The Beauty of New Zealand

Memories of New Zealand #7: Food for the Soul

New Zealand Food

Memories of New Zealand #6: Food for the Body

The Long on North Island

Memories of New Zealand #5: New Friend, New Country


One of the highlight of my New Zealand trip is to meet my blogger and spiritual friend, Pastor Paul Long of Kelston Community Church in Auckland. Paul blogs at Paul Long's Rambling. It is a wonder of the Internet that though we have been friends for many years( even before he left Malaysia), we have never met in person before! So I have really been looking forward to meet my digital friend in the flesh.

I really appreciate Paul taking a drive from the east side of Auckland to where I was staying on the North Shore on an early Saturday morning. It was a great time of fellowship and we hit it off at once. No sense of awkwardness. It is wonderful to be in the company of a kindred spirit. He is very enthusiastic about his calling as a pastor to this church. He shared his hopes and aspirations for this community of faith that he is shepherding. I came away from that short time of fellowship with the impression that if I want anyone to be my pastor, Paul Long will be the one. The Kelston Community Church is blessed to have him as their pastor.

Here's what he writes about me:

...I had a nice though short visit with Dr. Alex last week (he was in Auckland for a couple of days on the way to Ozland). Now I know another reason why he is into spiritual formation ... he can really draw all kinds of stuff out of me! (like a therapist) LOL!! Positive stuff lah ... no laments! And he gave me a stack of "Spiritual Formation the Run". Will enjoy giving them away soon!!

Thanks, Paul for being my spiritual friend and my online community of faith. Good to meet you.

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My Farthest Pastoral Visit

Memories of New Zealand #4: Old Friends, New Country

Late last month, I made my farthest pastoral visit- 8,371 km (5,202 miles)! That is the distance between Singapore and Auckland, New Zealand. That did not include the distance I have to travel from Johor Bahru, Malaysia to get to Changi Airport in Singapore.

Meeting my old church-mate and his family is worth all the traveling. It is great to meet up with this wonderful family who has migrated exactly one year ago. Back in Malaysia, the husband and I served in the same church together in leadership roles. We were also in the same accountability group. During our stay, we are introduced to two other members from our home church who have migrated seven and twelve years ago respectively. All are hungry for news from the home church.

Whatever their reasons for migrating (and they are all valid reasons), it has not been an easy transition. It means leaving family, friends and jobs behind. It also means times of uncertainty and insecurity. In mid-life, they have to be retrained for new careers. I am happy that they are able to overcome all obstacles, and to observe that their family unit is now much stronger.



Makan is still an enjoyable activity and the table fellowship great. I am glad that they are settling down well and have found a wonderful church to worship with. It was good to renew old friendship and to catch up with each others' lives. Much have changed but much remains unchanged. They may be Kiwi now but they are still Malaysian inside out, and offers great Malaysian hospitality.

May the Lord continue to bless them.
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Inhabitants of New Zealand

Memories of New Zealand #3: Baa Baa







I wonder what Jesus has in mind when he refers to us as sheep?

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Boiling Mud, Hot Rocks and Geysers

Memories from New Zealand #2: Rotorua, North Island

New Zealand lies within the Pacific ring of fire and is in an active volcanic area.

boiling mud and hot pools

hot springs within a wonderful green belt

hot rocks with sulphur crystals

cool stream at the side of hot rocks

very hot rocks

hot geyser



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Visiting Hobbiton in New Zealand

Memories of New Zealand #1: The Shire

I am a vivid Lord of the Rings fan long before it was made into a movie. I love Tolkien's writings, his poems and new languages, his detailed design of the Middle Earth with it own history and mythology. The Lord of the Ring is a three book trilogy written by T.R.R.Tolkien which consists of

The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien's own cover designs for the three volumes of the first edition
Volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King

The major part of the movie trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, a beautiful country.



The Waikato region of the North is one of the finest farming region in New Zealand. A unique site in this beautiful farming country near Matamata in North Island was chosen to be the Green Hill Country of the Shire, Hobbition, Middle-Earth.

Here are some of the props that was used in the first fifteen minutes of the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring and the last few seconds in the last movie, The Return of the King. The Hobbit hole shown above is where Frodo and Bilbo lives.

An quiet pond on the farm was converted into a Hobbit village, complete with bridge and village square. The photos below shows the completed set on the same pond above.



Another view of Frodo's and Bilbo's house. The hobbit hole on the right is the woodcutter's hut where the night-riders came looking for the hobbits.

This is the Birthday Tree around which were celebrated Frodo's birthday.

I have had a wonderful time at Hobbiton. The guide was very helpful and knowledgeable. He showed us the exact location where each of the shots of the movie about the Shire were taken.

We are very gladful to our New Zealand hosts who drove us to this way out place.

Man, I am going to watch the movies again.

Interested? Contact www.hobbitontours.com

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Zhan Zhuang Water Village

Memories of Shanghai #5 - Zhen Zhuang Water Village






Apparently the last few scenes of the movie Mission Impossible 3, after the scenes in Shanghai, were shot here. This information is from the tour guide but I was not able to verify this.

Imagine Tom Cruise running along the banks of Zhan Zhuang Village. Cool.

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Shanghai Bund at Night

Memories of Shanghai 2009 #4: River Cruise

The Bund (simplified Chinese: 外滩; traditional Chinese: 外灘; pinyin: Wàitān) is an area of Huangpu District in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1 Zhongshan Road) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai.

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Walking the Yu Garden in Shanghai

Memories of Shanghai 2009 #3: The Yuyuan Garden- The Garden of Peace and Comfort

Yuyuan Garden (Simplified Chinese: 豫园; Traditional Chinese: 豫園; Pinyin: Yùyuán), located in the center of the Old City next to the Chenghuangmiao in Shanghai, China, is considered one of the most lavish and finest Chinese gardens in the region.

The garden was first established in 1559 as a private garden created by Pan Yunduan, who spent almost 20 years building a garden to please his father Pan En, a high-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty, during his father's old age. Over the years, the gardens fell into disrepair until about 1760 when bought by merchants, then suffered extensive damage in the 19th century. In 1842, during the Opium Wars, the British army occupied the Town God Temple for five days. During the Taiping Rebellion the gardens were occupied by imperial troops, and damaged again by the Japanese in 1942. They were repaired by the Shanghai government from 1956-1961, opened to the public in 1961, and declared a national monument in 1982.

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Food, Glorious Chinese Food

Memories of Shanghai 2009 #2 : Food, Glorious Chinese Food!

steamed pork with fermented bean curd- Suzhou style

look at the fat! positively sinful

Shanghainese Hairy Crabs

and Canadian lobsters too!

Shanghai at My Feet

Memories of Shanghai 2009 #1: Shanghai at my feet

standing at 1,500 feet

The Oriental Pearl Tower (Chinese: 东方明珠塔; pinyin: Dōngfāng Míngzhūtǎ, Official Name: 东方明珠电视塔) is a TV tower in Shanghai, China. The Oriental Pearl Tower is located at the tip of Lujiazui in the Pudong district, by the side of Huangpu River, opposite The Bund of Shanghai.

It was designed by Jiang Huan Cheng of the Shanghai Modern Architectural Design Co. Ltd. Construction began in 1991 and the tower was completed in 1995. At 468 m (1,535 feet) high, it is the tallest completed tower in Asia, and the fourth tallest tower in the world after the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, the Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Russia and the Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower . It was also the tallest structure in China from 1994-2007, when it was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center. The Oriental Pearl Tower belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers. (Wiki)

fooling around at the top of Shanghai- Malaysian tourist!

Shanghai skyline from the sky

reason why I was there

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