back from bandung: part 1

after spending 4 days and 3 nights in lovely bandung, we are back...with a suitcase full of new clothes, and another full of dirty laundry. all in all, it was a fun trip, money well spent and time worth sparing. the first day started off rather slow, as we didn't really have any idea where to go. when we reached the hotel around 10am, we were quite tired as the day started TOO early for some of use. me, nazim and amin left melaka that day around 4am, so you can imagine that by noon, we were pretty tired. my parents and brothers met us at the LCC terminal and we all left on the 7.30 flight to bandung.

our first meal in bandung was lunch at this Sundanese restaurant, which was recommended by one of the staff from the hotel. we took two taxis from the hotel as we were'nt familiar with the other mode of transportations yet. lunch wasn't that great, but what was appealing was the place we had it. it was on a pangkin, and all of us sat bersila on the floor. so we managed to order our food, guessing some of the unfamiliar words to be what we think they were....like ikan gurame goreng to ikan kerapu goreng...apart from that, we had something close to a gado-gado, some tempe goreng and some ayam bakakak (which is ayam bakar). all of the dished were kinda sweet, as we later found out that sundanese liked their food sweet, as opposed to padang people whose food were spicier, and suited more to our taste buds. after lunch, we were quite hyped to see what bandung was all about, so we, just like the locals, boarded the angkutan kota, a doorless van with side-way seats, that serves similar purpose to those tuk-tuks in Thailand to a 'shopping place' as we clearly instructed to the driver. as we didn't know the names of the places to go, we relied entirely on the driver to bring us somewhere where we can shop. so, we ended up at a mall, which is just like any other mall in KL. at that point, i was a little frustrated, as i was expecting somewhere that had indonesian traditional arts and crafts or some factory outlets, just like what i've been hearing about before i went to bandung.


this is where we stayed

after a while, we decided to walk across to the building opposite the mall and there, i found what i was looking for - branded childrens' clothes at a very affordable price! but that didn't stop there, we later discovered more places like this, on the third day of our stay. after getting some things from that store, we went back to the mall and lepaked at starbucks where i helplessly dozed off on the couch for quite a while, totally oblivious to my surroundings. i could see amin was pretty bored by then, as he said "we came all the way bandung to hang around in starbucks?!" betul jugak...heheh..but i was too tired lah, and the air cond and the couch was so nice. :) after getting up from my nap at starbucks, i thought there must be somewhere else we can go to shop for more "indonesian stuff" but the guys said they're ready to go back to the hotel, except my younger brother. so me, mom and brother took a cab to "pasar baru" as recommended by the supir, while my husband, dad, other brother and son went back to the comfort of the airconditioned room in the hotel. when we reached pasar baru, my shopping nerves started to kick in as i saw so many shops selling colorful tudungs, scarves, kebaya materials and batiks. now THIS is what i'm talking about! i picked up some scarves (silk ones for about 10 bucks each) from that shop while mom shopped for some other types of tudungs (the ones that you just slip in and tadaaaa...all your hair in covered...like a mini telekung, but trendier). then, we went to a shop selling a variety of batik/sarongs and kebaya material which made us both stare in awe. they had such nice colored materials for kebaya, kurung, and batiks. unlike my mom, i normally take a longer time to shop as i'm not as impulsive buyer like is, plus, i also have to think about the *ching-ching*...heheh..so, finally, i picked up a 3-in-1 material (for bottom, top and selendang) to make a baju kurung/kebaya, one gendong (the cloth used by many indonesians to carry an infant), 2 batik sarongs (one to give away and one for myself)...and mom...well, she just bought whatever i got...times 2 or 3, minus the gendong. we left pasar baru after that, feeling quite satisfied with our purchases and decided to give our wallets a rest, for tomorrow, we planned on some sight-seeing stuff.

finding a school for nazim

i never thought it would be difficult to find a kindy for nazim...until recently. being in melaka doesn't help much either. i've been to 5 kindy/day care centers here and none of them is even close to what i want for nazim. there a few things that i look for when trying to find a day care center for nazim. cleanliness is without a doubt, one of them. and when i see that one spoon is being used to feed 10 children, it just puts me off. furthermore, one of the children had green mucus coming out from his nose. don't they know that they are transferring germs from one child to another by doing this? cleanliness of the toilet is also another factor in list. even if a child is able to go to the toilet himself, supervision is still needed. someone still needs to wash after him and keep the toilet from smelling like pee. another thing i look for is the quality of activities the kindy/day care offers. when the teachers are short-tempered, and yelling is the only way she knows to get the attention of the children, that also puts me off.

oh heck, i have to stop for now, nazim is crying his lungs out. today is bad nazim day. he's not being a good boy.

untitled post

my last entry was may 6th, and now it's already may 22nd?!! now where have i been?? a few places...but mostly still busy with the house "re-d0". let's see, i would say we are quite done downstairs, just need to get some matching curtains and it's all good. upstairs, it's still in shambles. still waiting for that cabinet for our treasured books and junks to be ready. annnd it's also going to be our new tv place since we've decided to shift the tv upstairs. from our measurements, it looks like the distance between the tv and our sofa would be pretty near..but we'll see lah first...if it's too near and our eyes can't take it anymore, we'll just have to find another solution. sometimes i feel like my house is turning into a kindergarten as it has a variety of colors...hahah..but it's ok lah...quite tastefully done i would say. my son's room has the most striking color..and it really does make the room exciting for children. now i just have to put some fun curtains, and put the neat IKEA stuff we bought and we'll see the difference..aaaahh too bad, i forgot to take the before pictures...

anyway, where have i been the past few weeks? well, last 2 weekends we were in Singapore, visiting the zoo. it was my first time and nazim's too. amin has been there a lot of times when he was younger. it was so much fun showing nazim all the big animals he's only seen on flashcards. the drive from melaka took us 2 and a half hours and all in all we spent 5 hours there. i just love the layout of the zoo, with a variety of huts that people can take a rest under. me and hubby were quite interested looking at the huts as it gave us some good ideas on how we want our wakaf/pangkin to look like. oh yeah, that's also part of our face-lifting ideas to the house, and i can't wait to sit in my wakaf/pangkin once it's ready!!

in a few days, we're off to bandung, with baby aishah left in the care of my dear MIL. i'm going to miss my baby, but it's really better off for her not to come along. i'm looking forward to do some pampering stuff like massages or spa. ever since i went on my maternity leave, i've been leading the life of a tai-tai, some sort, but not entirely, i still slave around the house cleaning up the store room, and sweating it out doing other house chores. but i managed to get some tai-tai activities done like going for a massage, facial, and having lunch with a good buddy :) and now, another opportunity in bandung!

some of the huts at the Singapore Zoo. one log for one pillar? wow...of course ours won't look exactly like this..


amin and nazim, waiting for the elephant show to begin. nazim really needs a haircut, but he would never agree to one and would always end up protesting.


those are fake elephants

isn't this elephant cute?

face lift

hubby and i are in the midst of giving our house a face lift. we want to give the house a bit of life, so to speak. so we're trying out with some colors with the living hall and the dining area and also to our bedroom! i can't wait to see the outcome. hope it will turn out ala-ala casa impian....when we moved into this house, it was still brand new, and the paints are all the same for every wall - plain beige. so now after living in it for over a year, we are ready to give it a new look. choosing the right color was quite difficult, as we were afraid what we see in the book would turn out gawdy on the walls. so that took a bit of time, but it's looking pretty good i would say. we haven't chosen a color for the bedroom feature wall yet though..i'm thinking olive..it would go quite well with the brown laminated floor...i think..it's quite fun doing just by ourselves (deciding on the theme color and all lah, not the painting).

On another note, yours truly is down with the flu, and nazim is having yet another episode of his asthma/cough attacks which is quite tiring. anyhow, people say it will go away by itself when he grows up. we'll just have to wait i guess.

Adrenalin rush

wooooo...talk about adrenalin rush...MI3 memang best giler..with the face masks, nice gadgets, and country-hopping... aaa..i love the thrill! i think i want to watch it again...on DVD la of course..so that i can replay the parts that was too quick to catch at the cinema..but wowwww!!! best gile laaa...went to watch another movie over the last weekend. movie was called "Failure to launch"....rather slow and predictable...and i find SJP kinda boring. anyway, it's three more weeks till my bandung trip and i'm really excited!! :))

here's a tag by zetty, the cool chic.

HOW MANY SCHOOLS DID YOU GO TO?

LOTS!! mainly because i grew up in the military. Let's see...here they are in chronological order.

1. Sekolah Kebangsaan Klang Gate: Std 1
2. SRK Taman Melawati: Std 2 and 3
3. SRK Assunta 1: Std 4
4. SRK St. Agnes, Kota Kinabalu Sabah: Std 5 and 6
5. SBPS KK, Sabah: Form 1
6. Campbell High School, Canberra, Australia: Form 2
7. SM Assunta, PJ: Form 3,4,5

WAS I THE STUDIOUS NERD OR THE LAST MINUTE HERO?

I have to say, i was the former....but that changed in college..where there was more to life than just books..hehehe..

WAS I THE TAIKO OR TEACHER'S PET?

I guess i was a bit of both. For subjects that were interesting, i had good relations with the teachers..but for some..aighhh..

BEST 2 SUBJECTS

Has to be Add Math and Chemistry!

TEACHERS THAT I REMEMBER MOST (FOR VARIOUS REASONS)

1. Miss Jaya (my add maths teacher): She was quite young when she taught us in form 4 and 5. She braids her long long hair everyday to school and has a very white set of teeth. I like her because she writes very clearly on the chalkboard (her writing is so round and big) and also because she was nice to me :) I enjoyed her class very much.

2. My home science teacher in Australia. Why i remember her? She taught us how to make Pigs in a Blanket...

3. Mr. Chew (my physics teacher): He was the only guy teacher in my school, and sported the 70s look in the 90s. He would give little presents to those who did well in his class.

WHO DO I WANT TO TAG?

anybody who feels like it