Benny Prasad - Guinness World Record Holder Who Travelled To 245 Countries In 6 Years

We are fortunate to have Benny Prasad as our guest speaker for the Christmas Eve service. Benny is from India, Bangalore. He is also a solo guitar instrumentalist who set the Guinness World Record for visiting 245 countries in 6 years. He had visited places like Australia, Finland, Thailand, England, Cambodia, China, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Italy, France, Germany, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia etc... 

Benny Prasad was born in Bangalore, India. He suffered from Asthma which required him to take Cortisone Steroids which led to 60% lung damage due to wrong medication and doctor said he had 6 months to live. When he was young, his teacher gave his mom a call and wanted her to take him out of the  education system. He has no talents in music and couldn't play any instruments.  His father had high expectations of him, wanted him to follow his footsteps when he grow up. He struggled to live up to his father's expectations however he was a disappointment and was a shame of the family. At the age of 16, he was depressed and even attempted suicide. 

A youth retreat changed his journey towards a new life. He surrendered his life to the world-maker, God. He was once lost and felt useless, God spoke to him "I NEED YOU NOW AND I CAN MAKE YOU A NEW CREATION." 

From being the shame of the family, now with God's ablilities, he had performed before the Presidents and Parliaments, the crowds of 2006 Fifa World Cup, 2004 Olympics Games. 

He also designed the World's first Bongo Guitar and 54 Strings Guitar.  What made these guitar special is because it has 6 strings, 2 Bongos and a 14 string harp. 

This is a true life testimony given by Benny Prasad.

Heart-warming Scene : Little pups unwrapping Christmas pressies!

Short Getaway to Batam!

Long overdue post! Mom and I had our short 2 days 1 night trip to Batam on 11/12/2011. We signed up for tour package so the ferry tickets and hotel accomodations are all included.=)


Some general information about Batam:


Batam is one of the 3000 islands that make up the Riau Archipelago. Batam is 20km away from Singapore or about 40 minutes by the air-conditioned ferry. Batam is gradually developing into a major industry and tourist area attracting tourists from all over the world. 

The native people of Batam are of Malay origins but over the years various ethnic groups from Indonesia can be seen to settle down in this island. "Bahasa Indonesia" is the language used most frequently to communicate.  English is commonly recognised. Batam's main transaction currency is "Indonesia Rupiah" (IDR), they do accept "Singapore Dollar" (SGD) as well. Batam time is UTC / GMT + 7,one hour behind Singapore time.

On board Batam Fast Ferry. The whole journey took about 1 hour from Singapore Cruise Centre  (Harbour Front) to  Batam Centre Ferry.

We proceeded to Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre as our room  wasn't ready to check in yet.  It look exactly like those shopping malls that we have here in Singapore however they do have quite alot of shops that sells replicas of branded bags/wallets (LV, Gucci, Coach, Prada etc..)

Golden View Hotel. A Four-Star hotel in Batam just 10 minutes away from Harbour  Bay Ferry Terminal. 

On board Imperial Cheng Ho Cruise for our dinner. This cruise was stationed in Singapore before it stay put in Batam.  Dinner was served in buffet style  with wide-spread of  Asian delights.

Exterior decoration of the cruise. 

Second day's lunch at one of the famous Nasi Padang Restaurant (I can't recall the name of the restaurant :x)  I was impressed with this gentleman who handled 20 plates of dishes at one go! Our dining area was at the second floor and the kitchen was at the first, so can you imagine he had to handle the dishes and climbed 2 flights of stairs?

Traditional Indonesian dishees. Surprisingly, lunch wasn't as spicy as what i thought cause usually Indonesian are quite generous with their spices.

After lunch, we proceed to Miniature House Indonesia where  mini buildings  of traditional architecture were housed.  

Some of the mini architecture buildings.

We head over to Golden Prawn 933 for our dinner. 

Our dinner location at Golden Prawn 933. The place looked  abit like "Kelong"  cause of the  "Sticking Points" as shown on the above picture.

Coconut drink that was bigger than my face/head.

Overall, this trip was very fulfilling. Not only Mom & I get to relax and enjoy, we get to have a taste of their culture and food. Definitely would want to go back to Batam when we have the time, its just 45minutes to 1hour journey! =)

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Have A Little Faith

“This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And babe, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soul mate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.” -- Marilyn Monroe

One day makan adventure at Batu Pahat~

Woke up early to catch the coach and set off to Johor (Batu Pahat) for our makan/shopping journey. Managed to capture the beautiful sunrise! How often do I get to see that? heh..

There we are! First stop, to grab some breakfast. I couldn't recall where this place is but they have a whole lot of yummy food ranging from Wanton noodles, Chicken rice, Dim sum, fried fritters, Hokkien mee, Char kway teow... I like this open space makan concept =)

Saw this peanut cake motor-cart seller nearby the makan place. Don't get to see this anymore back in SG.

Next stop, we stop by Yong Peng to purchase some local snacks. Didn't get anything from this shop as the snacks are pretty expensive. Nothing much fancy me as I think that we can get them in SG as well.

Rows of shophouses along the road. It consist of shops on the ground floor and residential space upstairs. Look quite similar to the ones we have in Chinatown. I love the historican & architecture feel.

All the yummies that we bought & hand carried back. Ang ku kueys, Rainbow kuey lapis, pastries & snacks.

Samsung Galaxy S2 vs Iphone 4 vs Stone

Kelly Clarkson - What Doesn't Kill You Lyrics (Stronger)

"What doesn't kill you; makes you stronger, stand a little taller. What doesn't kill you; makes a fighter, footsteps a little lighter."

Love this song! =)

Smile

" I want to be remembered as the girl wbo always smiles even when her heart is broken and the one that could always brighten up your day even if she couldn't brighten her own."

Happiness is a journey not a destination

经过那么多事情之后，才发觉我想要的并不多。只是希望身边我所爱的每一个都健健康康，幸福快乐。=)

Lost~!

When you're lost in those woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are just lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered a few feet off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and its time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rise anymore. -Eat Pray Love

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

TGIF!

Nothing beats having an awesome company, great dinner and an ice chilled paulaner beer after a stressful day at work! TGIF! <3

Ps* im thankful of having a grp of such lovely friends who never left my side during the tough times. (: *

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

-untitled-

Disappointed. Mixed feelings. Anger. Sadness. Hatred. Heartaches.

Those memories are haunting me and when exactly will all these go away? I hate it when whatever i do, see or hear will always remind me of you. Yes, you left an impact in my life, a huge one i can say.

Past 6 mths was nothing but a dream. A sweet and beautiful fairytale. Now i have to come back to reality and move on. As time goes by, all these memories will fade.. Out of sight, out of mind. The reason why i deleted you from fb. Perhaps, that's a quicker way to recover from all these heartaches.. Tonight will serve as a reminder and that's the final night that im gonna mention about you.. After tomorrow you will be history...

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

放弃了

Inspired by S.H.E 安静了 and I came up with my own version:

只剩下回忆陪了我一整夜

梦想中属于我们的幸福

变成了我一个人的回音

在这场轰轰烈烈的爱情里

爱我还是放弃

你选择了逃避

撒娇的，温柔的，可爱的，爱哭的，

照片里曾经都是你喜欢的

如今我挂念着你

你却没有任何反应

你说我们不适合

因为思想不成熟

我害怕会失去你

所以握的很紧

分开是一种领悟

让我好好的想过

我想要的那种幸福

你本来就不能给我

你说我给你太多

却忽略了我自己

分不清这是爱情，自私或逃避

爱情本来就复杂

我们都别去想

放弃是我最后决定

是因为你不爱了

Brad Paisley - Remind Me (Duet With Carrie Underwood)

This song has been on repeat mode since this morning.

Yes, this song remind me of you/us.

Those memories we had, hit me once again.

If you would listen closely to the lyrics, it says my feelings.

Oh, so on fire so in love
That look in your eyes that I miss so much
Remind me, baby, remind me

I wanna feel that way
Yeah, I wanna hold you close
Oh, if you still love me
Don't just assume I know

Do you remember the way it felt?
You mean back when we couldn't control ourselves
Remind me
All those things that you used to do
That made me fall in love with you
Remind me, oh, baby, remind me

Aloha!

Life is beautiful.

I'm gonna seize each moment and find everyday beautiful!

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars." - Henry Van Dyke