I think Pangkor Laut was ideal for Leon and myself. For Leon, the nature lover and the Tarzan wannabe (I think of him as that because he talks about wanting to live in the forest close to nature!), staying at the resort was somewhat like staying in the forest. I told him the resort felt like a combination of Sentosa Cove and MacRitchie Reservoir. For me, it was secluded enough to get away from people (I needed to recuperate from all the wedding socialising) and feel like I was in paradise looking out to the cove Considering we only decided on the destination a day before departure after depositing Wedding Collections into the bank, this place was divine for us. There was only one type of room (Villa) to choose from for the duration of our stay and it was just right for us. It felt like the place was kept and prepared for us

Instead of going into details about the getaway, here are my personal favorites about the trip

1. Spending time alone with each other and sleeping as much as we liked!

2. Infrastructure/Landscaping. The whole feel of the resort was coherent. From the ferry ride, to the room, the restaurants and their color schemes that matched even the serviettes.

3. Food. GLORIOUS FOOD! My favorite would have to be the Soy Panna Cotta dessert (It was so nice I savored it and forgot to take a picture of it!). The texture is a little more firm than ice-cream but less creamy and taste like butter cookie with a light soy fragrance =) Mmmm….Absolutely delicious! Leon’s is probably the Nasi Lemak at breakfast =)

4. Sweet Gestures from Hotel Staff

5. Nice Sea View. It’s therapeutic to be eating and looking at the sea at the same time. Absolutely relaxing!

6. Nature. We could see Kites, Hornbills and Fruit Bats =) I’m sure there were more if we looked harder.

So far, a few people have commented that our honeymoon was too short. Some thought we didn’t go on one cos we were back at work 9 days after the wedding. I dunno. Time is relative. It was enough for us so it didn’t feel short

We are deeply thankful for the time, the place and the blessings from loved ones that made this trip possible If you are one of them, THANK YOU!

After service, in a desperate attempt to find some New Year goodies, the Penang’s food trail brochure led us to a very inconspicuous shop that had over 60 years of history in making Nonya Kuehs. As Singaporeans, the first thing we thought of and asked when we entered the house was, ‘Where’s the display counter?’. Nope, there weren’t any display counters, just a wooden rack with some of the freshly made kuehs. Thus began the food tasting session.

Kueh Tasting

According to the owner who was the 3rd generation in his family running this business (the 4th generation doesn’t intend to take over the business), they mainly handled orders from restaurants and hardly had customers gatecrashing like we did =) Haha! Anyways, we left as satisfied customers, returned with bagful of kuehs and amazing homemade kaya!

Awesome Kaya

Lunch was yet another round of Penang Char Kway Teow! This time at the recommended street (forgot the name) on the Penang Food Trail brochure where the person cooking wears goggles to cook! Well, with good stuff always comes competition. If you are interested to check the place out, there are 2 of such cooks along the street. One male and one female. The female cook is the one recommended on the brochure but our local intelligence told us to go for the male cook instead. We were not disappointed.

After lunch, some of us went for Nandos while the rest went shopping. In the late evening, the troop prepared to go back to Singapore while Leon and I stayed behind to celebrate Valentines Day early.

Breakfast @ Old Town

Old Town Signature Dishes - Ipoh Hor Fun & Curry Mee

Jon Jon: I'm Not Interested In Adult Food

This Way Up To Penang Hill

We took it easy in the morning after a packed day yesterday. We lingered at New World for a while longer, some resting and some shopping. After that, our host drove us around to take a look at the town area. We decided to charge up Penang Hill after driving around for a while. The drive to Penang Hill took about an hour I think. It was quite a ride. Traffic was generally slow (perhaps compared to Singapore). Leon slept most of the way there.

The train took half an hour to get to the top of the hill. Weather conditions wasn’t that good so pictures of the view up there wasn’t great. It started drizzling when we were up there so we decided to wait awhile at the cottage restaurant to have tea. Fresh warm scones with strawberry jam and butter was good. The same as the one at Cameron Highlands.

Hilltop View

Us at Penang Hill

Group Photo

Dinner and rest in the evening concluded Day 2.

The rest had Char Kway Teow at Lorong Burma first while waiting for us to arrive. Once we checked in to Cititel at Jalan Penang, we left for the famous Chendol! We were chauffuered around in this nice big Hyundai. It takes all 11 adults, 3 kids and a baby!

Our Faithful Transport

Load Up People!...Erm...Prams First

Supermom and Kids

Boy, did the Chendol taste good and refreshing! – fresh ingredients with palm sugar that’s not too sweet. Yum! Right after that, some of the gang even tried Assam Laksa! For some Singaporeans, the highlight was the Ambra (not Umbrella) juice because we have not tasted it before nor seen the Ambra fruit back home.

Find Yourself A Seat Before The Chendol Comes

Chendol Smiles

Assam Laksa Right After Chendol...Main Course After Dessert

Tourists need to buy local produce. What is Penang famous for? Tau Sar Pia =) We went to Ghee Hiang. Leon and I felt that Him Hiang’s Tau Sar Pia was more fragrant and tasty.

Ghee Hiang Tau Sar Pia

Who's Cuter?

A&W Fix

What else do Singaporeans do besides eating? Right! Shopping! We we driven to Plaza Gurny to go crazy but most of us did not buy much. Hehe. Some of us focussed people went straight for our A&W fix. Haha. How can we ever touch Malaysian grounds without having our Rootbeer Float and Waffle?! Yum!

After about an hour of shopping time, we went out to walk along the waterfront. Unfortunately for us, the skyline wasn’t that clear so the picture didn’t come out that clear too. One interesting thing though was that our camerman (probably a tourist or student from China) counted from 3 to 1 instead of 1 to 3 before snapping That kind of tickled me. Hehe.

Actually, most of us were too tired to walk along the waterfront so we just sat down and rested. We were waiting for the night hawker there to open so we can go for dinner - kway teow mee, rojak, char kway teow wanton mee, fried chicken skin, popiah and claypot rice were some of the food we had. Interestingly, the hawker is a little like Chomp Chomp in terms of ambience. There wasn’t a lot of variety of food there and the variety was repeated about 3 times in that place. This summed up Day 1.

First and foremost. Congratulations Lionel and Charity. I’m envious…..hope you had a great time. God, thank You for holding back the weather. More pics to come of this superb and memorable event. But here are the most good looking guys of that day!

I’m sorry I lost my voice and didn’t sing well for that day.

That being said….I want to thank Regina and Lee Choo for working so hard and stepping up to the plate cause I couldn’t. I’m sorry for the burden I caused you both and I thank you for your spirit in serving. I’m honored to work side by side both of you. Choir. You guys were awesome!

Grace II Hall

Lee Choo, Regina and Me…Ricky at the side too

The band, Jeremy, Yew Tee, Samantha and Caleb

View from the Back

Awesome Choir!

Clap your hands people

Hall in a different color theme….beautiful ain’t it?

Band, you’re awesome in that short span of time you all nailed it down! Almost….:P Hahaha. Well done! The best band in town was playing for two days for the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) in Singapore. I wish I could play with you all more man!

And to everyone else who worked so hard. I’m so privileged to work with you guys. Man you guys really just did over and beyond. Talk about going the second mile, you guys went to the millionth mile!

I’m now recuperating. God help me. But I’m recuperating over my books, assignments and so many other work that needs to be done. Keep praying for me, my voice isn’t back and tonight, I got to practice and lead worship this weekend.

Oh well, I always heard about the zoo for a long time. But two things really stopped me from going there. It’s cost and I had nobody to go with. So I delayed that until two months back when, someone so dear came to Singapore for a visit. Miracle! My God-daughter. She is sooooo precious to me. Hearing her call me Kai-Yeh (Cantonese for god-father) is like heaven…..

Anyway we decided! The zoo is the place to go. It costs us SGD 18 per person per entry.¬† So we went together four of us with Miracle getting in free because she is only 2. Also you may want to take note that it is quite a walk for those of you who don’t fancy walking you can pay SGD 10 per person more to sit the tram ride around the zoo.

We chose to walk because we are thrifty people. Well the good part of it was that we chose to get a little cart to pull Miracle in. But she refused to sit in it. Only want to walk around and see. Mostly want her real Papa to carry her. Glimpses of the animals  and teaching her what they were and hearing her call their names out was so cute.

There are various shows across the zoo at different times. We decided to go and see the elephant show. We arrived early and there were seats. We waited impatiently trying to keep Miracle interested by asking her ‘Where is the elephant?’. Soon the seats were all filled up. And the show was to begin. So many people were there. The host started to speak with this fake accent that was soooooo annoying to me. But Miracle was enjoying herself looking at to ginormous elephants. Still we were feeling hot tooo. So we tied up my little princess’ hair up. Look at how beautiful she looks. I’m going to soooooo kill the guy that breaks her heart hahahaah.

We didn’t take many pictures because I was just more occupied with her. We walked like about a quarter of the entire zoo and she started to be really tired. Finally she decided to sit on the little trolley. Haha. It was also about to rain. Michael and Michelle, Miracle’s parents were comparing the zoo back home with the one here and they said…..no fight. Here is like super nice. Smells good too. Also the animals that are tame aren’t caged up to a point that it feels like you’re visiting a prisoner. They are all in the open and that was nice because you can actually get soo close to the animals

I must say things are pricey if you bring your whole family. Food is crazy….but we didn’t eat there. Phew. I had so much fun I didn’t want to leave. But for Miracle’s sake it was time to go. I can’t wait to go back. Next door was the Night Safari and I heard it is very nice too. I so want to go too….and I did months later. Coming up….Night Safari in the next post!

Beautiful morning sun against the mosque nearby

What a nice morning view to wake up to!

You could just feel the nice warmth against your back as you peer down this balcony

Good Morning Angels, I think I heard the alarm beckon me to wake up cause today, we are being sent to a distant island for a trip of fun, sea and sand.

The view at the balcony though again was just mesmerizing. I just wish I could wake up to such a view every morning.

Soon we were at the jetty at Jesselton Point where I bargained for a boat ride to the infamous islands. We are going to 2 of them and this time, I’m armed with my high tech waterproof camera to take those beautiful underwater shots.

What a nice sunny day to drive in!

Jesselton Point welcomes us with open arms…

All aboard, the captain shouts and there we go bouncing on the waves through the crystal clear sea water on route to a place I so long to see.

Getting ready to board the huge ship

Oh no where are the tickets?

First stop, Sapi Island. We arrived to an almost deserted beach because we were early. The sun shone brightly up in the sky but it didn’t feel hot‚Ķ..maybe I was too excited to go on my mission to explore life in the deep blue sea.

Soon enough we were diving in. Agent Y who was doing this for the first time was indeed quick enough to learn. Before we knew it she was riding the waves! I was busily snapping pictures when I suddenly realized. She’s missing!!!!! I quickly swam to shore to see if she was there and she wasn’t!! I began to worry, So a rescue mission was sent out to find our missing agent. I swam till my legs were sore‚Ķ.yet no sight of her. Thank God I chose to get flippers, so I still had the strength to try even more. After about 15 mins, I managed to find her happily enjoying herself. Phew! She wasn’t even afraid. Guts of steel. I on the other hand was shaking hahaha cause my legs were awfully sore haha.

A view of Kota Kinabalu from the sea

Arriving to the island soon! On our high tech boat!

The huge Gaya island nearby. This is only 5 percent of the island

Looks like a fishing boat just passed our high speed boat….sheeesh they have some great upgrades perhaps….

The jetty….so nice and near…..felt so excited at that time

Immediately on diving into the water, this is what you see!

Agent K being one with nature!

Me and Agent Y in a distant

Soon we spotted Marlin and Nemo and nemonite

Can you spot the fishes?

The reef gets more beautiful as you go deeper in

I think I spot a DUGONG

The reef from a 25m view above

There are many interesting colors that appear under the ocean especially when the sun is bright

Interesting that every coral is just so unique

A closer view

A school of fish in a distant

More Beautiful corals

These pictures make me want to dive so much! But it was impossible to dive deeper and take pictures at the same time. I don’t have enough skills. Also you noticed very few pictures of fishes….they are everywhere but swim off at lightning speed when I try to get a close up

Finally a fish shot! Man this was hard to get. This pair went together everywhere

A closer view!!

More Corals…so nice

Another fish I caught, I took 20 shots to get one like this….

Oh no my brain fell out!

Agent A

Gaya Island in a nearby distance

A view of the beach in panorama….sorry for the bad stitching

We headed back to shore and had a little picnic. Interesting enough some residents of the island visited the other people’s tasty BBQ not too far away. They’ve got good taste. So agent A scouted and proceeded to report that there Dragon’s are not dangerous

Dragons….no la monitor lizards only hehehe

We’re coming to eat you!!! Yums

Time flew past and soon we were on the other island. More developed and tourists were aplenty. This time the best view was at the deep end. Sadly no one dared venture to the unknowns with me. Guess what? We lost agent Y again as she bravely just went about. Couldn’t find her for an hour….My heart can’t take no more scares like that‚Ķ..phew.

Can you spot the fish?

Band of Brothers…..on a mission

Our very own princess

Manukan Jetty

The long stretch of Manukan Beach with Pulau Mamutik in the distance

Father’s Angels Unite

We just relaxed and just enjoyed the breeze and the sun. I think I can live here and never leave.¬†¬† This is just my type of place. Can I not leave? Still I am saddened because pollution has cause the reef here to be destroyed. It used to be more beautiful. I also learnt it was super difficult to get nice shots underwater. It was painful, tiring, irritating and just almost impossible….

Soon time beckons us to head towards our one true goal. To conquer the massive 4095m mountain. One and a half hours away, we journeyed there after restocking our ammo.

Saw this baby on the way back…..I need to get this!! Its a Yamaha

We got lost on the way and journeyed through a narrow kampung road. True Kampung Style Traffic!

True Kampung Life! My Kind of life….Nice houses

Beautiful Ain’t it?

There, we were greeted by the nicest lodge I’ve ever stayed in. It was awesome and beautiful right? The fireplace was so nice. So the 4 hungry mammals proceeded quickly to consume their share of food beside the warmth of a beautiful fire. It was cold outside. Super cold. After the nice meal and wonderful companionship, we collapsed into our comfortable cribs like tired babies.

Room Service??

Peak Lodge at Mount Kinabalu Park

The Boys Dorm

Our Vanity tool

Girls Dorm

The Fire……fascinating!

We preferred to dine close to the fireplace

This is also why I like fires….so nice!!! but it was an indication it was time to sleep. Nites!

Anyways if you guys are interested to see more pics, they are posted on my facebook. Lots more pics actually….add me

I was like wow! Now my iphone camera isn’t so sharp so it doesnt bring out the colors well. It was actually the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen in my life. It literally was so bright and I could see the entire arch. Again the iphone camera is not wide enough in its angle to take the entire rainbow.

We actually stopped by the roadside to take this hahaha. I was so desperate. We just sat there and admired and it was just awesome.

It reminded me of God’s grace when He created this beautiful rainbow just to show Noah and to everyone of us of how He would never destroy the earth again. It is scary the extent of God’s wrath. For a sinner like me, I know it is only by grace that I can serve Him today. That rainbow is proof.

My Goal:

Mount Kinabalu, Gorgeous Ain’t it?

My Vision:

The ecstasy of conquering the highest peak in South East Asia

My Mission:

11km of treacherous and painful trek up Mount Kinabalu

With that in sight, four brave souls took up the challenge to this mission.

L.K.M aka. Shy Guy

T.Y.Y aka. No Sweat

Y.A.M aka Invincible

L.L.K.W aka. Piggy

Disclosure: All names are hidden for the protection of individuals.

With that, the most dangerous and probably the toughest training regime is set for them. Lesson 1 : If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger.

So they made their way to the forests of the jungle of Singapore, braving the wild beasts and deadly creatures. All these were done with their visions and eyes fixed on the success of conquering Mount Kinabalu who stands at an amazing height of 4101 meters above sea level….. Here they were at Bukit Timah Hill doing their secret training when a camera spotted them and took some photographs.

Mission Director..aka the Terminator

Our descent to our death

Is this the stairway to heaven? At the end of this part we felt as if we were ready to die hahaha

The Wild Piggy

Do not feed the wild piggy!!!

We did it! 160m Summit! We just have another 3941m to train hahaha

Training regime 0.00001 complete! Will they survive till the end? Stay tuned