Life, Travel, GRACE

From sleepy Surabaya, we headed to Probolinggo, which was about 3-hour journey, plus the slow traffic. Just imagine the highway is a 2-way single lane with lots of lorries in front of you. The scam happened, as reported in LP, that travelers are often being left at random travel agents which eventually are being charged for exorbitant fares for bus tickets or travel packages. So we had no choice but to take up this particular travel agent's service. Initially just wanted to take the bus ride to Bromo; ended up took a huge package covering Bromo, Kawah Ijen, Borobudur, Prambanan and accomodation in Yogya. The price: 1.8 millions rupiah for two. Could be a good deal but believe the price can go even lower. Never mind the price but we didn't get to stay at the preferred place on top of the mountain (Cemoro Lawang). Instead we settled at Ngadisari which was about 3km before reaching Cemoro Lawang. That was an overnight stay before we woke up the next morning for the sunrise view in

There's a new renovated church in Sibu - Masland Methodist Church. One of the impressive points found in this church - pipe organ. You don't need to go to Petronas Philharmonic Hall to see a pipe organ. This church has it. Another impressive point is the backdrop deco - a cross with a fish motif. I guess the fish motif means be a fisherman. For details, read here and here .

Perhaps at one point of life, one should stop and re-look and rethink. That's why God rested on the 7th day after the creation. In the just-in-time, modern workplace, speed seems to be all-important. Email and cellphones demand an instant response, and a deadline lurks around every corner. A 2001 survey conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions found that EU workers were under much greater time pressure than a decade ago. A third now spend all or almost all of their time rushing to meet deadlines. Of course, speed has a role in the workplace. A deadline can focus the mind and spur us on to perform remarkable feats. The trouble is that many of us are permanently stuck in deadline mode, leaving little time to ease off and recharge. The things that need slowness - strategic planning, creative thought, building relationships - get lost in the mad dash to keep up, or even just to look busy. - Carl Hanore Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out

Bored? Let's try the walker.

My next door condo is up and ready. Within a year, they managed to complete it. See the progress photos below - the first photo was captured in May'08. The third one was captured last week. Now they are launching the second phase project. The show units are quite impressive. When you look at the price, it's even more impressive. Believe it or not, it's 80% sold out. Recession is over?

It was unfortunate that our flight to Surabaya was delayed more than 2 hours. The flight was supposed to take off at 4.50pm. Ended up leaving LCCT about 7pm. Even the next flight to the same destination has left. We're being last. Talking about on time schedule.... Since we arrived in Surabaya quite late, so there was not much option to scout for cheap accommodation. We ended up in a 3-star hotel with room rate about 370,000 rupiah (about rm130). That was the most expensive and luxurious stay we ever had during the trip. Was glad we only stopped for one night in Surabaya. We would be wondering what to do had we stayed for another day as there was nothing interesting to see there. In fact, you can totally skip that town and directly head to your next destination. During the morning stroll around the neighborhood, most shops were either vacant or not yet opened. Some even turned into graffiti display wall. Very artful.