WET WET ..CHINESE NEW YEAR

As it does every year, the rain came down really hard on the first day (2nd,3rd...)of chinese new year.
Luckly for us it was just days spending at home.... watching tv.

Andrew and me did went out ( in the rain) for a short while on the first day of CNY to do some banking and later to buy 'sweets' as I was having a yearning for them at that moment.
There was a bakery that open even on CNY. And wow.... did they have a wide selections of cakes for sale.

This was the best fudge I have ever tasted from this bakery... had to 'fight' with Tisha to enjoy them.


















We even bought a durian birthday cake. It looked better than it's taste. Just ordinary sponge cake with only the cream smelling durian. Would have taste better if they had spread the cream in between the cake's layers.


















This is a mocha fresh cream cake. Yona ate most of it.



















We were never the kind of people who would go to public open houses or even friends' houses ( on any occassions) without proper invitions . The only invition ( as we always have for the past twenty years or so)we got for CNY was to Baby Chung's house on the second day . She was my maid of honour and is still one of my best friend from our 'old gang' whom I still am in constant contact with.
This year we had to skipped that as well as Andrew had already left for KK when she called. Furthermore the girls .... me included were 'lazy' to budge from our individual activities.

Our own CNY always starts with home cook family's dinner at my mom's.
She's still holding on strong to her chinese roots.
Here are some of our favourites.
My siblings would be so jealous with my 'blessings'.

MY BIRTH....DAYS

I wondered if Andrew did really get the date wrong or it was as he had said which was celebrating it a night earlier because the girls were having their training on that actual night.
Anyhow, we wanted to eat dinner at Ocean King but there was a wedding reception held there that night and the place was fully packed.
As an option we had it at Kg Pukat Seafood . Nothing really big, just the normal family's dinner. My parents and Atlas, Rocky and Florence. I didn't forget to invite my best friend Joanna and her daughter Diane too.

It was a night for fishes.... we had steam fish... fried fish.... fish
fillet...fish soup... fish.. fish. Plus lots of green veggie.
Rocky brought along a birthday cake for the occassion.
I will load the photos we took there on a later day( it's in Andrew's camera)

The next day.... the actual birthday was spent with Andrew for breakfast.... lunch with the girls at home and dinner at mom's.

The mid week church gathering was held at mom's place therefore she was cooking for them. She said this would make a good 'excuse' to celebrate my birthday. This also gave her the opportunity to make me blow candles (all 46 of them?....I threw 6 away)
I had successfully avoided that the night before.
My wishes for this year is still the same as the past years before.... health, love and fulfillment for me and all my love ones.

LUCK IS AROUND........ ???

These are air plants....
Air plants are known as epiphytes...plants that absorb what they need from the air through their leaves, not through their roots.
They are unusually hardy, surviving temeraptures from 35 to 120 degrees.
They are able to tolerate long periods without water, but it is also difficult to overwater them.
They do not need direct sun

I took the whole 'bunch' from June's home in Singapore on our trip way back on Christmas 2007. I'm not sure how many there were but these are the only ones that survived.
One started to bloom about a week ago. I got so excited about it because it was the first time and first one that I have seen personally. I took these photos when it first show the flowers 'shoots'.
My excitement turned to dissapointment when instead of blooming to it's fullest..... some @@#$#?>&^& ants or bugs got to it first and practicully ate the whole 'shoots'.
Rare boomings usually means luck.... he he... or maybe not. Darn insects!

HOLIDAY IN SAPPORO JAPAN

11 November 2008
I took a the 8.10 am flight to KK today as I was afraid should there be any 'unforseen' circumstances that this flight got cancelled I still could take the 1.10pm flight or even the 6hrs bus ride.
No other 'unforseen' circumstances other than I totally forgotten both of my handphones whereby in the end dad had to rush (and barely making it) to the airport .
Flight was early therefore I had to wait for awhile for Andrew to come. He didn't report for work today so we had the whole day to 'waste'.
We did just that. First there was a heavy breakfast then it's to Maxis's office to report his lost sim card. ( oh... Andrew bought me another new handphone... after this morning handphones eposode?)
We went shopping for his winter cloths( men!.. just had to wait for the last minute) We also did some money changing after lunch before going home to do the last minute packing.
Our trip to Japan began with our 12.30a.m. flight from KK to Incheon Korea.
Our whole group comprising of 38 of us were already at the airport by 10pm.
There were no direct flight to Chitose Sapporo via Korean Airlines therefore the reason why we were booked to Incheon. We were infact in Korea first before Japan.
We took off on time but most of the trip ( 5 hours plus) was spent 'sleeping' unconfortabally at the seat. We were served breakfast at around four in the morning.
Breakfast was one of the 'worse' porrage that I have ever tasted. I discovered later that I was not the only one who said this.
It's hard to discribe on how it taste. A really sweet yuk yuk chicken porrage...
We were at the airport terminal by 6.30am and after passing the normal immigration prosidures we still had few hours to 'kill'.
We went 'walking around' the airport's shops with no intention of buying for awhile before going to one of the empty bording terminal where Andrew took the whole row of seats to catch up on his sleep. On the other hand, I felt it was a bit embarrising doing that so I ended up doing my cross stitch.
The flight to Chitose Sapporo took off at 10.10a.m. I was a two hour plus trip. We were offically in Japan at 12.50p.m. where we were met by our guide, Frank. A malaysian born man who makes his living as a guide in Japan . Funny, I wonder if he knows as much about Malaysia as he does Japan.
Hhmm...nevertheless he was a fine guide.
Off from the plane's seats we were back in the bus's seats.

Our first 'stop' was the Ainu Village Folk at Shiraoi . Ainu are the first people of the island. Here we saw houses constructed in the original style to demonstrate the traditional Ainu life style and we were able to observe dancing,listening to songs and witness the demonstrational of various technical arts handed down by the Ainu ancestors.

Next we were on our way to Noboribetsu.
Noboribetsu is Hokkaido's most famous hot spring resort, beautifully surrounded by forested hills. Noboribetsu's major attraction, besides its baths, is the Jigokudani or "Hell Valley", where you can view (and smell) sulfurous steam vents, streams and ponds. Noboribetsu is part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park.

Our hotel for the night was at the Noboribetsu Manseikaku Hot Spring Hotel.
It was here that I had the experience of the 'first' for many things.
A Japanese meal was nothing new to me but to eat sushi sashimi in Japan while wearing a japanese yukata was a first.
Sleeping on a tatami was also a first ( he he... but it was a six mattress pile for me)
The 'open' hot spring bath was open 24 hrs but it was defenietly a no no to Andrew. I didn't have a friend to go with or else taking a bath naked with other unknown people would have been a first too.
Anyhow I was a bit too tired for more 'fun' that night.
The bath tub they had in the room was fine enough for me to do some 'soaking'( minus the onlookers). I did just that for almost an hour. We had a room which have the bathroom and toilet separately so I wasn't worry with Andrew wanting to use the toilet. First bathroom I have been to that have separate rooms directly opposite of each other.
Hhmm.... I remembered how wonderful it was....
I guess I was realy 'that' tired as I didn't remember anything after that wonderful bath and going to bed.











 Incheon airport Seoul....waited for few hours for the next flight to Hokkaido









In the big bus stitching cross stitch of Yona

LYDIA'S FIRST DAY OF 'REAL' SCHOOL AT SJK (C) LOK YOK

I used to wonder why Lydia didn't get a place at SJK (C)Pui Jin ( Yona's old school)but I kept telling myself there must be a reason for everything.
Now I'm definitely sure the reason why her present school teacher living opposite our house was one of them.
I got to know her teacher about a few years back... infact about six years back. It was just a casual and brief encounter but I got to know she was a teacher and the school where she was teaching.
After that it was total silence until school registration day last year.
How fortunate can I be as she is now Lydia's 'rides' to and from school which means..... I don't have to be her driver.
Her school is one of the most 'remote' ones in Sandakan. It takes about fifteen minutes drive ( no traffic) from the house.... to the 'jungle' along cecily road towards SJK (C) Lok Yok.
They only have six classes... one for each standard.
A few of my friends wondered why I entered her there.
I don't remember what I answered them but my personal reason is....
the feelings I felt the first moment I sat foot at that school. I don't know how to explain it but it was a kind of peaceful and calm feeling that makes you feel good.
I'm very sure Lydia will benefit more from a 'quiet' school due to her personality.

The first day to school... still without the school's badge














There were only seven of them on the first day of school





















This is the new building



















The canteen






The 'old' school building










The Parking area

PULANG KAMPUNG

We started our journey 'home' around seven. It was decided that it would be early as Atlas was to catch the 1.30pm ferry to Labuan that day. He had also promised Laura (his future bride) that he would help carry and store away some of her belongings from her now rented house to the Likas house prior to that.
The couple would be flying to KL tomorrow. Laura has been offered to take her masters somewhere in Perak and Atlas is tagging along to help her settle down to her new 'year long home' there.
By seven thirty, we were on our way to KK. It was a two hour plus ride in the bonnet for me...(yeah extra sleep!)
We stopped to have breakfast at Gunung Emas but was dissapointed to find out that they were not 'ready' for business yet.We then proceed to Dongongong for that.
After buying Atlas's ticket and sending him home in Kg Likas, we went on to 1Borneo as the girls wanted to see for themselves what was said to be one of the nicest christmas decorations in the state. We also wanted to see the newly opened bowling alley.


















This is the only two photos that I managed to get before the camera's batteries ran out























We did all that and was 'walking' aimlessly for an hour before dad suggested that we pulang kampung. Kampung would mean Papar.
Another half an hour drive or so we were there. First we went out to check Pantai Manis. Dad remembered how beautiful the beach was and of the abundance coconuts for sale to quench your thirst along it's beach front.

I thought this scence was nice...























Hhmm.....what a dissapointment. We barely saw the beach ( barricades were laid along the length of the beach )
Coconuts?.... not even one biji la!
We went to Kg Limputung to pay dad's worker his wage for work done on 'clearing' of the few palm oil trees that he planted in one of the plot of inherited lands there.
We had lunch at the local market for that well known 'ngau chap'...hhmm nice.
Mom and me took extra minutes to 'check out' the local shopping place. Not really much to see as it was sunday and most of the shop were closed by midday.
We didn't even visit my aunt who we normally see each time we were there as she had gone to her grandson's place.
We were back in KK by four o'clock.

DANCING WITH ...... EEEE..... SLIPPERS

The main reason why we were in Tambunan was to attend celebration dinner for the 50th anniversary of Andrew's good friend Rainus's parents.... or so we were told.
Anyone from Sabah would know what it's like in a celebration in the kampung.
Yup.... it's tons of fun and 'tajaus' of lihing. Tambunanians are known to be good drinkers.
Regardless of age or gender.
It turned out that the celebration was actually for Rainus's 50th birthday. He said otherwise as he didn't want anyone coming with presents. We inturned felt embarrased over the 'misunderstanding' after greeting his parents upon entering the house's compound.
It was more of a family celebration on his side, the PEKA (I think it stand for perkumpulan keluarga Awang)..... plus few of his closest friends. (he considered us his family from Sandakan).
We were lucky that tonight the weather was fine unlike last night. Still, mud puddles were everwhere that the best footwear would still be the 'selipar jepun'
.......even for dancing
Food and drinks were in abundance. Not forgetting, yours truly, Andrew had contributed a 40kilo 'lichun' as centre piece. (Hhmm...ialatu haram)
Music was loud but good for dancing...
I was lucky not to be requested for a song. Live bands are still a no no to me.
Andrew sang... sorry is all that I can say ( really?... then work on it!)

While waiting for time to feast




















A game we took part in ( and didn't win!) .. counting the numbers of corn beans


















Pakai caculator lagi tu....



















Santa delivering his gifts
















Peace for rock and roll
















the sumazau....

















the joget....













or the cha....














..cha....















...cha.


















Nicky trying to master the gongs