Something Chinese for Chinese New Year

Chinese Lantern Festival Gala, on Chap Goh Meh 2017, in Amity University, Dubai – (Didn’t know there were so many Chinese in Dubai, didya?)

Chinese New Year is fast approaching. So is Valentine’s. I am still in this never-seem-to-end Project in Abu Dhabi, and have not planned anything for Valentine’s, or CNY!

But I’m sure the wife has something up her sleeves. And that, friends, is the beauty of having a loving wife around, haha! (I’d never imagine myself saying that before I tied the knot!)

Anyway, here’re pictures of assorted Chinese things in Dubai in the past year. Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!! Going back to work now, can’t wait for the friggin weekend. Umm… just 3 friggin days to go!


DragonMart 2, Dubai


Old Wood Village Restaurant, DragonMart 2 – The décor is beautiful, but, nah, haven’t tried it. It’s a Chinese vegetarian restaurant! How on earth am I gonna convince dear ol wife to fork out some cash to try out a vegetarian restaurant?!?


Now, that’s more like it, seafood! The wife loves seafood, especially Chinese seafood! Sun Tour Restaurant, DragonMart 2, with niece Sweety


More restaurants – Dad at the Quan Jude Peking Duck Restaurant, International City. I have lots of complaints about International City, but when it comes to authentic Chinese food in Dubai, International City is the place to be! You’ll find restaurants from all over China. Just imagine the variety!


Buhaiwan Restaurant, International City – ‘the best’ noodle restaurant in Dubai according to my Chinese colleague and friend. It specializes in noodle dishes from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Province of China. The Uighur people look nothing like Chinese (they’re a Turkic group and are predominantly Muslim), but they’re Chinese nationals and speak Chinese. (No, my Chinese friend isn’t Uighur, he’s a Han from the neighbouring Qinghai Province). Don’t visit on weekends though, you’ll wait hours to get a seat!


Free Kung Fu Classes in DragonMart 2, for the entire summer!


See! Dubai has its own acupuncture and traditional Chinese treatment centre – DragonMart 2, Dubai




Lanterns and Lion Dances for the Mid-Autumn Festival aka Mooncake Festival

Happy New Year Everybody! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Wan Shi Ru Yi! And for the love birds, Happy Valentine’s!!!

The Bond of Brothers

‘Helping’ Mommy pack for a trip to Jordan, Dec 2015

I’ve posted photos of Justin, and photos of Jayden, but rarely of the two boys together. So, here’re some photos of them together. They squabble most of the time, but sometimes, they’re really sweet with one another. These precious times are what every parent would like to see, I believe. I hope they remember the bond of brotherhood, stay close to one another and look out for each other for as long as they live.


Stuck in Bahrain Airport, on transit from Amman, Jordan back to Dubai, Dec 2015


Luckily, there’s some shade, Taman Ayun Temple, Bali, Indonesia, Mar 2016


What the boys are up to when their Mommy shops, DragonMart, Jul 2016




Fooling around in the hotel room in Isfahan, Iran, Dec 2016




This fun is freezing! Velayat Rud, Alborz Province, Iran, Dec 2016


Justin loves hot baths, Jayden ummm so-so, (he’s scared of water), May 2017


Savvy in matching outfits, May 2017


Sharing a pizza, DragonMart, Jun 2017


In lazy mode, thanks to the telly …at least they’re quiet and not making more mess, Aug 2017


Awww… this place stinks! At ‘Smelly Beach’ (beside Barracuda Wine Shop), Umm Al Quwain, UAE, Sep 2017


Another set of matching outfits! Thanks to Mommy. At Mirdif City Centre, Sep 2017


What izit with sand that kids are crazy about?!? At the public playground near our house, International City, Dubai, Oct 2017

By the way, Jayden’s started school in January. Here’s an update on Jayden’s baby language before he grows up and it all disappears – Lelo (yellow), Shimish (finish), Vegeble (vegetable), Mumber (number), Simima (cinema), Excamador (excavator), Tranmowers (Transformers), Acabraca (Abracadabra), Open Semeni (Open Sesame).

And here’re a couple of songs. Yes, he sings! Unlike his brother! “Twinkle, twinkle little star, haiyu haiyu little star!” And “Let it go, let it go, here I stand and here I stay, brother Jan (let the storm rage on), the cold body anyway (the cold never bothered me anyway), deng! (that’s the sound of the door closing at the end of the song in the video).”

Lego Overdose

Legoland Dubai

Last month we had a Lego overdose. No, actually a Legoland overdose! 3 Legoland Theme Parks in a month! And all because of Justin’s birthday! This boy is SOOOO lucky! Really hope he remembers this and appreciates it (if not, we’ll drum it into his head, again and again, until he does, haha). His mom by the way, has sworn never to visit another Legoland, EVER!

We promised Justin to bring him to Legoland Malaysia during our last December Malaysia visit, as a gift for his birthday. That was planned months back, when we bought the air tickets. Then, at the end of November last year, Dubai Parks & Resorts (who runs Legoland Dubai) decided to give some fantastic offers for the UAE National Day weekend – 2 Legoland theme parks for the price of 1 ticket! Buy 1 ticket and get admission to Legoland Dubai and Legoland Water Park on 2 separate days! Justin’s actual birthday (1 Dec) falls on that particular weekend (UAE’s National Day is 2 Dec). And so, there you go! Legoland bonanza!






Scenes from Legoland Water Park, Dubai – we had the most fun here! But we gave Legoland Water Park Malaysia a miss, because it was exactly the same as in Dubai!


Miniland, Legoland Dubai – featuring Lego miniatures of the landmarks of the UAE and the Middle East – of course it has the Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and a horde of other UAE landmarks. Then there's the Kuwait Towers, Petra (Jordan), the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), Taj Mahal (India) and lots of famous skyscrapers from all over the world…


Miniland, Legoland Malaysia – featuring Lego miniatures from Malaysia and South East Asia (what else?) Taj Mahal is also here (guess it’s a Legoland favourite huh?) and the Forbidden City of China. Seen here is mini Wat Arun of Bangkok


The Dragon, Legoland Dubai’s best roller coaster! Justin was reluctant to try at first, but after he rode it, he’s hooked! That was the main ride he was looking forward to when visiting Legoland Malaysia, but unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance!!! What a bummer!


Inside the castle in Kingdoms, picture taken while in the queue waiting for the Dragon Roller Coaster ride, Legoland Dubai


And this is Kingdoms, Legoland Malaysia, the roller coaster track at the back is part of the Dragon. There’re lots of similarities between the Legolands. Apart from Miniland, the rest of Legoland are almost identical. Malaysia Legoland is bigger and features more rides. The one ride that we found in Legoland Dubai that wasn’t in Malaysia, was the submarine


This is one ride that Legoland Dubai did not have – The Great Lego Race VR Coaster! Legoland Malaysia


Great Lego Gods of Egypt! Outside the Lost Kingdom Adventure, Legoland Dubai


Junior Driving School, Legoland Malaysia with Stacey in the Blue Car and Jayden in the Red Car – Jayden wasn’t able to get on the same ride in Legoland Dubai due to his height – he’s 94cm and the minimum height specified was 95cm! Awww, c’mon it’s just 1 friggin cm short, and he paid the same as the others! There was no problem at all in Legoland Malaysia b’coz they didn’t specify any height requirement, only age, all aged above 3 can ride!


Boating School, Legoland Malaysia – Papa with Jayden sweating it out (literally, Malaysia is a bitch when it comes to humidity!) The building behind is the Legoland Hotel! Yeah, Lego has its own hotel, complete with Lego bricks in the rooms, I heard!


Legoland Hotel & Legoland, Johor Bahru, Malaysia – a view from our apartment room’s window – we rented an apartment for our 2 families, just opposite Legoland! Thanks Jason and Fang, for the great arrangement!


What’s a Legoland post without Lego bricks – There’re scores of places in the parks where people can while away time building something with Lego bricks (and apparently kids like doing that). I don’t get it. We come all the way here to go on the rides, right? If you wanna play on some Lego bricks, we can do it at home, OK?! That’s Justin building his car for testing and racing with others, at Build & Test, Legoland Dubai

Another Whirlwind Balik Kampung Trip

Christmas at the Canning Garden Baptist Church, Ipoh – Merry Christmas Everyone! OK, Christmas is over, but yesterday was the Orthodox Christmas celebrated by Russians and Egyptian Coptic Christians! So, it’s not too late!

Hello everyone! It’s 2018! Here’re some photos of family and friends from our recent trip home.

Ya, I was back home, on another whirlwind trip! 2 nights in JB, 1 night in KL, 1 night in Ipoh, 3 nights in Butterworth / Penang, and 4 nights in Thailand (yeah, we have family in Bangkok, don’t you know that?)

Have promised the missus I’ll never do another "touch n go" trip again, but somehow it happened! Now she’s promised never to go on another trip with yours truly! Shucks! But what do you do when your family’s all over the place???

Originally planned this trip for only Malaysia, and mainly to renew my passport (renewing it in Dubai takes 3 friggin months, according to the embassy!) Then the wife suggested that I take Justin (our elder son) to Legoland Malaysia as a birthday treat for him. Happily I agreed (I’m a kid at heart after all, haha). So, added Johor Bahru (JB). There, we’ll also get to meet Jason (my brother) and his family, who’re in Singapore, just across the border from JB.

Then my dad suggested that we give our aunt (Ah Mm), who has been in and out of the ICU, a visit. She lives in Bangkok. So, added Bangkok, Thailand.

Then, I discovered that one of the cheapest way to fly was with Gulf Air, with a long transit in Bahrain. Perfect, we’ve never entered Bahrain (transited before, but never entered). This was our chance. Added Manama, Bahrain.

And that’s the reason why out of our 2 weeks’ holiday, our stay in Malaysia became only 7 friggin days, in 4 friggin places! And of that, we spent 1 day in the airports (3 different airports to be precise), 1 friggin day (7.5 hours) in an “express” bus (express, my foot) from JB to KL (it was the 23rd of Dec, Saturday, friggin long weekend rush northwards), 1 friggin day in the passport office (holiday season, long queues, sigh…), 2-3 hours in an express train from KL to Ipoh, and half a day on banking errands in 3 different banks. Of the 3 remaining days, one day was in Legoland, and another day was Christmas Day that we spent in church in the morning, took our uncle (Ji-Pek) from the old folk’s home for lunch, visited my 93 year old grandma in hospital (not serious), visited the Bangkok aunt in another old folk’s home in Ipoh (yeah, she wanted to be back in her home town so much, that my cousins managed to get her discharged from the Bangkok hospital a day after we visited in Bangkok and had her shifted back to Ipoh), and visited a friend’s house in Ipoh. That left only one meagre day to gel with the family!

Here’re the photos!


With Jason’s family in Legoland Malaysia, Johor Bahru


Also met up with cousin Mandy Boo and daughter Riley in JB – at Yi Jia Seafood Restaurant, Bukit Indah, JB


And what a small world! Bumped into an old friend and colleague from our Emirates Road Project days, Michelle Lee, in, of all places, Legoland! And she ain’t even from JB! Her family came all the way from KL. Here’s she with her 2 kids. Her husband’s the photographer!


Next stop KL – Here with favourite aunt, Helen in her house in Abadi Villa, Taman Desa, and Tua-Pek, all the way from Bangkok! (The pic was taken not long after Tua-Pek arrived by long distance cab from Ipoh).


Hey, that’s Mark Ho! Long time no see, nephew!


The kids with their cousin sis, Jamie Ho and aunt Jane, the amazing! Just hear the story of how she turned the tables on her ex!

Also met with me good ol’ cousin bro, Jack, but didn’t take any photos, unfortunately.


Next stop, Ipoh, for Christmas – Here with Ji-Pek, just after lunch at Ipoh Garden


And here’s where Ah Mm stays in Ipoh, the Yayasan Lotus nursing home. We met her in Bangkok Nakornthorn Hospital, the day before she was discharged. She was longing to go back to Ipoh, so cousins Emily, Alan and Alan’s wife, together with Tua-Pek brought her back to Ipoh. When we met her here, cousin sis Emily (who resides in the UK) was staying with her, in the old folk’s home, the youngest resident of the home! Forgot to snap any photos of Ah Mm, Emily, Alan or Alan’s wife. What a waste?!


At friend Ajit and Manjit’s house in Ipoh. Ajit’s away in Australia, and their two older kids are studying outstation. See how big their youngest daughter, Ravneet has grown! The older lady is Manjit’s sister

We also met Tua Kor, cousin brother Kok Leong and his two grown up kids at our Ipoh house, and visited my 93 year granny in the Ipoh General Hospital. Met my uncle there also.

Finally, Butterworth, dad’s house. This was where I did my passport renewal, and banking errands. We had 2.5 days here before we headed back to Bangkok to catch our return flight to Dubai.


Dinner with members of mom’s family – Ah Chong Seafood Restaurant (Malaysia’s all about seafood restaurant by the way hehe), Pantai Bersih, Butterworth


A dim-sum breakfast with mom's eldest sister and husband at Sweet Paradise (Chew Chuen) Restaurant, near dad’s house, Butterworth

And here’re some photos of our time in Thailand with dad and Hazel.


At the restaurant of our hotel, Riverfront Residence, SV City, Bangkok – We purposely chose this place to be near where cousin Alan and family stays, but as circumstances would have it, Alan’s family spent most of their time in Nakornthorn Hospital, 20 km away, where our aunt, Ah Mm (Alan’s mom) was hospitalized. By the time we got to Bangkok, Alan and sis Emily (who’s sorta uprooted her life from the UK to be with her mom) had already decided to transfer their mom back to our home town of Ipoh, Malaysia. We managed to meet all of them (including Tua-Pek and Jib, Alan’s wife) in the hospital the day before aunt was discharged and scheduled to fly back to Malaysia.

We spent the remainder 3 days in Thailand sightseeing and travelling (didn’t know Pattaya was that far from Bangkok!?)


Family pic with dad and Hazel, Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya


The kids and their grandpa, Million Years Stone Park, Pattaya

That’s all for now folks. I’ve decided to slow down on blogging for the time being, because I’ve just been made the supremo of this friggin Abu Dhabi project! (My boss had to move to Canada for his PR process). Awww… just imagine the responsibilities!!!