What are the odds?!?!

We're back from our wonderful Tokyo trip...!!! We ate soooo much, it seems like we did nothing there but eat from place to place.... I'm inspired to do a Food-Log of the amount of food we ate... It's just amazing how good the food was...

Anyways, our trip started by an early flight by Japan Airline... We were almost denied boarding as my passport read that my surname was Tay while my e-ticket was printed as "Mrs Chan". To cut the long story short, the drama ended by a confirmation call to our dear Senior Pastor who officiated our wedding... Phew... Thank God!

... and guess who we saw while we were waiting to board the plane?

Ben Chua & family!!! Luanne look so cute in the pic above.. Caught her excited "AWWW??" expression! Hah!

In this photo, everyone is smiling... Even Luanne! Uber cute...........! They happened to be off to Canada (with a short stopover in Tokyo) for a 2 week holiday.... What are the odds of catching the same flight as your friends! KewL.....



It was our first time flying on JAL...

We were glad to know that Jap food is served onboard!
(shot from my hp cam... Tip of the day: Never ever use your digicam on an airplane!)

Pork Loin on Rice

Randy's selection - which happened to taste much better than my Seafood Lasagne...

And if it wasn't such a coincidence, I met an old schoolmate who was one of the JAL stewardess!! We were so surprised to have met each other that we were squealing happily outside the cabin toilet.

And she sneaked us some Hagen Daz ice-cream which were meant for First Class seats... :) :)

And it was her final flight that day, before "retiring to become a Tai Tai"... What are the odds?!!

On the second day that we were in Tokyo, while shopping in the very crowded Harajuku...

Randy met his Army mate!!!! His friend Ricky spotted us browsing in a shoe shop!

What are the odds, what are the odds!!! Meeting so many people that we've not planned to meet!!!!

Will post up the crazy Food Log once i'm done with it..... Editing in progress!!!

Konichiwa!!!!!

I'm dying of excitment counting down to our Tokyo trip....!!!!! While Randy...? He's just excited his exam papers are finally over and getting his license to play nights & nights of computer games.... :P

Being a travel-holic, I would make sure I know everything WONDERFUL about the destination before I've even set foot there... Actually the truth is, researching the place helps in getting you excited for the trip...... Hehehhe...

Guess wat?! My sister-in-law is such a sweetheart, she's been emailing me information about Tokyo, where to go, what to do, maps, food, facial masks to buy....... She's even kindly loaned me 2 big bags of winterwear!!! And an old friend passed me his Tokyo guidebook which has info on every small shops & food outlets...... AWESOME!

Yesterday night, I decided to shock Randy by telling him how MASSIVE the shopping malls are... citing the example of Shinjuku - in just that area there are more than 10 malls, each mall spanning at least 10 stories high. How the heck am I ever gonna finish shopping? You could literally see the shock on his face... I'm praying that his stretched hemstring recover real soon, otherwise he'll be watching cable in the hotel while I shop alone and spend away the Yen(s)... *evil cackle*

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Our MUST-DO list when we arrive in the land of the Rising Sun:

1) Take a neo-print!

- I know this is so passe but it'll be so fun to re-live our teenage days...

2) Disneyland

- To coerce Randy to take all the scare-the-crap-outta-your-pants rides!!!

3) Tokyo Banana Cake

- One of my ex-colleague, Tammy introduced this de-lish! snack to me... Since then tokyo to me is just full of Banana Cakes...

4) Tsukiji Market

- wake up at 5am to arrive @ the market to see fresh fish being auctioned off

- have some fresh sashimi while we're there... yumzzzz......

5) Buy hot food off the vending machines

6) Vanilla ice-cream

- Must-eat, as recommended by Hitomi, who just came back from Hokaiddo....

Weather: 10*C - 18*C (Still trying to figure out how cold that'll be?)
Yen Exchange Rate: Every S$1.60 gets us 100 Yen (Still so high?!!)

All set & prepared for the Land of Electronics, Manga and everything Kawaii!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee............!!!

If He isn't Real...

I know in my early Christian walk, I often question myself if God is real. It's quite normal to ask such questions when you're new in faith and more so typically me to be cynical and unbelieving in such things. But after so many years, I think God has won me over with the fact that He is REAL. There is just too many reasons why He is than why He isn't.

Our cozybay which we're putting up is located in an aging estate where there are more funerals under the void deck than infants in strollers. Somedays when you come home, you see an occasional old lady searching through the rubbish bin. When you place used clothings and useless items at the void deck, it disappears within the hour. Staying here has really put us in touch with the backdrop of the old and aging society in Singapore.

Last Sat, we were grabbing a quick lunch at an old hawker place amongst elderly couples conversing in dialects. As I was queuing up for food, I popped my ears in on a conversation between a group of men in their late 50s having a leisurely lunch. What amazed me was the content of their conservation.

I overheard one man telling the other men in Hokkien that he has stopped drinking because he thought it was "unbiblical".... Another one replied, citing examples from the bible, stating that Christians are allowed to drink during celebrations. He further explained that it was okay to drink, but the key is not to get drunk.

Wow! What could look like a group of men discussing 4D and TOTO numbers turned out to be a group of men discussing biblical truths! It reminded me of this verse in Joel chapter 2:

The Day of the LORD

28 "And afterward,


I will pour out my Spirit on all people.


Your sons and daughters will prophesy,


your old men will dream dreams,


your young men will see visions.
 
 
Although these men were not exactly dreaming-dreams but I felt as if these men were deep in discussion of the things of God, speaking words of truth and edification to one another. The verse in Joel was describing a change in the landscape when God starts to move. The landscape has indeed changed! I have observed, personally, that in the past decade or so, there has been more and more Christians around. Even the elder generation who used to believe that the Christian faith is one meant for the western world have also seen & tasted the goodness of Christ.
 
God must be REAL, otherwise why would more and more people from all walks of life (children, students, housewives, CEOs, celebrities...) be convinced in Him? If Christianity isn't REAL, why would the REAL GOD allow more and more people to "sink" into a "fake religion"? From all the faiths of the world, there is yet one that dared claim to be God Himself. And I do think that if Jesus dared to claim that He is God then I would have the faith to invest my life to follow in Him...
 
Well... isn't faith believing in the power you've yet seen...? ;)

Desperados

Sundays usually go by in a flash for us most of the time... We usually spend the morning in church, have lunch with cell kakis till 3pm, grab a few hours in between to do some laundry and head back to Hougang for family dinner...

Usually I'm the laundry lady and since I backlog my laundry to the weekends, Randy gets to nap while I slave at the washer. This sun, however, me & Randy swapped bodies. I fell asleep on the sofa while watching teevee. When I awoke 2 hrs later, guess what? The laundry were all neatly hung up to dry and the floor was mopped! I married a wonder(ful)man!

I'm so proud of Mr Chan...!!! Big STAR for him in the lil' record book... ;)

After dinner, we were so bent on having a lychee smoothie that we lugged the Blender back from the in-laws place and drove to Giant at about 10.30pm, to buy a few cans of lychees.

(By the way, we spotted a domestic papa there doing groceries shopping... No prizes for guessing who...hehehe...)

Now now now, here's a lesson on determination...

We got home from the supermarket at about midnight. With all our excitement, we washed up the blender, plugged it in and waited for the motor sound to come on.... We waited.... No light, no movement.

We started punching the side of the blender, knocked its bottom, did everything possible, just short of smashing it on the floor. It still didn't power up. Desperation was catching up on us. We want OUR LYCHEE SMOOTHIE!!!! *wails.......*

So here's what Mr Handyman Chan did....

Mr Chan huffed....                                           

and he puffed....

But did he "blow" the blender away?  

Guess the outcome!!!

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Ans: He fixed it!

Lychee Smoothie at 12.30am!

Determination pays! 3 cheers to the Handyman cum Laundry Ah-pek! Hehehe...