We've Moved!

After the frantic packing and immense frustration, the intense worrying and the loud-voiced scolding (Alan's), we have finally moved into our new HoMe! :) We are now located in Bangsar (the up-market, Expat area in KL) where the pubs / restaurants are but a stone's throw away.

The exterior of our house + garden

The Verenda

Our foyer

our masterbedroom with built-in wardrobes, day sofa and king size Dunlopilo super comfy bed!

Our Masterbedroom study area (where the cctv system lies) beside our OSIM massage chair.


Glass railings along our staircase

Our 100 year old Tomlinson antique sideboard

The dining area downstairs

Our OVAS vase and stand

A View of our Living Room #1

Living Room #2
Ethan's bedroom

Not represented : Zesa n Sheng's room and also the backyard.

Off to Australia we Go!

27 July 2009

Our MAS flight was at 935am and to our horror, when we checked in at the counter, we realised we hadn't applied for VISAs to enter Oz. OMG. I had previously asked Alan who had studied for a year in Western Australia and he confidently mentioned "no need". So, of course I had trusted him - even though silly me had been to Oz 7 or 8 times before this time.

We rushed to get the VISAs done ASAP and thankfully they were approved. After our Mac D breakfast, we boarded the plane and enjoyed the comforts of a non-budget air flight. Interestingly, the MAS flights were going for a steal - they were even cheaper than Airasia's flights to Perth!! Mamamia!

We touched down in the minute Perth International Airport at around 3pm and proceeded to the budget-rent-a-car to collect our little vehicle. 20minutes later, we were at Hay Street Comfort Inn (we got there with the aid of the small but mighty GPS). After we had checked in, we walked to the shopping district (it was a LONGGGGGGG walk) and had dinner at Baby Dazzle.

I tried Kangaroo (heaven forbid) medallions which were lip-smacking good and my laogong had his first of many beef steaks in Australia on this trip. Then bought some fruits / water / biscuits to last us for our drive the next day. We had fun at the check-out counter. It's so advanced. Customers can check out their items (and even weigh and price tag) at one of the many cashing machines. Very fun!

28 July 2009

After our cold breakfast at the hotel, we checked out at around 10am and drove 2+hours to Busselton Jetty. It wasn't as pretty as I had remembered so we just took a few pictures and then proceeded to fill our bellies at Samovar Restaurant in town. My Chicken and Bacon Carbonara was to die for and I finished almost all on my plate! Alan had (no prizes for guessing), a Beef Steak sandwich.

We proceeded to drive to Margaret River next but along the way, chanced upon our cottage (Yelverton Brook Eco Sanctuary and Spa - What a mouthful) along the way at Ray Road. The owners were a trusting couple (simon and joy) who had left the keys hanging on our cottage door.

Almost immediately, we were greeted by a whole troupe of friendly kangaroos who hopped to our doorstep enthusiastically. They were even more enthusiastic when Alan whipped out our bunch of bananas and fed them one. haahah. Very cute. It's pretty weird though that after each of them had some fresh banana, they all took turns to look as though they were puking. But the interesting to note is that they all tilted their heads back whilst doing that and so they kinda looked like they were swallowing their own vomit...eeeeeeeeeeee

We unloaded our stuff / luggage in the cottage and then left for Margaret River another 20+km (!) away to pick up some groceries at River Fresh a big supermarket. We bought A$104 worth of meats / milk / dried foodstuff etc to last us for the duration we would be in Margaret River. (If one meal outside is around A$40+, we could save alot like that!)

Then, we headed back to the cottage to whip up a storm in the kitchen - Dinner was Lambchops, vegetable and beef cube soup and bread. The wildlife, kangaroos/ WOylies/ Bandicoots all came to join us in feasting a while later... We witnessed a damn funny sight - The cute little furry Woylie, in an attempt to scare away the Bandicoot which was snatching his scraps, stood on his two hind legs and stretched out its front paws (not unlike Kungfu Panda) and produced a 'fierce' hissing sound. ahahhaha. It was HILARIOUS! :P

29 July 2009

We woke up around 930 because of an irritating bird's calls. After playing with the Roos and feeding the parrots, we leisurely cooked our brunch of sausages and eggs.

Leaving the cottage at 115pm, we drove to Vasse Felix to pick up two bottles of Cab Sauv. *sigh* ALan tasted the wine until his breath reeked and all I could do was inhale... BooHoo.

The Margaret River Chocolate Company was our next stop and we had the renowned Simmo's icecream there. YumZ. After that, we drove to Cowarumup to shop at Candy Cow and Moon Haven soaps/ lotions and potions. We picked up quite a couple of bars of soap and then hopped over the the grocery store across the road to purchase a lone lemon.

Back to the cottage we headed to cook a delicious dinner. The salmon was baked and the beef steak pan-fried and we had the remainders of the vegetable soup from our previous dinner.

Entertainment was the DVD First Knight and also the wildlife which included a Bushtail Possum and Woylie fighting over Kangaroo pellets left out for them in the plate on our lawn.

30 July 2009

We woke up at 10am and had a light breakfast of yogurt and bread and then headed to Margaret River town to do some shopping. We picked up some vases for a steal and 4 postcards and a MR magnet to commemorate our tour at the shop Memories.

Our next stop was The Berry Farm and we enjoyed a late lunch there with the birds. I had their famous Beef and Red Wine pie and Alan had (you guessed it) his Beef Steak AGAIN! After pumping petrol, we headed to Cape Lavender and had almost given up locating it when we finally spotted it along Ulu Pandan Road (no no I'm joking).

The restaurant was closing and we could not enjoy a hot choco amist the beautiful flowers but both Alan and I realisedthat the Lavender farm and store we loved so much was not to be found in MR but in Pemberton! :P

It was then again time to head back to the cottage to cook dinner and relax....

31 July 2009

After checking out sadly of Yelverton ( and chatting with the friendly Simon and Joy), we drove to Leuwin Wine Estate and my alcoholic husband picked out 2 more bottles of Cab Sauv - one for the boss this time!

We wanted to fish for our lunch at Marron Fish Farm but they only sold frozen fish! So we headed to our next destination - Redgate Beach Escape. It did not disappoint. The chalet was a very lovely and spacious and modern one complete with all the necessary ammenities. It was great that we could check in early at 1pm.

Sea Garden Cafe, a short drive away fed us well. Alan had a beer battered snapper and chips and I had the Box Fish Burger and a vanilla milkshake. After the meal, we went to a 'scenic drive' but found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in the woods. Discovering nothing scenic after driving for around 20mins , we headed out and visited the Boranup Art Gallery where we bought our best buy of the trip - the painting "Flowering" by a NSW artists. It now is framed and hung on the brown wall in our dining room. :)

The sun was setting and we hurried back to Redgate beach to enjoy the sunset. Then we headed to Witchliffe to pick up some milk at Gull, a petrol station cum grocery store. The cafe we had wanted to eat dinner at was closed and so it was Sea Garden again for the pork chops Alan was craving for. Unfortunately, my tandori chicken pizza left much more to be desired and I had two pieces before giving up.

That night, Alan took pics of the moon in a cloudless sky and then we watched Mamamia on DVD and played Upwords. hahahaa. I won! YaY

1 August 2009

Our breakfast was made up of leftover pizza and milk and then we checked outta Redgate Beach Escape after chatting with Roger Budd, the owner at 1030am.

Again, we drove to MR Chocolate Company to pick up more chocolates for souvenirs and then headed to Fremantle for our next pit-stop.

We checked in at Esplanade Hotel Fremantle at around 230pm and then drove to the nearby E-Shed markets to have lunch and do some light shopping. Whilst we were tucking into our Chinese fried rice and veges, Alan suddenly asked me a horrifying question," Where's our painting?" We did not remember putting it in our hotel room !! OMG

He dropped his fork and zoomed back (luckily the hotel was nearby) to the esplanade and found "Flowering" still resting against the wall of the hotel lobby car porch. THANK GOD. I dread to think what would have happened if it were gone...(btw, if this happened in Malaysia, it would have been gone in NO TIME)!

After finding E-Shed damn super boring, we went over to the Fremantle Market to relive our memories.... and to buy some fruits from a friendly Chinese lady who babbled to me in fluent Cantonese...

We then went to Joe's Fish Shack for a big bowl of mussels each with sufficed for our dinner. :)

2 August 2009

Our breakfast was crepe rolls at the market. Mine was ham/ cheese/ pineapple and ALan's was beef creole. Then we did some shopping, buying bommerangs (one for Alan and one for Hayden our godson) and handcreams... We also left the market after a while to shop around town. We popped into two shops specialising in wood stuff and bought the salt / pepper shaker and two bowls to place as ornaments on our tables / counters in the new house. :) Alan also pestered for me to buy a set of jarrah wood coasters. and Finally I gave in :P

After our fruitful shopping expedition, we put our purchases in the car and walked to the wharves for dinner. It was Big Joe's Shack again and I had a Fisherman's Platter for One and Alan repeated his order of chilli mussels - only this time it was the main instead of the entree. hahaha.

Then, we made sure we loaded EVERYTHING (including the painting) into the car and drove 1+hr away to Perth CBD where we checked into Comfort Inn again.

3 August 2009

We woke up at 830am and had breakfast downstairs after our shower.

Today was designated SHOPPING DAY and we then drove to the nearby Harbour Town Budget Outlet Mall to help the AUstralian economy out of recession. We bought our son lots of clothes from Pumpkin Patch, Kids Warehouse etc. Ethan even has a new pair of Osh KoshbiGosh sneakers!!! Alan bought himself a pair of Billabong berms and a $109 luggage bag to stuff our belongings - the 1 big and 1 small suitcase we had brought with us from KL would definitely not suffice! We bought some house decor also, from another shop.

Lunch was at Noodle Inn and my tomyum noodles was a tasty treat from the meats and breads I had been eating over the past week. Alan's char siew noodles did not satisfy though. We topped our meal up with Gelare icecream bought at a discount (because we had tourist coupons). :D

After shopping somemore, I had an orange juice and Alan had his usual latte at Gloria Jeans and then we drove to the nearby Murray St and shopped at Myers. Alan saw another luggage bag - this time from his favourite brand Crumpler (costing A$300+) and dragged me all the way to the other end of the street to buy it - as the Myer Crumpler had no stock.

Then, we drove to Kings Park and Alan reminised about his days in his uni..

Dinner was great Italian food at CafeItalia near our hotel. We both had linguine to die for - mine was with clams and white wine and Alan's was with seafood. Then we went back to watch "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" in the hotel. ahahha

4 August 2009

We awoke at around 830 and went downstairs for our last breakfast in Oz. We checked outta the hotel at 11am and walked to Hay St for some last minute shopping. I bought scrapbook materials from the $2 shop and then we went into Target where I bought a scrapbook for Ethan's journal and Alan bought more Wii games (Raving Rabbits) and Blue Ray discs (Iron Man etc).

We walked back to the hotel quickly and then left to pump petrol and head to the airport. We caught the 4+pm flight back by MAS again and then arrived in KLIA sadly at around 8+pm.

A Day Out Doing House Stuff

Sorry for the long silence folks. I was away in chilly Oz from 27th July till 4th August for a 9day 8 night getaway (in lieu of my impending shackles to Motherhood) and since we've been back in hazy KL, we've been busy with house stuff.

As many of you know by now, we will be moving into our corner terrace next Friday and you know what? There are so many things that still need 'tweaking', correcting and construction! It's mighty scary. We can't really postpone the move also due to many factors.

Anyway, yesterday the professional mover manager, Mr Kumar, came to take a look at how much barang we had accumulated over the years to give us a quote for our moving house. That was at 11am. He didn't stay for more than a minute after I brought him our our minute apartment and told him the items that were supposed to be moved.

Alan fetched me after work and we went to pick up quite a few things for the house.

Firstly we went to SS2 to try on the Elizabeth bed in Dunlopilo. We had purchased the Grandeur Luxury at the furniture fair a few months back but NOW THEN THEY TELL US they have no stock. So Alan was persuaded to upgrade to the Elizabeth bed for a couple of hundred ringgit more. :P

Before that, we had lunch at KTZ but it was disappointing and the quality of the food was lacking, unlike the outlet in Kepong. :( Our curry noodles were OILY to the MAX and the chicken inside was fillet :p

After trying the bed, we went to purchase lock sets of our new doors. We took at least an hour to choose lock sets for the main door, masterbedroom, toilets, guest rooms etc and were served by a very jovial Vivian.

We then headed to Puchong to pick up our switches (at Innova) and pay for our stove (at Benova - which we will collect after we move in) and pick up our kitchen pendent lights ( at Asia Lighting - they did not hv what we had ordered as the production factory in China had closed) so we made do with something else :P Malaysian service standards are quite quite bad , as u can tell :P

Then we hurried back to the house thinking that we could pass the items to the workers. But of course, they had knocked off already :P (The construction workers knock off before 5pm here in this country!)

Next stop : Desa Park City to pay for our entertainment system. Dinner was at Secret Recipe and I had the Viet noodles whilst Alan had his lamb shank. We shared a stale piece of White Choco Macademia nut cake. Then we popped into the art gallerys to check out some paintings for our house. I was super exhausted by then - lugging around a kid in the belly is no joke. How do kangaroos do it?!! :O

At the same place housed a Petsmore and that was great becos dog food was running out. We picked up Heartguard, vitamins and a pack of Natural Balance (for our fussy eaters) and then headed to Jusco to quickly pick up some fruits. There's nothing (sans birdsnest) in my fridge (mum don't nag) .

Last stop: Jansen Art Gallery. We had bought a huge Australian painting for a couple of thousand Aussie dollars and Alan had sent it for framing the day before. It was done! We tried to pick it up but then, it was too huge to fit in the Volvo. It will be delivered one of these days...

We went back home super exhausted and fell into a deep sleep before the clock struck midnight.

Ramblings of a Sick mama

Sad to say, I've been down with the flu for the past 4 days. GOod grief. There cannot be a better time ;P We are hopping onto MAS on Monday morning to get to Perth. I hope I will be in the pink of health then but how can I get better w/o any medication??? ArGHHHh! Maybe I should take another dose of birdsnest again before I leave.

Anyway, things have become hectic recently. My tuition frequency increased because of the school holidays and there are a million and one house stuff items to settle - not that I've been much help in that department. Alan the poor dear has taken it upon himself to do everything - yes , I mean EVERYTHING.

Our ID consultant, a young girl named Vivian from Yuan Designs is not a help at all. She gets pushed around by her own contractors etc and till date, has not even given Alan a work schedule (like OMG, we are slated to move in in ard 2 weeks time please!) Alan has popped by the house every single day to jagah the works and there has been a great deal of frustration. Well, one thing Yuan Designs is good for is their knack of overpricing their goods and services like crazily. Alan has outsourced many an item to outside contractors of his own lobang and we have saved quite a huge percentage of the predicted pricings. (E.g. they must be mad to charge us RM3,800 for the main door to the house when Alan can get it for RM700!)

I am also very excited by the proposed garden area. There will be little moulds with bonsais and the garden and living room will be flanked by bamboo plants. I think the effect will be very nice and enticing enough for me to sit outside, brave the heat and mozzies and read a book or two.

I am still sourcing for wall stickers, though, for Ethan's room. Need some inspiration - We have decided to paint his room (dark) blue and bright yellow - Gimme a C! Gimme an R! ..... :P
ANd there's this little area (with 3 walls) surrounding the room's window through which sunlight streams in and that little area is gonna be the designated play / reading area. :) So ExCiTiNG! Like a mini-project for me. ;)

We still have yet to go to Ikea to pick up other necessary / extravagant stuff. But that can wait. The move-in is slated for 14th August from 11am to 1Pm. Wish us luck!

crawl away

This week has been crawling past amist sprained asses and flu-like syndroms, the scolding of students and hearing the naggings of their concerned parents. I havent really packed for Australia yet. Have been very lethargic and slow in e'thing I do.

My ankles are swollen yet again and I tire even more easily than before. Perhaps it's due to the flu? On a brighter note, Ethan hasn't been kicking o-so-violently anymore - just once in a while, especially 3/4 way through dinner (as he savours all the good food). He is mostly starved during lunch as I make do with a sandwich or (like yesterday) when I had Korean Instant noodles (yuMZ!) Most of the time, I try to buy back my lunch during dinner the night before.

There's again absolutely nothing in the fridge sans the big big moulds of birds nest and some dried scallops. One can hardly have birds nest with scallops for lunch, can I? hahaha.

This morning, I woke up to Coco's vomit and diahoerra. *sigh* The poor baby is SICK! N his poor Mum (me lah) had to bathe him and clean him up immediately after she woke up. What a nice way to greet a Thursday eh? :P

I have tuition later with the twins and tomorrow I have two classes - one with Dania and the other with Hayden and that will mark the end of my 'work week'. and then it's time to pack my bags and fly to the land where cows roam. :D

A 3 hour Power Cut!!!!!!!!

Monday 20 July 2009

We went to our house again after Alan had knocked off from work. This time, the mission was to choose the colour of the paints for the various walls. Once that was done, we proceeded to Robson's for something Alan had been craving for in a while... CRABS.

We ordered two big, big (but turned out small small and insignificant) chilli crabs, deep fried buns and also a claypot toufu with veges and munched our way to the high heavens. We double boiled birds nest for the baby, mummy and daddy also as a nutritious dessert and to wash down the oil. hahaha

At 3am, I was awoken to a room of stuffiness and stillness. SHIT. The power supply had been cut. Now if you didn't know already, KL is well-known to have unstable power supply and during the wee hours of this morning, this cruel fact proved true.

I initially did not want to wake Alan and tried my best to keep still and not perspire but when he roused , we both went to check the circuit box only to find out that the whole neighbourhood was in darkness. (kinda scary, imagine) We both went back to bed after a while (and after opening the windows) and tossed and turned for all of 3 hours before the power came back on at 6am.

What a horrible experience. :P

Tuesday 21 July 2009

I just had Hayden for 1+ hour again, in my stupor. Luckily I had slept in till 9am but this did not remove much fatigue. I shall rest again later. I can only imagine how tired Alan is today, at work. Poor thing!

Another tiring weekend

Friday 17 July 2009

After Dania left from class, I decided to treat Alan to a nice meal since he had been working so hard on our new house. The poor fella is so haggard and tired-looking that the wife's heart is pained!! :(

We made our way to the crowded The Gardens Mall and had ourselves a yummi-licious mega meal at Tony Romma's. Alan wanted his coveted Pork Ribs but we again realised, to our disappointment that no pork was served in the restaurant, even though it's not halal and they serve alcohol. *sigh*

He settled for a combo meal, made up of 1/4 chicken and some beef ribs and I had half a chicken roasted to fill my belly.

Saturday 18 July 2009

Tired out from the whole week, we slept in this morning and only left the house at around 2pm. We each had a hot chocolate and shared a blueberry cheese muffin before popping into Cres for our monthly facial.

After the beauty regime, we walked around MVMM. We needed bedsheets/ comforter etc for the guest room (and we need them soon because my inlaws / mum is coming) but there was nothing nice at Jusco and even Aussino. :P

and went to purchase and pick up the baby's changing table. I used my voucher and got 25% off but it still cost RM524. *sigh. Having a babe is expensive man!

Because of our induced stupor, we were very very lethargic and decided to have a quick dinner at Subway before heading back home to rest.

Sunday 19 July 2009

We were at the park again at 930 - 1030am for Coco's weekly training. Mdm Yap, the nice trainer also allowed Jay Jay to join in the class for a refresher course. haahhaa. Both doggies did well and we quickly left once the class ended to dump them back at home, take a shower and then head down to our new house. (Coco tired out from his training)

We met Vivian, our ID there at around noon and after some discussion, treated her to d'lish at Bangsar Shopping Village for lunch. I had the yummy Vietnamese Phoa and Alan had his Sphagetti Marinara. Vivian settled for a salad as she was like 1/2 a vegetarian. ahahha.

After that, it was off to Jln Ipoh to choose our lights. We chose the downlights for all the rooms, and also a pendent light for our dining area and one big pendent light for our staircase area. Alan also chose this futuristic 3-bulb foyer light for our car porch. Time flew by and it was almost 4pm when we all left.

Our next stop was SS2 to pick up our electronic appliances. Before we picked out our items, we each had a yummy Secret Recipe cake next door. Alan finally decided on the Toshiba fridge and the LG washing machine. We also picked up a microwave together. All appliances will be delivered on 11/8 a couple of days before we move into the house.

Although exhausted, we headed next to Laura's shop in Sungei Besi. I needed to custom make a big cabinet for my tuition stuff (to accompany the tuition table in our living room #2) and Alan, Mr Perfectionist, discussed with Laura the dimensions whilst I stoned away in the corner, fatigued.

Dinner was at PJ and our usual Ipoh chicken rice haunt. Alan then popped in next door to pick up his prizes from a DVD shop which we had purchased some items from around 2 months ago. hahaha We had taken part in a luck draw and won the consolation prize of 1 dvd, 1 cd, 1 blue -ray and 1 mtv disc. quite cool huh? We picked up two more drama serials to join our collection - 1 about the HK immigration department (which Zesa says is exciting) and the other about a pyschiatrist (which Zesa says is interesting). My daughter is a dvd-addict!

After that, we headed home super zonked out but very fulfilled. zzzzzzzzzz