rediscovering eden
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Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
I am yours
dailies
Thursday, December 27, 2007
-2:34 PM
Finally, back to hot and humid Singapore, and away from cold and scenic Taiwan. I spent less than S$200 over there because there was nothing much to buy. Mainly spent on foodstuff such as muah chees, pineapple tarts, Taiyang Bing, drinks and dinners. Perhaps they are selling mainly winter clothes over there now and I see no need for any of them. Managed to purchase a few necklaces back though. The things in Taiwan are not cheap too! A small piece of pineapple tart and Taiyang Bing costs around S$1 each! Although
shopping is quite a disappointment, I must say that the
awesome scenery there made up for it. I am simply amazed at how God created all of them in such a wondrous way!
We traveled for an approximately 1400km over the 5 days in Taiwan, according to the tour guide, Xiao Ye. We moved round almost the whole of Taiwan in that few days! The day starts to darken around 5pm and brighten around 6am. The traffic is different from Singapore and it took me a few days to learn to look to my left first before crossing the roads, and to get up the coach on the correct side. Also felt like a nomad for this period in Taiwan because we had to change hotels daily. Taiwanese are especially warm and approachable; always with a smile when they serve you (sometimes a little too friendly, I find). Overall, Xiao Ye is a terrific guide and he really made all of us feel at home - this is vital because it really helped me enjoy my short holiday there.
Xiao Ye also made an interesting comment - in Singapore, it is
systems ruling over relationships while it is the reverse in Taiwan. You can always work your way through over there as long as good relationships are maintained.
Visited many beautiful places in Taiwan – C.K.S Memorial Hall, Fishermen’s Wharf (filming site of Meteor Garden), Terrace of the Three Immortals, Dream Mall, Alishan Forest Recreation Park, National Palace Museum, Taipei 101 World Building and Shilin Night Market, just to name a few. Learnt much about their culture and along the way, discover how
ugly Singaporeans can be.
Imagine this finicky woman making a big fuss when given two double beds (instead of three single beds) to the tour guide! Imagine spending close to 40 minutes to bargain for a discount of (around) S$2.50 and making the rest of the entire tour group wait patiently for her (the tour guide had to even come up to the coach to apologise that we had to wait for her)! Imagine her shoving her way through everywhere she goes and without a word of apology! Imagine her and her family making the rest wait for at least a minimum of 10 minutes for every time we were told to gather at a meeting point! Imagine her sister putting on shades at 7am and wearing off-shoulder tops at 10 degree Celsius. Imagine her son telling her that photography is disallowed in a discovery centre when the tour guide had obviously repeated the instructions thrice beforehand! And I saw it all! She was discreetly snapping pictures with her mobile phone and
feigned ignorance when confronted. I also overheard her telling her sister that she will be sending the pictures to the newspapers when she gets back to Singapore. Totally appalled! I had to tolerate her disturbing and perpetuate kicking on my seat throughout the rides because she is always sitting behind me. How can any sane adult behave in this atrocious way? Almost the entire group gave her a thundering applause when she walked out of Taipei 101 World Building, after having us wait for her again. I better stop because I can rattle on about her awful behaviour.
Sorry for dedicating such a long paragraph on this woman and her family who enhanced all of our holidays in a very unpleasant manner. Let this be a
caveat to us all when we go abroad in future? They know we are from Singapore!
Now, for some juicy stuff!!!
Outstanding and frightening facts!!!
Mum spent around $1200 on lingzhi.
Also another $1200 on royal jelly.
Estimated $500 on pearl powder.
Ouch! And we have to finish them up no matter what!
Interesting facts!!!
Mum can be a shopaholic.
Deer foetuses are dried up and made into powder form for consumption to cure asthma.
Ugly females are called 恐龙 (kong long) while ugly males are known as 河马(he ma).
They use the adjective 优 (you) to describe excellence.
七里香 is really quite nice to munch (so quit thinking about the chicken’s butt).
The fruits and vegetables there are unusually sweet.
There are over 5000 7-elevens outlets in Taiwan.
I realized that I can still sleep with mum’s roaring snores heading straight to my ears at night. Hehe.
Although mum is starting to nag and repeat things incessantly, I still love her (but I have to admit that it is irritating at times). Hehe.
