Berjaya ke Tioman!

Pulau Tioman is an island close to my heart. I first holidayed there when I was 4 years old; before younger siblings existed for me. I do not remember much more than the nausea during the boat ride from Mersing (no Berjaya Air back in the 1970s YES I'mthatold). Years later, I would travel back with then-fiance Tony, to collect clearer, more pleasant memories.

The thing also is... sandy beaches really are THE thing for my whole family; we have an affinity for them, dare I say the same way ants take to sugar; I daresay the way scandals take to Malaysian politics. Better get back to the beach. It is such a calming place; soft powdery sand stretched out for miles along a wavy shoreline, asking to be walked along and played upon. The breeze nudges the waves, and they oblige, alternately tapping and thrashing the shoreline, then receding. Only to be nudged again... repeatedly. Slowly. Lazily. Eventually, realization sets in that the breeze is also teasing *us*, blowing sand and salty air in our face, tickling our ears with rustling coconut leaves.... sighhh. In a trance, we then unleash our cute kids, slippery with sunblock and brimming with energy, and they scurry out and become part of the beach scenery. Perfect.

That memory is from our last holiday on April 28th, where we spent 3 days at Berjaya Tioman. The journey began with a small glitch; the flight was delayed by an hour. We coped by letting the kids roam around Subang airport until they began trip up other travellers as they ran underfoot, and roll themselves about on the carpeting outside the public toilets. I think the additional zillion microorganisms they picked up during the delay actually required an additional seat...

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Finally we boarded, and most of us managed to snatch some sleep on the plane during the one-hour flight...

...except Charu, can't you tell from that face -- "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

When we finally reached, we boarded the shuttle van to the hotel (a mere 2km away but its a steep winding road). Along the way, I saw sights that triggered memories of my last visit, so many years ago. No change to people's living conditions:

Some parts however were cleaned up and modernized; the island has just been declared duty-free so a few metres from the entrance to Berjaya Tioman there is now a dusty new concrete building, built to house the Customs Department and huge in comparison to surrounding ramshackle eateries and even the nearby school.

FINALLY, we reached!! Checked in, chucked bags, and though I did not do real shutterbugging, when I DID remember to bring my trusty Moto U9, I got some (slightly fuzzy but) REAL holiday shots:

The Two Year Old Man

On the 2nd of February, Rohan turned two years old, but the amount of laughter and cuteness he has drizzled on us is worth about two thousand years of happiness, with more added on every single day. I often wish I had the superability of a character in Heroes who is able to freeze time; I could then STOP it whenever Rohan flashes that devastatingly grum chipped-tooth grin, with the crinkly eyes and squishy nose:





OK not bad, a camera-phone can do a half-decent job of time-freezing, albeit in two dimensions, sans fragrance and texture.

Another ability worth having, is the preservation of all his thoroughly disarming sayings, like:

"Are you cute?"
"Noooo, I'm YOHAN DAVID JOSEPHH!!!!"

(rocking back and forth in his seat) "I'm on my yocking chair!"

(seeing me in running gear) "Are you going to get gym germs??"

"How old are you today?"
"I'm a two year old Man!!"

OK, so preservation in a blog counts too, I suppose.

Finally, the highlight of the weekend birthday celebration was a trip to Templer Park. Thankfully, its still clean and enjoyable, unlike the disappointment of our last visit to the Tanjung Rambutan waterfalls. Looks like Tony's people in the Rawang district have been better at conserving their surrounding natural beauty than my Ipoh people. So of course the former won our vote as the first stream that we would take our innocent kids to. I don't want them to think that waterfalls are the colour of milk tea, and that bulldozers are part of the landscape, which was the case upstream of the Tanjung Rambutan waterfalls, to my disgust. That was many many years ago, I don't know what it is now, but I don't feel like making an effort to find out unless I hear that they're going to build some hilltop apartments that will tumble down and kill its occupants. OK better stop before this post gets more activisty..

Parting thought for the day -- Slumdog Millionaire is such a watchable movie because it leveraged the amazing candidness of children to tell a large chunk of the story. Look at these and tell me that you do not understand... ?!

Photographer is rewarded with a serene smile by the wading water waif...


... and her little frowny brother


Water waifs can turn impish in a few milliseconds..!


Water waifs are closely guarded by dashing dark-haired demons...


.. that have strange heads growing out of their backs! :-D

Will you, won't you come and join the Picnic

I introduced the concept of a picnic to Charu and Rohan after they watched Minnie Mouse organize one on Playhouse Disney. Now every weekend, at least one meal request comes with some cute laungan of "Mammeeeee, can we have a picnic??" :-) So I oblige, because its fun for me too. I cook their meals as usual, but add on a little extra fun picnic food item. One or more of the following would qualify : chicken nuggets, cocktail frankfurters, jelly, cubes of their favourite fruit (in Charu & Rohan's case, it would be apples, mango and/or oranges), homemade potato wedges, etc.

While Charu poses for the camera, Rohan covets the nugget in her hand...


Chicken nuggets served with quinoa-flecked rice in chicken soup and mixed vegetables, but it might as well be The Most Fantastically Tasty Food Experience To Be Had In The Open Air..


While Charu savours lunch, Rohan smears it in his hair...


Charu: Can we do this everyday?
Rohan: That's a tasty-looking leaf...

I LOVE how happy they look (OK Rohan didn't oblige on camera, but he sure did have fun :-D), and how the food seems to take on more vibrant hues and texture when consumed out in the open sunlight. Its just downstairs by the poolside, but who cares??

This post to push down the embarrassing blabbery previous one

But ironically, this one'll expose an embarrassing incident that happened today. Why? Because I am masochistic or something, I don't know really. Maybe I'm just expunging it. Exorcising. Exercising. Oh no I did that already earlier. Bad idea because my ankle started talking to me. But that's another story. Maybe I should tell that one... maybe not. I need to shut the ankle up first.

Okay moving onto more exciting things. Who wants to see recent photos of my cuuuute children? Me! Memememee!! Sometimes I feel bad posting so many photos of Charu and Rohan in cyberspace, but where else can I stand back and admire with such pride, my lovely lovely beautiful little human beings? At home? Well yea but this is different. You see, here they are:

In Jakarta... which reminds me - I haven't posted a satisfactory story on that!! This one is taken by a window at Hotel Mulia, my favouritest photo of the lot, so favorite that it makes me spout worse English than usual

This is an old one (Rohan has hair!) lying in my Moto U9, I hope this helps you understand why chubbywubby is a staple adjective in our house. If this were a painting, I'd call it "Beanbag nap after lunch"

Rare organized pose midway through a no-rules galah panjang session on the badminton court...

Cuddling up to each other (and Goohee the IKEA-bought doggy - don't expect sophistication and tact when asking a 4-year-old to name her brother's dog) while watching TV

In kiddy pool in Rawang.. that reminds me, need to get a bigger pool!

Charu the patient princess, reading to Rohan the king on the throne... potty-training being one of the many sweet things that Charu is helping Rohan with. Truly a princess!

So there!! Ah what was this post for again? Oh yea... embarrassment. Well its not really that important or interesting anymore, because it cannot eclipse the spectacularness of the photos above. Agree? Greegree?? But oh well just get it off me huh. In a conference call today, I was discussing serious work issues when Charu sneaked up behind me and asked "Can you please wash my bum now?". Because I had kept her waiting for awhile, maybe 5 minutes. Well, some length of time that is longer than a little 4-year-old is prepared to wait for a bottomwash. Because I was being asked at that long badly-timed moment, to explain something. Because it is nobody's fault. Because I *think* I muted in time. Because I did not hear any faraway sniggering or anything after that request. Because the call went on without any awkward pauses. Because of all that, I HOPE that the embarrassment is only in my mind. Although, I guess I'm pushing my luck by confessing it right here...

Biker Gloves = 2 kids' amusement X 30 minutes

Today's post is a lesson on how to secure an additional 30 minutes of relaxation in a house containing two very cute and energetic children. Just give them a pair of biker gloves!

Lovey Dovey with a pair of Gloveys...


What big Gorilla hands I have!!


Posing as an elite EPL football team goalkeeper


Rohan: What th' f@*$*!...


Biker gloves trying to squeeze some cuteness out...

The Walrus and the Porcupine

Stop press for some breaking news.

I took Charu to The Curve last Saturday, so that I could achieve the two things that I like to on weekends - spend mommy-daughter-bonding time with Charu, and replenish the kitchen pantry. So off we went, and here are some delightful shots of Charu enjoying tomato sauce pasta and potato wedges on a high chair at Marche.

Well! So much for delight, we did our thing, walked and shopped, skipped and hopped all over Curve, then returned home with a trolleyful of Tesco groceries.

As I opened the front door of our apartment, I could *hear* guilt bouncing off the walls... I'm sure sure sure... or maybe it was the sight of Rohan eating ice cream on Papa's lap, on a rainy Saturday afternoon that made me think of one's teeth jingling and tingling with coldness... and that must've been the sound I heard. Not entirely surprising, because SOMETHING was needed to manage the responsibility... accountability that one must bear, after achieving something spectacular like MAKING A CUTE BOY BALD :-))) We had a Bald Rohan! Or almost-bald. It was sketchy patchy tetchy. Roughly chunkily hewn. Sawn shaven and shorn. Into a cutey baldey spiky round little head. Turns out that while we were out, papa decided to try out his new battery-operated shaver. Without accounting for the resilience and unity of Rohan's Curly Mop of Hair, whose strength in numbers must have tired out and eventually killed the brand new shaver battery before the job was done. So he finished up with scissors, and the result is well.... like that lahh. Well, that evening we had to get the barber to even it out, and he did look better after.

Before: Patchy, tiered and terraced... like a lazy hillside farmer's crop.


During: Our well-behaved little chub allowing Mister Barber with thick moustachio to skim his scalp.


After: Deed done, and at least the eyelashes are spared.


Bedtime: Charu claimed, "I'm sleeping in the same bed as... a walrus, and a porcupine!" Here's a dark, fuzzy shot of the phenomena:

Photos as promised

But first, I have to take back something I said in the previous post. With great and MUCH regret. With awful gut-wrenching disappointment. With cringing, teeth-gritting consternation... I present to you...

Awful shot of me panting and wheezing through the Lake Gardens at 7am

Okay well ACTUALLY (brain tapping into skill possibly bestowed by Chinese ancestral lineage - think think fast fast!!) ... the shot is not of me wheezing and panting; its the START of the race and I was late to the starting line, so I'm actually pinning on my front number, wrapping my mandatory-ripped-towel around my wrist (for habitual brow-mopping) and starting my stopwatch. All at the same time. I am amongst the back-end stragglers who were there for a casual jog through the Lake Gardens aiming only for the post-run goodie bag (can you spot a person in *slippers*??). Hmph.. next race, I'll be ready! Paula Radcliffe crouch, laces tied and first-mile pace all worked out in my head...!! Nyahahaaa.

OK that's enough. Of me at least. Here are the REAL good shots:

WELCOME to the Land of Foamheads... ruled by the Pink Fairy Goblin Princess... that's me!!


I am the Conqueror of the Land of Foamheads, or soon WILL be.... help me get this disguise on, you useless serfs...!!


Urrrggh geramnye, I can't make a dent in the Fairy Princess's smile..!! This land conquering business is harder than I thought...


I say once, like saying a HUNDRED times okeii...


The historic formation of OPEC - Only Pudgy & Extremely Cute


OPEC treaty sealed with a plastic pineapple, and A CUTE CHUBBY WUBBY HANDSHAKE

Mommy duty - school break entertainment

Charu had a two-week school break a few weeks ago.

Don't these people in the business of schooling four-year-olds understand the concept of school for four-year-olds? WE pay THEM to provide us a break. From our four-year-olds. WE need our break from this:

Charu: (vaulting over 2 large squares of marble flooring) "Mummy, look at this!"
Charu: (vaulting over 3 squares of marble flooring) "MummMEEE!! Look at me!! QUICK!!"
Me: "Very clever!! Now let me read, okay. Jump another twenty times - Count.. one... two... three... " (back to reading the paper)
Charu: (walks over) "Mummy, what are you reading?"
Me: "Today's paper."
Charu: (points at Deep Heating Rub ad. Its has a man's silhouette with the outline of the nervous system inside) "Mummy, what is his name?"
Me: "He doesn't have a name."
Charu: "Why? Why he has no name, ah?"
Me: "Because he is not a real man."
Charu: (points at photo of our PM giving speech) "What is his name?"
Me: "Badawi."
Charu: "Ba-da-wi. Why his face like that?"
Me: "Because he cannot remember what he wants to say."
Charu: "Why? Why he cannot remember ah?"
Me: "Because he is old."
Charu: (pointing at Michael Ballack) "What is his name?"
Me: "Michael."
Charu: "You mean like Uncle Michael?"
Me: "Yes but without the big tummy."
Charu: "Why his face like that?"
Me: "He is angry because he cannot get his ball into the right place." (camon la, she's four years old, not fourteen; innocence still intact!)
Charu: "Ooo... He is showing temple??"
Me: "Yes! He is showing temPER."
Charu: (pointing at Annika Sorenstam) "What is her name?"
Me: "Annika."
Charu: "Annika!!! Like the Barbie Doll!!!"
Me: "Yes like the Barbie doll."
Charu: (pointing at someone annoying-looking, maybe it was Shalin Zulkifli, or maybe I was just really annoyed at this point) "What is h..."
Me: "WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME READTHISPAPERINPEACEFORALEETLEBEETLEWHILE???"

This is followed by a 2-minute mother-daughter-no-eye-contact-pouting session, followed by the total end of my newspaper-reading session, where I attempt to explain myself to a folded-arm, harrumphing four-year-old dimple-faced goblin, that I do not want to play "What is his/her name?" with my newspaper because I selfishly want to read it without getting whiplash from looking up and down between the b*#@*%* paper and her.

DO I NEED THIS???

No I certainly don't, sooooooooooo.... with the 2-week school break looming, and having some presence of mind, I made emergency plans to remedy the potentially grave situation of leaving an energetic child cooped up in an apartment unit for more than 3 afternoons in a row. I took a day off each week, and took Charu out for some extensive shopping mall walkabouts :-) I did examine other options (like a picnic, or letting her join me on errands), but in the interest of child safety and comfort, malls really are still the most sensible places, being air-conditioned, relatively safe for walkabouts, and filled with colourful stores, children's entertainment outlets and food options. Phew!

The Curve is a very good option given that it houses IKEA which has its own children's play area. Elsewhere in The Curve also are 2 bouncing-castle play areas, RM8 per entry, that provide endless jumping fun for an energetic child :-D. One Utama works for me too, as it has the Rainforest where RM2 gets you a packet of fish food to sprinkle at the healthy-looking fishes; and Kidsportz that has obstacles and outdoor-type activities for kids but in an indoor play area, and you can pay extra to have their personnel babysit your kids while you shop in peace :-)))

Now I only have shots of our day out at KLCC, as we could meet up with Papa for lunch then, so he managed to snap a happy four-year-old clicking heels outside the Petronas Science Centre (we couldn't get in because it was CLOGGED with people, all of whom needed to get their kids out the house, far away from four-walled spaces with newspapers and other objects with why-inducing possibilities), Kinokuniya (which wasn't so clogged but still full of children, some of whom were swatting huge flies against the glass window overlooking the KLCC park, leaving awful spatters of fly-juice... something worthwhile that they can write in their "What I Did During The School Holidays" essays...), and anywhere that allowed her to walk and walk and walk.... tiring out those cute little legs, that cheeky little face framed by wispy little hair, that covers her kissable little head, encapsulating that intelligent little brain....

Yahoooooo I'm in 'Kay Yell See See!!!

Papa taking photos of me in a good mood!!!

Charu: "Yeeee fly juice on the window!!"

Charu tiring of Papa Paparazzo..

Back to reading Clifford the Big Red Dog...

Back home after KLCC...