Tapau-ed lunch at foodcourt in Lea Gardens (OH said the nasi ayam is the best he's ever had) and had lunch with everyone else at McDs. Drove back home not before tapau-ing some very aromatic cappuccino from bon cafe at the hotel lobby.
The drive back was uneventful. Stopped again at the duty free mall for some cosmetics (haritu promoter dia lunch and i didn't have the time to wait for the girl to look for the foundation i wanted) bought more chocolate... Dropped by Juru for dinner at nandos where LO finally reached her breaking point and gosh.. she really fussed... (lack of sleep.. kesiannn...)
So... another pleasant and simple trip. I dunno if OH gets enough rest this time as he did all the driving... I am pretty knackered myself maybe coz I did all the babywearing hehe.. we'll be having a small get together tomorrow night. Hopefully we'll get our energy back by then.
As always.. too lazy to be descriptive...
We were out of the house very early. 8 a.m. went for our breakfast at Hollywood. Then we make a move after the call from the convoy.
Pit stop at Bukit Merah R&R that has a nice big playground. There we let LO let off some steam for 30mins or so while the rest of the family have their breakfast.
Reached the border at about umm.. gosh I can't even remember... 2-3pm? We did take our own sweet time this time around.. stopped at changloon for 'money changer', stopped at the duty free mall for some snacks.. then everyone had to get down at the immigration unlike before, you just have to wind down your windows and remove your sunnies.. but this time you have to queue.. along with trucks, busses and cars.. so.. you can imagine how unpleasant that was... Luckily it didn't take that long.. 20mins maybe.. we beat the traffic somehow. The party that got there about 1-2 hrs before us was stuck there for hours I heard.
Had lunch at some muslim restaurant (haji restaurant?) in border town Sadao, and drove for another hour to HatYai
We stayed at Novotel Centara. Heart of the city. Smack in the busiest part of town. The hotel staff were so friendly, I think the most friendly of all the hotels that we've ever stayed. The ampled sized rooms, facilities were good. No complaints there.
Travelling, exploring, learning, experience, taking photos, indulging!
I have always wanted to compile our so-called travel logs. Of course I do not have a proper one. The only thing that I keep as of a reminder that I've been somewhere some time ago is my >50gig of photos. I used to have a temporary little place in fotopages but it came to be very congested with e-shops that I been getting ads after ads and I'm kinda sick of it. Hence - vox
Not all our excursions were posted on the web some remained in my hardisk for personal viewing.. but most are out there. I'm gonna make a list now.. am not sure if any of my readers would be interested but it's more for me.. and for us..
13 DEC 04 at Pangkor over the weekend
30 JAN 05 melaka trip
11 FEB 05 taiping trip
21 MAY 05 east coast road trip
18 JUL 05 utara road trip
13 SEPT 05 Phuket
20 MAR 06 Cameron
14 APR 06 Mini Honeymoon
11 JUL 06 Singapore
19 JUL 06 KK
16 DEC 06 cameron
3 MAR 07 chiang mai
12 MAR 07 cameron
4 APR 07 Genting
11 APR 07 bukit larut
5 MAY 07 Pangkor
4 JUN 07 Penang
30 AUG 07 Penang
8 SEPT 07 cameron
7 OCT 07 Taiping
17 DEC 07 KL
27 DEC 07 Taiping
29 JAN 08 cameron
-moved to vox-
6 FEB 08 bandung
1 MAR 08 taiping
30 APR 08 Cherating
4 MAY 08 cameron
9 MAY 08 penang
22 JUN 08 cameron
28 JUN 08 that place we cannot mention
1 AUG 08 KL-Melaka
13 SEPT 08 penang
27 SEPT 08 Taiping
19 OCT 08 Langkawi
25 OCT 08 another one we cannot mention
30 NOV 08 Bukit Merah
Was hoping to make something more presentable but.. I'm so malas...
that's about it I think.. those that are on the web. wanted to include the one i didn't get to post on web too but I am now overpowered by the sense of lazyness LOL.
Soooooooo....
at this exact moment 5 yrs ago u shook the tok kadi's hand and we took some vows.. and sign some papers...which I don't exactly remember :P
happy 5 year anniversary us!
May we're blessed with more hybrid Afyas (what a wierd way to put it..)
May our family, close and extended, all muslims alike have blessed merry colour-filled life
May we become more obedient muslims
Till the end of time and thereafter
Aamiin
Road trip starts tomorrow. Today OH holiday, so I'm taking the day off too. Manage to get all the orders done and he's out to dispatch them. I'm freeeee!!! oh, and LO is taking her nap..
the hunt begins! (or continues)
I know now that I love love love Ellaroo wrap Ysabel
and OH helped me choose this.. coz the truth is.. I couldn't make up my mind at all until he said.. I know you like this one. Seriously.. a lot of wraps are drop dead gorgeoes ok.. but a lot too which looked like trinkets from feringhi.. so i have to totally avoid certain weave and certain colours.
However.. there's always a catch.. now.. there's another one, with similar colour, thin stripes... (unless you look closely of course there're more details..) then and get this.. >RM100 cheaper!! Now that evil voice inside me is telling me.. pay RM100 extra coz you know u love ysabel. and that goody2 2 shoes saying... save money.. save money... (so you can buy more stillettoes haha)
I think I'm more inclined towards save money rather than get what I really one this time. RM100 is just too big a difference. Nevermind.. there's always a next time... insyaAllah.
Edit: arghh!!! takde size! I thought the hunt has ended now I have to start all over again!
Dropped by the house that we started referring to 'our home' in Ipoh to pack/unpack and made way to Penang for our honeymoon. (Penang je?! LOL) Our honeymoon consisted of celebrating the 2004 New Year's eve in a then hip hotel in Gurney Drive. Young and wild, there's nothing better that we could've hoped for.
Then I continued my studies, and OH, sole bread winner supported me continually.
Our road is not paved in gold.. unlike some ppl may think.. and some has even expressed out loud. Annoying yes but wouldn't even want to even give them any credits by acknowledging. I write happy things in my blog/fotopage with occasional emotional venting and frustrations that are not too personal... kinda makes ppl think that we have an easy peasy breezy life. Ok.. sometimes I do admit I may slack off a bit but we, OH especially work our asses off. We learn to never bite more than we can chew. We splurge on one thing, we skimp with the other. We want something we work and save. We borrow, we return. We can't affort, we suck it up. We never leave Afya with anyone ever.
Then I started on a job... it wasn't just hard for me.. it was excruciating for both us. I quit when my auras blinding me, and I could go bonkers if I don't. It wasn't an easy decision but a decision nevertheless and I have no regrets.
First got pregnant in August 2006 but Allah took it back 10 weeks later. Sad? yes... We consoled each other.. afterall Allah knows best. We accepted the fate and get on with our life.
Then had to vacate our home sweet home for the renovation and stayed with my in-laws. That's why we were very suprised that we were pregnant again in September.. amidst the chaotic period of our life.. haha.
Moved back after 1-2 months of renovation and was absolutely happy with how the house turned out. Beyond expectations.. although the kitchen still goes undone even until now (2 yrs later) but I couldn't have asked for more.
Spent the whole pregnant months being spoilt pregnant woman... and welcomed Afya into our humble life.
Life took a hairpin turn with the new, adorable, cute kinda fat little kiddo. Love is more defined. I would be lying if I say we didn't have a rough start with adapting to this seemingly constricting lifestyle. No longer having th luxury of doing whatever whenever. It took at least 6 months to finally accept the change with open arms. I blame post-partum blues for that. Never thot hormonal imbalances can consume my happiness and my sanity but it did. I did my best to cope with constantly zikir and 'mengadu' to Allah.. and I survived without needing to seek help from medical professionals yay me. There you go... the presence of this little trouble maker that we gladly named 'a-fee-yahh simply trumps all other most amazing moments in our lives. Unbelievable.
on the night of 27th December 2003, we got married...
has it really been 5 years?
Certainly did not feel like it. If not for Afya who's already 1.5y.o. and our cumulative waistlines getting wider and wider... I swear it feels like we had just started living together... as husband and wife.
I wrote this today.. 18 Nov, but we're going on a road trip during our anniversary.. so I thot.. write now and post later.
Umm... when I said I'm never good with words I certainly wasn't lying.. I can't think of any good way to begin.
I guess I can start with how we first met...
high school 1996, before we're destined to be placed in the same class, I wrote a note to him saying hi, coz apparently he's a computer/internet savvy and I'm trying to make friends of the same kind... of course.. I was deemed pathetic.
When we were in the same class, we became friends, we shared the same taste in music, same interests, and it ends there. Typical male-female classmates bonding. LOL. Isn't it funny that in the year book our faces happens to be next to each other?
Out of high school during pre-u, we got closer that he became like a brother to me. We often go out.. but I was seeing someone else and so was he.
Then just before I was scheduled to fly thousands of miles away... we realised we were actually meant for each other. The challenge began... to part and yet still maintain a relationship. Everyone told me that it was a huge huge mistake. Plugged my ears and went on with it anyways...
Distance relationship is one of the worse things that lovers have to endure. It was probably the best and the worst 3 years of my young life. It's probably very cheesy but I'm gonna say it anyway coz it's oh so true. It was love that kept us together. Both of us were literally separuh mati at times... it was love and faith that kept us going.
Finally...I came back as life was begin to become more unbearable especially since close friends started to graduate and left, leaving behind this enormous gap with nothing to fill, I came back and never looked back... and not so long after that... we decided to get married since there's no point to wait and well... we're so undoubtly in love...
aaaaand... that's like a gist of how it goes.. the details are probably too much or too gore-ish for readers to bear, so we shall keep it too ourselves and save it for LO and her future siblings.
Seriously... you don't have to buy crocs (my ciklet 'don't wear crocs propaganda' - trying to stop myself from wanting to buy crocs). You can get these locally. I just wished I had known this sooner. Could have gotten them earlier and more time to get different patterns! I dun't think it'll be suitable anymore later on when she walks even more. Was in Clarks last weekend wanting to get proper walking shoes for Afya. Sorry to say but tak lawa ok.. *sobs* whyyyyyyyyy? Ladies' pun tak lawa this season...
Anyways.. I can't wait to let Afya try these on. The pair in the picture above was the one I wanted to get but they'r out of stock so I got her the best 2nd option.
Wonder if every mother feels the same... I came across a vid of LO taken when she was about 5-6 m.o. It's like looking at a different baby. I can barely remember how she was like during her infant years. I wish I could remember more...
