Ben Tshin

So. Plans are meant to change! I’m not supposed to be here. But I really have no choice about the matter. I was supposed to jump on another boat and be in Brunei right now, but that’s not happening since all the boats are full. it’s the May Day/Labour day holidays mixed with Prophet’s Day so everyone is NOT where they are supposed to be (including ME!). When I’m on vacation and travelling it’s not fun if everyone else is also on vacation and also travelling.

Labuan is pretty quiet according to the Lonely Planet but it’s even quieter now. I’m staying at Hotel Sri Villa (RM35). It’s twice the cost of Lucy’s Homestay in KK but only half the comfort. And there’s nothing to do here either. At least Lucy’s had a TV and other people to talk to.

Well, Plan A (stay overnight in Miri) and Plan B (stay overnight in BSB, Brunei) both failed. I should really stop with these plans that are a little… uneducated!

Anyway, the time in Borneo is my own relax time. I can relax here, or wherever, it’s just my mindset anyway. Unluckily (or maybe luckily), Brian Chung canceled me going on a medical run with some OM guys. That frees me for two days at least now. But it was good just to talk to him and he brims with relevance, especially with my Perspectives course. The tour around town was also an extra bonus too. Better than Lonely Planet. So if you want to see any city, you better know someone. Mr. LP doesn’t know everything like the locals do.

I am now alone in my continuing adventures. All that I have to guide me is my intuition and excerpts from the Lonely Planet. Life should be relaxing now and it definitely is…

The din of chatter and dishes is invigorating, for the short while at least.

I have finished too many legs of this trip already in the last week. But all that journeying was punctuated by a 3-day stay at Pulau Sipadan. Abdillah Sipadan Paradise. Dive, eat, sleep. Repeat. Sleep was good, especially after another horrible 9hr bus ride from KK to Tawau. Sat at the very back of a very bumpy and beat-up bus. We got “upgraded” marginally, that’s after Hongkyu and I gave up RM6 of food coupons. If instead of RM45 each way, we coudl have got a nice painless 1hr plane ride for ONLY RM100. (I’m being sarcastic. I need to save every last ringgit!) We saved RM110 (counting both ways) but we sure didn’t save our sanity.

Diving in Sipadan with Hongkyu was very good. The water was clear, 10-15m visibility. Lots of fish and lots of divers too. I got lost once or twice following the wrong guy. Apparently there were also lots of sharks, manta rays and barracudas which we didn’t see because we were sleeping in. The Japanese divers in our group got started at 6am… so I guess it paid off to wake up so early.

Our divemaster was lots of fun. There doesn’t seem to be any room for dour, boring divers (or divemasters either). There were so many good things to see. So lively. But we wasted that one morning sleeping in. That’s a no-no. 6am might be early but it’s worth it to see hammerhead sharks. Then we made a so-so decision to goto Mabul Island for muck diving. Good and not so good. But it’s all about the experience, right? *everyone nods in agreement*

Diving is a rich man’s sport/activity. Or for hardcore Japanese 6-dives-a-day divers!! It’s a beautiful hobby, but it cost me way too much $$$. I guess after diving Sipadan, one of the world’s top ten, I guess I can’t compare to anything else. Time to develop another hobby that’s cheaper for the meanwhile.

Already 6 hours in this city but I want to get out already. Last night’s bus from Mersing was horrible. It stopped every hour between 10pm and 4am. After arriving at KL, Puduraya bus station, I felt dead horrible, legs like jelly. Went inside to look for a place to sleep but 40-50 other poeple were already parked on the benches soundly sleeping. I finally found enough space for me to lie down and sleep until the police arrived to rouse everyone awake at 6am. I stayed around until 7am half sleeping as I sat. Then time to roam the streets. I’m finally @ Delifrance inside Lot 10.

Salang Beach, Kampung Salang, Tioman Island.

A relatively quiet island with lots of tourists. Tourists probably outnumber locals here, but I’m sure the locals are quite well off here. So much US dollars and Singapore dollars floating around here. The beaches here are numerous so all us sun-loving maniacs have more than enough room to laze around, just like me!

The place is dotted with chalets and the occasional huge 4 or 5-star hotel resort. Seems like this place has one sole purpose: to provide escape for all us weary hard-working over acheivers from Singapore, although there is still a large population of Germans here. They seem to be everywhere.

Now the only thing that’s missing here is a nice massage on the beach.

Finally a bit more relaxed “me” time. It isn’t sane to be so relaxed right now. Two final exams tomorrow and I still have time to “ponder”. How?

On Monday, my regular bible study with NUS Navigators was replace with “rest time”. I think I am definitely in need of that spiritual rest, not sleep or the end of exams, I need soul rest. I’m still burdened with all the plans of the future, but Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28) So I gave that up to Jesus to take care of. I’m looking Jesus’ yoke, which is easy and the burden light. That might imply that God’s direction for my life is easier and lighter because it’s what God designed me for.

This morning is a testament of the life God wants for me. I don’t think I was prepared for my exam. But instead I let God take that anxiety. Woah. Peace like a river, right there, right then. I might not have done so well on the exam but I know that exam marks aren’t all that important in the big picture of things. Spiritual connectedness, fruits of the spirit, and all the eternal and internal things are what matter. My plans, my “structures”, my worldly cares — they don’t compare with the presence of God.

Plans that are swirling my head:
• summer job / co-op work term
• grad school
• missions work (especially Asia)
• Borneo trip!

Leaving Kuala Lumpur via night express train to Singapore.

It’s been a travel and visiting blitz since Mom & Dad arrived last week. I finally have two seconds to myself without the distractions of hotel TV, parents, taxis, shopping or whatever. We only spent two real days in KL but we’ve exhausted the city and the city exhausted us. There is only so much walking, eating and shopping that my body and mind can take in so short a period. Travelling is nice but city hopping is killer. I want to be able to soak in a place instead of being a transient, an unknown.

At least I’m with family. That’s a nice change for a short while, although it’s easy to see that my parents are from the old era of fear and caution versus me: adventurous, experimental, experiential and perhaps carefree. Then again, I’ll only once… or not.

Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Final 200m of the Tour de Langkawi. Since I’m in the area, I guess I should check out the local sports scene, especially the cycling scene. This will be my first live international bike race that I have every seen. Of course, Tour de France is on the list, sometime, when I finally get to go. But start small first.

Malaysia is a decent change from Singapore. Here again for the third time now. So convenient to come here, might as well come more often. JB has a bit less of the totally developed first-world feel of Singapore. But the only problem is the border crossing which can get a bit slow especially on the weekends. But not today!

There is a really funny relationship between Malaysia and Singapore. They seem almost like a squabbling old married couple. Singapore is like the head of the family, more money, more power, but very dependent on Malaysia. Malaysia is playing catchup, trying to hold back Singapore while “giving face” of course. I’ve already met too many Malaysians at NUS. They seem a lot more happy-go-lucky than the straight-faced, law-abiding, conservative Singaporeans. Don’t know which country I prefer but together they make an enjoyable pair.

This will be short. About as short as my stay in Malaysia this time. This is the shortest amount of time that I have every visited a country: only 4 hours, in, watch, out.

Next stop in Malaysia: Pulau Aur, scuba scuba scuba. *glug*glug*glug*

En route to Langkawi. On “vacation” now although every warm day here could be considered as a sort of holiday from the perspective of a cold Canadian winter. Penang has been a nice change from the hubbub of Singapore. Seems as though every place can be “better” than the last place. Is there any good enough place for the wandering nomad? But I almost feel at home here in Southeast Asia. Theer is enough English to survive but also enough “Asian”-ness to keep me enthralled.

Life at NUS has been good. I do envy those who have travelled a bit more than me, seen a few more places. But I think to myself: do I really want to be travelling all the time and become a travel junkie?

CNY (Chinese New Year, for those who don’t know all the Singaporean abbreviations) away from family definitely makes me miss home. I fear that out of sight will become out of mind. I ended up spending CNY with an extended family of friends and other family-less people (not orphans but other international students). Always being on the move from here to there give me almost a sense of homelessness, not rooted anywhere, or rooted in anything.

Travelling is an escape from reality into a dream world where everything is cheery cheery. Just make sure to leave before you see the dark and ugly side of wherever you are. Like right now: on the ferry to Langkawi after seeing almost all of Penang in two days.

Well, I hope to start writing more often. Time to restart some good habits again. Luckily no computer around, no waste of time there. But also no talky-talky with people back home. Will I ever get the best of both worlds?

Nope.

(note: this entry is blogged from my Moleskine journal.)

Singapore. Been here only two full days but I’ve already found some buried treasures. Lim Seng Lee Teochew Duck @ South Buona Vista Road & Pasir Panjang! It’s barely 10 minutes from NUS but it has an idyllic calm to this little enclave. The people in Singapore are just great. They have that just-right blend of East and West.

Bangkok: Recap! Arrived at 6:00am and called Dan’s friend Ryan. Ryan is doing work with Compassion International in one of the slums of Bangkok. My brother was in Indonesia spending Christmas with relatives and he arranged for Ryan to pick me up and show me around. And show me around he did. After dumping my luggage, we had breakfast on the street for 30 Baht (that’s about CAD$1) and eating real food was another step up from Thai Airways food, which is already leagues above Air Canada and pseudo-Parisian caf� food.

Then the whirlwind tour of Bangkok: 9am until 12:30am midnight. Ryan took us (four British missionary girls on New Year’s leave and I) around the Mekong River, around “his” slums, to the Royal Palace, Kao Sang Road (backpacker central), to a great restaurant in Silom and down to “red-light district” Pat Pong before we finally ended up outside a small bar in a small alley tucked somewhere in the maze of Bangkok.

I had NO jetlag the next day, just a bit tired. But that’s the secret of travelling: not sleep because of jetlag, sleep ONLY because of drop-dead fatigue.

Bangkok was more traffic jam that anything else. Too many people in a too small place. it was good to see Dan again after such a long time. He’s been in Bangkok for already 4 months. Walking the slums really gave me a feel for the poverty there. Sad? Yes. But their spiritual poverty is even deeper. Patpong, Ratchada, the sex trade, etc. are only symptoms. I wish Ryan God’s provisions as he’s there right in the midst of it all.

On a cheerier note, New Year’s Eve was fun, but very, very chaotic. It was way too hot to have so many people celebrating in one place. It’s alright in the Canadian winter because the weather cools everyone, but when the temperature is already 30C at night, the crowd of people near the World Trade Center (BKK not NYC) got stinky quick! It was too hard an effort to find Dan’s friends. Halfway to finding them, the New Year came and Bangkok went crazy. I’m not surprised since a 3L mini-keg of Carlsberg was only 420B (~CAD$16).

Anyway, with such a low currency, hopefully Canadian dollars go a long way here. Lots of cheap stuff here: DVDs, summer clothes, food (and beer).

More BKK later. I’ll be back.