My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

Continues from here.

♥June 3rd♥

Woke up to a good day to enjoy breakfast outdoor.

Noordin Mews have little decorations here and there which make the place beautiful. I especially like the glass ornaments dangling from a tree in the court yard.

We spent the morning in the hotel, and then at noon time headed to Pulau Tikus to stock up on the flavourful Kwong Heng Loong Soy Sauce which we like a lot (only available at their shop located outside Pulau Tikus market).

And we found putu mayam being steamed (usually in KL, they are being stored in a metal case loaded at the backseat of the motorcycle of the vendor, and we don’t get to see them being steamed) with water laced with pandan leaves by a road side vendor.

Yums.

Besides putu mayam, the curry puff sold outside a coffee shop next to the market, the soy bean and taufu fa sold at a shop next to the market were also really good (no photos though). Filled with these snacks, we still went to Kedai Kopi Sin Hwa to have our asam laksa and char kuey teow fix.

The Asam Laksa was good, with a strong fragrant of bunga kantan.

The char keuy teow… hmmmm.. wasn’t as good as the last time were were here; not sure if it was because he just started his business for the day when we arrived.

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

After all these eating, we chanced upon a kitchenware shop, and I bought a couple of antiques kitchenware, a 60s enamel bien marrie, a teapot and some teacups.

We then took the long drive to Teluk Bahang to visit the Tropical Spice Garden.

From Tripadvisor:
Tropical Spice Garden is an eco-attraction tucked within a natural valley fronting the Straits of Malacca. The showcase garden houses over 500 species of herb, spice and tropical plants. Explore and discover the fabulous diversity of nature as you through trails and pathways that meander through undulating hills, jungles terraces and natural streams.

Again, the girls have a good time exploring the place with a map each. It’s not really a big place, but with the different terraces, trails and paths leading to different vegetation/plants to explore, we spent the whole afternoon there.

Some of the spices were hard to spot, probably not the season to see them. Can’t recall what these were, but these were easily spotted (they were all labeled, just that I couldn’t remember their names).

Hmmm… Saw this sign, which indicated Ceylon cinnamon, but what was showing in the picture was cassia.

The girls favourite spot was where they left big stone mortar and pastel / grinders and spices for people to try out spice grinding. They tried to pound and mix the different spices to make their ‘magic potion’

My favourite spot? The hammock.

We were glad to find the Tree Monkey Restaurant which were tucked at the far end (or another side of the entrance) of the garden. The cool iced drinks were really refreshing.

The restaurant were named so, probably because of these little cute fellas which were on the trees around the restaurant.

The girls before leaving, did pebble tossing at the pond at the entrance. As the ticketing counter was already closed, nobody was there to reprimand them. o.O

(Tropical Spice Garden, Lone Crag Villa, Lot 595 Mukim 2, Jalan Teluk Bahang, 11100 Penang, Malaysia. Telephone: 604 – 881 1797. Admission for family of 2 adults and 2 children is RM45 for Mykad holders.)

After the Tropical Spice Garden, we have a tough time deciding where to have dinner. I then recalled a recommendation from my colleague, an sms to him and he pointed us to Ah Chui Seafood at Paya Terubong (sometimes called Terubong Seafood too).

Paya Terubong was quite a distant away from Teluk Bahang, but we were glad we went anyway. Oh boy, it was one of the best meal we’d had in Penang.

Zara asked how come the vegetable tasted so nice.

The hubs and I found the stingray to be so fresh and juicy with a spicy sauce which was not too overpowering.

The fried shrimp was soooo good, we ordered another plate.

Of all the dishes, this was the least nice, but Zaria had all the fish paste.

The fried rice which was just fried with egg was very nice too.

At the end of the meal, Zara asked if she could move to Penang to study, so that she can have food like these all the time. o.O

So, of all the restaurant meals we’d eaten in all our trips to Penang, I think Ah Chui Seafood is the best! Penang never seized to amaze us and we always discover something new in each of our annual visit.

Don’t give this place a miss if you ever went to Penang.

(Ah Chui Seafood Restaurant 阿水海鮮, 1238-T Jalan Paya Terubong, 11060 Penang. Tel : 04-8660903 / 012-4103303)

Continues here.

Although Zaria has always been the ‘chili padi’ in the house, of late, we found that she’s getting really good with words, and quick in her interaction with friends/family. Some recent ‘conversations’ :

Early morning.
Me : WHY HAVEN’T YOU TAKEN YOUR GLASS OF WATER BEFORE YOU STARTED PLAYING?
Zaria : (matter-of-factly) Looks like someone woke up with a bad temper today. o.O

The hubs said he wanted to bring the girls out for ice cream since exams is over. Then after dinner he laid down and rested (typical man!)
Zaria: You said you want to bring us out for icecream and now you want to take a nap. What kind of a father are you? You are a very confused father. o.O

One day, I was listening to Jackie Cheung the whole afternoon. I called Zaria to come over for a hug. She looked at me and said, “What? Thinking about Jackie Cheung and having a hallucination is it?” o.O

There’s this really gorgeous looking Osteopath who works on children (adults too), and because Zaria’s gymn teacher mentioned she has a mild scoliosis, I thought of bringing her to see him.
I showed Zaria the Osteopath’s photo, and asked if I should bring her to see him.
Zaria replied, “So that you can look at him with googly eyes when he check on me is it?” o.O”

One day, she asked asked me, “How long more do I have to go for Chinese class.” (referring to her Chinese enrichment class)
I told her forever.
She replied, “So you mean even if I’m old I still have to go is it?
Even when I’m dead, and become a skeleton I still have to go is it?
Even when I’m in heaven I still have to go is it?
Even when I’m stinky (dead body), and have maggots crawling on me I still have to go is it?
Zara added, “Yeah, even when you are a zombie you still have to go.” o.O”

And one day (quite a while back), when I brought her to cut her hair, I asked how short she wanted her to be, she replied, “Up my boobs.” (as if she has any). o.O” But I guess any body would know what length she’s talking about.

Continues from here.

♥June 2nd♥

The last 3 years when we were at Penang, we stayed in Traders Hotel, but decided we would try a smaller hotel this time. Hence we chose Noordin Mews, a small hotel converted from a corner prewar shop lot, which is near Traders.

It was a rainy morning and we took it slow. Breakfast at Noordin Mew is ordered from a menu (not buffet). This is Zara’s.

And I have poached eggs on toasts.

Not deterred by the rain, we walked over to Jalan Kuala Kangsar, where my favourite dry grocer Fook Weng and kitchenware shop are located. Then it was time for lunch, which we had in Nonya Breeze, another must stop every time we went to Penang (even the girls would insist dropping there for at least 1 meal).

As always, the meal was good.

The girls’ favourite is the Inchi Kabin, and the fried mushroom. Zara almost licked the plate clean.

(Nyonya Breze, 50, Lorong Abu Siti, Georgetown, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 04-227 9646)

Before we went to Penang, the hubs had already done some research and picked a few places for dessert. One of them was La Vanille, which serves one of the best macarons in Penang.

The price is not cheap though.

Girls have a tough time choosing the flavour, because we only allowed them to order one each initially.

They sell cake toppers too.

The macarons in fact were very good, instead of 1 each, we ended up having 3 each!

(La Vanille, 122 A Hutton Lane, 10050 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 04-226 4024)

After our macaron fixed, we just thought of walking around Georgetown. The girls were attracted by the exterior of a toy museum, and wanted to enter.

Ben’s Vintage Toy Museum is just a small set up, but with lots of vintage toys.

Some of the items are still in working condition. The girls, after exploring the whole place in 5 minutes, spent most of their time playing this Tomy pinball machine which was made in 198x.

(Ben’s Vintage Toy Museum, 55, Lebuh Acheh, Georgetown, Penang Island 10200, Malaysia. Tel : 014 308 6657)

And by chance, we came across this bicycle shop. The friendly shop owner was distributing Georgetown Street Art map.

Click on the pix to get the full size map

We were wondering how to get around to see all those street art. The girls although can cycle a 2 wheeler, we were not comfortable they ride around the busy town. The shop owner took us to another section of his shop and recommended us Japanese style bicycle with a basket as back seat, and suggested we take 2, so we adult can paddle while the girls sit in the basket. Zara was a bit reluctant, worried someone she knew would spot her in one of these *roll eyes*; but soon she was enjoying herself too.

The price for these? RM16 per bicycle, we took the bicycle at 5pm, the owner said we can return anytime before 7:30pm, and that’s the price!

(Chin Seng Leong Bike Shop, 84, Armenian Street, 10200 Penang. Tel : 0125533553)

So the girls each held a map and navigated, while we did the paddling. It was quite fun, and the girls felt it was like a treasure hunt they were going on, hunting down all Ernest Zachas‘ streetart. And these were what we saw.

For every street art, there’s an unwritten protocol, people just stood away from the art and waited for their turn to photograph or to be photographed.

This is not by Zachas, but still it’s worth a photo. The Chinese writing said, “If I couldn’t fall asleep, the shop will remain opened. If I overslept, shop will be opened late.” 😛

As for this at the Chew Jetty, it’s already faded and almost all gone.

The girls enjoyed hunting down all these street art, as much as we did. In fact, they wanted to do it again the following day, but we didn’t, as hubs thought a Monday traffic in Georgetown would be more difficult to navigate than a Sunday’s traffic.

For dinner, we had heard so much about Tek Sen Restaurant, and it was nearby, so off to Tek Sen we went.

Well, the food is good, but wasn’t like really THAAAT good. Maybe they do better pork dishes.

(Tek Sen Restaurant, 18, lebuh carnarvon, 10100 Penang, Malaysia. Tel： 012-981 5117)

Back to Noordin Mews, girls were eager to see what the house keeping folks did with Fifi. There she was, placed in the middle of our bed.

This is the room we got, with a King bed + 1 day bed which converted to another single bed. I slept with the girls on the king bed, while the hubs slept on the single bed.

As with all holidays, the girls have to write in their journal before they are allowed to watch TV or use the iPad. So they wrote about their ‘adventure’ hunting down Zachas’ street art today.

Continues here.

Do you talk to your children about your ex boyfriends or the relationship you have before you were married?

For me, since my girls and I talked about anything under the sun (the boys they like in school or enrichment class, who they or I thought is 帅 or handsome etc) they knew how many ex boyfriends I’d had before their dad came along.

Tonight before bed time, they wanted to question me about my past. Guess who did the interrogation? Zaria, the chili padi, but of course.
The interesting bits I’d captured :
Zaria : So did you hold Mr Chineeeese Man’s hands?
Me : Yeah.
Zaria : What else did you do with Mr Chineeeese Man?
Me : We kissed.
Zaria : Ptui! Buek! You kissed him? I’m not going to let you kiss me any more. Ptui!
o.O”
…..
Zaria : Where did you kiss him? In the restaurant?? In the toilet? In the shopping mall? Ptui.. UEK!
Me : We don’t kiss in public, Zaria.
Zara : That’s why ma, you shouldn’t kiss me in school too. It’s embarrassing.
Me : *roll eyes*
Zaria : Ptui! Buek.
Me : Why can’t I kiss my boy friend?
Zaria : Ptui! His salivAAAAA. EWWWW… UEK! *scrunching her face up*
Me : Then, can I kiss you dad?
Zaria : At least he’s your husband! Boy friend, girl friend, no kissy kissy! It’s HORRID, PUTRID and DISGRACEFUL. And the least I want to say is, it’s DISGUSTING!
o.O”
(I have to remember to show her this in future, and remind her “Girl friend, boy friend, no kissy kissy!“)

Tenerife might be renowned for its party vibe and full-on nightlife, but not every visitor to this sun-drenched Canary Island is here to party the night away. If you’re after a bit of rest and relaxation on your next trip to Tenerife, check out some of these R&R gems…

Playa san Juan
The lovely little town of Playa san Juan is a laid-back gem in Guía de Isora, on Tenerife’s south west coast. Life is all about taking it easy here, and you can kick back and watch the fishing boats chugging to and fro, hauling in the day’s catch.

Golf del Sur
Even if you’re not into golf, the upmarket resort of Golf del Sur is a great place to kick back and relax. There’s not much of a resort; instead it’s all about the hotels, the views, and the laid-back lifestyle. There is a great choice of swish hotels and apartments here, and if you are into golf, then you’ll be in your element.

Puerto de Santiago
Renowned for its natural beauty, this coastal hotspot is nestled between the resorts of Los Gigantes and Playa de la Arena. The resort has a cluster of volcanic sandy beaches while its neighbours have wider stretches of sand, and you’ve also got the fabulous cliffs of Los Gigantes nearby.

Playa Paraiso
The lovely town of Playa Paraiso is a quiet affair with a small beach and a fantastic saltwater lido, which is really the star of the show. Here you can sit back and enjoy some quality sunbathing, or head off to the nearby resort of Playa de las Americas for a spot of shopping.

According to Tenerife.com Hotels, the island is home to a number of popular resorts and it’s packed with accommodation to suit virtually every taste and budget imaginable. From low-cost apartments and hotels to swish spa resorts and villas, there is plenty of choice for holidaymakers from all walks of life. Which Tenerife resort gets your vote?

♥June 1st♥

We made our annual trip to Penang during the school holidays, as with every year, to visit St Anne’s church and give our thanks for another blessed year.

This year, the hubs wanted a detour to Kuala Sepetang, formerly known as Port Weld, which is famous for mangrove swamp and charcoal factories. As it was not a planned stop, (the hubs just thought we still have time, and exited the highway at Changkat Jering before informing us where we’re heading), we’d done no research and don’t know what to expect. We just parked our car, and walked about. As we just had lunch (if he’d told us where we were going first, we could have saved our stomach for later), we didn’t even have room for the famous mee udang (Malay: prawn noodle), where a few restaurants were serving.

At one of the houses next to the river, we bumped into another family who was trying to gather enough people to hire a boat for a river cruise, and we agreed to join. The river cruise cost about RM60 for 4 of us (adult RM20/head, children RM20/head) for a 30 minutes cruise.

Poooh-weee! We had to put on the stinky safety vests which probably never got washed/cleaned since the first day the boat started operating.

Even with the smell bothering us, it was still quite a pleasant ride. We cruised past the fishing village.

Saw fishing boats anchored at the back of the houses.

And also went pass mangrove forest, with monkeys playing at the banks.

When we were done with the cruise, and walked back to the car, we saw some salted fish being dried. So we bought some as well. It’s very tasty by the way, should you visit this place, don’t forget to buy some of these long salted fish home.

And then we drove just a KM or 2 to get to the charcoal factories. We were told Kuala Sepetang charcoal is considered one of the best in Asia and it’s in high demand in the international market.

Just so happened we arrived at the famous Mr Chuah’s charcoal factory, Mr Chuah was about to end a guided tour to a bus load of tourists, so we joined in as well (tour is free, and to avoid disappointment, best to give Mr Chuah a call before going).

In the factory, there are domes like this which are the kilns where the de-barked mangrove trunks will be ‘baked’ and dried.
Once dried, the ‘door’ to the kiln will be sealed off for the charcoal to cool down for a further 8 days.

There were pile high of mangrove branches/trunks awaiting to be turned into charcoal.

Who, but the foreign workers, would want to work in a smokey environment? They are the ones who toiled for us so we could have our good quality charcoals!

Charcoal are broken into smaller pieces and bagged up to be sold.
We bought a big charcoal log to be placed in the house as deodoriser, as well as a pack of charcoal. 2/3 of it has already been used up since we got home. Verdict : super fragrant barbecue! So don’t forget to buy some home if you visited this place.

(Mr Chuah’s charcoal factory, 34650 Taiping, Perak. Tel: 012-573 9563)

Then it was back to the NKVE and to Bukit Mertajam. The hubs have to drive a bit faster because St Anne’s Church closes at about 7pm.

The ambiance in the old chapel is always very serene and quiet. That’s where we’ll always go to for our thanks giving.

9th year in a row… our yearly tradition of going to give our thanks, and also taking a shot at the front of the old chapel.

And we always wash ourselves at the St Anne’s water, and fill up a bottle with the water to bring home.

We’d never seemed to be able to find a good eating place in Bukit Mertajam. One year, we were looking for this highly rated place Yoong Kee which is located near the Bukit Mertajam market for lunch, but it was closed. This year, we managed to find it after asking around at the market.

The restaurant has been operating for more than 60 years. It’s at a shabby shop lot which you probably won’t notice except for the crowd gathered there.

We ordered 1 fried fish for the girls, and 1 steam fish with plum for us, and a mix vege. The vege, fried with a pork sauce, was very homely. The fish were both very good, very fresh, and well prepared.

The hubs claimed this is the best steam fish with plum he’s ever tasted.

It was a cheap and satisfying dinner (if you didn’t mind the occasional rats zooming under the table).

(Resturant Yoong Kee, Jalan Pasar, Penang, Bukit Mertajam, 14000. Phone: 04-539 8764)

Continues here.

I’m a morbid person. I like to talk about death with the children, just so they know it’s not something to be afraid of, and that everyone goes through it.

Yesterday is one of the rare moment where Zaria has to go for a class that Zara doesn’t attend. Alone in the car with Zaria, we had this conversation.
Me : One day, if daddy and mummy died, of all the aunties and uncles, kuma (姑妈）, yeeyee （阿姨） that you have, who do you think you would want to ask to be your parents?
Zaria : You and daddy both died?
Me : Yeah.
Zaria (thought a while) : Hmmm. I want jiejie to be my mummy. o.O”

Today over lunch. I told Zaria to keep quiet because I want to ask Zara the same question.
Me : One day, if daddy and mummy died, of all the aunties and uncles, kuma (姑妈）, yeeyee （阿姨), ah kim (婶婶） that you have, who do you think you would want to ask to adopt you? Zaria has given me her answer, but I want to hear what you say.
Zara : Who did Zaria pick?
Me : Can’t tell you now. You tell me your answer first.
Zara : (thought a while with her finger tapping her chin) I want to live alone with Zaria. We’ll take care of each other. o.O”

I want to cry just knowing how close these 2 are.

The girls do almost everything together. I’m lucky to be able to arrange that they attend the same morning session in school, go for almost all their extra-curicular activities together. Although they annoy or irritate each other sometimes, most of the time, they get along very well and have a lot of fun together.

Zara has numerous times stood up for Zaria when Zaria got punished. She’s blocked the cane (coming down) that was meant for Zaria, told us off when we scolded Zaria too much and threatened to send her to boarding school (the little one can be a tyrant at times, if you’d been following me on Facebook or my blog), “She’s your daughter too you know.” And it shows by this question, that they do love each other very much.

It warms my heart knowing that their bond is so strong. *wipe tears away* 死也无遗憾咯.

Here is a piece of writing in Zaria’s journal (written end last year). I made her write about her sister, and think about how it would be if Zara is no longer living with us, after they had a big fight, and she said Zara was a rotten sister and asked us to send Zara away.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

We got home from watching Coppelia Ballet very late on Saturday.

The girls fell asleep in the car on our way home. When they got home, both of them have to take a shower before they went to bed. Of course, both were in a foul mood. I helped them by quickly soaping them and rinsing them. While Zara cooperated, Zaria was throwing a tantrum, spitting toothpaste all over the shower cubicle as a form of protest.

After I’d finished rinsing Zaria, when I wanted to get out of the shower cubicle, I slipped and fall. BANG! I was sprawl on the ground. My left upper arm, abdomen, and right thigh hit the threshold of the shower screen, and I lay like that for a couple of seconds. Zara, who was brushing her teeth at the sink, rushed over and tried to pull me up. “Are you ok mom? Can you still walk?”
Although in pain, I stood up and moaned. Zara asked, “Can you still go to work?”
I asked her why she was asking me this sort of questions.
She replied, “Oh, because if you can no longer go to work, we’ll be poorer.” o.O”
She then helped me out of the bathroom.

Now, all these while, Zaria stood frozen in the shower cubicle. When I turned to her and glared at her (I probably slipped on the tooth paste she spat out). She glared back and me, “What? It’s not my fault wut.” and stomped out of the bathroom. o.O”

No apologies, no asking if I was ok from this girl. This girl has very little compassion. *shake head*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And how was the ballet?

Throughout the ballet the girls were talking with their friends (who sat on the same row) and occasionally exchanging seats (until someone at the back went SHHHHH).

While Zaria was interested in the whole 3 acts, Zara at act 3 was getting bored (guess it was getting really late). Making remarks like “When are they going to stop?” (when 2 guys danced). And when they finally did she went “YEAH!!!” and cheered so loud like she was in a football match and her favourite team scored a goal. R-U-D-E!

As for Zaria, when the lead dancer put on white tights and came out dancing she said, “Now I can see his butt which are like two paos and his giant penis.” o.O”

We talked about ambition one day in the car, and Zaria said she’s undecided on what she wanted to be when she grew up.

A vet dentist (yeah, one who will extract tooth for crocodiles) or a florist.

I casually said she’ll need a rich husband to be a florist, as there’s not much income to be made, since not many people give or get flowers these days. I’m the best example! I’d never received flowers from anyone nor the hubs except the time when I had my miscarriage many years ago where I got a bouquet from my Singapore boss who couldn’t visit me personally.

Both girls replied together, “Yeah, except when they are dead! (in funerals)”

Back home, I thought it’ll be a good topic to write about, so I asked Zaria to write “Weird habits people have.” She was not very happy I asked her to write, but she knew she had to do it or she won’t get to watch TV nor have a go at the iPad.

So this is what she wrote (horrid writing because she’s extremely unhappy with the assignment).

Can you make up what she wrote?

There’s nothing more important to consider as part of your stint this summer, than sun protection. What’s the point in booking Neilson active holidays to spend time outdoors if you don’t protect your skin and end up spending the duration of your so-called holiday laying in a tepid bath suffering from heatstroke?

Let’s not forget the long term damage that you could be causing to your skin if you choose not to protect yourself. Even when there’s considerable cloud cover in the sky, you still run the risk of burning which will just put a dampener on your vacation. Being sensible abroad doesn’t mean being boring. Brush up on your sun protection knowledge and take the necessary steps to keeping you and your family safe, this summer.

A bottle of suncream is an absolute essential addition to your suitcase. If you’re travelling with children, specific child-friendly creams that provide higher SPF are also recommended. Make sure you take into account any sensitivity that may exist – children are particularly susceptible to skin sensitivity and may suffer from prickly heat if certain creams are used. Test the lotion on a smaller area prior to your holiday, just in case.

Pack sunhats and sleeved tops to protect the head and shoulders from the heat. Cover up when in the sun and retreat to the shade when it’s at its highest (i.e. during the mid-afternoon).Apply suncream 15minutes before you head outside and reapply at regular intervals (typically every two hours), particularly when you’ve been in the pool or have taken part in any of the watersports activities on offer.

Encourage children to take an active role in learning the importance of sun protection. Teach them how to apply it and what parts of the body are commonly missed (such as the ears, knees and feet).
Sun protection is vital and will help to prevent against skin cancers in later life. Enjoy Neilson active holidays this summer, safely.