My Corner

ANZ 2011 - Dunedin - Invercargill - TeAnau

2012-01-29T17:12:00.003+08:00

From Dunedin, we attempted the scenic route via Kaka Point. South of Dunedin, the unparalleled beauty of the Catlins Coast supposedly is widely heralded. The Catlins boasts an untouched coastline, some great surf beaches, forest and coastal walks, penguins, seals and pelagic birds aplenty. . Instead what we found was winding road where Jeremy actually threw up, very little animals sighted and a very very harsh Antartic wind. Resulting from the scenic route, the ride to Invercargill took longer than expected reaching the town at 2pm for a late lunch.

Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff, which is the southernmost town in the South Island. My first impression of the town is that it seems to be frozen in the 50s period. The weather was harsh by summer standards, one can imagine what it would be like during the winter period. One thing I can say now is that I have been to one of the most southernest town in the world !.

After Invercargill, we manage to do a pit stop at Riverton for coffee. The small but friendly town of Riverton is known for its excellent surf conditions, its artistic residents and its giant paua shell! Popular over the summer months, Riverton is a great place for a relaxing few days of poking about in the local galleries and enjoying the coastal views. Knowing we were foreigners, the cafe owners were very hospitable providing complementary drinks for the children. . The cafe even boast they sourced their coffee beans from La Mai coffee.

The background and website on Lamai coffee can be found here. http://www.lamai.co.nz/
Again you can see the steep Christian tradition in these small towns.

On the way to Te Anau, we have get pass this place called Lake Manapouri. It is a key feature in the generation of New Zealand's power supply throughout the South Island

Finally we reach TeAnau at 6pm. TeAnau is normally the platform for tourists to go to Milford Sound

ANZ 2011 (3) - Timaru - Oamaru - Dunedin 15 December 2011

2012-01-08T23:23:00.006+08:00

We left Christchurch at around 9am with the view of perching at Dunedin by the end of the day.

Our first stop would be Timaru for lunch. Between Timaru and Christchurch is laid with sheep farm land. The Canterbury plains indeed reminds one of the typical English countryside.

TIMARU

Timaru has been constructed on rolling hills created from the lava flows of the extinct Mt Horrible volcano, which last erupted many thousands of years ago. The result is that most of the main streets are undulating, a clear contrast with the flat landscape of the Canterbury Plains to the north. This volcanic rock is used for the construction of local "bluestone" buildings.

Caroline Bay beach is a popular recreational area located close to Timaru's town centre, just to the north of the substantial port facilities. Beyond Caroline Bay, lies the town centre; a very nice place for shopping.

After much look around, we decided to pounce on Fusion Restaurant at 64 Bay Hill simply we saw that it has been awarded with some prizes on quality food. Initially we wanted to go to Monteith next door as recommended by Lonely Planet and we were glad we did not go as its mainly pub which not necessary suitable for the kids. I must say, it was one of the best western meal we had during the trip.

OAMARU

Oamaru was kinda different from Timaru in a sense that it is more Victorian than the latter. It just gave me the impression that the town had its heyday during the Victorian Age through to the first 20 years of the last century.

We had coffee at the Steam as recommended by Lonely Planet. However, it fell below our expectations as its relativlely average as compared to other places.

Another disappointment is the Blue Penguin sanctuary. The sanctuary is very sparse and can hardly see any penguins around. I personally think it was a cutthroat.

Having said that, one think I learnt from Oamaru is the existence of Steampunk.Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville.

The gang walking around the historical area within Oamaru

Some Steampunk exhibits

Reminiscence of a World War I memorial

The main 'highlight' at the Penguin Sanctuary

Indication of the harsh Antartic weather

Another historical building at Oamaru

ANZ 2011 (2) - Christchurch 13 to 14 December 2011

2012-01-02T10:09:00.002+08:00

Our NZ journey started with arrival at Christchurch via Melbourne on a Virgin Blue flight.

On arrival, we rented the Hyundai Imax, an excellent car for 7 passengers with ample room for luggage. We had a late lunch at the airport and a first taste of Chinese food in NZ; not exactly appetizing.

We had our first NZ motel experience at Sherborne Motel. Its quite cosy although a bit old. The hotel owner is very pleasant and personally brought in the breakfast for the following day. He even shared with us the food available around the area. In fact, many of the recommended Lonely Planet restaurants were close as the the city centre was closed off due to the recent earthquake that happened in early 2011.

We actually went around the area and found some shops and eateries remain open. However, the city centre really looks like a war zone though.

The beat up Crowne hotel due to the earthquake. BUT Cafe Decadence just round the corner as just declared that they are now open for business.

The 'damaged' graffiti along Peterborough Street in Christchurch

ANZ 2011 (1) - Melbourne 10 to 13 December 2011

2011-12-31T00:51:00.003+08:00

We decided that there should be proper pitstop at Melbourne before we embark on to the Land of the LOTR so that the children and the veterans can have a proper rest. Likewise, Sydney will be the pitstop when we get back from New Zealand.

Besides, my sister in law just moved there. Hence, it make sense to spend some time in one of the world's most livable city.

On a personal note, Melbourne no longer excites me given that this is my fourth visit. On the other hand, the kids love the Royal Botanic Garden as they get to run around. Jeremy is seen here running around and enjoy the great space provided by the 38 hectares of landscaped garden. consisting of a mix of native and non-native vegetation including over 10,000 individual species. They are widely regarded as the finest botanical gardens in Australia, and among the best in the world. However, the gardens are also noted for their historical contribution to the introduction of invasive species.

Everyone pacing themselves towards the sandy beach at St Kilda. It was a very windy day, a prelude to the harsher weather in Kiwiland.

"Living" statue in the middle of Market Street.

And simply love the Christmas decoration in a Melbourne Mall. I think its the Strand.

New Zealand Trip Diary - Synopsis

2011-12-29T10:02:00.002+08:00

New Zealand trip diary

10 Dec Sat - KL to Melbourne
- break journey at Melbourne for the kids
- visit Sister in Law in Melbourne
- stayed at Mint Rhapsody apartments. Excellent place in St Kilda.

11 Dec Sun - Melbourne
- hanged around city centre. Had tim sum. KL ones better.
- went to park. Kids loved it
- went to st Kilda beach. Excellent weather and the kids loved it.

12 Dec Mon - Melbourne
- walked around city centre again did some shopping
- lousy Chinese lunch.
- kinda uneventful day.

13 Dec Tuesday - Melbourne to Christchurch
- NZ is 2hours ahead of Australia.
- Sherborne Motel : Great hospitality and generous breakfast. But room filled with insecticides
- Hyundai IMAX : spacious and diesel hence fuel efficient
- Earthquake zone in city centre. Food not easily available. Settled for some Thai food. Note several Thailand food outlets around town.

14 Dec Wednesday - Christchurch to Dunedin
- driving across Canterbury plains. With sheeps and cattle, looks like English countryside
- pine trees lined up serve as fence for the farms
- stopped at Timaru for lunch.
- fusion lunch. One of the best during the trip.
- stopped at Omararu for coffee at Steam cafe. Average coffee. Town seems to be stuck in early 20th century. A big church and WW1 memorial.
- penguin farm. Poor show and hardly any penguins seen
- grandpa and little boy not feeling well
- Antarctic wind blowing. Sea was rough.
- Adrian motel very new and well maintained
- had Japanese food for dinner.

15 Dec Thursday - Christchurch to Te Anau via Invercargill and Riverton
- first scenic route disappointing and caused Jeremy to throw up. Kaka point is below expectation and Nugget point inaccessible.
- got to rush through winding road and one part was close some more. Reached Invercargill at 2pm.
- late lunch at a Korean outlet. Delicious but maybe we are all hungry.
- Invercargill rough weather and cold. Very old town. Saw the magazine rack - all outdoor activities mags including one for pig hunting. Very specialised.
- Riverton for coffee. Like Invercargill very old. Very hospitable shop owner free coffee for the children.
- reached Te Anau late afternoon. Had Chinese food but below par is the description.
- lakeside terrace motel was adequate. Well maintained.

16 Dec Friday - Te Anau
- Milford Sound trip by bus.
- Nice mountain scene
- Milford sound unique but quite commercialised.
- Weather improved after the tunnel. two completely different world between tunnels
- Had dinner at la dolce vita. Excellent pasta and salmon dish.
- interesting host. Had a left hand drive 1972 Alfa Romeo with word Verona in front.

17 Dec Saturday - Te Anau to Queenstown
- scenery improved dramatically.
- start from Kingstown the beginning part of lake wakitipu.
- Jeremy was surprised to see stone rather than sand at the lake shore.
- queenstown was beautiful except kinda touristy and commercialised.
- average lunch at memories of hong kong but good coffee at protagomia
- sherwood manor motel. Below par and lousy bed causing back ache for me and old man.
- cannot get cow restaurant and went to another Italian outlet. Sadly disappointing ESP the sole dish and pizza.

18 Dec Sunday - Queenstown
- gondola provided excellent view of the town and surrounding scenery
- outdoor activities at the top of hill - mountain biking, go karting which Jeremy is interested, para gliding.
- arrow town. Chinese settlement; a sad story. Town was very traditional.
-lunch at cafe mondeo was crap. Not used to the western food available.
- old man feeling better after resting the whole day.
- had a battle at sherwood forest. Unpleasant experience although they made up with a refund.
- dinner at lakeside terrace. Better Chinese food.

19 Dec Monday - Queenstown to Omarama via Wanaka
- Cross range gave an excellent view around Queenstown area.
- reached Wanaka and went into the Puzzling world
- something interesting for the kids but the maze cannot be completed as the weather is too hot for the kids.
- Relish cafe lunch- adequate and clean place.
- Wanaka interesting town. Modern building. Seems to be a night place. Less commercialised compared to Queenstown. Up and coming I believe.
- reached Omarama a farming station.
- ahuriri motel one of the best stay during the trip. Generous breakfast supply.
- went to twizel for Thai food dinner. Dinner quite good but twizel is a dead town. No one can be seen.

20 Dec Tuesday - Omarama to Christchurch
- multiple pictures taken along lake tekapo
- amazed by the reflections created and the turquoise blue water colour.
- went to church of good shepard and again pic taking session
- lunch at astro cafe on top of mount John 360 view of the surrounding. Alicia's appetite at her best.
- irony never went near mount cook.
- stopped at geraldine at coco for coffee. Town and drinks rather uneventful.
- final lap to Christchurch via internal scenic route.
- only attraction was the Gorge. But after lake tekapo, everything becomes average and nothing spectacular anymore.
- cant find dinner at Christchurch, Everywhere was full including the famous Bodhi Tree. Gotta settled for takeaways. Lousy food tho and therefore forgettable experience.

21 Dec Wed - Christchurch to Sydney
- gotta wake up at 5 am to catch Virgin flight to Australia for a 3 day rest.

My Daughter was 2 years old 26 days ago

2011-11-26T22:53:00.002+08:00

The Hello Kitty cake. Hello Kitty has been an obsession for Lil Alicia in the past six months.

Standing tall over the birthday cake

With the aid from the brother, Alicia attempts to blow the candle

Alicia laughing awaaay

Travel logs - Daylesford, Victoria

2011-07-23T22:48:00.004+08:00

The first two pictures came from Lake House where the meetings were held. It's a niche hotel with very cost environment. It's not too big in size and yet has all the facilities required such as wifi, good food and reliable hotel services.

Ellender estate is actually one of the highlights of the visit to Daylesford. Apparently, the owner gave up his dentistry practice to open a vineyard in the rural area. While we were there, he showed us the different stage of wine making and let us tried variety of wine and different phase of the process. Ironically, it was NOT the final stage of the wine that taste better (in my humble view)!

the last picture is actually The Convent in Daylesford, located in Wombat Hill Botanical Garden's crest overlooking the whole of Daylesford. It was formerly a convent converted into a cafe and a art gallery. Good food was the highlight before the team moved back to Melbourne to fly back to their respective countries.

Quotable quotes from a 5 year old boy

2011-06-18T21:51:00.002+08:00

"Let's teach Baby Alicia baby nonsense"

"I want children rights"

Mummy - If you want to go Australia, you have to eat vegetables.
Jeremy - No, Logan also does not take vegetables (Note: Logan is a aussie boy in his kindergarden)

"Mummy, please don't pack my food when we go on trips as I can eat at the hotel for free!"

"I want Optimus Prime birthday cake for my six year old birthday"

"My kindergarden is boring as there is no canteen."

- Jeremy enjoying himself at Sepang

Jeremy and baby sister Alicia sitting in buggy while holidaying in Phuket

Jeremy the beach boy - Siray Bay Phuket

Jeremy and baby sister sitting near the hotel plunge pool

How will a pulp result?

2011-05-18T10:29:00.001+08:00

How will a pulp result?

18 month old Alicia

2011-05-01T23:38:00.003+08:00

Log book on Alicia for the last six months:

Myth #1 - Gals are less mobile and easier to manage physically - On the contrary, she has been relatively very strong and moves around a lot. It was quite a handful to just watch over her. In addition, she has no fear for darkness nor height. These are words definitely not in her 'volcabulary' !

Myth #2 - Those born in the Year of the Ox is demure - Again, does not seem to be true. She would not hesitate to express her dissatisfaction by shaking her head OR scream to record her displeasure. Even as she commenced her travelling journeys to Penang, East Coast and Singapore, she is not 'easily occupied'. Emptying her mother's handbag is her favourite pastime in the car.

Some other characteristics exhibited during the last six months:

Seems to like music notably oldies - She will shake her head and move her body to the tunes played on radio notably those music from the 70s era.

Adventurous in food - I predict she would not accept her daily routine oat based meal by the age of 2. Her favourite at the moment is still bread.

Competitive - Compete with Jeremy for mummy's attention. This is however not a surprise

Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors

2011-04-22T22:24:00.002+08:00

I recently attended Itay's talk in Shanghai and was really an inspiring one. It gives an alternative illustration of leadership styles than can be applied in the corporate world. This for one set me thinking on how one's leadership style can actually shape the culture of the firm, which means one wrong step will probably cause millions of dollars ultimately.

Nevertheless, it was one of the best presentation I have attended at least in recent times. Once again, it was simply awesome !

Book Review - Battle Hymm of the Tiger Mother

2011-04-04T16:54:00.001+08:00

This must be the "Mother-of-all-books" for 2011, in the sense that the author, Amy Chua has managed not only to ignite controversy and heated debate in the US but in doing so she has help to propel the book onto the best seller list of the New York Times and Amazon.com. I first heard about her from a colleague of mine and read her intriguing but yet controversial "Why Chinese Mothers are superior" article on the Wall Street Journal. The resulting controversy and debate surrounding her comments piqued my interest considerably and I decided to hunt for the book in Malaysia which was unfortunately not available in the major bookstores until mid February 2011. Being somewhat of a bookworm, I was determined to obtain a copy of the book before the Chinese New Year break and decided to order it from bookdepository.com which offered free shipping.

Once I got my hands on the book, I couldn'tput it down. With two young children to care for, the only time I could read it was after they had gone to bed. It took me 7 days to finish the book and while I found the book intriguing however the methods that Amy used to push and prod her daughters to succeed a bit to stiffling for my liking. I do agree that a certain amount of discipline and structure is necessary for young children who rely on their caregivers or parents to point them in the right direction but to control their choices is another thing altogether. However insane her methods might be,it appears on the surface at least that her eldest daughter thrived. She managed to maintain excellent academic results at school and the rigorous practice sessions that her mother put her through to ensure that she maintained a flawless performance as a concert pianist. Of course, her parenting methods and tactics did not work on her second daughter whose rebelliousness spiralled into violence. And this caused Amy to take a step back and let her younger daughter make her own decisions.

Overall, I think nobody should take her book too seriously. After all it is as she has said, a memoir and not intended to be a parenting guide. She is merely poking fun at herself as a parent and not encouraging anybody to emulate any of her methods. So for all the controversy that the book has generated, I think that at the end of the day, the parenting methods that you adopt would depend on what you as a parent think is best for your own childre. No one method works and I think parenting styles will also change as the child grows older and becomes more mature in her/his outlook of life. So there you have it - my 2 cents worth of thoughts on this!

PUBLISHED BY THE BRAIN ON BEHALF OF PINKY

Education rat race begins for Jeremy

2011-02-28T21:50:00.005+08:00

Apparently, I was advised to queue up to apply on behalf of Jeremy the school of choice tomorrow. As long as its a Chinese primary school, the queue is expected to be long. This is so even though the school is so called not 'elite'.

Application is also very strict, in order for the school to verify that you live near the school, one needs to bring some utility bills to show you really lives at the address you declare.

To me, I attribute this phenomenon to the failure of our education system. Other than private schools, the Chinese schools seem to be the only alternative if we want the child to have a sound foundation as they position themselves at the starting line of a long marathon rat race.

Jeremy enjoying himself at a cousin's party. Soon the rat race will begin for him. Too fast,...its just too fast.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2010-12-24T22:17:00.001+08:00

We wish everyone a blessed Christmas ahead, as we plan for trips to Singapore and Ipoh over the long year end holidays

Alicia turns 1

2010-11-01T16:35:00.007+08:00

The last 12 months just flew past and I must say that they have been just wonderful. To see her grow before my eyes and interacting with her older brother was just amazing. She's one now and before you know, she'll be 18 and out of the nest.... such is life *sigh*......

Statistics wise:-

Weight: Almost 11 kg

Height: I have no idea
Number of Teeth: Eight

First audible English word: Bread

Can now cruise along the sofa and edges of the table. Extremely active compared to her brother at the same age. Likes to wriggle out of your arms when you try to give her a hug and shower her with kisses. Likes to watch cooking shows on Asian Food Network and AFC... a budding chef in the future perhaps....

Managing a 4 year old

2010-09-30T16:10:00.004+08:00

Well, its the age of the pre-schooler, its also an age of discovery for him as he gets to converse more with parents and exposed to other kids in the kindergarden. Its also definitely, an age when he experiments with defiance and testing the boundaries of discipline. Hence, parenting in my mind has moved to the next phase when the once baby boy hits 4 year old.Having said, I found this in the net which I thought was useful and hit right in the nail on how we dealt with Baby (Oops no longer baby!!) J

Here are 5 quick tips to help you improve deal with 4 year old behavior.

1) Always acknowledge what your child is saying. If you try to distract your child from whatever is on their mind without first acknowledging them, they will see right through you. But if you first repeat what they are saying, you'll "enter their world" and calm them down before any fights begin.

2) When your child is acting in a way that you do not like, make sure you tell him or her what you DO want, rather than telling them what you don't want. In other words, speak in positive terms. "I want you to come over here" is better than "stop going over there". Or "keep your hands to yourself" is better than "stop hitting your little sister". This goes for pretty much anything you communicate to your child.

3) Stay calm when you discipline your child. If you show your anger and frustration, your 4 year old will know he or she has pushed your hot buttons. You'll have more success with discipline if you keep your cool. You can be unemotional when implementing punishment.

4) Never apologize when implementing punishment. If you stay unemotional and act with calmness, you simply follow up on a threatened punishment with a simple explanation of what your child did (after being asked to behave differently) and you explain that the punishment is because of the behavior/action. No apologies necessary here.

5) Feel comfortable following through. If you make a threat such as, "If you don't get over here right now I'm not taking you to Grandma's tomorrow", then you better be prepared to actually follow through. Therefore, maybe you need to consider what is a realistic punishment and what is not. Keep a short list of realistic punishments on the tip of your tongue, and make sure at least one of these can be used when you are not at home. Get your children in the habit of understanding that you are someone who acts, not just talks.

Anyway, here are some memorable pictures to complement the new milestone in growing up and of course parenting:

Celebrating Jeremy's 4 year old birthday at home. This time cake is baked at home.

Trying to be photogenic. One of many new expressions in recent times

Enjoying his birthday party in school with Buzz Lightyear cake and baby sis as company as well

Another pose. Already know how to pose for camera.

Taken in a public beach along Telok Bahang Penang

Baby A - Growing up very fast

2010-09-14T12:13:00.003+08:00

Weight - 9.7kg at 10 months old. Same weight as brother at the age of 1 year.

Key developments in month 9 and 10

- Physically very strong. Hard to manage when she twists her body around while carrying her
- Energetic is an understatement. She can jump and would not hesitate to attempt to touch when she sees objects that are interesting and new to her.
- Soft toys : no no to her. She prefers instead Jeremy's cars, Astro remote control and of course daddy's spectacles
- Strong lungs. Scream can be heard in a different floor

Alicia active pole dancer

Active at 9 months old

Alicia in the playpan. Always try to stand with one hand holding the bar instead of 2

Alicia in Penang house wearing Everton's jeans

Alicia - 5 to 7 months

2010-07-13T13:33:00.003+08:00

Key milestones and observations:

1. Ability to recognise daddy and mommy

2. Unlike Jeremy, she seems a cautious girl. Only feels comfortable with people familiar to her.

3. First long trip to Penang. But easier to handle than Jeremy. She seems contended sitting in the bassinet. No whining nor crying whatsoever.

4. Physically more active and likes to experiment in standing by stepping on daddy and mommy's belly

5. No issue with hair washing using hand shower. No sign fear and whining too. truly an independent gal in the making (I hope!!)

6. Very serious gal. It takes quite an effort to make her smile and laugh. But somehow, big brother has his ways......ie the only one who can entertain her well at this juncture

Ever serious Alicia

Smiley Alicia - A rare moment

Intellectual look

Bonding with the brother

World Cup Fever

2010-06-15T10:41:00.004+08:00

Colleagues are putting up bets, drivers talking about the Asians i.e Koreans and Japanese putting up a respectable fight, fathers are hoarding the television set, friends are commenting the individual games in Facebook.........oh man, everyone is talking about it ! - THE WORLD CUP

Anyway, I would like to put two aspects of World Cup for the record. (1) The Past - 5 memorable things I remembered in the Past World Cups (2) The Current and Future - Teams to watch this World Cup

(1) The Past - 5 memorable things I remembered in the Past World Cups

(A) The 1974 World Cup Final - West Germany vs Holland
That was the first time I was introduced to football as a kid. My dad rushed back to watch the first ever live telecast of a World Cup Final match, and I accompanied him and watch the game together. (Alas, how I wish Jeremy would do the same. Currently, he seems NOT interested!!) Gerd Muller aka the Bomber made the historical winning goal for West Germany.

(B) Hand of God (1986)- Maradona and the notorious Hand of God goal. I thought it was one of the biggest referee mistake I ever known!

(C) Sizzling dribble by Maradona (1986) - I remembered I was held in awe when Maradona dazzled through the entire England midfield and defence from the half way mark, and scored the goal single handedly. This I thought was the best goal I have ever seen.

(D) Toni Schumacher's collision (1982) - Ok this is not the Michael we talk about here. I am referring to Toni, the notorious goalkeeper from West Germany who knocked down French defender Patrick Battiston resulting in loss of 2 front teeth and damaged vertebrae. Patrick actually need to receive oxygen on the pitch! It suddenly dawned upon me that people will resort to anything to win !

(E) Ronaldinho's goal against England (2002) - We were at Finnigans watching the game with our English Partner in the firm. I remembered he had to buy us the drinks and looked so dejected when Ronaldinho thundered in a match winning goal from a 35 metre free kick.

(2) The current - Teams to watch

(A) Argentina - Messi will play a pivotal role. With support from Tevez and Mascherano, the squad can be a tournament winning squad.

(B) Spain - They have a midfield squad where Arteta can't even get in. What more can I say.

(C) Portugal - Powered by Ronaldo. They will always be the dark horse.

(D) Brazil - You can never discount Brazil as always

(E) Germany - This young German team has proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with based on the way they demolished the Socceroos in their first game.

Gastronomical Adventure

2010-05-06T06:32:00.002+08:00

Below set forth the menu I had at Cilantro on a business function

Assorted Japanese Vegetables
Selection of French Farm Cheese

Hors d’Ouevres

Tsarskaya Oyster
King Prawn Beignet
Smoked Salmon Tartare
Consommé of Cured Duck
Blue Fin Tuna Tenmi

Seared Goose Foie Gras with Artichoke Purée

Confit of Tai Fish Fillet with Wakame and Pistou

Pan Fried Australian Rock Lobster with Zucchini Flower

Alternatively

Grilled Kobe Beef with Sautéed Mushrooms and Yuzukoshou

Chocolate Terrine with Mixed Berries, Pistachio Ice Cream

Selection of Wines
NV Mumms Champagne Grand Cru

2007 Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet les Folatières 1er Cru

1998 Chateau Clos Fourtet

1995 Chateau l’Angelus

Although I have many a times had fine dining, having said that, this is the first time I had a 7 course session.

Highlights to the food I thought would be goose fois gras and the lobster. Normally restaurants in Malaysia would give duck rather than goose fois gras. After tasting goose fois gras, I can certainly see the difference in quality and the rate how it melted in the mouth is memorable. I actually selected beef as the main course. It was however the rock lobster which the guys ordered to share that stood out. Normally our Crustacean friends are not exactly my favourite but the way it was pan fried was perfect in a sense that it brings out the best in smell, texture and taste.

As for the wine list, L'Angelus came in with high expectation. However, I thought the wine was a little bit too young for a 1995. It somehow disappoints me. Maybe I am not a good wine taster. The white Burgundy however (ie 2007 Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet les Folatières 1er Cru) surprised me very well. It comes across as very balanced and smooth. It wasn't too sour and yet maintain the right level of 'lightness' for a white wine.

Alicia - 3 and 4 months old

2010-03-23T23:48:00.002+08:00

Went for checkup and injection shots yesterday. Key statistics:

Weight - 7.1kg

Length - 69cm

Key highlights for the period:

- Made the first trip out of Klang Valley. Went to Frasers Hill on a day trip. Her baptism to travelling - A regular pastime for the family

- Growth spurts

- Showing resembles to daddy (hehehehe)

Some pictures:

Jeremy - 3 1/2 years

2010-03-02T06:57:00.002+08:00

It has been quite a journey now that Jeremy reaches the stage when he starts his pre-school days. Here are some of the pictures indicating that he has 'grown up' and move on to the 'BOYS' league.

"Don't I look cool in my pre-school uniform"

" Hey u there, stop taking the pictures !"

"Aw,.....do I have to take a pic with my sister?"

"Me and my new friend from Australia, James"

"Let's go let's go, what are we waiting for?"

Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Tiger

2010-02-14T14:49:00.006+08:00

The Tiger year I presume its 'memorable' for our family. Pinky for a start born in 1974, three cycles of Tiget year many moons ago. Likewise, my younger brother was born in 1975 but remains a 'Tiger' as he came out in January before the Chinese New Year.

Anyway, since I have not made any resolutions or wishes when we move into the new decade a month and a half ago, let's do it now !

Resolutions / Wishes

1. Need to spend more time with Jeremy as he approaches 4 years old. I believe this is the beginning of the 'hard part' in parenting. The physical exhaustion from waking up middle of the night to night feed is nothing compared to the challenge of engaging the little ones so that values in life are properly transposed into their personality.

2. Work life balance - The delicate balance between work commitments and time spent at home with family is always a challenge for many middle class professionals in Malaysia. But having said that, we should never lose hope in achieving this ever 'elusive' objective

3. Catching up on reading - Over the years many books were brought but never had a chance to read. So in the year of the 'crouching tiger', I MUST spend sufficient time to complete the novels, autobiographies which i have bought in the last two years.

And anyway on behalf of Pinky and family, we wish everyone a very happy Chinese New Year............and ooops of course Valentines' Day too

Many faces of Alicia

2010-01-03T16:34:00.004+08:00

Happy Alicia : "My first smile caught by camera"

Frowning Alicia : "Hey what are you looking at"?

Sleepy Alicia : " I am supposed to take 12-16 hrs of sleep anyway at this age of mine. Yawn Yawn"

Intriguing Alicia : "What's going on? I want to know"

Contented Alicia : "Good to have people carry me. Let's make the best out of this while I can"

My Favourite Baby Stuff (2) - Diaper Bags

2009-12-05T13:45:00.002+08:00

I love bags of all kinds - luggage bags, knapsacks, handbags, totes, purses, school bags and of course Diaper Bags. With Jeremy, I didn't select or purchase a diaper bag. All I did was use a company laptop bag to stuff all his essentials i.e thermometers, diapers, medicine, soft toy, sweater and etc. With Alicia, I started seriously looking for one. My personal favourite would still be a bag from the Allerhand series although Skip*Hop comes close in second place. These trendy diaper bags are rather expensive and are often priced above RM200 which begs the question, is a trendy diaper bag necessary or should I just make do with a knapsack or any other existing bags that I have. Then I discovered Gin & Jacqie - a line of bags created by a local designer by the name Jacqueline Ng. Her designs are funky and equally trendy. I went to Isetan to check out their current range and decided to get a Nathalie Baby Bag Set ( see below). Ok so it set me back RM200 but I simply loved the design and the various compartments in the bag.

After Alicia was born, I was also given a Gin & Jacqie diaper photo bag ( The lovable Samantha range) by one of our friends. So now I have 2 diaper bags to use and alternate whenever I want ! Isn't that cool or what?

Alicia's Birth Story

2009-12-03T14:13:00.002+08:00

I have never blogged about Jeremy's birth story which if told in greater detail was vastly different from Alicia's birth - the only similarity being the fact that both were delivered in the same hospital by the same doctor and were born approximately the same time ( Jeremy was born at 10.55 am whereas Alicia was born at 11.10 am). Nevertheless as I regale you readers out there with what happened at Alicia's birth, I shall also punctuate my recent experience with snippets of what occured just before Jeremy came into this world three and half years ago.

Firstly, with Jeremy, I never did a birth plan not even a simple one of what I really wanted. I was practically clueless about babies except for buying the essentials and even then I didn't get enough clothes and other stuff. I didn't read up on breastfeeding thinking that it was a skill that would come naturally to a mother. I went for my pre-natal classes but couldn't remember a thing about the breathing exercises that the midwife taught us during the class. Essentially, I just let nature takes its course and prayed that he was normal and healthy upon delivery. As such, I was unhappy with certain aspects and things that took place pre, during and the post birth period.

Anyway, a month before Alicia's due date, I was already feeling very tired and nauseous due to the weight that I was carrying. Walking up and down the building during lunch time was becoming a chore but I told myself that I needed the exercise and a hearty lunch as well to keep the energy up. I had very severe heartburn during this period and took 2 days off in the middle of October to relax. By 29 October, I told myself that I need a couple of days break as my back was aching tremedously and as such had trouble concentrating on work. On 30 October, when I went to the gynae for my weekly check up, I was told that delivery will not be imminent as my cervix was still shut tight. So I happily went home to relax with Jeremy. By Halloween morning, I felt some light contractions which I thought were merely Braxton Hicks contractions. We went to La Bodega for breakfast and then in the early afternoon attended Jeremy's playschool. The contractions were becoming painful but were still very far apart i.e one contraction per hour or 1.5 hours. It started getting even more painful during dinner time but they were still far apart. By midnight as I lay in bed not getting any sleep due to the contractions, I started to time them more properly. To us, we thought it was Braxton Hicks as the doctor assured us that the birth is not imminent and there were no bloody show or any other indications that she was ready to enter the world. At approximately 4am, the contractions begun to get closer ie 10 minutes apart and they were so painful that it begun to radiate beyond the lower back. I told Brain that we needed to go NOW - PRONTO as I can't even stand up properly due to the excruciating pain. We bundled Jeremy into the car and headed to my parents place to drop him off before cruising down the empty Federal Highway towards Sunway Medical Centre. I was wheeled to the delivery suite where the midwife checked my dilation and pronounced that I was already 7 cm dilated!!! With Jeremy, it was barely 1.5 cm when I checked myself into the hospital and had the epidural drip fixed up. Here I was 7 cm dilated and begging the midwife for an epidural - she said it may not work since I'm practically going to give birth soon. Nevertheless, the anesthetist on call was on the way to the hospital at the ungodly hour of 4am on a Sunday and my doctor was also called immediately. As I waited for the anesthetist, I was already beside myself due to the extreme pain. The midwife gave me some gas and taught me some breathing exercises which helped me to forget the pain momentarily. By the time the anesthetist got in, I was asking him questions about whether it was possible to have a spinal block if the epidural fail to work. He didn't recommend it and assured me that the epidural would still work even when I'm 8cm dilated. It did work but for some strange reasons I could still feel the painful contractions on one side . The midwife told me that it is possible that the effects of the epidural didn't not reach that side of my uterus. Great! So I was still in pain albeit on one side!! So I started doing the breathing exercises to forget the pain. With Jeremy, I did not even feel the contractions from beginning to the end - what a difference! When the time came to push, it just came naturally cos I could still feel the contractions despite the epidural. It took me fives pushes and the doctor's assistance with the vaccum before Alicia came out with the blood splattered and all that grossed out stuff. I must say that it was quite an experience - why? Because with Jeremy, I had a C-section due to fetal distress i.e his heart rate was dropping and as such, they had get me into the operating theatre (Brain wasn't even allowed to be with me! ), cut me up and get him out as quick as possible.

As part of my birth plan for Alicia, I have asked the doctor whether a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-Section) was possible as with C-section, the recovery was slow and I could barely hold Jeremy when I stood up due to the pain of the incision. Plus, due to the pain, nursing was difficult and I gave up easily. Hence Jeremy was given formula from the start. The doctor was supportive and said that given her weight, VBAC was definitely possible but a vaccum delivery is required in order to reduce the stress of the delivery on the previous C-section incision even though the wound has healed. So that became the first part of my birth plan for Alicia : TO HAVE A NATURAL BIRTH. Thankfully, it went well and with the support of the midwives in the delivery room who were very very patient and encouraging, it was made possible although I did have a slight tear and the doctor had to stitch me up!

Alicia was brought to me 2 hours later for me to nurse and latched on to me asap. So that was the second part of my birth plan for Alicia: TO EXCLUSIVELY BREASTFEED ALICIA FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. As mentioned earlier, with Jeremy, due to my C-section, he was fed formula right from the start and as such, was a colicky baby for 3 months - we barely slept and was just exhausted carrying him around to pacify him which of course didn't work most of the time. With Alicia, having read up extensively on breastfeeding and asking questions from every mother I knew who breastfed their kids, I was definitely more prepared this time although I did anxiously wonder whether my milk supply was sufficient for her. Plus, I engaged a lactation consultant to help me if I encountered any problems with breastfeeding. Alicia took to the breast like it was the most natural thing to do and so far, touch wood - she hasn't been colicky and sleeps a lot like most newborns do. She fusses now and then but it is generally due to either she is overtired or has gas trapped in her lower abdomen. The only thing I haven't done is to start stockpiling on EBM so that I can return to work in peace in February!!! Yes, that was another part of my birth plan: TO EXTEND MY MATERNITY LEAVE BY ANOTHER MONTH AND APPLY FOR FLEXI WORKING HOURS so that I can spend more time with the kids. With Alicia, I was discharged from the hospital within 24 hours of her birth whilst with Jeremy I had to stay an extra night due to the C-section wound. Overall, I m beginning to see or notice many differences between caring for Alicia and Jeremy. Maybe I'm trying to undo or correct the mistakes that I have made previously or maybe I'm just more experienced this time around and hence have a better understanding of the baby's cues. In any case, both of them taught me a lot about being a mother caring for a helpless infant and I will cherish these experiences forever.

Alicia's full moon celebration - 28 November 2009

2009-12-02T22:56:00.003+08:00

It has been a simple event restricted to immediate family. Some selected pictures:

Alicia with her first head band

Big brother Jeremy giving little sister some 'sense of security'

Jeremy trying to learn to 'rock' Baby Alicia

Spot the difference

2009-11-29T19:52:00.001+08:00

First glimpse of Baby Alicia

2009-11-01T22:49:00.002+08:00

Arrival of Baby Alicia

2009-11-01T15:13:00.003+08:00

Baby Alicia arrived safely to the brave new world at 11.10am 1st November 2009 (10 days before the estimated due date). A day after Daddy wrote on the blog that its not going to be anytime soon !

Some interesting details:

Weight: 3.35kg
Length : 52cm
Head diameter : 34cm

2 weeks to due date

2009-10-31T17:41:00.002+08:00

Everyone is getting excited again, as we approach the delivery due date. It has been on a regular basis, where Jeremy will ask 'Why is Baby not out yet'?

A routine medical checkup reveals that delivery is unlikely to be in the coming week, which is good I feel. Somehow, we prefer the delivery to be wee bit closer to actual due date.

So anyway, keeping our finger crossed !

Jeremy the Pre Schooler: 37-39 months

2009-09-23T22:57:00.002+08:00

Yes, my son is no longer a baby although he still cries once in a while when he wants to throw tantrums.

I can see that he continues to develop more sophisticated social skills over the past three months. Before we knew it, he already start to crack jokes. He can deliberately hide the Astro Channel control and ask Mommy, 'where is the remote control? Yang Shan has sharp eyes and can find for you.'

He was fascinated with the Eiffel Tower after watching Ratatouille and has been pestering us since on a trip to Paris.

A sign of him no longer a toddler is that he does not necessarily take our words as gospel truth (Kids these days!). One evening, we took him for a car ride around the Twin Towers; he asked whether we can go in and we told him that the tower is already closed and hence no one can go in. His immediate response is 'where is the door'. It seems he wants to confirm whether thats the case ie no one can go in.

Motor skills remain somewhat behind; still fearful of water.

Anyway, some pics taken over the past 90 days:

Jeremy enjoying himself in the nursery we sent him to

Jeremy being patriotic during Merdeka Day

Listening intently to Mommy (or is it the TV !??)

Trying to put his ears to Daddy's floorstanding speaker. He now realises the music comes from this 'box' in the living room.

Stork News

2009-08-06T16:00:00.008+08:00

For hundreds of years, the white stork in western culture has been used to symbolize the arrival of a baby and this has also used as an explanation for children anticipating the arrival of a new sibling. I remembered once in announcing the birth of a much anticipated child of a colleague of mine, I mistakenly sent a news flash via e-mail to all my colleagues & bosses with a mispelling in the header : "StoCk News". It was embarrasing and hilarious at the same time to see my bosses summoning me on this as they thought it was some tax planning brief that I had recently put together.

In any case, there appear to many storks which have arrived/destined to arrive this year or early next year. I was told by some people that many are trying to avoid having babies in the Year of the Tiger due to some supertitious beliefs. I read some where that based on population studies conducted in Singapore and China this has always been the trend even in the past. I'm not sure whether this is true but really, regardless of whatever you may think of, babies should be always seen as blessings and not burdens, sent to fill our lives and hearts with joy!

On this note, I would like to congratulate the following friends and fellow bloggers on their latest or anticipated new arrivals in the Year of the Ox. As for yours truly, our stork will be heading our doorsteps in November 09!

Sree - Baby Pratik(January 2009)

Mr and Mrs Belacan - Baby Shushanna (February 2009)

Khairatul - Baby Iman (March 2009)

Norizan - Baby Nur iLyssa (March 2009)

Mr and Mrs Tan - Twins Lara and William ( May 2009)
Mr and Mrs Ong - Baby Katelyn (June 2009)

Mr and Mrs Lee - Baby Lee ( June 2009)

Harimau - Baby Lara (June 2009)

TT - Baby Xenia ( June 2009)

Angel - Baby Alexa (July 2009)

Kittycat - (December 2009)

Shannon - (December 2009)

Mummy Yvonne - (Early 2010)
Jessy - (Early 2010)

My Favourite Baby Stuff (1)

2009-07-31T10:40:00.007+08:00

In preparation for our latest arrival, I've been stocking up on several useful and handy items which I have found to be a must-have after having tried them on Jeremy ( the human guinea pig). I thought I would share these with mummies out there who could be on the hunt for the perfect cream, lotion or what-nots for their precious bundle of joys...

Esemtan Wash Lotion

When Jeremy was an infant, it was recommended that I use Sebamed baby shampoo and baby cleasing liquid to keep his skin soft and healthy. I was using those products till he turned 3 months old and developed horrible looking rashes around his neck which would not go away. I was then recommended by his paed to use Eucerin Sensitive Skin Wash lotion which did little to improve his condition. He then recommended that I try out Esemtan Wash lotion which I later found out (from its main distributor) , that it was only available in one major hospital in the whole KL (and possibly Malaysia) and retails for RM50 for 180ml - yeah real expensive. Within a week, his rashes disappeared and his baby skin was soft and smooth again. What's great about this wash lotion is that it is very mild, soapless, pleasant smelling and most importantly - there will be no tears, it's non-irritating and safe for babies and even adults! You don't need to use much of it - just a drop or two is required to wash the baby's hair and body and you don't need to rinse his/her hair or body frequently given that it is soapless.. It takes me only a couple of minutes to rinse his hair and body and a bottle can last me around 5 months! Since this product is not available off the shelf at pharmacy outlets in Malaysia, I usually get my supply from Singapore when I'm down there each year. You can find them virtually in every Guardian pharmacy in Singapore and only retails at SGD11 (approximately RM26.95) which is so much cheaper compared to Malaysia. I usually raid the pharmacy shelfs and buy around 5 to 6 bottles to "smuggle" back to Malaysia.

Prolin All-Over Lotion (With Mozshield Complex)

The rise of dengue and Chikungunya rates in Malaysia is becoming rather alarming lately. With radio and TV ads about a mother talking about how she would destroy life to protect her children, you could see and feel how serious the issue has become. In the past, I used mosquito repellant patches to protect him from these potentially deadly creatures but he would tear them off as soon as he sees them. Apart from that he doesn't ( and neither do I) seem to like to lemon balm plant smell (which wards away the mosquitoes) that comes with the patch. The smell and oil extract is common in many insect repellant creams. I was then introduced to the Prolin lotion. It's easy to apply, non-sticky, alchohol free and safe for children. I usually apply this on Jeremy when he is asleep or outdoors to shield his skin from mosquito bites. It worked rather well when we took him to Tanjung Jara Resort this year since the place was located practically near a jungle. Jeremy likes it becos it does not contain the lemon balm plant smell. A 100ml bottle currently retails for RM11 a bottle at Cosway outlets but I understand that it is also made available online on certain web shops.

Power Max Kiddie Wash

I was using Nappikleen Liquid Anti-Bacteria Wash for Jeremy's clothes since the first month of his delivery but found the strong smelling detergent just too harsh on his delicate clothes. I decided to change to Power Max Kiddie Wash (another product from Cosway) an extra gentle wash for children's clothes, which not only remove stains but makes the clothes smells good, clean and fresh whenever he wears them. It retails for approximately RM20 for a 1 liter bottle at Cosway outlets.

Jeremy's 3rd Birthday Pictures

2009-07-12T17:54:00.004+08:00

Some pictures taken at the party held at the playschool:

Jeremy is seen blowing the candle as he always does. At least this time it was his birthday so action is justified !

This is a sample of the cupcake ordered by Pinky from Mama Min. These cupcakes were distributed to Jeremy's classmates at the playschool

Pictures taken at home - the actual birthday

Jeremy got his birthday wish ie a Lightning McQueen birthday cake.

Jeremy is seen here attempting to cut the birthday cake, of course with the help of mommy.

A Black Wednesday for Malaysian education

2009-07-08T23:03:00.007+08:00

Today I can't help but to mourn for the future of Malaysian next generation as today's Bernama headlines read as follows:

"The teaching and learning of science and mathematics in national schools will revert to the Malay language effective 2012. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the teaching and learning of the two subjects in Chinese and Tamil national-type schools would be carried out in their respective mother tongue" - Bernama

I find the rationale used for the change appalling. Let's look at them one by one:

Point #1

"Muhyiddin said monitoring by the ministry last year found that only a small group of teachers were using English language fully in the teaching of science and mathematics.

On the average, the percentage of English usage is between 53 and 58 per cent out of the total time allotted for science and mathematics" - Bernama

COMMENT : In that case, the solution is not scrapping the use of English to teach Maths and Science. The challenge is to train and encourage our teachers to use English thoroughly. Whenever there is a major change ie from Malay to English, there is always inertia to move back to original application ie conduct teaching in BM. Hence, in order to make it effective, we must have the political will and determination to make the change. I must say we have lost the plot !

Point #2

"The gap in achievement between urban and rural schools in science and mathematics was becoming wider when the PPSMI (teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) was implemented.The command of the English language among students, particularly in the rural areas, was still low making it difficult for them to understand the teaching of mathematics and science in English," Muhyiddin said.

Based on this observation, he said, the government was convinced that science and mathematics must be taught in the language that could be easily understood by the students, namely Bahasa Malaysia in the national schools, Chinese in the national-type Chinese schools and Tamil in the national-type Tamil schools.
" - Bernama

COMMENT : I fail to see the point here. It is expected that additional challenge will be created if subjects are not taught in the mother tounge. But given the depth of literature relating to science and mathematics that are written in BM is relatively light, lack of command of English will actually limit the amount of knowledge that can be gathered by our young ones. Again, granted that the issue is real but the solution is have a separate initiative to strengthen the command of the English language of our rural students. The effect of the reversion of policy will actually serve as a hindrance to our rural students to expand their quest for knowledge notably in the science and mathematics area.

All I can say is that we indeed has moved backward in our education policy. Such reversal in policy will definitely put a dent in our future competitiveness in the increasing competitive global marketplace. We seem to take the easy way out at the expense of long term growth and development of the country.

As for my Jeremy and the sibling on the way, education utopia will remain elusive at the back of such regressive policy. But I refuse to give up hope and will strive to still find the best solution for them becos I certainly for one believe that a good education is the greatest gift as a parent (Not inheritance) can give to them, for education will unlock the key to make a person a better man/lady.

Preparing Jeremy for the new arrival ......

2009-06-24T17:11:00.008+08:00

Explaining to a three year old that mummy is having a baby even in the simplest terms is no easy task. However, he is beginning to sense changes taking place due to the arrival of the newest member in the family. For example, he asked why mummy can't carry him anymore and how he has to now rely more on daddy for that. Why I need to buy new baby pillows and etc... I have even asked him to share his toys with the baby but he refuses and promptly ask me to keep them when the topic of sharing toys with his sibling came up. To help Jeremy ease into his role as a big brother and accept a younger sibling for company and support, I have sought out several books for myself and him to read. I thought I could also share this with the many mommies who are also eagerly anticipating their 2nd or 3rd bambinos in the Year of the Ox.

The Everything Parent's Guide To Raising Siblings: Tips to Eliminate Rivalry, Avoid Favoritism, And Keep the Peace

I found this book by chance in MPH while I was browsing through some books on baby names. I must confess that I haven't finished reading the book but I admit that it is full of helpful tips on how to build a strong lasting sibling relationship whereby they can turn to each other for help or support in times of need. As you know what they say ... blood is always thicker than water. Also, it gave some helpful hints for parents on how to manage and balance the delicate relationship with the arrival of a younger sibling who could be seen to be competing directly with the older child for the parents' affections and attention. The last thing we need is to provoke jealousy and sibling rivalry in Jeremy. No doubt the younger sibling will demand quite fair bit of attention from the adults given the physical needs of an infant and toddler in the initial years and who could not even do 90% of what his/her older and more independent brother can do. However, based on the recommendations provided in the book, Brain and I will need to consciously involve him as well in the process of caring for the younger sibling. For eg, he will also now carry on the role of mommy's little helper like fetching the diapers and etc for the baby as well as playing and interacting with the baby. This is not only to make him feel important but rather we hope that such actions will help him to bond with the newcomer. Additionally, other adults who come to see, visit, care or play with the baby such as grandparents and aunts/uncles would also need to do their part in ensuring that Jeremy doesn't feel left out. They would need to consciously greet and interact with him first before tending to the younger child. In a way, we are helping or demonstrating to Jeremy that we are not playing favourites and that he is treated equally to his younger sibling. This is not an easy task especially when we parents will always have to keep working on this even until they reach adulthood. Sure, there will be bickering, shouting, door slamming, accusations thrown at each other, tantrums, tears and etc as they grow older. But at the end of the day, we hope that despite all these, the two siblings will learn to love, respect and support each other as no man is an island.

What to Expect When Mummy's Having A Baby by Heidi Murkoff

I found this book at Kinokuniya, KLCC when we were both browsing for books in the children's section. The illustrations and explanations were simple enough for Jeremy to understand .... or so I thought. The entire book is narrated by Angus the dog and I felt it was a bit too descriptive as it essentially explained the entire process including the part of about the birds and bees. Fancy trying to explain what an ovum is to a three year old or even a seven year old for that matter!.... I felt that part was unnecessary so I would usually skip that particular page when I read it to Jeremy. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be very much interested in the book or the pictures and found my reading terribly boring... Till today, he doens't really seek out that particular book for me to read. He is happy for me to read to him, books by Roger Hargreaves or even Richard Scarry but not this one. So it is back to Mr Greedy, Mr Tall, Mr Bounce and the whole Mr Men Gang for now.

Well he does know one little fact now though - that mommy's ballooning tummy is due to the fact that there is a baby inside there now...

Jeremy's favourite brands

2009-06-23T19:12:00.010+08:00

As the saying goes, " You gotta start that when they are young". Modern advertisement and commercialisation strategy actually do have an impact on young kids nowadays. Even Jeremy at this age is able to identify brands that will probably have a lasting impression as he progresses with his journey in life. So what I have done here is to list down some of his favourite brands over the past one year.

1. Disney

No one can beat Disney's influence on young kids. With the influence of Playhouse Disney, Mickey Mouse and gang more often than not are the ones first recognised by toddlers all over the world. As for Jeremy, with reinforcement from his trip to HK Disneyland last year, Disney is probably most recognised brand in the eyes of the 3 year old Jeremy.

2. BMW

Jeremy can recognise a BMW from miles away. I probably attribute to the fact that BMW's new and old do have some distinctive features like the kidney grilles and long bonnet shapes that make them easily identifiable.

Let's hope that Jeremy does not have only one car preference when he grows up !

3. Petronas

This is all because he fell down and cut himself while we stopped at the Karak Petronas station a couple of months back (We were on the way to Tanjung Jara). Until now, everytime he sees a Petronas station, he will remind us 'Yang Shan fell down in Green petrol station ah'.

4. AmBank Group

Tan Sri Azman Hashim should be fairly pleased if he hears this. The logo on top of the Amcorp Mall is such an icon. Everytime we drive past PJ along the Federal Highway, Jeremy will get 'ecstatic' and adjust himself inside the car to ensure he gets a perfect view of the AmBank logo ! Sometimes, when he is at my inlaw's place, he will try to coax his grandpa to take a short drive for him to look at the AmBank logo. bizarre.....bizarre indeed.

5. Happy Cow cheese

I really could not anticipate this one. Somehow to Jeremy its Happy Cow is the 'mother of all cheese' - just like Colgate being synonymous to toothpaste

Everytime he goes to supermarket, Jeremy can spot the Happy Cow cheese tucked in the corner. He will then point to it and look into my eyes and say' Yang Shan likes Happy Cow cheese ah. Mommy please buy cheese'

Jeremy's 3rd Birthday

2009-06-14T08:32:00.001+08:00

Just as when I wanted to update the blog. Baby Centre UK 'dropped' me a message in my Lotus Notes and it is worded as follows:

"Congratulations — your little one is now three! More fun is in store for you now that he's no longer a baby. He's probably already holding his own in conversations, running and jumping like an athlete and he will soon write his full name. He's developing more sophisticated social skills and knows how to take turns or join in with others. Before you know it, He'll be cracking jokes, (usually the same joke several times a day for days on end), remembering entire songs and even reading. Although He'll soon be saying goodbye to toddlerhood, rest assured that life won't be boring with him around."

Yes, Jeremy is indeed no longer a baby. He certainly can hold his own in conversations. He has the ability to ask challenging logical question and likewise able to respond to questions posed to him. He also demonstrated simple likes and dislikes. He continues to adore Mickey Mouse cartoons and love Little Einstein and Nemo. On the contrary, he seems to manifest a distaste for 'The Incredibles', 'Mulan' and 'Banana in Pyjamas'. On food, he continues to build his passion for pizzas but ice cream seems to have dropped off from his favourite list, something I do not expect for kiddies.

Jumping like an athlete and writing his full name perhaps is still a distance away. As mentioned before, jumping seems to be a difficult task for Jeremy. While alphabets are easy stuff for him, writing the alphabets what more full name perhaps is something we are prepared to wait awhile.

Cracking jokes however can be considered a hallmark for Jeremy. It was only a day or two ago when he accompanied mommy to the gynae for the monthly pregnancy checkup, when he spoke at the top of his voice pointing to a boy in the distance : " Wah, botak head !" and laughed ! The boy actually heard the remark, and walked closer and responded : "I like botak head what".

Well, at three year old, it is indeed a milestone as Jeremy moves out from toddlerhood to the world of yet another exciting phase - The Age of the Preschoolers.

Anyway, the diary of what happened during his birthday today and detailed as follows:

1. Woke up at 930am
2. At 10, went to the Siamese buddhist temple in PJ to pray.
3. At 11, birthday cake cutting session. This year, mommy ordered a Lightning McQueen cake for lil Jeremy
4. At 12, had his lunch and followed mommy and daddy to do grocery shopping
5. 3-6, afternoon nap
6. 7-9, accompanied mommy and daddy to Porto Romano for dinner. Dinner of course includes Jeremy's favourite food - PIZZA

Pictures will be uploaded shortly

Finale to the Age of the Toddler - 35-36 months

2009-06-04T22:57:00.004+08:00

Interesting milestones

1. Knows boys from girls
2. Can handle jigsaw puzzles up to 30 pieces
3. Ability to communicate his discomfort to the mother - Once he told the mother 'There is something wrong with my back side' (cos his buttock was itchy)
4. Loves the camera.
5. Attempts to read and understand the sense of time

BUT (a) still not good at jumping (b) Toilet training progress is SLOW

The next few months will be challenging as we prepare him for the new addition aka the sibling. Pinky got him a book about siblings but he doesn't like it very much. We can sense his jealousy especially when we ask him to share his toys with the new baby. He was very reluctant to do so and ask for the toys to be kept. Also he likes to watch all the Mr Bean episodes except the one where Mr Bean had to watch over a baby in the pram... Anyway, hopefully, he will learn to love the sibling when he/she arrives :-P

Coming Soon......

2009-05-04T14:08:00.000+08:00

Pinky's Thots will be renamed Pinky's Tots... so stay tuned.....

The era of 'why' has arrived - The top 5 questions

2009-05-03T22:25:00.004+08:00

Just to log down the top 5 interesting questions Jeremy has put forth as he gets more inquisitive and sociable.

1. Why is the Twin Tower look like pencil? - He loves the Twin Tower; will want to go pass the Twin Tower given every opportunity. Somehow, he managed to see that the towers do look like pencils.

2. Why AmBank light not repaired? - Its the logo on top of Amcorp Mall. He looks out for the logo everytime we bring him back from my in-laws place in PJ

3. Why we need tickets to go up the airplane? - He has been hassling me to 'go up' the airplane. So I told him we need tickets to take the plane and henceforth the question!

4. Why toast different from bread? - Somehow he thought they are the same. Maybe they are except for the texture !

5. Why is the Zam-Bak cover round round like motor wheel? - Oh Man! How to explain and respond to such question !!

Tanjung Jara Resort

2009-03-04T23:16:00.006+08:00

I must say Malaysia has many nice travel gems where one can get a good break without breaking the wallet, and Tanjung Jara is one place Pinky and I are fond of.

It is indeed a place where one can really get the soul completely out of the city fast paced lifestyle. To sum up, its a 'secluded enough' resort surrounded by clean unblemished sandy beach.

The Kampung house design also adds up to the tranquil ambience that the resort strives to achieve. In addition, rural type activities were also introduced during the evenings to add spice to the holiday makers. Ang mohs were extremely excited by the sepak takraw games, trained monkeys plucking fruits from the coconut trees and of course the 'mystical' silat exhibition brought out the best of local Malay culture.

As for Jeremy, I would like to think he enjoyed this trip very much. He seems to love the beach very much especially for the seaside wind and experiencing new things like sand digging and running around big open spaces along the beach.

And also, he gets the chance to look at some of the koi fishes in the pond at close range - very excited to 'feed' the fishes too!

The last pic sums up I believe Jeremy's feel of this trip - Exciting

First few shots from the new toy - Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm lens

2009-02-19T23:09:00.005+08:00

As 60mm micros are normally used best for stills, I therefore 'nicked' Pinky's engagement and wedding rings for experiment !

Here are the 'magnified' diamond engagement ring pics. It looks big, but actually it isn't......I remember its only a 0.25 carat thingee. As you can see, there are some 'out of focus' areas when magnified. Indication of the need to hone my micro picture taking skills !

The above two I thought were much better, the wedding date and our initials are fairly clear.

New toy - Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm lens

2009-02-18T22:12:00.006+08:00

I could not help it despite the economic downturn. After 8 months of 'think....think and think', decided to plunge part of my December bonus on a Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm lens to complement my D80.

Ok, here are some of early shots taken. A couple of comments.

Sharpness - I must say its one of the sharpest primes I have seen. Although its designed to take micro shots, it seems to me it can perform fairly well in terms of colour contrast and sharpness for a normal picture like this. This was taken during the 2008 Christmas season at the Gardens Mid Valley.

Jeremy - 31 and 32 months

2009-02-13T18:45:00.007+08:00

Height : TBA
Weight : TBA
Favourite TV show : Mickey in Playhouse Disney and Little Einstein
Lousiest TV show : Tiny Planet and Monster Inc ! (He will run away from the screen and insist we switch channel)
Favourite game : Playing 'tent' in the room (Blanket is the alternative to real canvas one !)
Favourite food : Prunes (the ultimate fruit), pizza (the ultimate meal) and ice cream (the ultimate dessert)
Lousiest food : Banana and papaya (fruits), vegetables
Favourite book : anything on Cars and Mr Man series

Key milestones

Ability to converse in simple sentences
Beginning to feel uncomfortable with the child seat in the car. He prefers the car without child seat.
Still unable to jump with two legs !
Learn to dance to the tune of music
Knows that a picture has been taken. He would now pose but after each shot, he will run over and insist on seeing the picture on the camera

2009 - The years' before

2009-01-01T00:31:00.011+08:00

1969

(1) Man landed on the moon
(2) Maiden flight for Boeing 747
(3) The year of the Woodstock festival
(4) Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States

.

Brain - Baby Brain nicknamed Mr Magoo (as coined by some relatives!) was born in this fateful year. May 13 was a difficult period in Malaysian history, but Baby Brain was safely tucked away in peaceful Taiping

Pinky - Non existent yet (hehe)

1979

(1) Iran hostage crisis
(2) Star Trek is launched
(3) Invasion of Afganistan by USSR
(4) Visicalc - World's first spreadsheet program (oh yes, I remember this one !)
(5) Brain - Standard 4 trying to adapt to the new school in Johor Bahru
(6) Pinky - Kindergarden

Brain - My family started our life in Johor Bahru where my papa was transferred while he was with Inland Revenue then. It was quite different in lifestyle as JB was relatively much smaller then Penang. The place was vast but very few buildings. Somehow, mosquitoes were more prevalent then the little island in the northwest of Malaysia. In addition, I have to go school on Sunday as the state weekend fell on Fridays and Saturdays! Having said that, JB had a major attraction in the form of Singapore. Given that the exchange rate was RM1.02 to SGD1.00, weekly trips to Singapore has become a norm. But due to unfamiliarity with roads (No GPS then) in Singapore, our movements were restricted to Woodlands, Bukit Timah, Lucky Plaza and Plaza Singapura in Orchard Road. It was only on 1 May 1979, we actually bought a map and went around the island the whole day resulting in 'extension' to our destination choices like Katong and Toa Payoh.

1989

(1) Tiananmen protest in China
(2) End of Cold War
(3) George Bush succeed the US Presidency
(4) I M Pei's pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opens in Paris France
(5) Billy Joel has a new hit - We Didn't Start The Fire (The song kept on ringing in my ears as I was preparing for my History paper A level exams !)
(6) Brain - Struggling with the impending A-Level examinations
(7) Pinky - Counting how many As she is going to get in the then SRP exams

Brain - Much as I was stressed out to perform so as to get the university of choice, life at the junior college in Singapore was indeed memorable. A-levels was the time I took subjects that I loved rather than being succumbed to peer and 'social' pressure. Humanities subjects like Economics, History and English Literature were such 'refreshing' topics as compared to 'stuffy' Physics, Biology and Chemistry.

1999

(1) Opening of Mid Valley Megamall and Petronas Twin Towers
(2) World population hits 6 billion people
(3) Anwar arrested
(4) Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France
(5) Brain working like a dog as a manager in the accounting firm
(6) Pinky considering career change

Brain - 1999 was a period of economic and political uncertainty in Malaysia. Likewise for me careerwise - was toying between career move to a bank or continue with CPA firm with a secondment to Sydney office. Alas, both never happened ! In any case, Pinky and I did heaps of local road travelling ranging from Cherating to Singapore together.

2009

Hmmm......whats ahead.....seems like deja vu as we move into the downward slope of the economic curve again. Anyway, I hope I can spend enough time with my family. Jeremy has grown so fast and with a blink of an eye, he is already 2 1/2 years old. Certainly, I hope I can be as engaging as a father should be to ensure he has a memorable childhood !

Pit Stop - 29 and 30 months

2008-12-27T17:20:00.006+08:00

Key milestones

1. Count to 20
2. Ability to string simple sentences
3. Ability to exhibit choices in TV channels - Playhouse Disney is the obvious choice
4. Grew tired of his staple diet - oatmeal. Now moving into the pizza territory.
5. Seem to remember trips to Sydney and Hong Kong
6. Famous three words : "Don't want", "Don't like" and "Don't know"

Focus is the word to describe the picture above - especially with his frowning. Jeremy here is seen 'curious' to the PSP game played by mommy. His current favourite game to watch (could not play yet!) is Cars. He thinks Lightning McQueen is Yang Shan's car !

Nowadays, Jeremy is also increasingly sociable. He used to respond to adults only, but our recent visit to a friend's place in Kuantan seems to indicate that he is also very playful particularly with children of his age.

Finally, mommy is of course 'lamenting' that Jeremy no longer has that baby milky smell. It has dawned upon us that Jeremy is now a little boy rather than a baby......time really flies !

Malaysian International Gourmet Festival - An amateur's experience

2008-11-30T22:27:00.009+08:00

An excerpt from Anton Ego in the cartoon movie Ratatouille:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new."

Malaysian International Gourment Festival aka MIGF apparently has been in KL for the last 8 years. But really, it was a passing event every year until one of my friends reminded me that Pinky and I always go and search for nice restaurants to try out whenever we go overseas and yet when MIGF is in town, we never go and try. Hence, this year I decided out of curiosity, go for at least one of the participating restaurants and see what is to be offered on the dining table.

I dunno why we decided on Pacifica at the Mandarin Oriental - I think it was becos Pinky thought that Emmanuel Stroobant would be in the hotel whipping up a storm ; I guess probably this is one restaurant I am quite familiar with arising from business luncheons I had with some of my biz associates, and experiences so far has been pleasing.

Anyway, what I hope to pen down briefly some observations made in our 'inaugaral' experience with MIGF. OK here goes:

Menu

As usual, the menu is filled with language that is alien to local. Langoustine tortelloni, carrot veloute were words used in the menu. But a further check reveals actually these words literally mean the food content. Eg. Tortelloni means a type of stuffed pasta while Langoustine is lobster. Veloute means a type of sauce.

In any case, given that there were two choices in each course, we decided to choose different selection so that we can try everything.

Appetizer

For appetizer, one can actually choose between (a) Langoustine tortelloni White tomato and artichoke or (b) Carrot velouté and passion fruit Black Perigord truffle
I must say both choices were quite unique offering different experiences. The stuffed pasta dish was very well decorated and each content gave different taste experience to wet the appetite, as it contain very wide range of food ie from carbo based stuff like pasta to seafood like lobster. As for the carrot soup, I think this is one that needs an acquired taste. It reminded me of the cappucino soup I was first exposed to many years back, something not expected in a soup ie milky and full of foam. I loved the soup itself as it brings the best out of the carrot taste. However, I wasn't sure how the passion fruit is likely to enhance the taste. I thought being sour does not seem to blend well to the milky taste of the soup.

Main course

For Pinky, she chose pot roasted Angus beef cheeks and grilled tenderloin, cauliflower strudel and roasted sesame glaze. Pinky asked for medium to well done although I advised her perhaps medium would be a better bet for steaks so that it won't be too dry. Anyway, when it came out and after trying it, it really exceeded my expectation as it was very tender and well cooked. Hence to me, the Angus beef dish is rather memorable! On the other hand, my miso glazed ocean trout ,snake beans, risoni noodles, quail egg and anise jus fell below expectation. For a start, the size of ocean trout is way too small. Pacifica is not a French restaurant as far I remembered, but the size of the fish mirrors those of French cuisine. Nice to look at but does not necessarily fulfill the basic objective ! ie a satisfied meal that does not warrant supper later on.

Dessert Gula Melaka toffee parfait coconut crisp and pomegranate aphrodisiac probably was the hightlight of the evening and easily the best dish this round. The Gula Melaka toffee parfait was something I feel is very different from the norm. Besides, it was prepared such that was not 'overly sweet' which more often than not would have 'overkilled' the positive effects of dessert.

Well, in summary, the food in general was interesting judging based on the name of the dishes and of course the decoration. Taste was above average overall falling short of being 'memorable'. I must admit I was slightly disappointed by the quality. Perhaps this was due to the hype created surrounding MIGF, which I thought have raised my expectations.

In any case, we definitely enjoyed the meal and had an excellent Saturday family evening.

Hong Kong - October 2008

2008-11-09T18:08:00.010+08:00

The last time I was in Hong Kong was in November 2006 which I blogged about back then. It was four months after Jeremy's birth when I embarked on my solo trip to Hong Kong for a course. Well this time around I had whole family tagging along for a solid 4 day holiday together with my in-laws. We stayed for 2 nights at Lanson Place located at Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island and 2 nights at Disneyland Resort. My travel agent booked everything for us right up to the airport and hotel transfers. Jeremy was quite excited about taking a flight again and missed his afternoon nap on the day of departure. We took an evening flight as Brain had to work during the day. We were in Bali for 4 days, took a day off and then were back on a plane to Hong Kong the day after - talk about a whirlwind holiday. For once, I decided to book Cathay Pacific flight instead of the usual MAS flight - reason being - I managed to save RM1700 for all 5 of us. Plus apparently the MAS uses 737 for flights to Hong Kong which is a pretty darn small plane. Cathay Pacific provided pretty good service and Jeremy was a given a kiddy pack during each flight which was filled with crayons, colour pencils, stickers of all the disney characters, notebooks and etc. He slept for an hour into the flight and woke up when dinner was served. We reached HK in 3 hours but took a long time to get to our hotel due to the airport transfer bus which had to drop all the passengers at the relevant hotels in HK and Kowloon. By the time, we reached Lanson Place it was close to midnight but the staff at the hotel took just literally seconds to check us in and by the time we reached our rooms, the bags were already there - talked about efficiency!

Lanson Place

We spent the first day touring around HK island thanks to the travel agency in HK which arranged it all for us. We had tim sum for breakfast and then headed off to this place called the Golden Bauhinia Square near Wan Chai. It is actually a giant statute of a golden Bauhinia blakeana situated outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to commemorate the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. I wasn't impressed by the statute which I thought looked a bit tacky and garish. You definitely can't compare it to the Statute of Liberty in New York.

Hazy Hong Kong skyline

After an early dinner, we went to Avenue of the Stars in the evening - again I wasn't deeply impressed by promenade which was essentially modelled on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. But Jeremy had a great time walking up and down the Avenue against the strong breeze blowing in from the harbour. There were many street pedlars cashing on tourists by selling children trinkets and we got one for Jeremy for HKD12 since he was so intrigued by some of items that they were selling. After that we went to Madame Tussaud on the Peak. Took some pictures and also a stroll on the highest point on the peak. It was really windy that night and we managed to capture some shots of the skyline from the Peak that night.

Nightlights of the Hong Kong skyline

Madam Tussauds in Hong Kong at the Peak

The next day we went to Sogo and Time Square which were just right around the corner of our hotel before we headed to Disneyland. We managed to get a 2 day pass for the price of 1 and so didn't rush through all the rides on the first day.

Entrance of the Hong Kong Disneyland

Jeremy enjoying the Alice in Wonderland Teacup ride

Jeremy enjoyed all the rides as well as meeting the characters during Breakfast in the Enchanted Garden which was located at the Disneyland Resort. He just couldn't believe his eyes that Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and Pluto are so BIG.

Jeremy and Daisy Duck

A glimpse of the 'Its a Small World' ride

90% of the stuff we bought are for Master Jeremy. Apart from the clothes, there is really nothing that the shops and boutiques in Disneyland can offer for adults. I managed to get a huge Stitch bubble blower for him and it took me a while to get that into my bag before we left for the airport.

Shopping, shopping, shopping.

Jeremy definitely enjoyed the rides in Disneyland HK which are considerably mild compared to the rides in Anaheim and Orlando. I believe most of the rides are catered to pre-schoolers and would not be suitable for children above the age of 7 simply because the rides are just not interesting enough for them especially rides on the carousels,tea cups, dumbo and planets which seems to go around and round forever. If you are an adult, apart from space mountain roller-coaster ride and Mickey's Philhamagic 4D show, you will find the amusement park a tad bit boring!

27-28 Months

2008-10-08T00:24:00.007+08:00

Jeremy's vocabulary has grown leap and bounds in the last 2 months. He can string 4 word sentences together. A typical conversation with him could be like the following:
Jeremy: (pointing to the water stain on the ceiling) Ceiling dirty. What happened? Eek Eek...
Mummy: What color is it?
Jeremy: Brown
Mummy: What shape is the dirt?
Jeremy: Circle. Clean eek eek...

And just the other day he was decribing the "light flickering" in the distance to Brain. We don't even know where or how he picked up the word Flicker?

For a 2 year old he certainly love books. He gets excited everytime we walk into a bookstore and likes to look at the books situated at the kids' corner of the store. Bedtime stories are a must before he drifts into dreamland. No night is complete without a story about Mickey, Pooh bear and Tigger, Cookie Monster or Roary the Car. It doesn't matter whether I have read the story to him like a couple of 100 times before, he still likes me to read it again night after night. In fact, after listening to the same story like a gazillion times, he could tell his version of how the story should go as well. He particularly like the Sesame Street DVDs that we bought for him. His favourite Sesame Street puppet is none other than Cookie Monster so much so that when he can't see the moon in the sky, he thinks that Cookie Monster has eaten the moon! He likes Elmo and Grover too but not as much as Cookie Monster. He doesn't mind The Count and likes to imitate his evil laugh when starting counting from 1 to 10. He likes his Thomas and Friends die-cast set that I bought for him recently and plays with them endlessly during lunch and dinner

He is also getting very cheeky. Although he knows his Chinese and Christian names, he prefers to be addressed an Nan Nan ( Milk). He will say things like Nan Nan drink Nan Nan. Nan Nan drive car and other silly things. In fact, even though he know my name and that of his father, he will sometimes call us Nan Nan Mummy and Nan Nan Daddy - which is really weird... I guess he is just going through a phase.

We just took him to Singapore during the long Raya Break. Brain and myself will be off to Bali for a Management Conference next weekend and right after we come back we are taking him to Hong Kong. So we will be doing Bali and Hong Kong in a space of a week!. That's a lot of travelling. Well, as you may have guessed, main objective for the trip to Hong Kong is really to visit Disneyland and since the park is not very big, it seemed like an ideal location for him. Orlando and Anaheim would just have to wait...

Stocktake - 25-26 months Jeremy

2008-08-31T09:05:00.005+08:00

As Jeremy transitions from a baby/toddler to a little boy, new words and actions are best to describe the ever fast transformation of Baby J.

Being imaginative - The above shows how Jeremy imagine that he is in the driver's seat, probably driving a F1 car. And normally, the 'driving car' session comes with sound effects similar to that of the car engine roaring. By now, he is also able to identify a number of vehicle brands on the road.

Being curious - Here, Master Jeremy is curious on what mommy is doing on the PC notebook. Normally, we try to pry him away due to the close proximity to the screen. We bought him a toy notebook but certainly he was not impressed. He actually brought the toy version and put it beside my Lenovo X61 and start comparing. Before we know it,he has 'put aside' the toy one and seldom played since !

Having the propensity to learn - Jeremy is seen here paying full attention to the instructor at the Gymboree class. Some milestones in learning like (a) Stringing a three to four word sentence (b) Count from 1 to 10 (c) A to Z is complete (d) New colours identification like purple (e) Identify and describe various shapes like square, triangle, round, oval and etc

Having fun - No two year old should live life without having fun. Jeremy is excited with the bubble blowing session at the Gymboree class. For the record, planes, automobiles and trains are his favourite tools for fun at the moment

Travel log - Rio de Janeiro (2)

2008-07-27T00:13:00.003+08:00

Rio definitely have spectacular views and scenes. However, one thing I did not do is to walk around. I was told that Rio as a city is not exactly most safe place in the world. Even in Copacabana Beach where I stayed is considered not safe for tourist to walk along the beach. Petty crimes may happen as the street kids will try to steal your wallet or camera. The police as I was told by the locals would not do anything as they are below 18.

As a result, I have to resort to relying on my 18-200mm telephoto capabilities to capture some of the moments at the beaches, through the hotel balcony:

Beach volley ball is a norm here. You can see people playing the game right from wee hours of early morning into the evening as late as 8pm. According to my local colleagues, the local residents are a sporty lot not so much because of health conscious but rather because of vanity and conscious of their body shape!

I manage to capture this on my way to the airport in the last day. Apparently, sand castle building is also one of the major activity in Copacabana. And I must say, there was a lot of effort being put through, if you look at the picture !

These one is taken from the hotel balcony. The hotel is Sofitel Rio

Some other interesting shots I have taken as below is a local airliner about to land at the domestic airport which interestingly locates near the Guanabara Bay. The picture was taken at the peak of Sugar Loaf

One last place of interest I have been is the Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. Conical in form and with a 96 metres (315 ft) internal diameter and an overall height of 75 metres (246 ft), it has a standing-room capacity of 20,000 people.

The cathedral's four rectilinear stained glass windows soar 64 metres (210 ft) from floor to ceiling.

I thought the architecture is quite unique...something you don't see in other parts of the world.

In summary, Rio is indeed an interesting place and very exotic from an Asian point of view. Scenery was beautiful and its layout is refreshingly different from you see around the Asian region. The main drawback however was that due to the city's safety reputation and lack of local guide + language barrier, a trip to Rio is likely to confine to the tourist spots at best.

Travel log - Rio de Janeiro (1)

2008-07-25T23:45:00.003+08:00

This year indeed is a travel year for me. In the name of work, it has brought me to places in the Far East like Tokyo, and recently to the ever famous Rio de Janeiro in South America.

To many Asians like us (what more Malaysians), South America is a continent in the distance and probably one of the continents we know least. Hence, I was indeed excited when I was informed of the working trip. However, the 28 hour journey across the globe is not exactly my cup of tea. According to my travel agent, the fastest route is to take a flight to Paris as transit point and subsequently catch a Air France plane directly to Rio, under the 'auspicious' flight number AF444. I did not tell Pinky about the flight number till I landed safely at Rio, considering what the number '4' means to Chinese. :-)

Since I have to spend 28 hours to reach there, I decided to take one extra day to look around Rio. I wish I can take more days however, workload back home does not permit me to do so, and more importantly I could not bear to leave my young family back home for too long....

So what are the 'plus points' about Rio. It seems that its famous natural setting really lives up to its reputation, especially when you get the birds eye view of the city either from the peak of Sugar Loaf or Corcovado Mountain.

Some of the best birds eye view of the city is seen below

This one is taken from peak of Corcovado overlooking the entire beachfront of the Copacabana Beach

The above is taken from the Sugar Loaf on Guanabara Bay. I understand this is the place where the Portugese first landed and founded the city in 1502. Together with backdrop of the mountains Serra do Mar, Rio becomes one of the most beautiful city I travelled to before.

The next couple of pics are related to two most famous tourist attractions of Rio:

The name Sugar Loaf is believed to derive from the fact that it resembles the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. However, it is believed by some that the name actually derives from Pau-nh-acuqua (“high hill”) in the Tupi-Guarani language, as used by the indigenous Tamoios. Here, you can reach the peak via cable car. Apparently, the cable car system was commenced as early as 1912; quite a feat I thought for a country like Brazil.

No trip to Rio can do without a visit to Corcovado where a huge Jesus statue resides. It must rank as one of the most iconic sights in the world, the statue of Christ the Redeemer standing proudly atop Mount Corcovado, arms outstretched, gazing out over the sprawl of Rio de Janeiro below. The views from the top of the peak are sublime, one of the planet’s most amazing cities glittering at your feet.

Another must see in Rio is the Maracana Stadium.It was once the largest stadium in the world, seating just over 200,000 spectators. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, it is named after the Maracanã neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. It was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. Currently, it has a 95,000 seating capacity. Apparently, I was told legends like Pele has a seat specially reserved for him. And my view is that he truly deserves such 'priviledge' !

Jeremy - 24-25 months

2008-07-17T23:18:00.005+08:00

Some best of 24-25 months

The first three pictures are from his 2 year old birthday celebrations. This time is a private party - only 3 of us.

The next two pics focus on the birthday cake - Thomas the Tank theme

This pic was taken when we were at the Legend Water Chalet

The last 2 pics show how how Baby J has grown up........

Air France vs Malaysia Airlines - A traveller's observation

2008-07-15T23:37:00.005+08:00

Last week, I had the chance to visit Rio de Janeiro on a working trip. Rio is indeed considered as an 'exotic' destination for ordinary Malaysian like me. However, the journey was a killer. The fastest way to reach there is to take a trip to Paris on a MAS flight, wait four hours to catch a Air France flight to Rio. All in all is a 28 hour ordeal.

Anyway, I will run something on Rio separately. For now, I just want to pen down my observations on the key differences in approach between Air France and MAS. It seems they have taken a different emphasis on what air travel experience should be.

ENTERTAINMENT

MAS is superior in this area. Typical of Asian airlines, passengers are overwhelmed with choices of games and movies. Movies can be categorised into new ones, old favourites, movies from other asian languages and on and on. In addition, you get the wonderful 'jukebox' feature on top of the traditional music available. Jukebox feature allows you to choose the songs u like from different albums and put in one set.

On the other hand, all Air France offered are movies restricted to 8 in numbers and music is 'totally French' only !

SEATS

Both airlines are fairly comparable although MAS has slight advantage over space especially in the legroom area.

FOOD

Both airlines have their own strengths, with each national airline offering their best local food. MAS has their Satay to boast about, while the French paraded their traditional 3 course French meal combined with choice of wines selected by supposedly the World's Best Sommelier in the year 2000. Qualitywise, both are comparable.

The only fine difference is MAS offers both Western and Asian varieties to cater to the diverse taste of its passengers, whereas the proud French will only offer one choice ie French cuisine and thats it (somehow I think this is so 'French')

AIR CREW SERVICES

MAS being a typical Asian airline generally is OK in this area. However, I am also pleasantly surprised by the level of service of the Air France crew, they are just as good as the MAS ones; friendly, clinical and precise.

ONE LAST POINT

This is the first time I come across in many times of air travel, Air France actually have camera probably at the pilot's cockpit where u can see the pilot's view in your personal TV screen. I tried to capture a pic (see below) but was not very clear as I forgot to switch on the 'vibration reduction' feature on my DSLR. bah !

Indiana Jones - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-06-15T23:17:00.009+08:00

Since Jeremy came along, going to the cinema has become a rarity. Nevertheless, if there is one good show comes along, we will strive to make time for the cinemas rather than waiting for it to come along to Astro or DVD platform. And of course given that both of us grew up with Dr Jones during the our impressionable age, when the 4th instalment of Indiana Jones comes to town, we decided to pack off from the office early last Thursday to renew our interest on Indy.

Interestingly, I asked one of my colleague how was the show, his reply was short and snap: "Oklah, but not gonna be memorable for me." I thought to myself: " Huh, one of those young punks, must be one of the Gen Y thing again.....never happy in anything !" So off I went with high hopes that Indy will entertain me well again.

Anyway, when we walked out of GSC Mid Valley after the show, Pinky asked me what do I think. My immediate response was " OK I wasn't very satisfied. The antics were not new and ideas seemed not original". Actually Pinky also shared similar feeling as me.

After much thought and putting my logical thinking cap on, the biggest difference I feel is that the period when the first three shows were launched as compared to the current one - A 20 year gap. In between this period, viewers like us were pampered with sophisticated special effects like those in Lord Of the Rings, Harry Potter and Matrix. Indy nowadays seem ancient and it has not moved with times since the first three were launched.

Well to sum up, all I can say is that movies like LOTR and Matrix really have raised the people's expectations on action movies, but if one is looking at storylines/movies that bring us back to the good memories we had during our growing years, Indy 4 is still one heck of a good action adventure movie to enjoy.

Jeremy turns the BIG TWO today - Hurrah!!!

2008-06-14T12:49:00.003+08:00

Jeremy is no more an infant or baby - you can't even put him in that category anymore given the tantrums he throws, the constant jabbering and the antics he's up to these days!. The era of the terrible twos have finally arrived. We will post the pictures later in the week. No parties this year - just some peace and quiet between the 3 of us here. See you guys when we get back.

Sydney - 11 to 19 May 2008

2008-05-26T09:20:00.007+08:00

It was certainly a good break for us and as you can see Brain was so eager to show the world the pictures that he took in Sydney. Jeremy was a dream toddler to have when it comes to travelling on a plane. His terrible twos did not rear its ugly head during the entire trip to and from Sydney. I must say that the 7 hr 50 min flight didn't seem very long when you are travelling with a toddler. Besides, Sydney is great place to bring kids to if you can afford it (at the time of this post, the exchange rate is about RM3.13 to AUD1, which is far cry from the days when I was student. In those days, the exchange rate was only RM1.60 to AUD1 ! Brain reckons that it will hit RM4.50 by the time Jeremy is in his teens. It just goes to show how weak our currency is). We got everything we need for Jeremy in Sydney: Milk powder, vegies, fish, diapers and etc and our service apartment is located just above Coles Supermaket which is located in its basement! Anyway, here's a detailed rundown of what we did during our 7 day soujourn Down Under!

Day 1: Departed for Sydney
It was a 10 am flight and we finally got our one-way upgrades to Business Class via the redemption of our Enrich Miles! We almost didn't get it no thanks to the botched up job that the personnel at the Enrich Customer Service Centre who doubled booked us on the same Economy Class using our miles. It took me a day and some serious ranting to their hotline to get that sorted out.. otherwise, I would have written something on the Citizen's Blog on The Star Online. We had breakfast at the Golden Lounge where you could see all the planes lined up on the tarmac - Jeremy was really excited seeing those planes although he has yet to fully comperehend the full meaning of flying in one! They had a really cool baby changing room at the Lounge which also doubles up as a nursery - it had everything you need right down to diapers and hot water. When we boarded the plane, you could see that the flight attendants were apprehensive about having an almost 23 month old toddler in the business class section which was filled with weary business travellers hoping to get some peace and quiet on the plane. In fact as soon as we ascended the skies, Jeremy was already fast asleep and I had to recline the seat 180 degrees to provide a flat sleeping position for him (yeah - he had his own seat). I made him seep some water during the ascent as I was worried about how the changing air pressures were affecting his ears. Fortunately, he appeared to have no symptoms of ear aches or anything close to it unlike me! While he slept, we tuned in the inflight entertainment while refreshments were brought to us almost every half an hour. Despite the comfortable seat, pillows and silk blankets, Jeremy woke up about an hour later and we started having a bit of fun with him. I got him his doodle board which he played on and off. Then he played with his cars for a bit. I got him some sticker books - so we started sticking stuff into the columns in the book. He enjoyed some inflight entertainment as they had cartoons like Bob the Builder. This was essentially how we passed the time during the entire journey. He didn't scream or yell and throw any tantrums despite being confined to his seat the whole time except several occasions when he went over to Brain. The flight attendants were pleasantly surprised and even praised him for his remarkably good behaviour. By the time we touched down and disembarked from the plane, it was already late evening. Since it is autumn, the sun sets around 5.30 there. We got a taxi and headed to Meriton World Towers located on the corner of Liverpool and George Street. Jeremy was very tired when we got to the apartment and was fast asleep in no time.

Day 2: Darling Harbour: Sydney Acquarium and Sydney Wildlife Park.
After preparing his lunch for the day, we walked to Darling Harbour which was just a stone throw away from our apartment. Despite being autumn, the weather was suprisingly hot with the only indication of the season being the cool breeze. The intense sunlight meant that I had to lather my boy with sunblock lotion everyday and make him wear his sunglasses and hat everywhere we go. While he enjoyed himself immensely at both places he was eager to move quickly through the exhibits. It can be tough keeping up with an exuberant toddler! We took him back to the apartment for a nap after we completed our visits in both complexes. He napped for 2 hours before we headed out for dinner at Circular Quay. We had some of the best bay rock oysters there so it was well worth the dinner even though Brain thought that the main meals were not as great as Rockpool.

Day 3: Manly Beach,North Shore
We took Jeremy on a ferry at Circular Quay to Manly Beach. He had fun watching the seagulls and enjoyed the sea breeze. Despite it being autumn, there were many surfers out there strutting their stuff even though it is a work day! We took a ferry back to Circular Quay and a bus back to our apartment in the afternoon. Jeremy refused to nap and we had to have an early dinner that evening. We went to Kylie Kwong's famed restaurant in Surry Hills called Billy Kwong. The place was packed to the brim and the restaurant given its popularity do not accept reservations in advance. We waited for like 30 minutes before we got a table. It was cold outside and Jeremy entertained himself by kicking around the dry leaves scattered on the pavement. Food is indeed good and inexpensive! If you ever get to Sydney, this place is worth visiting.

Day 4: Trip to the Blue Mountains
It was day trip that we booked with FJ Tours and we started from Sydney at 7.15 in the morning. We had to wake Jeremy up early but he managed to nap quite a fair bit on the bus. We stopped by the Featherdale Wildlife Park located in Blacktown, a surburb outside Sydney. Jeremy went wild when he saw wallabies and kangaroos hopping freely around the park - he went " Roo Roo - jumped, hop hop hop!" It was so cute. They had a menagerie of wild animals there including farm animals like pigs and fowls. There were Koalas, Kookobara, dingoes, wombats and every type of marsupial that can be found only on the continent of Australia. There were also lots of birds like the Emu and Kasawari Bird (supposedly the most dangerous bird in the world) as well as black swans. By the time, we reached the Blue Mountains, the tour company had prepared a sumptious buffet lunch for us at a bed and breakfast place in the town of Leura which was also the place where our tour guide cum bus driver reside in. The tour included a trip on the skyway, the cable car and the scenic railway (which is the steepest railway in the world). Jeremy even went along for the 30 minute walk around an elevated walkway through a Jurassic rain forest. He was determined to walk and was quite excited with the flora and fauna that the rainforest offered. After that he promptly fell asleep on the bus when we on our way to Wenworth Falls which was closed due to roadwork. We took tea at Leura and visited the candy store. The tour guide even gave us a demonstration on how a boomerang works! Our trip to the Blue Mountains was completed with a trip back to Sydney's Olympic Park and a river cruise from the Parrammata river into Circular Quay. From there we took the public bus back to our apartment. Jeremy was exhausted by now and was ready for bed in no time. We wound up having dinner at Macchiato, an italian pizza eatery which also has a delivery service to the apartments.

Day 5 - Powerhouse Museum
Brain will tell you that the only reason that I wanted to be at the Museum was becos they were running a special exhibit there on the late Princess Diana. The exhibit ended on 18 May and we caught it just in time. They had showreels on her during her growing up years. Her books and dolls and the to-die for cocktail dresses and not to the mention her wedding dress made by the Emmanuels. I caught the exhibition when I was at Althorp (the Spencer family seat) in 2002 but just wanted to see if there were anything new. Apart from that the museum is Sydney largest museum with over 400,000 over artifacts. Jeremy enjoyed himself in Zoe's world - play area for kids in the museum. They had sponge bricks and wheelbarrows as well as attire for the kids. He looked like Bob the Builder together with the other Aussie kids in there. We had Yum Cha in Chinatown and since Jeremy was still tired after the trip the Blue Mountains on the day before, we tried to get him to nap before dinner. We had dinner at Rockpool, one of the world's top restaurants owned by Neil Perry who designed meals for Qantas. The food there is still by the far the best food we had in Sydney throughout our holiday there.

Note: Jeremy turned 23 months on this day. He can now:
a) Count 1 to 3
b) Recognises the alphabets and know how to pronounce them except W which he says" due due".
c) Knows the following colours: Black, White, Blue, Green, Low Low( Yellow) and Red.
d) Can say 2 letter words like "peacock", "dry leaf", "lighthouse", "TV"

He is very attached to his doggie, carrying it around everywhere we went in Sydney. He didn't like it one bit when it had to go through a security check at the airport.

Day 6:- Grand Pacific Drive (South Coast)
We rented a car, a child seat and a GARMIN GPS system for the drive which turned out better than we expected. The Grand Pacific Drive was opened only to motorists in December 2006 and the stunning ocean views were something one should not missed. In many ways it reminded me of the Pacific Coast Highway which runs from San Francisco right up to San Diego. The scenic drive and the beautiful weather made it a truly relaxing experience - although Brain took quite a lot of important calls from home due to work. For me - work was either on another plane or dimension and I could not be bothered to think about the crisises going on in the office at that point in time. We drove onto the Seacliff Bridge, past the town of Shellharbour where we had lunch by the harbour with the pelicans and boats bobbing about. After that we went onto the Jamberoo scenic road which was so picturesque that we thought that we were in Scotland or something. We had coffee at Kiama where the famed blowhole is situated. As it was low tide, we couldn't see the blowhole in action which during high tide looks like a geyser. Jeremy was busy running around in the parks situated at the blowhole. It's funny how we don't take him to parks here due to the humid weather and mozzies. He tend to sweat a lot in KL when we are out and about and always looked flushed. He took a two hour nap in the car and we finished our day with dinner in Chinatown as we couldn't get a table at China Doll, another top restaurant which attract celebrities like Jennifer Hawkins (Ms Universe 2006) and other Australian Celebs. Since it was late night shopping we hung around QVB window shopping.

Day 7:- Hunter Valley (Northen Coast)
The scenic route to Hunter Valley wasn't scenic at all. We wasted 1.5 hours travelling on a route which had nothing on both sides of the road except gum and eucalyptus trees. I felt cheated. We could have gone on to Port Stephens and seen more things there. We wound up at the Hunter Valley Gardens which had different gardens with the different themes i.e Indian Garden, Roman Garden, Chinese Garden, Story Book Garden and etc. Jeremy loved the Storybook Garden cos it had his favourite character - Humpty Dumpty. By the time we reached Sydney, traffic was already clogging up the streets and Brain took a wrong turn and we ended up going onto the Harbour Bridge using the E-pass lane! As soon as we passed it, I saw a camera at the corner of my eye snapping our number plate. That was it - Avis is going to charge us extra when the fine for the traffic offence goes to them. That night we went to Garfish, a restaurant at Kiribilli which required us to use the Harbour Bridge - Brain was careful to avoid another boo-boo. Luckily we managed to get to the cash lanes which are like right in the middle of Bridge. Food was good and Jeremy amused himself with the coloring book and pencils given to him by the waitress.

Day 8: Final day in Sydney
We spent the day shopping and hunting for souvenirs. We went the markets at the Rocks and bought macadamia nuts. We walked to Pitt Street, stopped at Myers, got our PS2 games, bought some CDs from the Virgin Music Store as well as books from Dymocks. We had Malaysian food the whole day from Malaysian House in QVB during Lunch and Chinta Ria at Cockle Bay Wharf in the evening - the latter was chosen as I was told that it was Keanu Reeves favourite restaurant in Sydney while he was here filming the Matrix trilogy. The food ain't that great and it is best to have Malaysian food where else but in Malaysia!.

Day 9: Back to Malaysia
We were in cattle class but Jeremy behaved impecabbly although I must say that food in the economy class sucks. All in all - it was worth the trip despite the rising exchange rate and Jeremy enjoyed himself very much. Whenever he sees the photos, he remembers the things that we did at the places we went and he even remembered how our rented car looked like as Brain took a picture of the carpark overlooking the sea at Kiama. Well - we will be back in Sydney in 2010 again hopefully but maybe this time we will spend more time in Melbourne. Brain may be going to Sydney in August this year for work so he's not looking forward to another Sydney trip this year *lol*.

Pictures

Travel log - Sydney from the male perspective

2008-05-25T15:57:00.005+08:00

Its hardly surprising that this year's family trip is Sydney since now that we have Master Jeremy tagging along for the first time. Sydney seems to be the ideal choice as its a familiar to us and its easy to get supplies for the baby boy should need arises.

All my kawan-kawan warned me about the 'experience' I am going to get in a 7 1/2 hr flight with a 2 year old toddler. Fortunately, the worry did not materialise as Jeremy seemed to take both flights by its strides and enjoyed himself throughout ! A picture as testimony!

On Jeremy's experience in Sydney, I shall leave it to Pinky to fill the gaps later on.

In any case, I have put some nice pics here on places we have gone which I felt were nice and suitable for young families; and I have picked say top 5 places as a starting point:

No, the above may be the Harbour Bridge but the topic at hand is actually the ferry trip to Manly from Circular Quay (We took the picture from the ferry). The 20 minute ride was indeed an experience as it allowed one to have a good view around the Sydney Harbour enjoying the un-polluted waters and fresh cool breezes which more often than not are things we do not really get to enjoy in Malaysia and many parts of Asia.

OK OK again I am not referring to the Great Barrier Reef, the pic was taken from Darling Harbour Aquarium. Aquariums are always a smash for little ones as they get exposed to variety of fishes in many type of colours. However, I must say our aquariums in Langkawi and KLCC are quite comparable too.

The above is a view of the Opera House in the evening. A dinner at Circular Quay can complement the spectacular evening view of the waterfront and landmarks like Opera House and Harbour Bridge, although the food at Rockpool at the Rocks (which we went a few days later) was so much better than the one we had at the Quay.

A scenic road trip down the South Coast exposed us to many pleasant coast scenaries. The pictures were taken at Flagstaff Point Lighthouse near Wollongong. We actually spent the whole day exploring the South Side coastal roads near Sydney and the trip was indeed worthwhile as one gets to see more of Australia rather than just restricted to chic bars, crowded beaches and shopping.

The two pictures above were taken from the Hunter Valley Garden, which consists a variety of specially designed gardens. These magnificent gardens are set in the Hunter Valley wine regions’ historic district of Pokolbin, amongst the foothills of the Brokenback Ranges, NSW. Over the years it has become one of Australia’s best tourist attractions. The interesting one is actually the Story Book Garden, where the garden is designed around fairy tale stories, and nursery rhyme characters are strategically placed around the garden which will excite many young ones.

Many faces of Jeremy at 22 months old

2008-05-03T16:33:00.003+08:00

As always quoted : "A picture tells a thousand words"

The two pictures above depict how an increasingly responsive Jeremy 'freezes', an act he learnt from the Gymboree class where a song is played and the children are expected to pound on the airlock and as soon as the music stop, everyone is supposed to say "FREEZE" and put their hands at the back of the head. He absolutely enjoy this segment of the class and pound the airlock furiously.

A close-up look of a 22 month old when he wants to ask for something from you...

A giggling boy - An expression that brings joy to many parents

And of course, Jeremy could not do without his favourite dog nowadays. He is quite possesive of his dog and wouldn't let other children come near it. Same with his matchbox cars - doesn't like other children playing with it unless they are playing with him.

Note from Pinky:
Vocabulary wise, Jeremy knows almost all the alphabets now . Can count till 5 and form three letter sentences. Has a good memory too as he knows that Brain went to Japan on a plane even after 3 days he has left. He even wanted to follow Brain to the immigration area when we were at the airport sending Brain off 2 weeks ago. He knows how to pronounce his name and also mine especially when I ask him what is mummy's name. Still addresses Brain and myself as Dada and Mama. However, he still has an irrational fear of moving objects like battery operated cars, carousels at the malls and other electronic toys. Hopefully he will overcome this as he gets older.

Travel log - A glimpse of Tokyo

2008-04-28T00:08:00.007+08:00

The whole of last week, I was in Tokyo for a working seminar. Although the program was packed, I managed to squeeze out some time to walk around Tokyo. The place I was staying is Westin Tokyo situated in a place called Ebisu. A bit out of the way from the main action areas like Roponggi, Ginza or Shinjuku, but fairly peaceful place. Nevertheless, they have nice places like Yebisu Garden Place, a spotless office cus shopping place. Nice Jap food can be found at the 38th and 39th floor. One drawback however, was the language. Even the menu is restricted to Japanese in most of the restaurants.

In any case, some shots in the Ebisu area:

Evening view from my hotel room. The second picture is actually part of the Yebisu Garden Place.

No visit is complete without visiting the Tokyo Central Fish Market in Tsukiji. Since my firm's conference program starts from 8am to 5pm, a visit to the fish market at 6am was still plausible (This was done despite reaching hotel from Roponggi at around 3am!). So, here are some of the shots:

The first pic was taken at the auction area, where fishes like tuna are auctioned off to the highest bidders.

The second pic shows how the tuna was being cut into smaller pieces ready for retail sale. Notice the tourists around him taking heaps of pictures.

One thing to note is that salmon is not readily available, so relatively little salmon sashimi in Tokyo; tuna seems more abundant.

The work conference ended on Thursday, so my colleague and I decided to extend our stay for an extra day to see Mt Fuji and surrounding areas; we were also fortunate enough to catch the cherry blossom season in Japan. So here are some of the pictures:

Mt Fuji was also magnificent. We managed to hit 2020m which is around 2/3 of the height of the esteemed mountain. We were also quite lucky as the clouds cleared up when we hit the the destination hence a clear view of the peak....and here goes:

The tour also stopped at Hakone, apparently a tourist district - good for chilling out.

The second pic was taken from the ferry, a breathtaking view of Lake Ashi.

21 Months Old Backdated post

2008-04-01T11:50:00.008+08:00

Jeremy turned 21 months old on 14 March 2008. He's getting into a lot of mischief of late and has started showing his terrible twos especially the incessant whinning when he doesn't get his way despite the ridicolous amounts of persuasion from me and Brain to explain to him why he can't do it or can't have it. It can sometimes make your blood boil. When you hit rock bottom after dealing with a particularly difficult situation, you then ask yourself this question - should I give in for the sake of some peace and quiet? 90% of the time we try not to although we do sometimes (rarely) depending on the seriousness of the situation and the circumstances involved.

He's blabbering a lot these days. Some of the words he say are still incomprehensible although we know he is trying to articulate something. He can make two to three letter sentences like.
i. Take key..... sit car. (please take me for a ride)
ii. Walk walk door door.... milk milk/nan nan.

He calls Brain - Dadda and me Mama and loves playing "Tent Tent" every night. It's a game I devise where you go under the blankets and pretends that it's a tent.

Heightwise - 84 cm

Weight - around 11kg++
Food:- Still gets his 2 poriddge and 3 bottles of milk a day. In between he eats prunes and papayas as they help to stimulate regular bowel movements. He drinks barley twice a week and takes his seven seas multi vitamins (10 ml) every day.

Sleeping pattern: He naps about once a day in the afternoon between 3 to 6pm although it can stretch up to 7pm depending on how tired he is. He sleeps around 10.30 to 11pm every night.

Here are some recent pictures of the tyke:

As mad as a march hare..... or the Mad Hatter?

2008-03-31T16:33:00.006+08:00

The title says it all.... it's been a mad month for both me and Brain due to the numerous corporate exercises going around the last couple of weeks. I haven't had the time to do anything this month except to work my ass off since we had so many financial due diligence exercise going on in the last one month. My short trip to Singapore middle of this month was cancelled as Brain had to work real hard too on some due diligence stuff too. With special work assignments coming up in April coupled with the busy tax season, I'm not sure how I am going to juggle these and plan my holiday at the same time especially with attrition rates hitting the roof in my dept. Anyway, I guess under every cloud there is silver lining - let's just hope I'll find it before it is too late.

I went to the Brands Outlet at Ikano Centre over the weekend to check out their lastest offering of children's clothing as I felt that paying RM80 to RM120 for a GAP or Oshkosh sweater for my son who will outgrow the sweater before the end of the year, just a bit way too much especially if we are only travelling to countries with a temperate climate like once or maybe twice this year. I must say that the outlet offers a lot of branded attire at a fraction of the price which I mention above simply becos these clothing have some minor manufacturing defect which is not exactly visible to the naked eye - well, at least not to me, I definitely do not have a trained eye to look at minute details like this. Ok so maybe there will be a loose thread here and there but hey as long as it is wearable and the dye doesn't come off from the fabric after a wash, who really gives a damn!?

I managed to get two pullover Oshkosh and GAP sweaters at RM19.90 each - amazing isn't it??!! Check out the sweaters below. They snipped the washing labels for some reason or another - I guess it is to make sure that we don't sell it off ourselves at GAP or oshkosh retail prices *lol*.

I'll be doing a bit shopping in the next couple of weeks to stock up on the stuff I need to bring a long for Jeremy for my trip to Oz. As far as food and diapers are concerned, I'll be buying these as soon as I land in Kingsford airport. Ok - so it may be little bit more expensive than Malaysia but it beats the hassle of having to lug all these items across to another continent especially since we will be lugging 2 bags ( one hand carry + one to be checked in), a knapsack to contain all of Jeremy's worldly goods, an umbrella stroller and Brain's camera equipment. Oh and not to forget the fidgetty toddler who now demands to be carried from time to time despite having gained the confidence to walk properly without any wobble. Flight tickets are incredibly expensive these days and I didn't even bother to book the tickets at the recent Matta fair as the price differential or discount wasn't substantial. I got ourselves ordinary economy class tickets with the hopes of getting a one-way upgrade to Business Class as Brain and myself have collected sufficient number of frequent flyer miles over the last 5 years thanks to the overseas business trips and credit card points. However, since I do not have sufficient miles for the upgrade I have to combined my frequent flyer miles with Brain's and to do that I have to effectively transfer my miles to his account and guess how much the transfer fee is costing me??? RM640!!!! It's quite a ridiculous sum of money that MAS is making off from its Enrich members. For any points transferred to another Enrich member, one is charged RM0.04 per Enrich Mile and if you want to apply for your points to be extended to a certain period you need to pay RM0.02 per Enrich Mile. And this is excluding the administration fee of RM40 that they are charging per transfer/per extension. So much for loyalty program that places unnecessary burden on its members. Perhaps I should switch to Kris flyer instead the next time I fly....

I haven't booked my accommodation in Sydney yet but it would definitely either be the Meriton World Towers Service Apartments located near Chinatown/Darling Harbour or Saville Apartments which is located in the CDB district. I guess I'll go for the former due to the location of the apartments which are nearer to all the tourist attractions that I could bring Jeremy to.

Elections - Milestone in Malaysia's nation building journey

2008-03-09T23:40:00.004+08:00

Just for the record, today's national election results mark a watershed moment as Malaysia continues in its nation building journey.

Let's pray that the nation and the citizens are mature enough to handle the changes in the political landscape of the country, at least for the sake of our children :-)

If everything goes well within the backdrop of democracy, it should lead to making the country as a whole stronger and hence create a brighter future for all of us !

Education - A modern parent's dilemma

2008-03-08T00:29:00.007+08:00

Jeremy's first day to school is probably still some years away. But recent stories I hear from my friends and business colleagues with regards to their children's education experience do warrant some concerns:

One of my ex-colleague - He told me his daughter just completed the Standard 1 final semester in an established Kebangsaan school, but the teacher did not finish the syllabus for certain subjects. I am indeed appalled given that this is only in Standard 1 !

A business colleague - She recently told me her son just 'failed' Bahasa Malaysia in Standard 1. Examples of ejaan for a seven year old kid are words like 'menepati'. Wow! I thought I only learnt this word in upper primary. Even the base word ie tepat is not exactly a word I learnt in Standard 1.

Another interesting or rather bizzare story I heard recently was that one day, the son came back and shared what he learnt to his beloved mom. He put to his mom : " What is 2 push 1?". Initially, the mother did not understand. But after much probing, its actually a math question i.e. a literal translation of "dua tolak satu". As you may be aware, math is now taught in English, due to the poor command of the language, the teacher literally 'translated' from bahasa and hence that was how the notorious "two push one" came about. Sigh

One of my other friend tried the Chinese schools. I was told that after the first year, the students will be streamed between the two best classes and 'the rest'. Only students from the two best classes will be given the best attention by the teaching staff while the rest are left to fend on their own. And also, having huge amount of homework is an understatement. My cousin who already had a 9 year old daughter, and he showed me the mandarin syllabus that his daughter went through in Standard 2. Again, the stuff that was shown to me was I thought to be too difficult for a 8 year old child.

I must say sometimes its a 'blessing' I do not have to grapple with this now although eventually I have to face this a couple of years down the road. It is acknowledged that the national schools may not be the best option at the moment but there are challenges as well with regards to the alternatives.

The chinese national schools are natural alternatives but the rote learning method employed in these schoolsI believe is not in line with modern educational techniques which emphasise on proactive learning and combining fun and learning together. Also, I would like my child to do things beyond the traditional schoolwork so that he can have a balanced childhood. Heaps of homework being loaded on him will not help.

Many of my richer kawan-kawan send their child to international schools. The syllabus and teaching techniques seem superior in teory. But I have never felt comfortable about the environment. The kids will only be exposed to friends from the same social class. I myself came from a chinese national primary school and eventually went on to kebangsaan secondary school; while the facilities in these schools are not the best, but what I gained most was to be able to get a glimpse of the 'real world'. In these schools, I have the bright sparks, the school nerds, the pranksters, the naughty ones, the rich ones, the poor ones, the not so poor ones and the sportsmen all put in one single social pot. Exposure to such variety of personalities I believe would equip one better for the real world when they leave school.

So as u can see, its never easy to choose the best for your kids as far as education is concern. Well, I have another few years to think about the matter. Hopefully, by then I can find the ever elusive perfect solution !

Best of 19 months

2008-02-13T19:28:00.010+08:00

Jeremy's getting cheekier and cheekier as he grows older. He is now able to make 2 word phrases (you can hardly call them sentences at this stage) as well as certain gestures especially when he wants something. Some of the things that he says these days includes:

i. Egg pom pom i.e Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall
ii.peas i.e please
iii. "Take" or sometimes he will command you to "get that".
iv. Moon
v. keys and car
vi. mum mum, nan nan, milk milk
vii. Minnie, mickey, daisy, duck (donald), poo poo ( winnie the pooh), Tig (Tigger), Ee (Eeyore)
viii. Spin - whenever he spins something.

He likes me to read to him every night - his favourite books usually involves Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. I've been busy decorating his room after New Year, clearing up mess and attending to various open houses events hence the lack of blogging since we came back from Penang.

Here's a picture of what he does best these days - spinning anything that he get his hands on like this Mickey mouse melamin plate that I got for him.

Daddy and son walking off

Jeremy gesturing on how a car should be driven - an F1 driver in the making

Drinking using a straw - been trying to get him to do this for ages and ages.

His way of saying "shhhh..." but this picture reminds me more of the gestures by Dr Evil in the Austin Powers movies

Sitting on a short stool while waiting for mummy to fill up his bathtub

On the first day of Chinese New Year - the smile is attributed to the many ang pows he collected through out the day.

Vacationing with a toddler

2008-01-25T09:24:00.000+08:00

It's not even February and I'm already planning our first family vacation abroad. Although, I would have had plenty of days to chill out in January and February due to my BIL's wedding receptions in Singapore and Penang, Thaipusam, City Day and the upcoming CNY celebrations, I still need a proper vacation to revitalize, renergize and recharge my soul. The last 2 years have been rather hectic for us especially with Jeremy's arrival and Brain's constant overseas business travelling. Our breaks in between have far and few and most of trips have been centred around Malaysia and Singapore.

We started thinking about the possible vacation destinations as early as November last year and Brain had this crazy idea that we should go to Hawaii for a week with a layover in Japan since the entire plane journey is more than 14 hours! Jeremy's fine with a 4 hour car ride and doesn't fuss that much until the last 1 hour but a 14 hour plane ride is really something else.

We then looked at the possible destinations closer to home - Phuket, Bali, Siam Reap, Saigon - Doesn't sound like toddler friendly places and besides, Brain decided he wants to go somewhere cold. Which is why we've decided to go to Sydney, Down Under in May since that's the only time that both of us can take our leave. ( I can hear Brain sighing "Not Again" - since he has been Down Under almost every year either for work or vacation)

We are planning to fly out to Singapore and try out the only commercial Airbus A380 in the world currently in service on the route between Sydney and Singapore. Besides, we have compared the cost of the flight tickets offered by SIA and MAS and the former is still much cheaper by RM1,000 bucks! It's a 7 hr 30 min flight to Sydney and I'm still really not sure what to expect when it comes to travelling onboard planes with toddlers. KittyCat has given some useful tips and hints on how to keep a small child occupied during a long flight but knowing Jeremy's span of attention these days, it's going to be hard to keep a toddler still on a long flight despite all the toys, colouring books and nooks and cranny around the plane to keep him entertained. He could either raise hell or charm the pants off the flight attendants and passengers - my guess is that he would be the former.

I've been told that booking a night flight would be better than a day flight as they would naturally fall asleep after tiring themselves out during the day. Someone even suggested giving a mild sedative but I'm just not entirely comfortable with the idea of drugging a child with prescription medication so that everyone can have some peace and quiet during a flight. I mean look what it did to Heath Ledger.

Also I haven't quite figure out what to do during the ascent and descent of the aircraft when his ears ache and pop. Mine ache really badly during the every descent as I suffer from a bad sinus problem every since I was little. Not sure what else to do but to give him water I guess - and that's if he wants to drink it.

Also, I figured that instead of booking a hotel room, we will be taking up residency in a service apartment equipped with all the facilities that I need to have as I will be whipping up nutritious home-cooked porridge for Jeremy. I dun want him to eat too much restaurant food which is full of sodium and other seasoning ingredients. The other thing I haven't figure yet is what do I do when he needs to go potty? I can't exactly bring his potty all the way Oz. Maybe I should really start training him to use the adult toilet by using the toddler size seat on it.

I guess there a lot of things to think of when one intends to take a toddler on an overseas vacation. Any great tips out there to make a plane trip a pleasant journey for the little tyke is most welcome.

Brother's 2nd wedding reception in Penang - From Jeremy's perspective

2008-01-23T17:11:00.003+08:00

Given that the hometown is in Penang, a wedding reception in the island hence is not an option. The dinner was mainly for our family members and relatives and it was held at E & O on 12 January this year.

As usual, lil' Jeremy was extremely excited with so many of the relatives surrounding him. I thought he was very hyper throughout the dinner reception.

As for pictures, there were relatively fewer photos of the little one as I was the unofficial ONLY cameraman during the reception and focus therefore was more on the bride and groom :-).

Anyway, here are some of the pics of Jeremy and other cute friends of his generation :

This is my cousin's son Ryan - An exact replica of the father with of course a better bodyshape :-). He is about 10 months older than lil' Jeremy.

Introducing Johann, my sister in law's nephew. He is now 3 years old. He is part of the bride's contingent to Penang all the way from Singapore.

Here, Jeremy was pacing up and down along the red carpet as he was intrigued with the petals that were strewn along the carpet.

A closeup side view of Jeremy

Another shot at Jeremy.

Grandpa needs to do the necessary to humour the young grandson

I was told the 'biting of lip' thing is something Jeremy inherited from me. This is a pic of Jeremy and my mom.

Here, you can see that Jeremy is not at his best behaviour i.e. trying with 2 hands to grab the drink and 2 of my cousins attempt to fend him off. :-)

My sis in law and her sis with the two boys

Quality time between uncle aka the groom and nephew

Brother's wedding at Sentosa Cove - From Jeremy's perspective

2008-01-18T23:49:00.000+08:00

On 5 January this year, my brother had his wedding reception at Sentosa Cove in Singapore. The setting was indeed very plush and I must say the food was excellent even though is produced for mass dining....something seldom happen in weddings in Malaysia. In any case, Jeremy was indeed excited. I have pasted some the shots we have taken on him on the wedding day:

The above was taken at my brother's apartment he went over to 'collect' the bride in the morning. The waiting time was made short as everybody focused their attention on the little one.

Something must have caught his attention in the pic above

Jeremy practising his walking skills around the apartment

Jeremy taking part in the tea ceremony. Not so good shot tho.

Below are some of pictures taken during the evening - Different facial expression of lil Jeremy

The last two pics were interesting. Apparently, the restaurant has some soap bubble machine to keep the kids occupied. Something first I have seen for such an event.

Back to the grind....

2008-01-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

Yeah ... I finally back at work and of course blogging. As you can see, I've been on a break from blogging since I came back from Shanghai till now.... and you know why... cos the little tyke refuse to sleep on his own in the darkened room while mummy's downstairs...hence the lack of time to blog in the evenings onwards. As you can see, Brain's been filling up the space with his awesome photos. Jeremy's18th month old milestone has certainly brought about a lot of changes and I'm not just talking about his emotional and physical development - other things as well which keeps Brain and me busier than ever.

Updates on Jeremy
As you are well aware, Jeremy has started walking unaided - finally... after waiting endlessly for the defining moment.... it reminded me of the time when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon in 1969 and uttered the famous line " "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

His first tenancious steps happened during the weekend in Kuantan. His new found mobility has brought even more headache for the parents who now have to monitor his every step .... being curious, he likes exploring every nook and cranny around the house. Due to his unsteady steps, we have to follow him constantly which can be a tiring affair though one that perhaps could help us to lose that excess poundage that never seem to go away.... As we live in a double storey house, we decided to get a child safety gate for good measure as our bedroom upstairs is close to the staircase and these days, Jeremy has a tendency to dash out from our bedroom when we open the door. I bought a Lindam child safety gate together with the extension as the width of our doorway leading to downstairs is around 37 inches.

Brain had no clue on how to fix it even though the job was really a no-brainer... it took me less than 30 minutes to get the whole thing up and the best thing is you don't need to drill your walls or the staircase in order to install the gate unless you want it to be a permanent fixture in your home. It comes with wall cups which you need to tighten so that the gate fit the doorway. The advantages of the above gate are that it is easy to assemble without the need to drill holes into the wall, looks stylish, reasonably priced and definitely keeps the child safe and at bay. The disadvantages of the gate are that the dual action opening system and secondary locking mechanism for added safety maybe a little bit tricky for adults as well - it's not that easy for an adult to exit the gate unless you know how to unlatch the gate properly. I also discovered to my annoyance thta the bar at the bottom of the gate can be hazardous for adults as there is a tendency to trip over it - hence one must be very careful when one enters or exit the gate. The thing is I can't find any safety gate which does not have a bar at the bottom !

Also, Jeremy now likes to follow me everywhere be it the kitchen, the study room or the verandah outside the house where I hang my daily washing. When I'm in the kitchen he will cling on to my shirt, shorts or my whole leg while I'm washing, cooking or doing some other chore... If I hang around the same spot too long, he will start to fuss.

Another strange thing I notice is that he does not like Brain feeding him during meal times and insist on me feeding him instead .... When Brain takes over the feeding the session, he will fuss and at the same time, take my hand and put it near the bowl which is being held by Brain.

Based on my personal observation, I note that his receptive and spoken language skills have also improved in the last 2 weeks while I was home with him. He appears to understand many of things that I say even if he can't articulate any of them. For eg, I will say that I'm going to the kitchen for a while so I'm leaving him here ( the living room) to watch TV - he knew that I was going to leave him on his own and woul start bawling before I could put him down on the floor.

He can say quite a lot of words now and appears to have a knack of remembering the word after hearing it for the first time. It is also funny to hear him repeating after me the words one, two, three up to the ten even thoughhe can't count yet.

Weight wise, he is now 12kgs. Height wise still around 81cm - it was quite difficult for the nurse to measure his height since he was so fidgety. Speaking of fidgety, it took me, Brain and a nurse to hold him down for the doctor to administer the triple antigen booster jab on his butt cheek last month.

He drinks 7 oz of milk three times a day ( morning, late afternoon and before bedtime). For lunch and dinner, he'll have his oat porridge mashed with assorted vegies, fish, millet and egg. Twice a week, we boil barley water for him to drink and he can consume 3 bottles of barley water in a day! His sleeping pattern has changed as he grew older - he naps for 2-3 hours once a day now. During the holidays, he tends to go to bed later than usual in the evening and sometimes his bedtime can stretch on till 11.30pm and he will sleep round the clock till 10 am the next day. This has been the consistent pattern for the last 14 days while I was on leave but last night I made him go to bed earlier i.e 10 am as we need to get him up at 7 am so that we can drop him off at my parents' place before heading to work. It's funny but he simply got up on his own at 7 am today without the usually nudging or fussiness.

As you can see from the previous posts, Brain's been busy photographing Jeremy with his new toy... during the holidays, Brain discovered that his one true passion was photography and would like to pursue this as a hobby ... hence the expensive toy, the never ending magazines on photography and new lenses. I guess he is leaving the Sony camcorder for me to pursue MY passion of filming Jeremy on the move. So you may ask, what are we going to do with the endless videoing and digital photos? My bet is that we will have to burn all these onto tonnes of discs, place it in some time capsule to be presented to Jeremy when he is an adult *lol*.

Vacation

We went to Kuantan last month for a short break and to visit a friend of ours who had delivered a baby boy in October. Surprisingly, the weather was perfect and sunny. It's hard to believe that it was the monsoon period and only the choppy sea, strong breeze and high tides serve to remind us of this. We put up at Hyatt Kuantan and our room was truly amazing. We booked a normal room and ended up being upgraded to a sea-facingRegency Club room situated on the ground floor without additional cost!

We boooked this:

And got this instead!

The room faced a beautifully manicured garden which roll down to the beach. Jeremy had a fantastic time toddling around the lawns with the cool see breeze blowing into his face. We had an excellent time there despite Jeremy having a constant runny nose which did not subside even after we came back from Penang last week. We went up to Penang to visit my in-laws and had a good break there. I even managed to catch up with some relatives of mine in Kulim during that brief period. After that it was back to our good ole home in KL for an 8 day break before I started work today. It was fun spending time with Jeremy during this time. Getting to know him better each day helps us to understand him better and show him more patience during stressful times.

Jeremy in the scrutiny of the 85mm 1.8D AF-Nikkor lens

2008-01-01T16:58:00.000+08:00

Thse pictures were taken while Jeremy was having his lunch. Needed the camera to distract him. Note these are mainly half body shots which the 85mm is likely to excel in.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone !

Nikon D80 first shots

2007-12-27T23:07:00.000+08:00

My first attempt using a DSLR since 20 years ago when I laid my hands on a Nikon EM (SLR), given by my dad as a present. The pic above was taken in Penang at my parent's place. Jeremy was comfortably settled in my dad' chair holding his Mickey Mouse soft toy from HK Disneyland

Same as in the first picture. 18 months old Jeremy

I was trying to capture Jeremy on the move at Mid Valley. Seems that the 18-135mm kit lens simply is not 'fast' enough for him. Hence, daddy has to patiently wait for the arrival of the 85mm 1.8D lens sometime later this week.

Natural pose by Jeremy at home.

Picture captured as Jeremy was peering out to see what's out there.

Fatherhood and lifestyle change

2007-12-19T23:10:00.000+08:00

Two weeks ago, I was sitting outside the boardroom with one of my lady colleague waiting for our turn to face the 'daunting' Audit Committee members. We chatted quite awhile given that no one seems to have any 'respect' for the poor external auditors time and were made to wait for nearly an hour. Hmmph...so much Malaysian buisiness etiquette ! Anyway so much for the complaints. My colleague actually had a daughter around Jeremy's age too. hence, we were sort of comparing notes on what's life like after the arrival of the 'Little One'. One of the main observations she made was that 'FATHER's life seems to have little change post baby arrival. This is a complete opposite for the Mummy, given that she has the primary caregiver role. The Father ie her hubby continues watch his TV, plays golf on Saturday mornings and life is as usual for the Daddy!

My immediate response was that 'Gee, sounds like Pinky as she always complained that I still watch my TV, play my computer games and seems like business as usual!'

The TRUTH is well....Pinky has a point.....life goes on as usual....nothing has really changed at least on the surface. However, on reflection, subconsciously that is not really the case ! Here are some of the top 3 pointers (not exhaustive list) :

1. Fitness First became a regular haunt
Now that the family has extended, one is actually motivated to stay healthy. Deep down, you know that someone's happiness and future is very much dependent on your ability to stay healthy!...I need to ensure I can work and thus save for his education.....I want to grow old to see Jeremy get married.....I want to make sure I can impart the right values in life to the little one...and the list goes on and on. Hence, a regular workout to the gym becomes a new way of life !

2. Buying things that I would not have bought

I was so satisfied with my Canon Ixus until I realise I get blurred shots everytime I take Jeremy on the move. So suddenly a DSLR becomes something of an utmost importance.

Before I know it, a Nikon D80 became part of the family !

3. Now u know what your parents have gone through

Never have I imagined what kind of sacrifices our parents made for us. I used to hear my mom lamenting...how tough it was to raise us. and yes...nothing beats the actual experience of raising a child to know the challenges and hence the ability to appreciate our own parents more.

This list is not exhaustive, what i have to say as a 18 mth old daddy, whilst the TV and computer games continue to be the way of life, this last 18 months not only make one feels the need to be more responsible and but has actually widened one's horizon on what actually life means, amongst others. ~

Freedom !

2007-12-09T09:24:00.001+08:00

This was taken in a hotel in Kuantan last week. Obviously Master Jeremy is enjoying his new found 'freedom', now that he can walk on his own. He was enjoying the strong breeze from the sea and did not want to go back to the hotel room ! Incidentally, Kuantan was surprisingly bright and sunny when we were there for the day, despite the monsoon season.

For the record

2007-11-24T22:42:00.000+08:00

Just for the record - Jeremy has began to walk without any support this week.

Travel log - Shanghai and Yantai

2007-11-19T10:16:00.000+08:00

Once again I was on a business trip a couple of weeks back, but this time to China, namely the ever famous Shanghai and somewhere in Shandong called Yantai. My client was very surprised that this is my 'first time' into the Peoples' Republic of China considering I am quite a 'Chinaman'. Hmmm...not very complementary isn't it? :-)

Here are some of the pictures I have taken:

Yantai

This is at a beach near the city of Yantai. Well, the sand is so clean and it clearly exceeded my expectation. I would have thought these pictures are taken from some European or Caribbean beach resort if no one tells me the source of these images.

The locals told us that Yantai is a popular summer retreat for many of the locals. It is not so well known with foreigners, hence not so commercialised.

One interesting attraction of Yantai is thePenglai City's Dan Cliffs (丹崖). This place is said to be the departure point of the Eight Immortals on their trip to the Conference of the Magical Peach. Hmm, so much for legends. :-)

Other interesting observations of life in Yantai though the time we had there was short (only a day trip)

#1 - Cars do not stop at junction : And I do not know why ! They will simply pop out from the junction and our driver has to slow down for them.

#2 - No one respects the lane dividers : The roads especially the expressways were very broad. But u-turns are so adhoc ! The car in front can suddenly slows down and decide to u-turn. Our driver told us its a norm over there.

#3 - Interesting food : Apparently baby sea cucumber is a popular food over there, and no one has rice. Corn bun is the staple food. Vinegar is an appetizer, its supposed to help u wet your appetite. Shandong people is also very proud of their red wine. They think its better than the French wine! Lastly, Yantai is near the sea and seafood apparently is famous here.

#4 - Clean environment :I was pleasantly surprised by this. The beaches were clean and the roads near the beaches reminded me of the Highway Route 1 in the US West Coast, very clean and created a relaxed environment for chilling out. One can easily do a lot of outdoor stuffs like cycling and etc.

Shanghai

Shanghai is as expected, a cosmopolitan city. The night scene was taken from the famous Bund area - made famous from the old Hong Kong TV series, the Bund. Nanjing Lu was the next picture and as always full of people. Actually, it reminds me of certain section of Pitt Street in Sydney where parts of the road were permanently closed from traffic, to allow people to walk freely.

The picture on the left is taken from the my client's office premise. Nothing spectacular but to confirm that Shanghai is indeed a concrete jungle. I reckon, if one is looking for China's heritage and history, there are many other places to go rather than Shanghai.

Other observations in Shanghai includes:

#1 - Abundant food : Every lunch and dinner comes in excessive variety in food dishes; at least 8 or 9 dishes every round.

#2 - Cheap books and large in variety : My client brought me to a book shop, I think its 8-9 floors full of books. I was told that translated books are cheap in China cos the government subsidised such books to encourage knowledge transfer. They believe this is key to national development. Hmmm...sounds so sensible compared to space travel.

#3 - Shopping hideouts : Instead of the traditional areas like Nanjing Lu, my client recommended some shopping hideouts for the ladies. Among them Mao Ming Road South - for Cheongsam tailoring. Apparently, u have the best Cheongsam tailors in China over here. Price is around RMB 700-800 which is fairly affordable. Rui Qin Lu is for handbags and shoes.

#4 - Fake as a 'culture' : One last point, within a spate of couple of days, I heard and have seen so many 'fake' incidents around China. Right in the middle of a Nanjing Lu, I have seen brands like Georgio Maniar (Read Armani backwards?) being openly sold in the major shopping belt. While I was there, for the first time in my life I heard about people 'counterfeiting' egg. Apparently, the fake egg has lower production cost than the real egg hence it makes it way to the market. These fake eggs are dangerous as it contains harmful chemicals and banned by the government. Its one thing expensive branded goods like Armani, Coach being counterfeited, but for inexpensive consumables like chicken egg being fake is something else !

Facebook

2007-11-07T12:18:00.000+08:00

I'm being busy with the above lately hence the lack of blog activity in the past couple of weeks. All I can say is that it is an amazing social networking website! I have reconnected with so many friends from primary and secondary school and colleges as well as ex-colleagues. Brain is also hooked on this and we are racing to see who can build a bigger network of friends. If you guys haven't signed up for it - you should!

Haven't had the time to take photos of Jeremy and etc cos Brain has took my camera to Shanghai this week. He will be back today. On the other hand, I will be going off to Shanghai as well to attend a conference in 2 weeks time. So the next couple of weeks will be a busy time for the family.

Updates on Jeremy:
Jeremy's vocab has expanded to a level that even I'm amazed! He can now say - SPECS ( for some reasons it sounded like "sex" - still can't pronounce sp... *lol*), SINK, DIAPER, DA DA (For Daddy. Still calls Mummy - Papi or papu , not sure why), CAR (of course), UMBABA (Umbrella), Dog, Door, Lock, Pic (for picture), Cat, COK (for Brocolli), Plant, Shoes, Socks, Cei (Ceiling), Curtain, window, Thiv (TV), Tig (For Tigger), Pooh Bear, bed, pillow, blanket, ball, fish, chair, carpet.

Weighs - more than 12 kg

Still cruising but can stand independently for a few seconds.

Man's best friend

2007-10-25T15:33:00.000+08:00

As you all know, Jeremy was born in the year of the dog and he has also demonstrated a quiet affiliation to his zodiac sign lately - well to be more specific, his "Doggie" which is a cuddly soft toy given to him by Mr Belacan on his 1st birthday. They are inseparable. They pretty much went everywhere together while we were in Singapore. He has other soft toys too but "Doggie" is his bestest friend. He will hug him to death every day, kiss his little nose and also cradle or rock and now he even sleeps with it. Doggie to him is like the most precious thing on earth. It's quite touching to see a toddler demonstrate so much affection and love to something that is not even live.

Singapore - Day 3:Checked Out and Homeward Bound

2007-10-22T18:27:00.000+08:00

We got up early then usual and headed out for some roti canai on Thomson road. After that we drove around Bukit Timah (District 11) and Thomson Road looking at the substantial number of bungalows (single family houses and duplexes) and condominiums which dotted these areas. Brain was telling me that unless you are a Singaporean or is married to a Singaporean, you can't acquire landed properties (houses) in Singapore. I must say that the exterior architectural design of some of the homes are quite impressive. It could be years before I could even think of remodelling my home to resemble the beautiful homes in Singapore . *lol*. Jeremy was rather sleepy this morning and took a nap in the car while we drove around. We had tim-sum for brunch and checked out of the hotel at 1pm after feeding Jeremy his porridge. Jeremy was cranky by the time we reached the Tuas Immigration Check Point and begged to be taken out of his child seat. I tried to distract him by the Light and Buggy Driver which I strapped on his carseat. That occupied him for a while and he was pretending to be Michael Schumacher ( with the F1 car sound effects - you know the insane, high pitch sound of a v8 engine ) for a good half hour before he started to get restless again. Quite surprisingly, he didn't fuss at all during our entire trip from KL to Singapore on the 1st day. Maybe he didn't nap enough during our 3 days in Singapore. Anyway, he fussed so much and his wails were getting louder and louder. I couldn't bear to see his tear stained face - he was so miserable. I had to take him out of his carseat - which I rarely do and that quietened him down a bit. After awhile, he fell asleep on my chest. He napped for a good 2 hours and woke up as soon as we reached KL. It was perfect timing.

Jeremy driving us back to KL

Singapore - Day 2 : Friends and Family

2007-10-22T14:03:00.000+08:00

Jeremy woke up at 9.30am, had his milk and bath before we went off to meet a friend in Holland Village. Brain went off to Vivo City to meet an old schoolmate. My friend from Uni whom I haven't seen in years brought along her adorable 2.5 year old daughter, Natasha. We hung out at Coffee Bean and ordered some pasta and sandwiches. The 2 toddlers couldn't interact much due to the age difference and largely also because of the gap in the speech & communication development. Jeremy is at a stage where his receptive speech/language ( the ability to understand) is far better then his expressive language. Whereas, Natasha is a walking and talking toddler. She is at a stage where she can not only understand but also articulate herself verbally. Jeremy wanted to stand/cruise badly so I placed him on a chair near a countertop while I sat beside him and held his waist. It didn't stop him wriggling around. He wanted to touch everything. I was trying to distract him the whole time while chatting with my friend. We had a lot to catch up. At one point, he tried to balance himself by holding onto my glass of English Breakfast Latte! It toppled and spilt all over the table and floor. The incident upsetted Natasha who starting crying really loudly while my friend hurriedly went to get some serviettes to clean up the mess. Everybody in the cafe were giving us nasty looks. I gave Jeremy a rather stern look but he just sat there quietly without any fear of being chastised. We decided to leave the place and went over to my friend's apartment located on Hinde Hede Road. We hung out at Natasha's room which had loads of toys. Jeremy was just entranced by the number of toys she had. Because they couldn't really relate to each other, they played with the toys separately. We decided to call it a day at 12.30 as Jeremy was getting sleepy. Brain picked us up and we headed back to the hotel so that Jeremy can have his nap. It was a rather short nap - 45 minutes tops. I expected him to sleep longer but he was up and ready for more action and adventure. I fed him his lunch, took him to his potty to do his bowel business and we went out later for coffee. We met up with Jeremy's uncle (my brother-in-law) and his fiancee and went to the Marina Village at 1 Degree Fifteen at Sentosa Cove. That's where his uncle will be holding his wedding reception January next year. Walked around for a bit, had another drink and showed Jeremy the yachts and boats moored on the floating walkways. After that, we went back to his uncle's wine shop to stock up on some bottles of white wines.

At this point, since Jeremy had only a 45 mins midday nap, we decided to bring him back to the hotel for his 2nd afternoon nap which was way overdue. He decided that he didn't need the nap and was unresponsive to our usual cajoling. I fed him his evening meal and then we all went out for our annivesary dinner at Prego. He was very well-behaved - which is Not suprisingly, considering that he did not have his afternoon nap and of course was probably rather tired by then. He seemed content to play with his matchbox cars which I brought along and didn't fuss for anything except for the freshly baked bread which the restaurant served on our table. After dinner, we headed back to our car and as soon as we put him in the carseat, he dropped off to sleep in zzzland. We took a spin around the city for awhile and then headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest after a day out.

busy playing with Natasha's toys

Singapore - Day 1 - Journey and Check In

2007-10-22T12:51:00.000+08:00

Our journey to Singapore started at 10.30am and the weather did not look promising. It drizzled halfway through our journey and did not subside until we reached Singapore at 3.00pm. We scrambled to the nearest 7-11 to get a cashcard and top-up the value on our autopass. The traffic in Singapore was building up rapidly and Brain was avoiding all routes with the ERP gantry.

Jeremy missed his lunch throughout the journey and I had to substitute his porridge with bread and some vitamin c juice. After checking in at Sheraton Towers and lugging all our luggages (bags, slow cooker, food, water, potty, toys etc) to the 17th Floor, we headed out again for a really late lunch. Brain wanted to go to NYDC, at Wheelock Place, a teenage hang out which he used to frequent in his youth. We had a quick lunch and I fed Jeremy his pre-cooked porridge while he occupied himself by playing with some soft toys on the seats. He was obviously starving as he gobbled all of it in a matter of seconds. We didn't do any window shopping as we were pretty exhausted and Jeremy was badly in need of an afternoon nap. We went back to the hotel, unpacked and let Jeremy unwind a bit before he fell asleep. He was quite excited about his new surroundings and as such, took a longer time than usual to fall asleep. However, halfway through his nap, my friend called to confirm on the meeting place for our brunch the next day. The call woke and upsetted him greatly. Nothing we did could console or pacify him until I gave him a small little flask to fiddle with and that did it. He played with it, while I started fixing his dinner. Brain got ready to go to his 20th annivesary RI reunion at Suntec City. I ordered room service. I ate and fed him and after that it was exploring time for master Jeremy. He cruised along the bed and furniture, opened and closed the drawers and cupboards, leaned against the mirrored bathroom door making funny faces and played with his matchbox cars on the bed. I was watching Cicakman on the Suria Channel for awhile and this caught his interest as he is rather afraid of lizards - at home when we want to deter him from wandering off to another place or area in the room, we will warn him not to go there as the Chak Chak lives in that area. Sometimes he will buy the fib but sometimes he will just ignore us. He was quite active that night and only doze off at 10.45pm which is really late for him. Brain came back to the hotel at 11pm with loads of stories to tell but I was too knackered after a long day travelling. All of us called it a night at 11.30pm.

Jeremy mucking around in the hotel room

I finally got my Maclaren Volo

2007-10-17T14:29:00.001+08:00

Yes, I finally got the Mercedes of strollers from Mothercare and needless to say it was RM100 more expensive than the price offered by First Few Years. I would have liked to have bought it from First Few Years but they only had the powder pink and crimson strollers which are kinda girly for Jeremy. I opted instead for Mothercare as they had the carbon stroller. The colour choices in Malaysia are rather limited - they don't have the turqoise, flame orange or white strollers.

At RM499, it doesn't come with the sun parasol (brolly) or the Volo Accessory Pack.

I must say that the aluminium stroller is pretty lightweight at 4.2kg and it has a carry strap which makes it easy for us to lug it around when we are overseas. We are planning some trips abroad next year so the stroller would definitely come in handy but does anybody know whether MH/MAS allows us to gate check the stroller so that it is available to us once we are off the plane? I was told that all international airlines including MAS allow this for passengers with infants. Or do they insist that this be checked in with the rest of the luggages which is not practical as one can't expect a small child/toddler to walk to the terminal gate which can be quite a distance. If it is the latter, then I would need to look out for the Volo Accesory bag which we would need to zip the stroller in before we check it in together with the rest of our luggages.

The trip to Singapore would be a great way to find whether the stroller is as good as it looks. *lol*

Jeremy is 16 months old today

2007-10-14T18:09:00.000+08:00

Yup he's a big boy now and can be a handful these days. We took him to his first Raya Open House yesterday and as usual, he was fidgety and restless. Wanted to move around. And boy did he move - he moved the table cloth and spilt someone's drink which was on the coffee table. Next he wanted to fiddle with some exotic ornamental ducks on display at the same table. I had a hard time distracting him until someone took him out to look at the swimming pool and he was just mesmerized by the water in the blue pool.

Some stats as usual:

Weight: I guess more than 11 kg now but I wouldn'y know his exact weight until his next check up in December.

Height: I have no clue either since he is still not walking and still cruising. Seems afraid to let go but then I think since the location of his centre of gravity is high, he is having a hard time figuring out how to balance himself.

Food intake: Still on Progress Gold 3 times a day. He has oat porridge for lunch and dinner mixed with assorted vegies which include amongst other things, celery, carrots, pumpkin ,broccoli and cauliflower. The vegies are mixed with fish or half an egg yolk.

Vocab wise: Favourite word is car. But he can say diaper, clock, cup, book, dog, light and star.

Here are some pics of him taken yesterday after his morning nap.

On another note, we are thinking of getting a lightweight umbrella stroller for him as the current 3-1 Graco Travel System is just too cumbersome and bulky for long journeys and overseas travel. It doesn't leave much boot space for our luggages and stuff when we are travelling. Any suggestions for a good umbrella stroller - I heard the Mclaren Volo is good and I may get it for him before our Singapore trip. Maybe I'll get it in Singapore since I heard it's much cheaper over there. Till then, enjoy the rest of the Raya Hols

2 days to Raya......

2007-10-11T13:43:00.001+08:00

2 days more to go before our much awaited and much needed 3 day break. I always look forward to public holidays especially in Malaysia where we celebrate just about every festival and occassion gazetted by the Government. Concerns about national productivity during these periods are often quietly ignored *lol*.

I understand that the sighting of the moon will take place tonight even though we all know that by following the lunar calendar, there is no way, jose that you will be able to see the moon tonight. Ignorant as I may be, I'm still not quite sure the point of this exercise especially when we all know that the first day of Raya will fall on Saturday, based on the lunar calendar and this has been marked on our Roman calendars. Perhaps someone can enlighten me on this?

Well, this 3-day weekend is also a milestone of all sorts apart from the festival of Aidilfitri which is celebrated by Muslims all over the world. Jeremy's turning 16 months on Sunday, 14 October 2007 while Monday, 15 October 2007 will be our 7th wedding annivesary. We have decided not to mark the occassion this year in KL as we will be going to a couple of Hari Raya open houses held by our friends/colleagues and associates this weekend with Jeremy in tow. One particular open house will certainly delight Jeremy as I was told that there will be clowns, balloons and face painting to entertain the children. Since we will be down in Singapore next weekend, the usual annivesary dinner for 2 will be postponed till then. And for once it will not only be just the 2 of us as Jeremy will be joining us as well for the candlelight dinner *lol*. Can you imagine us trying to entertain and hold the attention of a fidgety toddler at an upscale restaurant? I'm sure the maître d' or the customers will not be amused by his antics.

I haven't quite decided on the venue for the dinner but high on my list is The Prego at Swissotel The Stamford (Fka as The Westin) as I love Italian cuisine and I haven't been there for a long time. The restaurants at Holland Village could be an alternative but I haven't been there for quite sometime as well so I'm not sure about the quality of the meals offered at the selection of restaurants located there. Hey, if anyone of you have any good suggestions out there do let me know!

The Letter C

2007-10-08T10:30:00.000+08:00

My last post was about an item starting the letter C therefore I shall continue to write about stuff or ppl or anything that begins with the same letter.

I haven't been posting much lately as I was trying to complete all outstanding work matters with my boss (which require her signature) before she goes on her much needed vacation. Apart from that, I have been cracking my brain over a thought leadership paper which I have been assigned to write and complete before she returns. I''m fine with all the technical bits for the paper but have trouble figuring out how to write the introduction. Call it writer's block, maybe Kelana could give me a hand on this since he is such a prolific writer these days. My first few attempts was futile and saw me tossing a couple of crumpled-up papers with one-liners into the waste paper basket. I finally got my first paragraph written to my satisfaction but it took me almost 2 and a half hours to carve out what I wanted to say to grasp the readers attention. I'm still in the midst of writing out the next paragraph before I get onto the body of the paper which has all the technical stuff, charts and statistics. Hopefully, I will get this done before the Raya break.

On another note, we finally got our CAR last Monday and was zipping around town with master Jeremy hanging on for dear life *lol*. Anyway, Brain was busy with work the first 3 days last week and was rather tensed as it involves a lot of strategy, planning and swift execution - the situation reminded me of the famous "dawn raid" on the London Stock Exchange in 1981 of a certain Malaysian MNC. Even I was getting a little bit nervous for him...the waiting.... the anticipation.... the suspense was really killing me... In any case, the end result was he executed the plan succesfully and protected our "rice bowl". After that intense 3 days, he was off to Hanoi (again) for a regional meeting. While he was there I was zipping around town myself using the new car and I even got something from the Early Learning Centre at The Curve for Jeremy to fiddle with in his car seat. He is so CRAZY about CARS these days that he can utter the word 20 times in an hour. He will go Car, car, car, car at every vehicle that zoomed passed our car. I will strap him in the car seat and then clasp the above contraption to the seat. He absolutely loved it especially the steering wheel, the ignition key and the little horn in the middle. He was happily playing with this in the car when I went to collect Brain from LCCT on Saturday. Brain decided to cut the trip short as there wasn't much they could accomplish with typhoon Lekima creating havoc all around them.

But he did have an interesting story to tell me and I went like why didn't you $%#*@ get a picture for me? Brain as usual is not a celebrity hound unlike me! I will ga-ga over just about any gorgeous looking Hollywood hunk. They bumped into none other than the delicious looking COLIN FARRELL in Hanoi. This was the celebrity whose wallpaper and screensaver adorned my notebook before Jeremy made his grand entrance! I have just about watched most of his movies and my all time favourite is still The Recruit. Apparently he was on holiday there (with Typhoon Lekima lashing - dun think it turned out to be such a nice vacation after all for him) and Brain's colleagues were busy snapping photos with him (and not of him)! Bah humbug...

Anyway, I didn't know how to get to LCCT and Brain had this BRILLIANT idea that I should go and pick him up since now we have this.....

Unfortunately even it couldn't guide me to LCCT - the furthest it took me was KLIA and based on the system - LCCT doesn't exist on the planet!! And the directions on the signboards to LCCT were not exactly helpful, or accurate and confusing to say the least. Somehow, I managed to get there safely following the barrage of red taxis heading in the same direction. I must say that the airport was a hive of activity compared to KLIA.

I'll try to upload pictures of Jeremy during the Raya Break before we head off the Singapore for a short break during the following weekend where Brain has a 20th anniversary school reunion to attend with his 80 odd ex-school friends that include a certain person ( not exactly a celebrity) who acted along side Ewan McGregor in a little known movie about the Nick Leeson in before he found fame as Obi-wan. *lol*.

Croc Shoes

2007-09-20T12:24:00.000+08:00

I read the papers with grave concerns over the safety and hazards of these colourful plastic lightweight clogs which has has become a global fad for both adult and children alike. You can see kids wearing these everywhere. It was on my shopping list for the longest time that I can remember and I wanted to get them once Jeremy starts walking properly. Having read about how these shoes now pose a "toe risk" on escalators, I have firmly decided against getting a pair for him. This is especially so for young children who could never stand still even on a moving escalator. It was reported that last year a 2 year old Singaporean girl's big toe was ripped off on the escalator as a result of wearing such clogs although it is uncertain whether these were Croc shoes or its fake counterparts. The most recent case involved a 4 year old boy from Virginia whose toe was caught in an escalator while wearing Croc shoes. Fortunately for him, his mother managed to yank his toe free but his toe nail was almostly completely ripped off - causing heavy bleeding. Washington, D.C., subway officials said trapped Crocs are happening about four or five times a week, and they've had to post warnings to riders. In addition, it has been reported that Crocs shoes are linked to 40 escalator accidents in Japan last year.

It's alarming to know the rate of accidents caused by these shoes and as manufacturers of the shoes, Crocs has not stepped forward to address these concerns.

So for those of you out there who have bought these shoes for your kids, you may want to try the elevator instead!

At last .....A Brand New Office *

2007-09-18T12:49:00.000+08:00

As of Monday, we have moved to a new office - hurray! For those who worked in KL Sentral and saw a bunch of individuals in lime green T-shirts (think Mike Wasowski from Monsters Inc) yesterday moving around KL Sentral or taking the LRT/Monorail/Kommuter in the morning - yes, those were the people moving to the new office and not MOVERS.

Unpacked all my stuff yesterday and finally got my new Cisco VOIP working! Unfortunately, I couldn't access my mailbox or internet until today. Also, since everyone is going green these days, there will be no more styrofoam cups (outlawed) and the luxury of having a tea lady bringing you your daily dose of caffeine. Everyone are given their own mugs which they will use and wash daily at the pantry.

Foodwise, since yesterday, we have been having our lunch at KL Sentral station which has a wide variety of fastfood outlets and STARBUCKS - yes, something we can't live without these days! . Anyway, can't dine on fast food all the time for health and money reasons, got to find alternative food outlets... still in the midst of checking out my surroundings!

Jeremy is 15 months old today

2007-09-14T10:54:00.001+08:00

Just took Master Jeremy for his booster pneumoccocal jab this morning. The injection was on his thigh and he just gave a yelp but that was it. Didn't cry at all.

Vital Statistics:
Height: Still the same ... a little over 81 cm
Weight: 11 kg on the dot. Getting heavier but still cruising and not walking independently. Paed said that there was nothing to worry about as it would be a matter of time before he starts taking his first unassisted steps.

He will be going for his booster triple antigen jab in December during his 18 months old check up. I was a bit concerned about this particular vaccination as I have heard from colleagues that side effects could include numbness and pain in the leg which could persist for more than 24 hours and this may hamper his ability to walk for a day or two. However, the paed reassured me that the above side effects only affects 1% of the baby population. I hope he is right .. anyway I plan to take leave during the vaccination period in December to care for him.

Apart from that, he will be taking his first Hepatitis A jab in December as well and the second jab 6 months later. Since he is taking only home cooked food at the moment except for the occassional bread and sometimes mashed potato provided by the restaurants outside, we felt that the jab could be delayed for awhile. Apparently if you constantly feed you child food outside the home, the above jab should be administered as soon as possible even after the age of 1. As we intend to take him for his first overseas holiday (not counting Singapore) sometime after his 2nd birthday - the timing of the injection couldn't be more perfect!

Will upload more photos this weekend if time is on my side.

We like to move it, move it

2007-09-13T14:49:00.000+08:00

Our office is relocating to a building in Malaysia's foremost transportation hub on Monday. I am currently doing a last count of the number of boxes to be shipped out on Saturday and ensuring that no important documents are left behind. . So it's been hectic the last couple of days especially since I'm the manager in charge of the move for our department. Our building is SMART building hence it doesn't even have buttons indicating the floor numbers in the elevators... !

All packed and ready to be sealed for the big MOVE

In memory - 9/11

2007-09-12T11:45:00.000+08:00

As I was packing my boxes in my office yesterday, it suddenly dawned upon me that it was the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I remember the attacks like it was yesterday. I was having dinner and plonked myself down in front of the TV to watch the latest news on CNN. Before you know, the sign Breaking News came on and we see thick smoke bellowing our from the first WTC tower . Nobody suspected that was a terrorist attack at that point and thought that it was merely an unfortunate accident. A couple of minutes later, I and I guess everyone else watched in disbelief as another plane crashed into the 2nd Tower. With thick smoke and fire bellowing through to the uppers floors, hapless people trapped in those upper floors got out onto the ledge of the windows to escape the fumes enveloping those floors. We were then shown fire engines and paramedics rushing to the scene and some 20 minutes later the first Tower collapsed followed by the 2nd Tower - I lost my appetite then. Even the CNN correspondent reporting from the top of the another building located a couple of blocks from the WTC was speechless - I mean what else is there to say. I bet every viewer of this horrific event was in a state of shock. Our firm which is a global entity lost 4 employees in the attacks. They were in the 2 planes which crashed into the Towers. One of them was travelling with his 3 year old daughter.

These unprecedented attacks came exactly 60 years after Pearl Harbour and I was on my way to London on a much needed vacation the very next morning!!

I remember KLIA being slightly chaotic the next morning - they checked all our hand carry bags, one by one for any sharp objects be it a pen or even a small little scissors. The plane to Singapore was delayed by over an hour and was also subjected to rigorous technical checks. By the time we reached Changi to get onto the SIA plane headed for London, we have lost almost four hours of travelling time. Plane food as you all know is not that great but what made it worse was eating it with plastic utensils! Stainless steel cutlery was outlawed the day after the attacks.

The scene at Heathrow was equally chaotic. London was on high alert and the streets were lined with bobbies. At every tourist spot in London, be it the Palace or the Tower of London, our bags were checked thoroughly and we were subjected to other security measures before we were let in. The worse part of my holiday there was having to read the dreaded papers every day - they were rather depressing. Stories of victims after victims were poured out of the every newspaper in London.

In the aftermath of these tragedies, came the war on terrorism and that's another story....

So where were you during and immediately after the 9/11 attacks?

Having fun at Gymboree

2007-09-08T23:52:00.000+08:00

He absolutely lurves Gymboree classes now. Doesn't wail anymore and will get his hands and legs into anything now *lol*

Let's go driving in my car......

2007-09-08T23:43:00.000+08:00

Bah -humbug!- No tax cuts for individuals.....

Anyway, Jeremy is absolutely crazy about cars. I guess it's very much a guy thing.
Just to share with you that the car was stationery and I didn't do a Britney i.e driving with the baby on my lap!

Budget 2008

2007-09-07T15:28:00.000+08:00

Came into office at 2pm today cos we've got to work late tonight - brainstorming on the various pertinent tax issues that will impact the rakyat. Got to work tomorrow as well. Brain and myself are praying for a 2% tax cut for individuals - fat hopes I guess considering the recent subprime crisis in the US which continue to grip the world markets! But I guess you never know - Pak Lah could be generous *lol*.

As the world mourned the passing of Luciano Pavarotti , hailed by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, .... on a brighter note, the world or at least the royal family of Japan celebrated the 1ist birthday of Prince Hisahito - future emperor of Japan! Isn't he such a cutie pie?

My Birthdate in History

2007-09-06T17:22:00.000+08:00

Got a tag again from Judy. Hoepfully I can keep up with all the tags that I have been getting lately *lol*

Go to Wikipedia.
Type in your birthday and search your birthdate : June 1.
From the results, list down 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday.

Events
1980 - Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting
2001 - Prince Dipendra of Nepal slaughters the royal family during dinner. (Note: Morbid)
2003 - Same-sex marriage comes into force in Belgium (Note: wow....)

Births
1974 - Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer-songwriter
1968 - Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer (note - my idol once upon a time)

Holidays
Children's Day in some countries.

These are the people who have participated so far:
Mommyness is Happyness
This is a Miracle
Life’s Prisms
Rooms of my Heart
Life’s a Rollercoaster
Keeyit’s Wonderful Life
Lingzie’s Tummy Treats
Lilian Chan’s 5xmom
Adrian’s void sky
Sasha's Tags & Such
Lemonjude's Memoirs.:*CRoSs mY hEARt*:.
Pinky's Thots

Curious to know what happened on your birthdate:
Milkmaid
Phoebe's mummy
Ponytales
Ryan's mummy
KittyCat
Chubbyschmubby
Shannon

14th Month milestones and other stuff

2007-09-05T12:07:00.001+08:00

I have been taking a backseat from blogging for quite a while and Brain has been trying to spice up the blog with masculine topics which may or may not draw interest from readers who are predominantly mothers. *lol* Although I must agree with his point of view on most of the issues in the last post. Besides, Brain's deep seeded fascination with cars can be traced as far back as his early childhood days and yes, he just got ..... JENG JENG JENG!... a new car... arriving in November and it's BLACK. And of course, he had to seek my approval before we placed the deposit.

Not exactly a practical family car for most people out there... most will go "Are you nuts? Have you lost your mind?". I guess this is what happens when you let your heart rule your mind. It's a great vehicle to drive but the ride for the passengers at the back of the car is another matter.... think --- horse drawn carriage or wagon with passengers crossing the rugged terrain of the American West in the early 19 century. Anyway, got to get used to the bone shaker *lol* and Brain says he will change the tyres if Jeremy and myself can't tahan the ride at the back on our long sojourn journeys around Malaysia.

We will be selling our little red car this month to fund the purchase so Brain and myself will have to commute to and fro from work in one car from now on until November.

Frankly speaking, although the drive and handling is fantastic ( I did 140kph on a test run last month on a not so busy freeway), look wise, the new car doesn't fit my wholesome, mother of one image! It gives the impression that either I'm a tomboy or the car is definitely not MINE to start with.

I told Brain that had I been single with dosh to dole out, it would definitely be a WOGGIE albeit a green lime Beetle like the pic below.

On to the matter as to why I have not been blogging lately or posting any new pictures of Jeremy.... well it appears that this correlates with the increase separation anxiety levels that Master Jeremy has started as exhibit as he gets older. Either this or it is just plain bad behaviour. It started with me trying to blog during his bedtime a couple of weeks ago. His bedtime has now shifted to 10.30pm thanks to his fascination with Noddy and his motor car. He's simply glued to this segment which starts at 10.00pm and ends around 10.30pm. Sometimes, if Tiny Planets is on he will watch that too. If I interrupt the program by switching off the TV, he will glare at me, point to the TV and utter in consternation... URRGH! And if I dun switch on the TV again, he will literally throw a fit and wail till his eyes and face turn purple with anger. A 14 month old raging? Uncommon but true.

Anyway, he will hop off to zzzland to sleep at 10.30pm, while I quietly slip downstairs to my study room to blog. Half an hour later, the tyke would wake up in the darkened room, climb down the bed, and head for the bedroom door , wailing at the top of his lungs and start banging the door. I have to run up, pacify him and sleep next to him for the rest of the night. So there goes my blogging time. It's been like that for the last 1 month so bear with me while I get some pics of him up and running on the blog.

Here's a run down of his current emotional and physical development:-
Height : I think he's around 83 cm
Weight: getting heavier.
Physical development: Can't walk yet. Still crawling and crusing at lightning speed.
Word association: Bought him loads of books in relation to baby's first words and he knows the words associated with the objects or items in the books.
First words: Car Car. Clock Clock. Cup Cup Dia-per. A-pple. Yeah He can say all of these but not mummy or daddy.
Foodwise - still on his oat porridge with fish and assorted vegies. Loves bread

He likes gymborree classes and does not cry anymore. He is eager to participate in all the activities especially going up and down the ramps including the parachute ride with the other tots. Will post pictures this week later.

Workwise for me, we are all moving to a new office in the next couple of weeks. So a lot of packing and purging to be done from now till then. Location wise, it will only take me 10 mins to get to office now - hurray! Food wise, the place really sucks during lunch time unless you want to have hot spicy food for the rest of your career here.

Printers and Cars - A Reflection

2007-09-01T11:36:00.000+08:00

As mentioned in my earlier note, we were considering a variety of choices vis a vis printer/scanner. So we took the opportunity on Merdeka Day to browse the array of options available at Harvey Norman. Earlier in the day, we also decided to 'kaypoh' around by following one of my colleague to the VW Showroom at PJ. He was weighing whether to buy a VW Passat (try to be a good family man) or a racy VW Golf GTi (fulfill his inner self as a boy racer). What sets me 'reflecting' was that we have gone a long way in terms of technology for these two household products!

THE PRINTER

It seems not too far away when it was a relief that the 'Liquid Paper' is a thing of the past. With a computer printer, one can make amendments before the document is sent for final print. Typewriters fell into the shadow of obsolescence the moment the computer printer became something affordable for the mass in the mid 80s.

The Epson printer on the left was such a cool thing especially in the late 80s. However, a distinctive feature of dot matrix was that they were notoriously loud during operation, a result of the hammer-like mechanism in the print head. Furthermore, the the low dot density produced printouts of a distinctive "computerized" quality. Having said that, despite its flaws, it was a luxury then

When I started work in the 90s, laser jet was the flavour of the decade. It was able to print volumes after volumes of documents. The print was fantastic too. It's no longer of 'computerised' quality and they are also pretty silent. Perhaps two things I note about them is that (1) They are generally large in size (2) Its B&W esp during the 90s.

Since the late 90s, I have not been paying attention to development of printers until recently. My, the changes are so significant! Now, not only I have colours but I can have'all in one' machines ie scanner, printer, photo prints and even fax - all in one single machine !

Well, the above HP C5280 in my mind is an example of how technology has redefined our lifestyles significantly. I can easily work at home with all these technology now accessible to the mass, although at times this also mean that you can go on to work 24-7 i.e. adverse effects to the work life balance which everyone of us is striving for!

THE CAR

Being a family man OR a boy racer - that was the question for my colleague yesterday. For a moment, he sounded like Hamlet to me! :-)

Anyway, the type of questions he posed to the Sales Consultant are very typical of modern day buyers i.e. asking for everything under the sun. Some of the questions are

Is the cabin space sufficient for my family? (considering he has only a family of 3)

Is the handling up to my expectation? (and the expectation is that of a F1 car handling!)

Is the car safe enough for my family? (the safety element becomes perennial importance when one has small child like many of us)

I like the power but what about fuel consumption even though I know both elements do not go hand in hand?

What about resale value cos I want to buy a car that I would not want to lose my pants when I sell it a couple of years down the road? (A typical Malaysian question and I always thought only the bean counters would consider this point)

So, finally based on his analysis and they are as follows:

The Passat

Good family car and spacious. Good safety features. Handling not up his expectations. Resale value may be in question.

The Golf GTi

and the FINAL ANSWER is.................................... He did not commit any purchase yet. Preferred the GTi but looking for more discounts ( A typical of the bean counter trait ! :-))

Anyway, when I compared my friend's analysis in to my dad's purchase of his Honda Accord 27 years ago, the factors to consider were somewhat similar but expectations were definitely very different!

TO SUM UP...........

Printer cum Scanner

2007-08-29T18:58:00.000+08:00

Pinky and I are cracking our head on which printer to purchase with the following primary uses:

1. Scan in old pictures
2. Print pictures from the Camcorder and Camera

We hope to get recommendations on model and brand. And of course, price is a major consideration

:-)

All Four In Me

2007-07-16T15:21:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged quite a fair bit this days except that I haven't had the time to go through the tags and write a detailed piece on each of them. Some requires much thought and assessment but some like the one above, which is a tag from Judy, is an easy one to tackle :).

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. A Char lady during my uni-days. I was paid like AUD13 an hour to cook and launder at the residential college I stayed over the winter hols. Our housekeeper was away and since the going rate was good, I thought it might be fun but I wasn't a very good cook - I burned the gravy twice much to the chagrin of my college mates *lol* . I spent most of my loot on this.

2. An audit vacation trainee at a local firm. The money wasn't very good and neither was the experience. I toiled through the peak audit season like some unpaid flunky collecting and shoving files back to the file rooms, making coffee, typing lenthy reports without knowing the content, reconciling income statements and etc. The experience was indeed an eye-opener and something I wouldn't want to go through again.

3. Associate Consultant - The job was great but the boss was not. We all felt that she needed some form of anger management therapy.

4. Managing Consultant - the job that I'm currently at which I think is my forte. I found the job not only challenging but also satisfying to a certain extent.

Four Countries I have been to on vacation:
1.Down Under: We all try to go back once every 2 years. My next trip hopefully would be after June 2008.

2. UK: Was there in 2001 and 2002

3. France: Paris and The Loire Valley. It was really nice having dinner at the Eifel Tower and doing on the mini Chateau tours in the Loire Valley

4. US of A: The land of theme parks and hot dogs *lol*

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Penne Arrabiata

2. Tiramisu

3. Assam Laksa

4. Gewurztraminer Wine

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. At home in bed with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate
2. At home playing with Jeremy and planning our next family vacation
3. At home playing with our latest PS2 games
4. Rollerblading on Manly beach, Sydney

Four friends to tag:
1. Milkmaid
2. Shannon
3. Ponytales
4. Jeremy's Mummy

Sunday afternoon at Gymboree

2007-07-09T17:51:00.000+08:00

Jeremy started his first Gymboree class yesterday and I have discovered that unless you are physically fit, the activities will tire you out more than your child. Although the duration of the class is only 45 minutes, I (not Jeremy) was already panting after 10 minutes. There were sing alongs and other activities which encourages balance and coordination on their playscapes. Also the session provides an opportunity for your child to interact with his/her peers. Being the newest kid on the block, Jeremy was at first reluctant to participate in any of their activities and started clambering onto me. He refuse to let go and the instructor told me to play with him with the toys and assist him on the slides and ramp. He soon warmed up but was reluctant to join the other children in the activities - he would either push the other kids away or grab their coloured balls to play. I must say that some of kids (some who are much younger than him) were very confident and enjoyed going through the activities with the instructor. And of course there were some howlers too *lol*. Thank god Jeremy didn't wail and yell . In the end, he kinda got the hang of being there and enjoyed the parachute and the bubble blowing activity as well as the sing-along. As for me, although it was tiring, I found the session enjoyable since it's a great way for Jeremy and me to bond together through the sing-alongs and activities. He is currently enrolled for Level 3 classes (for 10 to 16 month olds) which runs for 12 weeks.

I didn't get any shots of him at the class cos I wasn't sure whether it would be permitted. When I enrolled him, they gave me a goodie bag which includes a free pass for one class. I'm giving this to Milkmaid for her to try it out.

My Corner

ANZ 2011 - Dunedin - Invercargill - TeAnau

ANZ 2011 (3) - Timaru - Oamaru - Dunedin 15 December 2011

ANZ 2011 (2) - Christchurch 13 to 14 December 2011

ANZ 2011 (1) - Melbourne 10 to 13 December 2011

New Zealand Trip Diary - Synopsis

My Daughter was 2 years old 26 days ago

Travel logs - Daylesford, Victoria

Quotable quotes from a 5 year old boy

How will a pulp result?

18 month old Alicia

Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors

Book Review - Battle Hymm of the Tiger Mother

Education rat race begins for Jeremy

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Alicia turns 1

Managing a 4 year old

Baby A - Growing up very fast

Alicia - 5 to 7 months

World Cup Fever

Gastronomical Adventure

Alicia - 3 and 4 months old

Jeremy - 3 1/2 years

Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Tiger

Many faces of Alicia

My Favourite Baby Stuff (2) - Diaper Bags

Alicia's Birth Story

Alicia's full moon celebration - 28 November 2009

Spot the difference

First glimpse of Baby Alicia

Arrival of Baby Alicia

2 weeks to due date

Jeremy the Pre Schooler: 37-39 months

Stork News

My Favourite Baby Stuff (1)

Jeremy's 3rd Birthday Pictures

A Black Wednesday for Malaysian education

Preparing Jeremy for the new arrival ......

Jeremy's favourite brands

Jeremy's 3rd Birthday

Finale to the Age of the Toddler - 35-36 months

Coming Soon......

The era of 'why' has arrived - The top 5 questions

Tanjung Jara Resort

First few shots from the new toy - Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm lens

New toy - Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm lens

Jeremy - 31 and 32 months

2009 - The years' before

Pit Stop - 29 and 30 months

Malaysian International Gourmet Festival - An amateur's experience

Hong Kong - October 2008

27-28 Months

Stocktake - 25-26 months Jeremy

Travel log - Rio de Janeiro (2)

Travel log - Rio de Janeiro (1)

Jeremy - 24-25 months

Air France vs Malaysia Airlines - A traveller's observation

Indiana Jones - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Jeremy turns the BIG TWO today - Hurrah!!!

Sydney - 11 to 19 May 2008

Travel log - Sydney from the male perspective

Many faces of Jeremy at 22 months old

Travel log - A glimpse of Tokyo

21 Months Old *Backdated post*

As mad as a march hare..... or the Mad Hatter?

Elections - Milestone in Malaysia's nation building journey

Education - A modern parent's dilemma

Best of 19 months

Vacationing with a toddler

Brother's 2nd wedding reception in Penang - From Jeremy's perspective

Brother's wedding at Sentosa Cove - From Jeremy's perspective

Back to the grind....

Jeremy in the scrutiny of the 85mm 1.8D AF-Nikkor lens

Nikon D80 first shots

Fatherhood and lifestyle change

Freedom !

For the record

Travel log - Shanghai and Yantai

Facebook

Man's best friend

21 Months Old Backdated post