Week 1: Malaysia - Singapore - Malaysia

Vacation has been over for 2 weeks now...... I'm back in the grind and not real peachy about it. Work has only gotten worse lately with a not so competent boss. (My boss is a great consultant, but a horrible manager in mine and almost all my other co-workers' opinion. But of course, no one wants to risk their neck to bring it up. Oh well, i should probably leave that to another blog). Anyway, here's the recap.

5/14 Noon: Touched down in KLIA after 30 hours of traveling. *Phew*. Mom and Dad were already there to welcome us when we arrived... well, i did take a little detour inside the DF liquor shop. Immigration and custome check was a breeze, mostly because no one really wants to stop a family traveling with a baby. They know we will only clog up the whole queue if they stop us with all our luggages. Speaking of immigration, KLIA has this 'Autogate' for Malaysian passport holder which is really cool. You step in the gate, the door closes, you put your passport on the reader, put your thumb print on the sensor, and Voila! You are cleared! And the gate is made of plexiglass so you can't steal a passport and then use the severed thumb to smuggle into the country or something. Ok..... i have a sick mind. Today also happened to be Mother's Day, so Steve and I took my family out for dinner at MinKok restaurant. Yummy! Shark fin, fresh fish, scallops, prawn, roasted baby pig, chestnut soup, etc.
Food count: beef brisket noodle (l), chinese 10-course meal (d)

5/15 Monday: Recuperation continued... Ian was also adjusting nicely to Malaysia and being around Gonggong, Popo, grand aunt and grand uncle. Went to Lake Garden with mom and dad and met some of their friends.
Food count: Asia curry laksa (b), nasi lemak w/ rendang (l), Seremban grilled crab (d).

5/16 Tuesday: Head to KL. Met up with Uncle Heng at Cheras. Went to KLCC, Twin Tower, Central Market, Petaling Square, and Time Square. Uncle Heng showed us his shop lot at Time Square.
Food count: Hakka noddle (b), Madam Kuan's nasi lemak and cendol (l), chinese restaurant (d).

5/17 Wednesday: Head to Singapore. Arrived in Singapore about 3pm. Got lost looking for hotel since i was heading the wrong direction on PIE. Road sign in Singapore was really strange. When you are on an Expressway, they don't tell you if you are heading north, south, east or west. So, we ended up at Tuas - the industrial part of the island. I told all my passengers that I just wanted to check out the Tuas Power Station. They didn't buy that. Finally got back to the correct direction, (somewhat), but still LOST! Paisei-leh! I lived in this small little island for 2 years but now i'm completely lost and my Mat Salleh husband was asking for directions. Decided to call Uncle Daniel's instead to bail us out. Found our way to Suntec City where his office was and he brought us to our hotel. I've read review on trip advisor that the hotel room was small, but wow..... luckily none of us was castrophobic. We went strolling at Clarke Quay and had dinner at a Thai restaurant.... food was worse than those of Thai 2000.

Highlight of the day was meeting up with my friends from Singapore. I haven't seen many of them since graduating high school in 199X (can't tell you or you can figure out how old I am). Everyone has sort of 'grown up', but still the same old self. Too bad we didn't have more time to spend together. It was a blast to see them all again. And guess what..... we forgot to take pictures. Arghhh!!!!
Food count: Chicken Rice (l)

5/18 Thurday: Strolled along Orchard Road, where Steve was fascinated by the House of Condom at Lucky Plaza. Walking along Orchard Road reminded me of how cool Asia is. I felt so energized. Things are moving.... FAST. There are buildings springing up everywhere, glistening shopping mall, people from all countries, all skin colors and they are so cosmopolitan that I look like the country mouse. By contrast, Kansas City feels like a dying old towne on IV. Took MRT to Chinatown, bought some trinkets for gifts for the in-laws, had lunch and off we head to the Zoo. I have always loved the Singapore Zoolongical Garden. It is in fact one of the best zoos in the world. During my high school years, I have also volunteered in the zoo a few times as part of community service. I had to clean up the 'living quater' of the tapir once. For a while there, I wasn't sure if the visitors were looking at the tapir or the silly girl scrubbing Tapir's crap. Zoo was fun for Ian, but HOT! Then, something interesting happened when we came out to the car park. The trunk of Dad's brand new Honda City wouldn't open and all our passports were inside. We decided to head to the nearest HDB flat area to try looking for a mechanic. We ended up at Yishun, and Dad promptly called Uncle Daniel for help. Uncle Daniel 'dispatched' his friend Mr. Choi to come check out the situation. After he tried the exact same trick we did several times outside of the zoo (pressing hard on the trunk and turning the key), the trunk popped open. The chance was that some luggages were in the way of the lever mechanism. Truth to tell, both Steve & I knew my dad well enough that we were too afraid to turn the key too hard to force it open when we tried. Mr. Choi didn't know Dad's personality, and he succeeded. But by the time we succeeded, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Janet already arrived at Yishun to meet us. We all ended up going 'yum cha' at the hawker's center. The best thing out of the whole incident was definitely seeing Aunt Janet since i missed her yesterday. We didn't get back to Seremban till 1am.
Food Count: Cut Red Bean Ice-cream from the same uncle at Orchard Road.

5/19 Friday: Slept in. Went for a movie at Jusco. Saw Da Vinci's Code. Had a relaxing day hanging out at Jusco with my hubby. Also found out from Watson's pharmacy that I won't be able to find my prescription eye drop in Malaysia. Also tried hair out with my cousin, and she butchered my eye brows.
Food Count: Curry mee (l), curry fish head, kangkung belacan (d), char kuay teow (s).

Notes: (b) breakfast, (l) lunch, (d) dinner, (s) supper