A Little Thing, A Big Tug

Our first piece of rug in a long time

Sometimes a little thing can bring a big tug to my heart. Like this piece of rug we bought yesterday to hide the rust stain left by the old aquarium.

It seems such a silly thing but in the past one-and-a-half years 'bee was working in Penang I've grown used to her opinions and help in decision making on matters relating to the home. This time Hubby and I chose the rug without her input.

It's times like this that brings home the fact that she is married and, even worse, staying far away in KL : (

I miss her and cannot wait to see her during CNY.

Desa Bella Floral Fest

I love flowers but don't have the time and patience to care for them. But we ae are very fortunate to have a floral fest right at our door-step.

Lovely blooms courtesy of our neighbour

Great Grand-daddy Material

Last Monday (9 January 2012), sis-in-law was in town so we hosted a get-together for her and her hubby and all the nephews and nieces.

During the dinner our grand-nephew Nathanael, on his own accord, just came over, climbed on Kenny's lap and requested that Kenny play scissors paper rock with him. As you can see the two of them had a great time together.

Nathanael with his favourite adult of the evening

Yup, a child insitinctively knows great grand-daddy material when he sees one. 

Down to the Depths of Maui

On our third weekend (second weekend for most of the others) in Maui, a group of us rented a car for a day trip to Lahaina. Our main purpose for the trip was to go on the Atlantis Submarine Tour. The submarine tour is ideal for us ladies because it is the next best thing to donning snokeling gear and getting our hair wet!

Atlantis Adventures for a submarine xperience

First we boarded a boat at Lahaina pier that took us out of the harbour into the open sea to the rendezvous point with the submarine.

From L to R: Madhurita, Tania, Jean, Boey, Norma, me, Swee See and Bongi

We had a funny guide to take us through all the safety drill

On the boat to the rendezvous point

We were all so excited at our first sight of the Atlantis IV emerging from the sea.

The Atlantis IV is no glass-bottom boat. It is really a submarine, albeit a small one, and it is able to carry 48 passengers to depths of 100 feet and beyond. That is good enough for landlubbers like us.

The only thing that disqualifies Atlantis IV from being a "real" submarine is its lack of a periscope. That's not a problem because another boat, the Roxie, that is stationed on the waters above serves as the periscope for Atlantis IV.

That's Roxie beside the Atlantis IV

Going down into the sub

Boey, Tania and I all ready for the dive

We were told to look out for a sunken vessel. The Carthaginian, a replica of a 19th century supply vessel, was deliberately sunk off Lahaina, Maui, to create an artificial reef for the benefit of the marine life.

It was an eerie sight seeing the Cathaginian appearing before us

They really need this artificial reef because much of the reef was lifeless. In fact, hubby's marine tank at home looks better that anything we saw there.

Some of the fish we saw on our undersea trip

This is what we have in our living room

 We went down to a depth of 129 feet and then it was time to surface.

The depth meter

We did not really feel any pressure change but at that depth the port-holes were made of thick acrylic.

3.35" thick acrylic between us and the sea

Langkawi Getaway IV

We're supposed to take the cable car up Gunung Machincang yesterday but it was closed due to strong winds. So this morning we had an early breakfast, called to check that the cable cars are running and sped off for our ride before going to the airport.

The cable cars were running but the sky bridge was closed due to bad weather conditions. : (

We'll have to come back again for our tree top walk.

Hubby in the cable car with the middle station behind him

Tiny toy cable cars going up and down the oldest hills in Langkawi

Putumayo Dinner

We decided on Putumayo (not Putumayong) for dinner and it was a great choice. Not only does the place look beautiful, the food is also delicious, well presented and reasonably priced.

We liked the curry chicken best of all because it's all made from lean and tender breast meat and floury potatoes. And the curry is really lemak - the way I like my curry. And a nice touch was the star-shaped rice.

Located along Jalan Pantai Cenang, Putumayo truly deserves the Outstanding Restaurant Award for 2010/2011.

The food

The place

Langkawi Getaway III

It was a nostalgic trip down memory lane for Hubby when he saw the padi fields beside the road on the way to Pantai Cenang. He became a little boy again and even wanted to catch a fighting fish or two!

I dissuaded him and as we went along we passed the Laman Padi so we stopped by to have a look at how padi is grown. That place shows padi at all stages of growth from nursery stage to harvest time.

Hubby trying to snap a photo of his old firend, the Sar Looi Bak fish, at Laman Padi

Next stop was the Underwater World. I must say it's better maintained now than it was almost 2 decades ago when we last visited Langkawi.

And now we have just finished lunch at the Lan Kwai Fong cafe which is conveniently situated opposite the Underwater World. They serve set lunch that is much too salty but the dessert that didn't look appetising was surprisingly tasty.

A copy cat Lan Kwai Fong at Pantai Cenang

My meal

Chocolate oozing from the yummy dessert