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! =)

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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