Our Japan Trip..

We had a great time in Japan, started off with staying a night at Narita, which was where the airport was and just getting adjusted to the whole Japanese experience.
It was a good rest before we headed off on a airport limousine to the Haneda airport where we took a domestic flight to Sapporo in Hokkaido.

thank God that Elijah was still drinking his milk, and was relatively manageable. We arrived in Sapporo and had a great time at a wonderful hotel in Otaru Chikko which was abt a 30 min train ride from Sapporo. It was a hotel in a outlet mall, (which wasn't v. much of a outlet mall but still a great place for us as a family, as the rooms in the hotel were very nice, huge and comfy and more importantly affordable by Japan standards, only ard SGD130)



And check out the room views... =)



Thank God for the wonderful rooms cos it would be a lot better for Elijah to run around in .. and heard so many horror stories of hotels being horrendously small and expensive in Japan.

But all was well, Japan was indeed a very well-oiled country, everything moving at super speed and efficiency, every check in and check out was without incident and took place within minutes, literally. The service standards were superb as well, with everyone being very happy (seemingly) at what they were doing. It was interesting for us to experience that.

We are Back!!

We are back and alive and healthy from Japan! thank God. The flu was again chasing just behind us in Osaka and Tokyo! Will update with pictures and all later..

God's (un)Will(ingness)

Well, what do you know... the excitment was mounting for us to go to the states.. In fact our flight would have been flying off on the 4th May in 3 days.. but well, the whole swine flu saga was becoming all too 'in our face' to ignore. There are people with different view points, that the situation is still under control, that the outbreak at this point is mild, and the fatality rate does not even match up to a fraction of the typical influenza cycle each year. Some think its all hype and too much media exposure, however, we are travelling with Elijah, and being at the stage of development he is, where he is starting to grab at things and put things in his mouth, we decided just yesterday, 29th April, that it would be sensible and responsible for us as parents to cancel the trip. At the same time, Cathay Pacific decided to allow us to re-route our flights with no case for any refund at all (because we had discounted tickets) , although I learnt later that SIA allowed passengers going to the US to cancel their flights with full refund, even on discounted tickets. Well, we know which carrier to take if we ever go to US again.

But yes, we had much to thank God for, for example, for the fact that we hadn't booked any legs of our flights and hotels in New York and Montreal (some may call it tardiness, or procastination - but in this case it turned out to be a blessing) so we had much less to cancel. Also, thank God for our friends in Pittsburgh, the Kohs, who were all ready to receive, with Charis even preparing a very nice welcome card for Elijah. Tat Koon helped with our hotel bookings for our road trip and thus helped us to cancel it as well. So what has happened is that we have re-routed our flight to Japan, and are now heading to Japan on the 7th May and will only be back on the 21st.

I guess we are still reeling over the shock of the aftermath of the travel changes. And are wondering why not? Why didn't God allow it, we were so close and yet so far now! But anyhow, we trust that God has our best interests at heart, and hopefully what we are doing is in His will. But at the bigger picture perspective, I guess, i learnt that I have to let go of my stresses and worry of our little inconvenience and change in plans, and reflect and pray perhaps for some of the victims of the swine flu, who fell undefended in Mexico!

Again, let's pray that God will speak through this pandemic, and remind us among other things, that there is a God above our medical and scientific advances.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!