pleasant walking experiences, not to mention the narrowest alley in the country. At the end of the tour, we visited the Nobel Prize Museum.  Alley view of the town One of the famous landmarks. The stone that is dated centuries old.  One of the statues in the middle of the town. View of the German Church Facade of the building. The narrow alley. Open space at one corner of the town. Statue of  St George and the dragon. Anoth

 Have been wanting to write about giving. For most Christians, one should give one-tenth of his/her income. Some ministries encourage generous and cheerful giving, i.e. without limiting the amount of giving. After many sermons and online commentaries in the past few years, I came to conclusion that there are three categories of giving, based on this old article  that is still applicable to modern life, which I have also applied in my way of giving. The first one is the main giving, or sacred tithe (Num. 18: 21,24). This is the giving we contribute to the ministry and church periodically. The second type is the tithe of the feasts (Deut. 14:22-27). Basically, you set aside a portion for recreation, with family members, if possible, specificially for a vacation with a religious purpose. I have set aside some portion for this purpose - family vacation and socializing. And lastly, there is giving for the poor (Deut. 14:28,28). Although the Scripture mentions tithing for the poor every thir

Since I have visited Sweden and Norway last year, I thought maybe it would be better to add Finland in my bucket list. So I looked up for conferences to would be held in Finland. Well, initially Iceland was in the top list. Unfortunately, academic conference event in that country is scarce. So finally, came to Finland this week, with side trip to Estonia. Didn’t put any expectation on this visit as I’d expected the environment would be somewhat similar to Sweden / Norway. Well, turned out it’s out of my expectation. The capital city, Helsinki is quiet, i.e. less people walking in the city. Maybe most of the citizens gone out for their summer vacations? I reached Helsinki late afternoon yesterday. After an hour plus of immigration clearance and baggage claim, we (a friend of mine and myself) took the train to the city. I would say the whole journey was quite seamless, where the station is situated within the airport terminal area. A single trip would cost €4.10. After checking in the ho

Last month Raya break (10-13 Apr), the family took a short trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. The weather was hot and humid. Very unpleasant weather for me. Nevertheless, we had a good trip there. Good, not the best. Turned out the city had nothing much to offer, aside from Cu Chi tunnel and Mekong delta excursion. Probably the best consolation is its famous coffee - Vietnamese coffee.

 I think I didn't go back to my hometown the whole last year. So I made an effort be back in early January. Then went to Sibu during CNY. Most of the time spent to reconnect with the local food. Fishing village at Bandar Leila, Sandakan Vermicelli with fried pork - a must when go back to Sandakan Typical dried mee with soya sauce in Sandakan Bak kut teh with seafood in Sandakan Vermicelli with egg, seafood and gravy in Sandakan A famous temple in Sibu Typical fried noodle in Sibu University of Technology Sarawak, Sibu Boats, Rajang River, Sibu town Typical kampua noodle in Sibu New year decoration in temple, Sibu