Niknak

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Day two, Friday: I went for a long walk this morning with Alan and Yvonne. I saw a squirrel, and a bird that says “morning” , I met Sam (a friend of A +Y’s) and saw a big part of Seremban You wouldn’t usually see. The housing goes from a whole street attached together (like where A+Y live) to larger bungalow fully detached homes like in NZ. There are not many of these houses, there really isn’t the room. The cemetery is very un-kept, and the clay is eroding back – it is a bit of a worry as to what may appear in the next rain!!

In the afternoon we went over to Seremban 2, Yes, they are separate towns… Seremban, Seremban 2 and Seremban 3, Not much thought put into naming towns here!! We hit the Mall, went to McD’s for lunch, and there is a big arcade/play area in the mall so the boys hung out there for a while, and I checked out the sales!! The prices here on some stuff is the same as NZ, especially electrical stuff. Shoes are cheap, and food – like McD’s and KFC are about ½ the price. It cost us 53RPM for lunch (about $26 NZD) for 4 adults and 2 kids!! Fruit is about the same, but a lot of other groceries are cheaper.
We went to City Park for a while, and ate our PapaRoti’s which are a sweet bread bun with a big blob of butter in the middle. The boys just started playing when the rain came down… and it doesn’t start slowly either, it thunders and lightning’s then absolutely buckets down. We sat for a second and watched the locals run for cover, then realised they knew something we didn’t so we ran too – good thing we did!! The boys ended up going out and playing in it, they had brand new blue Spiderman t-shirts on, and when we took them off they were still blue!! The rain passed, we had a play and fed the carp and turtles in the lake, then made for home. We went out for Indian for tea, which the boys didn’t eat, and I wasn’t that fussed on, Mike did enjoy it though.

Day four, Saturday: today we went into K.L. by train. We spent some time looking around a big mall, did no shopping, as it is all very expensive. Armani and Gucci, Laura Ashley, Nike, all the brand stores you can think of. We had lunch, and off to the Petronium Discovery world. We spent 3 hours there, it was an amazing place. All about oil, how it is found, and drilled and used. It is a really ‘touchy’ place, loads for the kids to do. Today people were picking Joseph up to have photos with him. It was really funny (not to him so much though!) On our way home on the train we got talking to a lovely family, they have a 5 year old too, and he was full of so many questions. He noticed Jacobs missing finger and asked what happened, when we told him he got really concerned because he has a pet rabbit at home, the poor kid will have nightmares about his rabbit now!! Alan was saying that usually on a commuter train it is very quiet, people keep to themselves and don’t say much. Takes some Kiwi’s to come to town and upset things!! We had a great time and the kids (7 in all) made heaps of noise!!!
The people here are very regimented. There are signs everywhere – Queue here… and so they queue – in very straight lines, even if they go over a lane so no-one can get thru, their line is straight, no curving lines here!!

Day five, Sunday: Alan and Yvonne have gone of to K.L for Church this morning. We are mucking around at home, catching up on washing, and emails etc. We had lunch at home.. Cheese buns brought from a truck that comes around the streets selling everything from bred to popcorn, a kind of mobile bakery. They have another man on a pushbike selling sweets and chippies, a man on a motor bike selling icecream, and another selling pork. We all went to church that evening at the Tabernacle in Seremban where Yvonne was songleading. It was a really good service, and the boys behaved better than I expected. We went out for Chinese for tea, it was about 8.45 by now, and it was really busy, this is when people start coming out once the heat of the day is gone. The shops are open till 10 or 11 at night, every night, and open at 10 in the morning.



Day six, Monday: Today we went to Wet world. It is a big swimming pool theme park. They have pools from cold thru to really hot thermal pools. And one is a wave pool, one is a little kids playground and there is hydroslide and one with stones in the bottom to massage your feet. The thermal pool is really hot, you have to get in one step at a time. It is sid to be fed from a natural spring, but as there is no geo-thermal activity in the area, we can’t quite work out how it gets so hot (gas bottle mabe!!)

Day seven, Tuesday: Today we went back into K.L. We went to a huge mall in Mid Valley. The boys stayed with Nanna and went to 2 movies… Garfield 2 and the ant bully. Mike, Alan and I went back on the train another srop and went to china town. It was quite fun, once you got over people trying to get you to come into thir stall. I paused to look at a handbag, and the guy got quite upset that I was only looking and not buying. We worked out the bartering pretty quick. Mike wanted a wallet, and we got the guy down from RM65 to RM30 (about $14NZ) I have been looking for a pair of shoes, but can’t get them big enough in the shops, they are at least polite enough to wait till I leave the shop to start laughing…. Not the guys in China town. They wouldn’t believe me when I asked for a 42 (all the shops stop at a 40 in lkadies shoes), I tried on some mens, and ended up with a pair of Puma knock-offs for $22.00NZ, in a size 45! They thought I was very odd, having feet that big!
I found a really cool button shop that had walls of drawers full of buttons, it was so cool! Some of the buttons cost as much as RM16.60 ($8.00NZ) each. But I did manage to find some cute bikes, and strawberries for RM0.70 each.
Once we got back to the boys, then to the train it was peak travel time and we had to squash onto the unit. There was no room, yet another dozen or so people squashed on behind us. It was really amazing… Only enough room to breath. Luckily they are all air-conditioned so not too uncomfortable from that aspect. We went and had kebabs for tea in Seremban 2, then home as it was about 8.45 by now.

Day eight, Wednesday: We went back to the beach at Port Dickson today. The tide was in, so much deeper today. The boys didn’t swim as much, but built a sand castle instead. We neglected to put on sunscreen, as it is so overcast all the time that you tend to forget, and guess what colour I am now!! The boys had rash tops and hats on, so they are fine. Mike has a touch too, but he will just tan up over night. We stopped at a roadside market on the way home, and picked up a few bits and bobs, nothing very exciting really, it started to pour down while we were there, and the place started flooding, so we didn’t hang around too long. We are hanging out at home this afternoon, and Mike and I are going out to the mall in Seremban on our own tonight.
Niknak

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Hello from Seremban!!!
Well after a really long day of travel we finally made it!!
Our day started at 5am from the Sudima hotel in Christchurch, and after a $50 (!!!) breakfast at the airport we started our journey north. We flew from Chch to Auckland, then on to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The boys were both really well behaved thru the whole day, Jacob took in 6 full length films on the longest flight (Even mike didn’t keep up!!) and Joseph between watching movies and colouring in, was well amused. I will admit I got a bit bored, and was really over the whole thing about 3 hours into the 10.50 flight! We had a mad dash it Singapore to catch our connecting flight to KL, Thanks goodness for those flat escalator thingies (what ever their real name may be). That is one huge airport!! Especially when you are sprinting (at my jogging speed) with a tired kid in one arm, and bags in the other. We did make our flight with moments to spare, our luggage however did not. We were paged when we got to K.L and given the good news, and our bags arrived by taxi a few hours latter to Alan and Yvonne’s home in Seremban. It made for a speedy trip thru Customs though, so not all bad.
First impressions: Well it is hot and humid. It is smoggy and smells and looks dirty. The air has a mixture of sewerage and spicy cooking smells to it, but in saying that it is a fascinating place. There is loads going on, there are people everywhere. The place really takes off after dark, when it is a bit cooler, people come out, the shops are open till – I don’t know when – and the restaurants are bustling. The toilets are ‘squat’ ones, and really gross, but if you do come across a ‘real’ toilet they are so yuck you don’t want to touch them anyway!
Day one: We went to the beach at Port Dickson this morning. It is the first time Joseph has been on a sandy beach, and he loved it. I went in for a swim (I know… Me!! And I didn’t drown or anything!!) It was lovely. There were lots of little hermit crabs in their shells, and the odd bigger one that would give your toes a wee nip. There were crows that tried to steal our stuff, and the locals who saw us as a new attraction! We had some lunch it town, then came home for the afternoon out of the heat. We started out again at about 7pm, and had tea at a restaurant in town, Deep fried pork leg, sweet and sour chicken and steamed rice. It was all really yummy, and the staff thought the kids were really cute. They poked at joseph a bit, which at first he didn’t like, but once used to it he would wander off with them quite happily. They were fascitanted by the crabs in the tank… little did they know they would be someone’s dinner soon. The staff got the crabs out to show them. We then went to a mall for a look around… the boys got kitted out with Spiderman hats, t-shirts and watches, and I found really nice bras for 3.90RM (NZ $2.00) each – so needless to say I am now well stocked!!!! The locals were looking at us a lot, and gave the kids lollies and touched their faces a lot too. It was odd being watched all the time, I am used to them being the tourists, not me!!
Niknak

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Hello from Senrem Ban!!!Niknak

Monday, August 21, 2006

O.K.... All packed, and 24 hours to go till we leave. I hate this part, just sitting around waiting... Well thats not all true.. I have to finish folding mount washmore, and vaccuum, but then we're all done. I'm sure it will be hard to get the boys to bed tonight, I might even pull an all nighter if I can't sleep. I don't think we've forgotten anything..... If we have we will be too far away to do anything about it, so... See you from Malaysia!!!Niknak

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Niknak
o.k.....o.k....... so stop hastling me already!!!!!!!!
We are starting to get organised for our big trip. Only 3 sleeps to go (according to Jacob, who is now old enough to keep proper track of this). We have started packing our bags and making lists. There still seems to be so much to do before we go. I really want to have the house 'spick and span' before we go, but I have 3 males totally working against me!!

I am lucky enough to have my very own scrapping/craft room and I keep sitting here doing diddly squat!! I have lost my mojo big time, so if you have seen it, could you send it back to me quick smart!

It could be that I'm thinking about our trip instead.... mabe it will be here waiting for me when we get home.

I have my paper tole box packed and ready to go. I will probably be lucky to get one finished, but I can't stand the thought of being so far away without anything to do in the 'down times'.
If i don't catch up again before we go, see you from Malaysia!!! (well thats the plan - we'll see how it goes) :0)

Sunday, August 06, 2006

This latest post is for those of you STALKING my blog, and PRESSURING me to keep on adding more!! LOL.... This could be a bit of fun really, and i'm thinking it could be a really good way to keep everyone up-to-date while we are in Malaysia in a couple of weeks. Niknaks

Friday, August 04, 2006

This is me, once again having a play...my latest instructions from the 'blog master' (you know who you are) were to insert a photo, so here you go... photo inserted!! Might even post something of interest one day!!! Posted by Picasa
I am simply creating this sentence for the purpose of trying to start this blog!!