A Church Wedding

Hi,

Over the weekend, I attended a church wedding with my wife and the pastor gave a pretty interesting sermon or talk on marriage.

Here are some lessons I learned from it.

From his counselling experience, he said that Husbands like to be Respected and Wives like to be Loved.

If the spouses can do this reasonably well, their marriage will definitely last long.

So think about it!

Also, he shared with us what he thinks could be the 5 languages of love and we have to find out which ones is your spouse's languages.

1. Be of service to your spouse; eg take out the rubbish, wash the dishes.

2. Be encouraging to your spouse; eg praise her cooking.

3. Give your spouse quality time; eg go out to together once a week like dinner with a walk by the beach or a movie, talk and listen to each other.

4. Be physical with each other; eg hug, embrace or even just a pat to show you care.

5. Buy your spouse a gift and not only on special occasion.


Your spouse may be touched by either one or many of the above, so observe and show your love accordingly.



I think the key word is communication as all of them involves interacting or doing something for your spouse.

Well, find the time to ponder over it and act on it NOW!

Take care!

David

Budget Flights to Penang

Hi,

By now, I have taken 3 budget flights to Penang within a month period.

My first flight was on Air Asia and subsequent 2 flights were on JetStar.

My experience so far, the air crew ( steward and stewardess ) from JetStar are more professional compared to Air Asia crew.

The main difference is that Jetstar offers you aero-bridges at both Singapore and Penang whereas you have to climb down the stairs from the aircraft in Pg airport and then up another flight of stairs to the arrival hall.

Prices seem to be slightly cheaper for JetStar and you have a maximum limit of 10Kg of hand luggage versus 7Kg for Air Asia.

I would take JetStar flights just because of the aerobridge in Pg and the slight price difference.

Please do your own research online and not take my word for it esp on the pricing as there are promotions on and off. Also, I notice that the prices varies daily; eg it is cheaper for me to fly to Pg on Tue and Wed and return on Thu or Fri.

Otherwise, it is still much cheaper than SQ or MH flghts.

Thanks to the budget flights, I can afford to fly home more often especially now that my Mum is not feeling well.

You can also read my earlier posting on my first budget flight at http://pcwthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-first-budget-flight-to-penang.html


Happy Holidays....

David

Kampung Life in Penang

Hi,

My house in Penang is situated next to a Malay kumpung, called Kampung Bahru.

Previously, the roads are sandy and not tarred or concrete but the attap houses are getting modern and most of the residents have motor-bikes or cars. There have been progress and standard of living has improved too, I suppose.

But one of the things that remains unchanged is the roosters and hen are let loose and they like to hang near our house.

There is also a nice playground just next to our house too. When I was a kid, it was a badminton court and I played in it many times.

Well, I have left Penang for a long time and until recently, I would only stay a night or two at our own house in Penang as my family & I would take it as a short holiday too, and stay at one of the beach resorts like Holiday Inn or Golden Sands Hotel.

During my recent trip, I stayed at my own Pg house for about 6 nights to help care for my parents.

So what is kampung life in Penang?

Well, the free and roaming roasters may start to crow as early as 4am and not stop until 6am..!!!

The motorbikes and cars are still returning home as late as 12 mid-night. Similarly, adults and children may hang around the playground until late at night too!

So sad to say, I seldom sleep until mid-night and I can hardly sleep past 5am every morning...!

The crowing of the roosters was really a killer..! Sigh.......

I even recorded their crowing on my mobile to be used as alarm. Also, to let my Dad listen to it as he said he could not hear them....( he is deaf without his hearing aid, actually.... )!

But my wife and son seem to have no problem during the few times we sleep there....?

Only my Mum agreed with me as she was also woken up daily too.

I do not mind if the roosters start crowing at 6am but 4am......sigh......

Once it was as early as 3:30am..... I could not believe it..!!!

And once they only started at 7am as it was raining....?

Anyway, there is no way we can do anything as this is kampung lifestyle.

David

Penang Recent Developments

Hi,

In my recent trip to Penang, I took a few photos of Georgetown in Penang that may interest you.....

This is the new Penang Times Square; just completed and the retailers have not moved in yet. The tower blocks are for residence and we almost bought one....

I have not visited it yet but took this photo from inside a bus.

This is the interior of the Rapid air-con bus, similar to one of our SBS bus. My fare to the city is only RM1 or about S$0.45 only.

The Penangites also paid tribute the Michael Jackson in Prangin Mall atrium but I missed it.

This is a lovely street scene taken from the Prangin Mall car park, using my Sony Ericsson mobile.

So if you have not visited Penang recently, please do so as there are budget flights to Penang and the fare can be as cheap as S$60 both ways on promotion otherwise it may be about S$100-120.

So what are you waiting for...?

David

Mum in LWE Hospital

Hi,

I have to make another adhoc trip to Penang as my Mum was warded in LWE hospital after feeling discomfort in her chest.

I flew back on Thu 2 Jul and returned on the following Wed 8 Jul; about a week to help my Dad look after my Mum.

Glad that my Mum has been discharged and resting at home now.

Here is a short slideshow of her recovering at the LWE hospital.

During her stay in LWE hospital, she made a new friend. This young lady was visiting her aunt, who was placed opposite my Mum in the ward, and started to talk to my Mum as we have just left. Also, I think she noticed that my Mum was feeling very cold and went to have a look at her and she found out that the temperature has been set to 16C by mistake.

Here is a photo of Ai Nee and my Mum.

Ai Nee brought some cheer to my Mum as she was very chatty and a very interesting person as she is now married and living in Japan.

My thanks to Ai Nee.

I will be flying back to Pg on Tue 14 Jul again to accompany my Mum for her follow-up medical appointment.

David

Hair For Hope - Children's Cancer Foundation

Hi,

Jason missed the school participation on Hair For Hope to support the Children's Cancer Foundation as he was on MC.

His Form-teacher smsed him to go to his barber to get a hair-cut No. 1 before he returns to school if he still wants to be part of the Hair For Hope project.

Jason also did it last year. ( Check it out at http://pcwthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/06/close-shave-for-cancer.html )

So we just went to his barber and get the hair-cut No. 1.......

This is how he looked like when we left the house.

Well, no change of mind now.....

Finally, I am glad Jason could still smile and it was for a good cause.






















We are proud of you indeed...!

Loves,

Mum & Dad


P.S. Pls visit this site for more info on Hair For Hope - Children's Cancer Foundation http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/

H1N1 Or Common Flu

Hi,

Upon arrival from Penang on Wed morning, I found Jason sleeping on the couch instead of being school.

I was told that he is sick so I took him to a nearby clinic. Since he has fever, I asked him to wear a surgical mask and I wore a N95 mask. We walked to the clinic instead of taking a bus since it is just one stop away.

Jas was given some medication and 2 days MC.

But his fever did not subside and went up to 39+C in the evening so I called the H1N1 hotline and asked for advice. I was told to go to a clinic that has been certified H1N1 readiness (PPC) or call for an ambulance to go the hospital to test for H1N1.

Since he has no contact with known H1N1 patient or returned from those high risk countries, I decided to go to Raffles 24 Hours clinic since we went to their Bedok clinic earlier.

We got a taxi and wore our masks but we also asked the taxi driver to wind down the windows and told him of our situation.

In short, the doctor asked us to continue with the given medicine + one more tablet to fight the fever. No mention of H1N1 test.

Jason took a few cold showers and then we have him wrapped up with 3 towels; one around his forehead, neck and across his chest and armpits. See the photo below, he looked like a ninja.

The fever finally subsided on Thu night and we were so relieved but Jason was still weak and still has a slight cough and stuffy nose, so I did not let him go to school.

But on Sat 5am, Jason woke up with the urge to vomit and felt terrible. Unable to vomit, he told me that it looked like gastric so I managed to find some gastric medicine and gave him a tablet. Thanks God! It helped and he felt better and slept till noon.

We decided to return the the Bedok clinic to seek further help with the latest problem.

The GP told us the gastric was likely due to the additional medicine + the antibiotic. So she gave us some medicine for gastric and continue with the antibiotic this weekend.

We were a bit scare as Jason has never had fever above 39+C and for 2 days. We wanted to go to test for H1N1 virus but then thought it may not be wise unless necessary.

This will be the challenge we will be facing whenever we fall sick; H1N1 or just a common flu..?

I was scared too as I have to fly back to Penang to take my Mum for her hospital appointment next Tue so that was why I wore a N95 mask and it was not comfortable to breath in it.

I was also comforted by an article I read in the New Paper this morning regarding how a family handled the a similar situation when their daughter fell ill.

So key to it is not to be bugged by the bug but stay health to fight it.

Take care!

David