It’s been ages since I’ve been up north and since my cousin from Sydney is here I drove him up to Ipoh for some good food and also to meet up with our 2 other cousins who lives in Ipoh.

We left quite late as we dilly dallied we were on our way around 10+ in the morning. We stopped over Bidor for the duck leg noodles. The noodles is very different from the ones here, crispier and doesn’t have any boric acid after taste. I drank all the soup as it was sooooo yummy! Sorry was too excited and gobbled up the noodles before taking a photo!

Arrived Ipoh at about 1.30 pm. First stop has to be Old Town Kong Heng Coffee Shop lerr…

Again I forgot to take the picture of the noodles but here’s the empty bowl…

We also had popiah also, it was so yummilicious lor…

As if not enough, we walked next door to this coffee shop called Thean Chun, it’s actually right next to Kong Heng.

We had the famous steamed egg custard caramel & egg tong sui…

Then my cousin said the kuey teow soup at Thean Chun is better than Kong Heng so I mai try lor…(yes 2nd bowl…ok ok la…not that bad cos the first bowl was shared with Apah..and so was this one..)

After that only was I satisfied! Burp…

Actually not lor…we continued our journey to search for Funny Mountain for the smoothest, softest tau fu fa. This place is just opposite the famous Foh San Dim Sum.

After that only were we satisfied to the max and off we went to visit our cousins (daughters of the uncle in China).

Thanks to cousin Yong for her excellent memory we were able to find all the food destinations and of course the Ipoh cousins’ residence

After that we left to get the famous Ipoh Heong Peah from Gunung Rapat, which is the factory. I usually buy from the shop in town but according to cousin Yong, it’s more fresh from the factory..naturally lerrrrr…There was this unique display in front of that shop, displaying the items that the Chinese traditional wedding requires. Sorry the photo is not so clear as I took it thru the window…

After that I met up with my customer as he has the jalan(way) to the sweetest pamelos from Tambun. When we arrived the shop was already closed but thank goodness the shopkeeper lives there and we were able to ask them to re-open the shop! By that time it was time for dinner and off we went in search of a place recommended by cousin Yong’s friend. We have only very vague description of the place so we had a bit of problems looking for the place. We made a few rounds and finally gave up and went to another place which again have only very agak agak (rough) knowledge where it was!

We finally found it and indeed it was a popular restaurant as it was full house!

The kids fooling around while waiting for food…

One rapper and another violinist…

By the time we were about to finish I realised it was quite late. I immediately thought I should bring the kids to my family friend’s place for a quick shower so they can change into their PJs and let them sleep in peace all the way home. I walked out of the noisy restaurant to make a phonecall and before I could end the phone call I saw the family friend’s grandma, then the mom, then the father! wahhhh we were practically squealing! They were “scolding” me for not calling them to inform that I was in Ipoh. Then I realised the whole family was in Ipoh. What a coincidence! Ipoh can’t be that small?? Anyway it was really a great reunion as I haven’t seen some of them like for donkey years as some are living in New Zealand. We quickly rushed back to the house and showered the kids in a jiffy and had some catch up time with my childhood friends but we couldn’t catch up for long as it was already 11 pm!

All in all, it was like the most fruitful trip ever to Ipoh accomplished in one day!!

Angeleyes was in town and of course we have to meet and eat!!! We gathered a few others, Angie, Nyonyapenang, King’s Wife & Angel came along and we met at Midvalley. We couldn’t decide to eat where and I decided to eat at this Taiwanese restaurant which I saw while walking down the escalator from the car park floor. The setting sort of captivated me and thought it was quite a good place to eat.

The place not only looks good, the service was excellent and the food was also very good. Well, only thing the menu had a few spelling errors which we were thinking aloud whether it was done deliberately or what..

We had a jolly good time eating of course and even continued our eating session at Alexis and both King’s Wife & myself couldn’t resist ordering the tiramisu!

We went for a short getaway during Cheng Meng as Kieran’s school had the day off and Apah too applied leave. We decided to pack up and went to Tiara Beach Resort upon reading this pretty mama’s getaway there. I was not too impressed with the place but the kids were overjoyed! Since I was told the food was not too good there I decided to cook our own dinner! I brought along a small stove.

The weather was kind to us and the rain was held back and the kids could immediately jumped into the pool. They really had a good time.

It was time of the month for me so I couldn’t get into the pool with the kids…so can you imagine how bored I was? I started cooking early as I figured they will get hungry after the swim. It was a simple dinner, fried spaghetti with eggs and the kids, especially Kieran gobbled it down.

We had bread & eggs for breakfast and again the kids were so excited to rush into the pool again. We let them swim till 10 + while we packed up and got ready to check out. The kids were so disappointed to leave but we really had to as I don’t think I can survive another day there!

We stopped over at Seremban to have lunch. I wanted to eat my favourite Teochew Kiamchai stew and as usual we turned into each street to search for that shop. I can never remember which street it was but this time I told myself to pen down the address! It has like the best kiamchai stew ever ok! We bought takeaway to bring back but the price has increased quite a lot…

For 3 days in a row he has things for me to write about! I had to write it down before I forget!

What now?

We were driving back after I picked him up from school and suddenly I saw him hanging yet another new mechanical pencil on his shirt.

Me-where did u get that pencil?

K-oops..

*quickly took the pencil and hid it*

He had the most guilty look as we have talked about this issue like a million times. He has like a million of these pencils and yet he keeps buying them! Not only pencils, he has like countless rulers & erasers too! It’s like why does he need so many? I told him he has only one had that can write, why does he need so many? I really don’t mind if he does well in his work but for the way he does his work..it’s like what for??? He doesn’t like to do his homework but he needs a million pencils….

Me-Where did u get the money to buy this pencil?

*silence and his face is turning into a more guilty look*

Me-Who gave you this pencil?

*still in silence*

Me-You better tell me and don’t lie to me as God is listening…

K-I took the money from the cupboard.

Me-Is the money yours?

K-No

Me-If you have taken something that doesn’t belong to you, what does that mean?

K-*whispering* stealing..

Me-What? I can’t hear u..

K-I stole the money..

Me-I’m so disappointed with you Kieran..how many times have I told you that you do not need so many pencils? And now you have actually stolen money to buy another! You are definitely going to be punished..I want you to kneel and pull your ears when we reach home..

The moment we reached home, he zoomed upstairs to shower without me screaming at him. Then as I was serving dinner, I suddenly saw him already kneeling down & pulling his ears! See how guilty he was! I told him to eat first & then complete his homework and then continue his punishment. I made him say “I will not steal again..” repeatedly till he got really tired!

see the little girl..kor kor kena punished and she thought it was a game!

Yesterday I actually forced myself to sacrifice sacrificed watching tv and sat together with Kieran to do his homework. If I continue to do this daily I think I will suffer from hypertension and also will need long sighted reading glasses very soon! I already bought the biggest size ever Chinese-English dictionary but the characters are still so small! Since I don’t read a lot of Chinese Characters, I have to turn to the dictionary. It’s not as easy as using a English dictionary since I have to search for the character based on their characteristics. I guess it would be easier for someone who has a bit of Chinese education background from a proper school unlike mine which was from a karaoke screen!

And he gets distracted so easily…that really annoys me maximum as I was struggling looking for the meaning & pronunciation of the characters and he was like dreaming & wasting time doing unnecessary things.

Then this morning I did some revision on his Malay.

His first excuse…

K-there’s something wrong with my hand…look I can’t write properly…

Me-JUST WRITE!

Then…

K-what is ….? what is …..? I don’t know….

I tried to make him think by making various sentences using the word in doubt. I had to make like more than 3 senstences!!! DIe or not….tested on my not so fantastic Bahasa!!

After the relatively easy fill in the blanks exercise, there was a part where he had to make sentences given a few pictures. He just stared at the pictures and I think he went to space & never came back till I snapped him out of it.

I tried helping him by prompting him but I gave up as he just kept waiting for me to give him word by word. Then I took out the sample answer sheet and asked him to copy.

K- which one?

Die or not? He was too lazy to look for the sample answer despite the fact that it was shoved right in front of him!

Me-Answer given to you and you can’t even make the effort to look for it??

K-Copy all? Here? What about this (the first sentence we did earlier)?

Me-Yes all! Just write below la…

He again just stared into space….

Me-Hey! COPY wor…no need to think!! What are you doing????

I feel so sad, it reminds me of this story about a guy who asked to learn how to be the laziest person in the world. He went to the master’s house and called out to the Master..

Lazy-Master I’m here…

Master-Just pushed door and come in..it’s open

Lazy-Why don’t u come open it for me?

Master-You are certified…no need any more lessons!

Daddy again flew off for one of his many business trips yesterday.  He actually asked Kieran to remind me like a million times not to forget to send him for swimming class. Yeah remember? I’m the slack mommy who can forget!

We went to KLCC for lunch and bought some groceries as I intend to cook spaghetti for dinner. No no..who am I kidding? Go all the way to KLCC for lunch and groceries? No lar..the real reason was that my favourite shoe store (Pedder)  was on sale..but unfortunately or should I say fortunately I didn’t find anything that suits me!

Mission accomplished, yes I DID send him to swimming class, thank God it was not raining. I quickly sorted out the groceries and got the maid to do some preparation for dinner. Went back to pick Kieran up. Usually daddy does this but since it’s me, he has to shower in the ladies!! He was not comfortable of course! But no choice la!

Dinner was great…(cheh..self praise), I made mushroom soup too but it was not that good…bleh..Kieran gobbled down dinner as he gets really hungry after swimming. Then I asked him to do some revision but he was cooking up excuses that he can’t find the book la, toothache la…got me really mad! Then as I was watching tv, he suddenly came down to tell me his mouth was bleeding but I didn’t even turn around to look at him! I was so mad and thought he was making a mountain out of a mole hill to avoid studying. Then I asked him to pack his bag then since he didn’t want to do revision. He was packing really slowly (as usual) and then suddenly he started crying as in sobbing!

Me- What’s wrong with you???

K-(in between sobs) i…i…miss….dad…dy….i…miss….him….

Me-he was away for 5 whole days last week and you didn’t cry or said anything…why suddenly now you miss him?

K-….sob….sniffle..sniffle…b…cos….he…cares….for me….

My heart dropped…must be the part that I didn’t bother to check his bleeding mouth! But being me, I just told to hurry up & pack up & go to sleep!

Then during the advertisement intermission, I went up quickly to check on him and he was still sniffling…

Me-It’s ok darling, don’t cry ok…mummy’s here..(ya right)

K-(started sobbing again)…but…but…I miss…dad….deee….

Me-come come mummy hug hug…sayang sayang…

K-sniffling…

Me-ok stop! Go to sleep!

So can you see why my kids don’t even ask for me when I’m not around?????

I have decided enough is enough and got Kylie a new carseat. We tried to psycho her to accept it since it was really quite a girly & beautiful carseat. Saw it at Mothercare and asked her if she liked it. She said yes and sat on it with a smile. The carseat has a label, “PRINCESS” and I told her that the seat was specially made for a princess! I doubt she knew what was princess but I guess she thought it was something special!

So far, she has been sitting in it with certain occasions where she will refuse to be belted but I will threaten to throw her out of the car whenever she kicks a fuss. The threat in  words are not enough and I actually have to stop the car by the side of the road to show her that I am “serious” in throwing her out!

Doing a monkey face

cheeky face

she seems happy on the seat…

She’s getting quite demanding lately, and has not been finishing her milk especially the after dinner milk. I am wondering if I should wean her of the night milk since she can’t finish it..but then her intake of food during dinner is not very balanced. She refuses any kind of vegetables and I doubt she will eat it anyway if I blend it in,,,besides it’s so difficult to blend a small quantity…sigh…Kieran is definitely easier to handle in this area…

Most of the time I will not bend in to her demands and daddy will usually intercept to rescue her! Blek!

She’s having a slight cough at the moment and she’s enjoying the Combivent puff that we give her. “roll eyes”. However, the paed prescribed a tablet form of the usual powdered medicine (Singulair) for her cough and she immediately rejected it! I had to wrap it in either a cake or give her chocolates to make her eat the medicine! This medicine is more expensive but definitely more effective than the conventional cough syrup. She usually recovers from the cough in a few days. Since we have no worries on the costs as all are claimable on Apah’s company benefits so I usually opt for the more expensive and more effective medicines la…

Her weight - 14 kg

Height - About 91 cm

She’s overall quite chubby and she’s wearing 4 year old sizes!! So I guess I shouldn’t worry on her food & milk intake. Her shoe size increases very fast and I think it’s faster than Kieran as I remember Kieran could at least wear a pair of shoes for slightly over a year but Kylie has to change shoes in 6 months or less!!

Her birthday is drawing nearer and I haven’t any plans…me being a little bias now..cos I remember I did have a party for Kieran when he turned 3…so should I? Should I not???

Hi I felt it was appropriate that I explain my absence from updating my blog…

Firstly, I’ve been busy with my maid, meaning:

I still do my laundry as I can’t trust her with it…

I have to monitor everything she does…STILL after 2.5 months..

There has been quite a lot of external laundry to do of which I can’t trust the maid to do also…

Then there’s the kids that that drive me up the wall during my mornings…this one is partly due to inefficiency of the maid also…

But actually the real reason is….

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Oh gosh….Amah is mesmerised by yet another actor and this time is this China mali mia actor called Chen Kun! He’s sooooooooooooo derrrrrrrrrrrrr cute lorrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Blek! The drama is so the lomantik and unreal but then again..if it’s real who will like wor?? Right???

I know it’s like taking forever,,,solly lor…this is like going to be the finale …I hope..

I think I even got the HK Day 3 - 4 mixed up..cos didn’t really check the photo sequence..the TST dinner is supposed to be after my shopping trip in Ap Lei Chau and the my visit to my friend’s twins should be the day before that. Nevertheless….

After the TST dinner, we continued our journey to Mong Kok. I’m not really interested in that crowded place but I wanted to get my imitation Epal charger & car adapter lor…sorry la LB, me buy not so original stuff…We had tong sui too but it wasn’t the best I had. They didn’t allow us to take photos and I actually answered back and told them it was their priviledge that I took photos. Many years ago I wouldn’t dare to answer back but now, it’s a tourists’ world in HK, “Man sui man sui man man sui!!!” (long live tourists! muahahahahha…) So since they pissed me off I’m not going to advertise them..and they were not that good also..blek..

Then I saw this…..wah…must buy some to try la…

Didn’t really like it as it was wayyyyy too sweet…and I ended up lugging it all the way back to Shenzhen and then back to KL! Siow max!

So now I continue the day before this..

The previous night we went to the Victoria Peak. We took a cab as I was too lazy tired to walk to the tram station. The can driver was kind enough to explain the various ways of going up hill and the charges and ended up it’s cab all the way up the hill. The tram is quite expensive but it would be worthwhile if you visit the Madam Tussaud’s Wax museum as well since they have a package deal. However, we didn’t want to go in since I was arrested the last time…

View from the top…it was sooo beautiful…I just love the nightview of HK…I can’t get enough of it..in fact forgot how cold it was…

Altho we didn’t go in the wax museum…must die die take some photos also ma…

Shopping must go on eventho it’s a the Peak and after 9 pm!!

The final day at HK..

Packed up and went to buy my favourite Cocktail buns to bring back…and placed luggage at the concierge at the hotel my brother stayed in. We decided to go back to Shenzhen in the evening. So there are still a few hours of last minute shopping to go…and Amah haven’t bought a pair of shoes yet!!!!!!!!! I was looking for the Crocs Wedges but didn’t see any until I landed at Times Square. My brother had to meet up with friends for yum cha and he asked me for some Angpow packets. Meaning he’s meeting friends with kids. So I had the “brilliantes” idea and asked him to bring Kieran along to collect back angpows to balance back! muahahahaa…1 adv…I got rid of Kieran, 2nd earn back train fare to Shenzhen…isn’t it brilliant???

Ventured into Central and visited my “favouritest” shop and got myself a new purse. I really wanted the Monogram Vernis in bright red but they ran out of stock everywhere…so I settled for this…

love even the box that comes with it….

Then I got all excited as they swiped my credit card, they were able to show me the exact exchange rate for the transaction and it was really low!! I immediately wanted to get the bag but they ran out of stock for that particular one, despite me going to 3 different outlets..The salesgirl told me that the new stock just arrived that morning and it ran out by mid day! Dang those China tourists..they are the major buyers now..and even caused a queue outside the shop! Blek!

Then met up with the rest and we continued walking around Times Square at Causeway Bay. And I finally bought my Crocs wedges at RM10+ only while it’s selling at I think at RM165 here..Then I saw this and couldn’t resist…

My 1st Anteprima bag…

Wanted to get Birkis but since I didn’t bring my HSBC credit card I was not motivated to buy lor as HSBC card entitles a 5% discount…I know it’s so little but kiasu-ness took over…

 He was doing this at Lane Crawford Times Square and then a security personnel came to tell us that photography is prohibited and again Amah so fierce scolded him that I’m taking photo of my son..cannot ah???

Shopping continued..and my brother was getting restless and kept looking at the watch and kept reminding us to go off early..however both Aunty Fiona & myself told him we shouldn’t go back so early since the trains operate till late…We managed to buy more stuff at Sogo…good thing they had Nicholas & Bears there and I managed to get some lovely tops for Kylie. Aunty Fiona managed to get something from N & B since they have sizes from Age 2 - 16. I even bought a size 16 before that could fit me! This time round I was not so lucky so I don’t have a matching item with Kylie…

The repacking was swift and I had to stuff my stuff at Aunty Fiona’s bag as mine was full…While we interchanged trains at Central, I ran out to buy my absolutely last item from HK which was the Chinese Sausage from Yung Kee! The train ride back to Shenzhen was smooth and we were back in Shenzhen in time for supper…

The next day, we extended our check out time as the flight was 9 pm. We walked around Shenzhen. Nothing much really, concrete jungle just like HK but the shops of course not as appetizing as HK…not my cup of tea lor..  But this one must try la…

and photos of the lovely flowers…can u spot Kieran hiding? 

and a very funny sign indeed..and I’m guessing that the sign was trying to say something like this,,”Love the environment and help us protect it..” 

After a while I really couldn’t take it and wanted to go back early and catch a foot massage before we leave. The massage was very good and all my tiredness just disappeared! However the masseuse was very rude as he wanted to get some tips from me and I couldn’t understand what he wanted and he lost his temper! When I finally found out what he wanted I of course denied la…shiats..lost temper on me..mei sei kor…

Thought of having dinner at the airport to avoid being late. Wanted to check in first then have dinner but the check in counter was not open. Since we were there first, we thought better queue up first. And just minutes there was a long queue behind us! We thought, lucky us..if not it will take forever to check in. We didn’t realise that after checking in we were not allowed to go out but have to go in the boarding area! I was almost in tears as I was soooo hungry…and the officer told us there’s a restaurant in the boarding area BUT didn’t tell us the prices were overly exorbitant and major lauya food was served.

 Looks good??? Looks then can be really deceiving…not only did taste like instant noodles, it cost RMB120 per set, one main noodle/rice plus salad,watermelon and Chinese tea…

We were the only idiots patrons eating there and we saw a few people enquiring the price of the food and ran away at the speed of lightning… what an experience! So remember, eat first then only check in ok!!

Like not enough of food, Kieran insisted to eat something on the plane and they ran out of choices except for the roti canai..

I was sooo tired and wanted to sleep badly. I saw a few rows of seats empty and took over one row and stretched out to snooze…but I could hear Kieran running up and down in between my snooze…so irritating….

Overall, it was a good and meaningful trip..

THE END!!