I Love Our Earth

We spent the last couple of weeks learning about the planets in our solar system, which left a deep impression on the Bees, especially Little Bee, who is still trying to create a framework about the world we live in. 

On Sunday, as we were reading a book about Earth, she copy-wrote the words "I love our Earth", and drew Earth with other planets in the solar system all by herself. Her favourite planet is Saturn, so she drew it in larger prominence just beside Earth. I particularly like her sun in sunglasses, so funny! 

The Bees and I also located Venus in the sky one night. It shone so brilliantly and the Bees were entranced yet a little fearful. I asked them why and they told me it is scary to think of outer space, before running into the house shrieking hysterically. Silly girls!

I am glad that the girls are beginning to ask probing questions beyond what was read with them in the books. I tried my best to answer some questions, although I must admit I was stumped by several! Hence, parenthood is truly a journey of lifelong learning with our children :) 

Some questions they asked:

Big Bee

How does space form?

How does the first day of earth look like? 

How does the sun form?

Where is the Mariana Trench?

Little Bee

How does earth form?

How do rainbows form?

Why can we see both the sun and moon at the same time in daytime?

This evening, I asked them what they could do to help our ailing Earth. Here are their suggestions:

Big Bee

1) Reduce, re-use, recycle! Recycle paper and cans

2) Don't litter

3) Don't waste water

Little Bee

1) Turn off the lights

Let's hope they will practise what they preach! 

A rainbow drawn by Little Bee

The Dogsitters

2 weeks ago, the Bees became dogsitters for Max, the adorable chihuahua! All thanks to my cousin Irene for this opportunity! Her family went for a holiday, and I grabbed the chance to look after Max, her dog, so that the Bees could fulfill their dream of having a dog at home.

The cousins and Max

And how excited Big Bee was! A week before Max was due to come to our house, she borrowed 3 books on chihuahuas and read all about them. 

Hubby and I used to have 3 dogs between us, and we truly cherish the companionship of our furry best friends. It is indeed sad how our eternally-loyal dogs' lives are so much shorter than ours. 

Anyway, on the night of Max's arrival, we were all thrilled to see a dog in the house again. However, poor Chloe cried so sadly when she realised Max was not going home with her that night, poor baby! 

Throughout Max's stay, we bonded closer as a family when all 4 of us went for regular walks with sprightly Max, who is so active for his majestic 14 years of age! Irene must be a wonderful caregiver for him! 

The look on Big Bee's face was truly priceless as she held onto the leash and walked Max with beaming pride. Little Bee was a little more nonchalant, whereas Hubby and I were both pretty excited too! We constantly greeted Max as he snuggled in his little corner in our home. 

Our dogsitting only lasted for 3 days. Furthermore, we had to depart for Penang on the final day, so my mother helped to look after Max. But what great fun we had - thanks, Irene! :) 

Palatable Pleasures In Penang: Part 2

Getting Around

Penang was such an easy place to get around, and we were privy to a whole host of very gregarious, chatty taxi drivers who were highly enthusiastic in sharing tourist information about their hometown, and even more eager to book us for the whole day as sight-seeing tourists, which we usually politely declined.

The public bus system was highly efficient as well, and we were lucky to have a bus-stop right outside the hotel with an air-conditioned bus (101) that could transport us in comfort right into Georgetown in 30 minutes. We took this bus to Gurney Drive for dinner one night and it was certainly fuss-free.

Attractions

We selected a few attractions that would interest us as a family, and they were:

Toy Museum

There was a mind-boggling array of toys in all sorts of categories, ranging from an extensive collection of small and life-sized Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings which got Hubby and I really excited - to an all-encompassing range of Barbie dolls that got Little Bee jumping in delight, and even a whole shelf of Disney’s Lion King that Big Bee loved. 

We spent a good hour meandering through the narrow aisles and examining the entire collection of fascinating toys. This toy museum was started by a private collector and all these toys are his! Amazing!

Georgetown

This is a UNESCO World Heritage city, but to us, it looks immensely like Singapore in the 70s and 80s. I bet it would be really charming to be lost in the little alleys of Chinatown or Little India, but the weather was sweltering and it would be hard to drag 2 girls on long scorching walking tours around the city. So, we selected parts of the city that we wanted to visit instead.

Fort Cornwallis

With Hubby’s and my interest in all things wartime, we traipsed to Fort Cornwallis with much zeal. This antiquated fort was built in 1786, and has a star-shaped structure. Apparently, it is the largest standing fort in Malaysia now, but being rather compact with no sprawling land, we were able to complete our rounds in 45 minutes!

We explored little dank rooms that resembled dungeons, and brave Big Bee and I went into a dim gun magazine building with a tiny window that reminded us of prison cells. 

The chapel of Fort Cornwallis

More enchantingly, we trooped to the highest point of the fort and posed beside a cannon pointing right at the quiescent sea adjacent to it – I love how this fort was perched just beside the sparkling azure sea.

Pasar malam

Hubby loves pasar malams in Singapore, so on the second evening of arrival, he immediately dragged the entire brood to the famous Batu Ferringhi pasar malam. 

Alas, the weather was not fair to us and dark broiling storm clouds prevented us from ambling around the narrow tentages of the pasar malam, pushing us instead into an excellent Lebanese restaurant. 

He persevered after dinner, and with an umbrella, he set forth alone to purchase a huge nautical yacht to be placed in our living room – for a steal, of course!

The FOOD

What can I say – Penang is truly a food paradise! Our main purpose in Penang was to gorge ourselves silly with all kinds of hawker food, and we truly indulged in all varieties of food.

The hotel’s restaurants

We tried everything in the hotel from room service on the first night of our arrival to Hard Rock Café to the morning buffet breakfasts to the pizzeria on the beach. 

While Hard Rock Café’s food is the typical robust American food, the rest of the meals taken in the hotel paled in comparison to the (much) cheaper hawker food outside! Certainly, it was definitely much more comfy relaxing in the hotel eating, but Hubby and I would rather fester in the heat of hawker centres with yummy albeit sinful food! We attained a food map of Penang which was a magnificent guide in leading us to the right places with famous hawker fare that we craved.

Lorong Selamat (Georgetown)

The very famous char koay teow (Penang spelling) in Kafe Heng Huat along Lorong Selamat was the first pit stop for us. Kafe Heng Huat was like a 70s/80s Singaporean shophouse kopitiam (like those in Joo Chiat), and it was really blisteringly hot as we went there at noon for lunch. The Bees were grouchy initially, preferring instead to dine in the hotel (oh, how pampered Singaporean kids are!). But after the first juicy char koay teow was slurped in their little mouths, you could see their eyes brightening and their pace of eating quickening! Thereafter, we did not hear any complains from the Bees whenever we brought them along in our food hunt!

We also ordered rojak from a roadside stall at Lorong Selamat, as well as the popular Penang ice-kachang with a scoop of ice-cream atop the flavourful ice mountain. Needless to say, Big Bee wiped out the entire plate of char koay teow whereas Little Bee was beside herself when the ice-kachang appeared!

Verdict: Immensely satisfying! Slurp!

Old City Food Court (Georgetown)

Their food court is not like Singapore’s sterile, air-conditioned food courts – resembling more like our open-air, single-storey hawker centres instead. I like this food court concept as we could order a sampling of many hawker foods!

Hubby and I ate wanton mee (the dark-sauce type), whereas the Bees each devour an entire plate of chicken and char siew rice all by themselves in record time – including Little Bee! This was certainly a big testament to the chicken and char siew rice!

We tried their Penang white coffee here, but I still prefer my cafe latte anytime :P Their kalamansi lime drink was truly addictive though! In addition, we had a little plate of chee cheong fun but I did not really relish their dark, oyster-tasting sauce, preferring the Hong Kong dimsum chee cheong fun instead.

After our lunch here, we strolled around the sleepy neighbourhood shops and I was really enchanted by the leisurely pace of living here. We bought a few 80s-style pastries from an open-air bakery (remember those bakery shops that peppered all over our HDB areas, way before the arrival of commercialized Breadtalk?) – coconut tarts for Hubby and me, and chocolate muffins for the Bees.

Hubby also made a dash at mee jiam kuey (peanut pancake) at a roadside stall, and we were both bowled over by its crispy thin pancake skin! YUMS!

Verdict: Slightly above average hawker food, but wonderful pastries and peanut cake as well as a lovely walk around that area!

Gurney Drive

We took a bus ride back into Georgetown that same evening to experience dining in an alfresco hawker centre – under the stars and beside the sea! Gurney Drive is famous for its wide array of excellent trademark hawker fare, resembling Newton Circus and Satay Club in the 70s/80s.

Little Bee fell asleep in the bus, so I had to carry her from the bus-stop to Gurney Drive food centre which was a distance away. With a snoozing child in my arms, I could not walk around to explore the plethora of yummy hawker stalls, so I left Hubby to choose our gourmet delights for the evening. We managed to wake Little Bee up when the table was overflowing with Hubby’s selections, and that little foodie was munching the moment her eyes opened!

What was a little frantic for us was when ominous and sinisterly dark storm clouds gathered right above us, just as we were starting to eat. Hubby had the quick wit to swap all our food to a table with a huge umbrella – just before it started pouring heavily! As we observed all the crowds around us dashing for cover in the downpour, it was pretty romantic to be huddled beneath the umbrella, eating our hawker dinner. As Hubby and Big Bee quipped, “If the rain doesn’t stop, we will just have to spend the whole night here, having a romantic time chatting with each other!” Haha!

Thankfully, the rain stopped just as we finished our dinner, in order to let us make our way back to the hotel!

Here were what we ordered:

Penang assam laksa (Hubby and I were not fans of this sour-tasting laksa, preferring the nonya Singaporean laksa)

Poh piah (I loved the soft poh piah skin and plentiful ingredients inside – really crunchy and scrumptious)

Chinese satays for the Bees (they feasted on 20 sticks of chicken satays and claimed those were utterly delicious!)

Fried rice for the Bees (the Bees and I were fans of this sinfully tasty fried rice)

Grilled cuttlefish (Hubby and the Bees loved this lightly grilled delight)

3 boxes of muah chees and 2 big sweet coconuts for desserts (they actually had muah chee hawker stalls and the muah chees were so soft and succulent with little bits of chopped peanuts – blissful!)

Verdict: Perfect combination of ambience and mouthwatering food! We all enjoyed Gurney Drive a whole lot (except for the famous Penang laksa!).

Relaxation

We had a couple of indulgent massage sessions, once in the Rock Spa and another time at a spa along Batu Ferringhi. The massages were divine for me, and the Bees thoroughly loved their pedicure and light foot massages in the spa! 

We also had the good opportunity to relax in the hotel lobby one night, where they were playing a movie (Night At The Museum 2). It was truly lulling to lounge in the big comfy seats and enjoying a restful evening as a family - away from home, where the daily stresses of everyday life are a distant memory. 

The Bees also bought 2 gigantic floats from a nearby provision shop - a friendly killer whale float for Big Bee, and a cute Hello Kitty float for Little Bee. 

As they busied themselves with exploring the floats in the pool one late morning, Hubby and I beamed broadly when we saw how much they relished the floats and we truly savoured these indelible memories. 

In all, this was a surprisingly alluring holiday destination, which truly enabled us to rejuvenate ourselves. We will be back for sure...! 

Singing About Planets

This evening, we read a fantastic book about the solar system that used the melody of the song "Where Is Thumbkin" to teach kids about the 8 planets in our solar system! And it was so effective to help the Bees remember the order of the planets, even for Little Bee! 

I don't usually sing much (because I have no musical sense!) but as I was croaking the songs out, the Bees were enthralled, sitting quietly, listening to the songs packed with so much fun facts about the planets and our sun! Even I was very impressed - not by my broken singing, but by the book, of course! 

Other than the song, there were also little tidbits of easily digestible facts about each planet that got the Bees discussing excitedly about the solar system. 

Some excerpts of the songs here - just repeat the tune of "Where Is Thumbkin" for every verse.

1. See the planets! See the planets! 

In the sky! Use your eyes!

Planets in their orbits

Form our solar system.

Aren't they great?

There are eight!

2. Mercury is the first planet (you have to sing this real quick!)

Number one! Near the sun!

Mercury is tiny.

It has many craters.

Formed by rocks. It's so hot!

3. Uranus is planet seven.

Bluish-green! Rings are seen!

It is made of gas, and

Moons float all around it.

Brrr...it's cold. Freezing cold!

And some examples of the more captivating facts that fascinated the Bees and drew them into excited chatter:

1. A thick blanket of poisonous clouds covers Venus' hot surface. This blanket reflects light from the sun, making Venus shine brightly.

- We then discussed about the difference between planets and stars when we see them in the sky. Do you know we can see 5 planets (Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Saturn) with our naked eye in the sky? Amazing! Looks like we should be going star-gazing soon. 

2. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Scientists believe Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a storm that has lasted more than 300 years. 

3. Mars has sheets of ice at its north and south poles, just like Earth does. 

The Bees could not bear to close the book tonight. Looks like I will be needing to sing a whole lot more every night! 

Palatable Pleasures In Penang: Part 1

We indulged in a 4-day getaway in Penang from 12 to 16 March – desiring nothing more but pure relaxation and total leisure. We came back revitalized, invigorated and with a few extra inches around our waists!

We stayed in the Hard Rock Hotel, perched right on the beautiful northern beaches of Batu Ferringhi. The resort was nestled up in hills where we meandered through narrow winding roads set precariously on jutting cliffs with stunning views of the Straits of Malacca – albeit with heartstopping vertical drops right down to the gently rolling waves.

It is disorienting to gaze in wonder at the panoramic views of the sparkling sea in the immediate wake of Japan’s monstrous tsunami. The ocean is seemingly so tranquil and placid, yet the world now knows the full wrath of vicious destructive waves with utmost capability of wiping out our so-called invincible humanity.

The beach right outside our hotel

Which is why I stared at the infinite vista of ocean right outside our bedroom every day with sobering thoughts and awed respect – the forces of nature are doth mightier than humanity indeed.

Daily scenes of tranquillity and calm

Here are some highlights of our trip. 

The hotel

Hard Rock Hotel is synonymous with blasting rock music, upbeat customer service, raucous activities and a whole atmosphere of casual chaos. For families looking for quiet calm, this hotel may not be suitable. But for us with 2 loud and boisterous girls, I relished this environment as no one would give our active girls dirty looks for making too much noise. Hence, we felt perfectly at home in this energetic hotel.

We slept with the Beatles above us every night!

We booked a seaview room right on the 4^th floor, so we had the pleasure of indulging in expansive views of the ocean and the surrounding rolling hills right from the spacious balcony. 

Scenes that greeted my eyes every day - right from our room's balcony. 

After researching in Tripadvisor, I also learned to ask for a room in a quieter part of the hotel, which was a blessing, as there were bands playing right till midnight in the lobby.

Another view from our balcony

I am particularly fond of the nights when the Bees slept, and Hubby and me would sit in the balcony, just listening to the hypnotic rhythm of the waves, taking note of their eternal patterns of movement, and gazing at the starry moonlit sky. Time stood at a standstill and we could truly return to our core essence again.

The free form pool is the largest in Penang, and the Bees loved the water play area and 3 huge pool slides. Bearing the usual Hard Rock Hotel trademark of sandy swimming pools, the Bees thoroughly enjoyed sandplay beside (and inside!) the pool as well!

Elated Little Bee at the waterplay area

There were also poolside performers in the form of a snake charmer, who entertained us for one whole hour with his colossol python and many highly venomous cobras! The Bees were enthralled by him. 

Big Bee has a strange fascination for snakes...

The beach

The beach in front of Hard Rock Hotel Penang is a public beach – which led to some touts marketing a plethora of services from massages to horse riding whenever we strolled on the beach. However, these touts were not pesky, so we were able to avoid much friction with them once we declined their services politely.

The sand was rather coarse at the beach, and the waves were really gentle and mild. The entire landscape was enhanced by enchanting emerald rolling hills on both sides of the oceanic vista, framing the halcyon sea in an embrace of verdant lushness. The horizon of the sea was stunningly unobstructed, hardly speckled with any boats or ships, except with a sprinkling of parasailers and banana-boaters that added a dash of excitement to the composed sea. Splendidly tall casuarina trees towered around the fringe of the beach, creating an informal barrier between the private land of the hotel and the public space of the beach.

Big Bee loved the tall horses trotting around the beach, and her utmost wish was granted one evening as we sat by the seaside pizzeria eating dinner. A tout with a large gentle brown horse ambled up to us as we admired the resplendent sunset. After some discussion between Hubby and the tout (50 ringgit per ride), as well as much wistful gazing by Big Bee at the horse, she was hoisted up the statuesque stallion and was led away to trot on the sandy beach, alongside the waves.

Soon after, she was riding the magnificent horse independently, even cantering at some instances on the soft sands. Hubby and I watched with our hearts in our throats, but it is very apparent she was enjoying herself tremendously.

It was breathtaking watching her ride the horse against a dazzling backdrop of brilliant sunset hues and the ravishing darkening sea atop a majestic steed. Both rider and horse looked like they were truly enjoying the moment.

Big Bee riding into the sunset...

Little Bee, on the other hand, a huge adoring fan of sandy beaches, has busied herself with a few long hardy twigs, squatting under a stately casuarinas tree, and creating little patterns and structures on the sand, oblivious to her jie-jie’s joy, whilst engrossed in her own happiness.

The sunsets

I never failed to be bewitched by sunsets all around the world, especially sunsets by the beach. My idea of a perfect holiday is to sit by the beach everyday, just gazing in wonderment at multi-hued sunsets. 

The sunset at Batu Ferringhi is a gradual and long-drawn process, starting from around 6.30pm and ending with a brilliant finale at 8pm! The skies were brightened by tangerine and ochre colours at first, before ending with ravishing blazing skies of flaming crimson, mysterious indigo and fiery coral, illuminating the adjacent sea below it with radiant, shimmering parallel reflections. I could just watch this over and over again.  

6.50pm

8pm!

To be continued...

Paintings Of Natural Calamities

We had not been doing much hands-on work with our homelearning on Planet Earth, other than lots of reading to establish strong foundation in their scientific knowledge of earth sciences. 

So far, the Bees had read with intrigue about the broader solar system that Earth constitutes a miniscule part of, they also learned about the major components on earth (mountains, forests, deserts and oceans) and finally they were captivated by natural disasters in the forms of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods. They kept asking me why they did not witness any of such disasters in Singapore, other than flooding, and I could only tell them we are very blessed! 

Mention "disasters" to Little Bee and she will tell me about hurricanes and tornadoes that she is fascinated with. She had been doodling spirals of warm hurricane clouds. Whereas Big Bee devoured a book with an amazing 100 facts about natural calamities in one fell swoop, understanding a lot more about natural forces that shaped the earth. She had also been hinting to me a few times to create a man-made volcano with her, but unfortunately, my energy levels had been languishing these few weeks, so sadly, I had been putting that off. 

Nevertheless, I encouraged the Bees to paint elements of natural disasters on some leisurely evenings, and it could be so therapeutic - not just for the Bees but also for me sitting aside and observing them swishing their painted brushes on white drawing paper. Painting such landscapes not only kept them quiet and occupied for a while, it also provided me a chance to explain in detail to them about what they painted and the intricate features of the respective disaster they drew, allowing them to absorb the knowledge deeper. 

I would usually search for a collection of paintings on their chosen topic from the internet, and will get both of them to reach a consensus on the painting they wanted to copy paint from. With pencils, they will each sketch out the outline of the painting, and with brushes, they will paint on the strokes of brilliant colours to breathe life into their art. 

I am quite happy to see both of them working on this independently, without my help, including Little Bee. Of course, she will always emulate Big Bee every step of the way - but that's what siblings are for, isn't it? 

Here were some of what they painted: 

1) Tornado landscape by Big Bee where she dabbled with different techniques and colour blends to highlight the swift whirls of the tornado, the broiling ominous thunderclouds and the eroding meadows.

2) Tornado landscape by Little Bee. She included a "giant tree" that was so powerful and resilient to the tornado, but sadly, I told her that trees are oftentimes victims of tornadoes. Emulating jie-jie, she added strokes of black to her tornado and told me solemnly that tornadoes brought lots of dust and mud to the surrounding houses. She also drew people and houses that were sucked into the tornado but did not get to paint them!

3) An erupting volcano by Little Bee, where she understood in depth about volcanic ash clouds and gushing lava flowing down volcanic slopes.   

Of Ponies And Horse Carriages

We went to the zoo 2 weekends ago and had a great time on Sunday morning. The air was crisp and sharp, with intermittent whiffs of the fragrant forest air. The animals were highly excited as it was the usual morning feeding time, so we could observe an affluence of animals and zookeepers in action which intrigued the Bees as always. 

We sauntered around the zoo complaisantly, gazing at chimpanzees and orang utans, listening to the calls of the wild and meandering alongside huge placid lakes and virgin forests. Big Bee had grand plans to cover the entire zoo - clutching a map in her hands and directing us assertively on where we should be ambling towards! It does feel nice to be led by our children once in a while :) 

We strolled towards the KidsWorld, and decided to let the Bees take the popular 3-in-1 $10 ride, which comprises of a pony ride, a horse carriage ride around the perimeter of the KidsWorld and one carousel session. 

The Bees were thrilled, of course, and embarked on the carousel ride first - their gleeful expressions with Papa on the ride truly enlivened my spirits, as I stood aside, watching them. 

Next up, they each took a turn riding on King, a 17-year-old horse that looked so gentle and poised. Little Bee was elated, and we might have considered riding lessons for her, if not for Big Bee's previous riding accident. 

Whereas Big Bee - always a horse whisperer - uttered her deepest wish, yet again, of wishing to continue her riding journey. When Hubby asked if she is frightened of falling from the horse again, she looked at him quizzically and exclaimed, "But Papa - falling from horses is very normal if we want to ride!" This statement that emanated from our usually very cautious eldest girl came as an anomaly - this girl loves the carefree feeling of riding on a horse so much that she is willing to put aside her usually well-guarded safety. 

Unfortunately, Hubby and I had not gotten over the trauma of her riding accident yet - so we told her to be patient and wait a few more years. Such is the adoring interest of our impassioned daughter that we try not to douse it away with too much negativity. What a thin line indeed. 

We then clambered up a majestic, elegant horse carriage with Jones as our horse, and had a heart-stirring ride around the lush environs of the peaceful perimeter of KidsWorld, relishing the tender caresses of the breeze on our faces and enjoying the rhythmic and hypnotic clippity-clop of the Jones' hoofs. Blissful indeed - and I could pretend I am Jane Austen for a few minutes! 

Thereafter, the Bees went at close range to interact with the various ponies, horses and goats, not bearing to leave them when we persuaded them to call it a day and head home for lunch. 

Finally, as we approached the zoo's exit, we saw a kiosk for an author's autographing session. Unfortunately, no one was giving this author a second look. Hubby prodded me to take a look at her books, and we had a wonderful time chatting with her about her books, which incidentally, chronicled tales of children who are brave warriors in conservation - the Doughty Warriors. More importantly, the author, Brenda Broster, spoke at length with Big Bee who, though a wee tad shy, could interact with a writer upclose and personal, and receive a personal autograph message from Brenda in her book! Big Bee told me the book was interesting - the fact that she completed the book in less than 3 days is testament to her interest level :) 

The Bees with Brenda Broster, writer of The Doughty Warriors

We will be back very soon at the zoo again - observing different animals this time :)