Saturday, December 15, 2007

An evening at the Pavilion

The earlier half of the day was spent in Lanson Place. We woke up at around 9am (Jay Jay let us sleep in this morning) and trooped down to breakfast at the cafe after feeding and playing with our son.

Alan and I then decided to be disciplined and send the clothes for washing. We lugged the brimming basket of soiled clothes to the laundrette on the 12th storey and loaded two washing machine-loads of clothes to be washed. Then we headed next door to the TV-room to catch The Holiday on HBO. Ahhh Jude Law was gorgeous... and his British accent, oooo I like! But Kate Winslet and Jack Black?? Abit... tah match?!?

When the clothes were in the dryer, we went back to our room to start packing up. Oh, by the way, we will be moving to our new home in Mid Valley area on 6 January! So begun our wrapping of all the breakable stuff and stuffing them into boxes. We saw the likes of photo-frames, tea light holders, aromatheraphy burners, and all our beautiful fridge magnets being packed and put away.

The apartment in Mid Valley is much bigger - 1800 sq feet. There will be more room for two pesky lil fur balls as well! And I will be able to cook happily there and do all my baking as the kitchen is big. There is even a backyard to put the two dog cages and they provide a washing machine as well - no more paying 6RM per wash load!!!

Anyway, after everything was done, we showered and took off for Pavilion to catch a movie. Alan took the roads less travelled and we got there at record speed.We chose Warlords - a Chinese movie with 2 yandaoz and 1 old man (Andy Lau, Takeshi and Jet Li respectively) at 640pm.

SHOPPING was next on the list! We hopped in and outta many different shops in search of a nice sweater for Alan and saw some buyable ones in CK, Amarni Exchange etc. I also chanced upon a MANGO sale but as usual couldn't find anything to buy there.

Dinner was settled at the food court and it was a good choice! Food Republic gave its patrons many different options and we chose Taiwanese food tonight. *Smack Lips* A relatively tasteless pohpiah was added to supplement our diet. Then we hurried into the cinema (not before buying a regular popcorn again).

The movie was alright but the scruffy-state of the hunks left abit more to be desired. I cannot understand why the actress was cast as well as she isn't your usual oriental beauty. Oh well..
It was almost 9pm when we stepped out of the cinema and again stepped on the accelerator to get home to feed the starving son (after tucking into a New Zealand icecream cone each).

Friday, December 14, 2007

Does 1 Utama Beckon?

Today is Friday! YaY. Hence begins another weekend of leisure..since when are weekdays not of leisure too? hahaha.

I think we are going to 1 Utama today. I wanna replenish my stock of clay to continue generating the Bear Clan. haha. I will also look out for clay modelling instruction booklets. Maybe can make dogs, cats, etc. More fun! I love Arts & Craft and I am glad I finally have a chance to indulge. ;) It sure beats marking the mountaineous mock exams anyway. bleah. THAT I will NEVER miss.

Anyway, the posting for the JC entry is out and apparently the JCs have risen their standards again. What's with the world man? ;p It's another month before the O Level results will be released as well. Hope all of them will do well :) *pray pray*

Alrightie, I'm busy packing (happily) for Singapore. hahaha. Will update whenever. :D

Evening:

Yes, indeed we visited 1 Utama and had a fruitful time! Today's main motive was to purchase winter wear. Having heard the traumas of visiting Hokkaido in freezing (-15 degrees celcius and below), Alan and I decided to invest somemore to equip ourselves fully.

We ventured into some shops and within ten minutes of having parked the car, Alan had bought me a lovely sweater for 89RM. At another, I bought a t-shirt and a top for mummy. At yet another shop, I bought a demin jacket with a green hood for 89RM too. Original price 149RM. Alan also purchased a thick woollen sweater and a scarf for mama both of which were on sale. :)

Hunger pangs struck after the buying was done and we decided to be adventurous and try a newly-opened Chinese restaurant called Canton-I. The beautiful decor was one-of-a-kind and we started our ordering spree - two bowls of pig inards porridge, 2 egg tarts, 2 salted egg custard buns, 1 chicken feet and 2 glasses of hot soya bean milk. Ooo La Laa... sounds like a feast again yeah? hahaha.

As we were tucking heartily into the delectable dishes, suddenly the lights went out. We were silently glad that we had been served all our orders so we could still tuck in albeit in the darkness. hahaha. After approximately 15mins, the lights came back on, just in time for us to call for the bill.

Ridden with guilt again for abandoning our puny son for an exciting day out, we headed back to Lanson to feed and play with JayJay.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

The movie-watching Chambermaid


I love my Gucci!


JayJay, unlike Ash, loves to drink water


I'm teething, excuse me!


Me n my fav (n only) bearbear.

I absolutely forgot how traumatic it is to pick up after dogs. ;p hahaha. I wish all dogs came with their own dog $ht picker. hahaha. O well. Once Ash comes to live with us (in feb) there's be twice is much to pick. hahaha. Laogong, can we get a maid pls? ;)

Today, I decided to be more independent and go watch Enchanted alone. After cajoling, pouting, begging, The Husband was not willing to spend 140mins of his time on something as frivalous, preferring to indulge in gore, frights and death. So thus, I took a taxi in the rain to KLCC to watch my first movie alone in KL.


X'mas tree inside KLCC

I arrive at 415pm and hurried to the queue. Because it was still early, it was still not very long and it moved quickly. I purchased "Enchanted" at 445pm and then went to walk around before the show started. Ahhhh KL is on sale because of X'mas and I excitedly hit the shops to burn some time before the show started.



I almost purchased a pair of shoes on 50% off but they did not hv it in my size. I roamed around somemore with my trusty Nikon and then went to queue to enter the cinema.



The ceiling of KLCC - nice yea?


Enchanted unfortunately, did not leave me as the name suggested and I thanked the heavens above that I did not subject The Husband to such painful torture. I was very tickled by the squealing chipmunk though. ahahhaa. I think he stole the show.

I met Alan and his colleagues at 7pm at the foodcourt for a quick dinner. The Yoshinoya set dinner (beef don and a bowl of miso soup) cost us only RM8.90! And the beef, unlike in Singapore, surpassed the rice in terms of quantity!!

Then, it was back into the cinema (this time with a packet of popcorn-sweet) to catch I AM LEGEND. Quite a heart-stopping show and heart-wrenching at times too. But the ending left much to be desired. No spoilers here - go catch it. ;p

After the movie, overcome by guilt, we rushed back to the apartment to feed and play with Jay Jay who had been alone for the whole day! Poor baby!!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A Sleepy Wednesday

Woke up to the sounds of Jay Jay whining at 815am this morning. Oh dear, the lil' pup's gonna prevent me from sleeping in every morning already ;p He squeals and whines alot and is quite an attention-seeker. He hates to be locked up and loves to be let out and able to run around the house. I have almost stepped on him a couple of times yesterday and today - he is so very small!

Went out for lunch with the Husband just now and we headed to the Chinese Village to eat the steamed fish again. Today we even had a bowl of (RM6!) wanton soup to accompany our steamed fish and stir-fried veges.


Now I am stoning in the living room and fighting the sleep bug. Soothing music's on to lull Jay Jay into a slumber.. but it's working on me too!

In the evening:
It was late when Alan knocked off and fought his way through the congested roads. And since we were still brimming with all the Omega 3 from lunch, we decided that dinner would be a late affair. It was 745pm when we hurried to Hock Choon (which closes at 8) to pick up some necessities and some wants. We bought baby wet wipes for Jay Jay, some honey to make hot drinks with and also a packet of Vico. Vico is the Malaysian version of Milo. Very chocolatey, very Milo! Di Que Mei Miao! haha.
Then Alan brought me to the Japanese restaurant which he always dined in alone when I was not around for a light meal. I had Salmon porridge which came in a claypot and he had a sashimi set. Healthy and delicious. My porridge was very comforting as it was drizzling outside and very chilly. (Sorry no pics. Didn't bringt Nikon out.)
We then went home to watch Mr Brooks on DVD - weird and boring show. ;p

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Jay Jay is Home!

Alan and I were very disappointed as we were told that we could not fetch Jay Jay home yesterday due to various reasons. However, we went to visit him at the pet shop and also shop for his barang barang. We came home with a cage, some toys, towels, a wash basin to bathe him in etc.

1630 hrs

Jay Jay is home and sleeping soundly in his lil new home. :D He is a soft, fluffy ball of fur. Very active when awake but he falls asleep easily. He also squeals a helluva lot and just peeed on his towel in his cage ;p Hence begins my trauma of being his chambermaid for the rest of my life! *curtsey*

Anyway, enjoy the photographs taken at Petsmore, on the way back home (he was seated in the volvo's drinks compartment - YES he is THAT small) and at home. hahaha. We, new parents, are trigger happy! I'm cooking dinner at home tonight so that we don't have to dine out and Alan can spend more time with his second son. Ash, Daddie & Mummie love u lots lots too ok? We'll see u soon!








Monday, December 10, 2007

Our Thai Weekend Whirlwind Escapade

7 December Friday

DAY ONE

Even though this would be our fourth trip to BKK together, Alan and I were full of anticipation.

We roused as early as 430am to shower and get ready to leave for the airport to catch ourf flight to the exciting land of Bangkok! The taxi-driver was early and waiting when we lumbered down with an empty suitcase and he sped us to the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) in KL , an hour's drive away.

Arriving at LCCT, we were greeted by a mass and mess of people who were all waiting to board different Air Asia flights to various destinations. We joined the queue with the longest people (of cos, knowing our luck) and waited for our turn to check-in. The wait was long and painful and it took all of our patience and most of our sanity to finally reach the counter. By then, our flight AK 880 was almost about to leave. We hiked up our jeans and made a wild dash for the departure gate, only to be greeted by yet another queue. There were no allocated seats for the plane ride and Alan and I were lucky to be seated side by side. Hence, begining our Thai weekend rendezvous!


We arrived at the beautiful BKK airport and checked out of the immigration with much-appreciated speed. After claiming our baggage, we proceeded to have our first meal of the day in the airport. Alan's favourite sticky rice with mango (he berated me for buying only half a mango instead of a whole) and rice rolls wrapped with pork and shrimp were on the menu and we munched on them thankfully.



Why you buy only 1/2 a mango?

The taxi ride from the airport to Paul's (my brother-in-law) apartment in Soi Langsuan 55, Fraser Place was a mere half an hour away and we got through that admist soft snores and gentle nods of our heads. After paying 350baht for the ride (with a 10baht tip the driver initiated for himself), we check-into #29-03.

The interior of the apartment was as lovely as the exterior and we explored the two-bedroom unit with relish and excitement. The decor of Fraser Place is very modern and classy and the facilities provided were state-of-the-art. :) Very nice, Paul!



After freshening up, we left the apartment for Part One of the Itinerary. We made our way on foot to the shrine of the 4-faced Buddha (our main purpose of coming to BKK) and gave thanks for a very wonderful & eventful year. I asked Alan whether he wanted to release some tiny sparrow-like birds caged up and sold outside the temple (More Birds, More Luck- to quote the Indian girl from the American Express advert) but he said no.














Asking for Blessings from 4-faced Buddha

After that, we went to Alan's favourite tailor near Siam Paragon / Novotel Siam Sq and Alan made 4 new pairs of pants (claiming that his were all worn to bits). We dined next door to the tailor at a very popular restaurant Alan had eaten before in. Ahhhh.. The delicious fried fish, chicken wings, Pad Thai, Thai mixed salad, fried pork, and two sweet, young coconuts left our bellies bulging and mouths grinning.. Mmmmm YUM!






Tailoring his pants

Next, we treated ourselves to a fabulous 2-hr traditional thai massage at our favourite HealthLand Spa at North Sathorn Road, St 12. Our aching muscles were kneaded and treated like they belonged to a Thai SEA Games long distance runner who had just won the gold medal. All for 450Baht (Approx SGD $22.50) per head. I LikE!

The Lobby of Healthland Spa
After that rejuvenation, we were raring to go and hopped into a cab and scooted to Chinatown to meet Paul for a much-anticipated dinner at T &K Restaurant, Chinatown. Ahhh.. Let me recount the menu: Sharks Fins soup, Fish Maw Soup, Steamed fish, BBQ huge prawns, fried morning glory (KangKong). *chomp chomp* Too bad I was still reeling from the after-effects of lunch and could not stomach alot. But I washed down dinner with a bowl of birdsnest to ensure long-lasting youth and beauty. hahaa. *excuses, excuses*


After dinner, we headed to Suan Lom night bazzar and made a beeline for the petshops. Ooooo.. There was one REALLY happening pet shop at the fringe of Suan Lom and so many pretty lil pups were inside. We ordered a Gucci and an LV bed for Ash and Jay Jay and bought our 2nd son a cute lil jumper. Then, we proceeded to comb the streets of Suan Lom.


Nothing much to buy but we made home with a cute lil paper mache giraffe I had seen approx 2 years ago in Malacca and quite afew doggie clothes. hahaha. Then, because we were quite stoned from waking up so early that morning and the travelling, we decided to head back to Fraser Place for an early night. A Feast !












The Spoils of my Victories

8 December Saturday

DAY TWO

After a light bf at the restaurant at Fraser's, Alan and I headed to ChaTuChak for some shopping. Both of us hadn't been there in years in avoidance of the human congestion and the heat but we decided to give it a shot!


Does Alan look like a rapper from hell? Artificial Fruits

Just after alighting from our cab and barely having stepped foot into the bazzar itself, I had already purchased 2 pairs of earrings, one t-shirt and 3 caps for our Japan trip. hahaha. Alan and I were astounded and beaming.
This time round, although the human traffic was bad, it wasn't that congested and the heat wasn't that overbearing. We kinda went CRAZY at the animals zone and cuddled many a pup. The doggie clothing sold there was even cheaper than that at Suan Lom and of cos, not to miss out on a good bargain, we BOUGHT SOMEMORE LORH! ahhaha. Jay Jay has a suitcaseful of singlets, sweaters, jumpers, t-shirts etc etc. Ash has a couple too! It was a bit sad to see so many animals all squeezed into cages or being fondled by many hands and suffering in the heat. Very cruel. There were some squirrels tied to the cages too. Lil tiny rabbits in cages. and I even saw a small lil' bat. ;p



We bought many artsy stuff also and some candle holders for our new house in Mid Valley. Of cos the knick-knacks were irresitable and I saw no point in even attempt to justify my purchases because of the cool exchange rate. 1 SGD = almost 23 Baht.

Lunch was at ChatuChak itself, in a fancy but mosquito-infested airconditioned restaurant. I had tasty red duck curry with rice noodles and Alan had a plate of bland horfun. With that sustenance, we were energised and dived back into the snaking narrow alleys of ChatuChak with gusto!











Fresh from ChatuChak

Approximately 5hours after we arrived, we sadly bade farewell to the ChatuChak and headed back to Fraser Place to dump all our spoils of victory. Then we went to the tailor for Alan to try on his pants and then we had dinner at Siam Paragon. The X'mas festive cheer was in the air and there were many people taking photographs of the exterior which was ablaze with many lights. There was even an ice sculptor of a bear/ rat / dunno-what animal!

At the foodcourt, we had our favourite Kaya toast, Taro toast . Very fulfilling! We added on my favourite rice roll (pork) and had some hot milo to complement the dinner.














Then off we went to Suan Lom Night Bazzar. But this time we took the BTS (mrt). The stupid woman (see pic below) at the information counter gave us the wrong information and we had to buy another ticket and take another train before we finally got to our destination! Terrible service! BLEAH!












How to go to Suan Lom kup?!?














On Our first BTS ride in BKK.

We reach Suan Lom successfully in approx half an hour and made a dash for the the cute petshop to pick up our Gucci and LV. haahha.
On the way, I quelled the urge to buy the artificial muffins/scones/buns. O god, they looked so real - they were even FLUFFY!
We ooohhh and ahhhhhed at the two schnauzers in the play pen in the pet shop and comtemplated buying the play-pen itself and shipping it to malaysia. Thank heavens we decided to forgo it - it weighed a tonne!

Then it was off to be treated like a King and Queen again by the sincere and giggly professionals at Healthland. Tonight, we opted for a 3hour pampering - 1.5hrs of traditional thai massage, 0.5hr of herbal heat compress and 1hr of foot reflexology! All for 1000Baht (approx SGD $50) / head. *drools* ok ok i will save for a rainy day! promise!

9 December Sunday
DAY THREE


BF at restaurant in Fraser

We got up and faced the prospect of going back to KL moodily. Then, deciding to make the most of the time left in sunny BKK, we gobbled down our bf and headed to MBK to do MORE shopping. I did my manicure and pedicure for a cool 500baht and we found the cute arty shop which I always buy nice paper and stickers and post-it pads for my students. However, Alan reminded me that I had no more students to buy pressies for already so I promptly put back the cute lil note pads I was planning to buy. hahaha. *occupational hazzard*

We had lunch at the foodcourt and our beefballs were swimming in salty beef stock and the strands of thick beehoon accompanying it could be counted. I was berated by the cleaner for taking photographs in the foodcourt. Wonder what's the rationale behind that rule?
We also wondered why Thais seem to feed like rabbits and as a result, our dessert was a small waffle each. Mine Almond, his Raisin - both tasted alike! Then we went to buy some foodstuff back for our parents - dried longans, porkfloss chips, cashew nuts etc..




We scampered onto the cab which brought us right to the doorstep of Fraser and we spent the next hour showering and trying to squeeze all our purchases into our now-minute suitcase and the extra handcarry bag I had had the foresight to bring.
The check-in counter for our flight AK 887 had not even opened yet when we arrived at the airport at 4pm. We ventured off in search of a light lunch and chose Black Canyon Coffee cafe. Like the name suggested, the coffee was great whilst the
wanton noodles soup and shrimp vermicelli that Alan and I had for lunch made us grimace.


Surprisingly, the plane took off only five minutes behind schedule at 605pm and we arrived at KL LCCT at 905pm, groggy and exhausted but not without a sense of exhiliration at how fulfilling our weekend had been. We definitely will be visiting BKK again SOON, right laogong? heee heee heeeeee.