Yanchep National Park

Day 2:

Arise and shine!  Today we had an appointment with Yanchep National Park.  After enjoying our Aussie breakfast: cheese, milk, lamington and TimTam, we headed to our destination with much anticipation. 

A 45-minutes drive to the park, which led us to be the first ‘intruders’ to enter the Crystal Cave.  The group tour turned out to be a private tour as we were the only four.  The tour guide was very informative and funny, keeping the children pretty occupied.  The 200,000 years old cave (which is considered young for a cave) is nicely lit with LED for some of the prominent features.  There are neither bats nor any creepy crawlies in there.  Our eyes were glued to the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites structures whilst listening attentively to the history of the caves, and how the natural stream had dried up nearly 20 years ago.  The guide also pointed out to us the tiny roots from the Tuart trees on the surface above us which found its way into this hidden underground cave.  We thoroughly enjoyed the 45-minute tour.

After the tour, we proceeded to the Boardwalk to view the koalas.  As usual, most of them were asleep.  Hubby wished he could enjoy such a nice life as well, just ‘eat, sleep, eat, sleep’.  Remarkably, we saw a koala climbed down from one tree, walked across to the other tree, and climbed up to that tree and rest.  That’s a lot of action for a koala!!!

All barbecues in the park are free.  We brought along some sausages, buns and salad and had a little picnic near the lake.  After that, we wandered around simply indulging in the beauty of God’s creation before embarking on our journey back home.

The beginning of the sabbatical

The Sabbatical.  We have been anticipating this a year ago.  Plans were made.  Flight tickets were purchased.  But reality only came into existence when we board the plane and stepped foot on the kangaroo land.

This is our second visit to Perth.  Four years ago we bid our farewell to our dearest aunt when we visited this beautiful place.  Ah Gong was with us then.  Whilst our loved ones have gone to a better place, memories of them lingered on.

We left for Perth on 29^th June on a midnight flight.  Ps Danny has graciously offered to fetch us to Central Bus Station to catch a bus to KLIA 2.  The kids were excited with the public transport.  This isn’t their first time on a bus.  Kids being kids.  Perhaps they are too pampered with having a personal driver a.k.a Mommy to fetch them around.

We reached the airport pretty early as there was no later bus than 4pm.  Time moves at its slowest pace while waiting, don’t you agree?  Finally, we board our flight hoping to catch some sleep for a big day ahead of us.  But looks like it was just not our day.  The constant announcement by the pilot, warning us to buckle our seat belts blasted our ears as there was much turbulence throughout the journey. 

Eventually our exhaustion vanished when we saw a familiar face, Bi Ee Ean (Andrew's aunt's nickname), at Perth airport.  She has always been a special person in our lives; one who is close to our hearts.  We left the airport and took a ride back to her house; the temperature was around 18⁰C.  Freezing cold for all of us, except Andrew.  He embraced the cold with a big smile.

We nap for a couple of hours, waking up in time for lunch.  Subsequently, we headed out to a nearby shopping mall to stock up some daily essentials. 

In the evening, Andrew and I took a stroll around the neighborhood and the nearby playground.

This is Day 1 - Free and Easy.  The beginning of our long overdue holiday.

Church Camp 2017 version 2

The Church Family Camp 2017 officially kicked off on April 29th at Eagle Ranch Resort, Pork Dickson.   We were thrilled to have an overwhelming response of 145 church members signing up for this camp.  

As Pastor Andrew has been assigned to pastor WMC Segamat, we are privilege to have a big group of them joining us this year.  Such an honor to get together as one family of God.

Stepping foot on the resort takes one to a different world, the Wild Wild West.  The scenery is set against a beautiful rustic cowboy town concept.  However, the uneven road and the stairs may cause a little inconvenience to the seniors.

Upon arrival, the campers gathered around for Ice Breaking activities.  Campers were divided into 5 groups, i.e. Blue Kingfisher, Yellow Hornbill, Green Hummingbird, Red Flamingo and Brown Eagle.  Laughter and smile filled the hall as we exchanged stories to earn points for our group.   

After the Ice Breaker, we retreated to our rooms to rest and freshen up.  Most of the campers were staying in the bandwagon whilst some of us stayed in the Log Cabin.  The open sky shower is definitely the highlight of the Log Cabin.  I was privileged to enjoy the showers of blessing from heaven as it began to rain while I was taking my bath.  Elyse was thrilled with this unique bathroom feature.  She would rather shower under the cold water as the water flowed down from the artificial rock like a waterfall.

As mealtime approached, we charged the dining hall, D’Barrel F&B outlet, to have our meal. While many of us indulged in the food paradise, the worship team gobbled their food with haste as they needed to be at the hall early to prepare for the session.  Thank you for your sacrifices!

“Soaring higher, rooting deeper” That is the theme for our church camp this year.  There were 4 teaching sessions altogether.  The camp speaker, Rev Dr Jeremiah Yap from New Life Restoration Centre, shed light to us on the Word of God.  He was funny, down to earth yet his passion for the kingdom of God is undoubtedly revealed.  He spent much time praying and ministering to the campers.  Many were touched by God in a tangible way. 

The children, on the other hand, were well taken care of.  The camp committees outsourced two teachers from another church to conduct children ministry during the teaching session.  The kids enjoyed the story telling time, craft sessions and many other activities.

During our activity time on the second day, the campers were divided into 2 groups.  The young and energetic were ushered to the field to play telematch under the scorching sun.  Touted as the best team building resort, a variety of games were organized by the resort such as Flour Face Sweet Hunter, Water Balloon Catch, Wooden Horse Riding Polo, Rubber Band with Straw Race and etc. 

The rest of us who preferred to take a back seat in the air-cond room were given a task to learn a dance routine within a limited time.  Both of my kids had a good sweat under the sun in the telematch whereas yours sincerely took delight in the Latin dance, Cha Cha.  As for Andrew, he was one of the judges in the dancing competition.  Don’t worry.  He showed no favoritism to any groups.  Not even his wife's.  We had a good laugh, an entertaining time; and what surprised me more was many among us are pretty good dancers!!!  Time to recruit them for dancing ministry in church!

During our free time, some of us tried out Go-Kart.  Perhaps a little taste of F1 racing albeit in a smaller scale?  Feeling the adrenaline rush by negotiating the curves at high speed.  Well, I have to do it twice since my kids are too young to drive it on their own.  

The resort is packed with many outdoor activities, such as horse riding, obstacle course, paintball, basketball and etc.  Your free time may not be so free after all!

Besides all the fun, the task master a.k.a. yours sincerely had a little extra activity for the tambourine dancers after the night sessions everyday.  We stayed back in the hall to practice and rehearse our dance for the Mother’s Day performance, which was in two weeks’ time.  Though we did not have much time to prepare for this performance, we did it quite well.  Sweet and simple. 

Overall, I had such a good time in the camp.  Love the bonding with church members; the exciting competitions among the groups; and the sharing of God’s words.  My only complain is: There are so many lizards in my room!  As much as I love nature, these creatures just gets on my nerves.

So long, farewell!  See you next year! 

* This article was published in the Berita Gereja WMC Melaka.  

Church Camp 2017 version 1

I always love camps!  This year, I reckon this is one of the best camps I have attended in the last couple of years.  One simple reason: I am OFF DUTY!!! 

My mom had decided to join our camp this year.  It was so last minute.  Thankfully, Susan managed to squeeze her in with some phone calls.  By saying ‘off duty’ I mean: I was off duty as a mom; my mom took over my role and took care of my kids. I do not need to rush from the main hall to the children hall every now and then; neither do I need to hurry back to the room after each session to see to the needs of my kids.  My mom did it all for me!

The camp officially kicked off on April 29^th at Eagle Ranch Resort, Pork Dickson.   This is my second time here as a few years ago I was invited to run the children ministry in this place.

We are honored to have a group of Wesleyan from Segamat to join us this year.

Upon arrival, the campers gathered around for some Ice Breaking activities.  Campers were divided into 5 groups, i.e. Blue Kingfisher, Yellow Hornbill, Green Hummingbird, Red Flamingo and Brown Eagle.  Erwyn and I were in the Red team, whereas hubby and Elyse were assigned to Blue team.

Every individual were given a point card.  They were to share with another individual from another group the most interesting and embarrassing moment in their lives.  In turn, that individual needed to guess which stories is true, which is not.  If they guess correctly, they earn a point; if not, they loose their point card.

Amanda was crowned the winner as she earned the highest individual point - 5 points.  Charis and yours sincerely earned 4 points each, which ranked us as the second highest winners.  

After the Ice Breaker, we retreated to our rooms to rest and freshen up.  Most of the campers were staying in the bandwagon whilst some of us stayed in the Log Cabin.  The open sky shower is definitely the highlight of the Log Cabin.  I was privileged to enjoy the showers of blessing from heaven as it began to rain when I was taking my bath.  Elyse was thrilled with this unique bathroom feature.  She would rather shower under the cold water as the water flowed down from the artificial rock like a waterfall.

As mealtime approached, we went to D’Barrel F&B outlet to have our meal.  Mommy had to leave the kids to the care of the Daddy as she was involved in the worship team that evening.  It was a sacrifice for the team members to gobble down their dinner and be at the hall early to prepare for the night session.

“Soaring higher, rooting deeper” That is the theme for our church camp this year.  There were 4 teaching sessions altogether.  The camp speaker was funny, down to earth yet his passion for the kingdom of God is undoubtedly revealed.  He spent much time praying and ministering to the campers.  Many were touched by God in a tangible ways. 

The children, on the other hand, were well taken care of.  The camp committees outsource two teachers from another church to conduct children ministry during the teaching session.  The kids enjoyed story telling time, craft session and many other activities.

photo courtesy of Siang Ling

On the second day, the campers were divided into 2 groups.  The young and energetic ones were ushered to the field to play telematch.  A variety of games were organized by the resort.  A little mishap when one of the church members knocked her forehead and had a cut.  The rest of us who preferred to take a back seat in the air-cond room were given a task to learn a dance movement within a time limit.  Both of my kids had a good sweat under the sun in the telematch whereas yours sincerely took delight in the Latin dance, Cha Cha.  How about hubby?  He was one of the judges in the dancing competition.  Well, don’t worry.  He had no favoritism for any group.  Not even his wife's.  We had a good laugh, an entertaining time; and what surprised me more was many among us are pretty good dancers!!!  Time to recruit them for dancing ministry in church!

During our free time, some of us tried out go-kart.  Perhaps a little taste of F1 racing albeit in a smaller scale?  Feeling the adrenaline rush by negotiating the curves at high speed.  Well, I have to do it twice since my kids are too young to drive it on their own. 

There are many outdoor activities the resort offers: horse riding, obstacle course, paintball, basketball and etc.  Your free time may not be so free after all!

Besides all the fun, the task master aka yours sincerely had a little extra activities for the tambourine dancers after the night sessions everyday.  We stayed back in the hall to practice and rehearse our dance for the Mother’s Day performance, which was in two weeks’ time.  A side note: Though we did not have much time to prepare for this performance, we did it quite well.  Sweet and simple. 

Overall, I had such a good time in the camp.  Love the bonding with church members; the exciting competitions among the groups; and the sharing of God’s words.  My only complains is: There are so many lizards in my room!  As much as I love nature, these creatures just gets on my nerves.

So long, farewell!  See you next year!

p/s: Most of the photos are courtesy from Khai Chew.

Car Accident

After 18 years of driving, I finally broke the record of being accident-free. And it happened in Malacca. 

It was a sunny day.  The weather has been extremely warm lately.  I was ironing clothes since I didn’t do so the night before.  Monitoring the time, I estimated mom’s arrival around 11:30am.  The spare room has been tidied up.  So, I have another one hour or so to cook lunch.  A slight relief in me as this would be my last meal before I step into the kitchen again.  Mom does all the cooking whenever she visits me.

All of the sudden, Mom called and she would be arriving soon.  Caught surprised, I quickly put away my ironing chores and drove to the bus station.  The timing was perfect.  We met at the entrance and headed back home with my little Kancil.

Fourteen years ago I bought this car.  It has served me faithfully since then.  Believe it or not, it has never broken down before.  There was only once the radiator was over heated and I had to stop the car by the roadside for it to cold down.  That was also due to man’s negligence.  The mechanic who serviced my car prior to this incident didn’t fix the hose properly.  It was my late father-in-law who discovered the cause as Andrew was in Teluk Intan.

Back to the story, Mom and I were on our way back home.  There were a few traffic lights (okay, quite a few actually.  Malacca is famous not only with their local food, but traffic lights as well) from the bus station back to my house.  I stopped at the traffic light next to Jusco.   Mom and I were exchanging stories.  Out of the blue, suddenly, I felt a knock on my car and the force pushed my car forward hitting the car in front of me.  What happened?  For a split moment I was speechless, ‘Oh no’!  I came down from my car and checked the damage.  Since we were blocking the main road, we drove to the road shoulder and parked there. 

I have heard of many stories of drivers who were at fault trying to find excuses to cover their crime.  However, this was not so with this driver.  This man, in his 40s’, was very apologetic.  He admitted his wrong but politely asking us not to report to the police.  He is willing to pay for the damages.  We exchanged our phone numbers and discussed the issue at hand.   Just then, my hero came to my rescue.  He took over the matter and I happily retreated to be a bystander. 

It wasn’t long before we parted ways.  With the help of Mr Wee, a church member, hubby sent my poor Kancil to the workshop.  To my surprise, the driver apologized to me again via whatsapp.  We notified him on the repair cost and he agreed to pay the sum right away.  Hubby arranged for a meeting point and went over to collect the money from him. 

So, after 18 years of driving, I finally broke the record of being accident-free. 

Well, I did encounter a few minor accidents.  The first one happened soon after I passed my driving test.  I was driving around my neighbourhood with my mom.  It was a cross junction and I didn’t stop to look, but simply slowed down.  Then came a motorcycle and I knocked into him.  He fell down from his bike.   We checked on him but he looked fine.  Instead of asking us for compensation, he said everything is ok, so no need to make any reports to the police.  He fled the scene as fast as he could.  It was as though he had committed a crime.  I felt pretty bad though. 

The second incident occurred at a T-junction.  I was following behind my former assistant pastor to visit a person.  It was a busy road when I saw my chance of turning out, I pressed the accelerator without realizing my assistant pastor have yet to move an inch.  Knocked on his bumper but there was no damage at all.  He just stared at me speechless!

Early this year, it was at a T-junction again, a lady knocked onto my car instead.  Just a soft nudge.  No scratches whatsoever.  But what’s more hilarious was, instead of me complaining to her, she said she had a shocked of her life.

That’s all the car accidents I experienced as far as I can remember.  I doubt I am a skilful nor a careful driver.  In fact, I am much more reckless than hubby yet he has met more accidents than me (though none of it was his fault).  I am just thankful that none of us were injured and that hubby was around to see to every details.  It’s good to have the man of the house around.  After all, he is more experienced in this area. 

Gunung Ledang waterfall

The idea came about when one of the churches Andrew is serving wanted to have fellowship among the members, so they thought of going to Gunung Ledang waterfall for a picnic cum service.  However, it didn’t materialize in the end.

Andrew knew that I love nature.  So he suggested for both of us to pay a visit to this place.  During one of his off day, after sending our kids to school, we headed to Gunung Ledang.  It took us around one hour and 20 minutes’ drive to reach our destination due to the heavy traffic.  But the park was rather quiet as there weren’t many visitors on a weekday.

A small fee was charged as we drove through the ranger’s booth.  After that, we took a stroll around the area, climbing up the staircase and followed the pathway, exploring this place with curiosity. 

Many years ago, my former church used to come to another site nearby to conduct the baptism.  It was a fun outing as a church unit.  There would be a convoy of cars and church van driving all the way here.  We were excited to witness the members of the church being baptized one after another.  After the baptism of each candidate, a song chosen by the candidate would be sung to celebrate this joyous occasion.  Yes, it took a long time.  But what’s the rush?  In fact, I was baptized in that place.  

Hubby and I didn’t linger for long as we needed to rush back to fetch the kids back from school.  It was a pity we didn’t climb all the way to the top.  But I enjoyed the scenery, the melody of the nature, and the sun (Wait a minute, not the direct sunlight but a good weather).  I was so upset when I woke up that morning and found out that it was drizzling.  Thank God it stopped.

Will I go back again?  Oh yes, why not?  Would you like to join me to indulge in God’s masterpiece?

Bukit Gambang Resort Part 2

The next day, we woke up with much anticipation as today we would be visiting the Safari Park.  Knowing that this would be another energy draining day, we filled our stomach with the complimentary buffet breakfast at Caribbean Coffee House.   The park only opens at 10am, so we have a lot of time to indulge in Nasi Lemak, porridge, toast bread, cakes, fruits and other typical Malaysian food.

The Safari park covers a total of 138 acres of land compared to 45.8 acres for the Water park.  The tram brought us to the park lobby where we redeemed our entrance tickets and bought the park map for RM1.  Henceforth, we walked towards Simba Hill where we saw their prized collection - the white lions.  It's the one thing that all visitors must not miss.

Next, we visited the Little Farm House.  Children had fun feeding the rabbits, goats and birds.  Of course, we needed to purchase the animal feed (which is basically carrot slices) at RM5 per cup.

Our next destination was the Forest Land.   In there, you will be surrounded by butterflies, insects, snakes, turtle, birds and even lizards!!!   

But we also had lots of fun feeding the bears, deer and lemur  This was our first time feeding the bears.  Although we couldn’t do it up-close, seeing the bear stand up and lurching forward for the food were good enough for us to keep feeding them.  Feeding the deer was another humorous event!  We have done so in the past but there were always a fence between us.  This time, we entered into their territory and fed them directly.  The deer were so enthusiastic (or maybe they were really hungry!!!).  The photos below showed it all.  They even licked Erwyn!!! Does Erwyn taste like food?  I’m not so sure about that.  But that definitely reminds me of our previous Australia trip to Cavershem Park whereby the kangaroos kissed Erwyn non-stop.  Oh boy oh boy, looks like my boy is a charm.  Even animals are attracted to him.   

The lemur was a cutie.  It was very shy, too.  It doesn’t allow us to touch it but I managed to steal a moment when it was busy eating. 

All the walking had definitely worn us out and we stopped for lunch and tea break whenever we had a chance.  However, the kiosk and the restaurant do not have much variety of food as compared to the Water Park.  Not to mention everything is marked up here. 

Since little feet were tired, we took the tram to visit the Wild Savannah.  This area is divided into 3 zones, i.e. Afraican Savannah, Tropical Rainforest and Australian Outback.  The tram stopped from time to time at various spots for us to watch the animals up close.  Each tram is guided by a park ranger, who acts as a tour guide during the ride.

Land of Predators was the last place we visited.  That’s where we rode on a 30-year-old camel.  This was Erwyn and my first time riding on a camel; but Elyse did so 2 years ago when we visited A Famosa.  Camel riding reminded me of my late mother-in-law.  She tried it once when she visited Israel and she lamented that she was so scared till she felt she was about to die.  A bonus for Erwyn as he was given a chance to feed the llama although it was not meant to be.  It was feeding time and the park rangers graciously gave a few loaf of bread to Erwyn to feed the llama, without any charges on the parents!!!  hehehe…

There were 5 shows staged, namely Multi-animal Show, Bird Show, Predator Show, African Yabara Fire Show and the Tarzan Adventure.  The last two were performed in the evening. 

Few months ago when we visited Zoo Negara we thought the show was bad; shame to say that the shows here were worse!  Most of the time, the animals just walked out from their enclosed, ate the food, and headed back to their familiar ground again.  Perhaps the only bonus from the Predator Show was that the tiger preferred to entertain us with his art of defecating rather than eating the chickens hanging around.

Erwyn enjoyed the Bird’s show although it was average.  I guess that was the result of his sweet memory when Daddy brought him to Malacca Zoo.  He took a photo with a parrot on his shoulder at Malacca Zoo.  That was a huge step for my boy.  Perhaps the only thing that electrifies me at the bird show was holding the eagle.  Both kids wanted to do that but the personnel said the eagle was too heavy for them.  Hence, he suggested mommy.  I was exhilarated coz I, too, wanted to hold the eagle.  But it wouldn’t be nice to grab that golden opportunity from my children.  Now with peace of mind, I proudly hold the eager and even brought it nearer to me for picture taking.  This was definitely another highlight of this trip.

We only managed to have an hour break to go back to our room to freshen up before heading back to the park for dinner.   We expected to be welcomed by a clean room but it was not so.  The night before, we moved the bed nearer to the fan as the air-cond was not very cold.  To our horror, we found lots of rubbish under the bed.  Hubby picked up the rubbish and threw them in the bin.  But the floor was still very dusty.  When we returned from the park, the room was still the same.  One of the rubbish bins was cleared but the house-keeping did not replace the plastic bag.  They refilled the complimentary coffee and tea sachets but everything else remained the same.  We called up the management and made a complained.  Since we were in a hurry, we only requested the house-keeping to sweep the floor and clear the other bin.  The rest… we just bear with it for another night.

One of the highlights in this place is dining with the white lions at Simba Hill Gourmet Hall.  We made our way there as the price is average but the additional benefit is certainly alluring.                                                       

After dinner, we went back to Safari Park for the nocturnal animals.  The Night Jungle Square was a let down.  I thought it would be an eye-opener for the kids since they have never been to a night Safari. 

The only show that was worth watching was the Tarzan Adventure, a stunt performance, in the evening.  But this show involved some effect (loud sound) that may frighten little children.  My kids were fine though.
 
Finally, we retreated to our room.  Exhausted, we called it a night after a long day. 

The next morning, we had our breakfast and then headed to the swimming pool.  We failed to explore some outdoor fun such as flying fox, sky trail or driving the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) as time was running out.  Upon check-out, we bid farewell to this place but carried lots of sweet memories back home with us.

Thank you, hubby, for this family getaway.  Please spoil me with more of these holidays… yes, greedy me.