Bali and the long week that was

It's been a long work-free week for me. I was on leave for 7 days making a total of 11 work-free day in a stretch. Had such a hangover this morning. And I miss Joe already!
Here's what happened during my long work-free week.

Saturday 15th July

Joe played football. He's a natural!

Monday 17th July

We flew to Bali on AirAsia. It was not a very pleasant experience overall. I saw the ugliness of Malaysians. We were waiting to board the flight. There was a bunch of super kiasu senior citizens who started queueing at gate T7 way before any announcement was made. However, when the call for boarding was made, families with infants, children below the age of 12, expectant mothers and senior citizens were asked to queue at gate T8. Instead of going to the back of the line at gate T8, this bunch of extremely rude, uncivilised senior citizens cut queue and went in front of those already in line. Not only did they jump queue, they actually pushed and shoved others aside so that they could all stand together in front of everyone else. I was standing in line, carrying a sleeping Joseph in my sarong sling and trying to protect him. One bald old indian man actually bumped Joseph's head. I said a loud "excuse me". He just looked the other way and pretended not to hear anything. How rude can one get? And these are senior citizens?!?!! Or should I just call them a bunch of rude old farts! Who can blame young people these days if we do not respect our elders? We're merely learning from their example. Respect is after all earned. Not demanded.

Anyway, the flight itself was fine except for the 1 hour delay. We landed in Bali at 8.30pm to find out that there had been an earthquake and tsunami in southern Java. Reaching our hotel room at almost 10pm, we promptly went to bed.

Tuesday 18th July

The day was spent resting, rotting and exploring the hotel grounds. Joseph looked cool in his batik shirt.

Wednesday 19th July

Joseph busied himself exploring the hotel room.

We took a walk down to the beach. Joseph touched an ocean for the first time. He was absolutely at home.

Thursday 20th July

We have yet to leave the hotel grounds since we checked-in on Monday. This evening, we take Joseph to check out the playground. It's pretty well-maintained. He enjoyed his first time on a see-saw.

Friday 21st July

We're going home today. I'm actually looking forward to it. We extended our check out time to 5pm for an extra USD25, so that we can rest before our 8pm flight. This is our room that cost USD63 nett per night.

Nothing great about it. The place is actually pretty old but at least it's clean. For that same price, we would probably be able to get a much nicer hotel in Malaysia.

I find Bali is not my cup of tea. In fact, I think it's pretty overated. I couldn't find anything worth buying. The batik there is no different from the ones you find here. And I don't waste money on trinkets that do nothing more than collect dust. What I found eerie was that there was either an idol or a picture of one everywhere I looked. Every corner, every hallway, every room, every wall. I don't think we'll miss anything if we never go back to Bali again.

Saturday 22nd July

Ah...home at last. So nice to wake up in my own bed. Spent the morning at home. In the afternoon, I took Joseph to Bueh Yee's house in SS2 to see Rebecca. Joseph found the trampoline to be quite fun.

Then this is Joe and Rebecca watching Veggietales.

And this is Joe checking out his new guitar.

Monday 24th July

Rebecca, Mummy, Joe and I went to Midvalley after lunch. I needed to print some photos. They looked great! Rebecca went shopping.

Tuesday 25th July More shopping...Joseph and I spent the day with Rebecca and Reuben at Tesco, Ikea, The Curve. It's a first for me to be out with my siblings and my darling son. Rebecca went shopping for more dresses. We had quite a good time. However, Joseph refused to sleep taking merely 2 short 30-minute naps all day. At dinner time, he refused to eat. After cleaning him up, putting him in clean diapers and pajamas, he decided to poo. Right...my sister says babies like to poo in clean diapers just like how we like to use clean toilets. So while I was trying to wash the poo off his bum, he decided he wanted to splash around in the bath tub that still contained his earlier bath water. When I took him out, he started yelling and crying and throwing a tantrum. After that....he spent the next 2 hours crying in pain and discomfort. I spent 2 hours trying to put him to sleep. He would appear to have fallen asleep, and 10 seconds later start crying again. He arched his body backwards and wouldn't stop kicking. I was at my wits end. Didn't know what to do. It was 2 hours later that he finally fell asleep. My diagnosis is that his hungry stomach got filled with air and the trapped air was giving him pain. The more he cried in pain, the more air went in and the vicious cycle continued. I hope this trauma doesn't happen again. What a dramatic end to my nice long work-free week.

stinky smoke...back again?

It was a hot night. Joseph woke up at 4.30am crying in discomfort. I got up to comfort him and was overwhelmed by the acrid smell of smoke all around. Looking out of the window from my 13th floor apartment, the MPPJ tower looks a blur behind the light blanket of haze. Is the haze back? Memories of last year's mega-haze are still vivid in my mind. Air Pollution Index (API) readings don't fool me. I've got a nose you can call a haze-o-meter. I can smell smoke even before I see smokers. Days before the haze is visible, my nose will start feeling stuffy and runny. I close the window, switch on my Greenaire revitalisor and get back into bed, trying to ignore the stinking smoke. Can someone please tell the Indonesians to stop burning? Stop polluting my air. I've a right to breathe fresh clean air!!!

a salty kind of stink

Joseph started having smelly feet eversince footwear became a necessity for him. He officially started walking at 13 months and has already outgrown his first pair of shoes. After we get home from a day out, I remove his shoes and socks and find that they emit a salty kind of stink. Smelly feet on a 15 month old boy? This can't be for real. So I started looking for alternative footwear. Joseph's generous ah yee who just came back from half way around the globe to visit him brought with her a pair of Timberland sandals that cost USD24! That works out to around RM88. I don't even wear shoes that cost that much. My Renoma high heels which was bought at a warehouse sale cost only RM80. Okay..that's close to RM88. But it's still less! Anyway....it's a good deal. I checked out the Timberland boutique in 1-Utama and the same pair of sandals retails for RM139. What a bargain huh? But Joseph can't wear his yet. Being kiasu, my sister bought a size 9! The store salesgirl suggested a size 5 for a 1-year old. Oh well....it doesn't really matter. He'll grow into it. Right now, there's more than an inch of room between the tip of his toe to the edge of the sandals. I hope it'll be the end of his smelly feet when he starts wearing the sandals. In the mean time, I bought him another pair of shoes last tuesday. We were out window shopping at Metrojaya when I spotted this pair of shoe by Larrie. It has a non-slip rubber sole which is flexible. Beside looking good, it was priced at only RM25.90 (Even kikilala shoes cost more). And it was the last pair! So it was either buy it, or regret it.

Joseph needed new shoes anyway. His current pair bought by his Ah Kong is getting tight. There's hardly any room between the tip of his toe and the edge of his shoe. Children grow so fast! I need to enjoy him before making a sister/brother for him.

30 years of fun

This photo was taken on 30April 1979. I was exactly 15 months old. That slide I'm sitting on in the photo must be about 3 years old at that time.

Fast forward to 2006.

Joseph is almost 15 months old and playing on the exact same slide. It's been refurbished. We changed the sliding board and gave it a new coat of varnish. Still good as new and able to provide Joseph with lots of playtime fun. All that exercise he gets climbing up and down enables him to sleep better at night.

Check out the same pose...

long busy weekend

Joseph woke up 5 minutes before my 6.30am alarm went off this morning. How does he know that I've got to wake up early to go to work today? I had taken monday and tuesday off so it was a nice long weekend. A very busy one for Joseph. See what he did... Joe had wonderfully fun bubble baths He was busy checking out the 'new' slide. He messed fried mee hoon all over himself.

He drove a bat mobile!





















And check out this cheeky grin....vroom! vroom!

Rebecca's Back!

Rebecca landed here on Tuesday 4th July. Her second trip home in a space of 6 months. This comes after being away for 5.5 years. Why the sudden eagerness to come home? Joseph, of course. Her first word as soon as she stepped into the arrival hall of KLIA was "Joseph". Her luggage was full of goodies for Joseph. What a lucky baby Joseph is to have such a nice Ah Yee. By wednesday, Joseph was calling Yeee..... with a big grin on his face and pointing at Rebecca. This always results in hysterical laughter from Joseph's Ah Yee. She bought him several books, a pair of Timberland sandals (that cost USD24), wallies to decorate his room. The sandals are still too big for his feet. He should grow into them in a couple of months. Wednesday night, Joseph entertained all of us by smearing mango juice all over himself. He was happily sucking on the mango seed. There was juice on his hands, head, hair, face, arms and even the entire high chair.

Not the least disturbed by the mess, Joseph couldn't be happier.

Me! Me!

I made the mess!

Yeah!

treasure found...?

Joseph : I was just doing what I do best...exploring the house, opening drawers and cupboards, looking for things to throw around. Then I wandered to the bedroom and found this.... in daddy's bedside drawer. Hmm....wonder what it's for.

Daddy...what did you say these are for again?

broken toilet seat

This is my broken toilet seat. Wonder how I'm gonna get it fixed....