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Hannah Celebrated her birthday... just before Chinese New Year! after a horrible 6 hour journey back to penang...

WHOA!... she's 6 going to 7... gosh... time has certainly passed by at a supersonic speed... soon she will be in school... then "dread" brrr....

the year too certainly flashed past very fast... within moments the first month of the year is over... and this is my very first post of the year... talk about total change of free time...

after all the busy shifting back to KL from kuantan, starting work again in Church... and settling back into faster paced city life... whoa... time is moving fast.

Hannah of course is still oblivious... totally enjoying her time back in Tadika Suria... and thankfully has regained her appetite and eats like before... and has gained back her lost weight...

Chinese New Year this round too was a quiet affair... since my parents weren't around... heh... sendiri went galavanting in Europe during the holidays... so CNY was spent totally in Penang this year...

10 days more to our New Zealand Trip and the Kiddos are still in sick land...

sigh... sigh....

Hannah who has relatively recovered from her bouts of stomach/intestine bacterial infection, still has days of eating problems... where she can literally go the whole day feeling not hungry... drives me up the wall... she has also recently started on children multivite with lysine to help improve her appetite and also supplement her not so good eating habits.

Thank God, she could get out of the hospital to be the flowergirl in Ernest & Janice's wedding... note the still wrapped up hand, where the drip/meds go in... we left immediately after the wedding ceremony to make it back to the hospital for her meds.


Phoebe on the other hand, has these past days developed flu... prolly caught in church, just as she was recovering from stomach flu... sigh... so now she's a clingi baby with non-stop runny nose and horrible cough... in a hopeless irritable mood all the time... sigh...

She also recently developed an extreme aversion to medicine... Before this time she would be a super good kiddo and just eat all her meds, but i think this recent cough syrup has gotten her to dislike meds... and kicks and screams whilst we try feeding her the meds

But worse of all... i think i have serious issues to contend... anger.. all these circumstances really stretch my patience & the frustration of getting the kids to obey and the inadequateness of just simply explaining and hoping the kids to obey.... they don't...

Wife also unhappy at my bursts of anger towards the kids, and me feeling hopelessly torn... sigh... but decided... and praying to God to grant me serenity... and i suppose this is the best test, to build patience and a chance to figure out how to overcome without resorting/falling into the pits of anger... which in turn leads to the path of destruction...

PLUS... i've fallen to Phoebe's virus too.. darn! having runny nose and a super almost coughy throat. All doesn't bode well... but... it's still only 10 days more...

ONLY 10 days to NEW ZEALAND! WOO!

Heh! I had hoped/wished for the Grand Prize of RM50k + a Family trip to Tokyo Disneyland for 4... but we got the Consolation Prize in the end!

2 months ago i sent in about 9 photos of Hannah early years for the Dumex 50th Year Aniversary Competition.. "Si Manja Paling Ceria" Contest. A rep called several weeks later saying I had won a camera for my efforts and will courier the prize to me... though, i still don't know which picture won.

I received it today... a Panasonic Lumix Entry Level Camera (Model LS80), which will replace my parents aging digital Casio... Since it's entry level, the build is a bit plasticky... but the functions all look good... way better then any entry level Olympus i have seen... + this camera has 8MP & AntiShake!

Not too bad lah... it was only a RM20 investment! (wash photos, envelops & stamps) and it got me a RM549 return! (the supposed value of said camera)


I also recently purchased a replacement camera for the one which was Stolen/Lost in Redang. The insurance claim gave us RM850, enough to buy us a brand NEW! Canon Ixus 860IS - one model up from the one stolen (Canon Ixus 850IS)... I didn't want to fork out an additional RM300 for the very latest model as this looks good enough... hopefully i won't regret this decision!


woo... lot's of digital cameras in the house... & Hannah will get my parents Casio digital camera when i exchange the Panasonic with them, as the current one she's playing with seems to be giving up the ghost!

Today was a slow day... started with church in the morning, then lunch... a nap, then a try for the Kuantan River Cruise which was incidently closed, a short stop over at Kemaman Kopitiam for drinks then to Gelora Park for the kids to play around...

Immediately as the kids alighted from the car, they ran to the playarea and started doing their usual climbing, swinging, sliding, crawling and jumping around.

Thankfully Hannah seems almost well already... except for some bouts of stomach uneasiness...


Phoebe was a bit cranky the whole day... kinda naughty too throughout the day... donno why... shudder... "missing the maid already?"


My parents did go for a round around the jog-path in Gelora before joining us back again at the children's playarea...


So we stayed around till the sky got a bit dark and decided to head back for a quick bath before going to our appointment with crabs at Sri Mahkota! Woo Hoo! YUM!

My dad's going home to Ipoh the next morning already...

We finally took the journey to Pantai Kemasik... since Hannah seems to be getting much better

The journey there was quite long, cuz it's just after Awana Kijal... which is kinda far... total journey came to about 1.5hr... but we did stop by the Natural Batik shop for my parents to get some souvenirs and the Turtle Sanctuary, near Cherating beach...

We finally arrived at the beach around 4.45pm amidst heavy traffic.

There were no shells in sight! What a shocker! This beach which was literally covered with seashells the last time we came, was today bare as ever! What happened! We speculated - either the Raya crowd was so dense and totally stripped the beach bare or the change in tides and missing big monsoon waves had ceased bringing in the shells... since this time round... the tide was very low and the waves not crashing at all!


Thankfully the low tide and calm waves brought a different delight to this beach... pools of sealife were trapped all over the rocks! We caught sight of unknown sealife and some even dangerous ones like urchins and sea-leeches...


My parents also enjoyed climbing and searching ever nook and cranny for sea creatures... so thus the lack of shells was at least not so disapointing. Only Phoebe was left out of the fun since climbing the rocks was too dangerous for her.


The journey back was long and horribly slow partly due to the super heavy return raya traffic and the dumb amount of traffic lights to get past Cukai, Kemaman - 10 Traffic lights in all! and they all turn red at every stop!

Sigh... brought Hannah to see the doctor again today... since she keeps complaining her stomach is painful... and refuses to eat...

all the doctor said was, her stomach was recovering... and gave some medicine to relief the stomach movements... and advised her to really have some food in... if not if it develops to a full blown gastric problem... she's done for... sigh... sigh...

anyways... i came this --><-- close to force feeding her today... then i gave up... sigh... just let her eat whatever... if she wills herself, i'm sure she would had easily overcome the discomfort and just gobble the food... but no... she just ignores and squirms/whines her way out.

But... hah... in the evening, we brought my parents out to Pantai Batu Hitam... the place was again FULL of people... mostly i guess guests from outstation or something... this place is a unique beach... not so much of a super clean beach... but interesting for kids. One side a super flat beach for flying kites and such... the other rocky... filled with "Black Rocks" thus its name...

the place as usual was a treasure trove of live sea creatures... hermit crabs, balitongs, crabs... mudskippers and small fishes... my parents were both pleased and surprised at the black rocks in the area... and readily speculating lava rocks from eons ago...


Hannah was cautious hopping from rock to rock... more often then not, calling out for help... Phoebe on the other end... gungho... jalan terus only...


Mom and dad... heh... enjoyed searching the rocks and even took back a black rock as a souvenir.

Hannah's still sick... or at least whining and almost not eating at all... the situation is... grrr... terribly 'geram' for me...

so... Julie suggested to just get out and do something... get some fresh air for Hannah... even if we can't go to Pantai Kemasik... so after some brainstorming... let's go back to Pancing Waterfall aka. Sg.Pandan Waterfalls!.

We left kinda late partly due to duh... Hannah not eating... but we did arrive about 4.30pm... and we saw many cars leaving when we were arriving... so we thought, at least it wouldnt be crowded, but WOW... there were still many cars & many people still there... imagine if we had went earlier - it would have been jammed like sardines!

This time round, we didn't climb to the main falls... we just played at the river... icy cool river!

Phoebe... heh...the water baby, just plonked herself and totally enjoyed herself...


Hannah, despite her stomach problems (all internal) also just gleefully played in the water... you would have thought no more problems till u pose the question "what do u want to eat?"


Of course it was my parents first time there also... and the icy cold water did take them by surprise... but they did enjoy themselves at the river...

My parents are in Kuantan with us for the Raya weekend... partly also because our maid is back in Indonesia for the month...

We had wanted to at least go to Pantai Kemasik... but Hannah has been sick since sunday... partly food poisoning and semi-gastric. Sigh... it has been a trying and tiring past few days... with a whining Hannah... who has difficulty keeping her food in... and taking almost an hour and a half to eat a tiny portion of food.

so instead, we just dropped by TC as usual (Pantai Teluk Cempedak) for the evening... partly also so Hannah could eat some fries (we had to get something into her stomach)... so the whole time there at least she ate at least 1/3 of a small fries packet... phew... this was after much much pestering... also partly because the outdoor atmosphere did help her overcome whatever nausea she was feeling.

Phoebe and heh! my mom was actively digging into the sand building mini sand castles...


Julie joined in too... having fun with sand!


Not surprising the beach was crawling with people! I think, also due to the fact it was a public holiday... tons of outstation people thronged to kuantan... and partly ended up at the beach too... plus all the food places, literally ALL are crowded these past days!

My dad also wandered all around the beach...looking at people and contemplating stuff... i presume... at least he got to just relax with his grandkids...

At the clash of thunder, we knew our plans to have a family swim was dashed... our only consolation was the rain would cool down the horrid heat wave we have been experiencing this past few days...

Hannah was most disappointed at not going to the pool for a dip... donno, maybe she had forgotten her fear of water (not exactly lah... only dont like to jump in only)... so we decided to brave the dark clouds and just head over to Taman Gelora for the kids to play.

We had forgotten there was a night market on sunday nights... so the children play area was off-limits due to the market... thus we opted for a leisurely walk in the park.


It was practically deserted... (on a weekend!Wow!...) i guess it was near breaking fast time and no one wanted to be caught in the rain when it pours...Thankfully we had at least half an hour to ourselves before a slight drizzle soon signaled our end of walk, well Hannah and Phoebe had a fun time jumping, skipping and playing all about...


we did also caught sight of a woodpecker up on a tree...

Today we ventured to the mini zoo at Taman Teruntum again, Hannah's suggestion... she wanted to see the animals...

I think partly because it is puasa month and we were also quite late, there was almost no one at the mini zoo... we were practically by ourselves...

The bear was just as lonely... but i think due to lack of people, when we were there it did try to look up and seemingly expecting food when we peered down the enclosure...

We spied many... many... many monkeys... and these are dangerous creatures... they are territorial, and seemingly just had a new batch of newborns...so if you go too near them... they will defend or make a ruckus... but i did catch a baby feeding on its mom... using max zoom, thankfully it came out sharp enough.

The usual suspects were there, the birds, ostriches, a very friendly monkey, the wild cat... the aligators are gone now... and we were too lazy to see the porcupine BUT one new animal we saw was the otter (malaysian version)... playful lil fella... was gobbling down its meal of the day... fish...

The next moment a guard was saying... err... "mesti tutup"... oh! we didn't know they even close for the night... but again, maybe because it is puasa month, they close earlier... but as it was already getting kinda dark... 7.00pm, we left for home lah... at least the poor guard could break fast in peace.

Well, since today so happen to be a holiday in Pahang... woo! in the evening we decided to just go and let the gals play around the beach... we had earlier decided to revisit this beach, Pantai Sepat when back in April we stopped by, on our way down to Pekan...

the place is just as deserted as before... not a spectacularly nice beach... but is still much better then Balok Beach... the sand is similar though... grey, muddy... but wah... tons of crabs runnning all over... plus u get to see this mounds of sand they dig up all over the beach...

well as usual, phoebe just plonked herself down where we settled and just enjoyed digging and dirtying up herself... she played till the tide almost washed her away...



hannah had a lesson on hop-scotch from mummy... and was thrilled... of course mummy gave lots of leway to the rules, so hannah won!


we stayed till almost 6.30pm then packed up and left for home...

We had bought the gals some electric lanterns 2 week prior and man... were they impatient to use them! They had annoying musical electronica playing from them whenever u switch it on...


The festivities in Kuantan for the mid autumn festival mainly focuses at the Pantai Teluk Cempedak. Hordes of people will come down during the weekend and dig intricate holes, sand banks to ensure whatever candles they light wont be blown off by the sea breeze... its a sight to behold...

That particular sunday... we went early for dinner by the sea... ahem... McD's... & we even parked in Hyatt, cuz we heard of terrible past year's jams and horrible traffic all around the area during this particular weekend.

at around 7pm plus as the sky began to darken... the people began their work... wow... i mean... it slowly took form with a few people scattered all about... but soon less and less space was available, as more and more groups begin to stake out their territory to do their masterpieces... i think it was like a competition of sorts... all trying to outdo each other...




Hannah and phoebe had a interesting walk around... with their parents of course... with the irritating sounds coming from thier lanterns... thankfully in such a big crowd... the sounds did seem to drown amidst the din.

as the night grew darker... more and more people began to dig their own masterpieces... as it was already late, we decided to go back and have the gals wash up... on our way back the line of cars entering the beach stretched all the way till the next junction... oh boy... looks like more & more people on the way!




by far... this was the most interesting moon cake festival aka. mid autumn festival i've witnessed... and it was in kuantan!

Since this was a long weekend... we did manage to go to 2 beaches... saturday was just a simple evening time at Teluk Cempedak... the usual hangout beach in Kuantan... but on sunday... we decided to try a further beach... just about 15 minutes away from Kuantan, along the coastal road... Balok Beach...

It has quite a lot of facilities, like a caravan park, childrens play area, barbeque pits... proper paid toilets and ample car park... but... man! The place is run down... tons of rubbish everywhere... and its like everyone has no civic mindset.

The beach itself is a grey dirty beach... the sand,more mud like then proper sand... sad... i think after our redang trip... we are spoiled by its pure white sand... but truthfully Teluk Cempedak beach is much nicer.

But heh... the children didn't bother... just plonked themselves down and played with sand and water... and tried saving some fishes too (Some mad irresponsible fellas were using nets and hauling the beach... catching some very few medium sized fishes and letting the rest of the tiny ones die in the process by leaving them on the beach)


so in all... don't bother coming to this beach... for whatever money spent facilitating the place... all seem to have been wasted...

2 weeks ago, on our way to KL for work we stopped by Goh Tong Jaya, Genting.

My parents were there early preparing the apartments for their church camp... so we decided to break our journey and spend the night with them at Goh Tong Jaya Apartments.

Surprisingly, after almost 5 years, these apartments are still in good shape... i guess good management & service are key in keeping the apartments in good order. The place was also very cool... with no fans in the individual rooms (only the living room) u got to rely on nature to provide u cool air. Unlike our last trip up to Frasers, thankfully this time it was a nights sleep without any buzzing mosquitoes!

My father was especially thrilled to see the kiddos... since the last time he saw them was during chinese new year...



we also had some food at the chinese restaurants lining the road at Goh Tong Jaya. Nothing great... maybe we just haven't found the correct restaurant to to... the were bland and expensive. But the next morning before we left we went for breakfast at an indian (mamak)... woo the hot tea and roti were good... nice curry too... so at least got some decent food lah.

we continued our journey to KL after breakfast... and only took like 20minutes to reach back in Melawati... downhill is much easier :p