2 biggest news that hit the nation a week ago which affected us Malaysians :
1) Bersih 3.0 Rally
2) Nayati Moodliar’s missing

I was planning to go the Bersih 3.0 Rally. Daddy who didn’t want to go was ‘supportive’ of me going, but with a warning, “If you get locked up, just don’t expect me to bail you out ok?”
The girls, especially Zara, asked me what a rally is. Explaining to them in the simplest form, i.e. protesting, gaining support for something they believe in is a rally. Giving them an example such as if they didn’t like their parents forcing them to eat vege, and they know vege is not good for them, they can do a rally in the house. Carrying cards, “NO MORE VEGE”, and shout slogans to get other children to support their course and try to influence and change us.
Zaria, half understanding half not, said, “I want to go to Bersih, because I want to get clean!”
Zara, getting some ideas some of the things that can happen during a rally, told me, “If you are going, just come home safe ok?”

I didn’t go eventually. Because I didn’t have a gang of friends who’s going, I’m too afraid of heat, and a rally at 2pm? I may faint under the sun in the crowd. I’m too chicken.

But I was touched and moved. By how so many Malaysians were driven to join in the rally for a better Malaysia; how a rally of this size could be organised without any of our government controlled TV/newspaper/radio providing any coverage/lobbying. This is People’s Power.

credit : Facebook News

I’m still catching up on the Berish 3.0 stories and photos as I’d been down with food poisoning which lasted for a week. One of the photos that I like best is this by Hugo Teng

The other news that affected nationwide and wordwide is Nayati Moodliar’s abduction, near his school early morning on 27th April.

If a 12year old boy can’t even walk to his school a few minutes away from his home along a busy road, how should I ensure my children’s safety in this city? How protected should I be of them? These were all crossing my mind.

I was checking (a lot of us were doing this world wide) the facebook page that was set up for him frequently for updates; worrying for him, feeling the pain and anxiety that the family must be experiencing; no parents should have to go through what his parents have gone through.

May 3rd, 6 days later, Nayati got home. What a wonderful news to know that he’s returned home safely without any harm.

Here is a video of him taken a few days after he got home.

I joined Melaleuca recently as member, and started switching to their product for most of the household items, including the girls’ shampoo. While most of their products are good, I find the Herbal Shampoo which came highly recommended, too rich and too overly scented.

Now, I’m not sure if this was the cause of it, but after changing the girls to the Herbal Shampoo for about a month, I discovered a couple of ‘crusty’ patches on Zara’s scalp, cradle cap like.

There are 2 patches above her ears, and she’s scratching them frequently. Crusty, scaly, itchy, and when scratched, there’ll be scaly flakes coming off.

It fits the description of seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp from here :
~ Red, oily skin covered with greasy white or yellow scales
~ Yellow or white scales that may attach to the hair shaft
~ Patchy scales or thick crust on the scalp that may be easily removed
~ Patches usually confined by hairline
~ Itching, which may be severe

I used to have this after I’d given birth to Zaria. Probably due to hormonal changes. And I had a bigger patch. For a whole year, I’d tried different shampoo, bought over the counter, organic, prescribed by the doctor, but nothing worked. I have to stop wearing black because it was very embarrassing, a slight scratching would create an avalanche of dandruff.

After a year of searching for a solution, I finally came across something that worked. Kaminomoto Medicated Shampoo! After using for a few weeks, the itch on the scalp stopped, and slowly, the skin healed!

With Zara, initially, I thought maybe she has not rinsed away the shampoo properly, and the residue has caused this. For 2 weeks, she continued to use the Herbal Shampoo and I rinsed her hair for her. No improvement; and the spots were still very itchy and flaky.

Then I started her on the Kaminomoto Medicated shampoo. Sure enough, after a week, the ‘crust’ thinned out, and within 2 weeks, the 2 spots have cleared. Thank goodness! I don’t see her scratching her scalp fervently any more.

This is something I would like to recommend to all who has dandruff or seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp. It has worked for both Zara and me. The only problem is, it’s not available in Malaysia but you can get it in Singapore.

Nowadays, I alternate this with another shampoo of my choice, just to keep the scalp healthy.

As for Zara, I’d moved her back to a kids’ shampoo from Buds, and stopped the Herbal Shampoo from Melaleuca totally. I’m now stuck with the remaining 1 liter of the shampoo. Sigh.

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!

After seeing the Testimonial Print ads (as mentioned in my previous post), I went to search for Anmum Essential during our weekly shopping at Giant.

First thing I did when I picked up a box was to check the Nutrition Information. Carbohydrate per serving is 11.8g, which is the natural sugar level (as the experts mentioned). My next question was, since it’s confirmed added sugars free, how would it taste like?

There was a very friendly promoter from Anmum Essential that day. She had some tester, so she gave me a small serving to try.

Taste wise, creamy, with just a hint of sweetness, and the best part is, I didn’t taste the ‘metalic’ taste and smell that comes with other Growing Up Milk (GUMP).

The girls were not with me, so I wasn’t sure if I should purchase a pack since the girls are pretty particular with their food and drinks, so I asked if there are samples which I can bring home.

The friendly promoter gave me a pack of Step 3 sample (meant for 1 to 3 yrs) since she only has that. When I asked her if Zara being 8yrs old this year is too old to drink Step 4 (meant for 3yrs and above), she started relating her experience to me. She has a 20year old college going son, and he is drinking Anmum Essential as well. According to her, he likes the taste, and mainly he thinks drinking the milk helps him to concentrate better when he studies and when he sits for exams. She thinks it’s the Gangliosides and DHA at work. Interesting. Therefore, Anmum Essential Step 4, should be suitable for both Zara and Zaria.
Once I got home, I made a glass for the girls.

And what did Zaria think?

Taste wise, yums! According to her.

Zara who originally didn’t want to try, took a sip, and asked me to pour some for her as well.

She said it’s nice, and the best is, no smell! (She complained previously that the Growing Up Milks (GUMPs) we were giving her has a revolting smell)

So both the stakeholders are happy with the taste.

Anmum Essential. Here is a milk we do not need to make any compromises. I’m happy it’s packed with advanced nutrients for brain such as Ganglisides and DHA, with absolutely no added sugars; the girls are happy with the taste!

To parents out there, you should not have to compromise in your choice for growing up milk for your children. Why should you accept advanced nutrition which comes with a lot added sugars when you choose certain type of growing up milk?

As in the advertorial, Karen Chong mother of 2 daughters like me, who worries about her children consuming too much sugar, was introduced to Anmum Essential by a friend. She does not want to compromise on nutrients for her children’s drain development. She switched to Anmum Essential and has been recommending Anmum Essential to other mums in her playgroup.

Suzanne Hamzah, after seeing the Amnum Essential television ads about no added sugar, consulted her doctor and decided to make the switch. Her son, even says it tastes ‘nice’, just like my girls.

So many real mums have made the smart choice in switching to Anmum Essential, and I have too.

As if prompted by the search I was on for a suitable Growing Up Milk (GUMP) for my girls, I saw the Testimonial Print ads on Star last week.

This was the ad shown.

Knowing that all the GUMs in the Malaysian market has lots of added sugars (I’d tasted a couple the girls used to drink, they are SWEET!), the ‘Tanpa Gula Tambahan’ (Malay : No Added Sugars) caught my attention!

I read further and realized this is the New Anmum Essential. It is a new concentrated formulation with 100% more DHA, and absolutely no added sugar! Finally, a milk with all the nutrients but without the added sugar and calories!

This really got me! I’m going shopping soon, to get some Anmum Essentials.

Meanwhile, I’d joined the Anmum Club Page on Facebook. It’s a Page which you can find parenting knowledge from other mums. Their Mum Knows Best is like a parenting forum to share and get experiences and tips around nutrition for growing up children.

The videos that I shared in my previous posts were all from Experts who shared their opinions on sugar in Growing Up Milk (GUMP). I watched a couple of them when I was waiting in Mediklinik TTDI Jaya via the Queue Channel.

Thanks to technology, we can find all the related videos on youtube as well.

These videos are mainly trying to educate us as consumers on added sugars in GUMP, and asked us to make informed decision when it comes to choosing the right GUMP for our kids. You should definitely take a look at these if you are interested in doing what is right for your children when choosing their GUMP.

Here is a print ad from MOH (Ministry of Health) that was in the papers which also talked about similar points mentioned in the video.

Two very interesting points that I picked up from this MOH print ad are:

As per Malaysian labeling guidelines, all sugars are declared as part of carbohydrate, which includes sugar, sugar-rich ingredients and digestible glucose chains (e.g. sucrose, corn syrup, glucose syrup and maltodextrin) – all declared as “Carbohydrate’ in the Nutrition Information Penal)

1) Added sugars can have many different names. Corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids and sucrose are all added sugars.

2) Be aware that products claiming “no added sucrose” or “sucrose free” could still contain other types of added sugars.

Not to offend any brands of GUMP, but now, when you next pick up a pack of GUMP, be informed that even the MOH says that corn syrup solids, sucrose and glucose syrup solids are added sugars. What does this mean for some of the GUMPS that have made certain claims about their formulations?

MOH also says ‘no sucrose’ doesn’t necessary mean ‘no added sugars’. What does this mean for certain GUMP that has this claim on their packaging?

So far in the market as far as I can tell, Anmum Essential is the only growing up milk powder that really has no added sugars.

Do make informed decision on your next purchase of GUMP.

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.

Continues from here.

♥Dec 5th – Rain♥
We planned to do sight seeing today, taking the Pingxi (Pingshi) Railway Brunch Line (平溪線鐵路) which will bring us through sleepy mining towns which are famous for sky lanterns. Alas it was raining!

We thought since we’ll be taking the train, maybe we can still see some sights and with some luck, the rain might stop, so we stuck to our original plan.

After breakfast (of ham and cheese sandwitch, the standard breakfast Windsor B&B offers), we took the bus from Jiufen to Ruifang station, bought ourselves a Pingxi Railway all day pass (平溪線一日週遊券), which is TWD52 for adults and TWD26 for kids. The pass will allow us to hop on and off the train at the various stops along Pingxi Railway Line.

Despite the rain, the spirit was high.

We chose Qingtong (Chingtung, 菁桐), the last stop on the Pingxi Raiway Line as our first stop.

The rain was quite heavy, so we only managed to walk around the station. Spotted a pagola hung with lots of bamboo wishes

We dropped by a restaurant across the station, thinking of grabbing a quick bite. However, there was only 1 person working there, and he took time to make the drinks as well as cooked our pasta, making us miss our train. We had to wait for more than an for the next train.

In the rain, we really couldn’t do much. We had to kill time in the small station.

Zara did drawings after drawings (she’s well prepared).

It was pure time wasting. By the time the train arrived, it was turning dark. We decided to go to Shifen (Shrfen, 十份). Our last stop. The rain was even heavier, but since we saw some sky lantern upon arriving, we went to search for the location where they were releasing the lanterns.

There were lots of shops along the rail way track providing such servies. You can purchase the lantern, write your wish on it, and then they will help you light it up so you can release it. We saw some Korean getting theirs done. .

3 of us getting back to the station (that was how we travelled the whole day)

We didn’t stop at Pingxi, and headed back to Ruifang for a simple roadside dinner (asked around and were told there was no restaurant near the Ruifang station), then took the bus back to our B&B in Jiufen.

It was a wasted day in my opinion due to the rain. Hmphh!

♥Dec 6th – Drizzle♥
The rain has subsided to a drizzle, which was good news to us. As we planned to go to Jinguashi (金瓜石) a small town notable for its historic gold and copper mines, about 10mins bus ride from Jiufen.

After breakfast, we checked out and left our bags at the B&B and then took the bus to The Gold Ecological Park (黃金博物園區) at Jinguashi.

The park has several attractions. The first we went to was The Japanese Style Residence (四連棟) which housed Japanese officials during WW2.

The Restaurant at the Park to is themed. It’s called the Miner’s Canteen. You can get Miner’s lunchbox here, which is pork rice in a tin box with a set of cutlery wrapped in a scarf.

We had something Western. Nuggets and smiley fries for the girls.

Spagetti with a kind of watery pesto sauce (quite unlike our pesto) for Daddy.

Horrid testing sesame chicken mee-sua (wheat noodle) for me which I didn’t finish.

To give visitors an experience of being in an actual mining tunnel and understand the working conditions underground, the old Benshan Tunnel No 5 (本山五坑) was opened to public. We paid TWD50 to get a miner’s experience.

First you put on the hygience cap,then the hardhat.

Listened to some instructions then off we went to the tunnel.

Then it was out for more adventure.

We have our hands on Gold Panning (淘金體驗) as well for TWD100 per head.

The Gold Ecological Park has huge grounds, and pretty scenic, with an old rail track serving the tunnels.

(Little one trying to hold her breath when we wanted to take a photo of her)

What we missed was entering the Museum Of Gold, which you can actually touch and try to lift a 220kg 999 pure gold ingot.

The surrounding area of Jinguashi is very hilly.

There was a nice cafe around that area, but becasue it was quite far we gave it a miss.

Instead we have dou-hua/taufu fa (豆花) instead at the park.

It then started to rain again, by the time we got back to Jiufen, it was pouring. Our plans to go to Keelung (基隆) has to be changed. We headed back to Taipei instead.

We decided to have a nice dinner, and selected a restaurant recommended by my guidebook.

Upon arriving at the Zhongxiao Fuxing (忠孝復興) metro station (where the restaurant is located), the girls were so happy to see all the various art works at the station.

3D art work showing all the famous Taiwan Snack.

They were so attractive, Zaria requested photos to be taken.

The restaurant Sashimiya, better known by its Chinese name, 三四味屋, was a good choice, as the whole family loves Japanese food.

Here are some of the things we had. Chinese Yam (山藥) chips.

Girls love the chips!

Fried prawn.

Grilled chicken wings (for the little one, a chicken fan)

Grilled Onigiri

We were back at Li Yuan Hotel for another 2 nights stay.

To supplement my earlier post, I have a few Videos to share from the experts who recently visited Malaysia discussing the disadvantages of added sugars in GUM (growing up milk).

Professor Peter S.W. Davies

Here is his 1st video

It’s a myth where parents assume children need a lot of added sugars for energy and growth. In fact any form of added sugar (Corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids and sucrose) when consumed by a child, those extra calories may simply convert to excessive body fats and may contribute towards later overweight and obesity.

Here is his 2nd video

As a guideline, the World Health Organisation say we should keep added sugar intakes to less than 10% of our total calorie intake. So for a growing up milk for a 2 to 3 year old child, that’s not really many calories to put aside for added sugar – only 150Kcal or less than 7 teaspoon per day maximum.

Dr John Monro

Here is his 1st video

There’s natural sugar level (lactose) of 11g-12g per serving in children’s milk, anything above this can be considered added sugars.
Do check the ingredient list for added sugar ingredients.

Here is his 2nd video

The nutritional definition of sugars represents more than just mono- and disaccharides because the body digests and metabolises things like corn syrup solids and glucose syrup solids just like sugars and they give rise to sugars immediately in the body.
Added sugars include Corn syrup and glucose syrup solids.
To give yourself a guide to the amount of added sugar, look at ‘carbohydrate per serve’ in a growing up milk powder.

Here is his 3rd video

He reiterated the fact that looking at ‘carbohydrate per serve’ is a good to give us a guide to the amount of added sugars in a growing up milk powder. Anything higher than 11-12g for ‘carbohydrate per serve’ is added sugars.

In short, all these videos are asking you to learn to recognize the different names of added sugar, and make sure you are checking the nutrition information panel of the growing up milk you are buying.

(Continues from here)

♥Dec 2nd – Drizzle/飘雨的台北♥
My collague, Teresa, came to the hotel to meet us. Somehow, Zara and her ‘clicked’, and the rest of the day, they were glued together (oh well, Teresa was looking after Zara for me).

Because it was drizzling, our plan of going to the zoo has to be changed. We went to the National Palace Museum (故宮博物院) instead which was packed with tourists who came in bus load.

Zara showed lots of interest in the artifacts, reading the didactic to learn more about them, not Zaria though.

However, both were intrigued by this longish painting from 1085-1145, which is 528cm long capturing the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital. It’s called Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河圖).

You can view the animated River of Wisdom, to see why it’s so interesting for the girls.

(No cameras are allowed in the museum, so no photos of the artifacts)

Teresa bought us a simple lunch at the Museum Cafe (delicious!) and then we went to Shinkong Mitsukoshi. The Taipei Station branch there was having an aniversary sales, and I don’t know why, I didn’t buy anything even with the good discount. o.O”

Teresa bought us dinner as well in Shinkong Mitsukoshi, and got the girls some presents. The girls said Teresa took care of them like their Gu-ma(姑妈), and called her their Taiwan Gu-ma. o.O”

In the night, after we parted with Teresa, we went to Shida Night Market again (師大夜市) since it’s so near the hotel.

Trendy boutiques to cater for university students are every where. This one has some rocking horses at the shop front.

Another funky shop.

The display window.

Bubble tea is sold everywhere, this one has miniature samplers.

A nightmarket can’t do without some stalls selling food. This old man was burning grilling some corn.

Eww. Pig’s blood cake.

Tangyuan (Glutinous rice balls) shop where we had 2 bowls of tangyuan from. Maybe because they do tangyuan with pork too, the sweet tangyuan we had tasted a bit porky. o.O”

♥Dec 3rd – Sunny/放晴♥
After a day of drizzling, it was sunny. Lucky for us, because we’d made plans to meet up with my collagues at Bali (八里), a seaside town near Tanshui (淡水).

We took the metro to Guandu (關渡), one of my colleagues, Iris, met us there, and then together, we took a cab to To House (兔子餐廳), and met up with the rest of my collagues.

To House (八里兔子餐廳) is a theme family restaurant with a compound housing lots of rabbits.

Healthy looking rabbit in To House.

Besides rabbits, there are other animals too, i.e. Parrots.

There’s also a pig!

Girls spent the whole time petting and feeding rabbits. Coming in only to have their lunch. Leaving me lots of time to catch up with my collagues whom I was meeting for the first time.

Deco around To House.

We left the place only at about 3pm with Iris, we took the bus and went to Bali Ferry Port.

The Streetfood, mainly selling seafood, around the Ferry Port, attracted lots of customers.

Salted eggs are supposed to be famous here as well.

And in Taiwan, Stinky Tofu is sold everywhere.

Guess what? We didn’t buy anything from these stalls, except a stick of squid cake. We were too full from lunch, and I didn’t feel good everytime I wanted to get something, Iris rushed to pay.

We took a short Ferry ride to Danshui.

Over at Danshui, it’s the same, food stalls are everywhere and each one of them were very crowded.

This is the famous Amah’s sour plum drink, but we didn’t really like it.

Danshui street.

Catching the sunset is one of the main attraction, but the evening was gloomy.

Girls found a new game of throwing pebbles into the river.

Riverside Living Statue.

There are lots of streetfood available too.

As the only pork eater at home, she has the honour of having a stick of famous Taiwan grilled sausage.

There are grabbing game machines again.

And other games.

Once we got to the Metro station, Iris, left us to run her own errands.

Outside the metro station, we caught a puppet show.

Lottery icket seller outside the Danshui Metro Station.

Busker crooning Jacky Cheung’s hit.

We had BBQ buffet dinner at Danshui before taking the metro back to the hotel.

To be continued.