Adios

I'm so excited! Leaving on a plane to the Land of smiles that is Bangkok tomorrow!
My first spontaneous trip with a colleague.
I'm already thinking of the pad thai and beef noodles!

Blessed

Really blessed by God this week, by His smiling face upon me. Thank you Lord!

I thank God for giving me the courage to do what is right, really! The old me of the past would simply walk away, feeling bad about that issue yet do nothing about it. Thank you Holy Spirit!

And thank you Holy Spirit for just watching over me every moment, saving me from mistakes.
Words cannot express my thanks enough.

The tongue

Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Proverbs 12:18 (NIV)
The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Matthew 15:10-11 (NIV)
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

I've read many bible verses that teach me to hold my tongue, but I couldn't pin point the exact one, so I did a search and realised there are so many. This tells us the importance of the things we say. Let our words only serve to build and give strength. No hurtful words. No I am not perfect but I am trying. 

The golden rule

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

I like this verse so much. I like how it is so active. It tells me to take the initiative to help others instead of just living life by the bare minimum of not doing evil. Instead, it tells me to do Good. And it's so true. In exams and tests, we often aim to get an A or even an A+. So why not in life as well? Let's not just aim to not offend people, but help others when you would appreciate help in their situations. 
Instead of a 己所不欲，勿施于人, do good!

Why do I always feel awkward?

Stepping out

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

To quote something a friend from church said, we are so filled up with love from God that we need to give out the overflowing love. We don't just keep on receiving, because we need to fulfill the Great Commission. 
Not just because it is from the bible, but because I truly want to, and today I took a small baby step towards it. More to come surely! Thank you Lord, for giving me this courage to do Your work. 

Brokenness Aside by All Sons & Daughters


I am a sinner if it's not one thing it's another, caught up in words tangled in lies
But You are a Saviour and You take brokenness aside and make it beautiful

You make me beautiful

Glorious ruins

My failure is lost in the light of Your glorious grace

Taste of home

My favourite dessert of all time, or should I say the only hot dessert that I eat, cooked with love by my dearest grandma! It was the perfect start to National day as it was a long day ahead. I always thought that the tau suan she cooked was very sweet, until I tried the one sold outside in food courts. Wow those are really kind of inedible, heaps of sugar in them. But if you don't have the luxury of having it home cooked, moderation is always the key!

Land of Dim sum Day 2 part 1

Got up bright and early and excited! Because we were going to head to Disneyland that day! But before that, breakfast at Australian Dairy company! Since I started doing research for the trip two months before we left, it has been in my list of breakfast places to visit. Initially, we booked a guesthouse in Jordan, if I recall correctly, and Australian dairy company was within walking distance. But we cancelled and booked a hotel in the end, so we took a train there instead.

Tong Mi road, where our hotel was located. Got to love how they number their road signs, so you know whether to walk up or walk down depending on where you're headed, like 12 Tong Mi Road. At least you know you're headed in the right direction. Very useful for us tourists who don't know the landmarks.

Amanda and I in front of the hotel. Quite a small hotel but I liked it. And they had rooms for us though we booked super last minute. Wi fi was only limited to the lobby so at night many people would sit at the lobby to whatsapp and facebook/instagram.

Oriental Lander Hotel, Kowloon
206 Tong Mi Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Nearest MTR station: Prince Edward

I was so excited to be going to Australian Dairy company!! I did not have high expectations of the staff working there, and I also expected to have to queue to enter because everyone mentioned that they had to queue, but surprise! Guess who didn't need to queue? It was probably because it was drizzling very slightly. Also, the staff didn't treat us as badly as I had expected, so thumbs up for that as well.

Their menu wedged under the glass piece.

Desserts.

We ordered two breakfast sets. Each set consists of eggs with bread, macaroni and a drink of your choice. Do they really expect one person to finish the entire set? Well we definitely couldn't. So three of us shared two sets. And even that was a little too much.

I read that the egg sandwich is quite a popular choice, but I wanted it separate so it's nice that it came separately. And yes, the eggs were good! Definitely heading back whenever I travel to Hong Kong!

And this!! Almond with egg pudding! So eggy and yummy. I'm not sure if they serve it cold but I liked it hot, albeit burning my tongue because I was too anxious to try it. I was also tempted to order the egg white pudding but I had no more stomach for it. HKD$23 for this bowl of eggy goodness. About S$4, quite expensive compared to our breakfast meal but so worth it! Need to go back to try the egg white pudding!

Really got to hand it to the waiters. I have no idea how they can remember what we ordered and how much it costs. When we decided to get up to leave, one of the waiters simply wrote the amount to pay on a piece of paper for us. How did they know?

And after we finished our breakfast, the queue had already started to form. Crumbs the frozen yoghurt shop is located just beside it. Wanted to try their yoghurt but obviously not so early in the morning, and it's also not open at such a timing, so I'll have to leave it for the next trip. No idea why I'm posing with the umbrella like that. Left the cha chaan teng with happy tummies, that explains Amanda's pose right?(:

Australian Dairy company
G/F 47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan
Nearest MTR station, Jordan exit C2

At Jordan MTR station, we saw this umbrella vending machine. The umbrellas have really nice prints so I got one in houndstooth prints. I was actually hesitant to buy it but I wasn't sure if I would see the same machine again elsewhere so I just fed the machine, not literally since they only accept the octopus card. Hahaha.

I'm going to end this post here, I know I've only covered like what, the breakfast part but it already has so many photos so I'm not about to squeeze more photos of Disneyland in here. Till the next!

A heart of gratitude

Father Lord, I just cannot thank You enough for today. Thank you for such a great gift, such a great blessing.

It all happened during a time of prayer. Jacq, who I just got to know today prayed for me, and that prayer also ministered to me, because it dawned on me that while I know that God loves me, I have been seeking solace and holding on to material things like online shopping, clothes to fill myself up, thinking that they can make me happy and feel good. Yes, dressing well can make one feel good, but it cannot go overboard. And it was a reminder that I only God can fill me up. Not food, not worldly desires like clothes, money or anything else. It is only God who can fill the hole in my heart. Not only does God fill up the emptiness in my heart, He will hold my heart in His hands because that is the safest place where it will be.

Then she started praying for me to receive the Holy Spirit because she felt God speaking to her to pray for me, including those she prayed earlier. Jill, who was beside me, also started praying for me. I felt kind of nervous, like what if I cannot receive it? What if my faith is not enough? Then they said to focus on God, and think of God, so after I calmed my nervous heart, I thought of God, of Jesus, of the times that God stood by me, forever faithful. And after a while, I felt like there was something I wanted to speak, not in English, not in words, but I was afraid that I wouldn't know how to continue after the initial burst of that one word. So I was like a baby, wanting to speak but unable to. I confided in them and Jacq said that it's like that, that it's normal, so we started again. This time round, I thanked God for the gift and then I spoke out in faith. And at that moment, I started crying. I mean, I've always known God is real, that God is always with me and with us but at that moment, I could really really feel God's presence and that God is SO real. And then after that, Jill said that actually she also felt it, and when Jacq spoke to me about it then she knew it was time. So yes, thank you Lord!! I am also thankful to Jacq and Jill for their prayers. Somehow, everything was not planned at all but things turned out so well. Really, it's divine. I sat beside Jill by chance and before that we were talking about tongues when we prayed. Never did I expect to be Holy spirit baptized today. God's ways are always higher than mine.

And during prayers, Jill gave me a vision, that I am a seed. A hand picked up a seed and held it close to His heart, then planted it into the ground. That seed grows into a strong plant. Yes, that hand belongs to my Heavenly Father God. The thing that spoke to me most during the conference was self worth. Try as hard as I might, I still cannot help but define my self worth based on what I do, how people view me. And that is such a wrong view. My worth is based on nothing else but my Father's love for me.

Last week

Because I've got so much backlog, I decided to blog photos I took using my iphone throughout the week. I'm not even a food blogger so I shouldn't be blogging with restaurant names as my blog titles. My phone has about 2500 photos. I realized that I take a lot of photos and refuse to delete them from my phone, the reason being because I want to keep them in my phone to look back on.

Last Monday, I visited my hair stylist at Jurong point to cut my hair, went back to bangs again after a year. I got tired of looking tired everyday with messy and unruly hair. With three inches off, my head felt so much lighter. Hair will always grow again so I'll say hi to longer hair a few months later. For now I'm happy with shoulder length hair!

Had dinner with my Mum at this claypot restaurant just across from the salon. Can't remember the name but it's beside Lai Lai kitchen. It's always quite crowded so I guess it's rather popular with the crowd.

Hong kong style porridge with you tiao! I like you tiao, but not when its alone. I only like it in tau suan and porridge. It was served really hot, and I guess two people can share this. Not too salty so it's a good choice.

Claypot chicken rice. Wow this was so flavourful. Alternative wording: Wow this was so so so salty. Hahaha. It was nice because it was so fragrant, mostly because of the sweet dark soya sauce. Also served really hot. I like food served hot, it's important to me, like just freshly cooked and  that it's not cooked long ago and just heated up.

Ordered this 3 egg spinach as well. 3 egg means century egg, salted egg and normal egg. My mum says this is quite a common dish but I've never tried it before. Anyone has had this before? It's like just ordinary soup with the vegetables and eggs. Not something I want to eat often. You know, like I always say, high cholesterol.

And for those who don't know, 1st of August is Nurses day! Our clinic had a mini celebration during lunch time. Though I didn't participate in performing, I enjoyed the videos made by the other departments. It was really hilarious.

It was a day of unhealthy food for my tummy, you'll see why.

Nasi lemak for lunch

Then a macaron made by one of the doctors.

Chewy junior donut from one of the nurses.

Chocolate cake from our boss.

Mini peanut butter cupcake from twelve cupcakes from the nurses.

I am really blessed and taken care of by the nurses who always look out for me, not just because of all these sweet treats but also in other aspects as well. I'm not good at expressing how I feel so I guess they feel that I'm really quiet but I'm thankful that my circumstances is different from my colleagues in the other clinics. I believe God put me there for a reason and I am just thankful, really. Every day I wonder why I am so blessed, then I remember that God loves me unconditionally.

Met Cynthia for dinner after that for an appointment that she had. Dinner at Kim Gary! Tried something that I never tried before, beef with vegetables rice. The beef was tender and flavourful, and reasonably priced for a restaurant located at Ion as well. Planned our bangkok itinerary and got carried away. Our Bangkok trip is just 24 days away, time really flies! Can't wait for it!

Fish crackers that my colleague at Jurong sent to our group chat. I'm always torn between eating crackers like these and fruits. I like fruits any time but I finish my apple so fast. I think I shall buy grapes next time!

Had an awesome service in church last Satuday. It was an evangelical service titled 'Keep calm and look up' and I was touched by so many people who accepted Christ that day. The bible always addresses worrying and stress to me but it was nice to look at it through a fresh perspective. Dinner was at Golden mile complex as (almost) usual. My favourite place for good cheap Thai food.

My Mum whatsapped me this photo while I was on the way home. It's my favourite cinnamon rolls! Because I kept talking about it and my Mum wanted to bake bread, she baked these for me. No photos of it because I was too anxious to eat it the next morning. I'm going to try to make it some time. Some time = no promises about when I will get down to it! Hahaha.

Before I left for service, I mixed the dough for my grandma to make pau, so I had pau and cinnamon roll for breakfast the next morning. I am thankful, blessed and love. I thank God for my mum and grandma(:

And look what finally came in the mail! November is comingggg!(:

Tried on and fell in love with this skirt from Forever New on Sunday when my grand-aunt treated us to lunch at Jpot again at Vivocity. Sadly I cannot become the owner of this very pretty skirt because it comes at a very hefty price tag of $99. It's like even more than the price of three of my good girl flare skirts from the tinsel rack. That is not to say that I wasn't tempted, but my mum dragged me back to reality. I was really really almost on the verge of paying for it. Then I found an alternative online! I guess I'll only receive it next week, considering the long weekend.

And I'm done with the photos from last week! I'll blog about the past weeks soon. So looking forward to 5:30pm tomorrow because that'll mark the start of my long weekend! Exciting plans ahead and I can't wait! Tomorrow is going to be such a busy day but I know I will get through it even if it means over time!!

Land of Dim sum Day 1

Finally starting on my Hong Kong posts after much procrastination. We left Singapore on flight TR2068 in the afternoon. We took Tiger Airlines. It was my first time taking a budget flight and what I can say is that you get what you pay for. We paid about $250 for the tickets, not the cheapest since I've heard from my friends that it gets even cheaper when other airlines have sale prices. My friend booked her air tickets to Bangkok for less than $200! The aircraft was really small, and the amount of leg room left much to be desired but like I said, you get what you pay for. I like the feeling of having meals on board because it makes me happy but I refused to pay for the local fare they serve on the plane so we ate at the airport at Canele first.

We touched down at about 8 and took bus A21 from the airport to Prince Edward where our hotel was located. We actually thought of so many ways to get to from the airport to the hotel. The first we thought of was taxi, but it was costly. We also thought of taking the airport express, but it was also not worth it for the price. So luckily Amanda found a bus that would take us from the airport to the hotel, and it only cost us only HKD$33 (Approx. SGD$5), compared to S$40 or even more taking a cab. It didn't take us that long to locate the counter to buy the octopus cards and then walk to the bus terminal. We soon found ourselves on the bus, checking social media for updates using the free wifi provided. I was watching out for the stops and where to alight though, afraid that we'd miss the stop. I printed the map from Google maps to guide ourselves to the hotel. It was about 10 to 15 minutes walk.

As we walked, I felt really excited to be on a foreign land, and the dark alleys remind me of the police dramas that I watched. I got a little scared since it was already late and the streets were rather empty and quiet. But we reached our hotel in no time at all.

And yes, the hotel room was indeed very small! It's alright, by Hong Kong standards since they have a shortage of space.

The view when we entered the room.

And I was wondering where the wardrobe was, until we spotted this. I've never seen just a small compartment for clothes. Usually it's at least a cupboard with a door, right?

Sure, the clever use of mirrors made the room look bigger but the room was still small. Didn't take photos of the bathroom. The shower area was really the smallest I've seen. No area for movement at all.

So after we put our baggage in the hotel, we decided to go and look for food. It was about 11pm and we didn't have any proper dinner, unless we counted the meal we had the airport as dinner. Or maybe we just wanted an excuse to eat. Hahaha. How could we not? In the land of eating and shopping.

Night lights.

We walked quite a distance but we still couldn't find food that we wanted to eat, so we settled for the convenience stores. I realise that convenience stores are the first shops we visit when we are in a foreign land, just like we did in Korea.

I bought bread with cheese cubes interspersed in it and Vitasoy! Locally produced food yo. Haha.
Amanda had curry rice and my Mum had bread as well. I wish they have this in Singapore. Brown rice and cheese, and cut into such thick slices!

Then we walked past a shop selling dou hua with orange sugar on top. Couldn't resist and bought a portion to share. Wow the dou hua was so soft. Really awesome, I'm guessing that it was handmade.

That's all for day one, since we reached the hotel so late, there was hardly anything we could do but look for food then go to bed after that.

Day two is coming up! Okay maybe not so soon, I haven't filtered the photos yet.