Year End Escapades

The end of the year is always a mixed bag and way too fast a way to close the year for me. But like all boring people who aren't out there screaming a countdown and drinking their livers to poop, I'm blogging. Ok, I've got a glass of wine in one hand... but that doesn't count.

The fest-acti-vities begin with Christmas. (Christmas Eve panic shopping to be exact.) A drive to the serene rubber-estate-cum-kampung for a mega Eve bash with the Kong family, their inlaws, outlaws, grandkids and other farm animals. Then comes Christmas day dinner with my family. A short respite in between and then it's wife's birthday (29th) and the curtain drops on the 31st.

I've learnt that panic shopping lands you up with crummy gifts. By crummy I mean you feel really crappy when you open up your presents and find expensive fragrances and such and you remember that you gave them a shower radio or picture frame. I tried to make up for the injustice by treating my family to Dim Sum on Boxing Day.

Christmas Eve

The festivities in the outback of Kuala Sawah on Eve never ceases to impress me. It's always phenomenal - the amount of food, the number of people and the family dynamics. In that order. This year there was so much food I was hoping all the poor and homeless of Seremban would show up; and even then there'd be food to spare. People did stream in till late night, some in their BMWs and Mercedes negotiating tight estate dirt-lanes. And the family, oh my - there's the multilingual pastor-uncle who leads a service, an octagenarian great-grandma who puts the fear of God in all things alive, the 50-something aunt who cycles up mountains for fun and bakes up cakes to live and die for, and the uncle who roasts turkeys... just to name a few stellar characters.

Christmas day

We slept in and crept into the Nepalese service instead of our regular English one. I'm glad we did. We didn't understand a word, but that was not the point. It was celebrating in a way that encapsulated the spirit of Christmas in the most poignant way. Here we were, three Chinamen in the back of a hall of strapping Nepalese men (with odors to match, I might add), feeling altogether foreign. And they were singing beautiful hymns and carols in a language I didn't understand about a God who did understand all human flesh and its faltering attempts to reach Him; about a baby born to live the life we couldn't live; and about the man who died that we would not. Jesus showed us true empathy - entering into another's experiential world fully and sensitively; living our lives, dying our deaths. And I got to taste a tiny bit of the spirit of that empathy for the briefest moment.

Boxing day?
The Yaps basically hunched and slouched around a feast of Dim Sum, gorging dumplings, slurping tea, reminiscing everything from Castlewolfenstein (a PC game which me and my brother spent disproportionate amounts of our childhood on) to I can't remember what.. I was drunk on tea.

Wife's birthday.
Now this is when the stress hormones work overtime. Getting this one day wrong is the beginning of a year of misery. Having a wife who works shifts and gets her weekly roster on Sunday (when her birthday is Monday) DOES NOT HELP. And when you've got a barely-2-yr-old whose meals and baths need to be planned down to the ounce - it's a disaster until proven otherwise. But GOD was smiling on me this time. From the moment I got confirmation of Monday & Tuesday off, I got to work, and things just miraculously fell into place. Online booking for hotel & spa package - click click click done. Call to mom for babysitting - dial, beg, done. Plan itinerary and cover story. Done.


Come the morning, we dropped off Ethan at mom's and he gleefully bade us go and have fun. Didn't she say she wanted to shop at Isetan? So to KLCC we went. Oh, you don't need me to hang around and rather I bugger off to look at gadgets? Meet you in an hour? Great!! In that one hour I sprinted off to Impiana, checked in, got a top-floor room to get a view of KLCC park, confirmed the spa booking, ran back to the KLCC, got flowers.. all in the knick of time. Ring ring.. where shall I meet you? How about Sundanese food darling? Sprint sprint.. hide flowers under the chair, stop panting. In walks the love of my life, I pull her a chair and spring the lilies on her. A symbol of your feminine sexuality, I proudly declare (I got that off Google while crossing the road!) OK.. let's go somewhere else now. As we pulled out of KLCC and onto Jln Pinang (which is where Impiana is), I exclaim, OH NO, I left something at KLCC!! I gotta turn back! And swerve into the hotel car park. It took her all of 20 seconds before she realised that's where we were going to stay.. Well, it was worth the short suspense. The room was cosy and sleek. The massage sensuously amazing (a Balinese massage better than what we got in Bali, to be honest.) And the horizon pool perched over the city with the towers in full view, breathtaking. She was thrilled to bits. 2009 is going to be glorious.

Well, today is New Year's Eve. For the first time in my life I can look back and say I achieved all my resolutions for 2008. And that's because this time last year I didn't make any save one: I resolved not to make any resolutions anymore. That's the secret formula to fulfilment by the way: F = A/E (where F= fulfilment, A= accomplishment, and E= expectation). When E --> 0, F --> infinity. INFINITE fulfilment! Genius no? Well, while the fireworks are banging off and beers are being consumed by the barrel, I'm thumping on my PC which will soon be decomissioned while my Mac is running BootCamp. I've got a Merlot smooth as silk in hand and my wife is cackling behind me reading Tony Parsons. It's a good life, she just planted me a kiss and we wished each other Happy New Year. It's been a mad year but I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Come 2009 - give me everything you've got!

The Little Drummer Boy

Seeing that Ethan has got a real passion for rhythm, we couldn't resist getting him his first drum set.



Since then he's been experimenting various styles of banging, asks for his audience to sit and watch or sing along so he can beat.

Look at him go!


Now I wonder when I can get MY own drum set... What was that?? Sorry I'm a bit deaf.

Family Outing at MidValley

It's great when the whole family can get together and chill.



Our recent outing-pigout at MidValley and landed up stuffing our faces at Paddingtons.

Bali Videos

I've only recently had an uninterrupted connection to upload our holiday videos. Here they are:

Bumbling about in Bali

Trip to Bali started on the wrong foot. We left all our packing to the last day and Ethan was snuffly all night making it very difficult. I went to bed at 2am and Joan probably at 4am, and we were on the road to LCCT at half-past six.


Day 1

From Bali

Flight was ok for Ethan, thanks to Actifed and Oxymetazoline. A one-hour delay getting our room was a slight dampener but the room itself wasn't bad though a little below our expectation after what we experienced in Chaweng Regent, Samui. We needed rest, so the entire afternoon we slept with Ethan. Going out to

From Bali

Kuta square was a jarring and disorientating culture shock for us - a mish-mash of branded stores, bars, boutiques and every kind of night-market hawking all crumpled into tight streets with motorbikes-a-zooming and touts-a-screaming. A compulsory horse-ride (ripoff 100,000rupiah) through Poppies Lane & Legian made it a little better and on spotting the legendary Made's Warung, we stopped for dinner. Large tuna in Balinese sauce, Gado-gado and Sate Babi redeemed the day for me though I had to fend off ferocious mosquitoes the whole time.

Day 2
We didn't sleep.. again. This time because of bed bugs!! Took three calls and half and hour at 2 o'clock in the morning for the hotel staff to change our sheets. Ethan was still snuffly and pukey, waking at least six times in the night. So day two was going to be NO TRAVEL. After mega breakfast (we eat for two meals) we headed off to Discovery Mall - no adventures for today, we thought. Intercepted by some tourism promo boys, we won a prize - t-shirts, free stay at Royal Bali and an island tour!! (I thought to myself - this is a conjob, Joan thought - this is a conjob, but what the heck... let's go see this hotel.) Man, were we conned... An hour of the most annoying and irrelevant sales talk which we had to practically shout to get out of at the end really botched the day. Only redeeming point was the free island tour we won

From Bali

After an afternoon nap, I said to myself, we're going to enjoy our dinner no matter what. So, off to the BEST Balinese haute cuisine in town - KETUPAT! It was well worth the price of some 300,000+ rupiah. Hidden behind an antique gallery on Legian, it was the most exotic looking place I've ever eaten in. Eating gazebos fashioned after ancient royal houses, poolside dining, and Balinese spa music made for perfect ambience for the night. And the food was.. oh my god... orgasmically good. Sate Lilit(check out the slideshow/photos)- pervasively spiced meat rolled around a serai stick, exuding the most heavenly aromas and flavors to titilate your palate - served on barely burning embers of coal. Time stopped as I bit into the succulent flesh made for gods...

From Bali

Ok back to earth.. That night we hung out at Starbucks, Discovery, had ourselves some frappucinos and caramel machiato while Ethan played himself silly over the couches after his meal. MISTAKE. All the excitement and aerophagy just made him pukey, and puke he did.. Trying to save the upholstery and carpets from permanent graffiti courtesy of Ethan, I took the entire load of vomit on myself (see photos). That totally made my day.. It was hilarious - father & son covered in vomit, people opened doors and stepped aside for us to get back to the hotel to be hosed down!

From Bali

Time to cash in our island tour prize. We headed off to Kintamani to see the live volcanic mountain of Batur. The usual stops on the way up - batik, silver, art, carvings, etc. Kintamani was crispy cool, the volcanic crater spouting off a little ash, and the large expanse of Danau Batur serene and sedate. On the way back, the driver suggested we try out the Elephant Safari at Bakas.. MISTAKE. The bloody entrance fee and elephant ride for 3 of us would've cost us 1.5million rupiah!! We said thank you very much, take us home.

Dinner was at Discovery Mall's food court where we had some Soto, Gado-gado and more sate. We decided we didn't need the grime and crowd of Kuta so we did all our shopping at TandaMata - the souvenir/craft shop in Discovery. I'm sure we were paying far too much for the stuff, but what the heck..

Day 4
This was going to be Joan's day at the Spa, and my day with the boy. All was going according to plan. We had breakfast, Ethan was happy watching Bob the Builder, mother bundled off, and I was feeding him on his pram before heading out to Kuta square. Then on his last spoon, he gave me that classic stare which says daddy I'm going to puke, like mega puke.. It was volcanic, like Batur in 1917. Puke splattered on the floor, the walls, and filled the pram. It took me a good hour to hose us both down, lay towels on the floor, and disrobe the pram for washing. Off to the laundry with another sack of clothes and pram covers, and finally back to Discovery for more gift hunting.

From Bali

From Bali

With all that exhaustion, I decided we were not going to do Jimbaran. I didn't want to risk another eruption and didn't fancy the traveling anyway. So, instead, we had seafood at the hotel's beachside BBQ. That was the best decision I made. The food was good, the poolside ambience chilling, and the entertainment - a Tek Tekan dance by a reputed troupe was par excellence. And we got some good photographs with the cast too! So for a stress-free, minimal fuss, great food and dose of local culture - I'd give the evening an 8 out of 10.

Day 5

From Bali

A laidback breakfast, stroll-come-photoshoot around the gardens, and finally packup to go. All in all, a challenging but fun trip. Not the usual see-all, do-all adventure. More of a highly-selective sampling of food, culture, and sights of the island paradise; perhaps an introduction to Bali for future reference should we decide to go again..

Picked up our compulsory cigarettes, brandies, chocolates and fragrances at the airport duty-free; let Ethan do some last-minute flirting with the babes, and off we go on our airplane. Thankfully Ethan knocked out even before we boarded and slept the whole way except for the last half hour.

From Bali

Goodbye Bali. Hold your own.

Getting back on Sunday, we were actually quite happy - both from the trip and to be back home. When I had my shower, I realised we have a little resort of our own right here in our own home. It's great to be home and great to have a home I can call paradise.

Weekend Kitchen Therapy

It's Sunday. Not just any Sunday. A Sunday after a tremendously crazy and stressful week.

I'm a compulsive overeater, and I destress by eating or cooking. So today I opted for cooking instead of binging.. But wait a minute.. I have to eat what I cook don't I? Well.. It has to go somewhere!

 

English breakfast sausages with sunny side up.

 

 

Carbonara - the Italian coal miner's high-calorie energy meal. Crisp-fried bacon, eggy-cheesy-creamy sauce with onions & garlic. And a sprinkle of parsley.

Not every week I get a Sunday like this. Joan's at work - rescucitating the collapsed or straightening a fractured limb, whatever it is she has to do in the ER. My job's to keep baby clean and fed and give him his nap.

Ah but what joy it is when it isn't a task but a chance to reclaim some father and son time and create a few significant moments in our own history.

Fed him with Bob the Builder playing to keep him sufficiently cooperative. Showered him to a silky smooth radiance. Then at his yawning cue, put off the lights, draw the drapes and rock him to sleep.

Heck, I thought to myself. I may as well get some deep rest myself. So as he drifted into sleep I also proceeded to defragment my thoughts and feelings, breathe deeply, letting go the many tensions and suppressed inner conflicts. Soon he was flat out on the mattress and I was in the armchair, reclaiming my own center. It was my time to be. Be myself. And be with God. Letting me be me, God be God. In stillness know that nothing else matters, nothing was important. There really is nothing else apart from.. Here in this silent meeting was all things answered.

An hour passed. Ethan stirs. I sidle alongside him, cheek to the bed. He smiles and does the same, grinning contentedly.

'You're a good boy!' I offered.
He grins even wider, almost sheepishly.
'You love daddy?' I tease.
He nods affirmingly.
Then unexpextedly he lunges forward on all fours and pecks me on the cheek. Then shyly buries his face.
'Daddy loves you too!'
This goes on for a few minutes on the mattress. The beam of noon sun escaping between drapes shone brighter.

Then we had lunch. He sat on an adult chair next to mine, watched me eat, nibbled on some bits of sweet potato and grabbing my fork now and then to feed me!

Ah. The sweetness of wasting time together. Doing nothing 'important' yet having the most important thing there is. Ethan teaches me rest. Ethan teaches me how to be a father, and how to be a child.

What am I doing now? Thumbing this log, on the floor, my back against the washing machine. While Ethan rearranges everything in the kitchen cabinet.

Life. Just doesn't get better than this.

Ethan at play

Our church creche has a lovely skylight to let in the morning sun and nice pillows and a red carpet to give it color. Couldn't resist taking a few shots of Ethan at play. There he is trying to put a shoe in his mouth.

Ethan, Ethan, Ethan

I'm sure you can imagine if I tell you our hands have been full. 

Very, very, full indeed. And you will understand that our current obsession is nothing but Ethan, Ethan, Ethan.  

And I gotta admit, after the first couple of colicky months and sleepless nights, having Ethan is a BLAST!!

Watching him bloom and thrive, observing his emerging traits, cheering him from milestone to milestone and seeing him respond to us is just undescribably amazing.
 
This is a short photo chronicle of his journey so far...

Ethan: Week 3 of Life

Ethan: One Month!

Ethan does the Bee Gees

Chinese New Year '07

Ethan: 1 mt old

Ethan: 10-12 weeks

Ethan goes to Singapore

Ethan: 3mts old

Ethan goes to Genting Highlands