Aida, Kakros & Sofi in Sing...

Omar and I brought all of them to Fort Canning Park, the most historical place in Singapore. Aida and Sofi were pretty excited about climbing this hill.

My friend Aida did not expect we would bring her to climb a hill. But she had endured climbing almost 100 small stairs with her demure dress and 2inch high heels.

After breakfast at Yakun Kaya Toast- Singapore style breakfast, we had a nice walk to Clark Quay. The weather was nice and not many people hanging around. So we decided to take a cruise with boat or 'tongkang' to esplanade. It costs only 5 dollars and we had a real great time. Kakros decided not to take the boat with us as she was afraid of vomitting. Anyway, Aida and Sofi had a good time in the boat and I was so happy to see them enjoying themselves.

Aida told me that the view at Boat quay reminded her of Brisbane and "someone". So I decided to bring her to have seafood dinner there. It was her treat. Thanks. We had a nice seafood dinner near the river and the view was so fascinating.

Aaqil was enjoying his meal, rice and beancurd hotplate.....

Fort Canning Park

Last Sunday, we had a nice eventful day. After a fulfilling breakfast at Long John Silvers, we accidentally found a free museum, the Civil Defence Heritage Museum near the foot of Fort Canning Park, our 2nd destination, the most historical place in Singapore. Initially our plan was to jog and recce this place but we then we ended up like a tourist, taking pics non stop . I hope you enjoy these pictures and if you visit Singapore, please do climb up Fort Canning, it is worth the calories burnt.

At the Civil Defense Heritage Museum, free admission

"strategic British battleground command centre during WW II. Many underground bunkers & cannons are built here..

This could be 'Sang Nila Utama rest place, the founder of Singapore...

Aaqil always prefers outdoors and the green scenery ...

View from the hill...

I notice Aaqil is musically inclined. He was enjoying himself with this toy keyboard. Well, i am going to let him decide which path he charters, guided of course...I remembered when I was small, my late mom had financial difficulties sending me to piano lessons. After which, somehow I realised she also opposed the idea of liking music. Based on researches, kids are using both their left and right cortex when they play piano, exercising their problem solving skills. I am sure every kids are born different though, and telling them to like what you like .... hmmm... I think its inappropriate....

Part 2: Aaqil in Malacca and PD

Some people said it is a hassle to bring small kids travelling. I beg to differ. With Aaqil, our travel is such a great and fun experience. Aaqil definately was enjoying himself discovering new things, new place and new people around him. The best thing is I don't have to pack much things since he is a breastfed baby.

At the seafood dinner night in Malacca, my friends were discussing on being a SAHM. A friend of mine then said " ...you are a stay at home mom because you are committed and omar can afford for u not to work". Again, I beg to differ. The reason for me to be a SAHM is solely my decision as I wanted to explore motherhood with my own hands. If we plan well, money will never be the barrier for any SAHM. I hope, at least for 2 years I can look after Aaqil myself until he weans off my breastmilk. I strongly believe that my sacrifice of 2 years being a SAHM will be paid off. Back to the seafood, the tempation of "ikan bakar" and variety of seafood were hard to resist. Since we dont have a maid like others (we decided not to), we took turns to eat. That is part and parcel of being parents I guess, till he can sit and eat together on the table with us.

Wahir and family and helper

Look at the damage we had done

The next morning Aaqil woke up with a smile on his face, although he knew the surrounding was different. Me too, as I was expecting a close friend and an old classmate to come to my room. We had a decent breakfast and Aaqil had a swim with his dad.

Thumbs up!!..thanks Auntie Aida..

We then proceed to Wahir's place. The curry mee and porridge were delicious. Thanks to the host for a spectacular hospitability and care. I did have a great time with all the anserians. Though it was short but definately I left Malacca with a sweet memory.

Omar wanted to try the trunk road so we left early to PD. On the way there, we found a nice stall selling banana fritters and chendol. We stopped and ordered so much banana fritters and the seller had fun chatting with us.

"..nice serene place to have a snack...."

The first time I read about Corus Paradise, I thought I will not have a problem there. Apparently, I was wrong. The service was bad and slow. Omar almost lost his mind when he could not find the bell boy with our heavy luggage and other staffs seemed to ignore our problem, since we were not allowed to park at the drop off point and the available parking lot was like 100m away. Maybe they are too popular and the house was full that day. Their tone was never friendly with us. Putting those petty things aside, we looked at the fun things we did....'catching the sunset" and walked around the beach.

Despite the service, the view of the horizon cooled us off...

How bad can our travel be?? No matter how bad we screw up, he will there to cheer us up...

Part 1: Anseri Gathering in Malacca

I am actually too tired to write for now as I have just arrived Singapore but I hope all of you enjoy these pictures, courtesy of the host, rimaugirl and my camera. Be back for more...Last but not least thanks to all...Fantastic and memorable meeting after so long....

Batch 7 Anseri gals

"Beratnya hati nak meninggalkan mereka sob sob" ..Last pose before I left to PD

Sexy?? Up for grabs!!!

This is how we describe 'muka kekenyangan'

Aida looks so refreshing with her new hair style, Paroe as usual busy and look how Aween maintains her figure..

I believe in good and evil spirits indeed. Sometimes I ask myself why some Malays close their doors ONLY at dusk (Maghrib) so that the evil spirits will not enter the house? Closing the doors will not prevent the evil from penetrating the house. Then I squeeze my tiny wheeny brain.... trying to find the logic behind it. Maghrib is the shortest prayer time and everybody should be in the house in order to fulfill our responsibility as a Muslim. But why our elderlies created those reasons? Well.. today my topic is not really about the spirits, genie(s) or satans...

The 'good spirits' at the beach, having serious fun with one another...

Last Wednesday my beloved son was hit with vomitting. I consider myself as fortunate because Aaqil hardly gets sick. Normally if he has a slight fever, I will just have to breastfeed him and monitor his temperature. But that fateful day, being alone and helpless, I finally decided to bring him to Children Emergency Dept at KK hospital after a series of vomitting. The queue was long and after some drama, I managed to cut the queue. After being checked by the pediatrician, Aaqil was put on observation for 3 hours and finally his vomitting stopped. It did not end there because after his medication he was hit by diarrhea at home. The next day I was hit by food poisoning after my FIL brought over some mutton beriyani. The smell of indigested beriyani is still haunting me. I guess I will not have beriyani for the next 5 years. My vomitting was so traumatic that I will have to say it was similar to my labor pain.

I believe anybody in my sick position with a sick child will need moral support. Unfortunately, some would choose to criticize rather than giving support. I am sorry to say that in my case they were all known to be women. Instead of helping me or give me some constructive advises, they blamed on our beach trip last weekend as a reason of Aaqil got the vomitting. Our outing was on Sunday and Aaqil was hit on Wednesday. So how could that be? And the best part, some believe there are bad spirits along the beach. Yes I do believe in the existence of spirits. It is everywhere, not just beaches.

Aaqil showing off his underwater skills...

Aaqil will definately get sick sometimes as he grows, I'm thankful to God for giving me the knowledge and strength to go through his entire sick period, but why 'all these women' think baby cannot get sick huh?? My very close relative even asked me to stop breastfeeding when she saw me bringing Aaqil to the toilet every half an hour. What a pity to be ignorant? Didn't they know that breastmilk will shorten the diarrhea? Diarrhea can last up to 7 days but in my case this time, Aaqil's diarrhea stopped after 2 days with my countinuous breastfeeding, thank GOD!

Notice his happy face in the sea? I really hope, actually I knew I am doing the right things. I don't want him to grow up being afraid of the things made up by our old folks. By making him enjoying outdoors, God willing, he will grow up to be independent and appreciates the beautiful GOD-created nature. GOD-created 'nature' which includes forests, mountains, rivers, beaches with sea water, the peaceful and dark nights etc... but all these places/times are often related by people as 'dirty', full with roaming spirits... I wonder why... These roaming spirits are afraid of residential estates that you feel so safe at home??

To all my friends, GOD has created wonderful things on earth and whatever beyond our knowledge, and you want me to fear his creations? Yes, at times I do fear the unseen, ghost etc etc, but my religion teaches me to fear nothing but GOD, and that is what I have to fight for. You believe in HIM, seek protection from HIM, and HE will protect you. But if you believe that the spirits and ghost and etc etc is more powerful than our CREATOR?... you must be joking......!!