Niah NP in April

Ali at Niah Park in April 2011.

Kuala Selangor over the weekend with family

Eight of us including 4 little children (eldest 10, youngest 4 years old) checked-in to MNS managed Kuala Selangor Nature Park for an overnight stay to check out the monkeys, egrets and possibly fireflies and owls. After the 'townies' overcame their initial shock of the spartan condition of our 7 single bed room, we headed to town for lunch at Kuala Selangor's best lunch place as far as I'm concerned.

There's about 40 ala-carte dishes to choose from for your lunch including obscure items such as kerabu paku, keli gulai masak lemak to sotong sumbat kukus. Seven plateful of rice filled to the rim with delectable local delights and individual drinks totalled a princely sum of $38, tough to beat if you are outside of Kuala Selangor. After lunch we took a romp on the Majlis Perbandaran Kuala Selangor train ride up Bukit Melawati and looped back to KSNP for a well-deserved afternoon seista.

All were fresh-eyed at the start of our late afternoon walk around the park. The littlest one was excited and scared at the same time at the prospect of meeting up with real live famous monkeys of KSNP. The furry creatures were out in full force as they always do ... from flabby macho males to the tiniest little runt. The kids had a blast viewing them up close, little Vanessa decided right there and then that she didn't like monkeys.

 The kids made it all the way up the viewing tower (2nd) and round the loop of the mangrove boardwalk. If it weren't for Grandpa and Grandma, they would've gone further, excited by the encounters with waving fiddler crabs, mud-crabs, buggy-eyed mudskippers, wood-peckers (they've all this while were only familiar with Woody Woodpecker) and other birds. Both Alyssa and Vanessa were conversant enough to point to and call out Brahminy Kite by the time we ended the trail.

CNY at PD Part II

They'll be all big and tall at next year's CNY ... let's do Lumut next or maybe someplace fun in Langkawi.

The last day before everyone drives off home to their final destination.

Mini Yee-Sang at the kiddie table.

Family at CNY 2011 - Part I

Jarad and Hannah


Vanessa and Alyssa


Aisya and Ali

Starting the new year 2011 right

Who's looking bored and would rather be elsewhere?


Aisya got very excited when we pulled up JJ, her tiny prawn, now her most-est favorite after Moses.


The jetty is a nice place to hangout, plenty of friendly locals and quite a few creatures crawling about in the water. Several seasons ago we saw a large estuarine croc not 200 meters away from where Aisya was sitting.

We attempted to start off the new year right this year. The Friday prior we decided to go on a family fishing excursion to Kuala Baram. Aisya has been egging us to go ever since she got back from Kelantan. It's something that we used to do a lot of before busy work came into the picture.

We did some fishing together at the same location but that activity fell on the wayside after other more-pressing stuff took center stage. Mommy ensured at least this year it'll be different, good for her. All of us we looking forward to the one day out in the sun.

It was supposed to be an early breakfast, we thought it was early enough. By the the time we reached Pak Wan's, had breakfast, chit-chatted with Pak Wan, we didn't leave for Kuala Baram until it was almost 9:30am! Pak Wan always had lots of stories.

We persevered and ploughed on and reached the jetty just before 10am.

The jetty was packed with other fishos and regulars, the catch of the day seemed to be prawns rather than fish! We got the wrong bait and gear!

Aisya was most excited about the prospect of catching something, anything. Ali was more out of it, his body was there, his mind was elsewhere. He'd rather spend time at home on his laptop. Sitting, waiting patiently for a nibble was more suited to Aisya who clearly was having fun.

We didn't catch anything and used up less than a quarter of Mom's prawns as bait.

By 11am it hot too hot for all of us, we decided to head back with promises of a second attempt the next day. For prawns this time.

Aisya and Daddy made a second attempt on New Year's day the next day specifically with prawns on our minds. With the help of Ali, Aisya managed to dig up 20+ earthworms and was ready to be out of the house by 0700am.

Off we went father and daughter team to conquer the giant prawns of the mighty Batang Baram after a quick family breakfast of noodles and dim-sum.

It was a slow morning with lots of bait changes. The day didn't all go to nought , plenty of nibbles (maybe perhaps too many) and the sacrifice of 22 healthy earthworms later, we brough up JJ. JJ is a middle finger sized prawn (not quite what we expected) which got Aisya all a flutter.

Aisya took JJ home in a bucket, and he's now taken up residence in our large aquarium at home.

With school starting, the prospect of sitting around shooting the breeze with loved ones was probably the best start for the new year. This knowing fully well that there are time enough for other busy work that will almost always become a wedge between self and family, stealing precious years from crucial bonding moments.

We need a billboard at the Pujut Roundabout "Take time off, have you taken your kids fishing today?"

Excursion to Bkt Kluang

Aisya's catch.


Irfan's catch.


Playing in the sand. Three years ago this exact spot was all rocks ... we landed some escaped barramundis here to the excitement of all present end of 2007.

Aisya's got Moses

Aisya lost Henrietta last year, both she and Ali have been nagging about picking up a new kitten for the house a playmate. Every cat she saw looks like Henrietta.

Finally just a day before Raya, her cat walked in. Similar in the way Etta (short for Henrietta) walked into our lives back then, through the main gate straight under Mommy's car. Little Moses (Moses for short) crept into the engine compartment and made himself comfortable all nite on top of the car battery.

He made his presence known when everyone was busy preparing for work right after Imsak the morning after. Aisya took to Moses in probably in less than 2 seconds. The kids put him in a cage, fed him milk and Little Moses is part of the family. He even made it to this year's Family Raya photo!

Moses, a tiny orange stray, thin and scrawny but loud when he wants too. Sounds like Aisya.