“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
Oh yeah! 4th day into 2012 and it has been great! For those of you who enjoys traveling, here is a good piece of news for you!!
The following long weekend would be during the Chinese New Year that falls on23rd & 24th of January, which are a Monday and Tuesday. The next long weekend would be on 6th April (Fri) due to Good Friday, 19th August (Sun) due to Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji on 26th October (Fri).
Four other holiday for this year, Labour Day, National Day, Deepavali and Christmas falls on either Monday or Friday thus allowing you to make four day weekend getaway without applying much leave.
If you intend to take leave and go away for a long holiday, you may want to apply 6 days leave during the stretch of days between 9th August, Fri (National Day) and 19th August, Sunday (Hari Raya Puasa) which adds up to a total of 12 actual days of vacation.
So what are you waiting for? Mark the dates on your calendar and start planning your vacation trips soon! =) Happy Holidays!
I visited the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall a few weeks ago. Been wanting to visit the place since a few months, finally found the time go down memory lane. =) It is situated at Tai Gin Road, somewhere near Balestier.
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall is also known as "晚晴园" (Wan Qing Yuan) was built in the 1880s. It was the headquarters for the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance and used by Sun Yat Sen for his revolutionary activities. Now this villa has been preserved as a national monument to commemorate Sun Yat Sen's (also known as "Guo Fu", Father of the modern China.) contributions. It holds a collection of at least 50 paintings, calligraphy works and sculptures.
Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall is also known as "晚晴园" (Wan Qing Yuan)
Double storey colonial villa. The 2nd storey houses many paintings and calligraphy artworks by famous artists.
Spotted Sun Yat Sen's bronze statue in the courtyard upon entering the villa.
Revolutionary ideals and messages by the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance.
A copy of newspapers back in the olden days.
Portrait Of Dr Sun Yat Sen.
Dr Sun Yat Sen (middle) with members of the Tong Meng Hui.
Calligraphy painting with the words "Bo Ai", meaning Universal Love.
Portrait of Dr Sun Yat Sen (middle), Zhang Yong Fu (left) & Chen Chu Nan (right)
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.
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! =)
“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
