Sundays

27 April 2014

Oh Best Beloved,

It's Sunday again and another whirlwind weekend has passed. Caleb got drenched in the rain this afternoon while we were driving from Sunway. It was crazy because it was raining tigers and monkeys in Subang and KL but when we got to Serdang, the roads over there were all practically dry. "Welcome back to Malaysia," the weather exclaimed.

I have just finished cooking a set of packed lunches for the week ahead. Lunch for one, as usual. One day I will look back on these days and nights with fondness. One day I will remember this season of solitude and smile at all the lessons learned, at all the ways God has helped me to grow with steadfastness and grace.

I look at the clock, see that it's still 9:30, and right now I know the night's still young. I will wait by my tablet for that weekly video call so I must busy myself with whatever. I could read a book. I could watch a movie. Or perhaps I could even write some more.

Best beloved, when this night began, I contemplated on not writing anymore. Who reads these stuff anyway? But then I decided that I will continue to write, not really for anyone, but for myself, so that I would remember.

I would remember this season and be filled with gratitude when I reach that point when I've passed through it and I am just simply looking back.

Yes, Best Beloved, I will write to remember.

Always,

Mari

Aussie Throwback

18 October 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

We dropped by Mom and Dad's office today. By we, I mean QY and I. They were having a celebration for the October babies. Mom thought it would be fun if bro and I would also take part in the festivities.

Since there was a lot of stuff on top of Mom's table, Dad, QY, and I ate in the office pantry area. Mom was out buying cake and ice cream. But, when she came back with the sweet treats (and when she cleared her table clutter up), we eventually took our places at her desk. There I found a whole collage of throwback pics:

A postcard Dad sent. Armidale.
This would become our home for two years.

When then 70-plus-year-old Lola paid us a visit.
We went to Sydney, seven hours away from Armidale.

The customary family portrait. With bro playing with a helicopter.

Sandon Schoolkids.

The pictures above, Oh Best Beloved, are snapshots of our life in The Land Down Under. We stayed there for two years, while Dad went through PhD. We would have stayed longer, had it not been for some unforeseen circumstances.

We lived in Armidale. 5/54 O'dell Street. Who lives there now, I wonder? Our neighborhood had one Indonesian family, one from Fiji, and another from Papua New Guinea. The kids - Aresha, Terri, Priscilla, Michaela (I'm not sure if it's spelled correctly), Judy, and Anua were our regular playmates. I wonder what's become of them now?

Armidale is a quaint town with a small city center, a look out point, and a big university (where Dad studied in). And they had an awesome town library! At first I thought Armidale would be like the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) because of the deceptive rootword "Armi" but I'm glad it was nothing like a military school. The town had plenty of parks where Dad would "toss another shrimp on the barbie" (i.e. grill food) while us kids would fly on flying foxes and Mom would take photos and home videos.

Life there was simple. I'm not sure if I had any concept of homesickness then. I wrote some of my best friends letters and postcards though - there was no Skype, no Facebook, and only Dad had access to the Internet with the nostalgic dial up tone.

One day I might go back to Armidale again. Maybe I'll take you with me. That would be nice, wouldn't it? And we could tour through other places in Australia, too.

Oh, I can't wait for that one day to come.

Till then,

Mari

On Elephants and TiGer Shows

19 August 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

We were in Bangkok, Thailand during the long weekend. But of course, you already know that. We were there for ICPM 4 so we didn't get to tour much. We had one free afternoon, though, and the stories I shall share will come from that time of exploring.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Google maps says Damnoen Saduak is 103 kilometers away from Phaya Thai Bangkok. That's a 1-hour-25-minute-or-so ride if you're going at the speed of - something. You do the math. Anyway, since we wanted to try something new and wanted to see something other than the temples of Thailand, we decided to go there and discover what the floating markets were all about.

Imagine a village where the road system is made up of rivers and canals. To get to your next door neighbour, you have to hop on a tiny boat and row yourself over. To buy fruits or groceries, you have to paddle away and haggle with fruit vendors riding small boats themselves. That's Damnoen Saduak.

Water, water everywhere.

Friendly vendor.

Branded items are available. LV and Gucci, anyone?

Going over the selection of fruits.

Monkey Show. We didn't buy much in Damnoen. Mostly, we were in it for the ride. It was fun nonetheless and had us geared up for the next part of our adventure - the monkey show. It was enjoyable but the poor things were tied up while they were doing their routines. What would they say if I told them about the freedom that my monkey friends had in my kolej in UKM?

Poor monkey was bored and tired.

The show was rather short. That's why when our tour guides suggested we go see the TiGer shows next we almost jumped into the opportunity to do so. That is until we realized he wasn't talking about tigers as in the striped, gigantic felines. Oh no. He was talking about ThaiGirls. 

Uh. No thanks.

At least we got to see some elephants.

I promised you I'd catch an elephant!

Royal Palace. We rode back to the city soon after. Most of the temples had already closed down so we said we'd just drop by the outer courts of the Royal Palace before dinner. It's too bad we weren't able to go inside. I could imagine how majestic it was. We only got a shot of the palace's rooftops. It was beautiful, nonetheless.

This was the best shot I could get.

Night Market. We went to the night market after dinner. I didn't dare get any pictures - I was too busy trying to protect my hand bag. We were pretty tired so we didn't do much shopping. As soon as we had bought all the pasalubongs we needed to buy, we were off.

So there you go. Thailand. It was different from the Hat Yai experience. One day I might come back for the temples and the palace.

Missing you,

Mari

Blast from the Past: Cambodia

22 July 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

HOMAYGASH. Two weeks to go till ICPM 4! Or three, depending on how you're counting. I have to do something, ASAP. When did time fly by so quickly?

Speaking of time, was it just three years ago that ICPM 1 (the one in Cambodia) happened? It seems like it was just yesterday, yet eons ago at the same time.

I remember Cambodia as a montage of frogs, crickets, pointy temples, pajamas, and tuktuks. Frogs and crickets because they were the the exotic street foods we just had to try out. Pointy temples because there were so many of them around (including the Royal Palace and the hotel we stayed in). Pajamas because wearing them in broad daylight was a status symbol and tuktuks because it was a primary mode of Khmer transportation.

I have a couple of friends changing the world over there in that side of the globe. It would be nice to go and visit them there again someday. And it would be nice to go to Angkor Wat, too, because I wasn't able to go last time. 

Well, until then, let's just reminisce through some pictures. Here are some of the pictures I took from that trip (my N73 was so awesome, you know):

Tuol Sleng:
A public school turned torture place turned genocide museum.

This is a tuktuk.

This is the royal palace.

The mini Angkor Wat was all I was able to see.

Street food! Frogs, crickets, larvae, and bugs to tickle your tongue!

Munching on the exotic delights.  Yum! :D

Those were fun days. I'm anticipating the next visit!

Craving for crickets,

Mari  

Blast from the Past: Ho Chi Minh City

15 July 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

The ICPM is coming up. Got to get my wallet ready - plane fares are hiking up and I haven't even booked a flight yet! Nonetheless, I'm excited for this trip. Very excited.

The ICPM is always an experience to remember. Last year, we went to Vietnam. The year before that, we just hung out in JB. But the year prior to that, we got to explore the Kingdom of Cambodia. I'll write about that in another letter. Yet, for now, let me share to you some stuff about the most recent ICPM trip.

It was my first time to go to Vietnam. We actually stayed in Vung Tau but we managed to tour around the country's capital during our last day there. Took a lot of fun shots:

Vietnamese women passing by.

A statue somewhere around the city centre.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

Busy day at the post office.

Outside the war memorial museum.

I love the food there. Pho is pho-some! And I love Bun Cha - grilled meat and noodle wrapped with fresh greens. Yum!

The Bun Cha meat.

The veggies.

Dinochicken! Seriously, I forgot the real name.

Gosh, I'd love to go back to Vietnam again. But next time maybe to Hanoi.

Oh Air Asia, please be good to me!

Hoping to be with you in the next trip,

Mari

Hazy Port Dickson Weekend

8 July 2013 

Oh Best Beloved,

We went back to Port Dickson some weeks ago to have a family outing. As luck would have it, the haze situation in Malaysia was at its peak during that weekend. (Why do crazy things keep happening to us whenever we go out on family trips?) We still decided to push through with our mini getaway though since we had already booked a hotel (we learned our Kuantan lesson well). Cancelling our reservation would require a fee (boo hoo) so... Well, if worse came to worse, we reasoned we could at least still stay indoors.

Or we could go dallying about wearing gas masks.

Which is exactly what we did because the air pollutant index (API) in Port Dickson rose to 300 plus the Sunday we were there (an API of 100 is already considered unhealthy).

We still had fun though.

For one thing, the hotel we stayed in was actually very pretty. We stayed at Corus Paradise Resort. They have pretty decent rooms and the ones we got were adjoining ones: two families + three single ladies = bonding to the max! The free buffet breakfast was okay. We went there pretty late so the food was almost out but there was nasi lemak, roti canai, mee, milk and cereals, bread, fruits, and some other choices.

What we enjoyed the most though were the fine white sand and the cool outdoor activities. We rode a banana boat! Through the haze! At RM15 per person, the boat was a rather good deal.

I still couldn't help thinking of Stephen King's The Mist while we were there though. By the time we got to KL, the API level had already risen there as well.

Well. It was a weekend to remember. Pictures, pictures, pictures!

The hotel was actually pretty nice.

Low API during the evening.

This is what we looked like the morning after.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" - Lewis Carroll

So... Misty. Err, hazy.

What's happening, Mr. Sun? :(

The lagoon still looked nice.

Well, the atmosphere's clearer now. The haze disappeared after three days or so. I still have my gas mask handy though, just in case the forest fires bring them air pollutants back. :) Hopefully they don't come back.

Now enjoying a non-hazy Malaysia,

Mari

Sosyal Climbing

9 June 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

Because I am so sosyal and all, I (together with my more down to earth friends) hiked up a canopy trail wearing a - would you believe it - dress. Yes, a dress. I felt like Pocahontas. I kept singing "Colors of the Wind" on our way up, just to stay in character.

Seriously, I didn't expect us to be climbing up a trail that rugged. I thought the canopy walk was just accessible via a ladder or staircase of some sort. But no. We had to hike up a rather steep and rocky trail.

Wa poise.

But really. It was nice to get in touch with nature. It was nice to get some exercise too. Just in case you are wondering, the canopy walkway where we went to is the one located in FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia), Kepong. There were some waterfalls there too and it's a nice place to bring kids to (minus the 50,000-step-or-what-felt-like-it hike).

So there. Pictures here. Enjoy!

Sosyal kuno,

Mari

500 m. What does 500 m mean???

Dare to cross over?

Pocahontas? Tiger Lily?

Howwwww hiiiiigggghhh does the sycamore growwwwwww...

Pour it out...

The end. Bow.

Kuantan Shenanigans

3 June 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

We went on a Kuantan adventure last week. Well, it was more like a "misadventure", to tell you the truth. It was a fun, enjoyable time but we learned a few lessons along the way. Charge it to experience, so they say.

Lesson 1. It's not advisable to do hotel walk-ins when it's a long weekend and when you're going to what is apparently a popular beach destination.

Lesson 2. When doing an online guest house booking, don't do it after 8:00 PM. And don't check in at 11:00 PM. If you do, make sure you know the reception's number hours beforehand.

Lesson 3. Kuantan people are actually friendly folks. They're good help when all important signs are written in Mandarin.

Lesson 4. The GPS is your best friend.

Lesson 5. A child's - particularly a toddler's - health is very erratic. So blessed are the flexible because they will be flexed.

Long story short, we drove 4 hours from KL without a booking, hoping to do a walk-in. All hotels were fully booked so we turned to a guest house near the city. Unfortunately the receptionists were out. Or we just got there too late. 

Hence lessons two to three.

The rooms were nice though. At least we know what we're supposed to do the next time we go there.

And the beach was awesome. We only got to enjoy it for an hour or so because our baby was sick and we decided to go home earlier than planned.

But we still got to take a lot of pretty pictures. So here you go. Pictures from our little adventure-slash-misadventure: 

Teluk Cempedak.

Sand. Sea. Summer.

My little friend.

Why, it's a selfie! Haha.

Bye, Kuantan.

Till next time,

Mari

The Historical City of Melaka

29 April 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

I'm missing a certain girl friend who found herself in this part of Southeast Asia last August. Well, I'll see her again this May and I guess we'll be bonding then.

When she came over with her cousin and younger sister, I achieved my first long driving milestone - we drove up a whole two-and-a-half-hours all the way to Melaka! Without a GPS! Haha! I already knew the way after going back and forth between Kuala Lumpur back in 2010 so I just followed the road signs. Then we found a parking lot and went around the historical city on foot.

Melaka is so... Red. Earthly red. I love the colours. It's different from Penang which mostly exudes the colour white. Oh but Melaka is really pretty in it's own way.

First church in Malaysia.

The back view of that beloved friend.

Steps.

Claiming the land.

The church-turned-fort-turned-gravesite-turned-tourist-spot.

Best beloved, we'll drive up here again next time. I want to eat the cendol and all the delicious Nyonya cuisine. :)

Soon,

Mari

Singapore: Just a Stone's Throw Away

26 March 2013

Oh Best Beloved,

Singapore's just a stone thrown away from Malaysia. We went there last Sunday to attend a child dedication and church anniversary. I had work that Saturday so I just took an evening flight, arriving at around 8:00 PM. And then my friends and I all took a 10:00 PM bus back to Malaysia the following night.

It was fun but tiring. We got back to Malaysia at around 3:00-4:00 Monday morning so I did nothing but sleep the entire night through when I got home yesterday after work. Now I have a slight headache. And a stiff neck. It's so hard to drive when you have a stiff neck.

But we had a blast in Sg. Didn't get to tour much, though. Didn't need to tour much. We've been going back and forth from My to Sg for quite a while already. So I'll just share some photos taken from last time we really toured.

The shots below are from my parents' visit last September 2011. They came over for my MIT graduation ceremony and so we hopped off to Singapore to celebrate afterwards.

Merlion Jr. and Merlion Sr.

A panoramic shot from the Esplanede.

The view from above.

Raffles.

Mari... na bay.

There'll be more Singapore trips to come. Thank God for cheap airfares and affordable bus tickets.

Until next time,

Mari