Malaysia 2011: En Route only Lah

In July we headed back to Malaysia for a few weeks.  Until this trip, going to Malaysia was always some varying combination of my parents, my sister and I however, our family has expanded and 3 generations of us descended on Kuching (my parents hometown) which is located just under my niece and nephew's hot little hands (see above).

Mamma G also braved the long flight to Asia.  I must say, she is a hard core traveller.  She challenged her stomach by joining the locals in having Laksa for breakfast.  She braved the stench and managed to down two spoonfuls of fresh durian.  She learned how to say "tastes good" in Hokkien.  Unfortunately, she wasn't quite able to master saying "I'm full" which meant my relatives felt free to feed her copious amounts of food every hour.  When immersing herself in the food and language wasn't enough of an experience, she decided to try out the health care system.  She didn't just try a cushy private hospital... nope....she wanted the full meal deal and checked herself into a public hospital complete with resident cat.  

She's one tough cookie. 

To get to Malaysia, we flew to San Francisco (the land of clean cars) and caught a hotel shuttle to the Burlingame Hyatt.  This gave us a chance to go for a quick run and gave some of us a chance to don compression socks!

Here's Mamma G standing in front of an exhibit at the SFO.  The exhibit was on a Swedish furniture and tapestry designer.

After San Francisco we flew to Seoul and blearily wandered the airport.

We spent 12 hours at the Changi in Singapore.  Six of those hours were spent sleeping at the Transit Hotel, and the rest were spent eating and exploring.

Mamma G's first taste of Char Kway Teow and Hainanese Chicken Rice.  Note the smiles..

This is the future site of the Mochi Creamery.  This was the number one reason why I was so excited to be stopping at the Changi Airport.  As you can see, it's under construction which means no ice cream mochi balls.  I couldn't believe our bad luck. 

 I wanted to throw myself on the floor.  

Kicking and screaming.

After I recovered from the crushing disappointment, we explored the sunflower garden, Koi Pond and Butterfly garden.

I also tried to sneakily take a photo of the pretty SIA air stewardesses in their uniforms, but it didn't really turn out:

Roger checked out a foot massager (it was free!!!)

and before we left, Roger made sure to tell the Harrods Bear to make sure the Mochi Creamery was open the next time we passed through Changi.

Stay tuned for more, we haven't even got to the Malaysia bit yet.  I never thought I could have so much fun at an airport!

Telford House June 2011

At the end of June, Roger and I headed down to Leduc for a "family reunion."  I use quotations because Dianne, the mastermind behind this event, made no secret that this gathering was really just an opportunity to show off her new grandkids.  

After meeting these babies face to face, I can completely understand why she was so eager to show them off.  

They're mighty cute.

and one of these newbies took home the award for Best Dressed.

Here's some of the big kids who made an appearance:

It seems Little Roger hasn't broken out of his habit of rubbing tummies, even though his wife gave birth a week ago!

Aside from meeting the new family additions, my second favourite highlight was Dianne's roast beef! 

In the end, I think we all appreciated the combined effort it took to go from this:

to this!

*My apologies for some of the blurry photos.  I am currently re-visiting photography 101.* 

The Baril Homestead and other beautiful places...

A few weekends ago I made a road trip to Camrose to visit Mamma G.  On the way down I made a detour to Jenny's farm which was interesting.  Apart from getting slightly lost and my poor Corolla getting tossed around on the gravel roads, I did make it and managed to snap a few pictures.  Unfortunately, the Baril's were no where in site, and with a massive rain storm coming, I decided to make tracks after waving to Peter Piper and Pandora.

If you look carefully in the second photo, you can see Peter Piper and Pandora in the distance behind the sheep.  Sorry... I couldn't muster up any more courage to get closer.

Turkey's and a rogue chicken.

While visiting Mamma G, she took me on a trip to Anita's House where, I've decided, I'll be moving to next week as a permanent guest--or perhaps more accurately, a squatter.  

View from back balcony and"Anita's Cafe."

 

A very thorough demonstration of Anita's exercise equipment.

My favourite room in the house.

A delicious shrimp sandwich

After the sandwich, we went for a walk in the woods outside her house.  Here are some of the surprises we came across on our travels. 

The bridge is built entirely without nails.  Just dowels.  

The walk finished with a raid on Bengt's wood shop.

Mamma G also took me to Pigeon Lake where I had clam chowder and a grilled VEGETABLE (believe it or not) panini that was surprisingly delicious at the Eco Cafe.  Unfortunately I did lug my camera around on the boardwalk but must have been too distracted to actually snap any photos.  Guess we'll have to go back!