Fai and Machika March 2011

Fai quizzing Machika on Japan as we took the 15 minute ride cable car on Genting Skyway.
Machika says Fai has very good pronunciation when she taught him a few Japanese words and thinks that he even looks Japanese!

Day2 with Machika 11March2011

It was pitch black when we arrived at the rabbit farm, the landmark for Broga hill. Only one car was parked by the road side.

Machika and JY: Eeeee....so eerie...

My hubby: You see, no one comes this early, let's have breakfast. I am starving.

We headed to Semenyih town for some hot noodles and drove back to Broga at about 7.30am. The moment we arrived, we could see about 10 cars parked in the palm oil estate.


As we approached the first peak of Broga Hill, we bumped into about a 100 homeschooling kids and their teachers coming from learning centres around Kota Kemuning, USJ and Cheras area. They were descending the hill and one of their teachers told us that they were there since 5.30am and there were cars already parked in the estate.

Homeschoolers in Broga! What an active lot they were. Chattering non-stop and having a gala time.

JY, Machika and Dear Hubby went on further while I kept a watchful eye on the boys as we rested at the first peak.

Fai and his admirers, UPM students.

The boys played amongst the tall grass and on the huge boulders.

Machika and JY at the highest peak.

Scaling down carefully.

Dear hubby came back with a giant millipede for the boys to look at. Han took it and showed to the UPM students.

It started to drizzle, so it is back down the hill before the sandy slope becomes a muddy slope. Fai and Han had an enjoyable bumpy ride as they slid down the steep slopes on their buttocks.

JY, Fai, Han and Machika were a good 10 minutes ahead of my hubby and I. They waited patiently in the car for us. Ahh..to be so young and energetic....

After a quick shower, we got ready for Yong Taufu @Peel Rd and KLCC. The crispy fried foochok and sweet sauce were Machika's favourites.

After a hearty meal at our favourite lunch stall, we headed to Petronas Twin Towers. Tickets to the Skybridge were sold out, so we watched a movie instead - I am number four - which was surprisingly good and very entertaining.

While we were choosing out doughnuts at San Moulin, Machika received a call and suddenly looked ashen. She informed me of the earthquake in Japan. She couldn't get through to her family. It was only 3 hours later when she managed to get hold of them - they were safe.

Machika was stoic throughout the 3 hour wait. She managed to put on a smile and took JY shopping. " Very cheap!" she says.

Han swinging with his eyes shut.

The boys collecting frangipani flowers

We ended the day with an origami workshop conducted by Michika.

Day 1 with Machika 10March2011

We have been waiting anxiously for Machika since December last year when we met her at the Rotary District Assembly in Shangri-La Hotel. Machika is an international youth exchange, IYE, student from Tokyo, Japan and will be here in Malaysia for a year. She is currently studying in a secondary school in Temerloh and we were told that we can only host her during the school holidays.
We met up with her host family at Genting Sempah and the first place she wanted to visit was Batu Caves.
Another cave?
Han: I don't want to go to the long cave
Fai: The long cave is Deer Cave. We are not going there, Han

I was worried that Han might baulk at the idea but I needn't have worried. The moment he caught sight of Lord Murugan, he said " Oh, I love this cave!!"

The boys chasing pigeons

The 272 steps up.

Long tailed macaque grooming each other while others wait for handouts.

A big aggressive male snatched my water bottle away. When I tried to retrieve it, he got defensive and bared his fangs. Scary!

Han: Hurry up, mummy!

Me: puff, puff....coming!!

Han makes it a point to look after me. Han, my guardian :)

Machika was eager to try out everything. Here, she is holding a paraffin lamp and saying a prayer as she made huge circles in the air with the lamp.

Lighting cubes of camphor. They were instructed to remove their shoes.

JY and Machika comparing feet.
With their shoes off, Machika exclaimed "Such big feet!"

Applying pottu onto each others' forehead.

There were 3 bowls available for pottu. The grey one on the left contains blessed ash, the red and yellow ones are red and yellow saffron.

JY and Machika spotted a mermaid on a statue of Lord Shiva.

JY and Machika wanted henna art on their hands. RM10/hand

Machika and JY showing off their henna designs

The girls' were told not to move a muscle and to wash the henna off after 45 minutes.

From Batu Caves, we headed to the Orang Asli Museum in Gombak. The girls made a beeline for the gift shop.

Fai pulled me to the wood carvings and wanted to hear the folklore behind each one.

Then we headed to Gentings for a whirlwind tour. We were all in shorts and t-shirts and we were half frozen when the chilly breeze blew at us.

Back onto Genting Skyway and home. In the cable car, Machika said that Mount Fuji, Fujisan she called it, was a 'funny' mountain. When asked to explain. She said that it was sandy. That instantly reminded me of Broga. So I said "Tomorrow we are going to climb a hill. Everyone be up by 5!"

Cake Booth @ Shangri-la, KL

For the third time, JY will be selling her cakes and minicakes at a Rotary conference. She is full of confidence now. Planning far ahead and is well prepared.
She picked a chrismassy theme for her cakes.
The picture above is her royal icing snowflakes.

Chocolate cupcakes baking in the oven. While waiting for the cupcakes to bake, JY and Swathy had a few rounds of Screaming Scrabble - a game I love to play too. It's noisy and with bouts of laughter and an occasional tussle thrown in, you have got to love it. All you need are scrabble tiles and another player that can spell.

Chocolate cupcakes perfectly baked.

Vanilla Cupcakes cooling on the rack.

JY had researched the recipes and implemented certain improvements that she learnt on a caking forum. It was a baking success this time around with no sunken middles or peeling cups. She was delighted with the results.

JY's mini cakes topped with her adorable fondant penguin surrounded by presents.

JY's peony mini cake.

Friends of Kapar 5 Dec 2010

This was a joint project between Friends of Kapar and the Rotary Club of Melawati. RC Metro KL tagged along, I came too to see this organisation in action.


All schoolgoing kids from Primary 1 to Secondary 5 were given schoolbags, shoes and uniforms. These were kids from hardcore poor families in and around Kapar.


Ladies dishing out rice, curry chicken and vegetables.

The massive crowd.
The lady in purple on the left had a paraplegic son. She fed him patiently as he lay on her lap. It was a heartrending sight.
The project was well organised, the children were well behaved and being there gave me much food for thought.
This reminds me of Sai Ananda in Batu Caves. The kids there were amazingly gracious, polite and well mannered. The methods used here in developing and moulding the characters of the kids in their care should be emulated.
I think I should pay them another visit.

Note to self. Points to remember when selling cupcakes at Rotary events

1. At Rotary District Assemblies, there will be very few children around. So reduce the number of cupcakes to 100 pieces.

2. During District Conferences, spouses and children will be around, however I feel that the number of cupcakes should be 100 pieces as it was really difficult getting people to buy the cupcakes, thus the cupcakes would be more of a showcase of Jianyi's talents. Speaking of which, Jianyi would have to do the icing and make the sugarcraft models on-site. As it was attention grabbing and pulled in a crowd.

3. Need to search for vegetarian cakes and diabetic cakes.

4. Display a dummy 3-tiered wedding cake.

5. The butter cake slices sold really well. Samples of the chocolate cake helped to boost the sales of the cake significantly. In all we made 4 10inch butter cakes and 2 10inch chocolate cakes. Next event we will double the volumes for both the types of cakes.

6.We need more posters and flyers. Perhaps a nice banner.

7. I had great fun experimenting with the carrot cake. It feels good working with a new recipe and having to rectify the cake and try to turn it into a presentable cake. I am glad it was well-received.

8. We need to issue receipts as proof of payment. The lady that ran away with someone else's cake was a bad experience for the girls.

9. Cake that are reserved should be paid for in full and bagged and tagged with the name and handphone numbers of the purchaser.

10. We will need to ensure that the vendors get to be FED! The girls were practically starving and the walk from the Sunway hotel to the shopping mall is no joke!