Double whammy

Coming from a short but great family bonding over the Raya holiday last week, a double downer greeted us as we were heading home to Penang.  I'll try to keep it short and simple, I don't want to relive the experiences again.

First off, Sarah unfortunately caught an airplane ear from our Manila-Singapore flight.  She had colds before the flight, which complicates ear pressure imbalance, resulting to ear pain.  We skipped our Singapore-Penang flight as advised by the airport doctor and caught a bus instead.  It was a 10 hours bus ride!  From Manila to Penang, it took us almost 29 hours to get back home.  Exhausted. Sleepy. Tired.

Sarah's right ear pain subsided after 3 days.  She's well and good now.

Second, our helper, Ann, did not come back.  We let her take a short vacation during the Raya week as a form of reward, she recently finished her 2 year contract and agreed to stay an additional 2 years.  A few hours before her Cotabato-Manila flight, she sent an sms saying she won't come back.  Calls went unanswered and Facebook message was read but did not get a reply.

We lost a significant amount of money with the visa renewal fees, flight tickets and her full July pay that she requested in advance.  We're about to lose some more with the processing fees of getting a new kasambahay (helper).  But more than that, we were heartbroken with what she did to our family.  We trusted her completely and treated her very well.  Her actions were totally unexpected and truly hurtful.

A double blow to end a fun-filled family vacation.
That's life.
Learn the lesson.
Move on.

Fairview International School Penang's Honours Day

The Fairview International School held their Honours Day last June 17 at Dewan Sri Penang.

Sarah ended her Creche 2nd semester with a Global Citizen Award, apparently the top award given to the student who exemplifies excellence in academics and extra-curricular activities.  A good start on her student life.

The Creche and Reception class performed a dance number to the tune of Beyonce's Single Ladies.  Sarah was in front during the dance.  She was pretty good, if I may say so myself.

A blurry shot.

Last performance of the night, all students singing Defying Gravity.

Sarah was already crying and very cranky at this point, about 10:30pm.  No nap the whole day, and she woke up at 6:30am!  

A very quick family shot outside the hall before we left.



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June 19 (Friday) was the last day of school.  There was a one-on-one between the parents and the teacher to discuss about the student's class performance.  The Crech and Reception kids were willing victims to my camera and made funny faces before the bell rang for the last time this school year.

School year 2015 will start August 10.  Sarah moves to Reception.

Creche and Reception class combined

Wacky shot!

Happy it's the last day of school.

With her favorite teacher, Ms. Shopana.

Monkey Beach hike with my little monkey

Sometime early June, Sarah and I trekked to Monkey Beach at the  Penang National Park.  

We registered at the park entrance, no fees for trekking/hiking!  I commissioned a boat ride for our ride back, I was pretty sure we would not be able to handle to hike back.  Sarah did pretty well on the 1.5 hour trek!  She got tired and asked to be carried only for about 10 minutes, I was expecting it to be longer haha

The trek begins... 

...to reach Monkey Beach.

At Monkey beach, we found a table at a small eatery along the beach.  Mee goreng (Malay fried noodles) with fried egg was our lunch plus several cold drinks.  Sarah changed to swimwear and was happily off to the beach on her own.  Sarah did horse back riding, which was a bit pricey - RM20 for just one round.

After almost 3 hours, the boat fetched us and our mother-daughter adventure at Monkey Beach ended.  Days like this make me love Penang more.  I want more days like this!

Still full of energy and enthusiasm at the early leg of the trek.

Close encounters with a skink and a macaque monkey.

Stopping for a break

Onwards!

We reached the first beach, a halfway point.

Somebody's tired.

Traffic jam at the end of the trail.  Turned out, people were busy taking selfies/groupies!

Hello Monkey Beach!

Swings and horse back rides at the beach

Sarah and Brownie.

It was a really good day at the beach.

Happy girl!

She enjoyed a bigger swing before the boat came and picked us up.

Boat dock. Day trip done. Great day.

Relatives visit at Seramban

Last month, we drove for 5 hours from Penang to Seremban to visit Ravi's paternal uncle.  Uncle Narayna's health is not of the best state, he was hospitalized a few weeks ago.  We arrived late afternoon and they served tea.  We didn't stay at their place, Ravi didn't want to inconvenience them so left his mother to stay overnight and we went to Pork Dickson.  We came back to their house for lunch the next day.

Since we were already near KL, we also dropped by Ravi's cousin, Sugu, and his family.  It was a quick catch up, before we embarked on the long journey back to Penang.

From left to right: Vishal, Auntie (her name escapes me now!), Vathani, Uncle Narayna, Ravi and his mom, Thanam.

Gentlemen talk (stolen shot)

Visited Sugu and his family at Petaling Jaya near KL

KL day trip - Bird Park

After Batu Caves, we headed to KL Bird Park.  It was a colorful afternoon with exotic birds.

Up close and personal

Giving a treat before the bird show started.

The bird show was nothing to rave about.  Singapore's Bird Park shows are much better.

Simple tricks, too simple actually.

Colorful parrots

Kiddie rides after the bird show. 

There was a children's playground near the amphitheater.

A switch to running

11 years ago, I started playing badminton with my ex-Intel colleagues.  I trained with a former national player and became good enough to win several local tournaments, representing Intel.  I loved badminton, it was intense and fun!  But that came to an end when I moved to Penang.  There was a group that played regularly which I joined for a while; then it was disbanded when they moved to Singapore.  Tried joining other groups to no avail.  It was with a heavy heart that I retired my badminton rackets, shoes, and shuttlecock.

Recently, I've found that running can be my new sport.  Running doesn't require much, just a few things - a good pair of running shoes, dri fit sportswear, a running app and a jogging track or treadmill.

With a half marathon finish under my belt, I'm pumped up to do more runs!  A week of recovery after my half marathon, I started signing up for more running events.  This is in line with my personal goal of completing a full marathon (42 km distance) by next year, before I turn 40 years old in 2017.

Here's my running events for 2015:
1.  5 km, Great Eastern Color My Heart Run, April 19 @ Esplanade, Penang
2.  21 km, Penang Bridge Half Marathon, June 14 @ Penang 2nd bridge
3.  21 km, Asean Unity Run, August 9 @ Kuala Lumpur
4.  8 km, DC Superhero Run, August 30 @ Esplanade, Penang
5.  8 km, Run 4 Peace, September 20 @ USM Penang
6.  21 km, Great Eastern Women Run, November 1 @ Singapore
7.  21 km, Asics Penang Bridge Marathon, November 22 @ Penang 1st bridge

I'm still on the lookout for other running events in between the above dates and for 2016.
Run, Marz, run!

KL day trip - Batu Caves

After breakfast at Holiday Inn Glenmarie, Sarah and I drove to Batu Caves.  This was Sarah's first visit here, a third for me.  

Lord Murugan stands guard at the Batu Caves

From Wikipedia

Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in the Gombak district, 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu (Batu River), which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.  The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, and is dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.

Guarding the Batu Caves is an imposing 42.7 m (140 ft) structure of Lord Murugan.  To reach the Temple Cave behind him, one needs to climb 272 steps.  I didn't bring the big camera, I thought Sarah will ask me to carry her halfway up.  But she impressed me when she did it all by herself!  We passed by several macaque monkeys on the way which scared Sarah a little.  Be careful with your things, these monkeys snatches food from passers by.

Once we reached the top, we explored the  cave and the temple.  Sarah was busy looking for more monkeys and chasing the few chickens around.   Half an hour later, we were on our way down.  She did ask me to carry her going down, about a quarter left to go.

She was more interested to chase and feed the pigeons.  Took a while before we started climbing the stairs. 

Lord Murugan's golden statue.

Coloful temple pillars.

Up we go.

The journey at the 272 steps.

These mother and child macaque monkeys didn't budge at all, they're so used to people. 

We reached the top!  There were some construction going on one side.

Up close and personal with the limestone wall.

There's another temple up the stairs.

This temple is called Valli Devanai.

There's an open ceiling in this part of the cave.

Limestone formations highlighted by warm hued spot lights.

Sarah wanted to pray in the temple. 

She asked me to take her photo with this stone baby elephant.

On our way down.  It was quite hazy that day, we didn't see the Petronas Towers in the distance.

Water break as we went down.