Rakaman perbualan antara Alis dan mummy dalam kereta on the way amik Erin. Tak ingat what triggers the conversation though.

Mummy : Alis, apple dgn limau mana Alis suke ?

Alis : Epal

Mummy : Kenapa ?

Alis : Sbb warna merah !

( Jawapan yang aku expect adelah sbb limau masam. She developed hates for masam's stuff since Kawasaki)

Mummy : Panas dgn sejuk ? Mana Alis suke ?

Alis : Sejuk !

Mummy : Kenapa ?

Alis : Sebab kalau panas , nnti kakak silau.

hmmmmm again, menyimpang.. Expected answer was nanti berpeluh.

Mummy : Okayy.. Kalau helicopter dgn aeroplane mana Alis suke ?

saje tanye sbb nmpk kapal terbang Air Asia terbang di awan.. hahahah

Alis : Aeroplane la .. sebab kakak ley gi jumpa papa...

Olololo jumpa papa ke Hafiz ??? kah kah kah

Mummy : kalau hujan dgn rainbow ?

Alis : rainbowwwwwwww ! sebab payung kakak lupe nak bawak..

Okaylah..I was expecting sbb nanti basah.. kire ley bg markah kesian lah jawapan x bawak payung


Tiba tiba de pulak naik syok, de lak decided to throw the questions..

Alis : Kakak pulak... Kalau ade daun dgn nasik, mummy pilih mana ?

Mummy : Ape lak kaitan daun dgn nasik, hahaha...msti la nasik !!

Alis : Kalau ayam goreng ( sah pengaruh Upin Ipin ) dgn Nasik Lemak?

Motif sebenar ni Alis? asik soalan kaitan makanan ni ?

Mummy : hmmmm nak dua dua boley ?

Alis : Haaa boleyy...

Mummy : Kalau camtuh, mummy nak nasik lemak dengan ayam goreng... hahahhaa

Alis : Tamakkkk la mummy ni.. heheh

Mummy : Okayy.. turn mummy pulak. Kalau Dora dengan SpongeBob ?

Alis : hahaha hahaha Spongebob lah..

Mummy : Sebab ?

Alis : Sebab adik dedekut beg dora de dgn kakak.. * dedekut = kedekut..




Ohhhh tak mencabar yer soalan...Siap kamu !!!.. Upgrade second level lak.. Bg yang mencabar sikit..mesti susah nk pilih ...

Mummy : Atuk dgn nenek ? Mana kakak pilih..

Alis : Atuk !! ...... dgn nenekkk skali ( confirm jawapan bodek minah ni hahaha )

Mummy : Ibu dgn Papa Ahmad Syah ?

Alis : Papa Muddyyyy...

Mummy : Ehh mana de papa muddy mummy bg tadi..

Alis : Takper laaa...kakak suke Papa Muddy ...

Elleeehhhh anak papa lah kan, ko tgk la papa blk nanti.. Mummy gak yg papa peluk dulu hahahahaha..oopppssss !


Mummy : Kalau Acu dgn Cik Su ?

Alis : Acuuuu .... ehh dgn Cik su sekali lah...

Mummy : Mana aciiiii... Kena pilih satu jekkk....

Alis buat muka tak puas hatiii....

Alis : Okay..kakak pulak lah tanyeer...

Okay ..bring it on !!!... X takut punn...

Alis : Kalau kakak dgn adik? Mana satu mummy pilih...

Mummy : Errrrrrrrrrrrr ( ahhh sudahh !!) .... dua dua lah..adik ngn kakak...dua dua kan anak mummy.. heehe

Alis : MANA ACIIIIIIIIIIIIII... MUMMY KATA KENE PILIH SATU JEKKKKK !!!!!!!

Mummy : hhhahahhahaha hahahahhahhaa...okaylah kite main game lain...




Moral of the story :

1) Expect the un-expected

2) Just because u're 30 going on 31, u're not necessarily smarter than 4 yrs old.. Think twice next time...hahahahha

I taught my kids to be independent.. Takde la hardcore smpi kene mop lantai semua, just simple basic stuff which suitable for their age. As for now :

Everytime nak mandi, Erin already knew how to take off her shirt/skirt/pants and masukkan dalam bakul baju kotor. Provided I need to letak the bakul at the same place, else she would be like clueless hahahah... She also now will request to bukak pampers de sendiri, folded it and masukkan dlm bakul sampah. Quite an achievement for 2 !

Alis pulak dah pandai istinjak sendiri. Quite trustable. I meant only for business number one of course. BIG business will still be handle by me, x confident sangat de cuci bersih.. I still monitor her though while she's cleaning herself and kept reminding her if she forgot to use left hand, or use soap. She also knew that after washing, she need to wipe it with clean towel till dry bfore putting bck her pants/skirt.. U know all those simple simple hygiene stuff.

Apart from mentioned above, hmmmm Alis also now knew that after every meal, she would have to take her own plate and throw the unfinished meal inside tong sampah, then letak the plate nicely inside sink. Erin's too. Nonetheless, Erin still need my assistant as she still small hence she always tend to buang balance of food outside tong sampah instead of inside, by mistake...coordination problem hahaha.. Erin also sort of understood that every time I cleared my dust bin, means I need to put new plastic bag and she would voluntarily do it for me though most of the time I had to do it all over again. The thought that counts !!! Cute sangat when every time balik rumah ( i will throw out garbage every time we go out), once she saw my tpt sangkut sampah was plastic-less, she will automatically pergi kat plastic bag drawer, pulled one out and try to hang it all by herself.

Yesterday, she wanted to drink syrup after her dinner but she insisted to do it her self.. So i put one cup, bottle of syrup and cold water in front of her and continue what i was doing before the interruption, peeling red apple for deserts. Suddenly i heard her saying... "Mummy, x nak yagi yah ( Mummy, tak nak lagi lah)"... "Tak chedappp( Tak sedap)".. I turned around and found out that she pour only the syrup liquid 1/2 her cup and drink it without diluting it with plain water.. Imagine drinking raw syrup? Euuuuwwwwwwww .... hahahha nak sgt buat sdiri kan.. After that she quite hesitant to drink syrup even if I am the one yang bancuh, I have to show to her that it's taste alright by drinking it 1st, then baru de nak.. ahhahah..


- Alis having her breakfast, nasi goreng cina b4 skul.. Nampak mangkuk kecik sebelah pinggan de? Purposely utk buang segala sampah sarap yang de xnak. Ended up, mangkuk sampah sarap lg penuh, all mix vege, daun sup, bawang goreng masuk "mangkuk sampah".. Pinggan de ade nasik jek...And she used to love bawang goreng and peas.. How laarrrrr ?

Last night, we were watching TV after dinner and Alis requested to watch video clips segment showing on @ 15.. Ala yg menjadik kegilaan budak2 skang ni.. Akim, Hafiz, Mila.. AF clans ! Her favorites will always Hafiz and Akim.... Huhhhhhhh !..

Then the most awaited clip started, Hafiz's video clip of course, ala yang de tgh koma, then his soul was communicating with his family members and his girlfriend...Aper ntah tajuk de tak ingt mokcik... When it comes to the part when he's kneeling in front her girlfriend while the girlfriend crying out of misery, out of nowhere Alis cakap nih ....
















" KAKAK INGT KAN HAFIZ NI SUKER KAKAK, RUPA NYER DE SUKE ORANG RAMBUT PANJANG TU "

which immediately triggered something to my mind...

Ku sangka kan depressed rindukan papa, rupa rupanye patah hati......

kah kah kah...


SELINGAN :



Am i the only one yang noticed something was wrong somewhere with this signboard in my apartment's compound? It's been 2 month since they put up the signage, yet still no change and mind you, 70 % of my block-mate are expat...Did everyone just turned ignorance or I'm just plain makcik kepoh ?

When I received confirmation that En Muddy was re-assigned to Q8, as my normal responses, I would start dig out as many info I can get via blogs, google and such but tak banyak hasil, in shorts x banyak info especially visual kind-off info. I think maybe, some of them worried of what outsider might think if they published their house picture. Berlagak lah de ni siap publish gamba rumah would be some of the cliche responses or maybe some of them kinda embarassed with lodging provided there if compared to what they owned in Malaysia or maybe they just dun feel like publishing it in blog or thousands other reasons.

This environment certainly doesn't benefit people like me of course. I am cluesless of how my life would be there so when En Muddy sent me some pictures of his-soon-to be-ours tempat berteduh, I verbally asked for permission to publish it in my blog and he gave his consent cause it is under good cause. Sharing is caring.

However upon arrival, he was placed in another temporary bachelor house sharing with his other colleague that came with him together to Q8. In Q8, for some who doesn't know, their Housing and Development Board had set out rules that bachelors are not allowed to stay in the same area with family man. They need to be separated due to privacy issue i guess. Hence, they had allocated few blocks for bachelors while families blocks are situated on another different area. En Muddy stayed in bachelor house for say about a month or so when finally given a key to family unit. Basically we took over old unit which belong to his colleague which opted to go back Malaysia for good. It was fully furnished apartment , enough for basic living. I ain't no Datuk CT indeed hahaha.. I can't even afford a bungalow in malaysia hence 3 bedded room apartment was more than enough for me. Syukur je la they provided lodging, else another major headache sebab U see, house rental was not cheap in Gulf countries. The rental can reached up to RM 10000 per month. Rolling eyes !!!!

After all that's been said, here a sneak peak to our humble sanctuary for the next 3 years if Allah permitted. Insya allah. Pardon the messy-ness hahhaa.. Almaklumla, tuan rumah bujang but not available.


-Living hall-


-dining section, overrated lak kalau nk sebut dining hall...hahah sbb kecik benar. Nevertheless, syukurrrrrr alhamdullilah -


- bedroom , carpet sangat taste orang sana okayyyy..Takper, small matters, IKEA ade kat Q8 :) -


- another view of living room. Tent penuh dgn balls tu hakmilik tuan rumah lama yang de tinggalkan jek. In fact, they did left few stuff yang En Muddy can put to good use like rempah2 babas, asam jawa and toys. Trima kaseh to En Ridzuan and family. Hanya Allah mampu membalas -


-bathroom...pink karerrrr hohh...aiyohh... ehh re-phrased..alhamdullilahhhh... kah kah kah -


-laundry section, washer and dryer -


-another bathroom-


- my "office"'s rack -


- resipi choc cake Kliza dh ade, oven dh ade, takut after 3 years, oven jadik perhiasan jek,resipi jadik tukun tiruan -


- paham sdiri la object ape ini..hahaha.. xkan microwave lak kan...-


-Ni baru betul microwave, aduyaii main letak jek barang cenggitu, bujang la katakan hahah-

Please bare in mind, bottomline of this post was solely for sharing purposes. No other hidden intention.

Till later post. Tatatataa....

Recently, as I've once mentioned, Alis suke guna big words in her daily conversation. Some of it she picked it up dari adults around her..Some from TV. Nonetheless, ahamdullilah so far, takder lagi perkataan yang kurang enak di dengar from her. I found it hillarious hearing some of wording she chose coz it's rare..I meant, it's not word i would chose to use in daily conversation.

One day, de tengah tengok Ultraman Cosmos on Ceria. Mcm biasa la, part raksasa lawan ultraman then lampu ultraman beep beep merah was most awaited part kan. Masa the fight scene start.. tiba2 aku dgr de buat ulasan. U know, macam WWF wrestling, or bola, or badminton. In this case, de buat ulasan pasal ultraman lawan raksasa of course. Ayat de sangat kelakar dow...

- Otromennnn, bagi amaran dulu !

- Haahahah hahahah amik ko raksasa tidak berguna

- Haaa tau pun takut, Mummy.. raksasa bulu ni dh nak balik dah.. De takut ultraman

- Seranggg dier... serang dierr...

hahahha nk tetas rahang aku ketawa just by listening to her. Lom tgk facial expression lagi.. Aduyaiiii...

On more serious note, I think Alis was depressed. I know she was depressed. Depressed might be a big words but i just couold't find any other words to describe it. Lately, she was behaving weirdly and frequently throw tantrums. Soo not like her. Super sensitive I must say. Tak boley tersentuh sikit memang akan menangis. Clinging tu jngan ckp lah.. At times i think she was super-glued to my leg. I noticed though, things get more obvious after Bandung. My suspect was, Bandung reminded her of her father so much. All the time we was there, she'll kept mentioned she'd been to this place with papa.. she went already this place bought this and that with papa... etcetera etcetera etcetera...

As widely known, Alis loved her school dearly. Before this, she would voluntarily wake up, dragged her feet to bathroom and get dressed for school but recently, it's more or less like a war everyday. She would put up reasons like she misses me and insisted to stay home or she need to watch Shaun The Sheep today or she dun like her uniform today of all day or even worst, all excuses at once. U know, for the sake of escaping from having to go to school. I enrolled her in school in the 1st place coz I think she need something to distract her during her papa's absent. Daddy's girl always be daddy's girl huhh...

Last Thursday, as usual, she was making scene. So her teacher, Teacher Shima approached us and try to persuade Alis. When Alis started to calmed down, me and her teacher had a small talk. Well, I already explained to her beforehand bout "our situation" coz she told me Alis kept mentioned to her " Papa work jauh".

Teacher : Puan, I think she's depressed. I think she misses orang jauh. She used to be bubbly and very cheerful but now, when I asked her to do colouring or writing, I caught her termenung at times. When I asked her, she replied, she misses mummy. She also very sensitive lately.


Me started sebak. Eyes blurred with tears.

Me : Hmm yeah, I realised her changes also..Even at home, she was not really herself. Once i caught her hugging her father collectibles toys and when I asked her, she said Kakak nk peluk toys papa ni ek mummy.. Sebab kakak rindu sangattt kat Papa..


-patung askar kepunyaan papa yg menjadik pengganti diri papa-

At this time, air mata dh meleleh leleh.. It just breaks my heart seeing or in this case, hearing my baby like that. Rasa macam di robek robek hati ni. Poor my Alis. Our temporary separation effected her most i guess coz she was like very close to En Muddy. It's started taking it's toll on her. I pray hard that it doesn't do much damages to her emotion. Hence, I decided to follow my father back to Lumut last weekends. Maybe she needs fresh air..different environment. After all, our house at Lumut was landed house, which means more compound for Alis to play her roller skate, to run free..To release stress. Hope it'll help to cheer her a bit if not much...

Owwwwh before that, on Thurday evening, when I went to Ibu's to pick them up, Ibu told me Erin wanted to see Papa ( Ibu's hubby) so she will stay over till Papa come back from work. They will send her bck later of the day or I can pick her up myself if i want too or she'll just sleepover there that nite. I asked Alis if she wanted to stay too and she insisted to follow me back. In a car, i asked her if she wanted to watch movie with me and of course, I got a date !.

So we went bck and changed our attire and off we go to IOI mall. I was thinking of Alice in Wonderland but it ain't showing there anymore so we opted for next best thing - How to Train Your Dragon. Best rupa nyer.. Alis kept popping me thousand questions through out the show coz she dun understand some of the parts. Lucky, only about 9-10 moviegoers in our theater so i think my explanations doesn't caused discomfort to any of them.


- ready get set go ! -


-showing her "How to Train Your Dragon" tickets-


-enjoying her popcorn, suruh tgk camera pun bolayannnn -

Is it only us or it applied to everyone? that selera makan kurang lately. Memang no appetite specially for nasik. It may be bcoz of extreme hot weather or maybe bcoz kami rindukan En Muddy. Nk masak pun xde mood sangat neh. Hahahhaha bab penyakit M ni nk salahkan weather gak ke? Kalau dh memang rajin, ribut taufan pun x de alasan stop masak kan...Ni dh memang nama kurang rajin, bg alasan cuaca panas lak.. hahaha... So anyway anyhow, below are our humble dinners sepanjang minggu. Mmg x de mood nk makan nasi berlauk lately, so alternatively I cook mee or pasta ....


- sup bayam with chicken meat balls for kids-


-nask goreng cili padi huduh huduh(For info, in Tganu speak, huduh2 means simple, not ugly as normal direct translation) . I prefers nasik goreng yg simple x serabut. My version of nasik goreng for me normally ade ikan bilis, segunung cili padi, lotss of garlic and bawang and sayur kobis ke..kacang panjang ke...and telur.. Tak feel la mkn nasik goreng serabut mcm mcm menda ader dlm tu. Nonetheless, nasik goreng for kids mmg letak la mix vege, wajib.. udang or isik ayam, sausages..they still small and need more zat unlike mummy yg dh terlebey zat ni.. mkn ikan bilis cukup hahaha -


-spiral spaghetti with mackerel -


- meehun goreng singapore, supposedly ade sawi, kucai..daging, ayam, sotong..bawang goreng..daun sup daun bawang..but in my case, sbb anak anak ku ini, sume de akan taichi kluar..sume takmo..so simple version sudah to suits their taste... Things they dun know is, aku dh rebuskan cauliflowers.. and blendkan jadik puree and added dlm gravy de.. they can't taste the different due to strong halia taste but the kuah de rasa manis skit.. Jgn la guna broccoli lak , kang meehun goreng singapore patut warna puteh, meehun korang warna ijau... haha -


-cili jeruk for mummy..yang dh di "jeruk" kan dr mlm td... to accompany my meehun spore.. x de cili ni x complete..

Ala senang jek, cili ijau, cuka, garam & gula.. pandai2 la bajet rasa der.. Some people guna cili mentah, but I have things with raw stuff so this is based on my grandma's petua, dh potong cili ijau tu, rebuskan seketika..kaler ijau de akan turned out very nice..Lebey terserlah.. then br jerukkan with cuka,garam,gula.. Besides utk mengelakkan sakit perut, dgn cara rebuskan cili tu also can reduce down ur "menjeruk" time..normally for non-rebus cili, it will need at least overnite for it to taste nicely and terjeruk dgn sebati with vinegar but if u rebus it 1st, within 2-3 hrs jek dh ley mkn.. percayalahh...


- "Alis the combhand".. play tokey salon dgn Erin, as usual customer ade lah mummy, mcm biasa.. ade style nerd belah tengah...ade style rock...ade style serabut.. No pic atas permintaan customer dan untk menjaga hak exclusive rekacipta ..hahah layannnn -



- Si mata lebah, she's so loyal to her sunglass smpi tido on the way blk KL pun x tanggal wehh... tu yg lene berejam2, sbb cuaca "mendung" jek sepanjang jalan..hahaha -


- Kids, we're almost there..Sabar skit je lagi okay ! We're almost there.. -

|Tata Bandung|

We finally came to end of our trip only with only regret that we can't stay any longer and with promise that we will definitely coming back. In fact, my mum already started planning for her next visit.

Our flight scheduled at 1235 hrs. We had final breakfast and final check on all our stuffs. Meeting Kak Ema at lobby and was introduced to her beautiful pair. My oh my, she doesn't even look old enough to be a mum, left alone a mum of grown up teenagers and 1 of hers was in college already. Waking up call to me indeed. I secretly wish that someday I'll have people look at me and Alis and thought that we're sisters.... hahhaha big dreams huh.. Takpe... mimpi dan angan adelah salah satu jenis motivasi diri... :)...

Back to our departure, after check-out , I asked Kak Ema to drop by any money changer as i ran out of rupiahs..Just in case i stumble into something nice on the way or at airport. In Bandung, if u want to change currency, U need to use local people as they required IC number and local address. Correct me if I'm wrong. This is from my finding that day. I may be wrong though.

Reached airport around 1000 hrs and settle all check-in matters, pay our "fiskal" and get our bags tagged and weighted. Errrr to be exact, we just show our face, the rest was handled by Pak Dedek. He's the one do all the errands. Alhamdullilah, none of us exceed 20 kg, so no excess baggage. Even if we did, we still have 40 kg extra to spare as Alis and Erin doesn't hv any bag with them.. hahha..

We ( my mum sebenarnye ) bought quite a boxes of Lapis Legit and brownies kukus which we will be hand carry with us but due to new rules (maybe nt so new though to others, new to us apparently) which only allowed max of 7 kg per hand carry, so we have to divide the cakes into 3 begs. We have to buy 1 extra beg at airport's souvenir shop though, costed us 30 000 rupiah.. It is clearly there's no scale machine anywhere for us to use, so we hv to rely on our common sense and survival skills. Chewahhhhh konon survival ehhh..

Lucky we can use Erin's weight as setting stone.. I knew she was weighted 11 kg during her last checkup. So any beg that gave me same or more pressure when i lifted it, could only be means it weigh more than 7 kg. It supposed to feel lighter that Erin. Maka berlaku la proses angkat Erin and angkat beg, angkat erin lg and angkat beg...hahhaha survival skill sangat la kan..

Ehhh something triggered me as I'm typing this post, why we dun just make use of the berat provided on each box of cake ek...sure ade tulis 500gm ke.. 750 gm ker? Campur je la !! Kannnnn ?? Duuuuuuuhhhh !! hahahahah

After the distribution process was done and everyone shared same conclusion that all bags was within allowable kilos, we went out to meet Kak Ema to say good bye. She can't go inside departure hall. Only those with passports and boarding pass were allowed to enter. She can't go in, but we can go out.

We exchanged hugs and kisses and kata kata penutup by both parties. It is sad moments. It feels like leaving ur family behind. U can't denied the kemesraan dan silaturrahim yang terjalin. It's different feeling from other tour agencies I've chance to work with previously. It's family feeling, something u just can't faking it. Owhhh and we took pictures.


- Left to right = Me & my handbags,Kak EMa's doter, Kak Ema, Kak Ema's son, mama and Ketua kampung-


- anoher groupie pic, yg bertukar cameraman jek-


- excess baggages yg kene reject masuk kargo, kene hand carry. Yg peliknye, confirm dua dua lebey 7 kg, lepas jek custom check, ini tidak adil.. haaha -


-next destination, Denpasar ? Not ? -


- Ingtkan hand carry beg ade 3, boley la escaped. Bad deeds totally deserved another. Hand carry aku kene bawak lg berganda berat de hahahah. Insafffff ! -

We had in flight lunch. The so-overrated Nasi Lemak Pak Nasser for 4 adults and Nasik Ayam
for kids. Please bare in mind that I'm trying my best to be fair and positive here eh..




The Nasik Lemaks ...quantity wise hmm nk cakap boley la alas perut pun x kene gaya, but I do realised that capasity perut manusia berbeze beza, jadik "boley la alas perut" hanya sesuai to those with Kelisa capasity.. hahhaha.. Quality wise, if Air Asia in general or Pak Nasser in specific by any chance hv slight intention to introduce their Nasi Lemak to the world, banyakkkkkkkkkkk lg kene improve on the taste, packaging and quality. Don't make peoples paying RM9 for 4 sudu nasik lemak,suku sudu sambal and the nasik turned out jelantah some more. Get it? Maybe the meal quality was vary compare to one flight to another but what the heck? If u can't impress local people with ur nasik lemak...and mind you nasik lemak is our staple food, I just dun see how it can attract foreigner.

On another note, Nasik Ayam pulak, mmg betul betul nasik dan ayam.. Betul la nama menu tu sebab ade nasik and ade ayam..SAHAJA ! Tak tau la kot the stewardess tu lupe bg sup ke..the sambal ke? Actually to be honest, I can totally relate why they dun serve soup in flight. Environmentally wise, x sesuai mkn meal with gravy kan... Sambal also i can tolak ansur la.. After all it's for kids and they dun eat sambal. Nevertheless, after putting all fact into places, stilll...tak kan la nasik (tetap jelantah) dgn ayam togel togel jek dik non !!! Sadis benor la rupa de. Where's the salad at least? Or timun? U can always be creative mahhh, U can't serve soup and sambal, compensate la with something else... Mix vege is a good start. Like the one they're having in Ayamas. I dun remember their mix vege being so gravy. Be innovative. It makes me wonder as if I'm nt mistaken, I saw somewhere in the menu that they also have noodle soup. How they serve the soup then ek? Ke macam kes nasik ayam yang tinggal solely nasik dan ayam, noodle soup tinggal noodle jek? hahahah...okay, bad joke ! I'm not trying to play diva consumer here. Just pouring my heart out.

We reached LCCT around 3 plus and trus headed to LCCT budget airport limo counter. We have to settle with a family van as compact car just can't fit us all. Pregio van with interior of "pasar malam" econovan. No offend to peniaga pasar malam okay, I love u guys ! I did... I'm just giving out something to compare. I'm not usually this bitch but since we're paying big fat amount of RM 167 from LCCT to Puchong, I think we deserved more decent-comfortable transport. Whatever ir is, dah sampai pun.

So my 2 cents yg tak seberapa :


Plan ur trip welll. Google as many info as u can. It'll come handy later on I tell you.

Bring foldable groceries bag. Ala kan skrang ni cam trend. Save the planet campaign ! Who knows u might need it later on so U dun hv to spend extra money just to buy extra bag. I'm so glad my mum brought 2 of those. It end up u dun use it after all, it still can be folded and just slip in ur luggage pocket or ur handbag or even ur pocket. It's space savvy indeed.

Change ur money earlier and plan ur budget accordingly based on how many day(s) u're staying ( errrr and try to be stick to ur budget, hardest part of all ). Do not put everything in ur purse or u might end up broken fella on 1st day.. hahha..

Tingkatkan daya kesabaran if travelling with kids. There's nothing u can do about it as it was their nature. They tired, they get cranky. They sleepy, they throw tantrums. They feel uncomfortable, they get clingy. Use ur ultimate parenting skills to tackle ur kids. Try to make them as comfortable as they can be with what u have. Be diplomatic with other group mate, else everyone will end up being bad mood and it will certainly ruined ur holiday.

Always and always communicating with your tour guides. Ringan-ringan kan mulut. There's reason they're the tour guide and u're the tourist. Ask them as many as u can without irritating them lah. SHow interest. Trust me. U'll get more if u being nice and humble and ur tour guides likes u.

Do not make offended comments to local people or offended reaction even if ur comments is nothing but true. Bare in mind, they're mencarik rezeki yang halal di bumi Allah and u're strangers in their place. If u do not have interest with what they're selling, just smile and say no politely.

The best way to get to know about some place is through their local food and local people. Challenge urself with local food. If u're not dare devil kinda person like my mum, then stick to familiar menu. For example, my all time fav drink are none but tea but here, their tea rather different. Taste wise. There dun serve lipton or boh or english breakfast tea malaysian version here. Their tea have a bit of jamu taste in it.. U know like herbal tea. Even their Earl Grey tasted differently from what we normally had in Malaysia. So stick to what u familiar with. In our case , we chose coca cola or any soft drinks or fruit juices. Coca cola shouldn't taste that much different huh elsewhere and i think orange should taste like orange. Logically it shouldn't go that different. Unless it written there in the menu, coca cola with Jamu Rapat, then you should think twice b4 ordering it kah kah kah. If u're not up for soda drinks, then opt for the safest drink on earth. SKY JUICE :)

I think that's it. I covered all 3 days of our humble bandung trip. I'm sure u guys out there have more fascinating traveling experiences compared to mine. Despite everything that had happened beyond our control, the trip was wonderful and memorable. What's there not to love spent time with ur loved ones did what u loved most.



Till next post peeps.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

|MEETING TERGEMPAR|

Kak Ema given us 2 choices of where we wanna have our dinner for last day. It's either at The Valley or The Indischetafel. One tough choice to make as I look at it.

The Valley offered most scenic Bandung night view provided it's not raining. We're promised a breathtaking scenery lookout all over Bandung. In other hand, The Indischetafel offers more classical feeling as the Interior design has full touch of antique-unique-posh-elegant type of props. Sangat cantek ! Our camera just doesn't do any justice to this beauty gigantic bungalow turned restaurant.

Meeting pun di jalankan dgn kehadiran ahli ahli persatuan. I preferred The Valley as it suits my taste more. My mum and my father chose to be Switzerland. Neutral! As another 2 councils are minor so their opinion is not counted at all. kah kah kah.. Left Acu, the most cerewet tribe council I must say. She raised her concern about how many juta rupiahs she still have with her. In short, she's not done shopping just yet and not up for beautiful scenery so as always yang tua kene mengalah kan. Dush Dush ! The tribe has spoken !

I asked Kak Ema if it's possible for us to drop at any factory outlet on the way to restaurant. In returned, she told us that there's one nice FO named EST located opposite The Indischetafel. In fact, if we were about to have our dinner there, we will have to park our van at EST parking. There u go Dik, answer to your prayer. So The Indischetafel it is la.. Tak yah penin penin nk fikir.

All I can say, we made a right choice though as EST turned out to be a very nice FO. Rugi tak pergi awal awal. By the time we here, I have only left few hundred thousand rupiah with me to spend. The rest was kept aside for airport tax or excess baggage huuhuhu. Still, it doesn't stop me to buy few stuff here. I got a very cool shoes from Gymboree for both Alis and Erin. My father himself grabbed few shirts here and my sis seems pretty happy with EST. Unlike any other FO before where she came out with sour faces, this time she was running here and there, in and out fitting room and managed to clear her remaining rupiahs in no time. Like i said to my tour guide when he asked me whether my sis happy with this FO or not, " Bapak, kali ni udah jumpa yang cocok" hahaha...

My father gave us 1/2 hour to waste here and in a blink our time is up. We then proceeded to our dinner place just across the street.

|THE INDISCHETAFEL|




-our dining room-


-view from room entrance-

It certainly gives us different yet nice feeling. It's definitely not a typical indo Rumah Makan I've been to so far. The target customer also different compared to other places. Here, we can see more foreigners, and definitely u can see few locals but of course from those high rank officers or businessman/woman. The menu offers varieties of local and western cuisine. The decorations mostly from old antique collections. Old antique iron, old antique fan as be be seen in our dining room, antique type writer, antique sewing machine.. Super classical it feels like we were morphed into 70's.. Kudos to the Interior Designer team. They also have a wide collections of kartu mancis (matches cover) and framed it. We thought it was a stem at 1st glance. Classy !

My father opted for western style with his Iga Rib Steak (Beef rib's steak), my mum and me both decided to try Roti Asin with eggs( there's other option though to accompany ur roti like kedjoe, salmon or chic salami) , my sis with Roti Manis with Srikaya and i picked Nasi Goreng Kampung with chicken marinated satay wrapped on lemongrass stick for Alis and Erin.

Our Roti Asin was fine. My mum complained a bit about the level of saltiness... hahaha x nak masin tp order roti Asin , duuuhhhh ! It came with omelette, mustard, salad with few beef slices as side dishes. I dun eat red meat so the beef slices eventually became garnishing to my kids nasi goreng. My sis Roti Manis pulak have a similarity with Kaya toast bread from Oldtown Kopitiam we had in Malaysia. Alis and Erin's Nasik Goreng Kampung also nice. Above par ! The chic satay wrapped around lemongrass stick was nicely done. Marinated well and juicy. No pic of the food though. We're like a bunch of barbarian.






-mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most camwhore of us all? -

Kak Ema came in between our dinner excusing themself and informed that she will wait for us at Lobby tomorrow morning for checkout. Bapak X and Kak Dini in another hand bid farewell as both them may not be able to send us to airport tomorrow due to another work commitment.

Around 9 pm local time, we called our day off. Nk kene kemas utk checkout esok and and most important of all, kepala lutut sume dh ketar. Exhausted tahap gaban. Dh tua buat cara tua hhhaha..

Next ... Selamat Tinggal Bandung...

|DAY 2|



Our day starts early say about 9 am. 1st spot was Pasar Baru and it was well known for ke-macet-an nyer.. Smack right in the middle of Kota Bandung so mmg kene gerak awal else we will caught in the traffic jam for how many hours no one can ever expected. Actually Pasar Baru was just few block down our hotel row. Say about 10 min travelling by car hahhaa .. X sempat nk adjust my lazy bum, dah pun sampai...

This place is basically most favorite spot for peniaga peniaga telekung, baju kebaya sulam kat malaysia. U can get really good price here if u buying in bulk and provided u're good at bargaining.

Sufficed to say, not my fav place to be. I dun really like it here, specially when I'm travelling wth 2 kids. It's hot. Not to say it was "that" hot. It was surely equipped with airconds and escalators but it was too congested. Pertama Complex type of place and pertama was considered spacey. Furthermore, there's sellers that keep "approaching" us selling keychains, drinking waters every 5 min and it scared Erin and Alis a lot coz they kindoff being a bit pushy u see. Not to mentioned, the beggars .. Pity them but lesson learned during my 1st time here way back then, u give one, 10 will come chasing after u...so either u prepare ur purse for the "attack" or do not entertain at all..Say NO to them politely. They're mencarik rezeki halal after all. One value I adored in Bandung local peoples, they work hard to earn every penny. Teenagers can be seen everywhere playing music instruments or singing or selling. Like it or not this is life. It's hard for some. It ain't pretty but it is life and it does mencetus keinsafan dalam diri. Iskkk..


-waiting for our driver-


-camwhore dgn kawan baru, cik tubbies-


-erin 24/7 without failed kendong bantal busuk, tempat asing kan, somehow de feel secure ade bantal busuk kot haha, sense of belonging orang kampung aku cakap -

We spent almost 1/2 day kat sini.. Antara yang di beli of course telekung utk kegunaan sendiri, telekung for alis and erin..super cute ade sulam apple lagi.. and souvenirs .. few baju kebaya sulam, kain lace.. kain ela like cotton, viscose mmg murah jugak tapi ntah kenapa bile dh banyak2 tu x terbeli pulak.. hahah u know the feeling when u surrounded with so many same things, just by looking at it u feel like puking... Somemore Alis and Erin was cranky here. Cranky big time. Maybe sebab x selesa..too manye people...panas.. macam macam la..so I sms-ed Kak Ema and asked her to get driver ready as we coming down already..




-assalamualaikum warah matullah-


-susah tul nk amik still pic pompuan ni taw, gamba minah kecik pakai telekung tp background pendedahan betis terlampau..haha abaikan background, fokus pada erin sahaja-



Immediately told Kak Ema we're ready to have our lunch. I changed alis and erin's clothes on the way, dh berpeluh2 sure derang x selesa.. Our lunch today was @ Rumah Makan Melayu. Sangat kene with my father punye taste. De tekak org melayu sejati hahah..So de agak gumbira la...siap jumpa tokey bg thumbs up.. Ke sebab tokey kedai tu gorgeous ?? kah kah kah... Trus rasa nk balik kunyah jamu masa breakfast , lunch , dinner... Since nama rumah makan melayu, so all the waiters and waitresses pakai bj melayu and bj kurung. Siap sampin.. Hebat !

We had Sambal udang petai, lemak singkong(daun pucuk ibu), begedil,ayam rendang, udang goreng for kids, lemak telor, sambal ijo and sambal belacan & ulam ulaman.. Enak banget.. I can see that this place also a fav spot for Pejabat (government people) to had lunch. Mmg pack during lunch.


-Rumah Makan Melayu-




-pic was self explanatory-


-nungguin kasir -


-starting from this pic, role of photographer officially took over by Erin. Nk sentuh pun x boley. Berdasarkan spesifikasi ketinggian fotographer, maka gamba yang terhasil adelah gamba lantai, like thousand of those, perut atuk, kaki mummy, pintu, siling, sampin waiter, kaki meja dan yang sewaktu dengan nye.-


-"Hang" ape ek cik abang ni.. lupe nk tanye, tp de femes la .Sume nk bergamba ngn de hehhe, ganteng kannn!! -


-motif bergamba cenggini? now i know where alis got the camwhore traits-

Gamba food lupe nk amik sebab lapar sangat. Next agenda after lunch, more and more factory outlet. Say no more. We went to Heritage ( not impressive,collections der x wow), Summit (almost the same like heritage),Raffles City FO , House of Donatello ( shoes heaven but not up to my liking, more mak datin's wannabe stuff), The Secret again ( my mum nk exchange baju), Kartikasari ( lapis legit and candies ), Amanda (the famous brownies kukus), Uptown FO and more. Sedar tak sedar dah dekat maghrib so balik hotel to get ready for dinner.

There's some FO not worth going though so my 2 cent advice to those going to bandung in future, listed out those recommended FO(Google it!) and tell ur tour-guide, else inform ur tour guide what kind of FO u wish to go. Midde class , low range budget or high class FO or u might ended up wasting time hopping here and there and checkout with nothing but empty hands. Especially when u're travelling with picky shoppers (read: Acu)Me in other hand, did my listing but i left it at home...hahah so another 2 cents from me.. Make a list and do not forget to bring it :)..

Overall... presenting hasil memancing on that day..





I also bought 1 Hugo sports beg spacey enough for a day travel for 200 000 rupiah, worth purchasing ! Alis and Erin got toys of their choices, Alis Barbie Pergasus set ngn kudo sekor.. Erin teletubbies merah nama Poo itu.. My hubby wish list was leather jacket but I didn't buy for him coz the one I saw was too pricey yet too simple.. Takut de x kenan nanti.

Next , last dinner in Bandung...