Arnab Village

26th December 2016 (A backdated post)

After checking out from our chalet in Nepenthes Lodge, National Park. We decided to visit the rabbit farm in Ranau in two cars. But my parents, bro and sis in the other car decided to detoured and return to KK not long after the massive congestion from the National Park’s entrance up to several miles ahead on the way up to Ranau but we had no choice as that way the only route home. Missy has been chanting that she wanted to go to the ‘zoo’, she finally dozed off while we were still stuck in the congestion.

The rabbit petting zoo, Arnab Village is located at Kg. Purakugis, approximately 12km from National Park on the right. The ‘zoo’ was located further in from the junction. When we have eventually arrived, the boss was contemplating whether to wake Missy up but I insisted as I know this little girl will not stop chanting ‘I want to go zoo’ the moment she wakes up. Hence, I gently woke her up and to my surprise, she was up and about instantly and couldn't wait to barge in.

After we have gotten our entrance ticket with a small fee of RM2 (adults only), we waited no longer but to get into the rather new attraction.  It was really hot by then but luckily, there was some shaded area for us to stop by. We went straight into the rabbit pen where rabbits roam freely. Abby had a good time petting the rabbits and even attempted carrying them. 

Tickets are ready!

Abby was a little apprehensive at first

Beginning to warm up

 We are friends!

One for the camera

Look at its length!

Someone is looking very pleased while striking a pose for the cameraman

Attempting to carry the rabbit on her own

The small enclosure helped us to get around easily with a reasonable array of different breeds of bunnies. The big hit of it was the ability to get around with the furry friends in such close proximity. Being able to held them one after another was definitely going to turn out to be one of Missy’s best childhood memories :).  Apparently, the enclosure was in the midst of upgrading progress and we will definitely be returning in the near future. 

Work Trips & Deh-deh's Birthday

I have been outstation for work for quite a bit in the first half of March. It was a benchmarking visit to Labuan from the 4-7th March 2017 earlier, and another trip to attend a workshop conducted by Microsoft the following week from 13-15th March 2017. Missy had a bad time during my absence and cried pitifully each time we chatted over video calls. In contrary to usual work trips, I decided to fly back the same day the course ended, exactly on the boss’ birthday. It was almost 9 pm when I reached home and it was too late for me to plan for anything, even to bake a cake. I was able to grab a tablet holder for the boss onboard (Air Asia merchandise) as a birthday pressie. Hence, I decided not to bake any cake this round but bring SIL along for a joined celebration the following night (SIL’s birthday) over a Japanese buffet spread at Zen Japanese Cuisine.

Here are some of the random shots I took during my trip to Labuan, the pearl of Borneo. What worth mentioning were my first experience on a speed boat, my unusual amount shopping for chocolates (along with Missy's surprise eggs) which have never been my favourite nor ever existed in any of my shopping lists, and a North Indian dinner fix at the Mehfil Restaurant.  To my surprise, I fell in love with Ferrero Rafaello almond coconut treats. Probably it wasnt anything near to the typical 'chocolate chocolates', instead, this sibling of Ferrero Rocher features creamy almond coconut with vanilla cream. 

My first experience on a speed boat to and fro Labuan

 Our spacious room at Palm Beach Resort

The balcony

 Wooden latch with louvred door from the restroom

Butter chicken, Palak paneer & a prawn dish to go with plain rice 

Murg Masala 

The pool in a gloomy morning

 The resort's restaurant in the background

Some team building ameneties by the shore

No luck to go on the  swing as it was a wet morning

Happy belated birthday, hon & Abby's deh-deh/dad/daddy/papa (yes, Missy started calling us with variety names these days). We thanked God for giving us another year of sunshine and love and may the Lord shower you with His love today, and with His care forever :)

Visit to the zoo

During our last trip back to KK In September 2016, we managed to squeeze a family trip to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Zoo which I have listed beforehand. My family was as excited as this is their first trip to the zoo with Missy. The last trip was to a cows’ farm was dated back in Chinese New Year 2016. It was indeed an eye opener for Missy who adores animals. Despite I have been to the zoo quite a number of times before this, I’ve never bothered about their feeding time. This time around, I was determined to catch up with their feeding time.

It was rather crowded that day due to public holiday. Apparently, half the district population decided to do the same and the entrance was teeming with people. We were there around 1.30pm and feeding time was expected to begin at 2.00pm. It was a nice day for visit where the sun decided to go into hiding, yet the rain didn’t make any appearance. Missy was deep asleep the moment we got to the zoo. Whilst searching for the sun bear as the first feeding destination, we managed to see parrots, peacock, hornbills and elephants.

Missy was asleep when we were on our way to the zoo and still deep asleep the moment we reached the zoo. She was waken up by chance when we were at the sun bear stop waiting for the feeding time. She got up quickly and asked to be carried, and was so elated when she was given a chance to toss the banana over to the sun bears.

Next, we walked over to the tiger’s den. The tiger was hibernating behind the greens and none of us was able to spot it until its’ feeding time. When it was feeding time, the big cat came so close and made its grand appearance with much pride. We were  able to have very close look at it as we were standing right behind the glass. 

Thereafter, we headed over to feed the orangutans. This time, Missy was given another piece of banana and she has been requesting me to “tosh” (i.e toss) them over to the “monkeys ah-ah-ah” (the way she calls Orangutans). Unfortunately, the one I thought I have tossed with all my might fell into the water, a man-made ‘river’ which was said to serve as a barrier as Orangutans typically afraid of water.

After that, we headed to witness otters being fed. Missy was extremely excited seeing how the otters eat their fishes and she wanted me to trail this guy bringing banana for the lone cheeky orang utan and raw fishes for the otters. LOL

Not long after that, it started blowing a gale and we hurriedly walk with a faster pace. We passed by cows, lone sheltered pony and some other animals I couldn’t remember. The animals show that afternoon was called off due to the weather as well. What a miss! That was actually the highlight I wanted Missy to experience. Thinking on the bright side, this is going to be another solid excuse to revisit the zoo in December :)

With the visit to the zoo this round, Missy has shown better interest towards ‘The Zoo’ (a book by Ladybird) and accompanying jungle animal toobs, “Look Inside Food” flip books that featured a lot of farm animals with farm animal toobs (by Usborne), interest towards farm animals (rooster, hen, dogs, cats) found during our trip to Bukit Garam’s prayer house (when the boss is on duty), asked to be read on her “Wombat” board book and claps  excitedly upon seeing certain scene in the “Jungle Book” movie at home. I am so glad that a short visit to the zoo can make such vast difference for a toddler. We are currently awaiting for our parcel containing “Look Inside The Zoo” (by Usborne) to arrive. Yay!

CNY 2016

Today mark the last day of Chinese lunar year celebration and the Pang’s had another round of “yee sang” tossing and more foods on the table. Here’s a super simple round-up of what and how we celebrated the year of the monkey this time. If my memory serves me correctly, I think this is the simplest and most minimal celebration we (or I particularly) ever had. Breaking the old customary tradition (I am thankful that my in-laws are modern thinking and understanding enough), we flew back to KK on the 060216 catching the earliest flight. Reaching one day before the eve, we were able to visit my maternal grandmamma, had my all time favourite bak kut teh, visited some shopping malls and checked off almost all the stuff on my list (and more) before heading for CNY’s eve reunion dinner with my paternal’s family. Although the family tree has widely expanded, this year was a quiet one as most of uncles and aunts did not manage it to come over as they are expecting to receiving or hosting their extended families at their own state/country.

Gong Xi Gong Xi

Being indifferent from yesteryears, this time, we attended thanksgiving service on Day 1 of CNY at Papar church simply because my mom had her itinerary prepared way beforehand and she had booked an appointment for us to visit the goats’ rearing farm, which was located further up Papar just for Missy’s sake. Hence, as expected, the girl was soooo happy and willingly let herself to be carried by grandpa for more than an hour. After the visit, we headed to Alamesra to get some materials and thereafter to 1 Borneo Hypermall with the intention to meet up my ex-colleague but our appointment was cancelled as she couldn’t make it in time to drive back from her kampong. After dinner, it was all packing and packing as we will be returning Sdk the next day.

                  

Gong Xi Gong Xi with her aunt as the background singer :)

Fast forward to the second day morning, it was meant for more shopping in the morning before catching up the afternoon’s flight. Time flies and how I wished that we could stay longer but I have to return to work the next day (CNY Day 3). While waiting for our plane to arrive, we met up with a family who were to return Sdk after their CNY  vacation in Taiwan. According to him, it has been their family of 5's tradition to travel during CNY as they no longer view CNY as an opportunity to gather among the families or relatives. Upon touching Sdk ground, there were more food gathering, feasting and visitations from the immediate and extended family members, the beauty I can brag about my in-law’s family. Here’s wishing everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai 2016 and may the year of monkey brings all of us an infinite abundance of happiness, health and wealth :)

Home :)

I have finally claimed some of my very much anticipated break from work. I am home home home! Back to my hometown since last Friday and staying with my family. I have been missing the warmth at home, with my very own (biogical) family and furry friends :) The moment I stepped down from the car, Odin growled at me and I know that signified that he hasn't seen me for quite sometime (read: misses me as much as I do) :P That certainly melts my heart. That growl of his is a valuable communication which is only applicable to family members and closed extended family or friend.  But, somehow on the other hand, I am missing my other home back in Sandakan, the boss and the in-laws to be exact. The boss will be joining me here tomorrow before we jet off to buy honey in the moon the following day :). 

Colors of India: Majestic Sunrise from Tiger Hill

Previously, all I knew about India ware about the famous Taj Mahal building and Indian culture which is associated to almost everything bright and colorful. My very limited exposure about how India looks like and what India has to offer has totally changed after the boss came back from his visit cum trekking in India, and of course after I made the boss to recap and share his experiences for long hours, which was definitely a rare sight for him who used to be an ardent good listener over a talker. Thus, I ought to jot this down before my memory slips away. Shall I be given an opportunity to visit this place one day, I would definitely jump into this idea at once :)

I was awed by many of the sceneries the boss brought back especially on the majestic sunrise occurrence from Tiger Hill, Darjeeling. At the very moment when I look through these photos, then only I realized that for many years of my life, sunrise and sunset went by me every day unnoticed. This post serves a reminder to myself that everything under the sky are meant to be treasured, to be appreciated :). How we have taken so many things for granted. A trip to India or more accurately Darjeeling is not going to be complete without the visit to Tiger Hill, which is located approximately 12km from Darjeeling town to witness the vibrant sunrise over the Himalayan mountains. Tiger Hill, the third highest mountain in the world standing at the height of about 8500 feet high over Kanchengjunga range and  the tip of Mount Everest, which is located 170km away (straight line distance)  is viewable from this point.

Visitors gathering by the observatory to witness the majestic occurrence.

Despite covered by thick lush forests on throughout the way up, this has not abstained the determination of visitors to experience the grand entrance of the fire ball as it peeps out through the thick mist and clouds. Visitors were recommended to get up in the wee hours during dawn, preferably around 0400hr to be able to get to the observatory in time to witness the gorgeous occurrence. Some even simile the occurrence as the world’s best scene, which I think can’t be more apt :). Here are few sequential panoramas of the sun rising occurrence from Tiger Hill.  

Sunrise on the way. The skies looked like it had caught fire.

The reddish yellow light of the sun has begun to emerge.

As the sun climbs up the horizon, the skies gradually turn into pulsating vibrant orange. 

What said to be specially unique and even some simile the occurrence as the world’s best scene was not merely on the sun rising phenomenon but watching the first ray of Sun shed light upon Kangchenjunga range, which was covered with thick snow , thereafter turns into red as the sun raises, followed by orange then into golden hue. The whole scenario took about 20 minutes before it turns into white again, when the Sun climbs up the horizon. 

Tiger Hill after the sunrise. 

Colors of India: On The Road

The boss was off for his very much anticipated Sandakphu-Phalut trekking in Darjeeling, India. All in all, the journey took more than 10 days including the overnight transit in KL, the stay in Kolkata city pre and post trekking in Darjeeling, India. The boss was scheduled to return to KL on the 10th Nov 2011, before catching a flight home to Sdk on the 12^th Nov 2011 evening. We managed to catch up with each other from time to time with the boss’ newly acquired India cell number. Thus, I was sort of roughly aware of his itinerary but there was one thing he deliberately kept away from me. Not until the Saturday night, when he was about to catch a flight from KL-Sdk. He dropped me a text that night from the airport asking if I have any tasks for Sunday School on the following day, or shall I have any errands to be carried out on that day to which my answer is no. That certainly arouses me to quickly reply and ask if he was scheduled to come over to KK that night :P. To my expectation, well, he said ‘Nope, I am returning to Sdk’. Not until few texts down our conversations, the boss replied ‘But pity someone who has to fly over to KK again tomorrow morning’. I definitely need not to elaborate how did I feel. LOL. By the way, that’s very very t-p(cal) of him! :P

So, fast forward to the boss’ November’s spot-check entry on the following day (131111). We did the normal stuff from eating, eating and more eating as well as some shopping apart from lazing while letting the boss to do all of the talking. I made him talk and talk about his trip and trekking journey along with the photos he took from his camera; which was indeed a rare sight to someone who let me to do most of the talking all the time :P So, here’s a snippet on some random photos on what can be found on the road in Kolkata, to which i find interesting. I’ll leave the honour to the boss to go round with his itinerary journal in his figurines and scale modeling oriented blog :)

Kolkata city is formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.  The city is also aliases as ‘Cultural Capital of India’, ‘The city of Processions’, ‘City of Joy’ and so forth. Picture 1 from left to right:  If you were born in the 80s era, you would probably be very well versed with Dr. Bombay’s famous song ‘Calcutta Taxi’ which was a hit when I was in my early teenage. I remembered the whole class can hum away with ‘Calcutta, taxi taxi taxi in Calcutta’ almost whole day long. :) When I did my research a while ago, I have just discovered that the singer, Dr. Bombay was not an Indian in person. Jonny Jakobsen (famously known as Dr. Bombay) begun his career as a country artist, but was famous only after his metamorphosis into Dr. Bombay. So, this is the authentic Calcutta's taxi ;) Picture 2: Another type of taxi in the form of van apart from Kolkata’s trade-mark taxi. This is better known as mini bus in our country. 

Picture 3: I first came to know about what trams are only in uni during my Highway and Transport subject. In my definition, trams are literally train on asphalt road :P From some of the websites I visited, I learnt that this transport evolution debuted with horse-drawn trams as early as 1881 and subsequently evolved into steam tramway in 1882 and eventually into electric trams that India has to offer today. The Kolkata tram is the oldest operating electric tram in Asia, running since 1902. Tram lends Kolkata an old world charm and add to the romantic element of the city. This slow moving, electrical transport in narrow and crowded streets, completes the ultimate attraction of the city. Having glided down the rails as a historian witness, tram has itself been turned into an immemorial heritage, of which all Kolkatans are proud of (via).

Picture 4: A typical looking 4x4 jeep like what we have in Malaysia. But, what made my jaws dropped was the fact that this jeep can actually engorged up to 14 adults there!. This jeep ferried 10 trekkers in a group along with 4 porters tagging along for more than an hour  or so ride from Darjeeling to the site *roll eyes* :) Picture 5 & 6: An auto rickshaw (i.e tuk-tuk, baby taxi) and the conventional runner pulled one, respectively. It’s almost unbelievable to find such traditional lifestyle in the latter still exists amidst the modern transportation technology in the country. Talking about rich culture, valuable history, I think Kolkata had it all. From all the photos can be found in the boss’ memory card, I think I can also safely assume that the city is also animal-friendly :). Picture 7: A living stallion probably has lost his way standing in the middle of the road, somehow do look like a statue in a roundabout. If you squint hard enough, you'll see public buses in the background. Picture 8: The picture may not do its justice. There was a tribe of more than a hundred of goats by the roadside.