Doggies in Denali

We had the morning half free so the tour guide had suggested that we have a look at the dog sledding show which was given by the park rangers or there was another one which was a paid show. As we weren't too sure whether you'd be able to wake up or not, we decided on the free show IF you could wake up.

Well, we managed to get you out of bed on time. First to get up was daddy and the room felt rather cold. Why? Because your daddy was outside taking pictures and he left the sliding door open. And when he got in, e was complaining about how cold it was. But then again, I guess it was worth the cold. This was the picture he got from our balcony:

After breakfast and a shower, we headed back to the hotel lobby where we waited for the complimentary hotel shuttle which drops people off at the little down nearby or the Visitor Center in the park. When we arrived at the Visitor Center, we hopped onto the park bus which waited a while for more passengers before bringing us to the kennel where the sled dogs were kept.

When we arrived, a Park Ranger, Jamie hopped onto the bus to brief us about the dogs and their behaviours, what to do and what not to do with the dogs and about the 3 little sled dog puppies (not that small sized.. ). Then we walked a short distance and saw them:

There was a sled on display which we took pictures with and at a fixed time, we all stood at the stands and waited for Jamie to do the dog sledding demonstration. Before that he gave us a history about dog sledding and how that area became a national park. After that he got the dogs all ready for the demonstration. It wasn't just us who were excited. The dogs were all excited too. They were barking and barking as the Park Rangers carried them to be harnessed to the sled. And once they were ready.. away the went...

Before we left for the buses, we walked one more round to look and pet the dogs again. We even took a picture with this particular dog which really seemed to like you. In fact Jamie the Park Ranger had already told us that the dogs would like "little people" in particular. But if the dogs were to get too rowdy we were to walk away from them. There was one dog which just went crazy when he saw you and kept barking at you.. maybe to ask you to play with him?

This is the nice dog which was happy to let you pet him:

Lava the sled dog

We were not allowed to feed any of the dogs, except for this dog, Buck.. hehe.. he really loves dollar notes and would make do with coins too:

On the way back we hopped onto another bus and the bus driver was telling us a lot of interesting facts about the Denali National Park. Just as we were arriving at the Visitor Center.. we caught sight of this:

... as moose! It was busy eating the leaves and couldn't be bothered by the many buses and cars which were parked on the roadside and the many camera and eyes watching it! We finally left the moose and arrived at the Visitor Center.

While waiting for the shuttle from the hotel, we decided to take the opportunity to take pictures. It's a good thing daddy bought a new tripod, making it easier for us to get a family picture with everyone in it and no need to ask someone to help us take a picture (and worry about whether they are able to use the camera).

Isn't the view breathtaking? We headed back to the Denali town for lunch and then headed back to the hotel after that to repack our back for the Tundra Wilderness Tour.

Walking Around Anchorage and The Ride to Denali

Woke up that morning and had the complimentary breakfast. When everyone was ready, we went out for a walk around Anchorage. After walking for a while Ah Ma got tired as her knee was still painful. So she headed back (or actually made a detour to buy some things) while we tried to look for the Ship Creek viewing platform which was marked on the map where we were supposed to be able to watch the salmon run.

So we walked. And we walked.. and we walked some more and we walked. In the end, daddy and Ah Kong had to take turns carrying you as you complained of being tired. We got a little lost trying to find our way to the bridge. We walked along a road which was rather quiet, wondered if we should cross the train tracks and didn't. So we walked along the tracks and saw this:

Coca-Cola Bottling Co of Alaska

And we finally found the proper place to cross the train tracks. We sure walked a lot that morning.

And we continued to walk more and at long last found the little path that led to the viewing platform:

So guess how many salmons did we see? Er.. none. Haha.. walked all the way there for nothing! So it was time to start our journey back to the hotel to get Ah Ma and go for lunch before our bus comes to pick us up. Before that we decided to stop and look at the Ulu Factory.

After taking this shot as daddy was keeping his tripod, we saw the "Free Shuttle". Ah Kong asked and the driver said that he was leaving to the tourist center in the city center soon. Yay! No need to walk back (we saw a shorter and more direct way back as we passed the train tracks but it was still a long walk back to the hotel).

Here you sitting on the bench of the bus (or is it a tram.. it's a bus which looks like a tram!)

We got back to the hotel in a short time, packed up and checked out before heading to a Japanese restaurant which we saw the day before. Too bad it was not opened that day. Ah Ma said that she was not hungry so she went back and we walked around to look for a place for lunch. In the end as we were out of time, we bought take away and went back to the hotel where the bus driver was already waiting for us. The 5 of us packed into the bus and off we went to pick up more passengers.

As we were waiting for the passengers, the nice bus driver even let you sit on his seat and pretend to drive his bus:

You were certainly excited pretending to drive the bus

We were then dropped off at the Anchorage Museum where we quickly gobbled down our lunch. Then we headed to the museum to have a quick look as we were given a free entrance ticket each.

Finally it was 3pm and time to board our bus headed to Denali National Park. It was a bus ride similar to what we had in New Zealand. There was no tour guide. Instead all the information and any questions we had were answered by the bus driver. Our driver for that day was Mike. As we drove to Talkeetna he told us all sorts of stories and shared many information about the Alaska.

You napped for almost 2 hours on the bus and by that time we reached Talkeetna where we got off to stretch our legs and to drop some passengers who were staying in the hotel there.

After that we headed to the Denali National Park. It was an amazing ride. We could not take our eyes of the beautiful view.

The first picture on the left is a gorge (I cannot recall the name). If you look carefully you can see just how far the drop is. The bus driver managed to stop for us to take pictures as there was no other traffic on the bridge. We even got to see rainbow. We could almost see both ends of the rainbow.

And at long last we arrived at the town area where we dropped other passengers off at their hotels and we finally arrived at our hotel, The Denali Bluffs. We met Paul, the agent who was there to help us arrange any additional tours in Denali. We were all given our room keys and after dropping our luggage we headed to the hotel's restaurant for dinner. We had thought that it was late (nearly 9pm) and so we decided to just have dinner there than to walk to the nearby town (which was just down the hill) for dinner.

After dinner you KO-ed even before I was done with my shower!

Way up north, way up north...

".. north to Alaska". That's a Johnny Horton song which I used to listen to when I was young. It was way before my time, but what to do.. Nanna loved those songs.

Oops... got a little side tracked. We're in Alaska. That's why this song found it's way to my mind suddenly *grin*.

Although the flight was full, not everyone on board stopped at Alaska. But we all had to clear immigration at Alaska. After clearing immigration, chatting with a friendly immigration officer and collection our luggage we were finally in Alaska. This is the first thing which greeted us:

We waited a while and finally our ride from the hotel arrived. The ride to Anchorage from the airport wasn't too short. After checking in, we relaxed a bit and walked out to have lunch. We headed for a place called "Humpy's" which was recommended by the receptionist at the hotel. Lunch was lovely although I could not finish my food.. the portion was way too big.

Went back and everyone was tired. Especially you as you'd only taken your nap (2 hr sleep) on the flight and could not sleep anymore after that. Can't blame you (although I was in a bad mood because I could not sleep if you didn't sleep) as the time (in Malaysia was too early for you to sleep. So we all took a nap and after that headed out for a walk before dinner.

We went to this place called Resolution Park which had some beautiful flowers, binoculars with directions to spot Mt McKinley and a statue of Captain Cook.

Walked around and took some pictures around the city. This is a moose in front of a gift shop. The other was a totem in front of some government building (if I'm not mistaken)

In the end as lunch was too heavy and we weren't too hungry, we decided to have some take-away pizza. Wow! Yummy!!! And such large pieces too, almost a quarter of our large pizza in Malaysia. And you managed to finish around 3/4 of a slice.

This is the longest 31st August for us. It was the 31st in Taipei and 31st started again when we arrived in Anchorage!

On the plane

It was a rather full flight. They called the passengers for boarding by batches. While waiting you were happily chatting with Ah Kong, looking at the plane which had an upstairs section. And "No" Ah Kong told you, we were sitting downstairs.

Finally our rows were ready for boarding. You fell asleep shortly after take off. I guess it's time for your usual afternoon nap. Daddy got this picture of you napping.

This is a picture of our dinner on board the flight.

Oh yeah... did I mention that your wish came true? We got to sit upstairs. As they scanned out tickets, there was a "Seat Change" message and I even asked the lady why the 3 of us were not seated together. Her response "You have been upgraded". OoooOoo... no wonder there was a seat change. Hehe..

Now you know why we were served dinner with "real" cutlery and not plastic cutlery and on plates course by course instead of everything thrown together on a tray!

Lucky us. We had a very comfy ride. A wonderful way to start our trip.

Welcome to Taiwan

By the time we arrived in Taiwan it was past 7pm. You had your meal on the plane then went to sleep all the way. You took the PCM and yet the fever would not go down! Daddy was very worried as there was a thermal scanner in the Taiwan airport. What if the thermal scanner picked your fever. Would we be allowed to enter Taiwan?

In the end, I had no choice but to give you another dose of Voltaren around an hour before we arrived in Taiwan. Thank goodness all went well and we headed to the bus stop to wait for our transfer to the Novotel Taoyuan Hotel. It was raining non stop and finally the little shuttle arrived and we headed to the hotel and after checking in had our dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Waiting for mummy to check-in

After dinner we went back to the room to have a rest. By then, you seemed perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened 10 hours ago!

Our hotel room. With a very modern design

We had initially planned on taking the free half day tour around Taipei. But in the end, we wanted you to get enough rest and there was a risk that after checking out and queuing for the free tour we may not get a seat as it was on a first come first serve basis. So instead we lazed around the hotel. And I should have packed our swimming costumes as the hotel had an indoor heated pool. Oh well.. but they had a "Kids Corner" so that's where we headed:

What a big teddy bear!

Trains..

Before we went up to pack and check out, we went out to take some pictures with the water fountain which you had spotted.

We checked out then had out complimentary buffet lunch before taking the shuttle back to the airport. As we had ample time, we slowly wondered around the shops and we found this:

Thank goodness you were OK when I told you it was time to go off. And soon we were in the departure lounge waiting for our turn to board the plane.

Today is the 30th

.. and you decided to have a fever which would not subside since yesterday night! It started yesterday evening on our way back from Gurney Plaza. We'd bought a new luggage bag as daddy's bag is not big enough to carry all our stuff.

It started as a low grade fever and I had hope that it would go off.. but no.. instead, it raised higher and higher. So instead of going to work for the morning half, we stayed at the hospital waiting for our turn to see Dr Mary. The nurse took your temperature and I told her that I'd given you PCM in the morning, she came back to me shortly after to say that Dr Mary was on her way and that she needed to give your Voltaren. I had to carry you and your creamed into my ears as she put the medicine in for you.. in your bum! I could feel my ear drums rattle as you screamed right into my ears!!

The moment Dr Mary saw us she asked if we were back from our holiday. She looked really worried when I said that we were supposed to leave in the afternoon. She checked you and as you had complained of an uncomfortable tummy, which meant a possible bout of diarrhea and vomiting, she prescribed many medicines and I had to take notes on when and what to give you. She also wrote a letter to allow me to carry you medicine onboard.

Went back, packed the digital thermometer and all the many medicines in double layers zip lock bags and we were all ready to go.

What a way to start our holidays!

Being Chinese

According to my little man, we are "hua ren" which you had learned in school. So "hua ren" need to speak Chinese. Hhmm..

So presenting the "hua ren" singing his mandarin song:

The only other song which you can sing is "Gong Xi Gong Xi Gong Xi Ni..." (Only this part of the song!)

On another note, today is the 30th. So D-Day is here.. Looks like this blog will temporarily be abandoned.. until we are back.

Haircut day

We tried to see if you could get your haircut the day before, but Uncle Austin was busy. So Ah Kong and Ah Ma brought you to the shop the next afternoon as Ah Kong also wanted to get a haircut before we went off.

Daddy and I had lunch around that area, so we decided to head to the shop to see how you coped with your haircut.

As always the time get your haircut was very short and you coped very well. You saw quietly and rarely moved while Uncle Austin cut your hair. We left after that and you played with Ah Ma while waiting for Ah Kong to have his hair cut.

Good. Now you are all ready and handsome looking for our holiday.

Countdown..

You know that D-Day is on the 30th. So starting from Saturday, you've been going:

21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29- THIRTY--- YAYYYYY!!!!

Picture Time

I was just clearing out the memory stick of the camera and saw these pictures of you goofing around:

This is one of my favourites from the many pictures that daddy took:

And you doing your famous yoga "tree pose":

Days of the Week

I recall once when daddy was trying to teach you the days of the week. You were doing a big business and I was in bed listening to your "lesson":

Daddy: Monday

Evan: Monday

Daddy: Tuesday

Evan: Tuesday

.. and continued until Sunday. Then came the test.. to see if you could repeat what you'd just learnt

Daddy: Can you say from Monday to Sunday?

Evan : Monday to Sunday.

Yay! You er.. got it right in a way.. But of course that was not what daddy was expecting. But good try. That was over a year ago.

So how far have you gotten to learning the days of the week? Let's see:

Mummy: What day is it today?

Evan: Monday (or whatever day it is.. you managed to name them correctly)

Mummy: Tomorrow is poached egg day. So what day would that be?

Evan: WEDNESDAY!!! Yay!!!

Mummy: What do you do in school on Wednesday?

Evan: Swimming

.. and on a Friday, this is what Ah Kong and Ah Ma gets from you:

Today is Friday. No need to take a nap!

Even in negotiating:

Evan: Mummy, today is Friday so I don't need to sleep early. Can I watch Alvin and the Chipmunks (2) tonight?

Well, one of the ways that you learned the days of the week was through this:

Can you guess what it it? Hehe.. it's little underwear with the different names of the day.

I'm proud to say that you now know the days of the week very well. In fact you even know what days are "weekends" and what days are "weekdays". So looks like you've finally learnt all the days of the week. Good job, little man.

All KO-ed

That was me the whole afternoon, since I was down with a bout of food poisoning. So who keept you company, on top of cleaning up the mess I made in the car and keeping you away from me while I rested and serenaded the toilet? Why, it's super daddy of course...

I'm all better now, that's why I am able to post about it. And I cannot believe it, it's only 9.30pm and you've already been asleep for 20 minutes! It's an achievement as you last most weekends without a nap and still be able to last up till close to 11pm. Hhmm.. I think I should get daddy to put you to bed in future.. since he's certainly doing a better job than I am.

Weekend baking...

Ok, this was 2 weekends ago. But better late than never...

I love the time we spend baking. Yes, there are times when you drive me up the wall by spilling my flour everywhere or "taxing" from the cookie, but it's all in then fun and spending time together. Here's my little assistant helping me make another batch of those yummy cookies:

Sifting the flour.. and spilling some all over the floor and worktop



Rolling the batter into small balls before baking them (and taxing some of the choc chips too!)

By the time all the cookies were ready, it was just in time for us to head to the club for a swim. We had pizza for supper that day too. So guess who was my little assistant again:

"Food taster" testing our the tomato puree

Our 3-Cheese Pizza

And this is how we have most of our weekends.. Filled with food and fun.

Cars... and something else...

It's interesting how you are still crazy over cars. Of course, you are no longer interested in Myvi's anymore. Instead, you are more interested in the Audi.. specifically the Audi TT! Although there was once when we saw the Audi TT and the Audi R8 in the workshop and you instantly fell in love with the R8.. and abandoned the TT.

But a few days later, you've reverted back to talking about the TT... probably even forgotten that the R8 looks like. Also, your fascination with cars have also included another specification to the car. The more exhaust pipe the car has.. the faster the car is supposed to be. Which is good for you..

As for motorcycles, as long as they make a loud "vrooommm" they are classified as "superbikes" even if it's just a little bigger than the normal motorcycles which we see on the road.

Yesterday, we saw several REAL superbikes, so I wanted to take some pictures of you with them. But when I asked you to put your hand on the motorcycles, you were afraid to do so.. maybe worried that the bike might fall down?

See.. you look so rigid and nervous next to to motorcycles:

In the end, you finally agreed to let me put you on the motorcycles seat. And you were so happy. You even commented that the handles were too far for you! What to do.. short arms...

You are even asking me to buy you a TT. You told me to use all my money to buy a car for you. Yeah.. the only TT you'll ever get from me would be a model Audi TT!! Sorry.. unless I strike lottery tomorrow. And before that happens, I'll need to buy lottery first! Any suggestion for numbers, Evan?

Rain rain go away

It was raining quite heavily this morning. And this was what you were doing while waiting for daddy to come down...
..just looking at the rain falling. Then we had to go off to school/work.

Sunday.. continued

We knew that you'd kick a fuss if you do not get to wash the car as planned. So although Kakak had already washed the car in the morning and you had just fallen asleep, we went ahead as planned. I tried to wake you up (after napping for close to an hour) and after a little convincing you woke up all energized and ready to wash the car.

Took these pictures of you and daddy washing the car from upstairs. Didn't want to get in the way of the hose!

After waiting and waiting for the bread to proof twice, the bread was finally ready at around 8.30pm. The whole house smelled of bread, and daddy said it smelled like a bakery. The dough was split into 3 loafs and this is what we got. 1.5 of the bread was finished within the same day. I think you ate 90% of 1 loaf. Have to remember to write down this recipe. It's nice and fluffy.

Lazy Sunday

Early in the morning you told Ah Kong that you wanted to "take the ship which can carry cars". We scratched out heads wondering what you meant. Finally realised that you wanted to take a ride on the ferry. We tried to convince you to make the trip next week when we go back to BM, but nOooOOooo you had to go on the ferry today.

So after everyone was ready, we all climbed into daddy's car and headed to the Penang Bridge. We went to BM to have the famous yam rice which was really yummy. After lunch, we headed to Butterworth.

We had to wait for 1 ferry before it was our turn to go into the ferry. As you were still recovering from the tummy virus, you kept feeling lethargic on and off. But the moment we got into the ferry, you were all energetic again. It was a nice ride as today's weather is not too warm (and still not rainy)

When we arrived on the island, it was still rather early, and despite you feeling tired again, you said that you did not want to go home yet. And since you've been a good boy, and did not take any sweet things since Friday as Dr Mary had advised, we headed to Queensbay Mall as we wanted to buy your yogurt drink.

Ah Ma offered to buy the drinks while we headed to J.Co for the yogurt. Did a little shopping and headed home. Here's some picture of you at J. Co. You made silly faces the moment I wanted to take a picture of you!

You kept saying that you felt tired (just so daddy would carry you??), but insisted that you did not want to nap. Ok then. You're watching tv since Ah Kong and daddy are busy and I'm waiting for the bread to proof. Hopefully it'll turn out all right.

Going to the Beach

We had nothing much to do over the weekend. So we decided to take the long way back home.. yup, around the island after lunch. We stopped a while at the Teluk Bahang dam and continued on our way.

We were on the lookout for the "Bao Sheng" durian farm. We finally found it, but when we drove in, there were too many people for us to find out where exactly we were supposed to buy the durians from. Worst still, there were so many cars, daddy had to make many tries before he could turn the car around and go back up the steep slope.

We hopped back into the car and continued our drive. After a while you were very quiet. I asked you what was the matter but you did not answer me. We continued to drive as daddy wanted to search for the beach in Balik Pulau. after a very long drive we finally found it. If not for the directions from his friend, I don't think we'd have taken that route.

Anyhow, it was very hot as it was around 2p.m.. There were quite a number of people having a picnic there. After daddy had parked the car, he brought you to go nearer to the beach. He put you in the sea water but after a while you did not want to go near anymore.

So we headed back to the car. When we got into the car, you finally voiced your concern "Mummy, how are we going to go home?" Ahh.. you were worried that we could not go home. No wonder you kept so quiet during the drive. I told you that this round will bring us back home. We'll just need to follow the road. You weren't too convinced, but you did not ask the question anymore. I think you were relieved when we finally got home.

Later on, you told me that you wanted to go for a picnic by the seaside. So looks like I have to ask for directions on how to get to the Teluk Kumbar beach.

Shhh... no talking

Daddy, Ah Kong and Ah Ma were just about to start watching "Angels & Demons" on Blu Ray and you seemed keen on watching the movie too. So as you settled in between Ah Kong and Ah Ma, we told you that you were not allowed to talk, as this is our "home cinema" just like when we went to the cinema last week.

So what did you say when anyone spoke? (Even before the movie started...). "SSSHHHHH NO TALKING in the cinema". Hehe..

But even before the movie actually started, you said that you wanted to go upstairs. Sigh.. so here I am posting about it while everyone else is enjoying the movie. As for you.. you are also enjoying a movie.. your Tom and Jerry cartoon to be precise. I don't get how you can watch the same DVD over and over again!