Phuket 10-13June2010

This would be a long write-up. Photos would be on the next post, yes just photos only. Mummy better put up the post before the story became too outdated…

We decided to go for a short and budget holidays in June2010 instead of December 2010 because JL would be going to Standard 1 in 2011, so we would like to keep the month empty in case any orientation etc.. Besides that, it would be cheaper to travel in June2010 than in December 2010.

We started our plan since November 2009. Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong decided to join along with us. We were busy hunting for a cheap apartment and also Sam Yee was fantastic because she managed to almost all the tickets under grab-a-deal online.

Since the plan started last year, we also started to save money. However, we were happy that we did not spend much for the holiday. We decided to keep as simple as possible without having to rush everywhere. It was impossible to do everything due to time and cost. Sam Yee came out with the itinerary and also she was the one managed to get us a nice 3-room apartment at a cheap price. Good thing food in Phuket was quite reasonable.
Day 1: Thursday 10June2010 – Arrival + Free & Easy at Phuket Town
We left our apartment at about 7:15am on a big van because KongKong, PohPoh, Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong were with us too.

We reached airport and checked-in. After checked-in, we had breakfast in McDonald.

The flight was quite full. The breakfast was either nasi lemak or murtabak. We ordered food for the kids and JL got kid’s meal. As for AL who was short of one month to her 2nd birthday, she was given baby jar food which we ended up packing in the bag. AL ate some food from kid’s meal and some from the adult’s meal.

The dessert was a surprise when each of us was given a small tub of Haagen Daz ice-cream.

We landed at Phuket International Airport and after collecting our baggage, we met with Dave Chang (the travel agent introduced by Mummy’s colleague) who would be arranging our Island Hopping (Day 2) and Island Safari (Day3 half day). He gave us a short briefing and also gave us on loan a handphone so that we can call each other on local rate. Then we boarded the van from the apartment.

Everyone was impressed with the apartment. We got the biggest apartment which was 3 rooms. The apartment had 3 rooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 kitchen. 1 living room, 1 dining room and 1 big balcony with a Jacuzzi. The master bathroom was big including a bathtub and a shower room. Besides that there were 2 LCD televisions where one of it was located in the master bedroom. The kitchen had electric stove, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, 2-door side by side fridge, plates, pots, cups and etc... The master bedroom came with one king sized bed where all four of us slept on one bed for 3 nights. The apartment could fit in another 2 persons because the living room sofa could be converted to queen sized sofa bed.

The place was known as SurinPark and it was good thing we went during low season that the 3-room apartment rental per night was about RM410.

Mummy’s Cousin, Ah Ching (who had been working 10 years in Phuket) arranged her friend to fetch us from SurinPark to have local lunch in Phuket town where we ate noodle and otak-otak. The otak-otak was good that we wanted to order more but it was already finished.

After lunch, we were taken up to Rang Hill to view the Phuket Town. From there, we went to visit Kata Beach, Karon View Point and Phromthep Cape View Point. We were supposed to stay back at Phromthep Cape View Point to see the sunset but upon checking the time, it would be another more than 1 hour of waiting time. We decided to leave early and were brought to a shop selling all the Thai’s unique dried titbits.

From there, we requested him to bring us to the shop which had lots of fireworks and real big ones. The price was cheap. PaPa and Sam Yee Cheong bought a few so that we could play for fun at the beach because we were not allowed to bring any fireworks back to home country.

At last, we had dinner with Ah Ching together with her Aunty and Grandaunt. Ah Ching was busy working but she took some time that night just to have dinner with us. It was not just a dinner but it was actually a big feast where Ah Ching really ordered so many delicious Thai’s food. We ate and ate and ate… That was not the end, after dinner, we went to a roadside hawker to get some Thai’s sweet dessert. Again we were spoilt with choices that Ah Ching and her Aunty decided to choose for us. The dinner or actually feast was ‘belanja’ by Ah Ching and the dessert by Ah Ching’s Aunty … so ‘pai seh ‘ with them…

The driver drove us to nearby hypermarket where we got some water and also a cake for us to take as breakfast on the Day 3. He sent us home after the half day tour and we gave him THB 1500 for his service.

Then it was home zzzzz…..

Day 2: Friday 11June2010 – Island Hopping
We woke up early and had our breakfast at about 8am at the café in SurinPark. It was a simple breakfast and enough to share with the 2 kids without having to add (most of us were small eater). The rental of the 3-room apartment included breakfast for 6 adults.

The agent, Dave arranged for a nice, comfortable and big van to fetch us at 9am to Boat Lagoon Marine where we would take the speedboat for Island Hopping. We had chosen to go to Phi Phi Island which would be towards the South of Phuket. Since we had 6 adults and 2 kids, we decided to have private speedboat. Dave gave us a good English speaking tour guide who graduated from International school. There were 2 drives and 2 trainees who joined us, so in total we had up to 5 people assisting us in the speedboat. Cool drinks were provided free flow in the speedboat.

It was first time for all of us doing snorkeling. PaPa and Mummy enjoyed it. JL refused to go and was happily feeding the fish. It was beautiful and the tour guide took some us around further from the speedboat to explore the beauty of the fish and corals. Then, PaPa and Mummy got cotton soak with white vinegar to rub our itchy skin because we were bitten by small white jellyfish without realizing. It looked like small, thin plastic bag floating.

Lunch was at Phi Phi Island while Sam Yee was recovering was sickness due to drinking in too much sea water. The tour guide was great in giving tips to overcome sickness and also told us where to sit to avoid sickness. We learnt that by sitting at the back end corner really helped. Besides that, by going into the sea and wet our head with cold water would help to reduce the motion sickness.

After lunch, all of us except the kids and KongKong, pop-in motion sickness pill because the sea was expected to be rough. We went to visit a beautiful island than another one where we rented 2 chairs plus a big umbrella to laze around while PaPa and Sam Yee Cheong continued to snorkel around there. Sam Yee Cheong saw a big pink cotton candy which was actually a big jelly fish. JL was enjoying playing and making sandcastle.

We arrived back to Boat Lagoon Marine just before 4.00pm. The only regret was we should have bought the disposable camera to be used underwater. The scenery underwater was beautiful that Mummy wished we had taken some photos. We went back to rest. PaPa, Mummy, Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong went to relax at the private Jacuzzi in our balcony.

Late in the evening, we took a walk to Surin Beach to check out dinner area. We had our dinner by the beach at Twin Brothers Restaurant. The food was just ok and not as good as our previous day dinner. AL decided to take her nap during dinner that we pack some fried rice for her to eat. After dinner, PaPa and Sam Yee Cheong went to light up the fireworks while the rest of us enjoyed seeing the show. After the fireworks, we felt we should have bought more.

Then it was home zzzzz…..

Day 3: Saturday 12June2010 –Island Safari & Patong
The Island Safari driver fetched us at 8am. We woke up early that day to have cake which we bought on the 1st day as our breakfast. Agent Dave specifically told Island Safari to arrange 2-way Private transfer. We have chosen Safari Program C which was ½ day program. Agent Dave gave us 10% and one free child for JL. Children who were below 3 were free, so AL was FOC. We had the following activities:

• Elephant Trekking for 30 minutes
• Monkey Show
• Rubber Tapping Demonstration (from tree till the process of making the rubber sheets)
• Rice Farming Demonstration
• Buffalo photo
• Thai Boxing
• Ox-Cart Riding
• Nature Canoeing – good thing PaPa had license in kayaking that he was the one canoeing Mummy, JL and AL back. Sam Yee Cheong, Sam Yee and Kong Kong were initially going round and round at the river trying to pick-up the trick to canoe.
• Thai Cooking – Papaya Salad
• Elephant Show – which include baby elephant massage
• Fish Spa

Agent Dave met us just before we went to the Fish Spa where we paid the balance of the money and also we returned back his handphone.

We went back to SurinPark and we managed to negotiate to use our breakfast voucher for lunch. The breakfast voucher was THB 150 for each adult. KongKong, PohPoh and the kids went up to take bath. While the rest of us ordered our lunch and at the end we just needed to top up less than THB 120 for the lunch. We went up to take our bath and rest while waiting for our lunch to be delivered to our apartment. Yes, we had our simple Thai lunch in the apartment.

It was JL’s turn to have fun at the private Jacuzzi in our apartment’s balcony.

At about 4pm, we walked out to the main road to get a tut-tut to send us to Patong area. At Patong, our first stop was Hard Rock Shop. Then we walked around and took a light bite at McDonald Pork Burger. Each of us took only ½ of the burger for tasting purpose. We went to look for the restaurant Ah Ching was mentioning to us and we found it. We walked by the beach.

After beach, we walked along the road to check out and did some shopping. We had our expensive dinner at Savoey. PaPa, Sam Yee Cheong and JL went to choose some fresh seafood while AL enjoyed herself on the highchair because she had never sat on that type of highchair before. After dinner, we continued our walk along the roadside and did some shopping for souvenirs.

We got a tut-tut to go back to SurinPark.

Day 4: Sunday 13June2010 –Free+Easy & HomeWe woke up and had our breakfast in SurinPark. PaPa and JL joined us after a session in the swimming pool. Then we decided to walk to 7-11 which was not that near after all especially under the extreme hot sun. Sam Yee Cheong wanted to buy Pork Snack but it was not available in that particular 7-11.

Just next to 7-11 there were small hawker stalls. We decided to pack some BBQ Fish, and etc. We wanted to get Mango Glutinous Rice which not available at that stall. The lady requested one of the guy customers to take Sam Yee Cheong on his bike to the next place just to buy Mango Glutinous Rice. After a long wait for Sam Yee Cheong to come back with not only Mango Glutinous Rice but also other delicacies. We started a long walk back to SurinPark, maybe it was not a long walk but it seemed to be long due to the extreme hot sun.

We ordered some other dishes like rice, vegetables and Tom Yam from SurinPark to add onto the food we bought from the hawker as our lunch. Again, the food was being delivered to the apartment. We took our bath, lunch and started to pack our bags to go home.

The advantage of this apartment was the check-in and check-out time was not too rigid. We were allowed to check-in in the morning when we arrived and as for check-out, we only check-out at 3pm. We had a lot of time in the airport that we took a slow walk around the airport before we went aboard to go home.

Happy Birthday to Sam Yee 2010

Today is Sam Yee’s birthday.

JL made a special card by himself. This morning, before Mummy sent JL to kindy, we dropped by Sam Yee’s apartment to give her the card with 2 small bottles of perfumes. JL wished and hugged Sam Yee while passing her the card and gifts.

We hope she will like the card and the gift….

May God bless you with happiness & good health...

Happy PaPa's Day 2010

PaPa,

Happy Blessed PaPa’s Day to you

from us,

Mummy, JL & AL.

We love you and pray that God will continue to bless you in your health, career and everything...

Here was the card made and created by JL for this year PaPa’s Day…For lunch, Mummy cooked a very simple food and we ate together. Mummy just fried a fish, steam vegetables and fried egg omelets. Mummy was not a good cook but good thing PaPa and the kids were not too fussy.

We had our dinner together with KongKong, PohPoh, Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong at Lot 10 Food court. Then we took the opportunity to walk around Lot 10 and also the rooftop since we hardly visit KL Town.

Back from a short trip….

We just got back from a short, simple, tiring and also fun trip. Mummy would need to sit down to write and get the photos ready. We had a mix of own DIY and some with travel agent recommended by a friend.

So far everything was punctual from the pick-up at the airport, pick-up to activities venue till pick-up back to the airport. It was as if there was a proper POS system in place to run the whole trip. Mummy just found that POS system technology had expended including covering retail and restaurant too.

Even though we did not cover the whole area due to time and budget, we only chose selected places to go and try to avoid having too pack schedule. Having kids with us we would prefer a more relax schedule.

Well, the kids enjoyed the most the apartment stay… try guessing why…

Mummy’s mind still in holiday mood…help me…

PaPa’s Back Problem

PaPa had been having very bad backache that he had to take high dosage of painkiller. It was so painful that it badly effecting his appetite too. When Mummy went to visit Mummy’s gynae for regular pap smear, he recommended his friend from the HUKM Specialist clinic. Mummy’s gynae took the trouble to contact his friend.

PaPa was diagnosed with central disc prolapsed by the specialist after the MRI. The specialist was trying to avoid surgery by asking PaPa to go for physiotherapy first. PaPa went for his first one last week and the next would be next week. In between, PaPa would go for swimming and do the exercise which was advised by the physiotherapist. By end of this month, PaPa would be checked again by the specialist.

We prayed that with the regular exercise, it would strengthen PaPa’s back. Hopefully the insurance would give us 100% reimbursement. There were many type of insurance now which includes mechanical breakdown insurance, medical coverage for unborn child insurance and many others. It looked like Insurance industry had expanded to cover almost every part of our lives unlike those days; insurance covered only car and medical.

Bye Bye our old Sofa

We replaced our old sofa end of last year after many months of hunting looking for a simple and compact sofa. We wanted to replace our fabric L-shape sofa to a leather sofa. Initially we wanted an L-shape leather sofa but decided to just settle with a simple 3-seater Leather sofa because an L-shape leather sofa would take a lot of space in our small hall.

We managed to get one for about 50%. While doing our hunt, we saw a lot of new and compact modern furniture now in the market especially to serve those who stayed in small apartments like us. We gave away our 4+ years old sofa to JL’s kindy cook. The fabric was still in good condition but the spring was slowly giving away thus it was uncomfortable to sit on especially for long duration.

Bye bye to our old Sofa...

JL’s Tuxedo

JL had his first tuxedo presented by Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong as a gift. He wore those back in 2007 during Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong’s wedding as a ring bearer. Recently when Mummy was taking clothes from JL’s cupboard, Mummy noticed that that tuxedo was small as compared with his other clothes. How much JL had grown up since 2007…? My baby was no longer a baby anymore.

Which insurance company?

With medical bills increasing, insurance played an important role to everyone now. There are insurance advertising every where and it made us not only spoilt of choices but also got confused. As for our family, we trusted our friend to manage our medical policies for the whole family. At the end, it would be the service which played the most important in an event where we needed a reliable agent to speed up our claim and many other things.

Gifts for Twins…

Having online facilities had made giving gifts so much easier. Mummy’s ex-company’s retired consultant had just become a grandfather to a lovely pair of twin boys about a few months ago. Mummy had been surveying what gift to get for the twin boys. They were residing in United States thus online gifts had been the main place to get the gifts. There were so many online gifts choices especially in United States such as baby clothes online, gift baskets online and many more.

Anyone could help me to suggest what nice and reasonable gift Mummy could get for the twin boys?

Our Kancil

Our Kancil would be 8 years old soon and PaPa would be looking for cheap auto insurance. How time flies and we got this car when PaPa started his work back in 2002. Our old and faithful Kancil had not been giving us any big problem and had been serving us well. It was the car Mummy used to send and fetch JL to and from babysitter for 3+ years. It was the car which Mummy used to bring JL and AL out when PaPa was not around. Mummy loved the car because it was small enough to make driving and parking easy.

Kitchen space

Mummy was and still not a good cook. We only had minimum utensils unlike some good cook who had the whole range or cooking utensils all clad copper core cookware. We only had one small and one medium pot. Anyway, we hardly had enough space if we were to own more in our tiny kitchen. Storage would be a big issue. It would a dream come true having a bigger kitchen which would be big enough to fit all four of us at one time.

Still Broken Sink…

Our broken sink had yet to be replaced. PaPa had not found time to find a good bargain. There would be nothing much to hunt in the internet except nice and luxury like Kohler toilets and many others. It had been months we survived using the broken sink. It was a good thing that both kids did not play with the broken sink because the sink was located in PaPa and Mummy’s room instead of the outside bathroom. We needed to find time to start our hunting.

Dream List - Diamonds

Every woman’s dream will be to own a diamond or more diamonds. Mummy has seen all the nicest diamonds while window shopping for our wedding ring back in 2002 knowing that we will never be able to afford one. After seven years of marriage, diamond is still in Mummy’s dream. It is something in Mummy’s dream lt which is not a must to get and it will be nice to have.

School Holidays

School holidays are here. This time all the kids will have two weeks school holidays. We have a plan for a simple and nearby holidays since last year. There is no way we can go for long and far holidays such as Florida and Orlando vacations. It will be a dream come true not only for the kids but also to PaPa and Mummy. When will that be?

Weight loss after delivery

A lot of people asking what are the best diets for quick weight loss especially Mummy’s friends who are going through weight problem after delivery. Some of them even wanted to start to go on diet during confinement which is highly not recommended because it is the month to nourish and strengthen one’s body. The most common answer will be eating healthily, going for regular exercise and not forgetting breastfeeding.

Making time to go for swimming…

It had been such a long time that we did not bring the kids for swimming. We were so blessed with a well maintained swimming pool in our apartment where the pool pumps were always working properly to keep the pool clean. So, blame on PaPa and Mummy who had not been coming back on time from office during weekdays. Why not weekend? Our Saturday evenings would be in church where JL would be in KidZone and AL in ToddZone while PaPa and Mummy in the main service. Most of the Sunday evening would be occupied with other activities.

We must make time to bring the kids for swimming.

Storing Kids’ Clothes

We had to plan how to store all the kids’ clothes by ages from baby clothes to toddler clothes. We came out with the idea of getting covered storage containers under each of the kids’ beds.

We got a total of eight containers where four would be located under each bed. Soon, the containers were filled up; we came out with another idea of using some vacuum bags where we could fill two containers of clothes into one container using one vacuum bag.

At the end, we had clothes which were used to be filled up using eight containers compressed by the vacuum bags into four containers thus helping to double up the space of one container. On each of the containers PaPa had labeled them by age group.

PaPa and Mummy’s Day—31 May 2010

Yesterday was PaPa and Mummy's Day. PaPa went into the office to get some work done while Mummy took KongKong to the Immigration Department to renew his passport. Surprisingly, AL woke up early and followed KorKor to kindy. PaPa then went to check out the physiotherapy centre before going back home. Mummy would explain later on why PaPa needed physiotherapy.

Mummy had an early drink at 11:30am with Aunty Sharon after fetching AL from kindy back with KongKong at 11am. After that, PaPa joined us for a drink. From a drink, PaPa and Mummy went for a movie. If was our first time watching movie together after so many years, maybe since we had JL back in 2004. We decided to catch the Robin Hood movie at 2:30pm. Mummy had a hotdog for lunch and popcorns. Mummy’s 2010 resolution to be healthy was a failure that day that even taking apidexin would not help. Sigh…

Then, we went walking around and end up buying some clothes for the kids from FOS Kids at a bargain which included a nice red shirt for JL’s Chinese New Year 2011 priced less than RM20. After FOS Kids, we went to Tesco to get some vegetables for the kids. We kept all the things into the car and went to IKEA for our simple dinner.

Dinner was a bit different that day because we usually go to the IKEA restaurant with the kids. Instead of sitting near the kids’ area, we sat on a high chair next to the window just two of us. That day also instead of Mummy and AL sitting on the table and while PaPa and JL went to buy the food, PaPa and Mummy went and get the food together.

It was kinda of different for us going out alone just two of us after so many years getting married with kids. We were so used to bring the kids wherever we go. That day, Mummy got to admit that Mummy did miss the kids a lot especially seeing other kids running around.

Even though if was nothing special but it was a good few hours spending time just two of us.