Winter Solstice Celebration in Malaysia

Winter Solstice Celebration or Dong Zi  falls on 22 December every year and occasionally on 21 December.  This is an important festival where every family will gather to eat Tangyuan or glutinous rice ball which symbolize family unity. It is also a day where everyone becomes a year older!

The balls are boiled in water until they float. Boil water with rock sugar, bruised ginger and screw pine separately.  Add on the balls as a sweet dessert.

Dong Zi means arrival of winter. The arrival of winter means the farmers would lay down their tools and celebrate their harvest by having a feast with family members.

The Chinese community in Malaysian observes this festival just like other countries such as Singapore, China, Hongkong and Taiwan.  They would gather family members and celebrate a good meal together.

It is also noted that if any immediate family member passed away, then you are not allowed to prepare Tangyuan at home for at least 3 years.

Glutinous rice balls prepared at home

New Zealand North Island Discovery

Was counting down to 10 more days and already excited for touring NZ. Only 12 nights with so much to explore, i knew very well that it was not enough to cover the whole North Island. Hope we could have more days available but since elder son's college has started for second semester by the end of our trip, that was the best that we could have.  Kia Ora NZ, here we come!

We departed from KLIA for Auckland by Malaysia Airlines 8.45 am flight on 22 May 2014, a 10 hours flight arrived 10.30 pm on the same day. New Zealand, 4 hours ahead of us. We were picked up from airport by our friend, Calvin, stayed over at his house at Manuka Heights, 20 minutes away from the airport for that night.  Calvin's wife, Lisa greeted us with homecooked yummylicious chicken porridge and dessert to welcome us, a group of 7, me and husband and 2 teenage sons, my mom and my two nieces age 7 and 10.

At 10 am next morning, Calvin took us to collect our rented Toyota Previa from Apex Car Rental at their depot which was just 5 minutes away from airport.  It cost us NZD1,152.76 for 11 days rental for NZD957, GPS Hire with full insurance cover NZD74.80 and option for fuel pre-purchase at 20% discount for NZD120.96.

After we have collected all our luggage from Calvin's house, we started our journey to Kaimanawa Lodge at Turangi which took us 4 hours. Turangi is located at the other end of Lake Taupo.  We stopped by Huntly for lunch at Hot Roast Meal and bought some chicken, vegetables and fruits from Fruits King for our dinner.  Kaimanawa Lodge, 2 bedrooms unit was a self contained accommodation, clean and well maintained. We have been cooking dinner every night since we prefered home cooked chinese food.  By 4.30 pm we stopped at Taupo for a coffee break.  By the time we reached our resort, it was dark as by 5.30 pm already sunset.

Turangi is world famous for trout fishing, set at the southern end of Lake Taupo on the banks of the Tongariro River, and is the second largest town in the Taupo district.

On our 3rd day in NZ, we explored Taupo, a 40 minutes drive from our resort. First thing in the morning, we went to Saturday Farmers market situated at Riverside Park, which was adjacent to Waikato river. Had fruit juice, another round of morning breakfast, bought raw honey, fruits, vegetables and local crafts.

For sales at Riverside Farmers Market

Then we proceeded to Huka Falls, taking the spectacular view of massive rapids from the platforms, or you may get a closer look and join the othe tourists on Hukafalls Jet boat cost NZD100 per person. Cheaper version, you may take the 1 hours 20 minutes river cruise on NZ's longest river.

Somewhere over the rainbow - at Huka Falls

We explored Taupo town and had our lunch at McDonalds.  Next, Orakei Korako Cave & Thermal Park (Hidden Valley). If driving from Taupo, head north on State Highway 1 in the direction of Hamilton. The turnoff to Orakei Korako is 14kms from the junction of State Highways 1 and 5 at Wairakei. Turn right on to Tutukau Rd, travel 9kms then turn left onto Orakei Korako Rd, travel 5kms to the end of the road. Approximate driving time from Taupo is 25 minutes. We spent about an hour there admiring the scenery of geysers, land formations, boiling mud coming out of the ground.

Orakei Korako

On the 4th day, we travelled about 2 hours to Otorohanga for Waitomo Glowworm Caves and Ruakuri Cave. We glided silently under thousand of glowworms by boat in the world famous Glowworm Caves. We then had lunch at their cafe before our 1.30 pm tour to Ruakuri Cave, NZ's longest guided underground walking tour, a journey down spectacular spiral entrance. 

Waitomo Glowworm Cave

Ruakuri Caves

Day 5, our journey took us to Rotorua, an 1.5 hours drive. First stop, we escaped into the beautiful Whakarewarewa Forest, one of Rotorua’s most spectacular natural assets. Famous for its magnificent stands of towering Californian Coastal Redwoods. We planned to have a relaxation at Waikite Valley Thermal Pools but since the weather was cold, we changed our itinerary and visited Te Puia instead, NZ's premier Moari cultural centre and home of world famous Pohutu geyser and a Kiwi house too.

Pohutu Geyser

Whakarewarewa Forest

Day 6, 27 May 2014, we travelled 3 hours and 45 minutes to Wellington, capital city of NZ.  The route took us through Taihepe, Ruapehu, Bulls, Palmerston North, Foxton, Levin, Otaki, Paraparaumu. We were all excited as we saw snow for the very first time. About 10cm of snow  fell on Mt Ruapehu, a welcome gift for the North Island’s two main ski fields, Turoa and Whakapapa, which are set for a 28 June opening. We stopped by the roadside and touched snow!

10 cm snow on Mount Ruapehu

Once we arrived at Wellington, we visited Te Papa Muzeum, located at Wellington's spectacular waterfront. Circa theatre was right opposite the muzeum. We had lunch at Parrot and Jigger, Station Village Complex before we checked into 2 bedroom units motel at Camellia Court, Lower Hutt for a night.

Circa Theatre

Next morning, we checked out and went to Old St Paul's Catherdral, a simply stunning wooden church, built in 1866. Next, we viewed panoramic sights of the city from the top of Mount Victoria. Enroute back to Turangi, we stopped for lunch at Traffic Cafe, Arthur Street, Otaki. The pumpkin soup was good so was fish and chips. We reached our resort and had time for spa and games before our dinner.

Old St Paul's Cathedral

Day 8, we relaxed at our resort, visited Tongariro National Trout Centre, just 5 minutes away from our resort. Cooked a simple lunch and dinner too. Tookanu Thermal Pool, just a 3 minutes away which we decided to skip.

On th 9th day, we checked out from Kaimanawa Lodge and proceeded with our journey to Matamata, for Hobbiton Movie Set from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. Since it was raining, we postponed our visit to Hobbiton from 11.00 am to 12.30 pm.  We had early Thai food lunch at Star Food Cafe, so glad we finally have curries after so many days away from home. We took the shuttle from Matamata I site visitor centre, all in 3 hours tour, took many beautiful and lovely photos there.

Hobbit Home

After the tour, we checked into one bedroom unit at Broadway Motel, 5 minutes away from  the I site visitor centre. Our unit was facing the swimming pool and a children park with lots of pigeons. My two nieces was jumping away happily at the trampoline there. 

The next morning, we were on our way back to Auckland, 1.5 hours away. First stop, Oratia Farmer Market at Artisan Wines in Oratia. We bought kebab, spring roll from a lady from Laos. She told us for 3 hours opening stall there, she needed to pay NZD40 for rental.  My son bought cheese and my nieces bought bagel from the market there. Since it was still early for our check in to homestay at Mount Eden, we went to Western Springs Park, a wildlife sanctuary. We saw native orea (eel) trailing the swans and ducks. The Zoo is just next to this park.

Western Springs Park

Our 3 days homestay at Mount Eden, 3 bedrooms unit had a fireplace where the kids enjoyed setting up the fire every night.

The very next day, we went to Avondale Sunday Market, Skytower, Parnell for Holy Trinity Cathedral and Rose Garden and finally One Tree Hill.  Spectacular sunset view at One Tree Hil. At Skytower, if you are adventurous, try out the Skywalk or Skyjump.

Sunset at One Tree Hill

Skywalk

The final day in Auckland, we drove 40 minutes to Muriwai Beach, a blank sand beach where we saw a small colony of Gannets. About 1,200 pairs adult gannets nest here each summer and can be seen between August and March each year. As it was a public holiday, Queen's Birthday, we saw many surfer at the beach.

Muriwai Beach

We wanted to have dim sum at a Chinese Restaurant down town but it was long queue as we were hungry, we picked another Chinese Restaurant at Newmarket, Crazy Noodle Bar.  They served good Seafood Tom Yum and Wonton noodle soup.

We bought more chocolates and honey as souveniers for relatives and friends, packed up and was ready to fly home the next day.

Our flight was on 3 June 2014 at 1.15 pm and safely touched down KLIA at 8.30 pm on the same day.  Home sweet home and more spicy food for us! The cost, yes it was cheaper  compared to follow tour agent.

Note: Do indulge in Tip Top Hokey Pokey ice cream, so creamy and yummy!

Feeling wonderful in Paris & London

We normally travel with the kids but this time it was my hubby's business trip and I got to tag along. I felt a heavy heart to leave my two teen boys behind till the extent of not able to feel excitement for this trip. But I was lucky that my mom had volunteered to stay over at my place to oversee them.  I had a live in indonesian maid.

On 20 March 2014, we took the 11.55 pm flight out to Paris, embarking on our 11 days 9 nights trip to Paris & London. However, the MH flight was delayed for half hour.  An hour after took off, we were served meal, gosh at say 1.40 am we were having our supper!  This flight took 12 hours to reach Paris so we were provided with 2 meals and 1 snacks.  The other meal was only served 2 hours before our flight going to touch down Paris airport.  

I was able to watched three (3) in flight movies on board.

We took a cab to Kyriad Paris Hotel situated at Gare du Nord upon arrival which cost us Euro 70 for the four of us, hubby's business partner and wife.

Ignoring the feel of jet lag, as we were early and not able to check in yet, we left our luggage and then hop onto to Paris L'Open Hop on Hop Off bus which stop located at the street behind the hotel, touring the yellow line areas. After we finished, we went back to our hotel for check in and rested for half an hour before we went for lunch at Cafe Du Nord nearby.  Then off we went again onto the bus yellow line and changed to green line to Eiffel Tower. We adjourned at Eiffel Tower and took lots of photo.  The queue was long to go up the tower so we skipped. We managed to get back the bus back to hotel and have dinner in Jumbo Chinese Restaurant, the food 5/10. 


Eiffel Tower

The hotel though small but clean and comfortable and just a mere 3 minutes walking distance to the train station. It was Euro 99 per room per night.  The Hop on Hop Off tour coach was Euro 36 per pax for 2 day pass.

The next morning, after breakfast at Paris Nord Cafe, we went to green line routes. The first stop was iconic Lourve where one of the attraction was the exhibit of the Da Vinci painting of Mona Lisa. The entrance ticket cost Euro 12 per person.  We then proceeded to Lover's Bridge aka romantic chain bridge Pont des Arts.  We saw lots of couples there and also two guys kissing!
 

Lourve

We went shopping at Champs Elyssess Avenue where you could get all the branded stuff, bought bags at the largest LV Boutique which showcase latest collection of LV mechandise and also visited the Arc De Trompe.    You may stop at 12 or 11 of green route for Champs Elyssess Avenue.  Lunch was at a Belgium Restaurant, Leon de Bruxelles, same street at LV Boutique, famous for their fresh mussels. We went onto Eiffle Tower, last stop back to yellow line stop 58 at Lafayette, Asians friendly shopping centre, what else, of course more shopping.

Nothing much for blue and orange routes except that orange line could bring you to Chinatown.  Attractions that we missed out as we could not resist more shopping were Basilique and the red light district at stop 52 and 51 respectively.  At Basilique, you need to walk uphill so that u could get a hill view of the entire Paris city.  As for the red light district, the famous landmark was the Moulin Rouge Windmill which we saw but did not make a stop.


The freshness of Mussels at Leon de Bruxelles

It was just a short stay at Paris, we will be back!

On third day, we intended to visit Marche Saint Quentin and while waited for its opening, we went for morning breakfast at McD.  After the visit, we checked out from our hotel and went for our check in to depart for London on Eurostar train. Ticket cost Euro 76 + Euro 2 booking fee per pax. Train departed from Paris Gare du Nord at 11.07 am and arrived London St-Pancras at 12.30 pm. 

Our hotel was Hampton by HIlton London Waterloo situated at Waterloo Road.  The room cost us £126.65 per room per night.  We bought the oyster card with £10 credit and £5 as deposit as we intended to take tube to hotel. We went for Victoria line towards Brixton direction, southward bound. Then changed at Waren Street to Northern line southward bound to Waterloo. Hubby's another business partner with his wife and son were already there in Hampton Hotel but were not able to check in first since we were early, so off we went to Chinatown for lunch.  After lunch, we visited Big Ben Tower Clock, London Eye and then went shopping at Oxford street before dinner at Goldmine Restaurant at Queensway, a chinese restaurant owned by Malaysian Ipoh Chef.  The food was real good and we met up with a relative of hubby's business partner, a student in London.




London Eye

Next morning, our rented 9 seater van was sent to our hotel. For 2 days rental cost us £330.93 with the 7 of us so it was £47.30 pound per person.  First stop was Stonehenge - a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, about 2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 mies north of Salisbury.  One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks. You need to purchase ticket to view the area which cost £14.90 per adult.  It was free last 3 years when our friend was there.

Then we travelled to Bath, a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in Southwest England, Castle Combe, a small village in Wiltshire, England and the beautiful Bourton-on-the Water - a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England that lies on a wideflat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding natural beauty.  Bourton-on-the Water was the place that my hubby been to years back and had been wanting to bring me here.




Bath

Castle Combe

Cotswold Gateway Hotel




After a long day journey, we put a night at Cotwold Gateway Hotel at Cheltenham Road, Burford. Burford is a small town on te River WIndrush in the Cotsworld hills in West Oxfordshire, England. It cost us £85 per room per night stay inclusive of buffet breakfast which was very good.  We had our dinner at one of the chinese restaurant nearby but the food I would rate 4/10.

The next morning after our morning breakfast, we bid goodbye to this little English hotel and went to Oxford.  We wanted to visit the production process of Mini Plant in Oxford but since it was full and without booking, we only managed to visit its exhibition area of various models of Mini Cooper.

 

Shopping at this store in Oxf

,, 


Then off we went to UK Bicester Factory Outlet for branded stuff shopping, cheaper here but not the latest stuff and light lunch before we return back to London.  The four of us checked in back to Hampton by Hilton Hotel whereas the other three checked into another hotel which was a complimentary stay.

The next day, after our breakfast, we travelled by DLR train to ExCel London for IPEX 2014 exhibition.  After that, we went back to hotel to put materials collected from the exhibition prior to our lunch at Chinatown and more shopping at Oxford street.

One of the booth at ExCel London

After some light meal, we wet for Mamma Mia at Novello Theatre.  We had our seat at Grand Circle which cost £50 per person.  The performance was good.

The next morning, our meeting point was Waterloo & City line of Waterloo station. We visited Tower Bridge aka London Bridge, then to St Paul's Cathedral.
 

Tower Bridge

We had lunch appointment at Chinatown with our niece who had settled down in Cambridge and nephew's girlfriend who was studying music there too.  We then proceed to Harrods for more shopping and we excused ourselves as our niece wanted to take us for English afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason.  Our niece recommended TK Maxx, a cheaper priced shopping store. As for dinner, this time we tried szechuan food in China town and met up with one of the relative of hubby's another business partner.

On Friday 28 March, we gathered at the Westminister Station's Distric & City Line Westbund platform as we were heading to St James Park for Buckingham Palace and Greenwich. At Buckingham Palace, we managed to view the changing guards which started at 11.30 am. You need to find out the day which they have this changing guards because they dont have it everyday.

We had another round of mussels at Leon de Bruxelles before our Michael Jackson - Thriller Live at Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London.  The ticket cost £41.50 per person where the seats were at B2 Dress Circle area. We only had our dinner after the performance, wanted something light such as noodles to share but the waiter at the Chinese Restaurant insisted we must ordered to at least a minimum of £8 per person.





Greenwich - Meridian Line

The next day, after our late breakfast, we checked out from our hotel at 12 noon.  We had a 12 seaters bus to take us to Selhurst Park Stadium to watch the live 3 pm Crystal Palace vs Chelsea football match.  The ticket cost us £131.80 per person, it was indeed a good experience.  After the match, we were sent by our driver to London Heathrow airport for our flight departing to Kuala Lumpur at 10.00 pm via Malaysia Airlines, a 13 hours flight home.

Yes, we did go to its casino in Chinatown and won some money!

Overall, it was a great trip with great companions.





Celebrating New Year 2013

Kicked start the new year with fireworks display at Desa Park City on the strike of the midnight of new year eve and wishing everyone "Happy New Year!", such a wonderful way of welcoming the new year.

The morning of new year, we had pot luck at Taman Jaya Park, Petaling Jaya at 8.30 am with hubby's aunties, uncles, cousins. It was hard to wake up early since we slept at 1.30 am.  Family ties are important so my hubby always ensured our presence in such gathering.

Guessed what, right after we reached home, both of us slept the whole afternoon.  However by 5 pm we were on our way to One Utama after realizing that the next day 2 January 2013 would be the start of school.  We still want to enjoy to the last moment, we window shop and had our dinner at Genki Sushi.

How wonderful if the day was longer!

Bali - Magical Island

We were doubtful each time we wanted to visit Bali as it had been bombed twice in 2002 and 2005. Everyone who visited Bali would say wonderful place. So we finally visited Bali in November 2011 on a 5 days 4 nights free and easy tour.

We were picked up from Denpasar airport by a driver arranged by Tjok Bagus, recommended by one of my Jakarta friend who studied in Bali. And was brought to check in to our Kuta Seaview Boutique Resort & Spa  booked through hotelclub.com.  The beach is just opposite the hotel. It was a relaxing day.
 


Hard Rock Cafe at Jalan Pantai Kuta

The next morning, our driver, Pak Gedek came to pick us for sightseeing.  We stopped at Bagli-Bali for Luwak Coffee which cost Rp60k and Male Coffee Rp30k.  The rental car which came with driver cost Rp275,000 per day.

Coffee

Then we went to Pura Bersakih, the mother temple, entrance fee was Rp50,000. You need to wear a sarong to be able to enter the temple.


Pura Besakih, the mother Temple

Later we had our lunch at Batur Sari Restaurant while enjoying the view of Batur Volcano and panorama of the biggest lake view.

Volcano

On the second day, we went to Tanah Lot, entrance fees cost Rp35,000.

Tanah LotTemple that stand on huge rock in the ocean

We also went to GWK (Garuda Wisnu Kencana) Statue, highest in the world and Dreamland beach, a beautiful white sandy beach.

At Uluwatu, holy temple in southern part of Bali we watched Kecak and Fire Dance with beautiful sunset. Tickets for 4 pax to watch the dance cost Rp280,000.



Indian Ocean Spectacular View from Uluwatu



Kecak Dance

Then we went to Jimbaran, famous for its fresh grill seafood, sitting by the beach.  The food here at Aroma Restaurant was excellent.




Grill Seafood dinner at Aroma, Jimbaran Bay

A day before we suppose to leave for home, we enjoyed our day in the hotel and the beach.  My both kids had went for Surfing lesson RP400,000 for 2 person.

We also went shopping at Quick Silver situated at Legian Street, the place where bombing took place in 2002 and visited the Memorial Monument.

Dont forget to try the Babi Guling or Suckling Pig, the famous balinese food.

Bali to me, a magical island as it attracts lots of visitors all over the world especially Australia.