The Lunar Year of The Rooster

Both myself and hubby started off earlier than usual preparing for the Lunar Year of The Rooster. Every weekend and on public holidays hubby is busy with house painting which started with the ground floor: living room, dining room and bedroom; after which proceed upstairs: the hallway and another bedroom.  With the Lunar New Year just round the next corner the remaining painting of our master bedroom and another room have to be put on hold.  

With our children all coming home for the celebration hubby decided to put up more decorations....

Grandson Brendan lends a helping hand in the final decorations.  The Red Lantern which we bought from Vietnam during our trip in December 2016 is specially meant for this purpose.

Living room decorations

Decorations at the Car Porch

Night Views with lights on....

As usual, celebrating The Lunar or Chinese New Year in our sweet home in Kuching always means lots of home-cooked food, which have been missed by my children, being away from hometown at work.

Our simple home-cooked reunion lunch in the heart of our sweet home : Sweet and sour fish, stir-fried leeks with arrowroot, ngo hiang/meat rolls, stir-fried mixed vegetables, stir-fried longevity noddles and yee sang, which we bought from Pullman Hotel.

Next, our reunion dinner at Carvery Restaurant, together with the other Kuek siblings and relatives from my hubby's side of the family.....

As usual, after attending The Thanksgiving Mass at St. Peter's Church, Padungan on the first day of the Chinese New Year, we will visit my mum who is staying with my eldest brother and family.

Family photo with my mum

Steamboat on the 2nd day of the CNY....

Other home-cooked dishes includes.....

Lamb Curry with bread

Deep-fried wantons

Cereal Prawns

Stir-fried leek flower with prawns

Steamed fish, mixed vegetables, deep-fried pork ribs, steamed prawns and bamboo clams

We all have an enjoyable celebration, especially grandson Brendan.  This photo of him tells it all.....

Though memories of the celebration is still fresh, which seems just like yesterday, but we are already into the 21st day of the Lunar/Chinese New Year.  Well, time really flies.....

May God bless everyone with a great year ahead and Cheers to all!

Indeed I am Glad!

There are many endless things which makes me glad, from little  things to something big. Recently, I came across a meaningful picture with only a few words which was posted on Facebook. By just looking at it, I immediately say to myself "YES, Indeed I am Glad!"  If you are lost with what I am talking about, let me share with you this image.  You will truly agree with me if you are growing up in the same era as me or before me....

Well.... those childhood days, so carefree, healthy and get to run around and socializing with our neighbours' children; playing games of Hopscotch, "Hello Mr. Tiger,"  Rope Skipping, Marbles and many more marvelous games.

Disappearing into the forest behind our houses we get to pick fresh ferns and proudly bringing them home to our mothers to cook; plucking some edible wild berries (one which I clearly remember is pip-pop seeds); as a child we curiously take a peep at the inside of the pitcher plant which is half-filled with water and the insects that are trapped inside and the most fun part is building a small hut out of branches and leaves, resting in it and listening to the sounds of insects and birds.... well, those really were the days!

Comparing today's children to those of our days, well, they are almost glued to their computers, hand phones, tablets, etc from an early age.  There is not much of a proper communication between family members and friends. Communication is an important tool which many children are lacking today. Without socializing from their young age, children will grow up to be more self-centered; and for them to get along successfully in society when they grow up they must learn to interact with others in a healthy, positive and productive way.  I believe, all this qualities of life have to start from young. Today, most parents might think that, well... when they start school the teachers are there to teach them, but they never realise that it is never easy to make that change, and even many adults are unable to change!

Whatever it is, time change and situation change, but I really appreciate all the things I have gone through in my childhood years.  Ours is still the best! Indeed I am Glad!!

Wow! How fast time flies...... [Final]

Experiencing light drizzles the night before, the morning is much colder as compared to the couple of days ago, but we love it!  Just before we left the house for breakfast uncle announce our itinerary for the day, STANLEY....  WoW!! Whispering to hubby "Stanley is a beautiful place!"

As usual, after breakfast we take a slow walk to one of the bus stand, board a bus to the bus station. and waited for another one which took us to our destination, Stanley.  

The photos tells it all......

view captured from the top of the building

On our way we made friend with a cat too, such a cutie!

Uncle's next stop after lunch is Harbour Road, it is where the Government Departments are situated....

the glass walls and windows are sparkling clean....

Fire Station

Hongkong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Entrance)

the inside is huge and beautiful.....

The Golden Bauhinia Square, it's real gold!

New World First Ferry Pier, facing the Avenue of Stars

It's another fruitful day for both me and hubby, and special thanks to uncle for being our personal guide ~ smile ~  

We have simple stir-fried rice vermicelli and kway tiaw for dinner as we have been having too much meat for the past couple of days.... YUMMY!

We spend the rest of the night chatting as usual before we knock off to bed.  

Waking up earlier than usual on 12th March (Thursday) as our holiday is coming to an end.  We have breakfast nearby....

Get back home, relax for a while, with all our bags packed and we are ready to go......

Uncle Kee insisted to see us off at the airport, so we walked to the nearby bus stand, hop into the 9.30 am bus and off we go,  More sharing continues throughout the bus journey to the airport.....

After check-in we need to walk to the opposite side of the building for departure.  As we are still early uncle suggested to have lunch, then proceed to the departure hall.  Bye uncle, we will be back again.....

Supposedly, our flight is at 1.15pm but due to congestion at the runway our plane took off an hour later, thus arriving KLIA2 about 6.00 in the evening instead of the actual time of 5.05pm.  The weather in KL is fine, photos taken at 5.14pm.

Our next flight back to Kuching is at 8.15pm, thus, we have our dinner at KLIA2, slowly made our way to the departure hall and ......

we are arriving Kuching "Home Sweet Home!"