CNY 2nd Day 04 Feb 2011

04 Feb 2011 (Fri):

It was a last min decision to make this trip up to Ipoh before our 2 nights stay up in Cameron Highlands. And so we search the internet for available rooms. Luck has it for we managed to get 2 nights @ Heritage Hotel via Agoda.com

We were supposed to set off at 6am as hubby feared that there wld be traffic jams along the causeway but as usual, we overslept. It was around 7.30am by the time we left our home.

After lunch at Nilai, we proceeded along the highway towards Ipoh, Perak. Why Nilai? You wonder. I read on some internet forums that going towards Nilai/Shah Alam/Ipoh direction is faster & you don't have to go through KL & get hit by jams. But when we turn into Nilai, there were no such signage or directions. So in order not to get lost & waste more time, we turned out up on the highway again. Safer. :)

By the time we reached Ipoh, its already in the late afternoon. We checked into our hotel & got sme rest.

We got a view of the Perak Turf Club for we were given a room on the 8th floor. Heritage hotel is located in the city centre, just 10 mins drive from The Lost world of Tambun. That's where we will be heading the next day. And being the Chinese New Year period, we were given a welcome gift bag consisting of a packet of peanuts, 2 mandarin oranges, 2 packets of chrysanthemum drinks & a packet of cookies.

We drove along the roads & noticed all the shops are still closed. Being only the 2nd day of CNY, we got no choice but to have our dinner at 1 cafe which was opened for business, Delight Cafe. RM73.35 for a 5 course dinner but we were allowed to choose our own food.

Then later in the evening, after we finished some shopping at The Store, we saw that there is a night market (pasar malam) nearby. And who could have thought of it but to see the famous Lou Wong Tauge Chicken right there & then. But look at crowd, there were no seats at all, not to mention those standing around waiting for tables.

Okay, so we decided to come back the next evening to try our luck. The kids got some watch & i bought one too as my old one died.

Back to the hotel for a good night sleep as it will be a full day tomorrow.

** Be sure to check back the post for 1st day of the CNY so that you will be able to keep track**

CNY 1st Day 03 Feb 2011

03 February 2011 (Thursday):

Gong Xi Gong Xi!!! Wishing everyone a happy & prosperous golden bunny year!!

Today, my ils are going overseas to Guiyang, Changsha, China for a holiday. We went over to T2 for a send off. 6 people in the family flying off but about 15 people came for the send off, equivalent to 4 cars. Haha.

After the send off, we head over to my granny's place for lunch. Of course not all 15 of us but the 4 of us - hb, me , Lionel & Rachel. This is a yearly affair. We also met up with all my aunts, uncles & cousins.

Rachel with Sihan - my fathers' cousins' daughters' girl. How is she related to Rachel? Note: my father & his cousin are of a different surname cos they are related by my granny & her sister.
Complicated right? Anyway, they were able to click as they were only 1 month apart in age.

There after, we proceeded over to my mum's for another steamboat dinner. Supposing to meet up with my mum side of relatives but no one was around when we arrived. My mum told me that they came over for lunch instead. Well, well..

** Don't forget to read about the events for 02 Feb 2011 **

CNY Eve 02 Feb 2011

02 Feb 2011 (Wed):

Its the eve of the Chinese New Year. My company officially closed at 2pm on this day but i still have a few errands to complete before our reunion dinner with family members this evening.

At 7pm, we begun our steamboat dinner. And at 12 midnight, we usher in the new year by welcoming the Golden Bunny & said goodbye to Brother Tiger. :)

Steamboat ingredients such as fishballs, prawns, veggies, meat, chicken, duck, abalone, scallops, noodles, tofu, etc...

Notice Lionel's hair? All spiky? He gelled his own hairstyle.

Mouth full of food.

Some others still wanna try & clear the remaining plates of food.

Fooling around with Daddy.

Yum Seng!

All the kids enjoyed themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly_m_pG23I0

Seimpi Lesson 4

30 Jan 2011 (Sun):

Lesson 1 missed...
Lesson 2 missed...
Lesson 3 missed...

We attended lesson 4 & did some revisions.

Remember these tempos?

Adagio - A slow tempo
Allegro - A fast tempo. In Italian the word means lively or merry.

Andante - A moderately slow tempo. In Italian the word means walking.

Largo - A very slow tempo. In Italian, the word means broad.

Presto - A very fast tempo. Faster than allegro.

Then we did Step & Skip -

STEP: space to space or line to line, eg C ~ D or E ~ F ( note to note)

SKIP: space to line or line to space, eg C ~ E or D ~ F (skipping a note in between)

Also covered Time Values & Musical Symbols.

Semi Breve - 4 counts ( 1st ladybug top left hand)

Dotted Minim - 3 counts (3rd ladybug bottom left hand)
Minim - 2 counts (1st ladybug top right hand)
Crochet - 1 count (3rd ladybug bottom righ hand)

Fermata - like a car stopping at a traffic light

Slur - like a boy skating

Tie - like twins holding hands

Staccato - like a ball bouncing

Rachel seems to lost touch with keyboard & its relevant notes. Well, blame it on mummy who did not revised with her since last performance in Dec 2010. Its been a month & a half till date. So this 2 days, i better spent some time revising together with her.

Absent from Seimpi

The new term was supposingly to start 09 Jan 2011 but Rachel was having fever 2 days ago so i called the school to inform we were not coming. Then on the 16 Jan, we skipped class again as Rachel's fever bug came back. On the 3rd lesson, 23 Jan, i was so exhausted by the spring cleaning going on at home that i called the school to inform we were not coming in again.

3 lessons missed in January & i have not even paid the fees yet. Yikes! Better buck up here. So on 30 Jan, i better be a good mummy & attend the lesson & pay the school fees, which speaking off, i better settle the Feb fees as well.

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Yesterday evening, 25 Jan 2011 (Tues), i had a little reunion dinner with my collagues @ J Pot, Vivo City. There were 7 of us & the total bill came up to S$160++. This is a very good steamboat buffet & you get to make your own very special condiments. No matter how u mixed, it will still taste as good. Say u can have a combination of soya sauce, fried garlic, sesame oil, garlic oil, "sha cha" sauce (this was what i have mixed) & it matches perfectly to my little steamboat ingredients. For soup base, we had chicken stock, tom yam, laksa & bak kut teh. Super solid!!!

We adjoined to desserts @ Mun Kee (Honeymoon) a few stores up front. Ordering by the numbers shown on the menu sent us into fits of laughter. Its as though we were reporting the winning numbers for TOTO: " 19, 30, 31. 35, 42, 24, 29....

The evening was enjoyable for we had good food, good company. :)

D&D 2011

21 Jan 2011 (Fri):

We had our company's D&D @ M Hotel, Anson Road. There were some pre dinner games being played & I won a gift sponsored by Chartis.

Then there was the karaoke singing competition from various departments. Some contestants were "equipped" with strong & powerful voice; they were really good. And of course, we also had the best dressed awards. Theme of the evening: Wild Wild West.

We had a 9 course dinner which consisted of the yu sheng, cold platter, shark fin's, roasted chicken, steam fish, herbs-boiled prawns, scallops with brocoli, lotus leaf rice & yam paste with ginko nuts for dessert.

** If you look at the below pic, notice the top right corner: handsome looking yu sheng. then compare to the aftermath, top left hand corner: the untidiness. Hehe.

We had so much fun & laughter thru out though our MD gave such a serious speech. Kinda spoilt our evening for a moment.

My lucky draw prize: 4th prize. 2 nights accomodation in Sydney, 1 night accomodation in Melbourne & an adventure tour to either the Great Ocean Road or Penguin Reserve @ Phillips Island for 2. Note: No air tickets involved. If i wanna redeem this package, i got to first: buy both international & domestic tickets and hello, those tickets will not come cheap. My colleagues told me i can do a self drive from Sydney to Melbourne but hello again, its gonna be a 10-12 hrs drive, heck, no way. Second, sad to say, the 2 nights hotel accomodation in Sydney will be spilt; 1 night in the city & another night up in the mountains - Blue Mountains. So i have to find my own transport up the mountains.

So although its the 4th prize, its not interesting to me at all. I will asked my colleagues to help me, if possible, to sell away as individual items or as a package. For those travellers looking at a specific area, this would be good. If you are interested as well, do let me know.

Overall, good food, good friends, good food & atmosphere. Great fun!!! A bunch of fun-loving buddies & friends, especially at our table.

12 o'clock: Yvonne & Betty

3 o'clock: Yvonne, Daniel, Steven, Cecilia & Richard

6 o'clock: Cecilia & Daniel

9 o'clock: Richard & Yvonne

12 o'clock: Yvonne & Daniel

3 o'clock: Yoyo, Yvonne & Alice

6 o'clock: Yvonne & Joe

9 o'clock: Angie & Yvonne

12 o'clock: Yvonne & Cecilia

3 o'clock: Trevor & Yvonne

6 o'clock: Patricia & Yvonne

9 o'clock: Yvonne & Isabel

** Uploading video **

Drunkard

I was on my home one evening when i noticed the outline of a man lying across a pavement beside the housing block. A person under normal circumstances would have walked past but i stopped dead in my tracks & stared at the man lying on the floor. He was cuddled up like a cooked prawn & there was a trail of water leading to where his feet were. His slippers were flung beside his legs & this led me to wonder what on earth happened.

It was quite dark around 9pm & not many people passed by at that moment. Besides, one would have missed the man as you walked unless you turned your head towards ur left. I was contemplating to call the police. The man would have been hurt or fainted or worst, dead. Wild thoughts ran thru my mind. I dared not touch or shake him but i did tried to call out. No response.

At this time, another uncle walked past me & he too, saw the man lying on the floor. I asked the uncle if i should called the police. The uncle stood down beside the man & called out. Still no reponse. He gave me a nod to go ahead to call the police. I was about to take my hp out when the uncle stopped me & told me the man's waking up. Indeed, whe i turned around, i saw the man sitting up but looking blur. The uncle asked if the man's ok & his reply: " I'm ok, just drunk".

What a bizzare evening!