Chu Chu Train, Here We Come

This is a long overdue post but better late than never, right? Since hubby can’t take an extra day off prior to the Raya holidays, I decided that for a change we (the kids and I) took the train instead for our trip to Kampar. So I went to KTM website and checked it out but unfortunately the online ticketing was down but thank God the website leads me to a call center for booking. I called and verified on the availability and booked straight away. Two days later, went to the KTM office in Butterworth to get our tickets. The kids and I(the kid in me) was equally excited about the trip as it was our first time traveling on the rail tracks.

The trip from Butterworth to Kampar on 2nd class, one way costs RM23 for adult and RM16 for children below 12 and we booked the earliest train of the day departing from Butterworth at 8.00am. We woke up at about 6.20am, left the house at about 6.45am, hubby dropped us at the ferry terminal at 7.10am and we took the ferry to Butterworth. We managed to witness the beautiful sun rise on the ferry. The train terminal is about 5 minutes walk from the ferry terminal. We were just in time to board the train.

Surprisingly the train condition was quite good, clean and air-conditioned, so much space compared to buses, best of all the kids can walked up and down, draw and play, there were toilets for every compartment and also a TV for every 20 seats or so. So no complain/fuss from the kids except it was extremely cold that morning, the kids wore three layers of T-shirts as I did not bring along their jacket (suppose to travel light, imagine alone with two kids and a luggage bag).

We stopped at a few stations to pick and drop passengers at the same time… let me recall Bukit Mertajam, Nibong Tebal…..., Taiping, Ipoh and finally Kampar. The whole journey took us approximately 4 hours, quite slow but if you are not in a hurry I personally recommend this. Of course the kids made a mess in their seats as they were happily and clumsily helping themselves with snacks, drinks (they really made themselves at home), so sorry for the cleaner! They kept asking me why it took so long to reach Kampar, why it was so cold, where we were, made multiple trips to the toilet and…. (the list goes on…). Any mother can imagine my situation for that 4 long hours.

Finally at approximately 12 noon, the officer made the announcement that we will be reaching Kampar in a few minutes time, we packed our stuff. As we get ready to alight, to our delight “kung kung” was just in front of us to greet us. How nice to be back home again! Back home, my brother and his family were there to welcome us… it was a well planned journey and for the next 4 days we had great family time together and for my husband, a 4 days 3 nights bachelor life again.

Stay tune for some pictures. Here you go...

Sun rise shot from the ferry..

The girls sitting comfortably and obviously delighted with the condition..

The train condition - 2nd class cabin


Padi field scenery

Finally reached our destination, Kampar station

Kampar train station - renovated, this the train that we boarded

For those who don't know what's this... it's the railway tracks k?
Hmm.. what's next, maybe a ride in a luxury high class coach?

Raya @ Taiping - Part 2

I believe for those who have been to Taiping Lake Garden would totally agreed with me that the place is a nice spot for photo shooting with its rich lush greens, ponds and well kept environment. No doubt that it is also a popular place for couples to take nice cool walks and have long conversations.

So this is what we did... (it all started by a picture that a friend took using hubby's camera, all agreed that it was a nice shot with the perfect angle). We decided to rewind 10+ years back and created below shots.

In the beginning...





Time past and soon we realized it's time to commit our lives as couple in everlasting union....


Then... time flies, soon we produced a flock of..........


Yeap, you are right 8 of us produced 9 PRINCESSES, can you guess who belongs to whom??

Ha ha ha, we had fun, hubby and I even make a shot of a romantic scene just like what you would see in a typical Bollywood movie... (I'm not releasing the version here... those who are interested may contact me personally for the copyright..)

Raya @ Taiping & Kuala Sepetang - Part 1

We went for a 2 days 1 night trip to Taiping and Kuala Sepetang with three other families last Monday and Tuesday. It was a fun-filled trip packed with delicious food, educational tour, water fun time, lots of laughter, jams, sweat… you name it we experienced it.

If you were thinking how on earth do 4 families with 9 girls managed the trip and achieved so much, come tag along on our adventure trail…. Followed by pictures later ya!

Day 1
8.00 -9.00 am – Dim Sum at Pekaka Square
9.00 – 10.00 am – Journey to Taiping with songs, quizzes in the car packed with 4 talkative girls
10.30 am – 12.30 noon – Taiping Zoo
12.30 – 2.00 pm – Lunch at the hawker center, near Taiping market, they served fabulous Koay Teow Soup…
2.00 – 4.00 pm – Check in at Taiping Golf Resort, swimming and water games (the men are rough!)
4.00 – 5.30 pm – Rest (Super tired!)
6.00 – 9.00 pm – Dinner at Siong Leng restaurant (the food plus the bill were a total disappointment! Bad recommendation!!)
9.00 – 10.30 pm – Chatted…
10.30 pm – Completely knocked down for the day

Day 2
8.00 – 9.00 am – Breakfast in the hotel
9.30 – 10.30 am – Taiping Lake Garden for photo shooting and a stroll around the lake, superb view and nice weather
10.30 – 12.30 noon – Back to hotel for a dip in the pool again…
1.00 – 2.00 pm – Trip to Kuala Sepetang (Port Weld)
2.00 – 3.00 pm – Lunch opposite the KTM Port Weld signboard (A hut selling superb curry mee, Loh mee (Penang one much better), Chai Kueh (this is good), Curry Puff (thumbs up too), Cucur Udang (we saw many people ordered this but too full to stuff in anymore…)
3.00 – 5.00 pm – Mangrove Forest Boat Ride (Sun bathing.. the kids enjoyed it)
5.00 – 6.30 pm – Early dinner at “Restoran Tepi Sungai” (We ordered octopus dip with grated nut chili sauce, deep fried baby crabs, deep fried shrimp, buttered prawns, siput, steamed fish, stir-fry lettuce, char mee and bihun (for the kid’s table), fried egg, 6 bottles of herba tea, guess how much is the bill???)
6.30 – 8.30 pm – Back to Penang…

I extracted below photos from some of the website, ours one yet to be downloaded..
From top left and in clock wise direction... mangrove forest, Taiping Lake garden, Port Weld curry mee, Taiping Golf Resort (where we put in).


From top left, deep fried shrimp, octopus, stir-fry mee, buttered prawn..


Stay tune for more photos in Part 2.

Bali (2)

Random shots of Bali...... enjoy

Stir-fried Kangkung..., fresh and crunchy

Sweet-sour crab... hmm not fresh... I vomitted this

Wow.. nice sunset at Uluwatu

A shot at Semara Spa... Balinese massage is different from Thai massage according to hubby, I went for the "French" style massage with slimming effect, they massage both back and front portion hor.... aiyoh "paiseh"..

A must go shopping place.... cheap cheap price especially in the morning, the place to try out your bargaining skill...

A temple built on the rock overseeing the Indian Ocean... spectacular view

The labour of "hard bargaining" (1)

The labour of "hard bargaining" (2)

Sunset at Tanah Lot



Tanah Lot, strong wave splashed against the rocks

Rows of rows of shops to test your bargaining skill again

Balinese art... nice we bought plenty of them

Babi Guling, roasted pork rice with pickles and sambal

Temple at Bratan Lake, a cooling place
Taman Ajam, a former King's residence

Harris Resort, Kuta, the place where we stayed
Prevention at the airport, we can see a big fuss over at KLIA but not in Bali, look like "Transformers"?

Bali Vs Reality

Yeap, we're back from our 2nd honeymoon and back to "reality", no more late nights, lazy mornings, long buffet breakfast, wonderful relaxing spa session, crazy shopping days, sun breeze, fantastic sunsets, macho surfers, good food, back to nature, quiet couple time............ One thing is sure, we were glad that we made this trip and I've the best time in my life shopping... bargaining like never before.

Ah...now that we are back home.....the only reward is we get to see our princesses again after 4 long days of separation. Emily and MIL came to fetch us in the airport last Monday and Emily was like jumping hysterically and once settled down, immediately demanded for her gifts (don't know missing us or the gifts more). Michelle is equally excited and was calling for me before even reaching the front door when she came back from school.

I've uploaded the photos in my facebook and will upload some here later. At the mean time I've got to adjust going back to work especially that I'll be lecturing on a full time basis starting from next week. No more hazy lazy days ahead but then at the mean time I still have 5 days enjoying my resort life at home..... Stay tune for more Bali posting ya!

What really happen on 05.06.2009

Ha ha, below is the chronology of event of our 10th wedding anniversary:

8.00 - 9.00am - Get everybody to wake up and dressed

9.00 - 10.00am - Breakfast

10.00 - 12.00noon - Penang Annual Horse Show at the Turf Club open day

12.00 - 2.00pm - Lunch at the Little Cottage, next to the Waterfall Hotel

2.00-3.00pm - Check in to our hotel, wash up

3.00 - 4.00pm - Super hot swim (the kids can't resist the pool)

4.00 - 6.00pm - Rest and wash up

6.00 - 10.00pm - Dinner, a walk in the garden and Pasar Malam

10.00pm - Completely knock out

The next morning, after breakfast off we went to the beach before checking out. We had a great fun time as a family, we may plan for a similar annual trip in the future...

Waiting for the van to ferry us to the main fair venue

A picture with the clown
Daddy, the girls and the horses

The girls at the hotel lobby

The external view of the hotel that we stayed in - Bayview Beach Resort

Mei mei with her castle
Jeh jeh relaxing by the pool
Sun rise view from the hotel balcony
Daddy and Emily with their project

A glimpse of what we did last hol

As promised below are some snapshots of what we did last hols...

A time for rest and relax


A time for nature


A time to check on the chicks





A time to admire beautiful flowers


For sisterhood


For homecook food of course!! Yummy


For bonding with loved ones



For some bubble time



A time to dress up...


For yummy ice-cream


Time to enjoy "kampung" firework display...