Interests – Page 24

Category: Interests

Kyushu, Japan: free and easy 3: Nagasaki and Shimabara

15 January 2015 blogpastor 1 Comment

Interesting information and not too crowded

Posing at the Peace Park - photo by Wee Khoon

Nagasaki bomb museum

When you are in Nagasaki city you have to visit the bomb museum. It was a mere 10minutes tram ride away from our Business Royal Hotel. It exhibits some of the damaged architectural and actual artefacts as well as the human stories that needed to be told. One was a clock that showed the time the atomic bomb melted Nagasaki. Another showed melted sacred icons of the Catholic community that lived there at that time. Interestingly there were POW Caucasians as well as Korean immigrants who were also killed. We had a simple lunch at the café in the museum. Next to the museum building was a large Peace Park for visitors to ponder the serious matters of world peace.

Hot steam rising -small onsen town by the sea — Hot steam rising here and there in the small onsen town by the sea

Seafood, glorious fresh live seafood - photo by Wee Khoon

Choose what you want - photo Wee Khoon — Choose what you want - photo by Wee Khoon

Jabez and Jasmine with timers - photo by Wee Khoon

Oyster and crayfish - photo by Wee Khoon

Soaking your feet by the sea in warm sulphuric volcanic springs — Soaking your feet by the sea in warm sulfuric volcanic springs- photo by Wee Khoon

Obama in Kyushu

We then took the local bus to Obama, a tiny hot spring town by the sea. In this town we see steam rising from various places. It is said the hot spring here can go up to 100 degrees Centigrade, the hottest in Japan. This is obviously volcanic area and onsens must be available in many of the hotels. We looked for lunch at a fresh seafood restaurant about 10minutes walk from the local bus station. The concept was simple. You choose from the live fish and shell fish in the tanks. It is weighed and you pay for it. Then you bring it out where it is steamed in volcanic steam tapped from natural sources by the restaurant. You are given a timer and when it buzzes you go get your cooked food and eat it with the available sauces. There are times to go back to eating fresh and unflavoured and steamed seafood. It tastes great and it does not cost you as much as it does in Singapore. Thanks to Abenomics.

Passing the puffer fish to the pharmacist- photo by Wee Khoon

Restaurant owner showing us the shortcut to the hotel

Ladies fellowship during hotel breakfast

Japanese hospitality at Shimabara

Later we took a bus to the Shimabara Toyo City Hotel. It would have the largest hotel room we would stay in compared to the other hotels in our Kyushu trip. It would also serve the best breakfast of all. But the stay was only for the night. After checking in late evening, we went to search for dinner. The hotel staff recommended us a sushi joint and we searched and found it and had udon and sushi set. The chef was generous and gave us free extra helpings of the dangerous puffer fish sushi and other freebies. They were very cheerful and the restaurant owner even guided us back to the hotel using a short cut. We were impressed by Japanese service and hospitality.

Kyushu, Japan free and easy 1: flying off

29 December 2014 blogpastor Leave a comment

One of the most widely read blogpost in 2014 is How to go to Bukit Indah by bus. I did this post to keep a record of how I went to this place in Johor by bus in case I needed it again. This is after all a personal blog of someone who happens to be a pastor. As it turned out, many have googled about going to Bukit Indah and landed on my post.

We just had a photo sharing time with the Marine Parade cell with whom I went to Kyushu, Japan. It was a time of food and fellowship. We viewed and shared photos and videos. We remembered the funny and interesting moments and had many a good laugh. I heard and saw things that I never knew happened until I saw it on video or photo. It was fun.

There were so many photos and fond memories I want to keep – too much to write about in one blogpost. So I will do it in manageable bits and tie it up together once it’s all completed. Who knows there may be people out there who are searching for interesting itineraries to explore Kyushu. This will certainly help them. Travelling by tour groups is convenient but it has its limitations. Travelling free and easy is hard work at the research and planning stage, but it later yields greater flexibility and enjoyment.

I have always wanted to visit Japan. That was why I requested to join this cell group in their Japan trip. It is called ‘tompang’ in Malay, or jumping the bandwagon. If you do not like tour groups and have no time to plan a free and easy, then ‘tompang’ is the best option. They were gracious to let me join in and I was happy to follow the leader Jasmine. My wife and I just went with the flow and it was blessed by the Lord and became a special trip for us both.

Marine Parade cell group plus some others

Of Brompton bikes and cycling pastors

14 November 2014 blogpastor 2 Comments

The Brompton evangelist

The Brompton is a folding bike with a cult following. Those who have ridden it usually became Brompton evangelists. They are unashamed to give testimony to its build, versatility, usefulness, comfort, head turning looks, and portability. It’s the BMW of folding bikes.

So it was with enthusiasm that a pastor friend “shared” with me his “testimony” and I was “almost persuaded”, like King Agrippa, as he listened to Paul the apostle. That conversation seeded me with a desire that germinated. I found myself googling about Brompton and watching YouTube videos about it. This expanded to searches about competing cheaper foldable bikes like Dahon, the largest manufacturer of folding bikes in the world.

The catch was the price. It costs $2,800 to get a Brompton bike in Singapore. It’s higher than in England or South Korea. For bike enthusiasts and serious road cyclists this price is nothing. Some bikes even go for $11,000. For a pastor like me, it is a shocking introduction to the world of biking. The Brompton bag attachment costs $200. To me you can buy a bicycle for that price at Giant Hypermarket. After all, the bike is a green machine with two wheels, brakes, a steering handle bar and a seat, that brings the rider from one place to another. Getting over the price was a hurdle.

Saved by a pastor

I was sharing this with another pastor friend who listened to me intently and at the end of the conversation made me an irresistible offer. Would you like to buy over my folding bicycle for $100? Its only 2 months old, and I bought it for about $500. That certainly shook me from my growing fixation on the Brompton bike. Let me try the bike over a few days, I said. So he passed the folded bike to me from the boot of his car and after a few days standing in my house I finally took it out for a test ride to the Jurong Lake cycling rim. It was a good exercise and pleasant to have the wind brushing against your face with the waters and trees all around. Like he said, the Cronus, Earl 2.0 squeaked a little when you lift up the handle bar too high. Other than that it was a so-so ride and I was happy there was suspension for the seat. The bicycle was purportedly French but I think it’s just a marketing gimmick. It has made in China written all over. At the end of it, the decision was still easy to make. It was a generous offer I could not say No to. As Sherlock Holmes would often reply to clueless Dr Watson, It’s entry-level, Watson, entry-level. Ha,ha.

The Brompton is still on my mind of course. This is the way I figure it. $3,000 over ten years is $300 a year. And if you use it a hundred times a year, it would mean an average of $3 each time. Furthermore the pleasure of riding a piece of British engineering genius cannot be quantified. I can see from online searches that used Brompton bikes keep their value well.

So I am still tempted to buy a Brompton or a hybrid bike so that my wife and I can ride off together into the sunset, or sunrise haha, in a common leisure activity that is also low impact and good exercise. The ride to the end of Jurong Lake and back takes about 45 minutes. There are also many park connectors to explore. Since the Bukit Timah Hill has been closed this may be an addition to my currently depressing exercise regime.