Farewell Dinner for Benedict

We have just sent Benedict off to Airport. He is flying back to Miri, then Auckland.

My parents have booked a private room in Lok Thian for his farewell. Val enjoyed the food and the most important she enjoyed everyone's company. After she finished her dinner, while we are still eating ours (seafood), she walked around in the room saying Hi, Hello, Cheers, Hi 5, Cuddle please etc to everyone.

During the dinner, I show her something very quickly and she gave us a big yell: Hold On please~~~~ That shocked everyone...hahahah.......don't know how much things she know eh........

I am not too sure how she will cope without Benedict for a month. I've just put her to sleep and she has already asked for Daddy. =)

Grandpa's Workshop

We went to my dad's new workshop near airport. The re-location will be happening soon. Val looked at the excavator and she would like to be in it. She kept yelling 'Truckie'. When we asked her if she would like to sit in there, she answered 'Yes, Please.'

She has been talking a lot. We are very impressed with her improvement in Mandarin. Now, she knows which Channel is kids Channel and she will demand to watch it. All the adults ended up watching Kids Channel. =D

Miscellaneous

My cousin got married on Monday, 3rd Dec. Phew, that's the final wedding dinner that we have to go. =D

This is the first time out of so many years that I get to eat durian. So yummy~~~~~~~~~~I know some people hates the smell....but it's my love!!!!!!! Guess who has eaten the missing one....heheheh.....

Above is our famous Sarawak Laksa. We bought it from the Kopitiam near Kuching Specialist. It is one of the famous laksa stalls in Kuching. I know my brother in Scotland must miss it a lot. Poor you, get to eat bread and potatoes only. Muahahahahahhahah............

Cat Museum

Yesterday, we drove over to North Shore Kuching to visit the Cat Museum. Kuching City means Cat City. We have to pay for taking photographs inside the museum. I've been there years ago and I knew there wasn't much to see.

Well, apparently they had expanded quite a bit. You can find different cats or anything related to cats in there. It would be a great place for cat lovers. I'm not animal lovers and on top of that, the weather is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hot. After that, we left there to go for fresh coconut drink!!!!

In Kuching city central, we have a big white cat statute at the beginning of Pandungan Road and 4 cats at the end of Pandungan Road. Right in the middle of MacDonald, Standard Chartered Bank and Holiday Inn, there is a group of cats statutes which represent a family and the kittens are playing.

Val loves to go there. She would yell out "Big Cat". Grandparents know she loves it and purposely make a few round in that area to make her happy!!!!! =D

Sarawak Cultural Village

Finally, it stops raining.

We have decided to drive to Sarawak Cultural Village. Well, I had been there years ago. But I have never driven there before. My parents are a bit worried. Anyway, we made it there and it's a great place for a visit.

Benedict had never been there. He's very anxious what's in there. In the village, it has all the traditional houses for our locals, i.e. Bidayuh, Iban, Melanau and of course chinese and malays and others (which I couldn't remember)...heheheh....The location itself is very nice and close to nature. It's near to Mount Santubong.

Each houses have shown how they live in the past. Their culteries, kitchen, living room etc. They even cook/bake traditional food/cake in the houses and sell them to the tourists. We bought some Kuih Sepit and Kuih Jala. They have people wearing in the traditional costumes welcoming all the guests. And you can take photos with them.

For non-locals, they were given a booklet as a souvenir. Each houses would have a special stamp and you can collect the stamp onto the booklet.

The village has the cultural shows at 11.30am and 4pm. Lots of tourists were there and they enjoyed it so much. The staffs have made the shows very fun, humorous and attractive. At the end of the show, everyone was invited onto the stage to try the traditional dances and photos time.

If anyone of you are coming to Kuching, do visit the cultural village. I am sure you will enjoy it. =D

Sarawak Museum

Sarawak Museum is one of the well-known museum in South East Asia for its 'old age'...heheh......The museum has the dinosaur exhibition for couple of months. Since it's raining, we have decided to do something indoor.

It's a very kids friendly exhibition. They have games, educational toys and of course dinosaurs in there. Val was running around, trying all the games and pressing all the buttons.

On the second floor, they have another exhibition for chinese antiques from China and exhibition for our malays traditions. There is no entrance fee charged. So, it's good.....hehehe......=S

Poh Hui's Wedding (2)

The wedding reception was held in Hilton Hotel, Kuching. We have prepared cake and fortune cookies as small gifts for everyone.

Val refused to look at the master table. We found out she is afraid of 'make-up' people. hehehhehe.....whenever I turn around to look at them, she told me : Turn around, mummy. She was clingy, but everyone in the table claimed she has behave very well. At least, she doesn't climb up and down and run around.

The dishes were delicious. Master Table has special decoration (photos provided above).....heart shape some more....=) Red wine and beer were provided too.

My youngest bro has come back to join this special ocassion. Unfortunately, my second bro has just left for Scotland 2 months ago, so he has missed all the NICE FOODS!!!!!!! Of course, we do think of him when we had these foods....yummy...yummy........

Poh Hui's Wedding (1)

My first bro, Poh Hui, got married on 29th Nov in Kuching. His wife, Serena, is from KK.

Hui picked Serena from Hilton Hotel and arrived at his new house is Hui Sing. Then, at his place, we need to perform Tea Ceremony. I'm nervous too.....as this is the first time I get to drink the tea. Of course, have to give ang pow (red packet) lah. heheheh.....

Everything went well, the couple looked very 'happy'...and enjoyed their special day. Lots of friends and relatives came early in the morning to help out. We have prepared Sio Bee, Sio Bao, O Bao, Coconut Jelly, Konnyaku Jelly, Kek Lapis in 3 flavours (chocolate, coffee and cheese), Lao Po Bing etc......Everyone from other places love our local Sio Bee and Sio Bao. =D

At around 11, we provided a buffet for everyone. The buffet was from Lok Thian, one of our well known local restaurant. Vegetarian food was provided too.

Val enjoyed herself very much as there were few kids there. They played together, the balloon, the trucks and watched cartoon together. =D

Jenny's Wedding 26/11

Benedict's only sister, Jenny, got married on 26 Nov 2007. All relatives from all over Malaysia and overseas came and joined this special ocassion.

That morning, the first problem that I had was Val refuse to put her gown on. Man, took me more than half an hour to persuade her. Later, the groom, Peter, arrived with a bunch of friends. Jenny and her friends were in her room waiting to 'abuse' Peter. Peter managed to pass all the tests successfully.

It's their customs to give a bow to the elders in the family before they took off to church for the ceremony. The ceremony started at 9. It wasn't a long ceremony, but it's very warmth and sweet. Jenny was very close to Val. She bought her the Barney and always put the Barney's VCDs on for her. However, that day, after Jenny had the make-up on, Val refused to look at her. She even cried in the church.

The wedding reception was held in Mega Hotel, Miri. My mum and my sis flown in that morning from Sabah, where my bro's wife's having their reception the day before in their hometown. Val was crying during the wedding whenever Jenny walked pass. We kept telling her it's the same aunty, but she just refused to recognise that's her Barney's aunty. =D