MALAYSIAN ROAD TRIP

Our dream of going on our very own Malaysian Road Trip came through yesterday. Since the kids were born, we have been talking about taking this road trip as we felt that the children; being born and bred in the city have become too "city" for our liking. When they see a cow on the road, the way they scream, one would think that they saw a spaceship! But no, it was only a cow!! Being the kind of people who hate crowds, we always make it a point to avoid travelling during public holidays but with the kids in school, it makes more sense to travel during this time. I booked early so that the hotel rooms would be cheaper as I notice that when you book the last minute, the price tend to be higher. As we are now a single-income family, the budget was a main criteria so it was important to make the best of the budget!

Our last long trip was Australia in 2004. After that, we have had lots of long weekends all over Malaysia and Singapore but not an adventurous 10-day trip like this one. With the price of airfares sky-high especially if buying for 6 including our wonderful helper who is part of the family, we decided that flying is out for now. So, with the kids all grown at 4,6 & 8 years, we decided to take this road trip which will take us from KL-Kuantan-KB(through Kemaman, Marang, KT)-Pulau Banding (the newly opened Belum Forest Resort)-Kangar(through Baling for a day trip)-Sungei Petani(overnight)-Penang(our favourite destination for 2 nights)-Ipoh-KL(Home Sweet Home). Hubby has never been on the East-West Highway which has long held intrigue for him. I have been twice during my university days and I remember how scenic it was. I have a picture of myself right smack in the middle of the Pulau Banding bridge with my hands streched across. I remember how beautiful it was!

We're spending 2 nights in Kuantan with my godparents before we head for Kota Bahru tomorrow. We arrived late yesterday after some "smart" packing because after Kuantan, we won't have a chance to do our laundry until Penang because its one night everywhere. In Penang, we have found a very nice Auntie who runs a laundry near Pulau Tikus to wash our clothes. She does it so well and is such a nice and friedly lady.

We arrived to a wonderful late tea spread of dainty chicken curry and fish/egg curry puffs which were lovely. My godmother who is a gourmet cook whipped up a sumptious dinner of ikan bakar (really deliciou), stir-fried prawns, mutton stew and vegetables. Dinner was wonderful, to say the least. The 2 older kids stayed up late (which is a previlege during the hols) and Mishya went to sleep as usual at 8.30pm. The heat was unbearable; thank god for the air-cond rooms. We had a good night's sleep and everyone was awake by 7.30am this morning.

Auntie Gwen (God bless her), went out to buy nasi lemak bungkus which Balan, Mishya and I enjoyed while Rohen and Tishya ate sausages with bread. Topped off with a nice coffee, it was a great start to the day. We then decided to take the "heat" off by going to Giant to buy some things; I have only 2 words - AIR CONDITIONING! In Giant, our not-so-little baby, Mishya decided to throw one of her shoes away. We went round looking for it but couldn't find it. She is now shoe-less. So, we'll have to take another trip to the shopping mall later today.

We had the famour Kuantan Curry Laksa for lunch (adults) and Fish Ball Noodles (kids) and now, the kids are taking a rest. Come this evening, we're heading for Telok Cempedak which is a very short drive away. Balan and I don't like Telok Cempedak as it is today, all "new and improved". Its no longer a beautiful beach to watch the sunset and let the breeze sway you to your dreams. There is a big garish McDonalds right smack by the beach and lots of stalls which sell tacky souvenirs. They don't allow us to pack by the side of the beach anymore, you have to park at a sandy carpark behind all the concrete! But I guess we just have to accept the new Telok Cempedak as it is, and look past all the development to find the magic of the place! We'll try.

It will be an early night for all as we leave for KB at 6.30am. Reason being, we want to arrive in KB early in order to explore and because we definitely want to have breakfast at Hai Peng Coffeeshop in Kemaman which is about 1 hour away from Kuantan.

We decided not to bring the laptop along as we realised we would be be spending half our time lugging it around and worrying if we left it in the hotel room. So, I'll blog again when I have access to a computer!

Over and out :-)

Gang Larut Malam

I've always regarded my years in the university as the best times of my life. Our only job as students was to study hard and graduate. The rest of the time, I was busy with my wonderful "gang larut malam". I do regret that when I finally fell in love for "real" to my now present husband, being with the gang did take a backseat although we still did lots of things together. And then, after we graduated, taking our friendship for granted, most of us lost touch. Being older and wiser, I realise now how lucky we were to have shared the most pure and beautiful kind of friendships imaginable; we loved, respected and trusted each other unconditionally and with deep loyalty. That is friendship is its purest form. No barriers, no secrets, lots of diverse opinions and views which would often result in a temporary "war" but mostly it was loyalty, respect and love. If you were to look at us, it would seem that we did not have anything in common; race, religion, homestates, backgrounds, areas of study- we were as different as night and day. When we lost touch, we didn't realise that some of us would not see each other for the next 14 years!
Today, I met 2 of them; 2 wonderful friends who have been missing from my life but not my heart. It made 25 April 2008 possibly one of the best days of my life. After 14 years, what do you think I felt? Love and happiness at seeing my friends healthy and happy. It was as if time had stood still, 14 years had not passed and we were at Dewan Makan catching up on the day's events except, we're now responsible tax-paying citizens of this country, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives! But mostly, as time stood still between 5pm-7.15pm this evening at Equatorial Bangi, our friendship resumed with the same vigour and passion. As I listened and looked into both their eyes, I felt my heart racing, my smile would not wane; happiness and love for these two people flowed through every vein in my body. It confirmed what I've said to my best friend, Shirl; these are people who will be my friends forever even if we never meet again. I've missed them so much! They are imprinted in my heart. You just don't know how much you miss them until you feel the pulse of the friendship again; then you go into overdrive, happiness overflowing and you just don't want the evening to end.

I thank god for making today possible. I've prayed and wished for this day to come and it did. Of course, now we want to meet up with the rest of the gang? We want to get everyone together under the same roof at the same time?? Is that too much to ask and hope for??? Well, we're working on it, that's for sure.

To Leiman and Mimi, I love you both and have missed you so much. Here's to the next 14 years and the rest of our lives.

JALAN UNGKU MOHD SALLEH, KG MERDEKA, BATU PAHAT

Colin, Wesley and I have not been together in the same room for 20 years until today! What a great day its been! It was Wesley's wedding dinner. Wesley has lived in Australia for the past 20 years, since his mum passed away. We were a threesome. Neighbours, who grew up together on Jalan Ungku Mohd Salleh. Colin and I are of the same age and Wes is 2 years our junior. It doesn't seize to amaze me that 20 years have gone by in a blink of an eye; Wes is now a chef and Colin a specialist in BMWs. Our lives are worlds apart; there should have been akward silences, stiff handshakes and sterile chatter. There was nothing of that; there were warm hugs & handshakes, magical stories of growing up together, the nostalgia of yesteryears and the memory of a friendship so pure. It all came flooding back. I am a sentimental fool. Always have been and always will be. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what life is all about. Making a connection and touching people's lives. Friends who will never forget you no matter how much time has passed and how little contact you have had. They may not know this, but after all these years, I have never forgotten how they have touched my life and that their friendship is imprinted in my heart and mind forever.

I wish upon a star, that the three of us will meet again even if it takes another 20 years!

THE SILENCE

Its been a while since I blogged. It was a conscious decision; there were tough decisions to be made. Well, everything is decided now and I am looking forward to the rest of my life. 10 top things I've learnt while on my blogging break:-

1) I have a wonderful husband who will buy me flowers at the drop of a hat if he can afford it!
2) I have been blessed with more than ONE best friend who will stand by me through thick and thin, rain or shine, in sickness and in health and tell me if I am being an ass!
3) God took one man away from me early in life but gave me an equally worthy man who has and continues to take me through life.
4) Despite my love-hate relationship with my mum (who has been both mother and father), I will be "broken" when it is her time to join her husband in heaven. (yes, I am sure she is going to heaven!).
5)My family, friends and loved ones are the most important people in my life. I will continue to make time for them and cherish them as nothing in the world is more important than that.
6)No job is worth sacrificing your principles and loved ones.
7)Money is important in life but there are many other things which come before it.
8)Don't waste your time defending yourself when the parties involved mean nothing to you. Whatever they take from you, god will give you back in so many other beautiful ways.
9) Every cloud HAS a silver lining (it is a proven fact)
10) Forgive but never forget. Forgiveness helps you move on with life but never forgetting keeps you safe.

I'm still bleeding from all the back stabbing I've experienced but I am alive and kicking. I will never allow myself to be bitter and resentful. That is not me and that will never be me. I live and love with passion. Nothing and no one will take that away from me.

Life is good and I've been blessed.

HAVING MORE THAN ONE FACE

I had a bad day at work today. Someone whom I thought has changed has slipped back to their old self of being someone with more than one face. Of course, there would be others who would say that this person did not change at all but was merely putting on a mask very successfully. Well, either way, I was really hurt. I've always been one who believes in being honest. We can all always agree to disagree. Why would someone find it better and easier to put on a different face with different people just to keep them happy? Why in the world would this person ever think that being a hypocrite is more peaceful? Well, in my opinion, you are disrespecting the people who honour you by being honest to you.

I was brought up on the moral value of honesty being the best policy and we will bring up our children on that too (well, most of us will). But in the cut throat world of the "working people", you see ever so often, people with the worst work ethic always coming out on top. And then, when you have a mother like me, whom after 12 years of working life is always a loser because of holding on to my so-called "principles", am I setting up my children for heartache by bringing them up on my set of values? I already see that TM is going to be another me. She is exactly like me; there is only black or white. No grey.

As I always tell my best friend LP, I am such a flawed character. Even if my life depended on it, I cannot bring myself to lie or even be misleading. That is how god made me. It has got me into trouble most of my life and it will plague me until my last breath.

Make no mistake, I would rather my children NOT be like me. I would want them to have the foundation of knowing that honesty is the best policy but I would rather that they have the gift of knowing how to be politically astute (without being a hypocrite) in order to save themselves from sharing the fate of their mother.

And its not as though I'm so righteous. I'm just flawed. I see so many of my good friends who are NOT hypocrites AND are able to be honest without being "brutally honest". I should strive to be more like the people I admire.

Goodbye bad day! I'm having a bright and cheery Thursday!

p/s My superhero arrived safely in sabah about an hour ago. Apparently, she managed to negotiate "permission" from the Air Asia stewardess into allowing her to consume her doughnut which was not purchased on board. And then, she told her auntie and uncle very loudly, "The auntie said I can eat my doughnut. Why did you ask me to hide it until the auntie went away?"??!!

SUPERHERO

Our home has been pretty quiet for the past 2 days. TM, our resident superhero is away on holiday with my brother and his family. From the time she was born, she has been nothing short of SUPER! Let me share some general information on her. She is our second child and first daughter. My first baby was born by emergency c-section after 18 hours in labour as he was in distress. So, when the time came for my second child to be born, I wanted a natural birth (of course with the epidural). After 20 hours of full labour, my waterbag finally burst and I was put on the epidural. By the time 24 hours passed, my cervix was tightly shut eventhough my little superhero was firmly in place. There was no way she was getting out THAT way so my doctor did an immediate c-section. Throughout her difficult journey on the "road" to nowhere, the nurses informed me that her heartbeat was as strong as a horse (incidentally she was born in the year of the horse). Now, when she did finally emerge, I was under GA which means I didn't get to see her until almost 2 hours later when I was wheeled b ack into my room. My husband, meanwhile who was anxiously awaiting the birth of his little princess (we already knew) was told to wait "here and there" because the hospital's new wing had just started operations and there were not sure about where the father should wait. So finally, he was told to wait in the room which I had been booked into. Almost 1 hour passed and still no sign of our new baby. He was of course anxious and a little miffed but the joy of welcoming a new bundle of joy kept him on track. The aim was to find his baby! Finally, another nurse came in and "admonished" him for waiting in the room while his newborn was alreay in the nursery. He rushed to the nursery to find our little princess with "cat eyes". If not for the fact that she looked so much like her brother as a baby, we would not be too sure if she was ours. Anyway, hubby found her crying loudly and her face red and all wrinkled up (not from the water in the womb but from her fiery temper).

In the next few minutes, I was being wheeled into my room. My first question was whether the baby was alright and whether she looked like her Koko (term for brother in my mother's mother tongue. My wonderful hubby said she looks beautiful and she seems really healthy from her cry! Things that make her super (in a good and bad way):

1) She only wanted her mother (me) for the first 8 months of her life for every important event in her life (sleeping, drinking, bathing. Miraculously, she was alright when she was with the caregivers during office hours!
2) I learned the art of folding clothes, cooking, peeling, dishing out food, making milk etc with her in one hand. I even developed "tennis elbow" because of her and I actually told the doctor that I don't play tennis. He was tickled to say the least!
3) If her father put her to sleep, she would cry loudly for at least 30 minutes before falling asleep refusing milk and would wake up with a vengence. She would just continue where she left off!
4) We were supposed to be able to gauge exactly when she wanted her milk before she "asked" for it or we would be "punished". She would refuse milk if it was late (by a few seconds) or milk not at the right temperature. She wanted it just right. Repurcussions would be the same, she would go to sleep crying and wake up crying! Today, she is still a milk guzzler and is able to finish 250ml of milk(in a bottle, of course) in less than 3 minutes and is not afraid to sleep on her own.
5) Putting her to sleep meant, standing up and swaying her gently from side to side for at least 30 minutes and only her mother (me again) could put her to sleep peacefully. The minute I sat down, she would scream and I would have to get back on my feet! But the great thing was, she would sleep early (by 8pm) and would only wake up at 6am the next morning. No feeds in-between. Till today, she looks like an angel when asleep!
6) At 4 weeks, she managed to roll over on my bed where we had left her at the centre of th bed "knowing" that babies only roll over at almost 2 months! The beginning of her superhero days.
7) She was crawling at 4 months and walked at 8 months!
8) By the time she was 12 months, she was only running.
9) She spent the next 2 years of her life (age 1 to 3) in a stroller everywhere except for confined areas which we knew she could not get out of. It had to be full-proof because she could climb out of anything! Poor thing, everytime, we let her go "free" without stroller or a hand leash (yup, we got lots of stares and reprimands from "well-meaning" people who couldn't look beyond the leash and why we needed it!)
10) The entire household could be sick and she would be OK :-)
11) Even if she had a fever of 40 degrees, she would still be running around and the only thing that would give her away would be rosy cheeks!
12) She was not afraid to pick up insects as "instructed" by her older sibling (who is a scared of his own shadow. Her bravado amazes and frightens us!

Finally, why is she my ultimate superhero? She was the one who put in her entire arm into the gutter(in my bathroom) to pick up my very precious SKII cleanser (travel size) which had fallen into the gutter when the bathroom was washed.

What am I missing about her? Her beautiful smile which can charm the pants off even the grumpiest, the twinkle in her eyes when she smiles, her off-beat and sometimes very embarassing one-liners which are so honest but so not politically correct, her non-stop chatter about everything in her life good and bad, her iritating "Mama, can I tell you something" which drives me up the wall because she doesn't care what I'm doing, how tired I am and how nasty a reply I give her to get her off my back, she wants to tell me something come what may!

Of course, I don't miss her fiery temper, the way she rolls her eyes whenever she gets iritated with us (?!), her Disney channel accent which is so fake it drives me crazy sometimes, the way she speaks under her breath just loud enough for one to hear when she's not happy about something and I really don't miss her imaginary friend, Melissa who spends half her life in our home and follows us all over Malaysia whenever we travel. As much as I don't miss all that, my heart aches for my superhero to be right here infront of me just being herself. We love and cherish her for who she is. Period. Nothing else matters.

Oh, by the way, TM is five years old. The only reason she is on holiday without us is because our extended famiy is very small and therefore extremely close-knit. She has always been very close to her uncle and family especially her cousin SD who is 4 years old. They've been best friends since forever!

Her famous last words just before she left on Saturday, "I'll miss all of you but I want to go. Don't worry-lah, I'll be back in 14 days".

MAKEOVER PART 1

Thanks to my "wonderful" newly acquired blogging skills, I managed to lose my last post! I can't remember exactly what I wrote; suffice to say it was a boring rambling of my Sunday. Its been 2 hours since I started the makeover of my blog. Trying to make it more "homey" with photos of my beloved family (hubby and 3 kids). Thanks to the wonderful people at blogger who've made this whole experience so easy, I managed to do that without crashing my computer or anything else. The layout, I'm still not too happy about because there seems to be lots of space on the right. Have been trying to fix that but to no avail! I'll continue working on it until I get it right for me! Meanwhile, I'm having trouble expressing myself while blogging. I really don't know what it is but I just don't seem to be my normal "tell it like it is" self. Still trying to get a hang of things and I really hope I continue to blog because its really something I want to do. I really dislike Sunday evenings because its the end of the weekend. April was a month of change so I'm looking forward to May for better things. Yup, always the optimist! Happy Monday!