Good Bye 2008 !!!

Today is the last day of 2008. I've got one mixed feeling and I don't know why. Today should be a day for us to celebrate right?? 2008 year have been a tough year for me with many things keep on happening, stressed and surprises. I've learned to be more independent, take care of my house & my kids all ALONE without a maid to help me. Living far apart from my hubby also have trained me to be more patient, mature & digged out the stronger side me. All these years, I've been too depended to him for anything & everything. Overall the year 2008 is not good year for me. I just prayed that, tomorrow will be BETTER. I hope in the year 2009 things will be smoother, all my wishes will be granted (hehe) and a happier me.

Next year my son's will be facing his first ever important exam. His UPSR, I hope he will tried his best to get a good result which enable him to get into a good secondary school. All these years his result are not too bad. Thank god~ I'm really very lucky to have 3 lovely kids accompany me all the time. They make me laugh & makes me angry, when at times I started to nagged them and scolding them. Without them my life will be dull and meaningless....

I missed my hubby so much. I wished him successful in whatever he do and please take care of yourself while we are not by your side. I MISSED the family gathering very much, it's been quite sometime we don't have a family gathering. I hope we can do it on this coming CNY. I missed my lovely sis in-law Aei Ween, it's has been quite sometime that we didn't meet & have a good chat with each other. I want to wish her all the best with her loved one and be happy ya!

I want to thank both my parents who've helped me a lot in anything & everything while my hubby was away to work in Hanoi. Daddy & Mommy, without you both I think I can't make it!!! Thank you!

Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to wish ALL OF YOU a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009, wishing ALL OF YOU WISHES COME TRUE and celebrate this special day with your loved one & family.



AMY

Trip To Hadyai On Christmas Day

Since my sister in-law Alice came all the way from KL to sent us back to Alor Star after we came back from our trip to Hanoi. We take the opportunity to visit Hadyai on the Christmas Day. My father in-law sent us there before he went to play golf with his friends there. The main purpose for us to visit Hadyai is of course for their food and visiting the temples there. We did some shopping at Robinson Shopping Centre before we went home.

From Alor Star, it's just about 2hrs drive to Hadyai. But, it's a bit crowded at the border that day and we spent more than 30 minutes just lining up there to get our passport and border pass chopped.

Prawn Noodles - my breakfast in Alor Star before we started our journey to Hadyai by car.

Christmas Day ~ off day and everyone are visiting Hadyai. Pls look at the crowd~

There is several tourist bus there too. Very slow and long queue at the custom counter.

All my kids, my nephew & niece join the crowd to get their passport chopped.

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Upon we reached Hadyai, the first thing we do is to get our empty stomach filled first. We go to this famous Thai Food restaurant - Kan Eng to have our lunch. It's just 2 adult and 5 children, well...majority are children. We ordered most of the non-spicy food for the kids. Their TomYam are NICEEEE...

Kan Eng restaurant Menu ...
Fried Egg - I love Thai fried egg very much...
Stirred fried Kang-Kung with bean sauce
Kerabu Mango with Deep fried fish

Yummy fish cakes with peanut sauce

Fried fish meat with ginger & spring onion

Most people who visited Hadyai will know this restaurant and it's always crowded with many customers either the locals or the tourist. Most of the dishes there are very tasty and the most important is, their price are very reasonable. The dishes all come in small size which enable us to order more types of dishes to try. Must try all the dishes there when you all visit Hadyai okay!! ~ We stay there one night, our dinner is Thai Seafood ... yum, yum, YUMMY !!!~

Check out my next post ~ ^.^

AMY

Our Santa Papa

Come on, what is Christmas without a Christmas present right?? Alice & Fen (both are my sis in-law) discussed and bought some toys & the kids favourite snacks as presents for the my kids, my nephews and nieces. In our family we have 8 children all together. So, Fen devided and packed all the stuff into 8 packets then wrapped it up with beautiful wrapping papers.

We asked Papa (my father in-law) to become our Santa tonight .... and even bring him a red hat to wear it,... hohoho~~ He become our Santa Clause and distributed all the pressies for his 8 grandchildren...the kids are so happy, each and everyone got their present.

Santa Papa

Happy Santa Grand-dad with his 8 most precious grandchildren ....
My nephew -Zhe Xhe
My princess & my niece - Enn Yin

Group photo of the kids ...

Look at Enn Yin cute face...she is enjoying the Vitagen ~ so cute!!~

AMY

Merry Christmas !!!

May All Your Dreams Come True ~

It's Christmas Day again. Although I'm not Christian but I really love Christmas so much. It's a season that full of love and joy. I love to listen to the Christmas's songs played at every corner of the town. I can feel the kind of warmth and peace.

The other thing is, I just love the Christmas decorations. I always wish to own a big white Christmas tree and decorated the tree myself but I don't know where I can put it as my house are too small. Just leave it in my wish list first ... lol~ Can you see the cute snowman and Mr. Santa below?? I catch up with this 2 fellows when I was in Ha Noi Big 'C' shopping mall. Actually they are standing there to welcome customers for a furniture shop. Cute right??? eerrmmm...how can I have them ah?? hehe....

Cute cute snowman & Mr. Santa Clause *.*

My kids lining-up to take pictures with them . . . .

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My son - Xen
Elder daughter - Jou
Youngest - Xin

I don't know if this Cute Snowman & Mr. Santa can understand english, because they are Vietnamese~lol. Here, I would like to wish all my friends, relatives, fellow bloggers and everyone who come upon to read this today a very great & joyous Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & Dreams Come True!!! Enjoy yourself with your loved one ...


Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell ROCK. .. ^^

AMY

Ha Noi Roadside "LAU"

On my one month stay in Ha Noi, I get to know that the land and house there are very expensive to compare with Malaysia. The expensive rental of the shophouse there cause the price of the food sells in restaurant expensive as well. It's cheaper if we just cook at home. Most of the local people there will just eat at home and they seldom eat outside at the restaurant.

On 1 December 08, my husband colleage Van Anh, Hai Anh & Linh bring us to try out their roadside "Lau". "Lau" in Malaysia we called it steamboat. Most Vietnamese will eat this on winter time. The price are cheaper to compare with the one we had at the restaurant. How many of got this experience sitting on the small tables and chairs at the busy roadside.

Some of the ingredients

Big "Lala" ~ anyone knows how to call this?

Tables & chairs was set up on the roadside..


Pot & Stove

My son

Mushrooms...

Add in the ingredients into the boiling soup.

The "Lau" are ready to be eaten ~

My baby

AMY

Cheese Strips

I want to recommend those who loves cheese to try out this cheese strips. It was sold in the packet like the picture below and I bought it in Big C shopping mall in Ha Noi.

It cost us about 70,000 dong ~ about RM14 one packet. They sold it according to the weight.
This is how it looks like when we untied it.... can be eaten straight away. My kids loves it~

AMY

Seri Janggus Seafood Restaurant, Alor Janggus

Tonight, Khen & Fen (my bro & sis in-law) treat us, Alice & me dinner. We went to a seafood restaurant at Alor Janggus about 15minutes drive from Alor Star. Since my mother cooked for us today. I only bring along my eldest son and Alice bring along her eldest daughter Jia Xin. The rest of the kids they already have their dinner at home.

Khen ordered fried rice, fried cuttlefish, prawn curry with milk, stir-fried bitter gourd with salted egg, fried "heh kor bak", stir-fried fish with ginger, spring onion & dried chilies and soft shelled crab.

Fried rice

Crispy cuttle-fish...yummy!!
Prawn curry cooked with milk with baby tomatoes....this is nice!
Glass Vermicelli & bean sprout (to be eaten with the prawn curry)*
Look at the prawn .... slurpppp~~
Bitter gourd with salted egg & meat

Fried "Heh Kor Bak" with salted egg...

Stir fried fish meat with ginger, spring onion & dried chilies...
Crispy soft-shelled crab

All the food are yummy and guess how much does it cost us???? 4 adult & 3 children. It only cost us RM80 plus drinks & 1 tiger beer. Cheap, right???

AMY

Steamed Fish with Preserved Vege...

On 7th December 08, my hubby's friend treated us dinner at a restaurant in Ha Noi. They ordered this Vietnamese style steamed fish. Vietnamese people love fish so much and they have various kind of fish dishes. They will eat the steamed fish with noodles to make them full.

Vietnamese style steam fish...
Vietnamese flat noodles to be eaten with the steamed fish soup

Passion fruit juice ~ I love this !

Tofu side dishes ...

AMY