Wandering around here and there

There are many activities around Phuket for famillies, like snake watching, riding on elephant backs, watching monkeys fooling around etc.

But being the kiam-siap parents we are, and making up excuses like the elephant stinks like hell (yeah, excuses so lame, I can't tahan myself also!), we decided to just drive around the island, also making full use of our rented car.

Scrutinizing through the map, we saw that there's this place called "the Viewpoint". So, that was where we headed from Karon beach down towards south bypassing Kata beach where we had our dinner the night before.

Kata town during the day looks more like a quaint little town, more appealing than the night. And many people were already flocking to the beach while it was only about 11am.

We found the place quite easily and I started to do my "job"...

Snapping pictures with my new camera here, there, everywhere. Eh! Sorry, ah, friend, used your tagline for your blog suddenly! Hope it's not copy-righted. Don't sue me ah, I have no money to give you.






Papa talked to some guide there and was told that there is another point where the view is even more breath-taking. So, before we continued to search for that place, we bought 3 nice thirst-quenching coconuts to drink and it was all gulped down within a short time.

Not long after, here's the place we found..

Aiyoh... a little bit exaggerated la.. the view looked almost the same what..

Anyway, I found this spot on the map too, and I think it's sort of more meant for its sunset view. But we wouldn't want to stay a few hours to wait for that.

See? These boys are happy enough just to run in the open space, no need to take them to anywhere fancy. The heat was blardy hot though, I was so afraid they would be "burnt". Yeah, I worry almost about everything. Anyway, no fret, I was ready with a few tumblers of drinking water in the car and would be pouring water into cups for them to drink every now and then. That was one of the reasons I was glad papa rented the car. I stuffed everything into it just in case I need it. I guess the weather was so hot that they were glad to drink the water too.


We then find our way to the Akuarium. I agree it's pretty weird to visit one when here we are, boasting of an excellent counterpart in our own very own home city, but that time, really nothing to do there la..

Anyway, papa went because he heard the entrance fee was only 50Baht per person!


Well, well, "one cent, one point worth" nothing much exciting in there. The underwater tunnel was too ... only about, what? 10m? short.. sigh!! Well, you shall imagine we didn't stay there for too long however much we tried to lepak around there.

We then moved on to buy some things back to the hotel to eat. We had not eaten anything since breakfast and it was about 3pm.

Reached Big C, equivalent to something like Carrefour, among the big malls like Central Phoenix and Tesco in that area. Quite co-incidentally, it was the same place we'd been to from the last time, the short stop at Phuket from our Virgo cruise.

We bought some fruits and tomyam instant cup noodle home. And... guess what? I bought a bikini for myself too! I asked hubby if I can wear one, since everyone is in Phuket. He was so darn encouraging, he said "you finally want to wear one meh?" hehe.. Really can't understand why, not like he hasn't seen me naked before la...

I was so excited, but I did not know if I dare to wear or not leh..With the big flat tyre around my waist area, what a sight! Sekali people laughed and stared at me, then how? Nah.. I think I got encouraged because some are even "keng" than me! Darn! who cares, right? Noone knows me there la. Wait till 50 only wear meh? Life must live good! Yeah, that's what I kept telling myself.

We then went back to the hotel, and little girl slept in the car by the time we arrived. She continued sleeping in the room while I tried to "force" the 2 boys to nap for awhile too. Papa was busy working online (really work related, so sien, hoh? Holiday also need to work one.)

By 5pm, it was getting darker, and seeing the boys not going to fall asleep anytime soon, I decided to take them to the pool for a dip. They were really excited.

We changed and got down like lightning only. The water was kinda cold though. And the scenario there? People were so relaxed and it was so quiet. That was until we arrived! The boys were like monkeys let out from their cage. They were making so much noise I felt so embarrassed and had to keep shoo-ing them to keep their volume low.

Anyway, papa heard us too, I think, and very soon, he woke the girl up and took her down too. We then moved over to the beach. It was almost sunset soon.

No, I wasn't in my newly bought bikini yet. I saved it for the next day during the Phang Nga bay boat tour. So it won't be wet and make me uncomfortable.

It was really a nice beach to play in with the big waves. The sand is fine and the water is clear. I just regretted not hopping earlier over to the beach.



They were so reluctant to leave, but it was already dark and the water might be getting too cold. I was worried, yes again, that they might catch a cold.

We went back to clean up, and my goodness, can't imagine all the sand on us. I had to rinse really really long to make sure my hair was free from sand.

For dinner, we walked over to nearby, just right beside our hotel and settled for a buffet for 550 Baht. Papa ordered buffet for himself, while all 3 kids eat free. I ordered ala carte for my favorite tomyam soup.

Yummy! That was really good. I remembered I just kept eating prawns with tomyam soup on my white rice. And that was enough to fill my hunger pangs.

Seeing the elderly folks swaying and dancing away on the dance floor was so.... sweetly romantic. I was silently wishing we would be too when we are old. Sigh.. dunno la, whatever will be, will be.

It was Elvis night, and there were 2 imitation Elvis that night. Well, at least for the entire time we were dining there. This 2nd one on stage, I remembered he kept asking the crowd "are you ready?, are you happy?"... and for the rest, I didn't know what he mumbles, not even while he sang. I wondered if he was singing the Thai version of Elvis' songs there??


We then drove to Patong, and goodness, the crowd there was HUGE! We were stuck in a traffic but crawling along slowly. So while papa drove, I was watching the happenings out of the window car and there was even some fireworks in the air too. No wonder, the next day we found out it was "Loy Kratong" festival. Beats me what it means. It's a HUGE festival, that's what I know. What an entirely different atmosphere from the slow and romantic Karon. Hubby said Karon is for old folks, Patong is for young people. I suppose it's true. HEY!! That would mean we are so damn old liao! Jeez...

Anyway, I still prefer Karon/Kata from Patong anytime. Though I don't admit I'm THAT old. Maybe I'm only romantic. :)

Had to sleep early to wake up early the next day for the Phang Nga Bay island hopping boat tour. Can't wait for that, after hearing so much and seeing all the pictures on the internet. See ya!

Welcome to Phuket.

(Updated: Dunno why all the pictures went missing. For those who didn't see the pictures, next time come regularly to my site before things get disappearing. Eek! got ghost err...)

For a change, I did not need to start packing my whole family of 5's luggage the night before for our vacation. Usually, I would start packing after they slept (as they would keep sabotage my work) and it would drag until the wee hours of the morning. Then I would be too tired to sleep a wink and the next day, I would be too tired with the lack of sleep and the travelling hours and stress to enjoy my well deserved break.

This time round, it was such a refreshing change. I only wake up when my system told me to, without any alarm clock scaring the wits out of me. Then, we leisurely take our breakfast at our favorite hakka mee stall and leisurely go back home to only start packing.

That was when we realized I only had one hour to do that, and it was a mad rush again. Gosh! What a stressful time it was! I knew I would forget something, and true enough, I missed out packing diapers for the little girl. Never mind, it's the hotel beds she would be wetting la.

We took the kids for a ride on the RM9 per head's ride on the big red bus. 10 mins before we were to arrive at LCCT, little girl wanted desperately to pee, and I was desperately looking for solution. Records showed she would pee in her pants if not taken seriously at her request. Lucky for her (and for me), a kind lady offered me a plastic bag to contain the liquid disposal. Whew! That was really a close call, I would never ever leave without the diapers again in public transportation with them. Learnt the lesson well.

So, we arrived in pretty good time, and had time to lunch at McD. Really pissed me off, it's so-not-me to buy the happy meal just for the promotional made-in-china toys, but I was really out of my mind that moment and bought one, eager to make the children happy, only to be told they ran out of stock and I get a lousy ruler as a replacement. I so wanted to return the not-so-happy meal, but seeing the sorry look on that waiter's face, sigh, "suan-le"!

After lunch, we then boarded the plane and was off to our destination. The children were really well behaved, such a big difference compared to the just few years ago. I kept pestering them to nap for awhile, but they were all too excited to be flying in the plane. In the end, little girl fell asleep while we were landing. Sigh!

We rented a car at the airport, and I laid out the map to navigate papa to our beach resort. With a little time wasted on a little lost on the way, we made it to the hotel lobby finally and it was already dark. That was the disadvantage of travelling in the afternoon, one whole day wasted just like that. Anyway, I can't complain for I appreciated the non-stressful day.

The room turned out to be quite spacious and pleasant. Elder son was too happy to find out there was cartoon network on tv and not missing his favorite Ben 10 series.

We quickly made a move to have our dinner, and highly recommended from my friend, MY, on Dino Park, we straight away went there without thinking twice.

Yes, it was pretty lovely, but we were too late to get any tables in the open air. The food was good, though not really cheap, and frankly speaking, I suppose we were all too tired to enjoy the mood of dining that moment. I myself wanted so much to get on back to the hotel room to have a good shower. Didn't take many photos of it too, my friend did a good job on that, perhaps you guys can check it out here.

After which, we walked back to the car, and me walking along with little girl, suddenly lost papa and the 2 boys. Can't see them at the car, and I retraced back my steps to see if they were anywhere to be found. I would expect papa to be checking out the tours, and true enough, I found them just across the street outside the restaurant.

There, I saw with wide-disbelief eyes that papa was busy talking to the young girl behind the desk while the 2 boys were running around to the shop next door and back, on the narrow pedestrian walkway which lies just right beside the busy street. I was so darn shocked! Papa would be getting another long lecture from me that night.

So, eventually, after I let him decide on the tour and settled it, which took like eternity, I was so glad we were returning to the hotel finally. In the car, I gave him a few conditions he had to agree to, else the family vacation would be meaningless. He knew he wouldn't be able to object, as he agreed without any hesitation (or should I say, I was just being fair and logical, eh?).

Well, so that was the first day of our vacation. I was just praying deep inside that nothing would happen to them, as it's kinda stressful for me to keep an eye on the handful.

The next day, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day and only then, we can see the actual view from our room's balcony. The hotel design really is quite special, with the pool weaving around in a circle, and every room at the ground floor actually has direct access to it just right outside their balcony as shown in the picture below.



Breakfast is served at the open area in front of the beach. Fancy having breakfast like that? It was just awesome.



The Karon beach is just right outside of the hotel, separated by a road. Waves were roaring inviting us to play, I was really tempted to jump inside if not for the absurd heat though. So, that would have to wait until evening.





We found out on the last day that those lazy chairs were charged 100 Baht for each usage! And I was earlier amazed with the kind of "free" amenities lined up on the shore for us tourists. So, it wasn't free as I thought it to be, and I wasn't very happy with that after all. Deng! Not cheap at all, those buggers really make a handsome income just by collecting "protection money" like that, yeah?


Well, then we went on to explore Phuket island itself with our rented car. Where we went? That would be in the next post. Hope you are not too bored with the wordy post this one is yet.

Bribery

Their papa had been very pissed lately that his doting darling girl clings to me like glue. Everywhere we go, she wouldn't want him to hold her hand and everytime he asks her, she would reply "I want mommy".

So last night, feeling utterly lost of ideas, he bribed her with ice-cream.

Papa (holding the mini poppers in his hand): tell me, you want papa or mommy?

Girl : Mommy!

Papa : No! Wrong! Tell me again, you want papa or mommy? (waving the mini poppers in his hand)

Girl : (whispering softly) : papa....

Papa : No... louder, I can't hear you...

Girl : PA PAAAAAAA!!!!

Papa : (smiling in triumph) Say you don't want mommy la...

Girl : I DON'T WANT MOMMY!!!!


Papa winked at me wickedly, I asked if he feels this came meaningfully meh? He said no. Sigh... Things he'll do to get some recognition from his child!

Then, the best part...

After she gulped the mini poppers into her mouth, she came over to me and said "I want mommy...". Papa heard that loud and clear...

HAHAHAHA............................................................................

Just came back from...

...this place.





Journal of the vacation later. Right now, I just want to get some sleep. Suffering from the post-vacation-syndrome now. Little girl expressed the most of it (cried and wailed) when she woke up from the journey home to find she's back at the familiar doorsteps of home sweet home.

It spilled over to me now too, when I loaded the pictures on to my hard disc and browsed it through. Funny, it always seemed that the pictures showed happier times than the actual. Anyhow, yeah, I had a great time myself. Now it's my turn to waaaaaiiiiiiil......boo hoo hoo... I want more vacations!

My current hit song

Heard this over the radio several times, but only lately I managed to catch the title of the song. It was sang by Fish and Victor. I quickly run home and cari the song on youtube, and know later it's a song in the movie "music and lyrics" starring hugh grant and drew barrymore. Yeah, I remembered this movie, though haven't seen it on dvd. Maybe I would get the dvd when I am done with those on standby in my drawer.

Meanwhile, this song is really really making me groove...

Yippee yay yay!! It's the school holiDAY!

Yay! It's time to turn the alarm off
It's back to sleep until the sun shines on my butts
It's back to watch DVD until past midnite
It's time to enjoy my school holidays

at least for 6 weeks.
I must really really catch up back on my beauty sleep

Sigh! I sound like I'm the school-goer kid, huh?

Parents with children before 7, do appreciate this time you have. Once they hit school age, alamak, all freedom gone. Driver, tutor and can't have cheap-vacations-during-school-season privilege is really not quite the fun thing.

Back from Beijing

It feels so good to anticipate a planned holiday, counting down the days, finally packing up for departure and taking off. More so when it's with the company of someone you dearly love, spent half your life with, brought up the children together through thick and thin for all these years. (Unfortunately, it's not me who went for holiday.. *sob*)

Yeah, this I'm speaking on behalf of my parents. They went to Beijing recently, their first visit there, but not the only honeymoon they had had. I feel so happy for them, though I was a bit worried that they would be fighting off each other's heads, coz it seems that's the only way they communicate right now. Sometimes I wonder if they don't debate or argue for a day, they would feel uneasy, is it? Sometimes I wonder if that's how things will be when I grow old? Whatever will be, will be...

So, off they went for 8 days away, hijacking my dear camera with them. When they came back, my dad looked like a happy child, telling me all he saw and done, and describing in details as we viewed the pictures on the TV screen. I think he had fun playing with my camera, though a bit upset that the batteries last him out on the 3rd day, and he said the China-made batteries all siao one, flat out after snapping a couple of shots only.

AS such, the following pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The tour group of 7 from KL. Easy to manage, fits nicely into 1 van. Perfect!

Some parts of Beijing. (I don't know la, I havent' been there before mah)

This tree, the tour guide said, is called the "divorce tree" and
not recommended to take picture with it. But this 2 flers, gatal one,
must do so when people told them not to.
Talk about rebellious children! haha...

*

This gotta be my favorite shot. I think my dad got some photography skills, albeit a little.
Maybe I should train him up more. hee!

This place I know, Great Wall of China. (yeah la, I know you know too la)

Went to see some panda bears mating! Jeez!
(They didn't say la, but I know)

He snapped over 100 pictures, but I have shortlisted these 14 as the best.
Good job (what I meant was my camera)!

Beijing Olympics 2008, see you there!

How he fared for the year

It's the year end and one thing in common about most parenting blogs right now, I gathered, would be either the concert or the school report book.

So, it's about time I brag about my own son's first year's school performance for the year... haha..

After which, I would proceed to brag about MY own school results ... *looking forward to that part*... *glee*...

So, my son's score for his first year in a national chinese school.... ta da...



Position for the whole year throughout howered around 15-17 out of 52 students in his class., although his status from the whole batch of young minds kept improving. I would think it's a good achievement wei, given the reasoning the solely "tuition" he had was from his mom, me!

Need improvement badly is his Art (C, sigh!) and BM. I thought he did pretty well in his BM test papers but later I found out he only "bumped" his way into the correct answers in some parts. For example, where there were blanks to be filled in, he just measured how long the blank part was and take a bet that the similar length of word (listed above that paragraph) ought to be the right answer! You know what I mean? He had absolutely NO IDEA what that word meant, my dear goodness!

Aiyoh... soooo... I have to plan for his weakness in those few areas coming few weeks...

His remarks from his teacher was very encouraging though. It reads "Strives for improvement, performance not bad".. Not bad, hoh? Ok la, say yes la..

BUT, he's just about 8 students away from being in the top 2 classes for next year. The good thing is, his dad is confident his position in class next year should surely be seeing a great leap forward to the first 3... Haha.. to me, who cares?

Honest, I don't care. As long as...
1. he's learning to be a better person with manners,
2. he doesn't come home with red marks across his test papers,
3. his teachers not complaining about his behavior in school
4. he still asks and inquires about everything he doesn't know

It's good for me.

Now, the interesting part, compared to my own performance when I was a schoolgirl.

Heck! I was always in the 20-ish or 30-ish of the class for the first 3 years of school life. But I thought that was pretty good, considering I had no tuition and I didn't revise my schoolwork even before the tests. (ahem! OK la, say you agree la)

Well, then, my brothers, in contrast were always in the top 2 positions. Poor things, they would be caned if they went down the slope to no.3 in their class, from our mom, of course, punished with their pants down! I witnessed that myself.

But for no untold reason, my mom would never punish me the same way even I was so far lacking behind. I thought I was dem lucky or she must have loved me TOO MUCH!! haha..

However, later down the years, I found out why. Know why? She never really expects me to do well, "aiyah, girl only mah.. no need to do so well la.. " she said. hmm...

Okkkaay... so, one year, I think that was in Std 3, I came home with my report book, while taking off my shoes at the door, I told my dad who was standing behind me that I scored about 30-ish in class again. I was expecting him to give me a good long lecture, but hey, he ah, my great dad, told me encouragingly, "never mind la, next time do better loh"...

My, my. I was so darn touched! He reacted way beyond my expectations. (Later, I thought why ah, did my parents really think I was THAT hopeless case already leh?)

Well, so, in the next round of tests, I "repaid" his kindness. What I remembered I did was, a day before the tests, I just took my book out, FLIPPED the pages by, and that was it. Revision done!

Later on, when the results were out, FUU-YOH... I think it was a major leap forward to about the 10 position or somewhere there. No kidding, ok? I think I must be smart inside.. somewhere. Haha...

Motivated, every other years when I knew the tests were coming, I did more than flipping, and I just kept going up. I remembered once I was at the school library, where the teacher were distributing report cards from the first position. When she called my name at about the 7th or 9th, I didn't notice she called me, for I wasn't expecting her to. Only when my friends told me "Hey, you ah, go up and take your report card la", I realised I won the lottery! Haha.. really can't believe my luck.

Well, then after that, in secondary schools, it was even more "glamorous". My position was always about the first 2, arm wrestling with Lai Cheng, the extremely smart girl with 2 pony tails tied up high onto her head like a Barbie doll. (guess that's why her brain worked so darn well). Actually, to tell the truth, I was in the "less smart" classes, since I chose to learn "Sains Rumah Tangga" instead of "Perakaunan". The SRT classes were always looked upon as the "weaker" ones.

But by Form3, I was so good that my record high in the whole stream, I scored 19/400+! My friend whom I knew in later years said to me that they (in the top classes at that time) heard about my name so much that most of them wondered who I was. Not bad, hoh? I guess it was one of the high points in my secondary school life.

Then, in form 4, it was the science stream I went to, and I was in the top 2 classes. Seriously, I thought it was rather boring and stressed out with these smart asses. Life was really more fun and easy with the "not that bookworm" girls.

School life in Main Convent, Ipoh brought out the best in me. It had also churned out successful people like Michelle Yeoh (6 years my senior), Amy Mastura (my year), and some few others, I'm sure. It has been one of the few best schools in Ipoh, especially during our time. C0-curriculars were exciting and fun, especially the yearly Sports Day I always looked forward to. What a colorful school life I had in my time. And what a great school that one really is.

OK, so much bragging for now. Hope you realised you are dealing with a smartass' blogger here, so be nice. Haha...