Phuket…and the Great Adventure

Yes, the Phuket trip was great fun. The sea, the food and the whole child-like silliness of having our faces smashed by the waves, and still enjoying every moment of it! And best of all, we enjoyed the sheer good company. Indeed, this short trip added to our collective memories and our repository of war stories (which honestly, was getting stale) …yet more experiences that define and tell of our friendship and shared adventures.

In the same way, the trip is perhaps a reflection of our own spiritual walks. Our relationship with an ever present yet physically unseen Father is in part strengthened by our encounters and ‘adventures’ with Him. We can partly define Him by how we encounter Him, or even how we allow Him in our lives. But just how often do we see with our spiritual eyes, instead of merely with our physical ones? How much do we seek to consciously experience His presence and countenance upon us?

At a time when we face a shared angst about upcoming medical procedures and our physical health, how should we react? Fear and anxiety are par for the course. Frustration, even so. But I believe we are called to something deeper, something more reflective of the divine. A few lines in Chris Tomlin’s song “Made to Worship” speak powerfully to me:
“You and I embrace surrender, you and I choose to believe
You and I will see, who we were meant to be.”
We are called to involve and experience Him in every circumstance, and rest in the conviction that He too desires to enjoy our company/worship as well. But this involves a conscious effort to embrace surrender, and choose to believe what God promises to us He would be.

As we face our fears and discomfort with our physical situations, may we see the anxious weeks ahead in the right light. To surrender, and to believe. To exercise and strengthen our faith. And like Phuket was for us, this is another opportunity to experience
His grace and faithfulness, a time to accrue more ‘war stories’ of His goodness. The great adventure continues…

More Images from our Ho Wan Trip

Just a few days of paradise - the sun (under an umbrella),
the blue-green seas and the gentle breeze every now and then.
Just slumping on our deck chairs listening to the waves...the now
hard to access simple pleasures in life.



Oh, agonizing questions every 4 hours - What shall we eat ?



Spending our day at the beach was really hard work(no, play).
We found the perfect resting place - the hotel's lobby with its
comfy, perfect for lounging sofas, soothing music and gentle breeze wafting in carrying with it a light floral fragrance from the
fresh flowers littered throughout the hotel.
After a hard days' play - >

Phuket Ho Wan!

Yes....as the title suggested, we had a great time during our short
sojourn to the land of a thousand smiles..


In fact the fun began even before we stepped on the plane! For anyone who hasn't had the chance to go on a trip with Ms. SP should do so at least once in your lifetime - the journey from the moment she gets into her seat until the plane lands is an adventure all in itself. As you can see from the photo, she was certainly enjoying the attention...



We got ourselves into this place on Surin Beach called Mana Thai and the place was beautiful... you can see some of the shots Sherms took... really it was the ideal setting for our relaxation... I myself is ambivalent about beach holidays - while not adversed to it, I wasn't sure if catching the waves or snorkling was my thing. Boy was I wrong!

On the first day, we had a wonderful time behaving like children trying to "ride the waves". Now you see me, now you don't!!



On the second day we went snorkling and this was the first time we all tried it...and guess what? It was great fun!! Pity we could not bring our camera along to capture the beautiful scenes but trust me when I said that the picture of colourful fishes and undulating corals was a sight to behold...

Whenever we go on tour, the main thing has got to be food and this time round it was no exception...we had curry almost everyday but the highlight of the trip was our meal at a seafood restaurant at Patong. Yes, we all felt uncomfortable and a bit disconcerted over the sleaze and depravity that we saw but on the other hand, the seafood meal we had was really really good. Kang Kong, Curry Crabs, Garlic Mussels and Papaya Salad made for a fantastic meal and just when you thought it can't be topped, the price of the meal bowled us over.. We spent less than $15 each!!!

To tell you all about all that we ate would be too much for me to write... but as they say - a picture speaks a thousand words so I shall let these shots speak for themselves...

All in all - a damn Ho Wan holiday!!!!
check out more of our photos here : www.flickr.com/wpwan

Another Wan Family Dinner

Welcome to another edition of the Wan family dinner. Sometimes at the end of a busy day, you are usually too tired to do anything elaborate and just wanna chill. Nothing could be easier than to do an "instant" dinner - just boil up some buckwheat noodle, chill them and straight away you have a dish of cold noodle that is just perfect for a hot day.

What we also whipped up was an Oden soup that came from a packet - not fantastic but filling and suits the noodle to a "T".

The chicken wings you saw are left-overs from the previous week's BBQ - all we had to do was to pop them into the oven and they cook in their own time.

So in just 15-2omins, we whipped up a simple yet nice little dinner that required minimum effort. Tune in next week as we introduce to you more dinner adventures with the Wan family!

Wan-derful Dinner

Does the nasi goreng look delicious? Well we had some left over rice and lamb kebabs from the BBQ on Saturday and I thought to chop them all up and to make nasi goreng. With loads of pepper, some small ikan bilis (fried of cos), shallots, garlic and eggs, I managed to whip up a tasty treat. All in all, it was not too bad an effort as the wife will attest to - look at her tucking into her plate!

The only thing that was missing was some sliced green chillies but hey I have no time at all to go to the supermarket so we'll just have to do with whatever we have. All in all, Jamie Oliver has nothing on me!

Till the next time the great chef visits the kitchen, you'll just have to wait while you drool.....

My plants

One of the catus died .... Boo hoo hoo.....I water it everyday ...well almost but it has been healthy for weeks. We realised some patches of brown on it only on 3rd Oct and on Sat (6th) my gardener (Mr Green Wan) pronounced the plant dead :-(. I am sorry Sup and ELK :-(

Took the Vios onto the road today!!

I decided to take the vios onto the road today with my co-pilot (Pin of course). According to him the ride was smooth. His reaction says otherwise ---Why??? Bec the dude had a bad case of LS after the ride. Hummm perhaps the vios should stay in the carpark for now :-P