2017-10-07 Warrior Cadets Tournament

 

Aiysha: I was sooo nervous going into the tournament this weekend after not having any chance to practice while we have been away.

I played GA and WA, and I was so lucky playing in a team with such good players. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of early games that we really should have won - we were just getting use to each other. However, after that, we smashed it! On the second day, we annihilated a team we lost to on the first day, and then when we played the 3rd place playoff, I came on in the last quarter and we came from behind to win it comfortably - that was the best game of all!

I can't wait until next year!

Clara: It was so much fun watching Paish - she played so well! They deserved to be in the final!

C: What a day! Well played!

S: Amazing day Paish - well played!

2017-10-06 (Friday) - Back To Perth

Not a lot of sleep - up at 6am, and took a taxi with a 66-year-old chinese driver who suffered for 30 years with insomnia until he found Tai Chi in India - wow!

Not much time for breakfast! A nice coffee and croissants, then straight through! A couple decided to check their bags in and not turn up for the flight, making us an hour late - ah man! We all read on the plane, and played karts - I won again on Baby Park! Wahoo! Aiysha and I chatted to Jordan - a 14 year old boy with 4 borthers and sisters and just travelling back from Krabi and was really into cricket. We were also really shocked at one family whose Dad was hitting his young son! Unbelievable! The meal wasn't great at all, so we had kak lapis!

We were all sad and happy to arrive home. Mummy had her seeds cut off her ornaments as they had insects in them. Went shopping on the way home, then Mummy and Rox picked up Smokey! Yeah! Daddy and Paish prepared sweet sauce chicken and did some netball practice.

Soooo tired. Table dinner. Bed.

2017-10-05 (Thursday) - Sunway Lagoon and Our Old Haunts!

Had a free breakfast at around 8am, but not a great one! Almost got jipped at the hotel with a package guy, but made the right choice by getting a normal taxi to Sunway Lagoon - well, almost as he tried to save us some money by taking us to some dodgy tourist traps too! What is it with these guys!?

Finally got to Sunway Lagoon, and started off on the water slides, then then lazy river, then rapids, then back to the big water slides, feeding the sun bears, lions and tigers, lunch, then more water slides! Seems quick, but we stayed from 10am to around 4pm! It was great fun, and ended on the big water slide - what a way to end the day! Paish won the racing mats - boo!

Tried to get a taxi, but refused to get ripped off, so we headed through Sunway Pyramid, and found a meter taxi to Taman Tun Dr Ismail - wow, hasn’t changed much at all! It was so strange. We walked past our old place then past the pool and where Catchy was originally invented - so strange. We then proceeded to walk up the hill where I used to run and walk - it had changed a lot, and we almost could not recognise it! We decided to get a taxi, but take a detour up to hill to see if we could recognise more of it - we immediately saw monkeys! We then walked to the corner, and it all came back to us! It was so nice, and they had made some lovely improvements. So many people were doing exercise up the hill now - I must have started a trend! Amazing to see our old place again, and so funny!

On the way down we bought some home made juice, then the taxi took us to the newly built MRT which was sooo cool and fully automated! Very impressive, and even more impressive that we skipped all the rush hour traffic!

Got back at around 7pm - Rox and Mummy went to take our stuff back, and Paish and Daddy got some money, did some bargains for some shorts and fruit, then we all went for dinner - crab, noodles and chicken wings! Yummy, and we didn’t order too much this time. We headed straight to Chinatown, and shopped for fidget spinners, makeup, souvenirs in Central Market, and clothes. Finally home at 10.30pm, checked in, ate fruit and kak lapis, then bed at 11.30pm.

2017-10-04 (Wednesday) - KL Here We Come!

Quick breakfast before Adrian took us to Kuching back to Travellers Homestay to drop off our bags - he had some funny stories about his wife’s stamp collecting and his plans for his land, the way he makes his animal feed and his farm - very enterprising man and would have been good to spend more time with him. Good to see Moi again, but didn’t have my laksa :-( . Adrian then dropped us into town so we could shop near India Street. We looked around, and I helped Paish buy some makeup. Daddy got some flip flops and some shorts too. We finally met back at 10.45am, and headed back to Moi’s to catch our taxi. We got a couple of buns and tarts on the way to nibble at the airport - some of the nicest buns ever! Paish and I also shared some noodles for lunch.

Lego Batman Movie!

Got a less expensive taxi from KLIA ($180 rather than $230!) to The Yard hotel. We thought we were staying there, but nope, they changed management and lost our booking! They tried to take us to another hotel they owned, but we looked up the reviews and it had some of the worst reviews we’ve ever seen! Paish and Daddy decided to walked down the road, and got a double room that had view across to the KL tower! Not bad eh?

We unpacked, and finally headed out at around 7pm, ate in Food Street and ordered way too much - fried rice, duck, veg, chicken wings, butter prawns. Lovely, but what a waste. While we ate there were some pretty innovative street performers who we gave money to. We checked out the hawkers down food street, and did an amazing bargain for some fidget spinners - 4 for $50! Roxy was so pleased! We then headed off to Central Market and Chinatown. Got a couple of souvenirs and some clothes and fruit - it was so much fun just mooching around the hawkers and shops.

2017-10-03 (Tuesday) - Daddy’s Birthday! Crocodile Hunting

We all slept in until around 9.30 - lovely! Adrian and Ginelle left an amazing breakfast for us - pancakes, sweets, curry pastries, etc. It was pretty filling! I opened my presents - a book on Nelson Mandela from Sue and Arthur, l’eau de toilette from the girls and some funny cards! Thank you!

We thought we would mooch around all day, but in the end decided to go for a walk at Beko National Park where we went last night. Just as we set off, it tipped down with rain for ages, and we were driving through rivers! We finally got there, and decided that it was all too wet for us, so we decided to drive to a riverside town where Adrian recommended a restaurant - as we got there it was as if it had never rained there! We also avoided running over a boy on a bike! We didn’t intend to eat, but after walking around a bit we couldn’t help ourselves. Out comes the salted egg crab again with noodles and veg - amazing! Very different from the crab at Top Spot, but it was the first time Paish tried crab! The noodles were amazing that we got another plate!

We drove back home in time for our not so secret crocodile hunt tonight - we drove around 45 minutes to the jetty of Sophie’s friend, and was met by a lovely guide called John who was really passionate about conservation and watched a heap of national geographic shows. We went out on the boat with two couples from Amsterdam at around 5pm, and started dolphin watching - unfortunately no dolphins. Then we went for crocodiles and finally spotted a small crocodile on the river bank that scuttled into the water - scary stuff and amazing to see one in the wild. Unfortunately we didn’t see anymore during daylight, but when dusk came we saw some spooky eyes poking up from the water. We stopped in the boat opposite a fishing village o eat chicken rice, then went to see the fireflies - lovely! After the boat broke down for a while, we finally headed home - what an amazing tour!

We got back late, a bit of karts, then bed!

2017-10-02 (Monday) - Beko National Park / Frog Walk

It seemed to have cleared up a bit this morning! Cool. After we had our cereal (normal, eh?), we drove the car to the jetty, and headed off in crocodile infested waters on a rickety old boat to the Beko National Park. The Russian guys next to me had long socks - perhaps a good idea, but man it looked hot. As we docked, they had to take them off anyway as we had to get out into the water.

We went from central office to start our trek to the proboscis monkeys passing some cheeky macaq monkeys and friendly wild boar. Didn’t take us long to go wrong - the first turn we decided to take the high road, and trekked uphill for an hour before we realised we went wrong. We saw these two young guys whose hair was like they just stepped out of a salon - amazing! We turned when we hit the top, and then went back onto our original trail. It was an amazing trail - spooky and some amazing boulders and cliff faces - wonderful scenery. We finally got to the money beach, and only saw macaqs there! What a shame. We ran out of time for our trek back, so we took a boat back to the jetty, had an ice cream treat (grape splice - nicest ever!), then headed back.

Tried to get some snacks for later, but shops were rubbish! Stopped off on the way home, and got some pineapple, bananas and papaya for AUD$3 - so cheap! Wish it was that cheap in Perth!

Got back at around 4.30, and mooched until dinner at 6.30. We then headed out at 7.15 for our frog walk - drove and met Zool at the gate, and he spent the next two hours looking for frogs around the Frog Pond in Kubah National Park - it was wonderful - Harlequins, Cinnamon, White Lip, File 8, Giant River Frogs and finally the tiny mahogany inside pitcher plants - the sounds were incredible! Another amazing experience never done before!

Came back to a birthday cake AND Kak Lapis! Wahoo! It was so special! What a great start to my birthday!