Langkawi Trip Dec '08 (Part II)

...continued from here...

Day 2
We drove out for breakfast. But there wasn't much choice nearby so we settled for mamak food at Telaga Harbour Park (where The Loaf is). Nice and cheap.

The only itinerary that I've planned for this trip is the cable car ride. When we were at the ticket counter, we're told we've to wait for 2 hours. We can't see how big the crowd was as they were all queueing on the upper floor. But to wait in line for 2 hours with 2 restless kids? No way! So we decided to come back later (in the evening, when there's usually not so many people).

While in Oriental Village, we visited the deer farm (only 3 deers). I bought a packet of deer food for the kids to feed them. But the deers were really hungry (or greedy?) as one came to 'disturb' me when it saw that I've a packet in my hand. The kids weren't afraid of the deers but didi doesn't know how to feed them as he kept his fist clenched. The poor deer could only lick his fist.


Since we've no other programs for the day, we decided to go hotel hopping (as it's not suitable to go island hopping with young kids). We dropped by The Datai. It's really secluded. The long stretch of road leading to the hotel is surrounded by nothing but trees. It'd be quite eerie to drive there at night. Nothing impressive about the hotel from our short tour. The beach is not in sight, it's so far down from the swimming pool (we didn't explore further in the hot sun).

On our way to town for lunch, we stopped by a waterfall (Air Terjun Temurun), just to look see look see and take pictures. When we're in town, a lot of shops were closed coz it was a Friday (a weekend in Kedah. Their Fridays are equivalent to our Sundays). We managed to find a Chinese restaurant and ordered rice with dishes. The food's okay and their pricing is like KL's.

Next stop, The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa. Hubby said the view here is much nicer compared to our hotel's. There're 3 swimming pools and the kids pool is so much bigger too.


It was almost 6 pm so we decided to try the cable car ride again. The last ride up is 7 pm. We didn't have to queue at all to go uphill. We stopped at Middle Station to snap some pictures before going all the way up. But at the Top Station, a lot of people were queueing to go downhill. The sun was almost setting but we didn't witness it as we didn't want to go down too late. It's getting dark and the wind's getting stronger. There's foot reflexology and hand-waxing (that's still operating at that time) at 705m above sea level but we didn't try any of it. Busy lining up.


We had dinner at Telaga Harbour Park. It's on our way back to the hotel. We had spanish food in Tapaz. Nice food. But I don't understand why they only accept cash. In a tourist spot, you can't expect tourist to carry so much cash with them, right? And the food's quite pricey too.


We've been out the whole day, so we're all dead tired by the time we're back in the room. A quick shower and zzzzz.

Day 3
In the morning, PaPa spotted many monkeys from our balcony. They were all hanging around the tree by the beach. Apparently they are a common sight at the resort. There are 2 species, black ones and brown ones. Suddenly a brown monkey appeared on our roof. We quickly went back into our room and closed the balcony door. That monkey was very daring. It came down and stood by the balcony door. So the kids and the monkey were separated by the glass door. Then it showed us its fierce look when XY tapped the door. I heard from the staff that the brown ones are more fierce than the black ones. Now we've experienced one up-close and personal.

After a tiring Day 2, we decided to relax in the hotel. We had late breakfast at the same mamak shop. Then back to the hotel for the kids to have some water play at the pool.


The hotel has a Kids Club so we checked the place out. There are many toys and a tv where the kids can watch CDs/DVDs or play PSP. There's an outdoor playground but not many equipments. You can leave your child at the Kids Club if he/she is above 4 years old. The lady on duty was very friendly. She even offered to look after the kids if we want to go back to take a rest.

We went for a snack (sandwich and spaghetti) at Feast restaurant before bringing the kids back to the room for a nap. While I napped with the kids, PaPa went exploring on his own. Went to check out the Fitness Centre, sauna and had coffee in the pool.


After our nap, brought the kids to the other side of the resort where the Fitness Centre is. Not many people at this beach, just us and another family. Didi still doesn't like sand but he likes to play with the sea water. But he doesn't want to stand on his own, so PaPa had to carry him. We cleaned ourselves in the Fitness Centre and headed straight for dinner at Captain's Grill, which is just next to the centre. We sat on the boardwalk. But there wasn't much to see - too dark.

We went for a car ride to Pantai Cenang area after our showers. There are many shops, restaurants and pubs along the road. The place is quite happening. Drove all the way to Awana Porto Malai but didn't get down to walk around. That's our last night there.

Day 4
We had buffet breakfast in Feast. Food was ok, but not as much variety as their dinner spread. Initially we wanted to let the kids have some water fun before going back to pack our things. But we spent too much time at the restaurant (waiting for them to cook the food).

I asked PaPa to bring the kids to the Kids Club so that I can pack in peace. Gosh, there were so many things to pack, especially dirty clothes. Didn't buy any souvenirs. Just some chocolates. After we checked out, we saw some black monkeys outside the lobby, on the trees. One was carrying a baby and I overheard the staff saying that she's never seen one carrying a baby at such close range. So we quickly snapped the mother eating leaves while the baby hugged her. We joked that our camera was full of monkey photos, hairy and non-hairy ones. hahaha

~ hairy monkeys ~

The Air Asia flight back to KL was delayed. Same case with our flight to Langkawi. It seemed as though every time we took an AA flight, it's delayed. So frustrating. Really not worth taking their flight unless you manage to get free tickets or super low fares.

That's the end of our Langkawi trip. Overall, it was quite relaxing. The kids sure enjoyed themselves and the parents weren't too tired. We spent more time in the hotel so we didn't have to run around (visit places) with kids that can get tired and cranky easily without enough rest.

Uber Amazing Award

Just remembered I got this award some time back, before I went for my holiday. Thanks, Fussy Mum! I'm truly honoured.


So here are the rules:

*start copy here*

Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who: inspires you, makes you smile and laugh, or maybe gives amazing information, a great read, has an amazing design, and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of this award are: Put the logo on your blog or post, nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing, let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog, share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

*end copy here*

Would like to dedicate this award to all of you with Uber Amazing Blogs!

Langkawi Trip Dec '08 (Part I)

Time flies especially fast when you're on a holiday. Our 4D/3N trip to Langkawi zoomed by so fast that before we know it, we're back home already.

Day 1
Upon reaching Langkawi airport, we rented a car. Car rental's cheaper there (as compared to Penang and KL) so we rented a Nissan Sentra 1.6. Check-in at Sheraton Langkawi Beach Resort was very leisurely. We sat at the lounge, enjoying the complimentary drink (lemonade, I think) while they processed our check-in. They brought the form for hubby to sign so we just sat and relax there. At some point, I just let my 2 monkeys run loose at the lobby.

welcome drinks & Christmas tree in the lobby

We rode a buggy to our room. If you're lazy to walk, you can ring for their buggy service. According to them, you'll need to wait 10 - 15 minutes. But most of the time, we didn't ask for the buggy when we go out. The walk to the lobby is only about 5 minutes. We usually rode the buggy back to our room from the lobby, with short waiting time. So far, we only asked for the buggy upon check-out. And it came within 5 minutes.

By the time we reached our room, it was about 5 pm. Tried to get the kids to nap but they refused. Our room has a private balcony overlooking the sea and it's on the first floor. Although it's facing the sea, it's called a Partial Sea View room coz it was blocked by trees. I think the rooms (max 2-storey high) are scattered all over the resort but good thing we're quite near to the lobby and restaurants. The room has a wooden interior and the wooden floor is very slippery. And it creaks too! I wondered if the guests staying downstairs could hear the kids jumping, running, rolling or sliding on the floor. :p

There's a window between the bedroom and washroom, where you can
see the bathtub and basin. Further in are the shower stall and WC.

The beds are called The Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed. But we don't
find anything 'super' about them. :D I like their soft pillows though.

Hubby went out to a nearby petrol station and bought some bread and biscuits. We had some snacks then brought the kids to the beach. It wasn't nice as the sand are very coarse and there're pieces of broken shells all over. Was afraid of getting cuts on the feet, especially the kids'. I had brought along the sand play set. Thought the kids would enjoy building sand castles. But didi doesn't like sand at all. He refused to step on them. As a first-timer, he didn't like sea water too. Jie jie, on the other hand, was very excited. She went into the water with PaPa and played with sand.

Since didi doesn't like the beach, we went to the kids swimming pool. The water was very cold as it was already 7 pm and it was very windy too. The kids played for a short while then headed back to the room to shower. Too tired and lazy to drive out for dinner, we ate at the restaurant (Feast). The food was not very nice, too salty. The noodles that I ordered from the kids menu came in such a big serving that even I can't finish it myself. PaPa had buffet which has a lot of variety but didn't taste fantastic.

...to be continued...

Here's wishing you and your family
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

Absolutely Satisfied

Just before leaving for the airport last Thursday, the courier man came with the photos that I've sent for printing at eoe Online. Although the taxi was waiting outside, I couldn't resist to take a peep at the photos. I was very satisfied with what I saw. At a quick glance, the photos came out very nice.


Now that I'm back from my holiday, I took a good look at the photos and the print quality is very good. At first, I had some doubts on the print quality. But now that I've got hold of the end product, I am very satisfied. The glossy paper used produces high quality photo prints with excellent colour reproduction. I know it's hard to believe that you can get such quality prints at the price you're paying. You've just got to try them yourself to believe it.

I'm also very impressed that they were able to fulfil my special request of printing the date the photos were taken, at the specified corner. I was having a hard time setting this up with the printing software that I used to print my photos at home. Now with this printing service from eoe, I don't have to fiddle with user-unfriendly printing software, buy my own papers or wait for the photos to dry after printing. I don't even have to spend too much time selecting which photos to print as their online print promotion of RM0.30 for 4R and RM0.50 for 5R are just so affordable. Would I use their service again? Definitely!

31 Months Old

~ dip, dip and eat ~

Food Lover
He loves rice and noodles. When we eat out, he prefers to eat plain white rice than the food that we've prepared from home. And he looked as if he's really enjoying his food. It's quite easy to fulfil his hunger when we eat out or on holiday. He eats most stuff and food that definitely won't go wrong are rice and noodles/spaghetti.

Little Parrot
After watching so many episodes (including repeats) of WordWorld on PHDC, he can now spell some musical instruments. G-U-I-T-A-R... guitar! T-U-B-A... tuba! H-O-R-N... horn! But don't know why he can't really get drum right. He goes D-U-B-A... drum! hahaha

His vocabulary has improved a whole lot although he's still speaking in short sentences like "PaPa and jie jie sleeping", "Didi eat biscuit", "You see, no more phone" (after hiding my phone under his hanky), and a lot more. I can't keep track of what he says anymore.

His singing has improved too. Now he doesn't just sing the last word of the sentences but most of the words. He makes song requests too. His current favourites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels On The Bus (while making circle movements with his finger) and Happy Birthday.

Safety Patrol
He likes to wear safety belt when we're in the car. If there's no car seat, he prefers to sit on his own (instead of sitting on our lap) and strap himself in. He even asked me to put on mine when I leaned forward, helping PaPa with the directions when we were in Langkawi. "Mommy, wear belt. PaPa driving." :-|

PaPa's Boy
He's getting more attached to PaPa. When we are out, he wants PaPa to carry him, sometimes rejecting me. But when it comes to bedtime, he only wants me. So PaPa's very happy for being wanted and Mommy's very happy for having a little more time without the clinging koala bear.

Handphone Keeper
I've got my very own personal handphone keeper. Whenever he sees my phone lying around on the table or sofa, he'll bring it to me. Or when he sees the lights blinking (incoming call as it's usually set to silent mode) or hears the beep (incoming sms), he'll inform me about it.

Others
The first thing he does when he comes down in the morning is to switch on the tv by himself.
He's not so resistant to brushing his teeth anymore. He lets me brush his upper teeth now. He used to tell me it's painful.
He's very "helpful", to the extent of wanting to help us remove our shirt or pants. Sometimes he'll take out clothes from the wardrobe when we want to change.
It's still impossible to get him to take medicine willingly.

Didi Is *tooot*

I'm so relieved! There was no additional 'casualty' at home. Both kids are *tooot*. In case you're wondering why the censorship, it's because I don't want to jinx it. Very the pantang one. hehehe So I'd better keep my big mouth shut.

As for me, I'm still coughing. Didn't manage to recover fully in time. But usually cough will take a longer time to recover. Oh well, never mind, I can live with that. Most importantly the kids are *tooot*.

All packed and ready to go. We'll have lunch at home before leaving for the airport. See you all next week. You have a great week too!

Langkawi, here we come!

The Masked Woman

Timing couldn't be worse to fall sick as we're leaving for Langkawi in a few days' time. XY's fever started on Saturday morning and it hit all time high in the wee hours of Sunday (40ºC). She's not been having fever higher than 39ºC for many years already. Apart from fever, she showed no other symptoms. So I was really worried. After putting in the suppository, I dabbed her with a cold hanky. The temperature went down a bit. Luckily her fever broke the next morning. Phew...

This is how I look like at home, unless I'm eating or bathing. I even wear this when sleeping as I don't want to pass the germs to the kids, especially didi. I started to have sore throat on Friday and it got really bad on Saturday night. I had the whole package of sore throat, cough, fever and my whole body ached.

Yesterday, XY and I went to see the doctor together (a GP coz her paediatrician was away). The "never mind" doctor was very "reassuring". Everything also he said "Never mind. It's normal. It'll heal by itself." I have a feeling he's the type that doesn't encourage medication (for mild cases) and prefers the body to fight on its own. He diagnosed XY with viral fever (which is common, according to him). He just advised her to drink lots of water and if the fever persists for 4 or 5 days, get a blood test. (Duh... can you please tell me something I don't know?)

As for me, he said I've got bacterial infection. I was surprised my throat wasn't red, just some ulcers. He said I don't really need antibiotics as it'll heal in 4 to 5 days' time. But I asked for it (I normally would refrain from taking them) as I wanted to get well fast. My biggest worry now is didi. If he gets infected, how are we going for our holiday? And at his age, recovery will be slow. So even though it's not very comfortable, I've become the Masked Woman.

Printing Made Easy

I have so many photos of the kids in the hard disk so I decided to do a little project some time back. I bought two photo albums, 1 for jie jie and 1 for didi. But there are thousands of photos. It took a lot of time to go through them and select which ones to print. That's why my project, which started more than a year ago, has been abandoned.

When I read about this home-grown Malaysian site called eoe Online that provides printing online, I was really thrilled. I can make orders via their website and the photos are delivered to my doorstep. Talk about convenience! I'm even more thrilled because their charges are really low. You can print 4R and 5R photos at 30 sen and 50 sen respectively. Wow! Their pricing is just unbelievable! That's so much cheaper than using my colour printer at home. And if you order above RM35, you get free delivery. Isn't that great?

XY is already 5 years old but I've only selected and printed the photos up till her first birthday. I haven't even started on didi's album. However, with eoe's pricing, I don't have to spend so much time selecting the photos as I can now afford to print more.

Apart from ordering prints online, you can shop online for a wide range of photographic products. There are also camera reviews and competitions with attractive prizes. I've already sent in my orders for printing. I'm very glad my little project is back on track.

The Fun Google Tag

I got this fun tag from Mummy Gwen and Doreen.

"The rules are simple. Use Google Image to search the answers to the questions below. Then you must choose a picture in the first page of the results, and post it as your answer. After that tagged 7 people."

1. The age of my next birthday


2. A place I'd like to travel to


3. A favourite place


4. A favourite thing


5. A favourite food


6. A favourite colour


7. The city I live in


8. The city I was born in


9. A nickname I had


10. College Major


11. Name of first lover


12. A bad habit


13. A hobby


14. Current wish list (max. 3 items)


Here's tagging Adrine, Hazel, MummyInVain, Rose, Oliveoylz, Mery & Irene. Hope you girls have fun!

Art Workshop

XY went for a 3-hour art workshop organised by her kindy on Thursday. She made and decorated a box. When I fetched her home, she told me she wanted to bring it along on our holiday - to put the shells she's collected from the beach. And when I told her the box will get squashed during the long journey (it's made of manila cardboard, quite flimsy actually), she said she'll hold them herself. Looks like she's had it all thought out. :D

She's also painted an apron. I thought she painted the one she used. But she was given a new apron to paint. The teacher drew the picture on it, then she painted it herself.

~ fruity apron and ladybird box ~

For RM38, she got to have some fun, a box and an apron. And I got a peaceful and quiet morning. :D

Complete The Sentence Tag

This tag comes from a very "old" friend of mine. Thanks Oliveoylz!

1. Life is full of surprises.

2. I smile when I feel like it.

3. I can't sleep when I'm excited.

4. I love the smell of new notes.

5. When I can't sleep, I get up to watch tv.

6. I often dream about anything under the sun.

7. I get irritated when my 5-year-old cries for no valid reasons.

8. I like the sound of baby's laughter.

9. People often call me when my handphone's not by my side.

10. I wish I could live life with no regrets.

11. The best creation in the world is the internet.

12. 1st 3 words that comes to my mind: good health always.

13. I've discovered that the whole department/staff must be split into different flights when you're going for a company trip.

14. When I'm in love, I give my all.

15. A baby is born with a lifetime's responsibility for the parents.

16. Before I met my husband, I had to buy my own perfume.

17. A good marriage requires communication, sacrifice and compromise.

18. I dislike watching movies with sad endings.

19. I say 'I Love You' not often enough.

20. My favourite subject in school was Maths.

I'm passing this tag to :
Mummy Moon, Doreen and Sting

Shopping Sunday

Last Sunday, it was shopping day at Mid Valley Megamall (MV). Mission of the day was to get a scooter for XY. That's her "official" reward for doing well in kindy. Anyway, we just used that as a reason, hoping she'd be motivated about learning and school. But while we're at Toys"R"Us, we bought a few more things for her.

First thing we did when we reached MV (at 12+) was to have lunch. We had a satisfactory meal at Madam Kwan's - Nasi Bojari, beef rendang and sambal petai with prawns. Ordered fish and chips for XY. Didi ate steamed white rice and a bit of fish and chips. He preferred the plain rice than his home-cooked steamed egg.

After lunch, we went to look for the scooter. XY liked the pink ones with 3 wheels but they're rather small for her height. So we got her the metal type with 2 wheels. It's not easy to balance but I guess with more practice, she'll get the hang of it.

~ XY's scooter and pink helmet ~

Apart from the scooter, we also bought a safety helmet and toy handphone (with sound and light and comes with a cute pouch) for her. In preparation for our coming beach holiday (going to Langkawi Island in the middle of the month, yay!), we bought the sand playset and Max Liquidator (a water pump that shoots up to 30 feet, to be played in the pool).

We went to Jusco next. Didi fell asleep in his stroller (which rarely happens) while we were there. PaPa offered to let me go shopping while he took over the stroller (with didi sleeping inside, of course). So I went back into Jusco with XY and 2 maids (was maid-sitting for BIL last weekend). After 2 hours, I was RM150 poorer. And I've got 3 t-shirts and 3 shorts for myself and a Puma t-shirt for XY. Not too bad, right? :D

Didi has just woken up when we met up with PaPa. Since it was a little early for dinner, we went for a walk at The Gardens. Wanted to see what to have for dinner. But we ended up eating at Dome Cafe in MV. The restaurant was rather empty. I wonder how long they can survive.

Alphabet Tag

Thank you Mummy Moon for this easy tag.

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friend? Very lucky to have more than 1
C. Cake or pie? Cake
D. Day of choice? Holidays
E. Essential item? Money
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? Definitely not worms
H. Hometown? Penang
I. Favorite indulgence? Junk food
J. January or July? January, a new beginning
K. Kids? Two
L. Life isn’t complete without? A loving family
M. Marriage date? 01/01/01 (ROM)
N. Number of magazine subscriptions? None
O. Orange or apple? Apple
P. Phobias? Kids falling sick
Q. Quotes? Don't do to others what you don't want others do unto you
R. Reasons to smile? Anytime I feel like it, don't need a reason :-)
S. Season of choice? Can't decide coz haven't experienced all
T. Tag 5 people Wen, Ling, Dora, Oliveoylz & Alicia
U. Unknown factS about me? Violent :-|
V. Vegetable? Have to eat coz they make you healthy
W. Worst habit? Indecisiveness
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound
Y. Your favorite food(s)? Crab, prawns, dim sum
Z. Zodiac sign? Scorpio