Hibernation mode off

A lot of things happened since the last post. We're now family of four, and I have grown prosperously (in my belly dept, haha). Am thinking of reviving this blog back.

I feel like I'm finally qualified to write about my pregnancy now that I had safely delivered my baby. I didnt breeze thru it but it was all worth it.

Pregnancy sickness started as soon as I found out that I was pregnant. It started with a stretch of 2 weeks of which I couldnt get up from bed at all. I managed to 'hide' my pregnancy from my work colleagues for 3 months until my boss decided to announce it in a meeting since the other bosses were getting more n more curious about my absence.

My pregnancy sickness lasted until i was 8.5 months. I was vomitting 7-8 times a day until the 6th month, 3-4 times a day until the 7th month followed by 2-3 times until 8.5 months. I still puked occasionally until delivery, like 2-3 times a week but it wasnt really bad. I took dymenate every morning to help with the nausea (i tried a few but its the only thing that worked-for the nausea,not the vomitting). Dymenate however made me super sleepy in the morning and I had to take a nap in the office. If I didnt, I just couldnt do my work-I couldnt even think. I had to choose between unable to work because nausea or sleepiness..and the later was far more pleasant.

On top of the pregnancy sickness, I experienced back pain+pelvic pain as early as 4 months. The back pain was very bad that sitting on my office chair was a torture everytime. When the pain became unbearable I had to take time off to lie down on my back for immediate relief. But towards the end, I couldnt lie  on my back anymore as my tummy was getting heavier. I had two sessions of physiotherapy. It didnt help with the back pain but the sessions and the exercises that they taught me gave temporary relief to the pelvic pain. The pelvic pain however just miraculously disappear in the 7th month. And as for the back pain, I am happy to report that it was gone as soon as i gave birth.

The hardest time for me was actually during ramadhan last year. We just moved in to our new house in PJ and I had to commute to KL via bus-putra line-star line. I vomitted pretty much everywhere and all the time-but never in the bus+lrt, thank God. My tummy was slow to show so nobody offered me seats on the bus+lrt. I only managed to fast for 17 days. The journey was worse coming back. In the evening sometimes I had to wait for 1.5 hours for the bus. I remember I would come home crying. But things got much better when my workplace shifted to PJ. These days i just have to flag a cab and I'll get to the office in less than 10 minutes.

Because of the nausea, I didnt actually experienced any major cravings so i wouldnt know how far Khalis would go for me =p. I actually ate less during my pregnancy. My total weight gain was approx 7kg. 7kg means that I didnt gain extra fat and all of it was attributable to baby, amniotic fluid and blood. I actually stopped gaining weight at 6.5months. My gynae commented shortly after labour that my thighs didnt accumulate fat at all. So I guess being nauseous all time was a good thing for me? I had a total of 5 maternity blouses and thats enough because I could still fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes, including baju kurung. Its my first pregnancy too so my tummy was bound to be small.

I also didnt go out much during the pregnancy. One bcoz of the vomitting and walking+standing for more than 5 mints would give me dizzying spells and I would start seeing black. If that happened I'd just sit on the shopping mall floor. People staring at me didnt bother me anymore. When we went shopping, I'd sit on the floor in the baby section and khalis would bring baby stuff for me to choose.

To prepare myself for labour and motherhood, I bought 2 books - 1-Hypnobirthing and 2- The Illustrated Guide to Pregnancy, Babycare and Baby Food. I didnt do hypnobirthing during labour but the book does have lotsa interesting stuff. True to its title, The Illustrated Guide to Pregnancy, Babycare and Baby Food on the other hand was fun to read as it has lotsa pictures and and very helpful as it depicts whats gonna happen weekly during pregnancy and monthly baby development+what to do. I like it that the book assumes the readers are totally clueless abt the subject - it even has pictorial guide on how to dress up the baby. There are of course better, more detailed books out there but I found them too much for my brain. The small font, lack of photos and too many medical jargons just turned me off.

People said that when u're pregnant u'll like what you hate b4 and vice versa. I dont know about liking what I hated but I definitely couldnt tolerate a number of  things that I liked previously. Just giving a few instances, - Like I couldnt stand the shower gel that I was using and Khalis' too and ended up using the ones given by hotels as they tend to be lightly scented. I used to love chicken nugget but when I was pregnant I couldnt even stand the sight of it. And I totally stopped watching korean and japanese drama series because I couldnt stand the thought of having to sit in front of the tv/laptop for an hour - oh, I totally ditched tv when I was pregnant.

Pregnancy has definitely changed me. I am now more sensitive to others' pain n suffering. There was once I took the lrt and I gave up my seat to another pregnant lady whose tummy looked bigger.

In the first 6 months I kept telling khalis - cemane la nk survive the next 7, 6, 5, etc bulan. But I did. When things get really hard I'd remind myself of those who suffered more - those who were with underlying chronic diseases, those who couldnt even see the sunlight, those with placenta previa and had to be hospitalised for months, those who didnt have their husbands around and worse, those who miscarried and lost their babies.

So last night i borak2 with Khalis

Me: Rasa cam nk amik a day off tiap2 minggu la in january. Oh my birthday pn january..tapi kne check hari ape dulu
Khalis: Hari rabu (instantenously without checking with anything)
Me: Eh? How did u know?
Khalis:*senyum je*

Needless to say, I feel so blessed!!

Makan @ JB

Some good food we had during our not so recent trip to JB.

Khalis and I had lunch together2 at Restoran Anak Kelantan in NZX Commercial Centre yesterday and I was very impressed with the attentive waiters. When we got there, Khalis and I went straight to the nasi campur counter but they did not fail to notice that we’re together. They asked me what I’d like to drink and I said I’d just take something from the chiller without telling them my table no. Khalis got to the table first and when I got there I saw that on the table, they had put a glass of ice for my canned cincau for me.

When I finished eating, I got up to wash my hands and went looking for a washbasin. They noticed that I was looking kinda ‘lost’ for like 5 seconds and asked me what I was looking for. If you think this is not a big deal, you’re wrong. Once, I dined in a 5-star hotel and I realized that I my room key was not with me. I retraced my steps and went looking for it from table to table. Nobody asked me what I was doing (the place was pretty much empty) – not that I wanted to be asked pn sebenarnye.

I can’t comment on the food. I always order the same thing when I go to Kelantanese restaurant – ayam kampong goreng and plain kembung bakar and its almost impossible for anyone to f*ck up these two. But it was slightly pricier than A Hassan Ayam Kampung.

How did I know that I was pregnant?

By using the home pregnancy test kit of course..hehe

But what actually prompted me to take that test?

It was a busy month for me and I spent most of my time in Indonesia and Singapore and I really didn’t expect to get pregnant so I found it about a wee bit later than other moms would (usually ppl would check in week 4 or 5, I did mine in week 6)

The first sign I had was increase in appetite.. I would have lunch TWICE (two big meals) and was still hungry after dinner (I would have bought another meal after dinner if its easy to get one but I lived on Floor 18 so I’d have to put on decent clothes and walk a bit for food)..This happened from week 2 to week 6..

I also felt bloated and every night I’d complain to Khalis whyyy la perut ni buncit sgt skg..(which could be due to the above pon)

And I was exhausted the whole time. I’d lie down on my bed as soon as I got home and slept right after isya’ on most nights.

And of course the major sign – missed period. But I thought that could be due to stress from all the traveling.

However, I decided to do the pregnancy test because of this – In week 6, I felt like there’s something, a lump, in my tummy every time I sneezed and I had to slightly bent my back to sneeze comfortably. It was then that I considered the possibility of pregnancy and I was right.

Khalis and I registered for Hajj sometime early this year. And we regret that we didn’t do it earlier. I mmg wanted to do it as soon as I have the minimum balance (and I’ve had it since 4 years ago) but I thought:-

1- I would need the passbook. I lost the passbook yearssssssss ago. If I want to get a new one, I would need to pay stamp duty. I bought the Hasil stamp from post office but tabung haji said they only accept the one ‘stamp-ed’ /crossed by LHDN, Land Office and another place I can’t remember. But no, no passbook is needed for Hajj registration.

2- I would need to register with Khalis because insyallah we’ll be performing Hajj together and it’s almost impossible for us to meet up during office hours. But it turned out that Khalis didn’t even have to be present. I just gave the clerk my IC and our Marriage card and its done.

3- That the queue would be long and my lunch hour wouldn’t be sufficient. When I went to the Hajj Registration counter (which was not located together with deposit/withdrawal counters – yang ni mmg selalu ramai org la kan) I was surprised to see that there’s no queuing at all. I was attended to immediately and the whole thing took less than 3 minutes.

We are scheduled to perform Hajj in the 2040s.. Had I done it earlier maybe I could be in 2030s’ list. However, I am positive that we wouldn’t have to wait until 2040s as almost everyone I know was called a few years earlier.

To register, you would need a minimum of RM1400++ in your Tabung Haji account and they will freeze the amount. If you don’t have RM1400 in your account, you can still register for Hajj using your EPF balance, so just bring your EPF statement and they will freeze RM1400 from your EPF account.

Our wedding anniversary is fast approaching and I still havent decided on our honeymoon destination. Work is unpredictable plus I'm pregnant so overseas trip or taking the flight is totally out of the question. I have a few resorts in mind (well actually just three because I only know three establisments in the Peninsular that have private pool) but I'm reluctant to make the reservation because none of them is known for good makan places. Food wouldnt bother me so much if I'm not pregnant, but now that I am I need to be somewhere with access to good and variety of food. When I think about it, when it comes to food, I only like Kelantan!! But unfortunately there is no good resort/hotel there!!

Making last minute plan can only mean disaster so I really need to make that reservation NOW.

KK Trip

I don’t usually write about my trips as it would require a great effort from my part (This, for example is a 2000++ -word entry). However, Khalis and I really enjoyed our recent trip to Kota Kinabalu and I feel that the trip deserves an entry in our blog. Khalis has been in KK a few times before for work but I never had the chance to go with him.

 

It was a budget vacation – we only paid RM24 for the flight and stayed in cheap hotels. However I’m determined that it won’t be the next time. (yes, we love KK so much and will definitely return!)

We didnt bring our good camera so the quality of the photos is only so so.

Day 1

We arrived in KK at 330pm and had to wait for 30 minutes at the airport for our rented Saga FL. Our rental guy apologized for being late and gave us about half tank of fuel for free. Paid the full rental rate+deposit and off we went to our hotel – Zara Boutique Hotel. The hotel was alright I guess but a bit far from the attractions. We rested for a while and went out for dinner at 6pm at Salut. It’s a bit far from the city but the traffic was good so we got there in approx 30 mints. … This restaurant served fresh seafood. We picked our fish and prawns right from the tanks. They had good variety of seafood, fish not so much and but they had wide selection of clams and snails. Minimum order was however 500gm (which is a LOT for 2) so we really had to choose carefully. We had kerapu asam manis, butter prawn and softshell crab goreng tepung. I’ve always wanted to try ‘big’ softshell crab (instead of the small ones in sushi restaurants). We thought the food was so-so, but expensive nonetheless! And it really broke my heart seeing the leftover. There’s nothing we could do, we’re stuffed to the max! The view from the restaurant was good and we got ourselves a good table too.

On our way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop for kelapa bakar and kelapa pudding. Kelapa bakar’s basically grilled old coconut and kelapa pudding’s very similar to kelapa jelly in the east coast except that the flesh is blended together with the juice so theres a hint of santan. We couldn’t appreciate the kelapa bakar, we gave up after like 2 sips but we loved, loved loved kelapa pudding.

Day 2

We had sub-standard breakfast at the hotel before we started our journey to Kundasang. Weather was great – it wasn’t really hot as the entire KK was covered by clouds - thick clouds that blocked satellite signal from reaching my GPS. We’ve heard people talking about bringing 3-4 GPS to KK, now we knew why.

We stopped at Pekan Nabalu enroute for its famous pineapple. It was the best pineapple I’ve had - super sweet and there was no stinging aftertaste.

We arrived at Kundasang around 1130 and it was too early to check in so we continued driving to Poring Hot Springs which was located 400m above sea level. We opted for enclosed bath which cost only RM15/ Hour. There were limited no of enclosed baths around the area, maybe about 20? The bath was better than we expected, it was clean and could fit a small family comfortably. Plus there’s a toilet with shower inside too.

There’re lotsa other things to do in Poring Hot springs. They have butterfly farm, Orchid Conservation Centre, the tropical garden, the canopy walkway, the Rafflesia flower site and a few waterfalls but we didn’t go to any.

We had lunch after the bath (not worth mentioning) at a restaurant outside the Hot Springs. We went back to Kundasang afterwards and checked in at our Hotel – Kinabalu Pines Resort. It was a really gorgeous hotel and had probably the best landscape in Kundasang.

In the evening, we went to Ranau again, just driving around aimlessly. It was only when we’re back from Ranau that we saw Mount Kinabalu. You see, when we arrived in Kundasang we kept asking each other – where is this Mount Kinabalu??. We’re surrounded by the Crocker Range but the Mount Kinabalu itself was nowhere to be seen. But at around 5pm, the clouds were all blown away and suddenly Mount Kinabalu was right in front of us. I thank God for this wonderful opportunity. It lasted only 2 hours, but it was my best 2 hours in KK. Mount Kinabalu from where we’re standing looked like Mordor. I don’t think I could ever describe the feeling. We also found out later that, weather permitting, we could actually see Mount Kinabalu from our balcony.

When we’re back in Kundasang, we stopped at the vegetable/fruit market (by the roadside) and bought some fruits. Turned out none was good.

We went out again at night for dinner. There were not many choices available so we went to like one of 3 restaurants there and we ordered bihun sup. We drove around a bit after lunch and stopped for grilled chicken wing.

Its soo cold at night and I didn’t sleep well.

Day 3

We checked out from the hotel and our first destination for the day was Kinabalu National Park (the HQ). From the entrance the park looked really nice and it was a lot nicer inside. We couldnt find an empty parking lot so we drove up up up and up not knowing what to expect. The furthest a car could climb was up to Timpohon Gate, 1866m above sea level. The summit trail begins here. There are two summit trail options, Timpohon is the easier one, so its the most popular too. Adventurous climbers might prefer Mesilau trail which starts at Mesilau Nature Resort. Besides Timpohon summit trail, there are walking trails too at HQ. It was drizzling lightly so we didnt get out of our car. We didnt spend a lot of time here but its a really beautiful place and I really wish we could explore one of the not so challenging walking trails.

We bid farewell to Kundasang but promised to return. The fog’s too thick up there so we didn’t get to see Mount Kinabalu for one last time before we left. 

On our way to KK, we stopped in Tuaran solely for Mee Tuaran. Mee Tuaran is actually egg noodles but without the alkaline water, made only in Tuaran. Theres Mee Tuaran in KK too but it’s extremely difficult to find an outlet serving Halal one. So we thought we tried our luck in Tuaran, the birthplace of the dish itself. In Tuaran we actually went on foot from one restaurant to another checking out the menu and looked for halal sign. We had actually given up (tired!!) when we reached Nasi Ayam Juara and Khalis decided it’s the place we’re gonna have our lunch at coz it looked decent and had quite a number of patrons. And guess what, it was a nice surprise seeing Mee Tuaran in the menu! And that’s exactly what I ordered. Khalis ordered nasi ayam as the Mee didn’t look very appetizing. He was right. However, I must say that the mee itself was good and its something I can eat raw. Had it been fried like mee goreng mamak, it would be a hit in the Peninsular and mee kuning producers would all close shop. In other non-halal restaurants however, Mee Tuaran is actually fried and prepared with roasted pork and egg rolls.

Another dish that I really wanted to try was Roti kahwin. Fook Yuen’s roti kahwin’s the most famous in the KK so that’s our next target. We were told that there’re 4 branches in KK and we decided to go to the one in Luyang. It was a total waste of time as the shop was closed. Disappointed, we headed to straight to our hotel and checked in at around 130pm. This time we stayed at Promenade Hotel. We chose Promenade because its really near to the Filipino Market and that’s where we’re gonna have our dinner tonight. 

The weather was nice in the afternoon, so we decided to take a walk around the area. We went to Filipino Market, checking out the local products and pearls. But those were the last thing on my mind. I only had Fook Yuen’s roti kahwin in my head. I somehow managed to convince Khalis to walk to Gaya Street - where another Fook Yuen's located. It was quite far, and I wouldn’t walk the distance in KL weather. Finding Fook Yuen was a challenge. We went up and down Gaya street and we didnt see it anywhere! I asked for directions from a few people, including a group of policemen and nobody knew where it was. We googled for the location and other bloggers said that its near the Sabah Tourism building, which we had passed by a number of times. The whole time we were actually walking on the other side of the street (Gaya street is a narrow street) and for the last time, we decided to walk on Sabah Tourism's side and thats when we saw it. It was right there all along. But it was easy to miss. Next to Fook Yuen was Oldtown so we actually thought Fook Yuen was Oldtown - they had the same concept and ambiance. There was a sign, but it was covered by the awning.

The kopitiam was huge and they had an OK selection of food too. Dim sum was cheap and in good size too. We ordered our food - 2 sets of roti kahwin, madras tea and sugarcane juice. The bread was good - it was super soft and tasted great.

We only spent like 15 minutes in the shop. When we got to our hotel, it was already 4pm! I couldnt quite believe that we had spent 2 hours walking to and from Fook Yuen. I dont remember walking this far under the sun. Oh wait, we walked A LOT in Hanoi and it in late 2011 - so that wasnt too long ago. But lets not talk about Hanoi. Its not a trip I'd like to remember.

We went out again at 630pm for cheap seafood dinner at Filipino Market. Khalis and I didnt waste our time at other sections of the market, we went straight to the ikan bakar section. There really was no point trying to figure out which was the best stall, the food all looked the same. I was still feeling full from breakfast, mee tuaran and roti kahwin so I only ordered a medium sized plaice (ikan sebelah) and a set of squid for the two of us despite Khalis trying to make me add a super huge prawn/lobster (Khalis doesnt really like prawn, so it was only for me. I really appreciated the thought). The fish and squid only cost us RM20. Cheap! I thought the fish and squid tasted ok although they were overcooked. The fish particularly was a bit hard and dry. I think it’s a good place for not so fussy eaters wanting affordable seafood.

Day 4

Our final day in KK. We started the day with sumptuous buffet breakfast at the hotel. The nasi lemak was good which was a nice surprise as good nasi lemak is hard to find - even in KL. We checked out after breakfast and the first place we went to was 1Borneo Mall. It was still early and shops were not open yet. There was nothing to do there.

Our next destination was the Viewpoint. The view was quite nice from here.

The viewpoint’s very near to Fook Yuen so we went there again just to kill time. This time around we had roti kahwin (again) and dim sum and took more photos. We walked to Fook Yuen yesterday because we thought parking was impossible but we discovered that we could park our car inside the building Fook Yuen’s located.

We went to the airport after Fook Yuen and that’s the end of our vacation in KK.

Khalis and I are still talking, reminiscing about time in KK until today. He even suggested that we make KK our annual destination.