Our Langkawi Holiday (June 2011)

Dear All

During the June holidays, we finally went to Langkawi....a destination where we didn't drop in on during our cruise years back with my parents, and the 2 girls were small. We remembered seeing 3 dolphins swimming and diving in the waters where the ship was berthed, and we made a promise to ourselves to visit this magical place one day. I guess, that day was 18 - 22 Jun 11!

Below: Enjoying our welcome drink at the hotel

Our 4 days were planned packed with places to see. Day 1, we visited the renowned Rice Museum. According to the map, it was supposed to be a drive down from our hotel...little did we know the back door was just opposite our hotel...so we drove out and then saw it, and then parked the car. I was like laughing non-stop, as I really thought we would be stressed out to find it. You see, this is the first time we are driving in a foreign land.

Below photos : At the Padi field

Below:In the padi gallery

The museum has a real padi field besides a gallery showing the tools and trade of planting rice. We next trooped off to the cable-car ride. It was a dangerous ride up a meandering road to the station. We reached Oriental Village where there were great variety and cheap souvenirs. The trip up the mountains in the cable car was windy. It's a pity it was cloudy that day, so we couldn't get a clear view of the sea and islands from the suspension bridge. I guess it's due to the cloudy weather that we managed to cross the bridge to and fro, as I think the sheer height of the steep cliffs could have weakened our knees! The climb down was a little too steep for me but I managed to go down the very run-down steps to the bridge. The climb back was tiring for me but not so for the agile kids and fit-as-a-fiddle hubby of mine:)

Below: Enroute to Cable Car Station, the yatchs outside the petrol station

Below: In the cable car looking down

Below: At Station 1

Below: At station2 - suspension bridge is accessed by a long climb down

Below: Duck feeding at Oriental Village at foot of mountain

We stopped at Sheraton hotel for lunch. That place had a fantastic view of the sea! The hotel was very posh too. Ours was less hotel like, more chalet like, but our room was huge with 2 single beds placed side by side and another single bed at the side, plus it had a small sofa area and a walk-in toilet cum pantry/dressing area. Very comfy for our needs.

Day 2, we visited the Underwater World. It does not have the underwater escalater tunnel like Singapore, however it has 2 good penguin exhibits plus an underground viewing gallery of the penguin exhibit. The birds somehow heard us, and the murky empty waters above us was soon filled with swimming penguins looking at us with curiosity.

Below: Sole fish & Sting ray...some inhabitants of Underwater World

We then drove all the way up west through the same meandering road to the cable cars and then turn right instead of left, and drove the entire northern length of Langkawi to get to Kilim Jetty. This is where our mangrove cum fishing village cum cave cum eagle feeding tour starts. It's one of the highlight of our holiday. The caves was so-so, but the guide at the fishing village was superb...he let us hold the horse-shoe crab, put our fingers into the mouth of a sting ray and even finger feed archer fishes (from the sea) with bread stuck onto our finger-tips....real cool!

Below:The boat for Mangrove cum caves cum eagle feeding tour

Below: Bert wearing the horse-shoe crab at the Fishing Village

Bel0w: Also at the Fishing Village, finger feeding archer fish!

Below: Eagles zooming down to feed on chicken bits thrown into water

Below: Ride out to outlying islands. Here, in front of Kilim & Geoforest Park sign

Next highlight was seeing the eagles feed in the sea. It seems this area is the nesting ground of the eagles. There's one particularly huge white eagle amongst the smaller brown ones. But there are lots of flies when the boat stopped for us to enjoy the sight of eagles swooping down to pick chicken bits with their claws.

The last highlight was the fast-speed boat ride to the islands. We went out to the Kilim Geopark signage at the side of a cliff! Lovely ride! The girls really enjoyed themselves.

During the night, we celebrated Father's Day at the BBQ buffet dinner at our hotel's Boat House Restaurant. Father's eat free plus gets a 500g cake.

The bbq spread include meat like quail, chicken, beef and lamb chops, and seafood like salmon, crabs, slipper lobster, prawns, and veg like corn hob and green and red peppers. All food is bbqed by their staff. Their mushroom soup was delicious. They also had desert spread, but we were too filled to eat much deserts. They packed the tiny father's day cake in a huge cake box. We were too filled to eat it, but when we ate it the next morning, it was very very yummy that even Tiff who hates cake, just love it!

Below: The Boathouse Restaurant at our hotel..had father's day BBQ here!

Day 3, we drove to Kuah Town. We visited the must-see parks there like Legenda Park, but there's not much to rave about. The shopping was ok, not so big as the malls typical in the mainland of Malaysia.

Below: At Legenda Park

Below: Original Eagle icon itself (symbol of Langkawi)

Below: Met a monitor lizard at Kuah Town parks

Along the way to Perdana Gallery, we dropped by Wildlife Paradise. It's a mini-zoo with a walk-through aviary that has a free-roaming deer :)

Below: 2 lovey-dovey monkeys..notice their intertwining tails..

We next visited Perdana Gallery. This is a place you shouldn't miss! It contains 2 2-storey buildings holding the gifts the former PM Mahatir received from visitors. There's a portrait of him made entirely of coloured rice grains. That was impressive!

Below: 1st level of 1st of 2 blocks of gallery

Below: Still in 1st block of gallery

Below: 2nd level of 2nd block of gallery

Below: Miniature shield of the real thing at my dad's home!

We then dropped by the Hot Spring Well. It's quite run-down, but we could see it used to be quite impressive.

Below: Part of the external facades of Hot Spring Well

We drove in reverse order back to our Hotel from East to West on the top of Langkawi Island. Along the way, we stopped by at 4 Seasons Hotel for a delicious western lunch. The hotel is quite out of the way, near the North end of the island, facing Andaman Sea. The sea view was beautiful and so were the sea-shells we picked along the shore there!

In the evening, we finally found time to dip into the hotel's pool. It's big, with 2 jacuzzis, a lap pool, a bar pool and 1 water slide with pool.

Below: Playing a fool at 1 of the jacuzzis - photo taken with my underwater camera

We later drove to Pelangi Beach road and just wandered into a lovely seafood restaurant named Putumayo, laid out like a Balinese spa resort. The food was a bit pricey, but I guess it's worth the price due to the great service and relaxing and posh ambience.

Below: Putumayo, a Balinese resort style restaurant we stumbled upon

After dinner, we strolled along the road and drop by the few stalls scattered along the way, and explored the little mini shops selling all kinds of souvenirs. It was fun picking up souvenirs and t-shirts, and little accessories, all for a bargain!

The last day, our flight was at 8+pm and we had to check out in the afternoon. The hotel was sweet. As there were guests checking in that day, they couldn't offer a late check-out for us. So instead, they offered us a hospitality room at 5pm for 45mins. Free use of bath and coffee and tea.

As we have not done any water activities, we decided to try tubing. We rented a double tube where we sit on, and it is pulled through the water (like water skiing) by a water-bike. We had to hold on for dear life as we bumped across the water ripples made by the bike till my arms ache. The girls just loved it! I guess we old folks can't take the adrenaline rush.

Below: The girls returning from their tube-ride

In the afternoon, we explored the grounds of the hotel. We didn't realise how big this place was! There's a lake-view area housing some chalets and a children's playground. There was also another more secluded part of the beach lined with deck chairs and several hammocks. We found lots of tiny hermit crabs scuttering along the beach, and a long discarded plastic bottle covered end-to-end with tiny clams, cautiously opening and shutting their shells quickly as we tease them with little sticks.

Below: The sea-shells clinging onto the bottle with their tongue

Below: The hermit crab Felicia accidentally stepped on...she was faster than it

After our last wash-up, we headed for the airport. Along the way, we took some shots at this scenic stretch of road. Unfortunately, the sun was still too high, so we didn't manage to get a shot of the sunset.

Below: Scenic sunset spot just running alongside the airport runway

Langkawi is a place where you have to rent a car in order to explore it. There are lots more places to see, but we just didn't have the time to do all. Every visitor has his own experience of this island. Some love to just relax by the beach. Others would love to do snorkeling or diving. There's even a small island for you to feed the baby sharks by hand in the open sea! We would just love to experience that, but time was short. Perhaps, another time :)

Below: Our trusty White Steed...our rental Mazda 1.6 Saloon

Love Theresa

My Dad last night scare

Dear All

We got a call from my mum's maid last night round 7+pm. Mum wants all children to come home now.

When we got there, mum & the maid were combing dad's hair and changing him into long-sleeved shirts whilst he was sitting upright on his wheel-chair. A good sign that he's ok, I hope.

The mood was sombre.

Dad didn't look so good. He's in pain and his left foot is swollen. Mum said it was normal to be swollen for 3 days when his pain in his knee comes; afterwhich, the swell would go. However last night was the 3rd day and it was still swollen.

Brothers and sister all arrived. We hear what the maid said. Dad grabbed the arms of the wheel chaired tightly whilst she was giving him his painkiller, then his eyes rolled up. Then my mum had dizzy spell and felt faint, so she quickly found a seat to sit down. After mum recovered, she gave dad menthol to smell and rubbed his hands as they were icy cold. Maid said his breathing was shallow. That's when mum told her to call me.

We all felt dad should be admitted to hospital as the swollen foot is not a good sign. But dad was angry. He didn't want to go. He was treated very badly the last time he was there for about 16 days or so. He made mum promise not to send him to hospital again. He told her he wanted to die at home. We are in a dilema. Knowing that he is 95, with feeble body, inaudible speech, hard of hearing and almost visually impaired, should we send him to hospital or not? I felt 90% that he should. But when he sat up later in bed and was fed his nestum supper, he became his normal self again....alert and happy. He smiled as he recognised Felicia. My sis and I felt since he just had a traumatic episode and had taken some time to recover (it was about 11pm), we didn't want to sent him to hospital that night. It may take too much toll on his heart and mind.

We are going for a short trip this weekend, and I am quite worried about my dad. I wanted so much that we said a decade of the rosary around my dad last night, so managed to gather everyone to do so. As we prayed for him, I felt it seemed so morbid like as if we were praying for the dead when he is still alive, so I held his left hand (as I was at his left hand side of the bed). As we prayed, he at first closed his eyes shut tight. Then he opened them (which was seldom last night) and looked directly into my eyes. He lifted his other hand to me and I held both of them tight. I didn't mean to get emotional, but I started to tear a little. I was happy he could look at me that I also smiled with some joy. At the end of the decade, everyone was so sombre. No one knew what to do next. So I kissed dad good night and told him to sleep well as we all had to go to work tomorrow.

I'm so glad we brought the 2 girls along and that fortunately, they are available. Tiffy has not seen the grandparents for 2 weekends and Feli, last weekend. Just last weekend, dad's eyes were so alert as he looked at me. He has light-brown eyes with grey all around it. So pretty, as my niece, Veron, remarked last night. Yes, I have always felt he had the loveliest and most unique eyes, even as a young kid.

Please pray for my dad & mum.

Love

Theresa

Super 8 - the movie

Dear All

Went to see the movie Super 8 with Feli today at Plaza Sing as Tiffy was supposedly watching it today with her friends, so Feli wanted to see it too. I actually promised them only 1 show this hols, but since Tiffy was out celebrating her best friend birthday today (Tue) and that included watching a show, I decided to be fair, Feli could catch another show too.

Little did I realise what Super 8 was about! I thought it was a super hero kind of show. Far from it. After getting the tixs and waiting to enter the cinema at 4:30pm, received a sms from Tiffy saying it was quite a scary movie. Horrors of horrors! I felt like what I did when I am about to ride the Mummy ride at Universal Studio, not knowing what it was until I'm already in it! There's no backing out now. It's a point of no return.

I looked around and noticed there were NO KIDS of Feli age. The audience were mainly young or older adults. Never mind, I thought, lucky Feli is tall, otherwise people think what kind of mom I am, to bring a little kid to watch such a show! Be warned...this is a long movie, lasing 2h 15min. There are some suspense moments where I told myself, that's OK, I am too shy to cover my eyes with my hands, but I can half shut my eyes and peek out between my lashes!

Wah, my little girl real brave leh. didn't close her eyes, unlike me!

This movie is definitely PG. There's quite a bit of swear words, growing up issues between boy-girl and lots of gore, blood and body munching scenes. But the story is basically about love, understanding and forgiveness, and these so called human values are universal and it also extends to the mystery creature (I will not want to spoil your show, if you still intend to see it) that comes in the later part of the show.

With the GV membership card, weekday shows before either 5 or 6pm (sorry can't remember what the counter sales lady said) is only $6.50 per tix, no student price.

Love Theresa

The Lion King Musical

We went to watch the Lion King (LK) @ Marina Bay Sands last night. It lasted about 2.5h so we left the theatre about 11pm.

If you are not familiar with Marina Bay Sands, the theatre is on B1, somewhere in the middle of the mall. The signages are not very clear...they just point you in the general direction of the theatre but not whether it's up or down or on the same floor! (It's on the same level as the waterfront platform).

I saw the trailer on-line on the LK and found it wonderful in terms of the singing quality and puppetry. We bought the 2nd cheapest ticket and got the seats at the centre of the theatre. Quite good seats, only thing was when there were action on the 2 side "towers" of the stage, we couldn't see everything as it was partially blocked by the ceiling lights where we were under. Fortunately, there wasn't much action on the towers.

This is the ticket we bought on-line (below):

We have never watched broadway shows before so we can't compare the standard of LK with the likes of Phantom of the Opera or Cats, however, even Bert (who originally wasn't interested in going with us) admitted it was really good and value for money.

In the theatre - the main stage curtain (below):

The surroundings in the theatre (below):

Be warned however, for those who can't stand musicals, this is all singing, theatrical effects (which is very very impressive), and story based very closely on the Disney cartoon The Lion King. As there are quite a number of little kindergarten-aged children in the audience (wonder why their parents let them stay up so late, I really can't understand), the theatrical experience will not be so high-brow.

The happy family waiting for the show to start (below):

I personally found a song or 2 a little draggy...they could have hastened the piece a little so that the show wouldn't end so late. However, that was only my opinion. The girls just LOVED it!

So, if you wish to give your kids a well-deserved holiday treat (and have money to spare!! Sistic fee is additional $3 per ticket!), this is really one highly recommended theatre show you don't want to miss!

Along the way, you can stroll through the renowned Helix bridge that links directly to Marina Bay Sands.

Marina Bay Sands seen from the Helix (Below):

The DNA atoms on the floor of Helix (below):

Scenes along the Helix that day (below):

Just in front of Marina Sands entrance from Helix (below):

Indoor skating ring in Sands (below):

As we took half an hour to find the theatre, we only had time for packed dinner (below):

But we ate in front of the waterfront...haha...(below):

The walk back from Sands to where we parked (at Esplanade) was lovely...twinkling lights and festivities along the way.

Same position as top pix: Just outside Sands going onto Helix (Below):

Helix all lit up (below):

Marina Bay Sands lit up with the Museum next to it (below):

See the lights emitting from the Museum? Haha, managed to capture it on camera (below):

Love Theresa

Great Bible Adventure Talks

Dear All

I believe I have shared in my earlier post that we have signed up for this 24 weeks Great Bible Adventure video presentation by Jeff Cavins. I think tonight's the 8th session.

The format of each talk starts off with a facilitator who will introduce the topic for the night by posing some reflection questions for open sharing. The facilitator is quite good as they give you a firm background of the topic before the video proper starts, so you'll better appreciate the inputs given by Jeff Cavins.

So far, we have covered only Genesis and Exodus over these 8 or so weeks. We will be starting the Book of Numbers at the next session.

As a take away for you, what I have learned today from the session tonight is what are the 3 items in the Ark of the Covenant. Namely, manna, 2 tablets of Moses and Aaron's rod.

The equivalent of the Ark of the Old Testament with the New Testament is that Mary is also called by the Church the Ark of the Covenant. That's because the manna that Yaweh fed His people in the desert is now the Body of Christ "I am the Bread of Life". The 2 tablets holding the 10 commandments is Jesus "I come to fulfill the Law" and He gave us The Law to Love God as well as our neighbour, which actually emcomprises the 10 commandments. Aaron's rod is the Shepherd's staff. It sprouted new leaves. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He gives new life to us. Hence Mary is the Ark of the Covenant as she carrys within her womb, Jesus, who is God himself.

Just wanted to share the little tit-bit of info with you.

Love Theresa

Nail Painting today

Dear All

We had a "movie night" tonight (Thur) which had just ended (Fri, 1+am). And that is only 1 DVD out of 4 DVDs, covering 3 places, namely ancient Rome, Ancient or the New Jeruseluem (in Ethopia) and San Francisco underground "cities".

The video "Cities of the Underworld" from History Channel, was borrowed from the library yesterday. Tiffy chose it, as she had seen an episode before on the History Channel and found it interesting. I must agree it was. It's amazing what the library stocks nowadays! Anyway, since we can't watch it on our DVD player, Bert found a way to hook it up to our laptop to watch on our TV.

Earlier part of the evening, we had a fun time painting our nails. (Haha, the advantage of having only girls!!). We were testing out the 4 new colours, namely, pink, baby blue, lilac/purple and orange, which we had bought from FaceShop yesterday. I tried out a dual colour painted nails by taping masking tape on my pink coat and painting baby blue on the tip. I thought since I see the painters using masking tape to prevent the paint from touching the false ceiling from the wall paint, I guess it should also work for the nails. And Viola! It worked! Looked so pro, like from the manicure shop, but at minimal cost...only that of 2 bottles of nail polish and some masking tape :)

Here are the pictures of our evening.

Love Theresa

My 2 colour painted nails plus another pix of my anniversary ring, haha (below):

Feli playing computer on TV screen after the video show..rare opportunity! (below):

This is the DVD that is very interesting and educational! (below):

Feli enjoying the "Big" screen verse the tiny laptop screen on the coffee table (below):