20170809-NDP52 & Mandai Bike connector & Rainbows!

29/7/17 Sat Rehearsal outing - before the actual 9/8/17- Nation 52

Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my Heart!

Watching the flypast of the planes and choppers

Sun setting at about 6pm past

Satay By the Gardens

The Highlight of this NDP52 - not the fireworks but the drones formation!

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On 9/8/17 National Day - we decided to try out this new biking route from Lower Seletar Reservoir to Woodlands via the Mandai Park connector.

 Drove to Lower Seletar car park at about 9am  Set off at 9:30am

Got lost around Mandai Road after the Zoo....went past Kranji War Memorial & Sungei Buloh Wetlands......

Landed at Kranji MRT station at about 1 pm for lunch:( 

And then made our way back using the PCN brown signs from Causeway Point...



Back at 4:30pm!

What a long ride! Exhausted!

Fortunately had a beer and some wings at this prawn fishing place before calling it a day!

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The best collection this NDP52?

The awesome rainbows sighted on 9/8/17 evening and 11/8/17 morning across cityhall!

Top Left : Compliments from S - captured from floating platform

Top Right : Compliments from C - Captured from plane coming into Red Dot

(above same rainbow from ground and above...)

Bottom Left : Compliments from YC - While daydreaming from his office window in the morning!

Rainbows - His Covenant of Love.

Even when we are faithless, He is faithful

2 Tim 2:13 "If we believe not, yet he abides faithful, he cannot deny himself"

Reflections of the Day

At this writing of the blog 18/8/17, we just witnessed the bashing in Charlottesville , Virginia of white nationalists.  Will red dot be spared of this kind of event happening in the future?  We too boast of the creed in our flag - "regardless of race, language and religion..." But ironically, there was a change in constitution that now called for a reserved Presidency that is only meant for Malay.  Worst still, the incumbent one chosen by the present party seemed to be dividing our little red dot even further due to the 'race' issue of Indian and Malay.

So much confusion even in the presidential identity.  Who is she? Who are we?

So much to ponder what exactly is race?

So much to comprehend where does language originate?

So much to think what exactly is a religion and the faith we belong?

HMM...Back to Genesis...In the beginning....Adam and Eve....the human race...the dispersion of man at the towel of Babel...the different babbling tongues of men...children of the world - red  and yellow , black and white (as we sang the children's song that Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world...we are precious in His Sight)

Alas, beneath the different skin pigmentation of all the humans in the face of this earth, the blood that gives each of us life is still RED.  May be O, A, B or AB - positive or negative - it is still RED!

So shall we remember : Heb 9:22 "And according to the Law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin"

For this reason, we remember Jesus Christ.  Why he had to die on the cross for our sins.

The little cute vertical rainbow captured on our nation's 52 and also the one across our city centre - is a potent reminder of His covenantal love for us.  Nations and tribes .

He rules and will continue to rule over the earth.

The earth is merely His footstool.

Kings and queens, PMs, Ministers and Presidents - are merely the stewards of governance of the countries they are in charged of. And pastors are merely hierlings of His precious flock (Ez34) There will come a time, where ALL - yes ALL- will stand before the Great White Throne to give an account of what is done. Rule justly, in mercy and humility.

Remember the Chief Shepherd.  He is our God. Ez33:31



20170808: Ps 90 'When You Are Old' - William Butler Yeats & Karen Mok : In memory of the passing of Pastor Michael RW

Ps90:10 "The length of our years is 70 years, or 80, if we have the strength, yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away"

On 27/7/17, I lost a missionary pastor whom many loved.  Interestingly, I managed to made an impromptu visit when he was in hospital on 24/7/17 Monday morning as I happened to accompany my SIL to her doc review at the same hospital.  I was initially unsure if Michael was still in the same hospital and so I took a chance to check at the registration counter.  Well, managed to see him and his wife E then for a quick few minutes.  But 3 days later, he passed away to be Home with the Lord.

Michael was 71.  As per Psalms - that was a good old age.  He was one of my first 2 encouragers who penned in this blog when I first started in Jan 2010.  My migration from physical yearly journals to the cloud. And he was also my e- prayer.

There is a Chinese saying that says that man is born to die - either by old age or in sickness. For Michael, perhaps it was a combination of both - ripe age plus cancer.  He had gone back to UK in the last couple of years upon retirement.  But his heart had always been in Asia which perhaps explained his sudden hospitalisation here after he came back for some ministry sharing.  And the Lord took him home from here instead.  He will be greatly missed by many for sure as he had always been a jolly o English fellow! Man of humour and faith!

Some Reflections
My good old church friend, M,  who is now 92 recently shared this with me. "Growing old gracefully is not quite true.  In fact when one ages, the knees no longer hold but give one pain.  The wrinkles on the face is definitely not one of grace to behold"  

There is a kind of truth to the above.  Perhaps spiritually we are told to grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  However, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. There are many things we cannot do physically as we age.

 Ps 90:5-6 says that men are like the new grass of the morning, though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.  V10  our life span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away.

William B Yeats was an Irish poet - one of his famous poems he wrote ( when he was about 27 , some 120 years ago) was called "When we are old" was used as a Chinese song few years back and popularised by the HK singer Karen Mok.  It was his penning of the imaginary loved one when she got older.  

Here are the words of this poet and the song sang in the video.  Rather heart warming.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep, 

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep……

(当你老了 头发白了

睡意昏沉

当你老了 走不动了

炉火旁打盹 回忆青春)

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When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Final Reflection

Indeed as we age in this pilgrimage on earth, may we remember Ps90. The Lord has been and will be our dwelling place throughout all generations.  Like Yeats had penned 120 years ago.  Nothing had changed much isn't it? The Creator God still turn men back to dust.  It is a 100% fact and probability that all men got to die somehow.  But our times are in His hand.

But prayerfully and hopefully, even as our flesh may give way , that we will always remember our Creator God in the moments of our life.  Be prepared to part from this earth anytime.  Our prayer should always be "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom" Ps90:11

Let us love our Lord with all our heart , soul, mind and strength !

And remember that the Lord "loved the pilgrim soul in us, and loved the sorrows of our changing face" (Ps73:26) Men may forsake us for external beauty or changing circumstances, but not our Lord. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Only knowing Him will we be assured of the Heavenly Home prepared for us.

1 Cor 10:31 So whether you eat or drink...Arh Korean Feast?

1 Cor 10:31 So whether you eat or drink..(.Arh Korean Feast?)

or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God

So we did that indeed for the glory of God in this Korea trip! LOL

In Busan

And Paris Baguette all over the place!

Live cuttlefish ! Yaks!

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Jeju...

4th July 2017 Celebrating red dot Independent day in Jeju with this $2 Soju!

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Garbage in Garbage Out! LO

Finally, thanks to KP for his courage in using the GPS in Korean instead of English! And being the driver and guide for this entire trip! Am sure his Korean improved leaps and bounds in this holiday!

20170705-Jeju Jungmun Daepo Coast / Suweobong /Hyeopjae Beach! Going West! Final Day!

5/7/2017 : Jeju Jungmun Daepo Coast- the rocky cliffs with columnar joints of about 2 km in length from Jungmun-dong to Daepo-Dong!

Well , Jeju is a volcanic island formed mostly of basaltic lava upteen years ago.  The joints is a pattern in the rocks - pillar shaped.

And in Jeju, you will see the icon cute stone like tummy hugging figurines all over!

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We continued our journey westwards.  Wanted to see the next Unesco Suwolbong steep cliff.  But it was too long a trek so we contended with this rest stop here.

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Finally arrived at Hyeopjae Beach!

Another of my favourite spot in this trip!

Awesome clear waters!

What nice clear cool waters on a hot summer noon!

Lots of nice seaweeds too!

Definitely a better place to dip compared to Busan, Hyeundae Beach ( too much waves and waters not as crystal clear as Hyeopjae Jeju!)

So that ended Jeju for us. End of trip!

20170704 : Hallasan / Mysterious Road? / Manjanggul Lava Tube

4/7/2017 : Hallasan National Park, one of the 3 "Soul Mountains" in Korea.  It is the highest mountain in SK with height of 1950m above sea level.

 We took the shortest trail, about 1.3km uphill, about 30min one way. So did not get to the actual peak and to see the crater.(1160m above Sea Level)

The aerial view at Eoseungsaegak top was awesome.  Windy! a bit cool despite summer time!

We refused to come down the mountain :)

Lying down looking at the sky!

Computer Simulation of Mt Hallasan in winter and summer! LOL

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No choice but to finally come down from mountain experience:)

Drove past this Mysterious Road?

We tried putting the neutral gear in the car and yet it looked as if the car was moving uphill instead of downwards! Like defying gravity but actually it is a mere optical illusion! Very interesting road indeed!

But what was more gratifying was that I had a try on archery!

Hmm. Tough activity.  Couldn't get the bow and arch right and the arrows went off course!

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Manjanggul Lava Tube

Unesco's World Heritage

MY FAVOURITE of this Korea Jeju Trip!

It was not the original as planned.  But the afternoon was scotching hot after the archery.  So we decided to 'hibernate' in a cave! AND guess what? When we went down to the lava tubes to explore this segment of the lava channel, it was so amazingly cool down under (about 15-18 degrees??)!

 There are many such lava tubes in Jeju Island.  This particular one is the largest cave and the only one that is open to public.  The total length of this cave is about 7km long and 23m wide at its widest point and 30m high at its highest point.  There were 3 entrances that were made from the collapse of the ceiling.  But currently only a section of  1 km is open to public.

Imagine this formation around 300,000 to 100,000 years ago! Mind boggling geography! So here in this cave, my memories of geography came alive after 30 years! LOL. Right here in Jeju, Korea! Hey! I am stepping on the real lava stuff.  See the Lave flowlines, shelves, stalacitites, columns &  flowstones & quartz!

Volcanoes!

What amazing educational time!

Here standing at the edge of another crater - Sangumburi crater (formed  by explosion without the lava and has one single hole known as Marr Crater.  The rarest type in Korea and the world. Exterior circumference : 2km Interior circumference 756m. Height of 438m and depth of 132m. Now inhabited by various wild animals.  

A place where some K dramas were filmed too....