Kuching Day 4

Guess what.. We missed the shuttle bus again!! Actually not very sure la, the schedule written there says 720am, it was 730 when we were there.. I asked the owner of the lodge that sells tic for the shuttle, he said the earliest is 915am.. So we took the kolo mee we dabao to the waterfront and slowly enjoyed our breakfast, while time and ppl passed by...

Met a fellow traveller on that same shuttle, he was actually on his way to G.Santubong, the mountain that forms the backdrop of Sarawak Culture Village.. At the ht of 800+m, it towers over the village and steepess of close to 95deg at the steepest point! ( bearing in mind he started close to sea level and its gonna be juz a daytrip.. And the figures I estimated one la) anyway he's gonna haf his 2nd attempt at conquering the summit after falling out 120m from the summit 2yrs ago.. He said he was exhausted.. He gonna take shorter albeit steeper route this time round... So he hopped off the minivan when we were halfway there and bid us good luck.. I think he needs more luck than us!

The cultural village was indeed rather touristy, but I didn't find that it's a waste of time.. I particularly enjoyed going into the constructed traditional Rumah Malayu and Rumah Cina.. I actually felt very at home in the fake Chinese house.. Perhaps it's my subconscious doing it's magic? ( I did stayed in a house and conditions like this before.. Before my parents moved into a HDB, before I turned 3..)

Damai beach was a little bit of a disappointment.. It's really quite pretty, big waves, fine sand, clear horizon and all.. But dun think it fit swimming in la.. A little too rough for dipping.. Took a few snaps and off I ran to catch the shuttle!

Back at Kuching, we took a short ferry and ventured to the other side of the river where there is a community of Malay kumpungs.. Real kumpungs, real ppl staying there, not made for show one... But the fact tat they're there attracts kits of tourists from the other side of the river la.. So they're quite used to having tourist walking by their houses all the time.. We had our dinner there.. Sarawak laksa.. Erm.. Requires getting used to.. Ayam Penyet, same, but with diff sides and gravy..

Carebear! Stare!

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Kuching Day 3

We made our way back to Kuching in the cab that we arranged the day before.. Decided to drop by a Orang Utan Rehab centre ( no they dun do drugs) but we were informed that there's nth to see coz it's passed their feeding time.. Very practical hor? So we juz return to Kuching la..

The rest of the day was spent deciding where to go the next day.. Damai? Or Bako? We let the weather forecast decide.. It's been raining almost everyday we're here! Journey to Bako involves a ferry ride which according to the guides, choppy... We checked the weather forecast, both days raining.. But thurs having a lower probability of precipitation.. So Damai tmrw!!

Of course we didn't really sit down the hike day deciding that la.. We walked the town, combed the street for local food! Had super big Pau, sio bee (siewmai), belacan beehoon (in prawn paste), coconut in sugarcane juice, chendol.. Yb found a shopping mall and needless to say, we made our way there.. Bought some clothings for jemaine and some accessories for janielle.. Ended the day with dinner in the rain at the "open air" market.. Beef noodles and fried carrot cake..

The view thru my 10x30cm "window" in my attic room...

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Kuching Day 2

8:08am
Kolo mee was good.. Conveniently located juz outside the guesthouse! Intended to catch STC bus 6 to get to Kota Pedawan, after which we need to get a minivan in to the longhouse area.. Dang! Missed the bus by 15min! Need to take a cab instead..(the bus leaves at 720am if u're taking it next time!) Ok it was cheaper than wad was quoted on the website.. On the cab now.. =)

*buRp*

8:00pm
Dinner was sumptuous.. I think the serving could easily serve 4.. Well it was afterall after a long day.. Trekked a total of 4hrs up and down.. Spent abt 2hrs at the waterfall and lunch was prepared by the guide too! Chicken cooked in bamboo, served with bamboo rice and some canned sardines.. I think the bamboo chicken is juz some tourist gimmicks.. The guide brought a cooking pot to serve the chicken anyway! Wonder if it's juz the same rainy period we're having in SG, or it's really the weather of the tropical rainforest.. It juz kept raining and raining.. I did enjoy walking in the rain thou, other then my ankle being cut by the rubber mould-injected shoes they provided.. Every step was a pain, oh and my knee too, pain in each downward step I made, really old liao.. We were juz reminising tat descend I made with Yb at Mt. K, we were super fast.. When was the very last time I hiked in a heavy rain.. Maybe Aggung? With thunder and lightning all ard and trying to fetch rainwater with our opened bottled... And the last I was bitten by a leech? G.Tahan?

We got an introduction to the longhouse by this lady who was helping out in the running of the homestay, it's actually a little bit touristy to be honest.. There's actually a "showhouse" and a sugarcane crusher and a "head" house" (they were one of the headhunter tribes) that is kept there as historical artefacts.. But at least the ppl there dun put up a show la.. The Bidayuhs are already very modernized, zinc roofs, watching satellite channels, the younger ones clad in spaghetti tops and denim shorts.. But they do preserve their way of life still la.. Planting padi in the mountain, some vege.. Kept some domestic animals still.. Overall, not a bad experience staying there..

Annah Rais Longhouse (Bidayuh)

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Kuching Day 1

Intended to get to Kuching main town by bus initially, the guide book says once we get out of the terminal, turn right to get to the buses.. Out of the terminal, we could see both ends of the terminal.. What bus....? Need to take a cab instead.. Not a cheap alternative, but the consolation is that we dun haf to bargain for a price since we buy coupon over a counter at the airport, and it brings us to the doorstep of our guesthouse..

The guesthouse was slightly disappointing, book says it's on the small side, but I didn't expect it to be THAT small.. The 1st room he showed us was only the size of the bed!! luckily it was offpeak and guess they got lots of spare rooms.. Gave us a room with 2 double beds instead.. At the attic i think.. Was damn hot, good thing it has a working aircon..

Walking ard the town for food and for orientation purposes, we found the place that claimed that their rooms starts from RM4.99.. Went in to take a look.. Then we realized the price actually excludes lots of things.. We need to per extra for 12hr of aircon and 24hr wifi.. Suddenly I realised how much I like this attic room.. The floor has no one else, so the shared shower area is almost exclusively ours.. The wifi is free and signal is strong.. Aircon is complimentary.. And it's only RM50 per nite.. =)

Tmr, heading to Annah Reis Longhouse.. Hopefuly things go on fine! We got some tight timing to meet, and to save some $$, we opted of the less-than-reliable bus transportation.. We still need to take a transit to a minivan after..we werenot able to book either the bus, or the van.. But, it was a fight between RM100 for cab, and roughly RM16 by bus/van... And it was partly in the name of adventure.. ;)

Ok time to turn in, 645am tmr, Kolo Mee for breakfast!!

Jalan this way tolong!

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MSc.

Should I go back to school...?

I think I should.....

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evening today

was on course these 3 days, surprisingly, the course ended at 4pm today.. and i got home b4 5! yb and jan were at home today coz jan wasn't feeling well, and so we left jem at my MIL's to quarantine the 2 sisters...

anyway a short run has already been scheduled, i quickly changed and start my run... weather was good, my knee wasn't in the best condition, fortunately after a while, the pain went off... an hr of good run..

yb and jan met me after my run while i was cooling off.. hung ard at the fitness corner for some evening breeze and a dinner at a nearby foodcourt after that..

the rest of the night was juz routines... but hey i enjoyed an eventful weekday evening...

i welcome an early release, any time!!

Juz like any other day

530am: Jemaine was "yelping" (sorry couldn't find a better word, she's wasn't crying, more of a whining yelp).. Yb mentioned sth abt it raining, and we may need to park the car in the multistorey carpark later when we sent the kids..

615am: I was driving and I told Yb I may be drying the car when I'm back, she sniggered saying I making use of the rain to wash car ah? Partly la, but not at 7am!! More like the haze will be washed off the air by the rain and if I dun dry the car, it'll form patches of dirt when the water dries..

620am: Janielle wants milk and she wan 一起泡 neh neh.. Prepared milk with one hand and carrying on the other arm.. Settled her into her bed at my MIL's..

720am: palm pain from squeezing dry the cheap wipe cloth (note to self: time to invest in microfibre absorbant wipe cloth, but wld absorbant meant that it's even more diff to dry it?? *shrugz*) Avante's almost sparkling thou!

730am: kinda late to go back to bed.. Showered, had small breakfast, check mail.. Download news into phone for reading on the MRT later...

800am: walked to the mrt station, enjoying the fresh air.. There's been a burnt smell lingering in the air for the longest time in the dry spell.. The morning rain was a nice break..

Everything else is like any other days...

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Autorecruitment

Somehow ever since I've become a dad I've been included in conversations and discussion which I'll usually think more appropriate for mums..

Today's day 1 for a new mum from her maternity leaves.. "hey chiu, I'm back!" on this msn-like thing for work... I turned to my cubicle mate and mentioned " eh XX is back leh" my cubicle mate was like "oh So fast?" well apparently she didn't msg everyone... "hey welcome back! miss work?"

I found myself standing ard a group of parents from work during the co.'s xmas dinner.. It's fine.. Until they took a turn and started talking abt breastfeeding.. I mean it's not sth which I'm unfamiliar with, but to haf a duscussion abt it with female colleagues is a little bit too much for me eh.. I'm not embarassed, but I'm conscious abt my presence there which may cause any discomfort to any of them there.. Anyway i found myself slowly inching my way out.. Not a very interesting topic for me anyway...

Today a close colleage brought her boy in for a short while, she called me on my DID, "eh come down lobby leh, someone's here..." (but I'm slightly bz leh)
"oh ok!"

Hey don't get it wrong! I'm honoured to be included in the club (i'm actually quite a senior there in fact).. I'm glad to know that ppl will think of me when they got sth to share (parenting tips, books, articles etc).. They also seek my advices and opinion at times.. I mean not all dads know abt children ok..

Oh I'm organising a mini baby day-out this weekend for a friend's nephew.. Haha.. If succesful I can extend it to more the next time..

Oh and do invite me for ur baby showers k!!

Jemaine is having a variety of facial expressions liaoz.. Hehe...

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i think i got bitten...

..by the travel bug.....

have been talking of going for a short trip before yb returns to work.. which translates to late March... the plan now is Sarawak... not yet finalised.. but woot!!

and i've been reading ppl's blog on their travels.. chanced upon some albums in which ppl put up some of the photos taken which they were on trips; cambodia, tanzania (kili, serengeti, ngorongo; damn, i miss africa!), yogyakarta, mulu....

really hope my travel plan this year can come to a realisation... bearing in mind now i got problem even planning for an evening run.....

Appreciation

Appreciating hot Milo in the morning,
afternoon breaktime coffee and
an occasional after work drink...

Paternity

Most of the time when ppl talk abt having a child, so much emphasis wil be placed on the mum.. Yes for the many months that she's carrying the baby in her.. For the childbirth and taking care of the newborn of coz.. I think more can be done for the father of the child as well.. Not many can appreciate the stress that he's going thru having to juggle things as well..

More paternity leaves pls......?

Tired..

This was my 1st weekend with 2 kids, just me and Yb handling both, without any help... Everything before dinner was fine.. Other than the fact tat I was fighting back against falling asleep behind the wheels! Blood was leaving my brain for the intestines, that's why.. Anyway being tired doesn't help at all with 2 kids who refuse to cooperate with me at all.. One too young to know anything, the other too whiny for my liking, at least tonight..

Time passes so fast these days, esp when I'm at home.. So fast that I'm missing out on "my time" (quoted a gd friend).. Not sure when can i go out with friends in a weekend morning again..

I know I can't say tat I got it worst 'cause Yb needs to face them all day long....

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Latest addition to the family!

Yes Yb had been pregnant for the longest time already and finally the little one had popped out on the 21st Dec 09! Baby Jemaine is slightly over 2 weeks earlier than predicted, however still considered full term at 38 weeks..

Labour was shorter but intense compared to the 1st pregnancy according to Yb.. From the start of labour contraction to birth it took only 6 hr, last time close to 24hr.. Anyway for details on the labour, ask the mum k?

This time round the 1st month is less tiring and less complicated.. Not really because we're more experienced, but really juz we take things more easy now.. We engaged the help of a confinement nanny, costly, but at least we'll not be caught flustered with handling a newborn at the same time having to pay equal attn to the newly promoted bigger sister.. With Janielle, we were very disciplined with keeping to certain routines and practice.. But with Jemaine, Yb decided tat babies r very adaptable.. We can start the routines when she turns 1 month..

As I've said, the nanny is taking care of Jemaine's essentials now.. Feeding, washing, changing diaper, waking up for night feeds, pacifying her cries.. I kinda felt unfair to Jemaine actually.. That I'm not spending enough time with her.. But I guess tat can't be helped really, since yb's still in confinement and so I need to play the main role in taking care if Janielle.. I'll try to make it up to her when she's older bah...

Between the sisters, they're great with each other.. Ok at least janielle seems to be quite excited when she was 1st being introduced to her little sister.. Right now she's quite comfortable with having a baby ard at home.. She didn't seem to mind her presence at all, not even her sister's almost constant crying..

See? I told u Jan doesn't seem to mind meimei at all.. I cant say the same for meimei thou!!! LoL!

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Mobile blogging! Rantings on-the-go!

Finally downloaded the app for blogger into my phone.. Been unable to do this because i needed to set up an account wih picasaweb to do this.. Anyway, here I am again...

Juz sent Janielle to her sch tdy.. The start of new sem, we expected a lot of the new students who juz strayed today to be crying.. Jan started her childcare classes in the beginning of dec, reason being I think for Jan to be staying at home for the whole of dec is quite a torture.. She's at the stage where she's veryvery active and she absorbs like a sponge.. (ok I wanted to say sth else which is know is more absorbant than sponge, but I though I better stick to this).. So staying at home is a waste of her time too.. Besides, it frees up the adults' time... =D

Anyway... She was the only one who was crying lor.. Separation anxiety.. But it only happen when it's either me or Yb who sent her to sch, if it's my MIL, she's ok.. She'll follow the routines when she gets there as if she's there for years already... Open her mouth to check for ulcers, take her temp from her ear, sanitize her hands.. And saying goodbye to her grandma..

It's always quite strssful for me when I need to send her to sch....


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re: man of the family

somewhat a continuation to a earlier post i had
(http://juzride.blogspot.com/2009/06/man-of-family.html)

in the service yard there's only 1 single power outlet, which was meant for the washing machine.. some time ago i introduced a small fan into the service yard which can assist drying of the clothes especially in wet weather, when the clothes will be air-dried indoors.. as the power point comes with a plastic cover that closes to prevent water/rain from splashing on, it cannot take a multi-plug (plugs cannot fit in from the sides, top and bottom).. i thought i was quite smart, i found a small travel adaptor at home (i dunno where it came from) and attempted to plug it in, and behind the adaptor i will plug in the multi-plug... but when i tried to switch it on, it tripped the whole house!!! and it was 11PM at night!!

usually power will be restored if we flip back the switches at the fuse box in the house.. but it didn't work this time! damn sian already lo.. so late at night... weather so warm... got a friend (alwyn) staying over somemore.. we were thinking of possible solution when yb asked if we know anyone who can help.. then i recalled one of my army friend, GW, joked that if one day his place blackout he'll call another of ur fren, CW for emergency restore because CW works for Singapore Power (that night we had dinner he was on stand-by for any power failure in the northern region of Singapore).. yb said "call la!" i was like... huh..really meh? it's so late at night leh.... amazingly in his half-asleep stupor, CW managed to tell me i can find another main fuse box outside the house... and it worked!! woohoo!! aircon!!! actually the army is a best resource a guy can haf... i know ppl who drives the NEL mrt, i know one who got contacts to car dealers, one who works with SMRT, one who knows another fren who's a guru when it come to buying car (he helped me with my car purchase), a tour guide...

anyway... the power outlet in the service yard, the switch cannot be "unflipped"... it got stuck in position... lousy parts the HDB contractors used (i even found a loose spare wire in the hole in the wall behind that power outlet!).. managed to find a replacement from NTUC that cost me abt $6 which finally i found time (and daylight and some recollection from my secondary school science lessons on L/N/E wirings) to replace the broken one.. there! good as new! smooth switch now!

now im tempted to change all my power outlets at home... the switches sux...

oh and i threw that travel adaptor away.. the one that i dunno come from where one...

(yb was relating to her mum wad happened at home, my mother-in-law asked how come power can trip all of a sudden? she said "the scientist of the house decided to play with some innovations at 11pm at night" )

post-travel

1st day at work after i come back from Cambodia.. the usual, ppl asked how was the trip, did you had fun? my replies were all the same: "ok lor"

it's not that i didn't enjoy the trip, i did, mayb not as much... somehow i seemed to enjoy some of my other trips more leh... like vietnam.. similar environment, but somehow i like it more...

was it because we were following the standard Cambodia itinerary? simply visiting the tourist spots? was it too objective-oriented? too packed?

was it that things are more expensive? we seemed to pay much more than locals do.. which is common, but it seems better in vietnam (but then again when we were in vietnam, we didn't really hang ard the tourist places much)...

or mayb because i went with the objective of taking photos? and ended up not really having a holiday there...?

may b all....

Angkow Wat at sunset (facing the sun)

next (major) trip.... OCT 2010.... =)

twilight

been MONTHS (or years?) since i last run/jog.. the last time... i cant rem when.. but was that time when it caused that intolerable backache i mentioned in one of the entries... yar since then lor.. but i juz got back to running! why? coz i dunno for wad reason, dunno wad got over me, i signed up for the full 42.195km marathon this coming december... peer pressure mayb, mayb i juz wan to move on.. or mayb like wad ppl say, "to do it (at least)once in a lifetime"..

had my 2nd run 2 evenings ago, started at abt 7pm, ended at abt 8pm... these days the sun sets somewhere 730pm.. so as im doing my 2nd round, i'll be admiring the colours of the sky..and the sky will get darker and darker... juz in a matter of minutes, it's night time.. if not for the street lights lining the road, lights from the buzzling foodcourt, lights from NTUC where commuters queue for their groceries purchase, i doubt the moonlight is bright enough to lit my way home.. somehow this reminds me of the times when we were out trekking some years ago.. as the sun sets, we'll double-up our pace so that we can get to our campsite to set up our camp b4 darkness falls.. then we'll change into something more comfortable, and sit around a fire and cooking our dinner.. somehow so primitive, so simple, so sufficient... and.. im missing those times!!

man of the family

been staying at the new place for slightly more than half a year now.. something which i've come to realise, even b4 we've moved in here, was that from now on it's all up to us.. i mean... when we're still at our parents' place, there always someone to wash ur clothes.. clean up the table after meals.. someone to wash the pots and pans.. the floor at home is always free of dust and stains and hair.. there is always cooled boiled water for drinking bedsheets are regularly being changed (washed and dried).. the clothes are always folded and placed back into our cupboards after they're washed... gosh the list is so long...and im not done yet!

sure we've stayed in hostel b4, washed our own clothes, changed our own bedsheet and stuffs... but we dun haf to wash the toilet! there's not many dishes to wash? there always watercooler/tap to drink from?

other than the mediocure "chores" like mopping, sweeping, washing.... i also realised that we need to learn how to fix things, yes change light bulbs, remove stains, clean the fans... me, for now, and the title holder for the best sink plunger... at home that is... i've mentioned b4 (i think) that we had problem of choke kitchen sink.. now i know how it all works.. how the plunger is bein use... hey it's not use pumping with the big muscle ok... we need to know how it plunges.. u know we need to fill the sink with water b4 we can plunge effectively? and if u've those 2-bowl sink, u need to make sure the other drainer is properly covered and kept covered b4 u can start pumping? u dunno leh~~

anyway.. the worst, for now, has come... the toilet bowl is choked!! and how do we know....? of course after we're done with the biz, we need to flush... and the water level juz got higher and higher.. damn.. at 1st , being the title-holder for sink plunger, i tried clearing it with the sink plunger.. but as u probably know, the size doesn't fit verywell.. and as i pump, with force and speed, i got splashed!! eeeww... anyway after much trying, it didn't work... so decided that we need to go out to the self-fix shop to find something that fits.. found sth like a corkscrew, except that it's 15 meter long and looks more like a coiled spring.. bought it.. but it's not useful at all! the end keep getting stuck becoz of the coil.. like it's hooked onto the edges or sth... my hand need to go underneathe the water to unhook it.. (luckily im not usually an OCD person).. and lots of times the spring juz gathered as a coiled mess in one corner instead of having the whole length into the pipe.. after some 30min of trying, we switched back to the plunger, this time round i stuck the whole plunger head into the bowl so that there's no gap at the side, being slightly smarter this time round, i had the bowl lid half closed =)... i juz kept pumping and pumping and pumping... and i tried flushing... yes it's cleared!! yeees!!!

and there u haf it, i now hold another title... the champion toilet bowl plunger!

after the whole ordeal.. yb gave a kiss on the lips and said...
"Happy Fathers' Day dear!"

occasional inspiration

borrowed this book from the library "Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography".. Author's Brenda Tharp, quite a famous photographer who won awards and published in some lots well-known magazines...

from one of her interviews:
"If you're standing on the sidelines, your pictures are going to look like you stood on the sidelines. If you're walking amongst those stalls in the fish market, you're smelling the fish, and you're getting the close-up views of all these different fish, then I'm going to feel that when I look at your picture -- like I was there."



came across "Afghan Girl" in one of my reads recently (actually i cant remember from where and when did i read this), but i chanced upon it again while doing one of my surf on a local photography forum.. googled it, it brought me to this guy called Steve McCurry.. and Afghan Girl being his most famous picture he took back in 1980's and published on the Nat Geo in 1985... i went thru some of his galleries.... it really made me wonder if i could do this.. travel the world, not as a tourist, but as a photojournalist (i need to really really buck up on my writing and expression if so!).. seriously being with a family, probably it's a bit difficult, but not absolutely impossible... IF, i can let go of the stability of my home, finance (?), comfort.... AND IF they can come along with me...



anyway... just inspiring.... *daydreams..*