Continue from here.

On the last day of the training in Houston, Friday, 6th June, I took a 3hrs flight to New York, to visit my best friend, Ping, who’s 7 months pregnant. I spent 3 days there (you should see Daddy’s sour face when I told him I was extending my stay). We’d never spent so many days together before since 1997. It was really good catching up with her, at the same time I managed to see a bit of New York.

When I arrived, New York was hit with a heat wave, so throughout my stay, it was very hot, always above 30c!

Our first stop on Saturday morning was my favouritest shop in US, Whole Foods Market.
I only managed to glance through things at the skin care and health care department, no time for the supermarket as we had to rush to our next stop. The Big Apple Barbecue Party at Maddison Square Park.

So hot, such long queues and wait! If it was me, I wouldn’t be bothered, but it’s a big thing since all the famous barbecue joints around US will have a stall here in this event. Ping’s hubby is a big fan of barbecue.

After you queue for ages, you get your food, and sit in the park to have your meal.

If you are drinking, too bad, you’ll have to stand and finish your drink before you can step into the picnic area.

After being under the sun for 2 hrs, we went back to Ping’s place for a nap.

In the evening, we went to walk about in Greenwich Village .

Around The Village. Check out the Limo and the fire escapes.

Nice houses, all with back yard away from prying eyes.

Patriotic Artwork.

I had the best meal for the whole US trip in Mary’s Fish Camp. A small little restaurant which is bustling with activities.

We shared half a lobster and fish.
So delicious I tell you!

Sunday morning, we walked about around Tribeca, where Ping lives. This is the view a few minutes walk from her appartment.

We had breakfast at the World Finance Centre. This is the famous Winter Garden within the building.

Through the building, I saw Ground Zero of the World Trade Centres.
Such a vast gap! Now with some construction going on.

We then went on a free return trip ride on the Staten Island Ferries (such a bargain!), you get nice view of Statue Liberty from the ferry.

Also Manhatan skyline.

Next stop Central Park. So big.. but not shady enough. I was sweating profusely.

Ping decided to head on home to rest after Central Park and I continued my walk around Time Square. I hid myself in shops to enjoy the cool aircondition most of the time.

There’s a big Ferrel’s Wheels in ToysRUs at Time Square. If only the girls were with me!

I managed to navigate through New York Subway with a guide Ping left me and got myself home. New York subway isn’t glamourous at all.

Following Day (Monday), Ping decided it’s too hot to go out, so I went on my own.

Checked out Rockefeller Centre.

Walked along Fifth Avenue.

Checked out Apple Shop and FAO Shwarz Toy Shop
Too bad, no more iPhones for sales!

Then I met up with Ping at Kitchenette for lunch! Such a nice place, and the food is very homely. Love their cookies on display.

After lunch, it was off home to pack and leave for the airport. I took my flight home from New York, flight hours is shortened to 20+hrs.

You want a glimpse of my shopping? I bought lots of natural skin care and ointments (for the girls), mainly from Whole Foods Market.

My bag is 8Kg overweight but luckily they just let me through. *phew*.

Continuation from here.

After a few phone calls, multiple online chats with Simple American, we finalised our plans for the weekend in between our 2 weeks training.

5 of us were meeting S.A and family in San Antonio. We drove 3hrs there on Friday night (30th May) right after class. My colleagues weren’t very sure about being shown around by ‘my friend’, S.A., but after a few hours spent with he and his family, they thought he was the nicest American they’d ever met! Such hospitality, driving all the way down from Houston, so that he could be our tour guide.

Here is what we’d done and see.

Forget NeverLost, tailing S.A is much safer.

First stop is Enchanted Rock.

Someone’s artwork.

That’s the rock we’re climbing.

The trail up Enchanted Rock.

The view from the summit. (Those 2 are S.A’s kids)

With temparature above 30C and no trees to provide shade, it was quite torturous. S.A did a good job by having a cooler in his truck, and he had so much cold water, Starbucks coffee to pass around!

Lunch was at Fredericksburg, a charming little small German town.

We get to sample a lot of Texas specialty from a Rustlin Rob’s, from jams to dips to fudges. Try all you want and can!

And while trying to take a rest after lunch before our next destination, we realised we were siting right under a Pecan tree!

We started cracking them and distributing them among ourselves.
They are so expensive in Malaysia, and you get to eat them for free right in Texas!

Our next statepark was Pedernales Falls.

Everywhere in the park, you get warned about Flash Floods.

The area that we visited (you can swim in some pools but this one we visited didn’t allow even the water to be touched).

This reminds me of Pamukkale in Turkey.

We left Pedernales Falls at ~8pm but the sky was still bright! I’m quite amazed that S.A’s kids were so sweet and didn’t mind following a group of adults going from places to places. They blended in so well. Some other kids would probably have complained!

The following morning, we visited Mecardo, a Mexican market, in San Antonio. It’s shopping for us ladies, and the men did some sight seeing around San Antonio.

Credit : Mom2Ashley

After lunch, it was another round of shopping in San Marco’s Premium Outlet! My friend’s Timberland which was bought the week before got thrown away by Houskeeping in the hotel, the hotel gave him USD100 as compansation, this was why we went back, to get another pair of Timberland. We shopped till the shops were closed (6pm). Without the Memorial Day Sale Discount, and S.A following me around, I didn’t get much (very ‘paiseh’ or shy), but still ended up with another handbag (I swear this is going to be my last handbag purchase for a long long time.)

Before we headed back to Houston, we stopped at Austin, the capital of Texas, just to do a quick glance around the State Capital.

Around the State Capital.

Credit : Mom2Ashley

The State Capital, Austin.

My Shanghai colleague commented that Texas sky seems higher, and bluer. I so love the sky in Texas!

What else did we discovered? Texas squirrels are so shameless!

It was then time to bid farewell to S.A and family (although I got to meet them another around for dinner the following week). We were both leaving for different parts of Houston.

For dinner, it was something that S.A talked about. The burget joint that’s only available in Texas!
Whataburger! Whatameal!

May is a month full of travelling, but I think after my trip to US, there’ll be no more travels, and I’ll be home bound, at least for work.

I was in Houston for a 2 weeks training with 5 other colleagues from this region, for a company who’s very concern about cost, my manager must have fought real hard for us; and it’s economy class all the way, such class!

Mom2Ashley and I flew off on May 24th (Saturday), a good night sleep at Changi, and then it’s our 24hrs flight to Houston (*shudder* just thinking about the flight). Luckily we got good seats (thanks to my SIA friend), and on the 2nd part of the flight, the plane was quite empty and we could have a row of seat each to ourselves.

We transitted at Moscow. Where instructions were barked out, and every body looked so serious and unfriendly.

4 movies, and a few interupted short sleeps, and many meals later, we reached Houston at the wee hour on Sunday night; collected our car (with GPS, Always Never Lost, of course), went straight to the hotel, washed up and slept (or at least try to).

Monday 26th May was Memorial Day in US. Unlike my other colleagues who went sight seeing around Houston, Mom2Ashley, myself and another Hong Kong colleague drove up to San Marcos, 3hrs away, in the morning, just so we can do some serious shopping in Prime Outlet (rated as 3rd best place to shop in the world by some TV channel) and Tanger Outlet which are side by side each other.

It was worth the trip, especially with the Memorial Day sales on. Gap dresses were going for ~USD10, Osh Kosh had 50% and Coach had 25% discount store wide, etc etc.

Some of the brands in this outlet which are normally not available in other US outlets (at least those in Calirfornia which I’d visited).

Credit : Mom2Ahsley

I got the girls a few dresses, tops and pants, and got myself a handbag (not from Coach though). Check out our combined loot in the trunk!

Credit : Mom2Ahsley

We headed back to Houston contented, happy, and knackered. Dinner was just along the highway, some good old Texan BBQ.

Tuesday was the start of the training. The office is no Google Office, but it’s probably our company nicest office complex. With tall big trees every where, feel as though we’re in a park; so green, so much glass and light.

One of the cafeterias.

Link bridges link up all the office buildings.

Buildings are built among tall trees.

Training was good. You finally realised that the knowledge that you have, is no worse than the so called expert (but we learnt it the hard way by doing a lot of self reading). 😛

No food pix you realised? I’m not impressed with Texas food at all (Sorry Simple American). A lot of Mexican restaurants, Asian food is so so (think Sichuan spicy chicken == Tobasco sauce chicken), Italian food is mediocre. Simple American said steaks are really good, but since I don’t take beef, I can’t vouch for that. I love the pre-pack sushi from the office though!

Miss me? Miss my girls?

I have been so busy it’s crazy!!

Here’s some glimpses of what I’d been doing.

Can you recognise this face? Or the cap?
Yes! I’m the first, I’m the first to meet Simple American!!
We did some soul ‘linguistic’ searching, he finally knew what the real meaning of PIAK is, or how to pronounce ‘Roti Canai’ and ‘Nasi Lemak’.

Visited a place with a fake miniature Statue Of Liberty.

And then this place with this dense skyline.

As for the girls, this is what they are saying..

She and her icy cold stare.

The manja Zaria is always asking me to ‘come’ or ‘carry’.

Juicy details will come later!

I’d turned blue screen….. busy…..

Be back after all this mad rush is over.

I went to Beijing for work for a week from 4th May to 10th May. This is my 2nd trip to Beijing, the last round was 5 years ago in 2003, where I spent the first 10days touring before starting the week’s work trip. There are more high rises and the Hutongs (胡同) are no where to be found (I heard only a few selected ones were kept and turned into tourist attraction). I’d not seen any one spitting and smoking in public places is now banned (that doesn’t mean people can’t smoke in restaurants though but there’s dedicated smoking area). The air is thick with dust and exhaust fumes, making me cough every time when I walked the 10minutes journey.

We finished work most days between 7:30pm to 8:30pm. I have another 2 colleagues who also went along from Singapore and Hong Kong, and we spent our after work hours shopping, dining and chi chatting. This round, I only managed to do a little shopping because shops including supermarkets close at 9:30pm in most places.

As usual, I took a lot of photos of food which we ate for lunch and dinner. I have to say, Beijing food is rather good and cheaper compared to Malaysia.

Here are the photos…

Tian An Men, the imposing Mao’s portrait.

Tian An Men square from a far.

Around Tian An Men. The soldier is not doing a friendly wave, it fact, he was saying “NO” to my camera.. but too late.

Dishes from 渝乡人家 (Yu Xiang Ren Jia), a Sichuan restaurant; where we had our first dinner organised by the Chinese colleagues, and lunch where my users from my previous program treated me. Pics : fried glutinous rice cake; steam dumpling made with glutinous rice flour; fried flat bread; the spicy but delicious dishes we had for lunch.

On the 2nd night, we had the nicest roast duck in 大董烤鸭店(团结湖店) (Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant). It’s way better than the overly commercialised 全聚德(Quan Ju De). We found the size of the menu ridiculous though. Look at this.. (notice my watch at the lower right bottom)

The beautiful and delicious dishes : Asparagus Soup with sea urchin; Orange soup; Calamari in salt and pepper; Fried winter bamboo shoot.

Bean curd; Cod fish with vege; Fried millet (done like fried rice); duck soup

And the best Beijng Roast Duck. All these for RM230.

Group lunch dishes in 娃哈哈 (Wa Ha Ha). Stuff lotus root; shredded bean curd; cold vege; duck soup (so delicious).

Lunch at 中发宏 (Zhong Fa Hong) : Stir fried vege; Jelly with chili oil (凉粉辣油); Salted egg fried pumpkin; Red bean pan cake.

Lunch at 中发宏 was so good and reasonably priced, we went again on our last day. Duck stew; chicken fried with green chili (Yums!)

This is the view around the office. Decorated compressor; Rush Hour cyclists; The unfinished CCTV building; Buildings around Chao Yang District (朝阳区).

On our last day we had dinner at a nice restaurant in an old house with a court yard. Inside 那家小馆 (Na Jia Xiao Guan)

Roast Duck cold dish; Crispy prawns; Steam sweetened Shanyao (山药); Stir Fried chives, black fungus and egg.

Fried vege; cod and mango with goose liver sauce; spicy fish pot; and some Dianxin (点心).

And if all this good food doesn’t appeal to you, you can check out the Olympic food from the stalls in WangFuJin (王府井)…..
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Deep fried Sea Horse and Scorpions

Deep fried Star Fish

Deep fried Scorpions, crickets, silk worms, and lizards

I didn’t bought or try any, and got scolded, “你买不买啊？？你不买就走开” (Are you buying, if you are not buying get lost). Your cup of tea?

Before I was a mother, I’d never known I was able to love and be loved unconditionally, twice all the same.
I’d never known I could hug a sweaty and smelly person, and still feel so much love.
I’d never known I could wipe poop, or pick someone else’ nose so willingly.

Before I was a mother, I’d never known the girls’ achievements meant more to me than my own,
That a hug from a little person could feel so warm, on a tired and stressful day.
That a wet and smelly kiss can be such great pick me ups.

Before I was a mother, I’d never known being a mother is so much work,
That I’ll have less time for myself and my time belongs to the kids’,
And still, I’d do it all over again, if I was given a choice.

♥Happy Mother’s Day to All Mothers and Mothers-to-be!♥

The coackroach porridge was from Hong Kong. I didn’t complain because I packed and had it in the office. 🙁

I was in Hong Kong with Mom2Ashley for a week for work from 30th March to 7th April. Our meeting ended on Friday the 4th. Mom2Ashely returned home on the 5th, I stayed on another night and slept over in my ex classmate’s house. A classmate I’d not met and contacted for almost 15years! It was really nice to catch up and meet up with her, her husband and her extremely friendly 2 sons!

Before you say, “Oh.. lucky you, another overseas work trip.” Hold it. The shopping was nice, but we worked hard. Everyday, we started at 9am and never ended earlier than 8pm except for the last day since it was a public holiday for our Hong Kong colleagues. It was a tough week, long hours, lots of heated discussion and even a shouting session. It wasn’t fun at all. Luckily, the shopping kind of make up for it.

My shopping partner, Mom2Ashley.

I’m still recuperating from the mental and physical exhaustion from the trip. Ha. Anyway.. here are some of the photos captured during the non working hours.

♥Food♥
Upon arrival, Mom2Ashley and I headed for the nearest restaurant for a bowl of wonton mee. It’s just the size of a rice bowl, and cost HK$26 (RM11) for it.

This is our only lunch the whole team had togather at the same table. Hosted by our Hong Kong colleagues.

Tuesday dinner was Vietnamese, in a very nice setting.

While in Hong Kong, you should not miss the famous Yee Shun milk custard (義順雙皮燉奶), I ordered the one with red bean.

Had the worst lunch in this Macau Char-Chan-Teng. I ordered Portugese curry chicken, yucks! The white chocolate coffee was good though.

The most expensive dinner was in this Teow Chew Restaurant. HK$1500 (RM630) for the below dishes for 4 (one vege dish is missing from the below collage), expensive!!

This is the exterior of the Teow Chew Restaurant.

Last breakfast with Mom2Ashley before she left. The stew duck was rather tasteless. The fish skin that can be ordered separately is my all time favourite.

My last lunch – Roast Goose noodle and La Fermiere yogurt (best yogurt in the world! Too bad only found this on my last day, or else I’ll be having this for breakfast daily, and won’t be having the coackroach porridge)

My ex-classmate treated me to lobster dinner on my last night in Hong Kong. It was yummy! Lobster with Bee Hoon (米粉/rice vermicelli).

My ex-classmate brought me to those neighbourhood shop, I ordered porridge (can’t have enough of them) and cha-liong (炸两), which is not available in Malaysia. Yiu-tiao (油条 or fried dough) wrapped with Che-cheong-fun (rice roll). Quite delicious.

♥Sights♥
Whatever time that’s left after dinner, we spent walking about the streets in Hong Kong. Around Causeway Bay, and Women Street (女人街) at Kowloon.

Since we stayed in Causeway Bay, spent our last day shopping in Time Square.

Fruit market at Causeway Bay, and fish market near Sai Wan (西环). Most seafood sold is alive and swimming.

Around Central, IFC Mall.

When you are in Hong Kong, you should try to go on the ferry ride to and fro Kowloon and Hong Kong island. It’s a cheap way to see this great view (I think it was HK$1.20 per ride).

View of Hong Kong side from ferry.

View of Kowloon side from ferry.

My ex-classmate’s appartment in Pok Fu Lam (薄扶林) has this killer view!

♥Strange Sights♥
Girls dressed up as angels hired to stand and block the exit of the building, so that people are forced to walk through the rest of the shops in the building.

Spotted a car decorated with Sanrio characters.

Day 1 –
I had fish slices and century egg porridge in a small restaurant, let’s call it restaurant A. After taking a spoon full…
Me : “Wow.. nice. You want to try?” *passed porridge to Mom2Ashley.
Mom2Ashley : *after trying* Mmm.. yah. Nice.
Me : *keep thinking while eating* “Don’t know how they make it so nice….”

Day 3 –
I had fish slices and century egg porridge in another small restaurant, let’s call it restaurant B. Mom2Ashley ordered the house special porridge too. After taking a spoon full…
Me : “Err.. this porridge, not as nice as the one from restaurant A.. very blend.”
Mom2Ashley : *after eating hers* Yah la, the porridge from Restaurant A is tastier.

Day 5 –
I bought fish slices and century egg porridge (again) from Restaurant A again for breakfast, since it’s nicer.
While savouring the porridge, I kept wondering what they put in the porridge that made it so delicious.
Then I saw this………….
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Fried spring onion? Special root?
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o.O”

!!!#^!$^^($@#$!@%!!!

I wasn’t in one of my better moods because the day was long.
Daddy wasn’t home and I had to handle the 2 girls.

While reading to Zara, I tried to get her to read the words meant for toddlers on each page. A three words phase like A Big Nose, or A Big Mouth. Tried as I may, she wasn’t able to read them, even after I’d done the phonics part for her.

I blew my top and started raising my voice, telling her she wasn’t paying attention, nor was she trying. Our conversation went something like this.
I don’t know mummy
Zara, try. Bbbbb-ih-guh, you join the sounds and say it quickly what do you get?
I don’t know mummy
Bbbbb-ih-guh, B-I-G. BIG! Big what? *pointing to the picture of the nose*
I don’t know mummy *looking at my face*
*shouted*ZARA! LOOK AT THE BOOK, NOT AT MY FACE. I DON’T HAVE WORDS ON MY FACE!
*started crying*Mummy, don’t do like that mummy. I’m scared of you mummy.
READ! WHAT DOES THE WORDS SAY? (why was I pushing her so hard?)
*said this softly*Daddy never read like that mummy.
WAIT FOR YOUR DADDY TO COME BACK AND GO ASK YOUR DADDY TO READ TO YOU THEN. (why on earth did I say this?)
*sobbed*Mummy, I want you to read mummy.
THEN TRY TO READ THE WORDS
…

Boy, this went on for the whole reading session. You can imagine how my blood was boiling, and how upset Zara got.

When I cooled down later, I asked myself why I did what I did? I told her I was really sorry, and she hugged me and sobbed. I promised her and myself that I will try not to do this any more.

I’m not proud of what I did, actually I feel rotten. I’m writing this not to clear my concious but really I want to  record my promise to Zara and myself, and hope this will never happen again.

I’m so sorry Zara.