Though the village is less populated now, there are still plenty of coconut trees around, standing tall and swaying in the sea breeze. Deeply rooted in the same ground generation after generation, if only coconut trees could speak, they would have plenty of stories to share with us.

Read the full story

We drove to Mersing, Malaysia yesterday for a day trip. I guess Malaysians will know where is Mersing, but many non-Malaysians have a common reply, “Mersing? What is it?” Some thought it was some hangout for singing! Later I will introduce more about Mersing…

We were at the border in the morning at seven. Apparently, the most challenging part of the journey to Mersing started at the Singapore-Malaysia border, where hundreds of vehicles, as usual, have to queue up patiently to pass through the Singapore Checkpoint. The heightened security at the checkpoint has given to lengthy and slow queues, since the escapade of Singapore’s most wanted man - Mas Selamat!

Now, where is Mersing? Breakfast next! Let me recommend you this famous “Kiang Kee” Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶)

Read the full story

A rest and relax day for us, after days of rushing for trains and tight schedules. We rented bicycles and bought groceries at the town which is about 1.5km away from the resort located on the mountain. Getting to the town was further than it seemed to be as we had to walk along a few bends on the road while descending from the mountain. We rented mountain bikes for half a day at €11 for each bike. We also bought some food to cook in our resort and the food was quite cheap. We thought we could put the bags of food on our bicycles and rode back to the resort, but it proved to be a stupid idea, when we had forgotten that our resort was high up on the mountain! We ended up exhausted ourselves and instead, apart from carrying the heavy bags of food, we had to push our bicycles up the slopes! Dog-tired!

After putting down the food in the resort, we rode around the alpine region, relaxing and getting rejuvenated in the alpine breeze.

Came across a stream. It was nature untouched!

Read the full story

We bought two tickets for a Super VIP Coach with 24 seaters from Transtar Travel to Ipoh for Chinese New Year at S$88 per ticket. This was the first time we took Transtar and I like the pick-up location as it is just above Lavender MRT – conveniently located only a few stations away from our house. The coach left Lavender at 9:30pm, went by Tuas Checkpoint and left the checkpoint at around 10.15pm. We reached Ipoh the next morning at 4:50am, 5 Feb 08. I was so soundly asleep in the coach when the driver yelled “Ipoh! Ipoh!”.

Ipoh Yummies!

Tuesday, 5 Feb 08

We waited at the bus terminal for Jacky’s brother to fetch us. There were some men smoking at the terminal, “treating” us “breakfast” with choking cigarette smell. I learnt that our lungs go through detoxification from 3:00am to 5:00am, and these people could still smoke at this hour, it’s really bad.

Soon, Bro reached and we went home straight. There was no one at home except both of us and Bro. The rest of the family were still in Penang. The other brother’s family in Kuala Lumpur were not coming home for reunion as his wife was going to give birth soon.

We slept till noon time and went out for brunch at Xin Dong Qu (新东区) Kopitiam. There are a few stalls with good food: Hakka Mee stall, Curry Mee stall (the one with longer queue), Popiah stall, Wonton Mee stall, Hokkien Mee stall and “Chao Fun” stall.

Ipoh is famous for its food, particularly “Sar Hor Fun”( 沙河粉)– flat white rice noodle served in soup with shredded chicken meat and prawns; “Hor Hee”(河喜) served with fish cakes; “Nga Choi Kai” (芽菜鸡)- chicken with stout and juicy beansprouts; “Hakka Mee” (客家面)and “Hiong Piah” (香饼)– flaky and crisp biscuits filled of smooth, thick and sticky sugar syrup.

Read the full story

Wednesday, 6 Feb 08

Supposed to wake up early for Dim Sum but slept till noon.

Most hawkers were closed for Chinese New Year eve and many people were doing their last minute shopping at Jusco shopping mall, the nearest mall to our home. I bought two tops from Padini at 50% discount, and gave one to Melissa as it was too small for me.

We had lunch at Kenny Roger restaurant and were quite disappointed with the food and poor service. The vegetable salad was very little – as little as one piece of small leaf being torn into halves! Kenny Roger restaurant in Malaysia should be cheaper than Singapore’s, but with smaller portion of side dishes.

Drove around Ipoh and passed by some cave temples. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any worshipers there. It could be due to Lunar New Year eve and the Chinese were preparing for reunion dinner.

Read the full story

Thursday, 7 Feb 08 (First day of Lunar New Year)

This was the first time we gave out “ang baos” to our younger, unmarried relatives. My single friends have been asking me to give them “ang baos” too! I gave them a No-No, because I want them to get a partner soon and give me “ang baos” during their wedding instead! I told them it’s a “taboo”; if I start giving them “ang baos”, they could be receiving “ang baos” for the next many years! And still remaining singles.

When I was searching for “Doraemon” games online for Grace (8-year-old niece), I came across this international game site with online games from Korea, Japanese, Italian, Myanmar and other countries.

This game site has many girl-games – Dress up games, Make up games and Cooking games. I like the Cooking games – they are cute! The games are mostly in foreign languages so we need to figure out how to play them. Grace and I played the games for the rest of the afternoon.

Read the full story