[Anecdotes from our Chinese New Year holiday in Malaysia] So we come to my favourite photo from our entire holiday. This was taken at the backseat of my parents’ car during our little day trip to Kundasang. I have many fond memories of family trips up to Kundasang, sitting in the backseat of car just like this. Except this time, it was sans the company of my two brothers, and in their place were my own two children with my hubs. There were a few changes to the landscape since the last time I visited, and some new upgrades and additions to the facilities. Apart from that, the air and the atmosphere smelt and felt exactly the same. The featured itinerary for this trip was a visit to the Desa Cattle and dairy farm . Some people call it the little ‘New Zealand’ of Sabah. We got up close to some calves and goats to feed them some grass and milk. (the grass cost RM1.00 per bunch and milk cost RM1.50 per bottle) Both the children and the animals simply couldn’t get enough of it. ...

[Anecdotes from our Chinese New Year holiday in Malaysia] One of my favourite childhood ‘playgrounds’ was the local state museum of Sabah. When I was a child, entry was free for everyone. So every now and then we’d beg our mum…. “please, pleeeeease, can we go to the museum today?” . By some adult mysterious reasoning we could never guess or fathom, every now and then she would say okay. I can remember the exact flow of almost every single display area almost by heart. From anthropology and natural history, to the ceramics display, all the way down to the local indigenous section. I enjoyed listening to my mum talk about the different artefacts on display. Then afterwards our favourite final stop was the heritage village with actual models of traditional longhouses where my brothers and I would revel in climbing up and down the ladders and running across the bamboo floors of all the different indigenous houses. I was determined that my kids would share the same joy. But as it ofte...

[Anecdotes from our Chinese New Year holiday in Malaysia] First item on the agenda of our Malaysia holiday: a trip to an old school barbershop to get trimmed up for the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities. I have very vivid childhood memories of visiting an old school Chinese barbershop like this. Sitting up on those black leather chairs that go up and down--on one of those small wooden planks propped up between the armrests. Breathing in the distinct barbershop smell of wet hair, shaving cream, talcum powder and aftershave. One barbershop. Two very different reactions to the experience. Grace thoroughly enjoyed the entire ceremony. She took it very seriously and sat very importantly up on the seat, following the cues of the lady barber to angle her head this way and that. Nathan’s was a nightmare experience. He told me afterwards that he was terrified that the lady barber would accidently snip his skin with the scissors and draw blood. Afterwards, the lady barber kindly rewa...

[Anecdotes from our Chinese New Year holiday in Malaysia] This year’s trip back to Malaysia had been planned years ahead. Chinese New Year this year happens to fall in January just at the tail end of the summer school holidays in Australia. We had booked our plane tickets way ahead so we could look forward to enjoying the big festivities back in Malaysia for the first time in several years. We made sure that the kids got a first hand taste of Chinese New Year in Malaysia. Colourful lion dances Firecrackers Night markets Chinese New Year cookies Yeos packet drinks Lou sang dinners Dressing up in new clothes Playing with lots of cousins Visiting friends and relatives houses. Loads and loads of ang pow A real classic festive Chinese New Year every Chinese kid must experience at least once in their lifetime.

After that dejecting end to last year’s affairs , I picked myself up and look forward to kicking off the new year with a long awaited holiday in Malaysia. Nathan was bursting with excitement over the adventure of flying on an airplane. Grace was just excited that she could pack ‘real stuff’ in her very own backpack to carry. We borrowed this book which we read umpteen times in anticipation of the trip. I have to confess I am not a big fan myself of airports and airplanes myself. Not that I suffer from any kind of phobia or travel sickness. I just find the long waits and upright seating uncomfortable. But the delight and enthusiasm of my two little animated travellers is highly contagious. I couldn’t help having the buzz of their excitement rub off me a bit. I must say travelling with the kids now is so much easier than before , now that I no longer have lug around a monster-sized bag of nappies, wipes and assortment of baby paraphernalia. No more worrying over fighting for a bass...