Home Away From Home

Sound asleep in the bassinet.

We have arrived safely in cold and rainy Dublin.

Hubby was at the airport to pick us up and hugged Aidan the minute he saw us. I must get used to the idea that I am now second in his life

Aidan proved me wrong by being such an angel on the KL-London-Dublin flight and gave big smiles to everyone passing by on the aisles. Traveling alone with a 5 month old didn’t turn out to be a disaster after all.

He happily played with his toys and adored the constant attention from the elderly English couple sitting across us. They gave him plenty of tickles on his belly!

Anyway, this morning I was already surfing Air Asia looking-up for cheap flights but deep down I know that was the heart talking and not the brain..hehe.

It usually takes a few days before I start to feel ‘normal’ again in this place that I call home for the past 12 years.

Alrighty, will post when I get the chance – I have so much housework to do, it’s unbelievable!

Rain Free, Sun Filled Day

Honestly, I was waiting for this day to come so I packed Aidan into the car and drove into town hoping to catch some sun.

He needed the fresh air badly, being all cooped-up at home isn’t healthy for a 4 month old.

We took a walk in the park and regretted not bringing the dSLR- I could have taken plenty of photos!

So here are some shots of Dublin from my iPhone and me feeling like a japanese tourist.

I love everything about this park

I would always recommend a trip to this park if you’re planning to come to Dublin.

If you’re lucky and the day is sunny,  grab a sandwich in town, pick a spot and just take in the scenery.

I used to feed the ducks here back in my college days

Birds eye view of the entrance of the park

I took the photo above from the top most window of this building,

St Stephen's Green SC

Shopping and dining is great too – plenty of shops, boutiques and restaurants or you can just walk along Grafton street and be entertained by the street musicians.

Oh, can I just include one photo taken last year – just around the corner from the park is a lovely theatre where you can catch some great shows. My last one was Riverdance.

This photo is pretty sentimental - I didn't know I was already 6 weeks pregnant with Aidan! No wonder the dress was a little too tight. I can't wear it now

Back to my story, today while I was just traipsing around town exploring every corner, I found a really lovely children’s boutique selling really cute clothes and toys. I must make a trip there again.

Another view of the city

You don't have to go to NYC for a Horse and Carriage ride

Anyway, I bought a little gift for a friend who just gave birth to a baby boy called Mohd Affan last week. We’re planning to pay them a visit this weekend.

Aidan got one too, aren't they cute ? You can actually wheel them around.

Daddy came home from work and turned Aidan’s name around.

It took me 4 months to realize this...teehee

So that’s a little tour of Dublin if you ever plan to come to this place.

The walk  ( and the window shopping ) did us both good, felt a little refreshed.

The sun was definitely a mood-lifter, it’s so easy to make me happy

Wonderful Wicklow

I realize I have not posted anything for a while as I have been keeping busy minding the little one who’s growing and thriving like any other healthy baby.

So here’s a very quick update packed with photos :

One sunny afternoon last week, we made a little escape to a place called Sally Gap, right in the heart of Wicklow Mountains.

Wicklow Mountains - Literally driving in the middle of nowhere

The scenery was stunning and it’s a wonder why we never came here before.

The route took about an hour and there was no sign of people for miles except for the odd cyclist or tourist.

Long and narrow road

We made a pitstop by the river and took more photos. Aidan had a BIG poo after his feed that we had to change his nappy in the car boot. Didn’t want to risk his poo being splattered all over the car seat, hehe.

Wait 'til you see the river

Tadaa…

the 'extremely' dangerous river

This would be a great place for a picnic or a walk  but I think we have better rivers back home. Don’t you agree?

'syok sendiri'

Aidan wants the limelight too.

We wanted to trail the river to the waterfall but felt it was too risky carrying Aidan in the sling and so we drove instead.

Sally Gap - Amazing landscape

Waterfall in the background

We enjoyed the short trip and was glad that we decided to come here instead of hitting the summer sales in town.

I highly recommend this day trip to anyone who wants to enjoy the Irish landscape

A Day Out at The Docklands

We were at the Maritime Festival held at the Dublin Docklands over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Replica of the Jeanie Johnston. The original ship was used to carry fleeing Irish immigrants to America in the era of the Great Famine.

Not always you would see majestic tall ships lined up along the River Liffey so we knew we had to come here to see what it was all about. Interestingly,you could also do a little tour of the various ships by paying a really small fee.

River Liffey

Infact I have always wanted to come here to capture a photo of the River Liffey and the pedestrian walkway was ideal as it offered a scenic view of the river.

I have to say, they have done a really great job doing up this place. Back in 1997, you would think twice coming here even though it was just a 10 minute walk from the city center.

Checking out the summer market

I didn’t find anything interesting at the summer market. I was hoping to get something crafty for Aidan but to no avail. Ah well, maybe some other time I’ll be lucky.

Irish grandpa

There are a few nice eateries around the place including a Malaysian Restaurant which had Selamat Datang at it’s entrance.

Malaysian Restaurant

And a funfair too, which I used to love back in my student days.

Funfair

The heat was too much for me that I took shelter in one of the malls. All in all, it was a great day out with the family and parents-in-law. Hopefully there will be more exciting things to do this summer.

Not quite my pre-pregnancy body, another 5 kg to burn

Sunshine Through My Window

View from my bedroom

After the freak snow storm in February, it’s nice to have the sun out again. It has been sunny all week and I hope it stays that way for a while.

After a very hectic week at work, we decided to have an easy weekend. Saturday we went all out cleaning the house, I did my share of laundry and cooking and he went all out with the hoover. I think the best investment you could do for the house is a good reliable sturdy hoover!

Come Sunday, it was grocery day and time to stock the fridge and kitchen with food. But before that,  we wanted to check out Blessington which is only a 25 minute drive from our house. The last time we came here was roughly 9 years ago in 2000 with my parents.

In search of Lake Blessington

It was a pleasant drive all the way to Blessington, probably because most people were in the city celebrating St Patrick’s. There were a lot of cyclists though and  I know my brother would really love cycling here!

Found it!

As usual there were very little signs along the way, so we got a little lost. Eventually we found the lake.

Lush green countryside

9 years on, all I can say it has not changed that much!

We were this close to the lake

I wish there were more touristy things to do here but I figured the Irish like  to leave things natural and untouched.

One for the family back home

And here are photos of us. Thanks to my SIL, my parents now know the existence of this blog. They have been asking for our photos you see.

Another one for the family!

Finally, this is how I look like today!

Not the most flattering pic!

ps : Happy St Patrick’s Day!

I had big plans to go to the parade but seeing that half a million people will be in the city today, I decided against it! Besides, hubby is on call saving lives…haha…poor him!

Crossing The Border

We finally made the trip to Northern Ireland last weekend .

Hubby had been on call for 3 consecutive weekends in February and the month of January we were so busy moving into the new house, so there was no way we could make a weekend escape.

Just to give you an idea of the trip, below is the route we took from Dublin to the little town called Newry.

The route

It is a brilliant place to shop as the currency is in British Pounds so we get to save a lot as compared to paying in Euro.

Nowadays, the Republic is really ripping people off that people do not actually  mind clocking the extra miles to get a really good bargain.

The drive, taken with the Fuji bridge camera

Anyway, the real reason we made the 90 minute drive was to get his belated birthday present.

Hubby’s birthday was actually in January and knowing that it would cost a bomb to buy it in the Republic, he was willing to make a wait. Heheh. Hey, it saved me 150 euros! (Now I am hoping come May I do not have to wait 2 months too) He now has upgraded his camera to a D60 so I now own his old camera. And by the way, all the photos in this blog were taken by the Fuji camera, I think it does the job though.

Whilst we were there, we bought a few baby essentials too. I am now slowly ticking off the list and hopefully come April we should be prepared for the little one’s arrival. With no family support and hubby literally working 24/7 with his on calls, it would not be wise to leave things to the very last minute. I only felt comfortable buying things after reaching 30 weeks and that is why I didn’t bother catching the xmas sales even though I knew we could have saved a whole lot more.

Anyway, back to the trip –   that evening I volunteered to drive us home to let him play with his new toy. And here’s the first shot in the car…

A glimpse of my growing belly

We were planning to test the new camera this weekend but the weather forecast is predicting  snow and rain. I think it’s best we stay home, nothing beats a good book, warm socks and a mug of hot chocolate.  If  lucky, I really hope to watch Slumdog after all the good reviews!

This entry is getting way too long,  finally I leave you a shot of Pepper lounging at home

Pepper all curled-up

Birmingham

This will probably be my last entry on our trip to the UK. Blame it on the hormones, we took much less photos this trip as I didn’t feel like carrying the camera around the neck. The heavy winter wear was enough to put a strain to my neck already!

I feel like a kid again!

From Chester we drove 2 hours south to the city of Birmingham and our first stop was Cadbury World. Back in 2007, we made a trip to New York and went ooh aah drooling over chocolates in M&M World and Hershey’s that we decided to make a trip to Cadbury World too. And I am glad we did, heheh.

By the way here’s a snapshot of M&M World NY,

M&M World in Times Square, NY

Back to my story, the entrance fee to Cadbury World was rather dear at £13 for an adult. It would have been been a better deal if it was below £10, however we did get a handful of free chocolates throughout the visit. The tour of the factory too was very much orientated towards children and we kept saying to ourselves that our nephews and nieces back home would have really enjoyed this. So for £26 we did learn a little about the history of chocolate and how Cadbury evolved from a small family business to the mega empire it is today.

The world's biggest cadbury shop

We had a great time checking out the chocolates at the store and the one chocolate that really caught our eyes was this huge 5kg dairy bar priced at £29 pounds.

If only we could bring this home for the family!

So that’s a little info if you ever plan to go Cadbury World. Our next stop was the city and so we headed straight to the Bullring for dinner and a little shopping.

Night shot of the Bullring

Colourful windows

The Bullring reminded me so much of Pavilion and KLCC so nothing too impressive there. But to have such a massive mall is pretty rare in the UK as people talk so much about Oxford Street.

Selfridges

Birmingham is a nice city and I absolutely loved it. We are now safely back in Ireland and making the best of the weekend by staying home and recuperating. Hubby helped sort out the piles and piles of holiday laundry and after a week of eating out, I made ‘Nasi Ayam’ for dinner tonight. Tomorrow night’s menu? Nasi briyani! I think my apetite’s back

The Cheshire Experience

The route from Sheffield to Chester was indeed a memorable one as we drove through the beautiful English countryside via Peak District. I wish we had stopped to take photos though as there were lovely views of lakes, valleys and rolling hills. Pretty much like Lake District actually.

Anyway after a fabulous stay at Leopold Hotel in Sheffield, we were in search of another hotel in the Cheshire District. Hubby looked thoroughly on the web for a good deal and found one by the name of Inglewood Manor which was only a 15 minute drive from Cheshire Oaks.

Inglewood Manor

Arriving at the Manor felt like a scene out of Pride and Prejudice – we were greeted by a breathtaking Edwardian House with beautiful manicured lawns.

so english

You instantly feel at home once you enter through the door. I love the interior – lots of oak panelling and a really huge fireplace!

The bedroom was a decent size and once again, the bathroom was equipped with lovely toiletries.

I love Molton Brown

I retired early that night but hubby stayed up watching ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. We woke up early the next day looking forward to breakfast which was included in the package. We had a hearty English breakfast of eggs, hash browns, vegetarian sausages, beans and toast. Yums!

We then explored the grounds of the manor, didn’t I tell you it’s like a scene out of Pride and Prejudice? Heheh

beautiful manicured lawns

autumn leaves

side view of the manor and bright blue skies

It was an absolute gem of a residence, probably one of my favourite hotels so far. It’s the perfect place to stay if you’re touring Chester, Liverpool, the north etc.

bye bye!

Hopefully we will be back here again one day!

One Fine Day in Sheffield

We flew to Birmingham in the wee hours of Sunday morning, rented a car and drove 2 hours north to the city of Sheffield.

Sheffield high street

Spent the day discovering the city and later met-up with dear old cousin for coffee and dinner.

We spent the night in a lovely boutique hotel right in the heart of the city and had an excellent stay.

I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Listening to Boyz 11 Men - The room even came with a docking station for Iphone

Just what you need for the perfect bath!

A king size bed for a good night's sleep

And today we were in Cheshire Oaks for some retail therapy and got a few good bargains.

My body now is in dire need of some good old rest as we have another loooong day tomorrow.

Till then, good night!

Champs Elysees

I regret not taking French seriously back in secondary school but I am glad I know the basics, enough for me to survive if ever I get lost in France.

arc de triomphe

I remember back in F2, Mademoiselle made us sing a lot of French songs and the one song that lingers in my head to this very day is ‘Aux Champs Elysees’- such a chirpy and happy song.

I can even sing along if it’s been played, although I don’t really understand the lyrics.

So this tune kept playing in my head while I was walking along the famous boulevard.

a pretty scary moment to get the perfect shot!

We made many trips here as our hotel was just around the corner,and it was terrific for meals and shopping.

yummy french pastry, my favourite- pain au chocolat

There are rows and rows of fabulous cafes/restaurants to choose from and the atmosphere is lively especially in the evenings. The photo below was taken pretty early in the morning and that explains the emptiness.

a glimpse of me in the left upper corner

So that’s it this time, this was meant to be be posted last week but I didn’t get a chance to do so. I was gonna put up a few more posts but looking at how busy i’ll be for the month of September, I doubt so.

I am only wishing for one thing now, I wish I was back home with my family for the month of Ramadhan. It’s my 11th year away from home and my last raya was back in 1999, how sad and pathetic!

So till my next post, ‘Selamat Berpuasa dan Beribadah Di Bulan Yang Mulia Ini’.