A prosperous fish

Just want to show the expensive fresh water fish from Kapit. I took photograph of it before during our last trip back in Dec 2007 but this fish always fancinate me.

This empurau fish cost more than RM500!! Since the fish is big, it needs to be chopped into half and steam separately. Only taste nice with steaming to reserve the sweet and soft texture of the fish. Lots of bones in it!

Time always fly fast when we are having a holiday

It has been a week since my last post. Just feel like yesterday when we board the airplane to Sibu then express to Kapit. Thank god the weather was good last Wednesday when we boarded the express, which too us more 3 hours to reach Kapit due to transit in Song. We watched “Ip Man” movie in the express, so that is how we passed our time in it, although we watched it before.
waiting for taxi in Sibu airport

Little gal was restless in the express, running around, talking to other passengers and singing and talking by herself. At least she managed to take 1 hour nap after spending almost 2 hours in the express.
Cannot sit quietly in the express

Kapit greeted us with sun when we reached there around 5pm on Wednesday. It has been raining for a week there prior to our arrival. So it is blessing as river tide can be rough when it rains. However the weather was crazy during our stay as we have rain and sun every alternate days.

We spent our CNY holiday by eating, sleeping and watching dvd. Yeah, that is our holiday there. *wink* Every day I woke up late, after 8am and have my afternoon nap. What’s more, little gal was sleeping at her grandparents’ room, so I was spared from taking care of her at night and in the morning. I think my body has not yet adjusted to my normal clock. Lol!
Cantonese drama series, we finished the whole dvd in 4 nights!!

I developed rashes last Thursday. At first we suspected due to the change of environment or dust, but after a while, I suspected it must be the antibiotic that I took for my sore throat. Luckily after suffering the allergy and itchiness for almost 1 whole day, it subsided the next day.

Our reunion dinner on Sunday was great, with dishes such as deep-fried spiced pork leg, braised sea cucumber, shark fin cooked with egg, mixed vegetables with abalone, yam basket and so forth. Sorry, no photographs to show here as the photographs are in my SIL’s camera. SIL is still in Kapit and would not be back till next Monday.

As for fireworks and firecrackers, not a single sound heard during the midnight on the Eve in our place, although hubby’s friends said the town centre was filled with smoke and sound, irregardless of the heavy rain that night. Little gal managed to play fireworks for 2 consecutive nights and she injured her big toe. Just a small tear, due to catching fire from the firework.

Yesterday, hubby and myself developed stomachaches and we have to endure the pain along the express. The condition of the toilet in the express would turn you off and you wouldn’t want to go in there at all! Lol! Luckily I managed to hold the pain till reached Sibu wharf. We took an early express yesterday morning, i.e. 730am. Immediately after touching the Sibu land, i.e. before 10am, I hurriedly visited the public toilet. After the toilet drama, we walked to hubby's grandparents' house which is about 5 minutes walk from the wharf. We stayed there for almost 4 hours before a cousin sent us off to airport around 2pm for our flight at 4pm. Some roads and houses were flooded in Sibu as heavy rain the night before. It is a normal sight there when there is a heavy downpour. We were concerned on the traffic and flooded roads, so we decided to leave early for the airport. Luckily no delay in our flight, we reached Kuching at approximately 4.35pm.

This is a road we were passing through in Sibu, not a stream or anything!!

After dinner at my parents’ house and collected our cars, we went home. Took me about 1 hour plus to clean up the room and ready everything in order. Only managed to unpack our luggage this evening. Last night, all 3 of us were too tired to do much about the luggage. We have early sleep around 9am. How I wish I took a day off today, as I hardly can wake up although I turn on the alarm clock.

The office was quiet today, not many walk in customers. We have a lion dance to start off the Year of Ox in the office. Some colleagues even pull the lion’s head hair as symbol of luck. I don’t know, never pull any and never thought of trying it out. *wink* Hmm, what ever I hope that this year would be a good year for everyone. Alright guys, got to stop here, time to get my little gal to bed as she is pulling my sleeves. She has been following her baby sitter for CNY visiting, so I think she is tired and dozing off behind me. Catching up the next round!

An early greeting and we are set to go

Guys, Rose and family will be off to Kapit from tomorrow till next Tuesday for CNY celebration. So, shall catch up with you guys once we are back to Kuching.

Here, we would like to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! May prosperity, health and luck be with you in the Year of Ox!!

What a Monday!

It is another Monday, the usual Monday blue hit me hard on the face! Maybe because of 2 days of waking up late, so my body alarm clock deserted me this morning! Even little gal did not wake me up at her usual morning time. Since started her school, she seldom woke up at 6.30am. And some more, she is sleeping very late at night, sometime up to 11pm, while her poor mother lying on her bed!! Lol!

Back to my Monday, office routine started as usual with morning meeting with the team. Got “spanking” from manager as the team is failing again for 2nd consecutive week! Not a good start for January. Manager is stressing out to us to push more sales figure, must do this and do that, do not delay, do it now and do it everyday! Bla bla bla. So after the meeting, everyone went back to their own desk and do what the manager said. Calling, follow up on sales and asking for more referrals! Not very easy for this time of the year when everyone is in the mood of holiday. When ever you ask customer for more sales, they will say “wait after Chinese New Year lah”. Okay, meaning I will have to bug them again after that.

After unfruitful morning, I went to withdraw money from bank during lunch break. Oh dear! The queue was so long, that I cannot wait for my turn. Imagine my number was 1235, while the number displayed on board was merely 1187?? So will try my luck again tomorrow. Hubby is on leave tomorrow, maybe get him to get number from me first, then I join him in the bank.

Remembering when I was young, I accompanied my dad to bank to change smaller notes for ang pow at the bank teller. And after CNY, when we have our ang pow, we will rush to the bank to bank in the ang pow monies. Those were the days when I receiving red packets, instead of now me have to give them out to children.

Wanting a quick lunch, I decided to go to the fastest mode i.e. fast food. Craving for fried chicken for many days and my throat is getting better, so I stop by at KFC chain for its ever famous finger licking good meal. Original fried chicken has always been my favourite. But oh boy! Am I disappointed. Maybe times really change everything. Chicken is getting thinner and smaller. The portion is just nice for me, but I do not feel the satisfaction in eating them. How I love visiting KFC when I was a kid and indulge in their fried chicken then. Get what I mean?? Maybe the portion does make a difference here??

Since December, I have a feeling that my money is starting to pour away easily from me. Have been spending so much for Christmas presents and now this month on CNY ang pow. Oh dear, got to start to tighten my budget from next month onward. Thinking of little gal’s school fees which is payable early March make me having headache. Luckily hubby having his bonuses out end of this month. Otherwise I think I will start to eat more instant noodles at home every night. *wink* Even instant noodles are not that cheap anymore. Nothing is cheap now. Alright, enough complaining from me. All those work and money, giving me more headache. Sigh!

It is another day

Hubby commenting that I am getting grumpy every day especially early in the morning. I usually get cranky when I am in the rush or hungry, so either both, hubby will get it from me.

I do feel sorry after each incidents, I knew I am at fault and hubby has been very patient with me. I know I shouldn’t be ill-tempered but I cannot help it. Sometimes it feels good to let out than keeping things in, don’t you think? Anyway I learnt a new relaxing method to calm myself down. Everytime I am tense or getting cranky, I will go to a quiet place, breathe in deeply for 1 minute and leaving my mind blank. If I still feel down, I will repeat the step again.

Work is very stressful, boss been breathing hardly on us especially me since I have yet to confirm. Now I having doubt whether I would be able to get confirm by end of next month or not, judging from the poor performance that I and other team has!!

Some more with working for 2 more days next week, I would not be able to pull out on good rate for this month! Oh boy! Just yesterday, we received an email from regional manager saying that there is only 9 working days left this month. Gosh! Never knew January is that short and coming to the end that soon.

So you see, my mind would not be really much on Chinese New Year but I have to make up for the sake of little gal. She looks forward to spending time in Kapit. Now she is almost 3, she is asking us to buy fireworks for her to play. I think her grandparents have bought a lot for her. Did not buy many goodies this year, just getting some order on minced pork (bak poh) and pineapple roll (my favourite) from my colleagues. Some more my parents are giving us some pineapple rolls, roasted peanuts, pistachios, Chinese mushrooms and fried anchovies for my PIL for CNY. Oh boy, I cannot imagine how much we need to carry back to Kapit next week!

Picture Meme

I have been sick. Tonsillitis and flu, the normal sickness that hit me. Today I am taking 1 day sick leave. Although sick, I still need to do some errands, driving here and there (dont know an opportunity or blessing or what??). But at least I am going to rest as well later in the afternoon. Feeling slightly better, throat not that painful but feeling slightly dizzy, must be the flu pill. And thank you Nyumix for passing along this tag. It brighten up my day and even that I don't feel that sick. :)


Here are the rules:
1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious people to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog telling them about it.

This picture was taken early last year with my lost digital camera. Well, this is the famous landmark of Land of Hornbill when you driving down to the city from Kuching International Airport. The big metal bird is proudly overlooking the South (I think! I am poor in Geography, Lol!). By the way, that is my daughter's big bird. Everytime passing by the roundabout, she will point to the bird and tell me "Mummy, it is big bird!" At night, it will brighten up with colourful lights welcoming you to my city.

I would like to pass along this picture tag to Jennifer, Didi, Spymama, Pearly and Billy’s mum. Alright, time to rest. See you guys around. :)

Rain, rain, go away

Everywhere is water. River overflow and roads are flooded with water after many days of non stop rain in Kuching. It did stop this afternoon (thank god for that) otherwise we would be expecting the worst. Some streets along the Sarawak River are caught in water, not to mention the shops along the riverbank. Sarawak River is really swelled with water and if rain again tonight or tomorrow, high tide is expecting and city area will be flooded soon.

Last night, me and family have a tour around the city, checking out on the flood condition. Non of us in the state emergency unit checking on the flooded area, mind you. Lol! Just that we were curious and betting on which area would be flooded this year. It is really worse than previous years. We also check out on our new housing area. Yes! A good time to check out whether it will flood at such time and condition. Turn out my new housing area would not be flooded but the main road leading to the area would. The other side of the road that used to be pineapple farm is turning into a fishing pond, hardly can see the grass anymore!! If it does flood, not much to be worry about as the area is a town by itself, so we would not deprived of food, supply etc. Just that we concern on going down to city and so forth.

This morning when I arrived my office, I was expecting bad news when I saw all my colleagues waiting outside the office. Turned out that the person holding the key was not in yet. Reason? Caught in traffic jam due to rain along the roads at Petra Jaya and Satok area.

Hubby is not home yet, he was caught in traffic jam and also school time too. Called him up, he said he is enjoying fried kuay tiaw with clam at the city area. Geez!! Today I was home early, reached home around 615pm. Luckily not that jam, although did encountered some flooded roads but the journey was smooth throughout. Just pray no more rain as my laundy is pilling (considering sending to laundry) and not many dry clothing to wear. Quoting little gal's song when it rained "Rain, rain, go away; Come again another day!"

And little gal was sick too. Running nose and coughing. Gosh! Did not bring her to school today, don’t want her to spread the cold virus to other children. Luckily she is much better. Judging from her nagging me to go shopping I think she is doing fine. Lol! Cold weather sure make me sleepy and lazy. I kept drinking hot Milo and tea in office today, to keep myself warm. I hope I would not get sick too. Cannot remember when the last time I get sick!

Bad posture

It has been a problem since I was young. Blame on my bad posture.

I am talking about my hunch back. I tend to hunch a lot when I sit and even when I walk. I will consciously know that I hunch my back when I drive car and will tend to sit up right. But it has been my posture and I cannot change much about it now, right?

Once a while I will have backache. Usually I ask hubby to massage my back and the pain will ease. I don’t know why. I am not a tall person. Usually people said tall people tend to be hunch back, but maybe like everything, there is an exception.

Photo taking with my girl

It is always hard to get my little daughter’s attention. She will either act she did not hear you or moving away from you. Sigh! She is getting naughtier and misbehaves as the day passes.

We would never have a good photo shot with her looking straight into the camera. However she still loves to take photos and pose for you when you ask her to. Once you click the camera, she will say “okay”, sounding like “that’s it” and go about her own thing.

It is hard to take photograph of her. So I stop trying to get her pose for me. Just let it be, everything in candid. Sometimes candid photos can turn out to be good than the posed one. You tend to take the “childish” part of young kids with candid. They are mean to be energetic and mischievous so cannot expect them to behave in front of camera, right?

Now the digital camera is turning into her toy. When ever she has chance to grab it, she will go around shooting what ever she wants with the camera. Well, whose know, she may develop an interest in photography?? *wink*

Today is her 1st day in pre-school. I still couldn’t believe that my little gal is finally going to soon. Gosh! By the time I blink my eyes, maybe she is going to primary school then! Lol!

Go over to The Lings to check out on her 1st day at school!!

Soup for the soul

Early morning, I woke up both hubby and daughter so we can go to the market to buy some mee sua. Yeah! I craving for mee sua. Last night put in 2 pieces of chicken thigh and fresh mushrooms in slow cooker let them cook slowly. By this morning, the soup is just nice and chicken and mushrooms also very tender. Just out of mee sua at home, so got to buy it this morning.

So off we went to the Kenyalang Park wet market. Once got our stuff, we went home straight to cook the mee sua! Yummy!! Hubby “pua” (cook) the mee sua and I think it is too much!! Look at the noodle portion. Lol!! Now I wouldn’t want to eat mee sua for a while.

Mee sua is very easy to prepare. Good on a cold day as well as when you are not feeling well. But it tastes well when you are craving for a simple chicken soup. Slurp!

What is best for them?

The other day, a friend was mentioned on enrolling his 4 years old boy in music class. Besides music class, he also planned to place his son in art class too. For emotional inner self development, he said.

And the kid still remember hubby when there was a time that hubby went to our friend’s house once and played his guitar. The son asked the father, where is the uncle that play guitar? Kid! They have memories that we cannot describe.

It is good if the kid enjoy the music and art, so it does develop the artistic part of him. But what if he does not? Most parents start to get their children to go for swimming, music, art and dancing class when they were young as children learn faster when they were young. And they enjoy those activities too.

Hubby and myself have planned on enrolling little gal in music (probably piano) or dancing class. Maybe the “kiasu” part of being parents, we always want the best for our kids. It is even true when we don’t have such privilege when we were kids. So, it is to the kids that we putting hopes and dreams, dont you think so? However, after seeing few grown up kids of our friends who been going to this and that classes, we finally decide not to pursue such thinking. Those kids hardly have time to play or breath. Not to mention the tuition and extra curriculum in schools. Even going to extra tuitions, test results do not turn out better, but lower than those not going to tuitions!!

We shall leave everything to our children. Let he or he decides what he or her wants and likes. If she likes drawing, then enroll in art class. If dancing, then dancing class. Better not to force your kids by getting them to do the things they have no interest right??