Beijing in Grey 4

Tonight's dinner - Olio-improvised. 

Photos by Nada

Our last day in Beijing is nothing to talk about as we headed to airport to depart home as early as 5.00am. On the second last day however, was an all day shopping. It may sound weird, but frankly I didn’t quite enjoy the day, I’ll reason out as I write.

I regard myself as a structured shopper. I usually only buy things that I want, I hardly get influenced by promotions or sales.  It is just me, may be also because I am not lavish with money.

Sometimes I feel pity to promoters especially at make-up counters when they do promotions and try to nail me. Many times, though I refuse to try their product, they keep nagging asking me to try on. I do wonder why would they want to do so because I don’t at all look like someone who is pretty much interested or heavy with make ups. It always came to a situation after all the trying, I cold heartedly say “No, I don’t want. Thank You” and walk away.

Such a stingy person I am……, but when we go traveling surely I would want to spend some budget on souvenirs items either for ourselves or for our love ones back home.

This bazaar shopping in Beijing however, upsets me. I hate the way traders mark up goods price ridiculously (I mean extremely ridiculous) and it all depending to bargaining factor. Price could start at 800yuan and ended buying at 80yuan. What kind of selling and buying would that be?   

‘Stupid’ bargaining is one thing, but due to this, I became more skeptical of the products quality and if it is worth buying at all? Is it worth my money? Would the sold 80yuan product is actually worth of 10yuan? I hate things like this.

Furthermore, the traders are cunning and rather arrogant. It’s normal for one to get scolded or even cursed by them if a bargain is not closed. Crazy ah.. I don’t like it. I am not saying all of them but definitely most.

I did bazaar shopping in other Asian places, Medan, Bandung, Jakarta, Bangkok, Saigon, Hong Kong or Pasar Siti Khadijah in KB for the matter – Beijing has the worst traders for me.

At a kiosk, I had the intention to buy for Nada a set SMART GAME that I was interested with. It was definitely an imitation by the plastic quality. Nada has few sets of original ones so I knew how they should be. I bargained a price of 50yuan from the offered price at 400yuan.

The trader in a very stern way said to me “50yuan? Just now I heard you say 60yuan. I can understand English. You think I cannot understand English? You say 60yuan!” She really wanted to intimidate me, like I care.

I looked straight to her eyes in disgust - “No, I said 50yuan…” and walked off.

We hadn’t even pass the next kiosk and she shouted for me : “HEY LADY! HEY LADY! COME BACK, come back, come back, sell your price !”

AHHHHH… BLAH LA KO. Tak hingin aku!

Really pissed me off.

It’s rather frustrating, there were so many choices of cute children’s boots, shoes that caught my eyes, but I just don’t have the heart to buy. Nada didn’t even have a T-shirt!

I told Harris, never mind.. hope to go to Hard Rock Café and grab t-shirts for us later at night. Things however didn’t get the way we planned. No trip to HRC, so really Nada has no T-shirt from Beijing.

Kesian dia, getting cold in Beijing not even for a T-shirt.

Besides a feather art work, I only bought this bag during the bazaar shopping.

Cottage Patch

I was supposed to have a working appointment yesterday morning, but was postponed to late afternoon, then evening which only materialized today morning. It's not about the appointment that I want to blog, but since I had free time yesterday, I decided to go for applique class! He he he..

The low back cut dress. I got this multi color organic print in Bangkok the other day... Baru jadi baju...

I came to know about this shop near to Ampang Point as a result of blog hopping. It is called Cottage Patch. Actually, I already noticed the shop for quite sometime as we've been using the road fronting the shop all this while. Anyhow, it never attracted me to hop in because it's located so near the main road with no place to park the car. Further more the shop front is old and just slightly better looking than 30 year old the shops that I find in my hometown - KB. This is a true record of what the quote says "Never judge a book by it's cover". Thanx to internet and the blogger whom I can't recall her URL, I made way to the shop.

The first time I went, I knew I will be going back and the shop owner has no choice but to see my face over and over again, which I think she'll be happy for that. Besides having craft and tailoring supplies, they take orders for patch works, appliques, smocking.. whatever. God! the patch works - No cheap-cheap ones, ok. Expect minimum, 4 figures.. 5 figures is pretty normal. But then again... it's handmade done so exquisitely. Enough said, you got to see for yourself, if u like all these stuffs.

Wai teaching me to attach the applique.Dew disturbing me with her own applique

So, i spent few hours yesterday, learning applique while my loves spent time at book store in Ampang Point. I know!... my husband is so kind, kan...

Frankly, I could actually figure out how to do applique if I just sit quietly and observe one completed work without going to class and spend RM200. But then again, it's always good to learn it the right way.. and...... "Menuntut ilmu biar sampai ke China"

After yesterday's class.. of course my applique is far from completion. All there, is a stem of a supposed to be tulip bunch. The good thing is I could go again anytime I want until the project is finished. Payment once only - ya I like the idea, no time constraint.

The hours spent is therapeutic for me.. similar to massage in a spa.

Those of you who are interested... Cottage Patch has good choices of cotton fabrics too.. not necessarily cheap, though.

Here's sharing what I crafted for the newest great-grandchildren of Mok's, Arik Adam.. but we call him Amsterdam :

I didn't take any photo before had them tied with the red ribbon, so I had no choice but to download the two pix from my cousin's fb. TQ Cik Byie.

That little shopping – HK Day 4

Having to stay and experienced Disneyland Hotel, I have to write a review about it. There are two hotels in HK Disneyland namely, Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Hollywood Hotel.

We are family...

We stayed in Disney's Hollywood Hotel for the reason of its’ cheaper rate compared to other one. There are several types of rooms of same hotel which were also rated differently. I chose a Sea View room hoping for uninterrupted view and not fronting to other rooms. Good instinct I had, we had a great view from our window!

However, the building is spread wide enough that even the fronting rooms has more than 150’ distance. So not so bad.

Braille equipped hotel plan

The architectural layout is straight forward with clean space formation that you’ll hardly get lost in it. Interior works is nice, neat and cheerful.

.

Exchanging cards?

Only downside I would say is the placement of reception counter. Bad design – with two huge column blocking. Apara… itu arkitek….

What a total blunder...having that two column

Their service is superb, which can easily be judged by the time taken for registration and other wise. Check-in only takes you 10 minutes or so and check-out merely 5 minutes!

The cream of Disneyland Hotel to me however is their detail attention to the needs of little ones. What else can I say.. It's DISNEYLAND ! Really makes me happy. During the check-in we were informed that the room is equipped with two compact queen size beds which are positioned detached from the side walls and being asked if we would want a bed fence to be fixed. I agreed. As a baby product junkie myself, I checked the brand of the bed fence. They use LINDAM….. Not bad, eh.

All toiletries and towels are provided in three for our room, and of course one is in a smaller size fit for our love, Dew.

The mickey mouse gargle glass are also in two sizes...

May be I have not stayed in many hotels enough to say, it was the only hotel thus far that I encountered such provision.

Bravo Disney's Hollywood Hotel.

We procured the Disneyland Stay 2 Days tickets, i.e promotion price to enter the park for two consecutive days by staying in the Hotel. Thus, Day 4 was still planned for Disneyland, but I didn’t intend to be in the park for the whole day long. What I had in mind was half day in the park and to head to Tung Chung which is just two stop away by MTR from Disneyland Resort MTR station for a cable car ride to Hon Ming 360 and a little shopping at the Citygate Outlet (CO)

So after check-out, we left our luggage at the hotel storage service and entered the park. The weather for second day in the park was so much pleasant compared to the first day. It was scorching hot earlier but second day was shadowed. Nice! By noon we had completed all the rides and some of Dew’s liking were ridden twice.

Fire extinguisher in Tarzan's tree house.

We were left with much recommended live show called the Golden Mickey which is the next schedule time was at 4.00pm. Harris and I were contemplating if we were to wait or not since we planned for the cable car ride. Errrrr, actually it was me whom contemplated… Harris abide my decision.

Giving a deepest thought, I decided to watch the show. We went all the way to HK for Disneyland, might as well get ourselves satisfied. Golden Mickey show is a live 30 minutes theatre performance casting characters from Disney productions such as Snow White, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Tarzan dan macam-macam ada. It was a splendid show.

However, since I have watched Disney on Ice live performance and other theatre shows like Sounds of Music, Cats, Saturday Night Fever, Stomp.... I would say Golden Mickey show is a friction of those.

Oooo… ya, my Ayah Ngah used to furnish me with two free VIP tickets for many of international live performances at Istana Budaya. (There is a myth told in my family that said I am my Ayah Ngah’s favorite niece…..) During that period Harris and I were ‘Bujang Senang’, so we never missed to make ourselves available for the shows.

We went to Tung Chung anyway after watching the show, though it was rather late. I thought never mind if we couldn’t make it for the cable car ride, let’s just roam around the CO.

Harris said.. I didn't jump high enough earlier. So, this one should be ok.. No? Give me a break! I'm an old 35...

Citygate Outlet is a shopping complex built across a highway linking HK city and airport with branded items factory outlets boutiques being it’s retailers. Some are Bally, Clarks, Armani, Kookai, Mango… bla bla bla… I can say they ARE factory outlets, unlike in Bandung which I couldn’t tell if a product is an imitation or factory outlets.

O.. come on! When two pairs of trousers are exactly of a same design, same material but with different brand label, can you say they are factory outlets. To me.. it looks more like a belasah-punya-immitation. Mek don’t like. I’d rather buy unknown brand.

I meant for myself a handbag, so purchased one. Among the many-many brands, we know Coach is always relevantly cheaper compared to other brands. And since it is factory outlets, the goods are offered at 10-15% lesser than the normal retail price. Mek kedekut… and chose between the ones that were offered at 50% discount. So, I just spent HKD1900. He he. Even so, I was going back and forth weather to buy or not. Punyala susah. Mek ni kampong skett..

Strange, when my cousin was going to further his tertiary study doing Medicine in Egypt recently, I dedicate him a bigger sum of money... double than what I spent for the handbag with no second thought. Not at all.. in fact I was so contend with my act. Nothing to brag about it, but that is to show spending money in different ways contend different people differently. There is no right or wrong.

Anyway, I can say the handbag was a worth buy and I always savor anything worth it. Mek berkira-berkira…. To buy one for my MIL or my Mok and my Mami. My MIL has three DILs, but whenever she needs a handbag she always ask from me. So it would be nice if this time around I get her a new handbag without she has to ask.. hmmm? And Mok… it will be so glamorous for her to carry a Bally, isn’t it? And if buy for Mok… Mami has to have too… right? though she just had one for Raya….

I also thought I should get a pair of Clarks for my one and only nephew.

Sadly, I do not have much time at CO. Trust me… I am not giving myself an excuse. I didn’t even get anything for Nada.

Harris was pressing me citing we had our bags at Disneyland Hotel storage to be claimed, though they never gave us any time limit. He kept reminding me that we still have to figure our way to next hotel we were to spend our next two nights in HK. My husband always like that one….

We left CO at around 8.30pm back to Disneyland to get our luggage. After 6 times of exchanging MTR, walk trough the long Mong Kok East station, a shopping mall (which I do not know what name it is) .. we arrived at Royal Plaza Hotel in Kowloon close to 10.30pm. Mek dah tak dapat rasa tapak kaki… perasaan nak terjun atas katil jek…

So, if I could have one more day in HK.. I want to spend that day at Citygate Outlet, Tung Chung.

Gambar pun sekeping ni je sempat ambik... This is the part where it crosses the highway...

Addiction ?

I think I have a sad addiction here or….. may be not. Why do I say so? Let me tell ya the dilemma.

At times when we are needed to, Harris and I drive separate cars to work. I always hated to drive.. and it is a bad thing for me to drive to work also. I tend to stay longer in the office trying to finish up my work because at the back of my mind, I know Harris is not waiting to fetch me downstairs. (I usually unintentionally made him waiting… sometimes up to two hours or more… kalau laki orang lain sure bini dah kena fire!!!…)

So, if I were late… Harris will help to fetch Nada from her Nanny’s. The issue here is, we do not have a car seat in the other car… our old-trustworthy-most loved 1.3L Wira which we will never sell… with plate number WHM 6840, (Now you know where I get my blog page title?). Harris calls her “FELARI”. Harris says… all of the others could come and go but this one will stay with us for as long as she could move. Well, I dreamt a HUMVEE one day so I could just langgar any morons on the road

I don’t really like the idea of placing Nada at the passenger seat unattended though it is just a short 5 minutes drive from the Nanny’s place to our home. Ya…ya…ya… of course Harris fasten the seat belt. I noticed that Harris didn’t go home straight after fetching Nada lately. He sometimes makes way to the Night Market if it is Friday or to the neighborhood convenience store for Nada’s formula or such. This would take longer routes to home, isn’t it?

Say what you like, but this Madam always prefer that cheeky little monster to be ‘tied’ to a car seat. More to her safety… but also to my good. I don’t reckon inculcating a habit for Dew not sitting in a car seat. Once she thought she is free by not sitting in one with her dad, she would want to do the same thing with Mommy.

I know myself, that I am not a very patience person and easily agitated by the simplest reason. So, I can’t be having a toddler wanting to walk about in the car while I am driving. Further more, like I always say… I hate to drive… not shame to admit, I am not a good driver either. Meaning to say, I have to stay focus with my driving with out having to shout my lungs out : “NADA! DON’T STAND!” or “NADA! SIT DOWN!” or “NADA! STAY PUT!”

I believe with the above long winded telling, I have justified myself… that Dew need another car seat!…. or errrrrr…… is this just my addiction?

Anyway, I am thinking of getting her a booster type. Light and easy installation. Pink or raspberry or red or orange color. Of course the not so expensive one. Budget around RM 350 ~ 400.

Maybe from GRACO or Safe N Sound.

However, I haven’t really started with my new surveying and goggling. Oh! I am so afraid I would end up with a big hole in my pocket again.

I guess the saving up by means of me tailoring Dew’s dresses thus far allows me to spend on a new car seat, eh? (Kes nak menyedapkan hati………)

And I have just added a new one to my portfolio… I named it The Royal Velvet Sachs dress.

Royal is because the velvet ribbon is in royal blue color.

Saigon, here we come

The blog seriously needs an update and I am gonna finish my Piala Malaysia experience series after this one.
(Hopefully Kerabu Jantung will be patience enuf… I usually will finish what I started even though it’ll take a lloooonnnng time. Oooops earlier series also yet completed : The Pale Green Home, aiyah! – slap my own face)

Yuuuup, the title says it all… we are going for a short 4 days 3 nights trip to Ho Chi Minh from Saturday, I mean just a matter of few more hours. Wish me a safe and wonderful holiday, people !

It was supposed to be Harris’s office sponsored trip which is only for the staff. But I guess, you all know la… this mother hen (wey, I really mean mother hen with two legs and a pair of wings – not the one at Lorong Haji Taib) can’t stop making noise. I nagged and nagged and nagged Harris to ask his office administration if I could tumpang sekaki. I don’t mind paying for my own expenses. Again, this mother hen is not shame to admit that she is not the shameful type when it comes to this sort of item. He he. My feet got mole oneee….

My darling hubby on the other hand had to put away all of his shame to place my intention to the attention of trip organizer. One day after work, he told me – “Yes, you can join the trip to Vietnam”. Waaaaaaa!!!! Me so excited, I made my own assumption that surely there were many hubbies whom their wives pestered them to ask the same thing. The decision was made then due to the volume of requests.

Guess what Harris answered me? “Taklah, Abang je yang tanya." Gulp! I felt chocked. Is it real? I don’t believe it, could I be the only noisy mother hen? Guiltiness surrounded my senses.

Anyway, that thought only perplexed me for a very short moment. Always see a glass as half full! If it’s not because of me being the noisy mother hen nagging the big cock,… the other nicer mother hens wouldn’t be able to enjoy the trip, aren’t they? Adding as bonus, trip organizer also decided to sponsor for spouse’s trip expenses. Haaaaa, see the benefit to have a noisy mother hen? For that, I thank myself.

No doubt we are definitely bringing the little bidadari Dew along, even though her expenses is not counted in the package.

So, I am excited towards this trip. Further more I’ve contacted a friend from school whom is attached to Petronas and has been living Saigon for about a year. I really hope we would be able to meet up.

I’ve done with my before trip MUST-DO and MUST-BRING lists, It's 3am anyway. Of course most of the items in the list concerns Dew the most.
Before our trip to Bandung earlier this year, I made Harris agreed to cash out his RM 600 for the Baby Bjorn carrier albeit Dew has already own a carrier before the Bjorn. How? Oh… easy, I always implement the veto decision convinced him to trust my instinct. :P
Many times when we were in Bandung, Harris kept saying “It’s a good thing that we get this carrier or I could end up having back pain….”

Since Nada now is quite ‘heavy’ and ‘long’ to fit into the carrier even though she is still within limit specified by manufacturer, I thought we should get a pushchair for this trip. A light, not bulky and umbrella closure type. Easy to carry and practical to use. Lil Dew definitely will get tired at any point and I figured this stroller would be much useful. We could use in the airport right to the aircraft and shaft it by the door or in the overhead luggage area once we get into the fuselage, I have seen many people do that. Should later it is not really needed in HCM or the city could be less friendly to push chairs, then we’d just leave it in the hotel room.

My initial thought was to buy one of those pushchair which cost less than RM 100, but somehow after due consideration we end-up buying this one at more than triple of our budget. *Sigh*

I got hooked with it after looking at the size it become upon being folded up!

Lets make the buy worth even more …… to families whom have plans for trip and think this cutey push chair would do wonders… be a NOISY MOTHER HEN and don’t be shameful to ask me if you want to borrow. Non-chargeable. (Heard somebody is off to Melbourne?, siapakah itu ?)

Just shout out loud. (Susah nak baca ni – Macam - She sells sea shells at the sea shore!)

Oh dear…. I really love baby gadgets I think I want to own a business of it’s kind. For traveling purpose alone, lil Dew now has 2 pushchairs, 2 car seats, 2 carriers before her age is 2.
Well, I need not have to worry so much about that, surely there’ll be others who has more and different people has different interests anyway.

For now, I want to finish up a full bowl of trifle pudding and sing happily : “All our bags are packed and we are ready to go …………….”

P/s - Will brag about the trip later. Please bear with me, ya !

P/p/s - Mentibang ; thank you for this beautiful and delicious pudding. Must be nslave who made it!

Something new

Oooo, I am so excited. Earlier today, I finally got hold of the good that I ordered through the internet. This is really my first time buying stuff online. Honestly, it is something rather unusual to me. Yes, I do source for information from the net but buying online ? I was skeptical about it. To top it up though I am an internet user, I wouldn’t categorize myself as an I.T savvy which can be judge by my attestation that I only familiarize myself with blogs & forum for about a year or so.

The purchase was done almost last two weeks and to my surprise the delivery was speedy fast which I was supposed to receive the next day. Unfortunately, we were not home that Saturday when the parcel arrived. So, I was only left with the notice by Pos Laju pasted to my house door. The same weekend, I went back home town until middle of the week and was not able to collect the parcel at collection centre. The working days later do not allow me enough time to make the tour to pickup the item either. Came last weekend, it was 1st Saturday of the month and Pos Laju collection centre was not in operation.

Today, by so having a meeting near to the collection centre made the parcel finally succeeded to be in my possession. I was surprised that it actually came in a nice flower prints paper box.

Another bonus, the purchased item inside was neatly folded and being wrapped with yellow butter paper. I imagined the sender took an extra mile to make the receiver happy by putting personal care for item delivered. Indeed, she made one mommy very happy tonite.

Little dew had the honor to unwrap the parcel. It was intended for her anyway….

I bought her a smocking dress from Little Girls' Closet which I found out from a friend of mine. Lovely, isn’t it?

She twirls.

Ahhhhh, how I ‘llllllloveee smocking details. This reminds me, I've yet posted any entry on smocks that I made for my girl. Hhhmmmmm.