Chinese New Year in 2007

This year CNY celebn was rather unusual so it's worth mentioning & keeping the memory here. Marrying to a huby that has its' hometown far from town would also mean celebrating CNY "every year without fail" in the kampung which was d 2nd most far state to the north, AStar. Btw, every year i would mumbled to huby how i missed celebrating the festival back in town but being a "nice" daughter in law, i just have to accept the culture. But particularly this year, I was excited coz my parents n my lil sis came visiting us in AS on the 1st day of CNY. As my family was in AS during the CNY holiday, we did not have much time spent with my in-law family. So to compensate back to this, we departed KL 3 days ahead to AS so that the boys got to spend some quiet time with their grand parents before CNY approaches!

The flight fr KL touched down AS new airport around 8+ in d morning of 1st CNY. My sis sms'ed me saying that coincidentaly my sis in-law & family (fr PD) was on d same flight heading to AS too. And there was like about 8 of them in d airport waiting for us to pick up. So FIL following us to airport in separate car.

My family had to stay at my in law's place the whole of d morning as they could only check-in to the hotel at 2pm. So it was kind of weird having d 2 family together coz they kind of had a bit of dialect barrier........obviously my family spoke only cantonese n d mother tongue of in law family was teo chew! It was a chicken n duck dialect! Though both sides could speak mandarin n hakka but that wasn't something that they familiar. So d conversation did stucked here n there. And me being the 'sandwich' of both really felt suck.......!!!

About noon once all had their new clothes put on, we left d teo chew family n went on for a city tour. My parents had wanted to visit the Padi Museum that they heard so much about back in KL. There was this picture/painting of the surroundings of Gunung Keriang being exhibited in a 360 degree wall of the museum. Apparently we heard that the painting was a work of a korean artist, not sure though. People in KL had "hotly" promoted about it. With high expectation & anticipation, my parents were not dissapointed but proudly gave their big thumbs up! No doubt, the picture was excellent to me too! Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in the museum.
Nearby the museum was the Gunung Keriang which was also called d crystal hill. We dropped by at the crystal shops n managed to grab a few pieces of earrings, pendant & bracelet.

By the time we finished, it was time for all to recharge the body so we proceeded to check into Holiday Villa. While my family rested at d hotel, we re-joined the Heng family for the family gathering at huby's grandma's house. To me it was rather an 'angpow/red packet distribution' session. Once u r married, u will be obliged to be there n distribute the angpow to whoever kids u bump into irrespective of whether u know who's son/daughter it belongs! what a chinese culture! Even my huby commented that it was a bit meaningless n boring! And immdtly after that obligation was done with, he made his move to leave d place. N we rested in d hotel.

We only got back to my in law place during dinner time for the nasi kandar catering.

The next morning, we left AS to Langkawi where we had arranged a 2 nite stay. We stayed at a 3 room apmt i.e. Century Suria Condo.



Again we had a badly planned trip. Now think back, i couldn't believe how we failed to anticipate the huge crowd in Langkawi during the festival. So due to no advance booking made for the local event eg like d famous coral viewing at Pulau Paya & etc, we did not manage to even secure any agent to arrange d event for us as according to a friend, the China, Japan & Taiwan tours had fully secured all d places! It was truely disspointed. So we only ended up with d boring island hopping though d boys enjoyed playing by d beach!








The next day, we visited d newly in place hot spot of Langkawi which was non other than
"The Peak". The encountering with the long n narrow cable car ride was somewhat excited & thrilling to everyone. For d first time, i felt proud that M'sia have such an "in" thing considering the technology n complications incurred on d project.






The view was just...............truly amazing! Malaysia Boleh!



On d way down from d hill, there was this rabbit farm welcoming d kids. That has really added d
excitement that d boys already had!
Next, d boys also got to visit d underwater world of Langkawi with their grandparents while dady n mumy went to the duty free store to get some perfumes n coffee !!

Below was a pic of d boys at d Langkawi ferry terminal on our way back to AS.



Once we reached AS, my in law family had prepared a very very wonderful n delicious lunch for us all. Deep beneath me, i felt truly warm n was much appreciated for d hospitality shown to my family. I had my big gratitude to my MIL for her "GOOD" cookings!
After d lunch, we had to move on to Penang where we will be staying a nite before departing back to KL the following day. So, there we bid farewell to the Heng family in AS.

Our only objective of dropping by Penang was to savour as much of their famous local delicacies as possible......! Approx'ly abt 2 hours after d great lunch in AS, huby packed back to our hotel suite the followings:
i) char kuey teow with big prawns
ii) asam laksa
iii) penang white curry laksa
iv) prawn mee
v) chendol &
vi) lam mee!
I regretted i was too busy eating & did not snap any shots of those nice foods. So it's no doubt that we'd put on at least a few kilos at d end of the festival. And how i hate that.........damn it!

Below was some snap shots taken at the recreation park of The Gurney Residency Hotel Suites where we stayed.



my mom in action..........fuyoh !!!



And here i would like to give credit to this hotel suites too. It was my first time staying in this hotel & we had already planned for a 2nd stay in d coming June-07 for another Heng family gathering for d triple celebration of mother's day, father's day & my FIL's birthday!

See you soon Penang!