Archive for the 'Festivals' Category

This year when we were back in Penang, we made a visit to the Penang Toy Musuem. I am afraid that I was rather disappointed. As a personal toy collection, it is indeed a very impressive collection. However to be touted as a toy musuem and charging RM10 each for adults and RM6 each for children, I left with a feeling of being cheated. I feel that it is much too hyped about.

My husband and I plus our maid and two children made our visit cost up to RM42. We were in and out of there in about 10 minutes. That is one of the fastest way my RM42 disappeared. The other fast way was playing those arcade or funfair games at Genting Highlands costing about RM1-RM3 per throw or try.

The toy musuem was small, crowded and a tad bit dusty. Personally, I feel that if you watch this Penang Toy Musuem Video tour you would have seen most of it. Anyway perceptions and individual tastes differ. So if you like to see little collectibles and poring over little figurines of your favourite toy characters in detail, then perhaps you may feel that it is worthwhile.

We got the boy to pose with Spiderman and Iron Man but it was hard given the little space. My girl liked the M&M toys and I liked the China dolls and that is about it. RM42 out the window.

Yesterday, when I was out buying breakfast and newspapers, my usual newspaper vendor got me to try some Chinese New Year cookies. They were delicious so I ordered some. That means cookie buying is settled. Yahoo! I told the kids about it and they were very happy looking forward to eating those Chinese New Year cookies and delicacies that they remembered.

I don’t normally plan my cookie buying very well. Usually, I just grab whatever I can last minute from the supermarket. That usually leaves me undesirables. So, I am happy to be able to order some in advance this year. Hopefully, they taste as good as the samples. Usually I just get the standard fare like in the picture. Those were from last year if I am not mistaken. I would get just 4-5 varieties at the most. Otherwise, if they are not finished, guess who has to finish them? Yeah, me and my expanding waistline.

I wrote on my Parenting Times blog that I am trying to create excitement for my kids for Chinese New Year. In doing so, I find that, not only the kids but I too am feeling some building excitement. lol.

I was trying to book some hotel accomodations for Chinese New Year and to my dismay, I found that the same categories of rooms that we had previously stayed in at the same hotel, had all gone up in rates.

When I expressed my dismay to the guy at reservations, he said…

“I’m sorry ma’am. We are undergoing refurbishment.”

I asked him whether the room that I wanted had been refurbished and he admitted that not all of them had been. They are doing it floor by floor and at the moment, they had completed the first two floors and “hope to complete” up to 5th or 6th floor by the year end.

Hmm….. thats terrible isn’t it? Having to pay extra for something that isn’t there? ie incomplete/uncompleted refurbishments/renovation.

I checked other hotels and all their rates had gone up too.

Hmm… I suppose everyone had been doing “refurbishment”. Well, one thing is for sure. The only thing that has been “refurbished” are their rates!

I think I ought to boycott all hotels during peak periods and sleep in my car or something! *Annoyed*

On the 1st day of CNY we went to Thean Hou Temple to catch the lion dance but we were too late, then we went to a friend’s house to catch the lion dance but we were way too early so we had to leave before the dance. The kids were disappointed.

On the 2nd day of CNY, we travelled back to hometown. We could not miss the lion dance this time because uncle is part of the lion dance troupe and aunty cooks lunch for the lion dancers. With the exception of big sister, everyone else was there. Managed to catch up with some cousins too.

On the 3rd day of CNY, I caught up with 7 girlfriends, old schoolmates some of whom I have not seen in 20 years! We all agreed that we all looked better now than 20 years ago. Hahaha.

On the 4th day of CNY, we took the kids to meet up with my girl’s new classmate and her parents at the hotel where they were staying with. The kids swam at the pool and played on the beach and I saw Jimmy Choo! Wow! Later on we went for lunch together and separated afterwards. I then went to the temple to pay respects to my late mother. This year the caretaker helped me get beautiful flowers for mum. I couldn’t get the orchids that she wanted but the flowers were still beautiful nevertheless.

On the 5th day of CNY we travelled home and discovered that our neighbour had built his back wall into our premise! We dare not ask the workers to tear it down because we were afraid they would be mad (you don’t know what some of these foreign workers can be capable of) so we just spoke to the neighbours and requested that they please be careful not to encroach into our area for the rest of their reno work. Hmmm…

On the 6th day of CNY we slept in, so tired from the trip.

On the 7th day of CNY we wanted to organise a get together with some of my girl’s new classmates so that they could get to know each other better outside of the classroom but everyone was too busy.

On the 8th day of CNY, I cooked lunch for some of hubby’s colleagues and spouses. There were 12 adults and 7 kids altogether including us. I seldom cook for so many people. Fortunately it turned out ok. Hehe. Forgot to take pictures of the food to post. It was very noisy at night as firecrackers go off for the “pai theen gong.”

On the 9th day of CNY it was back to school for the kids as usual.

On the 10th day of CNY it was hubby’s birthday. We presented him with the kungfu dvds I had bought online and the kids and I gave him a massage for one whole hour while he watched it. Hahaha. of course, we also had the mandatory cake for the kids.

On the 11th day of CNY, it was back to work for hubby and me too I guess. Did one paid post. lol.

On the 12th day of CNY, that is today, it is business as usual.

On the 13th day of CNY, we have a family gathering, a housewarming cum early Chap Goh Meh occassion to attend.

On the 14th day of CNY, we have nothing planned.

On the 15th day of CNY, we may take the kids to see the lion dancers again for a Chap Goh Meh celebration and that completes our CNY this year.

I have consumed lots and lots of cookies but no yee sang yet.

On the first day of Chinese New Year we brought the kids to Thean Hou Temple to catch the lion dancers. We just missed it! Haha.

Anyway, we managed to look around the Thean Hou Temple Herb Garden and the Tortoise Pond which has a good population of tortoises. I didn’t notice this part of the temple grounds before last year. It is located at the back of the temple grounds. It is quite scenic and cool. Nice for taking pictures. We got married at the Thean Hou Temple previously because we thought it was nice for taking photos. Now, its even nicer. Well, it definitely is nicer for photos than the marriage registry department. Haha.

Here are some photos we took.

Thean Hou Temple

Tortoise Pond

 

Herb Garden

 

Have you started on the balik kampung exodus yet? My dad and brother are going back to hometown today. I will join them on the second day of Chinese New Year and coming back on the fourth day of Chinese New Year. Really much too short, I wish we could stay longer but hotel is expensive.

We will be travelling one day, then we only have one full day and the next day we have to check out and travel again. Usually we will travel very early in the morning, scooping the kids out from their beds, still in their pyjamas and straight into the car. They often wake up later, when its time for breakfast and a stop, surprised to find that they are in the car travelling. Hahaha. Its better this way because its not so hot and they get less fretty because they have slept through part of the journey so it doesn’t seem that long.

I wonder how mum and dad did it in our time. Travelling in the car with 5 noisy kids fighting with each other must really be terrific. lol. We used to travel for 10 to 12 hours straight on the trunk roads (back then before the highway was available). Second sister often got car sick.

Today, when the kids get back home from school, I will get them to pack their own drawers as part of the spring cleaning process. On Sunday, we will wash the porch and cars together. The kids love that. They also love to pack their own “luggage” for the trip stuffing in books and toys.

I have clipped together some angpows for hanging on our plants outside the house and made some fish made from angpow paper for decorations. I wanted to make angpow lanterns too but I have forgotten how. Haha. Each year I forget how. I had to jolt my memory by visiting this site. It has a good step by step pictorial guide on how to make the angpow fish. Its very nice and cheap decoration. We usually get one or two from the store to paste or hang as well but those are a bit more expensive and wasteful. They look colorful and nice but some of them depict a certain animal zodiac year and can’t be reused the next year.

Why bother to clean and decorate? Some people ask me. You are going away after all. Why not just pack up and go? Why all the trouble? Its for the kids. Its for the kids. Chinese New Year is not Chinese New Year without spring cleaning, decorations, mandarin oranges, f&n orange, peanuts, kuaci, cookies, open houses, new clothes, fireworks, etc etc. That is what Chinese New Year is all about.

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I am trying to book accomodation for balik kampung during Chinese New Year. Its not too early you know. Chinese New Year is on January 26 and 27 in 2009. I used to leave everything last minute. Once we even balik kampung without any reservations! We were fortunate to find a room. Hehe. So this year, I am trying to do plan a bit better so that we don’t have to rush around last minute as we did previously.

Now, what I would like to know from everyone is, how do you normally book hotels or make reservations for rooms? Do you go direct to the hotel, through agent or via internet? Which is cheaper and easier?

I tried to go direct to hotel but the rates seem so high. Another thing, they wanted confirmation by paying deposit for one night’s stay which is the norm, given that it is the peak period. Now, I am a paranoid person and I don’t like to give out my credit card information as required. They require the last 3 numbers of the credit card along with other personal details plus a photocopy of the credit card itself, back and front. What if it should fall into the wrong hands?

So I requested to pay by banking in to the banks account but you know what? They don’t accept individual personal cheques. They only accept banking in cash. To me, thats a silly policy because if I bank in now, it will have lots of time to clear. Anyway, they gave my a banking account number with a different payee name, not the hotel name. Ok, so perhaps the payee is the owner of the hotel under a different name but do they really expect people to bank in cash to a name that is registered differently from the hotel name?

When I asked the reservation lady to email the bank account number to me she was not very friendly. I didn’t want her to give it to me over the phone in case I hear wrongly. She just said “Yah” and hung up without even saying goodbye. Mind you, the room is not  cheap since I am taking a big family type room to accomodate my maid as well.

Hmmm…. I am now in two minds whether to look for other accomodation. So I would like to know how does everyone normally make their bookings and confirmations? Can anyone help out this blur queen?

Hari Raya is just a week away. The kindy will be closed from Wednesday to Friday so it will be a very long weekend for us. Hurrah!

I want to take this opportunity to wish all my readers Selamat Hari Raya and Happy Holidays. I used to have a number of Malay readers but I don’t know where they are now. I noticed in a blog community, birds of a feather tend to flock together. I do not think its because of racial divide. Its just that most people identify better with a blogger when they speak the same lingo.

Well, there is a lot of talk on racial divide going on lately. I am sad to hear it. I personally do not feel it but I hear a lot of talk on it, at least on the blogs and in the papers. Some of the words used on the blogs are very strong too.

I do not feel this “racial divide”. I feel nothing but respect for my friends of other races. I remember when I was in school, I had a lot of friends from other races. During Hari Raya, we would cycle from one friend’s house to another to have our beef rendang, and ketupat and lemang. The same goes for other festivities of the other races. I looked forward to having marukus during Deepavali and I am sure that my friends from other races were happy with the Mandarin oranges and kuaci that we served.

While I was working, I still had many friends of other races too. I used to work as a Conference Organiser and whenever we had a conference or seminar during the fasting month, we would provide dinner vouchers to the muslims who could not join in the other participants for lunch. That is how racially tolerant we are and how respectful we are of each other. We enjoy each other’s foods (accept for those which we can’t partake in for religious purposes) and we often have open houses for friends of every race during festivals.

I remember once, one muslim colleague invited us back to her kampung together. We drove there, spent the night at her house and went visiting with her. I was entralled by the beautfy of one of the kampung houses we visited. We had Muslim, Chinese and Indian friends among us. None of us felt any racial divide. We were just a bunch of young girls laughing and enjoying ourselves.

And now, all of a sudden there is talk of a racial divide. I think its silly isn’t it?

Hopefully, when we have finally settled down politically, all of this talk will blow away and we will be back to being peace loving, racially tolerant, proud Malaysians again.

In the meantime, Selamat Hari Raya and be careful on the roads.

The kids had been waiting for this event all week. We had got their paper lanterns ready, the candles were there, ready to be lit. They even went to nap in the afternoon like good little children because they wanted to wake up fresh to play lanterns.

And then……… it rained. We had wanted to take them to the park like last year but it was wet and still drizzling after dinner. So we went to pump petrol and the petrol station instead.

So, I decided to call second sis to ask if it was drizzling at her place. It was too but she had the space in her house to play lanterns and she had some of her in-laws with little kids there. She said she had wanted to call me too but wasn’t sure whether we could make it last minute. That was great. “I’m on my way” I said.

And thats how I gate crashed a lantern festival party. Eventually my second bro turned up with his kid too. So the kids had a delightful time playing lantern with other kids despite the drizzle. And I ate too much mooncake again. Burp!

*steps on the scales gingerly*

AAAAAHHHHHHH AAAAHHHHHH WAAAAAHHHHH!

Its a case of one step forward, two steps back. Remember I said I lost 3 pounds after the maid arrived because I could control my food better?

As it turned out, I controlled my food so well, that I started making nice teas etc for the kids and ate along with them and then…….. Not only did I regain my 3 pounds, I added another 2 pounds making a total gain of 5 pounds. 5 POUNDS! *Sobs*

My tummy is back with a vengance. My arms. Oh my arms. They look so aunty. (Well, I am aunty but don’t have to look like aunty wut!) And not to mention those elephant thighs. And the double chin thats reforming. HEELLLP!

Ok. Ok. Calm down. (tells self). Remember your self professed double it half it diet? Just double  your veges and half your rice and DON’T EAT THE CHILDREN’S LEFTOVERS!!!!!!

And forget about teas and suppers with the kids (still telling self). Just prepare the food for them then walk away and let them enjoy it. No need to sit down with them and chat and EAT.

But then mooncake festival is on Sunday. I just gotta have some mooncakes at least. Its just once a year. So how? Nvm, nvm, don’t be so hard on yourself, lets start after Sunday then shall we? Aiyah, like that how to lose weight friend!

Some more want to bake. Better forget about baking for now. Otherwise sure grow fatter trying all the muffins and cakes that nobody else wants to eat when it doesn’t turn out well. Gulp!

How lah. How lah. 5 POUNDS is a lot. How to take it off and take some more off. Its going to be such hard work and self discipline. Right, I should go and do some exercise now. Sitting around blogging isn’t going to help me lose weight. Cheerio…..

Have a happy weekend and don’t eat too many mooncakes (telling self again). Happy Mid Autumn Festival and Happy Playing Lantern with the kids for those of you with kids. For those without, you can pak tor with Lanterns too. Very romantic.