Happy Birthday Mama Lun!

sorry for the bad lighting.....
Happy Birthday anyway!!

Glimpse of La Istana D'mangga

Desaru Part 2: A different view

After one night in Tanjung Balau, we thought that we should be a bit more adventurous, check-out and go out for a night in a different resort. We’ve not made any reservation anywhere else, just daring ourselves to look for a better beach and hopefully a better resort too.

All packed up, we headed for the other side of town. This time, it looks a bit more promising. We kinda like this place called The Pulai. The entrance, reception and lobby looks more ‘professional’.

At the reception, we were hoping that there is a vacancy for us for a room facing either the beach or the pool (preferably on the ground floor so that we could easily jump out the door and straight onto the beach or the in the pool). Come to think of it, had we thought of tsunami back then, we would have opted for a different room. Anyway, we were sort of lucky that there was a room being vacated which is facing the beach. But it is on the first floor and located right at the end of the resort….. a fair bit of walking to do.

We walked into the room and whoaaaaaaaaaa it is soooo much different than Balau Room. This one is bigger and definitely facing the beach. Outside our balcony is actually a futsal pitch. There were some people playing there (both men and women) with skimpy clothing… Mat Saleh… what do you expect? Opah was not comfortable of this, but what to do? Buat selamber ajelah… luckily we were on the first floor so tak berapa nampak sangat.



The beach was sooooo inviting that we could not hold our excitement any longer. Immediately gear up for another excursion. This time it’s for real!!



Siapkan barang, letak bedak sikit….. ok dah!

Here we are!!! Barulah betul… Notice the background, it’s our room on the first floor leftmost side. Pssst don’t be naughty, opah could be watching!





One last pose before we get all covered with sand…



Kejaaaaaaaaaaar!! bola masuk dalam lauuuut…



Laying the foundation… macam orang buat kat rumah tok ayah tu…



Heeeeeeelpppp!! My sister lost her leg!!!



Oh no!!! Now my feet turn into some sort of a fish tail with slippers…



Le Chateu de la sands…



Umi lapar…



Opah couldn’t resist joining in the fun!



Wash up before we head back to the room.

Bandar Penggaram Local Delight

Nightfall and suddenly our tummy cried out for food. Pak Cik Amil took us to one of the (few) local restaurant available. The one that we went to had some cool gimmick. Apart from the many live fish tanks displayed there, there were also this "wall of fame" and "feedback from customers".





Looking closely at the feedback, most of them were satisfied with the food offered there (obviously). Praises on steamed patin, sotong goreng tepung and kangkung belacan were in abundance. We decided to check it out ourselves. There were also plenty of praises on the warm hospitality.

The cook came out and personally net the fish in front of us. IlinYaya shrieked in horror with the act. He quickly pop the fish in a pail and took it to the kitchen.

Legend has it that the cook is the grandchild of "Wong Ah Jang", a big taiko, long long time ago. They were in the construction business, but later on this guy embraced islam, separated from the family and specialised in gas piping (or something like that). He was doing plenty of maintenance work in big hotels. Mostly done in the kitchen. That was where he picked up the tricks on cooking from the many chefs he met. Now he ends up with a restaurant of his own, running the show with his wife.

And these are what we ordered.

The infamous steamed patin.



That's the cook in the middle and the wife next to him. The restaurant couple were really really friendly and sat down with us chit chatting with the grown ups.

After a quick piranha attack on the food, we were left sitting back on our chair licking our fingers and wiping our mouth. Opah got carried away and decided to make her own drink behind the drink counter.

And we decided to mark our visit as well with our own posting.


By the way, the restaurant next to where we were had a different gimmick of their own. They have a karaoke stage for anyone to sing their heart out. This is a really funny little cowboy town.

Master Pieces

Somehow our master pieces did not appear in the post below.

Here they are again...



Yaya with the finishing touches.



siap dengan gambar sekali...



Super Art Attack Style!

Trip to Desaru

We were invited for a wedding at Tok Lang's house in Felda Adela. It's quite a distance and we were not sure whether we are up to making the trip. However, we tend to look for opportunity to get away from the busy city. One time ago, Desaru (which is about 20km from Felda Adela), use to be famous for it's beaches. We are hoping that the beaches are still preserved, safe from any kind of polutions. Besides, Ilin & Yaya have already been to the highlands, now it's time to check out the beach...... imagine white sandy beaches and calm waves.

The journey down was really a long one. The highway was smooth. We took about 4 hours from Shah Alam down to Senai exit. After the exit, we started to travel along a narrower road, dual carriageway with a more scenic view of kelapa sawit, kelapa sawit and more kelapa sawit. All 2.5 hours of them.


Finally we reach the place. Pakcik Amil was there to greet us. He took us to a resort called Tanjung Balau Beach Resort.... (not the most glamorous name we thought). But the place was quite OK la... babah thinks that it is run by a government body Kejora or something. Can't expect too much.

We quickly settle down and after a quick wash, we were geared up to hit the beach. Ready or not here we come....


We ran and ran and ran all the way to where the beach is (penat lari 20 meter) ......... when we got there, this is what we saw:

teng teng teeeeng..... (to the tune of P Ramlee's horror sound effect).

We did not expect to see so much mud and stone beach. There was this loooong jetty though. We must be at the wrong part of the beach. I suppose this might be the place where the fishermen park their boats, safe from the strong tides and waves.

Alamaaaaak... there were plenty of 'belacak' too! Nope we're not going anywhere near them...


Luckily there were some sand. Not much of a 'beach' but enough to have some 'activities'. Babah immediately went to scout for some stuff... not sure what they were for until he came back. There was this blue thingy, of which he calls a 'shaker'. He puts some mixture of sand and stone and shells in it and shakes it. Out comes the smaller stuff and we were reminded of our glitter activity.

Umi, opah and babah, drew on the sand and we went on decorating them. Here are our master pieces....



p/s we learn the word t.o.m. y.a.m. along the journey. Immediately put it to practice and wrote on the sand.

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

This little fairy gives you cuteness,

This little fairy gives you kindness,

This little fairy gives you cleverness,

This little fairy gives you cheekiness,

But mama......... I just want a bicycle!!

a long journey south

It's a long journey and therefore it takes a while too to compose the posting. As a teaser, here is a clip of the kids singing away in the car to the tune of Siti's - Siti Situ Sana Sini.

Ramadhan Mubarak

Closer to Nature

... See my Tabblo>

Nak pegi kat baby sarah!!!

It all started when ilinyaya repeatedly ask when is the next trip to see sarah and amar. Despite all the reasons given for not being able to go, they kept on asking after a few days.

As an alternative, last school holidays, we took a quick trip to Austria... or is it Germany, or France, or Belgium.......... or the never never land... ehhh tak sure lah... see for yourself.

This is the entrance to the 'kingdom'.

The Main Street
(err there's only one street in the entire area)

The view from our room.
(Doesn't look so European though)

The so-called Drawbridge...

Well, sorry no princess sarah or sir amar here but the kids enjoyed the time off at a cooler place. A few interesting 'happenings' to be shared in next posts (tak tau bila).

p/s To those who might want to take a trip here, may want to pack some food/instant food. Shops/restaurants closes as early as 7:30 pm!! Macam kat Europe gak... and the prices pun mak datooooooooookk...

Addition to the team

Last Saturday, we received a new member to our club... a boy! Now there are five of us... boley buat volleyball team. We are proud to be the guardian cousins.


Congratulations to Pak Ngah and Chik Eila.

Look at the worn out faces of the parents who have been in labour the whole day.

everybody stand up!

a touch of patriotism... flying the flag up high! (errr... this was before it got blown away by a strong gust of wind).










and drum rolls please....................................



MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

while we were eating...

one fine day, we were all gathering to have a family lunch. the kids, as usual, tak berapa minat nak sembang & makan. they had their quick bite and of they go for either TV or colouring or looking at pictures in books.

izlin this time had taken one of opah's books (the one opah normally uses for her tution sessions). she's obviously attracted to the colourful illustrations. suddenly it became more than flipping thru the pages for izlin. watch this:



and cheeky yaya....... as usual busy with her fruits, trying to coerce kakak into tasting one slice of manggo masam...

ever after

just a little wish from us...



errrr kalau silap hari, adjust balik la date tu ek..

kalau totally silap, kira convert jadi wedding wish for ct and dk ajelah!

tempat jatuh lagi dikenang

{flashback}

time: last weekend...


this is yaya about to take her cornflakes + peach + yoghurt + chocolate breakfast.

later that evening:
just like any other evening where yaya and kakak would spend some time at opah's house. this time, they decided that they could not wait until the house is fully completed. can't play within the compound, they decided to go outside on the bicycle.

at first, we hear them playing, shouting, laughing, teasing each other. kakak most of the time on the bike. yaya then decides that her turn is up and went after kakak. after a short runaround, we hear a sudden silence, followed by a long wail... the rest is history... i suppose, part of growing up phase.



her three finger salute


the knee brake


the finale: shoulder stopper

and this is the shoulder after 3 days

waterfall fixed.. yeay!

The waterfall is now fixed!



Thanks to "windows moviemaker" and a tip from Mynn I manage to fix the waterfall. I initially had some problems in converting it to a web viewable format.

Searched the web for a converter into mpg or VCD format but most free programs will have an awful tagline across the converted video. Any hints in looking for a tag free converter?

there's no business like showbusiness!

It's all about the presentation! That's what I have to say about most business... You may have the products, good quality, excellent service, etc etc. But at the end of the day, you get the attention most when you put a bit of effort on the presentation. The rest will then enhance and fall automatically into place as if like magic! Here's an example of what I am talking about...

See my Tabblo>

learning about nature

this clip was taken quite a while ago. it was at nenek bukit batu's house. to keep the kiddies occupied in the car during the journey, opah taught them some 'lagu rakyat'. by the time we reach there, kakak has memorised this song (eventhough with some grammatical error... you'll get the picture).

presenting......................... tanya sama pokok by izlin.

water fell sideways

Last weekend, we went for a wedding in Bentong. Saw in the invitation card that the place is near Chamang Waterfalls. To make the journey worthwhile, we decided to pack some picnic and swimming gear as well. Unfortunately we ran out of battery there so tak dapat banyak photos.













To get there, we had to go on a narrow windy road. Izlin being a city girl, immediately noticed this and asked {kenapa jalan ni macam ular?}. Yaya keep on holding her head and chanted {pening, pening, pening}... macam ada masalah negara pulak!

Upon reaching there, we were greeted with the roar of the waterfall. It was wide and tall! It's view... definitely worth the trip. The place is quite well maintained. Sufficient space to cater for the kids, family, even for the more adventurous ones. The water...... brrrrrrrrrrrrrr sejuuuuuuuuukkkkk!!!

Babah tried to take a movie shot of the water fall... malangnya tersalah angle... jadi sideways pulak. Anyone knows how to edit the movie? Have to make sure Newton's law of gravity is preserved...

betty the builder... what a mess!

tok ayah and opah are in upgrading mood. a few knocks here and there to accommodate for a bigger family (coming soon!).

priority in their mind now are to allow for ample space for all the grandkids to run about without bumping into each other.

there's still time before each of them comes over. ilinYaya just couldn't resist the Bob the Builder side of them, sibuk nak 'tolong kemas'.


The mess Tok Ayah and Opah have to put up with in anticipation for a 'better future'.



Looking at the brighter side of the future........ there's gonna be a smooth runway for the budding pilots, operating theater for the surgeons, board room for the corporate heads and also lecture hall for the professors. there's also plenty of walls for the modern art geniuses!


errr allocation for tauke restoran, dobi, katering dah dikurangkan. kitchen and washing space area have been reduced.

ablution

This is how, I take my ablution,
This is how, I take my ablution,
This is how, I take my ablutuon,
Every time before I pray.

Number 1, I wash my hands,
Number 2, I wash my mouth,
Number 3, I wash my nose,
Number 4, I wash my face.

etc. etc. etc..

Right to left, every time, I wash 3 times.

==============================

This is a song that ilinyaya learnt at school. One day, they came back humming this song and we thot that it was kind of an interesting way to learn the sequence. Never mind the kelam kabutness of the tune and the verses which does not rhyme. Akademi Fantasia teachers and panel of critiques would shriek with horror listening to this song. Still it somewhat got the girls interested.

Unfortunately, they are just interested on the singing/humming but when it comes to practice, hancusssss... Even the teachers commented during the parent-teacher day. The girls are brilliant in other areas but when it comes to ambik air sembahyang, berterabur.

I decided to do something about this and started my piece of art.

After 2 sessions, it worked!!! Izlin manage to remember the sequence in perfect order! Ilya still struggling, always forgot to cuci telinga... (sunat anyway) and probably why tak berapa nak dengar instructions.

Although Izlin is the one who remembers the sequence well, Ilya on the other hand is the one who is more keen to do it! Always lepas mandi, she will start the routine (eventhough tunggang terbalik).

Ayah Su... Gotcha!!

See my Tabblo...