Chiengmai day tour

The one full day we had in Chiengmai was spent on elephant ride, ox ride and bamboo ride, and a visit to the Orchid Farm and the small village of the long necked tribe.

This is one of the more popular ground tours we could find around the city.

To me, all of these activities weren't exactly spectacular. The elephants looked too ker-nian, being subjected to torture (from what I feel), being "forced" to entertain the tourists with all sorts of funny stunts and being clamped on their leg to a pole when they are not performing. I really felt sorry for them.

The ride with meimei on its back was, well, an eye-opener, but I won't do that a second time. The mahout would take them to some pit stops which sells bananas at 20baht per bunch. I dare not NOT buy it, as I worry the elephant would go bananas and throw both of us off its back! In fact, I felt like it was getting tired and acting up after we "boarded" on its back.

The boys went on one together and were in front of us initially. Didi looked very excited and thrilled. He kept saying "mommy will definitely scream here" when the little jumbo starts going down to the stream. We were taken on a long journey from one pit stop to another, through some hilly terrains and the stream. I must say, I was hoping they let us down, halfway into that route. Freaking uncomfortable with the "seemingly acting up" jumbo swaying side to side extensively. Not to mention, heartpain to see the mahout whacking the elephant head with a long stick and a crescent spear on his hand. Yucks!

The ox ride was slightly better, though a bit too bumpy for my liking. Oh gosh, maybe I'm just too princessy! The kids didn't complain, well, at least they were happy.

The bamboo ride was slightly nicer, though a bit hot without any shelter. Lucky I had my straw hat with me, it saved me from getting my face sun burnt. Looking back, wasn't it too risky that all of us were not wearing any life jackets? Well, the river could be shallow, we could never tell from its murky water, but we were surprised to see a local woman walking at the side of the stream, submerged up to her waist, pushing a "cart" selling drinks and coconuts! Why don't she walk on the roadside??

Our "skipper" let everyone of us tried our hand in maneuvering with the long pole. Well, it certainly was a trip of experiences for the kids and I like that very much.

The visit to the long necked tribe village was equally saddening as well. All of them looked so pathetic and I just wondered how life is for them, especially those small innocent little ones. I bought a couple of souvenirs from one of the stall and then suddenly, seems like everyone was even more "motivated" to get me over to their stalls! I quickly hurried away from this kind of harassment and back to the van to transport us back home.

So that was basically our main activity we had in Chiengmai.

Little bit of tweak on the school run

Routine has changed, yet again. I'm a routine kind of person, don't quite like changes just like others in general. But I always stress to myself that we all must learn to embrace and adapt changes. Changes in life is constant, don't we all hear that so very often?

The change is quite minimal actually, but substantial to me, as my life is just revolves around the kids and the family as of now. Instead of having them having their lunch at the school canteen while waiting for me to come over and pick them up, I am going to go over half an hour earlier before dismissal to wait for them. Everyday. But only each week in 3 weeks. The other two weeks would be some other moms who stay in the same vicinity as us.

Yeah, finally carpooling. I was asked to join them in this setup as the 3rd person had withdrawn her kid. They need 5 kids in total to be able to get a fixed spot in the school compound to park our car there. Otherwise, those cars would be queuing all the way along the road come dismissal time.

Didi would be coming home for lunch, while I would be packing lunch for meimei when the driver on duty goes to school. So, imagine the change for me. From not having to worry about lunch for us, I now have to try and cook (if possible) for lunch as well. So, it will either be simple (like sandwich, burger, spaghetti, fried rice, fried meehoon, porridge) or leftover from the previous day, or just plain tapao after my gym workouts. I gather not much time to lepak with friends anymore.

Well, I'm still new to this setup and hope this works fine for me too.

Stand up comedy talk show, AWESOME!!!!

It was through the radio that I heard Wong Chee Wah was coming to KL for a stand-up comedy talk show to be held in Arena of Stars, Genting.

I half-heartedly ajak my hubs to let's go buy tickets and watch laa. Somehow, these kind of ajak-ajak, he super layan one. Ask anything else with regards to bags or jewellery stuffs, he pretend he is deaf. He then asked his ma to book rooms see how laa. Why he asked his ma, that's because his ma is member member, accumulate lots of points. Nah.. don't say I say they are kaki judi, I never say that ahh.. Maybe they get their points through somewhere else la.. how I know? I'm not expert in this also. His ma later told him ooh, weekend rooms very expensive des ni. So, this idea was shelved.

Few weeks later, he came home and told me very excited liddat laa. Say his ma say.. got birthday rooms! Nah.. don't say I don't tell you, good also become member, can get free rooms on your birthday. So, his ma booked the rooms for that dates and told me to go buy the tickets.

Then I couldn't drag my feet, had to go buy tickets online. Wahlao wei.. 2 tickets cost RM300++!!! I was little bit heartpain liao paying for the tickets alone. I mean, that kind of money, can buy many DVDs on comedies, kan? And I was wondering if my first ajak was regrettable not. But since damage was done, I only prayed it had better be good.

The show was on the weekend of the first school week. It felt great, going for a getaway after a week's stress. My ma was there waiting for us jor, they Ipoh mali. Then, after a brief walk around to collect the tickets then through the outdoors theme park in the cool weather and a couple of rides later, we were back in the room to shower and left the kids to my ma, whilst we hurried over to the show.

What can I say? I was totally blown away. How could one just talk talk talk non stop for 2.5 hours and made the whole crowd laughing mad? Oh no, he did stop for a break but it was not noticeable since the big screen on the stage showed the second half clip to the first one before he appeared on stage. The short funny clip was about him being a normal worker having a bad day and videotaped in a toilet scolding an old man. That apparently went viral and life was made even worse, his supervisor (Lau Ching Wan) advising him that in the PR line, they should watch what they say. Ironically, when the hot issue of Listen went viral, it reminded me of that clip.

I had a really great time that night, it was so beyond my expectations and I just laughed allllll the way. Funny, when we listened back to the recorded show on hubs' phone, I wondered maybe the jokes weren't that funny. I believe it's the whole setup, the whole crowd laughing madly together, and his actual presence and expressions on stage made all the differences.

So, will I watch again if there's another comedy show? I'll say YES!

Massages in Thailand.

Ain't that one of the most popular agenda when one is in Thailand? Mine included.

To me, I associate that country with tomyum and massages only. Shopping.. nay, not really since I can't speak thai and when the locals see I ain't local, they quote me a ridiculously high price which shut me off entirely. Some like bargaining, but I'm not one, too bad.

So when we were in Thailand last summer holidays, we must go for a massage or two whenever possible. That first night in Chiengmai, after a long walk on a hot day and a awesome dinner with siew yuk and tomyum, we left the kids at the hotel *GASP* and went on our own for a full thai massage.

I thought one hour was ok, as we would be just nearby. A misunderstanding occurred and we were treated for a 2 hour massage! No wonder it seemed soooo long! By the time it was over, we were the last visitors to leave and it was way past midnight. I hurried off back to the hotel room, tremendously worried walking back with heart thumping ferociously, but *whew* fortunately nothing happened and they were all sleeping soundly in the room already.

Sleeping that night was indeed good!

I wanted to let the kids experience foot massage too. We didn't make it in Chiengmai and I hoped to find time in Pattaya. We almost did, the cheapest one we saw in town was only 99Baht for an hour of leg massage. Unfortunately, we were not "layan"ed by them, we were told they were "hands-full" until an hour later.

By the time we got back to Bangkok city, all the massages we saw were very expensive (comparatively to what we could get in those 2 cities before) so :(

Chiengmai old town

Chiengmai indeed is very charming in its old city area. We spent half a day walking around there, admiring its  rustic beauty with old temples, shops and streets. Wait, I think it was only I who was doing that. The rest were just walking walking walking and kept asking impatiently where we were heading and what was there to see.... arghh!!! How do you tell them a holiday is not only about theme parks, activities and fun but also on its surroundings, people, food and history? *throw hands up*

Met a friend's uncle who had kindly bought us those train tickets and sent them over to our home before our departure, to pay him back and then he drove us to this old temple ruins which was really awesome beautiful. The weather was just getting windy and cool, which was a welcomed change from the earlier hot and humid weather we were walking in. The kids finally felt happy running around in the open space.

He then drove us to chinatown and suggested a place to eat siew-yuk, which he claimed it's THE BEST SIEW YUK IN THE WORLD!!

IN loving memory of a good buddy.

I bumped into Yin San one day at Midvalley shopping center, more precisely near the carpark. Either one of us were about to go off and the other were just getting in, but I forgot who was which. Nevertheless, we were happy we met and she said, "any free time? let's go for a coffee right now!" Ahhh.. I believe I was the one who was going off, but at this juncture, I said "yes, let's go!"

We walked to Starbucks at the ground floor near the open boulevard. She was carrying a bag with her laptop, I remember she was there to meet someone for work. We caught up with each other's updates and how we had been. Never a moment of awkwardness between us even though we hadn't been in touch for a long time. It was one of a very impromptu joyful meeting that I will always remember. It wasn't a long chat as I really needed to go off already, and we bid farewell to each other, promising we MUST have this coffee talk again sometime soon.

However, each of us were so busy with our lives that we never got to keep that promise. Some months or maybe a couple of years later, I read from her FB or somewhere that she was moving out of KL back to her hometown in Penang for good. I buzzed her up on yahoo messenger and asked, "hey, migrating back to Penang for good? Aww.. we hadn't have our coffee talk yet!". She replied me asking me to go over her place one day to pick up some of her stuffs which I might find it of use as she wasn't going to take everything back with her.

I said OK and few days later, SMS her to ask if it was ok to go over. She said yes, come!

When I reached her house and knocked on the door, I was still smiling happily, looking forward to see a good old buddy but at the same time, sad that it was going to be even harder meeting up with her later. At that moment when she opened the door and I saw her, my heart immediately sank seeing her frail body structure and her scarf over her noticeably bald head, but still with a big smile on her face.

It never crossed my mind before that she was moving back to Penang for other reasons. I was so shocked and horrified, I asked her if she was ok, please tell me you are ok and the tears just started flowing. Just like that.

She pulled me in and sat me down, told me to keep calm and slowly unfolded the sad news of her having breast cancer. I just cried and cried and cried, right in front of her and she was the other way round, comforting me, consoling me and telling me not to worry, that it was ok.

That was the last time I met her.

Yin San was my coursemate in USM. She passed away on 9th January 2013. It took a long time for me to write this post as I was truly saddened by this news. But I'd like to jot down all these little memories of her in case I am struck later with serious memory loss.

She was a very special friend to me. In USM, especially the exam weeks, her support had always helped bring my stress level down. There was a time we were in the library and so fed up with the books in front of us, I  attempted to write a short poem, describing my feelings that time. She read it and commented it was good, from there on, she also wrote some poems of support and we passed to each other and read each other's "work". How cool was that, doing irrelevant stuffs like that during exam week?! Once, she gave me a little self-made booklet with scribbles and cartoons, it was truly sweet.

In our final year working our ass off rushing out our final year project, it was really good she was in our group consisted of 10 people, where she had been the pillar of support for me as we had to hang out in the lab late into the nights You wouldn't believe how freaking scary it was to hangout in the faculty building at night times! Without her, I might need to retain another year for not able to hand my project in in time.

Yin San wasn't exactly a very popular girl among the coursemates, in fact, maybe some might find her slightly peculiar. But to me, she just stayed away from those who didn't understand her and she didn't feel the need to change herself to blend in. I liked the way she wouldn't give a shit to people or lecturers who were not in her favor list. But she wouldn't bitch about them. Who in the world won't bitch one, I ask you?? *hang head in shame* Nevertheless, when she accepted you as her friend, she was fiercely loyal and would go to her best ability to help you when you were in need.

Even though she looked rather tomboy-ish, but we did talk about guys and stuffs like that. Sometimes she would tell me that that guy was cute and she would smile sheepishly. I would say, she always looked damn sexy when she wore mini skirts with her long toned legs. Yes, even me, a woman, find those legs alluring.

She was a very good linguist, with good command in both English and chinese. That was one of those things I had always admire in her. When I first started playing scrabble on facebook, she was one of the other 2 friends I played with. On my very first game, her first move was a full 7-letter word SPARKLE that left me totally dumbfounded and blown off my chair. Freaking unbelievable. Almost made me cried.

Another respect I had for her was the time she called me to support her in her premiere of a short documentary of TWELVE 11 for Freedom Film Fest. We took the kids to Taylors College (if I had not mistaken) and I was humbled with a great sense of pride after watching her great work in humanity work like this and her strong desire and interest to help the people she didn't know. I wanted so much to join in her team, but I was really too busy with the kids. I knew she understood me.

From that time I knew her diagnosis of cancer, I would always think of her and follow her blog on her latest updates. It was the very least of me I could do for her, leaving some short comments to her to stay on with hope and faith. It pained me so much to read her sufferings, yet she always remained the same, optimistic, still full of life, joy, humor and faith. I learnt a lot from her, through her. She is indeed my inspiration to live life fully and joyfully.

That much "feared" post came, where I learnt of her passing. It was written by her co-writer of her blog. The wake and funeral was over by that time, as I hadn't opened up the google reader for the past few days. I couldn't accept it, I was hoping it was someone else's passing, for a slight moment, I was even thinking this blog owner might not be her actually! After some slight frantic of searching for more info, it dawned on me that it was a true fact, she left us. I felt deeply saddened by this news. And it was made worse I wasn't even there for her funeral. In fact, on the 11th, I called JM, our mutual friend to make a date with her to go Penang together and visit her. It was her funeral on that day, ironically. It was a such a sad day, yet I felt glad in a way she need not suffer anymore.

It was the same routine this past week, until that day, something which I feel really special, happened.

We were back home from school, around 2+, and as usual, the kids dragged their feet to their showers and I would be like a broken record, calling them to go take shower, go take shower. I was really tired, physically as well, and plopped myself on the couch comfortably to take a rest whilst browsing or lurking on FB. Didi came down and snuggled close to me, still in his uniform (darn!), and suddenly he said "look, mommy! there's a butterfly"

I nonchalantly glanced over and saw a really tiny and beautiful green butterfly (which is a moth, but moths are usually black or grey, right? so it was rather weird to see something so out of the ordinary). It wasn't here before I sat down and it stayed there so close to my feet, like half a foot away. I bent over slowly, fearing it would fly away, but it stayed there. I talked to it "hi there, is that you, Yin San? How you doing, buddy? You came to see me?". My eyes were watery, yet I felt so happy with a silly grin and I do believe it was her. I slowly offered my hand to it and surprisingly, it walked over to sit on my finger. I just sat there,  staring at its beauty whilst thinking of her in my mind. Then I took a picture of it and later it flew away but still within sight. I posted this miraculous happening on FB. How could it not be her, right? I stay 20 floors above ground and I rarely see such a beautiful thing like that before. A friend asked if it was the 7th day, then I had a thought about it and yes!!! It was exactly one week after her passing and what I read on her FB wall, yes, she passed away around that time exactly one week before! Say also don't believe, man!

RIP, my dear buddy. I really miss you, I truly truly do.

The first day of school

It had been so hectic since school reopened. My work didn't end until late night. Of course, that also included some snooping around on the internet before calling it a day. Well, it's a habit that is hard to kick off already.

But I think everything going to be settled down pretty soon. I'm just so proud to see korkor in his smart all-white uniform going on to secondary. And this young chap is growing really tall. I mean, really really tall. If you haven't seen him for the past 3 months, I think you would be surprised to see his new height now.

The eve before first day of school, I couldn't sleep! By 4am I woke up and tossed and turned in my bed, urging myself to go back to sleep. But as I very know myself, I dozed back to lalaland and right at that moment, the alarm rang. I almost jumped out of bed, I had to admit I was very much excited myself.

We left the house right on time as planned, and missed the traffic chaos, but pity the kids to be in the school at such an ungodly hour when the sky was still dark. Then again, many others were so much earlier than us anyway.

After that I went home and had a relaxing time back to my coffee and papers in the crisp fresh morning air. Ahh.. bliss. I do miss that. The next few hours were spent on marketing and groceries, which filled up the big trolley to the brim! Holy cow, this is what happens when the marketing is not done on a regular basis. When I got home, I had to make 2 trips to transfer the stuffs over back home. Even with a little small trolley! Whew~

It felt good the stock was piled again, it just didn't feel right to have a home missing with lots of essential stuffs and food. It took some lengthy time to clear and sorted out the few big bags.Lots of hard work in there!

By that time, it was almost time to get back to school again. Admittedly, I was looking forward to see them and when I did, I was greeted with smiling faces and happy chatters. Felt so happy to see them so happy with their new class, new teacher and new friends.

After they were home and washed up, I took them to a neighbor for a time being while I hurriedly rush over to korkor's new school, an hour earlier than his closing school hour. Or maybe around 40 mins before. There were already many cars waiting there and being located at an inconvenient main road, I was lucky to see a slot and park my car illegally, just like many others.

Then, I hunt for a transporter to be able to ferry him home from the next day on and it wasn't too difficult. It certainly costs more to hire someone to ferry him home for me, but guess this cost is unavoidable. It's just too taxing to be their chauffeur in and out of school everyday like this.

After dinner and TV time a bit, I made sure they go to bed before 9pm and then scooted off to finish all my other household duties. That's why I was saying, my work didn't seem to end!

And going back to the gym now, it's KILLING me! Oh the pain!

Ending 2012 beginning 2013

Where was I?

So long didn't blog, I also don't know what to blog liao.

But the 2012 had a very good ending, we enjoyed ourselves A LOT (except for an inconsiderate bitch person), ate A LOT of mouth watering food, had 3 wonderful meetings with friends, spent a wonderful evening with my elder brother and his family, watched "Wreck it, Ralph" with my 2 boys, which was a very hilarious movie, went up Kledang Hill with my parents early one morning and revisited many heartwarming childhood memories and played games with my 3 monkeys.

And then, on the last day of the year, I dropped my phone into the toilet bowl full of s**t! BAWLLLLLL!!!!

Anyway, we spent a quiet new year's eve together at home, watching fireworks from our balcony and just simply counting my blessings having them beside me.

Wishing myself another blessed new year ahead. And you too! *cheers*