For the last few weeks since Kun Sam turned 5-mths, he has been showing signs that he's teething. Lotsa saliva, biting anything & everything he got his hands on & poo a few times a day. However, whenever he bites my finger, I can only feel his hard gums "chomping" & gnawing. Until last night....
As usual I indulge by giving my pointer finger for him to gnaw on. What surprise when I feel something sharp biting into my flesh! I quickly removed my finger & pry open his mouth to look at the little teeth (much to his disagreement). Sure enough there's a teeny-weeny white surface of a tooth protuding out of his gums!
Excited I went for the camera. Alas it's impossible to get a shot of a moving baby who refuses to open his mouth without me prying it open. So unfortunately I can't take the photo shot of the historic moment. But managed to get many cute shots of him smiling & lauging cos' he thought it was a game when I tried prying his mouth open...
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
Kun Sam's Adventure With A Toothless Grin
Last weekend hubby, Kun Sam and I travelled down to Melaka to visit my brothers & my very pregnant sister-in-law. We arrived just in time for lunch & we had Klang Bak Kut Teh (yea, I know... what am I doing having Klang Bak Kut Teh in Melaka? It's like having Penang Char Kway Teow in KL). All went well & Kun Sam was being an angel sitting straddled on my lap with my arms around him while we eat (note: we were careful with the hot soup - so no child negligence there... hmmm.... am I the only one paranoid on child safety here?). At times he looked at me & moves his mouth as if he'd love to have a bite / sip too. :-)
Through out the whole meal there were quite a number of people who walk pass us & most if not all of them would "greet" / wave at him the way most adults do whenever they see a baby; be it young / old / fair / dark / Malaysian / Bangladeshi - he seem to take this in his stride with no problem. Towards the end of the meal, my youngest brother took over to carry him & at the same time a lady working there walked over to play with him as well. Suddenly he cried so loud that he scare the lady away & not to mention grabbing the attention of all the restaurant patrons. He refused to stop crying & screaming even after I took over to carrying him & soothe him - which was really strange. He even burrowed his tiny head on my chest while continuing his wailing. Looking up at the lady who tried to play with him, I thought she looked normal enough....
Until..... she smiled and I noticed her whole front teeth were missing! LOL...
I know it's bad to laugh, at the risk of looking as if I'm laughing at her missing "assets". But I'm actually laughing (much restained ahemming actually) because I suspect my little similarly-toothless Kun Sam might be crying his head off because of that toothless smile!
He finally stopped crying (with some residual hiccups) when we paid the bill & made our way to the car. Upon reaching the car everyone was laughing & hubby said "What's the big deal Kun Sam? You had no teeth too!" Bro was a bit more nasty saying that she must have looked really ugly in his baby's eyes ("ugly" in the eyes of the beholder?) and.... he must be right because babies - like children, don't lie. **roll eyes** Nasty isn't it? I wasn't going to comment, for I may very well be the old lady with a toothless grin as well in future. I hope when that day comes, Kun Sam Jr is not going to scream his head off looking at grandmas toothless smile.
Through out the whole meal there were quite a number of people who walk pass us & most if not all of them would "greet" / wave at him the way most adults do whenever they see a baby; be it young / old / fair / dark / Malaysian / Bangladeshi - he seem to take this in his stride with no problem. Towards the end of the meal, my youngest brother took over to carry him & at the same time a lady working there walked over to play with him as well. Suddenly he cried so loud that he scare the lady away & not to mention grabbing the attention of all the restaurant patrons. He refused to stop crying & screaming even after I took over to carrying him & soothe him - which was really strange. He even burrowed his tiny head on my chest while continuing his wailing. Looking up at the lady who tried to play with him, I thought she looked normal enough....
Until..... she smiled and I noticed her whole front teeth were missing! LOL...
I know it's bad to laugh, at the risk of looking as if I'm laughing at her missing "assets". But I'm actually laughing (much restained ahemming actually) because I suspect my little similarly-toothless Kun Sam might be crying his head off because of that toothless smile!
He finally stopped crying (with some residual hiccups) when we paid the bill & made our way to the car. Upon reaching the car everyone was laughing & hubby said "What's the big deal Kun Sam? You had no teeth too!" Bro was a bit more nasty saying that she must have looked really ugly in his baby's eyes ("ugly" in the eyes of the beholder?) and.... he must be right because babies - like children, don't lie. **roll eyes** Nasty isn't it? I wasn't going to comment, for I may very well be the old lady with a toothless grin as well in future. I hope when that day comes, Kun Sam Jr is not going to scream his head off looking at grandmas toothless smile.
Kun Sam Has a New Cousin!
Yup - My brother is now a father of a baby girl. Born on 28th Jul at 10+am, she weighs in at 3.55kg (even heavier than Kun Sam!). Despite the drama of a potential cesarean, she eventually arrived naturally. :-)
Well, not wanting to steal my brother's thunder - will give him the honours to share with us the "details".
I wonder how will Kun Sam react to another baby? Grab at her hands & gnaw it am sure... He's teething right now, so he tends to gnaw at anything that comes within reach now - especially his own fingers (his poor teddy is almost constantly wet! yet he strangely didn't like to use the proper teether).
Well, not wanting to steal my brother's thunder - will give him the honours to share with us the "details".
I wonder how will Kun Sam react to another baby? Grab at her hands & gnaw it am sure... He's teething right now, so he tends to gnaw at anything that comes within reach now - especially his own fingers (his poor teddy is almost constantly wet! yet he strangely didn't like to use the proper teether).
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Pix during my pregnancy
I was hideous during my pregnancy! (Not that I am beautiful to begin with, but I was uglier that time!) I had pimples exploding everywhere, my double-chin which I've managed to shed just before getting pregnant (with lotsa effort in controlling my diet & exercising I must add) made a huge come back and my nose! Can you see how bulbous it had become! Oh well... I wasn't aware of them until when I reviewed the pix... :-p I was in Cloud 9 at that time! I don't notice these things when I have greater things to look forward to...
I must say though that baby is very "co-operative" when he was snug in my womb. I've heard a lot about woman's cravings during pregnancy. I do have a number of them, but surprisingly despite the very strong cravings that can drive me crazy when I keep recalling the taste, smell and look of the stuff I crave, I managed to get around it. How? Well, one midnight, I had this strong crave for Chee Cheong Fun and it must be the Penang style with dark sweet sauce... not the KL Chee Cheong Fun which is normally in curry. I was salivating just picturing the plate of Chee Cheong Fun (and believe me, I wasn't even a Chee Cheong Fun fan to begin with, so I don't understand the craving) with no way of getting it. So I tried my luck by rubbing at my tummy and said "Baby... it's late and all the Chee Cheong Fun stalls are closed. Can we wait till tomorrow morning? Mummy promise, we'll get that Chee Cheong Fun first thing tomorrow morning! Deal?" After a while, my craving lessen and I can finally sleep peacefully without tossing and turning - craving after the CCF. Amazing isn't it? I negotiated with my baby even before he's out of the womb! Hehe...
So after that I've employed the same methods whenever I was hit with strong cravings. Craving for authentic thin crust pizza (not the fast food variety unfortunately... This baby has class... I tried Pizza Hut & Domino's... he's not sated). But I was in PD? Where do you get good pizza there? So again, I "negotiated" and it goes something like this - "Baby... Mummy is in PD with dede right now... There's no pizza like the ones you wanted... Can we wait till the weekend? I promise I'll get you that Pizza you wanted". So I was ok for a few days and even forgotten about it, but come weekend... The cravings came back! Then I remembered the promise. So hubby and I went to Marco's pizza in BV. That's the only pizzeria I can think of that's close to the ones we had in Rome and Milan during our honeymoon (cos' my cravings was really going for that very taste we had in Italy... but sorry... am not that cravy nor rich to fly all the way to Italy to soothe my cravings... pregnant or not...) - after that, I was satisfied and never wanted another pizza again!
Other than CCF and pizza, some of my other cravings are - Cempedak (and I want them fried... not raw... Boy that was tough... It was about nearly a month before I tracked down some cempedaks), Tau Fu Fah and... errr... can't remember... maybe that was it. I tell ya... All these cravings were postponed to a more convenient time thanks to a bit of negotiation with lil' un. Funny huh...
Monday, 21 March 2011
Happenings in 2010
Since I did not blog for the whole of 2010, here's some catch up on the happenings in 2010:
1) Another CNY with no baby in sight. It's getting more & more difficult especially when bump into insensitive relatives. The most difficult this year was of a distant cousin of my mother-in-law who initially tried to match make her daughter with hubby but it didn't materialize. The daughter married a few years after us & got a baby daughter soon after; with another bun in the oven (boasted to be a boy). She was so smug about her daughter having 2 kids already despite marrying later than my hubby & looked at me in disdain when she asked how come I've not had any yet & the fact that I'm not young anymore... That #@%$#*&!!
2) My maternal grandma passed away after 2010 CNY at the ripe age of 84. It was expected because she was diagnosed with cancer some time back, but her passing was still hard. She was so strong in comparison to her peers of the same age, that it never crosses my mind she'll leave so soon. I always marveled at her strength, dexterity (imagine a full squat & standing up without aid at her age!) & most importantly she can eat anything without "pantang". Most Asian old folks I know will shun foods like duck (aggravates rheumatism), cabbage (wind), iced drinks / cold food (cold), coffee (insomnia), cucumber (cold), yam (skin itch), prawns & eggs (cholesterol) etc. Not my grandma. She takes all of them & more. I was shocked when she even ate coleslaw (a definite no-no for others)!
3) 6th Jun - historic day where the doc took the first scan of baby. At that time he was just a black circle on the scan (refer to previous post for pix of scan). I wanted to shout out to that rude woman in (1), but what's the use... She'll just say, well good for you, but my son who just got married last year is already expecting a son soon... So? You're still very late in delivering your "KPI"... sigh... Save my strength for the coming baby!
At first, time seem to drag so slowly... Especially when waiting to:
a) know if it's a boy or a girl (that took forever!!) - though I don't mind if it's a boy / a girl cos' being my first, I'm happy just to have a healthy baby; but hubby's family is anxious for a grandson. I told my friends, if it's a girl, I'll tell my mum-in-law, don't blame the "postman" (or in this case woman). I just deliver... your son determines the sex! ;-)
b) get the results of my blood test & baby's scans to determine if he's healthy
After that? It just zooms past so fast that I was "sorry" when it was time to head for the delivery room!! Maybe because I had such a good & smooth pregnancy with none of the morning sickness etc etc, I just love being pregnant! Especially to feel every kick, knee-jerks, elbow-jerks and even the somersaults! At first I was anticipating a very uncomfortable last month where mothers normally complaint to me as being among the difficult months because the baby is so huge that you can hardly sleep... Well, I admit he did kick me a lot, but when I talked to him and asked him to be a good boy & let mummy sleep at night, the kicks stopped!! ... but continued again bright and early the next morning.
Finally baby was born on 11th January 2011 at 10+am. Weighing at 3.25kg. Here's his first pix after coming out of the delivery room:
1) Another CNY with no baby in sight. It's getting more & more difficult especially when bump into insensitive relatives. The most difficult this year was of a distant cousin of my mother-in-law who initially tried to match make her daughter with hubby but it didn't materialize. The daughter married a few years after us & got a baby daughter soon after; with another bun in the oven (boasted to be a boy). She was so smug about her daughter having 2 kids already despite marrying later than my hubby & looked at me in disdain when she asked how come I've not had any yet & the fact that I'm not young anymore... That #@%$#*&!!
2) My maternal grandma passed away after 2010 CNY at the ripe age of 84. It was expected because she was diagnosed with cancer some time back, but her passing was still hard. She was so strong in comparison to her peers of the same age, that it never crosses my mind she'll leave so soon. I always marveled at her strength, dexterity (imagine a full squat & standing up without aid at her age!) & most importantly she can eat anything without "pantang". Most Asian old folks I know will shun foods like duck (aggravates rheumatism), cabbage (wind), iced drinks / cold food (cold), coffee (insomnia), cucumber (cold), yam (skin itch), prawns & eggs (cholesterol) etc. Not my grandma. She takes all of them & more. I was shocked when she even ate coleslaw (a definite no-no for others)!
3) 6th Jun - historic day where the doc took the first scan of baby. At that time he was just a black circle on the scan (refer to previous post for pix of scan). I wanted to shout out to that rude woman in (1), but what's the use... She'll just say, well good for you, but my son who just got married last year is already expecting a son soon... So? You're still very late in delivering your "KPI"... sigh... Save my strength for the coming baby!
At first, time seem to drag so slowly... Especially when waiting to:
a) know if it's a boy or a girl (that took forever!!) - though I don't mind if it's a boy / a girl cos' being my first, I'm happy just to have a healthy baby; but hubby's family is anxious for a grandson. I told my friends, if it's a girl, I'll tell my mum-in-law, don't blame the "postman" (or in this case woman). I just deliver... your son determines the sex! ;-)
b) get the results of my blood test & baby's scans to determine if he's healthy
After that? It just zooms past so fast that I was "sorry" when it was time to head for the delivery room!! Maybe because I had such a good & smooth pregnancy with none of the morning sickness etc etc, I just love being pregnant! Especially to feel every kick, knee-jerks, elbow-jerks and even the somersaults! At first I was anticipating a very uncomfortable last month where mothers normally complaint to me as being among the difficult months because the baby is so huge that you can hardly sleep... Well, I admit he did kick me a lot, but when I talked to him and asked him to be a good boy & let mummy sleep at night, the kicks stopped!! ... but continued again bright and early the next morning.
Finally baby was born on 11th January 2011 at 10+am. Weighing at 3.25kg. Here's his first pix after coming out of the delivery room:
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Updates After 1 Year MIA
I was Missing In Action for more than 1 year now. Those who follow my blog may be wondering what's going on? Well, in summary:
Firstly, I went for a minor op towards the end of January 2010 (Ovarian drilling to treat PCOS - Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) and I ended up being on MC for 10-days.
After recovering from the op & hectic CNY period, hubby & I continued our effort to have a baby. Every month that my menses arrived, I was crushed yet again (despite the fact that the operation has helped me to stay off hormone pills & as a result I lost quite a bit of weight).
Then I suddenly found out that my gmail was barred & so was my blog! I can't access them at all! The strangest thing of all, I keep getting notifications of comments posted on my blog; which worryingly are advertising sex sites, but I can't access the blog at all. I was so unhappy cos' there were so many posts that recorded stuff I wanted to remember & I'm losing all of them! What's worse my friends may be wondering what's with all the sexual comments / sex sites recommendations. I'd like to declare here and now that I have no idea how that was posted & in no way do I condone to lewd postings made under my name / in this blog in 2010.
Then... in late May 2010, I was late by 4-days! I was hopeful & ecstatic! I immediately called my gynae to arrange for a visit, but was told to calm down & wait until I was late by 7-8 days. On the 5th day, I had some spotting & I almost cried in the office toilet cubicle when I saw it. I was a zombie for the rest of the day as the now familiar disappointment came crashing down. Surprisingly the next day the spotting stopped. I dare not place too much hope again for fear of greater disappointment, so I tried to maintain "coolness", but you can't imagine how agonizingly slow it was, waiting for another 2-days to reach the 8th day before I see the doc.
On the morning of the 8th day (it was a Saturday), 6am... I immediately rushed to the toilet, a pregnancy test kit in one hand and the manual in the other - being read & re-read to ensure I got it right. Then the obligatory wait for the strip to indicate the disappointing 1-line or dare I hope that it'll show 2 lines? The control line appeared... then... then... then...
OMG! OMG! OMG! YES! YES! YES! I have 2 lines!!!! "Babe! It's positive!!", I practically shouted at my husband who was still fast asleep. I can't belief my eyes & shoved the stick under his nose to confirm (regardless that it just got dipped in you-know-what). He opened half an eye & said "Hmm... yea there's 2 lines..." & promptly went back to sleep! Huh! How anti-climatic.
I immediately hyper-ventilated & shoved my hubby awake to quickly send me to the gynae's clinic to confirm ASAP! Now! Pronto! I need a professional confirmation or I'll go crazy! (notice how many exclamation marks I've used so far? But that was really how I felt & the scene that historic day on 6th June 2010). We arrived at the clinic at 8am but she's only open at 9, and hubby was giving me the look that says "I told you we're early"... hehe... thinking back again, it was rather comical...
As I waited for my turn to see doc, I was so nervous & worried. All the doc's previous warnings that I have higher chance of ectopic pregnancy even if I do get pregnant kept coming into mind. When I finally met the doc, she laughed that I'm too excited & it's still early days for a scan. Of which I justified that I just wanted to confirm that the embryo is safely in the right place. So, she scanned me & this is what we saw:
Don't know what you're seeing? See that perfect circle surrounded by an oval black space to our left? That's the start of a life inside me! That's our baby! That was the most beautiful picture I've ever seen & my eyes filled with tears & felt a huge lump in my throat that I can't say anything but nod / shake my head to the doc's questions / explanations. The embryo has safely made its way down the fallopian tube! What a relieve!
The rest of the year 2010 was then filled with nurturing this little being that I didn't even bother to check if my blog is unbarred until now... I'm so happy I have access to my blog back. I'll update my journey to motherhood throughout 2010 in my subsequent posts & also updates on my baby now. They may not be chronological order since I'm catching up on 1-year's worth of news in this blog, but who cares! :)
Love, new mommy...
Firstly, I went for a minor op towards the end of January 2010 (Ovarian drilling to treat PCOS - Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) and I ended up being on MC for 10-days.
After recovering from the op & hectic CNY period, hubby & I continued our effort to have a baby. Every month that my menses arrived, I was crushed yet again (despite the fact that the operation has helped me to stay off hormone pills & as a result I lost quite a bit of weight).
Then I suddenly found out that my gmail was barred & so was my blog! I can't access them at all! The strangest thing of all, I keep getting notifications of comments posted on my blog; which worryingly are advertising sex sites, but I can't access the blog at all. I was so unhappy cos' there were so many posts that recorded stuff I wanted to remember & I'm losing all of them! What's worse my friends may be wondering what's with all the sexual comments / sex sites recommendations. I'd like to declare here and now that I have no idea how that was posted & in no way do I condone to lewd postings made under my name / in this blog in 2010.
Then... in late May 2010, I was late by 4-days! I was hopeful & ecstatic! I immediately called my gynae to arrange for a visit, but was told to calm down & wait until I was late by 7-8 days. On the 5th day, I had some spotting & I almost cried in the office toilet cubicle when I saw it. I was a zombie for the rest of the day as the now familiar disappointment came crashing down. Surprisingly the next day the spotting stopped. I dare not place too much hope again for fear of greater disappointment, so I tried to maintain "coolness", but you can't imagine how agonizingly slow it was, waiting for another 2-days to reach the 8th day before I see the doc.
On the morning of the 8th day (it was a Saturday), 6am... I immediately rushed to the toilet, a pregnancy test kit in one hand and the manual in the other - being read & re-read to ensure I got it right. Then the obligatory wait for the strip to indicate the disappointing 1-line or dare I hope that it'll show 2 lines? The control line appeared... then... then... then...
OMG! OMG! OMG! YES! YES! YES! I have 2 lines!!!! "Babe! It's positive!!", I practically shouted at my husband who was still fast asleep. I can't belief my eyes & shoved the stick under his nose to confirm (regardless that it just got dipped in you-know-what). He opened half an eye & said "Hmm... yea there's 2 lines..." & promptly went back to sleep! Huh! How anti-climatic.
I immediately hyper-ventilated & shoved my hubby awake to quickly send me to the gynae's clinic to confirm ASAP! Now! Pronto! I need a professional confirmation or I'll go crazy! (notice how many exclamation marks I've used so far? But that was really how I felt & the scene that historic day on 6th June 2010). We arrived at the clinic at 8am but she's only open at 9, and hubby was giving me the look that says "I told you we're early"... hehe... thinking back again, it was rather comical...
As I waited for my turn to see doc, I was so nervous & worried. All the doc's previous warnings that I have higher chance of ectopic pregnancy even if I do get pregnant kept coming into mind. When I finally met the doc, she laughed that I'm too excited & it's still early days for a scan. Of which I justified that I just wanted to confirm that the embryo is safely in the right place. So, she scanned me & this is what we saw:
Don't know what you're seeing? See that perfect circle surrounded by an oval black space to our left? That's the start of a life inside me! That's our baby! That was the most beautiful picture I've ever seen & my eyes filled with tears & felt a huge lump in my throat that I can't say anything but nod / shake my head to the doc's questions / explanations. The embryo has safely made its way down the fallopian tube! What a relieve!The rest of the year 2010 was then filled with nurturing this little being that I didn't even bother to check if my blog is unbarred until now... I'm so happy I have access to my blog back. I'll update my journey to motherhood throughout 2010 in my subsequent posts & also updates on my baby now. They may not be chronological order since I'm catching up on 1-year's worth of news in this blog, but who cares! :)
Love, new mommy...
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Recommendation: Nails Magic in SS2, PJ
Last Tuesday hubby had an appointment in SS2 & I not wanting to wait for him in a stuffy office, decided to walk around the block of shops / boutiques in SS2. I found a banner advertising manicure & pedicure, both for RM48 for first time customer. I decided to try since hubby would not be ready for another hour.
I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the good points about the place:
1. Comfortable solo sofa chairs with a running basin to soak your feet in
2. a huge LCD TV
3. rows after rows of O.P.I nail polish in every shade possible
4. Nail art designs tht are truly professional looking & not some lousy / cheesy looking nail art tht looks like the artwork of a 5-yr old drawing snowman / lop-sided snowflakes (though I do appreciate tht the "canvas" is truly small & may be a challeng for some - there's not much space you can paint on short nails)
5. Finally! A proper pedicure tht scrubs away your dead skin cells at the soles & the sides of the heels using pumice & followed by bath salts (the few I've tried so far only sticks your feet into some bubbly water with a bit of bath salt & wipe it dry, tht's all... and when asked to remove the dead skins, the generic answer is - need to add money... sigh...)
Not tht used to a guy doing pedicure & manicure though, but I must admit he's very good with the nailarts, so it doesn't really matter anymore. However if you're the type tht feels squimish abt having a guy handling your feet, there are women in their staff too. Just make sure you come prepared in open toed sandals & 1 - 1.5hrs to spare. If you go in pairs, I think the discount is even better.
I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the good points about the place:
1. Comfortable solo sofa chairs with a running basin to soak your feet in
2. a huge LCD TV
3. rows after rows of O.P.I nail polish in every shade possible
4. Nail art designs tht are truly professional looking & not some lousy / cheesy looking nail art tht looks like the artwork of a 5-yr old drawing snowman / lop-sided snowflakes (though I do appreciate tht the "canvas" is truly small & may be a challeng for some - there's not much space you can paint on short nails)
5. Finally! A proper pedicure tht scrubs away your dead skin cells at the soles & the sides of the heels using pumice & followed by bath salts (the few I've tried so far only sticks your feet into some bubbly water with a bit of bath salt & wipe it dry, tht's all... and when asked to remove the dead skins, the generic answer is - need to add money... sigh...)
Not tht used to a guy doing pedicure & manicure though, but I must admit he's very good with the nailarts, so it doesn't really matter anymore. However if you're the type tht feels squimish abt having a guy handling your feet, there are women in their staff too. Just make sure you come prepared in open toed sandals & 1 - 1.5hrs to spare. If you go in pairs, I think the discount is even better.
Pullman Putrajaya
Last Christmas weekend, hubby & I stayed in Pullman Putrajaya using the free night stay voucher he got. Based on the name, I was expecting an ultra modern / minimalist / all straight lines & muted colours type of hotel. Boy was I way off the mark!
Not tht it wasn't beautiful. Far from it... It's majestic (in size) with traditional themes. It has several blocks named after different types of flowers... Let's see if I can remember most if not all of them...
1. Lotus (this is where the lobby, swimming pool, ballrooms, gym other than rooms are located) - in Chinese / Japanese theme
2. Raflesia (this is where we stayed) - in Sabah / Sarawak style with traditional motives on the pillars
3. Bunga Tanjung (this is where the 24-hour restaurant & also where we have breakfast is located. Of course it has rooms too) - Malay themed
4. Jasmine - Indian themed
These blocks surrounds a beautiful pillared clock tower, with a fountain at its base & overlooking a beautiful lake where a restaurant on stilts can be found. Beside the lake, there's an open air "amphitheatre", game rooms, children play room, bicycles for rent etc. There's also a Maritime centre next door (don't know wht's in a Maritime Centre; it's still empty at the moment).
It was a peaceful place to be in (but probably attributed to low number of occupants / the grounds is so big tht we didn't bump into many ppl). I think I see more cleaners & maintenance folks than guests; but it's no wonder considering the size of the hotel. It certainly needs an army to run / upkeep the place. The most surprising thing I found? dumbbells & yoga mats in the room's cupboard (no I didn't take them home... behave guys...).
Several down sides though:
1. I remembered I commented in Krabi tht Malaysian tourism's most successful area (better than our neighbours) is tht our staff has good command of English. The staff here (especially the night shift... Morning shift is much better) proved me wrong... They either take time to understand us / understand us but don't know how to reply / give us the wrong information (e.g. we wanted to know the room rates if we're a member of their chain of hotels & was told it's RM100++ but when we asked again in the morning, we were told tht it's actually abt RM250++!! Jeezz....)
2. It's a new hotel, yet the room had faulty security lock / things needing repair
3. Food is generally too salty. Other than tht, it's normal hotel fare with nothing to rave about. But hubby praised tht it's the first hotel he'd been so far tht managed to produce a proper half-boiled egg on the 2nd try! (other hotels keep giving him hard-boiled eggs because the chefs insisted the right time to cook a half-boiled egg is 3 mins & refuses to change the timing despite producing hard-boiled eggs everytime they cook it for 3 mins)
4. There's nowhere to go out for good food in Putajaya! Or maybe we don't know where to find them. We went to Alamanda Putrajaya mall & had our dinner there instead.
Overall it was a good & relaxing retreat. If you can afford the price, it's a good place to relax & do nothing! :-)
Not tht it wasn't beautiful. Far from it... It's majestic (in size) with traditional themes. It has several blocks named after different types of flowers... Let's see if I can remember most if not all of them...
1. Lotus (this is where the lobby, swimming pool, ballrooms, gym other than rooms are located) - in Chinese / Japanese theme
2. Raflesia (this is where we stayed) - in Sabah / Sarawak style with traditional motives on the pillars
3. Bunga Tanjung (this is where the 24-hour restaurant & also where we have breakfast is located. Of course it has rooms too) - Malay themed
4. Jasmine - Indian themed
These blocks surrounds a beautiful pillared clock tower, with a fountain at its base & overlooking a beautiful lake where a restaurant on stilts can be found. Beside the lake, there's an open air "amphitheatre", game rooms, children play room, bicycles for rent etc. There's also a Maritime centre next door (don't know wht's in a Maritime Centre; it's still empty at the moment).
It was a peaceful place to be in (but probably attributed to low number of occupants / the grounds is so big tht we didn't bump into many ppl). I think I see more cleaners & maintenance folks than guests; but it's no wonder considering the size of the hotel. It certainly needs an army to run / upkeep the place. The most surprising thing I found? dumbbells & yoga mats in the room's cupboard (no I didn't take them home... behave guys...).
Several down sides though:
1. I remembered I commented in Krabi tht Malaysian tourism's most successful area (better than our neighbours) is tht our staff has good command of English. The staff here (especially the night shift... Morning shift is much better) proved me wrong... They either take time to understand us / understand us but don't know how to reply / give us the wrong information (e.g. we wanted to know the room rates if we're a member of their chain of hotels & was told it's RM100++ but when we asked again in the morning, we were told tht it's actually abt RM250++!! Jeezz....)
2. It's a new hotel, yet the room had faulty security lock / things needing repair
3. Food is generally too salty. Other than tht, it's normal hotel fare with nothing to rave about. But hubby praised tht it's the first hotel he'd been so far tht managed to produce a proper half-boiled egg on the 2nd try! (other hotels keep giving him hard-boiled eggs because the chefs insisted the right time to cook a half-boiled egg is 3 mins & refuses to change the timing despite producing hard-boiled eggs everytime they cook it for 3 mins)
4. There's nowhere to go out for good food in Putajaya! Or maybe we don't know where to find them. We went to Alamanda Putrajaya mall & had our dinner there instead.
Overall it was a good & relaxing retreat. If you can afford the price, it's a good place to relax & do nothing! :-)
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