Balik kampung....hati girang :)

After much deliberation, we decided to take it easy. Started the journey around 10am. Packing was hellish. I did not really finished unpacking from Shanghai trip actually. This was more like taking out another luggage and try to forget about the first one.

Traffic was marvelous. None of dreaded crawling traffic across three states. PLUS did their job well. Or maybe, most of the usual drivers were already at their kampung days ago. We were among the last few travellers. Heh.

Hope the boss will present 2009 budget well. I was just extremely happy that I was not the one presenting it at HQ at this time of the year. Sadly, not a chance for me to leave the laptop behind. Sigh. Sometimes, different time zones could put you at disadvantage

Arrived at Kedah pretty early. The boys did not sleep at all during the journey. Amri was still fasting. 30 days. I was so proud of him.

Still hard at work

This was one of the reason why I dreaded going to Shanghai last week. While 80% of Klang valley population were already on their way back to their respective hometown, or already happily cooking lemang at kampung, I was still here. Miserably slogging away at my desk. Could not even came in late because I had an appointment with an insurance broker at 10am. The only good thing was that traffic was ridiculuosly clear. The drive to office took about 20 minutes. All the queue jumper morons were absent as well, perhaps busily jumping queue at highways.

Office was quiet. My brain cell was either still at shanghai or already back to my hometown.

Phew....glad to be home

Reached KLIA at 3.30pm after quite a bumpy ride towards the end.Really, really glad to be home. Now I could start shopping and packing for Eid.

Shanghai FC, Malaysia FC, HK FC, new boss - aka VP and Australia FC. Singapore FC is very camery shy and prefer to be photographer.

Had a bit of scare last night. I was out shopping at nearby mall when Mr VP called me back for a short meeting. Mr VP just joined the company three months back and this was his first meeting with financial controllers all over the world with Asia Pacific being the final group.

The meeting turned out to be just a coffee break and the reason, get this, he was concerned with my huge age gap from the rest of the FCs.

Gosh! How could that be an issue. Granted, I was not as well versed on technical side of GAAP compared to the rest but I knew I did well. Shanghai GM, who used to be malaysia GM came to my rescue though. I was voted the best FC he ever knew and lets not forget that I managed malaysia/brunei operation for about six months while waiting for a new GM. Phew! I knew I could stood up on my own but it never hurt to have a third party vetting me through. Now, if only I could live up to the glory :) Thanks xGM. I'll buy you lunch next time you were in malaysia.

And many thanks to Shanghai FC too. Being quite new to the group, he dilligently googled the net for information about ramadhan so that to make my stay as comfortable as possible. The new VP was also given a crash course about islam and ramadhan.

Yey!!!

Meeting has finished. All topics has been wrapped up nicely. I'm itching to go out and hit the road. There is a nice fake stuffs shopping place nearby, at Shanghai Science & Technology Museum. Or maybe I should take a peep inside the museum as well. After two days being confined inside a meeting room, there is nothing I need more than retail theraphy. As well as some exercise to straighten back all my aching, screaming muscle.

But.............it rains!!!!!!!! Heavily.

Hmmmm. Well, I'll just wait it out for now. Iftar is in about one hour time. I'll go my free way with full stomach. More energy then. Rain or no rain.

Boring le pulak. Singapore FC and HK FC are already on their way to airport. Australia FC will follow suit shortly. Lucky them. I have VP, IT Manager and Internal Auditor for company if I need one. Or shanghai FC. But I'd rather be on my own. Two days is more than enough. Until the next finance meeting in about 6 months.

Rain....please, please stop soon.

This must be the reason why this hotel provides an umbrella in very room.

Missing home

My workstation for these few days. The wireless connection is not so stable but broadband is pretty good. I forgot to bring my adaptor and had to spend 10 minutes explaining what I need to the hotel housekeeping staffs. Finally their assistant manager came to my rescue

Nice big bed but nobody to snuggle to :(

There is a nice big lcd tv too but nobody to fight over the channel with.

Miss the boys....

KL - Shanghai

The plane was was super smooth on the first half and extra bumpy on the other half. Probably due to typhoon at Hong Kong. Why though, I had to fly economy class when I am entitled to 5 star hotel? Thank God I escaped the Dallas trip.

I had two surprises today. First at KLIA when I bumped into an IT manager from Melbourne office, heading to Shanghai as well. Haven't got a chance to ask why he made a detour to KL first. We were in the same flight but thankfully were very far apart.
A second surprise awaited me at Pudong airport, in the form of my exGM. Now promoted to Asia Pacific MD and based at Shanghai. I was so pleased to see him. He came to specifically fetch me from airport and drive me to hotel. He was, and still is my favourite boss. My savior during the time I was an acting GM. We took the magdev and then drove to shanghai office, which was now relocated to a bigger and a lot nicer place. He then drove us to Parkview Hotel, our designated place for the next 4 days.

Had a simple and quick buka puasa in my room and later set out for dinner with HK and Spore FC, headed by Mdm HK GM who understandably, was starving for woman's company. This organisation was almost monopolised by men. Dinner however, was ruined by horrible food and the arrival of the big boss from US. But it felt good though to exchange gossips.

I'm off to bed now. Hope the two boys did not drive their father up the wall. I felt rather guilty leaving for business trip without a maid to help out at home.

Iftar at Shanghai?

The bags are packed. Presentation was prepared to the best of my ability (in between blog hopping and planning for Eid). I'll be leaving for shanghai tomorrow morning and be back just in time for an iftar with my family. Whom I hope would be missing me so much that they decided to book me for the most lavish buka puasa buffet in town this coming friday :)

Actually, it feels good to be away. If only to escape from the never ending house chores. I've reached a point where I was sorely tempted to hurl all the dirty dishes to the wall and set fire to the mountains of dirty laundry. I didn't, though. Because they are not cheap and I am obsessed with proper sit down dinner with nice plates and all. And hubby + laundry shop took over the laundry nightmare. But I did disposed a thing or two once in a while, when I couldn't be bothered with cleaning them up and pretty sure no one would miss them. Well....when the going gets too tough, the maid agency was just a phone call away, I guessed.

Anyway. How do I survive two days of being closeted with a bunch of accountants and talk shop? With a week away from Eid. God help me. I have enough RMB with me to occasionally sneak out from the hotel and hit the road. But I doubted I could get away much.

Looking forward to break fast at 5.50pm tomorrow :)

Hurricane Ike

Thanks to Hurricane Ike, my budget meeting at Singapore next week is cancelled. I may have to present it again next month at dallas, though.

It sound a bit selfish if I were to be overjoyed with the cancelled meeting now. I hope all bosses and colleagues over there in Dallas & Houston will be all right. Most of them have storm tracker installed and closely monitoring it.

And hoping that the hurricane will not cause any major spike in oil price too.

Dear boss, could we cancell/postpone Shanghai meeting too?

Gambar anak anak

Adam and cousins. The pint size Nadia is actually a few months older than Adam. Due to her teeny weeny size, Adam looks like a giant beside her.

I brought Amri for a haircut and he told the stylist to make 'rambut cacak'. However, he has soft straight hair and within a few hours the style went down. He insisted I buy him hair styling gel. Aduhai anak mak sorang nih.
Well, I bought him a bottle of water based gel. He was very happy and even brought the gel to daycare. To wear before he goes off to school.

Doom and gloom

The good news is, I managed to get Friday 10am direct flight outta Shanghai. The not so good news is, my visa is still pending. The latest I heard from our travel agent, the embassy requested my bank statement. Sabor je mokcik. Thank God for internet banking, without which I may not be able to produce bank statement at all.

Another not so good news, I may be required to stay more than overnight in Singapore next week. Which meant, it will run into my Saturday. Weekend. Duh! I've already worked saturday, voluntarily, during budget meeting last year. But that was in Malaysia. I'm not about to work another Saturday this year. Especially not in Singapore. So how do I escape?

All the best to mommies of UPSR candidates. Take care okay, there is no need to scare the kids by being more nervous than they are :)
-pandai le aku cakap-

My eldest darling is still fasting

One week into Ramadhan and Amri is still doing okay. Hopefully he does not cheat and end up buying drinks from his school vending machine. But, if the state of him upon returning from school is any indication, then yes, I think he is strictly fasting. At about 6pm, the school van will drop him exactly in front of our gate and from that spot on, he would be dragging his feet and his school bag all the way into the house. Once inside, he'd flop on the sofa and refused to move anywhere. No point asking him to take his shower until after iftar. After which, he would be back to his normal self and the first thing to do was of course, pick a fight with Adam. But boy, could this one really eat. I felt like he ate more than hubby and I combined. I just noticed that he loves kerabu taugeh, lala, siput sedut, tepung pelita and pulut udang (northern version, of course). All the stuffs that I've never cooked at home. Nor I have any idea how to cook one.

He followed me to 1U to shop and chose for himself 2 pairs of pants and matching t-shirt from parkson. Fussy giler. Then flopped down on nearest sofa whenever he spotted one.

Hopefully he'll be allright for the rest of Ramadhan. He is also amazingly easy to wake up during sahur and he eats with gusto. More often than not, requesting nasi tomato or fried mee. However, just like his ibu, he declined nasi putih + lauk for sahur. My menu is more like brekkie menu and I am glad that Amri's is almost the same (except for nasi tomato part). Good boy this one, senang kerja ibu.

Monday......sigh

My painstakingly prepared budget was rejected so I had to prepare a new one.

Budget meeting would be in Singapore and finance meeting would be in Shanghai. One week after another *sigh* Of all the months in a year, the big bosses felt that they needed to squeeze in all Asia pacific related meeting in one month, namely September, namely Ramadhan. I actually did not mind a little bit of travelling. But I'd rather not be overseas a mere few days away from Eid. The period I'd usually frantically preparing the ringgit notes for duit raya, ordering cookies in 3 sets, buying baju raya for everyone and making a mad dash to shopping mall almost everyday every time I suddenly remembered I had one more nephew or Amri suddenly had a growth spurt and could not fit in into his shoes. Rotten timing.

Well, I did not mind Singapore trip as much. But Shanghai is a different matter. I am no longer anxious of what am I supposed to be presenting on the meeting days. I am more concerned of buka puasa timing and how to fit it into everyone's schedule. Plus sahur of course but I could order room service for it (about the only perks of being an FC - authorising your own expenses)

What could be more boring than being locked in a conference room with a group of clever accountants for two full days? Especially during fasting month when my soul is more comfortable with pasar ramadhan than crunching numbers. Hmmmmm.......

I sure had a blasted Monday

Back home

I need another holiday to recover from this holiday

Kuala Terengganu - Shah Alam

Shopping day!

There was a new shopping mall that I hope in future would replace Pasar Kedai Payang. It has nice elevators & escalator, airconditioned and had a staircase climbing up Bukit Puteri. I must try that next time.

We had nasi minyak lunch at mak su's house then we were off to Shah Alam. We had one leftover wedding present because I had cancelled Kerteh stopover, hence could not attend one of the technician's wedding.

There's no place like home!

Still at Kuala Terengganu

I decided againts going to Kerteh office since I was coughing like mad plus the boss was still at Shanghai office. Spent the day alternately sleeping a lot and reading a lot. Eating a lot was out of question since my sorethroat made even swallowing water a nightmare. That was okay though, I could do with a little bit of losing weight. Plus, the only food I really like over there is satar, which I believed was almost extinct (the good, not too sweet ones).

Boy, Ummi's house was sure full of babies. Thank God the two boys were old enough to fend for themselves. After a few days surrounded with babies, I didn't think I could manage a baby at my age now. How on earth did I survive the boys babyhood last time? Sure, I had a lot of help - maid, hubby, parents but still, I did the majority of night feeding myself and I even breastfed Adam. And still turn up at office promptly (somewhat). Could I do it again? Probably but I'd rather not. No offence to all supermoms out there. I took my hats off to you.

Adam in Merdeka spirit. Though hubby said he looked more like he conquered the Everest

Pantai Kelulut

There was a hidden beach near Gie's (my bro in law) house at Marang, that was so lovely. We wouldn't know how to find it if not because Gie was kind enough to be our tourist guide..he heh.


Adam, terrified of Mr Crab and hating the feel of sand under his feet, stayed close to his Ayah


Having lotsa fun frolicking at Pantai Kelulut. Caution: no changing room or public bathroom in sight


A slightly less terrified Adam. Though later he used a quarter box of tissue paper to wipe the sand off his feet and slipper.

From Kedah to Terengganu

View at Lebuhraya Timur Barat

Isn't it gorgeous day?

I was hoping that some elephant would crossed the road. I've seen them once before. We also bypassed Belum Forest Resort, near a very picturesque Tasik Banding. I would have like to plan a stay there and I was pretty sure hubby would have love it but the two boys were a lot more of city boys than I thought. I have no idea though how to make them fall in love with nature. Didn't help that lately my idea of camping trip is about pitching a tent in front of a nice, air conditioned chalet. Somehow, it seemed important to me that the two boys are introduced to the joy of fishing, swimming in a lake, paddle a boat (definitely not a speedboat)and everything else that I've enjoyed in my childhood. Oh well...one step at a time, I guess.

We dropped by at a lovely beach near Merang for our lunch. There were some fishermen just arrived with their bounty but I was not quick enough to capture that.



An hour after we arrived, I was down with fever. Probably because i was coughing pretty bad after the bucketful of rambutans. Anyway, if I were to be ill, this was a perfect place for it. I could sleep all day and no one would bat an eyelid. The two boys would disappear with their cousins and hubby was definitely having a good time with his family.

We were still in Kedah

The weather was good enough today for us to step outdoor.

Took the boys to nearby waterfall. Adam hated all the rocks and sand. He wanted a swimming pool like river..duh! Amri did not mind the rocks but insisted on his goggles. Bantai je lah....mana ada budak lain kat situ yg mandi sungai pakai goggles. I need to expose the boys more to outdoor, I think.


Then we decided to pick some rambutans ourselves, ignoring the protest from makcik esah and the fact that paksu already had a pile of rambutan ready for us to tuck in :)




Until Adam was bitten by some kerengga.

So he decided to use his slingshot instead. Boleh?
Actually,he was getting awfully good at using that thing, after 2 days of training. Mak gave him some buah cenerai to use as bullets so that he would not cause too much damage.

We were in Kedah

Since yesterday, that is. We were at Lumut before that and it was horrible. The hotel was not only full, it was overflowing. There were 4 different groups of family day event there from various part of Perak. And some people did not just stop the definition of family at just wife and children, they needed to extend it to include parents, grandparents, tok ngah and the whole town. Adoi la...I doubted even the refugees camp meal time could rival the scene at breakfast buffet table. And don't get me started with people jumping in fully clothed into the pool...ewww...

I think I need to copy BeingNormal and only go for holidays off season. Anyway, we had a good time at a wedding in Lumut. It was why we were there in the first place.



Well...I've never been so glad to see my parents house and especially my bedroom with the nice comfy bed and no one to disturb me. The boys were well taken care of and were having lesson of slingshot techniques from their Wan. Jakun sungguh anak mak.

It was so cold here....felt like on top of Cameron Highland, minus the tea and strawberry

Pemadam

Adam is pretty annoyed. Someone in his class at q-dees calls him pemadam.

Poor guy. Heheheh. Can't help you there, I'm afraid :D

Adam during his chicken pox time