Life, Travel, GRACE

Have not been sharing my trip to Taiwan in 2013. My bad. Here's a place worth to consider. A chapel in Tunghai University, Taichung. If you are a fan of design and architecture, this could be a place for you to appreciate the design and its functions. I like the green and lush grass field surrounding it.

It's the time of the year again. Soon will be new year. There's something to be thankful about. Got new projects to start with. Gonna be busy next year. This time the deco of the Christmas tree was setup by the kids. Not bad. As for the gift, the kids got a bicycle each. The parents received nothing. LOL.

As published in The Star paper... We already have the world's second most expensive beers' prices. Now cars also? By Alan Tan IN about 3 weeks’ time, we will be celebrating the New Year.  Each New Year comes with new resolutions and new goals. Some would plan to own big ticket items such as a house or a car as part of their resolution. If your plan is to own a new car, finish reading this article before nailing down that resolution.  Owning a car in Malaysia is expensive. In one of my previous articles, I highlighted that Malaysia was ranked second in the world where owning a car is expensive.  But what many do not know is by how much, relative to homes. Yes, homes in Malaysia are expensive too, but relative to Australian homes and cars, our cars are 10 times more expensive than those sold in Australia compared to homes. Let’s do some simple math together.  Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) reported that the median house price in Malaysia is about RM250,000. T...

This place was recommended by a friend. It's not a zoo. It's Safari World. We took about an hour journey to reach here. Lots of animals to see. The kids were happy. As I haven't been to any safari theme park, I consider this place good for family to spend a day together. I personally like the dolphin show. The crowd, mostly Indians, were very enthusiastic. On the other way, I pitied the elephants. They must have been treated badly during their training. Just my opinion.

Earlier this year (it was in March) we went to Bangkok for a short family trip. I had two free tickets from MAS worth RM1600.00. Since I only can redeem for two adults, therefore I needed to pay the fare for the children. Well, the lowest cost offered was to Bangkok. So that was how we ended up going there for 3-night stay. Haven't been to Bangkok for quite time; so it would be a great opportunity to see their development over the past few years. Bangkok is still as vibrant as before. We stayed in Asia Hotel. It was the most convenient place -  the BTS station was just outside the hotel. Unfortunately, there wasn't many street food vendors in that area. The plus size would be the spacious room. As it was a short stay there, most of the places would be nearby - easily accessible via BTS Skytrain. One of the new places that had gained popularity there was Asiatique. The was a major refurbishment of an old warehouse. I felt like I was in Australia (although I have never ...

Not long ago, there was this sermon about how are we suppose to view and respond the end of times. Read Matthew 24:3-14 It might not be a good sermon at this time, as most of us are still have a good life in this country (aside from the volatile market and political issues). But it did bring a good reminder for the Christians, especially. We need to live as if the end is coming. Based on this Scriptures, some signs of the second coming of Christ: Deceiving (v4-5) Wars (v6) But end is still to come (v6) Nation will rise against nation (v7)  Kingdom against kingdom (v7) Famines (v7) Earthquakes in various places (v7) But all these are only the first of the birth pains, with more to come (v8). Let's examine some of these signs: - Disasters around the world: There were many earthquakes reported in the recent years - South Sumatra, Indonesia (2007) 8.5 Richter scale; Sichuan, China (2008) 8.0; Chile (2010) 8.8 and the recent one, Nepal (2015) 7.9 with...

On the last day of my trip, my friend and myself took a walkabout trip at the local market in the city centre of Yangon. The wet market was near the Chinatown area. Nothing particular that excited me - it was almost similar view in other ASEAN countries. Local delicacies caught my travel partner attention. As I'm not a food adventurer, I gave it a miss. We didn't go inside the market building. There should be another whole new world to explore. P/s: Photos were shot with iPhone 4S.

Have not posted any new sharing since May, let alone the past sharing, pardon me. Made two trips so far in this year - a family trip to Bangkok in April and a recent exploration trip to Yangon. Let's talk about Yangon trip. My travel partner asked why this place? After all, it has been neglected by travellers for so many years due to the country's political landscape. Travellers avoided this country as a protest to the junta government. Now everything seems to have changed. Aung Sang Suu Kyi has been released, and won an election. There's an open market being introduced. Lots of investors coming in (I spotted some Malaysian companies and Taiwan's Chatime). So therefore, I agree it's time to explore this country before it becomes more touristic. My first impression on Yangon - it looks like my hometown Sandakan thirty years ago where local traders were aplenty, no fast food chain, plenty of old buses and old buildings. Well, Yangon just had its first KFC outlet lau...

This yearly event is getting unexciting from year to year. Why? Because the types of balloons on display are rudimentary. I remember in previous years, at least they had Darth Vader, Doraemon and tree shaped balloons. This year it was just a normal balloon. And every year the crowd is getting bigger; a good sign for the organizer. Thumbs down for this year.

Marcus' birthday, that was last year.

It is very rare to have a clear view of the mountain range in my area. On one particular day in last month, the mountain range view was so clear. You could see Batu Cave hill too. Often time, the view of the mountain range is greyish.

Last October, we went to South Korea for family trip. It wasn't part of the plan. But because the father got a free ticket from AAX, and then the idea came. Why not Japan? We would like to reserve it for our future trip. So where had we been? We went to Seoul and Jeju Island (the mom insisted on Jeju). Overall, the trip was good. Unfortunately, there were no events or places that excited us the most. However, I did like the trip to the DMZ. Maybe you will like South Korea, maybe not. That depends what kind of traveller you are. Here are two photos which I managed to shoot with HDR processing. The main entrance of Gwanghwamun One of the entrances inside the palace