Knife Gallery

Jaya Mata knife gallery was right on Jonker Street.  We got free entrance by registering on their site.  It was a fun visit which (to me) wouldn't have been worth the entrance fee.

We are going up to this knife place

JE was in a silly mood which was fine for pictures...

La

And lala

And voila!

Can we bring this home?

The place was small so we took our time to touch ad look at things.  The guide didn't come with us.  She went with a later group and were doing explanations in Mandarin.  That's probably why she didn't follow us as we were speaking English amongst ourselves and she was possibly only comfortable using Mandarin.  The merchandise (knives, nail-clippers, some kitchen equipment, etc) wasn't expensive and we picked up some souvenirs.  Yes the durian knife is one of their best-sellers.

'Inspected' the bathroom and then off we went.

Good bathroom this 

Melaka trip 2022

For the year-end school holidays, we went to Melaka. Just like our previous PD trip, it felt nostalgic as our previous visit 2.5 years ago happened RIGHT when MCO was announced.  When I look back at my previous post, the kids looked so much younger (and cute!).  

This time I didn't bother looking for a place with a swimming pool as they would rather be online instead.  Booked Swiss Heritage as it was available and had parking.  SE complained at first until I had to tell her any more complaints next time she doesn't get to come along!  The place was ok to me - of course not a 5-star, but I am never one to pay a lot for accommodation.  Beds were comfortable and it was a stone's throw away from Jonker Street. 

We are at Jonker Street. Where we are staying :)

We went there on a Sunday.  Made a stop at Baba Charlie first (I found the nyonya laksa so-so only while the onde-onde was nice) then timing was just nice to check in.  I didn't expect there to be a pasar malam but there was. :)  Which was good.  It got REALLY crowded though.  We managed to find a seat to eat our fried radish cake, rojak and various items.  JE got cornered into ordering something by a staff while hubby and me were out procuring other items.  Luckily it was some lobak thing which tasted good.  

Finally found a table

The lobak which JE ordered

SE later totally warmed up to the room.  Here they are playing with the steam on the bathroom door.  Definitely something fishy happening inside haha.

Hehehe

Haircut

Before our helper went home on holiday, one of her tasks was to give the kids a haircut. Well they chose kakak cut instead of going to the hairdresser since apparently the latter would cut too much off.  SE took a before pic...

This is my before

Right after the haircut... wails and tears!  JE's turned out all right so no drama there, but SE.... her fringe is really rather short!  And this girl went on and on and on about it.

1. My hair is SO SHORT!

2. This kakak.  Had to leave me A LEETTLE GIFT before going home.

3. Jojo's is ok but mine is SO UGLY!!

 

Hehe poor girl.  Can't blame amateurs - I'm sure it would have turned out worse if I had been the one cutting!

After oh, a week?, the wailing has stopped.

As you can see, the fringe still needs to grow out.  This pic was at our very first poke bowl lunch which we enjoyed.

Poke bowls are nice!

(nobody mention her hair to her please)

Batgirl

SE went as Batgirl for the school's recent Children's Day (theme being 'Super Heroes').  We have the cape and mask lying around and she paired those with black clothes. No good photos of her in the costume though.

 

This is the back of Batgirl

Put on my watch, kakak

The watch was bought from our Petaling Street excursion.  SE lost it not long after, sigh.

On another note, kakak has gone back to Philippines for her long-delayed holiday.  We will be maid-less for 2 months.  Hoping she comes back as planned!

Petaling Street jaunt

I used to work near Petaling Street, but that was many years ago and I haven't gone back since.  Then the past election weekend, a friend texted that she was in the city centre and the roads were so empty.  Well what to wait for right, some more tolls were free for the day!  Make it an educational trip of sorts for the kids too.

Indeed traffic was smooth and parking was easy to find. 

Here I am at Petaling Street with my blue hippo friend

 

A must-visit was the famous 'mata kuching' drink stall.  Hmm they have replaced the iconic steel bowls  with plastic PET bottles.  Definitely not as fun and the ingredients mostly stayed in the bottle while you drink the liquid.  Only bought one bottle as nobody wanted more.

Taste is ok. No need to get more

The roads are tiled now and there is a roof overhead.  Other than that, guess no big changes.  The stalls are mostly selling T-shirts and other pirated things not so interesting to the kids.  I picked up some foodstuff I used to buy then looked around for Fung Wong bakery (which I know of through Shopee hehe).  Didn't realise it was so hidden. Overall not bad - nice setting, coffee was good, top marks for the egg sponge and kaya rolls, other pastries were ok-ok.

Us at Fung Wong

Still at Fung Wong

On our way back to the parked car, spotted a quaint side road with murals and walked in.  Ah quite a lot of picture opportunities.

Big olden-days scene

Lanterns overhead quite nice

Blue and yellow

Japanese-style

Cute pig alert!

I wonder if there are more of these picturesque streets.  Anyway had to quickly finish up as hubby didn't want to walk in and had gotten grumpy waiting for us.  

Reading?

The kiddos spend a lot of time watching a screen.  I'd rather they intersperse that with reading or other activities.  So weekends I enforce some reading time.

Reading...

SE is the one with a shorter attention span (for reading that is.  No problem staring at a screen for hours).  After a few minutes....

Look a flying dog

Gets shoo-ed back by me to her book and after a few more minutes....

Streetttcchhh

Repeat and after another few more minutes....

  

Fiddling with something

And this is if I'm sitting there in the living room.  If I'm not, there wouldn't be much reading going on.  Oh well, something is better than nothing!

Packing list

Posting on this packing list which I have been using for many years.  At times it was elusive, but it always could be found in time.  :)  Good thing if I have it here on this blog, I can always refer to it online.

It is basically divided into what to bring on the left, and specific items for JE and SE on the right.  JE's doggy was an essential item earlier as was milk power and milk bottle for SE.  Our maid comes along so the list is for an apartment stay.

The red marks were added by JE some years back.  She read the 'JE' and 'SE' on the paper as items as to be brought for the holiday.  And decided that 'Mummy', 'Papa' and 'kakak' were somehow missing.  She helpfully added these to the list in case people forget to pack mummy, papa and the kakak. HAHAHA.  The innocence of little kids.

Packing list

PD food

A last post on PD, on food.  We had enjoyed PD Coconut Shake previously so went looking for it in its new location.  Hmm must now pay parking, no more plonking the car in an available space and popping in.  Somehow the food wasn't as attractive and also rather expensive.  Besides coconut shakes, we got grilled squid, cucur udang (prawn fritters), fish balls, choc-coated marshmallow sticks etc.  Taste was all right, but we decided not to bother with this place in future.

We are the ones who ordered marshmallows! Hehe.

As for seafood, Hao Kee was too crowded our first night there and we ended up at the nearby Ocean Sky.  Hmm it's a halal joint now.  Food was so-so but the kids were overjoyed at the unlimited free ice-cream (obviously not of high quality).

The next night we were heading for Hao Kee again when I spotted this corner restaurant where I think we went before and liked - Hao Yue Shun should be the correct name.  This was it, forget about the rest!  Food was delicious, reasonably-priced and there was so much variety.  Strangely this place has hardly any internet footprint.

Sweet sour crabs, nyonya-style squid, chinese wine kampung chicken, baby french beans:

Quite nice

Had to go again the next day for lunch haha.  This time we ordered yam basket, kangkung belacan, sang cheong (pig fallopian tubes I believe), fish maw Foochow-style.

Not too bad

Bet we could have had more meals there without repeating anything!

On the way home, took away a big lucky bun and bye-bye PD.

Activities at PD

Inspired by our recent Kuala Selangor and Ipoh trips, I tried to plan more activities into the trip.  There was rather a crowd at PD this time though.  We went to the Ostrich farm only to see a long queue at the ticket counter so we left.  We then was a long line of cars going into the Pusat Ikan Hiasan (Centre for Decorative Fish) so we parked at the main road and walked in.  

Us at the Pusat Ikan Hiasan

I always like aquariums and this one was free to enter.  

Take a picture of me and Piglet!

Next stop was Wan Loong temple.  I was impressed how nicely landscaped it was.  Even the Japanese roses were full of blooms. 

Pretty flowers behind us

Koi fishies

Then since it was so near, we messed around the beach and sea.

Our bag of shells!

What is SE is constructing?

Oh it's Piglet Pond!

Hubby said Malays might get offended.  I replied nobody would notice and the waves would wash away the words soon enough. 

Port Dickson trip 2022

For the short Deepavali holiday, we went for a 3d2n trip to Port Dickson.  Almost 3 years since our last trip pre-MCO.  I planned this trip rather late and there weren't a lot of choices for accommodation especially since hubby added 2 criteria - must be near the beach and he wanted a room for himself.  That effectively wiped out a few options and I ended up with Paradise Lagoon again.  Which doesn't fufill his request for "a nicer place".  Too bad hehe.

Our first stop was supposed to be Lucky King Bun, but I set Waze to the Seremban outlet instead of the PD one.  Adoi!  The journey was already long with heavy traffic even without this detour!  Hubby might have noticed earlier except he was dozing while I drove.  Erm then we didn't order the bun after all as it costs RM10 extra to dine in (might have been like this all the while, just that I never noticed).  The restaurant environment was nice enough and SE gave the thumbs-up for this lunch.  Me, I thought the dishes we ordered were just so-so.

This is the giant bun we did NOT order

The apartment unit we took was actually quite nice.  And the block is right by the beach.  During the long months of lockdown, I had looked back fondly at the photos we took on our earlier trip.  So it was nice to finally be there again.  

  

Sand everywhere!

Little girl at the beach...

...with the waves, the sand

 

Eggdogs reappear

SE had another round of exam after the one she scored 18%,  The papers have been returned. Oi! What are these drawings on each paper?!

Small drawings?

Oh no it's the eggdogs again!

She didn't fare too badly on this paper:

Hopeful

Nor this one:

Will not fail again

This paper wasn't done well:

And this one was apparently disastrous:

 Will be meeting the teacher on Report card day.  

Last year of Primary

JE is in Standard 6, her last year in Primary school.  She periodically reminds us of that fact!  Well it's true her merry band of friends will be split up (probably for good) the following school year.  

So she's participating whole-heartedly in any school celebrations....

Day for traditional costumes 

For her 'last children's day' she requested a bigger contribution.  And she also brought home her fair share of the snacks.  Check out her loot!

Junk food galore!

Ah Mah’s birthday 2022

Oh good it's still October - at least this post is still during the month of my mother's birthday.

Lunch was all planned and booked.  Then on the morning, my sis and niece came down with a sore throat.  And my mother decided it was better to postpone lunch just in case.  So sis called the restaurant to cancel reservations.  I was out to get the cake but hadn't stepped into the shop.

Then my bro asked us to join them (everyone except for the people under suspicion of Covid) for lunch since we'd already blocked off the time.  And hubby thinks we shouldn't postpone birthday celebrations.  After a round of calls (while I stood outside the cake shop) we arranged lunch at KD's Little Yum Yum.

Food suited our tastebuds. :) Standouts included sambal petai prawn and gulai tumis grouper fillets. 

Yummy food

Birthday cake appeared after the meal with 7 big and 9 small candles.  Took a few attempts to blow out all!

5 grandkids in attendance

I'll huff and I'll puff

Then 2 weeks later, we resumed the original plan at Extra Super Tanker.  My sis made the cake, food was good.

The whole family

Huff and puff again

So that's how Ah Mah had 2 birthday celebrations for 2022.  :)