Stories of ACE

Spoken word poetry

2012-02-08T12:24:00.000+08:00

Once in a while, I visit TED.com and watch the inspiring talks. Today, I saw this one by Sarah Kay, a spoken word poet. Before this, it never crossed my mind that poetry could be in the 'spoken word'. As she said in the video, poetry 'remain' on paper. And I definitely found out that it does not have to be written in the 'typical' style we all know of poems, like the ones of William Wordsworth or Robert Frost. Watch and you'll know what I mean.

And here's one by Wordsworth:

Perfect Woman

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleam'd upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful dawn;
A dancing shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

I saw her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
A creature not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food;
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect Woman, nobly plann'd,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.

Slowly getting into the grind

2012-02-02T11:16:00.000+08:00

Phew, finally....the school holiday-Christmas-New Year-Chinese New Year back-to-back madness has come to an end. Yesterday was another public holiday, Federal Territory Day, and there'll be another two public holidays next Monday and Tuesday! So many holidays....After next week, there'll be five full and proper weeks of school before the first term one-week break in mid-March. It's hard to get into the full swing of things when there are so many holidays, so much food to eat, so many gatherings, short travels...and now I'm recovering from the consequences of all these -- sore throat, cold and cough. And we've moved into February already!

Here's a summary of what we did between the last blog post and this:

CNY reunion dinner with E's family - lots of food prepared by my MIL, one of E's cousins and his family visiting from Melbourne joined us at the sumptuos dinner. We spent the night at my in-law's home to herald the new lunar year of the Dragon. The neighbours let off loads of firecrackers but C slept through it all. I hardly slept a wink that night as I'm a light sleeper and do not take to strange beds.

The next morning, we went to a special CNY mass at church and received blessings in the form of mandarin oranges and angpows from the church. Then, we went home to have brunch, another round of the same dishes we had the night before. We then left for home in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the first day by ourselves at home, packing our stuff to visit my parents at their home the next day.

Upon arrival at my parents on the second day of CNY, we went out for lunch. Luckily, my favourite beef noodle shop was open so we had the town's specialty. Unfortunately, that day's serving didn't taste as nice as it usually does. Maybe their regular cook was off celebrating CNY and the stand-in wasn't as skilful in preparing the dish....

Beef noodles at Yee Kee, Seremban

The next day, we made a day trip to Melaka to visit a few of my aunts and uncles. C even belted out a few Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber songs with my aunt's karaoke set! We got home to my parents' house in the evening and proceeded to have dinner at a restaurant. We were lucky that this restaurant could take our reservation. The night before, we checked out three restaurants and they were fully booked, and we had to go to a nearby mall for dinner at Secret Recipe, a local cake-cum-cafe chain.

Here's some of the yummy stuff we ate for dinner at Silver Dragon Restaurant.

Stir fried mixed vegetables

Fried rice

Pork trotters in red wine sauce

Steamed cod

Tofu with minced meat

We returned to KL on Thursday, rested a bit and attended a few more gatherings with family and friends over the weekend. Needless to say, we ate a lot at every gathering!

Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon!

2012-01-20T22:27:00.000+08:00

Come Monday, we will celebrate the new lunar year of the dragon. School will be closed for the entire week and E has also taken extra days off work to be free for the week. This year, like in past years, we are celebrating Chinese New Year modestly. We exchange food hampers with immediate family, get together for the reunion dinner, give the kids angpows, visit my parents on the second day and meet up with a small group of friends where possible.

I didn't do any special spring cleaning of the house. Neither have we put up any decorations so far! We're even slower in getting into the CNY spirit this year compared to last year. At least last year, we took out whatever little decor items we had in storage and hung them around the house. This year, we didn't buy any and have been too lazy to dig the old ones out of storage. Today, my mum gave me two cardboard cutout dragon motif decor pieces so I shall put them up tomorrow morning. Otherwise, it will be obsolete next year. Two days ago, I went on an express shopping trip to get some new clothes for ACE as a symbolic act of having something new.

It is customary to have as much as possible things that are new in the house and on ourselves -- out with the old, in with the new for a good, fresh start to the new year. Back in the day, the entire house will be washed inside and outside, repainted, old cushion covers, curtains, sheets replaced with new ones, and several sets of new clothes including pyjamas, undergarments, shoes, accessories will be bought or tailored. The kitchen will be bustling and emanating with various aromatic odours of festive dishes and other goodies like cookies, cakes and 'nian gao'. And it is common understanding that all homes are open to visitors so we can just go to our family's and friends' houses anytime we wish.

These days, everything is commercialised from spring cleaning (hired cleaners from cleaning agencies), to new clothes (so many choices from boutiques and departmental stores), to cookies and nian gao (no need to make your own, you can buy them from just about anyone/anywhere). And open houses are 'organised' with invitations for guests to come on a certain day at specified times.

Aah, I could go on and on comparing the CNY I experienced as a child compared to the one C has been experiencing but I guess we've only got ourselves to blame for not carrying on the same practices. It's also partly due to the fact that times have changed.

Whatever it is, we just need to remember that it's not so much the activities of the festival but the spirit of it and more importantly that it's spent with family and friends. And C is definitely getting into the spirit so to speak, as portrayed in this dialogue I had with her a few moments ago:

Me to C who had been watching TV all evening: It looks like you're not going to get any homework done today!
C: Come on, I gotta celebrate....
Me, puzzled: Celebrate what??
C: Chinese New Year!!

So here's wishing one and all a new year of good health, wealth and prosperity, as how it's typically worded for this festive occasion.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Wan Shi Ru Yi!

I bought a ukelele

2012-01-14T14:05:00.001+08:00

In the past year, C had been asking for guitar and vocal lessons. We, however, have not granted this request as we felt that she will be biting off more than she can chew. As it is, with long school hours, homework, piano and drum lessons, and Bahasa Malaysia tuition (I've yet to find a new teacher as the previous teacher was no longer suitable), there's hardly time left to play, exercise or do anything else. So any other type of lessons that involve attending formal classes, and the additional costs of fees and driving to and fro for it is out of the question.

I had thought that a compromise would be to get a cheap guitar or ukelele (it's more suitable in size and easier to learn) and let her learn it on her own. The thought had been left idling in the back of my mind until recently when I chanced upon a Groupon offer for a cheap made-in-China ukelele (yeah, we always associate 'cheap' with China right? haha). So we made a spontaneous decision to buy it.

One of C's favourite colours is pink, so we chose a pink one.

Although I subscribe to Groupon and it's email alerts of its offers, I'm usually very disciplined in not buying anything and everything just because it's cheap, although they could be things that I need (like a nice holiday and spa visit) or things that are nice to have (like jewelry, handbags, meals at restaurants, manicures). Lack of spare cash is the main deterrent besides having to travel some distance at times to the outlets to collect the things. Luckily, the ukelele was sold by this music studio that's close by my house and for RM69, it is an item that is educational and lasting, unlike a one-time manicure or meal.

So we now have a ukelele in addition to a few other musical instruments at home. We can learn how to play it through websites and by watching YouTube videos. And when I find a book like 'Ukelele for Dummies', we could learn from there too. YouTube is a convenient place to learn how to do many things, from riding a bike, fixing a leaky tap, cooking a dish, to playing music. One must, however, be smart to know when it is alright to learn through videos and when it is better to learn hands-on through proper teachers.

There are many ukelele artists and bands but they are probably known only to those who are uniquely interested in it. They are not as popular compared to the mainstream popular singers and bands that top the charts. One of them was Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, a Hawaiian ukelele singer, and in more recent times, our Malaysian songbird Zee Avi, who has broken through the international scene, has given the instrument a bit more exposure to Malaysians.

Ipoh - An Adventure of Sorts

2012-01-11T11:34:00.005+08:00

After a gastronomic thrill on the northern island dubbed as the Pearl of the Orient, we headed back south to a town in a neighbouring state known for its tin mining in the past, limestone hills and caves, 'white' coffee and pretty lasses (they say it's because of the fresh spring waters there!?). Ipoh has always been a town we bypassed on the way to Penang. Come to think of it, if not for E having relatives there, I'd probably not have visited it at all. This year, ACE made a record number of three visits to Ipoh - once in August for his cousin's wedding, once in early December for his uncle's 80th birthday, and recently, this food and cave-visiting trip with my parents and younger brother's family that I'm writing about here.

While there are places to see in Ipoh, although not as many compared to Penang, our main intention of visiting this town was to taste the good Chinese food it's well known for. Ipoh is a smaller town compared to Penang and you need not drive too far to get to any good eating spot. We spent two nights in Ipoh going to a few good Chinese restaurants, coffee shops and Ipoh's dim sum 'landmark', a place named Foh San, which is perpetually crowded on weekdays and weekends. We also did not leave out Ipoh's famous chicken dishes - the beansprout chicken noodles and salt-baked chicken. We also bought some Tambun pomelos and 'heong peng'.

Other than our foodie and cave adventures, we took an unexpected drive to Menglembu, about half hour's drive from Ipoh town. What happened was that our car got hit from the back as we were waiting to exit a junction and after a short discussion with the 'lady in the blue car', we tailed her to her home in the 'groundnut territory' (Menglembu is famous for its groundnuts) to collect compensation for the damage she inadvertently caused as she didn't have enough cash on her when it happened. It's a good thing that no one was hurt and other than exterior damage, our car could still take us around for another day and home safely.

Roast pork knuckle - note the size of the bone!

Steamed cod

Pan fried freshwater prawns

Some of the dim sum we had at Foh San

'Chee cheong fun' and fried radish cake

Self service at Foh San, too many, too greedy...

Popiah

A long row of shops selling pomelos

Groundnut sculpture at roundabout in Menglembu!

Ipoh is located in the part of Peninsular Malaysia that is saturated with limestone hills and a number of the caves in those hills have become Chinese (Taoist/Buddhist) temples. They are also tourist and outdoor adventure seekers' attractions. We first visited Sam Poh Tong and the one next to it (Ling Sen Tong). These two temples are very well decorated with colourful temple adornments, statues and figurines of religious deities, plus a reasonably nice landscaped garden. Then on our way out of Ipoh to KL, we dropped by the Kek Look Tong cave temple which had a much nicer natural cave formation. These visits were C's first ever experience of caves, where she got to see real stalagmites and stalactites. We could have taken her to see Batu Caves, the other famous Hindu cave temple which is closer to home but we've not gotten around to that (the 272 steps to climb is somewhat a deterrent!).

Front view and entrance to Ling Seng Tong

Coils of incense

Inside Kek Look Tong

Altars inside Kek Look Tong

Cave opening to 'backyard' garden

The 'backyard' garden

After Kek Look Tong, we headed back into town as it was lunchtime. We savoured some coffee shop fare and finally with a full stomach, we headed for home. Halfway into our journey, we stopped at the Bukit Gantang rest stop which has many shops selling local fruits like guavas, sweet corn, mangosteens, and our favourite, the King of Fruits! We ate some of course!

Back home in KL, we went to pick up Rusty who had been in boarding for a whole week. The poor 'boy' displayed mixed feelings upon seeing me -- excited to see a familiar face yet moody because we left him out of our holiday. All the way home in the car, he was just lying down sulking....

Places we ate and bought food at in Ipoh:

Soon Fatt Restaurant

Mun Choong Restaurant

Kong Heng coffeeshop

Skyway Cafe hawker centre

Coffeeshop opposite Lou Wong chicken beansprout noodle

Cowan Street Chicken Beansprout Noodle

Row of shoplots selling Tambun pomelo and heong peng

Aun Kheng Lim salt baked chicken

Rusty, on a 'happier' day after a trip to the groomers

(A big 'thank you' to my dear and loving parents for sponsoring this Penang/Ipoh family holiday. We rarely get to holiday together given how our lifestyles are in this day and age!)

Penang - a 'new' revisit

2012-01-09T10:26:00.003+08:00

In the late 80s and early 90s, I lived in Penang for four years. Those were GREAT years despite having to share a room with five other girls in the first year, one in the second, and another two in the third and fourth years. I walked miles uphill and downhill at times unless I managed to get a ride as pillion on a friend's motorbike. Life was relatively simple and restricted to limited number of clothes (mostly t-shirts and jeans) which I had to handwash myself, three simple meals a day plus tea/supper at times when I had the time and company, lectures, projects, tutorials, extra-curricular activities, trips to the library to study and 'lepak', and visiting the lab at strange hours like 3am and 6am to tend to the bacterial colonies I was cultivating....ooh, I could go on and on about those glorious days. I'd give this present life to re-live those four years!

Penang was haphazard and dirty then, as it had been for many, many years. I had re-visited Penang as a visitor numerous times since I left in 1992 and recently on 26 December 2011, I went there again. We spent three nights at a newly-opened budget inn on Macalister Road. The streets of Penang are much nicer to walk on now with less rubbish strewn about or clogging up drains. The weather is still uniquely Penang, when it's hot in general elsewhere outside the island, it feels much hotter there. And there seems to be a more orderly feel. The Prangin Road bus terminal looks brighter without its walls coated with the black soot from bus/vehicle fumes and the air seems more breathable. However, I forgot to check if the Yellow Bus company is still operating there! I believe the opposition party has been making a difference ever since they took control of that state.

We made a spontaneous decision at Butterworth to take the ferry across. While the queue was long, we finally got our car onto the ferry and got out for some 'fresh' sea air and take in the view during the 20-minute ride. Unfortunately, the sea air was tainted with the ferry's diesel fumes, but C got to experience for the first time riding on a ferry with our car onboard (her first ferry ride was in August to Pangkor Island).

The ramp for cars to get onto the ferry

Oncoming ferry similar to the one we took, lower deck for vehicles, upper deck for passengers

On the island, we ate to our hearts content and devoured seafood, local hawker fare, Thai food, durians, restaurant and foodcourt fare. We also became tourists and visited the Tropical Spice Garden, Bukit Genting and the Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion (also known as the Blue Mansion).

The Spice Garden was an easy and good introduction to the many different species of tropical plants, some used as garnishes and spices in cooking.

Pandanus sp. by a pond

Bukit Genting is a novelty place for a hilltop view of the south-western coast of the island. The roads uphil and downhill are paved/tarred but rather uneven, narrow, and windy (especially downhill). On the way to Bukit Genting, we did a half round-island drive, stopping at Balik Pulau for some good durians.

The Blue Mansion tour was very interesting with the house guide giving a detailed story behind this mansion -- how this 17-year-old Hakka young man came from China and became a celebrated entrepreneur among the Dutch and British, the special feng shui features of his mansion and how the mansion was restored. The colourful story and exhibits were good enough that it managed to hold C's attention for a whole hour....haha....

This picture does not do justice to the actual grandeur of the mansion

From another angle, photography is not allowed inside

We also visited a mega aquarium store on Burma Road, CTY Aquarium, touted to be the largest live fish store in Southeast Asia...Besides, fish, they also have birds, cats, dogs, rodents, reptiles and pet supplies.

After checking out of the hotel on the last day, we stopped at the famous Ghee Hiang 'tau sar pneah' place and got some of their goodies before heading for Ipoh, this time via the Penang Bridge.

The places we ate at in Penang (not in chronological order):
Ocean Green seafood restaurant
New World Park foodcourt
First Avenue mall foodcourt
McDonald's (ugh...) at Prangin Mall
End of the World seafood restaurant
Sisters char kway teow and yam cake on Macalister Road
Durian Cap Kaki, Balik Pulau
Bukit Genting Thai food restaurant
Song River cafe kopitiam on Gurney Drive
Cendol stall on Penang Road

Other local fruits at Durian Cap Kaki

Thai-style stuffed crabs at Bukit Genting

Garlic steamed prawns at Ocean Green

Sisters char kway teow and yam cake

Lala (clams) in herbal soup at End of the World

Ice kacang at New World Park

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-08T15:33:00.009+08:00

This new year wish is slightly belated considering that we're into the eighth day of 2012! Nevertheless, it's better late than never I guess, just like it's better late than never to re-visit this blog that's been neglected for over two weeks.

I had been faithfully chronicling how we spent each week of the school holidays right up to Christmas, which was the penultimate week. On the final week, on Boxing Day, we took off for a six-day holiday up north, hitting Penang first for three nights, then Ipoh for another two. We had earlier planned to leave home as early as 6.30am to visit the Taiping Zoo enroute to Penang but the plan got ditched when C came down with a suspected ear infection on Christmas Eve.

She complained of earache and the slightest, lightest touch of her earlobe got her wincing in pain. The general practitioner could not see anything when he looked inside her ear canal and glibly said it could be an infection. I suggested he use his otoscope to take a look and he gave me a 'I-am-the-doctor-not-you' look, reluctantly used the instrument and proclaimed his earlier finding. He prescribed a five-day course of antibiotic, no eardrops or painkiller. Reluctantly but to be on the safe side, I heeded the doctor's advice and fed her the antibiotics.

When we arrived at Penang, we decided to see another GP there for a second opinion as there didn't seem to be any improvement after three days. This doctor used his otoscope immediately and said she had impacted earwax which was causing the pain and pressure she was feeling. Some earwax removal drops and two days later, she felt much better. So what's the conclusion here about doctors? Some are probably just too complacent and maybe arrogant that they forget to do their job properly. So C had to finish her unnecessary course of antibiotic just because the first doctor was 'blind' despite using the otoscope. How is it that one doctor could see impacted earwax and another said there's 'nothing'?

The rest of the last week of the holidays were filled with visiting places and eating to our hearts' content in Penang and Ipoh. More about that in another post next time.

This week, after the New Year holiday, school resumed on Wednesday. Caitlin is now in Year 4, with new teachers and two new subjects to learn. Compulsory co-curriculum activities are also included into their timetable starting this year but school hours remain the same, i.e. from 7.45am to 2.35pm.

Outside school, there are also changes to her extra activities i.e. piano, drum and BM tuition. These are the only additional classes she has and I think they're already taking up too much time, leaving her little time to play or excercise. We're trying out a new piano teacher for individual lessons in addition to the Yamaha group music course she's been taking for five years now.

We are considering stopping the Yamaha course when it ends in March if she finds the individual lesson more suitable. The current purpose of her learning the piano is to learn music and enjoy it. Taking exams and collecting certs (*see footnote below) is not the priority at the moment. The Yamaha course is a good one. Even the new individual lesson teacher acknowledges that. However, the syllabus is demanding and requires the student to focus in class and practise in order to keep up with the fast pace. The individual lesson teacher will be teaching her more theory and playing techniques while helping her to continue developing other areas such as hearing, accompanying, transposition etc.

As for drum lessons, we will need to find a new teacher. In the past two months, her current teacher had taken an unexpected break without giving any concrete reason other than not feeling well. Two days ago, lesson resumed but it didn't work out. The teacher ended the class after 15 minutes (the class is 30-minutes long) and my request for a reason was met with apology after apology and no answer to my request. Clearly, he didn't look well physically to me. He was not his usual self and certainly not in the right mental and emotional condition to teach. So unfortunately, I decided we couldn't be with him anymore after 4.5 years. Caitlin did like him as a teacher as he was fun and was the first real life drummer she got to know so to speak. I hope and pray he will get well from whatever sickness he is suffering from.

Here's a picture of one of my favourite fruits that we ate when we were in Penang:

The King of Fruits! Yummmmm....

* taking exams and collecting certs was what I did during my time, when the student and parents relied mainly on the teacher to decide the path of the student's music education, mainly because we didn't know better. It was the era where piano lessons were the rage; almost every household who could afford music lessons for their children would have a piano (never mind if it's a used one) and send the kids for lessons. If not piano, then it'd have been the violin or ballet.

(I'm writing this footnote in case some sensitive parents who read this may feel offended that I'm branding them as achievement-oriented-cert-chasing parents. Most times, I write my thoughts based on my own experience without any intention to imply or place judgment on others. After all, every child is unique).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-12-24T11:55:00.001+08:00

Christmas is coming

2011-12-19T12:31:00.002+08:00

We have survived four weeks of school holidays and there's two weeks left before we say goodbye to 2011 and hello to Year 4 for Caitlin.

The past week, which was the fourth week, saw me and C simply going through the daily routine rather lazily. E, on the other hand, was very busy at work, returning late because of work and because of the flashfloods which occured during rush hour traffic in the evenings.

We have yet to buy our Christmas presents. No need to panic (but I still wish we could have done it earlier). It will be done somehow. Based on experience, everyone who is supposed to get a gift will get one when the time comes. 'Last minute' is the norm every year when it comes to Christmas presents. I could have done it earlier if it were left to me but most times, E and I don't agree with the choice of gifts so I leave it to him in the end to do it. It does help when we exchange wishlists with others but there are pros and cons to that too in my opinion.

If only we can do away with presents for each other once awhile. Speaking for myself, after all, I do have what I need, and there's more to Christmas than presents, which I sometimes forget when I get caught up with the activities it involves i.e. shopping, eating, cooking, partying.

We've not put up any Christmas decor or the tree at all till now. Somehow this year, the Christmas mood is lacking, and we've been busy most weekends. And I don't see any point in hauling out the stuff from deep storage at this late juncture only for it to be put back again after two weeks.

So I'm expecting a quiet Christmas this year as with most years, nothing out of the ordinary other than the normal activities that we have every year i.e. go to church, and spend time with family.

I hope I don't sound like Scrooge. I'm being a bit more contemplative this time about the real meaning of Christmas - The Gift of all gifts, and what it means when we say it's better to give than to receive.

Weekend in Ipoh

2011-12-13T16:37:00.000+08:00

We are now into the fourth week of the school holidays. Last week was a rather mundane one where we stayed home most of the time, and C had to attend BM tuition three days consecutively. However, on Saturday morning, we drove to Klang to rendezvous with E's parents and had breakfast at their favourite bak kut teh shop in Teluk Pulai before heading off together to Ipoh. We were invited to E's uncle's 80th birthday dinner there.

As Sunday was a public holiday for the state of Selangor (making Monday a holiday too), we expected traffic to be slightly heavier with people taking the opportunity to travel over the long weekend. We got caught in a jam due to the exodus out of the city along the North Klang Valley Expressway from Klang heading to the toll exit. Thankfully, after the toll, the highway was clear and we arrived in Ipoh in good time.

We had lunch in a coffeeshop before heading to E's aunt's house where we were staying the night. Shortly upon arrival, E and I followed E's cousin and wife to another coffeeshop as they had yet to have lunch....(greedy us...)

As Ipoh is a food haven, we got to savour some new flavours as the local hawkers gave their own twist to some Malaysian culinary delights. The coffeeshop had stalls selling popiah, Ipoh's well-known bean sprout chicken noodle (nga choy kai see hor fun), pork satay, sotong kangkung (their gravy is different from the ones in KL), rojak (Ipoh version) and caramel custard. Too bad this time I didn't bring my camera to take pics of the food. I didn't even think of using my cameraphone as I was distracted by the hustle and bustle of the crowded place, our conversation and the food! The name of the coffeeshop is Kong Heng and based on the number of food blogs that have written about it (google 'Kong Heng Ipoh'), I guess it is indeed popular.

While we were enjoying our 'second' lunch, C enjoyed herself at home playing with her cousins (kids of E's cousins) and more so with games on the two iPads that were making their rounds among the five kids. As they were about to play soccer outside in the garden, it started raining. After 'lepaking' indoors, it was time to get ready to attend the dinner.

Dinner started rather late with the restaurant being rather inefficient in getting the first course out. The food was good and portions were large. A few dishes, especially those towards the tailend of the seven (or eight?) course dinner, had quite a lot leftover, and were 'tah pau-ed' (doggy-bagged), a typical Malaysian habit of not letting food go to waste. The restaurant's name is Kok Thai, located in Kinta City, near Jusco. (Another good restaurant we went to for a wedding dinner in August is Mun Choong in Jalan Pasir Putih - still can't forget its special tasty dish of stir fried freshwater prawns, sublime gravy!)

The next morning, E's uncle took us to a coffeshop famous for its pork noodles, and it served only that. It's called Kedai Kopi Kam Hor in Ipoh Garden. Breakfast conversation included Ipoh-KL comparisons. In Ipoh, you can still get good hawker food with relatively large serving at RM4.00 on the average. In KL, you get not-so-tasty food at a minimum of RM4.50 or RM5.00 or more, depending on what you order. In Ipoh, the food is cooked and served by the stall owner and their relatives or local workers. In KL, the food is cooked and served by a foreign worker like an Indonesian or Myanmarese who also runs the stall with the stall owner not present. The stall owner is probably at another coffeeshop manning his 'main branch' of his hawker stall 'chain', or maybe at home putting his feet up in front of the tv! So, imagine how 'tasty' the KL nga choy kai see hor fun is when it's prepared by an Indonesian 'cook'!

Before departing for KL, we introduced E's parents and C to our newfound Ipoh kopitiam, Kong Heng, to have lunch.

Nature trek at FRIM

2011-12-06T11:59:00.005+08:00

On Sunday, ACE and some friends went on a nature trek at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia in Kepong. After some basic research through their website and some info from a friend who had been there before, I called them and booked a guide earlier in the week.

Their guide service costs RM80 and they can take a maximum of 20 people. You can make payment and meet your guide at the one-stop info centre at building D6 after driving past the main entrance where you pay your entry fees. They recommend you start your nature walk at 9.00am.

Our guide, Encik Wahid, took our group of 10 on a walk through a nature trail and showed the kids interesting plants and animals. He described the names, features and uses of the plants. He told us of the different types of wood - strong (hard), medium and soft - that the trees provide, which could be used to make things from pencils, to furniture, bridges and railroad sleepers, for example, depending on the type of wood.

Did you know that we need two trees per person to have enough oxygen in the air (that's why we need to protect Mother Earth from over-development, logging and deforestation), and only about 25% of sunlight penetrates the forest?

Caitlin and friends on the trail

Along the trek, we saw unique plants, their flowers and fruit, a giant milipede, a centipede, a cicada (we heard them first before spotting one),and two forest crested lizards. We also saw scratchings on the ground at two separate areas made by wild boars in search of worms, according to the guide.

The fruit and flower of the sea poison tree (local name: putat)

The mud tunnel or mud tube created by the cicada nymphs as they emerge from underground where they've remained for 2-5 years (some species up to 17 years!)

The Crown Shyness Phenomenon - the leaves of the Dryabalanops aromatica (kapur/camphor) trees do not touch each other!

A giant millipede

After the one-hour trek, we proceeded on an uphill climb to get to the Canopy Walk. Although the distance was only 500m, it was a challenging climb through the forest, for us with 'old, creaky' bones and our city kids. But they took it all in stride despite complaining a little of tiredness, and getting impatient as it got steeper towards the top. Upon reaching the entrance hut of the canopy walkway, we sat for a short briefing by the people-in-charge -- no running, jumping, keep a distance of two planks (5m) between each person, no turning back, the maximum number of people allowed at each of the three viewing platforms, etc. The canopy walkway is about 30m above ground, or 300m above sea level.

Entrance hut of the canopy walkway

The 150-metre long suspension-bridge canopy walkway

After completing the 150m canopy walk, we then had to trek down another trail to get back to ground level and head back to our car. Along the trek downhill which was also quite steep and slippery at some parts, we came across a picnic area and a small waterfall.

The entire trek up and down plus walking on the canopy walkway took about two hours. By the time we got to our car, we were all soaked in perspiration, rather tired but happy we got to experience a jungle trek and walking among the treetops of a tropical forest. It was C's first such experience and she enjoyed and learned quite a lot.

If you wish to visit FRIM, check out their website for more info on the activities available. Besides nature trails and the canopy walkway, they have a picnic and camping site (C wants to go camping next!), a botanical garden, mountain biking trails, birdwatching and treasure hunt activities. You need to pay an entrance fee (RM5 per car with driver, RM1 per adult and free for kids below 12). The canopy walkway charges RM5 per adult and RM1 per child below 12. It is closed on Mondays and Fridays. Beginning, January 2012, FRIM will be increasing these fees. Non-Malaysians are charged a different (slightly higher) rate :(

Remember to bring insect repellant, drinking water, a camera if you wish to take photos, a small towel or wet wipes (to wipe off your perspiration!), and a change of clothes if you wish to feel more comfortable after the hike. It would be handy to have a small plastic bag too to collect whatever rubbish you have like used tissue paper/wet wipes, sweet/food wrappers so that you can discard them later properly in a dustbin, and not litter the jungle.

That's how ACE concluded the second week of school holidays. Another four weeks to go before we get back to routine and C goes to Year 4 in school.

There's still school books and Christmas presents to buy...

I (yes, me!) survived the first week of school holiday

2011-11-30T15:39:00.002+08:00

Last week, I survived the first week of C's school holiday pretty well. In between some piano practice and BM tuition, she watched TV, read, and made breakfast. I'm glad she enjoyed doing some stuff in the kitchen and I hope this will be the beginning of some independence in the near future where breakfast is concerned, especially on weekends when we are not rushing to get to school on time.

Before the school holiday, she had made a potato soup for dinner. Then she made pancakes (as mentioned in the preceding post), omelet(twice), and Milo. Over the weekend, she made a pineapple upside down cake (with my supervision) by following the recipe I provided.

I hope to continue to get her excited about cooking simple food in the next few weeks.

While E was travelling for work for four days last week, we were left with E's duty of what he terms as 'poop patrol' i.e. taking Rusty out for his night-time walks. While I walked him and used un-Earth-friendly plastic bags, C cycled.

We also went out for lunch twice in malls and did some window shopping (which I didn't enjoy because I kept hearing complaints of boredom if we were not looking at kids' stuff!).

Monday was a public holiday so E did not have to go to work. I had managed to get a good deal I found on Groupon, and we went to a new karaoke place at a new mall with a mum I know from school and her kid, C's friend. The kids enjoyed themselves singing their favourite songs, while we adults also chipped in with our oldies, sentimental hits, ballads and some contemporary ones. Of course, C had to sing songs by her favourite singers Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift besides this one that the two kids kept singing repeatedly.

Yesterday was spent at home. C read and played with her four-year-old cousin who visited in the morning.

Apart from going to the supermarket this morning for some grocery shopping, we've been at home today. C's busy filling in her journal, and 'writing' by pasting cut-out letters from old magazines ala scrapbooking.

The weather is gloomy and I feel sleepy......

Smile and/or shudder - school holiday starts today!

2011-11-19T13:16:00.001+08:00

The six-week year-end school holiday officially starts TODAY! C woke up and it was obvious that she was happy as she was drawing pictures in a notebook (yet another new one...aargh!). She announced happily that today is the first day of the school holidays, and said she'd like pancakes for breakfast when I asked. I told her she should make it herself because I was feeling lazy. In the end, she sort of did with some help from me. She measured out the flour, baking powder, got the eggs, read and followed the recipe, mixed the batter, set the table and even washed the utensils used in the preparation. I was surprised she did all that without me asking! Must be the holiday 'angin' ('crazy' wind). She found the teddy bear-shaped mould and said we could make the pancakes in that shape, so we did.

After breakfast, she went back to her drawing and reading while I put out the laundry and did some gardening. So far today, because we're all busy, we've not got into each other's hair but I shudder on the thought that we've another six weeks to go! I've a few activities planned for her with a few classmates and their moms but they're just a few....I guess I'll have to have a few more up my sleeve. Together with practising her musical instruments and going for music lessons plus attending BM tuition and hopefully doing some homework, I'm hopeful that the six weeks will zip by very quickly. And there's also having to go to school to pay next year's fees, buying school books and uniforms, shopping for Christmas presents for family.

My parents have plans to go on an overseas holiday starting Dec 23 and my dad has offered to sponsor us to go along. Dec 23 is the only time they are free as my brother and sis-in-law have taken leave from work to look after their son, whom my parents help care for on weekdays when they are at work. As much as I'd like to take up my dad on his offer, it's not so feasible as that would mean being away at Christmas, i.e. not spending Christmas with E's family who celebrates it in a routinely traditional way every year....

It's a dilemma. I want (or rather need!) to go on holiday and spend time with my side of the family because we hardly do so, yet there's the other family I'm married to to consider....E's family spends way more time together compared to mine. They find reason to get together and celebrate every occasion - birthdays, anniversaries, festivals/religious events, Mother's/Father's Day, and there's 15 family members altogether so you can imagine how many get-togethers there are (and how much time and money is spent on food and presents...)

As I was in the garden this morning, I came across two small butterflies mating so I told C she should come and take a look. It was a 'National Geographic' moment as we observed the butterflies moving about together on a leaf as if they were doing a waltz :)

A fun day, especially for C

2011-11-17T07:56:00.000+08:00

Again, WOW! Another week has passed me by so quickly! The activities at school are finally coming to an end with this week being the last week of school before we break for six weeks. Today, C is off on her field trip to a chocolate factory and ceramic art place.

Yesterday, E and I attended C's school annual Speech Day & Concert. We didn't stay right up to the end as towards the finale, they were giving out prizes to the older kids. As it was almost time for lunch, we decided to head to Mid Valley Megamall which was about 10 minutes' drive from the concert venue. We hoped to get tickets to our much-awaited Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn as we didn't manage to make any online bookings.

After parking our car, we headed straight for the cinema and luckily, there was hardly any queue as the peak lunch hour crowd had yet to appear. We got tickets for the 3D version for the 2.10pm show. We then headed to lunch and dropped by MPH bookstore as we had some extra time before the movie.

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a movie adaptation of the popular comic series by Georges Prosper Remi, better known by the pen name Hergé,a Belgian comics writer and artist.

Tintin comics have been one of my favourites during my childhood days when I used to borrow them from the school library and friends to read. I doubt I ever managed to finish reading all the comics in the series as such books were not so readily available in smalltown Melaka back then in the 70s and 80s. Now you can find the individual comic books in hardcover and paperback, and also the 3-in-1 hardcover collection in major bookstores in the city. And thanks to YouTube, I can also catch up on the stories in cartoon version for free without having to buy the books or DVD. There are quite a lot of episodes lasting between 20 to over 40 minutes uploaded by some YouTube members who are obviously Tintin fans too.

Here's the episode for Secret of the Unicorn.

C has also been enjoying Tintin for some time now as I had bought a few of the comics for her when they were on sale, and she gets the rest from her school library and friends. One classmate even gave her Tintin and The Land of Black Gold last month as a birthday present!

So the three of us thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Since it was a weekday and at an odd hour, the theatre wasn't full house. The pros to that was we didn't have to get caught in any crowds queuing to get our 3D glasses and to enter and find out seats. We had chosen a short row and had the whole row to ourselves. The cons to a less-than-half full theatre was that the aircon got very cold with less body heat to 'share'. Luckily C had her jacket on and I had brought my pashmina and we ended up huddled together under it.

The movie is entertaining, especially if you're familiar with the characters like Tintin, his wire-haired fox terrier Snowy, Captain Haddock and the Thomson and Thompson twins. However, the storyline is not entirely true to Herge's version. For example, in the movie, Tintin met Captain Haddock for the first time on the latter's ship, but in the actual comic, it was in the Crab with the Golden Claws episode that they met. And the bad guy (like many movies, there must be at least one!), Mr Sakharine, was not a descendant of the pirate Red Rackham and did not live in the Haddock family mansion Marlinspike Hall. Captain Haddock did not regain ownership of the mansion in Secret of the Unicorn. It was in the episode of Red Rackham's Treasure that Professor Calculus bought back the mansion for Captain Haddock if I'm not mistaken. Also, there was no Madame Castafiore in Herge's Secret of the Unicorn. Okay, I guess it's enough for now lest I reveal any spoilers!

I've to go hang out laundry now.

Activity-filled weeks

2011-11-08T11:29:00.005+08:00

C's school year-end exams ended quite early this time and the school has stopped giving academic lessons. They are now busy getting organised for their Speech Day which takes place on 16 Novermber. Everyday, they are busy rehearsing their respective performances. And there's lots of free time in between for the kids to play games or read.

The Year 3 students this year are involved in two items for Speech Day - choral speaking on the theme of 'harmony' where the children will be dressed in various national/international costumes, and singing a Chinese, Malay and English song in a choir.

C was earlier in the choral speaking team but she prefered (or rather loves!) to sing so we requested for a change. To C's delight, the teacher allowed it. Apparently, the teacher had chosen her for the choir at first but because the choral speaking team needed more kids who could speak/pronounce well, they decided to put her in choral speaking instead. This week, they will be having a full dress rehearsal at school and two other rehearsals at the actual venue.

Caitlin's school hall is too small to accommodate all the parents who will be attending Speech Day so every year, their Speech Day is held at an auditorium of the church the school is affiliated to.

The very next day after Speech Day, there will be a field trip. Last year, C missed the trip to a rabbit farm because it clashed with her drum exam. This time, C gets to go to a chocolate factory and a ceramic art centre.

Last week, the school celebrated Children's Day. In the past years, parents were requested to organise the party (food/activities) for their respective classes. But this year, the PTA committee decided to centralise it by organising it for the entire school. The celebration was held in the school quadrangle with singing, speeches by the PTA chairman and the principal, fun activities, a short skit by the teachers, performances by the Year 5 and 6 students, some fun exercises by Ronald McDonald (yup, they catered McDonald's meals for the kids) and the highlight was an educational dog show by the police K9 unit.

A video of teachers and kids having fun singing:

A video of the Year 5 and 6 kids dancing:

With all these activities, no pressure from studies and the coming long school holiday, C is really taking it easy these few weeks. She spends most of her free time reading (she's got a relatively big stash of unread books). Over the weekend, she resumed her 'writing' in yet another 'diary'. Every now and then, she'll write stuff in some notebook and she has a few in her 'collection'. This time, I told her she should stick to just one notebook so that all her thoughts and self-chatter (a more appropriate term in my opinion!) are properly kept in just one notebook.

The past few days, she's written the most in her history of journaling. Every free moment she had, she'd be writing and 'talking' to her diary - mostly about what she was doing at that point in time, what she observes around her, what she thinks E and I are doing/thinking. She adds colour to the text by using various pens, crayons, pencils, and drawing pictures and pasting stickers. She'd also share her writings by reading it aloud to us. I'm glad that this time she shared it with us. There had been times when she'd say it's secret and would write 'warning' instructions preceding her writings.

I am wondering how to keep her occupied this coming holiday which is between 19 November and 3 January 2012. I doubt we're travelling anywhere on vacation. If at all, it might be adhoc, short local trips. We seldom take major holidays locally or abroad as we can hardly afford it. Last year, we bit the bullet and went to Hong Kong, and we're still paying for the 'after effects'!

Lunch with mothers

2011-11-08T09:55:00.001+08:00

Every now and then, I have lunch with one or two mothers whose children are Caitlin's peers at school. We see one another at school when we are there to pick up our kids and chat a bit while we wait. Recently, we came up with the idea of lunching together as and when we're able since we are around the school vicinity at about the same time. It is a good change from having to eat leftovers at home, eating in the car while waiting, or eating alone outside. And there are relatively nice and affordable 'makan' places in the school neighbourhood.

Connecting with other mothers is good when the mothers are of the same wavelength and have healthy conversations. We can share parenting ideas and tips and encourage one another along our rollercoaster journey as parents. It works when the mothers are open to one another's opinions, and have no-holds-barred discussions and banter. It is fun when we can just let loose and spill out whatever is on our minds and let the conversation jump randomly from one topic to another - about life in general, current news and happenings around us, children, parenting, food, cooking and 'women' stuff. We can learn from one another when we approach conversations positively and objectively.

It is not healthy when conversations are one-sided, with one more-talkative person dominating and steering the discussion. It is not healthy when the mothers start comparing notes about their kids with the intention to feel 'one up' and put others down. That is so 'kiasu'. It is also not healthy when mothers get together to gossip about other parents or children, or complain about the school and teachers unconstructively. I simply feel uncomfortable when around such mothers. I don't like it when mothers ask me questions about my kid, or what she's learning at school or outside, and then clam up after I share my info with them. It feels like they are 'processing' the info and forming judgmental opinions and keeping it to themselves. Yuks.

Sickness and birthday

2011-10-28T16:22:00.000+08:00

As I had mentioned in the post before this one, the weather's been bad and this week is no different. Caitlin had high fever (40 deg C)on Monday but by Wednesday, the fever broke. We celebrated her ninth birthday a day earlier on Wednesday which coincided with the Deepavali public holiday. Family came over, we had lunch and did the customary song and cake at home.

She felt tired by evening and took a late nap, woke for a later-than-usual dinner.

Yesterday (Thursday 27th) was her birthday. We had planned for her to go to school and at lunch break, I'd bring a cake to celebrate with her classmates. But since she didn't seem fully recovered on Wednesday evening, we decided to let her skip school and luckily we did as her fever, although mild, returned when she woke in the morning (37.5 - 38 deg C). Her usual morning sneezes and stuffy nose due to her allergic rhinitis condition was more pronounced and her stuffy nose seemed worse than usual. I took her to the paediatrician who said she has mild flu and her nose allergy needs to be managed again with a nasal spray. She seemed a bit better by afternoon but went back to lethargy by late evening but fever appeared under control without paracetamol.

This morning she seemed fine when we went to the hair salon to get a trim (she asked for temporary curls too, and the stylist was kind enough to use her curling iron for free since she found out her birthday was yesterday). But by lunchtime, she felt tired again, with a slight temp, and is now asleep.

Sigh, I hope this viral fever will come to pass soon and I hope it's nothing else. She's not attended school or any other extra classes this whole week. I hope she'll be able to go to school next Monday. I'm glad exams are over and they're not doing much in school other than going through their exam papers and practising their performances for the Speech Day in two weeks' time.

I hear a number of kids in her class have also been absent due to fever or sickness...

Bad weather

2011-10-24T09:52:00.000+08:00

The weather has been quite bad lately. We read about bad floods in our neighbouring country Thailand. And here, it's scorching hot in the mornings and afternoons but come late afternoon and evening, it starts to pour very heavily. Sometimes the rain can continue into the night for hours.

With such weather, I'm sure the doctors are getting good business with more people getting sick. Week before last, E caught the flu. He had traveled to East Malaysia for work for a few days. Couple with lack of sleep and stressful work, his immunity let its guard down and he caught the flu. Then last week, it was my turn. I caught a cold and till today, some remnants of it is still lingering.

This morning, C woke up to get ready for school and told us her head felt hot. She has a fever and has skipped school. I guess we'll keep her at home tomorrow as well. Wednesday is a public holiday for Malaysians as it is the Hindu festival of Deepavali or Diwali. We will be celebrating C's ninth birthday on Wednesday with lunch at home with family.

C's actual birthday is on Thursday. I hope she will be well by then to go to school as she wants me to bring a cake to school at lunchtime to celebrate her birthday with her classmates.

My Cheeky Girl

2011-10-13T07:40:00.000+08:00

Me: What essay did your teacher ask you to write?
Her: 'My Father' or 'My Mother'
Me: So which did you choose?
Her: My Mother (Me - feeling the pride rise in my chest :D)
Me: What did you write about me?
Her: That you're 46 years old
Me: Aiyo...I'm not that old! What else?
Her: At the end I wrote that I hope my mother will live a long and happy life with me and my father.....but I bet you won't.
Me: Why???
Her (giggling and sniggering): Because I'm so naughty and give you so much stress!

This week, C is having her final exams at school. In her three years of formal schooling so far, she has yet to be nervous or afraid of exams. During exam season, she continues life as usual, reading her story books and watching TV.... and after my nagging she would revise by flipping through the pages of her books, reading its contents cursorily. One to two weeks before the exam, the teachers would do revision with them in school so I guess if one is confident enough, one can get through the exam without studying more or cramming at home.

I remind her that although she knows her work, she should study so that she can remember what she has learnt and can do better. So far she's been scoring A's and B's, except for the Malay language which she finds too hard. I think that the standard of Bahasa Malaysia is quite high now compared to my time. During my time, we leart 'simpulan bahasa' (idioms) and essay writing when we were around Standard 5 or 6 (11 or 12 years of age). Now 'simpulan bahasa' is taught in Year 1 (7 years old) and in Year 3, they are already writing essays, informal and formal letters. It is hard to do well in these if your BM vocabulary is weak.

While I nag and keep reminding her that she should study, I've also made her aware that she will ultimately be responsible for the consequences or outcome of her choices. I can only lead my horse (her Chinese zodiac is the horse coincidentally!) to the water, provide her with the necessary books, reminders, words of advice. I can attempt to force the horse to drink but in the big picture, it will not be effective..

So for now, we are letting her learn in her own way. Success is not measured by milestones the world sets for you to achieve, the strings of A's one has collected, the tons of facts one can regurgitate, or the x-figure salary you earn. Of course, there are people who measure success in those terms but I prefer not too.

Dolphin Tale

2011-10-03T16:55:00.001+08:00

Movies these days are jumping into the 2D and 3D trend bandwagon. There's a new movie that's just been released (in the US that is...) that has been reported to even top other new ones this season.

The movie I'm talking about is a family-friendly one, based on a true story about a dolphin that was rescued. The dolphin lost its tail when it got injured and infected from being caught in a trap, but was eventually fitted with a prosthetic one (amazing!), all these in the backdrop of a budding relationship with a young boy who was very attached to it. The actual Dolphin named Winter stars in the movie alongside one of my favourite singers who also acts -- Harry Connick Jr., and Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson and Morgan Freeman.

I'm looking forward to catching this movie with my family when it opens in Malaysia. Caitlin would certainly love it as she loves animals and animal stories. Some of her favourite animals are dolphins, cats, dogs, tigers and other big cats.

Here are two trailers for Dolphin Tale.

Busy, busy, busy....bump! and dent!

2011-09-29T09:09:00.006+08:00

This is a rather long-winded post.

Time flies when you're having fun, they say. I agree with the first part about time flying. As for the second part about having fun, I'm not too sure. I've just been busy, busy, busy. And sometimes when you're busy, busy, busy, you forget to have fun. Or even if the busy, busy, busy bits are related to fun events, you're just too tired to have fun because you had been busy, busy, busy earlier. Am I making any sense? Aah, these days, things just seem to go round and round like in a carnival where many things are happening at the same time - there's music, there's jugglers, stiltwalkers, clowns, magicians, side shows with loud announcements, all the kiddy rides blaring their own music etc, all going on at the same time it makes you dizzy. Busy and dizzy - they rhyme.

On weekdays, I have the daily routine of waking up, preparing breakfast, doing laundry, going online for various reasons, feeding plants, dog and fishes, cleaning/tidying house, going to the wet market/supermarket, cleaning and putting away groceries, preparing food and cooking, chauffering, supervising, nagging etc etc etc.

Meanwhile, the past weekends have been activity filled too. Besides the usual chauffering duties on Saturdays for music lesson and Sundays for Sunday School, we've attended two birthdays and one full-moon do, and this weekend, two reunions with old friends.

Yesterday was a crazy day. As I was merrily sitting in my car at standstill at morning 8.30am peak hour traffic on my way to the market, listening to an interview with the great David Foster (anyone has free tickets for his upcoming concert in KL?), I was suddenly jolted out of my world by a loud bang. Someone had rear-ended me. So I got out. Our cars were on the fast lane but I was oblivious at that moment to the jam we were causing. Ms Myvi had hit me because the car behind hers, Ms Peugeot, had hit her. My back hatch door was dented and the bumper had a few scratches.

It was about 'Breakfast'. You see, Ms. Peugeot who started the chain accident had somehow lost control of her car (yeah, in standstill traffic, sheesh...) because she had reached down to get some food (found that out from Ms Myvi two hours later). She must not have had her breakfast yet so she decided to eat while driving.... She hit Ms. Myvi so Ms. Myvi hit me. Luckily, I didn't hit the car in front of me. Poor Ms Myvi's front and back were smashed. She was Sandwich-ed.

It's strange how each of us just got out of our cars and started calling someone, more so the other two ladies....I had started out wanting to get the whole thing settled asap but since they got preoccupied on their phones, I decided to do the same. In between phone calls, we decided to move our cars to a side road nearby to sort it out.

About 45 minutes of my time was wasted talking, discussing options, wondering which police station to go to if we were to make reports, getting distracted by some workshop guy offering his services, waiting for Ms Myvi and Ms Peugeot's husbands to come and 'rescue' them as their decisions affect me... As for me, hubby was available only via mobile phone but it was no sweat.

Ms Myvi and her husband decided to settle upfront with me, no police report about her hitting me. She didn't want to lose her no-claim bonus from her insurance. So I led her, again through the peak hour jam, to my workshop so that they could quote the repair cost and they paid for it (RM450). By the time I got to my original destination of the market, it was another hour later. I was somewhat relieved that I could move on with life. I bought my chicken, meat, and other stuff and drove home. Just as I was about to reach home, my phone rang and the circus started.

Ms Myvi said Ms Peugeot's insurance can pay for Myvi's repairs (of course!) and MINE as well (really? but Ms Peugeot didn't hit me so why would her insurance pay me?). So the phone calls between the three of us started going around again. I was trying to confirm if such is true and how now that Myvi has already paid my workshop etc etc....

To cut the long story short, I finally had to go to the police station later in the afternoon to make a police report to enable Ms Myvi to claim insurance from Ms Peugeot and to allow the former to get her refund from my workshop. I also had to make the report to avoid getting a fine since Myvi had reported she hit me (in an accident, it is required that the other party(ies) involved make a police report too within 24 hours if one party does so). I told Ms Myvi she had to deal with my workshop herself to get her refund. And my poor workshop has to now go through the hassle of the paperwork to claim the cost of my repair from Ms Peugeot's insurance. I've yet to send my car in to be fixed.

By the time I got done at the police station and got home, it was time to hit the kitchen to cook dinner. By the time dinner was over, I was totally exhausted, having been on the go with my juggling act all day.

I'm thankful the damage to my car was not too bad compared to Ms Myvi Sandwich, and that other than the hassle I had to go through and time wastage, I'm still in one piece :)

Harry Connick Jr

2011-09-20T09:05:00.001+08:00

I like Harry Connick Jr. He's a good singer and musician/pianist, and he acts too. Some of the moives he's acted in are Memphis Belle, Independence Day, Copycat and New In Town.

Check him out here singing and playing:

Mini Great Wall of China, Pangkor Island

2011-09-09T16:12:00.004+08:00

These are a few sections of the Mini Great Wall of China as you walk along the paved and stepped walkway.

Before our recent visit, I had come to Pangkor Island only once before. That was more than 10 years ago. I had heard about this place on the island but had never been there before this. The Mini Great Wall of China as it's called, is simply a very scaled-down replica (doubt this word is even suitable in fact). But it still manages to attract lots of tourists by the vanloads.

The reason I say 'vanloads' and not 'busloads' is that during our three to four hours in Pangkor, all I saw were pink vans going about the narrow roads of the island bringing tourists to all the various attractions. And speaking about narrow roads, the road leading to the Fu Lin Kong Chinese Temple where the Mini Great Wall is located is very narrow, just enough for 1.5 cars to pass either way, meandering through a haphazard housing area (a village is more like it).

As you approach the temple, the first thing that greets you is a bright, colourful Chinese arch. Walk past the parking area where you also find a few stalls selling drinks, snacks and souvenirs and you reach the temple with rock-arch entrances on both sides.

Archway entrance to the temple

The parking area in front of the Fu Lin Kong temple, with many pink taxi vans.

I did not step into the temple but I could see that it's well-maintained, clean and has a fresh coat of paint. The roof of the temple is typical of most Chinese temples with its various intricate designs and sculptures. This one has figurines of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals as well.

The temple with its various sculptured structures

The horse atop one of the roof corners

The Mini Great Wall is towards the back of the temple. On one side of the temple, there are some cages with monkeys and squirrels inside. They were not well-maintained and the animals didn't look too happy to be there. I wonder why the management of the temple (or whoever owns the animals) wants to have those animals and cage them up.... :(

We walked around for a bit, went up the gradual steps along the 'great wall', saw some tortoises at one corner of the temple, and left after browsing at the souvenir stalls.

Chronological account of our trip to Ipoh-Lumut-Pangkor

2011-09-06T22:22:00.000+08:00

Every year, the school third term holiday falls in mid August. This year, however, the one-week holiday was a bit later and coincided with Hari Raya and National Day (first day of Raya was also Merdeka day). On the first day of the school holiday on Saturday 27th August, we drove to Ipoh to attend E's cousin's wedding dinner.

As it was the school holiday cum 'balik kampung' rush for almost all Malaysians, one would expect the highways to be congested. Our initial plan was to leave home at 6am to beat the jam and arrive in Ipoh for breakfast (tasty Ipoh dim sum!) but alas, it was not meant to be. E got home late the night before and hadn't packed his bag yet. I had packed mine and C's. I don't pack E's bags for him for travels as he's one picky guy. Unlike some husbands who happily leave it to their wives to pack for them, be it for business or leisure trips, E being the vainpot that he is (ha ha ha, hubby bashing here) seldom agrees with my choice of clothes for him. If I pack for him, he'll re-pack so what's the point? So it was only that morning before we left that we waited after breakfast for him to pack and then we left home at around 10.30am.

Traffic was smooth at first until we came to a point where the highway narrowed to two lanes with undulating terrain. That's when we started crawling. Thankfully, it eased up when we were nearing our destination and the usual two-hour travel took us three hours -- not too bad.

After lunch, we checked into the hotel that we were to spend that one night in and rested for a bit before getting ready to attend the dinner.

The following day (Sunday), after a sumptuos lunch feted by the bridal couple again, we left Ipoh for a short two-night holiday at Swiss Garden Damai Laut near Lumut. It rained all the way there and what was left of the evening after checking in was too gloomy and wet to go frolicking around the pool or beach. We decided to drive out to Lumut town where the waterfront and jetty to Pangkor Island is to forage for dinner. We ended up in a small Chinese non-airconditioned restaurant and had a simple dinner of fried rice and oyster omelet. C the city girl hates non-aircon places and wasn't too happy with our choice.

We then took a short stroll along the shops selling dried seafood products (Pangkor Island and Lumut are famous for these) and bought a set of beach toys for sandplay for our grumpy kid who had insisted that a beach holiday must include such paraphernalia to make sandcastles.

The next morning, we took a day trip to Pangkor Island. It was C's first ride on a ferry. She enjoyed it very much, standing out on the open deck all the way there. At Pangkor, we rented a car for three hours and visited a Chinese temple popular for its mini Great Wall of China. Then, we visited the Dutch Fort. After that, it was time for lunch.

We ended up in another non-aircon shop which sold chicken rice. Many of the coffee shops and eating places in Pangkor that day were packed with tourists. You can hardly find any air-conditioned place in Pangkor Island as it is still considered a small fishing village with narrow roads and old shops apart from its popularity as a beach/tourist destination. Being holiday season, the island was swarmed with visitors and the chicken rice seller was laughing his way to the bank. We found a table but his supply had run out so we had to wait awhile for a fresh batch of steamed chicken to arrive. Soon after we got our cold drinks, a motorcyclist arrived with a plastic bucket in hand. Out came two or three steamed chickens which promptly landed on the chopping board to be served quickly to a number of tables of ravenous people, including ACE. We were served only chicken and rice, no soup, no cucumbers as sides. We couldn't complain as we were hot, sweaty, hungry and what could they do if we did? They had run out of soup and cucumber and weren't going to replenish.

After lunch we returned the rental car and hopped onto the next ferry back to Lumut. Back at the hotel, Miss Grumpy became Miss Happy as she quickly got into her swimsuit to head for the beach and pool with daddy while I headed to the spa for a painful foot reflexology session. I sometimes wonder why I subject myself to pain instead of pleasure at a spa. That night's dinner was at one of the restaurants at the hotel. It was a buffet and the spread was nothing to shout about, not too bad but not great either. Being the first day of Raya, the spread included Raya delicacies like lemang, ketupat and rendang too.

The next morning after breakfast, we checked out and headed back to Ipoh to E's aunt's house to collect a boxful of frozen, boneless roast ducks to be brought back to KL for E's sister who had ordered them through the aunt who has contact with the supplier. Direct purchase from the outlet in bulk (a minimum of 20) gets you a 10 per cent discount. So we carted 18 frozen ducks in a box home (the aunt had taken two). I took four and E's sis took the rest for herself and for distribution to other people.

Upon arrival in KL, we detoured to where Rusty was boarded for the past four nights to take him home. We got home, unloaded our bags and Rusty, showered quickly (all that in under half an hour), and started driving again, this time to Klang for dinner with E's parents who had just returned from a trip to UK/Europe and were not able to attend the wedding dinner. It was the only night available for them to meet the bridal couple who were leaving the next day for a trip to another Asian country. Again, the bridal couple bought us dinner at a nice (this time air-conditioned) restaurant in Klang. It was a very long and tiring day for us that day. Poor E drove almost all day since noon (I drove only the KL-Klang leg) and by the time we got home from Klang, it was past 11pm.

I will write separately about some of the food we had, the places we visited and what we did in another post. It's bedtime now and I'm still recovering from a mild flu I caught after returning from this 'whirlwind' trip. Sometimes I think going on holiday causes more stress!

Caitlin's Yogurt Banana Pops

2011-08-23T13:25:00.002+08:00

Caitlin has been subscribing to this children's magazine for almost two years now. They have another 'junior' version for younger children aged 4-7 years too. Every month, she looks forward to receiving it in the mail and would finish reading it in one sitting (it's not too thick). It contains nice and interesting stories and facts, with good (Christian) values, and many ideas for activities like craft and cookery for the kids.

Yesterday, she decided she wanted to try out a recipe she found in the latest issue. It's called Raspberry Banana Pops. As we didn't have raspberry yogurt which the recipe called for, we substituted it with a Mixed Berries yogurt which I happened to have bought a few days ago.

Here's Caitlin's 'handiwork' before it was put into the freezer:

The recipe:

3 bananas
6 wooden popsicle sticks
6 ounces raspberry yogurt
sprinkles (optional)

1. Cut bananas in half crosswise.
2. Slide one popsicle stick into each banana.
3. Pour yogurt onto a plate and roll the bananas until covered.
4. Pour sprinkles on a second plate and roll the bananas.
5. Place the bananas on a baking sheet with wax paper.
6. Place in freezer for 2 hours or until frozen.