Batu Cave 一日游

 A few weeks back, my cousin- Andrew had invited me to visit him at his new business venture at Batu Cave (KL, Selangor, Malaysia), he had recently start-up a Durian Buffet business and is working hard at it since. 

As he had reminded me for a third time to visit him, I decided to go and show support.
He asked me to bring his sis but his mom (my Aunt Margaret) was much more keen in going there. 
And so, that was the beginning of our one-day adventure.

Took the budget plane- Tigerair there.
For me, it is a tad scary to be travelling in a small plane. The noise is unsettling.
Besides the first ten minutes after take-off, the rest of the time I was more-or-less more settled.
The transit time to LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) in KL from Singapore is only about 40-45 minutes. But of course the check-in time etc, are fixed (time) expense.

Nevertheless, I prefer to take a flight than being on a coach bus. About this point, many people would disagree with me (like my cousin's investor friends,,, they took Aeroline express coach and they swear it's better than the plane).

We tried to get a cab from outside the terminal but they do not take walk-ins passengers.
We had to book a cab from the counter. The fare there was RM93.70 although my cousin told me it could have been RM60. Anyway, for an hour's ride from LCCT to Batu Cave, I think RM100 will also be  reasonable.... 

 When we got there, a staff briefed us on the origins of various species of durians.

 Seeds that become flowers.

 I've learned that most Maoshan Wang durians have a "star" at their bottoms, while the D24s will show a round circle, the size of a 50 cents coin.
I like "Ang Her" (red prawn 红虾) durian most. They are bitter-sweet and mesh-soft.

 My Aunt Margaret.

 The facade of the shop.
and the view from the back of the shop (very near Batu Cave indeed)

 So many Facebook fans came

 Other tropical fruits like Mangosteen & Passionfruit (and Dragon fruit, Guava, etc) are included in the buffet.

 Since we had time till late evening, we decided to explore Batu Cave.
However, I was not prepared to climb the stairs. (Lazy bones)
But my Aunt Margaret,,,,, she inched closer, and closer.... and told me - "why don't we just climb 3 of the steps for heng heng" (luck). I was like,,,,,,,,,, errrr, okay,,,,,,,
When we got to the foot of the stairs, she asked - "you mean you can't climb this?"
I was like,,,,,,,, of course I can climb this lah.
And so, that was how we went up. (half way up, that is.) Apparently, there were more steps after the first landing. I shall climb further up next time!

 See, she inched closer and closer to the foot of the cave, lured the pigeons and I.

 See my gleaming perspiration.....

there are more stairs.... next time

 From the inside, looking out.

 Delighted Aunt.

 Let's go back.

Easter Eggs Art n' Crafts (with updates)

 My sis came over to play with KiCo since she misses them and I also had to go with my aunt to a day-trip and my sis could spend some quality time bonding with the children.

They always like to tease Colin when I'm not around.......

 Wa...... this does look like Colin huh?

 Other crafty stuff.

Apparently, the paints didn't work well........

Egg race.

 The night before, she was already anticipating the playtime with my sis.... had me sketch her some Easter Egg designs.

 Finally, this is what she made at school. She said she designed it all on her own.

A chick hatched.

Happy Easter to my Family and Friends. I love you. She says.

苦尽甘来

I'm glad my sis passed the rounds of interviews and will be working at an organisation she looks forward to. Not just that, I'm glad she likes the job description and I'm glad her new employer expressed eagerness about her joining the team.

Coincidentally, her BF has also landed on a new job with better prospects.
Not just better prospects, I'm glad he enjoys the new work more.
I think one and one's work is quintessential; so taking pride in one's work is taking pride in oneself.  

I think work is not just a job.
I think it will be fortunate if you like your job and enjoy your work.
And it will be even more fortunate if your job inspires you and also pays your bills.
Better still, pay for everything you ever want.
But then, that's just what I think.

We are not poor, but we are not yet living freely.
If we had not suffered, we will know no pain and may become too vain.
But every dog will hope to have its day, and every dog will get its day.

So, I wish for all the people who had known hardship; 苦尽甘来吧！
干杯！

Water Fountain

She always pretends to be a Greek statue, sprouting jets of water on top of a fountain each time she walks past the area outside the church. I don't know why. Her way of goofing, I guess.

Drought

It's all gone........................................... how our earth suffers.

Reading Club

 Waaa.... encouraging results, the Chinese teacher must have been kind.

This is another new book for the week.

Each week, besides reading the story book they've been assigned, the kids would also sketch anything they like about the story. For instance, on that book <<我的玩具>>, she drew a girl with a trumpet 喇叭, drum 锣鼓, as well as 皮球 ball, which are the new words she has learned.

Coffeeshop Near ICA

Early Wednesday morning, we went ICA to collect my gleaming, new passport.
I was surprised to find a rather dated coffeeshop, and it has a switch panel I haven't seen in 30 years.
"nipple" switches, I call them. LOL.
Well, the lighting is working fine. 

My appointment was at 8.15am, we reached there 5 minutes earlier and collected the passport within five minutes. Wow, that's super efficient.

Every day Breakfast

All About Isolation

Last week, as I was browsing some news on my phone and came across an article about how athletes use a "float tank" to recuperate and prepare for peak performances. The tank brings many other benefits besides healing of the body. I decided to make an appointment for a session because my Reiki teacher had shared with me about this, some ten years ago. So,,,, I went! 

I took these pictures before going into the tank. 


For a start, let me tell you that I was very anxious. I was nervous from the time I booked the appointment. I was nervous while waiting for my appointment, nervous thinking about total darkness. You see, I am afraid of water and even more so if "trapped" in an encasement, pitched dark. You know, even when I opened my eyes darn big, and starred darn hard; I can't see a darn thing! So, it was after many attempts that I finally summed up enough courage to switch off the lights and stayed in the dark. (there is a button inside the tank for the lights, but when I panicked, you know, I just panicked!)

Because I took so long to settle down (probably more than 30 minutes), I was feeling a little queasy. All this time I asked myself why was I doing this, and I felt I was wasting time. Then finally I told myself that if this is the last time I am ever sitting inside a capsule full of water so salty, I would jolly well just try to keep still! And so I did. And then, it happened soooooooo, suddenly. Suddenly, I was immobilized. Of course I can still move if I wanted to but I didn't want to. I feel nothing. Even my heart pounding sound became faint. I don't feel the water, the very, very strong salt smell became less uncomfortable. Basically, I was awake but it felt that I was somewhere else. You can call it a meditative state, an altered state, I will just call it the Theta state (4- 7.5 Hz), or the Delta state (0.5 - 4 Hz)? It must have been 40 minutes but before I know it,,,,,,,,, the gentle music roused me. That deep relaxation stage felt like only 5 minutes. I felt neutral.

I didn't give it much thought, I don't feel exceptionally different after the session 90 min session.

So I went about eating Laksa after the session. Can't wait to go home and play with KiCo.

Then,,,, something happened.
As usual, Kiki will keep shouting out for me to join them, climb at the playground, chase them etc.
As usual, I was very reluctant to lift my bum off the seat, whichever the seat is.
But then, I thought I just "action climb" the netting at the playground (vertical net). Before I know it, I was at the top most line. Kiki was shouting - "Mama! Mama! Come DOWN! come down!"
Wow,,,,,,,,, I haven't climbed a net in 30 years. I had very little body ache that evening.
I felt like skate boarding!
Can't be that float session, could it be?  I really wonder.
For once in my life, there is hope to regain the agility I've missed. I miss skating, I miss doing stunts. Basically, I miss moving my body.

So, people; you guessed it. I will be floating again. And again, and again.
I want to see how permanent or impermanent the effects.
I want to understand how I may change.

At this moment, Derrick (the owner), operates from home. He's branching out soon. You can visit the website or look them up from Facebook. http://www.palmavefloatclub.com/   

You can also read more about the tank from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank or Google or get some books on the subject if you are keen.