Hari Raya at Genting Highlands

We just celebrated Hari Raya at Genting Highlands... Well, sort of..

As you can see the entrance to the first world hotel is decorated with giant 'ketupat's or rice dumplings. However, the crowd you see give no resemblance to any celebrations. That's because we went on a weekday, before the crowds start to flow in. I guess it was a perfect timing.



The weather was cold, temperature was at 12 degrees Celsius. But all of us went there well prepared. Thick jackets/sweaters and pairs of socks was all that needed to keep all of us warm, including baby LA (Lavitra Aadithyan).

But most of the time was spent in the indoor theme park, so we couldn't actually enjoy the nature's view outside.



As LA was too young to be seated on his own in any of the games/rides, his mum accompanied him on all the family rides. He was surely excited to be going on the rides. Didn't show a single sign that he was either scared or panicked and even managed to wave at us and pose for the camera!

Effects of watching Kungfu Panda

You wouldn't believe it when I say that I have a lovable Tiger at home. Let the photograph on the right be a proof to my statement.
After Kungfu Panda, and thanks to his mum for the alphabets book(note the tiger picture in the book), my little boy can now roar like a tiger!

China's Milk Scandal

Due to the infamous China's Milk Scandal, I've been getting emails and smses of reminders and warnings. Among the items banned/recalled are:

• M&M's
• Snickers
• Mento's Yoghurt bottle
• Dove choc
• Oreo wafer sticks
• Monmilk
• Dutchlady sterilised milk(strawberry flavoured)
• Wall's all natural mango, mini poppers ice-cream
• Magnum ice cream
• Mini Cornetto ice cream

In case you were still wondering, there had been a sudden rise in infants turning up at hospitals in China with kidney stones after drinking formula milk.
In the past three years, prices for feed, fuel and other costs rose — feed by as much as 30 percent. Further pressures came last year when Beijing enacted price controls to tame double-digit inflation for food.

Melamine, a relatively cheap binding agent used in plastics and as a flame retardant, is rich in nitrogen, fooling widely used tests that check for protein. When mixed with formaldehyde, it dissolves in water.

Milk collectors found themselves squeezed between the farmers asking for more money and the processors who demanded that prices be held down.That squeeze gave suppliers incentives to tamper with the raw milk, watering it down and then adding Melamine to avoid detection of the watered down milk.

It is kind of sad to learn that human beings have gone to that level of not caring about another life, especially babies' in this case. More than 50,000 babies were affected, accompanied with cases of death.
- source: yahoo news

Archana's return

Archana is coming back today and everyone is sooo excited about it..

Initial plan was to be at the KLIA at 7.30 in the morning (what?!?! have to wake up at around 5a.m. on a weekend???!!!), but luckily (or not, read on further to find out why..) mum called early in the morning to inform me that the flight was delayed. So, now we were supposed to leave at 10.30 a.m.

So, to cut the story short, I left with baby LA around 10.45 (after the normal ding-dong and delay) from Kyoto to UK Heights, already earning dad's anger for being late by the the time we reached there. I switched car to cater for the large 'crowd' and the baggages that Archana might bring.The weather was good and the traffic was smooth flowing.

Upon arriving at the airport, we found out that the flight had already arrived. But waiting for Archana to clear her luggage and come out to the arrival zone seemed ages!!! Meanwhile, LA who was sleeping soundly, probably aware that his aunty his coming today, had awakened. Vimal was trying to entertain him at the soft-toys corner. LA immediately recognised his 'playmates' - Pooh Bear, Tigger, Sponge Bob, etc.. and was getting a little excited about them.

Finally, the awaited moment finally arrived. I saw LA's aunt from a distance and mentioned to mum. Not able to control herself, she stepped into the cordoned off area, where only the passengers were allowed. Tears flowed freely from both mum and daughter as they hugged each other and my son was just bemused at what was happening around him.

Though during her previous visit LA easily hopped on to his dear aunt when she called him, this time it was a little different. He seemed a little suspicious and tried to cling on to his dearest grandma instead.

We pushed the trolley towards our car where dad was waiting for his darling daughter. Then we packed the luggage into the car and started our journey home. But now it was really hot since it was noon time. Adding salt to injury, there was a huge agricultural exhibition going on at Serdang and a horde of vehicles were seen lining up at the toll exit. This unusual traffic jam on the highway caused us about 3 hours to reach home, instead of the normal 1 hour!!! Wish the flight had not been delayed.

We had to take a short break at the petrol station to stretch ourselves and have some bites as our stomachs began to growl in rhythm.

Along the way, Archana started telling us all that she wanted to spend quality time with mum, and so others were not allowed to come home and exhaust mum's energy. Surprise, surprise, the

little one, as though understood that there was a great competitor in town, started tearing at the potato bun and BIGGER surprise - he started feeding his grandma!!! The first time he is doing it, and all by himself, neither coaching nor coaxing from others were needed. In that timeless moment of victory, all hopes and dreams of existing and would be competitors were shattered! He will remain the little blue-eyed boy of his grandma, always..