Our first Groupon holiday deal! Well the only thing special about this deal was the free dinner & breakfast that we got. This was because we had to pay RM150 more on top of the RM499 for the 30% Groupon holiday package at Sepang's Gold Coast iconic Golden Palm Tree Resort.
This stunning resort is located barely 30 minutes from LCCT. It was easy to find as there were signboards all the way. We realized that this resort was the location for Lee Chong Wei's wedding photos. Little wonder that he chose this place as the scenery guaranteed a stunning shot!
The resort had the most unusual roofs I had ever seen. Conical tipped & thatched roofs made with brown hay the resort reception area was airy & had a great sense of openness of space. There was no airconditioning just cool breeze blowing in from the Straits of Melaka. Standing at the centre of the circular reception area, one could see rows of chalets on concrete pillars gently fanning out into the sea. Iconic!
Our chalet was 006 just 2 mins walk from the reception area. We were on the main branch not the leafy fronds of the palm tree! From the sky the entire resort looked like a palm tree with chalets hugging the sides of the main trunk. At the end of the main trunk was the clubhouse with the infinity pool, gym, spa & restaurants. If it was a palm-tree this part would have been the part where the palm fruits grow!
Continue walking beyond the clubhouse and you will find yourself in the midst of the branches of the palm tree-like structure with the higher-end chalets hugging the palm fronds!
These chalets had sunken baths and 2 rooms unlike ours which had only one room.
Our chalet had windows opening out to the sea. We were facing the rising sun but could not see it as the sky was cloudy throughout our stay.
A lovely 4 poster bed with lacey drapes greeted us. There was also a palanquin or a day bed. 3 people can enjoy a most comfortable stay in the room.
After checking in we checked out the free activities. Not all activities were free. The X-treme park with paintballs, go-kart & archery required payment. However cycling tours were free. We opted for the advanced tour which took us single file into palm oil estates & the Sepang countrysided. We saw bungalows & large sprawling homes as we cycled around the aread surrounding the resort. We realized that the bungalows were being auctioned for about RM140k per home! A deal by any standard!
After a good ride, we got ready for our dinner. Dinner was at Stimbot, a 2 mins walk from our chalet. I love steamboat as it is light & nutritious & healthy. The restaurant was also open-air without airconditioning. High ceiling fans hung down from thatched roofs. Come to think of it, all the resort venues had very high ceilings with interesting thatched roofs made of brown woven hay. The design was not only unique but kept the place cool without the need for usage of electricity.
We then watched a lovely dance performance by the staff. 1Malaysia dances from the Malay, Chinese & Indian community were presented. There was also the Ngajat, a hunter's dance from East Malaysia.
While Tim watched his shows late into the night, I was fast asleep by 9 pm!
Morning broke & we had a good & leisurely breakfast at Bila-Bila Restaurant. The variety was just great. However most of the food was Chinese & Western. Apparently many of their guests were from Taiwan. Porridge, rice, hai lam mee, koay teow soup, waffles, omelettes, baguettes, salads...left us full!
We needed a good walk-around after breakfast & went for some photo-shoots.
That very much ended our 2-day one night holiday at this iconic resort.
We will be back with the children....if there is another offer!
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Competent Chinese @ work in England
Adeline writes on David's job...
"They say that the British Economy is so bad and a million are unemployed.
Strangely, two of David's co-workers have resigned in the same month. Apparently,the job is too demanding for them! When I heard this news, I thought 'Then how are they going to survive?' and 'A lot of jobs out there now meh?'.
Anyway, David is the only competent worker left and his supervisors like him a lot. Can bet that if he didn't need to go back to Msia, he'd be made supervisor too (higher wage). Looks like jobs can be few but that don't prevent people from being picky."
Note: I think they can afford to quit as they are on the dole
"They say that the British Economy is so bad and a million are unemployed.
Strangely, two of David's co-workers have resigned in the same month. Apparently,the job is too demanding for them! When I heard this news, I thought 'Then how are they going to survive?' and 'A lot of jobs out there now meh?'.
Anyway, David is the only competent worker left and his supervisors like him a lot. Can bet that if he didn't need to go back to Msia, he'd be made supervisor too (higher wage). Looks like jobs can be few but that don't prevent people from being picky."
Note: I think they can afford to quit as they are on the dole
Physical labour
Physical nature of my job, Adeline writes....
"It's tough. I carry heavy boxes all day. I sustain cuts all over my hands. These are painful. At night when I wait for the bus, I see my co-workers waiting with me. While I like they're contentedness, I wonder how they can stand working in this kind of job permanently. They have nowhere to go. What goals are there to achieve? If I were them, born into a family that didn't expect me to achieve, working in such a job would do the trick. I'd save up and get myself a degree. I can take a loan after all, if I were British. I would hate to be stuck in this job forever. This makes me think that the cure for laziness is hard, physical labour. Few months working in a construction site and I am sure, nobody will ever take anything for granted.
I always need something to motivate me. Mundane jobs are the worst. So even in my own mundane replenishing job, I think of things to keep it more interesting.
Like developing a system of working the replenishment carts, giving myself a time frame in which to work them, memorising item locations so that I can help customers. I am just a small girl with skinny arms and I am lugging very heavy carts and carrying heavy containers. But then I think, this is a free workout.
I think Wei Wei needs a taste of hard physical labour. No offense."
Note: Wei Wei is the nickname for my son.
"It's tough. I carry heavy boxes all day. I sustain cuts all over my hands. These are painful. At night when I wait for the bus, I see my co-workers waiting with me. While I like they're contentedness, I wonder how they can stand working in this kind of job permanently. They have nowhere to go. What goals are there to achieve? If I were them, born into a family that didn't expect me to achieve, working in such a job would do the trick. I'd save up and get myself a degree. I can take a loan after all, if I were British. I would hate to be stuck in this job forever. This makes me think that the cure for laziness is hard, physical labour. Few months working in a construction site and I am sure, nobody will ever take anything for granted.
I always need something to motivate me. Mundane jobs are the worst. So even in my own mundane replenishing job, I think of things to keep it more interesting.
Like developing a system of working the replenishment carts, giving myself a time frame in which to work them, memorising item locations so that I can help customers. I am just a small girl with skinny arms and I am lugging very heavy carts and carrying heavy containers. But then I think, this is a free workout.
I think Wei Wei needs a taste of hard physical labour. No offense."
Note: Wei Wei is the nickname for my son.
"Chappies, pet, nooh, gooh & tah!"
Adeline finally got to do check-out at Sainsburys which is not so tiring...
"On Wednesday (yesterday), I was till trained to handle the checkouts. I must say I prefer checkouts to replenishing goods on the shopfloor. My store, Sainsburys Heaton is a superstore which means it is very big. Sainsburys today posted a high profit.
I got to interact with a lot of (elderly) customers who were very patient with me because I told them it was my first time on the checkouts. They smiled a lot and chatted with me. There was a very very elderly gentlemen who had trouble packing his own goods. I offered to help but he said he was okay. The Sainsburys customers are so civilised and polite. They are mostly elderly, and mostly middle class with money to spend. Sainsburys is known to be somewhat high end.
My supervisor said it's a shame I am not officially a part of the Checkouts team because I have a very good customer manner. (I am smiley, greet customers, say good bye and have a nice day etc). So when I say good bye etc customers naturally say goodbye and smile a lot to me. David says stores employ girls because they are more approachable. So girls on the checkouts make sense.
My supervisor called everybody pet. She called me 'pet', she called the customers 'pets' and a very old gentlemen, 'pet'. "Don't forget to say bye, pet" "Don't forget to ask for their nectar card, pet" "Good days, pet" and she calls little baby boys "chappies" ie "so that's why he's not a happy chappy".
Anyway, I booked myself in for some overtime on the tills next week. This week I made GBP 169 from 16 hours of work. I hope to get more in December.
However, liking the tills does not mean I am spared a shoulder pain once I'm done. But the fact is, I enjoyed it so I could deal with the pain. I don't enjoy working in Dry Goods because the nature of the job is so mundane. I actually dread going to work those days. I also get all sorts of cuts from dealing with boxes etc.
My HR trainer asked me how I found the tills training and I told her honestly I preferred it to working in Dry Goods. She looked thoughtful and said she'll see what she can do about it.This time around I am a bit more outspoken (having been 'brainwashed' by RR) so am more noticeable in my group of trainees. The HR trainer knows me by name cause I ask lots of questions, greet her, say thanks for the training etc. Maybe it helps to be outspoken after all.
My colleagues are very nice and down to earth people. They've got strong geordie accents. You know, I like people in the North so much more than people in the South or the Midlands.
The people here are humble and friendly. They are not pretentious. They have a very heavy accent and have bad partying and drinking habits but they are not snobbish. It's nice to mingle with this section of society. They are not competitive, they are contented with their jobs (even if it doesn't pay that highly) and they are very happy people. They can even go on holidays etc. I see that they enjoy their lives even though others might think of them as low class.
Also, when around them, I talk a bit like them. Which means my sentences end with a lilt. One sounds like 'wun', no sounds like 'Nooh', go like 'gooh'.
Okay that's all for now.
Tah!"
The best fish & chips in England dates back to the 1800s
When mummy & daddy visited England, Sar Ee (my 3rd sister who is married to an Englishman) told me that the fish & chips in South Shields is the best. Although we did not have a chance to go there, Adeline did...read on....
"On Saturday (10/11) David and I visited North and South Shields. These two seaside towns were amazingly lovely and beautiful.
We had a nice day out by the seafront at North Shields and took a ferry to South Shields which is just across the river. The River Tyne joins with the ocean at North Shields, Tynemouth and South Shields.
We then had a nice stroll in South Shields Square, located an amazingly cheap biscuit shop (foods near expiry or expired, but biscuits/cereal bars can last).
Then we had the best fish and chips in all of England.
They've been around since the 1800s and have been awarded best fish and chip shop a few times. During the Queens Birthday celebrations, they were the official fish and chips providers."
Yum..yum....
"On Saturday (10/11) David and I visited North and South Shields. These two seaside towns were amazingly lovely and beautiful.
We had a nice day out by the seafront at North Shields and took a ferry to South Shields which is just across the river. The River Tyne joins with the ocean at North Shields, Tynemouth and South Shields.
We then had a nice stroll in South Shields Square, located an amazingly cheap biscuit shop (foods near expiry or expired, but biscuits/cereal bars can last).
Then we had the best fish and chips in all of England.
They've been around since the 1800s and have been awarded best fish and chip shop a few times. During the Queens Birthday celebrations, they were the official fish and chips providers."
Yum..yum....
Thursday, November 15, 2012
A good & polite young man
Well its confirmed...my youngest daughter has got a beau!
He is polite, well-behaved and handsome. And studying medicine!
The youngest girl actually wanted to study medicine until the father stopped her. According to daddy, he is doing her a favor by saying NO to her accepting the offer to medical school. Firstly, doctors lead stressful lives (remember the doctor houseman who died of an overdose)? Secondly, she is not a 10 A1s or 9 A1s scorer like her elder sister in England.
I was going 'rah-rah' for her to do medicine. Imagine no queuing in the clinics. No paying consultation fees at the clinic. Free vitamins & medication when sick! Tons of health benefits for sure.
Instead the daddy insisted she do either dentistry or pharmacy instead. My daughter eventually opted for the latter. She is really a good girl with a big heart doing a good deed for a friend who needed the last place in dentistry badly. She decided to make way for her friend!
I must have brought her up correctly despite being a career mum.
Anyway one day my sweet 20-year-old brought home a polite, good-looking young man from her Uni who turned out to be a medical student! God has heard my prayers after all!
This young man has been exemplary the day he greeted us. He made sure that the door to their room is open when they are watching movies on the computer. He greets us when they come back from dates. He drives her all the way from his home to PJ to our place in Ampang. He has a curfew to keep. He enjoys going out for meals with the family. In short we enjoy a happy camaderie with him.
I am glad to see my youngest daughter so happy. Indeed she has found her match, a perfect gentleman & a model young man with a bright future.
Oh...not forgetting to mention that he comes from a family of believers & all his brothers (like him) have names from the Bible.
I have the peace concerning my daughter's life partner...now to work on my son...
Anyone know a godly girl?
He is polite, well-behaved and handsome. And studying medicine!
The youngest girl actually wanted to study medicine until the father stopped her. According to daddy, he is doing her a favor by saying NO to her accepting the offer to medical school. Firstly, doctors lead stressful lives (remember the doctor houseman who died of an overdose)? Secondly, she is not a 10 A1s or 9 A1s scorer like her elder sister in England.
I was going 'rah-rah' for her to do medicine. Imagine no queuing in the clinics. No paying consultation fees at the clinic. Free vitamins & medication when sick! Tons of health benefits for sure.
Instead the daddy insisted she do either dentistry or pharmacy instead. My daughter eventually opted for the latter. She is really a good girl with a big heart doing a good deed for a friend who needed the last place in dentistry badly. She decided to make way for her friend!
I must have brought her up correctly despite being a career mum.
Anyway one day my sweet 20-year-old brought home a polite, good-looking young man from her Uni who turned out to be a medical student! God has heard my prayers after all!
This young man has been exemplary the day he greeted us. He made sure that the door to their room is open when they are watching movies on the computer. He greets us when they come back from dates. He drives her all the way from his home to PJ to our place in Ampang. He has a curfew to keep. He enjoys going out for meals with the family. In short we enjoy a happy camaderie with him.
I am glad to see my youngest daughter so happy. Indeed she has found her match, a perfect gentleman & a model young man with a bright future.
Oh...not forgetting to mention that he comes from a family of believers & all his brothers (like him) have names from the Bible.
I have the peace concerning my daughter's life partner...now to work on my son...
Anyone know a godly girl?
What would you do if you were me?
So what would you do if you were me?
Your son has been skipping classes every day. He takes out the car and says he is going to college but he goes to play badminton. At the end of the term, his lecturer gives you a letter listing the dates he 'pontenged' class. Although he had reasonable passing marks for his subjects but he was marked as having failed his papers due to the high standards set by the examination board. (Above 80 is considered a pass).
I have prayed, I have cajoled, I have persuaded...but I realize that a 20-year-old is not a little boy anymore. He has his own mind.
It turned out that he was not a bit interested in aircraft engineering. Dirty/dusty/having to work shifts. There is nothing glamorous in this type of work.
"I want to work in an office" that's what he has been saying to me and the daddy.
Sigh..I guess his action, his grades and marks left us with no choice.
We had to take him out for University and enrolled him in another Uni nearer our house. Now he is settled down doing a business course which he likes.
Is this common among boys? My girls don't have problems with their courses, in fact they are usually among the top!
A friend of ours just told us recently that he also switched course after his first year. I also recalled some of my law classmates who were at first enrolled in Science faculty. One or two of them switched to law mid-way.
How should I react? Such a thing would be unthinkable if I were like my parents. They would not be able to afford any change of courses!
Just have to bite the bullet and accept him as he is...SIGH!
Your son has been skipping classes every day. He takes out the car and says he is going to college but he goes to play badminton. At the end of the term, his lecturer gives you a letter listing the dates he 'pontenged' class. Although he had reasonable passing marks for his subjects but he was marked as having failed his papers due to the high standards set by the examination board. (Above 80 is considered a pass).
I have prayed, I have cajoled, I have persuaded...but I realize that a 20-year-old is not a little boy anymore. He has his own mind.
It turned out that he was not a bit interested in aircraft engineering. Dirty/dusty/having to work shifts. There is nothing glamorous in this type of work.
"I want to work in an office" that's what he has been saying to me and the daddy.
Sigh..I guess his action, his grades and marks left us with no choice.
We had to take him out for University and enrolled him in another Uni nearer our house. Now he is settled down doing a business course which he likes.
Is this common among boys? My girls don't have problems with their courses, in fact they are usually among the top!
A friend of ours just told us recently that he also switched course after his first year. I also recalled some of my law classmates who were at first enrolled in Science faculty. One or two of them switched to law mid-way.
How should I react? Such a thing would be unthinkable if I were like my parents. They would not be able to afford any change of courses!
Just have to bite the bullet and accept him as he is...SIGH!
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