My Day in Kuching

I went to Kuching for work again today, had to make it a day trip cos my big baby is out of town and the small baby is alone with the maid. It was tiring, no doubt. But today they MAS stewardess served me something HOT. It was nice and warm, as if it was cooked 5 mins ago, not refrigerated overnite. Finally. These two pieces of bread was called "crispy bread", though neither crispy nor crunchy, it is okay. The bread was warm and the sauce was a little hot and spicy but it really tasted good! It has been a while since I last enjoyed MAS inflight food.

It was a hot and humid day in Kuching when I arrived. The first drink that came to my mind is the three-layered teh-ci-peng in a coffeeshop in Greenheights. The bottom layer is the gula melaka, middle portion is evaporated milk and top it off with tea. Somehow I like this coffeeshop's combination best among those that I have tried in Kuching. Even my mum is a big fan of this drink! I hope to find a coffeshop in KL that serves this drink with the same standard some day then I can have it whenever the craving strucks!

Flu Again!

While Daddy and I had a great weekend in Kuching, going to our fav Nasi Briyani joint and having Sarawak Laksa for breakfast, Sofia fell sick on Sunday. We guess it must be due to the long hours we spent at LCCT on Thursday.

She was running around like a wild horse set free! With the huge crowd at LCCT, it meant plenty of virus in the air and Sofia must have caught some of it too.

So I brought her to Dr Lim this afternoon to get some help. As usual, she started crying the moment we step into the clinic. Even refused to let us put her on the weighing scale! Clung onto my maid like a koala bear. Imagine the scene she made when we went into the consultation room? The poor doctor was trying to appease her so that he can listen to her lungs properly but I am not sure how successful he was. The funny part was, in the midst of her fountain display, Sofia could still shake hands and "high 5!" with the doctor! So was she really scared or upset??

Our Last Weekend in Kuching

This is a picture of sunset in Kuching, beautiful eh? I love to watch sunset here cos there are no skyscrapers to block the picturesque landscape. And for some reason, the land would be pretty quiet during sunset except for the prayers from the mosque nearby.

We are going to miss this pretty sight very much and all the things here we have grown so familiar with. I took time out during this weekend to savour all our favourite hunts again. My favourite nasi bryani taste as good as ever, the facial done by my regular beautician made my pores breathe again. Oooooohhhh ... I am going to miss all this ... byeee byeee!

S.O.L.D

Just got news this morning that our car in Kuching has been officially handed over to the second hand car dealer after payment for the deal was received. Feels kind of sad that I could not see the car off and the usual parking space would be empty when I return to Kuching.

Daddy and I had a lot of "adventures" with our babe, the most memorable one was how it got stolen while we were in church and the police actually managed to find it for us three months later. During the period, we learnt how to share one car with my in-laws by accomodating each other's schedule, etc. That was pretty tough, if you have ever lived in Malaysia, you will understand that too. That made me appreciate the mobility I have in Singapore simply by using the mass public transport (train, taxi, bus) available. I like taxis though it is rather pricey now, I do not need to drive everytime I step out of the house!!

Well, I hope our babe would find another good owner and be well taken care of ... look forward to "bumping" into it some day in Kuching!

Happy Birthday Kimberly!

12 Mar 2008 - My friend, Kimberly officially turns 1 year old today! We were at her birthday party last Saturday night, but because of Sofia, the night was cut short for us and we had to go even before we sang "Happy Birthday" to Kimberly and eat the birthday cake. All because Sofia wanted to sleep early that day, she knocked out barely 5 mins into the car ride. I was so tempted to return to the party after bringing Sofia home but came a surprise visitor - James - Dad's cousin from Perth. So stayed at home instead.
Above is a photo of Kimberly with Daddy (Vernon) & Mummy (Linda).

Linda is my ex-colleague and our due dates were only 2 month's apart. So we were kind of like accompanying each other through pregnancy and we subsequently went on maternity leave one after the other. This would be one chapter of memories in Kuching that I would treasure very much.
Kimberly was so friendly and allowed me to carry her, though Sofia did not seems too happy about it!

The Big Move (Part II)

I have been very busy and tired these few nights simply because it was time to pack all our barang barang again and have them shipped to our new place in Petaling Jaya (PJ). I finally figured out that we are not exactly staying in KL, but Selangor and the area is called Petaling Jaya.

It was not so easy to pack this time round as I have to decide and pack only the items which we do not need during out remaining days in Kuching. I can't also pack all of Sofia's toys and leave her with nothing to play. If I really do that, FeFe would have no more fur and whiskers by the time we leave Kuching. After all the packing efforts, the REAL packing took place this afternoon. The packers came and professionally dressed all the items with protective bubble wraps, carton boxes, cardboard and plastic wrap. I did derive a sense of satisfaction after all the items were uploaded into the container but the thought of doing the reverse once the items reach PJ makes my knees go weak. Sometimes I wish we are like snails, our home is on our back all the time, just move anytime to anywhere!

Daddy would be at work, Sofia would need the maid and all's left would be I, Me and Myself to do the unpacking, arrrrghhhhh!!!! To be exact, it is not the unpacking that I loft but the motion of up and down, lifting and carrying things, that puts a toll on my back and can cause severe backache.

And guess what? When I wanted to upload the photos that I took today into this post, I then realised in my packing frenzy, I actually packed the cable for connecting the camera to the computer in the cargo already!!!

Jong's Crocodile Farm (Part II)

This is "Kolo Mee" a very popular mee that can be found in all the coffeeshops in Kuching. The best Kolo mee is supposedly the one at 10th mile and so headed there for lunch after the crocodile farm visit since it was on the way home anyway.

Kolo mee here is priced at RM4, RM6, RM8, RM10 and RM12, with different variety of ingredients, depending on the price. We ordered the RM8 type which is rather pricey as compared to a normal one which cost only RM2.50 at normal coffeeshops. But looking from the amount of ingredients they add and the fresh succulent prawns, I find the bowl of mee quite worthwhile.

Sofia, who was all sweaty and smelly, was also very hungry by then. Since she still cannot eat noodles yet, we gave her crackers instead and there she went gnawing away happily.

I know, she is not very ladylike when eating ...

Playtime with Daddy

Eversince Sofia started to "attend" school at Gymboree this year, Daddy has not gotten a chance to experience this back-breaking weekly exercise with her until today. Sofia typically enjoys her lessons very much but sometimes, she wants to play on her own. Like today. She was not keen to join the other 2 kids and kept venturing out on her own to look for her ball and play her own games. So Daddy and I have to take turns "catching" her back to the group. It was indeed a good workout for us!!

Happy Yuan Xiao!

Yesterday marks the last day of Chinese Lunar New Year and it gives us another excuse to pig ourselves out have another feast together as a family. Fortunately my inlaws do not really pay a lot of attention to this day and we pretty much just have a normal dinner. Daddy also did not purposely make a trip back since he was travelling.
In Kuching, the eve and last day of CNY are very very very important and many people take leave from work to spend time with the family (except me). To me, these are just normal days lah. Something I enjoy very much on these two days are the fireworks in Kuching. On the eve, it would start at random after reunion dinner, gets bad at around 11pm and peaks at 12am. The fireworks goes off from almost every Chinese household (except mine) and the view is stunning and spectacular. If you close your eyes, you might have comtemplated to run and hide cos it sounds like a war zone.
Are fireworks legal in Sarwak (Malaysia)? Ironically, no, it is actually illegal!!! Huh? Yup, it is so illegal that almost everyone here can actually buy a couple to have fun during this period. For us, we are happy to seat back in the living room with our legs propped up on the couch and not paying a penny to enjoy the fireworks. Seriously, I tried it once and decided it is much more enjoyable and safer to sit back and enjoy. Sofia had actually fallen alseep at around 830pm but it was so noisy that she woke up at 845pm. She was thrilled by the fireworks and refused to sleep till around 10+pm ...
Her cough is still quite bad, wonder if I should bring her to the doc tomorrow night before we head off to KL on Sat morning?

Jong's Crocodile Farm (Part I)

It was a nice cool Saturday morning and I decided to do a little bit of driving myself. Packed Sofia, maid and my in-laws into the car and headed for Jong's Crocodile Farm located 30km (17th mile) from Kuching. I am not very sure the exact location but everyone tells me "just head towards Serian" and you will not miss it. My father-in-law could navigate me up till 10th mile and from there on, we depended on road signs along the way. Not too bad, after a 30-mins leisure drive, we saw the signage and reached the place successfully! Actually, Daddy and I have heard of this place since we came to Kuching but never did felt the "need" to visit. See crocodiles for what?? But with Sofia, the visit becomes much more meaningful as we can show her the different type of animals and bring her outdoors to get some sun.

Baby crocodiles - apparently they have to separate the young ones from the older and bigger ones cos the adults might eat the young ones when hungry!

Looks fake? It is 100% real! But I wonder why he kept this mouth opened all the time, toothache?
More snapshots of the other animals we met ...

Overall, it was a pretty good experience for everyone since all of us were there for the first time. The crocodile feeding show was quite entertaining and the place is pretty clean and well kept. Maybe we should plan another visit when Daddy is back?

Chinese New Year (2nd Day)

We started visiting relatives and friends only today and the first stop was at Daddy's 3rd GuGu's house. Surprisingly Sofia was in a good mood and did not reject strangers much.
After lunch, we visited Jeffery, Helen, Celeste and Charlotte @ Village Grove (our old neighbours). The three girls had fun playing together and Sofia was delighted to have new playmates and toys of course.
Headed back home thereafter and Sofia, being over-dosed with fun the whole morning, knocked out even before we reached home.

Romantic Walk

Daddy came back today from KL to spend CNY in Kuching with us. It seemed so long since we were last together. Well, at least for the next few nights, my bed will not be so cold. Seriously, it did take me a few nights to get used to sleeping alone since 30 Dec.
The three of us went for our usual evening walk together and even ventured further into the neighbourhood. Every moment was so precious.
I am inclined to think that our conversation was sooo boring that we returned home with a little sleeping beauty in the pram.
Yes, she sucks her thumbs before she sleeps.

The Big Move (Part I)

08 Dec 2007 - The Big Move happened today, after weeks of packing. We all started at 9:30am fresh and ready. The movers came and started wrapping the big items with protective film, the item we were most worried about was the piano cos it was the most difficult item to move in the house.

Sofia seems to know something is going on and refuse to take her naps. Of course, as usual, she wanted to get down to crawl and "help out" as well.

By 3:30pm, most of the items have already made their way down and loaded into the 40ft container. Unfortuantely, the fridge, dining table and the long sofa could not make it and were left stranded under the car park to be picked up later. The movers started unloading the stuff at 4:00pm at Green Heights and then went back to pickup the 3 items. It was only at 8:00pm we were all done and the dog tired movers left. What a day! The only person that was still full of energy and zest is our dear Sofia ...

S.O.L.D

Yeah ... after a few months of hard work, we finally sold our house. It was hard to put it up for sale, harder to find a buyer and even harder to sign on the dotted line. But we just have to let it go despite the hard work on the renovation, the precious memories this house holds ... we have to move on.

Well, there will be a lot more work after today ... packing, moving to a new place, unpacking ... someone pass us some Redbull pls!

In loving memory of our house ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Samuellku/%20Penthouse

Rendezvous @ Fairy Cave

Dad and mum were feeling restless on Saturday morning and had plans to sneak off for a rendezvous at Fairy Cave.
The quiet whispers and sneaky eye exchanges could not escape my eyes. The smell of conspiracy just got stronger and stronger and before I knew it, they have already scuffled out of the door behind me ... HUMPH!!!!

One of the beautiful rivers on the way to Fairy Cave ...

The 1-hr drive was scenic and a rain cloud greeted us along the way ...

Fairy Cave is more magnificent than we thought and guess what we found?

TWO REAL, HUNKY & HANDSOME SPIDEYS!!!