大澳 (Tai O)

Tai O is a fishing village town cum island by itself, situated on the western side of Lantau Island. Some history of Tai O can be found here on wikipedia. Residing nearer to Tung Chung and easily accessible via bus or direct ferry. If you remember the movie, Project A by Jacky Chan, that police station in the movie, was actually filmed here. We didn’t manage to visit the police station, but only caught a glimpse of it as we travel back to Tung Chung by boat.

We came here last Feb during the end of winter. It was freezing cold but we enjoyed it. Since we were there after 2pm, we didn’t have much time to explore the entire Island, just a little bit here and there and there seems to be so much more to offer & explore here as compared to Cheung Chau. As usual, we wouldn’t miss trying out the restaurants there to fill our tummy. And we all agree that the trip to Tai O is better off with ferry than the whirly-windy road up the hill & down the hill via the bus.

Here are some photos taken during our 4 hours trip. More photos over at my FB album.

depleted wall and door, love the effect of it.

Look at this boy with oversized sunnies LOL

Youngest in the group, Ben.

Dried food products. Seems like it’s cheaper to buy here than Cheung Chau.

BBQ dried seafood.

One for the family. Gosh..the kids are not looking!!

drinks of all kinds of colours

Old roofs could still be seen here.

There were alot of old post boxes like this and I couldn’t resist to take pics of each of them.

pretty rose.

Old school grilles, with designs somemore..rare-ness :)

this is how they make assam?

Salted egg yolks!! We didn’t know they were selling salted egg yolks like this. We bought some to try, lovely.

Everyone busy lining up to by some peanut kuih, erm but we dare not try.

There were alot of houses like these, made of just metal sheets? Not sure why they use this instead of bricks.

The man squatting in front of the metal house. I asked him to pose as if he’s some gangster killing time LOL.

The house is so small, you have to use an external stairs to go upstairs LOL

A simple worship place, made with metal also O.o

Wow, I wish I could move this to my balcony LOL.

A man enjoying his snacks by the door

talk about details…even the grill has words engraved on it.

This uncle is trying hard to cycle..salute him.

more post box….

Made them sat on the stairs and took pics.

Fire Danger Warning, but smoking cigar outside.

Another cat.

Ah a postbox with my surname, how cool

Hon’s colleagues, Bala & Janet.

All sorts of jeruk on sale

Trying out the baked salted egg..tasted just like egg+salt, LOL

Vyktore enjoying biscuits sandwiched with maltose.

Fried wan tan noodles with sliced beef. Heavenly.

Sweet & sour pork is a must for kids.

Marinated jelly fish with fish cake. Local dish.

Fried prawns with soya sauce. My favourite.

Scallops steamed with spring onion and vermicelli. Nice.

Fried taufu

Lovely sunset. We’ve not been seeing sunset during winter but managed to enjoy the sunset in Tai O.

Peanut kuih, tried this elsewhere before, not bad.

Giant size dried oysters

waiting for the boat at Pier.

got this shot of them from far.

長洲 (Cheung Chau)

I’m sure most of you have heard about Cheung Chau (長洲) after watching TVB Drama Series for so many years. I’m one of them too. And I was excited when I came to know that Cheung Chau is not too far from Lantau Island. Cheung Chau is also famous for the Bun Festival which is held every year during May. I would definitely consider going there for photoshoot during the Bun Festival next time, when my kids are older and I don’t have to bring them along with me as it’s too crowded.

This was our first adventure to other Islands in Hong Kong. It was a hot Sunday afternoon. There’s a direct bus from Tung Chung to Cheung Chau (3M). We took a bus to the Pier, about 45 mins, then we took a ferry over to Cheung Chau.

Cheung Chau is very commercialised compared to other places like Tai O, Pui O, etc. When we alighted the ferry, the 1st thing that greeted us was McDonald’s!! As it was so hot, we succumbed to McDonald’s and went to get our Coca-Cola Slurpee. And that has to be the best ever Slurpee I’ve ever tasted in my life :) .

Since it was lunchtime, we started walking along the way to hunt for food. Finally went into one of the restaurants and ordered some yummy dishes. After filling our tummy, we just continue walking and explore this place.

We saw a lady selling home made 豆腐花 (tau fu fah) and ordered some to try. Unlike back home where they serve 豆腐花 with gula melaka, here they serve it with syrup or yellow sugar. Still prefer the gula melaka version :) .

After that, we headed to the beach where the kids had a great time playing while the adults chill out with beer at the restaurant (just beside the beach).

From Cheung Chau you can take a ferry back to Central as well and that’s what we did. It was a much longer ride. We had dinner at IFC Mall before heading home and call it a day.

Here are some photos taken at Cheung Chau. For more photos, visit my FB album.

Look, McDonald’s in Cheung Chau :) .

Fried Mantis Prawn.

Stir Fried Kailan (looks super oily eh ^.^)

Kam Heong Lala (without the curry leaves)

Chilli & Salt Fried Tofu (this was a hit)

Stir Fried Crabs with Ginger & Spring Onion

Fried rice for the kids

Sweet & sour pork (for the kids too)

Steam fish..yummy :)

This lady was selling home made tau fu fah. Since it was so hot, we stopped here for our dessert.

Slurps…smooth and tasty tau fu fah.

 Do you think this fella is aged at least 50 years old? Look at how huge it is!!!

 We didn’t ride any of these, but thought that it’ll be nice to take some pics. Next time must rent and ride hehe

 Buying some salted fish to try. 

Walking towards the beach

Cheung Chau Buns

Kids enjoying their beach time

Tallest building in HK, IFC Mall, at HK Central. We took a MTR back to Tung Chung thereafter.

長沙灘 (Cheung Sha Beach)

Well, I’ve came here for almost 10 months, but haven’t quite blog about our adventures thus far, thought I’d start with this recent one. Lantau Island, that’s where we stay is pretty well preserved. If you’ve seen the various photos I’ve posted on my Facebook, you would be surprised that it’s Hong Kong. That’s also one of the reason why we are living there instead of in HK Island. You feel less hectic and more at home here than in HK Island itself. More laid back. Even the escalators are slower in comparison (swear I’m telling the truth cause I switch from fast mode to slow mode when I commute within my office and home).

There are alot of hiking trails (we’ve completed 2 so far), beaches, mountains, Island hopping (we’ve done 2 as well) and geological park. Back in March when the weather was finally warmer but not too warm, we took a bus from Tung Chung to 長沙灘 (Cheung Sha Beach). It’s a short ride on a windy road via Bus 35 (the one that goes up to Po Lin Monastery). It only takes 20 minutes from Tung Chung to Cheung Sha Beach.

Kids were delighted as usual since we get to break free from the usual shopping mall visits. We went there with our family friend, of which their kids are same age as ours (their best buddy here).

The beach was rather empty to our delight. We were informed that locals don’t normally flock here. They’d go to more commercialised beaches like the ones in Cheung Chau. Only the angmo will come here, and this area are usually populated by the foreigners that wants a laid back life and mainly those working in Airport.

I wouldn’t say that the beach was fantastic if you compare those back home in Malaysia, but definitely much cleaner and less muddy. I’d rate this above some parts of Port Dickson & Morib in terms of cleaniness.

For once, Vyktore enjoyed the beach so much and I was so delighted that he finally did. All this while he’d just sit on the mat and eat his snacks. Never want to get himself there. He claims that it’s dirty. But during this visit, he totally enjoyed the waves and rolling about on the beach.

There’s also facilities for you to clean up after the beach bathing which is well maintained. Changing room is also available. Don’t need to wrap the towel around you and change discreetly in the public hehe..

Here are some photos taken that day.

We will definitely return here again for beach bathing weekend.

 

 

Bersih 3.0 HK Edition

I woke up on 28th April with a hope to bring change to my country, Malaysia. It was a rainy morning in Hong Kong. But as the organiser has said it loud and clear, the show must go on. It will only be called off if there’s Typhoon, Signal 8.

Days before the event took place, I found myself wrestling with my thoughts. I finally succumbed to the fact that I must be part of this historic event. And not just sit at home to watch the post Bersih 3.0 footages while I quietly regret in my heart that I have not done my part for our future, my children’s future and the future of all Malaysian. I was trying to convince my other half to join as well, but he procrastinated and in the end I tasked him to take care of the kids at home while I walk the talk.

Bersih 3.0 HK Edition meeting place as at Causway Bay, SOGO. I met up with Peggy (that so happened came to HK for holiday) earlier to have a quick lunch. Then we walked towards SOGO entrance and it was only 1:45pm, but the crowd was noticeable from far. Everyone were clad in yellow, the Bersih official colour.

The organiser expected about 100 people turn up at the event. But the final count apparently, there were 400 people!! Amazing!!

Everyone look very excited. Some travelled as far as from Southern China to participate in this memorable event. They couldn’t get their permit on time, but nevertheless made the effort to come all the way to HK. Someone was seen selling the Bersih T-shirt and they were quickly snapped up by rally’s participants. Obviously some were busy snapping photos for each other. People from all walks of life was there. It was as though we are going for a carnival instead of a rally.

At 2:00pm, we moved forward to a cordoned area that the police has prepared for us where we stood there and sang our National anthem with pride. I’ve never felt so proud singing this song together with our fellow countrymen. Then the leader came and gave a speech about today’s rally. Why we are doing this? It is not about politics. It’s about a clean and fair election. It’s about the people’s voice to be heard. And though we are many miles away from Malaysia, it doesn’t mean that we would not be bothered about what is happening back home.

One of the things he talked about that touched me was when he mentioned that alot of people whom has migrated overseas challenged why they need to care about Malaysia and what is happening since they are not there. But that is so wrong. Doesn’t mean we are not there we will not be affected. Don’t forget our parents are there. Our siblings are there. We still need to pay tax for our house in Malaysia although we don’t pay our income tax there. So we do need to care!! And someday, we will return home, when the time comes. But for now, let us continue to fight for the rights of our brothers and sisters at home.

It was a very long talk. He finished his speech in English, then someone shouted, Bahasa please. So he started repeating his speech in Bahasa. Then someone requested for Mandarin version, and he quickly obliged. And of course, we must have the Cantonese version since we are all in HK. And finally, someone requested for Hokkien version, and he did!! Everyone laughed when he spoke in Hokkien. We are truly a multilingual country. But no matter what language we speak, our voice must be heard that day. That a fair and clean election is what we demand for.

At 3:00pm, we lined up to form a long line and started marching. Together with us was a team of police officers, deployed to ensure our safety and assist the rally itself. They led us all the way from Causeway Bay right up to the Malaysia Embassy at Gloucester Road at Wan Chai. They stopped the cars and let us pass by the roads leaading to Wan Chai. From time to time we were reminded to walk inside so that we won’t be hit by cars. We chanted “Ah Shuir Hou Yeh” to the policemen for being so supportive, unlike the ones back home that layed barbed wires and refuse to let our countrymen to sit in at Dataran Merdeka.

As we walk, we sang our Negaraku. We sang Setia. We chanted “Hidup Bersih”. We chanted “Hidup Rakyat”. We chanted “Bersih, Bersih”. We chanted “Malaysia Boleh!!”. It was these moments that remind us that no matter where we are, how old we are and who we are at the end of the day we are all united as 1, 1Malaysia. And together we will rally for a better tomorrow.

One of the man was the leader that guide us with the chanting. At one point of a time, he ran out of his voice and we all laughed. But quickly someone took over and it continued. That was how strong the spirit was.

We finally reached the Malaysia Embassy after walking for 45mins and the guards were standing there, refuse to let us in. The police requested us to spread the crowd within the left and right of the embassy and ensure that we were not blocking the road. Again we sang Negaraku. Then the leader read out the memorandum that they want to pass to the Consulate. Some of us wrote our name on the memorandum as well.

At first the guard refused to open the door for us to pass the memorandum and spike off some concern among the group. Then we started chanting “Buka Pintu” to request them to open the door and finally they did. The Consulate quickly grab the memorandum and the guard closed the door. They were so afraid that we would start a riot. But seriously, we are there for peace, not for riot. If we wanted to start a riot, we would have done it along the way. And at that very moment as well, someone announced that they started shooting tear gas and water cannon in KL and we all jeered as loud as we could, condemning the act of our police and FRU units back home. Why has it gotta end with such an ugly sight despite a peaceful rally.

The rally ended at 4:00pm and we all thanked the police for being there with us. They’ve done a great job to ensure our safety. And someday we hope that police back home would do the same as the police in HK. Those would be the days where we will not live in fear of racial riots and rally. Those would be the days where police and citizens would rally together for a good cause. Those would be the days of a true democratic country. I would live to tell my children that I was part of the historical event that lead us to a true democratic country. And let us all hope that, that day would come soon.

Here are some photos taken on that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More photos are uploaded on my Facebook.

Day 13: TwoPixels & Sue

Photo taken on Sunday, late lunch at Desa Park City. Glad that the kids were so co-operative for that 1 single shot.

From an ex-schoolmate to business partner. That’s how my relationship grew with Sue. We barely knew each other in the school, and again blogging has met both of us. Sometimes when you meet someone on the blog, and later find out there are so many things in common, you get thrilled. I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled because Sue stays so near to me and her kids are same age as mine too. Hence there were alot things we could do together.

We started TwoPixels Photography 2.5 years ago due to our passion in photography. End of last year, we were at the verge of moving our little business to fulltime, but things took a left turn and we didn’t manage to do it.

At one point, someone even asked if we were sisters because we look alike O.o.

We’ve always keep each other company via MSN, almost every other day, sharing thoughts with each other. We even share our personal calendar with each other so that we can plan things out not clashing with our personal life activities.

Not only both of us, but our kids grew up together as well. Faythe is 6 months younger than Ivan, Vyktore is 6 months younger than Izac. Since we live so near to each other as well, we sometimes go out for dinner/lunch together. And with all the 5 kids, it’s havoc for the restaurant.

When the news came about that I’m moving out, I was actually very worried how to break the news to Sue. So I told her slowly in pieces to prepare her for the big day. I hope she didn’t have sleepless nights after I told her. Being a very understanding partner, she even offered her maid to help me to pack, and supplied me with all the corrugated boxes.

We have no plans with TwoPixels, now that we are both far apart. Lets see how things will fold in for the next few months.

She’ll be due end of this month and I won’t be around to meet the lil bun in the oven. May you have a safe delivery, Sue. And you will always be missed. Make sure you inform me personally after you deliver, if it’s coming from you know who, I’d probably not believe that piece of news :P .

Broga Hills, 10.10.10

Seriously, I forgot totally that it was 10.10.10 yesterday until Sue mention that it’s really meaningful for us to do something on 10.10.10. That is to conquer the Broga Hills LOL.

Supposingly it’s a photography trip organised by Sue & her colleagues, I decided to tag along. I really need a break and shoot something else apart from kids & babies. Maybe can get some new inspiration along the way :P .

I woke up at 245am and got ready. By 330am, Sue came and fetch me, and guess what, most of the gang FFK!! LOL. Only left her ex-colleague and his brother. Good thing her brother brought a whole gang of guys haha…Only 2 ladies, and 8 guys :P .

We met at Steven’s Corner @ Pandan Indah for our very early breakfast before heading to Broga Hills. Don’t really know the way, but Google Map brought us there in a breeze :) .

Arrived at Broga at 545am, pitch black, but was already full of people. We parked the car at the Palm Oil Estate and started our journey up hill.

Being the not-so-fit ME, it was a real challenge. Half way thru already cursing. I swear if I came alone, I would have just went home and sleep. Good thing also that it didn’t rain the night before, so it was not muddy and slippery. At some part of the climb, it’s rather steep and dangerous. Not for kids definitely!!

At 620am, we finally reached one of the main stop where there were quite a few people there. Then proceed to point 2 and finally reached there just before 645am.

We both stopped at point 2, but the rest of the guys went to Point 3, which was much steeper.

We took some photos, waiting patiently for the sunrise..but but…the sun never did rise :( . It went to snooze mode, sob sob. So much so for the effort of going up, only manage to get a sneak peak of the sunrise.

We started to descend around 8am. Boy, going down is far more difficult than going up. Since it’s so bright now, you have more fear in you looking at all those steep steps. I can’t imagine we just bulldoze over it when it was still dark to get up. Going downhill is also very taxing to the knees. That’s why my thighs are hurting today :P .

By the time we got down, I was all drenched in sweat. Good exercise yeah..Will I go again? Err…better not say. Maybe Sue gotta slap me to remind me hahaha…

Nevertheless, it’s a trip worthwhile. The scenery is beautiful. Especially all those long lallang :) .

Here are more photos taken from the trip.

beautiful lallang

our helper when we were going up. Thanks guys :) .

A weird looking tree among the lallang

Sue, our organiser. Behind her that’s Point 1.

more lovely lallang

Feel like running down hill?

Can you see the blister on Sue’s feet?

Our breakfast

A good way to mark 10.10.10 :) .

I hope they won’t start any construction jobs here and disturb the nature.

Photoshoot: Faythe & Vyktore

As much as I love taking photos of kids & babies, I’ve not even taken my 2 kids for a session themselves. So after much thought about this, I decided to bring Faythe out at first. Seriously, I can’t handle 2 together at the same time taking photos. But Vyktore woke up and wants to follow us out, so in the end I packed 2 of them into the car and asked my maid to come along.

Initially it was a location near our place, but there was an event there, so I chickened out. Then I decided, heck, might as well take a drive to KLPac. And we ended up there. This place is not meant for public, I was trying to wrap up the session ASAP before I got caught LOL.

The weather was rather kind to us, at 10am, it was not hot and a bit windy too. Then it started raining by 11.30am and we had to make a move.

So let the photos do all the talking now. For more photos, hop over to FB :) .

This is one of my fav, seriously she’s good in posing.

Vyktore & his bb.

Flowers she picked for Mommy :) . Thanks dear.

Posing with the flowers. Mental note, next round must bring real flowers.

A co-operative & not-so co-operative model :)

Shooting in KLPAC, brickwall is a must!!

They were admiring the ducks swimming in the lake

Vyktore with his daydreaming look

He’s not so good with posing yet, very good at frowning though :P

A not so happy model hahaha…she was getting tired towards the end.

One more for the road

Another of my fav shot :)

Finally, a decent pic of 2 of them.

My fav shot, this gonna go for the blog header :) .

Vyktore doing his kungfu stunt.

Faythe trying to pluck tree leaves.

I’m not listening….

Sitting on the fire hydrant like he’s driving a car. Boys!!

This my fav shot of Vyktore for the day.

Her new bracelet, ordered from Momslittletresurebox.

After the session, we went for movies at Tropicana City. The Legend of Guardians. Quite a nice one :) . After movies, we went for late lunch at one of the shop and I took a few photos.

And here’s Vyktore at home, laughing while I was watching TV. Reason was he accidentally opened my maid’s bathroom door while she was bathing..OMG….my maid so silly, mandi never lock the door :| .

Lets close this off with my fav pose of the day. This was what I had in mind before the session and the result is absolutely satisfying. OK, I think I must have photosessions with them every quarter :P .

I made a big mistake dressing Vyktore up in the Elmo shirt, should have dressed him in nfl t shirts instead.

Of H1N1 & Borobodur

Last friday, SIL sms-ed to inform me that Faythe’s classmate been contracted with H1N1. But school at that time didn’t take any actions. I checked with SIL (also a paed) what we should do. She advise that we should give the kids flu jab, just in case.

Today I sent them to school as usual, at 10am, I received a call from the principal. Usually when I get a call from school, I sort of panic. Cause I’m worried something bad happened to them. Maybe they fainted in school O.o. Maybe they had nose bleed (which they often do) & it went out of control. Then the principle told me that they need to quarantine her class, so I need to pick her up.

Good thing I didn’t have any meetings on this morning, so I went to pick her up. Teacher gave her tonnes of homework to make sure she’s occupied O.o.

2 hours later, MIL sms-ed me, Vyktore is also under quarantine, since he has close contact with Faythe. Yikes!!! Do I have to quarantine myself too? I checked with my HR mgr, not necessary, since we don’t have any fever.

They are both fine, in fact I think they are happy they don’t need to go to school, especially Vyktore. Vyktore has a bit of runny nose, but that’s more like dust allergy more than anything.

Time to boost everyone’s immune system with more Vit C.

I’m still busy tidying up my photos from Borobodur. Looking back at all those photos, sometimes makes me wonder how capable human are. Even before Christ (B.C.), they could build such mega structure. Isn’t it amazing. When I was there, I touch and feel the stones & carvings on it. I could feel the history in me. Well, I’m very much of a history freak. My ambition was to be an archaelogist!! *Don’t laugh OK*.

Can’t live my life to be an archaeologist, but visit to such place really brings back good old history memory :) .

Here’s a photo taken from the top of Borobodur. The view, simply breathtaking. That lil triangle hanging in the sky is Gunung Merapi, life volcano. Not a photoshop add-on-mountain ya (in case you wondering :P ).

I spent like 3 hours trekking this whole place till the driver got worried and kept SMS-ing me where am I. Seriously, I mean, it’s a historical site OK…you sure gotta spend some time here. And with so much of trekking, I doubt I need to get myself a nordictrack audiostrider 990 pro to keep me going.

And I thought I did…

..have time to blog about something before I depart for my trip last week. But I’m totally wrong! I was so so so busy preparing for the trip, co-ordinating for training that is happening to KL, and many other things that at 1 point I asked myself. What’s going on MAN. Why is there so many things happening at the same time?

Seriously, I’m pretty much exhausted at times that I can’t even think straight. Workload is up to the neck (or maybe up to the head). Each time I take off or travel for work, the email just get more n more. Each day I’m getting like at least 50 mails, which 1/2 of them needs my attention.

Where did I go last week? I was at Jakarta & Bandung to pay a visit to my service partners. It’s really an eye opener. If you think KL is jam, wait till you see Jakarta. You’d probably die sitting in endless traffic jam there LOL. The jam starts right from the morning till late night. Even during weekends, there are cars everywhere.  Don’t forget the high security at all places all time, thanks to all the bomb threats. I shall post some of my photos from Jakarta/Bandung soon, lets hope it’s not gonna take long.

So where did we left last? My Phuket trip still…..Gosh….I have so much to catch up, including our last weekend Halloween Trick or Treat Celebration. Yikes, photos still in the camera!! I think even my camera is feeling the stress cause he’s working day in day out like me LOL.

OK, I’m pretty exhausted with words for now. I’ve been awake since 530am to catch up with some office work. I’m pretty done with it, thought it’s best to post this up before it becomes too *OLD* to be posted.

Here are more photos of the buildings & architecture of Phuket. If you look carefully, it reminds you alot of Penang & Malacca. I didn’t arrange them in sequence (too lazy).

love the contrasting door against the pink background.

an old shop selling clothes or was it a tailor

a temple we visited

another temple we visited. There are plenty of Chinese Temples in Phuket. That’s why it feels so like in Penang.

Signboard in the temple.

I took this photo cause of the contrasting banner against the white washed wooden house.

Bridal shop.

Something that we can never miss when we travel in ASIAN countries…Hawkers on bike selling food/drinks.

I can’t recall if this a restaurant or boutique, but I like how the windows. Look, both sides are different LOL.

Another view of Classic Barn.

A shop selling 2nd hand books.

Aged windows

On On Hotel. Would you stay here?

Seat for *raja sehari*?

Window grille. Looks like design from the 70s. My parents’ old house has quite similar design as this.

Anyone wants to buy a Honda Civic here :P . Nah…they only sell bikes over here. I didn’t spot any car.

Love the outstanding lime green shop against the rest of the old shops.

Soi Romanee. I lurve all the arches, the door….simply everything lah..

Soi Romanee…colourful right!! I must go back here again to take some photos in my next trip cause I didn’t have enough of it arghh…

Grille….very old style.

Lock.

AND more locks…

more aged buildings

different designs of buildings

and more…

and more…not forgetting the lady selling feather duster :P

Contrasting effect of the buildings. The pic on my left is one of my favourite cause so happen the monk is there and it sort of matches the colour of that shop.

On the left, a restaurant. That picture is so so so old, probably taken like 60s?

Another temple we frequent during our visit.

more buildings in Phuket

Clock tower in Phuket town.

Need I say anymore…

Ahh…I’m so so so in love with the architecture of each building. I couldn’t get enough of it man. In the end I have to give up, cause Daddy says it’s all the same.

Daddy decided to leave me behind cause I’m too slow LOL.

A few more buildings to go.

A shop used to sell Panasonic products I supposed?

Soi Romanee. Nice ya this street!!

I think the one on left is Soi Romanee. The one on right isn’t.

Whoa….finally it’s the last photo. If you spend a lot of time admiring the architecture in Phuket, you probably can’t finish the town in 1 day. We took like 1/2 a day to comb the whole town.

Guess what, we are going back to Phuket this month. This round with the kids. Lets hope I won’t be taking more photos of the buildings.