Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Ryan's Concert and Tembok Bali

Miss me? haha...joking. Too many things on my plate that I've got no time to blog at all.

So many things have happened/passed since my last posting - Ryan's Term 2 JMC concert, been to Kuching (work trip), Bali (2nd honeymoon trip), Bentong (durian trip); Jaden finally started a new school and Ryan's 5th Birthday party!

Piano Concert
JMC Book 2 concert - Rythm and stepping. The class has dwindled to 3 boys now. Well, better teacher-student attention....


A piece 'Party in the Sky' that he played on keyboard. Notice that he can play with both hands now. And at the end of the concert, Ryan was named the 'Best Performer' in his class. Probably the Principal gave face 'cos there was a huge turnout from our family with Papa, Mama, Mah-mah, didi and TaiYee attended the concert.


Bali
Tembok Bali Spa Village Resort


Botanical Garden


Monkey forest


Volcano mountain - Mt Agung

Day 1
We were in Bali for 4 days from 11 July to 14 July amidst the H1N1 scare. The holiday was pre-booked way before the H1N1 started in Mexico, so have to go loh even though scared :p The promotion by YTL was a steal at RM998 for the first night, and subsequent nights at RM399 per night. All meals were included (fine dining style), 1 hr spa, sunset cruise, welcome cake and they'll provide materials for activities as well e.g. we did the lontar drawing and it was free.
Well, I've never been pampered so much before. Upon arrival at Bali airport, we were greeted by the resort driver, who happily drove 2.5 hrs to our destination, on top of stopping wherever we wanted to - to take scenic pictures. The car was also equipped with a dvd player and tv to ensure that we were not bored throughout the journey.
The best thing was when we reached the resort, we were not quickly ushered to the reception for check-in but the staff welcomed us with a cool watermelon drink and a floral foot bath. They also massaged our shoulders to ease our tiredness. After that, they took us on a quick tour around the resort (which is not big at all with 31 rooms only and 2 suites). Btw, children are not allowed at the resort, not sure of the age group though.
We had our scrumptous dinner cooked up by Chef Danny from Ipoh and later, went star-gazing in the swimming pool. We were laughing our heads off when they pushed the bed to the middle of the pool and we wondered who came up with this brilliant idea! When we returned to our room, we were again surprised to find a warm floral bath prepared by the staff. How romantic :)
----to be continued

Friday, July 03, 2009

Jakarta

I was away in Jakarta for 6-days last week due to work commitment. We stayed at Hotel Atlet Century Park, which was opposite the badminton stadium where Lee Chong Wei won the Indonesia Open final the night before, beating Taufik Hidayat in straight sets. Since Indonesians are a patriotic lot (unlike Malaysians), we kept our mouth shut and did not mention that we were from Malaysia, in case they decided to pick a fight. On a side note, I mistakenly told a guard stationed at my hotel room floor that I was from M'sia and he said, 'O Kelantan...Manohara....' Oops! I wonder what's the impression of Malaysians to Indonesians...scary...and I quickly double locked my room door after they left. The guard was accompanying a technician who came to my room to fix the shower.

The room is actually quite nice


Jakarta is a city with a population of over 8 million people, being the twelfth-largest city in the world, as compared to Kuala Lumpur, which has only less than 2 million people. So, everywhere you go in Jakarta....you see a sea of people. It's no joke - you can see people by the roadside, doing nothing but just observing passing cars; jobs created by the unemployed and youngsters by directing traffic to earn some loose change (if given). And the most chaotic - is traffic jam! You think KL jam is bad - Jakarta is so many times worse!

Crazy mad rush on a Friday afternoon, that we decided to abandon our car and walk to the shopping mall






Shopping in Jakarta is generally a haven for shopaholics, if you have something in mind that you would like to buy as things are cheap. I bought a swimming costume for Ryan and he had been wearing it day and night for 4 days now (no, it's clean 'cos the maid will wash it at night and let it to dry overnight) :p

Ryan posing in his swimsuit