A blue ball with a smiley face

Ean has been asking for a "ball-ball". Whenever he spots balls hanging on display, he would point and say "ball! ball!". We were back in PD on for the long Thaipusm-FT day weekend and when we stopped to look at a bicycle for sale, he led Kent to the rubber balls hanging outside a sundry shop and insisted that he get one.


This one year old has great communication skills.



Here's Ean with his blue ball. He could dribble and throw the ball around the garden. He would squeal in delight as he chased it around.



The next day, Fai and Han tried to submerge the ball underwater and they had a hard time doing it. Each time they tried, the ball would rocket out from under their hands with a big swoosh! What physics principle is being applied here? Someone please tell me!!



Success at last.

Now the ball has become Han's egg.

Han says he has laid an egg and is incubating it!


When the ball bounces out of the tub, Han would yell, " My egg! My egg!"






On FT Day, I took the 3 boys down to the beach and we took the blue ball with us. The beach slopes down to the shoreline and before you can say " Get that ball!", Ean's blue ball was swept away by the waves. Fai started crying as he saw the ball bobbing further and further away from the shore. Ean kept pointing at the ball and saying "ball-ball, ball-ball"

Bye Smiley Blue Ball! We hope a kid as much fun with you as we did.

On the way back from PD, Fai said he has an idea! He couldn't wait to get back home. The moment he reached Jln Carey, he raced to the playroom and came out with his creation...

Fai with his replica of Ean's blue ball. Made from plastic wrap, paper and lots of masking tap. He drew a smiley face and coloured it blue with crayons.

He also drew a potrait of opposites



















Ean sad








Ean happy

surrounded by Blue smiley balls falling from the sky












As soon as Ean got up from his nap, Fai presented him with his blue ball. unfortunately, Ean had difficulty accepting the replica as a substitute for his beloved blue ball.

Jianyi's pie obsession

Jianyi is into baking pies now. They are absolutely delicious.

Her Buttery crumble crust is perfect.

I have been having one for breakfast everyday.

Aren't I the luckiest??!

Tomorrow she will be baking apple pie. Can't wait for that.

Last Day in Ipoh

After a wonderfully hurried and harried kopitiam breakfast of wantan mee, hongkong chee cheong fun and Ipoh Coffee with WL's mom, we said our goodbyes, thanked Aunty Popo profusely for putting up with us for 5 days and headed for home.

With time on our hands, we decided to make one last stop, Gua Tempurung located in Gopeng.


This was the view as we approached Gua Tempurung. It was still misty at 10am. The air was crisp and fresh.







The ticketing counter. We paid $6/adult and $2.50 for a guided tour. It was worth every cent.

Our guide, Encik Halim.

He either held Han's hands or carried Han for most of the way. A patient man.

En Halim led us into the cave holding his torchlight. We were the only ones there. It was great having everything to ourselves.

The walkways were tastefully done and did not mar the natural beauty of the place.

En Halim pointing out rock formations that resembled animals such as elephant, dolphin, turtle,lion, duck...too numerous for me to recall. Fai was especially good at imagining the forms. I couldn't get what he wanted me to see most of the time. There was even a portrait of Mona Lisa due to the stains on the rock surface.

The car was etched onto the rock by the communists that used the cave as a hideout.

The stairs leading into the cave. Staclatites and staclamites to the left and right. There was a huge jellyfish like staclatite.

The only group photo we took.

2 mothers and 6 beautiful kids.

The entrance of the cave.

There is an underground stream on my right.

Back in the car, we were sardined once again.

A tangle of limbs.....

We had a bite to eat in IKEA once we reached PJ.

Kent and Shannon exchanged cars and we said our goodbyes in the loading bay.

Of all the caves we visited in Ipoh, Gua Tempurung was certainly my favourite. Mother Nature at her best. It is just a short drive away from Ipoh. Go visit. Don't forget to take me along.

Ipoh - Day 4

Jianyi and Eu Fai were too exhausted from climbing the steps up the water slide 20x in the Lost World of Tambun, so they spent the day with Marine.



Next stop, Tambun cave to see the historical cave paintings. We parked the car at a Caltex station and had to walk down a road.

We came to gate. It was locked. Undeterred we climbed over the gate.

Walked across a field.

At the end of the field was another gate, also locked. We were certainly unwelcomed guests. We looked around and spotted a few men working the stables, so we walked over to them and started barraging them with questions..How far in? Is it safe? Why was the gate closed? Did anyone pass through today?

We were the 1st visitors of the day. The steps were steep and definitely not for little kids.

The path leading to the caves didn't look friendly and Han kept saying he wanted to go back, so we turned back.

The horses in the stable were polo horses.

They were well-groomed. Beautiful creatures!

I would certainly give this place another try. Gua tambun seems like a must-see before erosion destroys the paintings.
http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MHIS_guatambun.htm

What's next? What else...more caves.

This time Sam Poh Tong.

Dusty, musty cave and a

murky pond. The place was rundown.

We met up with

Marine, Jianyi and Fai at DR park. Big shady trees and play equipments that are similar to the ones at Lake Gardens. The drizzle didn't give us the chance to roam around. We loaded the kids into the car and asked Marine to recommend a shopping mall with a playground...and she said..IKEA! Haha! Just 2 hours away.

Just as we decided to go to Jusco, the drizzle stopped, so ...

We headed for Riverfront park.

What a mistake!

Do NOT go to this place unless you are fine with your child swimming with frogs and plastic bags.

How many millions was spent on this place?? What a waste!!

This being our last night in Ipoh, we let the kids monkey around.

Shannon had printed out some mazes from

http://www.krazydad.com/mazes/

En, Fai and Jianyi enjoyed the challenge. When Fai ran out of mazes to do, he took a blank piece of paper and created his own maze.

Ipoh - 3rd Day

We had breakfast at the Japanese Garden next to the race tracks. Parking was free. The garden was small. I didn't see anything japanese there besides the japanese cars that were whizzing by and our breakfast bought from the japanese owned Jusco the day before.
Fai wanted to poo and there wasn't a toilet in sight. I thought of crossing the road to the hospital but the fast cars changed my mind. Pooing on a plastic bag was suggested. Fortunately Fai said he didn't need to go after a while, so that was a relief. We fled that place after the mosquitoes detected us.

Next stop, Lost World of Tambun.

Feeding the animals was great fun for the kids.

Handsome the macaque

Catching up with Marine and Nigel. Katrina caught the flu bug and had to stay home.

Handsome doing a bit of stretching for a sunflower seed.

Fai purposely threw it out of reach.

Ean spent most of the afternoon wading in this shallow longkang

The tigers understood english.

When the tigers did not follow orders, the keeper shouted " I AM SPEAKING SIMPLE ENGLISH!!!" maybe he should switch to tiger-ish










Jianyi went on the water slides with Fai. Marine joined them later. She ran off leaving Nigel, her wallet and handphone behind.

After sending Shannon and her girls back to Tmn Canning, I headed for Marine's place and then to 1919 for dinner. The food there was simply the BEST I have tasted in Ipoh. I would definitely go there again. Thank you Sian for taking us there

Ipoh - 2nd Day 12th January 2020

The Geological Museum was closed for renovation.

So we headed for Darul Ridzuan Museum.

The museum was housed in a mansion of a rich chinese miner. No information was given about this person.

The interior of the museum seemed newly renovated.

There were exhibits about tin mining, wood industry and wildlife in Perak.

The kids had fun playing with the pebbles at the base of a tongkat ali stump. Here is Han trying to roll a pebble down the side.

Shannon with her trusty map of Ipoh.

Playing with the displays. Ean got to handle bakau - wood that is used to make charcoal. The girls were fascinated with this weighing device.

Fai got to spend a lot of time with Zhang En. He drew this picture of two of them getting married. He was very proud of his drawing.

On the trip back from Ipoh, he started calling En - Leong Zhang En. After 5 days, they have become very close.

We headed for Klebang to meet up with Kisyah's family. It was a lovely home. It inspired Jianyi to funish one of the rooms in PD with 2 bunk beds and to turn another room into a study. Fai and Han were glued to the tv - Ben10 marathon!!