Whenever we holiday overseas my husband would always take over the planning of all our meals. He would do some homework before the trip and speak to the locals when we get there, just to ensure that we do not miss out any of the must-eat places. He would also find out the opening hours of the local markets (for fresh meat, seafood and vegetables). Yeah, he loves to cook and does a much better job than me. Whenever he cooks fresh ingredients is a must and a never to be compromised quality. He makes an effort to get all ingredients from the fresh market unlike me where convenience is always my priority. I like my vegetables and fruits thoroughly washed and nicely pac...

Since young both my girls love animals very much. They would get very excited whenever the opportunity arises for them to visit the zoo. As both my husband and I are not animal fans, they rely on school trips, and visits from family and friends. As they grow older, they started to negotiate visits to wildlife parks and/or farmstays when we travel overseas, as their reward for doing well in their school exams or in exchange for a month of washing toilets at home. I still have not figured out where their love for animals came from, as I am someone who would scream my head off whenever I see a cat, dog, et cetera. Before we got into Perth, my younger girl (the mo...

Hubs and I were totally burnt-out from our daily routine, him from “his grind” and me a little bored with everything from the domestic front. We decided to take a short break with the girls. We got into Perth early this morning and will be here for the next ten days. Normally we would prefer to either go to Sydney or Melbourne whenever we visit Australia. We consider Perth a little “slow” (no offense meant) for us. Probably it is a sign of old age, spending 10 days in a slow and laid-back place with moderate winter conditions sounded rather appealing to me. Actually it has been ages since we last visited Perth. If my memory does not fail me, Erica was...

The Malacca River fronting the hotel We took a short drive out of Kuala Lumpur, and spent the weekend in Malacca Town, one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. It is considered one of Malaysia's most interesting city as its buildings and streets have strong influence of its founder Parameswara (a Javanese prince), the early Chinese migrants, and the three European colonial periods of Portugese, Dutch and British. All four of us were looking forward to the trip for our own reasons, the girls imagining their history books coming to life, for me its the hotel, a refurbished 80 year-old used to be mansion belonging to a rich tycoon, and for my other half, an escape ...

We wanted to do a 3-hours massage at JivaRhu Spa, thus were thinking of ways to occupy the girls while we were gone. I was thankful, and impressed with level of customer service, when the reception made special arrangements for the girls to participate in the mangrove tour without us. While they were given a two hours private guided tour of the botanical and zoological wonders of the mangrove ecology, bat caves, eagle feeding, macaw monkeys and fish feeding stations, we spent our time at JivaRhu Spa, for a 3-hours couples massage. After lunch the girls were busy at the beach collecting sea shells and participating in the activities planned for the day; henna paint...

Tanjung Rhu Resort (TRR) brought back many wonderful memories for both my husband and I. It was the first luxury, 5-star resort that we stayed. We went there 7 years ago, in awe and a little "uncomfortable" of the service that we got from them. Maybe it's because we were a young couple with a small bank balance then. We could only afford a night stay, and had only one meal at the resort - the buffet breakfast that came with our package! I vividly remember walking past Rhu (french fine-dining restaurant with awesome view), took a look at their menu, and were scared off by their sky-high prices. Coming back again made me realize how much we have progressed. In...