Best wishes to my buddy Bernard.

This entry to dedicated to one of my best friend Bernard. My thoughts are jumbled up, perhaps you might be able a read a better structured version at a later time, if I have the time. He has left Singapore to return to Philippine to further studies. I know I'm going to miss him.

Bernard is probably my first Filipino friend that I've made. You'd think that Bernard and I are close because we are similar, this is not really the case.

Bernard loves his room, it is his safe haven, his sanctuary. I think of myself as a nomad and my room, simply a place for me to lay down my head to rest. He takes care of his room, I tidy up my room.

Bernard is a great cook. My first taste of Filipino food is cooked by him. I can cook too, only when I need too, i.e. in the outdoor camping. But hey, that doesn't mean that I am a terrible cook. I shall not elaborate more.

Our friendship is not all smooth sailing. Like most brothers, we have our fair share of differences. We argue about the way to serve volleyball. We argued about rational decision vs emotional decision in a relation. We have very different opinion on who is attractive and who is not. I love train and he loves bus ride. I'll walk if it takes the shortest time to get there, he'll take a bus despite taking a longer time.

On our similarity. We both adore and respect God's creation. I remember the first time he went Gunung Lambak, his eyes sparkled when we were surrounded by nature. And our last hang out kayaking at Lower Seletar, he has the same child like eyes that marvelled at God's creation.

Departures are really not my strength, as I confess to Bernard. I am so proud of him for enrolling into one of the top uni in Philippine. But my selfish and occasionally contradicting heart wants to keep him in Singapore, thinking maybe Singapore might be a good place for him to settle down and set up his family here. But I know I couldn't deter a young and determined man from pursuing his hearts desire, whom I believe is also guided by God's hand.

I wish Bernard all the best in his studies. My prayer is that God will mold him to be the man of God.

Bernard, please come back regularly. I'll help out by setting up a Bernard-annual-return-fund to help you out with airfare. You can bunk in at my place

Sometime you choose your friends, sometime God choose your friends for you . Bernard is the latter.

Mad rush for flight tickets to Delhi.

At the end of the day, I am totally puzzled and beaten by the flight ticket issuing system.

After service I went back to my guest house eager to collect my flight ticket as promised.

Deepak smile and told that the ticketing office is closed and that I wouldn't be able to fly on Sun. I was disappointed and felt let down. They promise to get my tickets. And now I was told that the office was closed. Deepak should not have given me the impression that I can surely and absolutely get my Sunday flight ticket. Now I have to drop my wish to join the Delhi Church for service on Sunday at 1000hrs. I try to explain to Deepak that what he did was not good for the customer. However, he doesn't seems to get my point, which further madden me. I know that's nothing I can do, given the fact that today is Nepal's rest day (sat instead of sun). I understand that the office are closed. At the end of the talk, his colleague took over the reception and he left. I sat there, trying my best to hold my anger.

I went to another agent to try my luck. Interesting, they have 1 seat for Sun. But it's a 1100hrs flight and it cost 25USD more than the one I intended to pay earlier on. And so I did not take the offer. I am resolved to take the 36hrs bus to get to Delhi.... Sigh.

I spent the evening reading and writing. Finally I return to my guest house.

The receptionist handled me the ticket for Sunday. I was stunned. I have already given up hope to fly. Go...no go...go....no go. Very confusing, very draining emotionally.

He confirmed that the flight is 1100hrs on Sunday (tomorrow) and they are charging me the rate they quoted yesterday. I find it hard to say no. But my only reservation is not being able to meet Ramesh before I leave. I took the ticket and called Ramesh immediately.

He was asleep. I told him of the last minute absurd change to my plans. Unfortunately, he will be busy tomorrow with client. And so we bid goodbye over the phone. I went back to my room to pack. I felt I was emotionally not ready to leave Nepal but then... Many thoughts run thru my mind as I packed my bag in a zombified, auto mode.

Before I slept, I wrote a appreciation card to Ramesh. Maybe he could drop by my GH for a minute before heading to office. I hope and I wish. Lights off.

A day of goodbyes

Anxious to find out the status of my flight ticket to Delhi on Sunday morning. I went down to the reception first thing in the morning. Tickets are not issued yet but they assure me of securing my tickets.

Today is the last day for my Singaporean friends. We had our last breakfast at Weizen, one of the best restaurant/bakery in Thamel. There's more shipping to be done. My friends have this obsession to spent every single domination in their wallet.

The last stop was a T-shirt shop. They had made order sometime ago to make some customised design on T-shirts. This will be the 3rd time they're back here. The previous 2 visit was disappointing, the shop owner got the design wrong. I bet they were banking on this 3rd visit to be fruitful.

Another round of heated words were exchanged. My friends were fuming. While the shop attendance are just confused. 3 mins into it, I realised that it's not going to end soon. And so I left for the hotel, leaving them at the battle front.

It's kind of disappointing that we didn't have a proper farewell. But I really have to go. Church meeting starts in 20mins. I need to grab a cab.

Goodbye my friends, see you in June 2007. I wanted to wish them all the best in their career. Deepak was quite nice, he walked me to the main road to get a cab. I needed his help to explain to the driver my destination.

Sunday service and farewell to Shammi
Service starts at 1030hrs, 30mins earlier than usual. Today, the church have a special program. Shammi is leaving for India and the church gave him a farewell.

It was moving to see so many disciple coming forward to share about Shammi and his family. Many were weeping. Disciples are mobile. We go wherever and whenever the lord calls. Shammi is going to India to start a new HOPE project at a town 3 hrs away from Delhi by car.

Goodbye Korea. Goodbye brother.

I am on board the ferry to Tianjin. I don't know, is it sea sickness or am I really feeling hungry. I opened my bag to search for snacks and I saw the rice that Intae's mom has packed for me. I am so touched...

At Intae's house....
A 1410hrs, I decided that it's time to leave. I wasn't expecting this but Intae walked me to the bus stop. Last night, he hang out with his uni friends whom they've not met for the past 3 years. As a result, he come home after 0130hrs. I had intended to ask him out for a drink just the 2 of us. Usually I prefer beer but this time I want Korean rice wine, Uniquely Korean. I wanted to sincerely thank him for his friendship and his generous hospitality.

Intae's mom is an amazing, faithful and extremely dedicated home maker. The house is keep clean and tidy with beautiful decoration, though seemingly small but significantly beautified every corner of the house.

Every morning, I wake up to a home make Korean breakfast (sometimes I wake up at 12pm, but since it's the first meal of the day, I consider it as breakfast) She knows I love coffee and will always make me a nice cup of Maxim ( Korean popular 3-in-1 coffee) I felt so well taken care of, just like the way my own mother takes care of me.

Intae's mother strongly exhibit the beauty and the strength of a woman-Loving, caring, faithful, diligent. It's a pity that I am not able to speak Korean, I would have thank her and express this to her in person.

Hospitality
Here are some verse in the Bible that talks about hospitality.

Matthew 25:35-36
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect hospitality, because through it some have entertained angels without knowing it.

1 Peter 4:9
Show hospitality to one another without complaining.

As we walk to the bus stop, both of us felt the need to say what is in our hearts.

In the morning (before I got out of the bed), Intae and his mom had a little discussion about me. They felt that they could have treated me better. They felt a little bad about it. I was quite blown way...

When was the last time someone invite you to his home and house you for 20 days?

Intae and his parents are probably the nicest people I've ever met. As a matter of fact, I think they really done their utmost in accommodating me. If what they had shown me was not hospitality and love, I really don't know what to say man....

3 things I cherished most about our brotherhood
1) Our shared experience at Mei Li Xue Shan
2) That late night talk at Cafe Lin (in Lijiang)
3) His hospitality during the 20 days in Seoul.

Let me elaborate on the 2 point.

Secret revealed
This might surprise you. Around the first week of Feb, I had reservation about my trip. I was alone most of the time. Loneliness creep into my life. I felt terrible. Many thoughts comes to my mind and the one that stands out is this:

"Why am I traveling"

I lost my direction. I lost my motivation. I need encouragement.

At 1 point, I am thinking of going back to Singapore to spend CNY with my family and friends. I felt so deprived of relation and I miss everybody in Singapore badly.

On this particularly night in Cafe Lin, we started to share openly about our lives. I told Intae and Hansoo about how my relation with my dad mended over the years. Intae shares about his close relation with his family too. I took the risk and decide to be vulnerable. It was not easy for me to tell him (nor anyone for that matter) that I've intention to end my travel. I felt like a failure in some ways. I thought of how people would think of me if I go back 3 months earlier than I've planned.

"He's a failure, claims to travel 6 months but he's back now. It's not even 3 months."

I could sense that Intae could understand and related to me. He could empathise with me on the loneliness of travel and the occasional lost of motivation and travel. Not to mention homesickness. He has been thru these in the course of his 10 months of travel. He encourage me to press on and to continue what i set out to do. He never regret and so wouldn't I...

Coming from him, it was a great comfort. His understanding as a fellow (and veteran) traveler was like a double dosage of Red Bull. It motivates and encourage me.

I realise I am not alone.

Goodbye brother

We saw bus 721 approaching the bus stop. A warm hug and exchange of goodbyes, an assurance of our friendship. I boarded the bus.

Goodbye Korea. Goodbye brother

Goodbye Cafe Lin...hello Kunming.

Today, Intae and I left Cafe Lin with a heavy heart. As for me, I only stayed in Cafe Lin for 1 week. Intae?? 1 month. I can imagine how much he felt for Cafe Lin and the lady boss who is an extremely nice person. 0830hrs. We arrived on the dot at XinKeZhan. Waiting for us is a double decker luxury coach. This is probably the most luxurious bus I've ever taken. Actually, it doesn't matter what grade is the coach, it's the companion that counts.

I had a good chat with Intae on my journey to Kunming. On the surface, we are world's apart. He's Korean, I'm Chinese. His default language is Korean and mine is English. But upon closer examination, we realise there's lots of similarity between us. We are both thinkers. Not that we're great philosophers. But we like to ponder about life, our past, the present and future.

He was the only child and I was the only son. We shared about our relation with our fathers. For most men, we love both our parents but in a slightly different way. Moms are usually the one that we are more emotionally attached to. Dads are usually respected by us, in particularly how he work so hard to raise us up. Men tend to not want to let their parents down. Take for instance, part of the reason why I study was to do my parents proud. Part of the reason why I joined the air force was to take the financial burden off their shoulder. My father, in one sense, is very liberal on the choices I made in my life. For e.g., on my academic path and career path. In recent years, even my faith in Christianity and God.

When my ORD (Operation Ready Date, meaning the day I get out of Airforce) was approaching, one of my concern is what to tell my dad about my plans for future. I think all parents hope that their children can secure a good job. I was afraid that dad would not support me, so I hesitate to share with him my plans for the next 3-4years- First (and immediately) to travel for 6 months. Secondly, to get a job in OBS as an instructor. I thought these unconventional plans wouldn't have won the approval of my seemingly conventional dad. That is why in the past, I used to tell him the 'safe' answer that's I'll secure in job in Singapore Technology or Singapore Airline Engr. (SIA engr) as a mechanic. Last year, I decided to be really honest with him everything about my plans. I was surprise by his response. He didn't object, instead, he even ask me in details about my travelling plans and also how's it's like to be an instructor in OBS. I was encourage, really. Pursuing my dreams with the approval of dad was such an unexpected bonus.

It's amazing that how in such a short time, my relation with Intae grow so much. Now we talk about everything, conversation beyond the weather and stock market. We shared about things deep in our hearts. It was a great feeling to get connected with someone (ever since Nov). For the past 4 days, we've been praying together. Initiately, he prayed in Korean. Yesterday, he prayed in English for the first time in his life. It was refreshing. Really appreciate him for making special effort so i can understand his prayers. I was moved by his prayers as he express his feelings to God and especially how he prayed for his family.

Taiwan...Touch my heart

Taiwan East Coast highway road trip, originally uploaded by Jerry Tok.

Taiwan...Touch your heart

This is the Taiwanese tourism board tag line. Indeed, Taiwan had touch my heart in many ways.

A brother ask me, what is my deepest impression of Taiwan. I answered without hesitation: 雪山 (Snow Mountain) and the Taiwanese, especially the brothers who housed me and spent time with me.

雪山-Xueshan-Snow Mountain
A picture speaks a thousand words, so pls refer to my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerrytok/sets/72157594407548916/ There are a few millions words there.

I like the 黑森林（black forest). 黑森林 is full of alpine trees (or so I think). During the day, little or no sunlight penetrates into the forest and hence the name black forest. The trees are rather tall with branches and leaves at the top. It was as though all the trees are racing against each other to catch as much sunlight as they possibly could.

Off course, I love the snow. The last time I see snow (on the ground) was at Nepal. And that was 4 years ago. Singapore is located 2 degree north of the equator. Our weather forecast is 24-35 degree C thruout the year. Back to the snow- It was snowing prior to the day before we make our ascent to 雪山主峰(Snow Mountain Main Peak). According to our guide, the possibility to make the ascent is slim. So they next morning, we were praying hard for the ascent to be possible. There is no way to know than to try. Fortunately, there was another group, they went ahead of us to 开路. By the time we got to the snow part, it was quite easy to walk. The previous group had helped us melt the snow on the trail.

Taiwanese
Taiwanese are warm and friendly. Service industry is excellent. Take for instance, Taiwanese greet every customer 欢迎光临. You can step into any shop and make as much enquiry as you like. You can step out of the store without making any purchase. Retailer rarely give you the black face nor pressure you to make any purchase. Once at Kending, George and I went into a restaurant. The waitress serve us plain water while she hands the menu to us. George and I both agree that the price is abit to steep for our liking. We told the waiter that we decided not to eat here, she remain courteous and thank us for patronising (strictly speaking, we only walk in). No black face. I really salute their excellent service.

During the Xueshan trek, we stop by along the side of the trail. We sat there and right in front of us is a beautiful mountain range. Our guide, nickname Ferrari was there with us. Besides the 4 Singaporeans with me, there were 6 other Taiwanese uncles and aunties with us. We were chatting and laughing and really enjoying each other's company. Ferrari is very nice. He made coffee for us. Because of his kindness, even the hot water that he prepared tasted sweet.

台北教会的弟兄姐妹
I am so grateful to the Taipei brothers for housing me. They are so warm,sincere, caring and loving. Thruout my staying there, I have to privilege to stay in 3 brother's flat.

The first brothers' flat was with 振宁，阿鸿，建明，Danny and Wei Yu. I feel especially close to 振宁. I love to ride around Taipei in his scooter.

The second brothers' flat was with 世渊,Sunny and 阿杰. When I arrive, 阿杰show me to the room, the brothers prepare a fruit basket to welcome. Honestly, I am quite overwhelmed by their hospitality. Besides the fruit basket, 阿杰print a map of their house location and a local phone card. 世渊 is very fatherly. He is very patient to explain things to. He gave me some insider stories to the never ending unusually relationship between Taiwan and China. I really enjoy talking to him. Sunny is the brother that treated me to 臭豆腐Fermented bean curd and 鸭血糕 Solidified duck's blood.

The third brothers' flat was with 9 brothers, I know 富源 most. On Sunday, he took time out and brought me around Taipei. We went to hot spring together. Then on Monday morning, he woke up at 4am to sent me to the bus terminal for me to catch a bus to the airport.