continued from here

♥Nov 5th (Mon)♥
Breakfast was streetfood. Although breakfast was included in our Motel rate, it was lousy. Our Motel is nearby Yun-Nan Road (云南路) which has many small local restaurants. In the morning, lots of stalls are scattered along the street selling green onion pan cakes (葱油饼); You-tiao (油条) and other savoury and sweet pastries. I’m able to fill my stomach with just RMB2 or less, what a steal. Daddy on the other hand, has too much concern over the hygenes level of the food, he preferred having fruits (he’s the healthy eater at home).

We started with a stroll to HuaiHai Road (淮海路), which is like our Bukit Bintang. Lots of high rise and super big department stores.

Around Shanghai :
♥Maple Leaves♥ ♥A muriel outside a toy shop, I thought this looked like a work of a Malaysian Cartonist♥/span> ♥A sign appearing in all underpass “Beware of Slip  – Shouldn’t it read : “Beware, slippery” or some thing else♥
♥Sun Yat Sen former residence (孫中山故居)♥ ♥Daddy slurping some grass jelly/cincau in a Taiwanese cafe. He loves this♥
♥Seafood available on Yun-nan Road. Can you spot the cage of exotic birds with another cage of snake above them? (I can imagine the stress these animals feel)♥

We visited the Shanghai Museum in the afternoon. It was quite good (it was more to make me feel good that I visited places other than the malls).

Items which caught my attention in the Museum

♥Nov 6th (Tues)♥
We were off to Zhouzhuang (周庄), one of the most famous old water township in China.

We initially wanted to take a bus to Zhouzhuang and do our own walking, but it so happened that the next available bus came with a tour guide, and we only had to pay RMB5 extra. It helped to have a guide, as we were able to know what is famous in Zhouzhuang and the history behind the town.

♥Lunch at Zhouzhuang : The vege tasted something like a cross between water cress and choy-sum; the prawns small but sweet; the omelette was fried with local white bait; and dish in the middle is steam Ba-yu (巴鱼) which translates to Palm Fish as the fish is the size of the palm, only available in Zhouzhuang♥ ♥live Ba-Yu, a fish which is not fully evolved from a reptile, so they have lungs. Emperor used to eat only the lungs as a delicacy (LB, any for you?)♥ ♥Famous pork knuckles (for sale everywhere around Zhouzhuang, all claimed to be ‘original’)

Zhouzhuang is made famous internationally by a famous Chinese painter Chen Yi Fei; old bridges, waterways, boats, willow trees lining the walk way. No cars are allowed in the town. However, recent years, the place has become very commercialised with everybody trying to push their wares to tourists visiting the town.

Cobbled street, water ways, boats, bridges are all famous sights in Zhouzhuang

That day excursion was good, not too taxing for Daddy, and we were able to take naps on the bus journey (~1.5hrs to fro).

When we arrived Shanghai, we rushed to the Wang Bao He Restaurant (王宝和酒家). I have a few team members who are located in Shanghai, and my boss suggested we meet and have a team dinner. Since it’s hairy crab season, we went to the most famous crab restaurant in Shanghai, and had the ‘crab banquet’. There were like 12 or more dishes all prepared with something from the crab or to compliment the crab. And the final dish was a hairy crab each. It was a very expensive dinner, costing RMB550 per head. Fuyoh!

These were some of the dishes I managed to capture. The rest ended in the stomach

It was a good meeting with the team members, all of whom I’ve met for the first time.

As for the Hairy crabs, I still find Malaysia’s crab the best! I’m not so much of a crab roe/egg person I guess.

Yes, we went to Penang! Most people got it right. 🙂 Why so soon after the previous? We had to do it before the girls’ birthdays, and I didn’t want to wait till school holiday starts.

We make a trip to Penang yearly before Zara’s birthday. In 2003, I was really worried about history repeating itself when I was pregnant with Zara; my dad suggested that we asked for St Anne’s blessing and protection, and since 2003, we’d been going to St Anne to give thanks yearly.

First stop was of course St Anne. It’s really a nice and tranquil church. Zara had so much fun splashing water from the water tap (St Anne’s water) and fountain, and running around.

We had the bestest dinner in Bukit Tambun. Daddy wasn’t convinced when I showed him Michelle’s post. After much persuation (another Penang colleague also highly recommended this place), he drove us there after our visit to St Anne. For RM70+, we had baked crabs (just seasoned with salt, but so delicious, fragrant or ‘hiong’), fried ‘red lion’ fish, poached ‘spikey clams’, honey baby octupus and a vege. Seriously, that was the best crabs we’d eaten in our lives!

We brought along Tuyam this round. Booked a big family room (1 super King + 2 single beds) in Bayview Beach Resort. A hotel with worn out furniture, and stained toilet! I didn’t dare to have Zaria crawled on the carpet; and when I bathed her, I let her sit on my lap instead of the tub. Blech! We chose this hotel for the price, the pool, and the big L shaped room; another reason was for the beach where Zara could do horse riding. Zara even remembered the name of the horse she rode on last year(Ima), and asked to ride on the same horse.

My girls just love horses!

Everyday, we spent 1st part of the day in the hotel, have long breakfast, let the girls do a bit of horse riding and swimming; and then it was off finding a good place for lunch (we arrrived town at 2pm daily, good food was all sold out!! Hmmph!), and exploring Penang.

Zara befriended an older Australian girl in the hotel, and spent quite a while chatting to the girl. I wonder if they understood each other. Zaria happy to be eating fruits from the breakfast buffet and playing with things on the table

We went to Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion on the 2nd day, but too bad we missed the 2nd tour by 1 hour, so we couldn’t visit the mansion but could only see from the outside. Then it was off to Penang Botanic Gardens.

Zaria dozing at Cheong Fatt Tze; Girls love the monkeys, the stream, the trees and the stroll in the Botanic Gardens

On the 3rd day, we were off to Penang Hill. It was raining cats and dogs once we boarded the tram. Dang! They allowed too many passangers in, so it was very crammed, and most people had to stand. 2 nice local young men gave up their seats to the girls. Half an hour later, we were up the hill, but since it was pouring, we couldn’t walk about and just waited for the next tram down. What a waste of time.

We met 3 Arab men who were really male chauvinists. They pushed passed us to get into the tram first, sat on the seat, and even though I was carrying Zaria who was sleeping in my arms, they didn’t offer me their seat. What more, 1 of them suddenly grabbed Zara, and placed her seated next to him with his arms around her. Zara was in shock, and Daddy quickly picked Zara up and carried her in his arms for almost the whole 30mins journey down.

A glimpse of us in Penang Hill; the girls waiting for the next tram down.

Dining in Penag was really good. We were in Pang Hainanese Seafood Restaurant, along Tanjung Bunga, on the 2nd night. The food was cheaper and better quality than KL restaurants. 3rd night, with DR‘s map, we managed to find the relocated Nonya Breeze and had a good dinner there. This place never dissapointed us, 3 years in a row in Penang, they served us the best nonya food which is value for money. But the best is still the crabs in Bukit Tambun! *drool*

Continue from here.

After 2 nights in Berjaya, we moved to our luxurious room in The Datai on our last day. Yes, that was how I compromised, 2 nights in Berjaya, 1 night in Datai.

I have to say, it’s no wonder Datai is ranked as the no. 2 hotel in Tripadvisor (at this time of writing). The minute we stepped in, they knew who I was (from our entourage I guess); we were escorted to the bar for our welcome drink (luxurious juice and not those run down cordial), and were given cold towels to freshen ourselves; my forms were brought to me for signing.

From the number of people I recorded in my booking, the room was prepared to cater for us. I asked for a cot in my booking, but they did more! One of the day bed has been converted to a bed, and extra bath robes and towels were provided without me requesting. They really look into the details.

The room was very spacious and comfortable; we even got our own Lavazza coffee machine in the room (freshly brewed coffee as and when we wanted!), the service impeccable, and the resort just blends in beautifully with the surrounding rainforest.

Girls chilling (1st top left pix was from Berjaya, the rest fr Datai)

Unlike popular believe, Datai does welcome young guests. It’s just that the main pool is restricted to adults and the young guests have to use the pool at the Beach Club (where the beach is), which is a nice stroll away through the rainforest.

At the Beach Club, beach towels are brought to you, you get ice water served, and also cold face towels delivered. After we moved to Datai, we didn’t go out any more for meals, we just wanted to fully enjoy the service and facilities.

The beach is nicer and cleaner, with softer sand. It doesn’t have the shallow pools like the ones in Berjaya though, but still, the kids have fun.

They don’t have a shallow wading pool or a baby pool, but Zara with her floats on, could be left alone playing in the pool, we just kept an eye on her from a far. As for Zaria, she refused to put on her neck float, and preferred to sit at the steps of the pool just splashing water.

I also have my birthday eve dinner at the Beach Club. Zara was dining for free, but the chefs actually took the trouble to prepare something not in their buffet menu for her. The following day’s lunch, when I was undecided on what to order for Zara, the waitress asked what type of food Zara likes, and the waitress got the kitchen to made her fried rice with ikan bilis (Malay : white baits) which wasn’t on the menu! What can I say about the service?

When we asked for a late check out because our flight was close to 6pm, I was thinking even 1hr later would be nice. The front desk requested for our flight details, and then told us we can have the room till 3pm! What a delight! Snob hotels like Equatorial should really learn from them.

I so regret we didn’t stay there for 2 nights as Daddy had suggested, especially since they are running the Rainforest Promo where the rate is almost half of the published rate. I was just trying to be nice to Daddy’s pocket. *Sigh* By the way, price for local meals in Datai is almost the same as what Bon Ton charges,  I just think Bon Ton is overcharging!

Overall, it was quite a nice trip, except Daddy and I have no time for ourselves, and we seemed to need double of the time to do everything. More time needed for everybody to shower and get ready, more time needed to finish a meal, so, we have less time to go around or visit other parts of the island.

We have to plan for another trip before year end and I wonder if we should bring one of the maids this time.

Thanks to Chanel, many months ago, I booked the tickets to Langkawi when MAS had their RM1 promo. For 4 of us, it was ~RM300 return. Cheap cheap.

Then many years ago, when we were sipping tea in The Datai with my Greek friends, my friend’s hubby vowed to his wife, “If you gave me a daugther next year, I’ll bring you back here, and this time we’ll be staying and not just sipping tea.” Daddy, not loosing out, said the same to me. In deed, we have Zara the following year, so it’s time for Daddy to fulfill his promise. But Datai is so expensive, how to make him pay? So we compromised.

We left the maids at home, and headed to Langkawi, with an active toddler and a beginning-to-be-mobile baby. Brave huh?

We got our car from the airport, a Honda City, 4D/3N for RM240. I just love travelling off peak.

Our 1st stop upon arriving Langkawi was Bon Ton, can you beat it? Nasi Goreng for RM36? Laksa for RM28? .. but we have to say, the environment was nice, although the tables and chairs can do with some cleaning (cat fur and dust everywhere!).

Girls in Bon Ton, padi fields and cow dung just a stone throw away

A close friend sold us her Berjaya room stay for RM50/night. We were supposed to get a Superior room, but when the reception saw Zara batting her eyes we came in a family, she upgraded us to Deluxe, which comes with a day bed, and a king bed.

The Beach around Berjaya is nice and clean, with a few shallow pools where Zara could play in. My only complain is, the property is huge! For you to get to the main hall where everything is, you have to call for a buggy to bring you there. Zara loved it though, she said it’s like a roller coaster ride, since the challets are all located on hilly terrain, the rides to the main hall is very bumpy.

This is Zaria’s first time playing at the beach. She was a wee bit afraid of the waves, but happy to be able to play with sand, and even eat some.

Zara just loves the sea! Even under the scorching sun, she refused to get under the shade. Thank goodness Daddy didn’t mind the sun, so he followed everywhere she went.

Nobody should leave Langkawi without going on the cable car ride, more so if you stay in Berjaya, because it’s just a 2min drive away.

Top right pix : The track which is suspended and linked from station 1, unfortunately is closed.

We drove to Kuah town on the 2nd night, kitchen wear and chocolates were so cheap, not forgetting alchohol too. We just bought some Swiss Cadbury that’s all (I can imagine Shopping Amah grabbing everything from Kuah, and maybe even some Kleenix if she were in Langkawi).

Eating in Langkawi is expensive, even out of the hotel. I wonder if people knew we’re not local, so they really cut our throats. Mantis prawns at a road side restaurant (not beach front or posh) ~ RM60 for 2? We also bought bread and buns from Tun’s bakery, The Loaf, ~RM15 for a raisin loaf, ~RM6 for a savoury bun. Bread is of high quality, but price is a bit steep I think.

To be continued here.

Zaria will be turning 1 end of this year, it means we’ll have to upgrade her car seat from the infant carier to a proper toddler car seat.

Now we have 2 choices :
1) to upgrade Zara’s current Maxi Cosi Priori SPS (takes a child up to 18Kg, about 4yrs old) to the Maxi Cosi Rodi XR (takes the child up to 36Kg, about 12yrs old) which is a booster seat; and then let Zaria have Zara’s Maxi Cosi Priori SPS
2) to leave Zara with her current car seat, and buy another Maxi Cosi Priori SPS for Zaria

The Maxi Cosi Priori SPS

The Maxi Cosi Rodi XR

Both SPS and Rodi cost about the same, but getting a Rodi XR means Zara can sit on the car seat for another few more years, and stretch our money further. The only reason why I’m hessitating to get the Rodi XR is the min weight for a child to use that car seat is 15Kg, and Zara is only about 12Kg.

Unlike most children, Zara prefers to be in a car seat, and as parents, we prefer her to be in one to.  So I don’t think we’ll take her out and place her in the pessenger seat like an adult so soon yet.

 What do you think? Should I go for option 1 or option 2?

WidgetBucks – Trend Watch – WidgetBucks.com

Do you realise as a parent, you always have something to buy for the kids?

The last 2 weeks, I’d bought quite a few items for the kids (and no, they have nothing to do with the mega sales), and got my loot over the weekend.

I met Chanel on Sunday and picked up Zaria’s new Kissaluv and Drybees (washable) diapers together with a set of inserts. I ordered them from Miabambina and got them delivered to Chanel together with a few parents so we could save on shipping cost (I discovered this is called a SPREE from Domestic Rat).

The Kissaluv diapers are so soft and they come in such nice colours! The only thing is, I didn’t know this is a fitted diaper which means the outer layer is not waterproof, so after 2~3hrs, expect to feel the wetness from the outside. Unlike Drybees, the outer layer remain dry even after 4hours of wearing.

I also collected from my best friend’s cousin The Leap Frog Learning DVDs; Badger Sunblock; and Busy Baby Wrap which came from New York.

I want Zara to pick up phonics, and I was hoping the set of Learning DVDs will do the trick. She watched 1 of the DVDs repeatedly over the weekend (probably 5 times in the 2 days) as she really likes it, and started saying, Ssssss Sssssss, Ke Ke Ke, Je Je Je, etc to herself. So I guess, the money spent on this will not be wasted.

The Busy Baby Wrap will make nursing in public easier away from prying eyes. I started with a small nursing cape, but as Zaria becomes more active, she likes to yank the nursing cape when she’s nursing, and have my breast play peek-a-boo with the world. The Busy Baby Wrap material is a bit on the thick side though, it’ll be very warm if I wanted to use it outdoor. 🙁

My best friend got me 2 tubes of Badger Sunblock as birthday presents, it’s a sunblock for the whole family and supposed to be one of the best sunblock available. Domestic Rat had done a very good research on this.

Finally, the biggest item is Tripp Trapp, for Zaria. Daddy was tempted to get an immitation initially, but after looking at the finishing of the fake, we decided against it.

Zara has been using her Tripp Trapp since she was 6 months old, she eats her breakfast, lunch, dinner at the dining table (not away like most high chairs do because of its bulkiness) together with us. She gets up and down the chair on her own since she was very young (how many high chair allow a toddler to do this safely?). Not once, the chair has toppled or fell. Her chair still looks as good as new without any paint chipped. The chair is adjusted every now and then to follow her growth, it’s her chair which grows with her, and she can still use it even when she’s a full grown adult!

Added later :
I forgot to add, in the warehouse sales that we went with Chanel and family, we also managed to get some plastic animal figurines for Zara (RM1 per piece), a real working microscope and statescope.

Have to hold off shopping for a while after this lot. o.O

Zaria has been having this milk rash on her cheeks since she was ~ 5months (as spotted by many readers). The Bud’s Super Soothing Rescue Lotion did help to reduce the rash, but not getting rid of it.

Everydayhealy told me she used Extra Virgin Coconut Oil for her Elizebeth, since it’s edible, she didn’t have to worry if Elizebeth ate it.

I went ahead and bought a bottle of Nui Born Pure Extra Virgin Coconut Oil from Just Life after reading her comment. The oil is expensive, RM120+ for 440ml, but if it works, I really don’t mind.

For 1 month, we’d been applying this on Zaria’s cheek as a ‘protection’ twice a day. The oil is very fragrant, and she likes it, always trying to lick my finger when I’m applying for her. In the night, we continue to apply the Bud’s Super Soothing Rescue Lotion on her after she’d gone to bed.

Using this, I can apply as often as I can, and not have to worry if she licked any off her cheeks. What more, it works! See, no more rash now!

Other benefit of the oil :
~ It contains Lauric Acid (~50%) which is what you find in breast milk, so consuming it helps to boost your immunity, and it’s suitable for infant. (I didn’t let Zaria take it as a supplement though, since I’m still breast feeding her. Zara on the other hand, doesn’t like the taste, so she won’t drink it.)
~ It is readily absorbed into the skin and have immune enhancing and antimicrobial effects (no oily cheeks for Zaria even though we apply the oil neat to her face).
~ It stimulates metabolism, so more energy is burn which may help to reduce weight (I’m taking 2 teaspoons a day, but so far haven’t found myself to be lighter or leaner yet. *bummer*)
There are more benefits than just these. You can read from here or just google to check out the benefits.

Took 1/2 day off to have our passport renewed/updated/done yesterday.

Jabatan Imigresen these days is pretty efficient. I got the forms printed from the website (so you don’t have to pay RM1 for each form used) and filled them up the day before.

Yesterday I brought the girls to have their photos taken (which took a while because they just couldn’t sit still or look at the camera), and then straight to Jabatan Imigresen Subang Airport branch.  

The girls’ many shots before getting the right photo for their passports

We arrived at 11:45am, and didn’t have to wait long. Got Zara’s photo updated (FOC); applied for Zaria’s passport (RM150); and renewed mine (RM300). We left at 1pm with Zara’s updated passport. Zaria’s and mine would be ready by 2:30pm same day, but I didn’t want to wait, so I will have to go back next week to collect.

The counter staff were courteous, and efficient! I think our goverment departments are getting better these days.

I was also very impressed to see this :

A nursing room in the waiting hall! Way to go Malaysia!

Zaria was taking her nap in the noisy living room.
We were playing different types of music so Zara could dance to it.
We had Jackie Cheung blasting one minute, Eva Cassidy singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow next, then Carly Simon’s Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Zaria slept through the noise, not even a stir from her.

We then changed the CD to Vivaldi’s Spring.

We saw Zaria responding to the tune. She opened her eyes, listened a bit, blinked, then rubbed her eyes, and she started turning around, trying to find the source of the tune (the speakers) sleepily. It seemed she’s remembering the tune, which I played to her weekly (I have 7 sets of clasical tune which I alternated daily) with an mp3 player since I was four months pregnant with her. She rolled to her stomach and liistened without moving for half a minute before wriggling about again.

Ever wonder if a babies could recall things that happened when they were in their mother’s womb? I think they can based on this experience.

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Our paed gave me a sample tin of Neslec 1+. I thought I shouldn’t waste it, I let Zara have it on Sunday. After she’d taken a few sips, I stopped her and asked, “This is a new milk mummy is giving you, nice or not?”
Zara replied, “Not nice, old milk nicer. Old milk creamy creamy. New milk taste like mucus.”
I thought she was trying to be funny, “Taste like mucus meh?”
Zara replied, “Yeah, salty salty one.”
I took the bottle from her and had a sip, “Let mummy try.”
True enough, the milk is a little salty just like mucus.

I think milk companies should hire Zara to taste their milk since she has such acute sense of taste and able to describe the taste using lay man terms. >.O

Zaria likes to put her hand in her mouth and she drools a lot; the combination of these causes her cheeks to be constantly soaked in saliva, and therefore rashes formed. Zaria’s rash is pretty obvious in her 6th month post.

It did not get healed or prevented by the Mustela Hydra Bebe Facial Moisturising Cream that Zara used daily; nor the L’occitane Mom & Baby Balm that I was using as a prenatal cream.

On Sunday, when we were shopping, a sales assistant recommended us to use Buds Super Soothing Rescue Lotion on her, her shop was out of stock, so we had to shop else where. At Babyland, I found the cream, packed together with Buds Super Soothing Hydrating Bath Wash and Buds First Aid Lotion, selling at RM79.90. I bought it, and started applying the Rescue Lotion on her cheeks immediately when we got home.

Her rashes clearing

I thought I have to blog about this product because I do see improvement in Zaria’s cheeks. Her rash is definitely clearing up. The product is made with 100% essential oil and plant extracts which is safe for babies. It has a very pleasant scent, and supposed to be very gentle on baby’s skin. It was primarily created to treat and sooth ezema.

I used the First Aid Lotion on my itchy spots, and it helps to reduce the itch too. I tried the Bath Wash and I really like the tea tree scent and the soft and gentle bubbles.

Those who are looking for a good natural baby product, you may want to try them.