Trip to Msia ~ cont. (8/5-8/10)

I can't believe it's October already.  I haven't had a lot of chances to work on my postings.  I've flown back to Malaysia again last month to see my dad, who is still in the hospital. 

Anyhow, wanted to continue on the update on our family vacation back in my hometown back in August.  At this point, Bobby has already headed back to the US.  All he did was really bring his bad cough to KK, make Charlie and I sick, and then head back!  

We decided to stop by the beach after dropping Daddy off at the airport:

I remembered taking a photo of Graham "holding" an island.  And look, I found it! Graham was 6 years old (Aug 2016):

He has definitely grown! :-)

The beach is so much calmer today compared to the first trip out here, when we first arrived:

Ok, time for breakfast!  Noodles with meatballs:

Decided to take the boys to the fish market:

We bought some mega-sized prawns!  I think the guy said RM$100 per kilo?... which is a lot in the local currency I thought!  

I think that's about $10 per lbs?  I think my math is right??! I have no idea how much shrimp normally cost in the US.  Hmmm, looks like I need to do some research.  In any case, Charlie is so happy and that's all that matters :-)

He's always had this fascination with shrimp.  Ha ha!

At night, we went out for dinner with uncle Kelvin.  Graham and Charlie don't tire when it comes to hooking those ice cubes with their straws:

And who doesn't love sweet and sour pork chops :-D

On the way back to the hotel, we dropped by the night market. It was drizzling a bit but still quite busy!  We didn't buy anything to eat though:

Oh, yeah.... I learn from the best (a.k.a. Bobby) when it comes to home security.  Ha ha!

The next morning, it's a Sunday and we visit the ever so popular Gaya Street.  It's busy and hot today!

Thank you to my uncle, aunt, and cousin for meeting us :-)

Trying to stay in the shade as much as we can:

Quick snack at one of the restaurants along the street before calling it a day:

I told Charlie he needed to eat one of my lemon slices in my iced tea.  Vitamin C is good for you!  His reaction to the sourness is classic.  LOL!!

Went to meet up with some of Mommy's friends at the golf club by the beach.  Some new friends to hang out with for Graham and Charlie:

Their little friends left early and so Graham and Charlie hit the swimming pool.  They have the entire place to themselves:

Mommy earns herself another bowl of cendol :-)

Can you believe this, but the same lifeguard that I grew up with when swimming at this pool, is still working here!

Seems that all we do is eat and play.  Ha ha, here we are - across from our airbnb having an afternoon snack:

The airplanes are constantly flying over our heads!

Dinner without Daddy was pretty uneventful.  We had some sort of fast food chicken bites.  And then, letting the boys be on their phones after dinner:

Teaching Charlie how to play checkers tonight.  He's struggling a bit but obviously still a lot to learn :-)

The  next day, we decided to check out the State Museum:

Impressive skeleton!  I've forgotten what it is now or where it was found:

The flag at the top is the Malaysian flag and the bottom one was the old State's flag. I totally forgot what it had looked like before:

There's quite a few things in this museum but there was hardly anything interactive for the kids to do. Maybe I'm so used to going to those Science museums with the kids, where they are able to touch anything and everything. Ha!

Oh,... ancient Chinese pillows.  Can you imagine sleeping on that?!

Parts of the museum was quite stuffy.  As humid as it is outside, I'm thinking the air-conditioning was not working very well?  I was actually quite disappointed with our visit inside the museum.  Is this the best our State can do??!

Ok, maybe the outside surrounding area will be better.  Here's the path to the hanging bridge:

There was some long houses made with bamboo and dried palm fronds roofs.  I'm not sure why I didn't take any photos. Maybe I wasn't impressed. Ha!

Time to climb back up. This heat is killing me!!

We get an awesome view of Mt Kinabalu today:

We are uncle Kelvin's house today (the house I grew up in) and I have Graham and Charlie recreate a photo that was taken during their very first visit:

Look at that face on Charlie - so cheeky!! And look at this photo below.  OMG, how little they were!

Charlie was such a chubby baby!

I've been borrowing my brother's car during our stay.  It sounded sort of funny.  Looks like it needed more oil.  Glad he is handy and I don't have to get my fingers dirty :-P

The next morning... gosh, I'm too soft on Graham and Charlie:

Maybe because I'm going to eat this croissant.  Ha ha!

After sending the donuts to my brother, he drove us up to Kokol Hill.  Woah, quite the view from up here!

I'm loving the local flowers around here:

Graham and Charlie having a little fun with the mini-climbing wall:

I'm so glad Graham and Charlie is able to spend some time with their uncle Kelvin:

Love this photo!  I think Charlie took the we-fie of us:

More chess!  Charlie loves to play chess and will take anyone on!

Ahhh, another teh tarik (hot "pulled" tea).   So good:

One more look at the view before we leave:

And I guess we are trying to pull the sword out of the stone. Ha ha!

Look at this flower.  How interesting!

On the way down from Kokol Hill, we took the backroad and went to the Kionsom waterfall.  I'm glad we managed to get away with paying local rates. Helps to still know the local language. Ha!

Baby waterfall:

We decided to take a longer hike to find the larger waterfall.  OMG, how high is this hill?!

We-fie!

These trees are so tall!

I'm just glad I remembered the mosquito repellent.  And so far so good with bugs and insects.

Okay, so there's no signage as to how far the big waterfall is.  We can hear and somewhat see it, but we can't seem to get to it!  And since my brother is in flip-flops (we weren't actually intending on this trip to begin with) and it was starting to get late, we decided to turn around and head down the hill:

We're just going to hang out around the smaller ponds, by the smaller waterfalls:

Pretty lovely down here, and Graham is just taking it all in:

Love the photo of Graham and Charlie here:

Uncle Kelvin decided to get in the water. Ha!

Later at night, Uncle Kelvin took us to a fancy dessert place.  Interesting soy dessert with jelly and what not, and of course, local brown sugar.  That always makes everything taste better!

The next day, my sister and her family have arrived from Minnesota!

We met up at a restaurant for chicken rice, for lunch.

While my sister and her family checked into their hotel, the boys and I headed back to our Airbnb.  But first, a little shopping for Mommy.  I guess this is what kids do these days while their moms go shopping??? 

I guess I'll just reward the boys with some ice cream while they let me shop in peace?? Ha! Well, perhaps I just wanted another bowl of cendol ;-)

Charlie is so excited to see his cousin Caden again.  Time for some chess:

Looks like Caden loves Pokemon too!

Didn't take long for the boys to be back on their phones:

On the way to the hospital one night and here's the state mosque - all lit up at night:

I just looked up the mosque online and realized that I don't even know what the mosque looks like on the inside.  Funny that we've visited the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. I'm not even sure if non-Muslims are allowed in this one. It's funny how little I know about my hometown mosque!

Okay, more photos and stories to follow!  Oh, by the way, my brother looked up the details on the larger waterfall at Kionsom.  Seems that we were actually only another 10-15 minutes from that spot where we turned around.  We will definitely have to take on this hike again next time!!