June 21, 2009

Quad Adventure in Siem Reap

The heat is something that I have expected, 'phew' it is not ordinary heat that you are talking about, it's freaking hot! Quad company arranged the Tuk Tuk to pick us up at 6.30am, and at that time the sun was already high arise brightly lit the whole of Siem Reap. On the way to the Quad company, I saw many Khmer sweeping floor to prepare for the day - business, work etc etc etc.

A couple from Ireland joined us for the morning adventure. The Bike rides was amazing at the very beginning, especially when hubby revved to the maximum for a short while. He didn't have the chance to go at the full speed as the guide told us to keep 15m distance away from one another, haha...so he has to keep it at a constant slow speed. The first destination was the Orphanage, the children there were amazingly well mannered and all of them welcome us in their fluent English. They showed us their study areas, kitchen, bedrooms and they even showed us the pig farms - roughly about 35 pigs there I was told. Everything was well kept, tidy and neat! It is a comfortable place for these children, and they are all very cheerful and thankful for the helps/donation received from all their guests. Hubby had prepared some colour pencils & crayon for them, and they received with thanks. One impressive occasion is when I tried to pass a box of the crayon to a boy, he immediately waved his right hand and took out his left hand which was holding a box of crayon. The boy was trying to said " I've gotten it already, thankyou!" They are so simple and friendly, not greedy at all! They told us about their daily activities and told us what they are studying. Hubby was so happy and kept on telling them to study hard and it will make them a better person in the future. So naggy!!! :)

After that, it was all the Bike riding under the burning hot sun, crossing all the villages and paddy field. Along the rides, many children from the village were estactic to see us, they ran as quick as they could when they hear us coming, they waved to you and greeted us "hello" with a warm welcoming smile. Hubby was so happy and he practically waved & greeted everyone while riding.

Quad Adventure is a great experience, it allows us to see another side of Siem Reap where people is living in a peaceful and simple life. Just like the Guide told us, they don't even know what's economic crisis, and they are totally unaffected. Crisis or not, they are still living in the simple world of their own.

However, it gets a little boring to ride under the steaming hot sun. Burning & Steaming, I could feel smoke coming out from my skin.... Yes!!! This is how hot it is! That's why I let Hubby drove most of the journey, and I used him as my SUN BLOCK! Good! Even though I was HALF-protected from the hot sun, I could not escape the hot breeze coming through which has made us so sticky as if we were glued to each other (LOL, just kidding)! Four hours ride is rather a little long for me especially under the sun, and what we saw is the repeating scenery - Paddy Field and Villagers.

The Ireland couple told us that they had expected more than these, as they read from the brochure that the half day discovery should include meeting up the monks and visiting temples which we apparently did not cover for today's adventure. They were quite disappointed! Yeah, I kinda agree that USD 80 of four hour rides seeing the same things is a bit too expensive to pay for! Hubby kept on repeating USD 100 next to me now, Yes, We paid a hundred because we shared a bike. USD 80 is for a bike per person.

Anyway, overall rating is 4/5. A must go adventure while in Siem Reap but I recommend Half-Day Discovery is good enough, don't go for the Full Day, otherwise you will barbecued!

June 20, 2009

Mama and Papa are in Siem Reap

Yes, Papa & Mama is away from Baby Chloe now, we are at Siem Reap having a "POSTNATAL" holiday. Haha... I have booked the flight ticket since September last year as I want to make sure that I can have a holiday with hubby. By paying in advance, we have no turning back! A MUST GO TRIP! Haha

But Anyway, Angkor Wat is one of the places that I really want to visit at least once in my life. Well, I am finally here with Papa.

We arrived here on the 19th June 2009, 8am in the morning. Hotel Pavilion D'Orient had arranged a driver to pick us up and send us straight to the hotel which is about 15 minutes away from the Airport.

The first impression of Siem Reap was good, Papa praised its top class toilet and the cleanliness and calmness of the whole environment around the Airport Area. However, it gets a little different once we arrive the downtown centre where pot holes are all over the place, bikes and cars driving without checking the traffic lights, children in bicycles together with Motor Vehicles, sandy wind blowing (it is a bad idea to take a tuk tuk if you are afraid of the sand that might go into your eyes).

After we had a good breakfast in the hotel, we started our Tour with our Tour Guide named Prunai (mean compassion he told us). He is a young chap of age 31 this year, with a fluent English which sometimes i have difficulty in understanding. We went to Angkor Thom for our first destination, it was the south gate - I think! Hahaha... Then we proceed to Bayon Temple which was built by King Jaya VII which dedicated to Buddhism. This is my favourite temple as it has many interesting faces and sculptures, many statues of the Buddha were removed and stored in the museum in Phnom Penh. Then, we proceeded to Angkor Wat which was also built by...... (dun remember who). It is a huge temple and to me it is not a very interesting temple. It has a huge gallery whereby legend of Hindu gods Vishnu, Siva, Rama were carved on the wall. The building is not as interesting as the legend told by Mr. Prunai. LOL! This guy is good, he is so good in talking and never tired of talking while both of us were almost shut down after a long day of walk. Yeah, only two temples but HUGE TEMPLES with a lot of walking.

And today we went to Ta Prom - this is Papa's favourite!!! This is a temple where Tomb Raider were shot. Yeah, Papa thinks that Mama is Angelina Jolie!! Hahaha... Papa always like big trees, he has a "thing" with huge tree trunks that's why he likes Ta Prom a lot. Ta Prom is destroyed by these useless tress called SPUNG in Khmer. Why useless? It is soft and cannot be logged to make anything at all. But Papa angry when I said useless because he thinks that the SPUNG exist for a reason - and that is to let TREE TRUNK lovers to admire - and that's Papa. It is an amazing site where you will see big tree trunks and huge roots grabbing or destroying the structure of the temple. The trees were everywhere and its root destroyed the structure where it went in between stone which caused the wall to fall. Hard to explain - go watch Tomb Raider - better picture! By the way, Ta Prom is dedicated to mother of King Jaya VII. Anyway, this Jaya guy was the guy who built hundred of these temples during the early 12th century.

After that we went to Ladies Temple - Banteay Srai (Not sure right or not). I don't find this interesting at all and I find it a little boring. But Mr Tour Guide said it is one of the interesting temple as this temple is carved by woman only. The carving were tiny and details - great art and effort. It is interesting also because it is all built by PINK SANDSTONE.

Then, we went to two others temples which Mama did not really pay attention to as it gets a little boring especially while Mama is missing Baby Chloe so much. :p We decide to give up the sunset itinerary, and went back straight to the hotel for a rest.

Then, we head to Pub Street/Old market for massage and dinner. We had a good dinner at Kamasutra - Fine Indian Cusine - We had Pampadam which cost USD 1, then Samosa USD 3, Curry Vegetable USD 2.75, Chicken Hydrabad USD 6 (Exceptionally FANTASTIC), White Rice USD 1.25, Garlic Naan USD 1.75, Crown Beer USD 1.00/can (Papa had two), Lemon Juice USD 1. Good Dinner and Reasonably Price too.

That''s all for today and get ready for tomorrow QUAD ADVENTURE.

Khmer Experience

velHow to pronounce? Khmer? Before I arrive Siem Reap, I told hubby that it is pronounced as "camel" and after two day of tour, it is actually pronounced as "Kei Mier". It is a race in Cambodia which is a mix of Indian& Chinese long long time ago. 95% of the the population of Siem Reap are Buddhist and most of them are practising Buddhism the serious way unlike us, perhaps because the religion, it is relatively safe here and I must say Khmer are one of the friendly people in the world. They always greet us with a smile, and they are always helpful.

These trip had made me realised how backward it is here compared to Malaysia. The poverty issue here is a serious issue where young children age from 3 onwards would rush to you attempting to sell you things with their trained English "One Dollar for Five, Lady, Please buy, One Dollar for Five, Lady. Please help buy from me, I no business today. Please Lady" Their persistancy is something that I really admire, Hubby and I ended up paying then a dollar for them to stop bugging us. It may sound horrible that we gave them a dollar to "shu"them off. It is impossible for us to give so many children a dollar as they are so many of them chasing after you once you start to give to one child. We usually just walked pass them and feel sorry for not able to help them.

I even saw a less than 2 years old Kid at the temple area, he was not with any pants, and his feet was tied with a bell - I guess so that his mum can hear where he's going. I saw him naked bottom sitting on the hot stone, grabbing sands and putting his mouth, walking around clumsily, banging left and right... I can't control my tear from the side of my eyes, luckily I was on sun glasses, otherwise his mum would probably rush to me and ask for money with the young boy. Poor darling. The boy has a big eyes, sharp nose, he's got an adorable features and healthy tanned skin tone. He's so cute! I feel so bad for not able to help him. :( I was told that, averagely each family would have seven children. The local government is not funding in education nor medical service. There are two children hospital here which offer free service to children below 16 which is actually funded by private organization. There are many volunteers from other country to offer to provide the basic education to these children/orphanages.

The poor family is only making US 15- US 30, the average family US 50 - US 200, and the rich family is making US 300 - US 600, and usually only the rich can send their children for education. The education here is free but there is so called extra class which is chargeable, they sort of making it compulsory for them to pay for the extra class in order to pass the syllabus. It is impossible for the poor to pay, further to that how to pay for seven of them in the family. Majority of the Khmer work in the Paddy fields, and those children who cannot afford to go school would help in the Paddy Field. There is no power supply & there is no water supply at all. They get the water from the well or nearby river, and use candle and wood burning for light in the night.

Well, this is One part of Siem Reap. The other part which is the downtown, where many people work in the hotel service line, hotel chef, cleaner, gardener, driver, Tour Guide, Business etc etc. These group of people is the average to rich family where you will be able to the children in their school uniform and slipper, the richer kids would wear a proper shoe and own a bicycle.

There are only two malls in Siem Reap - Lucky Mall & Angkor Trade. I have not gone into the Lucky Mall, but I have been to Angkor Trade, I must said it is like Ampang Point ? or much smaller than Ampang Point. The luxurious supermarket is like our Sri Kota or even less smaller? I am not sure whether there is theatre in town, but even there is I dun think many people can afford to watch it. But, I saw stalls which sell pirated DVDs. There is not much of souvenir to get here, as I think it is pretty similar to Thailand which I don't find it interesting at all.

Talking about similarity to Thai, Yes, I PERSONALLY think that it is similar to Thai in terms of their language, food, culture, skin tone, friendliness. Khmer Food - Fish/Chicken Amok is very kinda similar to Non Spicy Green Curry, the Stir Fried Chicken with Cashew Nut is something that can also be found in the Thai Menu except Khmer's one is not spicy at all. I don't speak Thai not Khmer, but they have a similar tune "TO ME" - like KUM, KAM, NUNG (maybe a little of Vietnamese too).

Khmer Food is not something that I will actually eat once i get back to KL, unlike Thai. Thai is more flavour, most importantly it is hot & spicy. However, I must say that the WHITE RICE here is exceptionally good. It has a nice texture with it's natural fragrance - mmm ~~ I can actually eat it without any sauce. Nice! Oh by the way, I was told that the rice here is very cheap, they are paying about 800 Riels Per kg which equivalent to RM0.80 or less per kg. So cheap & so good.

That's it - My Khmer Experience!!

June 18, 2009

Missing Baby Chloe

Leaving to Siem Reap tomorrow with Hubby, and I am starting to miss my Baby Chloe. I am not worried at all to leave Baby Chloe with my family & my maid, they are doing an excellent job since Baby Chloe's birth. Further to that, with my granny & mother's experience, I am sure they are able to handle Baby Chloe perfectly well or rather BETTER than what I can handle.

Inevitably, I can't control myself from missing my darling, even though she is always so "naughty" which turned me into a Panda (Dark Eye Circles, Bloated Face, Sagging Eyes due to LACK OF SLEEP!) My two cousins always come to me and made me SO JEALOUS when they told me that they never have problem sleeping and that their sons naturally adjusted their sleeping pattern when they were 2 months old. ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!! JEALOUS la!

Gosh, I am out of topic again!!! If I am required to submit an essay for marking, I am sure I will fail my essay writing - always out of topic!

Ya, Missing Baby Chloe. Infact, this is the beginning of "Missing" since I am still here and will be seeing my Baby Chloe tonight. I guess the true feeling will only kick in tomorrow night when I really don't get to see her at all. How does it feel like? I remember when Hubby was away to Switzerland, I cried every nights while waiting for him to come home. I missed him so much AT THAT TIME! When he's back, I wish he's not back! Hahaha... He's a super Nagging Machine, try it and you will know it! Geezzz!

I am flying off early morning tomorrow, perhaps I will not get the chance to say bye to Baby Chloe as she would probably be still asleep! I am totally not prepared as in I have not gotten my camera gadget ready, I have not packed my bag (I don't usually pack my luggage this early, but for the current situation it is necessary for me to prepare early because I have to make sure I can fit into the clothes & pants - SIGH!!) How la? Travel Naked!

June 11, 2009

Sit without support

At this stage, Baby Chloe is already able to sit by herself without support. But of course, I have to make sure I am standby at all times in case she tumbles down, must be fast enough to catch her if she fall. Well, I had one full hour of good time with Baby Chloe sitting facing me while she was playing with her toys. It was one of the rare occasion that she could stay where she was with me without CRYING or WHINING at all. I could see she enjoyed and had fun sitting upright while discovering the whole new perspective at a new eye level. Haha.. She used to lie down and look at the ceiling all the time and now she could she more things like cupboard, colourful wall, mama, papa & etc etc. LOL.

She is now eating two semi-solid meal a day, and she is always attracted to the cup of drink that I have, as if she wanted to try to drink from my cup also. Baby Chloe is getting stronger and stronger, I could feel her strength when I tried to grab the toy that she is holding. :) She is learning how to control her strength, she would lean forward to try to move forwards by herself.

What else? OH..I want to complain!!!! Complains about bugs and insects that bit Baby Chloe! These evil little things, they bit Baby Chloe every 2 - 3 days, leave her red and swollen marks. It take for more than 2 weeks for the marks to disappear. Mark is one issue, the most annoying thing is that why always bit her la!!!!!!!!!!! She is always covered from neck to toe, I don't understand how these evil little things got themselves into her sleep suit and suck her blood!!!

Evil Little Things, I beg you, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop biting my darling. Further to that it is easier to reach my blood since I am always on short sleeve and short pants. Why my Baby Chloe and not me? Or I would recommend PAPA's BLOOD. His blood is very tasty, you can ask Larry (Andrew's pet - Mosquito). Larry loves PAPA's BLOOD, and I am sure his blood is much tastier than Baby Chloe. So, Please ....please go to PAPA and not Baby Chloe. PLEASE!!!! Thank you very much!

June 8, 2009

Potato Porridge

Ingredient :-
half of Potato, dice into small pieces
1 tbsp of short grain rice
1 bowl of water

Steps :-
1. Place everything into the crockpot and cook for three hours.
2. Make sure the potato is soft enough, otherwise mash it with a fork.
3. Ready to feed

Baby Chloe is able to take porridge, rice & carrot so far. This is the first time that I fed her Potato Porridge and she loves it so much. She knows how to ask for more when it tastes good. Haha..but she still doesn't like apple and banana as it tastes slightly sour to her. :) She has this funny look and act disgusted by throwing out the food. Cute & Naughty!

June 7, 2009

Irony or what?!

I remember when I first learned how to breastfeed Baby Chloe, I was complaining so much about the pain, about the time taken for expressing, showing nerves around the chest, sagging breast etc etc. Now what? I am complaining about how to get myself in stopping to nurse my darling. Sigh!!!!!



I have told myself like for almost two weeks about stopping to breastfeed, but it is like dessert. I can never resist the temptation to nurse my baby. It makes me feel love, bonded, closeness, most importantly it makes me feel very motherly. Hahaha, that's why even I told everyone that I want to stop I want to stop and up till now I am still nursing Baby Chloe. But of course, I realise that she is no longer getting enough from he tmilk supply. She would cry for hunger after 2 hours or less after I breastfeed her. Eventually, I have to either nurse her again or feed her formula. Maybe is like what my grandma said to me : Your milk is not nutritious because you are taking in enough BOU BAN (chinese herbs that is supposed to heal or maintain one's health).

Today is my first time that I did not bring the pumping gear to work, but it makes no difference at the end of the day as I ended up pumping NOW at home while blogging. It feels very heavy and full but of course the lucky thing is that it is not painful like what others told me. There is no serious engorgement or any pain, just filled up and heavy. No choice, got to express it out anyway, but I am not going to dry it up because I read somewhere that If I dried it up, and my brain will tell me to fill it up quickily again. So, in order to reduce the supply further, I can only pump half way and let it fill up slowly. I am not sure how effective it is, should be able to blog the result by 2 weeks times.

June 3, 2009

Responsive Body System

I knew quite a while ago that I can no longer expressed enough of milk to support Baby Chloe's full day meals. But up to yesterday, I was able to get total if 6 - 7 oz of milks each time. Something weird happened today, after I blogged about Baby Chloe and I are ready to stop breastfeeding, my tap level dropped tremendously, I could only express total of 4oz of milk after a long day, and now I can still feel it is kind of empty too. Well, it is not totally empty, but can easily feel the differences from even third party's eyes.

Hahaha...I think my body is responding to my message instantly which had also passed to my brain and milk ducts. It only shows one thing, it's time to wean. No guilt! No broken bond!! I will still bond with Baby Chloe by feeding her through milk bottle, and I will still bond with her by singing to her, making her happy, teaching her ABC & 123.

June 2, 2009

Guilt over Weaning Breastfeeding

Baby Chloe is 6 1/2 months old now. My plan was to stop breastfeeding at her 6th month, but I realised it is not as easy as I thought. We have developed a bond through breastfeeding, and we are so physically and emotionally attached. It troubled me for a while as I am leaving for Siem Reap for 3 days holidays with hubby soon, I am worrying what will happened to Baby Chloe without breastmilk. My freezer has already run out of milk supply.

I am no longer able to meet Baby Chloe's milking demand. Therefore, she is being fed with breastmilk once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. Formula Once at night, once in the afternoon. And one mini porridge meal during the day time. She would wake up two times in a night for feeding. I usually nurse her at night, but for the past two days I asked for mum's help to take over the night job, my mum fed her formula twice in the night.

I was surfing the internet to overcome the guilt of thinking to wean off from breastfeeding for Baby Chloe. I was trying to seek comfort by reading them and obtain more supports that it is not wrong to stop breastfeeding. It is just making me feel so bad, and everytime when I start thinking about weaning, I feel sad for Baby Chloe. Especially, when LOVING PAPA questioned me why should I stop breastfeeding, he even made a statement "It is Mama's job to breastfeeding, you shouldn't stop it" I didn't get the exact quote from him, but it was what he meant. He made me feel extra guilty for even thinking of weaning.

I was reading some comments from nursing mothers, and most of them agreed that weaning is mother's deicision and I should not be distracted from others. As I was surfing the net reading more and more about weaning from breastfeeding for the past few days, I suddenly realise something today.

Baby Chloe is ready to wean off from breastfeeding, and so am I. I was nursing her at about 9pm, but she was still crying after nursed. I thougth she was trying to bully me, and tried to make more noise to catch my attention. But after a while, when my mum suggested to feed her formula ( It is kinda making me feel unhappy somehow) since she is still complaining. So, I quickily changed her into her sleep suit and fed her 6oz of formula which she had finished in 10 minutes. Ok, my mum was right, She was crying for hunger.

Then, I started to think, I shouldn't be guilty over this matter. Somehow someday I have to stop breastfeeding. Baby Chloe is absolutely fine without breastmilk now. She is also getting enough nutrients from the formula & semi-solid food. Besides, she is extremely happy whenever we pass her the milk bottle, and she would hold the bottle herself and enjoy her milk at her own sweet time. My mum also assures me that Baby Chloe was doing good even though I didn't nurse her for the last two nights when she was with my mum, she slept well too.

Baby Chloe and Mama are ready!!!!!!!! No Guilt at all!!!