SEKOLAH & SCHOOL...erk...

It was a long Hari Raya break that we spent a lot of quality time with E-an and I am glad that he actually got the concept of going to school :p

Conversation 1

Daddy: E-an, ni la KL...
E-an: ooo KL...
Daddy: E-an nak jadik budak KL?
E-an: Tak naaaak...
Daddy: Abis tu?
E-an: E-an nak jadik budak sekolah... erk...

Conversation 2

Daddy: If E-an good boy, g syurga, if naughty, g neraka.
E-an: Aaaaa
Daddy: E-an nak g syurga ke neraka?
E-an: Tak naaaak... E-an nak g school... erk

As I mentioned earlier, I am happy if they are happy... ngeeee...

Oh ooo...

It has been forever since the last time I wrote although I have tried really hard to write every month.  Yes, I have been busy with lots of things... now it is Ramadhan and I have a lot to be thankful... Alhamdullilah... a lot to pray and seek from Allah.  One test after another... I know Allah loves me and I have grown stronger and wiser... at least that is what I think... Allahuakhbar...  Allahuakbar... Allahuakhbar...

SAFETY 1sT

E-an is a handful, very energetic bam bam... hehehe... that I have asked his paedetrician, is he hyper active?  His paed said, no...no...no... don't say that... and from my understanding E-an is full of live...full of energy.

Now, that he is wiser, he could escape from the stroller and the I run, you chase game begins.  He thinks it is fun, but of course not for us.  We could see worried, irritated etc faces from other parents that we decided to use the safety harness.  And more stories to share...

We usually use it for our train, boat etc. trips.  We have had this situation once where an elderly man at the Pangkor jetty approached my brother-in-law asking him who was attending E-an at that time to let go E-an.  He expressed his sympathy for E-an.  I felt like we were going against E-an's human rights.  My BIL explained to him that it would be chaotic to let him go.

Another incident recently when we took our ERL joyride from BBST to KL Sentral.  Everyone was looking.  Some of them paused...stopped... and whispered to each other.  Allahuakhbar... When we were queueing at the grocery shop, two ladies in front of us were talking in their mother tongue and from the body language I knew they were talking about us.  Softly, I defended myself, I am afraid he will run and with all the cases now, I cannot take the risks.  The lady said yes, I understand.  At first I was shocked that I thought you were treating your son like an animal, but my friend has explained :)


And why I chose to write about this issue this month because a lady actually took a video of us on her iPad without my permission, of course!  This was before going off on ETS to Ipoh.  There I was, worried that we have gone against E-an's human rights although we are his parents and here we had an intruder eagerly taking a video of us.  Now, that is what I call invasion of privacy...erk...

15 minutes :-)

A short entry...

I am attending a course and was taught to practice the 15-minute habit in fulling our daily goal(s).

Block ourselves with the task (can be reading, writing, drawing, blogging:) etc.)that we have chosen and assure there is no distraction ( no phone call, no whatsapp...no nothing :p)  Try this for 40 days then it will be a habit, Insya Allah.

The trainer shared  how his friend will quietly write for 15 minutes during tea tarik sessions at the mamak stall and in 1 year he surprised his tea tarik session friends by  publishing his book, so nothing is impossible if we make it a habit.

All the best to all of us... and spread the love...muahssss

My longest tengkujuh experience : 24 December 2012 - 5 January 2013

This entry must be very common to my Pantai Timur family members and friends, but the ones from elsewhere, kinda of cool.  I am still at my in laws' in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.  I had to extend my leave since my husband could not finish his work here because of the flood, so basically I am stuck here because of the flood.  E-an would also have to register for school next week.

Generally, the weather  has been dark and wet after the second wave a few days before New Year.  

This was around 2.00 pm earlier today,
without the flash it looked like around 7.00pm.

We are lucky enough that we could still stay at home.  At this very moment, it is still raining.

At the porch after 30 minutes of heavy rain;
trying to get out of the car :)

I blame the weather ;p for craving Red Velvet.  I did not know where to find, so I posted on my FB asking anyone knows where can I get RV in KB.  My friend, Tengku Farah was nice enough to recommend Bloomhouse KB at https://www.facebook.com/bloomhouse.kb I wanted to have RV cake, but there was only Red Velvet Triffle.  Ok my first time, so I expected triffle to be sweet plus RV... hhmmmm extra sweet... and the result was...  LOVE is in the air at the first taste... just nice... yummy...  my father-in-law and my son loved it too.  My husband and mother-in-law have never been fans of cakes :)  If you happen to be or shall I say stuck in KB, this is one of the mouth watering food you have got to taste.  This is home made as Kak Nikki plans to open a shop in the future, Insya Allah... my prayers for you.  I was also lucky that it was home delivered as she was around the corner visiting a friend who was sick.  Alhamdullilah...

Nikki Arif (013-9656300)... Pleasure food... yummy... RM45.00

Although it is a rainy season, it did not stop me from my site visit to get my oxygen supply... hehehee... 
This is where I usually shop in Pasar Siti Khadijah.

ngeee... latest

If you want to touch up your tudung etc. with more stones you can go to 
Kak Long (012-9617418)'s shop; very near from the above shops.

Ok got to stop now... yawn... I am stopping with Happy New Year 2013... Wassalam...

A fruit tasteful collagen

I started consuming collagen quite sometime ago although there were people mentioning that once you stop, your face will turn normal again.  I am a believer that every small little things that you do, something good in the future awaits you.  Anyway, I have stopped the earlier collagen when I was still single because I felt that it was quite a commitment to mix it with fruit juice every morning.

Recently, I was worried with my skin complexion that I contacted my friend, Ilin asking about BB Plus by Hai-O which has been highly discussed via FB. The funny story was a few days before I met her, a colleague at the office complemented my skin complexion to be specific facial :-)  She even said, collagen ek?  I was puzzled. hehehe... There I was worried of my ageing (heheh...) as she was mesmerizing it.  It could be the effect of the 'once upon a time' collagen... hehehe...

When I met Ilin, she was nice enough to give me 2 sachets as sample.  I tried it and I loved the hassle free of mixing it with fruit juice.  Yes, it tastes like bitter blackcurrant.  Bitter because of the fish oil effect I guess, but I love it.  You can study about this product on Hai-O website or with any Hai-O rep on FB.

The effect?  After 7 days, my skin complexion has shown changes and just can't wait to see more positive effects...  No, not selling it just sharing and appreciating the effort Hai-O has made in producing a fruit tasteful collagen.  Thumbs up :)

Fridge Magnet Crazeeee...

Assalammualaikum all... I have been very busy lately, but I promised myself to write at least one entry per month to encourage my students (especially) to write, so today I am going to share my collection of fridge magnets.

When I moved in my new house a few years back, I wanted a board for it which I can also scribble, so I decided to have a big white board in my kitchen.  Some are souvenirs (which I got two this week... one from Hong Kong and one from Medan... still waiting from the ones from Zurich... oh I love my friends :p) and some I bought myself whenever I travel be in locally or abroad.

Talking about travelling... Like I mentioned earlier, I have been very busy with office work, conference and of course family.  My family and I have gone for Cuti-cuti Malaysia.  

From 12 October 2012 to 14 October 2012, I had a workshop in Cameron Highlands, so since Ipoh was very near, my family came except for my parents because my father cannot tolerate the weather.

Then 2 weeks after that that was on 26-27 October 2012, during Hari Raya Aidil Adha weekend, we went to Penang to celebrate my dad's birthday :) Foodie Heaven...

Another 2 weeks (huh? every 2 weeks... hehehe), 10-12 November 2012, we joined my eldest sister's company Family Day in Pangkor Island.  Ngeeeeee...

In the same week, on the 15 November 2012, I went to Genting Highlands with my in-laws 
and on the next day...

we headed to Fraser's Hill and it was our first time there.  I loved the weather.

Till my next entry... oh yaaaaa feel free to add in my fridge magnet collection 

and you know where to find me... hehehe...

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon - 28-30 September 2012

This was my shopping marathon trip with my BFF, Bib aka Abby.  

Jomm...

On your mark... get set... go...

To some of you who are unfamiliar, we bought the AA ticket early of the year.  The tickets were RM222.00 each with 15kg from KUL and 20kg from SGN.  I had doubt that it was enough that we increased to 30kg at the airport a few weeks before the trip, so all in RM250.00 each.  For us, it was still affordable although we have heard others getting cheaper.  The flight was about two hours one-way and the time difference is earlier an hour than Malaysia.

Ka-ching

Surprisingly when we went,  RM was cheaper than USD and Viet Dong.  One shop even insisted only RM since I bargained really cheap.  My advice is just use RM.  Anyway, my currency exchange was VD10000=RM0.165 and USD3.10=RM1.

always and always bring a printed converter... This time I prepared both VND and USD.

Airport

International airport, no worries... aerobridge will be provided and we do not have to walk very far outside the terminal.  Shockingly, they were VERY strict and it reminded me of Dubai Airport.  Please be careful especially upon departure.

airport...

Transportation

From the airport to the hotel, we took the bus which cost us VD4000=RM0.66 only.  The airport cab would have costed us RM30.00-40.00,but the bus ride was very adventurous.  Hehe...  As our hotel was very near to Ben Thanh Market, the bus stopped at the nearby bus station (it looked like one).  Unfortunately it started to rain.  I asked a girl the way to the hotel, she said it's near, but lack of vocabulary she opted to show us the way by foot.  Both of us and our big bags tailed her and it was not very near for her to go back to the bus station.TQVM gal whoever you are.

In the bus, very creative... the drink for the bus driver. The big bag beside it, is Abby's :p

VINASUNTAXI... the locals said this is the most reliable cab.

Hotel

We chose Saigon Pink Hotel as it was highly recommended online.  I have always liked the idea of booking hotel rooms via phone and negotiate no deposit just in case the trip would be cancelled, so I did the same thing for this trip and no deposit or credit card needed.  It was super fast less than 30 minutes with a phone call and few emails our room was booked.  Here you go:

SAI GON PINK 2 Hotel

Add: 32 Nguyen An Ninh St , Ben Thanh ward, Dist 1, HCM City.

Tel: +84 8 3827 2339 - 3827 2340 .  Fax: +84 8 3829.4073.

Email: saigonpink2hotel@yahoo.com

ROOM TYPE	PUBLISHED RATE
	Single	Double	Extra bed
STANDARD	22 USD	25 USD	10 USD
SUPERIOR (Twin)	28 USD	32 USD
DELUXE	30 USD	35 USD
EXECUTIVE ( 2 Double Bed )	45 USD (4 people)

Long Stay Benefit :

   All rates include 5% service charge, VAT.

   Wifi and cable internet accesses in room.

   Cable TV ( BBC, CNN, HBO, NHK, etc...)

Hotel lobby

I wanted to take more photos, but it was raining before we left.  Earlier I did not take more photos because we were reminded not to expose our handphones, tablet, camera etc.

From hotel entrance, we can see one of Ben Tanh Market entrance.

From hotel entrance, the Halal restaurants is just across the road.

Our '7 Eleven'.

From the hotel entrance, look to the extreme left and right; both Halal restaurants and '7 Eleven' are very near.

From the hotel entrance also, you can get a dose of botox injection... hehehe...

Shopping

I prepared the tentative schedule, but we spent a lot of time in Ben Tanh Market.  We skipped Lucky Plaza and Saigon Square... hehehehe...

A packed tentative schedule... hehehe...

Abby with our tourist guide.  Our second tourist guide on the first day.

Hong Anh Collection... there are 2 of them and we went to the new one.  Our 1st shopping stop.  Not very far (we actually walked with our tourist guide... hehehe...) from the Ben Than Market.  Thank you my friend, Reshi for the info.  A must go boutique by Malaysian VIPs.

Focus on the red ones...

Surprisingly the taxi driver did not know where Hard Rock Cafe was, so if you want to go, please bring the address.  We managed to get there anyway after the taxi driver and our tourist guide made so many phone calls... calling half of Ho Chi Minh maybe... hehehe...

Must go a go go... ngeee...

What I understood was there are 3 shops under the same umbrella; one shop of cotton (SHOP A), one shop of chiffon plus other exclusive fabrics (SHOP B) and one more shop for vietnam silk etc (SHOP C).  I spent a lot on SHOPS A and B.  There were so many Malaysians at SHOP A on Saturday afternoon that I felt I was at a primary school canteen counter.  I heard most of them said that it was the best shop in the market for variety choices of cotton.

Our favourite shop...

SHOP A : We called him 'Abang'... look at all the folded cotton fabrics waiting to be cut.

SHOP B :Look at all the folded chiffon etc. fabrics waiting to be cut.

Cotton and chiffon I bought... hehehe...

Cotton and chiffon I bought... ngeeee...

Cotton and chiffon I bought... har har har...

Matching weekend bags for both of us.  We managed to get this bag for RM25.00 in Ben Than Market.

My mom-in-law wanted this, but I felt cheated getting this at RM25.00in Ben Than Market.

All packed... 6 bags... 60kg + 14kg hand luggage.  We wanted to buy more, but it has exceeded that we had to restrategize our purchase... wink wink...

A reminder from Ho Chi Minh... hehehe...

Only 10% I met could not speak Bahasa Malaysia and generally can speak English, so we had fun.  It was cheap, but not as cheap as before.  As much as we felt safe because there were a lot of Malaysians because the night market was like Jalan TAR, we were extra careful all the time.  To those who are going, have fun cos you'll love it.... ngeeeeeeeeeee...