Surrender to Receive Real Freedom

Recently, I read a news report about a fugitive in Singapore who surrendered himself after 21 years on the run for killing a man in a robbery gone wrong in 1989. 

The reason for his surrender was that he  wanted to move on with life, legally marry his long-time girlfriend and be a role model to his son. Even though his son wanted him to surrender after he turns 50 and will be legally spared of any caning, he refused. He is willing to be punished accordingly for his crimes so that he can serve his sentence and be reunited with his love ones after that. 

This example reminds me again that all of us have also committed crimes. Our sins are against God ( for jealousy, lust, lying, pride etc....) but instead of choosing to surrender to God, we choose to run away and we choose to cover up and we choose to continue our wayward behaviour. The result is that we live a life that is not what God intended us to live. 

Through his repentance, the fugitive has reminded us of a valuable and powerful lesson. 

Only by surrendering (to God) will we have real freedom 

Long Weekend

Last week, I enjoyed a much welcomed “long weekend” courtesy of Hari Raya.


On Saturday afternoon, we took the opportunity to visit J&S at their Hougang home and they hosted us by bringing us for cycling at Punggol Park nearby. It was a fun session even though I covered extra miles to look for Yilong, even riding in the rain. Punggol Park is a nice scenic place which I don’t mind visiting again. (And having dinner there)

For dinner J&S brought us to Kangkar Mall to have Tze Char. We had their speciality Thai style fish head curry, salted egg yolk fried prawns, sambal kangkong, black pepper deer meat and a mix toufu. Maybe I am hungry after the cycling but the food taste really delicious then. After dinner, we bought some durian back to eat, they turned out to be rather good quality!

Back home, I straightaway wash up and plomp myself in front of my new TV to catch the BPL season opener, it was a disastrous game for both Liverpool (lost 0-3 against WBA) as well as Norwich (0-5 against Fulham). Wifey was helping Matt and Mick with their birthday surprise for Deb. Really appreciate that. Wifey and the kids decorated the living room with drawing, balloons and banners and I joined them after they have finished everything, in time to join in the surprise for Deb, it was some good fun indeed, even though everyone was a wee bit tired already and wifey hand hurting from tying the balloons.

Sunday’s dinner was at Han’s as Deb wants someplace simple (after what happened in the afternoon) to make a simple dinner a bit more special, we got a nice cake for her... at least she is smiling already.

Monday was a rather lazy day for me, after lunch at the market, we watched some holiday movie on TV (Me, You and Ours followed by Beyond Loch Ness) I fell asleep on the sofa while darling was doodling on our Taiwan journal. When I woke up, she showed me a super cute Big Head Soldier and Mc Rabbit picture which she drew... awesome!

Dinner was at wifey’s parents home, after which I drove over to Vivo City to get some dehumidifier from Daiso, Wifey got her hair curlers at SaSa and then some lemon and aluminium trays at giant for her upcoming cheesecake making. Oh wifey saw a packet of Sng Bao so we also got that childhood food.

We ended the night with a meal at McDonalds at Harbourfront to satisfy my craving. I ordered a McNuggets EVM to share and a cheeseburger for myself. We enjoyed the food as we sat on the big comfortable chair and chatted. Thank God for the time spend with my love ones...

Oktober in August

Last Friday, after our marriage essentials session ended at Nexus, we (with Mike, Deb, Nick and Diane) decided to go over to Dempsey to get a drink and some food. Ended up at Oktober and we had sausages, wings, fried mushrooms and calamari to go with some nice cold beer. The live band even sang "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" surprising all of us there.

7 Wonders

Buffalo Wings

Fried Mushrooms

Our barrel of beer

Nick & Diane

Mike & Deb

Darling & me

Taiwan Itinery (Actual)

Day 1 (7July)


720am - depart Sg

1145am – touch down Taoyuan airport ( buy Taiwan Da Ge Da local sim card )

12pm – Take 20 mins of U-Bus (NT30each) to Taoyuan High Speed Rail station and take HSR for 45mins (NT540each) to Taichung HSR station to link up with our driver Liu da ge ( he charge us NT1500 to drive us up cingJing Shangri La Hanging Garden Resort)

3pm – check into resort and wash up. Thereafter, explore the area around the area.

7pm – have dinner at Carton King ( Very nice concept restaurant with good food like personal steamboat or western food at affordable prices , must TRY! ) after dinner we continue to walk around and bought some postcards to write back home

11pm – ZZZZZ



Day 2 (8 July)

7am - Woke up early to have breakfast at Resort

8am - Take a shuttle bus up ( abt 7mins ) Green Green Grassland. There you can feed sheeps, watch sheep/horse show (during weekends) and bask in the warm sunshine on a vast hill. Nice place to take pics.

11am – take a bus down and have lunch

12 pm – go back resort to wash up rest as it is very hot

4pm – have high tea at the resort ( comes with our resort package )

5pm – Went to small Swiss Garden

8pm – Ate dinner at Steakhouse , then walk around and listen to music performance

11pm – rest



Day 3 (9 July)

7am – woke up to have our breakfast

1130am – check out and another driver Mr. Xue ( NT 3000 ) fetch us to 2 locations 1) Tian Mu farm to watch “Cao Ni Ma” cute camel face sheep with long neck and 2) Lavender Cottage at Sin She. These 2 places are pretty inaccessible so you definitely need a driver to take you there if you are interested.

6pm – Check into “In One City Hotel” at Taichung, just minutes walk away from the popular Feng Jia Night Market. Wash up quickly and then went to night market

12am – zzzzzzz



Day 4 (10 July)

8am - Woke up later to have breakfast as the hotel

12pm – checked out and walk to bus stop where there is a free shuttle bus (abt 20 mins ride) to take us to Taichung HSR Station where we can take HSR to Taipei (700NT each) about 1 hr

230 pm – HSR Reach Taipei Main Station ( their most important hub where all the transport can link. Like our City hall ) and from there we transferred to MRT to Ximen station where out hotel is just above. ( can buy You-You Card for taking MRT and use it for purchase at the MRT stations shops any amt unused can be refunded end of the trip )

3pm – check into City Inn Plus at Ximenting .

4pm – had a KFC lunch and Explore Ximenting

7pm – had dinner at one of the stall selling ( fried oyster, fried rice etc ) after dinner continue to walk ard XMT ( at night the peddlers will all come out when the shop closes selling cardigans, food, t-shirts caricature drawing etc )

9pm – did foot massage ( about 1 hour NT400 )

12am – zzzzzzzzz



Day 5 ( 11 July )

9am – woke up later and take MRT to Taipei Main station and have brunch ( sushi and fried chicken ), explore the area than take MRT to ZhongXiao East Road to walk around . there are some small indie shops selling interesting artistic stuffs there but maybe we went too early too hot to walk too much

4pm – had early dinner at Ding Tai Fung and after that shop ard the area for awhile more

6pm – Located Hello Kitty Cafe down the road and had desserts ( min spend must be NT300 per pax and can stay for 1.5 hrs inside )

8pm – Went back to XMT walk awhile and went back to rest



Day 6 ( 12 July )

7am – woke up early to take MRT to Taipei Main Station, after which catch old school TRA train to Ruifang Station.

11am - From Ruifang station we take a train to Shifen Old Street and explore the area ( this is an old coal mining town ) there is a huge waterfall at the top of the town but need a transport to bring you up. This is also the place where people release the Tian Deng ( sky Lanterns )

3pm – took TRA back to Ruifang and take a bus from across the street to go up JiuFen (old gold mining town)

5pm – Reach Jiufen and walk around the area ( try the famous taro balls) .

7pm – Took a bus down to Ruifang station and take TRA back to Taipei Main station. Had some snacks at Taipei Main Station and took train back to XMT. Bought instant noodles and sushi back to hotel to eat.



Day 7 ( 13 July )

9am – woke up later to eat famous Ya Rou Bian ( duck meat vermicelli ) located just down the road from our hotel for breakfast. After which we went to sweet shops to get some gifts and ate Mango Ice

3pm – went back hotel to rest awhile and wash up.

5pm – Took MRT to Jiantan station and to Shilin Night Market . Eat and shop there till late .

11pm – Go back and refund our You-You Card

Day 8 (14 July)

10am – woke up late and bought breakfast ( coffee and sandwiches ) across the road back to eat at hotel. Wash up and final packing

12pm – check out but left our barangs at hotel lobby. Went to XMT to do final shopping ( bought some local products from “Gang Ji” like Sun biscuits and Green Bean cake ) Bought sushi back to lobby lounge to eat and relax while we wait for our driver to take us to airport ( NT 1100 )

420pm - Driver arrive to pick us

530pm – Reach Taoyuan airport and check in for our flight back at 720pm

1145pm – Reach SG ;o)