Day Trip to Malacca

It was a bright and sunny day today and after talking about it for the last few days, we decided to go ahead and off we went to Melaka (Malacca) today!! Daddy and I have heard a lot about this famous chicken rice ball dish that originates from Melaka and neither of us have tried it. The more we talk about it, the more we wanted to give it a try. Anyway, it is only a 2-hr trip from PJ and we have experience in long distance driving before.

We reached Melaka at about 12pm for lunch, fortunately Sofia had a good 2-hr nap in the car and the drive was very peaceful. One of the old coffeeshops that was supposed to be famous for their chicken rice ball was packed to the brim and the crowd at the front door was still growing! We would have joined the crowd if not for Sofia and out groaning stomach. So we headed for a commerical one, with aircon and a clean environment so that Sofia will feel more comfortable and not fuss too much.

Here's how the chicken rice balls look like.

Unfortunately, the rice balls did not taste as good as they look. We were all soooo disappointed. Afterall, we drove 2 hours here just to eat these.

The restaurant was very well renovated and even had a majestic throne in the backyard. We happily put Sofia on the throne and snap some photos.

And guess what? She sat there happily and when we tried to ask her to come down, she refused to and went "Dak! Dak! Dak!" again! That was pretty amusing for everyone!

Melaka is also famous for their cendol and that was the other dish we wanted to try while in town. After asking around for recommendations and directions, we found a little shoplot that serve this dessert and had a long queue streaming down from the backdoor. We joined the queue and fortunately it moved pretty fast and we gave the laksa and cendol a try.

Yes, these were yummy!

Both dishes were good, made with very fresh and fragant ingredients. In the end, I think it was this bowl of laksa and cendol which made us felt that the trip was pretty worth it!

Farewell!

I thought long and hard during the last 2 weeks while laying off my contact lens in preparation for the operation. For me to be born with sight and to lose it now is unimaginable for me. If that should happen, I am very likely to lose the will to live and would be very very depressed. BUT living with my spectacles during this two weeks was horrible too, it felt so heavy on my face and got extremely crooked after several "accidents" with Sofia.

That was it! am going for the op!

I turned up on the dot at 11am at Optimax for the thorough eye check which would take about 2~3 hours. It was easy and the friendly optometrist brought me from station to station explaining in detail what the individual machines were for. We came to an end at about 1:30pm and they were officially going to do the last bit to prepare my eyes for the op, that is, to dilate my pupils. This would take at least an hour. So I sat there, being fed with eyedrops every now and then, nervous and excited. Finally, my eyes were fully dilated at 3pm and was moved to the waiting room for my turn. I was afraid suddenly and bad thoughts started to flood my mind again but prayers helped and assurance from the surgeon also calm me down a bit.

I stepped into the operating theatre at 3:30pm and was out in less than 10 minutes. It took me some efforts to keep my eyes REALLY STILL and hold them open for the longest I can but keeping the eye ball still and focused was not so easy for me, especially when I am nervous. Fortunately the operation was really brief and I made it home within the next half an hour. The toughest part for me was actually the next 4-6 hours after the op, my eyes sting and were tearing badly. These are the immediate side effects which I can help to relieve through eye drops as I was told. Yes, the eye drops did help!

Amazingly, my vision was almost perfect the next day and I could drive back to the center for my follow-up appointment! I am thankful to God that this op went well and I can continue to admire his creation around me!!

Reptile Exhibition @ One Utama

We brought Sofia to the reptile exhibition at One Utama in the afternoon. Actually I only got to know about it a couple of days when they had a tiny roadshow and had a few cute animals on display.

Well, the main aim of this excursion was to expose Sofia to more animals. We still do not know where is the nearest zoo to go and thought this would be a good opportunity to brighten her day. Unfortunately I only realised that it was mainly displaying reptiles after buying and entering the exhibition. How blur can I get??

We tried to make the best out of it but Sofia did not show the slightest interest in the snakes and cobras, simply because they were either sleeping or lying so still in their individual glass box. The monkeys certainly did catch her attention and she stood there watching their agile movements, eyes glued. One part of me felt pleased ... at least I did pay for something that she enjoys but one part of me was hoping that she would not adopt this sort of agility back home, or we are all going to have a good time with our new "pet"!

Now you see me, now you don't!

My mum has been here for about one and a half month and you know what she thinks of Sofia?

In hokkein - "Bo Si Tiam!", it means not a minute of stillness.

In mandarin - "San Tiao Chong!", it means Sofia has the energy of not one, but three worms!

My attempts to take good shots of her have been failing miserably and she is not being very cooperative either. We tried to prop her against the sofa to take a portrait of her but look what this mischievous girl did?

Hopefully my skills will improve with more practice!

2 New Additions

Sofia has 2 latest molar eruptions on her lower teeth, this is good news for me cos it is disturbing our sleep at night. Well, 8 more to go ...