Your Asian mom

My two colleagues, who are more senior than I, went for a brief walk at nearby shopping mall during work. We went there for a bazaar sale. There were many vendors selling various types of items including educational books for children. One of the salesmen, quite old, perhaps in his early 50s approached us and threw a question to a senior who was in her mid-30s. “Madam, are you expecting first child?” I got stunned by the question, and it would be harder for her to be thrown such question in front the two of us. I pretended I wasn’t aware of the situation. There might be few factors that made him asked such offensive question. 1. He was too obsessed in selling products that he saw everyone in the mall are having kids or expecting.   2. Two of us are skinnier with flat bellies, assuming three of us are conscious about health. It makes the other one look pregnant instead of having beer belly. 3. Her dressing? Tight tee with protruding belly (the current tren

The Journey I have completely weaned my toddler from breastfeeding about few months ago when she turns two. To be honest, I really miss those moment which we were so close and the bond was strong. Despite having sweet moment, the 24-month of breastfeeding journey was not easy for small bust like me.  My daughter's grandparents have been skeptical about the amount of milk I could produce for my baby since day 1. Their Chinese culture perceives breastfeeding as an odd jobs in ancient time and they even believe children who are fed with breast milk are more clingyto their mothers and hard to be taken care of. Another factor is the pain inflicted while breastfeeding the kid. When she was younger, her needs to suckle the nipples for long period at one time caused back pain. It could be the posture or lack of good support.  When she grows older, the girl liked to move around and I had difficult time to accommodate her. But, luckily my determination helped me p

There are several reviews written by bloggers on what kind of dishes they would recommend for other patrons. But there are not much information on latest price and the taxes which is essential for patrons to estimate their budget.  Writing another one to share how much we paid for a table of 10 persons during recent visit to renowned Gaya Sport seafood restaurant Inanam, Sabah.  Altogether, the dishes amounted to RM251 but with 6 per cent Goods and Services tax (RM15.96) and another 6 per cent of service charge (RM15.06), we paid RM282. Yes, they have credit card facility and imposed no additional charges (fuh).  Below are the price list as printed in the receipt. Chinese tea RM1 each glass.  Pickles(raw papaya) RM3 per plate.  Picture by Eugene.blogspot Soft Shell crab RM80/kilogramme butter prawn by everydayfood.blogspot Live butter prawn (white/grass) RM26/kilogramme. Tung Fung Luo picture by everydayfood.blogspot Tung Fung Lo RM24/k

National Science Centre is having science exhibition themed “Bringing Science to the Community” at Sabah Museum. The exhibition will be opened to public beginning Dec 14, 2015 until June 1 2016. In conjunction to SciFest 2015 in November, similar exhibition had been held at 1 Borneo Shopping Mall. The programme had received overwhelming response. For more information, contact Dius Kubud or Andrew Peter at 088-215606, 088-225033, 088-263551.

In 2010, the census revealed there is 3.23 million population in Sabah including 1 million of foreigners.  Major economic activities in Sabah are on Tourism (services), Agriculture and Mining/Quarrying sectors. Agricultural production contributes 18.1 per cent of total national production.  Inflation rate in 2014 is 5.1 per cent Sabah export between 2010 and 2014 is RM47 billion (mainly exported to US amounted about RM1.3 billion) and (fairly lower amount to Indonesia) Consumer price Index is higher particularly in medicine price which gone up from 113 to 121 . It is due to the implementation of Goods and Services tax in April 1, 2015.  Migration:  The young generation, including from rural areas, tend to move to places which offer higher and better job opportunities. Those from villages are either move to the state capital or even to other countries like Singapore and Arab.  The concern is when the people move out, the agricultural sector will die out and affe

Nov 30 (Mon) St Paul, Dontozidon (6.30pm) Holy Family, Telipok (7.30pm) Dec 1, (Tuesday) St Joseph, Kiulu (6.30pm) Holy Trinity, Inobong.(6.30pm) Dec 2, (Wednesday) St Thomas Kepayan (630pm) Dec 4, (Thursday) Good Shephard, Menggatal (730pm) Dec 7 (Mon) St John Tuaran (630pm) Dec 8 (Tuesday) Mass to launch the Holy Year of Mercy (630pm) Dec 9 (Wed) Holy Rosary, Limbahau (630pm) St Simon Likas (730pm) Dec 10 (Thursday) St Joseph Papar (630pm) Dec 11(Friday) St Michael Penampang (630pm) Dec 14 (Mon) Holy Nativity, Terawi (630pm) Dec 15 (Tuesday) Stella Maris, Tanjung Aru (630pm) Dec 16 (Wednesday) St Catherine Inanam (7pm) Dec 17 and 18 (Thursday) Sacred Heart Cathedral (630pm) Dec 21 (Mon) Divine Mercy Church, KKIP (730pm)

I really wanted to celebrate Halloween after I have my daughter. Thought the celebration would leave good impression in her childhood. Yes, It is not traditionally celebrated in Malaysia. But the play of Trick and Treat with adorable costume is seem to be fun. This year as Halloween fell on Saturday, we only attended the sunset mass as both of us were under the weather. There was intention to participate in the Halloween Fun Run held at Likas Sports Complex at 8pm. But, it seemed like going to rain after we finished the mass for All Saints Day. Later at night, mom whatsapped me an image on how to celebrate Halloween as a Catholic. You may say that I am an ignorant Catholic for not knowing how to observe the Eve of All Saints Day accordingly. But, it is a good guideline on how should I raise a child as Catholic and at the same time to enjoy the fun of celebrating Halloween. On the All Saints’ day, I was assigned to visit cemetery where people commemorated All Soul

First and most important rule NEVER choose/become one unless it is unavoidable for cases like the husband is sick, a marine or serving the country and etc. As for now, I am literally a single mom who have chosen not to follow husband to peninsular Malaysia for his two years studies. Now, it has been four months (only). I have already felt the pinch of having to struggle alone in making both work, toddler and everything alright. There had been bad occassions such as earthquake, car broke down, problematic babysitter and work overloads that made myself miserable in coping and swallowing them all by myself. When I bring the toddler out and see others have both of their parents, I really hope it won't hurt my toddler who might question, "where is her daddy?" But I know I have to set formula to make me survive those perils. 1/Ask blessing, courage and protection from God.  Be at any condition, we need His help to protect and bless what we do and

Found Raintree Beach Resort while searching for weekend getaway. Booking websites portrayed the resort has a lot of activities and well-maintained facility. But all those pictures were outdated or maybe photoshoped. The resort, which is located about 40 kilometres from town, is worth to its cheaper rate. I have a deal of RM150++ per night for a Villa on weekday via direct booking via Raintree Facebook. The admin foretold that there were swimming, barbeque and volleyball facility among others. But, he or she did not mention there was no restaurant. So, breakfast is definitely not included for the deal. The check in time is at 2pm. We took our own sweet time to drive to the location, guided with Waze application. The place is located far from Tuaran town, which is about 18 minutes drive. We got lost a bit as confused by roadside signboard. Asked an elderly woman at a village, she said she only heard about Mimpian Jadi, Rasa Ria and Karambunai. Tried again…then finally

Astro’s  forum on Power of Advertising in Kota Kinabalu.  Nestle Malaysia Communications director and Malaysian Advertisers association special advisor Khoo Kar Khoon. Current global trend The advance of the technology changes everything and will definitely affect how the world runs now. Cheaper and better broadband penetration means more people will rely on technology to live their lives. For examples, the technology makes a better home which the device records and analysis almost everything including the usage of electricity, people goes in and out among others. Internet enables like-minded people to share information or knowledge via an application. Boundary of location is so yesterday. The access to limitless knowledge can make kids smarter than their parents provided internet users have interest to seek more information online. Certain application also helps people to track their health condition or to encourage them to be fit. Japan, for insta

Grey's anatomy season 12 is all about recalling memories. It says it is very unique on how the brain arranges memories on different people. The saying makes sense to me when an ex, perhaps the first love, approached me again recently. The so-called relationship happened when I was 16. I was intrigued that the four years senior at school wanted me to become his girlfriend.  We went out for only one date and bade farewell two days later as the ex departed to Indonesia for a five years of sailor course. During the farewell, he asked me to wait for him to come back and gave a cheek kiss. He looked sincere and I was naive. I had foolishly believed we could withstand the long distance relationship for 5 years.  For almost a year, I had been hopeful on the relationship...until his then girlfriend broke the news that I became third party between them. I got the scolding and thought it was so unfair to me. Thus I would be mad whenever he wished m

A friend's friend recommended this 6-seater hair saloon at Karamunsing complex to me. Gave it a try since I had my car serviced nearby the shopping complex. Upon my arrival at about  10am , the good-looking boss known as Kent welcomed me. Briefed me about the price and estimate time to do rebonding on shoulder-blade length hair. The 30-year-old Chinese boss told his female employee to do the necessary.  Unlike other typical hairdresser, this Malay woman by the name of Tina was quite soft spoken and didn't complain on my troublesome hair thickness. She just did her job as necessary. Her male colleague Kang was quite a kind person as he helped her to handle my voluminous hair. It took about 2 hours for my hair to be done. Was listening to Chinese and Malay songs played at the saloon all those while. The boss is quite responsible as he ensure quality control on every hair his staff are doing. He even uses scaling machine to measure right amount of