CNY 2018

Happy CNY!

This year we didn’t go back to JB coz my mom was in Segamat.  One of my cousins had her wedding banquet during CNY in Segamat.  My mom was happy to attend whilst Andrew and I decided not to go because we didn’t really like to go for this kind of social event.  Both of us are introvert and anti-social, I guess.  And after all, I don’t think I am invited.  hahaha….

Nevertheless, we did feel a bit sentimental. We missed those good old days where my MIL would cook a presumptuous traditional Penang meals for reunion.  The feeling was soon dismissed when some church members heard that we were around during CNY, they invited us over to their house for reunion instead.  

One of them was an elderly lady who is from Penang.  Sometime ago we visited her when she was hospitalized and found out that she carried the same rare surname as my MIL.  She warmly welcome us to join her family for a big feast in this festive season.  Since her son has a duty call in the evening, the reunion dinner was set at 4pm.  We thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and the kids have fun playing with each other.  The old structure of the house brought back some fond childhood memories to me as well.

Then we went to another house at 7pm for a second round of reunion dinner.  He is one of the leaders in church.  Usually they have open house on CNY but not this year.  Instead, the couple has decided to invite a few of us who have no where else to go during CNY for a small scale dinner.  It was really thoughtful of him.

Yee Sang, specially custom-made by the lady of the house.  Take a closer look, you may spot the face of a puppy. 

On the first day of CNY, we did quite a bit of spring cleaning and moving of furniture.  Yours sincerely has this weird habit of re-positioning the furnitures once in awhile to give a fresh look to the house.  At the same time, it helps to keep things neat and tidy.  Both kids are sharing room for now as they still could not let go of their many many boxes of toys.  Nevertheless, they love their new room setting though I find it a bit crowded.

Then we visited 3 families in the afternoon - Pastor Danny, one of Andrew's DG's members and my ex-secondary school friend.  Andrew wanted the children to have a taste of how it is like to pay a visit to friends and relatives from house to house as in the Chinese custom.  Unfortunately, he only managed to engaged two appointments.  My friend's house was a bonus as we only made the arrangement on that morning itself.

The next morning,we left Melaka and found ourselves in Shah Alam Botanical Garden for an adventurous outdoor activity - Skytrex Adventure.  Never knew the Botanical Garden is so well known.  We reached there around 10.30am and it was packed with people.  The car park was full and the queue to enter the park was at least 200 meters long.  There was a Skytrex counter right in the middle of the park entrance, we registered with the person in charge and he took us passed through the crowds of people.  Phew!!! We are absolutely thankful for that.

The Skytrex site is located 5 minutes away from the entrance via the open air shuttle bus.  After signing the indemnity form, we were secured with a half-body harness.  We proceeded to the "Initiation" platform whereby an instructor briefed us on the safety gears and how to operate them.  After a trial run, the real adventure began.

We took the easiest course 'The Little Adventure' which is suitable for the young ones.  There are 23 challenges in this circuit.  All challenges are only 5m above ground.  Both kids love the flying fox as it is the least effort with maximum thrill.  I didn't manage to capture many photos as I was a little concern about dropping my phone.  Surprisingly, there wasn't a single mosquito bite throughout our 2.5hours stay. We found out later that there is another two additional parks operated by Skytrex as well; one in Melaka, another one in Langkawi.  Looks like we have found ourselves another exciting place to go in Melaka during our next holiday.  Anybody wants to join us?

After all the work out in Skytrex, we retreated to our 'home' for the next 3 days.  Andrew had booked a 4-star hotel room with only RM130 per night.  We thought this is a really good deal, with complimentary breakfast for two.  Kids really loved it.  The room is spacious and clean, though it may be a bit unfashionable.  After freshening up, we visited a family friend in the evening.  It has been awhile since we visited her, yet she always took the trouble to welcome us with a warm fellowship. 

The next day we went to Chiling waterfall.  The last time we visited we only managed to reach River Crossing 2.  This time we advanced to River Crossing 3.  The water current was slightly strong as it rained the night before.  There are altogether 6 river crossing.  The fun of this place is the huge quantify of fish swimming around you.  Kids love to feed them.  Elyse was somewhat disappointed that we didn't manage to reach the waterfall; Erwyn doesn't seem to be bothered by it as long as he can feed the fish; I am just happy with where we were; spending time together outdoor, enjoying nature.

Day 3 - We visited two new shopping malls in Klang Valley, Sunway Velocity and My Town. Love the decorations in both malls.  The management of Sunway Velocity even assigned staffs to assist in photo-taking.  But we preferred My Town over Velocity as kids have some fun playing indoor bumper car and riding on electric animal ride.

So, that's the end of our CNY holiday.  Simple, fun, tiring... but beautiful memories.