Off with another lower incisor!

Oh, how brave our girl is! She didn't wince at all when this particular tooth became so loose that 爸爸 had to manually tug at it. There's a little blood and she maintained calm all the while. We can see the new permanent tooth is erupting and visible, unlike the upper incisor. Lucky it's after her birthday :0) Now, patiently awaiting for the next upper incisor to make its exit.

Reference to http://www.simplyteeth.com/

Being a little vain (which girl isn't?), she keep asking when her upper incisor will grow. It's also a little difficult to eat food as she's got 2 teeth gone -one on upper jaw, one on lower jaw - and one more loose tooth. Her solution for eating rice: She drizzle the rice with a lot of soup (she say "make her own porridge"). Tapi pizza, biscuits memang can eat no matter what.

In order to help her handle funny remarks from others, she is taught to say "That's my milk teeth and the permanent teeth will grow back".

Cuti-cuti Malaysia at Cameron Highlands

We chose to travel on the 1st weekday of school holiday to coincide with Yamaha school holiday week. Luckily not a whole lot of traffic. Last year, we had cancelled our trip to Cameron Highlands thinking the rainy season would not be fun. Later we found out it rains most days in Cameron Highlands and it doesn't matter when we go. We started our journey early and stopped at Ipoh for breakfast at Kedai Makanan Nam Heong. 姐姐 was already full and barely touched the egg tarts but 弟弟 ate with gusto. However it seemed the white coffee is a tad sweet for my liking this time. We tapao more egg tarts and char siew puffs for our trip.

This is the first time for 爸爸 and I going up Cameron Highlands after many years. We're taking the Simpang Pulai exit after our breakfast. As we're going from Ipoh town, we didn't see the signs leading to Cameron Highlands. Luckily we have GPS. If travelling from North-South Highway, perhaps the road sign is there. There seems to be more vehicles travelling down from Cameron Highlands than going up on this Monday. It was raining lightly somewhat, and misty at the valleys. Here's why valleys are misty: http://www.rcn27.dial.pipex.com/cloudsrus/mistnfog.html. The turning branching to Blue Valley and Cameron Highlands is quite sharp, so have to be extra careful and slow there.

First stop - Watercress Valley
As our apartment is not ready yet (check-in time is 3pm), we went for lunch and quick tour. We came here for fresh watercress dishes upon recommendation of our good friend. There's set dishes and ala carte'. We ordered Set A with 3 dishes & soup (RM48) and additional dish of "3-type mushroom stir-fry". 姐姐 loved all the food and soup, 弟弟 liked the egg . The drinks are watercress inspired, like honey watercress (RM4/glass). In addition to cooked dishes, folks can buy fresh watercress too. They plant other types of veggies too but looks like visitors not able to go where the vegetables are. However the dining area has good view of the watercress "ponds". P/S: Parking is right by the roadside.

Watercress Valley

Next stop - Rose Valley
Both children declared this place is their favorite place. Girls will be girls, but 弟弟 always want to follow 姐姐 and her interests :) Please be careful as the lanes are really narrow, and some area on the ground is wet and slippery from the rain/watering of plants. And remember to watch out for thorns on the rose bushes. Don't worry if it rains here as there's roof covering. Entrance fees is RM4/adult and RM2/child. Parking also right outside along the road. We bought children's gloves from the vendor outside (RM5/pair), later just realized they sell it cheaper at the markets (RM4.50 or less depends on your bargaining skills).

Flowers hanging from the swing is called 高跟鞋花， the red wooly flower is 毛毛虫花

EQ Strawberry Farm
We came here because it's the nearest and most convenient as we're staying at Equatorial apartment. Pick your own strawberry is RM20/500g (one tray). Just for the fun of it. We came after 5pm and we're the last ones there. Like everyone said, it's cheaper to buy from the markets, and the strawberry picking is just for experience.

Dinner and Brinchang night market
We went for dinner at Brinchang. We chose OK Tuck Restaurant, having their steamboat for two and additional plate of fried yee mee (RM35 - steamboat for two, total bill RM51). The amount of food is too huge for us with 2 adults and 2 children. The children didn't like the steamboat, we ordered chicken soup and herbal soup for the steamboat. The steamboat is so-so, veggies are fresh of course. We didn't finish the food. Now when travelling with children, learn to order less so the adults don't have to choke on the additional food that children didn't finish.

After dinner, we went shopping at Brinchang night market. During school holidays, they have night market here daily from 6pm to 10pm. It wasn't very packed, maybe due to light rain. One side is more of veggie stalls, the other side is more of food, fruits and knick-knacks. As it's cold in the apartment and I forgot my bedroom slippers, I bought a pair of Angry Bird slippers (RM10/pair). We also bought the so-called "apple guava" to try (RM8/2 fruits in a pack) as 弟弟 wanted more after sampling it. The aroma of ayam percik is delicious, I just had to go back the next day to try it as too full on the first day.

"Apple guava" sounds like a hoax to me, and true enough, it's just guava partially preserved in green colored syrup. See photo below with the children eating them (I felt bad as it is not good for children ya).

Outdoor photo is at EQ

Day 2 - Boh Tea Plantation (Sungai Palas)
Woke up early for our visit to Sungai Palas Boh Tea Plantation. Everyone told us the road leading to this place is super challenging. It's true! First the main road leading there is a steep uphill corner (have to be very careful not to miss it). On the way, even with not-so-many cars, it's a game of give-and-take otherwise everyone will end up stuck. The most challenging moment is when there's a big bus from the opposite side. Do not try if your driving skill is not up-to-par :) The stress is definitely worth it for us passengers as we get to enjoy the scenic views along the way. Tea plants everywhere, so beautiful!

Upon reaching visitor parking, you can choose to park here or drive up further to the tea centre. However do note parking up further is very limited and it's more windy road ahead. It's just a short 5-10 mins scenic walk uphill via a windy little tar road, or through a path surrounded by tea plants.

We went for short factory tour. Children didn't have the patience to hear the explanation, so we just zipped through. There's also a video room about history of Boh, again they have no patience to sit through.

The cafe! Fragrant smells tentalises as you walk past. There's the scones set that I've been wanting to try (RM8/set). We had both Palas Supreme and Bukit Cheding tea (RM4.30 for small pot with tea leaves, top-up hot water RM0.50). The tea is fragrant and a nice welcome on this cold morning. We prefer the Palas Supreme as it is milder (we are not tea drinkers). Children shared a slice of chocolate cake (RM6.50) happily. We sipped tea while a downpour came and went. Very good view of the tea plantation from the viewing platform. The cafe had glass windows all around for everyone to enjoy the stunning scenery with their meal. Oh, the uncle behind our table had nasi lemak (RM3.50 per pack from menu), in fact quite a lot of folks had nasi lemak. Wondered if it is nice since so popular?

We went down the path to get closer to tea plants on our way down

Do get some tea leaves/tea bags at the souvenir center, very nicely packed. By the way, the toilet is quite clean, both at the tea centre and the one near visitor carpark. When we drove off, we saw the workers gathering tea leaves they had collected. The place is filled with serenity, it's my favorite place at Cameron Highlands albeit the difficult drive.

Ee Feng Gu (玉蜂谷) Bee Farm
This bee farm is just a skip away from the steep road to Sungai Palas Boh Tea Plantation. This is convenient stop for those staying at EQ. There are ample parking during our visit. We visit the Bee Farm to show children how bee is reared. But they were disappointed to see the "boxes" instead of real bee hive. Give this a miss if not interested in bees or honey. There are flowers everywhere for the bees but I've had enough of flower shots. And no, I didn't do a bee close-up.

We had lunch at restaurant at Brinchang, not very sure what it's called. 姐姐 insists she wants noodles as she was too full to eat yee mee from dinner last night. I had chicken & char siew rice and 弟弟 had fried rice. A simple meal, we wanted to keep it light to ensure our tummy have room for dessert later.

Tanah Rata tour - Sam Poh Temple, Hutan Lipur Parit Fall
Initially we wanted to visit the Orang Asli Village, but do not trust the GPS as it led us to a small, lonely road. 姐姐 say to skip this and go to Sam Poh Temple instead. The temple is so new and clean! We went for simple prayers.

Children beria-ia wanna see waterfall in Cameron. Imagine our surprise when we found Hutan Lipur Parit Fall waterfall :) The water is murky and the place only had a few picnickers. There is no real path to the waterfall except a big leap to the river bank. 爸爸 took off his slippers and half-carried the children one by one to feel the river water. Children say it's icy cold! And 姐姐 didn't appreciate the mud at all, and just tingled her feet on the water for a millisecond :) 弟弟 manage to stand on the mud for a while for us to take a photo. There's a group of men fishing and panggang their catch nearby.

Food, food and food
Next is dessert time at Strawberry Moments! I had the strawberry strudels (?? i think this is the name, RM7.50), and children tried fruit salad (RM8.90) and a custard dessert (not sure what's the name, RM6.90). Hm... kind of over-rated, not sure if the cakes are better? Looks really nice though.

After dessert, we stop-by Brinchang night market, only 5pm already a lot of stalls are open. I just had to get the nasi ayam percik and children asked for more noodles. The strawberries we picked from yesterday were "frozen" in the fridge. Still, the children finished them. Should have just left them outside at room temp. Since we had such a huge afternoon tea, we had late dinner at 8pm to avoid the crowd. Although, there is not much crowd at all. Dinner is at Restaurant Mountain House Charcoal Steamboat. Wow, this is the best steamboat we had here. The veggies are good, found later they serve organic veggies. The soup base is good too, 鸳鸯 is herbal with tomyam. Even the children who didn't like steamboat loved it here. If you want the soup to boil slower, put the lid on the funnel. This time we only ordered steamboat for 2 person, with chrysenthemum tea only comes up to RM36. Definitely delicious and must-try at Cameron Highlands. Just a couple more tables after we finished dinner, even though only 9 something.

Kea farm market
There are two famous markets at Cameron we heard. One is the Brinchang night market, the other is Kea farm morning market. All sorts of brick-bat and especially veggies/fruit stalls. We got our stash of strawberries and veggies here. 爸爸 also bought a big stash of potatoes, sigh. He better cook them, not me :)

Cactus Point
A quick stop here just to bring children to see cactus up-close. No entrance fees for Cactus Point but need to pay if go to Cactus Valley, though I've not been there so not sure if there are more things to see.

We had early lunch at  唯一大牌档. Food is pretty good and economical. As it's still early, 爸爸 tried to look for the Orang Asli Village again. We followed direction from GPS but navigation stopped in the middle of the road. There were several small lanes but we just don't want to explore anymore. There are no road signs to show we are at the correct location. Not sure if the place moved.

Bharat Tea Plantation/Cameron Valley Tea House
Since we're still early, I wanted to try scones from Cameron Valley Tea House. Funny how the GPS try to bring us to Brinchang again when we are quite sure the place is after Tanah Rata. Finally switched off the GPS and went beyond Tanah Rata town. There are signs of Bharat Tea Plantation along the road. 爸爸 say if we reach Bharat Tea Plantation and still no sign of the tea house then we will stop looking, which is a fair deal. In the end, Cameron Valley Tea House is actually operated by Bharat Tea Plantation, what a big round we took to find it! It's just by the roadside, about 5km from Tanah Rata town using the main road. Again, ample parking space as not much visitors.

We ordered scones set (RM12), strawberry cheesecake (RM7.50) and brownies (RM8.50). Nice view from the tea house and glorious food! Tea is Cardamom Tea (RM10 for small pot, no tea leaves in the pot as already prepared by staff and not available to top up with hot water), it has one type of spice. The other house tea had several spices, since we prefer light tea, we had Cardamom. It's still full of spice flavour, we prefer the Boh's Palas Supreme. Probably some tea drinkers might like the Bharat tea with spices. Tea plantation walk is just a skip from the cafe. So we took more photos there. The Cameron Valley Tea House overlooks a brilliant tea plantation. So if not prefer to drive all the way to Sungai Palas Boh Tea Plantation, can give Bharat Tea Plantation a visit. Of course, the scones are not to be missed.

Later we realized there is another Bharat Tea Plantation near Kampung Raja, that's why the GPS keep asking us to go via Brinchang. Same type of tea plantation by the roadside, not sure if there's a cafe. Since it's raining we didn't stop.

Kellie's Castle
The rain accompanied us down Cameron. Only 4pm when we reach Simpang Pulai, so a brief stopover to Kellie's Castle. It's about 10 km drive (maybe more?) after Simpang Pulai toll. Entrance is RM4 for adults, children below 6 is FOC. Cannot miss it as it's just one straight road ahead after big signboard mentioning Kellie's Castle. Found out later Gua Tempurung is also nearby if we had time to visit. Maybe next time.

We had 老黄芽菜鸡 for dinner at Ipoh. Surprise that both children like it, when they didn't during their previous visit. Taste buds change, for sure.

Our thoughts and experience
Our trip to Cameron Highlands was planned 3 months earlier. Still we had to miss ballet lesson in addition to extra music classes in preparation of JMC graduation concert. But it was worth it to travel during not-so-peak period. The restaurants were not packed, neither was the local attractions. According to 爸爸, Cameron is just one main road, if you don't venture off you will arrive at the major towns like Brinchang and Tanah Rata. He is very nice la, bring us to all the places no matter how far. Most people will say there is nothing at Cameron, depends on what the expectation is. We enjoyed the relaxing trip, except when it rained rather heavily on our last day there. Of course, don't come looking for night life :D The weather during this time is between 18-20 degree C, and a little rainy, but didn't stop us from enjoying the main attractions. 姐姐 was cold most of the time as her clothes are the summery type, but 弟弟 totally enjoyed the cool weather. Unfortunately it was not only cold, it was damp as well. One thing 姐姐 is busy flicking away flies everywhere we go.

Our apartment didn't have any microwave for us to heat food... sigh. The flooring is too cold and we forgot to bring bedroom slippers. Ended up buying more slippers from night market to prevent walking on cold floor. The cleanliness level at EQ apartment could be improved, but no big complain since we didn't expect it to be spanking clean. Luckily they just refurbished the room, otherwise dare not think of its' cleanliness at all. No TV for the 3 days we were there as they are upgrading their system and it will be down for one month. There's just basic setup, nothing special at the apartment, although they really need to work on cleanliness. Nowhere near the apartments I stayed during US trip. Wish our local service apartments and hotels can be as clean.

View from the balcony

New Textbooks

Our little princess got 6 new textbooks/activity books for Year 2. These are swanking new. We reminded her to take good care of her books. She had the cheek to answer "My classmate, D's books look very new when returned. He use the "blurry" type plastic cover". I told her it's the handling and not the type of plastic cover, but she insisted the type used by her classmate helps a lot. Well, is it true?

Preparation for JMC graduate concert

姐姐's class are starting to prepare for their JMC graduate concert. There will be extra class starting from this week. Good thing it's after the school exam and also ballet exam, so she can concentrate fully on it. This will be first time we're attending such concert as we did not attend other kids' concert before. You know, at that time, with a toddler and young child, we made a lot of excuses for ourselves. We should have gone to one just for the experience of what it is about. Nevertheless, being in one will give us exposure to better prepare for 弟弟's in the future.

姐姐's class will play "Banana's Cha Cha". Cannot imagine what they will be asked to wear, hopefully not asked to dress like a banana :P Teacher had given each child a different part to play as an Ensemble. Everyone's score is different, and it is interesting to see how everything comes together, kind of like a mini-orchestra using electone. Teacher started by asking the children to "dance" on their bench (move to the rhythm) while listening to music from CD, then teaching them to play the "Question and Answer" portion of the piece during 1st practise. For practise at home, the children need to listen to the song from CD and sing their part with the music, also to practise the part given. It's really a good experience as they all need to work together and play well together. This is only for children in group class, not sure what those in individual class will be doing during concert.

From their book

So not only they have a small assessment upon completing the Yamaha JMC, they also the graduate concert as well.

Happy Meal toys

Today is replacement class for 弟弟's kindy as they closed a week due to HFM prevention. Perhaps we were in rush to go home as traffic buildup outside kindy after their field trip. So we were wondering why Happy Meal didn't pack together with Collectible toy. After class today, 弟弟 bring back his Ronald toy (Kids' best friend at McDonald's) and additional kids' stuff like McD time-table and times table (ha, like a rhyme). Ronald is a bobblehead toy, which means his head can bob up-and-down. Thanks to his teachers for keeping the toys for him!

More craft from school

These are some of the recent crafts the children had done at school.

Both craft are done by using toilet roll, haha. Penguin is done by Teacher Annie Tang as gift for the Beamind Mandarin class children. The puppet is done by 姐姐 during Dunia Seni class. She use colour paper to wrap around it and cut out its hair, nose and mouth. Eyes are given by teacher to stick on.

He likes the penguin very much.

Later 弟弟 remembered that he saw the same penguin in our "In The Arctic" Sticker & Activity Book :D

Octopus is craft done at 姐姐's Dunia Seni class (it's new name for art class at primary school). Its made using paper bag and stuffed with newspaper scraps, then the eyes are drawn and glued, and its mouth is drawn and tentacles are decorated.

弟弟's field trip to Penang Butterfly Farm and Batik Factory

We have a super excited boy this week, as it's his field trip to Penang Butterfly Farm and Batik Factory. It's 弟弟's first trip without 姐姐 looking out for him. He promised to be good, not be itchy hands and follow teacher's instructions. He did ask me what if he is lost and didn't come back, which I replied him he'd have a very sad daddy, mommy and sister who will miss him very much. So he is to follow teacher closely. He is more mature this year and he even know what to bring and what to wear for the field trip by listening to teacher's instruction in class. He kept on reminding us to send him to school early as the bus will go off if he's late. We paid RM50 for the trip this time (Inflation! It was RM30 last year).

When it's 1:30pm I went to pick him up from kindy. To my surprise, there's a whole fleet of cars outside the kindy and I waited like 10 mins but the line didn't even budge. Initially I thought it's because the children are slow in coming out. When I sms 爸爸, he said just received message from Teacher Queenie that the children's bus is stuck in traffic jam along Green Lane (Jalan Masjid Negeri). No wonder! Even I was stuck in traffic jam after sending 姐姐 to school today. Usually Friday will be terribly jammed during school hours from 12pm to 2pm, and Monday is replacement holiday for Hari Raya Haji, so more traffic for the long weekend.

Later the arriving bus moved with difficulty to the kindy as parents' cars are stuck and some impatient fellas use the opposite lane and got stuck with cars from that side. Oohh.... you can only imagine the chaos. I too had to manouver my car several times - reverse, forward, reverse, forward - to allow more room for the bus to go through (hey how was I to know some big bus will use the other lane right, and I'm still inside my lane ok).

Still after quite some time, and none of the cars move. I decided to abandon my car and walk over to the kindy to pry the slow coach out. To my surprise, parents/grandparents are surrounding the front yard, children are queueing for their McDonald's Happy Meal which is included in the field trip. 弟弟 smiled when he saw me. And when I ushered him to go, he said, "Hey, I have no shoes! (It's left on the shoe rack)" and he told me his shoe "opened up". Ok ok, will get it repaired for you, dear. Other parents/grandparents/guardians also abandoned their cars on the road, as when we are back to the car, we are still stuck for like another 5 mins before we can move. Didn't want to cut into the opposite lane in case got even more stuck.

I asked if he's hungry and he said already had chocolate bun in the bus. On the way home, he told me about butterflies everywhere and touching his hands when he put his hand on flowers. He also touched a "gecko" and it's very cute (真的！很cute 的! he said). He saw a black snake too, and centipede. When I asked about the batik factory, he said "the uncle dip a stamp into big pot of wax, and stamp stamp stamp, then he coloured".Very simple only." Ha! As if.


He agreed to pose for a quick photo, good boy!

Too bad we didn't find any toys for the Happy Meal, but 弟弟 still enjoy the nuggets, french fries and cold Milo. Tiring but happy day for him!

Another milk tooth ~~

Yes, this is quite a detailed description of what happened to one of her milk tooth. Do not read on if you cannot stand blood and biological human stuff and your imagination will run wild :) Our princess had been bothered by initially one (upper incisor), then two (another upper incisor), then three milk teeth (the last lower incisor that's still baby tooth) which are getting loose. 爸爸 tried to pull out one of the loosest one (top right rabbit tooth) but she make so much noise and it's still not loose enough when he tried last week. It seems annoying to her that it's a bother when she's eating. It seems about time to drop too as her 2 front teeth are getting into funny position, as if something under the gums is pushing them apart at first, then together recently and leaving gaps with her other teeth. Kinda like a volcano waiting to erupt :P. Literaly. Found out tooth growth is also called eruption.

When we pick her up from school, the first thing she said is "My tooth came off at school!". Then came all our questions "Is it painful? Did it bleed? When it happened etc...". She passed me the tooth, and started telling her story. It happened during recess when she was eating her honey stars. She said the tooth came off and dropped to the floor. There was blood but she use tissue to dab on her gums and it eventually stopped bleeding. She told her class teacher after recess and teacher gave her a tissue to keep her tooth temporarily. Her friends shared stories about tooth fairy and the rewards they got when they put their tooth under pillow for tooth fairy. Before this she had told us one of her good friends got 10 cents. Today she told us another friend got RM1 and yet another one was RM10! How come the tooth fairy reward also affected by inflation? :) I had to tell her Tooth Fairy does not have that kind of money as there are millions of children all over the world and each child has 20 millk teeth to replace with permanent teeth. I didn't mention Tooth Fairy will be bankrupt otherwise it would invite more questions about what is bankrupt.

One of the boys in her class ZY who teased her a lot called her "bor geh" (which means no tooth in Hokkien). She said her other friends "yeeeee..." and "yeeeeerrr.." when her tooth came off but no one else made fun of her, thank goodness.

She's super cheeky and happy today. Not sure if it's because a load off her chest with the tooth gone, or is it due to the new sky blue leotard that fitted her better.

Tooth Fairy gave her RM1 in exchange for the tooth she put under her pillow. She showed me the RM1 this morning. When asked if she's happy, she shook her head, sulk a little and said "No, because my tooth is taken away!" She also said there is no fairy in this world and she keep asking who gave her the RM1 :)

So in memory of her teeth growth, here is her record so far. Picture originally from http://www.simplyteeth.com/., I added dates according to her case. It's a good site to refer for all things about teeth.

Photo credit: http://www.simplyteeth.com/

 

Photo credit: http://www.simplyteeth.com/