Malaysian holiday - Part I

Our holiday to Pangkor Laut Resort was booked a few months ago, and we were very fortunate that Grumpy's sister found us a package that includes accommodation and all meals at such a reasonable price.  Another bonus was when my dad offered to drive us all the way up to Pangkor on Tuesday (and then he drove back home), and on Thursday, he drove up again to pick us up and take us home.

We stopped by at Bidor, which is our usual place for wantan mee. It was Grumpy's first time, and he ordered all his meals in the largest portion available.

Three hours after leaving from KL, we arrive at the private jetty exclusively for Pangkor Laut Resort guests. It was very posh and we had people greet us and help carry our luggage! 

My husband resting with my floppy hat.. there were hardly any guests, so we felt like we had the entire jetty to ourselves.

We got on a 15 minute boat ride from the jetty to the actual resort, and then it was straight to lunch by the beach.

Here are pictures of our room. I loved everything about the room, it was clean and so comfortable! I loved the Malay traditional theme as well.

The bath!

The view from our very spacious balcony.

Not long after we settled into our rooms, I rushed Grumpy to get changed and immediately we jumped into the main pool! This is the view from the pool. How amazing is this view?! We took naps by the pool, while sipping on drinks.. Couldn't possibly ask for more.

Soon it was time for dinner, and so we left the pool to go back to our room to take a shower. On our way back, we bumped into a hornbill. My first encounter with this tropical bird! A tiny version compared to the hornbills I normally see in the Sarawak tourism ads, but still good enough for me!

This resort is actually very old (Grumpy has been here before as a kid), but considering this resort is YTL owned, the place is still kept in excellent condition and has everything you would expect out of a 5-star resort.

Our first night, we chose to have a Malay dinner.

It was quite good, we had a bit of everything - veggie curry, fish curry, sambal prawns, curry chicken and beef rendang with pilau rice.

After dinner, we got back to our room, and room service has prepared our beds for the night, cleaned up and even lit this incense, which has a very soothing feeling, and also keeps away the mozzies.

Okay, it is really bed time for me! Good night!

No need to hide

Okay so third day at work since returning from holidays, and my boss thought she was doing me a favour this morning by announcing to my team in our morning meetings that she had some news for the group, then she said I would probably kill her, then she told everyone I was pregnant! While I wished that she shared the news in a more subtle way, another part of me is relieved because at least it is out in the open, and I do not need to hide my baby bump anymore. I am just going to wear my big clothes if I have to, instead of trying to fit in to my old work clothes and then feel miserable when I can't zip things up. 

On a lighter note, Sydney Boy requested that my baby arrive on the 19th of June, because that is his birthday, and one day before my due date. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, Sydney Boy and Belgian Chocolates were requesting that I name my baby after them if it was a boy. If my baby is a girl, then I am to name her after Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch. They were also very concerned about the welfare of my dog, especially once the baby arrives. I assured them that the dog will not be neglected. The hospital did give me a little booklet which says "how to introduce your baby to pets". They said maybe I should get a book called "how to introduce my dog to the baby". I said, maybe there should be a book on "how to introduce Sydney Boy, Belgian Chocolates and Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch to the baby"and we kept going back and forth of further book titles. These guys really do keep me smiling during the days and I can't imagine my life without friends like them! :)

When my ex-boss from Dublin told my stepdad I was pregnant (he is English, Cockney in fact), first thing he said was "SILLY GIRL!" hehehe..

20 weeks

It has been such a longggg time since I last updated this blog. There is no real explanation for the lack of post, except for being plain lazy and.. pregnant! Yes tomorrow, I will be 20 weeks into my pregnancy, which means I am half way there..!

So far things have been progressing well with the pregnancy. I have not really experienced any serious morning sickness, except feeling a bit nauseous in the mornings during the 10-12 week mark. Apart from that, the changes with my body.. is something I have mixed feelings about. Some days I like it, other days I don't. I have been trying to hide my baby bump in the office, and today was the first day I returned to work after our holiday back to Malaysia, and still no one noticed under my loose top. My friends kept asking if I have told my colleagues yet, and the answer is No. I just do not know how to break the news. I can't possibly tell people in our daily morning meetings, could I?

Being pregnant also puts me on an emotional roller coaster... small things that upsets me such as a bit of stress at work, makes me run into the toilets and I cry.. Can you imagine when I have fights with Grumpy? I really do burst into tears, and I kid you not, I seriously cry.. and cry and cry and cry.. oh dear! I sometimes think that because I have had a fairly easy pregnancy so far, he often forgets that I really am pregnant.

We got back from KL on Sunday at midnight. We had Monday to rest. I also went for my 20-week ultrasound, a blood test and a hospital appointment. The baby is tracking along well, and I am very pleased! Sometimes I stop and think, ohmigawd, I am going to be a mother! OMG OMG OMG! The thought of it still makes me extremely nervous. Nervous about the unexpected.

Okay just a short post today. More pictures to come, especially pictures from our beach holiday at Pangkor Laut Resort.

Good night!

Cold and chilly

Happy Sunday morning! The weather has been playing up a bit over here in Melbourne. Yesterday it practically poured all day, which kind of dampened my weekend spirits! Grumpy and I have already planned a beach getaway here in January while we are in Malaysia, and this is the only thing I am looking forward to. I just want some warm weather! I have been feeling so cold and chilly lately, I might develop SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) soon enough! Okay okay maybe that is being a bit ridiculous considering SAD mainly affects people in very cold countries with very little daylight.

Work has been very busy for me. I just get thrown the crappiest projects in the world, it is just not funny. Why? Why? Why is it always me taking bites of shitburgers? Hoping that with Christmas approaching, things will be less hectic with people being away. I am working through out Christmas, instead saving my holidays for Chinese New Year.

The reason I am up so bright and early on a Sunday morning is because I have a once a month Skype sessions with my friends from Dublin. It is Saturday night for them, but its fine. The good news is that I just found out that this friend will be in Malaysia in January for work... which is perfect because I will be back home at that time too. I have not seen them since I left Ireland, but we still keep in touch over the years. Another thing to look forward to now, apart from my beach holiday!

To end the note, I want to share with you this video. My friend Sydney Boy (he is so dear to me) is gay and he posted this on Facebook. Being close friends with him has made me realised how I want him to be happy, and to be able to share a life with someone he loves, even if that means it is with another man. Enjoy!

Christmas Toy Store

On Friday, Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and I took part in a volunteer opportunity as part of work. We picked Anglicare Victoria and our task involved working in the Christmas Toy Store. It was kind of a day off work, but for a good cause. Back in June, I took part in tree planting for the areas affected by the bush fires. But this time round, I wanted to try something slightly different, and anything Christmas sounded fun!

We arrived at Fitzroy by 9am and were immediately greeted by two Aboriginal women, looking a bit drunk at the tram stop. We noticed how the area was surrounded with many government housing blocks. Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch, already a bit nervous, looks around and says to me "Jules, I'm so glad you are doing this with me, and I'm not here alone" hehe

Finally, we walked to the Anglicare office, and a nice man, who manages the site, gives us a tour around the building, and explained to us what they do, how they do it, and why. He was very grateful that we have offered our help for the day, and soon enough, we headed upstairs to the Toy Store to start work.

There are four rooms at the Toy Store. We started off at the boys section:

Hehe as you can see, the room was a bit of a mess.

And this is what it looked like after we tidied things up.

We were shown an itinerary, and starting from 10am, there were social workers from different places, foster homes etc dropping by at the Toy Store to collect the toys. Our job was to sort the toys, stack them up neatly on shelves and help these people pick out toys. They had a list of the different age groups, boys/girls and unique requirements.

The second group that came in, I had a strong feeling... were picking up toys for children from war-torn countries like Afghanistan, or even countries from Africa. As I was helping them pick toys, the lady says to me, "strictly no guns or war toys for the children".

As each group dropped by, collected toys and left, the shelves were empty again and needed to be re-stocked before the next group arrived. In between all that, we had random people stopping by, dropping off boxes of donations - toys, basic amenities, food and coffee. 90% of the donated items are all brand new. Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and I would have to quickly unpack the boxes, sort them around the different places and tidy up the Toy Store.

The last group that came by, around 2pm, was a foster home for Aboriginal children. So they wanted more 'Australian' toys, sporting goods like cricket bats, boomerangs, books about Australia, etc.

Here are some photos of the various rooms in the Toy Store:

Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch at the book room. There were plenty of books for different age groups, craft packs and jigsaw puzzles.

This is the nursery room. Lots of stuffed toys for babies.

The girls room. We started off with plenty of Barbie dolls, but by the end of the day, they were all gone. The boys room had a much bigger supply of toys than the girls room.

Finally, before heading home, I could not resist taking a picture with a Teletubby! haha I used to like Teletubbies back in high school (weird, I know) 

Overall, it was a very fulfilling day, and definitely an eye-opening experience. We get so caught up with Christmas festivities, buying expensive presents for our loved ones, that we forget how the less fortunate, or the homeless are coping. I will be supporting Anglicare Victoria from now, and doing my part to give back to the community. 

1.02.33

If you are wondering how I went with my 10km run during the Melbourne Marathon earlier this month, the answer is that I did really well! I was very happy with my time. This has got to be one of my favourite running photos of me taken by Grumpy.

As mentioned in the previous post, I was nervous the entire week. We are usually out on Friday and Saturday nights, wining and dining. But during that weekend, I stayed home both nights, went to bed early. Most marathon runners eat heaps of pasta the night before the run, to load up on carbs. I decided on pizza and garlic bread instead. Greasy and cheesy.. hehe it was so yummy, but it got my spirits up as I was determined to burn all the calories away the next morning.

Finally the Sunday morning came. I woke up at 4am, only to discover Grumpy still awake, watching Foxtel. Oh my.. I sent him off to bed, for at least a 2 hour sleep. I needed him to drive me to the run, and to cheer for me at the finish line! It was pouring rain, NOT A GOOD SIGN. But it was still early in the morning... I had two slices of toast with peanut butter, a cup of tea, and then drank plenty of H2O. After breakfast, I took a hot shower, got changed.. and then pretty much just waited til 6.30am. In the mean time, I started doing yoga, to relax myself and stretch my muscles. Even the dog chose to stay in bed and sleep in the entire time.

By 6.30am, I was able to get Grumpy up and ready, we headed out to my old boss' apartment in the city. Belgian Chocolates. The rain stopped by 7am.. but even Belgian Chocolates complained it was cold. I reminded him that he was European (i.e. should be able to tolerate extremely cold weather). Belgian Chocolates and I started to walk towards the MCG. Grumpy decided to get the car washed instead and assured me he will be waiting for me at the finish line. The run starts at 7.30am. 

Grumpy asked "So what time do you think you will finish?" I said.. "Hmm... 8.30am?" 

He went "Are you sure?!? How about I meet you at 8.45am?". Clearly, he did not think I could finish the 10kms in an hour :(

FINE, 8.45am it is!!!

The full marathon runners started at 7am. The 10km runners at 7.30am, and the half marathon runners at 8am. There were tens of thousands of runners. When the 10km race started, I was running at a very fast pace, just going along with the rest of the crowd. By the 2nd and 3rd km, I was struggling. But I did not stop. Belgian Chocolates fed me some energy tablets, in between... we hardly even stopped at the water kiosks, we just kept going. I was better by the 5km mark, slowing down a little bit, but still at a pace faster than my usual speed. At the 8th or 9th km, there was a bit of an incline, and I struggled even more. Still did not stop, just kept going. And finally, light at the end of the tunnel, I see the finish line! This photo here, is Belgian Chocolates yelling at me to run even faster, we were nearly done! I increased my speed, sprinted all the way to the end of the line, with the little energy left in me.

I could see the clock. '1.02.33'. 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds! Even though the goal was to do it in an hour, I went 2 minutes over, but I am not going to give myself shit for the extra 2 minutes. Hehe This is my best time ever for the 10kms. 

When Belgian Chocolates started training with a friend/mentor for the marathon a few years ago, at the finish line during his first marathon, his friend/mentor gave him the opportunity to finish first at the finish line. And so, as he was training me this time round, he did the same for me. He made sure that I went across the finish line before he did. I told Grumpy that his goal was not to beat me, but to make sure I finished the run in a decent time. Belgian Chocolates could easily do a 10km run in 50 minutes or less on any normal day, but since he was running with me, he ran at my pace. 

After I crossed the finish line, I was looking out for Grumpy. I could not see him. I was worried that he was still out somewhere, missing all the action. DAMNIT, he would have missed taking my photos too :( 

But little did I know, he did wait for me at the finish line. He was early. He took some awesome photos for me. Yay! Even he was happy that I finished it in an hour! And two minutes....

Training for the 10km run

Two years ago I took part in the Melbourne marathon, running the 5kms. It was really good fun, a bunch of us at work did it together, so there was a social aspect to the run. This year, I decided it was time to take it one step up, so I signed up for the 10km run for the Melbourne marathon. A friend who agreed to do the run with me this year pulled out just three days after signing up, citing the advice of her podiatrist. Instead, I found another running partner. Belgian Chocolates. Yes, my ex-boss. He has four full marathons under his belt, but because of an injury, he is unable to run the marathon this year. He will run the 10kms with me. In a decent time. The goal is to do it in less than an hour.

My usual running routine on any normal week is on a treadmill at the gym, 5kms, while watching the news, Two and A Half Men or listening to my iPod. Meanwhile, Belgian Chocolates made an executive decision (without my approval) to be my personal trainer for this 10km journey. The first change he decided for me, was to stop running on a treadmill, opting to run outside in a park. We both agreed to train together on Fridays after work at the Tan.

However, to ensure I did not disappoint him on Fridays, I started heading out to the Tan after work by myself, running, sometimes stopping.. so walking, then back running again. I did this on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Then came Fridays, which was with Belgian Chocolates.

The first Friday that we ran together was not too bad. He pushed me to run 8kms, without stopping, and even running the incline. Previously, when on my own, I normally walked the incline as it was just too hard. But he pushed me, and so I ran the incline, very slowly. It was a bit of an achievement for me, my first attempt running the incline! HAPPY!

The following week, I ran on Monday, Wednesday (in the friggin' rain) and Thursday alone... 8kms each time, up the incline as well, but I found myself struggling, stopping often, and walking back to the office most of the time. It seemed that the more I trained, the worse I became. The weather did not help, it was freezing cold, it rained, it was busy at work.. I was a wreck. The second Friday came, with Belgian Chocolates, and my legs failed me. I could not run at all. I swear, I nearly broke down in tears at the Tan, while running behind him, trying to keep up. I was able to hold my tears back, to avoid embarrassment. I just did not have the strength at all. It was such a bad week. Reading this article yesterday made me realise that I was not alone. Even Heather wanted to cry in front her personal trainer! I nearly did, too. Oh well, I was crying on the inside.

After that bad week, which was last week, I had a chat about it with Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot. She reminded me that I am in this to enjoy myself, enjoy the run.. being part of a big event. She told me not to stress myself out.. and so I took it easy this time, allowed my legs to recover. I went back to running on the treadmill, which is now much easier for me. I also realised that maybe I should try running outside with some music, since I have always done this on the treadmill. I dug out an ancient iPod Shuffle, and thank god, it still works. I wonder if they still sell this stuff. Haha.

Last Sunday, I told myself, since it was not a working day, I wasn't tired (like how I would feel after work)... I put some new songs on the iPod Shuffle, and I started running outside to my local park. I did 10 laps around the oval, and back. I ran at a very slow pace, but guess what? I was able to keep running without stopping at all. And this was over an hour. My legs felt okay, tired but at least still going. On my way home, Grumpy even drove past me, offering me a lift home in the car. Which I kindly declined! Hehehe. I was proud of myself. Maybe the music does help.

This week is the last week before the event. The run is on Sunday. My (current) boss was saying how empty the Tan was this week (it is normally packed with runners after work). This is because all the runners are resting, conserving energy. I only did one run this week, on Wednesday, alone, with music, 8kms at the Tan, no stopping, and even up two inclines. I really felt good after that. I am in better spirits this week!

I am now ready to take on this 10km challenge on Sunday. I feel like a Rabbid!! Watch this! IT IS SO CUTE!

Wish me luck!!