Water-less Weekend in Penang

It was a scheduled water interruption, which was supposed to start on Friday evening at 10pm up till 10pm on Saturday. We had initially planned to just stay at home since we still have the containers to store the water and would go to the golf club to shower. But turned out that the club also closed the showers to the members!

Then Ah Ma didn't feel well and decided that she did not want to go to the condo with Ah Kong. So in the end, the 3 of us decided to join him at the condo. We sure had a lot to pack, clothes, towels, beddings. Then we headed in 2 cars: Mei-mei with Ah Kong and daddy and I in another car where we stopped at Jaya Grocer to pick up some stuff for the condo. 

By the time we settled down, it was quite late. Unfortunately, Mei-mei's room air-con decided to KO. So you slept in the room with me, and daddy slept on the floor. We did not have extra bedding for the other room. 

The next day, we woke up, had a shower and headed to Tanjung Bungah market for breakfast before heading to Island Glades to send you to music class. Then went back home and got some stuff. Ah Kong also went home as he'd forgotten his medicine pack. So he brought Ah Ma back to the condo too.

Morning view from the balcony

While you had initially insisted not to miss ballet lessons, you ended up deciding to skip it. So we picked you up then stopped by the shop to pick up Ah Ma's hearing aids. Then I placed an order for a pizza Margherita at Otto Pizza and we picked it on the way back to Batu Ferringhi.

We relaxed around the house and in the evening, we went for a swim. Then we had to go off as it looked like a storm was coming. You'd spotted the parasailer while swimming, so took a photo of them from the balcony when we went home.

We decided that to be on the safe side, dinner was to be from Tanjung Bungah onwards towards Batu Ferringhi. So we tried out this Japanese Restaurant. Some home cooking style. The food was good and reasonably priced too. 

Supposed to be rose shaped, but it cannot be clearly seen in the photo

Decorations

We had some appetizers and each a main:

On the next day, you had no Karate lessons. So we got to sleep in a little. For breakfast, daddy convinced me to take a walk to the main road where there are Malay stalls selling nasi lemak bungkus. Urgh.. the uphill walk is tough.. finally relented to walk there. And what did we discover? The shops were closed!!! Arghhh... he asked if I'd wanted to walk to the nearby (not really near) McDonald's, and he got a "NO" as an answer. So we walked up the hill to the condo then headed to the carpark to get the card and drive over. 

For lunch, we decided to try the relatively newly renovated Astaka Hillside. The place was surprisingly airy and had an interesting variety of food choices. As it was still early, we headed to Island 88 (a.k.a. Island Plaza) where we did a little shopping then headed back home. 

Tuition was at the usual 3pm. It was supposed to extend to 5pm, but teacher didn't so once you were done, we headed downstairs to the pool.

View from the pool

Water baby having fun

Then it was time to head back, shower and head out to dinner before going home. We decided to go to the Astaka again. 

By the way, it was a good thing that we decided to stay at the condo. The water supply ended up returning 10 hours later (8am on Sunday) due to some high tide causing delays to the schedule. 

2025 School Excursion - Tropical Fruit Farm

Today is the excursion day. Your class year is heading to the Penang Tropical Fruit Farm. On the days leading to today, your friends reminded you NOT TO lose your bag again! Ahaha... 

As usual, everyone were told to arrive in school by 7am, but a quick check on Find my iPhone at 8am showed that you were still in school. Shortly after that you started to move.

Later you showed me this: 

Yup, a papaya tree. Not sure why you were so interested in this. 

Some parents in the chat group also showed what was served: spaghetti and fried rice.

Later daddy and I went to school to pick you up at around 4pm. 

I had given you some cash to buy whatever you wanted. So you came back with a bunch of banana, a box of tea for Ah Ma, a little ship in a bottle for daddy and also a bottle of shampoo for yourself. When asked how come I got nothing, you said that I'd usually get something whenever you go on a trip, so none for me this time 😒

Lunch at Queensbay

Today Ah Kong and Ah Ma brought you out to lunch. You ended up in Madam Kwan's. You messaged me, complaining that it's like eating kopitiam food in an expensive restaurant. Ah well... at least they brought you out.. so don't complaint!

They also brought you for dessert. Here's the strawberry and matcha ice-cream from Inside Scoop.

Thosai breakfast

Surprisingly, you are willing to wake up early on your day off just to eat thosai. We attempted to come on Friday but the usual shop was closed. Today, they finally put up a sign to say that they will be closed 2 months for renovations! 

So we tried another shop.. a chain which we'd normally avoid, but alas.. beggars cannot be choosers! Sadly, it isn't as nice as our usual place. Ah well.. next time we will go straight to their other branch. 

Making a face when asked to pose with the paper thosai!

Karate Exams: Brown 4

Today was exam day. Sensei gave those being examined today extra lessons yesterday evening. Saturday sure was a busy day for you: music in the morning, ballet in the afternoon then karate in the evening.

You had a light breakfast, then changed. And off we went to Majlis Sukan Negeri where the exams are held. We arrived at 8.40am, a little earlier than requested, but better than being rushed and then stressed before the exams.

After a short wait, it was time for your group to go into the examination hall. 

And then the testing started. This time, the examiner sat on the stage, giving him a better view of everyone.

Took some videos. Here's one.. which somehow is in slow motion.. of you sparring:

Then, that was it. Exams are over. Caught up with you and headed off. Your seniors asked you how it went and you shook your head. You apparently were not aware that you needed to spar! 

Update 21 Apr: Sensei sent a message to say that everyone passed the exams. Great job! On to Brown 3.

Cheng Beng Day

It was to start later as we needed to wait for Ah Pek and family to arrive from Singapore. Daddy and I tried to buy chee cheong fun from our favourite stall, but alas.. it was not open when we arrived before 7.30am. We did stop by another coffee shop to pick up coffee for whoever wanted some. 

We finally left the house to the cemetery at around 8.45am. It's just a short ride from the Ipoh house and there was ample parking along the entrance. This year's date was after the "real date" on 4th April. So there was barely any other families there. 

Since it was late, it was rather hot with the sun bearing down on us. Of course, we were prepared, dressed up comfortably and armed with big umbrellas. 

We settled everything by 9.40am and headed to the next stop, the columbarium where other Ah Tai, 6th Chek Kong and Sue Kor-kor are. It was cool here and we sat around chatting while waiting for the departed to "enjoy" the food. 

Girl Power: All great-grandkids in attendance this year are girls!

We went to K-10 for lunch, which was already pre-ordered. Then headed home to shower and relax. Later, mei-mei went out with Leanne Ah Mm and Vianna to STG for dessert. 

Dinner was in Tong Hoi. There were 19 of us, so we had 2 tables in the reserved room. 

Our Ban clan

And food was delicious!

Didn't take photos of all the food served. It was slow paced (so unlike the rushed dinner we had during CNY). 

Then headed home to chat over more drinks. 

It always amazes me that most of the clan tries to make it back for Cheng Beng every year, another gathering in Ipoh other than CNY. 

Weekend in Ipoh

Time to head back to Ipoh. This time for Cheng Beng. We decided to leave a little earlier to have dinner there. Ah Kong had asked if we wanted to go for Ngar Choy Kai in Cowan Street. We arrived at around 6.20pm, and Chek Kong and Chim Poh were there in queue waiting for a table for us. 

Look at the lady boss, busy chopping the chicken:

We finally got our table. Placed our order and our food arrived shortly. 

Daddy ordered 11 bowls of hor fun for the 7 of us

Big plate of beansprouts

Daddy had ordered 1.5 but we were given a larger chicken instead. Forgot to take a picture of our chicken. Only of the empty plates:

We then had to wait a while for our takeaway order. Then we headed back home with Chek Kong and Chim Poh while daddy drove Ah Kong and Ah Ma to a nearby pharmacy as they'd forgotten to pack their medicine.

Grilled Onigiri

Guess what daddy found in the freezer section in Village Grocer..?

Grilled onigiri. And it only needed to be heated in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. Et voila!

Daddy made it a little yummier by whipping out his trusty blow torch!

Steamboat Night

As usual, when you're back, we try to feed you all the food which you are less likely to eat when in KL. Well you do get to eat steamboat in KL (you and your friends ate so many trays of meat!) but we thought would be nice to eat that at home too. Had to eat on a Friday as we were running out of days to feed you! 🤣

We bought most of the ingredients in advance from many places: Go Noodles, Jaya Grocer, Village Grocer, Aeon as each place had a specific ingredient which was best quality/flavour. One new place we discovered today is Meijiya where we managed to buy sliced beef and a good price. 

It's always fun to eat at home, as we can buy more of the preferred ingredients, eat at a slow pace, we get to have the sauce we like and you can go lie down on the sofa halfway through the meal! Best of all, enjoy in air-conditioned comfort at home. 

 

19 Years Old!

We were over the moon when you changed your mind and decided to come back to Penang for the holiday. And luckily too, you managed to get reasonably priced air tickets and Alex Ku-ku and Ah Kim were able to pick you up from your place and send you to KLIA. Even better they asked you to stay over at their place a day earlier then send you to the airport the next day.

So you made it home to Penang on your birthday. We agreed on the menu: Japanese night. It was the weekend before Hari Raya and we were afraid of the heavy traffic expected in Penang. So the offer was to eat at home and we can enjoy a traffic free dinner. 

Of course, plans sometimes get messed up. Daddy and I woke up to buy your favourite CKT. Then we went home and he left to go with Ah Ma to Fettes Park market to pick up the salmon. Lo and behold.. the seller was away on holiday! Oh no! No salmon. 

So daddy and I rushed out to try our luck in Jaya Grocer. They sometimes only have trout. But we were in luck.. they did have salmon. So we bought some and headed home. Unfortunately, we did not dare risk eating the salmon as sashimi. Had to strike off the sashimi from the menu.

Your flight arrived on time and you happily gobbled up the 2 plates of CKT. Then went upstairs to sleep.. 

For dinner, we planned to start off with the appetizers. Sushi was replaced with grilled prawns and grilled saba.

Had a family photo before eating:

Cheers to the birthday boy:

Then daddy and I went back into the kitchen to cook the salmon and steaks. Ah Ma also came in to cook the vegetables. Here's the spread:

On top of these, we also had miso soup and fried garlic:

We had also bought sake a couple of days before and left it in the fridge to chill. Another bottle was the one we had brought back from Japan. Wah.. I tell you, there is a vast difference in the 2 sake!

After clearing up and letting our tummies settle, it was birthday cake time. Here's your funny smile with the passion fruit flavour which you had requested:

Happy 19th Birthday to our firstborn

💓

Date Night

Today, Mei-mei had a party to attend. Ah Ma also had a dinner with Uncle Sin Jeow and his business partner. That left Ah Kong, and as we planned to stay out the whole (nearly) 4 hours instead of going home and back out to pick Mei-mei, he was left to settle his own dinner. 

We had done so many research, but still could not decide on where to go. In the end, since it was still early, we headed to Noordin Street to check out this yakitori place called Koshien Yakitori Japanese Bar and Restaurant. We were even lucky to get street parking right opposite the shop. But as it was a corner lot where people would turn into the carpark, we decided against that slot and opted to pay for the (most likely to be expensive) parking. 

We ordered some food and started off with the snow beer:

Snow beer in the making

Koebi karaage

Then we had skewers/yakitori:

We moved on to sake (but it was not the right pick)

Daddy had placed an order for more food and just before these arrived, he went to the loo. Luckily I did not start eating, it wasn't our order 🤣

This was our last order for the night. Wasn't too great. Will give it a pass if we ever visit here again. 

It was a nice date night. Slow and easy dining. We finished a little too early to pick Evelyn, so we headed to Gurney Paragon just to walk walk until it was time to pick her up. 

Bayu Ferringhi

Ah Kong's tenant had moved out of the unit after living there for 10 years. He had asked daddy to go over and remove something (it ended up being many more tasks that that!!). So we decided to head over after karate and lunch. 

You also brought your laptop along so that you could attend your online tuition classes. You were so excited to see the condo. You obviously had no recollection of visiting it. The last time you came, you were only 1 years old! 

Here you are in the room that you "jom" to be yours:

Daddy ended up not removing the tubes which Ah Kong had initially asked him to do. But he had to move the clothes dryer to the drying yard, try to fix the dry kitchen sink, remove the screw plugs left by the tenant, fill up the holes in the wall and fix the spoilt light in the living room. 

Was chatting with Ko-ko and he asked to send photos. Here's a photo of the amazing view from the unit:

Daddy finished up just as you finished tuition. Then we hopped back into the car and headed home.