Family vacation

Every twice or three times a year I will invite my parents to come and stay with me in KL. I live alone in our home in KL since my hubby have to be based elsewhere for his job so once in a while it will be nice to have some company. Normally I will invite my parents when it is school holiday so that they also get to spend time with their grandchildren. My nephew do love to spend the night at my place when my parents are there. I guess they love the quietness and serenity of my place because you hardly hear noises either during day time or night time. This is certified by all of my friends who have been to my place. It is just very quiet.


So, this time when my parents are in KL, I decided that we pay a visit to Pangkor Island, which is situated at the state of Perak. Since Pangkor Island is just 3-4 hours drive from KL, we decided to drive there and take the ferry from the Lumut jetty. My backpack is ready & off we go!

We started our journey just before 10am. It was raining cats and dogs when we reach the state of Perak. We were a bit worry because heavy rain means, the sea might be rough, and I in particular do not like rough sea because I have very bad sea sickness and rough sea will not do me any good. But thank goodness that when we reach Lumut town & the jetty, the rain has slow down. We manage to find a parking spot and off to the jetty.

But the black cloud still lingered around waiting for the moment to pouring down all the water from the sky.

Our ferry is waiting to received us and You know what, when we were waiting for our ride, the rain come again with a vengeance! Man..I am so worry that I will throw out in the ferry. To avoid that from happening, as soon as I get a seat insides, I cover my head with a scarf and put a dap of 'minyak kapak' on my nose & head temple & off to quick sleep. The 30min ride feel like FOREVER for me!

Despite the rain, there are a lot of people going to Pangkor Island. We are one of those crowd. 

It is for this face that I found joy each time we go for family vacation although she and her brothers can be a handful sometimes. Nevertheless, when we reach Pangkor Island, we get ourselves a taxi & off we go to the guesthouse where we will stay for the next 3 days.

We stayed at a guesthouse called Nipah Bay Villa at Nipah Bay area. It is a cosy yet simple guesthouse with a restaurant that serve foods and drinks anytime of the day. Lots of the street stall and shop in the area were closed because it is the end of Ramadhan. I guess most people already taking their Raya holiday. It was still drizzling when we arrived at the guesthouse so we just relax in our room & only manage to come out when the rain has stop in the evening.

There is a huge outdoor table just in front of our room. 

 Took a stroll in the evening along the beach. The sea and wave was very rough and strong. Don't even dare to go near the sea for now. My sister also gave a stern warning to the kids not to play at the beach. But the breeze was cold so it was very nice.

Fishing boat coming back from the sea.

 The next morning we decided to take a ride around the island. The kids are excited of course. I had a minor accident that day and hurt my knee. It was damn painful but yet I still want to play at the beach. It hurt like hell each time my knee contacted with the sea water because of the salt but life goes on.Hehhehe....

 To be honest, the boat ride was crappy. My parents , sis and the kids also said the same. They preferred the island hopping in Langkawi. I do believe it is a waste of money. I won't recommend it for anyone. We didn't even when snorkeling.

 We passed few small island around Pangkor.

Therefore, we decided to forget about the bad island ride and head downtown. We hired a taxi to bring us around the island & stop us at few historical places before we did all our shopping & eating at the town centre.

 Pangkor Island main income is fishery. When fishing is the main industry, you will see a lot of boat making as well because you can fish in the sea without a boat can't you.

Our first stop is at a shop selling all kind of dried seafoods...my favorite! We bought a lot of dried seafood because it is expensive once you get to the mainland. 

 You get to see lots of such scenery around Pangkor. I have to admit, I do find the island is a bit unorganized, crowded & dirty.

Some boat are small compare to others.

 Out next stop is at this temple called Fu Lin Gong Temple & Mini Greatwall. Nothing so fascinating about the place. For me, it look just like the other temple that I been to in Malaysia.

 Mom posing for the camera. She decided to stay down instead of going all the way up.

 You can see the whole of Pangkor town if you go all the way to the top. Well, not really the whole town but almost.

 Dad and my nephew at the top of the temple.

Then we make a quick stop at the Dutch Ford. Nothing much you can see here because the remaining fort is so little. Plus the kids are already hungry and we all wanted something to eat. Hahhaha...

 When we get back at the guesthouse, we decided to go to the beach & hangout!

 Playing with water do make you hungry! We went for a seafood dinner at our last day in Pangkor. I found it is weird that seafoods are expensive here. It's an island, isn't it suppose to be cheap?

After dinner, we took a stroll along the beach front. It is nice to hear the wave hitting the shore and feel the cool breeze of wind from the sea on your face. It has been drizzling again that evening so the air is extra cold. The sea was rather rough that evening but there are still some people braving the wave and have some swim. I know I won't be one of them!

 Of course, yours truly need to take a picture of herself.:)

 My nephews and niece were looking at the people down at the shore with envy. Their mom forbid them to join the crowd because she know none of them can swim and she know they won't listen to her scream once they are down at the shore. So, with sad face they all look down.Hahahha...

WE witnessed a bunch of fishing boats 'parking' their vehicles near the shore. I guess they are taking a rest while waiting to go to 'work' at the weed hour of the day later on.

 At last, the wave is calm. It was very scary in the beginning and the sound of it smashing against the wall of the waterfront where we stand, really give me the creep. I was imagining that if I fall down...that will be the end of me.

 The street new to where we stayed also has quiet down. Unlike Langkawi where people still hanging around until midnight, here in Pangkor, things quiet down at 10pm.

My mom must be thinking deep of something. Hehhe..probably she was thinking about the long journey back to KL the next day. Anyway, we left early in the morning to catch the first ferry leaving the island because we want to reach KL before evening. One thing I must say, I will never come back here unless I stay in Pangkor Laut Resort. :) But nevertheless, for the best part of the trip, I get to spend time with my parents, my sister and my nephews and niece.

Three in 1

I always love to entertain people because I enjoy arranging the dinner, preparing the door gift, planning the menu & the decoration. I do believe most of my girlfriends do love to hangout at my place. So, one day I decided that we should celebrate wedding anniversary, baby shower & birthday all at one at my place.

I always go for potluck dinner so that no one is burden with all the cooking task and as usual, I take care of the dessert. Days before, I did the planning & what need to buy for the decoration as well for the dessert & gifts. We decided that we going to surprise Hellen with a baby shower. She has no idea that we are making a baby shower for her that night. All we told her is that we just going to have a potluck gathering since it been ages we last saw her. On the morning of the dinner, Jul came over and help me with the balloon & ribbons.

 I order these helium balloons for her with a picture of a duckling. In fact, everyone do love this balloon.

We hang a banner & more balloons.

 Jul bought this one from the party store. It kindda cute & actually you can do it yourself. My sister just did it although I didn't ask her how.

Yes, more balloons. I feel like living in a nursery for the coming few days. I was planning to release the air from the balloons but it hurt my finger each time I need to open it.

 Early in the morning, I received a large bouquet of red roses from my hubby. The night when we decided to have the party is exactly the day when we got married, 5 years ago. He always send me red roses on our anniversary no matter which part of the world I am at that day.

And got myself an anniversary helium balloon. I saw this balloon at the party store & I just have to have it. It is still in my house until today although the air might be lesser and lesser now.:)

 Made sweet and salty peanuts chocolate mix as the party favor. It was not so hard to do. I always make simple but yet delicious favor. So that my guest can still enjoy my baking even after they all went home.

All my guests always have party favor and the big one is for the mummy to be.

 Yau came and brought a gift for my anniversary. At first I thought the flowers were fake. Hehehe...sorry..

Since we going to have 3 celebration at one, so, I need to make a birthday cake. I made this cake for the birthday girl because she love carrot cake. Well, it was not her birthday yet but no harm in celebrating it early.

So, table is set & we open up a bottle of Moet & Chadon champagne and make a toast. WE all wish good health, happiness and success to each other.

Nanie order this special cupcake for Hellen. It's very yummy and tasty. Not to mentioned how cute the cupcake design.

 The foods are all on the table and so are the guests. Everyone is eagerly waiting to eat all the delicious foods.

Even I got a surprise that night. Hahahha...the girls surprise me with Baskin & Robbin ice cream cake for my anniversary. This is the reason why I love my friends!

Not only that, they get me a lingerie! Hahhaha...

 The girls decided to share and bought Hellen a baby stroller. She was very happy because now she don't need to think about which stroller to get. Both of us have a hard time to fold that thing the morning after. We look rather stupid twisting & turning the stroller in every possible direction until we finally fine out how to do it.

I bought her a baby cot. I believe she will need to have a proper baby cot which she can use for her subsequent babies. Hahhaha..


Overall, it was a great nice. We did a lot of catching up with each other life. We have no idea when we can come together and have such gathering again in the future. I am sure will miss this bunch of people once I am finally moving to Denmark.

Garfield day

Today is my 'garfield' day! I feel so lazy to do anything despite there are things need to be done. I just submitted two of my most important thesis's chapter for proof reading so I feel so relax for now. Well, I still have one more chapter to amend and one publication to send but for now I would like to be LAZY! All I can think of doing now is laying on my soft & cold bed.:)


So, without contemplating further, I am off to my bed & going to read meself a very nice book. Adios..

HUbby turn 40!

Last month my hubby turn 40 years old. We had a party for him & invited close friends and relatives. We held the party at our own home. We have one room that used to be part of the barn but renovated into a function room where we can do party without me having a stressful moment having lots of people in the house and feeling depress after seeing all the mess.

 Previously the place was full of stuff. When we stay abroad, the place was used as storage room. But now, all things has been clear up & re-arrange. What is not useful anymore, has been given to the boiler. I think this room can accomodate up to 40 people at one time. There are Dj corner & bar too.

 The Dj corner. The selection is not bad because most of the record or cd are from the 80s or early 90s era. My kind of music. Wish I can find some Malaysian group black record and bring it here. It be nice to listen to it & think of the good old day when things are left complicated & complex.Hehheh

There is a bar as well although not your typical design of a bar. But nevertheless, there are variety of liquor that you can choose. After we set the table, I add up with few flowers to make the ambience lively and as if we are eating in a restaurant.

Most of the foods are prepared by us with the help from my in law. Only the main dish, which is half a pork was order from someone else but hubby need to do the cutting himself because it quite pricy to hired someone just to slice the pork!!

 So, hubby has to do it himself. And gosh it is yummyyy...

 Table for appertizer, salad, nuts, dressing among others.

 Guest are busy entertaining themselves with each other or with the food. There are 30 people being invited and I think 20+ came. They all enjoy the foods & drinks. Free flow of beer and liquor as well. The last group of guest leave at 130am & I am ready in bed by 1130pm. Hahha

 Mr piggy that was slaughtered that day. And it was delicious!

 As usual, I almost every year I will bake my husband's birthday cake. When I have the time, I will always bake his birthday cake & it is always special every year. This year it is extra special because it's his 40th birthday. So, I decided to bake a 2 tier rainbow cake using fondant. I have to personally brought the fondant from M'sia, which I am glad that I did because it is not so easy to find and if you do find it, it is sell in a 250gm pack, with a price tag equivalent to 1kg that I bought in KL. I also decided to try doing picture cake for his birthday so I have the picture printed earlier in KL and brought it here. The cake was a great FINALE for the party because everyone just in awe! Not only it look good, it also taste good!

At the end of the day, everyone is happy and gone back with belly full of foods and drinks. Happy Birthday Honey!

Good Morning Vietnam!

I have been planning this trip since last year with my old housemate. She as usual, always manage to find a damn cheap flight ticket & she asked me whether I want to go to Vietnam with her, particularly to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. I was ecstatic of course because I always wanted to go back there since my last posting to the city back in 2004 when I am still with Jotun. So, I agree. Though we have to postponed our departure a day later, we still manage to cover as much sight seeing activities as possible and did as much shopping as possible.


We stayed at District 1, where all the main tourist spots are just a walking distance & there are also lots of restaurants to choose from. Another close friend of mine decided to join as at the very last minute & she arrived a day earlier.  The first thing we did after we check in into our guesthouse is to search for a nice restaurant to enjoy a nice Vietnamese lunch.

I had Vietnamese spring roll & sprite. It's very cooling for a hot & sunny weather that greet us as soon as we came out from the airport. After finish our meal, we are ready to paint HCMC red! Despite the hot day we decided to walk to all the tourist spot, after all, we are on budget travelling anyway. Bring back so much of memory for me as we pass by similar places. It is quite safe to walk around in Vietnam because they treat tourist with respect & let you go about your own business.

Your visit to HCMC will not be complete without a picture with Unc Ho,  a communist revolutionary leader, who are also the Prime Minister & President of Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Everywhere you go especially in the official building, you will definitely see his picture. Well, in case you do not know, he is the one that liberated Vietnam from the French colony back in 1940s.

Of course, for those who love to shop, you can't miss this place, Benh Than Market. It open from 9am until 7pm. There are lots of stuff that are on sales. I am not so 'gung ho' about it because I don't really shop when I travel. Furthermore, the stuff that they sell there are almost the same with other SEA countries. Nevertheless, for those who love to bargain, this is the place. The place also have some area dedicated to foods. Now that, I would love to go. Besides, Thai food, Vietnamese food is my next favourite food. 

 As I mentioned just now, Vietnam was under French colony for so many years before Unc Ho liberate the country from French people. The colonization of the French can be witnessed in the foods and architecture that they left behind and one of it is this church, Notre Dame Church. I found that it is pretty odd that the church is situated at a middle of a roundabout. But then again, back in those day, the roundabout probably non-existent. Despite the weird position, it is a very nice church. I can't go in that day because there was some service going on.

 Next we went to the national post office. This is probably the most majestic and awesome post office that I have seen so far. It was build of course during the French era in Vietnam & it is still in use as post office until today. Going inside the post office is like going back to the past.

This is Boundain's favourite hotel, Hotel Continental Saigon. It is a very nice hotel but damn expensive. Not surprising because it is situated at HCMC most prominent area.

 Went to the Reunification Museum. Nothing much here actually. For those who are not interested in getting to know the political history of Vietnam, then you can skip this.:)

This is the opera house. The opera house is situated at one of the high end part of the town. The opera house is more beautiful in the evening when the light is on. I was here 8 years ago & it look awesome at night.

 After a long day, we stop by at Benh Than Market & have something to eat & drink. I have no idea what I had but all I know, both the food and drink are so good! Well, probably I was hungry and thirsty

On our way back to our hotel, we pass by few park and it's amazing how Vietnamese really enjoy their time at the park. You can see them either playing or talking or just simple watches life passes by. There are a lot of food vendors as well as it is almost time for dinner. 

 I wonder what this lady is selling. You get to see lots of food vendors carrying their products and just sit at the road side selling their foods/drinks.

 The next day we followed a tour to the famous Cu Chi tunnels, just outside of the city. The journey was quite long but it was a great tour because our tour guide was very funny & very informative. I didn't go all the way in the tunnel because I rather found it's very suffocating being in a very small place. At the end of the tour at Cu Chi tunnel, there is a shooting 'arena' and I just have to try it. It's quite expensive actually but I won't miss my chance of firing any kind of weapon as I will not have that opportunity in Malaysia.Hhehehe...

Finale to our tour is a very good foot massage and superb Vietnamese meal.

 After a great massage..

Enjoying our last night in HCMC with great ambiance and superb foods! Vietnam, I'll be back again one day!

Long silent

It has been an extremely busy year for me. I totally forgot about this blog until a friend remind me that she hasn't read anything new for months from me. So, here I am with sincere apologizes. I have been chasing one dateline after another. I can't stop thinking about my research even when I am sleeping, eating, bathing, taking dump, drinking, exercising or even outing with my friends. There are times when I do bring my work with me when I am away on vacation with my girlfriend. I have to agreed with one good friend of mine, she seriously think I am heading for Permanent Head Damage (Phd). If I have know it going to be like this, would I do it? Absolutely NOT! Hahhaha...But since I am more than 3/4 way to the finishing line, I decided that I will finish it in style!

So, I will try my best to contribute to this blog as often as I can. I have lots to share with you guys about my life for the past 7 months. Been travelling a bit here and there, going home to my beloved hometown for Gawai, my heartache and headache dealing with some people who I believe is not as efficient as I want them to be and yet they still on top! Human..you just can't seem to understand them but you need to deal with them.

I will go off for now as I need to take my beauty sleep because I don't really get so much of it for the past 7 months. Now that I am in Denmark & having my summer vacation with my hubby, I plan to catch up with some sleep. See you guys ....