Summary of 2014

I'm really excited to do this entry because I would be able to look back how 2014 has been to me. I'm gonna break it down into a few categories:-

Career
Most of you should know that I'm currently working in Democratic Republic of Congo as an accountant. Not a place for the faint hearted but by God's grace, He has sustained me throughout 2014.

I've learned many things from this job as I have a very good, helpful and knowledgeable COO.

I also learned how to apply Proverbs 15:1 ("A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger") at work as dealing with local Congolese and Indian expats can be a pain to the ass sometimes.

Family/Friends/Vacation
It's a little hard to separate these 3 together unless I'm backpacking which is something I really wanna do. Hopefully in 2016 as planned.

Democratic Republic of Congo - not a vacation of course. A country I'm working in.

Adelaide - was there for Sam's wedding and it was my first time being a best man. Thank you for the opportunity.

One of my greatest achievement in life is bringing my parents to Australia. It's a place where my mum talks when it comes to a choosing a country for a vacation.

Sydney - was there for Nic's wedding. Another beautiful wedding.

Bangkok - flight delayed for a day, so I managed to walk around for a day.

Johannesburg - had more than 14 hours in the airport, so I decided to get out and walk around. It was cold!

Perhentian Island - I just love beaches and crystal clear water!

Mount Kinabalu - this is something on my bucket list! Glad I did it with Jason.

Pulau Langkawi - was there for Reuben's bachelor party. One of the best planned party so far by Joshua. Keep it up!

Sports and health
I had the chance to run with an African. I was really inspired by the book 'Running with the Kenyan'.

I played football with the local Congolese here. But I only manage to touch the ball three times throughout the whole match. Bleh. Kena look down cause I'm Asian. Haha! Hello, I'm Asian David Beckham in high school ok.

I've been putting a lot of hour in my weight training. I think I've loaded at least 5kgs of muscle mass. Insanity cardio abs really helps define my abs but still a lot to work on. Have to consider a cleaner diet.

Others
Joining the Ultras
I think this is my first time watching a live football match. The memorable thing about this match is, it is the Suzuki cup finals between Malaysia and Thailand and we joined the ultras which was a crazy experience. The atmosphere in the stadium was ecstatic and full of energy.

Meteor Shower
It was my first time seeing meteor shower, the experience was priceless but I didn't get to share this moment with anyone special. The funny thing was, I received a flyer from a friend regarding this meteor showing sighting in USM. I only decide to go at 2am because I can't sleep but I'm glad I did it. In the span of one hour lying down in the middle of the field, I sighted 1 fire ball and 6 meteors. =)

Frequent Flyer
I've always wanted to be a pilot but I just don't have the grades to be one. But God has been pretty kind to me. For 2014 alone, I flew in 30 different flights. That's quite an insane figure for an accountant.

I also had the chance to fly in a private plane chartered by my company. I felt like a first officer.

City Hunter Treasure Hunt
It's a treasure hunt event organized by my church and I'm glad I joined it. I had a lot of fun partnering with Deriss and decoding those clues and questions. Winning this was a surprise! Wohoo...free starbucks!

Break the Code
First time playing this and I'm glad I did this with my close friends. Quite surprise that my brain comes in handy in times of need. Hehe!

Conclusion
2014 is one of the best and most challenging time in my life. It was great that I get to travel and share memorable moments with friends and family. Tough because I have to be away from them every 4 months. I wouldn't wanna be anyone else but me because 2014 has taught me to be wild at heart. The challenges I faced everyday has turn me into a better person, a more mature and patient guy who is ready to accept bigger and tougher challenges in 2015.

I really miss racing and competing in triathlons, marathons, floorball tournaments, etc. I hope to do more races when I'm back permanently in Penang and travel to more countries!

My Mental and Emotional Status

Surviving DRC for almost 1.5 years is really an achievement to be proud of. Every morning, during breakfast, Jamian and I will talked about how fucked up our sleep is. The annoying mosquitoes, the bed bugs and the power cuts in the middle of the night.

Jamian & I going through our morning routine

I'm really in a bad mood because I haven't been sleeping well for the past week. As I'm writing this, the sound of the generator is roaring loudly and the emission of carbon monoxide is filling up my room.

I'm tired mentally and emotionally, but last night I stumbled upon this Instagram user and I read her blog and watched her YouTube videos. Man, that changed how I totally feel. She even inspired me to write this post. She wrote, " A blog (is) to document my life, not for any other purposes. I want to remember how I felt and how I dealt with each situation that life throws at me." This is exactly how I feel. She added, "Plus I have really terrible memory, I've forgotten most of my past memories until I started reading back. I've definitely came through a long way till I became who I am now. ;)"

I skipped church today. Last Sunday, one of the church member passed me a letter requesting for some funds to upgrade the church music instruments. Sometimes I feel I'm being taken advantage of, I know I have this #faithhopelove project at the back of my head but I don't see much progress/upgrade of the church building after contributing $1,000 to the church building fund.

This is a very grey area and I'm in a dilemma right now. I rather use that money to upgrade the church benches and cement the brown dirt floor in church. Or to even go feed the poor. I really don't know that to do anymore. I'm stucked!

Letter to me

$1,750 worth of amps and speaker

I really hate my job, I hate being an unethical accountant. Period. It feels like a prison here, barb wires around your house with armed guards 24/7. Life is super routine here as we are not encourage to go anywhere except house and office. I'm very hungry now, it's 4.00pm and lunch is still not ready.

Front part of our house

Prison

Despite all the negativity and complains, I thank God for this once in a life time experience, for sustaining me, for giving me comfort and strength.

Happy Fly Day

 I was at Ipoh for another day trip, but this time it’s not about bike hunting. I bought this flying package from Groupon which includes on ground flight training and some air time in a single engine plane, Piper PA-28. There’s nothing much to plan in this trip except finding a friend or two who is willing to risk their lives sitting in my plane. Approached a few person but unfortunately they can’t make it due to commitment but one guy accepted my invitation and he is none other than Mr.Jason Chew. I don’t think he knows what he is getting himself.

So the night before Jason slept over at my place because I plan to leave Penang at 6am. My appointment is at 10am, so I was thinking reach there about  8am+++ have a nice breakfast and head straight to the airport. The plan went smoothly except the time and the breakfast. We left Penang at about almost 7am and we skipped breakfast because we got a little difficulty locating the airport due to the lousy GPS on our iPhones. 

Reason why we were late. This guy keep snoozing his phone. This pic has the evidence.

Slept all the way from Ipoh to Penang ><

The weather was not bright and sunny as I picture it in my head weeks and nights before the real day. I picture myself in aviator glasses, standing beside the plane with bright sun lights shining at me. The weather is always hot and humid but on the real day it was gloomy and cold. It was raining all the way from Penang to Ipoh, I was praying really hard that God would stop the rain and grant me a nice weather so I could enjoy this experience to the fullest and take nice photos of me and the planes. 

Rain rain rain

 We reached the Sultan Azlan Shah airport at about 9.30am, and there was no one in the airport. Even the air-con was still not on. Jason asked is this a ghost town. I checked the plasma TVs and the next flight would be at 11am SIN – IPH. I called Ms.Rajes, the lady who liaised with me from the booking till D-day. She met us 10minutes later, greeted us with a nice warm smile and handshake. We spoke briefly about our country and about ourselves. A van came right to the airport and picked us up to the designated location, which is probably 1km from the main terminal. Picked up our pilot/instructor and we were introduced to one another. He is an elderly man with vast experience about flying. Guess his age.

Captain Tony Thoo

The quiet Sultan Azlan Shah airport

Pick-up Van

Our access pass

Rain stopped!

73 years old with 50 years of flying experience. I told him to call me Wan, he replied you can call me two. I was like huh? Is his trying to be funny or what. He showed me his name tag, it was written Tony Thoo. WAH!!! I was like how rare is this to meet someone with a ‘Thoo’ surname. Had a great laugh over this matter. Anyways, to get through that security check point, we have to register ourselves and wear our badge. After some paper work, we were granted access and were brought to a hangar owned by Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA). I got down and the first thing I did was, took out my iPhone and started taking pictures of the planes. I can’t help it but I got really excited. Not many of them, but enough to make my heart jump with joy.

Company signboard just outside the hangar

Twin engine plane

More planes

Another twin engine plane owned by a Hongkie

 

The plane we flew in

Plane that matches Jason's shirt

 Another man appeared at the hangar, his name is Chief Dorai, he has really thick moustache. He shared a little bit about what he does and the course that are being offered. We then walked to their cabin where I was given a briefing. A nice cozy office with vintage photos hanged on most parts of the walls. There was a plane toy hanging above that cabin roof. Moses, 22 a undergrad piloting student gave me an basic introduction on the checklist, dos and don’ts before flying.

Future pilot Moses

The checlist which I don't really understand

Moses checking the fuel reading

Showing us the reading of the fuel which is sufficient for us to fly

  I asked a lot of questions and they gave me a lot of information but I can’t remember most of them since I don’t speak aviation language. The jargons are just too much for my accounting mind to absorb. All I remembered was all about numbers, i.e we flew up to 3,000 feet at about 110knots, we landed at 70knots, we were up in the air for about 25minutes and I spent RM459 for this experience. Just numbers!

Captain Tony Thoo briefing on the runway track

After going through our checklist, the moment that I’ve been waiting for has arrived. I helped the other engineers pushed the plane out of the hangar. Surprisingly, it's quite light and easy to push. Easier than pushing a car out. The pilot hops into the cockpit, Jason up to the passenger seat and finally me, beside the pilot. I was really excited and a bit nervous. I’ve never been so close to the front before. Mr.Tony Thoo started the engine, the propellers started to turn, few seconds later, it stopped. I was starting to have second thoughts about doing this. He turns off and on some switches and tried starting the engine again. This time, it was a success but I was getting all nervous inside. I was on radio communication with him and he started communicating with the people in the flight control tower. I can’t understand 90% of what they are speaking about, it’s all delta Charlie delta Charlie@#)$(U#@)$(*#@_$)(#@+_(@!+#!@+3 ipoh _#$*_#@($*@_#$*_@# delta charlie $#)@($*@#_($*_#($#@_(  ready _$(#*_@#*$_#@ permission )(#$*)#@($*_@#$*_)@(#_@( 04 #)($*@#)($*#)@($*_#@$(_ 22 #)($*#@)($*#@)($*)#@(*$#)@(*$#@)(*$_#@*. We then took off. 

Pushing the plane out with the crew

Captain Tony doing the checklist

Jason getting nervous. LOL

They have two sets of control. And my hands are on the 'controllers' all the time to feel the movement. 

 Up in the sky, he said when he flies, he feel s like he is half fairy and half human. Hahaha. Kinda funny when you try picturing him as a fairy. He then let me take control… that was MAGIC. That was the best experienced I’ve ever had. I did some mini dives and it really felt like a roller coaster. The scenery was beautiful the weather was perfect. The rain did stop just as we reached the hangar. My little prayer was answered, my dreamed was achieved and I just enjoy the experience as much as I could. It felt like driving a car without the traffic jam and worry of knocking into someone because you are up in the sky alone. It was like a big playground for me. Turn left right up down etc. It was time to get down on earth, he communicated to the control tower people and all I hear was )$(*@#)($*@)#($*)@#($*#@)(*  delta Charlie delta Charlie $*)(@#*$_(#@*$_#@($_#@($ permission )#($*#@)($*#_@$*#_@$*#@_ landing $)(#@*$)(*#@$)(*#@$)(*#@)($*#@_(*$_(@#*$_@(U$ left wing landing #)($)#@$*)#@(*$)#(@*$_#*$(U@!_#(*!@_#( Mr.Tony lowered the speed to 70knots and maneuver the plane towards the airport. His landing was perfect, we didn’t feel a single bump at all.

Giving a thumbs up for Captain Tony's landing

Wan & Thoo

Me & Jason

Trying to be funny

Friendly Ms.Rajes & I

Me & Moses

There was a man with those banner thing that directs him to the hangar. I asked about his responsibilities and all, Tony the pilot replied, “You cannot follow him blindly. You are the captain of the plane and you are responsible for anything that happens. If you see something suspicious, free feel to stop and check before going back into the hangar.” That lesson reminded me on the first LOV. Leadership is responsible. Lazy to elaborate on it further.

Got off the plane and started taking more photos. Jason and I exchange our experience excitedly with one another and I’m glad he was there with me. It was a great moment I shared with a good friend so it made this experience even sweeter. Went back to the cabin for a little debrief and presentation of souvenirs and certificate to ME! yahoo!!!!!

Receiving my certificate from the man himself. proud moments. kakaka

A personalized post card given to them by one of their friends. I asked them signed their names on it as a souvenir

Co-pilot Deswyn =)

 Now I can proudly say, I’ve pilot and fly a plane before! “WINGS!”