CNY clothes

It was a very simple preparation and making sure everyone got at least two clothes to wear. Jeriel set last year theme as apple green and this year was red.

PaPa

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  1xShirt
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  1xCollared T-shirt

Mummy

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  1xShirt
• 
  
  1xCollared T-shirt
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  1xBlouse

JL

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  Chinese Top (recycle from 2009 CNY)
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  1xShirt
• 
  
  1xCollared T-Shirt
• 
  
  1xT-Shirt
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  1xJeans (we got this from United Colors of Benetton Warehouse just before CNY for less than RM20)

AL

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  Cheongsam (recycle from 2009 CNY)
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  1xDress
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  1xCollared T-Shirt
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  1xT-Shirt
• 
  
  1xJeans Skirt (Ariel’s first jeans skirt which we found in United Colors of Benetton Warehouse for less than RM20)

PaPa and Mummy got the similar collar T-shirt which cost us less than RM100 for two after hunting for quite some time for the same color and resonable price. Mummy’s blouse was 50% (less than RM50) and the shirt was less than RM30. Since Mummy needed pants for office and coincidently there was 50% sales, PaPa suggested that Mummy should get two instead of one. We would wear with our old jeans which were still in good condition.

We also managed to get for both kids the same collar T-shirt from last year 2009 sales which we purposely bought larger size to be kept for this 2010 CNY. Mummy loved to see the two kids similar even though there are not twin. JL also loved the idea.

The Chinese Top and Cheongsam which the kids wore last year were also the same color.

We also manage to get almost similar T-shirt for each of them where JL was Mickey Mouse (Orange) and AL was Minnie Mouse (Yellow). Besides the list of clothes listed above, we got each of them a cotton long sleeve stripes T-shirt which was RM10 each only.

We did not buy any new shoes or socks because the kids’ shoes were in good condition. Besides that we would always make sure the kids had one pair of shoes and one pair of sandals at each time. It would be no point buying an extra pair for them since they would outgrow fast.

We took quite some time looking for good bargains that Mummy had no time for Mummy’s facial. With many blackheads, Mummy was thinking whether would it worth the investment to get a blackhead extractor and DIY at home to cut cost plus save time from going to the centre.

Different people would have different ideas about CNY preparation and there would be no right or wrong way but most important of all would be that everyone was happy on CNY. CNY would be a great time to meet up with relatives and friends.

Traffic Jam – 18Feb2010 Thursday

A summary from the previous post, we were in Penang for one night after spending two nights in Alor Setar. It was short, full, busy but great time meeting with relatives and old friends. Mummy wished Mummy had more days to visit more people in Penang. Again, Mummy was very sorry to those Mummy didn’t have the chance to visit.

The trip up to the North was the first for AL and the longest car journey for AL. It was AL first time crossing the Penang Bridge and her first ride on the Ferry.

We left after lunch appointment with old family friends. PaPa decided to use the ferry instead of the bridge to give AL her first experience in the ferry. However, it turned out none of what we expected. Firstly, AL decided to take her nap and only woke up when we reached Butterworth. Secondly, waiting at the jetty was almost one hour. Therefore the ferry had caused us to be caught in the North-South Highway jam. The one hour waiting period at jetty had made our journey going back home much longer by almost two hours.

PaPa suffered bad backache and fatigue due to short trip up the north for this Chinese New Year. It seemed that age is catching up on PaPa. Mummy got to check out the best vitamins for men, hopefully would be able to help PaPa to be more energetic.

Happy Chinese New Year 2010

13Feb2010 - SaturdayOn CNY eve, we had our family reunion dinner at Tai Pak’s house. This year KongKong, PohPoh and Yi Yee joined us. The previous year (2009), they joined Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong together with Sam Yee Cheong’s family.

It was a potluck dinner where everyone including PohPoh cooked a dish. This year, PaPa prepared the Yee Sang and steamed fish. Mummy had not recovered from the heavy and delicious food during Christmas 2009, and now Mummy indulged with CNY food. This being the first big CNY meal and Mummy could imagine that there would be many more lunches and dinners for the next 15 days. Help, any effective diet pill for sale?

14Feb2010 – Sunday
We went for 8am Church Service where the kids wore their Chinese Costumes. PaPa and Mummy were on our Blue Collared T-Shirts and white jeans.

After church, we met MahMah, Tai Pak, Tai Pak Leong, Sam Sok, Topaz and Orion for breakfast in PJ State. Then we went to Thai Kow Kong’s house where MahMah’s family would gather including Ah Thai (MahMah’s Mummy) every year.

Lunch, we went to Ku Poh’s house for lunch and late YehYeh’s family would gather there. This year, the family gathered for the first time without Ah Thai.

As for dinner, we ate at KongKong and PohPoh’s apartment with Yi Yee, Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong. Then home to pack and pack till the next early morning…

15Feb2010 – Monday
We left for Alor Setar about 615am. Our Iswara Aeroback booth was completely full that we left the stroller at home. Sam Yee Cheong drove his car with Sam Yee and PohPoh in the car. KongKong did not join us this time to settle some matters. Yi Yee drove her own car because she would be going to Haadyai on the following day.

We went to Ipoh for a McDonald breakfast because not many Chinese hawkers would be open on the 2nd day of CNY. We reached Alor Setar about noon and unloaded our bags at 4th Ee Poh’s house. We went to have lunch with Ah Chor (Ah Thai in Hokkien- PohPoh’s Mummy) who is staying with PohPoh’s youngest brother’s house.

Then, we went back to 4th Ee Poh’s house to meet up with our old family friend – Pastor Perez and his family who was on their way back to Bukit Mertajam from Kangar. It was a great short fellowship seeing Pastor Perez aka Uncle Ling Ling’s two kids Charis and Zoey had grown up so much. We knew Pastor Perez even before he got married with Pastor Jenny. How time flies when we still can remember when we three sisters followed Pastor Jenny for her pregnancy check-up…

Dinner, 4th Ee Poh had steamboat and grilled meats where Piu Kow’s family also joined us. This was Mummy’s eldest cousin brother. For information, PohPoh had 10 brothers and sisters. This Piu Kow was PohPoh’s eldest nephew from her eldest brother. Mummy had fun catching up with Piu Kow Moh whom Mummy called her ChiChi (Big sister in Hokkien). Would you be surprise if Mummy said that we three sisters actually followed Piu Kow and ChiChi for movie during their courtship time? Yes, we were the three lampposts.

16Feb2010 – Tuesday
Breakfast, we went to Ah Chor’s house to eat home cooked nasi lemak. Ah Chor’s maid was a great cook and she was a very cheerful maid. Our Ah Chor was and is such blessed to have this maid. This maid cut short her holiday in Indonesia and rushed back when she found that Ah Chor was sick.

We visited 1st Ku Kong and 2nd Ee Poh houses before we drove up to Kangar where another family friend Dr Lee and her two kids joined us for lunch at Pokok Sawah, Mata Ayer. Mummy missed the food a lot especially the ‘ikan keli’ that Mummy took more than two. The only sad thing was there was no ‘petai bakar’ which Mummy loved a lot too. The bill was only about RM6X (for 8 adults and 1 child). One whole jug of ‘Sirap Cincau’ was only RM 3.60.

After lunch, we went up to Padang Besar (Malaysia-Thailand Border Town) where we bought some mangoes and two small Zebra Stainless Steel mug for the two kids. PohPoh bought some pots and steamer. It was extremely hot and we went back to Dr Lee’s house to chill out in an air-condition room and cold drinks. She even served us with homegrown delicious papaya, while PaPa relaxed on Ogawa massage chair.

While driving around Kangar, which had developed a lot, brought Mummy down memory lane because Mummy studied here from Standard 1 till Form 5 when KongKong was posted to work in Kangar. From Kangar, our weekend would be a trip down to Alor Setar to meet up with PohPoh’s parents because PohPoh was from Alor Setar. We, three sisters were all born in Alor Setar General Hospital. Mummy wished Mummy had more time at least one whole day in Kangar to meet up with all Mummy’s old friends. Mummy told PaPa that one day Mummy would want to meet up with this person, that person and the whole list of people. PaPa must have thought Mummy was crazy or dreaming.

Sam Yee, Sam Yee Cheong and PohPoh went back to Alor Setar while we went to Jitra to catch up with a family who had taken care of PaPa when PaPa was studying for one year in Polytechnic Jitra.

After a short catch up, we rushed back to Alor Setar to freshen up for another family dinner. 2nd Ku Kong from Sunway and 5th Ee Poh from Johor had just arrived with his family to Alor Setar.

17Feb2010 – WednesdayBreakfast; again we were in Ah Chor’s house to eat fried noodles, half boiled kampong eggs (yummy…) and soup boiled by Ah Chor. After a fast breakfast, we hug and kiss goodbye to Ah Chor and continue on to Penang to meet up PohPoh’s childhood friend who happened to be Mummy’s (and also Yi Yee and Sam Yee) Chemistry Teacher.

Uncle Chin Aik would be going back to Kangar after lunch, so we took the opportunity to meet up since he was in Penang. His wife cooked us lunch at their cozy apartment in Penang. Uncle Chin Aik is suffering with Parkinson for many years.

He was the person who introduced me to Polytechnic Education, when during Mummy’s time; it was a place where a lot people are unaware of it existence. Mummy was looking for alternative to avoid Form 6 and going to private colleges were totally out of the question. When Mummy got offer to Polytechnic Ungku Omar, a lot of people was against it and said it would be a waste of time including KongKong and PohPoh. However, with Uncle Chin Aik guidance, Mummy went for it after suffering almost 6 months in Form 6 Science (Mummy was not a studious type of person). The story of how Mummy got Mummy’s degree would be another long story because in short, it took Mummy 5 years to get a degree from the time Mummy joined Polytechnic for Diploma Course.

After lunch, Sam Yee Cheong, Sam Yee and PohPoh went to check-in at Equatorial Hotel. Sam Yee got a good deal from the hotel where the 1st room was 50% and the 2nd room was 50% from the 1st room price. Average each room was less than RM200. Initially the rooms were for Sam Yee, Sam Yee Cheong, PohPoh and KongKong, since KongKong could not make it, instead of wasting the 2nd room; we decided to stay in the hotel. We were supposed to stay in PaPa’s Piu Kow’s house which was nearby Equatorial Hotel. JL was excited to stay in hotel. It was AL’s 1st stay in the hotel.

While they check-in the hotel, we went to Kulim to visit a family who had taken care of PaPa when PaPa was studying two years for Degree in UTM Kulim Hi-Tech Park.

From Kulim, we went back to the hotel to freshen up then to Balik Pulau where 1st Ee Poh whole family prepared us dinner. After dinner, they drove us up for a short trip to Bukit Genting. From Balik Pulau, everyone went back to hotel except four of us, we went to Piu Kow Kong (PaPa’s Piu Kow)’s house to meet up with Thai Yee Poh, Piu Yee Poh and PaPa’s young Piu Yee and Piu Kow who was 5 years old and 2 years old.

18Feb2010 – ThursdayEarly morning, PaPa and Sam Yee Cheong went for hotel breakfast at 730am because 2x breakfast was provided for the 1st room only. Then Sam Yee Cheong drove Sam Yee and PohPoh to the nearby market to pack breakfast. Then all went to the swimming pool for about 45 minutes then up to get ready to check-out.

We had lunch with another old family friend Uncle Alex with his wife Aunty Christine and daughter Clariss. Their son Andrew just went back to his university, so he could not join us. When Mummy was in Penang doing 6 months practical training in BHL Bank, Mummy stayed in their house and Clariss just a little baby. Uncle Alex was and always a cheerful and friendly person.

After lunch, Sam Yee Cheong went back via the bridge and PaPa decided to use the ferry to let AL experience the ferry ride but it ended up unexpectedly…..next post…

Mummy would like to take this opportunity to all friends who stayed in Kangar, Alor Setar and Penang whom Mummy did not visit, Mummy would like to say very sorry and Mummy wished Mummy had more time. If time permits, Mummy would plan another visit up North again to catch up with all of you…

We, the whole Family would like to wish everyone a Blessed Chinese New Year. Have a Blessed, Prosperous and Good Health Year.

Christmas 2009

Even though this would be an overdue post, Mummy felt that Mummy should write a short summary on how we celebrated Christmas 2009. Mummy was feeling a bit stress up trying to find time to keep Mummy’s journal updated as much as possible. Hopefully this would not cause extra wrinkles on Mummy’s face, thus making Mummy’s face look even older. Mummy would like to avoid having to go through the expensive procedure of removing wrinkles.

As usual, on Christmas Eve, we had potluck dinner in Tai Pak’s house. PaPa made Blueberry Cheesecake. Everyone was there including KongKong, PohPoh and Yi Yee except Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong, who were in Taiwan for holiday. After the guests went back, we waited till midnight to open the presents. Just 10 minutes before midnight, we started distributing the presents under the Christmas tree and JL was busy helping up.

On Christmas Day, we went to church in the morning and the church was crowded. We took MahMah for dinner in 1Utama that night. The next day we took KongKong and PohPoh for dinner in Sunway Pyramid.

We usually have dinner on Christmas Day in Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong’s apartment (why? because their apartment bigger than ours) but they were in Taiwan. So dinner was on 31 Dec 2009 night. We ordered a lot of food and PaPa made Blueberry Cheesecake. Everyone wanted PaPa to make his Carbonara Pasta like the previous year but PaPa had no time. However, everyone loved the cheesecake.

So the kids had 3 presents opening session which was midnight of 24/25Dec2009, 25Dec2009 after church and 31Dec2009 night. It was so nice to see the kids opening their presents. The kids loved all the gifts which included a pair of Crocs (original) from Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong.

We would love to thanks everyone for all the lovely gifts.

Part 5 Melbourne: Day 6, 7 & 8 (26-28Nov09)

This would be the last part of the trip update and it would be long to cover 3 days.

Day 6: Thurs 26Nov09 San Remo & Philip Island

For Philip Island, we purchased online for the “PICNIC DEAL 3 PARKS PASS” which was AUD 134.75 (for 2 Adults + 1 Child) and consisted:
• Afternoon or morning tea at Churchill Island
• Entrance to Churchill Island (10am-5pm)
• Entrance to Koala Conservation Centre (10am – 5pm)
• Entrance to the Nobbies Centre (11am – 1 hour before sunset)
• Lunch at the Nobbies Centre (two course and drinks)
• General penguin viewing at the Penguin Parade (Visitor Arrival Time in Nov 715pm)

Our aim was to arrive there to have our late morning tea at Churchill Island and late lunch (early dinner) in Nobbies Centre.

PaPa took the wrong turning because we misinterpreted the GPS instruction that we ended up rounding the Melbourne City. We were late for the morning tea that Mummy called to inform them and they were nice to tell us it was ok to extend the timing.

By the time we arrived San Remo which was located just before the bridge crossing to Philip Island, we decided to stop to let the kids see the ‘Pelican Feeding’ which was suggested by the Customer Service in Melbourne City (our 2nd day in Melbourne). ‘Pelican Feeding’ is free to view daily at 12pm. JL enjoyed watching the big pelicans and even asked for some money to contribute towards taking care of the pelicans. The lady who fed the pelicans was also doing on volunteer basis.

Then we drove across the bridge to Philip Island and from there we went to Churchill Island. The staffs were so nice and immediately got us a nice spot to side facing a beautiful countryside enjoying our coffee and scones. JL was enjoying his hot chocolate and scone too. AL was sharing the hot chocolate with JL when one of the staff decided to make another hot chocolate for AL in a small cappuccino cup for free. This was our first meal in Melbourne which was not home-cooked.

The staff was nice to call Nobbies Centre to request the kitchen to extend the hours for us so that we would have a dinner (rather than early dinner) just before the Penguin Parade at night.

We had a walk and stroll at the countryside and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We visited the Amess House, orchard and the farm area. In the farm, there were a lot of activities which included ‘pat baby animal’, milking cow, blacksmith demo, sheep shearing demo and working dogs with sheep.

After that, it was about to rain heavily that we had to postpone the visitation to the Koala Conservation Centre to tomorrow.

We went and check-in at Cowes Holiday Unit. The owner built a self-contained 2-bedroom just behind his own house. It was not a hotel but it was a home will full facilities. JL decided he wanted to sleep by himself in another room.

We took our shower and then drove to Nobbies Centre to have our dinner. The view was spectacular that we decided that we would drop by this place tomorrow early morning before Koala Conservation Centre since it was late and rainy. We had Fish & Chip, coffee and a slice of cake. JL had his hot chocolate.

After dinner, we went to the Penguin Parade to walk around trying to understand how the work being done to preserve this little penguins and then proceeded to the beach to view the coming back of the penguins. The benches were wet because it was raining heavily. JL decided to sit on the sand in front to have a better view of the penguins. We were walking along the wooden paths built surrounding the penguins’ homes. JL was running along following to see where the penguin went. After that, JL wanted a mini penguin soft toy and we bought for him As for AL, she ‘geli’ seeing and touching soft toy that we ended up didn’t buy for her.

We went back to zzzzzzz…………………………..

Day 7: Fri 27Nov09 Philip Island & Puffing Billy
Mummy woke up early to cook breakfast and also packed our lunch (yes, picnic lunch again after a nice lunch and dinner which we paid with the package). We sat down as family and had our breakfast. Before we left, we cleaned up the Holiday Unit and returned the key.

That morning, we went to pump petrol to the car and went to Nobbies Centre to have a morning walk.

From there, we went to the Koala Conservation Centre to see Koalas and we also saw wallabies.

We had to cancel our visit to the Chocolate Factory in Philip Island and also we supposed to go to Myuna Farm in Dandenong was also cancelled because the slot was taken for Koala Conservation Centre (which we didn’t make it the day before due to rain and late arrival).

We went to Belgrave to catch Puffing Billy- Steam Train. The time we went there was no Thomas Train. We decided to purchase the tickets from Belgrave to Lakeside. It was a long but scenic travel. We had our picnic lunch of pasta and salad at the picnic bench at Lakeside. From Lakeside we took a short stroll and catch the return train where the kids took their nap in the train.

From Belgrave we drove back to Aunty LL’s home and we had dinner together at home.

Day 8: Fri 28Nov09 Victoria Market

 

We planned to have easy going day before we catch the 1am flight on Sunday. We took a train to the city and stopped in front of Victoria Market. Aunty LL and YH joined us along. We drove and parked the cars at Aunty LL’s aunty’s house and took the train. Aunty LL’s uncle was nice to drive PaPa to purchase the tickets from a nearby shop while the rest of us sat at the train stop.

The Victoria Market was amazing with lots of variety of goodies from food to clothes to shoes. PaPa got himself a leather belt. We also purchased some avocado and mangoes which was selling by box. We would be sharing with Aunty LL. By noon, everything especially food would be on sale at a very very cheap price. For example the big box of mangoes or avocado (or any fruits) were selling for less than AUD10 (Mummy could not remember the price).

Then, we took the train back and drove to a town where the set-up of the shop lots was similar to Asian. A lot of the shops and market stalls owners were from Asian countries. We had a very nice Dim Sum made by Hong Kong chefs.

After lunch, we went back home and started to do some packing. We spent the whole evening and night at home. Aunty LL made sushi for dinner which was lovely. Uncle KM came back from his outstation and followed PaPa out to pump petrol the rented car and returned the car back to the car rental. The agreement was we would take and return the car with full petrol tank. About 10+plus, Uncle KM drove us to the airport. At the airport, we started to pack the carseats into the box and send for extra plastic wrap in the airport.

We walked around the airport and JL was too tired that he slept even before we boarded the flight. The staffs were nice to allow us to enter the airplane first and to make sure we settled down before the other passengers came on board.

It was tiring but fun….Overall the weather was ok when we were there. The temperature was not as high as in Sydney and Perth during the same time we were there. Mummy's colleagues who were in Sydney and Perth at the same time we were in Melbourne were hit by high temperature and it was extremely hot. If not, Mummy would be worried about everyone skin and trying to get for zit remedies.

How much was the whole trip? Email Mummy for details....

We planned to go Melbourne again when the kids were bigger to cover other places which we didn't manage to go especially Great Ocean Road and Yarra Valley. Hopefully, by then, they would learn to appreciate the scenery and view of that few places that we didn't go during this trip.

Thanks sooo much for all the great hospitality by Aunty LL, Uncle KM and YH…We will miss you all a lot. Hope to see you soon…. Take care.

Part 1 Melbourne: Planning before the Trip
Part 2 Melbourne: Day 1 & 2 (21-22Nov09)Part 3 Melbourne: Day 3 (23Nov09)

Part 4 Melbourne: Day 4 & 5 (24-25Nov09)