What could it be?

The day before we traveled to Bali, meimei felt a bit sickly and not her normal bubbly self. Then she developed a slight fever, After 2 bouts of feverish symptoms which went away after popping in a tablet of panadol, no other symptoms occurred and she was back to her normal self.

However about a day or two later when we were in Bali, she had tiny red dots all over her body and some on her face. We were all worried and concerned what it was. It didn't seem like chicken pox as the red dots had no blisters. Measles? Or what? The surgeon in our group said it's chicken pox laa, but as the time went by, no new red dots appeared and it just didn't look like it.

Funnily enough, after the day we went out to sea and had a whole few hours soaking in the salty seawater, the red dots on the face was like almost disappeared. 

I was worried sick if it was chicken pox and it started to come out in full bloom, what do we do? what?? We can't fly and do we stay for the whole 2 weeks? and can't go out of the room, wherever we may be? 

Fortunately, God bless, I need not worry anymore as by the last day of our holiday, the dots still appeared to be the same as the first day when they were seen. We came home safe and sound and after a few more days passed, the symptoms slowly faded away. There were still some tiny scars on the top side of her lips and it went away too after putting some chinese meds for a night. Whew~ 

Now, what could those red dots are? I am guessing it could be bed bites from the first motel we stayed in. My MIL said it's the water in Bali. Meimei said it's just mosquito bites laaa....

Cropped out snippets from another lens

It's usually me holding the camera most of the time and I seldom see myself in the pictures. My BIL (hub's sis' hubby) likes to take pictures too and we shared our pictures after the trip was over. And I sometimes feel amused or surprised on how I look by the side or the back. 

These are some of the snippets taken from his lens. One of the pictures shows me in curves. I never saw those before! Then of course there are also mostly me in bloated form or my torso with a wide waistline, especially the one in my swimsuit, no don't bother to scroll down, of course I'm not showing THAT!! It was SO DAMN FUGLY!

Enchanting Tanah Lot

This must be the best place we had been to in Bali. Love love love the amazing scenery there.

Unfortunately for us, it was raining when we arrived but good news bit, there was a vendor renting out big umbrellas for tourist makers like us. We had no choice but to pay about 60k rupiah for 6 umbrellas. 

Though the experience would be so much more awesome without the rain,undoubtedly it was also fun cuddling together and maneuvering around the patches of water. Without expecting anything spectacular, my jaws dropped as we walked with our heads down, looked up and saw an amazing view right with my own eyes. 

I had such wonderful memories of being there, absorbing in nature's wonderful creation.

This truly truly made my day.

Coming from you and not anyone else, it's more significant than ever. Cos we both speak from our hearts and not just cakap kosong.

But this, it has boosted my confidence so much and made me spring a little every step I take from then on....

THANK YOU, my very dear awesome friend. You are truly truly one AWESOME lady I've ever met and known via internet.

Food we had in Bali

As I had mentioned in my earlier post, my SIL and her hubby had really done a lot of research and homework in sourcing for good food to eat long before departing to Bali. I should learn from them. Yes, I feel ashamed and I think I really should do it next time before we go for any family holidays.

Other than a couple of times at the nearby food court which wasn't anything to shout about, here are the few places we went to which they had studied reviews from various people on various websites.

 Restoran Made (read as MA-DEH), the place is tastefully decorated. We walked about 10-15 mins from Hard Rock hotel in drizzling rain and passed by a couple of eateries without many customers. When we reached this place, it was filled to the brim with patrons. Lucky one of us had called in advance to book 2 tables. Food wise...ok for me. I'm not a very good food critic. Anything which is not too hard to swallow and can settle the hunger pangs, I'm good to go.

Suckling pig, was something to die for. So I heard. It was supposed to be so good that before noontime all the suckling pigs for the day would be gone. So I heard. But our driver/ guide told us nothing of that sort. IN fact there are lots of places selling this dish and we certainly need not worry about going in before 12 noon.

The interior design of the place is again, wonderful. We went upstairs to get seated on the floor. Felt very homely. But we all felt rather warm. And then we saw the place lacked some ceiling fans. It's a minus point for an otherwise comfortable dining place. 

My BIL ordered 4 avocado drinks and 8 coconuts for all of us, apart of too much food on the table! I had a tummy full of coconut drink and flesh as the kids just can't finish one coconut each! The siblings joked about the style of ordering from hubs and the BIL. BIL would be ordering too much food for us and if it's hubs who were to tasked the ordering job, we would all need to share drinks and perhaps just get to drink plain water. Haha. All agreed in unison.

As for the suckling pig, it was not what my inlaws expected as they were expecting yummy crispy skin to savor, just like what we have here in Malaysia. The style is just different. I again, don't think it's too bad or too great either. Chinchai laaa...

Seafood dinner at Jimbaran. Food was lousy. Ambience was superb! Bill was hefty. Enough said.

On our last evening in Bali, dinner was grilled pork ribs. I love the decor and yes, the food that time was AWESOME! Really finger licking good. My BIL was so proud to find out about this place as we all had nothing but praises for its food. Btw, this BIL in this post I refer to, is my hubs' sis' hubby. Very generous splurging in good food.

Surfing for the first time!

One of the best time we had at Bali was going for surfing. 

First it were only korkor, hubs with his bro and wife going for it. Then as the rest of us saw how fun it seemed to be, meimei and didi pestered to go into the sea as well, but time was too short then so we went for it the next morning.

I went in together as well, although I felt a bit reluctant. Old liao, not very adventurous somehow. But it was no regrets going for it as it was truly fun. Although a bit dangerous too, if one is not careful. I just realized only when I was back in KL that I have my two arms bruised from the surfing board hitting me real hard. 

The hardest part of it all would be going against the oncoming waves as we walked out to the shore. The proper way is to paddle out of course, but as beginners, we walked out to the teacher waiting along the start of the waves and then only climb up onboard. 

Meimei and didi succeeded to stand and balance pretty fast. I suppose they were younger and the centre of gravity is lower so it's easier to balance. After one hour of tasting good salty seawater I truly had enough but they were so not ready to call it quits. Now they are all bugging us to go somewhere where they can surf when we go for our next holiday. :)

Sewing meimei pinafores

Her pinafores had been used for 3 years now and were getting faded in color. But mainly because she had grown much taller and wider now, it looks a bit tight even though it could still be worn, maybe for about a year or so.

I had this idea to sew her the pinafores myself for a long time, since
1. it's so freaking expensive to pay for one.
2. the skirt is always not flair enough. I love flair skirts.
3. it ain't seem so difficult, I tell myself it's not something I couldn't do wuddd.....

I bought the cloth for about more than half a year now and my mom had cut the shape in newspaper for me for the longest time. The project had been shelved in the drawer for coming close to a year and finally, I took it out and started working on it.

What do you know, it's really very easy job. And I'm so mighty proud of my handiwork too. I think my mom would be impressed.

See the picture above, the skirt is so stylishly flair, it looked like a party frock!

Now that I get the sewing machine working, I'm thinking of sewing some cloth pads and some CNY new clothes too. See if that ever gets going or not....

Using Meluna for the first time.

Menstrual cup. Ladycup. Mooncup. That's what is more commonly known.

I heard about this product since a year or so. Thought it is quite a nice substitute for pads. But as it seems, it's not so common in here as in western countries.

Finally, someone posted something about hearing it for the first time in a group and said it was the best thing ever that happened and she had never looked back since. I thought wahh.. so good ah.. mustn't procrastinate any longer, I must go and get it. Asked around some more and someone told me I could get it at BV Tiny Tapir but it's much expensive compared to US.

So I delayed for another few more months, hoping someone could probably buy it back from the US for me.

But that never gonna happen and I do not know how much more money would be spent on pads, I should buy this cup sooner than later.

So I did. And what a time to start using the cup for the first time! It happened on the day we were to fly to Bali. But as I was determined to use it, I didn't care and I didn't even carry some pads for emergencies. What was I thinking!!!

I thought inserting the cup would be fine, since I'm so *ahem* used to .... NO! not anything else, for goodness sake! To my dismay, it's not so fine. I was still having a hard time to insert it in.

Though I didn't feel anything when it's inside, I was pretty conscious about it and THAT made me very uncomfortable.

Thank GOD for KLIA lounge, I managed to empty it in the shower room and had a nice hot shower as well. My first time using the lounge shower. haha.

I thought I would be safe for the rest of the time until at least we reach first stop in Bali, but I was so wrong. Horror among horrors, I found my panties stained while on the flight itself and I had to struggle to pull it out and empty it in the tiny toilet IN the airplane! I was so slapping myself that I should have at least put a pad or two in my bag so I don't need to worry about leaks and quit using the cup for the moment. But I really had no choice. I just had to continue with the cup. What an experience it was!

After 2 more days of inserting and pulling it out, I was getting a bit the hang of it eventually. The feeling of doing both the action is just indescribable. Sometimes, I freaked out finding for the tip of it to pull it out, scared stiff it would go in further and lost somewhere inside. And the moment when it's pulled out..oh my heavens, such a big satisfaction and relief. It's pretty much a love hate relationship with the cup.

Fortunate for me, by the day we were to go out to sea venture, I need not have to use it anymore.

Now let's see how I get along with it next month.

Our travelling day to Bali

Holy moly, the flight to Bali was at 11.30pm!

My inlaws arrived via train from Ipoh at around 7pm. After hurrying with dinner which I cooked, we decided to just drive over to KLIA and park our car for the whole duration of our stay in Bali. It was a wise decision, as we found out there's an even special rate for long duration parking for a minimum 4days in KLIA airport. We paid RM160 for 5 nights there. And it was a wonderful feeling to come back home to a ready in waiting car, lug in all our baggage in to go straight home.

Everything went smooth sailing. But came the time on the plane, it was way over midnight and I was about to doze off when didi who was feeling very cold came snuggling up to me and woke me up, I couldn't sleep for the rest of the flight making sure both of the younger ones were alright.

We reached Bali at 2.35 am (oh man!) and hubs didn't want to pay 250k rupiah for 2 taxis to the airport hotel which is about less than 5 mins drive away. I was thinking in my mind.. "wtf, what do you want to do???"

Fortunately, the taxi drivers offered 150k rupiah and eventually hubs relented. I was like wiping sweat over my forehead.

We checked into the airport hotel which was booked by hubs at KLIA before the boarding the flight, and it was like about 4am as we all packed into 2 rooms, 7 of us! Each room costs RM40 a night, so I heard. Kor went to share bed with grandparents while the 4 of us bunk in together. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep a wink until dawn.

I felt so tired I didn't want to get up to have breakfast even. Eventually we did so and checking into Hard Rock Hotel at 10+, it was like being at home again! Such a wonderful feeling!

Bali holiday

 This time it wasn't just about us. It's the whole freaking family with my inlaws!

My sis in law and her husband had done a wonderful job doing research and homework on where to go and what to eat. Even the ones who decide to stay at Hard Rock were my hubs and herself. I did nothing, absolutely nothing at all except to agree with everything they suggested and go with the flow. And enjoy myself.. hehe.

We had a jolly good time. The whole 4 FULL days were filled to the brim with activities and we weren't left much time to enjoy the nice environment at the hotel with a book and relax ourselves or go shopping to see the authentic Bali souvenirs.

Happy winter solstice peeps.

2 months since the last post. And so many stories to tell, where do I start?

Well, start with today's events, surely.

After spending the last evening at a wedding dinner from the inlaw's side, I was not very much in the mood to go to Rawang just to have lunch with many I'm not so close with. Furthermore, the house is small and old and hot, it's just so uncomfortable for me. But my hubby really yearning to go, so I eventually managed to persuade him to go .... but leave me alone! Let me go shopping on my own here. Felt happy and jubilant he agreed to it in the end for if he had stayed I would feel guilty. If I had gone with him, I would feel very unhappy. Best solution ever!

I didn't buy anything though, except for some sewing items. Yes! I had been sewing and I'm so mighty proud of myself of my work!

But the downside is, I don't feel the urge to buy clothes now unless they are dirt cheap, as I would just go "hmph, I could sew this myself too..." *lansi, yeah*

Then, I went to tapao 2 bowls of Snowflakes (substitution of tang-yuen) and bought a cake home to celebrate my MIL's birthday. She requested for steamboat for dinner and we brought her to Coco steamboat, best soup ever. *rub rub belly* Felt really full.

It's not her birthday today, and every year it's not the same date in the western calendar as she follows the lunar calendar. This year, the birthday supposedly falls on the 1st of Jan 2014, but since she was here today with us and she's travelling to KK to attend the groom's side's dinner, AND since she had been ranting to everyone that we never bothered to celebrate her birthday for the past few years, we relented. For someone like me who's not too particularly bothered about celebrating birthdays, I don't understand the hoohah. Well, whatever.