Asiatique

23 Feb 2015
Day 1 in Bangkok by night

The fascinating Asiatique is really a stunning and beautiful place by night.

We had to take a ferry over to this man-made island shopping area. Lining up with many tourists, I had no difficulty climbing up and down the ferry. 

I marveled at my knees which had completely healed. Thank you Jesus for healing me by sending me to a very wise doctor who gave me the correct diagnosis.

A year ago, it would have been sheer agony for me to walk a few steps. To get up after a while of sitting down would require the help of a pair of really good crutches. Sitting cramped in the Airasia airline seat would result in excruciating pain.

Although I took along my special "Kingsman" umbrella (a 2-in-1 of an umbrella plus a walking stick) for support, I was happy that I experienced very little pain except for leg cramps at night as result of too much walking during the day. I bought blue cooling counterpain to apply to the cramps. Unlike the red counterpain which I could buy in KL, this counterpain was blue in color and really cooling when applied.

Asiatique is really unique. 

Made up of small eclectic, quaint, artsy-fartsy, quintessential shops selling clothes, bags, shoes, trinkets, souvenirs, toys, Thai desserts like mango and stick rice and traditional Thai food, one could spend several nights just wandering through its amazing maze and always end up buying something.

I vote for Asiatique as the most fascinating place to visit in Bangkok as it was the most beautiful place to go while in Bangkok at night.

The eye of Bangkok with its shining spokes and surreal neon white and blue colors fascinated me so much that I had to take out my handphone to take many pictures of this beautiful ferris wheel. No matter which angle it was beautiful to look at and stunning!

My daughter loved the clothes so much that she bought a dress and a shirt. I bought a pair of bermuda shorts. She later went back to Asiatique on the 3rd day on her own and bought a custom made t-shirt with her name on it!

Dinner was awesome. We had sweet tom yum in coconut with a big prawn. We also had fried crispy fish in sweet sour sauce and green curry chicken. The pandan leaf cooling drink was simply delicious!

Pratunam

Day 2 - Feb 24 - Monday

We took an MRT from Cha Nongsi to National Stadium. From there we took another train to Siam station before taking a walk on the Skybridge to Siam Central, Siam Paragon and Platinum shopping complex. All the shopping complexes were near each other.

We decided to have duck noodle for breakfast at Pratunam. The father and daughter had duck noodles. I had old cucumber soup. It seems Pratunam is famous for chicken rice. Indeed at this shop selling duck rice and duck noodles, many customers ordered chicken rice.

We visited the small alleyways at Pratunam but found it depressing as the shops were selling clothes like those my mother would buy. Also the stalls were closed to one another in the alleyways which were dirty and smelly.

We decided to walk over to Platinum shopping complex. This shopping complex is a wholesale shop selling clothes, bags and shoes. No trying and no bargaining because the prices are already considered cheap since this is a wholesale market. However many of the clothing were from countries like Korea.

I could not walk the many floors of the complex and opted to sit down while waiting for my family. It was there I met a group of nine from Singapore who often travel to Bangkok for holiday. Of course in terms of exchange rate, Bangkok would be a shopping paradise for them.

After Platinum, we took a tut-tut (small motorized scooter-like transportation with colorful exteriors and plastic L-shaped seats). 3 people can seat comfortably though 4 would be possible but rather cramped.

We were recommended by the Singapore group to visit MBK, the largest shopping complex in Bangkok. The head of the group informed us that it will take us 3-days to finish the 7-floor shopping complex.

We were also informed by a security guard (Thai but English-speaking) that MBK has the first MK restaurant outlet. Now a church member had recommended that we try this restaurant as it was a special Bangkok steamboat outlet.

We found the restaurant but not before helping ourselves to free iced tea milk tea drinks at the largest food outlet at the 5th floor. The Thais love their iced milk tea which they drink in tall glasses. The reddish-brown drink made me homesick for teh tarik but it did not even taste close the real thing back home. It tasted rather sweetish and too cloying for my liking.

We found MK restaurant and found out that it was like a clone of the Sukiya restaurant in KL save that there was no buffet spread. It was delicious. I really like the not too strong Sukiya soup which I ate with dollops of the Japanese sesame sauce. However I did not find the tom yum delicious as I am not really a fan of tom yum unless it is tom yum in a coconut shell with a big prawn stuck at its open mouth!

After a hearty lunch, we explored Siam Central, Siam Paragon. I bought a Mulberry wallet outside Siam Central for 150 baht. It was classic as it was white in color.

Next stop Asiatique....

Bangkok 22 February 2015 to 27 February 2015

First night at Bangkok - Feb 22 2015

We made the trip to Bangkok after the 2015 CNY holidays at the advice of a travel agent who informed us that the best time for holidays is after the CNY.

However he did not tell us that it was super hot in Bangkok! My cousin had already warned me about the heat when we met up during CNY. We came prepared with hats and sunblock lotion but were taken aback by the sheer heat and the humidity.

We arrived late at night at Don Muang airport in Bangkok and was a little confused about where to take the taxi until we saw lines of people waiting for taxis. We also thanked God that we met people who could speak English at the airport.

There were at least 6 to 8 lines of people just waiting to get a taxi ticket. Unlike KLIA 2, the taxi queue was really long with many foreigners.

Our taxi driver got lost taking us to the Hotel. He had to ask some people before he managed to get us to the right place.

Glow Trinity Hotel is a 3-star hotel but really has all the amenities of a 4-star hotel. This hotel is also centrally located with the MRT just a few minutes walk away. There are shopping complexes nearby and also a morning market and many stalls selling food. 

The hotel people upgraded us to a bigger room with a queen bed and a single bed. 

The attendants were casually dressed and friendly. Tim even asked the guy who took our bags up how much to tip him. He said 20 or 40 baht. 

The room was spacious with nice wall sofas, big TV (video films can be rented to watch), a coffee-tea bar, free mineral water daily, clean bathroom and nice soft beds with ample supply of pillows and downy comforters.

Continuation.....

Cuenca, Batangas & Manila

May 30 to June 2014

Cuenca, Batangas, Manila – May 30 to June 7

My maiden mission trip to Philippines can be said to be a record-breaker. This is because of the many firsts that I had experienced during this trip. In fact of the seven of us who came along, at least five of us were first-timers.

1.       It was my first time leading a mission team of this size. I was not sure what to do but I thank God for the prayers of HGC and the ‘obedience’ of team members. 

I was particularly concerned when Festus came down with fever on Monday.  As Allison and I sponged him to bring the temperature down, I wanted so much to text Ps Khor to ask him to pray for Festus’s healing. 

Somehow the Holy Spirit reminded me that Ps Khor had been praying for us during morning prayers and that God will heal Festus so that he could enjoy the rest of the mission trip. Praise God that Festus’s fever came down the following day after a night of rest, water and panadol! We took turns to do the morning devotion, prayed and worshipped in the Spirit and also had much fun and laughter teasing one another during our first mission trip together as a team.

2.       It was my first time preaching a message on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This was at the request of Ps Willy who was conducting a 2-month discipleship training session for church leaders and members of the Cuenca Bible Christian Church. Both he and Vicky had been faithfully conducting a discipleship series every Saturday and wanted to cap it with a final series of teaching on the Holy Spirit.

We had a truly awesome time. All our messages flowed with each other. The final session with Allison was to put into practice all that we had taught them for the past two-days. I heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind while Dorothy saw rain falling on the people. 

Many young people were in tears. Psalm saw a vision of halo around people’s heads. The message was that we had been cleansed and had received the Holy Spirit. We are to continue to walk in the Spirit and to keep the halo around our heads burning brightly!

3.       It was my first time praying for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So many spoke in tongues. Many broke down and cried when Tim and I led them to pray the prayer of repentance, some crying uncontrollably. Other team members prayed for the sick and people were falling all over the place, slain by the power of the Holy Spirit!

4.       It was also my first time to receive a certificate nicely framed up thanking me for being part of the discipleship training. For all of us who had received the certificate, we were deeply touched. 

When I held the certificate with my name on it, which certificate was signed by the senior pastors, I felt that I had graduated from Bible school. However the reality was I had so much to learn from the Christians of the Cuenca Bible Christian Church! 

Their humility, hospitality and their eagerness to serve us with their excellent meals, transportation for the seven of us and blessing us with a free holiday to Tagaytay (a volcano island with stunning scenery) was something unparalleled as compared to all the other mission trips I had ever attended. Like one of my team members said, we truly felt appreciated!

5.       To my shock and surprise, we were even given a big offering on our last day! This is also my first time to receive a love offering after ministering. Having ministered in different mission trips in the past, I have more often than not ended up given things away to the locals.  Joy filled our hearts when as a group, we decided with one heart to sow the money back to the church!

6.       It was also my first time to pray for the municipal council of Cuenca, a district of Batangas (province of the Philippines). I was asked to share my testimony during the flag-raising ceremony with the workers of the municipal office and to pray for the city of Cuenca. 

That morning as we took turns to pray during our morning devotion, one of the sisters in the team prayed for the gates of Cuenca to be opened to welcome the King of Glory. I decided to share on Psalm 24 and to lead the council staff gathered on the open space of the municipal council grounds to pray for clean hands, pure hearts asking God to forgive them for turning their soul to an idol.  Then I asked them to pray a prayer with me to invite Jesus into their hearts and into the city.  At least 40 council employees including the mayor of Cuenca prayed to open their hearts and the gates of the city to the King of Glory!

7.       It was also my first time witnessing to so many people. Armed only with the tract ‘Steps to peace with God’, I went through the 4-steps with more than 10 people, leading them to pray the sinner’s prayer, at the mall, at a 7/11 outlet, at a tourist spot, in a home, at Payatas (a slum area in Manila) and at a Dunking Donuts outlet. 

I also managed to distribute a number of tracts to several people that I met during this trip.

8.       It was also my first time to meet a humble Korean missionary, Rev Lee who had started a school in Batangas and a church in the area to reach out to the young people in the area. In fact Ps Willy shared with us that he grew up in BPC (Batangas Presbyterian Church) and that his life had been much impacted by Rev Lee’s 25 years of ministry in Batangas.

This trip is an eye-opener for me as I could see how Ps Willy and Vicky treasured their time with us in HGC. 

They shared with their church that we made their family felt so at home with our love and hospitality during their short time in Malaysia.

They also implemented many of the things that they saw us doing in HGC in the Cuenca Church for e.g. the discipleship training sessions leading to the possibility of starting discipleship groups in the different Barangays (similar to our life groups) with the possibility of turning the discipleship groups into daughter churches, the DISC profile which they learnt from Ps Nicholas Choo and which they brought back to let their senior pastors do (in so doing they discovered the personalities of their senior pastor and wife). 

They even adopted the format of our membership profile, the pre-service prayers, the prayers during services, the ‘harp & bowl’ prayer and worship sessions during their prayer meetings!

I have been so blessed. I have been so enriched. My heart is bursting with joy!

Salamat po Jesus! Paalam Cuenca, Batangas and Manila! We will be back!