Monday, June 30, 2008

Shopping in Taiwan

Hubby and I spent RM1500 shopping for this trip, below is what we spent on:

1) Ling Zhi (we bought some to try it out)
2) Herbs for MIL (made from deer's parts)
3) Clothing for the girls
4) A swim suit for MIL (can get cheap swim suit near the hot spring area)
5) A few blouses and a pair of shoes for myself
6) Bags for hubby and myself
7) Books for hubby
8) Accessories and cuties as souvenirs for loved ones
9) Dry food stuff
10) Food & drinks

An overview of Taiwan

After spending a week in Taiwan below are my general perceptions of the country.

The streets are pretty clean, public toilets are well kept. I believe the government did a good job in taking care of the environment. It was told that Taiwanese has to pay for extra garbage thrown. This is done to educate the people to reuse, retain and refrain from throwing “garbage”. Little plastic bags were used; we have to pay more if we were to request plastic bags instead of paper bags. In fact there are little garbage bins around.

All public places are equipped with amenities for disable persons, even their currency notes has bolded lines denoting different values that could be felt by blind citizens. People were pretty soft-spoken and well-mannered, they will happily greet you when you enter or leaving the shop even if you do not buy anything from them, this happens everywhere even in the night markets.

One of the main attraction in Taiwan are their hawker like food stalls, one could hardly find any stall that sell the same item, the hawkers are creative in their own ways and some stalls you could see people making a long line and thereafter each standing there holding a bowl, savoring the food. Came weekend the locals will flood the night markets. The youngsters look trendy in their unique hip hop dressings, most clothing sold in the night markets catered for this young generation, so this auntie could hardly find anything suitable (another sign that age is catching up L). Taiwanese girls are generally fair and slim blessed with good complexion.

Most tourist are from Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia, soon Taiwan will anticipate flocks of tourist from China due to an open policy made effective 1st July where China citizens can now travel directly to Taiwan, could hardly see tourist from the West, probably they are at beaches.

I would advice those who are interested to travel to Taiwan to go on a free and easy trip, get a package which offers flight and hotels arrangement, as for sight-seeing I was told it is pretty convenient to travel on its public transportation. And yeah one more thing, don’t travel during summer unless you like the idea of sun bathing throughout the day.

Precious incisor

While we were away at Taiwan, something happened to Michelle, she lost one of her little lower incisor. It was already shaken a few days before our trip and when we called back from Taiwan to check on them, she happily announced that her incisor had finally came off. She said MIL placed the precious incisor in an Ang Pow packet and she will keep it in good care till we‘re back. I laughed at her idea.

When we reached home, true enough the Ang Pow packet was placed on the book rack and deep inside the packet is her little incisor….. I later found out MIL extract the tooth by one single pull using her fingers wrapped with a handkerchief (so that her fingers can be secured to the incisor). Little blood came oozing from the gums and things got back to normal in matter of minutes.

I remembered my grandmother used to tell me that she pulled a lot of her grandchildren’s teeth by tying the defective tooth with a thread and tie the other end of the thread to a door knob, the tooth will came off when she slam the door hard……… ee sounds scary…. I don’t recall her pulling any of my teeth (what a relief)… most of my milk teeth came off by their own without much hassle :D

The "Ang Pow"

Michelle's incisor

Michelle showing off her imperfect milk teeth

Thursday, June 26, 2008

We are back

We are back, after 7 days of "crazy" and endless travelling. Yesterday was spent sleeping, sleeping and sleeping. One important thing learnt out of this trip - hubby and I vowed.. never travel to a place where it is summer.

We were all soaked up by our sweat, dried by the air-conditioning the next moment, now imagine this happen repeatedly...... we were dragged out of our bed at 6.30am and back to the hotel only after 8.00pm... that's the nature of a package tour...

Over 5 days, we travelled to 7/8 major cities covering 17oo km, crossed numerous tunnels and mountains (2/3 of Taiwan are mountains), went to 4 night markets, 3 major scenic spots (Yehliu Geopark, Taroko Gorge, Sun Moon Lake), a tribal village, 3commercial places (ling zhi, royal jelly, jade), 2 major temples, 2 memorial halls, a peacock farm, a hot spring spa, the national museum........

What do I enjoy out of the trip?
1) The east coast journey on the road, the sea, land and mountain view are nice
2) The Taroko Gorge & Sun Moon Lake
3) An interesting dining place where the interior and external deco are spectacular
4) A jaguzzi in our room
5) The mountain tribal people's performance
6) The experience of a typhoon (simulation only)
7) Looking at the exotic/creative food in the night markets but don't have guts to try them... :(


What are not so enjoyable...
1) Waiting time.....not all are punctual
2) The scorching sun... I suffered sore throat for a few days and mild fever on the second day
3) The long journey in the bus

Overall I rate the trip 50% only...... if ever we wanted to go back to Taiwan again, it is going to be a light and easy trip just like mamajo's....

Below are some snapshots:

White bitter gourd.... the drink suppose to soothens your throat and prevent pimples..

Famous, gigantic Taiwan sausages...



Milky Mangos, the fertilizer are processed using expired milk..



Deep fried octopus..


Yehliu Geopark, the famous "queen's head"


Lover's bridge


East coast, sea and mountain view... (taken in the bus)


Padi field



Taroko Gorge



Sun Moon Lake



Cute souvenirs

Taipei 101, tallest skyscrapper


Memorial hall


White peacock


"Cave-like" restaurant


Friday, June 20, 2008

4th Day in Taiwan

Finally we are staying in a hotel that has a free internet access at the hotel lobby, it's our 4th day in Taiwan, yesterday we went for hot spring spa... so far the trip is so so only, a lot of travelling on the road, the scenery along the east coast way is nice, we are supposed to cover 1700km for the entire trip, moving south today... have to go into the bus already...will drop by later..

Monday, June 16, 2008

Wise spending

I have a few friends who are in their mid thirties and just delivered their second babies. Recently we were in contact again, more and more women are marrying late, even if they married in their mid twenties, many of my friends did not conceive until they were in their thirties.

With the increased cost of living, many of us (medium earning families) will normally stop at two, the price of goods has really increased tremendously for the past few months that it really triggers me to spend wisely.

The cost of medical has also skyrocketed, hubby went for a minor "surgery", no knifes, just a "rub" by the doctor, hospitalized for 3 nights and the bill amounted to nearly RM3K, unbelievable and I believe it's way too much.

Even if he is covered under his company's insurance, bottom line the consumer is the one who is going to suffer in the long run due to higher premium paid in our health insurance.

Petrol prices has increased by 41% and we all know this will followed by an increased in all things. Tell me one thing which has not increased and that will be most likely to be our salary... :(

So what to do? We got to spend wisely...now I'm keeping my grocery bills to track my monthly spending and to compare prices (so auntie hor)..

Happy Father's Day

Michelle and Emily wrote love letters to "kung kung" two weeks ahead of Father's Day. Kung Kung received them already and from his voice sounds delighted... we called him again yesterday, took turns to wish him well...

I have little words to say to my dad, don't know why, before mom passed away I used to just chat with her in our weekly conversation and normally asked about dad's whereabouts and condition through her. Now that mom is no longer around, I called back weekly too to check on dad but our conversation is quite limited, thanks to the girls who grab the phone and take turns to chat with him.

I used to remind hubby that he should maintain a good relationship with the girls so that the girls could run to him and shared with him....... not to portray his "father in authority" character all the time rather be a bit more soft and tender towards the girls.

The girls learned and made some art-work for their father, hubby went out for a "durian feast" with his colleagues atlunch, he came back with such strong smell that we all avoided him (poor daddy), we went out for a simple dinner and did some shopping yesterday night... all at the expense of hubby (he must be wandering, what Father's day is this ar?)... :D Hubby called FIL and had a long conversation...

This is how we celebrate Father's Day...

Friday, June 13, 2008

Why you so pale???

For the past two weeks, some colleagues of mine commented that I looked pale....hmm... I look at myself in the mirror...... not that bad ar..I'm feeling OK just that at night we have not been sleeping quite too well (due to neighbor's bb's crying) and yesterday I was made to go in and out of my room for a few times by the girls and has been sleeping everywhere, one time I was on my own bed, the next on my eldest's daughter's bed, the next on Emily's mattress, then back to my bed, then......

Why they only disturb mummy because they dare not disturb daddy lor.... haiz..

Hmm... I guess I need to "poh poh" a bit, maybe I DOME a little tonight, boil red dates soup tomorrow...must stay fit for Taiwan trip next week ler.....

The girls were dissapointed that we are going without them but finally managed to settle them... I'm sure they will go another round of pledging and reasoning next week... don't care, MIL will have to settle them... will compensate them accordingly.. :D

Good or bad choice


Remember I shared hubby bought a children bible story book for Michelle? Well, we are having a good time with it, the girls love the book, the story is pretty simple to understand and what the girls love most is the question time. At the end of the story there are some questions that you could ask to help the children recap what had been told earlier. What I like is the moral of the story..... "Did who and who make the right choice?" I asked. The children will answered "Yes/No".... and I will start asking why... and they answered, then I try to relate the story to their everyday life's little incidences... A great book, I google it and found it, strongly recommended to Christian parents... hubby got it for about RM45 from Baptist bookstore.....

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Serve one another...

One of the lesson learnt out of my church camp that I attended was service evangelism.... As Christians, we are to share about God's goodness and this sharing should be a product out of our love for God rather than a burdensome responsibility. The speaker shared many practical ways that we could expressed God's love to people around us.

So deep inside me, there is something that I wanted to really do for one of my neighbors... Some background first... we got to know this neighbor 2 years ago when they were searching for someone to take care of their 2 months old baby girl (they wanted to change the baby sitter then), hubby offered MIL and MIL helped to take care the baby for close to 3 weeks....

Occasionally I brought my kids to visit the daughter (now 3) and they will play together, the mother is heavily pregnant now and expecting anytime from now.... due to fatigue and the family has just ventured into a small business, all attention is on the business now, leaving the house pretty unkept..... hmm...so there's this thought in my mind.... when the wife go for confinement in the confinement center later, we will get the house cleaned up and organized again to welcome the arrival of the mother and new baby back home....

My hubby commented, "Well OK, the problem is would they let you in?", then I say "that's your job, discussed with the husband (hubby knows him and he's quite a nice and open guy)".... hubby said... "err......we'll see".

So you think our plan will work? Have you serve your neighbors before???

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Michelle is Six!



Today is Michelle's 6th birthday, Happy Birthday my dear. Children are particularly excited over their birthday and Michelle knowing the months of the year knows that her birthday falls in June, so finally after waiting for 6 long months, her birthday finally arrived. I told her that this is a day where mummy was in great pain to deliver her to this world, she said "eee... I don't want to have babies, it's so painful... thank you mummy for giving birth to me... kiss kiss"

Since it's a weekday, the birthday celebration is going to be in the kindy that she attends. We bought her a cake and prepared some party packs for her classmates and Emily's classmates too, in fact they lend a helping hand in preparing them on Monday and also ate some of the stuff in the processlah :D...

I told her yesterday that when she wakes up today, the present will be hidden in her room, she will have to search for it..... so this morning she pops up from bed and guess what?? starts searching alreadylor and found it (mummy purposely put it at an easy spot...:) We bought her a children Bible stories book, easy to read, a section for them to memorize some bible verse, to make a choice at the end of each story (the application of the moral of the story) and some suggested activity... good choice from hubby, I'm running out of stories to tell....

So, how's Emily taking it... well she's so understanding, she said tomorrow is jeh jeh's birthday not hers, she will get a cake and present for her next birthday and that will be in February... so clever.... last night already started to sing birthday songs for her sister... first in English, Mandarin and lastly a Bahasa version... such a cutie...

Weekend getaway

Our whole church went for a 3 days 2 nights retreat at Clear Water Sanctuary Golf Resort, Ipoh. Altogether there were 90 of us, primary objective is to set apart our daily routine lifes and to hear what God has to say to each of us, I'm indeed blessed and glad that our family signed up for this camp, will write more under my spiritual journal soon.

Below are some pictures captured:

The chalet that we stayed in... real comfortable..


Greeneries outside the chalet..


Lake view from the chalet balcony...




The girls posing for mummy



Well for those who are captivated by the pictures and wanted to try this place out, from the north south highway (PLUS), exit from Simpang Pulai, turn left. Drive for about 3-4km, you will see a signage to Kellies Castle, Batu Gajah, at the traffic light junction turn right, drive another 6-7 km you will see a signage direct you to the resort.

Recommended activities:
Fishing, rent a bicycle and ride along the lake, swimming, boating, golfing, simply take a stroll around the lake or drive out and visit the historical Kellies Castle in which we did (on our way back to Penang).


"Bear" face look-a-like tree trunk..


Hubby and I


The magnificent castle....

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Unspectacular Quirks Meme

Ling, tagged me on this:

Here are the rules:
1. link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours…
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them…
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged..

Hmm...6 unspectacular quirks of mine:

1) I like to rearrange things in order whenever I step into the house or before leaving the house... my hubby will always be waiting at the door and asked sarcastically "Loh Poh what are you doing??"

2) I like to smell my daughters' hair...

3) I have the tendency to bite my hubby's firm butt... crazy!

4) I like to peel the dry flaky skin around my fingers whenever I see them.

5) I like to pull my upper lips down and smell my nostril...

6) Steal a quick glance of myself when I pass any mirror, reflective glasses....

Would like to pass this tag to:
Celine,
Mamajo,
Daph,
Shaggy

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary


Today is our 9th wedding anniversary, I woke my hubby up this morning and told him that he need to go over to fetch the bride back, in which he grinned with delight. He proposed that we dress up and go for fine dining tonight, hmm.... sounds good eh?

Yeah, we walked down the aisle 9 years ago and signed our contract of everlasting love, pledged our love and commitment for one another and got hooked up till today. I still remember vividly that I got my niece to become one of the flower girl, she performed perfectly during our rehearsals but on the actual day she broke into tears (terrified by the audience), stuck the entrance and I was pulling my dad and urging the crowd in front to move forward... quite embarassing... by the time the recorded music ended, the bride is still no where to be seen... hubby must have thought his bride run away, LOL.... anyway the rest was history...

I still remembered that I was so full of emotion that day that I nearly broke down into tears (before saying the vow), what a freaky bride I am, thank God I maintain my coolness and all went quite well....

So, here we are 9 years later... God bless us with 2 beautiful angels, a simple but fulfilling home, we are still pretty much in love, numerous quarrels, plenty of tears, sometimes heartaches but what is marriage without all these ya!

Happy Anniversary dear and I love you! Muak Muak Muak (Kisses)....

Gemstone test

I rediscover Celine's blog and decided to take the gemstone test myself:




Your Gemstone Says...



You exude wealth and class. (Even if you're short on funds.)

You carry yourself well, and you have perfect manners.

You never seem desperate or trashy. You are admired for your sense of style.

You treat others well. In fact, many people aspire to be like you.



My comment:
Exude wealth and class - no lar... people who knows me classified me as a careful spender...i go for affordable and varieties..
Carry yourself well, perfect manners - oklar..
Never seem desperate or trashy - I'm desperate at times but I tend to appear cool nia..
You treat others well - ok lar but I can't please everybody

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Siau Chu Chu - Little piggie

MIL and I have started to train Michelle to skip afternoon naps in order to prepare her for Primary 1 next year. She'll be attending afternoon classes, so we thought we should start early to get her body ready for it. Michelle is also quite an initiative child, no problem with the arrangement and gladly oblige to the plan.

We started this week, so far so good, for the past two nights, her eyes were droopy when it was approaching nine....

We always end the day with prayers, sometimes the children pray, I listened and most of the time I pray, they listened. On Monday night, I was leading in prayer.... half way through the prayer I heard a funny breathing sound...."herr... herr...." Guess what? Michelle is snoring away, just imagine how tired she is. Emily and I giggled and we continue with the prayer.

Yesterday evening we shared with her and she laughed uncontrollably.... "oh really... then I will snore tonight also" she claimed.

Monday, June 2, 2008

A survivor story

With the permission of my colleague, Erwin, I would like to take this opportunity to post what was shared to me by this loving and faithful father of three. Erwin is the father of Wino... below are his sharing, it is our hope that his lesson of life be an encouragement to parents out there who may face the same challenge or greater.... a message to press on and take comfort that a miracle could happen...

Wino Angelico P. Pasco
Philippians 4:6
…..do not worry about anything, but instead, make it known to God through prayer of thanksgiving……

Few hours after wino was born. Mommy paid a visit for feeding…
Since Wino is not responding well. Suspicion started. He was subjected to various tests


After the operation of Diaphragmatic Hernia. God made him Survived the operation….Truly….God Is Good


The equipments used to monitor wino’s condition…ventilator / respirator that makes breathing easier



After the removal of ventilator support. Wino has to start breathing on his own…. With Oxygen support only, which was also removed after two days….. God Heals Miraculously…. His Steadfast love really never ceases….


A completely healed baby after a week of operation…….. Only the support that helps him feed remains….. And again…in Gods Grace, was also removed afterwards as sucking becomes more convenient for him


The nurses that took care of Wino at the nursery intensive care unit during his stay at the hospital


The noenatologist and the pediatric surgeon that God nominated for Wino



First month


May 17,2008 Shots….quite a shy healthy baby….


Close to two months old Wino…..


After church service yesterday…… Wino at 2 Months age… God’s provision made him Survived….To God alone we give back all the Glory!!!!!!!


What we all learned from this experience is learning to trust God Wholly. Never doubt His promises and provisions. It is in difficult and tough times that we get to experience the Lord’s greatness and its truly amazing that we cannot fathom the depth of His Love. It’s so easy for us to trust God in times of blessings and when everything is going well for us….. But this test of faith allowed me, my wife and my family to experience the beauty and benefit of giving all to God and Trusting Him Completely.

Up until now, we are overwhelmed by what happened. From My son’s full recovery to the secondary issue on settling hospital bills. All of these things were provided by God’s richness in heaven.

We also gained a lot of new friends during our stay at the hospital..

What a blessing really it is to be with the Lord.

Testimony by : Erwin R. Pasco

A good movie


Hubby and I seldom watched TV nowadays, I used to be a soap opera series enthusiast until I took up the MBA program, my TV viewing time basically cut into very minimum. We also do not encourage our kids to watch TV but when they are with MIL during the day time, I'm not too sure but MIL says she try to watch only when they are taking their nap. Controlled viewing is actually fine with me and recently I realized our Michelle has started to enjoy shows over the TV.

I like to watch drama especially those with good story lines, relationships and family based. The most recent drama that we watched as a family was a movie called Saving Sarah Cain, I don't think it's a box office movie but I strongly encouraged others to watch it with your family, it talks about how one adapts to new situation, family bonding, healthy relationships. I also realized my girls are so full of emotion, they laughed easily and cried over sad movies just like me, this I called like mother like daughters... :)

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