Wrong Side of Thirty

Letter to future 3rd graders

2011-06-01T18:50:00.003+08:00

Current 3rd graders were tasked with writing a letter to the incoming class of 2011-12 telling them about things in 3rd grade they can expect. Sean wrote this. I thought the last part was hilarious but his final draft which was given to the 2nd graders excluded this cos his teacher said she didn't want them to think she was evil :D

29 May 2011
Dear Future Third Graders,

As you get older, you are getting smarter. You are improving little by little every day. Now you have approached an alarmingly important grade. You need to start preparing for middle school. Everything will be tougher: the teachers, the classmates, and especially the work. So here is some acceptable advice that will hopefully help you survive.

First of all, you need to follow rules such as not talking, not playing in class, and sitting on the red mat. Secondly, you will have Word Study every week. The teacher will explain to you what Word Study is. It occurs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You will also need to be honest or you just might wind up in Mr Gerritz's office. Mr Gerritz is the head of school, so be careful. You also need to do what the teacher tells you to do or she/he just might annihilate you.

Everyday, you will have Math, Writing, Reading, and Social Studies/Science. In Math, you will have to do exactly what the teacher and Math book both tell you and you have to read the directions and instructions well or else you will get a completely wrong answer. You will also learn how to do different ways of adding and subtracting. In Writing, you will need correct spacing, correct spelling, correct grammar, correct punctuation, and even correct capitalization. In Reading, you will have to keep track of things you learn and think abotu the book/books you are reading in your Reading Notebook.

You will need to collaborate and cooperate with other people. Collaborate and cooperate both mean the same thing, so you will only need to look up one of those words in the dictionary. You will need to be joyful and helpful or the teacher will throw you out the window straight into Siberia. You need to bring your brains to school otherwise the teacher will dissect you without anaesthetics to give the others an anatomy lesson. You need to be respectful to the teacher or she will lock you in the dungeons and fill it up with molten magma. You need to have friends or else you will be all alone and everybody will put you in a giant freezer and leave you there to perish. You need to be able to choose just right books or else the teacher will cut your head off with a bookmark. You need to bring your homework back to school or else the teacher will smash the Smart Board on you. You need to bring your reading log back to school or your teacher will sharpen your head with an electric sharpener.

I know this sounds like too much to handle and too many possibilities of death, but trust me, if I can live, you can.

Sincerely,
Sean Leong

Computers: Are They Wants or Needs?

2011-06-01T18:34:00.003+08:00

Found this assignment amongst the stuff Sean brought home from school this last week of school. Here is what he wrote.

Despite the efficiency and intelligence of computers, I really do think computers are wants. I think computers are wants because instead of playing computer games like Pacman, Mathman and Mousehunt, you can play board games like Cadoo, Monopoly, chess and Scrabble. I barely ever play computer games and I really like to play lots of board games. The problem is, I don't know where the board games are and nobody wants to play with me.

Also, instead of using Email, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or Skype, you can just call your friends or relatives or send a letter or a postcard. I never use any computer devices to get in touch with people. Instead, almost every single time I use the telephone.

Additionally, instead of using Google or Wikipedia, you can just look up everything you absolutely need to know in non-fiction books or dictionaries. We have literally over a 100 tonnes of books at my house and I've read about two-fiths of them altogether. Two-thirds or the two-fifths of all the books I've read from my home library are non-fiction books.

Finally, instead of using blogs like from Blogger or Wordpress, you can just make a diary/journal or buy a diary/journal. I scarcely ever use my blog any more and I love diaries and journals. I hope now you understand my thinking about computers and whether they are wants or needs.

************************************************

So what does everyone think? Is a computer a want or a need? For my third-grader I guess it's still a want, but ask my eight-grader and he'll definitely disagree. My opinion? I live and breathe the internet, so what do you think I think? haha...

And even though I recently bought him an iPad monopoly app, he has decided what he really wants is for us to play the real board game with him. I feel guilty enough after reading what he wrote up there that I promised him a REAL monopoly game later tonight. Best mom in the world or what :P

First anniversary in ISB

2011-04-18T08:25:00.004+08:00

A year ago, the boys started school at the International School of Bangkok (ISB) right after Songkran break. So today kind of marks the first anniversary of their time in ISB as Songkran break just ended. This video shows what life is like at the school. Granted it is a marketing video, but it is a good reflection of the relaxed and nurturing atmosphere in ISB.

ISB2 from Chad Bates on Vimeo.

In fact, what struck the boys most when they first visited was just how happy everyone seemed. The reality of course is that there are happy kids and there are emo kids, but the boys love their school and Brian in particular has had a busy but absolutely amazing time here. No school is perfect and I don't hang around the school that often, but I have to say the teachers and staff whom I've had contact with here are truly top-notch, I would even say gifted in their area of work, be it in teaching math or providing counselling services. I wish we could stay forever...

A Year in Service Learning

2011-04-06T02:08:00.005+08:00

Every year, the Habitat for Humanity (H4H) Club in school organises an overnight build. Now, there are usually a few builds during the year, but only the final one is an overnight build and the club members look forward to this. Now, what I found unique in this school is that kids actually have to gain points to participate in builds, that's how much they want to help out. Yes, you heard that right. They don't get any points for volunteering, they have to earn points to volunteer.

So if they attend meetings regularly, they get points. If they help out in bakesales (that help fund the builds), they get points. If they've been on builds, they get points. So priority for builds is given to those who are active members of the club. A certain number of places is also given to those who have never been on a build, to be fair to new members.

Last year, in May, Brian was really fortunate that his counselor, seeing that he was new to school, decided to include him in the final H4H build for 2009/2010 school year in Korat. He had such a great time and got to know more friends. I blogged about it here.

From then on he was hooked. Service learning is very much a part of every day life in ISB. Brian is active in Green Panthers, H4H and also went on Operation Smile, but there are other clubs such as After the Wave (helping fund a school for children affected by the Thailand tsunami) and YKids (where Middle Schoolers host and play with groups of underprivileged children) etc..., the point is, if you want to, there's somewhere for you to contribute.

This past weekend, Brian was on his fourth H4H build, overnight in Korat again, the final build for this school year. His year of service learning culminates tomorrow when he goes to Jakarta as an ISB delegate at the Global Issues Network Conference. Twelve students are going to the conference, 8 high-schoolers and 4 middle-schoolers. We are so grateful to the school for giving Brian this amazing opportunity to meet students from other countries and to listen to inspirational speakers. Will blog about this when he gets back.

Based on whatever permission slips I still have, these were the trips that he went on over the past year. I haven't blogged about many of his trips but I hope to do this in the coming posts, as a record of all the things he's done this year. In between service learning trips, he also went to Brunei for a Math competition, and tribal trekking in Chiangmai for his grade trip.

8th-9th May 2010: Habitat for Humanity Overnight Build in Korat
29th Aug 2010: Tree-planting Eco-trip in ??
25th Sep 2010: Habitat for Humanity Day Build in Pathumthani
6th-9th Nov 2010: Operation Smile Mission in Mae Sot
12th-14th Nov 2010: Sustainable Living/Tree-Planting Eco-trip in Kaengkachan
11th Dec 2010: Habitat for Humanity Day Build in Pathumthani
7th-11th Feb 2011: Grade 8 trip, tribal trekking in Chiangmai
24th-27th Feb 2011: SEA Math Competition in Brunei
11th-13th Mar 2011: Elephant Sanctuary/Barge living Eco-trip Kanchanaburi
1st-3rd Apr 2011: Habitat for Humanity Overnight Build Korat
7th-10th Apr 2011: Global Issues Network Conference in Jakarta

It's been hectic to say the least, cos every weekend he's away, he has to catch up on homework, find time to make up quizzes and tests that he's missed. But he'd be the first to say it's all been worth it. The service learning culture in this school is just amazing, partly cos we're in Thailand I think, which provides opportunities for giving in a way not many countries can. That said, not many schools here give kids at such a young age so many ways to give back.

Because service and giving is such a big part of learning in the school, and kids actually see their teachers walking the talk so to speak, I think this really makes the children feel empowered to take charge and take action. For example, immediately after news of the devastating Tsunami in Japan, one of Brian's Facebook friends, a Japanese girl, posted on her status asking if friends were interested in fundraising and asking for ideas on how to do it. Within a short time, these 13- and 14-year olds were coming up with ideas, all wanting to help and contribute. Within a week, bakesales were organised, wrist bands were made and sold, paper cranes were folded with donations pledged, donation boxes placed around the school. Hundreds of thousands of bahts was raised.

The most amazing bit though must be the fact that this Japanese girl was new at the start of the school year. She spoke no English when she first came, was very shy, and now, she's galvanising her friends to make a change. She's blossomed so much. I only witness this cos I happen to know her mom. Her mom says she was not like this in Japan. So I have to credit the school for this.

Cliched though it might sound, kids here are learning to be global citizens in every sense of the word. Learning that they can make a difference. Learning that the world doesn't just revolve around them. That there are others out there who need their help. I hope what Brian's learnt this past busy year stays with him always. I believe it will.

Emergent Caterpillar

2011-04-02T15:45:00.004+08:00

So there I was playing SketchnGuess on iPad with Sean. It's like Pictionary and the word that I had to draw was Caterpillar. So I drew this. Fairly obvious right?

Sean shouted out his answer, "EMERGENTS!" I went what? What the heck's an emergent? He quickly explained, "An emergent is like in a rainforest, it's a tree that pokes out from above most trees."

So I draw a caterpillar, and Sean sees this instead (pic below). Either he's a strange little boy or I have really bad drawing skills!

Student-led Conferences 2011

2011-04-01T10:15:00.004+08:00

Do they do Student-led conferences in Singapore? I can't remember, I only know there are parent-teacher conferences. Both in Moscow and here, there is a parent-teacher conference at the start of the year and a student-led conference (SLC) towards the end.

Sean blogs about his SLC here. I thought I should also upload his post here since that blog is managed by the school so I'm not sure if the blog would be deleted when the child leaves the school.

This is what he wrote.

___________________________________________

Yesterday, I shared my learning in student-led conferences with my mother and my brother. My brother is in Middle School and his student-led conference was in the morning while mine was right after lunch. Since he had nothing to do, he decided to join in my conference. I was very happy that they came. I was not happy that my father had a meeting at work and could not come. He promised to come to my choir concert later in April.

My mum took videos so that my father could see. These are some of the more interesting things I shared during the conference.

In this video, I talked about my crayfish project. I first greeted my mummy and korkor (that's big brother in Chinese).

I continue talking about crayfish and also showed them a poem I wrote, Caldera.

Observation in Science! That's a crayfish (they can be brown, red and white but ours are blue) and some snails. The snail in the tank looks rotten and dead, or so I thought. It later climbed to the top of the tank. I like my Science learning a lot.

I shared the second half of my favourite poem from It's Raining Pigs and Noodles. The poem is called The Outer Space Miracle Mall and it's about a woman who goes to the mall at the edge of the galaxy to buy useless stuff. I told my mum the woman is like her.

Math reflection. This is from my portfolio. I enjoy Math unlike most children.

The snail that I thought was dead climbed up the tank. Ms. Chesebro told us that once the snail climbed up the tank and went to the other tank which had the other snails in it.

I showed my mother and brother the big crayfish tanks. This is a molting crayfish! Molting means the crayfish got too big for its old exoskeleton and grew a new one. The note says that the molting crayfish must stay alone. This is because when it's new, the exoskeleton is very soft because it hasn't hardened yet. Before, we had a molting crayfish eaten by another crayfish when we did not keep it on its own.

I hope you enjoyed my student-led conference as much as I enjoyed leading it.

I haven't been blogging...

2011-03-22T19:55:00.002+08:00

...but Sean has :D So could you guys pop by to visit his little learning blog and maybe even leave a comment or two? He wants to get his pageviews up.

In the meantime, I'm contemplating a move away from Blogger. Not sure if this will be the change needed to get me out of this blogging rut, but stay tuned. xoxo guys...

Seoul 2010: Skiing in Jisan

2011-01-09T09:22:00.007+08:00

The main aim of coming to Seoul was for Sean to play with snow. I arranged for a day trip to one of the many ski resorts near Seoul. We went with this company called VIP Travel. We're quite pleased with their service and their funny English-speaking guide. One thing about Seoul that I realise is that the daily tours are relatively cheap. Check out the website and you'll see what I mean.

The tour cost includes gloves and ski equipment but not the ski outfit. Rental of ski outfit was about S$24 per person. Getting to Jisan from Seoul was about an hour plus. We rented our outfits and then took a short walk to the forest.

Jisan Forest. It was such a beautiful day when we were there. The sun was shining so brightly and the snow was just gorgeous.

There are different slopes for different ability levels.

The resort was teeming with people.

Our group getting our skiing gear on. This alone took more than half an hour, I think.

Listening to our ski instructor. Basic lessons are included in our tour package.

Of the 4 of us, Brian did the best. I was hopeless as expected and I don't think I'll be attempting this sport in future, wearing the boots and skis is a huge pain.

Sean wasn't too happy about skiing and gave up soon after basic lessons were given cos he said he came to play with snow, not ski! He had a blast just playing with snow from start to end. Mission accomplished, I guess :)

Seoul 2010: Lotte World

2011-01-07T15:25:00.010+08:00

In the morning, when we woke up, this is what we saw from our hotel room, all of Seoul was covered in snow.

Sean admiring the view.

Today was themepark day. The two famous themeparks in Seoul are Everland and Lotte World. I was told Everland is very nice but not as accessible. Lotte World is right above the Jamsil train station so it was off to Lotte World we went. Lotte World has an indoor section which was nice in winter. Jamsil station was about 15 stops from Hoehyeon, with one train change. Easy peasy.

We headed out after breakfast. Instead of walking properly, Sean kept stepping on and kicking snow.

The short but precariously slippery walk to Hoehyeon station.

Korean workers getting their morning snack and cuppa.

Jamsil is 15 stops from Hoehyeon and the total fare for 4 of us was 3850 won, or less than S$5!! Crazy cheap right?

And it's not some stinky clunker of a train. It was a very spacious, comfortable, uncrowded train.

There's an underground mall before getting into Lotte World. We took this picture cos there's a fairly new Krispy Kreme in Bangkok and the queue has been CRAZY!!

We've had Krispy Kremes in London and it really isn't a big deal, J.Co is much better.

Inside Lotte World.

The indoor section of Lotte World has a roller coaster, viking and other scary rides but we went mostly on the non-scary rides. This photo was taken from a 'hot-air balloon' that went around the themepark. The rides look a bit dusty and faded but given the low entrance fees, can lah. I think we paid less than S$50 each, maybe even less than S$40 cos there was some special discount given when we were there.

There's a skating rink in Lotte World but it's not within the themepark, it's on a lower floor. I'm not 100% sure but I think you'll need to get out of the themepark to get into the skating rink. And you're not allowed re-entry into the themepark.

Panaroma function on Brian's Sony camera.

This is the outdoor section of Lotte World. We headed out cos we were looking for a Korean restaurant there.

The restaurant we ate in is the one with the Asian-looking roof. Lunch was beef and leak soup with rice.

Tower of terror I think. And next to it...

...Gyro Drop...which looks super scary! We didn't explore the rest of Magic Island (that's the outdoor section of Lotte World) as it was too cold.

We headed back around tea-time, tired of the queueing...we are so NOT themepark people. We passed a river on the train ride back to the city, oooh, so coldddd.

Seoul 2010: Namdaemun and Ginseng Chicken

2011-01-07T11:39:00.010+08:00

The hotel we stayed in was Millenium Seoul Hilton. It's pretty conveniently located, just a short walk from Namdaemun market. Seoul station is pretty near but I think the nearest subway station is Hoehyeon. Hoehyeon is just a stop away from Myeongdong, where the malls are. It took us about 5 minutes to walk to Hoehyeon.

So anyway, after a good rest and showering, we headed out to Namdaemun Market. I think this is like Chow Kit Road/Petaling Street in KL. The streets were quite confusing to us and there were underground shopping areas too.

Mary in Namdaemun Market. It was coldddd, but thankfully there wasn't much wind, so it was bearable with proper clothing.

Ginseng galore.

Trotter time :P

We had lunch at this noodle shop that seemed to have lots of patrons. Seating was tight and Sean didn't eat much. But the noodles were quite yummy.

It started snowing while we were having lunch. Yayyy, Sean was happy. Strange thing I realised, when it's snowing, it doesn't feel quite as cold as when it's not. We continued walking and getting a little lost and ended up at the edge of Myeongdong, in a mall called Shinsegae.

After walking about for a while, we headed back but somehow got a little lost. We jumped into a cab and fares aren't expensive at all. A 10-min ride would cost no more than S$6. There are no surcharges or call-in charges or any of those nonsense :P I like the transportation system in Seoul. The next day I was also impressed to find a very comfortable subway system with very low fares. So my impression that Seoul is like Japan was quite wrong, both in the good and bad sense. Transportation is really cheap BUT the toilets are really bleahhhh, Bangkok loos are much cleaner.

Our cab ride was most interesting. When we had gotten lost, two kind Koreans saw us looking at our maps and offered help. Well, one of them, an elderly lady, pointed us to a completely different direction, but still, Koreans are really helpful. But we also saw a very ugly Korean. Our cab driver somehow couldn't navigate the steep slope to the hotel, so he needed to reverse out the right turn he had made. Most cars behind him were reversing to allow him to do so except this idiotic young man right behind us who just refused to budge.

This fella caused a minor jam and then after a few minutes, he came out of his car, approach our driver and both started having a Korean-style shouting match. Quite funny to watch, just like what you see in Korean dramas, the men shouting and going "HAIIISSSHHHHH!!!!". LOL. An older lady came out to calm the young chap down, I think maybe his mum, and he went back, still refusing to reverse and instead drove straight on, when it was obvious he meant to turn right too.

That was fun to watch :) We had to get out of the cab there and climb up that slope ourselves. Wilson and family came to pick us up for dinner at a ginseng chicken place recommended by SQ Seoul staff. We each had our own bowl of chicken ginseng, except Sean. We ordered a roast chicken for him.

At the traditional-looking restaurant and yes, Brian is playing his DS again.

Chicken ginseng is I guess an acquired taste? I found it quite tasteless actually. I prefer our chinese beggar's herbal chicken. The rice is stuffed inside the chicken so you're eating a kind of soggy soft rice, like hard porridge.

The ginseng in the chicken.

The hearty meal did fill our tummies nicely, and Brian and Eddie liked their ginseng chicken.

Sean helping to zip Valerie's jacket...awwww :D Remember Valerie? Here and here.

She's not even 4 but poses like a pro. Sigh...how she's grown.

Seoul 2010: Our Winter Sonata

2011-01-02T08:15:00.005+08:00

Sean wanted to see snow during winter break and we had our annual free tickets that were expiring soon, so we decided to fly to Seoul during the last week of 2010. Seoul turned out to be better than I had expected. The food is good, it's easy to move around, cab fares are reasonable and trains are efficient AND cheap, shopping is fantastic, and there's skiing and themeparks for the kids.

Since we were using our free Singapore Airlines tickets, we had to fly back to Singapore first before going to Seoul. We arranged for the boys to have their eye-check in Somerset 313 during the transit. This is Mary on the MRT to the city.

Sean in Changi Airport, which I think is the best airport in the world...I know I haven't been to many airports, but Changi Airport wins hands down lah, I don't care what the surveys say. Free internet, free foot massage, GREAT food, subway connection, lots of shopping. So shiok, makes transits a lot less boring.

Almost ready to board. Brian played his Nintendo DS almost non-stop during this trip.

We all slept really well during the 6-hour flight and didn't take any meals on board. The plan was to take the limousine bus to our hotel in the city but we were surprised by our friend and Eddie's colleague Wilson, who came to meet us. Incheon Airport is not exactly near to the city, so we felt quite bad that Wilson woke up so early to pick us up. Really wasn't necessary.

Seoul morning sun welcoming us :)

Wilson dropped us off at our hotel, which is located in Namdaemun area, before heading off to work. Luckily, the hotel allowed early check-in so we managed to rest and clean up before going out to explore the vicinity.

Next post: Exploring Namdaemun

Our Christmas miracle :)

2010-12-25T01:59:00.007+08:00

We had our very own Christmas miracle this year. 9 months ago, Sean lost his favourite friend Mary aka Bryson in the waters of Disneysea. I blogged about it here. We were all pretty upset about this.

I only blogged about the loss of Mary/Bryson last month, more than half a year after it was lost. You know, sometimes I get so lazy about blogging, and really wanna just call it a day, but things like this makes me sooooo glad I have this blog. This is what happened.

About 2 weeks ago, I received a comment on this blog from a reader (who had never commented before) saying that she had seen Mary at a maid agency in Tampines as she was walking by. The toy was just there in a play corner for kids to play with (it looks really new so we don't think many kids went there). It wasn't for sale. When I emailed her asking for more information, the kind soul actually returned to the agency and asked for the tortoise! She sent me a short email saying, "Mary is with me now." My heart just went OMG OMG OMG. She then sent me a picture of Mary, and she looked perfect. I am soooo thankful, THANK YOU GRACE for this Christmas miracle :)

I guess I should explain why this feels so incredible and unreal. This toy tortoise isn't store-bought. It was an airline giveaway by Malaysia Airlines. A stewardess gave this to then 7-month old Brian, in 1998, on our flight from KL to Singapore (when we were going on to Rome). I doubt the toy is still in production so I really thought there was no hope of ever finding the same toy anywhere. After all, it's been more than 12 years! I seriously have no explanation for this except to say prayers do come true!

A week or so later, Mary was in my hands (our kind friends who were visiting from Singapore helped collect Mary). Just now, I made sure Sean was still awake and at midnight on Christmas Day (about an hour ago), I sneaked out the front door, placed Bryson/Mary outside our door and rang the doorbell.

Before this, we had told Sean that if he prayed really hard, Bryson might swim his way from Tokyo to Bangkok. This story evolved to become, Oh, maybe Bryson met Santa Claus and hopped onto his sleigh, and if you're really good, Bryson might come back on Christmas Day!...

Anyway, Sean is so happy, it really is a miracle to him.

I managed to capture his joy at seeing Bryson/Mary, don't mind the messy house and Eddie's mangling of Merry Christmas into a Happy Birthday tune :)

Merry Christmas everyone, may all your days be joyous and may we always count our blessings and enjoy our miracles, no matter big or small!

Bangkok Eats: Taling Pling

2010-12-01T12:42:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was Ada's last day in Bangkok. Her MIL and BIL had returned to Singapore the day before. For their 'last' meal, I wanted it to be something really good. On Monday, they had gone to Greyhound, one of my favourite restaurants here, and loved it, so we were tempted to go there again. Another option was to have Peking duck again.

Then I remembered a restaurant that some of my friends here have recommended, Taling Pling. I have been to Taling Pling but not at the original branch on Soi Pan, which is the nearest one to our place. The other outlets aren't really good but since reviews for this one were good, I decided that we should do lunch there. NO REGRETS. The food was wonderful. Somewhat pricier than the other places, but still value-for-money. Nice ambience and superb food.

Best Pad Thai I've had in Thailand so far.

I'm not a fan of green curry so I wasn't that keen on this dish anyway. The pork was quite tough so maybe get chicken or beef instead.

Tomyam Goong, 210 baht, just enough for 3 bowls :P You couldn't squeeze another spoonful if you wanted to (we so wanted to!)

Morning glory again :)

Some fried seafood dish, which was soooo delicious.

Pandan chicken for the kids, excellent too.

And for dessert we had mango sticky rice. At 200 baht, it was pricey but so fragrant and delectable.

Taling Pling is now my current craving :)

Bangkok Eats: Je Ngor

2010-12-01T11:10:00.004+08:00

On Sunday, Ada and gang headed out to the Chao Phraya and Wat Po on their own. They proceeded to Chinatown's Nam Sing restaurant for a sumptuous sharksfin lunch (I've never been there myself). We didn't join them as Brian had guitar lessons. Instead, we had a very late lunch at Paragon's Crystal Jade (yes, from Singapore), at around 3pm, and I was stuffed.

For dinner, Eddie stayed home with the boys, while I took a walk with our guests to a restaurant nearby called Je Ngor Kitchen. We usually go to another branch on Narathiwat Road, but this will do. As everyone was still full, we did not order too much. Most important is that Auntie (Ada's MIL) enjoyed her meal :)

Morning Glory 100 baht

Deep-fried minced seafood springball 100 baht (5 pieces)

Fish maw soup, there's a 400 baht bowl but we ordered the 600 baht one. There was plenty to go around.

Oyster omelette, not nice :P

Some seafood pancake. They didn't cook it so well today, but usually, it's quite yummm.

When we have our weekend meals, we usually order fish here, it's 350 baht for the fish, check the menu, so it's not that much more expensive than Lek Seafood. The fish is pretty good too.

Bangkok Eats: Lek Seafood

2010-11-28T06:26:00.012+08:00

A dear old friend Ada is visiting from Singapore. With her are her husband, her two cuties Audrey (7) and Anthony (4), her mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Prior to her visit, we had been emailing and I listed 3 suggestions for restaurants, all relatively near to where we are staying in Sathorn; Lek Seafood (Cheap and good but totally no ambience), Banana Leaf (Cheap and quite good and cafe- like), Secret Garden (More pricey, good food, nice ambience and great cakes).

Well, yesterday we all went to Lek Seafood. So altogether, there were 6 adults and 4 kids (including a sleeping one). This is what we ordered and at the end of the post, you'll see how much dinner cost.

For drinks, 2 coconut juice, coke and sprite for the kids, 3 chrysanthemum juice, a Singha beer.

Large tomyam goong. Not fantastic but can do lah. This was 150 baht I think. Go google how much that is in Singapore dollars.

2 plates of morning glory. Real yummy but a little spicy. Each plate is 70baht.

2 plates of fishballs. Each plate 50 baht.

Omelette.

Stir fried squids with salted eggs

Stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts

2 plates of brandy-marinated fried pork ribs. 100 baht per plate.

1kg of bbq river prawns. YUM!! 400 baht.

BBQ/Baked seabass. I love this. Try to order this right upfront and get them to start bbq-ing before ordering the other dishes cos this dish always arrives really late, sometimes after everything else has been eaten. 320 baht.

For dishes without price, those are ordered by Eddie, not something I would order. So I can't really remember. The ones I remember are those I order each time I come here. I've come here quite a number of times and have had crabs (not great and quite pricey) and cockles and fresh oysters.

In total the bill came to 2000 baht. That's slightly less than S$90. Cheap or not? :)

Lek Seafood
156 Soi Phiphat, Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Road, Silom, Bangkok
Below the Chong Nonsi Skytrain Platform
Contact ☎ (02) 636-6460, 636-6054

Better bloggers have written about this place :) See below:
http://wenlynn-chin.blogspot.com/2010/08/lek-seafood-silom-bangkok.html
http://southernoise-gluttony.blogspot.com/2008/07/lek-seafood-bangkok.html
http://eiling.blogspot.com/2009/04/lek-seafood-bangkok-bangkok-trip-part.html
http://yilinglim.blogspot.com/2009/05/lek-seafood-silom-bangkok.html
http://the-f-word-blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/lek-seafood-bangkok-thailand.html
http://mynottoobigtoy.blogspot.com/2008/12/lek-seafood.html
http://zilingl.blogspot.com/2009/04/lek-seafood-chong-nonsi.html

Communism and Capitalism

2010-11-26T10:21:00.001+08:00

Backpost 7 Nov 2010

A conversation I had with Sean while Brian was away on a school trip. Do correct me if what I said isn't true, I never did Political Science :P

Sean comes to the room and asks, "Why don't people share?"
Me: Huh? People do share.
Sean: No, I mean, why don't people share money and food and all that.
Me: Ohhhh...

Then I tried to explain as best as I could about Communism (Communal sharing/Community) and gave him a simple example:
"In communism, the government takes your money and distributes it to everyone. So whether you work hard or not, you get the same amount."
Sean: Okay.
Me: So let's say Korkor works very very hard, and what he produces/earns is enough to buy himself a big beautiful house, a fancy car, and lots of goodies for his family. And let's say you decide, hmmm, I think I'll take it easy and not work. But the government takes korkor's money and distributes it equally, so both of you get a small house, a bicycle and basic food for the kids, no Yakult or chocolates or oranges. Now, after a while, do you think korkor will continue to work hard or not?
Sean: um, no.
Me: So you see, it won't work cos everyone will get lazy and no one will do anything and the country will not prosper.

Then I asked him, so since Communism doesn't work, think about it and tell me what would be a better way of running a country.

He thought for a while and said, "I think the government should give the poor people just enough to survive properly and the people who work hard get the rest of the money so the people who work hard get more than the people who don't work hard."

Me: And yes, that is what Capitalism is about! This is what happens in the US, that's why it's so prosperous. They have a welfare system where if you are disabled, or you can't find work; you have to prove that you've been looking for work, or if you are really poor, the government will give you some money to get by, but not so much that you can have all the luxury items.

Sean: Oh, then what's Singapore?

Me: Oh, in Singapore, you have to work very hard, no one will take care of you. If you're poor, you can earn money by collecting coke cans and cardboard boxes to sell. (I know I made it sound extreme but I was trying to make a point)

Sean: Is that why I have to do my Math?

Me: Yes, that's why you have to work harder than your friends in school. Daddy doesn't have money to leave behind for you to start your own business or anything. So you have to depend on yourself.

Sean: ...

Me: Anyway, isn't it good to earn your own money? You'll appreciate it more.

Sean: But what about later, when the rest of your family get to live in luxury and you still have to work.

Me: What do you mean?

Sean: Like many years later, when you have a wife and family, they get to live in what you earn in your earlier days and you still have to work.

Me: er...don't you want to provide for your family?

Sean: Yes, but I mean if you work so hard, and you leave a lot of money for your children, then they won't have to work hard.

Me: mmm...I think you should just keep the money for yourself then.

After some time, he comes over and asks, "Why doesn't Singapore have Capitalism and help the poor?"

Me: Oh, actually Singapore is all about Capitalism. And Singapore does help the poor, but only the very poor.

The Thinking Stick

2010-11-24T20:53:00.007+08:00

The Thinking Stick is an edu-tech blog by Jeff Utecht, the HS Technology and Learning Coordinator at the boys' school. I came across his very popular blog even before my first visit to ISB.

It was towards the end of a fantastic first meeting (when we were visiting schools) with the ISB MS School Counselor (who left such a great impression on us) that I happened to mention to her that I had read the blog of the school's 'IT-guy', this blog called The Thinking Stick, her eyes opened wide and she said that's her husband! Which made her The Thinking Chick! She's a lot more shy than her husband so I'm not gonna link to her blog :)

I sound like such a stalker here and probably scared The Thinking Chick into not blogging anymore haha but this couple are just amazing people and I think the school is very lucky to have them. They are into their 2nd year at ISB, having come from Shanghai American School, and from Jeff's twitter, I now know they're staying on in Bangkok for the next two years, yayyy! And the thing is, I don't know that many teachers/personnel in this school, but the few whom I've had contact with, are truly amazing. I'll talk about that another time. But I have been very, very impressed with the passion shown by the educators here.

Today, Jeff sent me an email with just a link to his latest blogpost and a smiley at the end. He hadn't needed to cos just minutes earlier, I had seen this link appear on my wall from the Jeff Utecht Facebook page, yes, I am a fan :P In his post, he reflected on Dan Pink's book Drive and concluded that the key to motivating students to produce good work is by giving them a meaningful purpose bigger than a grade.

He goes on to cite the Operation Smile video on Brian's student blog as an example of this. Brian doesn't get many comments on his blog, so if anyone visits, do say hello, it'll make his day :) And don't expect too much from the blog, it's not a personal blog, more of a place to submit some of his homework. But he's thrilled to be getting visitors from all over, all thanks to The Thinking Stick :) I'm hoping this will make him more aware about the digital footprint he's leaving around and put in more effort in every piece of homework he uploads :P

What Sean believes

2010-11-24T07:27:00.003+08:00

As part of International Week, and reinforcing the notion of Free to Be, Free to Believe, Sean and his classmates were asked to think about what they believed in. It could be anything, factual or otherwise, whatever you believe. This is what I found on Sean's little blog.

This I Believe

By Sean Leong

I believe time is a force.
I believe in God.
I believe there is no limit for anything.
I believe universes are not comprehensible to us and they never will be.
I believe everyone should be free to believe what’s in their hearts.
I believe we should be nice to God because he created us.
I believe diligence is more important than intelligence.
I believe we can help the environment and humanity.
I believe that there are ups and downs in life.

Brian's Operation Smile Experience

2010-11-22T15:24:00.012+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Brian went on a 4-day Operation Smile mission, in Mae Sot, an 8-hour bus ride away from Bangkok. The 10 middle-schoolers who went were asked to submit a final project documenting their experience and what they learnt. This video is Brian's submission.

The 10 kids travelled on a Saturday and arrived back in Bangkok on Tuesday, missing 2 days of school, for which they had to make up homework. Brian hadn't known that he would be selected for Op Smile (kids have to apply and submit a write-up on why they should be chosen) so he had earlier also signed up for an Eco-trip which started the Friday following his return from Mae Sot. He only got back home on Sunday night so the ensuing week was a hectic scramble to complete all the homework he had missed.

When I found out he was going on Operation Smile, I emailed the Middle School counselor Daneah, thanking her for selecting him and her reply was, "I’m very glad Brian is coming on the trip! Last year it was such a memorable experience for all of the kids-I’m sure this year will be the same. I’m very particular about which kids are selected because the makeup of the group has such an impact on the experience for all the kids. I think Brian is the perfect person to come. :o)"

A few days after the Op Smile team returned, I was beyond beaming with pride when I received this email from Daneah (hope she doesn't mind me posting this).

Hi Lilian,

I wanted to take a minute to say thanks for letting me have Brian for the four day trip-he was definitely an essential part of our group.

I am always amazed at Brian's ability to fit in where ever and with anyone! He manages to always look comfortable and like he's enjoying himself. Brian was spectacular at playing with the kids - from blowing bubbles incessantly to stickering up his face (the whole place was going nuts with taking photos of Brian with his little baby all stickered up too! See photo). Brian kept such a positive attitude and an amazing level of energy throughout the entire trip. He was not only wonderful with the kids waiting for surgeries, but he was pretty amazing with the students on the trip as well. Brian is like this perfect blend of maturity, but also still wanting to play with the other students. He was incredibly kind and patient with the 6th grade girls and got along brilliantly with the 7th grade boys. And yet I could also rely on him to be responsible and act appropriately - I wish I could clone him!

I think one of my favorite moments was watching Brian observe the surgeries. I was being especially vigilant as the last thing I wanted was for one of our kids to pass out or vomit in the OR! I kept checking in with Brian and he kept saying, "I'm fine." The other two boys continually had to take breaks, sit down, look away, etc. And when the surgeon motioned for the boys to come and stand elbow to elbow with him as he was operating on the little boy on the table, Brian was the one who stepped forward and continued to stand there almost in awe of what he was watching happen. I'm not sure if practicing medicine is something in Brian¹s future-but it was amazing to observe his fascination with what was happening.

My other favorite Brian moment was when we took all the kids up to the waterfall after a long hard day of working. The kids of course decided that they needed to walk to the top of the waterfall and then climb down the waterfall-thus getting themselves all wet. So much for the wading only idea! Brian was carefully navigating his way down the falls and happened to be in the back with two small 6th grade girls. It made me feel so good to look up and see him reaching back to offer help to one of the girls, and then a few seconds later, accepting her help offered to him! Upon reaching the bottom, Brian somehow found himself surrounded by all of the kids and good naturedly received a full dousing from them. They then all took turns being in the middle. Again the "we're just wading in the water guys" fell on deaf ears. Ah well, they had such a good time what¹s a few wet bodies in a van with no towels for 40 minutes?!

Thank you for sharing Brian with us, he was a very important part of our trip!

Kind regards,
Daneah

****************************

I didn't expect this, and I was very touched that she would take the time to let me know this about my son. Touched that she would even notice. I mean, I don't get to see this side of Brian. And he doesn't tell me much either, except that he had such a great time and that the kids were really cute.

There are some pretty amazing people working in this school. I am constantly astounded by the heart displayed in the actions and words of the people of ISB. Brian picked his school well, and is savouring every second of his time here. Truly, what more can a parent ask for in a school? :)

Tokyo 2010: Last day and a half

2010-11-22T11:35:00.006+08:00

*3rd week of March 2010

Our Disney-free day was finally here. The plan was to get to Harajuku area and gorge on as much cheap sushi as we could at this Sushi Kaiten place that Monica had recommended and which we had gone to on our last trip to Tokyo. We also wanted to eat the Kyushu Janggara Ramen that we loved, also in Harajuku, just 200 m away from the sushi kaiten place. What a dilemma...the plan was to eat sushi for lunch then go somewhere else and return for ramen dinner.

Sigh...no such happy dilemma. The Sushi Kaiten place was no more. No more!!! Replaced by a ghastly GAP store! I was soooo mad. Couldn't believe my eyes. We kept walking and looking and the entire building was no longer there. Renovated to house another over-commercialised clothes shop...I want my Sushi Kaiten!

Oh well, we headed for our Ramen.

This time we took the counter seats, and for some reason, Sean decides this time to hate the smell of Kyushu Ramen...grrrr.

The last time we were here, the fussy eater ate up, so I dunno why he suddenly says it stinks now. I don't know what this picture on the counter is saying but that's pretty much how Sean looked when the food came :P

With nowhere else to go, we headed for Shibuya. It was a drizzly day so not much fun to jalan-jalan. We did cross the famous Shibuya junction though, and had coffee at the Starbucks across the junction, said to be the busiest Starbucks in the world.

We then walked aimlessly looking at gorgeous Japanese food displays and getting a little lost too finding our way back to Shibuya Station. Bought the boys ice-cream.

And these cakes are just so fluffy, light and delicious.

Oh, Monica recommended that we try these crab-filled croquettes (?), isn't that a game? None of us like it though.

Beautiful...just beautiful.

Took the train back home, can't remember what we had for dinner and watched fireworks from our bedroom.

The next day, we still had more than half a day before heading for the airport. To make up for the Sushi Kaiten disappointment, we went to Tsukiji Tama Sushi again :) This time, I also had a chirashi set which came with delectable chawanmushi, in addition to lots of sushis. It was just as great the 2nd time round.

Tokyo 2010: Disneyland at night

2010-11-19T19:11:00.003+08:00

Was glad we returned to Disneyland for the night parade. I don't know if it's the same in other Disneys, but this parade was really pretty. There were so many people though and it was drizzling the entire time. The boys enjoyed the show though and we went for more rides, including a small coaster, before calling it a day.

Tokyo 2010: Tsukiji & Katsu Gen

2010-11-18T10:18:00.004+08:00

3rd week of March 2010

Day 3 was Disneyland Day. Nothing much to write about, just lots of crowd again. I've been to Tokyo Disneyland 3 times, the first when Brian was 4 months in my belly, and all 3 times, the crowd was just unbearable. The highlight of the day was our dinner. Again, we had returned to our hotel to nap and then woke up to get to Disneyland for the night parade.

At the mall at the main station, we hunted for restaurants to eat in. Now when Eddie's with us, finding a place where all of us could happily eat in is a nightmare. He doesn't take sushi or sashimi while Brian and I love that, and he's also always thinking about what Sean needs to eat. And Sean is an amazingly picky eater, we'd end up in McD if it were up to Sean.

And that's why this trip was so great, gastronomically. Everything was decided by me :) So I saw this delicious-looking display outside a sushi restaurant called Tsukiji Tama Sushi. Of course, Sean also had to have dinner and he'd have nothing there. He had seen a katsu restaurant and insisted on going there. So we made a deal with him, that if he'd let the two of us eat first, we'll take him to the katsu place later. Everyone was happy. See? Comprising works :P

I think the sign says 180Y per sushi? I really don't remember now, but the sushis were delicious and well worth the price. I saw on google there are other Tsukiji Tama Sushis in the city which offer all you can eat deals but this outlet doesn't. Brian gobbled up most of the salmon...

...while I relished this. What's this called again? I just love this. It costs a lot elsewhere but in this restaurant it's the same price as the other sushis. The temakis are 180Y too, if I remember correctly.

Mmmm...scallops.

We ordered more after we gobbled up the first order. Dinner was soooo goooood.

And then it was Sean's turn. The restaurant he was eyeing serves ONLY katsu. All kinds of katsu. Wow I didn't know entire families would come to a restaurant and only eat breaded deep-fried meat. I have never ordered a katsu for myself all my life, never liked it.

The restaurant was a really nice one though, and the quality of the katsu was really good, and there was a wonderful sesame aroma when the food came.

Sean tucked in and polished off his meal, including the big pile of shredded lettuce. He just loves his katsu. It was the most expensive katsu we've ever paid for, but a deal's a deal :P

Tokyo 2010: Disneysea at night

2010-11-17T09:48:00.004+08:00

In all our trips to Disneyland, we've never stayed on for the night parades, maybe just once in Paris. Our accommodation was always in the cities, be it Hongkong, Paris or Tokyo, so Eddie would always say we should get back before it's too late. And we generally lack the stamina to last all day in a themepark. But this time, since we stayed within Disney resort, we got to go back to the room for a nap and return refreshed. Monica had told me we absolutely had to catch the night show at Disneysea, what's it called now? Can't remember...but it was great, something about good vs evil. Oh yeah, Braviseamo?

Anyway, this is a video we took at Disneysea in the day.

And of the night performance.

Watched the fireworks display after this performance and then went on a few more rides before heading back to zzzzz.

Tokyo 2010: Sheraton Grande Dinner

2010-11-17T08:18:00.009+08:00

3rd week of March 2010

Disneysea was crowded and after losing Mary, we were all kind of bummed so we returned to the hotel to check in and take a nap. Well, we saw the hotel cafe/restaurant which looked very tempting. It was a buffet and quite expensive but we couldn't help it. Totally not worth paying for Sean but Brian and I ate up.

Bright and attractive place.

I think it was the giant lollipops that enticed us.

BIG BURGER

Trays and trays of food.

Mussels, but no oysters :P

Chirashi.

My favourite and Brian's was this beef that they grill on the spot. We went many rounds cos each time the fella grills just a few pieces for you. It was soooo goood!

DESSERTS!!

There was actually lots more food, I was too shy to take pictures cos my camera wasn't really small. Yet, out of all those food, this is all Sean ate, egg, chicken and rice with a bit of vegetables :P...

And just these for dessert. Total waste of money.

Tokyo 2010: Tragedy in Disneysea

2010-11-16T09:50:00.012+08:00

3rd week of March 2010

We headed straight for Disneysea after leaving our bags at the hotel reception. Disneysea this time wasn't quite as pleasant as in 2008, it was a lot more crowded. Something else happened that was quite tragic, to us. It was like losing a member of the family :P hee hee.

Now some of you may know about Mary. She is also known as Bryson. It was Mr Tortoise when Brian first got it as an airline giveaway circa May 1998 on a MH flight from KL to Singapore. Sean called it Mary and then in recent years, Mary only existed in the hand-talking tortoise world (pretend play by the boys) and physically it was called Bryson. Us adults still called it Mary.

Now Sean had been taking Mary EVERYWHERE. I warned him many times not to but he just loves his friend too much.

For example, when we were taking rides in the Mermaid Lagoon, he would show Mary/Bryson what's going on and talk to her/it. Many times, I would test to see if he'll forget about Mary by hiding her in like a small cave, or near a pot, and even when engrossed in playing with Brian, he would remember to look for his friend when leaving.

When Eddie's not with us, I would put Brian in charge. I don't like climbing on to ships or climbing up stairs or waiting in long lines, so I would make Brian promise to always hold Sean's hand and be with him the entire time, and then they'd go exploring together and meet me where I was, usually in a comfortable seat somewhere. So here the boys are queueing for some coaster ride. Apparently, while queueing, they were playing again, and Sean picked a flower, then he was letting go of the flower when instead of one hand, he released the other, and Mary fell,..., into the waters.

Look at Sean's face while he's taking the coaster. I was of course still unaware of the tragedy.

After the ride, the boys told me what had happened and strangely, I felt really sad. Sean tried to act nonchalant about it, laughing when we teased him that Mary loved the sea so much she wanted to stay on in Disneysea.

We could see where Mary was, we just couldn't reach it. It was clear that Sean was upset, but we just made up funny stories and I kinda told him I would write to Disneysea to see if they could get Mary at the end of the day. Of course I didn't lah, it was really a futile thing, just silly human nature to continue hoping.

We spent some time following Mary's trail down the river. Call me crazy, but I felt quite sad. At the time, I was more upset than Sean seemed. I think he still thought he'd get Mary back.

We joked that by the end of the day, Mary would probably be sucked into this whirlpool and like Nemo, maybe find her way to us.

No, even Mrs Incredible couldn't help.

And it was actually on this day that I started thinking I would take Mary's picture at all our future destinations, something like the garden gnome in Amelie. Sigh, it was not meant to be. Farewell Mary, you were a good friend.

Till today, Sean still asks for Mary/Bryson. He wonders too if it could be replicated. So if anyone knows of anyone who could sew a replica (material is terry I think), do let me know. My little boy is pining for his tortoise friend.

Last video of Sean and his buddy.

Tokyo 2010: Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay

2010-11-16T09:22:00.009+08:00

4rd week of March 2010

In March this year, in the week between our move from Moscow to Bangkok, I took the boys to Tokyo. Our annual free air tickets were expiring by the end of the month, Eddie was busy wrapping things up in Moscow and work in Singapore, so I figured why not? Just me and the boys...we had a GREAT time!

I promised Monica I would post about the trip so more than half a year later, here it is :P My memories about the trip have faded somewhat. I remember arriving in the late evening so we stayed a night near the airport, maybe in ANA Hotel. We had a buffet dinner there, slept and the next morning we left for Disneyland. This is the boys' 2nd trip to Tokyo, the first was in 2008, when we stayed in the city. This time, I got a great deal at Sheraton Disney Resort, S$740 for 3 nights, upfront payment.

The room was huge. A family of 5, even 6, could easily sleep there. 2 doubles and 2 singles.

There's a little window opening into the bath.

Ask for a room facing Disneyland and I think we got an upgrade to a themed kids' floor, not sure how different it is from the other floors. Probably not much.

We could watch the nightly fireworks display from the balcony.

The hotel is within walking distance of Bayside Station.

Comfy Japanese PJs for everyone, I forget what it's called :P

The lift area on our floor.

Bright and cheery.

Sean was fascinated with this little door...to Jerry's house?

My teenager this year

2010-11-15T09:49:00.009+08:00

In Moscow, with two guests from Prague, for the Mathcounts CEESA competition, which Brian won :)

At his Bangkok school, returning from his first ever Habitat4Humanity housebuild.

He's changed a lot this year, now he has his MP3 perpetually plugged into his ears :(

Sean still idolises Brian. Brian gets impatient with Sean and sometimes isn't very nice, but they have a lot of good times together. Sean's without his two front teeth here :)

Twiddling his thumb at a company dinner, very bored.

In Hua Hin.

Safari World at the Giraffe feeding area.

Every month, there's alternate dress day in school, kids can be out of uniform and usually there's a theme. In this case, the theme was Shades.

At his 2nd Habitat4Humanity housebuild.

Brian and 3 of his friends formed a 'rock' band :) and here they are at their first performance during Middle School assembly.

Celebrating his 13th birthday with a few of his closest friends. We've been having lots of fights/arguments this year, especially the couple of months before he turned 13. But since turning 13, things have been pretty good...

One of the latest pictures I have of Brian. This was taken just before he left for a 4-day trip on an Operation Smile mission (about 10 days ago).

My teenager thru the years: 2009

2010-11-13T05:38:00.004+08:00

11 yrs 2 mths to 12 yrs 2 mths

Visiting cousins in KK, Sabah.

Ice-skating in Megamall.

Hanging out at Auntie Monica's when we first returned to Singapore for Brian to take his PSLEs.

Joining Pri6 after the June hols to prepare for PSLE in October. Sean's first day ever in a Singapore school.

Flew to Bangkok during the September week hols for a much-needed break. Sean turned 7 there.

Playing with Krit & Kant and their dog.

At Ampawa Floating market.

Wishing he didn't have to leave Bangkok? Maybe...

Back in Moscow after PSLE. Before leaving for winter concert. Growing up real fast.

My teenager thru the years: 2008

2010-11-12T08:43:00.008+08:00

From 10yrs 3mths to about 11 years 2 mths.

First week of 2008 in Kuala Lumpur's newest mall then.

At the 4th grade Russian dance performance, with my friend May's son Krit.

Brian's class was a little special, and they got to perform at a concert televised on national Russian TV, which meant extra practices. He's posing before leaving for the concert.

Brian in his Singapore school for 3 weeks of Pri 5. This was his first time back in Singapore school after leaving in the middle of Pri 1.

On Sean's birthday, enjoying a bubble bath in the jacuzzi.

In front of St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow.

At the annual Moscow Honey Festival.

Turning 11 with his best buddies from school. Except for Gherardo on Brian's right, the other kids have also moved away from Moscow. Two went back to their home countries of US and Canada and one is in Amsterdam.

Tucking into Kyushu (Janggara) Ramen in Harajuku, Tokyo.

With the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) at Kamakura, near Enoshima.

My futile attempt to get the boys to exercise more regularly.

At the playground of our place in Moscow. This was the first time I realised how fast Brian was growing :(

Ice-skating on Red Square.

This was taken when we visited the Mother Teresa Orphanage to deliver Christmas presents. Sean was so excited before going and started picking out his Ty bears (still new) and balls to give away. He kept talking about the visit and couldn't wait to go. Brian was kind of nonchalant about it. But when we got there, it was quite overwhelming, it wasn't just an orphanage, most of the people there were disabled in some way and some were young adults who had lived there all their lives and had nowhere to go. Sean went all quiet, especially when we went to a room where there were 3 bedridden kids who were paralysed from birth. I think one was maybe 18 but physically looked 7 cos of muscle mass loss. Sean was shocked. When the kids wanted to take pictures, he didn't really want to. But Brian came forward and became extra friendly with them, posing with them and getting Sean to do the same.

This girl was the first to welcome us, together with the Sisters, and she showed us around. She's a big help at the orphanage and very capable. She also kept wanting to take pictures with Brian :)

My teenager thru the years: 2007

2010-11-09T00:56:00.013+08:00

9 years 3 months to 10 years and 1 month.

I found this video while looking through my 2007 blogposts. LOL!, Brian's Brit accent which he lost the moment he went to an American school in Moscow. He used to be so PROPUH, now it's "like uhm like like um like"...gahhhh! In this video, he was practising for his class assembly play the next morning in which he takes on the role of a British reporter during the 2nd World War.

Every day, I'd have to walk some 15-20 minutes to pick Brian up after school. Sean would scoot niftily along in his reliable skate-scooter.

On our walks home from school, we would frequently stop by the Original Maids of Honour shop to have scones, pies and afternoon tea.

April 2007, Sean gets to join his korkor in KGPS, his first day of school.

Last day of school in London :( This was a really good solid all-round school. Teachers were knowledgeable, caring and kind with their words. Here, the school headmistress Mrs Gardener presents Brian with a farewell gift, a hard-covered beautifully illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland.

At the Moscow zoo. A couple of posts ago, there's a picture of cotton candy but now I realise Sean never even tried cotton candy then. This was his first taste of cotton candy and look at his scroungy face! It was a long time before he tried cotton candy again.

Holidaying in Hongkong. I have quite a lot of photos of Brian rolling his eyes up like that every time I take a picture. He would pose normally, then just as I click, he rolls his eyes up, just to annoy me!

My teenager thru the years: 2006

2010-11-09T00:54:00.004+08:00

8.2 years to 9.2 years old.

PREPPY!! and CHUBBY!! I don't know how he got so chubby. We had arrived in London only a few weeks earlier, must be the duck rice. This was taken on his first day at school in Kew Green Preparatory School, a lovely, smallish British Prep school located right next to the Botanical Gardens. There were quite a number of good schools in the Kew Gardens area but I felt this school was the least Victorian (strict).

On a very cold February day in Piccadilly Circus. Gosh I miss London!

On one of our daily walks home. Check out the bunny teeth on Brian :) My mum kept saying he was buck-toothed and would definitely need braces. Thank God her prediction didn't come true, Brian grew into his teeth lol! and his teeth are now quite even.

Playing masak-masak with Sean. Sean's wearing this pyjamas now.

At Victoria & Albert Museum

Sharing a double cone after school one day in summer.

Tower Bridge.

The day he turned 9.

Took the Eurostar to Paris right after they recovered from chicken pox. Outside the Louvre.

At Sacre Couer.

Learning to cook. He hasn't progressed much since :P Can only fry eggs and cook instant noodles.

My teenager thru the years: 2005

2010-11-08T19:05:00.009+08:00

From 7 years & 3 months to 8 years & 2 months.

Bubble-bath in our Frankfurt house. Brian was about 7 or so when he started helping me shower and change Sean. They showered in the tub and Brian somehow managed to carry him in and out every bath time. I can't imagine Sean being able to help anyone out now, he only learnt to shower and wash his hair independently this year!

Face-painting in Europa Park...awesome theme park.

Sean had a lick of the cotton candy and flinched, refused to have any more.

In Rheinfels Castle above Rhine River, St Goar. These spherical rocks were actually used for catapults in the past.

In Koln/Cologne.

In Rothenburg, a well-preserved walled medieval town.

This was Sean's standard pose for the longest time. Little Kyra is so cute and chubby!!

Beautiful Christmas Market in Frankfurt.

My teenager thru the years: 2004

2010-11-08T11:17:00.008+08:00

Taken from 6 years & 2 months to 7 years old.

This was the year Brian started Pri 1. Here he is at chess training.

At St Hilda's where he spent half a year, we entertained notions that maybe he could pick up table-tennis. :) Fat hopes.

He had piano lessons, kumon, chinese tuition of course, some national junior squad chess training (which I think is a ripoff to make parents pay for more training :P). I began to find that I was just driving him from place to place all the time. If he were still an only child then, I think that would have been fine, but I was filled with guilt about not spending time with Sean.

When my mum began to go back to Malacca more often and for longer periods, leaving Sean at home with only Siti, my helper, my guilt intensified. Siti was great with Sean and doted on him, but with all of Brian's activities, I hardly spent any time with Sean. We decided to pack up and join Eddie on his posting to Frankfurt.

Brian on his first day of school at Internationale Schule Frankfurt. I think this marked the start of the Ugly Duckling period :)

Sean turned 2 the week we arrived in Frankfurt. Hee hee, Sean's so ugly :P Don't say I'm mean, I'm just being objective. He's a cutie now :)

We had a surprise visit from my cousin-in-law Kenneth, who dropped by while on a business trip to Dusseldorf. The picture was taken outside our townhouse in Sachsenhausen. We were the first to live here, past SQ folks lived in Westend, the other side of the river. An earlier house-hunting trip to Frankfurt had yielded nothing and I chanced upon the advert for this house by some convoluted sleuthing and Google translate. Immediately made Eddie meet the agent (he was already set on an apartment in Konstablerwache which I discovered on the internet was in a building next to a gay cinema). 6 years later, SQ folks are still living in this house, you can't find a better place given the budget, and also a nicer landlord.

Brian celebrated his 7th birthday with one guest, his schoolmate Ellen. Ellen had spotted this new Chinese boy during PE and befriended him (talking about Brian lah). We later found out she was the daughter of a Malaysian restauranteur we had befriended. Ellen and Brian played together all the time during his time in ISF, but had a fall-out a couple of months before we left. Brian was a VERY PETTY little boy then. haha.

This was taken in Sachsenhausen by Main River on an autumn day. We would walk from our place cross the river to Zeil, the main shopping street. You could also feed ducks along the river, which we did a lot.

My teenager thru the years: 2003

2010-11-08T10:28:00.004+08:00

Taken from the time he was 5 yrs & 4 months to 6 years & 2 months.

We didn't travel anywhere in 2003, I think. This was the year of getting more acquainted with little Sean. Brian doted on Sean and Sean adored his korkor. But I remember spending very little time with Sean. I was working and sometimes after work, I had to drive Brian off for Yamaha JMC classes or Kumon or speech and drama or chess later on. Things were hectic, really glad we left that all behind the next year!

Most of the pictures taken are with Sean, whose eyes can't be seen in every picture :)

This was taken at Brian's kindy graduation concert. He went to K1 and K2 at Changi Bethany Kindergarten. This girl Janelle was the prettiest girl there :) and would take care of Brian by bringing him his cup of milk during snack time. I think she was quite bossy too haha. The teachers paired them up for the concert.

My teenager thru the years: 2002

2010-11-06T11:27:00.006+08:00

Taken between the time Brian was 4.25 years and 5 years old.

Early 2002. Wonder what happened to all my giraffe soft-toys...

We were going for an Act 3 performance about a new sibling in the house. Well, I think it was Act 3...not that sure.

When Sean was about a week old, soooo borrrring.

Brian still waiting for his little brother to be his playmate.

Brian turns 5 and is the only one able to make Sean smile, by just being there.

My teenager thru the years: 2001

2010-11-06T08:12:00.005+08:00

These were taken in May 2001, when he was 3 years and 5.5 months.

In 2001, on another visit to Rome, we drove to Orvieto and Assisi. This was taken in one of the medieval towns we stopped by on the way.

I was looking through some old emails and now realise Brian was quite rascally too at this age. Here's what I wrote about the trip:

"He also bullies his daddy, like step on Eddie's shoes, or beat him. AND he won't let Eddie and I talk during the car ride, will shout and say, "NO, don't talk!, I want to talk to Mummy!". Or if I tell him, "mummy needs to talk to daddy about something" he'll go, "okay, but don't talk too much" followed by,"stop talking!".

During this trip, Brian calls himself a puppy "woop woop" his daddy elephant "trumpet trumpet" and me froggy "gribbit gribbit". We don't like it so we gang up to call him piggy "oink oink" when he calls us elephant or froggy, he gets so mad when we do this. Just now in the middle of the night, he shouted in his sleep "I'm not piggy, I'm woop woop".

We also went to Florence again, cos I love Florence. But the 2nd time round wasn't as magical, I think Florence in winter is prettier.

Brian chowing down on spaghetti in Florence. Till today, he loves pasta, while Sean doesn't.

In the background is a Smart car, which back in 2001 looks so futuristic. I love this car, and you saw them everywhere in Florence.

Rubbing the nose of this boar is said to bring good luck.

This was taken by the sea in Rome, in a place called Fiumicino (I'm guessing it's near the airport). There's a restaurant here that we go to whenever we're in Rome, outstanding Italian seafood.

This was towards the end of 2001, Brian is dressed as a reindeer for his school's Christmas concert. He's lost lots of his chubbiness. This was the start of the skinny era, till he became chubby again around 8/9.

My teenager thru the years: 2000

2010-11-05T09:44:00.008+08:00

These were taken in June 2000, when Brian was 2 years and 8 months.

This was a nice time with Brian. He was a much better traveller than he was the year before. Very curious and would mumble things to himself, happy to point out, "red car, blue car, green car" or whatever car it was that was driving past :)

This is on a Swiss train from Zurich to Lucerne.

In his PJs, on the balcony of our hotel in Lucerne. He was missing his grandma and we were also severely jetlagged, waking up past dinner the night before

Found this on my old yahoo email, "Brian misses my mum a lot. In Lucerne, he kept calling out "por por, por por" looking all disturbed and almost ready to cry. He even went to the telephone and picked up the handset and said, "por por, por por". So poor thing huh? He never misses me like this. My mum's still fierce as usual and doesn't spoil him, but even though he kena scolding, he still goes to her cos he knows she loves him more than anything in the world. He says, "Brian is popo's darling cucu". Cucu is Malay for grandchild.

In Paris, he had a little stomach trouble, kept having to go to the toilet at inappropriate times. Here we are at the top of Arc De Triomphe, behind you can see Eiffel Tower all litted up for the Millenium. Now to get to the top, there was quite a bit of stairs to climb, and we took turns carrying him. I was pooped out by the time we got to the top and then within minutes, Brian said he needed to poo! Alamak, the toilet was located midway, so I had to carry the little bugger all the way down and up again. Pengsan!

Here in Versailles, luckily, I had brought with me a collapsible potty from Robinsons, cos he actually did his business in the gardens of Versailles...Eddie the great rhymer went on to tease him that he "pangsai in Versailles".

His first time in Disneyland, knock out midway through.

With Mickey.

With The Thinker.

Awww...he was a cutie then :)

Outside the Pompidou Centre. This was our first time in Paris, so I was kiasu and tried to squeeze in as many museum visits as I could. Brian was mostly good throughout although I have a video cam recording of art pieces in Musee D'orsay with a little pitiful voice asking, "Where's Porpor? I want Porpor"...missing grandma :)

When we got back to Rome, Eddie went to work and one day I took a day trip to Capri with Brian. He was the only kid on the bus filled will adult tourists. It was a bus journey, stopping at Naples to take a ferry to Sorrento, and I can't remember now how we got to Capri.

It was such a beautiful day and the Isle of Capri was as gorgeous as I anticipated. Lots of glamourous people in fancy cars, think Grace Kelly.

At the lunch place, we met this other family, not from the same bus. Their little girl was so enamoured with Brian's hair and kept coming to touch his hair. They continued to play with each other later.

On the little boats that take folks into the Blue Grotto. The blue grotto isn't always accessible, even during summer, it depends on the tide and how sunny the day is. If the sun isn't shining brightly, the effect will not be there, or something like that. We were lucky that we got to go in and it remains one of the best experiences of my life, the luminous blue was so gorgeous and magical...well, maybe cos my favourite colour is blue.

Brian was a little scared going into the grotto but other than that, he was impeccably behaved throughout the day trip, even on the journey home. The angmoh tourists on the bus came to me at the end and one by one kept saying how good he was haha...I think they must have been worried when they saw there was a young one on the bus.

My teenager thru the years: 1999

2010-11-02T23:33:00.003+08:00

These photos were taken in November 1999 when he was 2 years and 1 month old.

Holidaying in Florence and Venice. He's happy here in Hotel Casci, a very comfortable B&B. I think he puked in this room a couple of times though.

In the corridor of Hotel Casci.

Venice in November. It snowed when we were there, so cold. Not an easy trip with a 2 year old in winter. He would scream each time he had to wear his winter jacket, was a struggle getting him in. Here he's happily chasing pigeons until one suddenly landed on his head, he was stunned for a few seconds and later burst out in tears.

My teenager thru the years: 1998

2010-11-02T09:33:00.008+08:00

These were taken in May 1998 when he was about 7 months old.

In Rome.

Charming Italian girls outside the Pantheon.

This combi stroller survived many a cobbled street. A tourist passed us and said of Brian sitting in the stroller, "That's the best way to travel!" :)

My teenager thru the years: 1997

2010-11-01T17:19:00.003+08:00

From zero to 2.5 months.

Tree-planting for real the 2nd time round

2010-09-13T23:49:00.008+08:00

Back in early 2009, when Brian was in 5th grade, he and a couple of his classmates worked on a project to mark the end of Elementary School. This was a project that lasted a few months, culminating in an Exhibition day where groups will present what they've done to parents, teachers and schoolmates who visit their booths. Unlike past years, the kids were limited in the scope they could cover, I believe most of the projects were on the themes of either environment or bullying and something else. They also weren't allowed to do any fund-raising like in previous years.

Now, for Brian's group, they chose the Environment theme and in the process Brian learnt quite a bit on all the technical terms about the harmful stuff that's going on in the environment (which funnily enough helped him in either his GEP social studies or PSLE Science, I forget). They also planned for a tree-planting day to coincide with Earth Day.

However, they were advised that saplings were too costly, so they ended up planting shrubs :), better than nothing lah. Pictures here were taken in May 2009. Brian has changed so much in a year plus.

The shrubs were planted right near the entrance of the school.

I was never sure if the shrubs survived the 2009/2010 winter. When we left Moscow, it was still bitterly cold and the shrubs were just twigs.

Well, two Saturdays ago, Brian had the opportunity to do tree-planting for real this time. 30 kids from both Middle and High School went to a place near Cha-Am, about 3 hours from Bangkok, to plant 300 mangrove trees. This was to offset the school's carbon footprint from flights. These are pictures from the school club's public site.

Brian said it was no easy task planting these saplings. They all wore boots but would get stuck in the swampy mud and find it hard getting out. There were also leeches and I think worms in the swamp...me no likey...

Seems like a back-breaking job to me. To make the job even harder, it rained heavily while they were working. Brian was drenched and the worst part was, he didn't bring a change of clothes.

Part of the 300 mangrove trees planted by the kids.

Even though they arrived in Bangkok really late after the bus broke down 7 times (!!), and he was wearing drenched clothes for most of the day, Brian was really happy to achieve what he had set out to do in 5th grade. Better late than never!

Green, not Pink, Panther

2010-09-13T21:21:00.004+08:00

Brian has become quite the greenie in our house. In school, his elective is Environmental Stewardship and for after-school activity he's also joined the school's environmental group, the Green Panthers.

He's tried to get us to drink from the tap instead of the supplied bottled water (I'm vetoing the idea till I get more convincing evidence), apparently bottled water is really bad for you. He's also changed his tooth-brushing and showering habits by not letting the water run the entire time, apparently if all 4 of us do this, we can save almost 400 litres of water a day. But I'll be coldddddd... :)

At night, he refuses to turn the air-conditioning on in his room. A couple of times last week, he woke up in the middle of the night as he couldn't sleep. I now realise it's probably cos of the warm muggy air in the room. Last night, I made him turn on the airconditioning, and he slept comfortably all night.

Anyway, about a month ago, Brian told me about this water bottle that folds up when you've finished drinking the water. I was intrigued when I saw it for sale at the bookshop. I picked two up for the boys, more cos of the space-saving idea, than for environmental or health reasons. The boys have been happily using these for the past month.

The bottle is almost flat when empty, takes up very little space, and is extremely light. When it's filled up with water, it stands upright like a proper water bottle. When you've finished drinking the water, it can be rolled up, definitely a space-saver.

I guess I shouldn't even call it a bottle, since the product is touted as the anti-bottle. It's BPA-free! I used to think this talk about BPA was just scare-mongering but with Brian reminding me every other day how bad plastic bottles were, this gives me a little peace of mind.

1% of proceeds goes towards saving the planet. The bottles don't come cheap, I can't quite remember how much exactly they are, but it's about S$13 I think.

As if we're not convinced enough about how green this product is.

Where to get your anti-bottle.

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Wow, there's a blog post by this lady on the anti-bottle, and the number of comments on that post is more than 400! There's definitely interest in this product, I should be distributing and marketing it! Has anyone seen it in Singapore or Malaysia? :)

Switcheroo with Mr J

2010-09-13T18:57:00.005+08:00

Every week, there's Switcheroo in school for Sean, where teachers swap classes and read to the kids. So one day, Mr J from another class was reading a book to the class and later he told them they could ask him anything about himself.

The reason we're talking about this is cos I had asked Sean if he liked Mr J, whom I had hoped would be Sean's class teacher this year. I have this thing about boys faring better with male teachers, you see :P Anyway, Sean loves his current teacher, Ms C, so everything's cool.

Back to Mr J. Sean told me Mr J had hair coming out from near his chin. I gasped, at first I thought Sean was talking about a mole with hair sprouting from it. I asked, "You mean you asked Mr J about that???!!" He smiled, "Yes."

What did you ask???!!!

Sean said, "Why do have a little beard here?"

Of all the things to ask!

Thankfully, Mr J was a good sport, he said, "Once upon a time, I had a goatee and I shaved it off and I was left with a beard. Then I wanted to shave it off, so I did, but the power went off so I was left with that clump of hair."

I laughed so much at Mr J's explanation while Sean was puzzled about why I was laughing. He really believed what Mr J said. I was kind of relieved the clump of hair was indeed a mini-goatee, not a hairy mole as I had thought earlier :P Somehow, I think Mr J would have come up with an equally hilarious reason even if it were a hairy mole.

Sean's 8! (Part 3): Birthday cake

2010-09-07T23:56:00.003+08:00

Now although I had already bought those gorgeous rainbow cupcakes (previous post) and even an extra box of blue-heart cupcakes (below), Sean still wanted me to bake him a cake. I've only ever baked one type of cake and yes, in the past, I'd bake cakes for the boys to take to school. But that was cos we were in angmoh countries, where cakes not only tasted bad but were expensive. We are in Bangkok now, gorgeous, delicious, cheap cakes were a-plenty.

But how do you say no to your kid when that's what he wants for his birthday. So out I went shopping for ingredients, grumbling about the exorbitant costs of these imported stuff (whipped cream, butter, vanilla extract, chocolates etc). Many of the stuff I used for baking couldn't be brought in from Moscow as it just wasn't allowed. I had to throw lots of stuff away when I left Moscow. I didn't expect to have to bake again :P

So anyway, I'm posting this picture to remind Sean of the time he made me bake his cake. He's licking the icing. The thing is, Sean never eats much of the cake I baked in the past. Many people have said they like the cake, including Brian's classmates and the boys' teachers and my friends, but whenever I bake my cake, the boys and Eddie would take only one slice each, and I end up eating the rest. I reminded Sean that he doesn't really like my cake, he insisted he did.

It was really a LABOUR of love...laborious is the word, cos I'm not exactly loving the work, baking stresses me out. So much work to do in my tiny kitchen, flour and icing flying all over. This morning, I woke up and iced the wording. The ganache looks uneven but I kinda like the look of the cake this way. But I knew Sean wouldn't want it simple like this.

So the final look was this.

Eddie wanted to go out for dinner but Sean's always happiest when we eat at home. So we cooked his favourite dishes, had dinner and sang him a birthday song. The candles were in the words I LOVE YOU, 8 candles altogether, just nice :)

Our dessert.

And true to form, Sean ate about half his slice before I saw him struggling. I said, See! You don't like my cake, why did you ask me to bake it?? He smiled sheepishly and said, Because we don't have it frequently, so I forget that I don't like it, so I want it cos I think I like it, but actually I don't.

GRRRR...

Sean's 8! (Part 2): School celebration

2010-09-07T23:17:00.001+08:00

Continuing from the previous post, this is how Sean celebrated his birthday in school. Now Sean is finally making friends in school so he actually wanted to have a party. I contemplated doing something in a Fun-rama, a huge indoor playground. But by the time he told me he wanted a party, there was so little time to prepare...and most kids live near the school and I wasn't sure how many kids would turn up in the city on a weekend. Okay okay, I didn't want the stress...maybe next year.

So I told Sean we'll bring in cupcakes and goodie bags to school and he was happy with that. I was really excited when I found these cupcakes in a small shop some 10 minutes drive from my place. They are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! I didn't care what they tasted like but today I ate one (okay, a couple!) and they are amazingly delicious too. Lovely butter cream and cool fluffy vanilla cake. Perfect!

Another picture. When I first saw these cupcakes, I fell so much in love with them. It feels so magical :)

Close-ups. Aren't they delightful?

Another couple of pictures taken with my G11.

His friends went Oooh and Aaaah, yes, even the boys. One boy told Sean, I wish it was your birthday again tomorrow so we can have this again. A girl said, I wish it was your birthday EVERYDAY so we can have this everyday. :) The girls were eyeing the full-rainbow cupcakes, which came in a couplet. There were 4 of these, ie, 8 cupcakes.

For party favors, I packed each kid a small blue bag of goodies and gave them a photo holder, but instead of a photo, I clipped on a little heart instead.

The photo holder's base is actually like those snow-globe thingies, when you shake it, the fruits inside move together with the stars and flakes.

In the goodie bag was a mini toblerone, 2 different types of jellies, a marshmallow, Haribo gummies and Chuppa-chup lolli. I didn't want to stuff too much sweets lest I get complaints from parents :P

Happy Birthday to you....

Sean hands out the little gifts...

and the goodie bags.

The kids sit back and enjoy the delicious cuppy cakes.

And my baby's 8 and happy :)

Sean's 8! (Part 1): The prezzies

2010-09-07T22:44:00.002+08:00

And my baby turns 8 today. This is the first year that he's truly waited for his birthday in anticipation. In past years, he's been pretty nonchalant about his birthday, in some years he told us he didn't want any presents cos there was nothing he needed or wanted. This year, he asked for a stainless steel wind spinner that he had seen at the basement of Raffles City last year. What a waste of money :P I wasn't returning to Singapore anytime soon and it's hard enough describing what a wind spinner was, and I wasn't even sure if the stall was still in Raffles City. I wasn't about to send my friends on a wild goose chase.

Thank goodness Monica gave me a brainwave. She had bought some Pink Panther VCDs, so I started googling for Pink Panther shows and found there was a 5-disc Collectors' edition. Sean immediately changed his mind and said he wanted the dvds instead. I ordered it off Amazon on Aug 19th and even with expedited international shipping (2nd fastest, US$17 shipping, fastest would have been even more!), delivery date was 10 September, 3 days after his birthday. He was a tad disappointed but said it was okay, as long as I made him a card if the dvds didn't arrive by his birthday. When I asked if I could just buy him a card, he said no, he wants me to make him one cos "it feels nicer".

And then 2 days before his birthday, on a Sunday, SURPRISE! The much-awaited package arrived. I was so happy I couldn't wait to show him. He quickly peeled off the package. The message from us. He smiled and then wondered, Did you type this in there? Hee hee.

I teased him, "It's Pink!!" He retorted, "Panther! Pink Panther!"

When I ordered this DVD set, it was US$34 on Amazon, then when I checked again this week, the price was now US$63! I was pretty pleased with my newly-discovered Deal!

Another present he received unexpectedly was this book.

Every time we go to Kinokuniya, he would hunt for this book and read this in the store. I wouldn't buy it for him cos...erm, of the pricelah, it was about S$40. Anyway, I had already bought him another book from Kino called Parallel Universe. So we were in Kino on Sunday, and this book was half-off! So I told him he was in luck, this would be an early birthday present.

And of course, there was this present from his korkor, plus an hour of tortoise talk tonight, he couldn't be more excited. Oh and the presence of his porpor, who flew in from Malacca to be with him on his birthday. Porpor also gave him an angpow.

While everyone was asleep last night, I was busy making his birthday card. This was after hours of baking his birthday cake and preparing for his birthday celebration in school today. It was only later that I realised the card wasn't necessary, cos the dvds arrived on time. Anyway, this was what I wrote on the card:

My darling, perfect Sean,

We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

WE LOVE YOU ever so much.

Mummy, Daddy, Korkor, Porpor
and Mary too (with a tiny drawing of a tortoise).

Advice from a child

2010-09-02T19:46:00.004+08:00

For the past month, I've had Veena, an English-speaking Thai lady come in 3 times a week to do some general cleaning and cooking. Her cooking repertoire is limited but for the most part, what she cooks is pretty delicious. I've been pleased. Then she told me another family offered her a full-time position so she had to leave. She recommended her friend to me and said her friend was a better cook than she was.

Today was Malee's first day at work. She only had to cook 3 simple dishes, and all came well below par. The tomyam goong was tasteless, the morning glory was very salty and the chicken nuggets were soggy and oily. It was a huge difference from Veena's cooking. I was pretty upset and explained to her what was wrong with the dishes.

Now, I admit I'm pretty anal when it comes to food. I can get unreasonably cheesed off if my meal is spoilt, and tonight, it definitely was. I spoke in an impatient voice when I was telling her all that she was doing wrong.

Suddenly, Sean appeared beside me and then he said softly to me, "It's only her first day..."

:(

Chillin' in the Hub

2010-09-02T08:55:00.003+08:00

Sean's favourite place in his school has got to be the Elementary School library, or the Hub. Fortunately, during recess/lunch, he actually needs a Hub pass before he can go the the library, or he'd go all the time. He gets the pass once a week, the rest of the time it's off to the playground he goes. There are lots of gorgeous Apple computers in the library, but I don't think Sean goes for these, he goes for the comics. There is even an iPad that can be borrowed for use in the library, but some kid is always hogging it.

I don't really know if he's allowed to lie down like this but I reckon so, the librarian seems really cool and welcoming to all kids. Here's another place he likes to read in. I wish I had a pod like this at home. When I wondered aloud if I would be able to sit on the pod without it collapsing, Sean very kindly said yes, hee hee.

We usually hang out at the hub if I'm in school to pick the kids up and Brian will come by to meet us here. Brian's at the top of the Middle School food chain, but he has no qualms making himself comfortable at the Elementary library too. The ES library is considerably brighter and cheerier than the dark-woodish MS library, so many MS kids like hanging out at the Hub too. Here Brian plops himself right next to Sean to read Garfield.

Gifts from a brother and son

2010-09-01T09:53:00.004+08:00

In a period of 10 days starting from 29 August, there are 3 birthdays in our family of four. Eddie's is today, mine was 3 days ago, and Sean's is next Tuesday.

These are the presents we received from Brian, the odd one out, whose birthday is in October. He had bought them when he went on a school trip with this year's new students.

The most expensive gift was this wooden alligator for daddy (buaya for a buaya :)). There's a wooden stick (in the gator's mouth) that you can use to glide along the alligator (or is it a crocodile?) and apparently the sound this makes is just like the sound of a gator.

The sweetest gift was this ivory-looking necklace, for me :) As Brian has only started getting an allowance a few months ago, it's actually the first time that he's had the money to buy us presents. I thought he made a very good choice. I wore this when we went for my birthday lunch.

The cheapest, but most thoughtful gift, is this marble tortoise, for Sean of course. The storekeeper had actually shown Brian a marble elephant. But Brian asked if he had a tortoise and happily, he did.

Thank you sweetheart, we love you, you're a wonderful brother and son :)

My precious

2010-08-18T23:44:00.005+08:00

At 8pm, I was lying in Sean's bed, hugging and kissing him as he tried to sleep. After having a short chat about school and stuff, I smothered him with more kisses while telling him how precious he was. As usual, he said, "You are more precious than I am."

I replied, "No, you are much more precious..." This went on a couple more times and then...

...he suddenly stood on the bed, and looking down at me said, "This is how much more precious you are than I am...If I were a stinky, dirty, black, rubbish bin, you'd be a diamond."

Sweet dreams baby boy :)

Granny bloggers at orchid show?

2010-08-17T21:49:00.004+08:00

I was at Siam Paragon when I chanced upon an Orchid show. There were so many flowers on display, many of them with prize-winning ribbons. Check out the last photo on this post. Happening right?

Check out these grannies whipping out their mobile phones and digital cameras to take pictures of the flowers. Could they be bloggers too? hehe...

Strange skies

2010-08-16T01:12:00.002+08:00

View from the balcony of Brian's room, spanning right to left. Taken last Thursday.

Cherry cherry baby :)

2010-08-13T07:11:00.003+08:00

I don't think Thailand has a cherry season so it beats me why I'm suddenly seeing huge, juicy, cherries being sold everywhere. I reckon they are being imported but why are even the street hawkers selling them. They don't come that cheap either, about S$10 for 200g. But they are really sweet so I've been popping them quite a bit.

Sean and Shaun the Sheep

2010-08-12T05:26:00.000+08:00

Shaun the Sheep is a stop-motion British TV series from the creators of Wallace and Gromit. The title character is a smart, skinny sheep (pictured above getting a medal) who's the leader of a flock of fluffy, dim-witted sheep. A premise of the series is that Shaun exhibits human intelligence and creativity to resolve problems the farm animals encounter.

It is a very funny show and Sean absolutely loves watching the dvds we have. This post isn't a tv show review, but relates to what I had mentioned a couple of days earlier about a playground incident/s Sean faced last school year. Sort of a post on how we deal with teasing/verbal bullying. One day I might write about how we handled Brian's one and only experience with verbal bullying, which happened when he was about 9/10 in his London prep school.

Back to Sean, this was 10 days after he joined the school (April). Anyway, to save myself some writing, I'm just cutting and pasting the email I sent to his school counselor Sarah.

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My email:
"When Sean came home today, he was worried that he would get into trouble with me for not being able to find his lost items, which include a water bottle and his prescription goggles. Now because he was worried, I managed to get him to tell me stuff about school which he has refused to since school started. What I found out kind of confirmed my gut feel that something wasn't going well in school. He is happy and his classmates are fine but he said a boy from another class would call him Sean the Sheep :) As he was telling me this, his tears started to flow.

I was amused and told him Sean the Sheep is cute, to which he continued crying and saying, "But I don't like it."

I suggested that maybe that boy was just trying to be friendly, but Sean disagreed and said he doesn't think so. Only after a while did he say, "Are you sure he's just trying to be friends?"

At first he said the boy only called him Sean the Sheep yesterday, but later he said the 'teasing' started last week. And the boy was with a group of children, and after he called Sean that, that boy's friend would also join in and call Sean that.

What I've told Sean for now is this:

i) Don't assume the worst of others. That boy may just be trying to be friendly. And Sean/Shaun the Sheep is a cute character anyway, so I told him he could take this positively. (He insisted he didn't like it though).

ii) I told him that while Shaun the Sheep seems totally harmless to me -- cute even -- I will still have to acknowledge that he felt hurt...hurt enough to firstly not tell me about it, and finally, when telling me about it, to cry sadly. I said if he wanted to, he could tell the kids he didn't like it. But I said if it were me, I wouldn't bother.

iii) Of course, there's the possibility that the kids were picking on him. And I said with verbal bullies, all they want is a reaction. So if you ignore and not react, they'll leave you alone soon enough.

So basically, for now, this is just for your information. If this continues, and he's still affected by this, I'll let you know.

He's still happy to go to school so this isn't a big deal. But I don't want him to feel his feelings are being brushed aside. And I'm also wondering if this is another reason he prefers to go to the library instead of hanging around at the playground; besides having no one to play with."

**************************

Reply from Counselor,

Dear Lilian,

That’s fantastic advice to Sean! It’s very normal for kids who are undergoing a transition to be very sensitive. So even if he normally wouldn’t mind, being call Sean the Sheep might be the worst thing that could happen at this particular moment.

Please continue checking in with him and do let us know if Sean continues to feel picked on by this kid. While I agree with not making too big a deal out of it, sometimes kids do need a bit of extra “sheltering” during the settling in period.

I won’t be able to get him for lunch Wednesday as we’re off, but will make sure I check in with him too this week.

Warmly,
Sarah

***********************************

I never brought this up again cos true enough, the teasing stopped. Funny though the stuff that kids get bothered about. There are worse things than to be associated with Shaun the Sheep right? :)

Rolls Royce of calculators?

2010-08-10T22:10:00.004+08:00

From my room, I hear running water. Thinking Brian was bathing, I shouted out to Sean.

He came running, "Yes..."

I asked, "Is korkor bathing?"

Sean: No, he's doing his homework.

Me: Oh, okay.

Sean: He's using his super clever scientific calculator.

And by that, Sean's referring to the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition Graphing Calculator I just bought for Brian. It was actually already in his school stationery list last year, but I didn't buy it cos it was so expensive (5600 baht or S$250). His Math teacher told him at the end of school year that he would definitely need the calculator when school starts. So no choice but to fork out the dough...thankfully a friend was kind enough to source this from Bras Basah Singapore for S$205.

Sigh...can almost buy an iPod Touch already...

Four-faced Buddha at Hyatt Erawan

2010-08-09T00:43:00.000+08:00

It was the first day of school for the boys today but I decided not to go to school (thus missing the Elementary School Parent meeting) as I was not feeling well. Took a nap after sending them off on the school-bus and when I woke up, it was time to head out for my lunch with an old friend from Singapore. Ahem, yes, I felt fine enough to have a Peking Duck lunch, but not for school :P

Lunch with Joy-Marie and her chubby 4-year old Kieran was fun. He kept reciting some National Day Mandarin poem in a great accent, mighty impressive. Her pair of 2-year old twins (Craig and Astrid whom I dubbed Bouncer and Beauty)did not come along; they were roaming Siam Paragon with her two helpers from Singapore.

After catching up over a yum lunch, I let JMT off to start on her shopping spree. The weather was pretty nice today, so I decided to take a walk. Took some pictures at the famous 4-faced Buddha by Grand Hyatt Erawan. I had a nice stroll before hopping on a cab home. But I think once I get hold of a pair of Fit Flops (which 2 friends including JMT have sworn by), I will start wandering the streets of Bangkok by foot more often, and hopefully take more photos too.

View as you enter the shrine area.

4-faced Buddha

Lighting joss-sticks

Collecting holy water?

Offerings.

Lots of elephant figures.

Dancers getting ready to perform.

Thai dance.

View of Central World from inside the shrine compound.

Little birds in tiny cages belonging to a lottery ticket vendor right outside the shrine.

The school year that was

2010-08-08T12:44:00.008+08:00

Being a kid, I remember being apprehensive at the start of every school year, wondering if people had changed, if my friends had changed. It's not easy. So if I hadn't had to, I wouldn't have put my kids through what they went through the past school year.

When school broke for summer hols in 2009, the boys returned to Singapore for Brian to prepare for his PSLEs. So from July till the early October, the boys were in Singapore school. It was Sean's first taste of school in Singapore as he had left the country when he was just 2.

Then right after Brian's last PSLE paper (Science), we flew off that very night to Moscow, where school had already started for about 7 weeks. I think it was easier for Sean to jump right back in as he had a proper class and just one core teacher. But for Brian, it was his first time in Middle School, there were no more fixed classes, and most of his good friends from Elementary School were not in any of his classes. He only met them at the locker area or during lunch break.

And before long, it was December break again. In January, Brian joined another new school, his Singapore secondary school, for a couple of weeks' orientation. He had a wonderful time as he knew a number of kids from his primary school. School was hectic but fun.

And then we returned to Moscow, and within weeks, we found out we were moving to Bangkok. I think they never quite got into the groove of things this year in Moscow. Soon, it was time to visit schools, submit documents, sit for tests.

We flew into Bangkok at the end of March and the boys only started school after the week-long Songkhran hols, on April 19, and by the time school broke for summer in June, they had had only 7 weeks in their Bangkok school.

**************************************************

Now, going to this school ISB, instead of the one most Singaporeans and Malaysians go to (Patana), was mostly Brian's decision. My heart told me ISB (loved the vibe, loved how the kids looked really chilled and happy, loved the counselor I met Daneah), but my head said Patana (I'd have more friends, it was nearer, boys would have 30 min extra sleep, curriculum more similar to Singapore etc). Sean was non-committal, he liked the folks he met at ISB, but he also liked the extra 30 min sleep. We went with Brian's choice, he was adamant...and after the hectic year he'd been through, I thought he deserved to be really happy and settled.

So 7 weeks of school, and for sure Brian has taken to ISB like fish to water. He's thriving, he has made many friends. He had a new counselor, Nancy, attached to him, cos he was going in as a 7th grader instead of 6th in Moscow. And Nancy has been brilliant as well (ISB MS is lucky to have 2 amazing counselors as the face that new parents meet), keeping me updated on Brian's progress on an almost daily basis at the start. I didn't even need to email her, she would email me or call me to let me know her thoughts.

As for Sean, I've been less enamoured with Elementary School (similar situation in AAS Moscow, what is it with American schools?). The counselor, Sarah, did not offer me any updates on him except when I emailed her. Perhaps I was expected to contact the class teacher directly, but I had been spoilt by the MS counselors :P And I've never liked to have much teacher-contact, so I left things be. Unlike when he was with Ms Jayne (his fantastic Moscow teacher), he hardly came home excited about stuff he had learnt or talked about in school. Each day, it was just "Fine..." when I asked him how school was. There was also a playground incident that I'll write about another time. All in all, he was still happy to go to school, but if I compared it to Brian's experience, it's like heaven and earth (no, not hell, phew!).

**********************************************

Finally, at the end of the school year, I emailed Sean's teacher asking her for her feedback and this is what she said:

I think Sean has done a great job considering the short transition period. He does still cry but not as much. I believe this will go away as he matures. He is a remarkable child and I wish I had a whole year to work with him. I would recommend that you keep him in some activities that he is interested in but will also require social interactions. He has connected with a few kids but in “Sean’s” way which is always going to be a bit different. Please come visit with me anytime. He has been a pleasure!

There was never a need to check on how Brian was doing cos throughout the 7 weeks, I was getting unsolicited feedback.

May 6: Good learner, likes academic challenge, yet wants to have fun too. She really likes the BALANCE of his character and the ease at which he makes friends! Total positive and admiration for him! (from Ms U, Brian's humanities teacher, via MS counselor Nancy)

(Brian loves his Humanities teacher and it seems many other kids do too. Unfortunately, he only got her for 7 weeks :P She doesn't teach 8th grade.)

May 20: I'm so excited about Brian's "fit" here at ISB! Most amazing transition I've ever seen!: (from MS counselor Nancy)

Jun 3: I have LOVED how easily and quickly Brian has settled in to school here. There were so many reasons it should have been tough for him, and yet he has slid in as if he’s been here for ages...a true testament to his character (and some most excellent parenting!). I am so glad he chose ISB, we’re lucky to have him, as well as the rest of the Leong family :o) (from other MS counselor Daneah).

Year-end School report: I have only known Brian for a little while but can already tell that he is an outstanding student, a kind and ethical person, a creative thinker and full of intellectual curiousity. Brian quickly adapted to his new classmates and teacher and it is as if he has always been here with us. He is a valued group member, a frequent participant in class discussions and his sense of humour makes the class more fun. he asks for help when he needs it and cares very much about the quality of his work. I know that he will be very successful in 8th grade and I will be envious because those teachers will get to work with him for a whole year. (Ms U, Humanities teacher).

***************************************************

So for sure this is the school for Brian. Verdict's still not in for Sean...there are days when I question the decision, wondering if I should have sent them to different schools. Hopefully, there will be less questioning in the year ahead, which starts in a few hours. To a successful, enriching and happy year ahead!

Habitat For Humanity

2010-08-07T21:25:00.003+08:00

I've posted this on FB but Habitat For Humanity is a cause worth writing about. One weekend in May, just 3 weeks after starting school here, Brian, together with some other middle- and high-schoolers, build a house for a family in Korat (3 hours away from Bangkok), under the H4H programme.

When he went for the trip, I thought it was just piling some bricks in a general development, but no, the kids actually built (with professional supervision of course) a house specifically for a family in need.

And it's no simple handout either. This is what I got from their website on how this works:

- Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses alongside our homeowner (partner) families.
- Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor (sweat equity) into building their Habitat house and the houses of others.
- Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans.
- The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.

What an awesome cause, much better than Extreme Makeover:Home Edition right?

These are pictures Brian and his friends took from the trip.

The family the kids were building the house for gave each of them a rose :) Sweet.

The build site is right next to the family's cousin's house, where they've been sleeping on the kitchen floor all this while.

I was really grateful to Brian's School Counselor Nancy for asking him to come along for the trip. He went on the bus not knowing anyone there and came back richer not only for the H4H experience but also in making more friends. He was all smiles and didn't exhibit any fatigue at all.

When I emailed Nancy to thank her, she replied, "It was EASY to have him along! Really impressive how easily he mixed in with the other kids, pitched in and worked hard, and could ANTICIPATE needs on the job site! He is certainly welcome to join the Habitat for Humanity club and do more house “builds” next year."

Anticipate needs? Really? Wow :) My little sotong is growing up!

But seriously, I'm really glad he is seeing first-hand that anyone can make a difference; just by contributing their time and effort, he and his friends have helped change the life of this family. One home at a time (yes, he intends to sign up for H4H club next school year).

Sam Leong's Cookbooks

2010-08-06T12:01:00.002+08:00

Award-winning chef Sam Leong is in Bangkok for a 10-day "Contemporary Chinese Cuisine" promotion at Conrad Hotel's Liu restaurant (5-14 Aug 2010). Eddie was at the pre-launch dinner and came home with 2 cookbooks, A Wok Through Time and A Taste of Home, complimentary and signed by Chef Leong.

A Wok Through Time seems beyond my culinary abilities...but...

I think I could try out some recipes from A Taste of Home. His recipes from this book look simple enough even for me.

Reasons to continue chugging along

2010-08-06T02:41:00.006+08:00

The other day, the boys spent hours going through this blog, in particular posts with labels Seanism and Sean, and I could hear them laughing hysterically every now and then. The poem on this particular post got them laughing like hyenas. That's one reason I continue doing this blogging thingy :) They love reading old posts, especially about themselves, such narcissistic kids I have.

The other big reason is the wonderful folks I've met in real life through blogging. There's Elan, whose son came home one day last year to tell her there was a new boy in class (Brian who had returned to take his PSLE) and she immediately said, "Let me guess, is his name Brian and did he just arrive from Russia?", which made her boy's jaw drop...LOL! Funniest thing ever...Mummy is all-knowing! Elan doesn't blog but from her comments, I had expected to meet someone quite serious, as it turned out, she laughs a lot, is quite giggly, very sweet and reminded me a lot of Monica.

There's Eunice,10-year veteran of Bangkok now living in Ho Chi Minh City, who gave me wonderful tips on Bangkok living. Very funny and chatty lady, again...I had expected someone more serious...and quiet haha.

And then in June, Tsu Lin from London messaged me to say she was thinking of coming to Bangkok to visit her inlaws but was wondering if it was safe to do so. Now, weeks earlier, I had met a group of Singaporeans/Malaysians, at a makan session. Among them was this lady Daphne and her mom who was visiting from Melbourne. We got to talking about London and she mentioned that her brother lived there.

I've "known" Tsu Lin since London days, but although we were in London at the same time, we've never met. Tsu Lin had mentioned that her sister-in-law (husband's sister) married a Thai and is living in Bangkok now. But I never made any connection. I also did not make any plans to meet Tsu Lin as I understood such visits are usually time-constrained, any time not spent shopping and eating should be spent with family, not some stranger you met over the internet.

Imagine my surprise when I received an sms one day from Daphne saying, "I have a visitor from London who knows you." LIGHTBULB ABOVE HEAD...DING DING DING...I immediately replied, OMG, Tsu Lin is your sister??? Silly me, sister in law actually. We then chatted on the phone and made plans to meet near Daphne's place.

Daphne was with her little girl Patreeya and Tsu Lin with Shean Wenn. I can't remember the name of the joint where we had breakfast at but the food was good.

Tsu Lin blogs about our meet-up at the end of this post. I had always wondered if my blog persona is similar to my real-life one, and according to Tsu Lin, it is. Others may disagree. As for Tsu Lin, she's absolutely gorgeous with freaking perfect skin, and thinner than she looks in pictures. And as sweet as she is in the virtual world.

Kids in Sam Pheng

2010-08-05T21:44:00.004+08:00

I wouldn't advise taking kids along when going to Sam Pheng. The place is crowded and on some narrow alleys, vans drive past leaving no room for pedestrians to walk. However, as we were only planning a short shopping trip before heading for lunch, we decided to take the kids along with us.

They spent their time making up games to play. This game is one where you try to make the other person laugh within 10 seconds. You win if you succeed, and you lose if you fail, simple.

Sean's trying to keep a straight face.

They look like they're having a confrontation, don't they?

I spent my time keeping watch on them as Karen busied herself with some major shopping.

Later on, Sean and Kyra started looking out for vans and waving hello to the drivers (last year, when we were having tea at Borders, these two stood at the door and started greeting passersby too).

When he got bored, Sean started making this a competition, trying to prevent Kyra from waving hello. Kyra, as usual, was very good-natured about this.

Sam Pheng Buys

2010-08-05T17:43:00.007+08:00

I had taken Karen to Sam Pheng for her to look for party favours to stuff in goodie bags and hadn't intended to buy anything myself. But I left with two very light umbrellas (only 1 shown here) and 3 shopping bags (which fold into tiny little bags). Nothing I really needed but they were so cheap and pretty to look at.

Pretty erasers, with detachable parts. Not particularly cheap, but irresistable :)

Chinatown and Sam Pheng Sights

2010-08-04T22:53:00.007+08:00

Tans visit Bangkok

2010-08-04T09:00:00.008+08:00

My friend Karen, whom I first met in Frankfurt back in 2004 and who is now based in Singapore, flew in to Bangkok with her two older kids Declan (10) and Kyra (7) for a much-needed break. Perfect hubby Daniel stayed back in Singapore to look after their little 1-year old Kylea.

Plans to take them to Hua Hin and even ice-skating fell through when Declan had fever all the days they were here save for the last day. He stayed home most of the time playing DS with Brian. What did that leave for us to do...but SHOP and EAT!!

The day they arrived on Friday, we had dinner at Secret Garden, which serves to-die-for crepe cake (3rd cake picture in link) and chocolate cake. This place is perpetually full, has a great ambience but doesn't ever seem to have children amongst its patrons, mostly yuppies who work in the CBD area.

On Saturday, I took her to Central Chidlom where she ecstatically found some gorgeous bras (no, not Wacoal). We then went to Platinum Fashion Mall, which was CRAZY packed. I had been warned not to go there on a weekend but Karen's trip was a short one so we had little choice. I'm never going there again on weekends. SOOOO many people. She had some good buys here including tee-shirts for her hubs, pretty dresses for her little one, hair clips and hair bands for Kyra, and slippers for herself. I know she could have shopped there for much much longer, but it was time to head back for dinner. Dinner was at our favourite Korean joint in Sukhumvit Soi 12, well-marinated barbecued meat, lots of free appetisers and spicy kimchi soup.

Sunday was massage day. Karen and I had a 2-hour Thai massage while my part-time helper cooked a delicious Thai lunch for us. There was Tomyam Goong, brocolli, red curry and fried chicken. We didn't go anywhere in the afternoon as roads leading to the major shopping areas were bound to be jammed. For dinner, we went to Banana Leaf, another Thai restaurant, one of those cheap and good cafe-style types.

On Monday, Dec was feeling better but not well enough to go ice-skating, which we had originally planned for. Instead we took them to Sam Pheng in Chinatown where you can find virtually anything. Karen went quite crazy there, bought tonnes of stuff to fill up the goodie bags for Kylea's birthday this Saturday. Cute erasers, diamante hairbands, loads of little soft toys, and I don't know what else. We intended to be done in an hour so we could leave Chinatown before traffic got bad but 2 hours into it, Karen was still not done. We only covered maybe one-twentieth of the place. Me, I got a few shopping bags that fold into little tiny bags, cute erasers (I'm a sucker for stationeries) and two light umbrellas.

Lunch was at Uomasa, a Japanese restaurant in Thonglor. We then headed for Platinum again for Karen to get some more stuff. Dinner was a Thai restaurant near Rama 3, called Anna and Charlie's, yummy food, nice ambience, very welcoming to kids.

And that was it, the Tans left yesterday. The house feels really quiet now :*

Sean and Kyra 2010

2010-08-03T23:43:00.000+08:00

2005 Frankfurt

2006 Singapore

2010 Bangkok

Why does time fly by so fast here??

2010-08-02T08:50:00.003+08:00

Summer hols is almost over for the kids, just a week left before school starts. We've kept the boys busy by going bowling, ice-skating, go-karting, movies, Dreamworld, Hua Hin and we've had 3 groups of visitors in the past couple of months (compared to just 1 visitor the entire 3 years in Moscow).

In the midst of all this, I've been trying to update missing posts in this blog.

Here are my posts about our experience during the entire Red Shirt protests:

Red Shirts in Ratchaprasong
Red Shirts in Sathorn
Close Shave in Ratchaprasong
Red Shirts in Rama IV
Into the heart of the red shirts' den
Temporary Truce
Red Shirts near our apartment
Getting out of Sathorn
Escape to Safety
Bangkok Burning
Flight to Safety
Relaxing by the Esplanade
Dark Clouds over Bangkok
Central World Disaster Site

Phew! And here's a post about Sean's swollen finger after a door slammed on it.

Not Quite Easily Done (QED)

2010-07-26T21:32:00.003+08:00

I was showing Sean an algebraic solution to a math question, and at the end of it, right next to the answer, I added QED. I don't know who put this in my head, but I had always thought QED was the acronym for Quite Easily Done. And I asked Sean if he knew what QED stood for.

His eyes lit up and he said, "Well, some people say it stands for Quite Enough Done, but actually, it is Latin or maybe Greek for quod erat demonstrandum, which means "that which was to be demonstrated."" My jaw almost dropped :)

Found this on wikipedia:

"The phrase quod erat demonstrandum is a translation into Latin from the Greek ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι (hoper edei deixai; abbreviated as ΟΕΔ). Translating from the Latin into English yields, "that which was to have been demonstrated"; however, translating the Greek phrase ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι produces a slightly different meaning. A better translation from the Greek would read, "precisely what was required to be proved."[2] The phrase was used by many early Greek mathematicians, including Euclid[3] and Archimedes. These mathematicians, in particular Euclid, are credited with founding axiomatic mathematics with its emphasis on establishing truths by logical deduction (rather than experimentation or assertion); their use of this phrase symbolizes this emphasis, as well as marking this important step in the development of mathematical philosophy."

And where did Sean get this ancient nugget of knowledge? No where else but from the wonderful Kjartan Poskitt's Essential Arithmetricks. Gotta love the Murderous Math books.

Beijing Duck in Bangkok

2010-07-26T20:08:00.004+08:00

I love Peking Duck, just love it. In London, we would eat this dish in our favourite chinese restaurant Pearl Liang pretty regularly. As expected, Peking Duck was hard to come by in our almost 3 years in Moscow. We did have it in China Dreams, a restaurant which was really far from our place, but it wasn't fantastic enough to brave traffic for.

Happily, in Bangkok, we were introduced to this dimsum restaurant in the city which serves very delicious Peking Duck at a superb price of 590baht (less than S$30) for an entire duck! Any surprise I've eaten here twice since Friday? The dimsum at the restaurant is quite good too, definitely better than other dimsum restaurants here such as Pan Pacific's Hai Tien Lo and Siam Paragon's Crystal Jade, and at more reasonable prices.

Of course, it has nothing on London dimsum restaurants, but the price here can't be beat. Won't reveal the name here cos as it is, the place is usually fully booked. We didn't make reservations today, and I had to talk to 3 waitresses before they reluctantly released a table for us.

Anyone who's visiting Bangkok and wanna try this place can always leave me a comment or ask me over FB/email, I will unselfishly reveal the name of this little gem.

An Enigmatic Experience

2010-07-21T22:09:00.013+08:00

Brian had a movie outing with his schoolmates today (Wednesday). First, we picked his friend John up and then arrived in Siam Paragon where they were to meet the others at Starbucks. Instead of heading home and out again to pick them up later on, I decided to watch Inception with Sean.

I love watching movies in Siam Paragon, the entire setup is lush and plush, even the basic lowest-price theatres have very comfy seats. Now for Inception, the next showing was one that was at the top-class theatre there, called Enigma. I balked when the staff said tickets were 1000 baht (S$45) a pop, and apparently you need to buy 2 to go in. Included in the price are appetizers, cocktails and popcorn. I said forget it, then he told me that with my stored-value member card, I only needed to top up 150 baht a ticket. I thought, hmm, why not, just for the experience.

Enigma, oooh, looks like entrance to a nightclub eh? Well, on the internet, it is touted as one: "When movies take on the clubbing style exclusively for members. Enigma is the one and the only cinema in the world that resembles the hottest club in town. The hottest meeting point where the amazing feeling of clubbing collides with the thrill of movies. Experience the visionary and eye-opening entertainment that take you out of this world at Enigma, an executive movie club for sleek individuals." Hee hee, of course Sean and I were out of place, but not so much on a weekday afternoon showing lah.

We walked up the ramp and found ourselves in a lounge just outside the theatre. We sat down and the concierge served us our drinks (ordered kiwi juice for me and coke for Sean).

The bar counter. The concierge then took our order of food down, to be served during the movie. Each ticket is entitled to an order of appetizer. Looked at the menu and saw mostly hors d'oeuvres and also spaghetti. Had just had lunch, so ordered Satay for Sean and Shrimp wrapped in sugarcane for myself.

The theatre seats only 34 and the seats are actually day beds, filled with plush pillows and blankets.

Got this picture off the internet. And this was how Sean and I enjoyed Inception, with food and popcorn and drinks.

As I said, Paragon theatres are already plush, and their VIP theatres have very comfortable reclining seats, but Enigma takes it to another level altogether. I could so get used to this!

A snail mail and an email

2010-07-20T17:05:00.007+08:00

After dinner last night, Eddie suddenly remembered something, he said, "Sean, there's a surprise for you. Someone sent you a postcard."

The postcard had been sent to Eddie's Moscow office and rerouted to his Bangkok office. All the way from San Francisco.

It was from Sean's Kindergarten teacher, Ms Cheung who taught him in the 2008/09 school year. She taught in Moscow for only a year and went back to California after that. I thought it was so sweet of her to still remember Sean and to send him a postcard. He was thrilled.

And a month ago, right after school in Moscow closed for summer, I received an email, this one from, Mr R aka TBG, who was Brian's homeroom teacher in 2008/09. 2008/09 was Mr R's first year teaching in Moscow, and he stayed on for another year. He moves on to Shenzhen after this summer hols.

The email was sent to 4 families and it said,

"Dear Friends,

As I prepare to leave Moscow, I just want to reiterate how fortunate I consider myself to have had the opportunity to work with your children at AAS and to get to know your families better. I still look back fondly on my first year and consider that class the "one-in-a-million" that becomes the yardstick by which I evaluate future classes of students.

Please don't hesitate to give me an update on how things are going, and with some luck our paths will likely cross again.

Thank you again for your friendship and support!"

Mr R has always been a wonderful advocate for Brian while Ms Cheung has given me pretty sound advice whenever I shared my concerns about Sean. I'm so glad we're still in touch and hope all our paths cross again one day.

So here's the plan...

2010-07-18T10:20:00.005+08:00

I have tonnes of stuff to update, probably from March (Tokyo hols) onwards, including our experience during the red shirt riots. I can't not journal that, I mean, it was my first curfew in all my 40 and a bit years here on earth. There're also updates on the boys that some friends have been asking about. For those who are on Facebook with me, much of what I'll be posting will be old news, cos I'm cheating by using my FB status updates to guide me, but maybe with accompanying pictures, the posts won't seem that stale.

Well, at least that's the plan lah :) Remains to be seen if can be executed :P Anyway, watch out for a less dead blog here in the near future. But for now, I gotta go, we have 4 guests from KL staying with us and 2 of them are headed for a Thai massage with me now.

Backposts here, here, here and here.

Hello?

2010-06-05T20:13:00.001+08:00

What can I say? There's just too little time in the day these days. I finally organised my photos (the ones on this laptop) and will try to post some of the stuff that went missing in my 'virtual' life. The longer I procrastinate, the more vague the memories become. Fingers' crossed, this blog can be resuscitated.

Let's just get moving with this video I took of a goldie oldie boogie-ing in Lumpini Park. This was taken on a Saturday just a couple of weeks after the red shirts left.

Anyway, this fella can really boogie lah. I love folks who seem to find joy in simple things and he reminds me of another senior citizen I video-ed when I first moved to Moscow, here :)

Central World disaster site

2010-05-25T09:35:00.006+08:00

Chai Ling and I were hanging out in Siam Paragon when we decided on a whim to go on an impromptu Ratchaprasong disaster tour. Central World/Zen is in bad shape. I had hoped media pictures were exaggerating the damage. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, looking at the gutted remains for real was a lot worse :(

This first picture was actually taken a few days later from Siam Paragon's Kinokuniya bookstore but from here you can see Central World's Zen section on the right. The exhibition and hotel areas are safely intact. The protesters were camping on Ratchaprasong which runs along the right side of this picture, where the BTS line runs.

At the front, you see the Pathum Wanaram Temple where women and children from the red shirt camp were to be harboured safely. But this was also where six bodies were found, dead from gunshot wounds.

We walked from Siam Paragon along Ratchaprasong Road, and peeked into the temple.

The clean-up of Bangkok has been amazing. No bamboo sticks nor tyres in sight. Here you see newly-cemented pavements.

Central World's Zen.

Turn the corner into Ratchadamri Road, and you see this. The extent of damage is just unbelievable. Sorry, but whatever sympathies I might have for the red shirts' cause just fizzled out with this cruel and senseless burning of Central World.

Dark Clouds over Bangkok

2010-05-23T06:26:00.002+08:00

These are photos I took as we drove home from the airport to our apartment in Bangkok city. The dark clouds seem so ominous they sent chills down my spine.

I'm praying the clouds are just crying for Bangkok, and aren't an indication of bad tidings ahead for this country.

Relaxing by Esplanade

2010-05-22T10:30:00.003+08:00

A photo I took from Esplanade. Singapore's skyline looks gorgeous but there seems to be new buildings and roads sprouting up every half year or so that I feel so much like a foreigner whenever I visit.

I've been catching up on sleep, didn't realise how exhausted I was from late nights checking on all the latest developments in Thailand. Mum came down from Malacca to see her grandkids. Today, we had dinner in MakanSutra and then just enjoyed the breeze by the Esplanade. Food was really good mostly, but quite expensive for hawker fare.

I didn't manage to meet up with anyone except Hsien who came by to hang out near where we were staying. We arrived on Thursday and are leaving for Bangkok tomorrow. Very happy to hear that some kind of calm has been restored in Bangkok. Too bad I won't be back in time for the I love Thailand cleanup. Would have loved to be part of that.

Flight to Safety

2010-05-20T10:47:00.005+08:00

Sean's toys n blanket on our plane back to Singapore for the weekend. Yes, we are headed back. It was not my choice. Agreed reluctantly to leave Bangkok so that Eddie can work in peace without worrying about us.

I'm not jumping with joy about this. Neither is Brian, who has a French presentation and a class party tomorrow. So this is definitely not a fun time. Have to convince him cabuting for a few days was the right thing to do, when I'm not that convinced myself...sigh...

Bangkok Burning

2010-05-19T05:48:00.001+08:00

It's been a crazy few days. Watching the news and checking twitter, everything seems so surreal. The only indication where we are of anything being amiss was the large crowds at Villa Market stocking up on water and food in preparation for the curfew. We've been having curfew for a few days, not all day curfew thankfully, just from evening till dawn.

Then the government finally cracked down on the reds. No more shuffling about. Everybody's patience was running thin.

But I never expected how it all went so bad. How could they burn Central World down? And many other places in Bangkok too. I didn't get it. I used to think this would never happen in Thailand...guess I was wrong.

It hurt to see Thais go at one another like this. I cried today.

Escape to Safety

2010-05-16T10:52:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, we moved out to a safer part of Bangkok. Chai Ling and Christine, two of my Singapore friends who have had it worst than me (having moved 3 times since the protests started cos they live right in the heart of the protest site), also moved here.

Where we are now seems like a world away from the urban war zone in the heart of the city. Everyone going about their business in this hip suburb. Feel so much less tense here. It's nice here in Thonglor, it is about as far as we can get from where the bad action is but still have nice stuff around us.

Getting out of Sathorn

2010-05-15T18:12:00.001+08:00

The above is a photo I took from the swimming pool level of our apartment. It shows a group of reds gathered at Sathorn Road. At first, they were jeering the army personnel stationed about 200m away towards the protest site.

More army soldiers came. They fired rubber bullets towards the reds each time the reds tried to advance towards them. When it was dark, the reds started burning tyres in the middle of the road, creating bonfires. They also threw rocks at the street lamps along Sathorn, creating pitch black darkness save for the bonfires. This was all to distract the army. It was mainly mischief-making, not highly dangerous, but still menacing.

All night, we could hear gunshots and explosions from the nearby Rama 4 and Bon Kai battleground, it was pretty scary.

Didn't want to wait till things got out of hand. We've decided to move to Thonglor for the weekend, a peaceful suburb away from this madness and monitor the situation from there.

Red Shirts next to our apartment

2010-05-14T17:12:00.002+08:00

This was the scene on Sathorn Road today, normally chock-a-block with cars, now practically a ghost town. The army has encircled the protest site, and where we live is about 1km from the edge of the protest site. It's eerie seeing the roads so quiet, this is not Bangkok!

All day, I've been hearing intermittent gunshots and explosions from the protest site. Towards evening, some motorcyclists came in from a side street and gathered nearby, taunting some army personnel guarding the main road (who were preventing more red shirts from joining the protesters who have been surrounded).

The action is definitely happening too near for comfort.

Ekamai's Gai Yang (Grilled Chicken)

2010-05-07T21:43:00.003+08:00

When I first came to Bangkok (hmm, sounds like so long ago :)), Eunice asked me to join her and her friends for grilled chicken in Ekamai. I can't remember why I didn't manage to join her that night. Anyway, today, another mummy, Connie, suggested that we have lunch there (not sure if it's the same joint).

I ate sooooo much, it was just two of us and this is what we gobbled up with our rice.

Some raw vegetables to go with the grilled chicken.

The famous grilled chicken. It was tasty, but as my Thai friend May predicted, I wouldn't be a big fan cos the chicken here isn't juicy the way I like it. I did enjoy the drumstick :)

Tomyum Goong, with two big prawns. It was pretty good, but not as sourish the way tomyums typically are.

Morning glory. It's kangkung right? Very good.

The highlight was steamed fish, very sourish, and delicious. So fresh too.

Guess how much everything came to? Including drinks, the meal cost us less than 600 baht! Or less than S$25. Am definitely coming here again.

Lovin' the library

2010-05-07T09:56:00.004+08:00

There are many things I love about the boys' school here in Bangkok. One of these is the Elementary School (ES) library. It's spacious, colourful and it has really cool pod-like bubble chairs. I could hang out here all day. Trouble with this is, Sean often comes to the library during recess when I'd prefer him to be playing with other kids at the playground (he's allowed to go to the library for half the recess if he chooses to, and he does).

I met the ES librarian Tara on the boys' first day of school and she was really welcoming. I found her blog TLC (Tech+Library+Classroom) as well as her book recommendation blog, Great Reads.

So for those looking for elementary book recs, hope this helps you guys.

Driving it like they stole it

2010-05-07T08:19:00.002+08:00

I love the abundance of taxis in Bangkok. They are all metered and start at about 37 baht (S$1.60). It's super easy to find cabs, they're just everywhere. Everywhere I need to go is within 100 baht (S$4.30), typically 60 baht.

But what I really dislike though about taxis in Bangkok, is that once they hit the highways, they drive like daredevils! They are fine in the city area, but the two times I took a cab that needed to go on the highway, I was left frazzled. Just check out the steering wheel of the taxi above which we took to Chatuchak market one weekend. I think he imagines he's a racecar driver or something.

It's fine to pretend-play and be Shcumacher on your own time, but not when my kids are in your taxilah. It really is quite a hair-raising experience, and I'm no ninny.

Well, Eddie finally bought a GPS so any highway driving will be done ourselves, as far as we can help it, thank you very much.

Temporary truce

2010-05-04T07:10:00.001+08:00

A kind of truce between the government and protesters is going on now and when I heard Central Chidlom was open, I immediately headed there, thinking the worst was over (little did I know things were coming to a head in days).

These are photos taken at the start of the main artery of the protest site. The barricades are really imposing, and very high, reaching over the BTS track line. Why in the world were they allowed to build up this much reinforcement, I have no idea. Simply flabbergasting.

Fan of Fanta

2010-04-25T21:25:00.004+08:00

I love Fanta Red. I even blogged about it when I found it sold in Eddie's hometown KK in this post. I mistakenly thought it was Cherry flavour, it's actually strawberry. I can no longer find this in most of Malaysia (except in KK for an exorbitant price) and Singapore, so was really chuffed to see it in abundance here in Bangkok.

It appears indeed true that Malaysia and Singapore doesn't carry this soft drink; as shown in this Wiki page.

And from that wiki page, I also learnt something very interesting:

Red Fanta has been officially endorsed by the King of Thailand as one of his preferred drinks. Consequently, glasses and open bottles of red Fanta are often seen as offerings on the small Buddhist altars displayed by every Thai home and shop.

He he he...do I have royal taste or what?

Into the heart of the red shirts' den

2010-04-24T09:29:00.005+08:00

I don't know what it is with us and the red shirts. The more we try to avoid them, the more we bump into them.

Eddie has been very cautious in avoiding the areas where the red shirts are. Me, less so but anyway, today, we decided to drive to Thonglor, a suburb away from the protest sites, for lunch. Some of my friends who live near the protest site have actually moved to Thonglor, temporarily.

Our first foray into Thonglor wasn't fruitful. The Soi (road) was very jammed up so after we passed by Tops and 8 Thonglor, we turned left to park at this Home Mart. When we came out, we should have looked left to go to J Avenue where there are lots of restaurants. Instead we walked right to where we had driven past. Ended up walking all the way to Tops, and when Sean saw Burger King, he insisted on eating there. By then, I was so tired of looking for things to eat, all of us ended up eating BK!

Not in a very good mood, we proceeded home after lunch. Eddie had set his GPS for our apartment, and the journey home would not take us anywhere near the red shirt encampment. HOWEVER, instead of our apartment, he had actually set it for another development, with a very similar name, right where the red shirts were.

I was already puzzled when the directions said to drive to New Petchburi Road and the GPS eventually led us to Chidlom, past the barriers, into Langsuan. We were stopped by red shirt guards when passing a barrier but they let us pass through with little bother. I managed to take some quick photos.

Actually, aside from the barricades, the lanes inside the barricaded areas seem rather peaceful. Not many red shirts at all. Of course, this isn't the main artery of the protest, that would be on Ratchaprasong. Hope everything gets settled soon. I'm seriously tired of hanging out at Emporium and Central Rama 3.

The How of Happiness

2010-04-24T06:19:00.003+08:00

YY or Mariposa, a reader, brought this book, The How of Happiness, to my attention. In a comment on this post, YY said, "Have you read the book 'The How of Happiness' by any chance? Sounds like you might have.. ;-) I'm in the middle of it now and it's one of the most illuminating books I've ever read! It may end up next to the bible for me in terms of guidance for living... :D"

Wow, next to the bible! Now this perked my curiosity. I've not read the book but found an iPhone app called Live Happy, and here's a video of the author talking about this app.

I asked YY why she would think that I might have read the book and she said, "Oh, because you mentioned in a recent post that you don't think you're a fundamentally happy person (the book posits, through research, that people are born with a predetermined 'happiness-setpoint'--a happiness thermostat, if you will--that determines the basic 50% of their happiness).

And then in this post you mentioned the term 'overthinking'--which the book elaborated on as one of the list of 'happiness activities' to embark on (this one is about *avoiding* overthinking, actually).

However later as I searched your blog I realized you had previously read something called the 'Happiness Project' and was at one time applying its suggestions."

Oh I see. I totally believe in Happiness Setpoint. This is not really from reading any book or from that Happiness Project site (which I've not visited in a long time), but partly from listening to New Creation's Pastor Prince's sermons, I think. Whatever one might say about this pastor's swanky lifestyle, all I know is his sermons are the only ones that ever stick in this cynical mind of mine.

So anyway, I remember having an aha moment when Prince said something about how nothing can really satisfy or make us truly, truly happy but Jesus (and I expect other religions teach the same, either to search within or at a higher being). And then I thought about all the promotions we hanker after, that new house, the latest gadget, that wonderful crush...and you notice how you tell yourself that you will be happy forever if only you get that promo, that person to love you back, that gorgeous apartment, and yes, you do get a high after achieving something, and then within weeks, days even, you're back to your old self. Nothing really changes. The same old things still bother you. The same issues still make you depressed, think negative thoughts, think the future's bleak, lose precious sleep over.

So when you depend on these achievements, or even people, for your happiness, you are bound to be disappointed. Cos even those closest to you, your spouse, your children, they will say or do things which hurt you. You do the same to them.

Not overthinking things helps too. Overthinkers tend to be a less happy lot, I think. There I go again, even blogging about this is kind of overthinking, isn't it? haha.

So this book says we have a happiness setpoint, which determines about half of our state of happiness, another 10% is due to our circumstances, which leaves 40% that can be determined by our actions (I may be wrong, this is just what I gleaned from the video).

I guess the 10% is where Money comes in, having means helps, but note only 10% or less, according to the book. Monica and I were just talking about the recent Idol Gives Back, and how the African kids, despite their intense suffering and poverty, still smile and always look happy. She went on to say, "Our kids seem like spoilt brats.", I said, "Not just our kids, us too!"

Now what about the 40%? I don't know what the book says, but here's something I learnt from my mother-in-law. She's a staunch Buddhist who meditates. She's gone through lots yet laughs a lot, though sometimes I do see sadness still in her eyes amid the laughing. I asked her once how she manages to stay positive, and she said something about how there really is nothing much you can do to change others, you can only make changes in yourself. It's like what I always tell my kids, you can't control how other act, you can only control how you react.

From my talk with her, I also realised that for the most part, no one actually intentionally goes out to hurt us or be cruel to us. The villains in our lives (for the most part, I'm not talking about rapists, murderers, paedophiles) do so to fulfil their own needs, yes, even thieves cos they need the money to maybe feed their family or their drug habits. Mothers scream at kids cos they are stressed at work. Bosses are mean cos their own bosses are mean to them. Some people are just inherently mean, what can you do about it? You can't let someone else dictate how you feel...so let it flow past you. Don't take things personally. I found this helped me a lot to get over unhappiness faster and return back to a happier state.

Being slim makes me happy too. But having struggled with weight all my life, I've only been happy in this aspect a few times in my life, right before my wedding when I was at my skinniest ever, and some other times after crash diets. I blame the media for their portrayal of ideal woman (size zero) and Singapore women in general for being so darn thin, kidding (not really :P)! Well, I now realise I'm never gonna be small, so no more fad dieting, I'll be happy being healthy and at a healthy weight. And no, I'm not there yet, not even close, but I'm taking steps to get fit. Thanks to Hsien, I've embarked on the C25K running programme, and am into my 4th week at it.

Not comparing is another crucial key to happiness. I wanna stop doing this. What I have is what I have. I don't wanna sound like sour grapes too. I will admit it would be nice to have a bigger place than my tiny apartment in Singapore, but if it means extra stress on the sole breadwinner, forget it. If I'm not willing to work my own butt off climbing the corporate ladder and bringing in the dough, I shouldn't be comparing to others who are. It really is about counting our blessings, we all have them. My cousin sister and I have been emailing each other recently, and it really is a case of grass greener over the other side; funny how I think she has it all, and she thinks the same about me.

Anyway, I'm sure the book has lots more to offer, and the tips are said to be scientifically backed up. So go have a read if the pursuit of happiness is something you wanna do, if not, never mind. I'll be looking out for this at the bookstores.

Bangkok sweeties

2010-04-22T09:57:00.003+08:00

Warning: Reading this post could give you diabetes! First up, Songkran gifts from Eddie's office. The hand garland is for good luck. The sweets here are as sweet as they look, more so maybe. They do look really pretty. No one except me ate even one of the sweets. I tried a brownish looking one which tasted a little like Kueh Dodol, just harder.

The rest of these sweety photos were taken at Gourmet Market in Soi 26/Soi Aree's K-Village, a new low-rise mall which looks like a nice place to chill out in. But no photo-taking is actually allowed, I was told later.

Here's the section on Kiam-Sng-Tee (Salty-Sour-Sweet) goodies, these are dried preserves (someone correct me if I'm wrong). So many to choose from.

Lots of samples.

That's kiwi fruit on the right.

This one I found really interesting. The green stuff (also in container below the samples) is actually Green pepper/Capsicum! Who knew you could make kiam-sng-tees from Capsicum, and they were delicious.

Fruits galore. Thailand is tropical fruit heaven...they even cut the fruits so nicely for you, of course you pay a slight premium for this convenience lah. Love the papayas and mangos here.

Pure mango juice, no syrup added. About S$1 a bottle.

And of course the King of Fruits, no samples though. I'm not a fan of Monthong Durians. Even though Thai durians look more majestic, I still think Malaysian durians rule, much more fragrant (or pungent depending on your affinity to the fruit).

First Thai cooking class

2010-04-22T08:38:00.003+08:00

Learnt two Thai dishes yesterday while the boys were at school. They are Pad Ka Pao, nice name ya? Pad Kapow!! It's a fried spicy minced pork dish.

The second dish was Khang Ju, pork ball soup. Both recipes can be found here.

So after school, I headed to the supermarket to hunt for the ingredients. A very nice Thai lady told me Ka Pao is actually Holy Basil (there are different kinds of basil, another type is used when frying beef). Got all my stuff and ta-da, dinner is served. Made a non-spicy version of Pad Ka Pao for Sean but he still struggled through his dinner. Both Eddie and Brian liked the new dishes though.

Red Shirts in Rama IV

2010-04-12T01:27:00.002+08:00

Today, I was supposed to meet a friend in Thonglor, away from where the action is. I thought there wouldn't be a problem cos we were headed away from the city. But on the Rama IV highway, there was bad traffic. The red shirts were having yet another procession :(

The driver thought they were headed to PM Abhisit's house on Soi31, which would mean them turning off soon enough towards Asoke. In other words, traffic would be fine in a bit. Sigh...the buggers never turned off towards Asoke. Realising I would be stuck in traffic and be extremely late arriving for lunch, I called my friend and said I wasn't going anymore. Instead, we turned off and went to Central Rama 3 again (boring...).

I later found out that the red shirts were going through the city displaying their dead from the weekend's clashes (it was actually an empty coffin lah). From what we saw of the reaction from the public to the procession, it is clear that there is strong support for the red shirts' cause, at this stage.

Close shave in Ratchaprasong

2010-04-11T15:04:00.002+08:00

The major malls have been closed this past week and only re-opened on Friday. We wanted to watch a 3D movie in the lush Siam Paragon Cineplex and decided to take a cab there yesterday (Saturday).

Red shirts were still camping out at that main avenue but cars had access to that mall. When we got to the mall by taxi, there was security check and we asked what time the mall would close (it was closed at 6pm on Friday). The guard said 8pm, confirming what we read in the papers.

We had lunch and proceeded to the cineplex on the 6th floor. This was around 1+pm. At the cineplex, we were told it was closed. People were queuing to get refunds. Then we saw patrons streaming out of the cinema. Very strange.

Okay, another disappointing visit to the cinema. Nevermind, we'll go window-shopping in Paragon. As we took the escalator down, we started seeing shops closing their shutters. What was going on? Went towards Paragon's entrance and the guard said it was closing at 2pm? Not 8pm? No, closing now. It was a really hurried decision. We realised something must be going on.

I felt uneasy and we quickly headed for the BTS. By now, the crowd getting out of Siam Paragon was HUGE...we knew there was no way of getting a cab. At the BTS station, we saw all the gates were closed except one narrow gate guarded by a BTS staff who was letting people out of the station, and letting a few people squeeze in.

From here, we could hear loud blaring from the rally site and unlike a week ago, the mood wasn't festive anymore. I felt that after a week of camping out in the hot sun, the red shirts were getting edgy and impatient.

So there we were with the boys, squeezed in a large crowd, not quite sure what to do. In a couple of minutes, even that gate was shut! We couldn't get in. We were stranded. The crackdown was about to start or had already started.

Although we hadn't wanted to be at the street level where the red shirts were, I knew we had no choice. Told Eddie we will go down and walk towards MBK, away from the rally site. Quickly headed for street level and walked towards MBK. On the way, it was business as usual for many shops on the street level, people were eating in cafes.

But we were not taking any more chances, really fed up already. So at the junction, we found a cab that took us back, without meter. Stayed home and watched Shutter Island, bemoaning our bad luck. We later found out that BTS service was closed soon after.

And this morning, we woke up to news of the crackdown and ensuing deaths. Although the deaths were in another area, not the main shopping area, we still felt it was a close shave.

Hoping normality returns soon.

Red Shirts in Sathorn

2010-04-06T15:12:00.005+08:00

We are into our 2nd week in Bangkok and Eddie is back in Singapore for a meeting. So I'm in the apartment with the two boys when I hear loud incessant honking from outside. I head for the balcony and this is what I saw.

Two large red shirt convoys just went past Sathorn road across from where we live. I was a little worried that they were planning to camp here like they are doing in Ratchaprasong shopping area. But it doesn't seem like they've parked themselves anywhere nearby as traffic is smooth after they left. Still, it was a little unnerving :(