I'm HOME :)

5th Feb 2008 (Tuesday)

We took the 855am Singapore Airlines back home. Ahhh... Felt really great to be back, even though we've only been away for merely afew months. Of course, the taxi fare was excruciating (compared to Malaysia), even though I stay so near the airport.

Ash gave us a great warm welcome, elated to finally see his parents again. *sigh* I don't wanna leave him here in Singapore... :~(

Abit stoned but not wanting to waste precious time sleeping, we left for Tiong Bahru market to surprise Alan's dad at his Harriann's stall. (ahhh.. an advert here - guys, if you wanna try the famous ondeh ondeh (many exciting flavours available such as chocolate, yam or the original) or the gluttinous rice (sweet or salty or both), pls head right down to Tiong Bahru Market level 2~!! Oh yah, during Chinese New Year there is a great variety of cookies and kuay sold as well. Home-made and delicious!

After greeting Ah ma and daddy at the stall, we gobbled down the Loh Mee (with shark) for lunch and then went off to Chinatown to our favourite foot reflexology place for a massage. I had half an hour of back rub and half an hour of foot reflexology. Painful and scarring. I emerged with two badly bruised shoulder blades and the disappointment of not being able to wear all my tubes and bare-back clothing that I had bought for the new year! hahaha duh right?

Next on my list of decadence was a US facial at Body Wellness. Alan sent me down to Winsland House 1 at Killiney Road whilst he savoured even more sinful pleasures in his purchase of his much-coveted D300. hahaha. To each his own.

Two hours later, my dead pores were all faithfully scrubbed away and I emerged with a new glow, befitting my status as a taitai. We headed back to Daddy's place for a home-cooked meal by Gina.

Then it was home sweet home.

6th Feburary (Wednesday)

I went back to Crescent in the morning not only to return my PS card but especially to visit all my friends and students. Faces were black during to the long and lacking CNY concert but I was glad to be back to my previous 'second home'. My S1 girls were there as well and I realised just how much I had missed them :)

Then it was off to Parkway Parade to pick up some essentials - shampoo/conditioner/facial scrub/ hair treatment oil etc etc all of which cannot be purchased in KL. I will be staggering under the weight of my suitcase very soon, trying to 'dapao' all these babies back to M'sia.

We went to OSIM and bought Daddy an I-Pamper for his birthday present. Happy Birthday Daddy!In anticipation of the tightening of our waistbands as well, Alan bought a U-robic. You know, the model that came after the I-gallop? hahaha We are able to purchase it in S'pore and collect it in Mid Valley KL. How great is that!!?? On my next trip home, you will see a svelte and sexy Sharon. hahaha. I dunno abt Alan ahh.. We also tried the U-pilot that we have been coveting and also the new U-Yoyo. ahhahaa.. Very delicious and Oh-so-tempting..Now let's pray for a fabulous bonus for Alan!!! Jia You laogong!

Our reunion dinner was a merger between two families. My mummy and Jean and Enging joined Daddy, Mummy, Ah Ma, Sharon and Gina at the Raffles Town Club for a feast fit for the kings and queens. Yu Sheng, cod fish, tiger prawns, sea cucumber and mushrooms, prawns and scallops, shark fins soup, gluttinous rice, pumpkin cake and walnut soup with riceballs. Hmm.. did I leave anything out?? The dishes were nutritious and swimming with all natural goodness and taste. I like!

We left the club late 10pm and went home to gamble the night away.

7th February 2008 ( Thursday)

We woke up late due to the previous night of decadence. I lumbered downstairs only to find that my sister had left after visiting. What a waste. But she had also left me a nice surprise for my birthday - a Coach clutch!!! I like!!!!!!!!!! :)~

Then after the usual sweet soup in the morning, Alan and I went to visit Daddy and Mummy etc. Next stop was the temple where we gave our blessings and had a bowl of mee suah each for brunch.

We went to AMK Ah Ma's house after that had enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal. Ahhh I especially loved the pig intestines soup. So pepperish and steaming hot! *slurps* Soon after celebrating TK's birthday with a sinful creamy strawberry shortcake, we whipped out the VIP element that would make any CNY a huge success - Mahjong.

hahaha Being the youngest and only lady player at the table (Alan, Daddy and Ah-Gu who were all High Hands - Gao Shou) and playing with the highest stakes I ever endeavoured, of course tension was rife. As the game drew on, my face got redder and redder.. ahahhaha and FINALLY I an gang 5-tie!!!! YaY!! *Cash register opening sound*

ahhahaha At the end of the few hours, I had won all 3 players. *Distant applause*

Alan and I left for Lorong Chuan after that to visit my grandmother. Ahahahha This was the first time distributing angpaos. HAhahaa. This moment will go down in History. ;p Alan happily started self-entertaining and clicked away with his D300, capturing all the hustle and bustle. Soon boredom struck and it was (again) 4 hunks to the rescue (Mr North, Mr South, Mr East and Mr West). AHahahaha.

After losing my winnings in the afternoon, we bid farewell to the 4 hunks and joined 'Las Vegas'. My young cousin distributed the cards sans the bunny uniform and we played a few rounds before we decided to call it a night.

A weekend of ShOpPinG!!!!

Very quick updates cos the housewife has mountains of things to do:

Friday 1 Feb 2008
The weekend, as the title of this post suggests, was happily spent shopping. Yes , Friday was yet another welcomed public holiday here in KL and so Alan and I rouse late (10+) and spent the day watching DVDs till around 4+.

We then showered and checked out Sunway Pyramid, a shopping centre that I had never been to. The movie, Meet the Spartans, was at 730pm and we were meeting Robin, Nicky and Sam (Rob's friend).

In search of Alan's new year clothing, we hopped into SPringfield and Alan quickly lapped up 2 shirts. Then I hit Promod (A french boutique) and bought a sundress (yes there are sunflowers all over it - so un-me) for less than 1/2 price and a pair of pants. We then roamed around somemore to kill time with a Baskin Robins in hand.

The movie was quite hilarious at first and the Malay girl sitting next to me was cackling every other second...but soon it got 'duh' and boring. haii...

After the movie, we were brought and treated to dinner at Asia Cafe- not unlike Newton Hawker Centre in SIN. Very happening hawker centre with delicious food lining the rows and rows of stalls. Apparently the boys bought us dinner cos Alan had bought them dinner in SIN. hahaha. Quite sweet of them, I must say! :)

Satur 2 Feb 2008
We watched Dvd till late and then went to Lot 10 to explore. It was a miserable shopping centre with nothing much to offer. Since we had skipped lunch, we were starving and headed into the first restaurant - Societe - we came across. No regrets there! My loh mee was swimming in hot and delicious gravy and Alan's fried tung-hoon was endowed with great taste. The penang rojak was a bit disappointing though and had a funny taste to it. Everything was washed down with a steaming hot teh-terik that was served with a shortbread cookie! YuM!

Sungei Wang beckoned next as we needed to buy some stuff. We trotted there in the drizzle, almost losing out way once. And once we got e'thing we needed (including a pair of shoes for me), we returned to Lot 10 for a juice and left praying that there would be no jam to suffer through.

Sunday 3 Feb 2008

We went to 1Utama early today to run some errands and do last-minute new year clothes (yes MORE MORE MORE!) shopping. Alan bought a pair of jeans and a shirt from Zara and I hit TopShop and fell in love with a pair of jeans.

Lunch was a sinful (again) affair at Canton-I but because of the crowd, the quality of food (porridge, timsum , shrimp dumpling soup etc) served left much to be desired. sigh. What a let down.

We went to Ikano POwer Centre next to get dog food, Jay's vitamins and also some medicated shampoo for him. He's suffering from mites attack and needs to be medicated. the poor dear. :(

Then we went home to cook sweet potata porridge for dinner. hahahaa. Must balance out our sinful lunch with a bland dinner :D

A visit to the Clinic!

Sorry for the lack of updates. The past few days, I have gotten my hands dirty and indulged in clay making again. ahhhh.. Wanna see the spoils of my victory? hahaha I'm getting proud of my work! :D

Anyway, today Jay Jay and I spent a fruitful day together. ;) Mother-son bonding.

I brought him by cab to Ikano Power Centre, near Ikea, to visit his most hated enemy, Dr Christopher James, the vet! (Alamak this sentence has so many commas! My HOD will surely shake his head in dismay!)

Anyway, we jumped into a cab after I quickly finished the household chores (wash the dishes, put the clothes into washing machine cum dryer and water the plants) at 1110am. The elderly Indian taxi-driver had no inkling that there was an 'anjing' in the taxi. haha. The ride cost mother and son RM15 (inclusive of Rm2 toll).

We headed quickly to the clinic and I deposited Jay Jay into the good hands of the vet. He is having some skin rashes - suspected mites case, and is also due for his 3rd vaccination. The poor fella wouldb e given his jab after a medicated wash.

I had 2 hours to dispose of so I did what I do best when alone - SHOP!

First stop - Popular Bookstore! It was hUGE and I browsed for all of 1.5hrs! hahaha Bought some stickers to indule in Sticker War with the ginnah (I am still young ok? :p) and a book to keep me company when I am lonely, and also a clay modelling set. Ahhhh I shall be able to make ballerinas soon :)

2nd stop - DaVinci. This store sells craft stuff. I bought a paint palette and also some clay on 50% discount.

3rd stop - Clothes stores - Bought some clothes but all not for me. (see how selfless?)

4th stop- Missha makeup store. Bought my eyebrow liner and also nail polish / hardener.

My lunch was a solo affair. I ate Ikea's delicious hotdog plus a bottle of mineral water (totalled up to RM3). Not only are you allowed to put your own sauces (ketchup / mustard / chilli) like S'pore, here they also provided relish and onions. YUM!

After I chomped down my lunch, I headed back to the animal clinic to fetch my son. Boy was he delighted to see me! hahaha

We crossed the road together in search of a taxi home. The first driver we approached was a suspicious looking tanned chinese who incredulously quoted us Rm30 to bring us back home! I then approached the 'kak' , a tudung wearing lady cab driver who quoted me Rm20 instead. Alright... whatever works ;p

We got home in no time with us trying to communicate using my less than adequate Malayu. ;p She was very accomodating of Jay Jay surprisingly. He was squealling and barking occasionally. Think he was feeling very uncomfortable.. the poor baby!

Anyway I am waiting for Alan to fetch me for dinner now. It's 702pm.

The lowest point of the day - on my journey to the clinic, I saw another accident. There was a body (not sure if he was still alive) lying on the ground, facing down. Another motorcyclist. I said a silent prayer for him....

My Birthday Weekend in the Highlands

25 January 2008 Friday

My Birthday Weekend was spent in the highlands - Camerons- to be specific. :) Alan took the Friday off and carted me away to The Lakehouse. We left Sri Tiara at around 1230pm and got to the small town Tapah approx 2hours later. We ate to live at KFC and then went searching for a very sweeeeeeet jumbu-apple Alan had bought there before, on his way up to Penang.

It was a taxing and painful and winding journey up to The Lakehouse, which was ironically quite near (30 mins drive?) the foot of the mountain. What a quaint and cosy little place it was! We were greeted warmly and presented a welcome drink of iced ginger and sugar syrup and then led to our room.

I slept off my motion sicknes in 1/2 hour and Alan busied himself in the meanwhile taking photos of the room and the view from our window. Then, we went upwards in search of recreation and a late late luncheon.

We drove into a small town Tanah Rata where we had a un-delectable lunch. I had the saltiest noodle soup ever and Alan had fried kuay teow which was oily and unappetising. Then we walked around the area and ventured into small shops in search of things to see/ do / buy. hahahaa

T-cafe was next. As it came highly recommended in online reviews, we were itching to try the "World's Best Apple Pie", as exclaimed by some hungry Americans. However, the apple pie that was served was dry and the apples inside, tasteless. The vanilla ice-cream that accompanied it , however, was its saving grace. Very creamy and probably home-made. Ahhhhh What I loved most was the strawberry tea that came in a tea-bag. Very fragant and delicious! It gave us the extra omph to explore our surroundings more.

We drove in search of strawberry farms in which they allowed self-picking. Raju Strawberry Farm did not seduce us as its strawberries were very small and unripe. Kea Farm, which also came highly recommended online, did not even allow us to enter the gardens to take photos, let alone pluck strawberries. Disappointed, we bought a punnet of berries at a low RM10 for our happy consumption later in the evening. We bought some magnets to add to our collection and also some strawberry items for TK.

Then we went to a Bee Farm but it started to trickle before we met any bees. So we headed back to The Lakehouse for a short rest...

Dinner was at Hong Kong Restaurant and we happily tucked into the steamboat served. At an amazingly affordable price (RM12/head) we were treated to a fantastic feast. Vege, eggs, meat, prawns etc.. The best part was the weather - perfect for steamboat-dining, which explains the plentiful eateries serving the same cuisine.

Alan was careful to drive back to our hotel s-l-o-w-l-y that night, lest we incur the wrath of upset bellies.

26 January (my Birthday)

the ginnah was the first to msg me to wish me a Happy Birthday. The msg came in at 12midnight sharp. apparently she had started thinking of what to type from 2330 when on the bus going home. hahahaha.. Thanks ahhh ginnah!!!! :)

We woke up late and were treated to a lovely breakfast in the romantically-set restaurant in the hotel. I swear the pancakes are the fluffiest I've ever come across. We also had an asparragus and salmon omelette each.

Then, after the meal settled, we decided to explore Boh Tea Plantation, to catch a glimpse of the fragant fields of tea plants. The road was trecherous and most of the time single-laned. Alan carefully honked our arrival at every bend, just in case we got in the way of on-coming traffic.

The Boh Tea plantation was very beautiful. Imagine a serene, tranquil environment, overlooking lush greenery, the sun casting its spell...We went for a short tour in the factory and discovered the different processes of making tea - withering, rolling, drying, fermentating and sorting. Then, as true Singaporeans, we of course hit the Boh Tea shoppe and bought tonnes and tonnes of tea leaves as though they are not available in Singapore. hahaha.

A few minutes later, we found ourselves seated in the cafe and taking in the wonders of Nature (ok ok, it's alittle man-made, but use your imagination oK?) Our enjoyment of our lukewarm hot chocolate, chicken and mushroom pie and a fresh strawberry tart surpassed our pleasure of being surrounded by such Natural Beauty. ;) Having been in concrete jungles Singapore / KL for so long, the feelings' amazing!

Next, we went strawberry picking in EQ farm. The closest we have ever come to natural strawberries is those in their punnets in Cold Storage freezers and therefore we were awed by the many potted strawberry plants hanging from the heavens and tempting us. Our task : Pick a minimun of 1/2 kg of the reddest, sweetest, freshest strawberries from their stalks. Don't pluck the fruit by the fruit or risk damaging the very sensitive flesh.
We went all out in search of the ripest, sweetest, biggest fruits and had a field day plucking them from their vines. ahahhaha. My first experience. Fun! :) According to the reviews online, the Multicrop Central Market is a must-visit. We stopped by without any hope of spending too much money there as it looked pretty small and cramped. We were wrong, of course. There were many cute figurines just perfect for our balconey to dress up the area. And into the shopping- cart they went! My lonely duck ornament sitting in the balconey now has company!!! We also bought 3 rock melons which tasted like the sweetest nectar from heavens!

Although the sun was soon setting, a bee farm beckoned next. Tens of sunflowers lined the aisle all nodding their warm greetings to us in the soft breeze. A friendly elderly Uncle was very hospitable and explain to us painstakingly the process of honey-making and showed us his bee farm. Alan risked his life, much to my trepidation, just to capture some digitals of the yellow-blacks.
We bought some honey (we are fans) for ourselves and our family members - goh hui, we bought you a piece of honey soap for sensitive skin! :) Then it was back to the Lakehouse for a scrumptious dinner.

Our 4-course meal was served to us in the restaurant under candle-light. Alan's wild mushroom soup lost to my tomato in gin one, in terms of taste. Our entrees were very tasteful and tasty - caeser salad with salmon and delicious prawn and mango salad. (by the way, the mango in cameron highlands taste like durian / jackfruit!) The main course soon arrived - a beef fillet each with garlic / black pepper / green pepper corn sauce. Yum! Just when we were too stuffed to contemplate dessert the most magical moment manifested -
The Indian waiters all appeared from the kitchen with a huge strawberry cheesecake in hand, belting our their rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song. hahaha. And whilst the other diners looked on in surprise, Alan emerged with a HUGE bouquet of 50 pink and red roses!!! Ahhhhh How well-planned! hahahaha. Truly a perfect celebration of my first birthday as a Mrs. :) *blush*

27 January 2008
We roused late and went down for breakfast. Thereafter, even before our food had settled, we trotted down the short slope and headed for the 'stretch' of 2 shops opposite our hotel for some 'last-minute- shopping'. hahaha. (I believe we have indeed caused a soar in the economy of this part of Malaysia at least.)

We bought a lovely green plant to add to our collection and some fruits and dried plum to help me combat my motion sickness for the return journey. I also bought afew 'ai xin guo'- love fruits? They are supposed to taste like kiwis. We shall try them tonight.

The journey back to KL commenced at around 1230pm and we arrived at 3+pm, making good time and going at top speed. The speedometer had read 160km/hr at one point. Ahhhhh..fast cars, fancy melons? haha We stopped by the one and only waterfall and beseeched the macheks to move so that we take some photos.. then we zoomed off again.

We fetched Jay Jay from Robin's at 5+pm and then had dinner at Robson's again. To make up for the dismal lunch (of maggie mee), we ordered fried hokkien mee for two, drunken prawns and mushrooms with fish maw. The total bill? Rm70!

Now how I wish every weekend was a celebration of some sort! hahahahaa Thanks Laogong, I had a lovely time. *muacks* Thanks too to all those who dropped me an sms - all 19 of you. And the tonnes of facebook posts of birthday greetings from my ex-students. I LOVE YOU ALL LAH! heeeee

I'm Proud of All of You! YiPeeeEEeeeEeee

Today's entry is dedicated to all the gals who have just received their O Level results 1 hour ago. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! hahahhaa.. I had a weird dream last night... dreamt of modest (just afew percent enough lah) improvements in English and Pure and Elective Literature results and MSG in my subjects. Woke up and soon Wee Suan's message beeped its arrival in my inbox... even before I could shake the sleep from my eyes.

My first reaction - OH MY GOD!!!!! Immense disbelief and extreme happiness flooded through me.

Jay Jay was left unfed as I hopped up and down . The teachers and students had done it again! We had created another miracle! I contemplated rushing to the airport and buying my plane ticket home, in time for the 2pm results annoucement in the school hall. But then realised that my passport was still in the custody of the department producing my dependent pass. A fleeting thought of swimming back to Singapore was entertained. hahahaa

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My ex-students have just called me admist their joy to share with me their pleasure and excitement. XGG's handphone was passed around and the girls happily announced their fulfilment of promises to get their distinctions "for me". I almost had tears in my eyes when they took turns to thank me. Strange, I am so far away and yet feel so close by.

Girls, I am grateful for my decision to stay back to teach each and every one of you. It was something I knew I had to do. And I am glad that those few months which Alan and I endured had paid off. Thank you. :D

Happie Thaipusam

I'ts a public holiday again today. Jealous? hahaha Well, we accomplished quite a fair bit today.

Firstly, we went to the temple (Tian Hou Gong) a few lanes from our place so that I can change my cheena name. hahaha you can ask me what my name is personally face to face ;p Alan was trigger happy again after we asked for blessings.

Then we went to the nearby nursey and bought some potted plants for me to kill. I've no doubt that they won't last very long in my hands, but I'm keen to develop green fingers. We bought a stand to put our pretty pink and bright red plants (dunno what they are called technically) and a pot on 'bonsai-lookalike', together with some fertilizer and a watering spray can. They are now sitting contentedly in our spacious balcony. Ahhh our house is becoming more and more like a
H-O-M-E.

After depositing the above stuff at home, we gave Jay Jay 3 cheese biscuits to munch and then set off to Mid Valley Mega Mall to run some errands.

We had a sinful and unfulfilling lunch at Mr Ho's fine foods at Basement One. The creamy wild mushroom signature soup was delicious and oozed with all natural goodness but our main course, the pork knuckle we shared was given the thumbs down! :( Our Singapore's Werner's Oven at Upper East Coast Road is much better. But of course, the one we had in Germany, on our honeymoon, takes the cake!

Some last minute shopping - Alan needed a jacket for tomorrow's luncheon and we zipped into Zara and got one for RM499. Apparently, G2000 jackets cost more, amazingly! We saw them retailing for RM699 and more!!! The Zara one was on sale and it was a great steal!!!

Then, I bought a pair of shoes for CNY from Vincci. 50% off and only RM37.90. How touching!

As Alan neded a haircut badly, we went to his fav stylist, Bill, on level 1. I decided to colour my hair for cny as well. This decision was to be regretted deeply. I sat there for around 4 plus hours and had almost 1 roll of aluminium foil on my head. After I washed my hair, I was astounded by the colour. I looked strangely like the hooligans in the drama serial we are watching nowadays. My ash coloured highlights left me in great shock. Depression followed suit. Oh well, at least it's much cheaper than in SIN. ;p

We tapaoed dinner at our fav Robson Restaurant again. Alan had his craving fulfilled and ordered Hokkien noodles. Oh, by the way, the hokkien mee here is like udon and fried with dark sauce. Very tasty, but I still prefer our Singapore style. I had fish head beehoon soup. My comfort food.

After picking up our dinner, we arrived home, dragging the Philips Home Theatre system with us. Alan set it up in no time and now we can enjoy an even more decadent lifestyle! I like!

Discuss Disgust

Yooo... I've been meaning to post this entry for quite some time.. but amazingly it has slipped my mind. ahahaha.

I bring you back to afew weeks ago. Location was at the Mid Valley Mega Mall car park. Alan and I had zoomed in for some dinner and shopping in the early evening, perhaps on a weekend.
We were scouting around for an available parking lot (it's rare, especially in popular shopping mall) and we were doing circles and getting increasingly frustrated.

Then, suddenly, at the corner of my eyes, I spotted a middle-aged man with thinning hair behaving extremely suspiciously. He was facing a green wall (we were in the Green Zone lah) and leaning very close onto it, so much so his whole face was covered. He kept apparently quite still and rigid. His male friend was a few steps away, a nonchalent look on his oily face, but keeping a close eye on the on-coming cars and passers-by.

The first thought that came to my mind was that errr... the guy was touching his privates in public. (ok ok don't ask me why that immediately came to mind..I have yet to explain the wonders of Sharon Goh's mind) Then suddenly, my dear husband deafened me by exclaiming loudly "HE'S PEEING!!!!"

O my god. I was flabbergasted. My jaw dropped and my tongue rolled out and 4.87 seconds later, when my brain fully registered that gruesome fact, I let go a very loud "EEEEEEEEEE!" By then, the man had zipped up (no, you curious monkey, I didn't see his nuts) and grinning, left with his friend.

Can you just imagine? A supposedly progessive country. A huge money-spinning mega mall. And yet how does Man behave? Quite badly, I must say. Of course, the toilet conditions in Malaysia, even KL, are hardly anything to boast about. Most of them are wet and occasionally, one can even see footprints on the toilet seats. But this urinator has disgraced his fellow countrymen with his uncivilised answer to Nature's Call. I'm sure you'd agree with me that his Mate in Cahoots also has to share some blame. I mean, why should you stand on the look-out for The Pee-er? Will you warn him when innocent passers-by get in his way of a good pee? Will you even pass him a tissue when he's done?!?

In Singapore, we have the famous No Littering sign. In China, the notorious No Spitting sign. and soon, I guess, exclusive for Malaysian car parks only, the No Pee-ing sign. hmmm.. come to think of it, maybe not so soon after all. ;p

We shook our heads and sped away from the Pee Zone, our disgust evident admist our prayers for an available parking lot.