My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

It’s loud, it’s proud, it’s Rhodes’ answer to the craziest of clubbing destinations, it’s Faliraki.

Faliraki is the Nicki Minaj of the party rocking world stage. There’s no time for anything a little bit low key. Faliraki is unapologetic, its events are epic, and the weather is just another lovely little perk.

Whenever you travel from May onwards, Rhodes is gonna ensure that you’re bathing on the blue flag Faliraki beach in 30 degree C heats. Thanks to its nifty location on the cusp of the Med and the Aegean Sea, the east coast of the island is absolutely scorching.

And when we say hot, we’re talking FHM and Cosmo Top 10 hot – pack your beach binoculars.
Whether you’re a 24/7 party person, or you prefer to chill in the day in preparation for some massively messy nights on the town, Faliraki is happy to oblige.

Right through from Monday to Sunday, there’s a real weekend vibe in the air in Faliraki. The feel good factor is brimming from the beach to the bars, and everyone’s around for the same reason – to let their hair down and do Faliraki like the sun ain’t gonna rise.

UV and Foam parties, silent arenas, and skool discos – book with a reputable clubbing holiday company and you are in for some seriously sensational shenanigans.

Get on board with the reps and be guided round not one, but two strips. Just in case, you know, one wasn’t enough. Bars such as KGB, Climax and Tropical are where debauchery goes down.

You’ve not done mentally messy until you’ve done Faliraki. It might be the liveliest and loudest of the Euro clubbing scenes, but that’s why we love it, and it’s also why thousands of diehard disco freaks flock back year after year.

How did your March holiday go? We went on a holiday and here are sketches done by Zaria on the places we stayed and the things she saw during the holidays.

Know where we went? Wait for posts which I’ll put up later.

Planning a holiday somewhere exotic this year or next? Whatever you fancy, there’s a magical array of destinations on offer to some of the world’s most beautiful and exotic locations. And what’s more, you can visit many of these gorgeous gems through a package holiday tour operator, which helps to make things that little bit easier.

There’s the dreamy shores of Thailand, magical Mauritius, and glorious Goa – a place that epitomises paradise. Located on the west coast of India, this glorious corner of the world is home to lush green jungles and a fabulous coastline. Florida is another exotic gem and, away from the hubbub of the theme parks and rollercoasters, a visit to the dreamy Florida Keys is an absolute must. Here you can paddle around tiny islands to your heart’s content, bathe in bath-warm waters or enjoy a refreshing sundowner in chic Miami.

Then there’s the heavenly desert-island style beaches of the Maldives, which are like a lost paradise. Here you can sink your toes into powder-soft sands, sit back under the shade of a gently swaying palm, or dip beneath the sparkling surface of the Indian Ocean to explore a magnificent underwater world that’s teeming with marinelife.

Whatever you fancy, paradise doesn’t have to cost the earth. You can find cheap Goa holidays and affordable trips to Florida by scouring the deals online, and searching for last-minute departures. If you look for holidays departing within the next few weeks you’ll find that many packages have had their prices slashed and, while you might not find anything quite as cheap as a budget trip to Benidorm, you can often find some good deals that helps to make things that little bit more affordable.

And what’s more, any saving you make can be put on one side to enjoy when you get there, giving you more to spend on day trips, excursions, or perhaps on those exotic Miami cocktails…

During year end (yeah, this is back dated, but just enjoy the photos), we tried to plan as many activities for the girls to occupy their holidays as well as to use up our annual leave meaningfully. One of the places we went to was Farm In The City, located in Sri Kembangan.

We took a family package, which came out to about RM98 (if I recalled correctly) for 4 of us, and then we added another adult ticket as we brought along Minerva, our helper.

The girls love it! It’s better than the zoo (animals are not caged up), or Sunway Petting Zoo. The animals are healthy, and the girls get really close to the animals.

Check out the photos, and have a look at the variety of animals visitors can get close to.

Feeding a big gigantic tortoise.

The birds we saw were more interesting than that found in the KL Bird Park, and what’s better than being able to get so close to them. Touching them, feeding them, seeing them perform tricks etc.

Beautiful bird.

Parrot being fed by its handler via the mouth

Getting a chance to feed the bird, and the girls get to pat it.

Feeding a colourful pigeon

Girls feeding the birds, although they were a bit afraid of being pecked.

White peacock

Beautiful bird

Pigeon

The children were able to get close to the animals, observe them, photograph them and touch them.

A cheeky ram standing on its hind legs when being fed vegetables.

They had lots of fun feeding this huge buffalo with the park ranger.

They spent a lot of time feeding the rabbits, carrying them, petting them. If it wasn’t closure time (and the rabbits have to be returned to their hutches), they would have stayed there forever!

There’s a drain like stream filled with ‘longkang fish’ (Malay : fish drain) for visitors to try to fish them with a net.

Friendly park rangers were stationed everywhere to help and assist visitors.

We got to feed some lemurs too (the monkeys found in Madagascar cartoon), but they were very shy and quick to dash off after they got their food.

There’s a chicken hatchery to see newly hatched chickens.

I thought the girls’ favourite would be patting the rabbits, but the best has yet to come!

At the end of the farm, there were some smart and well-trained macaws waiting to be fed seeds, carried around, and Zara liked this part the most.

The parrot giving its handler a kiss.

This naughty one kept trying to pry off metal from us. It tried to peck off my bracelet, and then when Zara handled it, it tried to peck on Zara’s glasses frame.

Farm In The City is absolutely worth a visit. Another place the girls want to go again and again.

I do hope they keep up the good work, and continue to keep their animals healthy.

One insensitive and uncivilized parent, sent his/her very sick son (feverish + watery eye) to Chinese enrichment class for 7 years old, the same class that my 6 year old (I still call her six year old because she’s just turned 6 in Dec 28th 2012) goes to.

Maybe the parent didn’t want the son to loose out in that 1 lesson.
Maybe the parent didn’t want to ‘waste money’ paying for that 1 lesson that the son would miss.
Maybe the parent didn’t even know the son was sick to begin with.

Anyway, she/he sent the son to class, and at least infected 2 children in the class with the boy’s virus. One of them was Zaria, the other Zaria’s classmate who also goes to the same enrichment class.

Zaria had fever and conjunctivitis.

And because I looked after her the time when she was ill, I caught it too.

And because Zara slept in the same room as us, she too caught the germs!

8 freaking trips to the clinic, 1 trip to the hospital, 2 blood tests done, 5 types of liver poison antibiotic prescribed (only 4 reluctantly consumed), numerous eye drops and cream, 1 IV antibiotic, anti-inflamation syrup/pill, and etc etc (which we didn’t bother to take);

Why? All because some stupid and insensitive parent decided his/her son could go for class and infect other children with his sickness!

It took Zara 6 days to stop the fever, me 5 days, and Zara 4 days.

I’d never been this ill for a long long time. The last time it was this bad, it was when I got a very bad case of UTI, and had to be hospitalised, and this happened before the girls were born!

Even Zara told me, “Going to school and doing homework is better than being so weak!”

May the parent get cursed with the evil eyes too! At least he/she should have it for 2 weeks! That’s how long the germs his/her son passed to us stay with us!

If not, let him/her get some chili padi juice into his/her eyes accidentally for many times! (And if he/she didn’t eat chili, onion juice then!)

Zaria had a fever, and it’s very hard to get her to take her medicine.

Zara drew this to remind Zaria what antibiotic is for.

Mind the spelling but I think it’s a good one.

In the cruise industry, ‘last minute’ generally refers to snapping up a deal for a departing cruise that
sets sail between several days and a couple of months in the future, giving excited adventurers the
element of spontaneity and the chance to head out onto the ocean waves without so much as a
second thought.

With the magic of the Internet providing a plethora of offers, including the luxurious decks of Grandeur
of the Seas and many other Royal Caribbean cruises, at your fingertips, 2013 is a perfect time to be a
little spontanious and go for it.

Last Minute

Keep an eye out for sailings heading out to sea between 60 and 90 days in the future, because this is
usually the timeframe that passengers having already booked, can cancel without charges.

Be aware that chances of a peak time last minute deal at rock-bottom prices is fairly unheard of. Be
prepared to sail out of season to realise the best possible savings. There’s no need to worry about a
less than perfect trip as out of season for some destinations can still mean a fantastic climate and jam
packed itineraries – just do some research online.

Repositioning Cruises

Look out for repositioning cruises which can sometimes offer some fantastic bargains because of their
very nature. These can often mean a longer sail, sometimes across whole oceans, to get to their new
homeports. Weigh the cost of the ticket up against the airfare home and you could walk away with a
superb deal.

Accomodation Flexibility

Be as flexible as you can. You may not be able to get a premium cabin type on a cheap, last minute
deal, but should weigh up the discounts on offer for the less desirable accommodation – inside berths
or obstructed views for example. Read the small print fof every offer you see, so that you know
exactly what to expect and are aware of any hidden charges that may exist.

Most of all, be spontaneous and you could have the experience of a lifetime for less with a Royal
Caribbean cruise.

After 2 days of super bad temper, she wrote this.

http://mytwogirls.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/apologies-card-from-zaria.jpg

Zaria : voiceMummy, this is not about my bad temper ok. Just to tell you something.
After reading,
Me : You know, love is not about writing.
Zara : Yeah, it’s about your action.
Me : You see, you scratched daddy until he has a scar. What happened if he got gangrene?
Zaria : How do I know, because I’m not a doctor.

SkyTrex Adventure is the girls’ new favourite. They claimed Kizsports and Jungle Gym are too kiddish and lame for them and SkyTrex is more fun (adventurous). o.O”

Located within Malaysia Agricultural Park, it provides outdoor adventure activities suspended from tree. For the girls, they are only allowed to go on the Little Adventure Challenge.

We booked our tickets online (to avoid disappointment, it’s advisable to book on line), the best time slot of course it’s 1st thing in the morning, but we had something on and got the 1:30pm slot instead.

We collected our tickets at the entrance of the Malaysia Agricultural Park (you still need to pay the RM3 entrance ticket to the park, since SkyTrex is located inside), and then took the shuttle to SkyTrex.

The first thing they got us to do is to sign some disclaimer forms. o.O”

SkyTrex Adventure Name Tags for Crew

Then we were sent tp get our safety harness, where the crews put on for us, and for the children, they actually lift them up to see how secure the harness has been fastened on them.

We had to go through some basic training, and being taught which is a carabiner, which is a pulley, how to use them, how to read the sign on each adventure to know when to use a pulley and when to use a carabiner etc etc.

Then we have to try out what we’d learnt on the training trail.

Zaria was first to go on the training trail.

And trying out her carabiner.

After that, it was time for us to go on the adventure challenges ourselves. We were given 2hrs to do as many adventure challenges within Little Adventure.

Although whatever we do are pretty safe due to the harness, some of the challenges are quite scary, like walking on wobbly rope which is suspended from tall trees etc.

And for Zaria, we always have to be close by as some of the supporting ‘railing’ and ropes are too high for her to grab on to.

The girls favourite? All the flying fox challenges, although it seemed quite frightening in the beginning.

When they got the hang of it, all they wanted to was to go on the flying foxes.

WEEEEEEEE!!!

It was FUN! And I’m sure we’re going back again!

P.S. Rate for Little Adventure is RM 35.00 per session of 2hrs. For other courses, the min height is 140cm.

(Oh well, this happened during the school holidays and I’m not going to let it pass just because I’m so bogged down with work and hence late.)

Being a member of a facebook group, I get informed of workshops/organised visits suitable for children, one of them was a visit to Rhythm & Hues office in Cyberjaya, and to attend their Claymation Workshop.

I was lucky to get seats for my girls and one of their friends on the Dec 17th session.

So who is Rhythm And Hues? What do they do? From their website :

Rhythm & Hues is a multiple Academy Award®-winning film production studio specializing in visual effects and computer animation for feature films and television commercials.

Founded in 1987, Rhythm & Hues has been singled out as a leader by virtually all the major competitions that recognize excellence in computer graphics. Continuing to push the boundaries of the digital frontier, Rhythm & Hues has a globally distributed production infrastructure, with additional studios in Los Angeles, Mumbai and Hyderabad, India and Vancouver, Canada.

Some of their famous work and achievement in Visual Effects : Life of Pi, The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, Happy Feet, Babe.

I took a day off and accompanied the girls. Their office in Cyberjaya has an Africa theme, lots of wood, African native masks and figurines decorating the place. They have a music room, entertainment room and a nice pantry for staff to chill out. We were not allowed to take photos of the office, but I tell you, it’s a cool place to work at.

We were in their conference room, and the children were given a walk through of what Rhythm & Hues does, the children get shown the computer generated visual effects Rhythm & Hues did on some of the movies like Life of Pi, Alvin and The Chipmunk etc.

We were given a tour of the office (lovely place, and I’m envious of the employees), some breakfast snacks to enjoy at their pantry (generous helping), and then it was time for the highlight of the visit. The Claymation Workshop.

The children were taught how to create claymation (clay animation), i.e. by moving clay pieces slowly and taking photo of each movement.

And then they went on to form teams to create their own project. There were 4 people in the girls’ team, the girls, Zara’s BFF and Montesorri Mum’s daugther.

Zara and her friend as well as Montesorri Mum’s daughter rolled the clay, and formed the characters.

Zaria coloured the back drop, and then fell asleep. o.O” (Later I realised it was because she was about to have a fever).

I was the photographer who took the photos while they moved the objects around. After 1.5hr, this was what we created.

The organiser picked the girls’ team as the winner, with the nicest video made. As a reward, they each got a big Life Of Pi posters.

Now the girls know how animation is made, how visual effects are added to movie. The other day I overheard Zaria telling her friend (when her friend mentioned that Life of Pi is a very scary movie because there’s a big tiger involved), “There’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s just CG.”