Proposed Trip to Mt. Kinabalu

Anyone wants to take a break in the second half of this year? Are you interested to get to the highest point (4095.2m) in South East Asia?

According to officials, the wetter season runs from October to February and the dryer season from March to September. Wet wheather is not suitable for climbing. So I propose we go there in Aug or Sep period.

It is one of the easiest mountain to climb in the world. Do you believe it? However, you must be physically fit to endure some challenging areas as steep as 45%. The reward is you get to enjoy a lot of beautiful and breathtaking sceneries throughout the climbing.

4day/3night is needed if we don't want to rush. Further, we also can spend one day in Kota Kinabalu city to experience the local cultures and foods. The total cost of the trip can be as low as below S$500. Accomodation must be booked at least 4 months before to the trip. (I intended to go in May but it seems to be too late to do the booking)

For those who like outdoor activities and adventures, this is MUST GO!!! Drop me a message if you are interested to go by end of April.

The below website contains a lot of details of the Mt. KK climbing.

http://www.mount-kinabalu-borneo.com/index.html

Hope in Israel-Arab Conflict

I am extremely interested in the event happening in the Holy Land. The Bible is originated from there so I feel burdened to read more about the history there to understand the issue better. And I am interested to find out whether the Bible reveals certain thing about what is happening there in the present days. I also have many questions why God would allow so many sufferings happen in the Holy Land.

By reading news through the media, we will tend to blame Israel for the terrible sufferings they inflicted on the Palestinian. The videos and pictures of children and women get killed or severely injured would cause the people to feel sympathy toward the civilians in Gaza instead of the residents in Southern Israel. No body knows what is under-reported and what is over-reported. A lot of things are controlled by the media. I think Hamas has achieved their aim as the world start to condemn Israel for the 'crime' they committed.

Through the webcast of "Gaza: The Case for Middle East Peace" in the World Economic Forum website, I listened to the speech of Peres-Israel president, Moussa-Secretary-general of the Arab League and Erdogan-Turkey P.M. Each share their views on the conflict and the solution to address the issue. They are seating beside each other and their speech contain a lot of emotions. Israel president impressed me the most. His speech is powerful. He told me things that I do not read from the media. He also use facts to substantiate his points well.

He mentioned about Iran. Iran dislikes Israel. Their leader ever says that 'Israel should be wiped off from the map'. Such statement is denying the existance of Israel nation and carries the intention of destroying it. It is perfectly logical that Hamas rockets are supplied and funded by Iran to carry out their agenda against Israel. The official policy of Hamas does not recognize the existance of Israel. Iran did the same through Hezbolah 3 years ago in the Lebanon war. The president says that Iran's ambition is to rule the Middle East.

Israel president also said that Israel does not want to go to war, their goal is to achieve peace. They had done it with Eygpt and Jordan before. Israel has the will to help Palestinian establish a state for themselves. That's why they worked closely and is progressing with the other party in West Bank. Why they can't do the same with Hamas in Gaza?

I think this is not entirely the fault of the Hamas movement. They were selected through democratic system introduced by the West. Why would majority elect them to be the government since they deploy extreme policy toward Israel? Reason being that the people in Gaza is not ready to make permanent peace with Israel. Most of them still have a lot of hatred and bitterness toward Israel due to the burden of history.

I am glad to hear that Israel has been supplying water and electricity to Gaza and they make sure no one there is starving. In order to change the hearts of the Palestinian people in Gaza, Israel has to go extra mile to show their kindness and reach out to their needs. Since Israel are a stronger and blessed nation, they have to love their enemy just like what Jesus taught. They have to help them build their country and give to the poor extraordinarily. Perhaps when the hearts of people are genuinely touched and loved, they will one day forgo their bitterness and hatred. That day, Israel and Palestine will coexist peacefully and become a good friend/neighbor.

Now, the enemy government is ruling the area so to do what I suggested above is extremely challenging.

The spirit of the darkness is at work in the hearts of hardened people. God's people, be strong and courageous! Do what is right!

Work - Back to basic

My cousin is doing extremely well in his career in Singapore. He graduated in 2004 and barely worked for 5 years. But he is now earning big time in the energy sector. His pay is almost doubled compared to his peers' on average in the engineering field. He obtained many valuable certs of his industry within a short time and became a very sought-after engineer. People usually get those certs when they reach their 40s. At the age of 30, he already has a wife, a baby girl, a house and a car. He told me the next goal is to obtain a few more important certs, join a giant energy company to get better pay and bonus and buy a condo. What an amazing guy!


Talking to my cousin leads me to reconsider the meaning of work. I think work means using our skills to do something to meet a certain demand. Let's go back to the basic of work. In ancient time, most of the people worked the land to produce food for their living and survival. Food is a demand in that time. Of course, skills are required to carry out the work. The skills determine the productivity and result which will be translated into some form of return. We call the return wages in modern economy.


I remember the current generation would say things like, "I am not interested in my work". I wonder whether this is a valid statement. When we talk about interest, there are a lot of feelings involved. Our interest may change over time as well. Further, our interest may be not relevant to the demand of the economy. Imagine, a person is very interested and reasonably good at singing but in his village people would not pay him a cent to sing. In order to make a living, wouldn't he get a day time job and treat singing as his leisure activity? A person who truly works would think about whether their skills and abilities meet the job requirement or the demand of the economy. In this argument, interest became a secondary issue. Very few people use their interest as work to make a living. However, many people tend to be too concerned about their interest and ignore what is the demand of the economy.

Recently Singapore government introduced SPUR (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) to encourage employers to send their workers for training during this downturn period. The good thing is that people get a chance to upgrade their skills and hopefully they come back equiped with better skills to improve their work productivity. The government has to address the two challenges to make SPUR successful and the money well spent. The first is make sure the workers sign up the right course and come back with targeted improvement. The second challenge is ensure the training provided is relevant to the future Singapore economy.