First Chinese New Year in Bangkok

It was my first ever Chinese New Year outside of Singapore. Considerable numbers have escaped hectic Singapore during this particular festive season for different reasons. My family flew to Bangkok on Air Asia on Thursday evening. We spent the extended weekend with my sister in law’s family. Normally they would come over to stay with us during Christmas but last year they did not. So we went over during this Lunar New Year. We shopped (or rather, my children shopped); we ate, and just talked and wandered around. There was the local weekend market which required a ferry ride and a motorbike to bring you there. We went there as we wanted the children to experience it too.

2 sisters: Baby and Jenny

Wen Mun and Simeon

Father and sons

Elaine n Wen Mun

cousins

Matthew and Elaine

CNY reunion dinner

on the ferryEat where locals eat

The dervish in Terminal 21Hints of Istanbul bazaardouble decker in Bangkok!

London telephone boothsumo wrestlers in Terminal 21Japanese warlord

We shopped at Terminal 21, a new concept shopping mall, with the decor of different floors themed to Tokyo, London, Istanbul, and Paris. And a few other shopping malls. They do not have public holidays for the Chinese New Year and though I heard there would be lots of Chinese nationals holidaying there, I hardly saw them. It was a most enjoyable time of catching up and relaxation and family time.

two beauties

decked in clothes bought in Bangkok

Share this:

Read More →

Lindy Chee: a near kinsman

Near kinsman

We were relatives but we hardly knew each other. She knew I was a pastor and I knew she was a missionary with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We would greet each other when the Chee clan gathered for its annual Chinese New Year meeting. But we never talked at length before. That is until we bumped into each other at the Love Singapore Pastors’ Prayer Summit (2012) at Equatorial Hotel, Malacca. Let’s meet up for breakfast tomorrow! and the appointment was made.

with Lindy Chee Wei Ling

Was YWAM missionary

Lindy Chee Wei Ling is twenty five years younger than me and as we soon found out, she is my cousin’s daughter. There is probably a Mandarin term to designate this relationship but the English term would be the ambiguous “cousin once removed”. She graduated in law and worked for some time in the civil service before she attended YWAM’s Discipleship Training School(DTS). After that she served on staff with several DTS batches before she went with James Chan to Kuala Lumpur to pioneer a YWAM base or school there for about 2 years. For several years she also went back to legal practice but always remained an active friend and supporter of YWAM Singapore. Today she does freelance legal, training and consultant work, and is active with YWAM. I sat there amazed that quite a number of relatives of the Chee clan were serving the church and missions.

Family destinies?

Somehow we talked about David Demian and what he shared about national, individual and family destinies. We looked at our ancestral clan and concluded that the destiny seemed one of calling to fulfill noble or good causes. Many served in public service or served the good of people in education, medicine, or church – alleviating suffering, helping the poor, fighting for what is just. Out of Judah were to come rulers. Out of Levi, the priesthood. Could it be clans too can awaken to a fuller fulfillment of their God-embedded destiny through faith in Christ? Interesting thought. Today I again read my old blogpost on my grandfather and it got me thinking again. Yeah, there may be something about this clan spiritual destiny thing.

Rooming in Equatorial Hotel

The Equatorial Hotel looked newly renovated and well maintained and the food was roomy and comfortableunusually good for the numbers of diners they were handling. I roomed with Pastor Richard Wong of Canaan Christian Church and he was very accommodating and we had some time getting further acquainted. We had time to talk shop and just share our lives and what was happening in the conference and the Pastor Richard WongChurch. It would be nice to climb Mt Kinabalu with him when he goes for one of his T-Net consultation trips in Kota Kinabalu. Use the Mersilau trail, which I never used before. Sleep overnight at Laban Rata, and for once forget about waking up at 2am to conquer the peak. Just enjoy a restful and slow morning breakfast over a lovely sunrise. Hmmm…just the thought of it is sweet.

Share this:

Read More →

Kuching, Sarawak and the St Thomas Cathedral

John Law & Beatrice KhoRoots in Kuching

It was an old photo hanging on the wall of my uncle’s house that caught my attention. Interested as I was with my earthly roots, I took a few shots with my mobile. It was my maternal grandparents’ wedding photograph. They looked forward, stiff and formal – the common pose in those days. The name of the church was St Thomas Cathedral in Kuching. This photo kindled a desire to visit Kuching one day and walk that building and the city. This week while googling for places of interest in Kuching, I stumbled on St Thomas Cathedral. Its a lovely building, and had quite a rich, colourful past. At YouTube, I did a virtual tour of the Cathedral and learned about its history(see below) – almost everything I had wanted to know.

Short vacation

Even so, next weekend my family and I will take a short vacation there. Catch a popular day tour, walk the Waterfront, avoid headhunting Dayaks, and “die die must try” the Sarawak laksa and kolo mee. Sarawak has the largest percentage of Christians of all the states in Malaysia. We look forward to worshipping with a living body of Christians called Grace SIB. Just recently, I heard from pastor Peter Sze about this church and he connected me to Alan Hiu via Facebook. Alan has graciously offered to bring us there from the hotel.

Who knows, I may meet some distant relative from both the paternal or maternal side of my family of origin there.

Share this:

Read More →

Twenty years in just a snap

Joshua, Wen Por, Elaine, Matthew
Joshua, Wen Por, Elaine, Matthew

This old family photograph brings back memories of a time when my children were still in nursery, and kindergarten and primary school. It was about twenty years back in the 1990s when I lived in Bukit Batok East Avenue 4. The long wooden TV console in the background, the cane furniture by the side and the beige ceramic tiles on the floor of the four room HDB apartment.

Their mum had gone so my wife helped her younger sister, Baby, through her confinement periods, when both her children, Wen Mun and Wen Por, were born. Wen Por was a toddler in the picture so I wonder if the family was there because Wen Mun was then born.

Joshua was wearing spectacles at such a young age. He loved to read – always borrowing books from the library. Still does. Matthew was the good-looking one. Still is. Elaine was the amiable one. Still is. All were very huggable and adorable and surprising at that age. But not anymore. Now they are all in their twenties. They are more educated and smarter than me, and taller too(except Elaine), as can be seen in a recent photo below.

Twenty years have come and gone at the snap of my fingers. Will I be staring at an empty nest in another snap?

Joshua, Elaine, myself, Wen Mun, Matthew, Wen Por
Joshua, Elaine, myself, Wen Mun, Matthew, Wen Por
Share this:

Read More →

“Dear, don’t bother to come home”

Elaine in the centerI have followed English football since I was in secondary school. I was even in Bolton, England. The closest I got to a football match was shopping at Tesco under the Reebok Stadium. My daughter Elaine does not follow football. She asks the odd question and get answers from me (Arsenal fan), Joshua (Chelsea fan), and Matthew(Liverpool fan). Yet she has entered the Old Trafford of the Manchester United in front of RooneyFootball Club and watched a football match where the host played West Ham Utd. You can call this grace! The person who worked got nothing; the one who was not even looking experienced the Old Trafford atmosphere. I sent her a terse message on her wall in her Facebook, “Dear, if you decide to become a Man Utd fan, don’t bother to come home. Love, Dad” 🙂

Share this:

Read More →