My dearest friend Roy

Dear Roy,

You passed away too suddenly and all of us are so saddened and shocked by the news. I still remember the day where we ran 10km and the days that we trained for it together. I remember how you loved running and no one would have thought that fitness or health was an issue for you. I remember celebrating your birthday recently and our conversations that day. We were talking about inspirational stories of how people succeeded life. And yet you did not have the chance to create these stories for yourself..

Roy, you were always the caring, gentle, genuine, humble and peace loving person that I know. I am glad to have had you as a friend, You will be dearly missed.

Hope found in Jesus Christ

There is this hope that I found in Jesus Christ. I know that this is not all there is to life. Is our purpose and meaning of life simply just created out of our own wants and desires. Is study, work, friendship and family all there is to life? Who or what gave me this breath that I breathe and this heart that beats? Am I just a formation of atoms and matter or is there an intelligent mind behind it all?

I found this hope in Jesus Christ, a promise of eternity with the One who created me. As marvelous as this world we are in may seem, a greater place awaits us. For your word says "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." What is life on earth as compared as to in heaven where we spend eternity with you? But you called me to live this life for your glory's sake and so will I do my best while clinging on to you and your word.

I have found this hope in Jesus Christ, where I can no longer be separated from God. It is written, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

As much as we would like to think that we are good, the truth is we have all sinned against God. No one can claim to be righteous before God. But the good news is this. When we trust God’s grace to save us through the work of Jesus, our sins are forgiven, we get a purpose for living, and we’re promised a future home in Heaven. And this is the beauty of it, we are saved by grace through faith. This is a gift of God and not something that we can work for, so that no one can boast.

“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”

If the above prayer reflects the desire of your heart, do say it out, meaning the words that you say. After which, you will begin this amazing journey of a relationship with the Almighty God!

A new phase of life

My first official lesson in NUS will start this coming week on Tuesday. I'm not really too excited about this as there is just so many uncertainties about what is going to happen. Firstly, I'm rather afraid that I may not be interested in what I am learning. I feel that loving what you do is going to be an important factor in doing well in it. I mean, I have never done accounts before, not in secondary school, not in Junior College. Of course, I will be taking some other modules related to businesses, organisations, economics, which I am also unsure if I am really passionate or even interested about learning them. Secondly, the business school culture can be quite competitive and vocal. Also, social skills is highly emphasized as we may have to rely on one another for notes and information. This culture is pretty different from all the schools that I have been to and I am unsure if I will enjoy myself in a culture like this. Thirdly, university's style of education as a whole is pretty much different from secondary school or Junior College. You have to bid for modules, read your emails..etc. Well, at the very least I get a slight idea of how university will be like now, as compared to previously when I knew it was different but did not know how it was different. 

Nonetheless, I will embrace the choice that I made two years ago and I know that I am where I am for a reason. I also know that regardless what happens, of whatever difficulties that I may face, I have a God who is greater than all problems. I have a God who wants to be involved in my life and who wants to listen to the good and bad that I am going through. I have a God who is ever so faithful to me despite my weaknesses. :)))  

Lord, you are worthy.

What a week. In a time period as short as a week, I have experienced and seen how God can work wonders in my life and in the life of others. I have experienced God's overwhelming and overflowing love, the joyfulness of having God by my side, as well as the identity and unity in Jesus Christ. I have seen the transformation of the heart, not only in my life, but also in the life of others. I have also seen how God cares for every individual and has such an intricate plan for each and every one of us and how He can work in such marvelous ways to fulfill His plan. I am so amazed by God. May my lips never stop singing His praises and may my heart never stop worshipping Him, for O' Lord, you are so worthy of our praise and worship. Thank you Lord. 

Taiwan Trip! Day 7, 8, 9 and 10! (Taipei)

Day 7: Pomelo --> Houtong Cat Village --> Shifen --> Lehua Night Market 

Day 8: Pomelo --> The Redhouse --> Bitan Scenic Area --> 雾境景观咖啡 --> Linjiang Night Market

Day 9: 阜杭豆漿 --> East Metro Underground Shopping Street --> Lunch --> Ximending(Movie and dinner)

Day 10: Home Sweet Home

Day 7

For the most important meal of the day, we went to Pomelo at Ximending again! The weather forecast told us that this day will be a better day, and so thereafter, we were on our way to Houtong Cat Village! We took the metro to Songshan Station where we were greeted by a beautiful sight!

Next, we were on the railway train to Houtong Station! For those who are wondering, you can use the Easy Card to go into the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA)! Also adding value into the Easy Card is made very convenient as not only can it be done at the Metro Station, it can also be done at  Convenience stores (7-ELEVEN, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK) carrying the 「」or「」 logo! Another fun fact is that food can be consumed in the train! There was a stall at Songshan Station selling packet food (便當)! 

After about an hour on the train, we arrived at Houtong! 

Beautiful scenery~

Stay away from me! Meow!!

Awww, too cute!

Furry head!

No fear of heights!

Hahaha, cat for sale?

Thirsty cat~

Grumpy cat~

Tasty cupcakes!

Did you know? About 2/3 of Taiwan is made up of mountainous ranges?

Next place of visit was Shifen! 

Mandatory thing to do at Shifen! Release sky lantern!   

After visiting Shifen, we made our way to Lehua Night Market! This night market is definitely not as big as Shilin Night Market, but do not worry, because there is still a lot of good food there for you to choose from! 

While we were heading to the metro station from the night market, we spotted a shop selling a whole array of fruits. One thing about Taiwan is that everything there is like an up-size of what we have here in Singapore. For example, we saw KFC and Mcdonald's that are three story high. The anime shop, called animate, that we went a few days back was really big. And here we see a shop filled with colorful fruits!

Day 8

Once again, we had our breakfast at Pomelo. Oh how I miss Taiwan's breakfast!! :( After breakfast, we went to The Redhouse at Ximending to have a look. This is a red brick octagonal building with the first floor used as a souvenir shop, cafe and gallery displaying its history. Apparently the second floor regularly holds live performances by Taiwan bands at night, but since we went there in the morning, the second floor was blocked off. I felt that there was not much to look at on the first floor, but if you do go to Ximending, why not take a look! 

Next, we went to Bitan Scenic Area, near Xindian Station, which is the last metro station on the south side of the green line. That also explains why this is a scenic area, because other than being able to see the vegetation planted along the river, you also get the to see the natural hills and mountains in all its glory from this place! I felt that it was really nice, after all the tiring exploration from the previous days, to just talk a walk along this place enjoying the sight and fresh air. Other than just taking a walk, there is also a row of shops selling food and other stuffs! There are comfortable seats and tables where you can eat and enjoy the view at the same time. I believe if you come here in the evening or at night, there are live performances as well! If you are looking for a place to just chill and relax, this is a place you can consider! 

The first view we saw upon arriving!

Bitan Scenic would probably make a good place for lunch, but we had other plans. My mum found out about a place called 雾境景观咖啡 from a travel book that is located further south from Xindian Station, up along a mountain. We took a bus up the mountain and walked to the cafe from there. It is about a 15 minutes walk, but the view along the way to the place kinda makes it a worthy walk. When we finally did reach the place, oh my.. The scenery there was so awesome and beautiful!!! I immediately took out my phone and started snapping some pictures to post on Instagram haha! The only bad thing about the place was the mosquitoes. I wasn't sure if it was because it was located in a forested mountainous area or because it was raining before that. Anyways, I ordered a set meal at the price of NT 400, which I felt that was worth it because it included so many dishes! Below are the pictures!

Picture taken along the walk to the cafe~

View at the cafe! Feels so surreal~ :3

Salad!

Yummy prawns!

Soup in a Japanese teapot!

Main dish!

Fruits, cake and iced milk tea! (The milk tea tasted weird tho, coffee would have been a better choice)

This is a place that I would definitely recommend to my friends! :)

After having an awesome lunch, we headed back to Bitan Scenic Area to try out the paddle boat! I did not expect the boat to travel so slowly, but I guess it was okay, just chill~

Thereafter, we headed to Linjiang Night Market, also known as Tonghua Night Market. Like always, there is a lot of variety of  food for you to choose from. We just walked through the night market and bought whatever food we wanted to try. The nearest metro station is Xinyi Anhe station. Do take a visit at Linjiang Night Market if you are around this area as it is ranked the top 10 night markets in Taiwan! :)

Day 9

First stop for this day was breakfast at 阜杭豆漿. It seems to a be a popular place for breakfast in Taipei as there was a very long queue when we got there and so, I went to find a seat first while my brother and mum continued to queue for the food. 

After breakfast, we went to East Metro Underground Shopping Street to take a walk. This is an underground shopping street that spans from Zhongxiao Fuxing Station to Zhongxiao Dunhua Station. After we were done, we headed to 原創花雕雞 wanting to have our lunch there. Unfortunately, they were closed and was only opened in the night! Thus, the lesson of the day is to do your research thoroughly to avoid any disappointment! Anyways, we found a random Japanese restaurant where we settled down for lunch. Thankfully, the food was both good and filling! Nice soup, nice egg, nice pork and nice ramen!

omm nom nom!

I was feeling quite tired from all the walking for the past 8 days and so I suggested that we go catch a movie, where we can just seat down and enjoy a show. So, we headed to Ximending where we watched Pitch Perfect 2! After the movie, we just walked around Ximending, to take one last look at it and to find a place for dinner. Thereafter, we headed back to our Minsu to rest and to pack our bags and luggage!

Day 10

We had breakfast, packed our bags, took a cab to Taipei West Bus Station Terminal A, boarded bus 1819 to Tao Yuan Airport and took the plane back to Singapore.

Home Sweet Home. There is no place like home. But we will still miss Taiwan...

Go to the link if you are interested to see what we did in day 1 and 2! :)
http://musicmilktea.blogspot.sg/2015/06/taiwan-trip-day-1-and-2-taichung.html

I just want to give God the glory for this good trip to Taiwan. It just happened that my brother just graduated from university and had a short break before working, while my mum just left her previous job and I just ORDed and had time before my university starts, that we were able to find the time to go on a holiday. Although the weather wasn't kind to us, I thank God for giving us the wisdom to tweak our schedule around such that in the end, we went to at least 90% of the places we wanted to go. Also, on the bright side, at least the weather was quite cooling most of the time! On the last day when we were carrying our luggage to the Taipei West Bus Station, the sun revealed its power and shone so strongly onto us. If the weather had been like that all the time, I guess it wouldn't have been really enjoyable as well!

I hope that you enjoyed the posts and I hope it helped you in planning your itinerary! (Or planning your itinerary in the future!) Overall, I feel that there are a lot of interesting places in Taiwan! The flight, transport and accommodation won't be too expensive as well! Also, the people living there are really nice! Their service is great and the people are very willing to help. So don't be shy to ask for directions! It's definitely a country that should be on your checklist! :) 

Taiwan trip! Day 5 and 6! (Taipei)

Day 5: Pomelo --> 忠烈祠 --> Bellavita --> 誠品信義書店 --> Mr. J 藤原豆腐新生店

Day 6: 85度C (85 Degrees Cafe) --> Friendship Presbyterian Church --> Breeze @ Taipei Main Station --> National Taiwan Museum --> Taipei Main Station Underground Mall --> Ximending

Day 5

We started the day of with breakfast at a shop called Pomelo at Ximending! This is where we had most of our breakfast at, because 永和豆漿 always has a lot of people queuing up!.. But honestly speaking, I feel that this place serves good breakfast too! It also has a clean and nice environment to eat in accompanied with modern chinese music playing in the background. 

Breakfast! Love the 蛋饼!

Headed to 忠烈祠 after that.

A place for tourist~

Really upz. They don't move a single inch.

Hehe.

Their foot drills are really up there too.

Next, we went to the Bellavita Gourmet Food Hall for lunch. Nearest metro station is Taipei City Hall Station.

Korean food~

After that, we went to Eslite Xinyi Store (誠品信義書店), just one or two buildings away from the Bellavita. It is the largest bookstore I have ever seen! Other than books, they also have Eslite music and DVD sections, stationary sections, lifestyle floors, children's floor as well as food stores!

 It was a rainy day and so we decided to go to Jay Chou's Teng Yuan Tofu Shop (Mr. J 藤原豆腐新生店)
 for dinner!

To our disappointment, this was replaced with...

This.. As the AE86 was being sent for maintenance.. 

Salad~

The sashimi was really thick and fresh!

Jay Chou sushi!

Crayfish

Fried rice!

Here is the address if you are interested in visiting this restaurant! Hopefully you get to see the real AE86!

Address:
No. 6, Lane 74, Wēnzhōu St
Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan
臺灣臺北市大安區溫州街74巷6號
(Nearest MRT: Taipower Building)

Website:
http://www.mrj-tw.com/

Day 6

It was a Sunday and I thank God for an enjoyable trip so far despite the weather. This is one part of the trip where we sticked to the plan and so off we were to the Friendship Presbyterian Church after having a quick breakfast at 85度C (85 Degrees Cafe)! I was glad that I had gone to that church on that particular Sunday, as I was so blessed by the service and the message that the pastor had spoken about. His sermon was from Matthew 5-7, The Sermon On The Mount, where Jesus had spoken to a crowd on a mountainside. The Bible gave a long account of what Jesus had spoken, and since these were words that were spoken by the Son of God, shouldn't we value His words and take His words seriously? I am glad that I had attended the service to hear the pastor shed some light on what Jesus had spoken.

After the service, we went to Breeze Taipei Station for lunch! This place has so much food options! Basically, the whole second level of the building is filled with restaurants and food courts, with so much choices that you do not know which one to choose from! What we did was, we walked one full round before deciding to eat at a food court selling Taiwanese cuisines, where we had to make a second round of decision on which stall to buy from!

This was the food court we ate in. Really crowded!

Yummy!

After lunch, we made our way to the National Taiwan Museum. There is an entrance fee of NT 30 and a discount of NT 15 for those who has a 青年旅游卡, which I got from one of the metro stations during my last Taipei trip in November 2014! I would say that there is not a lot to see in this museum, but if you are lacking in places to go and are interested in learning more about Taiwan's history, why not consider this place! 

Photos are not allowed in some of the exhibitions! So I had to take a selfie when there was a chance! :0

Mum and I

Next, we went to another one of the underground malls at Taipei Main Station! I can't remember which area of the underground mall was it that we went to though. We had fun playing the claw machine!! Both my brother and I managed to get one toy each! :D

Next, we headed back to Ximending to explore the place further! It was raining again and we thought it would be good to visit a place close to home! Had dinner at Pastabar!

Awww~

Cute pepper and salt shakers :D

White wine clam pasta! 

End of day 6. :)

Go to the link to see what we did for day 7, 8, 9 and 10! http://musicmilktea.blogspot.sg/2015/06/taiwan-trip-day-7-and-8-taipei.html