Friendship Bliss....

For the last 4 days, I have been so blessed in my life. Though I was on a break from work with my family, I am so blessed that even in this land called the Pearl of the Orient, I've managed to gain new "family" members. What an extended family indeed! I want to say that I could NEVER imagined that I would have such great extended friends/family in the lives of BA & Jessy, Esther , Alyna, Darrian & Derris . I am ever so thankful to my closest friends/family, Vive & Sathy for introducing them to my family. Gosh ! There are simply no words to describe what wonderful people they have been and how much they have blessed my life and my family members.
From the moment my family and I arrived at Vive & Sathy condo unit, we were whisked into the car and driven to a place to sample the frog & eels porridge. It was at this place that everyone had gathered there for a great time of food and fellowship. I was blessed by their openness and their northern hospitality. We had great laughs and what I didn't know was that there is more food in store for all of us. After the sweating and salivating [ the frog & eels cooked in "kungpao" style with lots of chillies!!! ], we proceeded towards Ananda Bhawan for teh tarik session. It was at this place that we had the long tosai and komtar teh tariks and drinks! Again, great laughs and good fellowship all around! Then it was off to bed with our bellies jutting out signalling the insufficient place to download more food! The following morning, it was off to a place for our bee hoon and fried fish pieces. The taste..... heavenly while the kopi-o.......kingsly,man! After bidding farewell to Jessy, Esther and Alyna, we went to Straits Baptist Book Store to browse on some items and books. Soon, Vive & Sathy were telling us about this place called Rainforest. Peculiar name but bread without preservatives are their specialities. Vive bought us some wholemeal raisin bread loaf while I chose the cinnamon rolls while the ladies courted the moist chocolate cake. Then it was off to Tabernacle of Praise (TOP) for Youth Meeting. It was inspiring to see so many youths attending the meeting and giving their fullest attention to the Word sharing. From here, it was off to Batu Maung for seafood dinner with our extended family. Food looks appetizing and surprisingly good. Then it's to Batu Ferringhi for our DVDs and souvenir hunting time before going back to Ananda Bhawan for a cuppa of tea and more fun and fellowship. As we turned in for the night, I was quite ashamed to say that I have not made a single payment for the food as they have been taken care of by Vive and our new friends. When I confronted Vive about this, he simply told me, " Do you think they would let you pay? This is their place, man! You pay-lar when they are in Melaka, ok?" Oh! How blessed I am for their generosity and their blessing! Never felt so blessed in my life. It overwhelmed me to feel that people actually do bless you because from where I came from it is always taking and more taking. Of course, thank God for the good friends in Melaka too, this generosity was not confined in Melaka and now in Penang too. So, it was really awkward and sometimes, I feel unpleasant when I received such fine blessings. Yes, I was uneasy but I know deep in my heart that God would bless these beautiful people for what they have done for me and my family. I really appreciate each and every bit of generosity & blessings they had showered us.

I then attended church service as usual and I soon met up with more friends. One couple whom I would like to mention is Kuna & Cheng. How we met through Vive is a long story but their invitation for dinner was truly a real blessing to Vive,Sathy, Soon Ling, Joa Wee and myself. We were treated with a buffet dinner at E & O Hotel - one of the poshest place to dine in Penang! I just couldn't believe it that I actually dined in E & O Hotel!~ Thank you, Kuna & Cheng for your hospitality. I'll always remember this as it was the first time I have eaten a grilled lobster together with a host of other good food stuff. The cheese cut was nice, oysters were superb while a host of other food were fantastic. Not forgetting, we had a blast of a time talking, sharing and having lots of laughter too. Oh! How blessed I am indeed to be able to speak to these two wonderful people! Truly truly a real blessing!
The following morning , we landed ourselves at Jaya restaurant for some Indian food! It was mighty nice and then it's off to Queensbay for some window shopping and reading. I practically stuck and snugged myself at Borders as I really enjoyed reading very much. Books!Books!Books! what a fanfare, man!

As for dinner that night, we met up at Teck Seng Restaurant for some pork [ yippeee. some staple food for me! ], fish and a whole load of niceties! Yummy, yummy, yummy! Food was fantastic! Later, we adjourned to Starbucks at some place called EPark to have some fun time of sharing and more laughter. As I sat down at the corner, I felt so blessed by these people. People who are simple in nature, no pretentious ways, trendy and tasteful while unabashed, friendly and chatterbox, indeed! These are good ingredients for great friendship.

Thank you so much, my friends for sharing your heart, your lives, your smiles and laughter including your loving & caring ways towards my family and I. I have been so blessed so much and there are simply no words except to continually thanked you people for taking the time and trouble to bless us so much. In the bleak and dark world we lived in today, I can safely say that what you people have done has been a great testimony for my life and my humble heart.

THANK YOU, DANKE SHOEN, MERCI BEAU COMP!

Always in my heart : Vive, Sathy, BA, Jessy, Alyna, Darrian & Derris. Not forgetting, Kuna & Cheng. One special group of people. Three cheers to PATI!