Check out how the girls play with their Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday set.

They spent time checking out what came with the box. Deciding who should go first.

Zaria being the youngest, got to change Barbie’s clothes first (see the smile on her face for getting to go first).

Some of the clothes are a little challenging for the 5 1/2 to put on for Barbie, so Zara took over.

Zara : Maa, do you like Barbie in this?
Me : It’s one of my favourite.

Zaria: Jie, you need to put on a pair of shoes for Barbie (tried to put it on, but struggled)

Zara : (help out) Maybe we try this pair instead

……

Zaria the fashion diva at home said Barbie needed to have a bag.

…….

Then it was fashion show time. Barbie wearing all the beautiful clothes from Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday set.

Zara : All the clothes have to be back on the mannequin after the fashion show ma.

Zara : There ma.

…….

And then, Zaria decided Barbie should be robbed. o.O”

When the girls play with the Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy, they like having little conversation, sometimes with the other, sometimes with me, and sometimes with themselves.

Zaria : “It’s my turn jie, to decorate the wings.”

Zaria : “Qing! Qing!” (casting spells)

Zara : “You missed a spot here!”
Zaria : “Oh.. there.. fixed it”

Zara : “My turn now Zaria.”

Zara : “Let me put on your tiara for you… Viola!”

Zara : “Maa, I like decorating the wings the same on both sides”
Me : “It’s called mirror image. What you see on the left, is the same as what you see on the right.
Zara : “That’s right!”

Me : Do you like this Barbie?
Zaria : “Oh Yes. I like this Barbie more (compared to the others she has). Because the other barbies can only just change clothes. This barbie can tie hair, can design the wings, can change shoes, can remove the crown.

Zaria : “Is this the magic wand?”
Me : Ya. It’s meant to be the magic wand.
Zaria : “How come it’s so fat? But I like the design on it.”

Zaria : “I’m now putting spells in the wand”

Zaria : “After this, it’ll look pretty and can fly!”

Watch out for this space as there’ll be a Giveaway competition later this month for you to win one of this.

♥June 5th♥
After leaving Penang, we continued our journey to Cameron Highlands using the Simpang Pulai way.

We arrived Cameron Highlands in the evening, and welcomed the cool weather.

We stopped at the first place that offered strawberry plucking. For RM20, we get half a punnet to fill up which is equivalent to 0.5Kg.

Zaria being helped by a worker to reach the nicer strawberries on the higher racks.

Each flower of the strawberry plant will turn into a strawberry.

Heading down to Tanah Ratah where our hotel, Hotel De La Fern, was located, we got stuck in the Brinchang jam which was caused by the night market (If you use the Simpang Pulai Way, you’ll reach Kampung Raja, then Brinchang, then Tanah Ratah). Don’t get fooled by the Hotel website, there’s nothing luxurious about it. It’s by the main road next to a busy steamboat restaurant.

Dinner was at Rosedale Bistro, Tanah Rata. Girls didn’t want any noodles or rice, so they have scones and strawberry ice cream for dinner.

We had an early night as we knew the next day will be a long day.

♥June 6th♥
12am, when the restaurant next door closed up, the staff started chatting away. This plus the clattering of dishes, the cars revving up the slope next to the hotel, made Daddy & I have difficulty falling asleep.

Our quad room is comfy, but I don’t think it’s worth the rate we paid for. With the noise pollution we got, not a place we’ll stay again.

We checked out soon after breakfast, and headed to Boh Sungai Palas Tea Plantation. As we neared the plantation, vege greenhouses were replaced with slopes of tea plants in different shades of green. It’s a very calming and lovely sight.

We drove, got out of the car, walked a bit, explored a bit, went back into the car, drove some more, and repeated the process many times.

At the workers’ quarters, girls played with the dog and cats there.

Workers who were home were quite friendly. This handsome man allowed us to take his photo.

We also spotted this.

A real ‘rooftop’ garden in one of quarters.

Near the quarters, is the Boh Sungai Palas Tea Centre.

Love the floor to ceiling windows in the cafe.

Tea served was good, scones was ok, but the the beautiful sights surrounding was the reason people came.

The factory itself has nothing much to see, but I think this is one place that must be visited when in Cameron Highlands.

Next on our agenda was mossy forest, which is near Sungai Palas. As a bonus, when we were driving there, we saw workers picking/cutting tea leaves up close.

Their supervisor, a veteran, watching over all these workers.

Me watching over the girls messing about.

As the road got narrower, the slopes too become more jagged.

Finally, we arrived the mossy forest; where fog was thick, and visibility lower. It got very cold too.

We tried going into one of the trails, but 5mins into it, we turned back out. We were not properly attired and the girls were complaining the ground too soggy to walk on.

So we walked along the tar road, and yet, it was still interesting.

For the girls, it’s another play time.

Before heading back to KL, we did some shopping at Brinchang. The ‘night’ market started trading at 3pm+.

Girls… went searching for things to buy for their friends and teachers.

See how the car boot is filled up with all the shopping from Cameron Highlands and Penang?

Continue from here.

♥June 4th♥

We spent the whole day in Georgetown, just eating, drinking, taking photos. I have to say the girls are really great travel companion. In the hot sun, they just followed us, as long as there’s occasional cold drinks and ice cream treat.

If it wasn’t for the sun and heat, we would have walked out noon time. It’s crazy actually to drive in Georgetown, the traffic was so bad, and it’s so difficult to get a parking lot, and even when you get one, there’s still some walking to do. By the time we got a spot to park, it was almost 2pm.

Lunch was at Shing Kheang Aun Restaurant. A restaurant that serves homestyle Hainanese and Nonya cooking.

Asam Prawn – What I like is you can order in the quantity you want, 1, 2, 4, 6, any number.

Gulai Pomfret (I didn’t drink up the sauce, so… it’s ok)

Stir Fry Tofu with Leeks (I want to cook this at home next time)

Chicken Chop. This was ordered for the girls, but they didn’t like it, so they skipped lunch. (Thank goodness for the hearty hotel breakfast).

(Shing Kheang Aun Restaurant is located at 2, Chulia Lane, 10200 Penang, Malaysia)

We spotted the Rainforest Bakery & Pastry which Daddy has read about. (This bakery is opened by twin brothers, and they supply their bread to a lot of the hotels in Penang. So he read.)

As breakfast was provided by the hotel, we didn’t get any bread but got cakes and biscuit instead. I’m quite a fussy person when it comes to bake goods, and I have to say, they make really good cakes and biscuit (the trail mix biscuit).

(Rainforest Bakery and Pastry is located at 300 Lebuh Chulia, 10200 Penang, Malaysia)

When the girls felt hungry, we went into the air-conditioned Yeng Keng Cafe & Bar run by Yeng Keng Hotel.

“Hmmmm…. aircon…” said the boss.

Love the air well, although sealed up, brought in natural light.

And the retro red velvet seats.

(Yeng Keng Hotel is located at 362 Lebuh Chulia, 10200 Penang, Malaysia)

At my insistent, we went to have the Siam Road Char Kuay Teow. An early dinner.

The wait for a plate of Char Kuay Teow here on average is 45mins. After finishing her drink, Zaria became bored.

But, they found some games to play to entertained themselves (no need for gadgets).

Our wait was 40mins this time. As usual, the Char Kuay Teow was delicious, although the plate that the girls have which was without chili didn’t taste as nice.

We then parked the car at the hotel, and went out for a walk in the evening when it was cooler.

Fading mural.

Teowchew Temple.

Everything can be turned into something interesting for the girls. Here, they were competing who can balance on these road decos the longest.

Seeing a man stringing jasmine flowers near the Kuan Yin Temple.

The man decided to give them each a string of jasmine.

The girls watching people praying in the Kuan Yin Temple; and they decided the flowers are nicer on the hair.

The Teowchew Temple lit up at dusk.

And then, while we wanted to look for some snacks to eat. We saw this.

Can you guess what it is?

See this…
One of the restaurant in Little India has this little stall set up outside, grilling chapatis. We always get our chapatis cooked on a flat pan, grilled over charcoal? This is my first time trying it. Very delicious indeed.

And then, we saw this new luxurious boutique hotel, Chong Tian Lou. A night there is ~RM1000. o.O”

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at Sri Malaya Heritage Restaurant for a drink.
Love all these little cafes scattered around Georgetown housed in restored pre-war shop lot.

♥June 5th♥
Time to say good bye once again to our lovely and comfy room.

Before we left Penang, we had to accomplish one of the missions we came to Penang for – To stock up on my favourite soy sauce from Kwong Heng Loong （廣興隆醬園醬油） in Pulau Tikus. After started taking this soy sauce in 2010, no other soy sauce will do for me. Their tauchu (bean paste) is also one of the best.

You can either buy the soy sauce in prepacked bottles.

Or bring your own bottle to be filled up.

(Kwong Heng Loong Soy Sauce 廣興隆醬園醬油 can be bought from their shop located just outside the Pulau Tikus market. Address : 7A, Jalan Pasar Pulau Tikus, Penang, Malaysia)

We asked the shop if they have any recommendation of hawker food nearby, and they asked us to go Kedai Kopi Sin Hwa (Apparently, the Char Kuay Teow there won 2nd place for best Char Kuay Teow in Penang in 2011 or 2010).

I didn’t have Char Kuay Teow but instead have a bowl of Asam Laksa. I’m no fan of Asam Laksa, but this was goooooood.

And the Char Kuay Teow too was delicious. I guess next time when we come back to Penang, we’ll be eating here instead of Siam Road.

(Kedai Kopi Sin Hwa is located at 329 Jalan Burma, 10350 Penang, Malaysia. Which is opposite the Pulau Tikus Police Station)

And then, it’s then time to leave Penang.

After exploring all the different holiday options, instead of going somewhere else, we decided to make our annual trip to Penang during the June holidays to keep our tradition of visiting St Anne’s church yearly alive.

♥June 2nd♥

We slowly crawled our way up North due to the heavy traffic, reaching St Anne’s, which is located in Bukit Mertajam, in the evening.

The church closes at 7pm, so we were asked to leave not long after we arrived. We decided to have dinner at Northern Coastal Seafood Restaurant in Butterworth (1, Pantai Bersih, Bagan Ajam , 12000 Butterworth, Penang).

Recommended by a colleague, promising great view of Penang Island, and fresh seafood, we were not disappointed.

(no photos of food, but the stingray in Nonya sauce is our favourite)

Girls loved the coastal wind and the view.

♥June 3rd♥
Girls were looking forward to the buffet spread at the hotel. It was one of the things they love about staying in Traders Hotel. 3 years in a row, we’d been staying here. The place is still well maintained and the service is tip top.

What I like best about Traders Hotel is its location. Soon after breakfast, we walked out to the Chowrasta market along Jalan Kuala Kangsar.

I would have tried a plate of Java Mee, if I wasn’t full. The noodle is fried with the sauce, instead of the KL type of just blanching the noodle then pour sauce over.

The Java Mee stall owner prepared a plate of Java Mee for his daughter, to share with her sister.

We saw a big crowd at the famous Penang Road Cendol stall. We’d never tried it before, so I queued for a bowl too.

And I don’t know what the fuss is all about. I shared a bowl with Daddy and we didn’t even finish it.

For lunch, girls insisted we go to Nonya Breeze (50, Lorong Abu Siti, 10400 George Town, Penang). We’d been eating at this restaurant on every of our visit, but never took photos of the food. This time, I we did.

I don’t think we can find this vege in KL, but it’s call kuaci cai on the menu. Fibrous and sweet leaves.

Asam Pedas Fish; I almost drank all the soup!

Zara likes this fried oyster mushroom.

Girls favourite, Inchi Kabin. Even on the journey, they already mentioned they wanted to eat this fried chicken in Nonya Breeze.

As usual, Nonya Breeze never disappoints. It was a good lunch.

We then took the long drive to Batu Ferringgi. As guests staying in Traders Hotel, we can make use of the Golden Sand Resort facilities, so we spent the rest of the day at the pool and beach there.

I wanted one of the girls to go with me on a parasail, but they both didn’t want. So, maybe next time.

Zaria is more of a beach person. Zara just wanted to go back to the pool.

Out of the blue, Zaria asked, “How come you don’t kiss your parents anymore?”

Can you remember last kissing your parents? I don’t think I’d ever done it? My dad although a little better than my in-laws who totally don’t do physical contact, would limit his affection to holding hands, patting the girls head, putting his arms around the girls when they share a joke or secret.

So I explained our parents come from an older time, where showing affection through kissing is not common. “Long long time ago, parents kissing children in Chinese family is not common. That’s why we don’t kiss our parents, and show our love in different ways.”

Zara asked cheekily, “So you were from prehistoric time?”

Zaria added on, “So it was Mommy and Daddy B.C.?” o.O”

I asked, “Do you know what is B.C.?”

Zaria replied, “That means one hundred million years ago!” o.O”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, can you remember the last time you kiss your parents?

Our ex neighbour who’s relocated came back to Malaysia for a holiday in April. Their eldest daughter CY is one of Zara’s best friend before they relocated, so Zara was really looking forward to meet CY again. A play date was arranged for the girls so that they can spend some time having fun together.

After some consideration, we decided to bring the girls to Petrosains, a place the girls have been before and like very much. It was CY first time though.

For 2 adults and 3 children, the ticket came to RM35.

Except for the wait to take the dark ride into Petrosains, there was very little wait time for each of the exhibit. The girls have a good time, and we just have to do some explanation here and there.

Photos of the trip.

Re-adjusting tubes to see how a ball rolled when dropped from top to bottom

Trying to catch the hologram car

Magnet fun

Robot Football – see who can score a goal first

Interactive image – trying to catch a butterfly on their shoulders/hands

Interactive image – sand flowing down

Interactive image – dancing to form designs

Hurricane simulator – only Zaria and I dared step in

Zaria trying to spot a fake star

Can’t recall what these were for

This is probably the girls’ favourite, each one getting a cannon of spray, and trying to create an imagine with all the virtual squirting

After Petrosains, we had late lunch, did a bit of shopping at KLCC, then since CY’s dad didn’t mind CY having dinner with us, we proceeded more play time at KLCC Park.

Zaria has strong arms and she can cross the monkey bar all by herself

It was a fun day for the girls. Zara will be looking forward to CY’s return next year.

The 2 BFFs walking back to KLCC

We drove to Singapore during the recent March school holidays (March 10th ~ 13th) , as a reward for all Zara’s hardwork during her 1st term exams.

Upon a friend’s recommendation, I bought a Marriott Vacation Club Holiday Package Voucher. A 3D/2N stay in Ritz Carlton Millenia for a very good price, and we extended another night at YMCA International House.

The room in Ritz Carlton is oh my, super duper nice. It’s been a while since we’d stayed in such a nice hotel as a family. The girls absolutely love it! We told them this is a five star hotel, and we can’t normally afford to stay in such a hotel.

The girls upon arrival, went to check out if there’s Carton Network on the TV.

(Before we arrived, Zara was telling me this, “Since it’s a high class hotel, maybe they won’t have Cartoon Network. They will only show all the modelling shows, arts on their TV.”)

The view, from the room and bathroom….beautiful; and what I love most is the bathroom with the big bathtub!

Teacher Florence is not my teacher, but the girls’.

I was planning to send the girls for art & craft class, and after seeing a couple of places and not quite happy with what they were offering, I thought of Florence, my ex classmate whom I’d not met for 20years; she was very good at art during school days, and currently teaches art class at the Japanese Cultural Centre. After several SMSes and phone calls later, Florence agreed to teach the girls at her place.

The girls enjoy her class because besides doing art and craft, Teacher Florence jokes with them and plays with them. And while the girls are working (on their pieces), Florence and I catch up, there’s 20yrs events to fill up, considering we were very close in school (don’t ask me why we didn’t bother to meet up all these years, I guess we always thought a meeting could wait).

It’s been 2 months since they started with Teacher Florence. Recently, I was considering switching them to a centre near by (As Teacher Florence is 30mins drive away from my place). Zara said, “Nope. I want to attend Teacher Florence’ class only.” When I asked her to give me a reason. She said, “Teacher Florence is your friend. Sometimes we say funny things or do funny things with her. We offered her milk shake with sequin the other day, and she laughed at our jokes. If you go to a centre and the teacher is not your friend then what will happen? She will say we’re crazy or ask us to just sit down!” o.O”

So Teacher Florence it is. They can enjoy their class and jokes, while I can continue to catch up and exchange recipes with her.

And these are the things they created in Teacher Florence’ class.

After a few classes, we could see a trend in the girls. Zara prefer something simple, while Zaria likes all the blink blink, sparkles and fancy stuff.

Zara’s no-nonsence paper doll and her clothes.

Zaria’s gypsy girl paper doll and her clothes.

Check out the make up on the doll!

And this was done last week, which I like very much!

In line with the last 2 drawings… here is to wish all of you a Happy Chinese New Year!

Continues from here.

♥Dec 7th – Sunny♥
Initially, I planned to spend the whole day shopping, but the weather was so good compared to the last 2 days I thought it would be wasted if we didn’t do any sight seeing.

We decided to go to the zoo, do a quick dash and see what the girls have not seen before, i.e. Panda, Penquin, Koala, and then we can do the shopping after that.

We wanted to take the metro, but the station master told us to take the bus instead, as it’ll be quicker. The 45mins bus ride allowed us to have a snooze, which was good.

We were glad we went to Taipei Zoo (臺北市立動物園), a zoo that encloses 165 hectares, including 90 hectares open to the public (compared to Singapore Zoo which is 28hectares and charging almost 10times more). It’s a big and lovely zoo, with lots of wide open space; with eateries, restaurants and rest areas scattered all over the zoo. The entrance fee was TWD60 for adults and TWD30 for children. What a steal for this world class zoo!

We could have spent the whole day there, with so many to see, but we had to be selective and spent time only on the animals we wanted the girls to see.

First stop, Giant Panda House. Unfortunately, both the Pandas were far away from us.
One munching on some bamboo.

Another taking a nap.

They have a big gift shop at the Giant Panda House, girls wanted to choose something to bring home.

She wanted to get something cool for herself.

And when there were children having a go at the vending machine, both girls wanted a go too.

Zaria with her prize.

We have to dash to the next point of interest, the Koalas, after the Giant Pandas (with a zoo so big, it was quite tiring actually).

(no photos of koalas although we saw quite a few of them).

We had lunch at one of the rest area, bought some pizzas and buns from a bakery (no inflated price, btw), and just ‘picnic’ there.

When we asked what’s the nicest thing they did or saw in the zoo, the answer was “Jumping on the hippos.” at the African Animal Area.

Decos around the African Animal Area.

Caught one real hippo surfacing.

We spent some time at the Nocturnal Animal House to look at Owls (Influnce from Harry Potter and Legend of the Guardians), then it was to see the Penquins.

There’s a children zoo as well, but we didn’t have time to check out. It was already almost 4pm when we left the zoo. Next time, we have to come back and spend the whole day there.

We took the Metro this time to the Cityhall Station (市政府).

While having tea at one of the food court, the girls poured out the content of their bags. Their goodies from Taiwan.

Zaria’s loot from Taiwan

Zara’s loot from Taiwan

We wanted to head towards Taipei 101 and have dinner around there, and just our luck, we saw a huge Budhist procession near Tapei 101. It’s a procession with ~500 monks, where a Buddha’s tooth relic was featured (佛光山佛祖舍利台北巡境祈福). It seems these monks are doing a round island procession.

Hundreds of monks were walking along the busy Songshou Road (松壽路).

No special privilidges. They wait like us to cross the busy road.

Along the roads, there were little tables set up to provide offerings.

We were also given bottle of waters, little book marks and souvenirs for just being there!

There were African, Indian and Caucasian monks as well.

Monks passing Taipei 101.

The procession was so long we didn’t wait till the end.

We went to City Hall area actually just to see Taipei 101but was lucky to catch the procession.

The busy Songshou Road.

We had dinner in a Ramen Restaurant, a meal was not worth mentioning, and then did food shopping in the supermarket and food halls around that area.

♥Dec 8th – Drizzle♥
The day has come to go home. Girls were getting excited, but Zara was dreading the flight home.

After breakfast, I went out to Shida Market to shop for some food stuff. After that I came back to pack, while it was Daddy’s turn to go to the market to take photos. These were the shots taken in the market. (And if you’d followed my site long enough, you would have realised we always like visiting markets every where we go).

Shida Market lane.

All sort of fish.

The market was not too crowded, and rather clean

Chicken seller. (Take note the chicken there have ‘black feet’)

Cooked meat seller.

Super delicious dried persimmons (we bought some).

Sesame oil and tea oil for sale.

Bamboo shoot.

Breakfast counter

Vegetable stall

Hot spring salted egg.

Humongous Chinese Yams.

And guess what this is? Each of them the size of my palm?

BBQ Goose eggs it seems. Didn’t try it. Should have just bought one and tried.

By 12:30pm, we were out of the hotel, and headed to the airport for our flight.

It was a good trip. And the girls can walk. On a daily basis, we left the hotel at 11am, and returned at 9pm. They just walked and walked and walked with us, sometimes even refusing to take the escalator but use the stairs instead at metro station. Just so much energy.

Taiwan is relatively cheap compares to Hong Kong or Singapore, and there are still so many beautiful places we’d not seen. I believe, we’ll be going back to Taiwan again when Daddy accumulated enough airmiles.