Impromptu Sekinchan trip

Mum has talked about wanting to visit the rice field and fishing village of Sekinchan, so during Hari Raya Haji, we made an impromptu trip there. As it wasn’t planned and everyone was running their own errands earlier in the day, we only started our journey at about 4pm, reaching Sekinchan after a 90-minute drive. Our first stop was the rice fields – loved how we could practically drive into the fields and stop by the side for photos.






We then went on the other side of the main road to the fishing village of Bagan. As it was already late in the evening, the jetty was practically deserted. We spotted few villagers mending their fishing nets, while many fishermen were winding down their day resting on the boats/jetty.





Two of the restaurants in Bagan most frequently visited by bloggers, Jiann Chyi Seafood Restaurant and Guan Hwat Seafood Restaurant are not open at night so we simply picked a restaurant, which had a decent crowd, for dinner. We ordered steamed fish, deep fried stingray, deep fried squid, sweet and sour crab, kam heong lala, salt baked mantis prawn and stir fried potato leaves.


Food was pretty decent - with the crab and mantis prawn rated highly by everyone, but the stingray and lala were forgettable, and service was rather slow. Best thing about the meal? The bill came up to less than RM150 for 6 adults and 3 children.

Of being a busy body and speaking in Chinese

Yiu Yiu's primary language is English, and though hubby and my mum speak to her in Mandarin and Cantonese, her grasp of Mandarin and Cantonese is not so strong. Many a times, her conversation in Mandarin and Cantonese is a direct translation from English, e.g:
我要玩今天（wo yao wan jin tian – I want to play today）instead of 我要今天玩。

One day while in the car, I was talking to my mum in Cantonese and Yiu Yiu couldn't quite follow our conversations, and kept asking me, "Mummy, what did 婆婆 say?" or "Mummy, what did you say to 婆婆?" After some time, she got a bit frustrated that I wasn't translating everything to her so she commanded，
Yiu Yiu: Mummy, I told you already - whatever you say to 婆婆 or whatever 婆婆say(s) to you, you must tell me in English, OK.
Mummy: Why do you want to know? Why are you so busybody?
Yiu Yiu (smiling cheekily): Yes ah, I (am) very busybody one mah. You don't know meh?

Yiu Yiu’s kindy concert

Yiu Yiu’s kindy organized their biennial Concert Day at the DUMC Auditorium last night. Biennial??? How come not annually, right? I had the same question too last year when no concert was forthcoming and soon found out that the kindy organized the school concert and school sports day alternately. Anyway, the theme for the concert was “Colours of Malaysia”, and the good thing is each child can have as many guests as possible, as long as the kindy was informed. So mum, sis, Yihao, Aunty Yoke Ling (the babysitter) and her sister came along.

We had to drop her to kindy by 5.45pm and as it was raining since early evening, so it was rather cumbersome trying to keep everyone dry amidst the chaos. Anyhow, after dropping her off at her class, we proceeded to a simple dinner prepared by the kindy before making our way to the Auditorium.

The night started promptly at 7pm with three graduating 6-year old students delivering a welcome speech in BM, English and Mandarin. I was quite impressed with the three – they manage to memorize what seemed to me to be a rather long speech. I bet their parents must have been really proud of them. This was followed by the customary speech by the principal and pastor, after which the graduating students made their way on stage class by class.

The performances promptly followed and the children deserved a pat on their back for putting up a really good show. There were various dances - joget, bhangra, Chinese, etc. The impressive stage and elaborate costumes no doubt upped the oomph factor. No photos to show though coz we were seated quite far behind and the lighting was dim so the photos turned out really crappy :-)

Yiu Yiu’s class performed last, and I thought it was a good finale with a group rendition of Teresa Teng’s famous 甜蜜蜜(tian mi mi) and the BM version of Dayung Sampan.

Can you spot Yiu Yiu in the photo?

The concert ended slightly after 9pm and as it was still raining, many parents were still hanging around so we managed to snap some photos of Yiu Yiu with her friends.

Yiu Yiu’s 5th birthday celebrations

Yiu Yiu turned five last Monday. This year, she’s a very happy little girl coz we had multiple celebrations for her :-) We started with dinner with my family and the babysitter the weekend prior to her birthday. Food was good, and the ambience was pretty nice. Most importantly, the birthday girl was thrilled with her first ever ice-cream cake.

We had wanted to have a celebration at her kindy on the actual day but since that was the first day of kindy exam, her teacher asked that we postponed it to Thursday, after the childen finished all their papers. So on Monday evening, I picked up a small cake on the way home from work, just so that she could blow the birthday candles :-)

On Thursday, hubby and I, together with Yan Yan, made our way to the kindy 30 minutes before her break time to set up the cupcakes and other finger foods. Her class was ushered into the pantry at break time to sing a birthday song for her, before we helped her class teacher to distribute the food to the children.

(L) Hello Kitty cupcakes for girls, and Ben-10 for boys; (TR) Goodies for party packs; (BR) Finger food and Milo

Watching intently as candles were lit

Newbie in the class?

We had a very happy girl that day, and she came home that evening saying, “Next year I want to celebrate my birthday in school again."

Bento #176 – #180

More recent bentos:

Pan fried chicken drumstick cut into small pieces, mini red bean pau and slice of pear.

Smiley meat floss bread balls with jackfruit.

Mini red bean pau, fish ball and cucumber skewer and cubes of pear.

Blanched noodles tossed in soya and oyster sauce, with french bean picket fences, cauliflower cloud and carrot flowers, with cubed pear.

Bear shape french toast, frenchs bean with bacon roll, and cubed pear.

Bento #169 – #175

I don’t pack a bento for Yiu Yiu religiously these days, and sometimes will just let her take a red bean pau from the neighbourhood coffee shop dim sum stall to kindy. Here are some of the recent ones:

Mini red bean pau with heart shape cocktail sausages and heart shape rose apple.


Lotus paste pau with fried wantan and heart shape rose apple.


Mini chocolate mantou, fish cake and cucumber, and tulip shape rose apple.


Bear shape french toast, cucumber with bacon roll, and heart shape rose apple.


Sausage and roti canai baked roll with checkered apple.


Chicken nugget with potato wedges and ketchup in the blue strawberry tub, with orange.


Mini red bean pau, kamaboko cucumber roll and grapes.

Chitter chatter

Yiu Yiu can be rather impatient and whenever she needs something while I'm busy with something else, she'll keep nagging until I do it for her. Sometimes I reprimand her with "Can't you wait? Can't you be a little patient? You can't expect people to do everything that you want immediately, OK?" What am I getting at? Well, this girl always drag her feet when I ask her to brush her teeth, and especially in the morning when we are running late (which is the case most mornings), I get impatient and reprimand her. One day, after waiting for some time in the bathroom for her, I sternly said, "Yiu Yiu, I said come here now". Her reply? "OK, coming…you cannot expect people to immediately do what you want, OK. You have to be patient, OK" ooOO.

I printed a photobook with photos of Yiu Yiu from birth till two years. One day, Yiu Yiu took out the photobook and flipped through the pages. I was at the dining table and didn't know what she was doing until she started asking me questions on photos we took in Hanoi. Then she said:
Yiu Yiu: Mummy, you still haven't done my Facebook for 3 to 4 years old right?
Mummy: Huh, Facebook, what Facebook?
Yiu Yiu: Neh, this Facebook ah (holding the photobook up).
Mummy: Ohhh…it's not Facebook, it's photobook :-)

I’m quite a clumsy person – bumping into things, dropping things that I’m holding, spilling food and drinks, etc. Unfortunately, Yiu Yiu inherited my clumsiness, and Yan Yan is also beginning to demonstrate the same trait, to hubby’s dismay. The other day, I was drinking some yoghurt drink direct from the bottle and accidentally spilled some.
Yiu Yiu: See mummy. You spilled the drink on the floor already. So clumsy ah you.
Mummy: Yeah lor, mummy very clumsy one. You are also clumsy right?
Yiu Yiu: Mummy, I’m still a little girl OK. You are so big already STILL so clumsy.
Mummy: ooOO.

Transportations in Venice

Riding on a gondola is romantic, but expensive at €80 for 40 minutes. Additional 20-minute increments are €40. However, up to six people can share a gondola so if there’s more people in the group, it becomes much more affordable.


Only three bridges cross the 4km long Grand Canal: the Ponte degli Scalzi, just outside the train station; the marble Ponte Rialto and the wooden Ponte Accademia. And traghetto offers an alternative method of crossing the canal, with seven traghetto landings along the Grand Canal. Venetians typically make the crossing standing up. The traghetto also provides visitors with a taste of riding on a gondola without burning a hole in the pocket, as traghetti are old gondolas that have been stripped of their brocaded chairs and other luxury trimmings.


Vaporetto, or water bus is the cheapest mode of transportation along the Grand Canal. Single journey can cost a fair bit, so it's best to purchase the 12- to 72-hour tourist travel card. Most have seats inside and out - the outdoors ones, of course, are the favourites of tourists.


Those with more moolah can opt for the water taxi, which can also be chartered for a cruise along the Grand Canal. These limousines of Venice are spacious with leather-upholstered cabins and open-air seating.


Lastly, we also caught glimpses of boats used for commercial purposes.

Venice, the city on water

Snaking through the city like an inverted S, the Venice’s longest (4km) and widest (30-70m) waterway, the Canal Grande (Grand Canal), is the main artery of aquatic Venice, and dividing Venice into 2 major geographical areas. Venice is best seen from the Grand Canal, and since we didn’t want to fork out 80 euro for a gondola, we took the cheap option of a cruise on the slow No 1 vaporetto that runs the length of the Grand Canal from Piazza San Marco and the Ferrovia (train station). We woke up extra early for this, before the rest of Venice woke up, so there were not many people on the vaporetto and we could secure outdoor seats which afforded us unobstructed view of the 200-odd palazzi, churches, and imposing republican buildings dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries. Many of the largest canal-side buildings are now converted into international banks, government or university buildings, art galleries, and consulates.

After the cruise, we headed to the famous Il Mercato di Rialto (Rialto Market) to see how real Venetians get their food supplies, from restaurateurs to ordinary folk just stocking their kitchens.

In the vicinity is the elegant white marble Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge), the most famous of Venice’s bridges.

After the visual feast of colourful fruits and vegetables, we headed back to Piazza San Marco to visit Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica). A long queue had already formed to enter the Byzantine basilica, which is free by the way. It’s beautiful outside, with its big onion domes and multi-colored mosaics art, and the interior is floor-to-ceiling mosaics.

Few shots of the colourful mosaics

The Campanile (Bell Tower)

The pink-and-white marble Gothic-Renaissance Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace), residence and government center of the doges ("dukes," elected for life) who ruled Venice for more than 1,000 years, is next to Basilica di San Marco. A symbol of prosperity and power, it was destroyed by a succession of fires and was built and rebuilt in 1340 and 1424. Inside is an inner courtyard with a double row of Renaissance arches, wood-paneled courts and elaborate meeting rooms richly decorated by Venetian artists.

The inner courtyard

A brigde that connects Palazzo Ducale and the grim Palazzo delle Prigioni (Prisons) is famously known as Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). The bridge took its current name only in the 19th century, when visiting northern European poets romantically envisioned the prisoners' final breath of resignation upon viewing the outside world one last time before being locked in their cells. Some of the stone cells still have the original graffiti of past prisoners, many of them locked up for petty crimes.

Inside the prison

(L) Ponte dei Sospiri from the outside and (R) view from the inside, the last view that prisoners saw before bring locked up in their cells

We had about two hours left in Venice and made the big mistake of visiting Murano, the biggest of the three major islands in Venice’s northern lagoon (the other two being Burano and Torcello). It was a total waste of time, as it was far less charming compared Burano and Torcello. The only thing worth mentioning was being able to watch a short demonstration on glass blowing (an age-old tradition of this island and a craft that has long since spread to Venice itself) in one of the shops. The time would have been better spent walking around districts on the opposite side of the Grand Canal.