Ipoh Trip 2024

We hadn't gone to Ipoh for a while.  Made a trip there the last school holidays.

When the kids were small, I figured they'd enjoy holidays enough without us (actually me since hubby never minded spending!) forking out for expensive hotels.  Now they are big enough to appreciate luxury and we adults are less hardy, time to splurge a little.  

Booked Haven at over rm700 a night (shy to say this is our most expensive accommodation to date!).  Put a picture from the net first... the setting was beautiful.

So glad the rainy weather cleared up enough for us to go to the pool, which was the highlight of this hotel.

Hello from the heated jacuzzi!

From the infinity pool

Hubby normally chills by himself in the apartment.  This time we managed to persuade him to come into the pool.  

  

Hello from all of us! 

(still in the heated pool)

I loved the nature setting of this place.  There was a private trail of 15-20mins easy walk.  

Sign says do not feed the monkeys

The booking listing wasn't the clearest.  It would have been worth the higher rental if our balcony had faced the magnificent limestone hills. 

The apartment itself was nice, spacious.  But as reviews mentioned, it was not super clean.  SE found a potato chip fragment lodged against the coffee table leg when we arrived and kept harping on it.  The next day after housekeeping... the chip was still there.  

My favourite thing... the Coway water dispenser!  Hot water, cold water at the press of a button!  No need to even boil water!  Hehe.

Mummy made me stand here

But we agreed the place wasn't worth a return visit.

Balloon Bunny

Another balloon post.  I'm impressed by these crop of clowns who can make figures different from the usual ones.

A special one please

I really like this Bugs Bunny!   It's so big too.  SE... not so much.  She was wracking her brain on what to do with it.

I got this bunny

I do not like it

Hold it Jojo!

She managed to farm it off to a random small girl.  And spent the rest of the visit looking out for that girl, so that she could quickly escape in case the girl tried to return the bunny.  HAHAHA.

Oh ya SE wears specs now.  A few years (I count a total of 5 years) hiatus from the far-sighted specs she started to wear at 4yo. 
 

18th Anniversary

Hubby and I don't always celebrate our wedding anniversary.  Earlier years maybe, later ones... even I sometimes totally forget.  It has been 18 years, how time flies!

Just a quick post to remember... We tried out Iberico Kitchen this year.  Yeah of course with the 2 kiddos.  :)  

Ribs, pizza and other pork dishes

Check out these piglets!

Food was all right, wouldn't bother to return.  I was quite excited to see Chloe.Co on the same row.  We popped in after lunch for cake, cookie and crombolini.

Just a snack

Food also all right - a little pricy and not that great.  Also a 'wouldn't return'.

At least we checked out two new places.  :)

Ah Mah’s birthday 2024

My mother turned 81 on 18th October.  Happy birthday!  

We had Thai food this time.  

Food from Jatujak Bangkok Street Food

I particularly liked the prawn cake, pork rib in broth, pandan chicken and salted fish cabbage (making a note for future meals heh).  After dinner was of course, the cake!

Many candles!

With the family...

With 7 grandkids

Total of 8 adults, 7 kids

After that, the adults took the chance to chat and catch up.  The kids disappeared, although we could clearly still hear them.

Hey go away

They finally appeared with this masterpiece - their own drawing of the family picture!

Ah Kong had gone to get some rest.  But the merriment went to him.  :)  

Hahaha hehehe

The noise when looking at the drawing and trying to figure out who was who... haha.

Happy birthday to my beloved mother!  Many good years behind, and here's to many more good years ahead!

Crotchet for Jimmy

SE's monkey is called Jimmy.  SE crotcheted this thing which she intended to be a ghost.  It happens to fit Jimmy very well as a hat.  :)  

Jimmy with hat

The head fits in snugly. 

Side view

Back view (yes Jimmy has a pink butt)

 SE has added eyes and cheeks to the 'ghost' now.  Jimmy still loves it as a hat haha.

Balloon Unicorn

SE likes to get balloons when she sees them being given out.  Some of the clowns are pretty good at this.  It used to be the run-of-the-mill shapes like sword, gun, flower, hat, dog,  For this one, SE asked for a unicorn.

Kissy lips

Did you get the lips?

Another kiss. Bye!

She didn't like it much.  Me, I give it top marks.  It has a mane and wings - love the colours too!

Swimming again

Marking this time when SE was able to resume swimming.  We used to go every weekend until the visit to the doc in Dec 2023 when the doc immediately ordered no exercise, and especially no swimming.  The following weekend, and the ones after that, I went alone.  With a feeling of sadness when I requested 1 towel at the counter instead of 3.  JE (the lazybones) took the opportunity to opt out of swimming as well - but SE later said this made her feel that JE was supporting her.

All that in the past.  On this day, I requested 3 towels again.  :)  :)

Mini historic event hehe

70% there

SE was regularly going to the doc about the anorexia.  We learnt a lot initially starting Dec 2023 but subsequent visits weren't much - basically progress (i.e. weight gain) wasn't up to mark, need to do more and to see her again in about 3 weeks.  Then in mid-April 2024, there was one appointment where I couldn't make it. The nurse normally calls before appointments but this time she didn't.  I was wavering whether to make a new appointment or not to bother until SE's weight was ok.   That's how the long gap happened.  We finally went to see doc again in Sept 2024.  I was totally expecting to be reprimanded for not taking her there earlier.

Surprisingly, things went well.  Doc said congratulations, SE was 70% there already.  She could be allowed physical activities.  And next visit in 3 months only, woohoo!

Only thing was medication was to be continued.  Oh well we shall get there.

My own assessment:

1.  Weight - good at 37kg

2.  Constant exercise - don't see this already

3.  Diet - needs improvement.  Her regime had been too-healthy food like plain yogurt/boiled eggs and she is resistant to 'fatty' foods like fries/cake/ice-cream.  She is still wiping sauce off food.  But the progress towards normal eating IS happening.

4.  Behaviour - out from the previous withdrawn shell of a girl and back to being herself.  For this one I am super thankful.

OK, dinner time!

 

Lantern festival 2024

The kids wanted to do a lantern walk again this year.  We adults were happy to indulge them, the more celebrations the better!

Ordered food (since poor Ah Kong is still not feeling up to dining out) from Jeff Lee Kitchen.  I've wanted to go there for a long time - actually arrived there once but left upon seeing the long queue.  Got their specialities - roast duck, pork ribs, steamed chicken, paku salad etc.  The funny thing was... my parents had eaten there A FEW times.  Deja vu hahaha - this joins other places my siblings and I had wanted to introduce them to, only to find they'd long checked out the place with their group of friends.

Food was ok, probably better if eaten piping hot at the shop itself.

First get rice for everyone...

After dinner, it was mooncakes and then lanterns.

Lantern walk begins!

Just us and our lanterns

 A nice slow walk then the kids started playing with candles outside the house (no eye see).

Crotchet

A few months ago, SE had a school project to sew up a pencilcase from a kit.  It was simple work to sew together the provided material.  SE.... kept coming to me to rescue the thing, having sewn the thread any old how.  It seemed impossible a person could repeatedly make mistakes but... there it was.

Fast forward.  She wanted to learn crochet.  With the pencilcase situation in my mind, I had inner doubts.  If ever anyone was all thumbs, this was a prime candidate.

Anyway, let her pick a yarn colour from Shopee.   

For months, she crochet-ed and unravelled, crotchet-ed and unravelled.

Finally, there were some results.  And one day....

Tadahh!

I was impressed!  Told her to turn the moomin to the side for a side pic.  Cheeky one turned her whole self...

Side?  Hehehe

All clothed

A bonnet and a dress!  I am seriously impressed.  :)

(No, I don't crotchet.  My only contribution besides buying the yarn, was helping to untangle the said yarn. Numerous times.)

Drinks not Food

While she has moved on from her tiny-eater underweight childhood days, JE is always more interested in drinks than food.  And the Mummy is someone who doesn't order drinks (unless it's coffee) if she can help it haha.  So JE gets drinks when the Papa is there, or when it's somewhere with special drinks, where even I am slightly interested.

Iced yuzu matcha

I have a drink!

Yes to drinks!

She buys only drinks at school recess time too, not food.  Must check whether this is my kid HAHAHA (oh wait she did come from my tummy). 

Ah Kong’s birthday 2024

My father turned 82, happy birthday! 

He was still feeling poorly from spine surgery though, and preferred not to go out as he cannot sit for very long.  So food was tapao-ed... Nyonya-style dishes from Little Yum Yum.  We like the cooking from this place.

All our favs

Sis made the cake...

Cake-cutting

All together now!

Happy birthday to Ah Kong!

The kids all got together and made him a card.  It's a drawing of things and experiences they associate with Ah Kong - in the center, the birthday cake.  Then around: his chair, his mug, him sleeping with Ah Mah beside touching his tummy, him reading to SE when she was 5 and various others.  Some need the individual artist to explain haha.  I thought this card is a very good idea!  It's drawn on A3 thick paper and is pretty large.  Currently it's stuck to a room door.

Birthday card for Ah Kong

It is my fervent wish he will get better soon and be able to do the all things he enjoys without having pain.  The spine surgery was in March.  He felt less pain soon after and we'd heaved a sigh of relief.  However later on he started having various pains all over the body.  :( 

Sekinchan Day2

As usual I would wake up first in the mornings.  SE is easy to wake and doesn't take long in the bathroom.  Hubby is easy to wake as well but needs the bathroom longer.  JE is HARD to wake and takes AGES in the bathroom.  Hahaha.

Creepy moomin/piglets are watching JE sleep

One of Sekinchan's attractions are now apparently these props.  These pics are from our accommodation compound but we drove past another such place.  Saw cars driving in dislodging people whose sole aim was to take photos with these.

If only the paddy fields were GREEN or golden YELLOW hmmffff.

Me and my mummy

Staircase to nowhere

The most green patch of paddy

We had shark porridge and stir-fried shark for lunch at Jiann Chyi - it was pretty good - before heading back home.  OK lah, it was a pleasant short trip overall.

Sekinchan No Paddy

Had a short trip to Sekinchan recently.  Conclusion.... I GIVE UP on catching paddy in season! EVERY single visit, someone decides to harvest the paddy right before I go!  Gngnnggnnnn.  OK story anyway.

The plan was a seafood lunch at Sekinchan, but traffic was heavy and we would reach lunch late.  At the moment, regular meal-times are very important for the sake of SE's 3-meal-3-snack program. Spotted this place, checked that it had good reviews on Google and u-turned to it.  

Let's check out this place

Well it was all right, nothing to shout about.  There was a butterfly farm a few doors away but they kindly told us that since it was raining, the butterflies would be hiding.  So we just had drinks to wait out the rain before proceeding to Sekinchan.

Our accommodation was this ex-swiftlet nest building called Padi Sentral:

We sleep with the birds!

I rather like the industrial style of the place - bare walls and little frills.  The floor was constantly very sandy - though it could have been us tramping the sand in!

Me and my pets shall take this bed

Looking out the window now... SIGHHH.  I had expected to be surrounded by lush paddy fields.  After I had diligently done my research beforehand on harvest season too.  Bleahhhh.  

Mummy's very annoyed about the paddy

Rested a bit then it was off to the regular touristy haunts - Grandma's house, Paddy Museum, the beach.

Actually not my grandma nor her house

Peace and love

My animal

Piglet done, Moomin-pig otw

SE says it's her and Mummy

We left the beach when it got dark.  We settled on Seafood D'bendang for dinner.  It got pitch dark and hubby was worried I'd drive into a paddy field hahaha.  Well I had Waze and was more worried about the late hour with SE's program in mind.  We were so glad to finally see the brightly-lit place - what an oasis in the darkness!  Food was slow but tasted pretty good once it did arrive.  

Tummies filled, it was time for a restful night. Ahhhh.