C-H-A-N-G-E

Am thinking of changing this to a photoblog...
New direction: randomness...

The Pearl of the Orient

Finally visited Hong Kong!

5 things i like bout this city:
(1) Public trasportation integration - thumbs up
(2) High-techness - the octopus card puts touch & go card to shame...heck, they even hv a vending machine selling umbrellas which can be paid for using octopus card!!
(3) Disable friendly - even handrails have braille!
(4) Washrooms - clean, dry, toilet papers provided & FREE!!
(5) Food everywhere...

5 things i dislike bout this city:
(1) Smokers everywhere!!
(2) People i 'encountered' are generally rude...
(3) Crowded... not enough space...
(4) Impatient restaurateurs, waiters, vendors...
(5) Dishonest vendors who cheat tourists

Conslusion: This city is worth visiting but not for permanent residency =p

Sigh...

Introvert?

Let God Be Enough

Click this: Let God Be Enough - Spiritled Woman

Jkt

Married people have the 7 year itch, similarly, I have a yearly itch… the itch to travel =p

So I begged and pestered my sister to travel with me and after a long deliberation, we agreed on a destination that most chinese won’t be interested in… Jakarta, Indonesia.

Here’s a brief post-travel log…Air Asia tickets aren’t cheap so I took KLM. Lagi best! Fare includes seating, luggage check-in, food, entertainment, more space and mat salleh(s) ;D

Touched down at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport around 6.30 p.m… the queue at immigration is crazy! Long and slow… kena scan fingerprints and take off glasses to have picture taken at the immigration counter lagi… bukan semua orang kena tau… ish… then met up with my sister who flew in from KK… saw Indonesian artist, Bertrand Antolin, at the airport!

Good thing traffic wasn’t too bad… stayed at Ibis Tamarin Hotel… not bad lar… good location… once checked-in we walked out for some street food… very unhygienic and there are lots of people asking for money by selling stuff and singing by the tables…also as if the air isn’t bad enough, everyone smokes… young and old, male and female… even in indoor air-conditioned restaurants! 

Early the next morning we took a cab to the National Monument… long walk… damn hot… then it’s shopping time… we took the bajaj! Most malls in Jakarta are high-classed and expensive… lots of food and beverage choices… the customer service is superb… personnel greet patrons and are helpful unlike you-know-where… the most striking thing I noticed is it’s safe to leave your stuff such as mobile phones on the table when dining… in Msia your phone can be snatched even when you’re talking on it! Managed to meet up with a brother who’s currently based in Jkt… had kopi luwak gold blend… nothing to shout about =p

Went to Dunia Fantasi-Ancol… it’s a huge theme park with games, water adventures, sea world, et cetera… before leaving we saw a filming crew shooting by the carousel… after that more shopping… continued to shop for the rest of the trip… 

Time flies when you’re having fun eh… we went to the airport early as we’ve been warned of the unpredictable traffic in Jkt… true enough… there was a demonstration at one of the busiest roundabout and we had to take a quick detour to bypass the closed road… then there was an accident on the highway… sampai airport also took some time to find the right departure hall… queued to drop the luggage… queued to immigration… then finally time to board and tata Jkt…

When the Earth Moves: Pray for Japan (by Albert Mohler) - March 14, 2011

Extracted from Christianity.com

There can be few more frightening experiences than an earthquake, and last Friday’s quake that has devastated Japan will rank among the strongest ever recorded. Ranking 9.0 on the scale of magnitude, the Sendai, Japan quake ranks fifth among earthquakes in recorded history, coming after the 1960 quake in Chile (9.5), the 1964 quake at Prince William Sound, Alaska (9.2), the deadly Sumatra, Indonesia quake of 2004 (9.1), and the 1952 quake at Kamchatka, Russia (9.0).

But then, adding misery and terror to the devastating damage caused by the earthquake, a massive tsunami caused by the quake inundated countless miles of Japan’s coastline, taking several villages completely out to sea. The loss of energy caused by the quake and tsunami then led to another looming disaster — at least a partial meltdown of the reactor cores at two, and possibly more, nearby nuclear power plants. As if all that was not enough, a volcano in southern Japan erupted on Sunday, underlining that fact that the island nation rests atop the Pacific’s feared “Ring of Fire.”

Japan is perched on the edge of the Tuscarora Deep, a cleft in the earth’s crust five miles in depth that runs alongside the nation’s coastline. The massive stresses that build up along the Tuscarora Deep produce the historic earthquakes that Japan has experienced throughout its history — but never before so severe as on Friday.

The death toll from the disaster is not yet known, but early on Monday the Japanese government warned that the loss of life would likely be far greater than first thought. The deaths are not likely to come even close to the 230,000 who died in the 2004 Indonesian earthquake and tsunami, but the suffering and grief will be incalculable. The economic devastation to Japan may exceed that of any previous natural disaster anywhere in the world.

Japan is the most disaster-ready nation on earth. Its building codes, warning systems, emergency services, and disaster response teams are the best in the world. But there was no amount of human planning that could have stopped this destruction. This disaster lies far outside the range of human control or preparedness.

We must pray for the people of Japan. We must pray for the lives that can be saved and for the grieving families who have lost loved ones. We must pray that this horrible disaster may be used to call the people of Japan to the Lord as their only hope and refuge. The nation is still shaped by its Shinto, Buddhist, and Animist roots.

Disasters like this often bring out the most reckless forms of theologizing. The earthquake and tsunami are indeed horrifying reminders that this world shows all the marks of God’s judgment on sin, and that the whole creation groans under the weight of sin.

Nevertheless, Jesus warned his disciples about drawing the conclusion that a natural disaster can be traced to the sins of those who directly suffer its effects (Luke 13:1-5). God causes the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). We must remember that when we read the headlines and see the images of a disaster wherever it may happen.

In 1755, a great earthquake devastated Lisbon, Portugal, causing great loss of life throughout the Iberian Peninsula. This tragedy caused many Europeans, recently shaken by the secularism of the early Enlightenment, to abandon their belief in God. This just compounds the tragedy. We must affirm both the sovereign power and the loving character of God, and that means that we must know that disasters like this will test both our faith and our faithfulness.

The people of Japan are now on our hearts. We must pray for them even as we do all within our power to help. And then, when the grieving turns to the hard work of recovery and rebuilding, the true test for American Christians will be whether our commitment to the Gospel of Christ will lead to a renewed effort to reach the nation of Japan with the message of Jesus Christ, the Solid Rock.