Year 2009 Reflection

Today is the day to bid farewell to 2009 and welcome 2010. It is appropriate now to have self reflection about what has happened thru out the whole year of 2009 be it bitter or sweet.

Since we are welcoming 2010, am going to hilite 10 significant things that happened in 2009 alone ....

1) Took my IELTS exam and passed with flying colors !! Bravo ... clap clap clap :)

2) The arrival of Mr Charming - Jovo all the way from Montenegro ....

3) Moved to a new job which is my dream job since the day i started to work and taaddaaa am finally officially a manager in Intel :) ... below pic taken with my staff

4) Celebrated my 2* birthday with a big bang thanks to my lovable cell members .... a surprise birthday party at my cousin's.

5) My awesome blessed trip to Nepal for 2 weeks !! Too many things to write about it so do wait la.

6) Co-coached a very successful team in organizing a department dinner that cater to > 800 people in one night.

7) The birth of my darling nephew - Tristan Low

8) Trying to be young again by joining Youth Big E-Camp for the 1st time in my life .... can't believe i survived thru

9) Tristan being dedicated to God on 27th of Dec 2009 on his 6 weeks old :)

10) Joined a bunch of excellent never die attitude mates to triumph over Agilent to win the badminton championship in Penang Manufacturers Tournament after 10 years of not winning :)

So, what can i say about 2009? I guess it's a year where i prayed, wept, smiled and laughed the most. 2009 is a year where i learnt to be real to myself, 2009 is a year where i suddenly grew up and out from my comfort zone, 2009 is a year where i had the opportunity to stretch myself to see how far i can go physically, mentally and spiritually and 2009 is a year where i see who is really there for me when i needed a shoulder to cry on.

This year alone, i have lost 3 persons i personally know of and i witnessed many weddings. Come to think, it's a roller coaster ride year, right? One moment i shed tears ... one moment i burst into joy.

I can't thank God enough for year 2009 ... and the past 365 days has taught me many many things that i have never learnt all these while. Many people stood alongside during difficult moments crying and praying with me. Many were there to congratulate when i was happy and many willing to sacrifice their time just for me .... all these i give thanks and glory to GOD.

People .... Thank you so very much for being part of me in 2009 and many years to come. Thank you so much for making my 2009 wonderful and most importantly, Thank you so much for running the race with me .... i love you all very much.

Can't wait for 2010 to unfold and let's run together again ....

Cheers !!

L

Feliz Navidad

The time has come for us to be reminded about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not celebrate like how the world celebrating it but rather we celebrate it with thankfulness in our hearts that Jesus came to earth on that day to rescue us.

I have only one wish for you this Christmas which is i wish you Jesus .... as everything is complete in His mighty name.

Merry Christmas ... Feliz Navidad .... Selamat Hari Natal

L

Baby Tristan

I know i've been very slow with blogging nowadays .... so many things at one time and i could not find the time to blog and to share what is happening with me. I hope you do go to my facebook for some updates.

And yes, one of the happening things that taking my time is my precious baby nephew. He turned 1 month old last week and i flew in to Singapore to see him for the 2nd time. He has grown quite a bit ... taller, fatter and most importantly, getting more handsome. He's such a darling and loves to be pampered.

At night, he's the KING. I literally mean it coz to make him sleep, you have to become OSIM massager chair. He does not like to be put on his bed nor left alone. You have to put him on your chest so that he can listen to your heartbeat then you must hug him tight only he will sleep. Not to mention, you cannot move even an inch else he will start to cry ... and be prepared to be kicked at the stomach and head banging on your chest .... awww ... it does sound torturing but you know what? I love every moment of it. I'm so so in love with my baby nephew !!

L

Nepal Day 3

Woke up very early again ... around 4am if am not mistaken as we need to be at Sarangkot as early as possible to catch the sunrise.

And not to mention coz we have to hike as well :)

The hiking was bad for me coz the day before, i already struggled on the way up to Gathicina and now, another hiking?

Initially, i was ok but the last 15mins of the hike, i really felt like dying. I was like a fish that been deprieved of water.

Anyway, successfully arrived on top of Sarangkot after almost crawling up instead of hike up !

The sky was still very dark when we arrived but the view of Annapurna range was very clear and majestic.

Dark dark cannot see anything but can you see the Annapurna range behind me?

Within a few minutes .. the sky started to get brighter.

But the sun is nowhere to be found. So, to kill time .. we post here and there.

While we were posing, suddenly i saw the sun coming out ... it's very beautiful and people started to clap hands.

The joy of looking at the sunrise is beyond description. Not that i never seen sunrise but to see it at Nepal, i don't know. The feeling was very different and it shows how great our God is.

After spending some time up there taking photographs, our tummy started to call us. Yaya, time for breakfast. We had our breakfast on the way. We were basically eating breakfast under the hot sun and inside the cloud :) ... again, this is a blessing from God to be able to enjoy the simple breakfast in this manner.

We rested for awhile at Pastor Palan's home after came down from Sarangkot. I was due to share words with the youth at Nadipur church.

I was feeling very tensed coz it's my 1st time so called preaching. I know i'm ok to do presentation or talk in the public but to preach will be another different ball game.

I was the 1st to go before Peter and we started the ball rolling by playing some games with the youth to loosen up abit after the worship.

I had to put on a shawl around my neck coz Brethen church is kinda "closed up" :) and i don't want to be so revealing haha.

Me and my interpretor, Anil on the topic of peer pressure.

We spent about 3hrs with the youth before we left. It was a great session and can see how God moved on that day. I was very blessed and encouraged when i saw some of the youths stood up and shared their testimonies after the words session. The words that we shared were very timely.

Dinner on that night was at Almond's at downtown. Pastor Palan was in-charge to order all the dishes and we just need to finish up all the food.

This is buffalo meat. I love it but very hard and like eating chewing gum.

After dinner, we called it a day coz everyone was very tired ... it's been a long day for all of us.

L

Baby Tristan

His name is Tristan Low Zhi En ... born on 10th of Nov as early as 00.22 hr. His proud parents are my bro ( Steven ) and sis in law ( Rachel )

He has a very meaningful name ... a very gracious royal knight.

He is my darling nephew and apple of my eyes.

He will grow up according to his given name ... someone that is strong, gracious, gentleman, generous, smart and most importantly .. someone that goes after God's heart.

Being less than a week old, baby Tristan is definitely a smart baby. He knows when to say no .. what he likes and dislikes and of course how to steal my heart. He shows tantrum when being forced and smile like an angel when i hold him close to my heart.


I spent two nights watching over him and he knew ... he knew that his aunt will be right there to hold him the moment his eyes are open. He knew his aunt won't let him cry ... he knew his aunt will carry him and walk around for hours just to make him sleep ... he knew ... he simply knew everything.

Hmnnn ... what a bundle of joy this baby is bringing to my family. I can't thank God enough for this excellent and marvelous gift to us. I praise you God for Tristan ... you are indeed God Almighty !

L

Nepal Day 2

Woke up very early as Nepal is 2hrs and 15mins behind local time ... eyes widely opened at about 4am (Nepal time)

Had our breakfast at "blood sucking" restaurant near to our hotel --> RM15 for a breakfast set !!

Once we finished our breakfast, walked to the bus station to meet with Anil & the gang to take a bus ride to Gathicina.

At first, we were seated INSIDE the crampy and small bus ...

But after awhile some of us were on top of the bus :P and looked like this

I enjoyed the ride so much ... dangerous ... thrilling ... bumpy ... fast ... scary ...

Nice scenery can be seen on top of the bus

After 45mins of fun ride, the real challenge came. We had to walk on pebbles and tall grass ... crossed three rivers where the currents can sweep you away and hike for 45mins !

This is just the beginning ....


Not easy to balance ourselves coz the stones and pebbles are slippery and sharp. The currents made things worst.


But we finally made it ... with one person fell down & lost one pair of slippers and another person lost one side of the slipper.

This is the trail we took and hiked for 45 mins ... so tough ... i was panting and gasping for air coz was not prepared at all ...

But i was immediately ok the moment i saw this kind of honor given to all of us ... all the school kids lined up and gave us a big clap

Then, we were seated under the hot sun :P .. it was so hot that i felt like chicken being BBQ

We gave away few tables and chairs for the school kids ...

We teached them songs, how to brush their teeth, played games and made balloon sculptures for them.

After all the activities were done, they served us with their local snack - sel roti made from rice flour ... hmnn ... i can only say am not a fan of this snack :D

We left Gathicina after spending for about 2hrs there and they honored us with a lot of flowers until bees were around us ....

Again, we were seated on top of bus on the way down from Gathicina but it was a little harder to come down from the root top as the metal staircase broken. So, basically we had to jump and it took me awhile to come down ... thanks to Anil who offered his hand for me to step on (thanks bro)

All of us were dirty but extremely happy with the trip to Gathicina. It was great despite having had to cross 3 rivers and hiked for 45 mins. The laughter from the kids made everything worthwhile and of course the bus ride. I dare to say this is the best bus ride i ever had in my life so far.

Dinner on that night was special as we celebrated the birthday of Phaik Sim and Paili. We went to this high end restaurant ( Moondance) near to our hotel.

It's a nice restaurant with good food and i ordered their signature dish - Moondance Steak

The night ended pretty early coz the next day we are going to watch SUNRISE !!

L

Nepal Day 1

I'm going to bombard you with solid 13 days of detailed information about my trip in Nepal but it's going to take some time. Many great photos yet to arrive at my door step and i need TIME to blog.

Anyway, am going to start with Day 1 .... btw, you can view some of the pics at my FB account.

We departed from Penang International Airport to Bangkok via Thai Airway at 8.30am on the 14th of Oct. I don't like morning international flight coz i need to wake up super early for the 1.5hrs check in thingy ... sigh.

It's my 1st time on Thai Airway .. normally i took SIA/MAS/Air Asia. I was told the landing is contracting with their motto - As smooth as silk ... but what the heck, i had no influence in choosing which airline to take.

Settled in and they gave me this ...

Started to feel hungry. Thank God for the yummy sandwiches .. i love every piece of it but my favourite is the cheese sandwich.

It took about 1.5hrs to reach Bangkok to transit to Kathmandu via Thai Airway as well.

The food really sucks from Bangkok to Kathmandu ... too spicy for me and tasteless. I only enjoyed the fruits ... and that's also 2 pieces !

Reached Kathmandu after 3.5hrs of flight and they are 2hrs 15mins behind our local time.

Phaik Sim, Pete, Paili and myself took a 15mins walk to another smaller airport for our connecting flight to Pokhara.

The airport is beyond description. It's dark, smelly, totally manual in everything they do.

Anyway, nothing excite me more that the propeller plane ...

I was so excited until i looked like this ...

I was told many said sinner's prayer when they took this plane but i was enjoying coz i was given ...

And this ... to distract me

Arrived at Pokhara after 45mins of fun flight and straight to my hotel ...

Since i over used the word goodness ... i was given a room called GOODNESS

And this is how the hotel looks like where i camped there for like 10 days

And i love this hotel ... clean ... quiet and excellent Christian workers.