FOTOS!

Arriving at Ho Chi Minh Airport. Woo hoo! A holiday trip out of Singapore! So proud of myself! Finally, at 26, I have the chance to travel on my own.


Tried to be arty here. But it seems like having an idea and not having a good equipment, spoils the whole idea! Need to invest!


The first thing we ate after leaving airport. It's called Mee Guang! It has 2 types of mee in it and some other ingredients. Not too bad!


The interior signboard of the shop's name! (The owner thought that we were some food critics. Their faces were so disappointed when they found out we were just some hungry Singaporean)


The shop's signboard on the Main Road! (I'm not sure if I would recommend this stall or this Mee Guang since it's my first time eating. No harm trying!)


A wood-craft shop which Claudia brought us to. Amazing! There were many wooden boat and ship. And honestly, the price is pretty reasonable. However, too big and no place to display back at home!

Interesting! A ship in a light bulb!


A mega sized ship!

Can't remember what Hotel! In district 1.



Erh.. Can't remember what is this also! Theathre or monuments???

Hehe! Didn't realise the top and bottom fotos kind of link into like 1 foto! haha! Ingenious me! : )

An oil-painting which I saw in an Art shop. It was so real! But my camera CMI! Now it looks like some errie B grade horror painting, where the lady in the paint will turn around and smile at you while you are not looking!


Bbbburrrrrppppppp.... Lunch at this French Restaurant!

The French Restaurant!








Coffee Break at this coffee house, Trung Nguyen. I love their coffee and especially their cakes. We had cheesecake and some other cakes. I love the cheesecake and it's so cheap! Cheap cheap cheap! (did try coffee at Highlanders but i tot this Trung Nguyen nicer and cheaper)



Well! This is how you drink the traditional coffee style. A metal filter on the cup. Simply love it!

Arh... Finally a foto of the 3 of us in the coffee house!

The 2 handsome men! I like my goateee!


And the Sa-aat (beautiful in khmer) lady!

Highly recommended if you are not a higherpricebettercoffee person. Nice ambience and got free Internet and priniting service. Woo hooo!

The LOVERS' PARK! At night, the whole park will be swarmed with couples, each individual seated on their bikes. So you will see many rows of bikes at this park. When it hits the wee hours, the park converts to a "Pharmacy'' centre. Drug abusers heaven! : (

Ben Thanh market! Equavialent to Central Market of Phnom Penh! Bought a pair of slipper! : )

Have no idea why a Goa (cow for khmer) and Bi Dtrai (2 fish). Hehe! I know this is Vietnam but I want to brush up my Khmer! : )

Dinner place! Something like S'pore Marsche. The owner gathered the best street food and sell them under one restaurant. Smart guy!

Ban Ciao! Vietnamese pancake! Can't really appreciate the greens. Have unique taste.

My dinner. Some eel noodle soup. So so only! Rating 6.5/10. A few small pieces of deep fried eel floating around. Got this You Tiao that was like frozen hard! : )

This was supper. After Claudia brought us to a cell group, we went to this rice roll shop.

Ordered a few dishes. Not bad!


This is one of Claudia's fav dish. It's something like S'pore's Juay Kui but it has some soupy gravy. Quite interesting. Maybe can try bringing this to S'pore and sell! $$$ making! : )

2 DANIEL??? Oh no......

This is 2nd day in HCM. We make a big boo this morning. Both of us only tune our watches to Vietnam's timing which is 1 hour behind S'pore. So when we were supposed to wake up at 5.30am to prepare ourselves for our trip to Cu Chi tunnel, we set our alarm on our handphone and alarm clock. So we woke up at S'pore time at 5.30am and Vietnam time, 4.30am. Wah......... So early. Haha! Since we had the luxury of time, we went to have breakfast at a nearby restaurant near the tour agency.

That was another experience. I had tried to order the breakfast which includes 2 eggs for one set of price and add sausages, hams for another set of price. I told the waitress I wanted the 2 eggs, (1 poached and 1 sunnyside up) and also the sausages and ham. She was puzzled so I tried explaining my order again. After much, she finally nod in agreement that she understood my order. I ordered an ice coffee with milk as well. Daniel just ordered the beef noodle. When my order came, it came with only the eggs. I was too "pek chek'' to reorder so I just settle for wat they gave me. Less than 20 seconds, another plate of eggs were delieverd to my amusement. I really why the waitress bothered to write down my order since she couldn't even understand my order. An my ice coffee came like after 15 minutes and that was only when I reminded them. And they gave me ice coffee black! *O* I nearly wanted to scream. Hehe! Next time, keep my order simple!

My precious long-waited iced milk coffee which was only so so.....!

The 2 Sa-aat men again! I really like my goatee!


Something that I saw which I thought was interesting when we were on the coach to Cu Chi Tunnel!

My Dung! I wonder who buys his/her waste? tsk tsk.....

At Cu Chi Tunnel! This is the original entrance to the tunnel. Small siah! Max waistline or buttline is 36inches. Anything more, they will let the hungry strays loose on you. It's easier to drag a corspe out of the hole. haha! Joking.....

Wah! Daniel fit into the small hole. Haha! And he managed to enter and crawl through the dark tunnel!

Actually, I want to try and I believe I wil fit just nicely! But just to save myself the embarassment if I were stucked at the hole, I decided that I shall not be so gung-ho! : )

This is the exit!


And here's Daniel exiting the tunnel! I thought I lost him! Took him quite a while to figure out his way!

Mr Sa-aat Number 1! In the tunnels which had been enlarged for tourists!

Mr Sa-aat Number 2 with the cute goateee! (ok fine! stopped puking everytime I said my goatee is cute!)

What does this look like? A floor of dried leaves rite! Nope!..........

It's the roof of a shed! Hehe!







The shells that were dropped on Vietnam. Those undetonated were used by the Vietnamese to fight back their enemies!




Another arty foto that I tried to capture. The shophouses with the linings in the evening!

The don't know wat monument? Took a closed up!





Vietnamese Currency, Dong! Claudia teaches us an easy way to convert the Dongs back to S'pore Dollar. Simply remove the last 4 zeros and that's the conversion. Eg: If it's 16,000 Dong, it's S'pore $1.60. That simple!

Claudia's office! She's having a good time in HCM! : )

Saigon River! A ride of abt an hour down the river cost about $20USD! I nvr took the ride. Too expensive! Even if I want, I could easily swim down and up the river by myself! : )

I was wondering what's with all these penguins! They are dustbins! Interesting!

Hehe! Me again! But without my cute goatee! Eating a roadside yoghurt! My goodness! It's so lovely! As good as those you get from the supermarket shelves! And at a fraction of the price! Wah!

Can't resist taking a foto of the Sa-aat people!

Another market that Claudia brought us to. It's more like a wholesaler market. Everything they have is in bulks!

I took this picture and I stood there............

for another 2 hours to turn dark before taking this foto at the same spot!

: p If you believe me, den you are really a ............. hahhhahahaha! : p

Our 3rd day's dinner! Back at the Vietnam Marche! Ordered alot of food!

Snails........

Beef with fries!

Bread with some minced meat!












North and South Vietnamese Rice soaked in wine. Bleah.........! Inedible! horrible! It's rice soaked in who knows what alcohol! Wah! Very choking! Thkfully it was cheap! Nvr finished! : s







Chendol in Vietnam! This is good! Must try! : )

On my way way to Phnom Penh! 6 hours on the road!

A fried spider! Cool! Got Mab to buy for me! Cost about 700 riel. The legs taste like crab meat. As for the body, i suspected the meat is marinated with sweet sauce and thus taste a bit like Char Siew!

Fried crickets! A packet of about 10 pieces cost about 2500 riel. It took me a few good seconds before I took the first munch. Taste like prawns with shell!

On our way to Svey Rieng! Have to cross the river to get to the other side.

This is Savy, Sopheat and Preney. Savy and Sopheat are interns with the church. Savy is based in Kampong Speu and Sopheat in Phnom Penh. Preney is Rev Tit Hieng's 2nd daughter.

Arhhhh. Finally, another foto of the Sa-aat one! : )

At Svey Rieng, Rev Tit Hieng decided to show me a side of him that I didn't know! Fishing! Pretty skillful with the net and he caught quite a good catch! I had a try at the net. No joke siah! It was pretty heavy. 2 attempts and I caught 1 fish! Not bad for a first attempt!

What's in my hand? A frog which Rev Hieng caught during his fishing! Poor guy!

An enlarged version of my poor friend! I witnessed how it was killed and skinned alive! : x

Well during my stay in Cambodia, I decided not to take too much fotos! Dun wan to make it seems like it's some kind of tour for me! So the later fotos are fast forward. The last few days in Phnom Penh!

Here is a foto of Ninia, Nita's sister. A look at her and you will think she is one cute little girl from the neighbourhood. Guess again! She is 19 and studying in Uni. Haha! She is cute but also 'deadly'. Once she opens her mouth, you may need to take a few yards back. Haha!

The day that I was leaving! I took foto with Sopheat and Phun. Phun is one of the guards in CCOP!

And this is Barang (Lina's nephew) and Preney. Bought them a box of chocolate each and was trying to 'teach' them to share! Haha!

Well! This kinda end my 16days adventure in Cambodia! So fast! Way too fast! I wish it can last longer! And I wish I can share my dreams with someone! : )

Cambodia

Joum Reap Su'er! Sok Sobai Dtey? (Hello! How's everybody? - Khmer)

I'm back from Cambodia! Once again! This ends my 5th trip to Cambodia! And I must say this is the most adventurous (according to my experience) trip that I had. Had earlier flew in into Ho Chi Minh with Daniel on 6 Dec. This is my first time flying out of Singapore for a holiday trip on my own with a friend (those trips to Malaysia, no count). And really blessed! Known Daniel for so many years, we never got to go travelling together. Even for Mission trips, we've nvr been on the same trip. The year when we were supposed to go on the same trip, he had to 'cripple' himself. Haha! And indeed it's such a joy and blessing to travel with him.
When we were in HCM, we met up with Claudia. Really thank God for Claudia because she really took the effort to arrange for our accomodation and our MUST have FOOD! By God's love and grace, one of Claudia's colleague was back hometown and we got to stay at the colleague's apartment. Woo hoo! Daniel and I kinda roam the streets and tried some local delights (hmmm... delights??) And Claudia during her free time would bring us to places with wonder food. Haha! So for those who are concern and been praying for her, trust me, she is doing so well over here, but please do not stop praying for her! : )
As for me, I found this food that I cannot resist in HCM. The roadside "Subway". Woo hoo! It's basically, baguette with fillings. They had some meat fillings or egg. I personally love the egg. I think during my stay there, I ate about 4 1/2. And it's cheap! About 50 cents for a 5 feet. My goodness! : ) Well! I will update more on the trip with photos on a later postings.
So after my 3 days stay in HCM, my real adventure was about to start. My lone journey to Cambodia. I've nvr done such things before. I've always wanted to but I nvr got the chance and my parents will surely be nagging at me. Haha! I'm 26 and I'm a guy! Let me live wild! Hehehe! Even as I sat on the coach, I was filled with mixed feelings. The excitement, the joy, the enthusiasim of the journey and going to Cambodia were clouded with the anxiety of worries (most of them are silly). What if I took the wrong coach? What if this coach is a 'black' coach? What if the coach was a tool of the terrorists or rebels? (bus-bomb) What if this what if that? Ai yoh! I must be too 'koo koo' in my mind alreadi lah! Haha!
Well the 6 hours ride was pretty smooth sailing! Before I knew it, I was in Cambodia! The next thing was to get to church compound. So I got a BMW Motordob and tried my best means to show him where I want to go. Without fail, they never know the Street Number. And my best recognition of the Church was the Goldengate Hotel and it was something that they knew. So after another 5min of ride, I was in CCOP! Sorsal Preyong M'cha! (Praise the Lord! - Khmer)
So proud of myself! I, by myself, make it to Phnom Pehn, alive. Hehehe!
And during my 16 days stay in PP, it was such a blessings. I was so well taken care of. Everybody was treating me so nice, like I am part of their family. I felt as if I was really a Khmer! Yes! OK FINE! A KHMER WHO CAN'T SPEAK KHMER! I'm learning ok! I had been to Cambodia so many times but I nvr got a chance to get to know the CCOP staff. I can't even remember some of their names. Now I do! And really have to thank Kareng Bulu for her good care of me this little brother. And also these trips, I get to know a few more new friends from S'pore! Got to know the COGs Team! Interesting bunch of pple! Especially the Team Leader! Uncle Pak Chi (hope i spell it correctly) Serious and stern looking but can be very easy going and funneh! His 'China thermometer'! Joke of the the week! Will take more on next postings. Then also got a chance to know Shuling and Shirley, 2 young fine ladies who have great love and passion for the Khmers! Then I also get to meet the SJSM Team! Had the chance to work with them a fair bit. High powered pple but yet with humility to serve the pple of Khmer! Indeed this trip had been so fruitful! So fruitful, my tiny winy brain cannot contain them! : p
One thing for sure, nothing is going to stop me from visitng Cambodia! Next year! Siem Reap and PKH! Would want to go in April or slightly later but den horh, it is the hottest period! Wait later! I get heat stroke again! Haha! Well! See how! Anybody keen to join me! Pls don't hesitate!

Preyong srorline Kampuchea! (God loves Cambodia)

Phobia

Everybody has phobia. I have and had a lot of phobias. When I was young, I was afraid of the dark. I couldn't sleep with the lights off. So I would resort to having the lights on when I go to bed. It didn't work too well because my parents kept telling me off for not switching off the lights when I sleep. So I changed my approach. After I off the lights, I would quickly jump into bed and throw my blanket over me, from head to toe. Come to think about it, it was quite silly. What's the point of covering myself with the blanket. It's like the ostrich sticking its head into the ground when it is afraid, thinking that by not able to see, the problem will disappear. And the blanket approach didn't last long. My dad would find me cover with the blanket and he would tell me off, saying that I would suffocate myself. So I was left with no choice. I had to deal with the issue - the issue of darkness. So one night, I decided I would just be brave and face the darkness. Initially, it was pretty awful. The mind started to play tricks. It seemed that every second or other, there would be a noise. But I guess with many more such brave attempts, I slowly outgrew my fear of the dark. Now, there will be times I will stare blankly into the darkness of my room and (anticipatingly) hope that I can see some 'interesting' thing. Haha!

Another phobia of mine is claustrophobia. It is a symptom of panic when enclosed in an area. I never knew why I had such a phobia as I never had a bad experience. But I know I have it since young. So far, I haven't been too badly affected by this phobia except for 1 incident. I remembered when I was in Secondary school and we had an excursion to Science Centre. In the exhibition, there was this maze which was make up mirrors. So when you stepped into the maze, all you see was reflections. After walking through the maze for a while, I started to feel claustrophobic. So I accelerated my steps. Bad choice. It worsened my condition as the reflection from the mirror make me feel like I was trapped in the mirror. By the time I exited out of the maze, I was hyperventilating. And my mind was badly traumatised. When somebody talked to me or if I do an action, everything seemed to have a time lapse before my brain received the full signal. NO JOKE! I thought I was gone. haha!

Fear of heights. One phobia that I have not fully overcome. I remembered when I was young, I hated crossing the overhead bridge. It was too scary for me. But sadly, I had to use the bridge often. So I engineered the best way to cross the bridge in the quickest way. When I hit the top of the bridge, I would aline myself in the middle and make a 50m dash. haha! So funneh siah! My family would always tease me over this little run of mine. Slowly, I outgrew but yet it was not fully overcome. In my army days, I had difficulties crossing the Jacob's Ladder. I was stuck at the peak and it was so humorous to think about it because all the Specialists and Officers were afraid that I slipped and were very 'nice' and 'caring', encouraging me to take my time and cross the ladder. I doubt I would ever overcome this fear. Bungee jumping???

Fear of the sea. I dun know if there's a scientific term for this type of phobia. Initially, it was fear of water. I had 2 drowning incidents when I was young. Thankfully, my mum send me for swimming lesson after the incidents. I overcome the fear of water. However, I still cannot overcome the fear of the sea. Even though I know I can swim, I know that the sea cannot anyhow play play one. Especially when there are currents. So when I take boat, I won't really dare to stand at the side. Looking at the sea makes me feel like it will swallow me any moment. And every waves that sweep towards me seem to be enticing me make the leap into the water. Eeerrrieeee.

How do we overcome phobia? Sometimes, the best way is to deal with it face to face. Like fear of water. The best way is to experience what water is like. Go into the shallow water first. And once comfortable, slowly, move to a deeper area. It has to be progressive. But what if something bad happen along the way. What if you were starting to feel confident in the deeper water, and somebody come along and start to push you into the water? It may cause the person to have deeper fear of that element.

Hai Sians (Seafood?)

Hai Sing High, now know as Hai Sing Catholic, was my Secondary School. I still could remember all those years in school, the fun, the laughter, the crazy things we do, the struggles, the friendship, everything was a part of me. I guess that was one of my best 4 yrs spent in school. I do enjoy my other years of school but just that Secondary was like my highlight. Primary school was fun but I guess I was a crybaby and timid boy so most of the time I was spending worrying over everything. Then JC was fun too, had alot of friends but for me most of the time was struggling to climb out of the red zone.
Secondary was fun becoz it was a transition from a little boy to a youth. It seemed like suddenly the world was more than it meets the eyes. There were so much more things to explore. (especially girls... ops! haha!) And I really thank God for friendship that was formed during Secondary sch. I have to admit that I was very not active with the activities they organised but yet they have been very gracious and accepting. Even after 10 yrs we left sch, we were still meeting up. It is very interesting and funny to think back 10 yrs ago on the things we do. When we were in Sec 1, we formed our different sects in the class. The girls had 3 sects and the guys had 4 sects. And within the sects we had like a Family Tree. And it can get very complicated. Like Girl A could be Boy B's daughter but because Girl A is like linked to Boy C and happened that Boy C is a 'brother' of Boy B, the whole relationship gets messed up. So extrapolate this results to a class of 40. You can see how messy we all are. The girls didn't have name for their sects but the guys did. One of the sects is called the "Roller Hawks" because they roller blade and rollerblade hockey was the in thing at my time. Another sect was called the TERA because they are made up of 4 memebers and they used the 1st initial of their name to form the word TERA. My sect is called the SPECS. 5 of us and we are called SPECS because we all wear specs. Haha! Lame I know! But I'm proud! The last group was a very mean and sad case. I guess we were all immature and insensitive at that age. Those who were not in any particular sect was defaulted into the last sect, known as the Turtle Tribe. I dun know who came up with the name (i suspect it was me! : p) but come to think about it, it's funny but mean. (i was a part time meany in class; yes i can be very mean) After Sec 2, we broke into our different streams but yet we never forget our friendship. Up to now, TERA, SPECS and the 12 girls sects are still meeting up. Really thank God for these wonderful friendship. And it is also amazing lah!
One of the guys from the Turtle Tribe and one of the sister of the12 girl sects were hitched together since Secondary Sch. And they just got married a few months back. Haha! Den also one of the brothers in my sect is attached to one of the sister in the 12 girls sects. Wuaahahahaha! It cannot get any better. Interesting! Will there be more interesting things? We shall see!

Let's talk abit more about my sect, the SPECS. I cannot exactly how our sect formed. I did remember the 1st day of sch in our class, the form teacher told us to go walk around and introduce ourself. I remembered I walk to these guy who was like way too tall den the normal sec 1 boys like us. And then the next thing I knew was that he became our Da Ge (big brother). Our Big Brother - Chan Kah Seng. He is 2 yrs older than all of us. His parents open Wan Tan Mee at Pasir Ris Central. Very good! Must go and try. And presently he is married to his wife who is pregnant with twins, 1 girl 1 boy! Wow! Amazing.
And my 2nd Brother - Yong Kian Leong. Humorous is an understatement for him. Without fail, at all circumstances, he will crack your mouth open. Best known for his unbeatable tongue. But you will once in a while see the quiet side of him as well.
And 3rd Brother - Choo Xianjie. Oh that's me! haha! What do i say about myself?
4th Brother - Toh Meng Lee. The arty farty one. Haha! Creative juice flowing in every part of his body. Adventurous. He is the 1st among us to go abroad to work. Quiet but when he opens his mouth, your mouth will also be wide open. Haha!
5th Brother - Chai Jian Wei. Though the youngest, do not underestimate him. One of the brainy. Can be quiet but once open mouth...... you know the results. (i guess that's one of the trademark of the SPECS) He is the one who is attached to one of the sister in the 12 girls sect. It was so low-profile that we only knew it when they were holding hands. Yup! He has his ways with the girls. Muahaha!

A quick run through of my sect. Presently only me and my 2nd brother is free agent. The rest are taken. Interested, pls apply. Muahahahahaaha!

Well! Secondary is the best time in my life. If I can, I would want to go through again. And I missed the Canteen food. Haha!

Actually, I decided to post about Hai Sing was because I remembered singing this hymns during Morning assembly. But I couldn't fully remember the lyrics. The tune attracted me at that time. Now as I read the lyrics, it is so meaningful but I just can't recall the full lyrics. I am appealing to anyone who can help me fill in the missing parts. Thanks!

SPIRIT WINGS (if i didn't remember wrongly)

Some birds live in cages
They sing a quiet song
And like them
I could sing for only You

But Lord Your love release me
To sing a different song
And soar above
The captive life I knew

Chours:
Spirit Wings
You lift me over all the earth bound things
And like a bird my heart is flying free
????????
????????
You lift me up
????
????
You carry me on Your Spirit Wings