Sarawak Cultural Village

The Sarawak Cultural Village, also known as a living museum, features some of the main 7 ethnic groups of Sarawak in one location - the long house of Bidayuh, Iban, Melanau tall house, Orang Ulu, the traiditional Malay house and the Chinese Farm House. These are the original and traditional tribal houses built within a 7-hectare site, with the various ethnic groups featuring their arts and culture in harmony.

Prior entering the village, each one were given a "passport" as our entry pass. We are encouraged to get chops from all the respective 7 houses as part of our visit to the places.

What used to be a different tribes of enemies, these ethnic groups have now foster close friendship amongst each other. We were told by our very chinese looking Melanau tour guide that there are no more Melanau tall houses in Sarawak except for the one built in this village as all the other Melanau tall houses has been torn down as they are more than 100 years old and are not safe to live-in anymore.

First time visitors to Sarawak should make the visit to the Sarawak Cultural Village a big must-see, must visit. The cultural experience to the village is what Sarawakians would consider it to be the unknown side of Malaysia.

I proudly inform a few of my Sarawakian friends of our visit to Kuching prior to the trip and each and everyone of them will say "You must visit the Sarawak Cultural Village". I'm glad I was there and I'm suprise to see for myself what I've always seen in pictures and read in magazines. It was really captivating.

It was a very hot and humid weather though and it is advisable that visitors are equipped with hats and lots of water through the walk in the village.

The diverse culture, lifestyle, wood carving, the very fine and delicate handicrafts such as the beading and the pua-weaving, legends, performances, colourful traditional attire, and the many stories of the beheadings, killings and other captivating highlights were simply unique.

For the kids, Eryn was very active and exploring the inside out of the houses with daddy while Brendan was not really pleased with having to walk and walk under the hot sun. He was also quite afraid to enter the houses. Brendan enjoyed the blowpipe display by a Penan man and watching the spinning gasing display - very boyish interest.

Eryn was an all-rounded girl, enjoying the cultural performances, checking out the items on display in all the houses, looking at the how swords are being made, mixing around with the beautifully dressed Bidayuh women, entering the skull hut, and walking from house to house.

A visit to the Sarawak Cultural Village is a must for first-time visitors.

Sarawak trip (part 2)

Day two of our vacation, was basically a visit to the Sarawak Cultural Village and some of the attractions in Kuching town.

After breakfast, we headed to the Sarawak Cultural Village which was just approximately 10 minutes walk away from our resort. The village highlights the main selected ethnic groups of Sarawak and shows the richness in the many authentic heritage and tribal histories that shines through the various racial groups existing in Sarawak today.

I personally found the Sarawak Cultural Village to be an interesting eye-opener. I shall highlight more of that in my next post as I found that the Sarawak Cultural Village to be just simply enchanting.

The tour around took started with a visit to the local Satok market, Cat Museum, then the Pavilion, a handicraft shop, the pottery centre and finally to the Sarawak Museum. It coincides with the Sarawak Regatta event, but due to time constraint, we didn't had the chance to go to the riverfront.

The kids enjoyed the Cat Museum and the Sarawak Museum which is deemed to be the third best museum in the South-East Asia region.

The Sarawak Museum was something the whole family enjoyed. The kids were more into the animal, fish and boat displays, while daddy was all over the place and mummy here was paying attention to every other thing like to artifacts, the ethnic and cultural display, the photos and others.

The Cat Museum was basically filled with cats - more than 4,000 of them in pictures, statues, displays, etc.. Brendan and Eryn just went meowing around the museum, amazed by the big cat statues there.

Other than that, we enjoyed shopping for a few items - the famous pepper, some smaller souvenir items and my very long-awaited pure teak wood (kayu jati) mat. When I first saw the teak wood mat at a friend's house last month, I was so interested in it and asked where she got it from. When she told me she bought it in Sarawak 5 years back, I made up my mind to get one when we get to Sarawak. There were many other crafted potteries and display items that both hubby and I wanted to get. However, it was quite a handful carrying the huge mat and other stuffs. So, we got the contact of the shopowner in case we would like to order items directly from the shop to be mailed over to KL.

The second night wasn't a good night sleep for me as Eryn was suspected to have a mild food poisoning. She vomitted on the bed 5-6 times throughout the night and had mild fever. Over breakfast, we heard that a few others had the same symptoms as well. We gave her fever medicine and she was up and about again but wasn't having any appetite to eat at all.

Otherwise, everything would turn out perfectly well.

Here we have, right in Malaysia, an exotic and beautiful place which I believe a lot of my friends have not visited before. I have visited Phuket and Bali but never stepped foot in East Malaysia. A Sarawakian friend once said to me that I should take the initiative to visit Sarawak and I will be surprised at the many offerings that Sarawak has. How true is it when I finally had the chance to be there.

I would definitely encourage friends, esp. Malaysian friends, who has visited many other countries to visit Sarawak. Do divert your next holiday destination to Sarawak if you've not been there.

Hubby and I plan to visit Sabah and other parts of Sarawak like Miri in our future holidays when the kids are much more grown up.

Sarawak trip (part 1)

Hubby's company organised a company family trip to Kuching over the 3 days Merdeka break and we took the 2 kids along with us. We've always wanted to plan for a trip to Sarawak and the opportunity arised, and it's free!

We had to get up before 6am to get ready and reach hubby's office in Shah Alam by 7am. From there, we are to take the bus to the KLIA airport for our 11am+ flight to Kuching. Upon arrival at Kuching, our tour guide brought us to Satok town for a short lunch break before heading to our accomodation place.S

Our tour guide did a very good join in briefing us on Kuching and the many beautiful tribes that exist there. With the many legends and histories of Sarawak, the place gives me the impression that it's mystical, enchanting and very exotic.

Though "kuching" is the malay word for "cat", the tour guide told us that Kuching was named after after a town where one of the relative to Brooke used to stay. It was also believed to be named after the mata kucing fruit.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Damai Beach Resort. The resort is situated in Santubong, which is around 40 minutes drive from Kuching, and is surrounded by lush tropical rainforest with a view of Gunung Santubong.

We were allocated a very nice and comfy family room chalet by the beach, overlooking the South China Sea. The kids were practically thrilled riding on the bus to the airport, getting on the airplane, riding on the bus again, jumping on the beds and running all over the place!! Boy, looks like we parents and the kids have different views at this vacation and definitely different view in addressing our term of a "quiet and peaceful holiday". hahaha

Patriotism

With so stories and articles in the papers on the Malaya's road to Independence really made me wonder what patriotism really means to each and everyone of us.

Merdeka Day to me has always been known as a public holiday to me and the day Malaysia achieved Independence. What does it really, really means? We are in the era of a new development, of not knowing the hardship and availability of resources in our parents' generation.

As a kid, I use to think how my parent's and their siblings, together with their own parents, lived through the day by day life during the Japanese occupation, in the presence of Gurkhas in their surrounding areas. I was told many stories about how one big family of 15 (my mum's side), survived on livestocks, planted tapioca and tapioca leaves, farming their own vegetable plots to feed not just the 15 of them, but the workers at my grandfather's bread and biscuit factory in Kluang, Johor.

We are now in the generation where everything seems to be available. And we are spoilt with choices. Do we really understand the true meaning of Merdeka deep down in our hearts? I read with much awe the many write-ups and had always understood that Merdeka for Malaya then was more than an Independence for the country - it's total freedom, complete unity, happiness, hope for a better life, life for a better generation, search of happiness, experiencing the moment which meant history for development of this country.

We are really spoilt with choices. We take things for granted. We complain about not getting enough of this and that... and we forgot the spirit of freedom and living life to the fullest....

Selamat Hari Merdeka to all Malaysians...

Fireworks

A few days ago, we went to the top of a hill at Bandar Puteri, Puchong, to see the fireworks in Putrajaya. After hearing about it from my neighbour and reading about it in the papers, we decided to head up there to see for myself the wonders of the fireworks.

Attempts to plan (ya, just planning alone) to go to Putrajaya was quite a problem when the jam from Puchong heading to the toll towards Putrajaya was just simply crazy.

Hubby got a call from his friend to inform us to not bother heading to Putrajaya and instead told us to meet he and his family up the Bandar Puteri hilltop to see the fireworks.

We could already see so many people waiting for the fireworks to start. The show that night was the fireworks performance from Germany, if I remember it correctly. When it started, everyone was excited - and I meant, everyone - big, small, old, young... The "ooooos" and the "aahhhhs" was really amusing.

Despite seeing the fireworks from afar, we could still feel the wonderful experience of a gathering of people sharing interest in the performance. THAT - reminded me of the thought of what UNITY means. And with Merdeka just one day away, this one unique gathering opened my eyes to how much more UNITY meant on the day we achieved Independence.

Suicide

Gosh! last Saturday, I found out that Eryn's nanny's new maid has hung herself from the bathroom window and has committed suicide!

The nanny takes care of Eryn and another 4 year old boy. That Saturday, the boy was sent to the nanny's place but the nanny had to go out to do get something around 10am and the boy was left alone at home. At about 12noon, the nanny called home and the boy picked up the call.

The nanny asked the boy to call the maid and he went upstairs to call the maid and took sometime before he answered the phone once again. He told the nanny that the maid was "tied-up", not knowing how to describe it. The nanny panicked and called a nearby neighbour who went to the house and saw that the maid's body was already harden.

The police came and the nanny was in a traumatic situation. The maid only started work 5 days before the incident and it was suspected that she could be in a deep depression. The worst thing is the thought of how the nanny and the boy will carry this at the back of their mind.

I took care of Eryn on Monday to give the nanny a break as she had to make a police report. The police has classify the case as a sudden death.

That suicide, happened one day before the ghost month prayer day or something like that...

Brand new house

2 months back, we took the opportunity to bring the kids to JB for a short break as their favourite uncle (my brother & his wife) has just shifted to their new home.

It doesn't matter if that holiday is in JB, or even in KL, as long as they get out and have fun, they're happy enough. There goes the afternoon naps, and the running and jumping around, the snacks and food that seems to be never-ending, and late nights....

I remember that a kid, I too was happy wheneverwe get to go for holidays, even if it's just a one day trip to an aunt's place. For us, it's the fun and joy of the get-together.

The short break was a welcomed, but the "after-effect" is really overwhelming, with the clothes to wash, and the sleep to catch up on.... zzzzzz......

Brendan & pre-school

It's been a wonder how kids just tend to develop so fast at their own pace... I tried to get Brendan down to writing his "A", "B", "C" and all, but he just refuse to budge.

As my mum was getting quite tired with Brendan whining at home, I decided to send Brendan to a pre-school sometime in April this year. And surprisingly, within 2 weeks, he could write A, B, C, etc... and write his own name!! Gosh, either I can't teach, or he picked things up real fast in those 2 weeks.

Now, it's been approximately 5 months, and he could write so many words, read, speak in BM and Mandarin. So naughty, so stubborn, so tiring and yet so smart, so attentive and so full of surprises!

He'll be coming up to KL soon to start his year 5 pre-school next year. I'm now just cracking my head to think of the options available. And speaking of that, it's also the year where I have to register him for primary school! Dilemma dilemma dilemma..... Chinese School? National School? Hmm.....

How Vain am I?

Haiya, Vichelle wants to know how vain am I. Well, I don't really go with the latest fashion, nor do I spend hours and hours dressing up. I don't stare myself at the mirror all the time..

Here's the summary of how vain I am :

You Are 46% Vain

You're a little vain, but more than anything you have a healthy amount of confidence. Thinking the world of yourself is great. Just don't think less of those who aren't as pretty as you!

How Vain Are You?

"What happened?"

I was on my notebook while DH was reading newspaper and watching the TV. 2 years old Eryn was sitting in the hall, playing with her toys and flipping through her storybooks.

ntv7 was showing the LIVE EARTH concert and Sarah Brightman was on stage singing a song, in a very high opera voice.. Suddenly, Eryn stopped doing her stuffs and asked, "What happened?"

Here goes the conversation :

Eryn : What happened?
DH : What happened what?
Eryn : What happened to Auntie?
Me : starts laughing
Eryn : What is Auntie doing? with a 'what's going on' look on her face.
DH : Auntie is singing lor..
Eryn : Terrible.
DH : Terrible??
Eryn : Terrible hor...

Hahahaha.. that was so funny....

Little Drummer Girl

About 3 months back, we took Eryn out to the Meadjohnson Smart Camp at Midvalley. We had the special privilege to enter the place at 9:30am before the opening launch to the public. There were activities organised for kids in the area of music, education and creative play.

There was a self-made set of drums, made of pails, plastic covers and with a wooden 'spade' as the drumsticks. Eryn was enjoying herself and playing the drum when a camera was set on her. She looked so cute on the drum set and later that night, Eryn was seen featured on the national news playing the drums.

At home, she takes out whatever she can get from the kithen and create her own musical world, hitting on a pot, clashing some plastic bowls, hitting on the colanders, spoons, etc.

Here goes the little drummer girl...

Lake Gardens again

Had a get-together with some of my mummy friends at Lake Gardens again.


2 weeks in a row.... Eryn was just so thrilled! She's been asking to go out to the park on weekends and now that she's been given the chance to go, she's just enjoying herself to the fullest.


I went to fetch a friend this time, and so, got company throughout the drive there. Here's Eryn being cheeky with her poses...

Just mummy and Eryn

It was Mother's Day. I didn't go back to my hometown but chose to stay in KL. DH was away in Germany for 3 weeks and thus, I decided to spend Mother's Day alone with Eryn all alone. Brendan called early in the morning from my hometown to wish me Happy Mother's Day and he said that he's eating cake and would be going for a sumptous lunch!!

My brother and his wife were planning to take my mum out and that, to Brendan, meant going out jalan-jalan and makan-makan.

Anyway, I took Eryn to Lake Gardens for a 2.5 hours outing. That was only my 2nd time there and I was kind of surprise that it is such a fun place for kids.

Eryn just loved playing there. It gave me a moment of pleasure, thinking of days when I was a kid. We were just happy going to the playground with only 2 swings, a see-saw and a merry-go-round. Kids these days have so much things to look forward to..

Half day trip to Genting

I was given 4 complimentary tickets to watch the show "FLY" in Genting. I gave the tickets to my mum, sis, brother & sis-in-law to watch the show while DH & I took the kids to the indoor theme park.

On that particular day, the kids knew we were going out and didn't take their nap the whole afternoon. By the time we arrive Genting, it was around 4pm+ They were too excited to sleep and was amazed at the huge, colourful playground around them. Their heads were turning here and there and they were jumping up and down.

By the time it was dinner, the kids were extremely tired and sleepy, but still wanted to play. They sat in most of the rides, going round and round, walking here and there, stopping to see this and that, and by the time my family came out from the show, it was almost 11pm.

Gosh, upon entering the car, they slept immediately, all the way back home.

As it was an Easter weekend, all rooms were fully booked. So, we've got no choice but to drive back on the same night.

Boyz II Men

Quite recently, I had the opportunity to meet Boyz II Men up close and personal. I loved their older albums and their songs are part of my favourite collection - A Song for Mama, End of the Road, I'll Make Love to You, On Bended Knee, One Sweet Day....

I don't have any specific favourite singer or groups and mostly go for songs that I like. I've met a few artistes and singers but meeting Boyz II Men is like a dream come true.

Open your mouth

"Show me how you laugh", I said, and the kids laughed and then freezed with their mouth open wide! They love doing this and I don't know what's so interesting about showing what's in your mouth. Hmm..... since it's quite difficult checking their teeth and tongue, maybe taking photos is a way for me to make a clear analysis on how clean their teeth and tongue are!

CNY in Kluang

Brendan and Eryn are usually in their old clothes. So, it's always nice to see them when they're dressed up quite presentable for the camera.

They seldom wear socks and wearing socks is like being so "cantik". They would proudly parade around the house and stare at the socks on their feet! But it doesn't last long cos the heat would make their feet all sweaty and uncomfortable and they would asked it to be taken out.

Eryn wearing mummy's old dress

My mum will clean and rearrange her cupboard once in a while and 4 months back, while cleaning the cupboard, she took out 2 cute little dresses that was once worn by me more than 30 years ago. My mum kept a lot of our baby clothes, and she has sewn many lovely dresses for me and my sis, but somehow most of it disappeared, or got stolen, when she left it at my grandma's place.

Here's Eryn in one of my baby dress - photo taken about 4 months back when Eryn was 16.5 months.

This is when I wore it many many moons back!

Here's another one of Eryn wearing my dress.

My late grandparents' house

In one of my trip back to my hometown last year, I took my mum and kids to my late maternal grandparents' house just to 'see-see-look-look'.

The house brought back lots of memories and was very nostalgic especially to my mum. This was where my grandparents brought up 13 children. At that time, it was the only big wooden house in the middle of nowhere. There were trees and vegies everywhere - rambutan, durian, papaya, coconut, ciku, pineapple, lime, lemon, even rubber trees and those red biji saga trees (not sure what it's called in English) and many kinds of animals and insects - very filial dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, 2 geese, cobras, pythons, huge biawaks (they feast on the chickens), big fat buzzing bumble bees, monkeys, owls, squirrels, etc.. We love the rambutan season cos the grandma has one particular rambutan tree with seedless rambutans and another with yellow rambutans. In fact, all the rambutan trees (and the papaya trees) bore sweet fruits.

My grandparents were from Hainan. Their marriage were arranged. My mum said that grandpa was a very handsome man and many families tried to match-make their daughters to my grandpa, but my grandpa had eyes only on my grandma. They were married at a very tender young age and grandpa left for Malaysia and set up his own bread factory in Kluang (now taken over by my uncles). Grandma later came to Malaysia and together they settled down in this little town.

It was during the Japanese occupation and things were rough. I used to hear stories of Gurkhas in town and how the Japanese imposed a curfew to avoid any mishaps.

Cooking were done in another section of the land, in a custom-made kitchen as big as the hall in my apartment, using firewood and charcoals over a big wok as big as a tractor's wheel! Ya, grandma and aunts had to cook for the factory workers as well.

There's around 43 grandchildren (or more) and about 12 great-grandchildren now. I am the 10th grandchild and we, the older grandchildren share some fond memories of our childhood at my grandparents' house. We loved playing there, sometimes climbing the mango and rambutan trees, or go searching for "bao fu" (spiders), or simply walk along the big, huge longkang looking for fishes and tadpoles... We played lots of our childhood games here - galah panjang, hide-and-seek, police & thief, etc....

Sometimes, we go under the house, digging to see if we can find some old coins. I used to keep some odd-shaped coins and some with a hole in the middle but have misplaced them. We didn't know how valuable such coins would become.

It's sad seeing the place in ruins now...

Raisin-lover

Actual post dated 30th Oct. 2006

Oh, gosh! Eryn just loves raisins. She'll ask for raisins in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. The moment she spots the Sunmaid raisins on top of the shelf, she'll ask and ask and ask until she get her raisins shot.

She'll happily munch her raisins on her own and the satisfaction on her face shows it all.

Despite it being sugar-free and preservative free, I'm wondering if it's actually safe for consumption on a daily basis.

Munch munch munch

Actual post dated 23rd Oct. 2006

Eryn loves munching and she’s always asking for food to much, despite being so small-sized. She doesn’t really have a big appetite and doesn’t eat a lot but she just loves munching. Every hour or so, she’ll ask for biscuits or bread and for bites whenever we have our meals at the moment. She’ll munch on grapes, raisins (one of her favourite), pear, apple, prune, carrot, etc.

Hmm….. maybe because she’s born in the year of the goat….

Piano Duets

Actual Post dated 20th Oct. 2006

One pretending to be Beethoven, one pretending to be Mozart? All I know is there love banging and banging and banging on the piano.

Ahem! Mummy here is a good pianist and they’re trying to take after mummy, I guess. For now, I just have to bear with the “lovely” tunes that come under their little, fat, fingers…..

Christmas 2006

A lovely picture of Brendan hugging Eryn on Christmas morning.

Christmas party

Brendan and Eryn had a good time dancing away at a Christmas party in a golf club in mummy's kampung. It was their first time watching Christmas Carollers singing away. While all the other children were playing games and watching for Santa Claus and the adults sitting and chatting among each other, Brendan and Eryn were the only listeners and supporters of the carollers.

Long Deeparaya break

2 weeks before, I was undecided whether to go back to my hometown in good ol' Kluang. I didn't want to take any unnecessary leave when my work is all piling up. And then, the announcement came, that all staffs are required to take compulsary leave. Since we have to take a forced leave, it made my decision more clear-cut.

And so, the exodus began. I drove back with the kids early Saturday morning around 7:40am. Traffic was building up along the North South Expressway but it wasn't jam. I later heard that later in the same afternoon, traffic was so bad under the heat.

It was a good weekend again in Kluang. There's always tons of home-cooked food and tons of shows to watch on Singapore channel. We seldom tune in to Malaysian TV whenever we are in Kluang as we get clear reception of the Singapore tv channels. The kids love playing with kong-kong and their Uncle Kim Leong and Auntie Fannie.

This trip, I missed the breakfast at Kluang railway station again, and missing Kluang's yummy beef noodle and botak curry mee. How to go out an eat when there's abundant of food at my parent's home?

We spent Brendan's 3rd birthday in Kluang as well which fell on Monday. It was a small celebration at home but it's a meaningful one definitely.

On the first day of Raya, we went to a prominent businessman's open house who happened to be my dad's friend. It was a lovely makan love-affair as the food was just simply yummy. I've not been to any raya open house for many many years and attending it for the first time together with my kids reminds me of the lovely racial harmony that we enjoy.

We've never been to the extremely big Zenxin organic farm despite being a Kluangnite and took the opportunity to visit the farm in Kluang. It was really a surprise for us to see that Kluang has a huge farm. I think they specialises in the planting of the red dragon fruit there.

I used to buy the organic brown rice powder from a Zenxin shop in Kluang 2-3 years back and am surprised at the growth of the company.

When the time came for us to come back up to KL, I really dread having to drive up in the jam but it's a decision I made and I have to face the journey. The usual almost-3 hours drive turned into a 4.5 hours drive up to KL.

Whatever it is, I don't regret going back.

Copycats

My mum love sewing pants, batik shirts and pyjamas (doesn’t matter if it’s not matching) for my kids. Even when we were small, my mum always spend her free-time sewing our dresses, School uniforms, pyjamas and shirts for us.

That’s a pic of Brendan & Eryn in matching cotton, checked pyjama tops. Hey, they’ve got matching smiles to go with too!

Siblings Rivalry

Brendan and Eryn have this love-hate sibling relationship. Well, can play and laugh together one moment and then hit at each other at the wink of an eye!

I love it when they play together. Eryn will sometimes go ‘sayang' kor-kor and Brendan will then ‘sayang’ back mei-mei. But when Eryn starts kissing kor-kor with her wet, salivating lips, Brendan will start screaming and hit at Eryn. That’s when the headache starts. Each will take turn hitting at each other and start screaming and shouting for mummy’s attention. Both will come running to mummy at the same time, wanting to be carried and wanting to sit on mummy’s lap at the same time! Yes, at the same time….. They rather not take turns but would rather go at something together……

Here, you can see a pic of Brendan hugging Eryn till she’s almost out of breath! Haha

My brother's wedding

My one and only brother finally got married about 3 months back. So, this is an overdue post.

My sister-in-law is someone who is really down to earth, maintaining a very low profile and is always ever so generous and kind-hearted, never failing to be nice to everyone around her. She's got this lovely glow on her face, being so patient and understanding.

The wedding was quite a big affair for the family, with the dinner guests totalling 50 tables. My mum's side happened to be a big group as my late maternal grandparents had 13 children. It was a fun affair especially for the younger children, which means it's playtime with lots of balloons, running around and abundance of fun with all the grand-cousins to play with.

self-feeding

As Eryn grows older, she likes to "show off" the things that she can independently manage on her own, like having her own meals.

She'll insists on holding her own spoon and eating on her own, sometimes messying herself and everywhere.

Tanglungs

Just a memorable week of the kids having fun with lanterns, doesn't matter if they're lighted up, squashed, torn, burnt, etc... For Eryn, she's even happy just holding the stick without the lantern!

Music please.....

Over the weekend, we took the kids out to Midvalley for a short visit. We had to send my sis to a wedding dinner in Bangsar Seafood Restaurant and thought that we could spend a few hours in Midvalley while waiting for my sis.

The kids seldom get the opportunity to go to shopping malls and they had tons of fun there. There was an 'iceless' skating rink and the kids enjoyed watching the people skating. As the music beats away, the kids danced around the exhibition hall for all to see.... *Mummy had to hide face*

Eryn's little 'acrobat' performance.

Eryn is one little dashyat baby. Turning 16 months old this Sunday, it's a wonder how she can perform her little magic.

Tell her to do tai-chi and she'll put her two hands down on the floor, one leg down and the other leg up in the air, then she'll twist her body a little like a acrobat stunt. When it comes to yoga, there's a more dramatic effect - the same taichi stunt, but with an added 'lifting up her head' effect.

There's this big cute Crayon Shin Chan doll that we have at home where Eryn will just jump on it, squeeze the neck with her knees and start riding it and she'll goes "sit hooss..." (sit horse)

She can climb up the chairs, tables, hide under the sofa set and the stuffs that babies do without any thoughts of danger coming to their minds. Oh, and she loves twirling around the curtain at the sliding door.

Check out the picture on the right. Eryn’s shirt is lifted back and you know what? She did that all by herself!!

Weekend get-away at D'Paradise

I was given a free night stay at D’Paradise farm in Melaka. Since the complimentary stay is valued at RM1,000 I took my mum, sis, maid and the kids for a short weekend get-away there.

We stayed in a nice little “kampong” like house on a hill. The bathrooms were attached to the 2 rooms with an open-air environment, where you can look up and see the sky while bathing. We didn’t dare take the chance to do that at night. Who knows, we might just suddenly see eyes popping out of no where.

We were quite concern of the insects as we were scared that the kids will get bitten. There was a bee flying around us and a black, furry caterpillar that was in the house. So, we had to keep a lookout in case the kids start picking on the insects and putting them into their mouths.

In the daytime, we took the buggy and drove round the farm. It was basically a tropical fruit farm. Brendan and Eryn were especially thrilled at the sight of the deers and ostriches. They were just so tame and came up close to us. I was actually surprised that the deers love nangkas (jackfruits). They came running to one huge nangka that were thrown to them and they happily tore it open and ate everything.

Overall, it was a nice get-away though I wouldn’t purposely pay to spend a night there as I get to see these fruits since I get to see lots of it back in my hometown.

Zoo again...

Brendan had the opportunity to visit the zoo again on 26th August. Eryn tagged along and it was her first time. Daddy came along as well since he seldom take the kids for outings like this.

I remember the last time I went with Brendan alone, we took our time enjoying watching the animals and leisurely walked at our own pace to let Brendan has his “oohhhhs” and “aahhhhs”. This time, with daddy around, it’s like he’s walking so far ahead of us and we having to catch up with him. By the time we reached where he was standing, he’ll say “ok, come, let’s go….” Eesshh……. How impatiently can he be. Eryn didn’t get much chance to see some of the animals as time seems to be running out for daddy…..

Sigh! Can’t daddy just learn to s.l.o.w. down and enjoy that few hours of fun for the kids?

To think that I’ve never been to Zoo Negara and this year alone, I actually went there twice!