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Sweet than honey

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSv6UgCkuTU I was watching this youtube channel on this young girl from Yunnan who blogs about her life and cooking with seasonal vegetables and I was so excited about this vlog which showed her plucking lychee from the tree and cooking with it. I shared with friends over a fancy dinner when we were talking about cooking methods and my friend laughed and said why don't you just to go NTUC to buy lychees since they are in season now. This conversation got me thinking of 2 things firstly someone who has never tasted the sweetness of real freshly harvested lychees will never understand what I mean.  The sweetness is something we will never get in the supermarkets of singapore cos we have to keep the fruit fresh enough to be sold while transporting. And someone who has never tasted freshly plucked lychees will think that that is the optimum of sweetness. Just as someone who has never experienced the sweetness of a real relationship with God.
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A new year and a new start

It's really not the start of a new year but had some time this morning to clear up my electronic house? Was hoping to restart my blog that I started before I left for Sydney. It has been the most difficult thing to mantain but I'm grateful for being still able to pick it up off and on over the years. to leave a quote from one of my favourite speakers Simon Manchester in his talk on John.       "To have fellowship with God, to have a profound and real peace producing, life-changing, strength supporting relationship fellowship with God is the most wonderful thing in the world, and it’s the only relationship which will outlast the world." If you are interested to hear more, here's the link to the podcast  https://hope1032.com.au/stories/faith/2019/1-john-the-christian-checkup-truth-brings-transformatio/ I pray that this will be a good platform for reflection and encouragement. 
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Serendipity

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Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise". It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. ( Source: Wikipedia) I've often wondered whether as a Christian we should believe in serendipity. If God is sovereign over all our affairs, would it be more appropriate to say that it was in God's plans? Yet somehow it also seems a little over doing it to be saying that every little thing is God's plan. Yes that is something that I've not quite figured out yet. But back to this picture. I would say that the chance of capturing it and in that sense any really good shot is serendipitous. It comes down to timing and chance. The story of this
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New beginnings

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In an attempt to hone my skills at writing, I've decided that it may be good to revive this old blog with new material and have some discipline in keeping it up. For the beginning I'll post 2 pieces that were taken from others but spoke greatly to me. This is a post on not judging. something I've been learning and reminding myself. A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mum came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: my sweetie, could you give your mum one of your two apples? The girl looked up at her mum for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite of one apple, and then quickly on the other. The mum felt the smile on her face freeze. she tried hard not to reveal her disappointment. Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mum and said: Mummy, here you are. The is the sweeter one. No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always delay judgeme
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Hokkaido in Summer Travel blog 2

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 We had already discussed the previous day that we should go to the Okurayama Ski Jump. I haven't been to Mt Moiwa myself to see the city view however J has been there. We also wanted to visit Maruyama Park which I actually had already been thinking of going the previous trip. We took a train to Maruyama Park station and there were sufficient signs showing how to walk to Maruyama Park. When we got to the park, we saw that there were having a family day for pre school kids and spent some time watching the fun! A further walk up, you will reach the Hokkaido Shrine.   We went on a sat so there were many people visiting the Shrine and there was a Shinto wedding ongoing! I've seen the dedication of the young children before but this was my first witnessing of a Shinto wedding. Another interesting note is how the parents were bringing the babies in white christening gowns to get dedicated at a shinto shrine! As we proceeded,
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Hokkaido in Summer travel blog 3

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Took some time off  to travel on my own. I've been to Lake Shikotsuko twice already. Once was by chance last Autumn when we were looking for a place to go. Another time was in winter when we stayed in the ryokan on the opposite bank of the lake. I decided I wanted to visit it again and this time spend some time wandering around. Lake Shikotsuko in Winter  this time though I was without transport so had to figure out how to take public transport. I had already bought the JR Hokkaido pass and was taking train from Sapporo to Chitose airport. At the airport I bought the tickets to lake shikotsuko from the counter. There are only 4 buses going to and from Chitose to the Shikotsuko and the bus no longer goes directly from Sapporo to lake Shikotsuko. This is the bus station that goes to Lake Shikotsuko The stops also pass through Minami- Chitose which is where the Rera outlet mall is.. hence the little poster at the bottom. It is summer holidays in Japan
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Hokkaido in Summer Travel Blog 4

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I travelled to Hakodate the next day. It was slightly short of a 3 hour train ride from Tomakomai. Was sweltering hot when I reached there. I bought a one day tram pass to take the tram to my onsen for that night at Yukonowa-onsen. Managed to find the hotel with a little help from google maps. Was the typical onsen type hotel but I couldn't check in till 3 pm. Took a short walk outside but the heat was very bad. Retreated back again to the hotel to check my whatsapp messages and emails. Once I checked in, scooted out again to make the most of the day. Took the tram to the other end of the tram line to... Aiming to get to cape Tachimachi.. Was quite a trek up through a group of cemetries and was exhausted, overheated by the time I got to the top but what a view!   But my aim was still to get to the Hakodate ropeway. Another note is that the tram pass gives you 10% discount for the ropeway. Though the ropeway is best seen at night, I decided
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