LA VIE EST BELLE

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

2012-01-31T09:59:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone :) I have missed everyone and have been off blog land for the longest time. For the whole month of December till mid January 2012, I did nothing but lazed at home. A minor knee surgery forced me to be on the sofa, practically a couch potato forever. I was back to work mid January and then, work got busy, as usual and before long, it's Chinese New Year. So, I thought I'd post this before Chinese New Year is over..which is soon.

I was at the mall recently and thought these words explained clearly the meaning of Chinese New Year, so hope you enjoy it.

When I met some Chinese in the past, at times, they will ask me what year I was born. Maybe a polite way of asking the age. If one is familiar with the zodiac cycles, one can guess accurately the person's age. You can find your zodiac easily from the following chart.

This is the year of the Dragon and I already know a few people keen on having babies, so I wish them good luck. I personally don't think the zodiac year has anything to do with their future or anything else, but there are people have a special or specific preference for this.

Everywhere, there's red. The colour of celebration for the Chinese and when come to Chinese New Year, streets, shops, home and shopping malls are are heavily decorated in red and Chinese themes.

Here's a moongate.

These bonsais should really be at my home :)

More dragon and here is a huge one.

As expected Chinese lanterns everywhere with lots of activities.

Booths featuring many Chinese artists from China. I popped over to check the prices of this one and it was way, way, way over priced!! Think 200 - 300% more than what I would normally pay.

Love this Chinese artist hand painting a child, the details were amazing and so accurate. I wanted to have the girls painted but there was a long waiting list.

More dragons..

Of course Chinese New Year would not be complete unless, one is in a traditional clothing...here are the girls with their cheong sam. One does have to be quite slim to fit into it and look nice...something I'd wish I can too. For me, i love all the details in a cheong sam!

Here's Eli trying on a traditional Chinese dress, complete with head gear. Not free, but I thought it was fun for them to have their pictures taken.

Another dragon, this time made with cane..or wicker..

And, my favourite dragon of all is this calligraphy Dragon!

Have a good day everyone..time to go visiting all my friends now.

Cheers :)

GRAND PALACE, BANGKOK, THAILAND

2011-11-25T12:01:00.000+08:00

Firstly, many thanks for all the good wishes in the previous post. I am back from Bangkok and everything was good there.

Bangkok was hot and dry as the desert. The Government did a great job protecting the city from flood and despite the flood scare, clearance at Immigration took more than an hour - normal by Bangkok airport standard. This shows how many people are still travelling to Bangkok for holidays. Top hotels are booked full in advance and despite the flood scare, it's still was a very busy city.

We all had a great time in Bangkok. This was my 9th or 10th trip and I have another trip back to Bangkok again early next year. I have always travelled for business and with friends, so this time was the first for the whole family and we had so much fun. It was a great shopping (for the children) and eating trip! I am posting on the Grand Palace this round, my 4th trip this time, but still loving it. Here's sharing the photos:

Instead of taking a local tour, we booked a MPV for the whole family. It's cheaper and allowed us to travel to places we wanted only and at our own pace. Took a photo of their local taxi from the MPV...you'll see lots of this pink taxis everywhere. Tip: when in Bangkok, ensure that you take a taxi with meter, otherwise, you are at the mercy of the taxi driver and they charge 20 times more than the metered fare.

The Grand Palace is a must visit place for all travelling to Bangkok. It used to be the King's palace and it's always fun to be there..I find those architecture absolutely stunning.

The Phra Sri Rattana Chedi, a chedi or spire is supposed to contain religious Buddist artifact, also most photographed chedi by all visitors.

Mythical golden figures everywhere within the Grand Palace.

Close up!

A miniature Angkor Wat! I am planning to go to Siem Reap again next year to see the real Angkor. I overheard a guide explaining that the previous Thai King was so impressed with Angkor when he visited then, that he built this Grand Palace and lived here, a long time ago.

Another building in the Palace, love this one in blue! Look at all the details.

Another Chedi. There are plenty of information about the Grand Palace, so if you are interested, please read them online.

Let's see some details, isn't it amazing :)

At another entrance. You'll find similar figures at the airport as well and it's almost as huge as this!

More close up on the details..

There are many buildings within the Palace, each for a specific purpose.

Even the paintings on the walls were elaborate.

Some part of the ceilings which were hand painted.

Other shots within the Palace.

Finally, the most sacred place in Bangkok and probably Thailand. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha or Wat Phra Kaew, read more here. In the past, you can get up close within the temple but photos allowed inside. This time, there were so many people praying so the temple was closed.

Hope you have enjoyed the tour, still more to post about Bangkok and now I have so many people to visit.

Cheers and have a great weekend....

BANGKOK AND FLOOD...

2011-11-15T16:45:00.000+08:00

As you all must have read by now, Thailand is having their worst flood in half century. Almost one third of Thailand is submerged in water and huge losses to both Thai people and factories. However, I am going to Bangkok this Friday...eeek...not the smartest choice I know. However, we have bought tickets for the family 6 months ago. I could cancel and pay a heavy penalty, plus re-booking anywhere else within a month means paying double or more. I have been keeping a close tab on the flood situation and well, central Bangkok is dry and from what I understand the Government will keep it dry at all cost. Many other parts are dry, Pattaya for example, just less than 150km away from central Bangkok - another option. After a long pondering and indecisions, booking and cancelling hotels, tours, car rentals, both in Bangkok and Pattaya (it's a wonder they didn't ban me with so many changes), we have decided we will go to Bangkok after all. So, I keep my fingers and toes crossed and everything will be okay :) Will visit you all soon when I am back.

Cheers for now...

PANGKOR LAUT - PART 2

2011-10-04T14:18:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone :) I am posting my second part of Pangkor Laut....and still wishing I was there.
We stayed at this water villa. Perfect in every sense.

With the ocean in front and the mountains and wildlife as backdrop. In the morning when I woke up, I heard loud noises outside and there they were, our Malaysian Hornbills.

Another peek of the water villas.

In the evening, we took a private boat out to see the sunset. Unfortunately, with gloomy weather, there was no sunset to be seen, which was dissapointing. However, we saw some fishing trawlers around.

Posting a picture of DH for the first time...

We found many such pretty water urns on display throughout our walk.

On the second day, we went to Emerald Bay. There was a van travelling around the island and you can hop on/off whenever you wanted. Emerald Bay was listed as one of the top 10 beaches in the world a few years ago and one can clearly understand why. Private island = private beach. The cool water and waves, completely secluded and accessible only by the island's van and exclusive for those who stayed here. When we arrived, free mineral water and beach towels were given and the whole day was ours to relax or sunbath...and for us, it was relaxing under the palm trees, no sunbathing, not even dipping into the waters.

Waiting area for the island's van.

Found this flower on the beach, so pretty.

When we came back from Emerald Bay, we walked over to the other side of the island. Another part which was super exclusive only for those residing in the Spa Village. A whole range of spa experience await anyone willing to dish up top bucks for their world renowned treatment rooms. Also, water villas which are obviously very much more expensive than the ones we stayed.

Lovely daybed...

Reception at the Spa Village.

We love the long koi pond.

Another daybed calling me...

On our third day and going home. While having breakfast (excellent selection of food by the way!), someone was showing off! Their resident peacock.

It even posed for me :) Obviously used to crowd, no shyness from this peacock at all, just proudly strutting around.

Finally, sadly too, time to go home....I love this plant. I was so sweet smelling that I reminded myself to get one when I am home. Oh yes, have mat will travel. That's my yoga mat which I took to Pangkor, they had daily free yoga session but I didn't attend. I did mine on the private verandah facing the ocean. I am sure my friend, Tracy from pranalight would have been proud of me :) Pop over to her blog to read about her amazing Chakra Journey.

PANGKOR LAUT - Part 1

2011-09-22T10:36:00.001+08:00

There are two islands here. Pulau Pangkor, with more than 30 accommodation in one island, and then, there's Pangkor Laut - one privately owned island by the YTL group which specializes on high end and pure luxury resort. For the longest time I have wanted to go here and am thrilled to have gone to Pangkor Laut. The service in this island by far, is the best I have experience in all my travels and staying and hotels. Here are the photos:

Arriving at Pangkor Laut. We booked the garden villa but was really happy to be upgraded to stay at one of these water villas.

Reception area. We actually checked in earlier at the jetty at mainland where Pangkor Laut had an exclusive area to handle everything. So, when we arrived here, everything has been sorted out and most of the resort staff who talked to us, called us by name throughout the whole stay. Can't get better service than that.

Behind reception was the reading area, if you look at the back...there were two day beds for anyone wanting a good rest :)

Large comfy chairs everywhere.

Walking back to our Water Villa, beautiful Malay inspired wooden villas set against the rainforest as background. I love how they let nature and the resort merge together.

Our Water Villa!

A peek into the huge bathroom.

All corners of the sunken bath had windows which opened up to the sea.....

Another view of the bed. Everything was personalized with my name of the envelope. Love that Thai triangle pillow, great for reading and relaxing.

Our own private deck.

The resort's motto said it all. The entire island is private and exclusive.

Fresh flowers on huge urn all over the resort.

We had lunch accompanied with their resident peacock, again loving how they allow wildlife roam around easily and I think the peacocks are so used to people as they were so tame.

Food was scrumptious! Our package came with 3 meals a day and upon checking in, we had lunch here and it was so good.

I went to my fav shop, Jim Thompson whom introduced Thai silk to the world in Thailand many years ago, but was lost till now in our very own Cameron Highlands. While Jim Thompson silks and products are easily available in Thailand, over here, they are sold exclusively only in the YTL resorts.

Ahh..the Pavarotti suite, he stayed here a long time ago.

Orchids everywhere.

Their swimming pool.

Have a great day everyone, will be doing Part 2 soon.

Mooncake boxes

2011-09-14T16:11:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone :)

Mid Autumn came and went and while everyone is eating moon cakes, I was more interested in the boxes!
Every year, I collect one or two boxes, mostly sent off to friends overseas because really, I am not interested in the mooncakes at all. Only in the boxes. This year, I bought 2 and so far, the box expensive ones. The mooncakes are okay, nothing so crazily nice but then, I am not a huge fan of these cakes. Have a look at the boxes!

The first one was a wooden box...

which has a metal clasp...

..that opens up to this 4 compartments! When I saw it, I just have to buy it at whatever cost. I am very sure that cost of the box is many times more than the mooncakes. Inside each little compartment, holds one mooncake and each mooncake was of a different flavour. How can I not buy this?? Too pretty :)

The second one...also red, as always for the Chinese red is associated with happy occassions. I fell in love with the box the moment I saw and it was a 'got to have it' moment....here, front view.

And at the top view. Also 4 mooncakes inside of different flavours. I gave all the mooncakes away to my mother and friends, only kept one mooncake which was given away free for the children to eat. The box stays with me.

This pink one was from last year. I keep it store small things. These boxes makes me happy !

I have been wanting to post picture of my recent trip to Pangkor Laut, not Pangkor Island but Pangkor Laut, a 5 star private island owned by YTL. Will do that soon when I sort out those hundreds of pictures, here's a peek: A favourite photo of mine from Pangkor Laut, taken just outside our water villa.

This was the villa we stayed, will blog all about it soon :)

As usual, I have so many people to visit now :)

BLOOMS

2011-08-01T14:34:00.000+08:00

I love flowers and plants and have them all over the house, both indoors and outdoors. They really brighten up my day :) This is one of my favourite, they are called Bunga Kantan or, Ginger flower or Torch Ginger bud. It can be eaten raw as salad or cooked and normally one stalk will do. A trip to a local night market and I bought a few more, not for cooking but I just the colours and have them at home.

I am happy when my water lilies behave and bloom.

Can you see it? At one time, everyone was crazy over this 'bird' plant, so I had to get one too. Their flowers are shaped like birds.

I dont know the name of this plant but when it blooms, we have two flowers in one, in red and yellow.

Even my rose behaved :)

Happy week ahead !

PORT DICKSON - Legend International Water Homes

2011-07-18T14:23:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone :) I hope all my blog friends are doing well and how time flies, it's mid year now.

It seemed to be a long time since the family went for a holiday, so we decided to take a short drive to Port Dickson for a night's stay. We chose this place, Legend International Homes and am happy to share the photos here.

Upon arrival, the resort sent us to our water chalet via buggy, so it was fun to sit that and not walk all the way.

These are the water chalets and going through the narrow walkway.

The resort have garden and water chalets, but we decided to take up the water chalets as it gave some view of the ocean.We chose the Executive Water Chalet and at 826 sqf, it's huge a family and almost a size of a mini apartment. Best part was the chalet came with 2 King sized beds, so it was perfect for our family.

Upon entering, we saw the glass panel which we could see through the bottom. When I took the photo, it was in the afternoon, so there's no sea water in yet. Yet mud, so it's not very exciting. However, even with the sea water in...there's not much to see as the water is not the clearest of all, but still fun to have this feature in the chalet.

View of the pantry.

Nice toiletries set...afterall, not all resort give us such luxury sets.

The shower are opens up to the sea...if you dont mind the neighbours seeing you.

Looking all all the previous pictures, they are just standard hotels and resorts trimmings, however, this place have something a big more special. It has its own private pool! Views from inside pantry.

View from our room. Part outdoor and part covered pool with a outdoor shower. Fully private so you can swim however and whenever you want to :)

View from the pool into our pantry.

I checked out a lot of review of this place and everyone had a good review of the place. The main building is nothing fancy and pretty boring and ordinary, but the private villas is something else. No wonder most families spent most of their time in the water chalet or villas, just like my kids did. It's not a very big pool but there was lots of fun for them.

Eli trying to do a back flip.....

This view was from our water chalet from the outside, taken during late evening. More photos around the resort.

Huge money plants creeping outside most chalets.

In the evening, we took a stroll around Port Dickson, not the clearest beach but it's the nearest one to main cities in KL, so many people are always here on the weekend.

The kids playing around their KMX ride rental. I rented a bicycle for an hour, though I only managed to cycle properly for half. Considering I have not cycled for ages, the first half hour had me hovering or hobbling over my bike and trying not to run into any pots or people along the way.

It was a very busy weekend as I went over the see our flower display when we checked out. Will blog out that later. Have a great week everyone :)

SINGAPORE - STREET ART

2011-07-13T11:01:00.000+08:00

As usual, I missed everyone in blog land.
As usual, I have been busy.
As usual, I have been distracted.
As usual, I want to crawl back to blog land but still am procrastinating.

Picture taken in front of Prada in Singapore.

Will be back soon :)

SSS

2011-06-26T00:34:00.001+08:00

Playing SSS with Hey Harriet. Shadows taken from Sydney Wildlife World.

Happy weekend everyone :)

HONG KONG

2011-04-26T13:02:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone :) While I have been taking a break from blog land, everyone is on my mind...so, just wanted to share what's going on for this short time. I took a short business trip to Hong Kong. As expected, Hong Kong is all all concrete buildings. From the moment one step off the plane and throughout the journey. Here's a bright pink bus reminding us of the Year of the Rabbit for 2011. I was at this area called Shum Shui Po, which was a well known area for buying fabrics and all sewing notions. Seems like this huge area is dedicated to sewing industry as rows and rows of shops selling fabrics till no end.

Properties in Hong Kong has risen to an impossible level making it one of the most expensive place to live. Chinese from China with all their excess money have been buying everything there is to buy in Hong Kong.

I think if one had a small plot of land in Hong Kong, he/she can be a multi-millionaire easily now. Even high rise apartments are so expensive making an average wage earner finding it close to impossible to buy a new flat or apartment.

At Tsim Tsa Shui, a main shopping area for all.

At a local famous pancake shop.

This is how the 'pancakes' looked like, very crispy and nice too.

Lots of wedding attended, this is just one of them.

While the monsoon season should be over, we still have lots of rain in the afternoon. I love the rain as it cools down our very hot weather, just not when I am stuck in the traffic jam anywhere in town.

Have a great week everyone :)

2011-04-25T16:27:00.001+08:00

You know you have been slacking in your own blog....when you cannot find your camera connector to the laptop...

Done for now :(

2011-03-09T17:14:00.000+08:00

I'm done. For now. I've seen many bloggers go through this. The excitement is off. And they say bye bye. With a new year (well, not so new now), the children are so busy. I am so busy because they are busy. Work schedule is crazy and I've no time for anything else. So, I'll go on a break for now. Until the mojo is back, or I have time to blog, I am off blog land for a short break. Will be back when I am back. Tata............

Bunnies everywhere

2011-02-21T11:11:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone. Chinese New Year came and went. I was busy being busy. Many have finished their Chinese New Year post and move on, so here's my late post.

Emy posing at one of the local mall.

As usual, there were plenty of Chinese handicrafts everywhere and everything are mostly in red..as usual.

We saw the very long dragon dance and so difficult to take a good picture with all those movements and people around. Dragon or lion dances to bring in new and happy energies with their loud noises and movements.

In case you don't know, it's the year of the Rabbit, so we had plenty of rabbit images in every shopping centres.

Another place promoted Chinese opera. Every mall will have a theme where musicals, decorations and everything else are based on a specific theme.

On their last day of their performance, I was there but it was a little dissapointing because it was just dances and not the actual opera.

Here was one of the actual opera costume on display.

A close up of the details.

If you had the chance the see a real opera, one of the performers would probably look like this (image from TV).

I am guessing he must be the villain :)

More decor elsewhere. Small and large lanterns everywhere and more bunnies greeted us.

Here are my furry friends from blogland - Sydney, Tyler, Amelia and Harriet from The Qi Papers wishing all a very belated happy Chinese New Year. Picture courtesy of my good friend, Diana :)

Now.. I've got to visit everyone.

Happy week ahead.......

Hanoi, VIETNAM

2011-01-28T11:37:00.000+08:00

Hi there everyone :) I have been so busy out of the office...which also means living out of my laptop and blog-land. It's been so busy and crazy here and we are all caught up with another huge celebration next week, Chinese New Year and every shopping mall and street here has been jammed to the max. Seems like so many people are buying everything and there's lots of happening at malls in conjunction to this festival. As promised here are the photos from Hanoi....more will come later on Chinese New Year later.

Of course any tour to Hanoi will not complete without a visit to the mausoleum. We had a lousy tour guide and considering the money we had to pay...I can't say he was worth it.

A trip to the gardens with some Government building nearby, I snapped this Vietnamese soldier, much to the shock of the tour guide. He warned not to do it again..which I didn't, but it was shot from the back...and the soldier didn't notice. Not very friendly guy I must say..the guide and the soldier :(

Half way through the tour, we were brought back to this place - the French Quarters, or old Hanoi. A very busy place and since it was so near the hotel, we ditched the lousy guide and walked on our own. I must say Hanoi traffic was crazy, there dont seem to have much law here. Everyone and every vehicle since to be crossing the road at the same time. So, drive or walk at your own risk.

A common sight, people eating everywhere outside the shops :)

Overhead wires everywhere, reminded me of Bangkok.

The streets were busy and cramped everywhere.

We took a walk to the wet market, a scene so similar with many places in Asia and even here in Kuala Lumpur. It's busy, narrow, wet and more wet everywhere.

Love this purple fruit, the mangosteen.

An assortment of teas. Oh by the way, if you are not Vietnamese, do expect the price to be inflated a few hundred percent more than what locals pay! So, you really have to squeeze your bargaining skills to the max. Prices ranged from expensive to really ridiculous.

Plenty of spices everywhere.

You can always get a fast bite everywhere.

Ah...more traffic.....busy and dangerous too.

More crazy wires and that red flag indicated that Hanoi was celebrating its 1000 years anniversary.

Just out of curiosity...this was showing in the local theatre.

My favourite flowers, the lotus...though I still could not get mine to bloom this big.

Sorry, I have been very slow in visiting, will try to soon. There's a whole load to things to do before Chinese New Year and I am trying to see some of the cultural events next week so I can share soon.

Take care.... :)

MADAME HIEN - Hanoi, VIETNAM

2011-01-13T15:06:00.000+08:00

Hello all,

Happy New Year...sorry, it's a late one but I have missed everyone. After being pestered by a friend to complete my Hanoi post, here's one on eating there, but still lots of photos and a few more posts to go before I complete Hanoi.

We asked around for authentic Vietnamese cuisine and not wanting to eat on the streets, this came highly recommended. I hope I get all dishes right as I can't even remember what I ate a few days ago...let alone this was a few months ago. So, we ate here.........

This place reminded me so much of a hotel I stayed, the Majestic in Malacca. One of the most fabulous hotel ever in Malacca. Here's the entrance. If you haven't read my post on Majestic, go here to read it. It's one of my all time favourite hotel to stay.

Inside the reception area.

Around the restaurant...

Of course, let's talk about the most important part..the food :) Chinese or Vietnamese tea to start off...

For the starter, we loved the spring roll.

Mango salad with lots of peanuts reminded me of Thai salad - good too :)

For washing fingers....and not for drinking.

Next came the crispy soft shell crab...so crispy you could eat the whole crab, shell and all.

Clear clam soup was okay. Just throw in some garlic, small chillies and loads of lemongrass will do the trick.

Fish fillet in mango sauce...

and finally, some mixed fresh mushroom...

..and of course, top it all off with white rice :)

Let's go street shopping in Hanoi the next time.

Have a good week...or weekend you all and I've got so many blogs to visit now.

Cheers :) M

Monsoon

2010-12-21T12:17:00.000+08:00

Monsoon season has been here for more than a month and we had plenty of rain everywhere. It causes havoc at times when traffic are at a standstill on major highways. Or when it rain overnight, I will wake up to a mini pond-like all over the garden. I love the rain, just not when I am travelling or getting up for work, so rain on weekends are the best, though it's not really up to me to control the weather as it seems to be a bit cranky nowadays. I wanted to take those pretty droplets photos, so off I went to dust off the good ol' 'big camera' (aka the dslr) as my son calls it. Seriously, it took me a few minutes to remember how to use it and that poor camera has been under-used ever since we had the compact one. However, I must say as convenience as the compact it...there are instances where photos can't be as good as the dslr, especially on fast moving ones. Anyway, here are some shots I took in my garden yesterday.

Love those tiny droplets on this lotus stem.

A favourite flower of mine, it blooms first in yellow and then red..though I still don't know it's name.

We don't have a Christmas tree at home but have two sweet flowering orange jasmine tree with tiny white flowers flanking our main door. I was trying to capture the a droplet of water on my crystal ball..which I hang many on the tree. On sunny days, we get hundreds of rainbow rays permeating into the home :)

Another fav of mine, my pink lotus which went into hibernation for the longest time. With lots of over-fertilization (it worked!) and lots of rain, it started to bloom non stop again.

I am a sucker for water plants, so here's my water lily and I planted two different colours in one pot!

Just throw in a water lettuce or two and watch it grow like crazy, here they are sharing with the lily.

The largest bloom and lotus of all is this white lotus, opened fully it measures a good 6 to 7 inches across, however, it's such a pity as it bloomed only for 2 to 3 days and fade away. However, it does smell divine, not strong but very mild and sweet.

While I love all these photos, I must say this is my favourite. It's from the white lotus.

An old lotus pod which had shed all it's petals, waiting to be cut and thrown away. However, I just love how those droplets of water looked like small diamonds on it, each on it's own and I was careful not to touch it as I'd probably won't get the same effect again.

In less than two weeks, school holidays will be over and we will be back to our normal busy work-school-tuition-after class-dancing class-and other lessons routine with the kids. They've had a pretty laid back December and missing their friends. December seemed to have zoomed past and at times I wondered what I have been doing for this month, except for that soon...I am a year older and have to think of what I want to do for 2011. I've decided to skip the normal 'resolutions' since most of them are the same as like 10 years ago, eg..loose some weight (sigh....) but one thing kept popping in my mind and I hope to practice is - organic living. To eat healthily and as close to nature as possible...not being vegetarian but generally, we eat very little red meat but lots fish and vege, but we do want to cut down tremendously on eating out - which are basically junk and MSG laden. To finally exercise (eek..such a scary word haha!) but really, I will do more than think about it.

I've had a couple of requests from friends on unfinished post on Vietnam and Indonesia and hope to find time to post more. It's always an issue with me, I take a long time to finish a post of any trip and by the time I do it, like a few months later, sorting hundreds of photos become another chore ..and as for remembering what I did then, is another problem. However, I do want to travel more and want to cover a few more countries I have been dying to go. China, India and Korea will be on my list in 2011..and more of Indonesia as well.

So, to all my buddies, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays too.

Cheers :) M

Docklands, Waterfront City, Melbourne

2010-12-14T12:10:00.001+08:00

I hope everyone had a good time shopping. I know I have and still lots of Christmas shopping to do..seems like never ending. The malls here are all fully decorated with everything Christmas-y, the children are excited and with the school holidays on, it only meant busy and packed everywhere.

Going on to Melbourne. When I was looking for a place to stay in Melbourne, somehow, I stumbled upon Docklands. I had no idea where or how it was but looking at the website while scouting for an apartment, I really liked Studio Lane, Docklands. Jason, our contact there was super helpful with lots of information about Docklands. Studio Lane was the home to Harbour Town shopping , which was a brand new direct outlet area. We lived a lift away and just above Harbour Town and obviously very popular on weekends as it was so crammed on the free tram. I was sold on the idea by Jason, shopping at Harbour Town downstairs, 3 minutes tram ride to Melbourne City and the Free City Shuttle bus came round every hour or so.

The apartment we stayed was practically brand new. We had a two rooms with a sleeping couch, just perfect for a family of 5. I am sure there are plenty of nice place to stay in Melbourne, but if you want to stay close to the city and have the Waterfront City within reach, plus retail shopping at door step, here's the place.

This was the apartment we stayed. Very clean, it had everything you want for cooking, dishwasher, washing machine (so good to go home with clean clothes :), dryer, iron, fridge..a complete home to stay for a few days.

My blog friend Gina recommended DFO, which I did go in Melbourne. DFO was good, but I have to say our preference was here - Harbour Town shopping. Maybe because we lived just above and got everything we wanted.

There was a free city tourist bus frequently here but we preferred the free City tram to the city and all the tourist areas we wanted to go. Super convenient! If we missed it, we just hop on the pay tram. We did sat the wrong tram two times, but just hop off to either Flinders Street or Southern Cross Station, and we were on the right track. BTW, Docklands is the first (or last) stop for this tram.

Here's Danial dozing off while taking a ride to the city.

Photo taken outside our apartment's balcony.

The Waterfront City was just a five minutes walk from our apartment and here's sharing the pictures. A wonderful place with lots of fine dining facilities.

Enjoying sunset at Waterfront City. Go to here for more information. It was a beautiful place and I think not to be missed and I would stay here again the next time.

A fav shot of mine. Though it looked gloomy here, it did not rain and we had perfect weather throughout our stay in Melbourne.

Cheers to all :P

Still on Sydney

2010-12-06T12:09:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone and hope your weekend was good. While we were in Sydney, we took a day tour as it saves time and the advantage of the tour was you do get some of the best views ever. After the cold in the mountains, it was very welcoming here. The weather was fine and just wonderful to see everything :)

Loved the views here!

The famous Opera house!

We stopped by Bondi beach, bright and sunny!

At the end of the tour, we were dropped off at Darling Harbour and got the chance to walk around and be closer to the Opera House. Obviously it was a very busy area with many people around taking photos.

Walking around and the kids took pictures with some Aboriginals performing. He was showing Elissa how to use the boomerang...but not really throwing it. I really like this picture I thought taking pictures with them was definitely a highlight of the day.

We could not miss the chance to hop on the Captain Cook's luncheon cruise to have another beautiful views of everything. Highly recommended and should not be missed.

More views from our boat.

When we finished off the cruise, the kids wanted to go here :)

Kids got the chance to get up close again with the Koala :)

Some re-production of aboriginal paintings within the Wildlife centre.

Kangaroos enjoying the sun :)

At the Sydney Aquarium, looking at this picture one would thought it was taken from a beach...

Leaving Darling Harbour..

..and going to Sydney tower..

..to have a 360 view of Sydney...

This was one of the views..

We took a walk back to our hotel at Hyde Park Inn, not exactly very near but it was a good walk and we were happy to have did that as we got to stroll pass the Queen Victoria Building. They had the largest Swarovski Christmas Tree inside and from here, you could see part of it.

Upon entrance at the ground floor, this was the base of the tree. If you look up, you cant actually see the whole tree as it was huge but it was certainly very pretty. It was covered with lots of swarovski crystal and as pretty as it looked, one cannot touch or take any crystal away..

Have a great week everyone :P Stay warm for those having winter now and it's still sunny over here with lots of rain due to monsoon season.

FEATHERDALE & BLUE MOUNTAINS, SYDNEY

2010-11-30T13:33:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, am back and missing you all. Our trip was awesome and the kids didn't want to leave as it was so much fun! So, this is a picture heavy post as I hope to cramp as much as possible into one post, otherwise, I may take forever to finish my Australia post and will forget most details...happening all the time haha :)

Leaving KL with Danial busy writting in his journal. The kids had an assignment, as usual with most outings, they had to do a presentation at the end of any trips and give loads of facts about what they have learnt. Not just going as tourist to 'see' only, but to understand more about the local culture, facts, history etc.

Just an hour before arriving Melbourne Airport and I love this picture taken from the plane!

We took an overnight flight to Melbourne and though we did not get much sleep, we were all ready for some actions. We left all bags at the airport terminal and took a shuttle bus to Southern Cross Station and another train to Flinders Street. This was where I wanted to go and also to Federation Square (will blog about it later), but first this, the Melbourne Visitor Centre. We planned most of the trip on our own so, this was a very informative with helpful staff to answer every questions on Melbourne and it's surrounding. We already had most of the brochures printed online and had all of our questions answered here. Travelling in Australia is super easy as plenty of information was easily available online and the service provided was really efficient.

After getting all the things we wanted, we walked around Flinders street, had lunch, saw lots of trams. Melbourne had an excellent public transport system. Trains, buses and trams all ran on an almost perfect timetable..something we could get used to over in Malaysia. It was easy to travel and plan everything within the this CBD (Central Business District) and all within walking distance.

Or perhaps...a trip on a horse carriage also possible.

After a few hours, we were back to Melbourne Airport again for another flight to Sydney. Not something I would recommend at all! 6 hours of flight the night before and not much sleep and flying to Sydney the same day we arrived was a bit too much but still, we survived. That's the problem flying AirAsia, they don't connect to Sydney and we wanted to do Sydney. We stayed at the Hyde Park Inn right in the heart of Sydney. For anyone travelling in a group of 5 friends or family like us, this hotel will fit in perfectly. I doubt there is any other hotels with a Queen bed and 3 separate single bed, with almost a full cooking facilites (we asked for the stove top, but never used it) and absolutely clean room and toilet. It was just 5 minutes walk from the Museum Station and we travelled light after leaving the larger luggages at Melbourne Airport as the trip to Sydney was shorter. When we checked in, it was already very late and everyone was way too tired.

As we only had two full days in Sydney, we opted for a local tour and chose Sydneyrus, picked up from our hotel at sharp 7.30am and headed here as our first stop:

Lots of wildlife animals and as usual, they never go wrong with children :) I do hope I get the animal names correctly....and this should be a pelican. Do correct me if I am wrong as I go along...I have very poor memory of animals type :P

Kids clowning around at the park :)

Obviously fascinated with the large cassawory.

And of course, what's a trip to any Aussie wildlife if one can't cuddle..or at least take a picture with this adorable hugable koala!

Getting up close with the penguins.

Thanks for the warning..otherwise, my kids will be putting their hands inside.

Here he is, the wombat. It was certainly interesting to see him as we don't have them here at all.

Love this Kookaburra, it hardly moves and we thought it was a wooden statue haha! Thanks T , for the infor :)

If they had'nt told us it was a Wallaby, we'd probably thought it's a Kangaroo...how interesting.

Another iconic Aussie animal, the Kangaroo, so happy we saw loads of them here and also in Melbourne later.

When we were finished with Featherdale, we headed to the Blue Mountains. We stopped at Katoomba town for lunch and it was 10 celcius, way too cold for everyone. We were freezing our butts out haha! but seriously, we won't survive winter anywhere. Everyone said before we left that we had to to go the Blue Mountains to see the 3 Sisters and those wonderful rock formation. So, the tour took us there but we can't see much due to slight rain and everything was pretty misty and foggy, so no scenic Skyway too.

However, the trip was not wasted as we managed to hop on to this Railway. Trust me, it was very steep and pretty exciting and fun for all :)

In Blue Mountains, waiting for our Cableway to take us back to the top.

We took a walk along the forest where they had mining activities a long time ago and I snapped this curling fern.

Lightning strucked at one of the trees.

The only clear shot I had of the Blue Mountains taken from the Cableway.

Heading back to Sydney and passing through some forest, the bus driver actually insisted that we got down to take a picture of this Waratah, which is the state flower of New South Wales. Loved the bright colour :)

Passing through a mini-waterfall, clear water and we would have stayed longer if the weather was warmer.

Well, that's all for our first day tour and though we sat a mini van all the way to the Blue Mountains, we came back by ferry which was super fun! Which also meant that we got to see the Opera House. Still not the end of the tour for the day for us as we walked aound The Rocks and they were having this Rock Market which had many hand made items and food being sold. That was even more fun..will blog later as I don't know if it's blogger or my office server, it took forever to load all these pictures and do this post.

Have a great week ahead you all :)

My very-late Deepavali post and a blog break :)

2010-11-15T14:50:00.000+08:00

This is my very late Deepavali post, which was celebtrated last Friday.I finally downloaded photos - too many to sort out and found I just have to share these. I went around chasing some 'kolams' everywhere. Beautiful creations by coloured rice. Don't you just love the colours!

I love this bird lampshade in bronze, it will fit nicely in my house :)

At one of the shopping centre, we got close to some of the dancers. Love the overall make up, with Indian dancing, it has to be dramatic!

Dancers in action and it's hard to capture those fast movements with a compact camera.

School holidays are starting soon and I will be on a blog break. The family will leave soon for a trip down under and I will think of you when I hug that Kangaroo....can you guess where?

Bye for now :)

CHILLING OUT AT KLCC AND SKY BAR

2010-10-28T10:35:00.000+08:00

KLCC is a cool place to hang out. A group of colleagues and I went there one evening to have dinner here at KLCC.

Despite the expensive bill, the food was 'just okay'. No wow factor and I doubt if I am popping here again. It was just too average compared to the price. The only thing we loved was the soup...some seafood tom yum which was delicious...but then it came in just a few spoonfuls in a humongous plate! Other than that...the rest were not exciting :(

We loved walking outside KLCC at night and this is my 3rd or 4th posts on KLCC. With the twin towers illuminated, they are just beautiful with two huge towers with diamonds sparkling at night. Until Taipei 101 took over in 2004, it was the tallest towers in the world from 1996 to 2003. Outside, there is a huge garden for everyone to stroll around and enjoy the night breeze. I love the sight of these towers and wish to walk on that skybridge connecting both towers.

After dinner, we walked over to this place..my favourite place whenever I am here in KL. It was a good 10 minutes walk from KLCC to Traders Hotel and on their 33rd floor, you will find this...the SKYBAR. A half-open air bar which another fav hangout for many people. Dressing code is strict and do watch the steps while walking on the edge of the pool. It was interesting to note that all my colleagues lived within the 100km parameter from Kuala Lumpur, but none has been here before. It was a first for them..but I am sure wont be the last.

It's packed on weekends and reservation is required....especially if you want a good seat and view.

So, we booked early to ensure that we sat at the window to get this view. It's the best view ever of the Twin Towers. By the way, this guy is a very good friend and colleague of mine. We worked together from the day I started work and he will retire soon next year. It seems that we have worked forever and I am so thankful he has been around supporting me for the longest time ever.

Their satay was good, not the best...it used to be the best, but good is ok for us.

Here are the Twin Towers :)

Thank you everyone for the good wishes...but the flu bug just would not go away, it's lingering at home way much longer than desired.

Have a fab weekend :)

LORD MURUGAN @ BATU CAVES

2010-10-12T15:18:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone :)

Sorry, I have been so slacking in blog-land nowadays. Not busy but just lazy. It's days like these that I like to do nothing at all but laze at home...well, it's been weeks actually. The girls' friends came and went for two weekends, and what a tiresome time! Cooking, driving and looking after them is no easy work but it's over and I told my daughters, their friends can visit next time...next year will be very good, better the year after.

I have been wanting to take pictures of Batu Caves for the longest time. The last time I was there with my camera and happily trotting around and was frustrated to find the battery was dead :( No picture. So, when I had to go somewhere nearby for an appointment, I didn't miss the chance to take some pictures. If there is one place one have to visit in Kuala Lumpur, it would be this location, the BATU CAVES. The caves are from limestone, for more infor, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves

All 272 steps of it will bring you to the caves....but I passed. Not sure if I make up it halfway ...let alone back down another 272 steps.

Some prayers were offered inside one temple.

I stepped in, shoes off (as in most religious places..) and took some pictures. So, here's sharing some of them and since I am not an expert in Hindu deities or their prayers procedures, I'll just leave you with pictures. I do love the colours of everything.

Finally, I got to take pictures of Lord Murugan. Taking his pictures are all about the details......and this is the time when I am so happy with my new camera! That zoom sure came handy :)

Not sure about you, but when I take pictures, I love all those small details...in this case, not so small at all.

The Lord Murugan in Batu Caves is the tallest Hindu deity of it's kind in the world. I find this link a must read for anyone interested in a short and precise information of the statue and festival celebrated. Go here: http://murugan.org/temples/batumalai.htm

This Lord Murugan is 42.7 meter tall !! Find more infor here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murugan :

Come early of any year, a huge festival, Thaipusam is celebrated by more than 1 million devotees and people visiting Batu Caves in honour of Lord Murugan. Another must read here : http://www.malaysiasite.nl/thaipusameng.htm

That's all for now. The flu season is at home...kids and me aren't well and as usual, I have many blogs to visit. Have a good week ahead.......Love/M

Jakarta, INDONESIA - eating and shopping

2010-09-20T17:19:00.000+08:00

Jakarta is a vibrant city, very much like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. While we see some poverty on the street, a trip to here, the Grand Indonesia really show how wealthy some of locals here are. Grand Indonesia is the latest mall and you'll find all the top brands here. Much like our Pavillion, KL or Paragon in Bangkok. We popped over to have a look and ate here:

Upper class and chic dining, the price does'nt come cheap, but the environment was nice and relaxing.

A whole range of Western food which I am sure was yummy, but why try Western when you are in Indonesia. I went for the famous Oxtail soup and it was absolutely delicious, cooked for hours with tons of herbs..just heavenly.

Eaten with rice and accompanied with thick black sauce and pounded chillies :)

Husband went for some fish and vege curry...I think. I don't even remember what I ate a week ago, so this was more than a month ago :P

After a few hours.....we went to Ratu Sari, another very popular eatery with restaurants here. Before, we could even order drinks...so many plates of food were laid on the table. You pay for what you eat, or you can ask them to take away what you do not want. Indonesian and Malaysian food are very similar, sharing the same spices and cooking style in many dishes.

This was not the posh and upscale Grand Indonesia mall but somewhere else, a local shopping heaven for fake branded goods. LV, Gucci...everything you name it. Bags and clothes of all brands and design, sitting side by side on the floor. I think the real owners would have had a heart attack if they saw this. So, every person on the street carries a fake LV...they are so cheap, they cost USD10 a bag....but of course, the quality is horrible...but then, some won't care.

On the road, going to Jakartan on a weekend meant...heavy, heavy traffic everywhere. Probably worst than Bangkok! There was lots of people selling food stuff on the road everything was on a standstill.

Street food anyone?

Bye for now :O)

Shadow Shot Sunday

2010-09-18T23:06:00.001+08:00

This is for you T! I can't believe that I've stopped playing SSS for such a long time and remember when we played for the very first time...way back, only a hand few players. See, T...how your little project has grown!

I shot these with SSS in mind when I was in Jakarta. All shots taken from Jakarta Museum, Indonesia. This one very Balinese inspired.

Inside the musuem.

I have yet to see one of these performances either in Indonesia or Malaysia! A live wayang kulit or puppet shadow show!

Pop over to http://www.heyharriet.blogspot.com/ to see some of the coolest shadow around the world!

Happy Sunday everyone :)

Swiss Garden, Kuantan

2010-09-15T22:44:00.000+08:00

There's a saying..the only thing that is constant is change. I had a Sony Cybershot for years, took thousands of pictures and when the laptop nearly crashed, all I cared for was the pictures to be saved. Then at a trip to Kapas Island, water was in contact and it died. So, I bought a DSLR which I love as it captures night and fast moving pictures well. However, anyone who owns a DSLR will tell you it's bulky and heavy too. No whipping from my pocket to take pictures....so here I am playing with the new point and shoot camera. By the way, I've short hair all my life and then I kept it really long for the past 3 years. So, it's time for a change....both the camera and the hair...

So...Emi and I decided to cut both our hair shorter..here's clowning in front of an optical shop :)

No, I didn't turn the picture upside down...took it randomly overhead. I do note that some bloggers are fine with posting their pictures...some, I'll probably never see....one day perhaps.

With a long public and school holidays, we took a short break at the East Coast. The weather was hot and humid as usual but we were happy we had some showers to cool down the heat.

We have always stayed at Hyatt, Kuantan and haven't stayed in Swiss Garden for a long time. So, we hopped over to see if it's better than Hyatt. Well, it was not...but for a 4 star, it was just okay.

Here's the room. We got upgraded to sea view, so that was a bonus.

View of the pool from the room. As expected, it was crowded due to holidays.

Testing the zoom power and it was good :)

I didn't go into the spa but I had a good feeling it would be great being there.

Outside the Samsara spa.

East Coast beaches aren't the best unless you are take a speedboat to one of the islands. However, it was good and relaxing to be here...but since I am no big fan of the sea, a stroll around was good enough.

With many restaurants closed, we opted to eat here. Translated it means Ana's grilled fish with --petai-- stinky beans! That was a first for us. The fish was nothing so fantastic but with a huge crowd...the service was horrendous!

Here's the grilled fish with the stinky beans...just bits of it you could hardly see. BTW, stinky beans do not emit any smell. It is an acquired taste though, you either love it or not. Crunchy with a very mild bitterness and you'll experience the 'stinky' aftermath when you go to the toilet. A definite must try for those who haven't eaten it.

It's another public holiday here, we are celebrating our first time ever 1Malaysia Day. I do hope the Government can be clearer in outlining the meaning of 1Malaysia, otherwise, people are just happy it's another holiday not really understanding the true meaning of it. For Malaysians, do you?

Bye for now, I've got so many blogs to visit :)

BLOG BREAK :)

2010-09-07T09:47:00.000+08:00

Me - on blog break. Will be back soon and missing you all :O)

Breaking Fast at Sepang

2010-09-01T11:02:00.000+08:00

It's Ramadhan time here where Muslims worldwide fast from early morning till late evening. For everyone else, it's also a time to feast when breaking fast. Endless food promotion in every town and city with afternoon bazaar set up. It's an annual affair here with the office staff and for years, we have been having our meals in another hotel. When this resort opened up not long ago, I thought a change would be good.

It's super expensive, ranging from USD200 per person for a full night stay with food included, this is not a resort for just anyone. Totally not affordable and obviously targeting for the foreign market. One of the offices I am based in about 90 km from my home and since I was there, we booked for breaking fast together at the Golden Palm Tree resort in Sepang. Driving from the office to this godforsaken place, meandering through small town and villages in the rain, I was talking to the staff that the food better be good and worth the trip. Considering the buffet was one of the most expensive we have ever eaten and it was too exclusive that we were not allowed to even drive into the lobby. However, a buggy took us from parking area to lobby and here are some shots taken. Since we didn't stay there, we were not allowed to roam around freely.

Pictures from the web, to give you an overall view of the resort.

Closer look at the chalets...pictures all from their official website, http://www.sepanggoldcoast.com/.

These are from me...not the best as it was raining then.

View from the lobby, looking out to the sea ---- murky water btw.

Their inhouse buggy taken guests from lobby to chalet..and you do have to be a registered guest staying there. So, no roaming around on your own.

As expected, the lobby was huge, airy and spacious.

Then, I looked up and was very impressed with what I saw overhead...the largest lighting cum cane structure ever! ..and it was really pretty.

Of course what's breaking fast without food pictures. Our satay and I am not saying its the best in this place but Malaysian satay definitely beats Thai or Indonesian anytime.

A must to eat during this Raya festival. Glutinuous rice wrapped in banana leaf steamed inside bamboo and beef rendang.

Another favourite, sambal prawns...these were huge and cooked in spices. It was hot but good too.

Overall, the food was worth the trip and better than the other 5 star hotel we used to eat.

Now I've got to visit everyone. Happy week ahead.

Hanoi, VIETNAM

2010-08-09T12:30:00.000+08:00

When I booked my hotel reservation with Hanoi Elegance Hotel 5, their brand new hotel under the Elegance chain. I was given very specific instructions on the pick up...something, I've never had in the past. Most hotels will just have someone holding a card stating the hotel name and your name. However, this hotel gave me a 'secret code' and I had to ask the driver for the 'code' before following him to the limo. Reason - to make sure that I sat on the right limo and not someone else pretending to act on behalf of the hotel we booked. Apparently, this happens all the time due to inter-hotels competition or by unscrupulous taxi operator. A tip that travelers may want to take note when you travel to Vietnam.

Upon arriving Hanoi, what interested me the most was how the houses were so narrow! I was told the average house was about 10 - 15 in width, with the richer maybe having up to 20 feet or more. The guide said this was due to the taxes imposed on land owned. Throughout Hanoi, we saw all narrow houses and shoplots. On an average, most were 3 storey high and many up to 5 storey but still very narrow.

As for the telephone or electricity poles anywhere...a reminder of Thailand for me, as every pole looked like this. A real mess and nightmare. Most of the housing and town areas here are using underground cables, so we hardly see such mess...but I guess it's common throughout Vietnam.

A Chinese temple on the way to the hotel.

On the main street of Hanoi and this was probably the very few roads with two lanes. Most of the road are only one lane and I was under the impression that there were no traffic rules around here --- as anything goes. Not many traffic lights and anyone can cross to the other side in any possible way as long as you did it without being killed or killing someone else.

At the reception of Hanoi Elegance Hotel, a money frog facing the main door. A figure symbolically used by the Chinese to welcome more wealth into any business. Hanoi Elegance was very clean hotel and the service from the people was first class. They personally welcome us by our names, escorted us to the restaurant while waiting for check in as we were early, then escorted us to the room etc..but then there was only one problem and I'll explain in the following picture.

The room we booked was a family as there were 3 of us traveling together. So at USD105 per room/night and with 2 queen bed - we were happy with the promo rate. Seen here, one of the hotel's staff talking to my friend, Viv on our traveling plans. Important note: English is not a common language and the people on the streets cannot speak them. As much as I commended their good services, there was a small problem with the hotel staff. In their over enthusiasm to impress you with their English, there was still confusion and misunderstanding over small matters. So, I had to talk to them like I was talking to a very small child learning English - simple, short sentences and easy English. Though they could give you a full few paragraphs of English but you might end up not understanding most of the contents.

We had lunch at the Hanoi Elegance hotel's restaurant and the food was very good! We ordered two different salads, the first one was grilled chicken and the 2nd photo was even better - pomelo salad. Pomelo salad is very common in Thai food, but the Vietnamese version was even much better :) I can eat this everyday.

This is 'Pho'...the most famous Vietnamese beef noodles and it's eaten widely everywhere. Very well known here too but their version was simpler and better!

Meanwhile, eating on the streets is so common that you could not walk a street without seeing someone selling food or even cooking their own. Due to the narrow shoplots, we saw lots of people sitting on small stools and eating on pavements. I was sure the food was good but I didn't eat and always avoid them whenever I travel. Street food is common here too which I eat but not when traveling. Not exactly 5 star eating arrangements..but it gives you a glimpse of how the local eat. If you are game for it...eat at your own risk :)

I was told Vietnamese coffee which I did buy and tried. It was ok but since I don't drink coffee so much, I probably won't know the difference.

On the street of central Hanoi...more wires mess...

A common sight - vendors with their signature Vietnamese hat and food or things sold on two baskets hung from a long pole on their shoulders. We saw them everywhere, in the villages, on the main streets on Hanoi..manoeuvring between heavy traffic and people.

Buses in Hanoi were terrifying! When we traveled from Hanoi to Halong, we heard them from far honking away so everyone will stay clear when they overtake on the opposite traffic...no highways..just two way traffic on 2 very narrow lanes roads. Malaysians! Be thankful of our highway even when we had to pay toll.

We saw those red banners everywhere, indicating that the Vietnamese will have a huge celebration this year as it marks Hanoi as 1000 years old.While Ho Chi Minh is Vietnam's capital and most busiest commercial city, Hanoi is still laid back and the center for the Socialist Government.

Street vendors selling many things everywhere!

That's all for now...still got lots to talk and and blog about. Have a good week ahead everyone :O)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA

2010-08-03T15:44:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone :) Jakarta was a fun trip and my first to Indonesia. If there is a country closest to Malaysia in terms of food and language, that will be Indonesia as we speak the common Bahasa. That still, when we spoke Bahasa Malaysia, they immediately know we were not Indonesians. After a mildly 'culture-shock' trip to Hanoi, Vietnam..Jakarta seems like a dream trip. People at the hotels are super courteous and Jakarta is really at par with cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. People on the streets speak English fairly well and I have not met anyone rude at all.

This set of pictures were taken from the plane and approaching Jakarta airport, we could see fields of paddy everywhere.

We stayed here, at the Alila Hotel, Jakarta. Brand new with contemporary designs, and one of my favourite so far. There are the others 5 stars like Mulia, Kempinski, Grand Hyatt etc., but Alila is value for money, very clean and service oriented staff.

Scrumptious for dinner! We ate mainly here or restaurants. I must say that due to hygienic reasons, I stayed away from street food. I had to try their satay (2nd collage), a common and highly popular dish in both Indonesia and Malaysia. With due respect, I'd say the Malaysian satay are still way much better as ours are always marinated with many spices overnight and flavorfull!

A popular local transport........just like the Thai tuk-tuk, but slightly covered up.

An important note for those wanting to travel to Jakarta, we were advised to sit only this taksi (Indonesia) or taxi. The Bluebird taxis which are easily available everywhere, AND only used by upmarket shopping centres and hotels. The Bluebird taxis will take you on from one place to another on a shortest route, whereby other taxis may take much longer to reach the destination. Nothing bad will happen if you take other taxis, just you may have to pay much more due to the longer routes.

There's too many things to blog about and to sort on the pictures, but I will blog first on a few items on Jakarta. Seen here an 'ondel-ondel' procession by the Batavia people. Batavia are considered as native of Jakarta. There was a huge group of people both on busses, cars, vans and bikes accompanying this ondel-ondel to somewhere. Due to time constraint, I missed the ondel-ondel show at the Setu Babakan cultural village. This picture was not taken by me but from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ondel-Ondel_Betawi.jpg and you can go there to read more about the ondel-ondel celebration, a crucial and very interesting celebration by the Indonesians.

These sets were by me.

Ondel-ondel @ airport. Go to http://lang-8.com/51982/journals/188431 and to http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/06/23/039ondelondel039-an-almost-extinct-betawi-legacy.html to read more about this unique culture and giant puppets.

A visit to the National Museum in Jakarta shown some very interesting or even scary masks.

Their version of a lion dance at the Museum display (above), and seen here a preparation for a wedding shoot. Groom (below right was a Westerner). The brides maids posing happily for me :)

Mannequin showing a wedding of Jogjakarta...

The entrance into the Museum, very Balinese inspired!

Too many things to write and photos to share. I'll do a separate post on this and this picture is for you, Tracy of Hey Harriet - the host for Shadow Shot Sunday! A puppet made of leather, or wayang kulit. Such puppet are important cultural figures in both Malaysia and Indonesia. Over here, it is a dying art as you can hardly find any wayang kulit or puppet show unless you are in Kelantan. Puppets are used to make shadows in the dark accompanied with gongs and lightings, telling tales of Ramayana etc.

When I arrived in Jakarta on Friday evening, the traffic was horrendous...worst than Kuala Lumpur and even Bangkok. However, roads and driving ethics - good, unlike Hanoi. I don't think I could ever get over how the Vietnamese drive, in fact, I am even surprised that I am still alive after a trishaw ride in the town in Hanoi. Overall, the Indonesians are very friendly, city safe, driving civilized, great food and a shopping paradise for 'fake' branded goods. Here going back home and in most streets in Jakarta, one can see many people selling things in between jams.

Traveling is still not over for me. I've got a trip to Penang for business this week and am getting weary over all these traveling. We will blog about his (below) soon. This is a mock house of the people from South Sulawesi, Indonesia and they have a unique culture where they have a huge ceremony for their dead relatives which stretches for week and many animals will be slaughtered. However, if the family do not have the money.....the dead or corpse will stay in the house till the family has the money. At times, it could be week or years...sound very scary? What can I say, I do love Indonesia now. The food, the people and what interest me the most is the many different culture practiced by all different tribes. For sure, this wont be my last trip there. Happy day to all.

HALONG BAY - VIETNAM - part 1

2010-07-28T12:42:00.000+08:00

I am back and I missed everyone :) My trip to Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam was very interesting and with tons of pictures taken, I'd like to share on Halong Bay first. On our second day in Hanoi, we took a bumpy 5.5 hours ride to Halong Bay. Driving anywhere in Vietnam is a nightmare. There are no highways here, only two-way lanes, so you will find buses blowing their horns from far to warn everyone to stay away when they overtake. On the streets, you hear nothing but the sounds of horns every 10 seconds. I was thinking there were no laws in Hanoi as everyone can drive as they like. At every intersection, you find people, cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, tricycles and vans criss-crossing and honking at everyone else all at the same time. There were hardly any traffic lights and basically, anything goes as long you don't kill anyone. Definitely, one of the scariest road traffic in the world.

With all the bad driving, all of us were just glad that we made it to Halong alive! When we arrived Halong, we all looked forward to board the boat and then more drama unfold. We were informed that the whole trip was canceled. Their Port Authority gave instructions to cancel all cruises as they were expecting a typhoon on that day. The boat operator offered lunch for a fee on the boat and everyone took the offer. It was that or head home to Hanoi...another gruelling 5.5 hours back. Here was the scenery from Hanoi to Halong, we saw hundreds of miles of paddy field.

At Halong, an ominous storm seen here and no one wanted to sail out. At that time though we were so dissapointed, we consoled ourselves that better be a canceled trip than lying on the seabed haha :)

So we took a speedboat to have lunch here, the Bhaya. At Halong, you can get an overnight stay at any one of the cruises. Prices ranged from USD50 per person. The Bhaya was considered on the top of it's range, charging USD175 per person for a one night stay with all meals included. Not exactly cheap, but with a smaller group, you really get first class treatment all the way.

Halfway through lunch with many unhappy guests and sour faces, the captain had an announcement. I knew it was good because he was grinning all the way --- which meant, the boat was sailing and somehow, the typhoon was not happening but we still have an overhead storm coming. I couldn't care much of the storm as long as I didn't have to travel back to Hanoi was fine. Here was our room, pretty compact but very comfortable and as good as a 5 star hotel. All rooms came with a private 'mini' balcony and you could sit outside.

Cruising out to Halong and trust me, the real Halong looked so much better than my photos. When you have an dark cloud overhead and rain, never the best time to take any pictures as it looked like gloomy dark blobs of mountain everywhere.

The storm passed, the sky did lighten up a bit but still we had showers all the time. I never like the sun in Malaysia, only because we had too much sun all year long even on monsoon season.Here was when I wished we had sun at Halong. Towards evening, Bhaya berthed at one of the most beautiful spots in Halong for an overnight stay. Seen in collage, many other boats were there too. We were surrounded by lots of small mountains and I joked with my friends that hopefully we had some sort of shield if ever there was a typhoon..

We had a good meal at dinner...and for entertainment, it was the movie Indochine starring Catherine Deneuve in French with English subtitles, or squid fishing. We decided on none and retired early. Here was our mango starter..a favourite in all Vietnamese cuisine.

We had a Tai Chi and Yoga session at 6.00 and I was up by 5.00am as it was bright outside. Took a snap of this sunrise outside my room.

We went to the upper deck to enjoy the view and here's the Vietnamese flag flying and you see them everywhere...a reminder that I am in a Socialist country.

Guest enjoying and learning Tai Chi from the master -- he was so serious :)

Halfway through Tai Chi, I went over to the other edge of the boat to enjoy the scenery. It was too beautiful for words. You have to go and experience it yourself. Here seen a Vietnamese guest doing a head stand.

Here's Viv and me. Viv, on the left, has been a good friend and also my VIP customer for the longest time ever.

We had some crazy weather throughout our trip. One moment, dark and gloomy, and then the sky brighten up but still no sign of any sun.

Due to the rain, the boat operator had to cancel a trip to a local fishing village. Another highlight of the trip was to to the 'secret cave', seen below. I am no big fan of cave or any climbing and wanted to wait for everyone else. However, I was told there there is only one entrance and a different exit, so I had to do all the climbing into the cave but I was glad I did as it was very beautiful too. Will blog about it later when I finish the second part of Halong.

Some interesting facts about Halong. The total area is 1,553 km with 1,960 limestone islets which took 500 million years to form. It has been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. I think the only reason why there are so many tourists to Hanoi is because of Halong Bay, otherwise....I would skip Hanoi. That being said, Hanoi is a vibrant city which truly never sleeps. Horns are heard all the time and it is also the Government administration city of Vietnam. There are too many pictures to share and will do separate posts later. While back to KL, it's another busy week for me both at work and home, especially with Danial down with the dreaded chicken-pox! Thankfully, he had been vaccinated so his pox was very mild and pretty easy. I will try to visit everyone and am off to Jakarta this Friday for another short trip.

Cheers :)

SHORT BREAK :)

2010-07-22T11:07:00.000+08:00

I am on a short break.

To go to a place I wanted to go for the longest time.

They called it Halong Bay or translated 'Descending Dragon Bay' - an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Destination - Hanoi - VIETNAM.

All pictures are from this website : http://www.halongbay-vietnam.com/

I note that Blogger has a new function for Preview when you prepare a new post, super cool and thank you Blogger!!

Will be back next week and there will much to blog about. Till then, take care and I'll be thinking of you all when I am on that cruise in Halong Bay :)

FLORIA 2010 @ PUTRAJAYA

2010-07-17T11:47:00.000+08:00

It's a once a year affair, so when I was nearby for an appointment, I had to pop over here to look at all those beautiful flowers. So many bonsais as seen in this collage and those shown here are extremely expensive.

So many species of flowers but I fell in love with all those gorgeous and magnificent orchids. Here they are ---- an overdose of orchids, can you find a favourite?

Cheers :)

THANK YOU :)

2010-07-14T15:33:00.001+08:00

Through blog life, I have found some of my best friends ever, many are not local and I am so happy to know them. I do hope that I can meet up with all of them one day. I met up with Keats from www.keatsthesunshinegirl.blogspot.com and Autumn Belle from www.mymalaysiadailyphoto.blogspot.com, both are awesome bloggers and have contributed much in blog land on their articles of Malaysia. Through tea and coffee, we talked about both the fun and down part of blogging. It was really good to have met you both and would like to thank Autumn for this award.

Another thanks to Claire from www.iglucruise.com/awards/country who wrote to me to inform on this award. I am glad that this blog has been chosen and visitors can learn more about the places I have been or on articles I have written.

www.iglucruise.com

It's now 3 years since I've started blogging. I've seen blogs come and go, and fully understand the joy plus pressure of blogging at times. It's a battle for me too. Curious as to why many unknown people are looking at this blog and glad to find out they are reading posts that hopefully will give them some insights to our local culture or travel information. I've gone from hardworking to lazy, preferring to post only on interesting articles if I have any. There were times when I wanted to go 'private' or even shutting it down but decided not to. I don't know why but must be the yo-yo moody feeling I have, come to think of if..much like my diet anyway - up and down haha! However, still a huge thank you for my friends..almost all of them in my blog-list are beyond just blogging - I love you all!

July is a busy month for me, not on work but on travel. I've got 2 traveling agenda up and there will be much to blog about then.

Cheers :)

BIRD AND BUTTERFLY PARK

2010-07-07T14:50:00.000+08:00

I took the kids to the local mall and we were happy to find that our local Bird Park had a small exhibition there to encourage everyone to visit:

Rose-breasted Galah and cockatoos.

When we saw the Mandarin ducks, the children asked if the birds only understand 'mandarin'..

The kids posing with the birds.

We made it to the Butterfly Park, a place I wanted to go for a long time. Surprisingly, all butterflies and even this dragonflies are not afraid of people. So, here's sharing some of the pictures.

See you all soon :P

COLMAR TROPICALE

2010-06-25T16:54:00.000+08:00

Firstly, I am still alive! Much thanks to my blog buddies writting to me and wondering if I have been abducted by aliens haha...but you know how it is. Once we (well...at least for me) go on a short break, a day becomes a week and then a month. I practically had to do a self-butt-kick to start blogging again PLUS I have missed everyone! Busy with work, busy with the children's 2 weeks school holidays and busy being busy.

We took a day trip to Colmar...not in France, but here, Colmar Tropicale! The last time I was there was a long time ago and my son was not born then. It was a 1.5 hours drive from our home and a short getaway. Here are some of the pictures around Colmar. Even though it was in the mountains, but the weather was still hot.

Another fav flower of mine, the grape rose :)

Another must visit to the Japanese tea garden. It used to be much, much better but over the years and too many visitors, it was just OK.

The last time I took a picture of the children, the girls were only 1 and 2 years old. Here they are armed with sketch books and every outing was a 'project' for them. So, it's a learning trip as well.

I have been collecting this carnivorous plant - the Nepenthes -- more to come in later post. Put a little water in it and all sort of insects and even snails will crawl in and become their food. Quite a good way to rid mosquitoes!

Bye for now and I will be visiting everyone soon....love ya all ......(that was the Cockatoo talking ok :)

DREAMING

2010-06-24T14:09:00.000+08:00

If I were a scent I'd be green tea

If I were a month I’d be December

If I were a day I’d be Friday

If I were a time of day I’d be 10:00 am

If I were a planet I’d be the Earth

If I were a sea animal I’d be a dolphin

If I were a direction I’d be South West

If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a daybed

If I were a liquid I'd be Soursop juice

If I were a tree I’d be a Cherry Blossom

If I were a tool I’d be hammer

If I were a flower I’d be a Lotus

If I were an element of weather I’d be Spring

If I were a musical instrument I’d be a Violin

If I were a color I'd be Red

If I were an emotion I’d be Happy

If I were a fruit I’d be a Mango

If I were a sound I’d be the Beach

If I were an element I'd be Water

If I were a car I’d be Electric

If I were a food I’d be Tom Yam

If I were a place I’d be Paris

If I were a material I'd be Silk

If I were a taste I’d be hot and spicy

I copied and modified this from my blog buddy - Constance. Feel free to copy, change if you want too :)

AQUARIA - KLCC

2010-05-10T16:42:00.305+08:00

It was the same weekend for Emi's birthday (below, left) and also Mothers Day. She turned 13 this year and while I can't deny she is growing up so fast. I wish they don't grow up so fast.

When you are visiting Kuala Lumpur, you should pop over to this place. Since we haven't been there for some time, so we went here:

Some meat eating Piranhas greeted us.

Apart from fishes, there were bugs and butterflies too.

I saw my favourite, the distinctive black and electric green bird-wing butterfly, the Rajah Brooke, named after James Brooke who was also well known as Rajah Brooke. He was the Englishman who was sort of ruled Sarawak in the early 1830's. These butterflies are available mainly in Borneo and West Malaysia too.

Loved this spotted stingray!

When we finished the first level, we had to go down to another level and this huge glass tank greeted us.

Even the pig snouted turtle posed for my camera!

Loved this sad looking lion fish.

The highlight of the trip was going through this tunnel. It almost felt like we were inside the ocean.

The Sand tiger shark.

This looks like a giant squid doesn't it?

Another star of Aquaria, the Giant Fan Tail Manta Ray. It was huge!

This alien looking guy is a Chambered Nautilus.

Jelly fishes.

Finally what is a celebration without food. So, we went here:

The kids wanted to eat the famous 'ABC' or ais batu campur, meaning shaved ice with sweet corn, syrup, cincau and many other stuff inside. Great to eat on a hot day!

The kids and I had their well known 'nasi bojari', or bojari rice. It came with fried chicken, beef rendang and assam (sour) prawns..yummy :)

Husband tried the 'assam laksa', hot, spicy and sour soup with noodles.

The best dish I would say is this, satay! Available everywhere and eaten by all. However, their beef version was very tender and well marinated. Eaten with peanut sauce..and I am in heaven :)

This lotus hibernated for more than a year before blooming again, so I am happy.
Meanwhile, it's been a busy week here, will visit everyone soon..have a great day and weekend.

WATER

2010-05-04T14:28:00.025+08:00

Firstly, a big thanks to http://www.saraandherblog.blogspot.com/ for highlighting a new feature in http://www.draft.blogger.com/ which have so many new templates to choose from. I had so much fun changing the themes and had a tougher time choosing one.

We love water plants at home and have several pots of them. One of my favourite is this water lily which I have 2 plants inside, one purple and another white.

In hot afternoons, I will be hiding under this lotus leaves and we have small fishes in all pots to keep mosquitoes larvaes at bay. Dengue fever is no joke as many people die yearly here and if the authorities even find one miserable larva in my pot, I'll be slammed with a huge fine. So, I feed these small red fishes everyday and they are very cheap. I am sure they are glad I bought them as they are sold as food to big fishes.

I have 2 blue pots to cultivate water lettuces, they will be food for my kois..and more fishes inside.

The koi pond is finally ready. Husband and I wanted a so called 'Japanese' inspired pond. I told him, this heavy granite lamp is a must and we love it when it is lighted with candle at night. It sort of completes the theme. A Chinese contractor quoted us 3.5 times more than what we paid for this pond and we got some Indonesians to do it up well for a much smaller amount. I think these Indonesians are probably the sub-con to the Chinese contractors.

With a new filtering system, the pond is always clear and the fishes happy. I must say that I find it difficult to take pictures of these fishes. They recognise my husband and swim leisurely around, but if I am there, they will are always swimming away or hiding somewhere. Unfortunately, we had to lost a few fishes after putting them in their new home. I am not sure it's the water or excitement, some jumped out and committed suicide :(

Same granite material for the water cascade pot.

If you buy an insect repellent spray which contain citronella oil, it will smell exactly like the bush on the bottom right. I put it there so mosquitoes will leave me alone when I am feeding the fishes.

Another view of the pond and part of our garden.

Have a happy week everyone :)

CAMERON HIGHLAND

2010-04-26T10:53:00.028+08:00

The weather has been hot here, pushing 38 celcius on certain days and combined with the highest humidity ever makes anyone want to escape to cooler places. We took a trip to Cameron Highlands, where most of our flowers and vegetables came from. The air was cool and at an average of 23 to 25 celcius in the afternoon, it was very welcoming. While driving uphill, we passed a popular waterfall but it was crowded so we didn't stop.

It felt great to be away from the city and all it's pollution and to be surrounded by greens everywhere.

For me, a trip to Cameron is never complete without a visit to the tea plantation. We drove up the very narrow road and love the sight of tea growing everywhere, or in this case, covering every hill and mountain. There was a sign at every road turn to remind us to sound the horn as it's only one way up or down so it can be tricky driving up these terrains.

We finally reached the top and here's where we had tea and cakes and enjoyed the wonderful weather and views.

Interesting and pretty plants on the road side.

Leaving the Boh Tea plantation, I snapped a shot of one tea picker on the way out. I was telling my husband that we should have a house here one day as it's really a great place to get away from town life. A small house surrounded with lots of land and flowers will be my ideal retirement home!

Kids posing at the Cameron Tea Plantation. Many people will stop and tea and scones while enjoying the views.

Acres of tea trees stretching kilometers away, it's good and really relaxing to be here. Leaving the hectic city life and staying will probably make me happy as I won't miss city life.

Here is another Boh Plantation at a different location.

A tea bush up close.

When we left, we had a car boot-full of flowers and more inside too. Flowers are really cheap and there were plenty of varieties I haven't seen back home. So, naturally..I had to get too many of them. With a 3 hour ride home, kids aren't exactly happy with flower pots between their legs. I told them not to complain as the space in my place is full too :)

Here's one of the many pots of roses now at my home and I hope they will last.

Will do another post on the flowers soon and this is another flower I bought, it's huge and I love it! Here's a peek :)

Have a great week everyone.

FLOWERS, FOOD

2010-04-13T10:39:00.021+08:00

It's busy as usual. My garden has been a mess with tons of digging. Koi fishes has to be relocated to make way for a proper pond.

After one week, it is done but will show pictures later. Meanwhile, everyone seems to be interested in this flower. I don't know the scientific name for it, we all call it the 'bird flower' because it resembles a bird. Check it out :)

Another 'bird flower' version I have.

Meanwhile, inspired by Tracy and Constance, I am crazy over orchids for now. Green and white ones...

..huge purple ones, nope, don't know their names either..

...even curly ones too!!

So, weekends are for gardening and eating too. We ate here and loved it!!

The salad was yummy!

We had the famous Kelantanese 'nasi dagang', rice with pickled vege, salted eggs and some beef curry.

One of the kids has rice with 'ayam percik'..chicken cooked with herbs and coconut.

Emi's favourite - chicken rice.

On another occasion, more rice dishes continued. Emi's version of nasi dagang, rice with fish curry.

Eli had the beef version, both really good too.

I had the all Malaysians' fav, asam laksa. Rice noodled cooked with lots of fish, tasting both hot and sour, topped with cucumbers. By now, I am sure Ann is hungry :)

The kids love this drink, sugar syrup with basil seeds.

Meanwhile, mine was a lemongrass drink...they do taste divine in cold :)

I have been busy, always busy anyway. Kids are sick and so am I. Flu season. Saw the doctor the other day and she did a mini 'check up'. She said I had to exercise more...what's new, blood pressure is high and the weight have to go down. So, while I am seeing all these yummy food, I am munching out of a huge bowl of salad for lunch..and resigned to the fact this is what I will be eating for a long time haha!

Bye for now and cheers :)

BUSY WEEKEND

2010-03-29T13:15:00.016+08:00

I often drive home and love the sight of the sun setting but usually the camera was never with me. This was one of the days when the camera was around and I pulled over during busy traffic and just had to take this shot. I thought it was beautiful and though it looked dark in the picture, it was still very bright at around 7.30pm here.

The last wedding for March. White was the theme and here's the wedding platform and the happy couple.

On Saturday night, it's Earth Hour and we switched off all lights and took a walk at the lake nearby. Here's Danial pointing to the toilet lights we forgot to switch off on, oops, sorry! He was quite upset that everyone's house was brightly lit as not many bothered, cared or probably know of Earth Hour.

While I look forward to every weekends, somehow, weekends tend to be the busiest of all days. So many chores to do, so many dishes I want to try to cook, and so many gardening chores to do. I thought of my good friend, Tracy of Norway and her roses when I saw mine. With our hot weather, it's not so easy to plant roses but I am happy with these for now.

All those gardening hardwork paid off as I waited for weeks for this water lily to bloom and it did! I had 2 in a pot, one purple (this one) and another one white :)

While many countries are experiencing spring..it's still very hot here. It's always hot here anyway and here's my orchid 30 feet from our main door and you still can have the sun streaming in strongly. This is for Constance, she found a way of reviving orchids which I will try as I have many pots lying around for years not blooming :)

Cheers everyone and will visit all soon.

EARTH HOUR - 27th March 2010

2010-03-26T14:46:00.010+08:00

My son Danial, who is the most eco conscious person at home has been reminding me about Earth Hour this Saturday. So, here's my post on it and I love this poster downloaded from www.ehm.my. This is for you, Danial :)

Last year, we switched off all lights at home and took a stroll around the lake near our home. It was really fun to see so many people participating and even having meals with candles outside the house. We will be doing the same again.

Let's do our bit for mother Earth, no matter how small it is.

Cheers.

WEDDINGS

2010-03-23T10:12:00.020+08:00

So many weddings for the month of March. 5 in total and I have attended 3 so far, with the last one this weekend.

Arriving at the wedding reception and seeing two boys holding the bunga mangga, a definite sign of a wedding going on. I love taking photos of children, they always oblige and are ever willing. I don't know the couple well but husband and I know the parents very well. We were colleagues and good friends for the longest time.

Bunga telur with boiled eggs for guests who blesses the couple. The family chose green as their theme.

Rose water and uncooked tumeric rice to sprinkle on hands as blessings.

On the same day, celebrity blogger, Kerp or his actual name, Daniel got married with his sweetheart of 11 years. Here are the girls posing with Daniel. It was huge events filled with lots of more well known bloggers but we were late but glad we met up again. This is my second meeting with him and so happy to do so at his wedding. Congrats Daniel, semoga bahagia selalu :)

Last weekend was another ex colleague's son's wedding. It was a huge and very festive event, lots of good food as in every wedding.

The wedding dais was grand as expected. Here seen two guys preparing to perform a silat, a traditional Malay art of self defence.

A close up of the lovely couple.

Wedding post still not over until I cover the one this Saturday.

Meanwhile, here's wishing everyone a good week ahead :)

HOME

2010-03-17T10:39:00.014+08:00

It's school holiday week. I took a few days off and stay at home. My wonderful mother in law have been staying with us the past few weeks. She is a great cook and we have been enjoying all her delicious cooking. Not only I didn't have to cook, I come home to a spotless home as she has a full time live in maid. Oh, I am in heaven :P The only thing I wish is that she will stay with me forever..but all things comes to an end as she is leaving this weekend. With the school holidays around, I have a few days off to enjoy time with the children and do some gardening.

I love windchimes and have a few at home, this one in the form of an elephant from Bangkok.

Hubby cleaned up our mini koi pond and water was crystal clear. I tried to take some pictures but those kois kept hiding under the water cascade!

So, I turned off the water filter and pump..haha..no more hiding and I can take pictures of them.

Can you believe this white koi used to live in our lotus container!

Even Mr Frog found a home with the kois.

My favourite shot, love the shadow of the frangipani overhead giving much needed shade to my fishes.

The weather has been extremely hot and humid...but yesterday it rained for the longest time and I was so happy..so was my plants.

I can skip buying anything else, clothes or food, but can never resist flowers..here's the latest one, but I have no idea what is the name.

Always love to see water on my lotus leaves.

Last Saturday was a busy day. We attended 2 weddings on the same day and also have another 2 weddings this Saturday..but still not the end of it. There's one more wedding to go next Saturday, obviously March is a good month for wedding for 5 couples :) Will do a post on this next week. It's mid week, so have a good week ahead.

God of Prosperity

2010-03-09T17:11:00.009+08:00

I didn't want to do another Chinese New Year post but remembered these photos, so I just had to post them for you all :)
We see them at times..no, they are not really God of Prosperity, otherwise, I would have married him myself LOL!!, but you know how the Chinese are so obsessed with wealth or generation of wealth during Chinese New Year, so this is a popular figure I guess. Not something or someone you see everywhere but he pops up during Chinese New Year, so everyone's hoping some so called wealth magic will rub off to them...or bring good luck.

So much for being busy, I am stuck in office for a day and here I am doing a second post ;) A question for all blog buddies, I am sure you have some sort of spam in your comments section. I loathe them tremendously and mostly Chinese writings and link to rubbish sites. Which means I had to put on comment moderation :( and then, they spam me even more and send loads of the same stuff to my email. Maybe because I reported them to blogger. There is such function to report spammers, though I doubt anything can be done. Maybe it's just be rambling my head off or I take these things too seriously.

Anyway, busy Saturday coming up...a few weddings to attend to, all at the same day, but I'll try to take some pictures for you all.

Tata for now :P

BANGKOK

2010-03-08T09:20:00.011+08:00

I was enjoying the long Chinese New Year break and before I could do a third post, I am back to work. Back to the crazy and hectic lifestyle and out of office most of the time, making very little time to do any post. I tend to take too many pictures wanting to share everything and as usual, have little or no time to post them all. Just like I could not finish my Bangkok post and find myself planning for a second trip soon. Photos taken during latest trip on some cultural show. I wish I could narrate the story but after two months, I can't remember anything.

Wishing everyone a great week ahead and will pop over for a visit soon.

THE LIONS - CHINESE NEW YEAR CONTINUED

2010-02-22T11:26:00.027+08:00

It seems like so long the last time I posted and here again, still on Chinese New Year. We started with our annual reunion dinner just like everyone else. Finished dinner with this dish called 'yee sang' which is only sold here. It's a mixtures of salads, crackers and fresh salmon, everyone will toss it and say all the nice words to start a New and hopefully good year.

Mom had her basket of oranges and red packet ready. Red packets are given to anyone who is not married. During the past one week, there had been lots of eating and meeting up with family members. One of the highlight for me was to meet up so called long lost cousins, we were closest buddies when we were young but somehow we have lost touch for a long time. So glad we met again.

With lots of time in hand, we went to some of our favourite places. Some were normal so I'd post pictures on those I like, especially when they have a theme on decor. While tossing the 'yee sang', my sis-in-law, kept saying "bo bo ko sing", and that's sound very funny typed in English. It's one of the popular wishes and I smiled when I saw the same thing at a mall. It's in Mandarin but meant the same. I let the sign do the translation.

True to it's theme, there were plenty of bamboo and lanterns everywhere.

With Valentines and Chinese New Year falling on the same day, there was even a Valentines tree for anyone who wished to dedicate to their loved ones.

A favourite shot of mine, subtle bamboo shadows seen here..which reminded me of Tracy's Shadow Shot Sunday.

I guess I am lucky this year. I saw the dragon and a few lion dances too.

This one batted it's eyes at me ;)

The atmosphere everywhere was pretty the same, loads of red, very noisy and crowded too.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, the lanterns continued to dominate in decor. In red of course, and every Chinese home in my streets have similar pair at their homes. Red - the 'yang' colour, the colour of joy and celebration. We were all warned by my mom not to wear black on Chinese New Year...nothing new if you are a Chinese.

More lions seen. The weather was super hot..around 34 to 35 celcius. Everyone was in the shade somewhere, with the exception of photographers like this guy and oh yes, me too.

I have no idea why the organizers had the show at 3.00pm, when it is the hottest and I felt like fainting under the hot sun. Here getting up close with the lion.

Some of you have seen this picture in FB, the other place I am often around other than blog as I like the privacy and the choice of posting personal family pictures, unlike here. So, posting again as I love the lion jumping in mid air.

I was quite sure the lion was smiling at me ;)

I guess it does take some skills to co-ordinate everything so high up. It was a challenging act but I have seen much tougher ones too. Still, everything was done well and I give tons of credit to perform under such heat and humidity.

Another fav picture and post..the sun almost blinded me, I kid you not!

I took this picture for my blog friend, Diane - she has the largest private collection of dolls ever!

A mock opera headgear and dress at one of the shop display.

Chinese kites anyone? Looking at this picture, I am quite sure my blog pal, Keats was there too as she has a post on Chinese arts.

After a long break from blog land, I have lots to catch up with everyone. I am back to work and half of this morning was spent sorting all the photos and doing this post. I have one more post to complete as it seems such a waste if I don's share some of the pictures taken. So, have a fab week ahead and cheers :)