Greece Part 1 - Santorini Dream

Our first stay at quiet, less touristy Immerovigli, Santorini. After which, we moved on to Fira and then Oia. This placed is called Absolute Bliss and it sure lived up to its name!

Here are some pics from our first stay at the villa on top of the cliff, at one of the higher points of the island.

 View from our balcony

The balcony of our room

I saw a picture like this in Tripadvisor when I was googling for accomodation. This time, pictures don't lie.

Irfan enjoying the view for the upteenth time

The jacuzzi kept them occupied and contented

The birthday boy. Hope it was a memorable birthday, partner!

Scorching hot morning

Breakfast served in our balcony

Cereal, plain croissant, chocolate croisssant (my fav!), bread, boiled eggs, freshly squeezed juice, coffee, fruits, well worth it coz we could eat everything.

Conversation with the girl, over cliffs and the Aegean Sea

Around the villa

Oohh the steps

 Beautiful lil details

 Good company

 She would probably kill me when she realizes that she has been to Greece but cant remember a single thing

 Fortunate to have good little travellers

And the crystal clear sunset right at our balcony

Will like to think that he is jumping for joy and not attempting suicide over the cliffs coz of the kids and me :P

we sat at our balcony , engulfed by shades of orange, slowly disappearing into the horizon

 Shot from the jacuzzi

We were perched so high up the cliff that we could see the clouds moving just above our heads. Trippy!

More pics soon!

Was it a dream?

We are back!! Alhmadullillah.
Oh.My.God! It was crazy beautiful!
I knew Santorini was breathtaking, Ive seen the pictures, movies but I didint know it was THAT breathtaking till I stepped foot on it.
It felt like stepping into a postcard or a dream.

Yes the view as you would expect was crazy but it was the atmosphere, the feel of the place, the 'happy' mood of the people and the fact that we took time to just relax and soak in the peace and quiet that made it all beautiful.

Woke up to a heavenly balcony with a picture perfect view and a jacuzzi to relax in. To top that, breakfast served at our balcony every single morning.
And watching out of the world sunset right from our balcony in the evenings, watching the clear blue sky turned a hue of orange.
And to be enjoying all of that with the 2 kids and alim...I couldnt have asked for more!

Our routine for the few days there usually started off with a slow lazy morning, a hearty breakfast and a jacuzzi swim, followed by a walk around the streets and series of shops, ice cream or a drive around the island to the nearby beaches. Yes, we rented a car coz it was just hard to resist although we didnt even research on the routes or feasibility of driving before the trip. But Santorini wasnt too complicated to drive in and with a car we managed to enjoy and explore different angles of the view, from a top the cliff or lower to the sea level. All equally beautiful.
And we just have this weakness for beautiful drives, something about moving vehicle and incredible views accompanied by our choice of music playing in the car, that we just can never have enough of, no matter which counrtry we are in.

What we didnt expect was the sweltering heat (have to admit, there was a lack of research for this holiday) and the uncountable steps leading up to everywhere.

We came home many shades darker. And much fitter (I would like to think).

Luckily the girl loves steps and wanted to climb all of them, but most times we had to carry her cause she was often a road block to people behind who had to wait for her dainty feet to climb the cobbled steps. And plus, I don't know what's with her pausing at every step and reciting 'bismillah hirahman nir rahim' before she climbs on each step, which of course slowed her down even further.

And now that she is 2 plus and her character crystalising, she has a mind of her own and insisted on getting her way, which we have to battle with more often during this trip as compared to our previous trips when she was much younger.

And with her insistence, the sweltering heat and the steps, it did get quite challenging at times, which even the breathtaking view
could not save. Oh well, I knew Santorini was a honeymoon destination but I knew it would not be a honeymoon for us, with the kids in tow. :) But, but, but, when they were asleep, and we have that beautiful balcony all to ourselves, it almost felt like we were on honeymoon:):)

And one more thing we didn't expect was the 24 hour strike in Athens on 15th June. Though our hotel was not in the thick of the action at Syntagma Square but we were near enough to see the 24 000 people thronging the streets in front of the Parliament House. Uncountable tear gas was released, a lot of public property damaged as people got violent and started throwing stones and whatever else they could get their hands on at the line up of policemen and army, all geared up with shields and masks. Sounds of sirens filled the streets and shots of the tear gas continued till the night. Road blocks everywhere and the public transport came to a standstill except for some still running, mostly taxis. It was quite a sight considering, we have never seen such things in singapore. And the view from our hotel was great where we could watch the action but still remain safely far away. In fact, we had two BBC reporters in the room next to ours and they had their whole set up at their balcony beside ours, covering the story and getting some 'professor-looking' people on the balcony for interviews.

Thankfully, the strikes were quite contained in Syntagma Square. Other than Syntagma Square, other streets were pretty safe and we did go down in the evening for early dinner at this cafe which served superb nutella chocolate banana crepe. It was perfectly normal at other parts of Athens. Strikes are pretty common in Greece lately and it wasnt totally alarming.

Its 2.15am now and the girl is still up. Which is absolutely normal when we get back from different time zones. She will probably settle in, in a day or 2.

Pictures will be up soon..after I find the time to look through the gazillion pictures we've taken!

Now back to work in a week's time ! Oh well, that's the reality. These 2 weeks have been a dream :)

Greece, see you soon. Insyaallah!

It's a place for honeymooners, cobbled narrow streets, white-washed structure with bright blue dome and doors, the breathtaking view of the caldera and out of the world sunsets.

As usual, Im apprehensive about trips with the kids and have a long endless list of worries, you wouldnt believe it! And i wouldnt state my worries here, cause it would just make me sound CRAZY!

Pray for us that our journey be a safe one, especially the kids' health and well being. It's not a place for 6 and 2 year olds, but we wouldn't be able to stand missing them so much if we were to leave them. And we know for sure that no amount of beauty can make up for not having them with us. That much we know.

Other than that, we really do not know what to expect. We've booked the jacuzzi suite above and kids below 13 are actually not allowed into the suite because it's sitting high up on the cliff of Santorini. But we managed to change the owner's mind somehow.

We are thinking of renting a car to get around. Honestly, it was a last minute destination and we have not done much research yet. All I had in mind when I booked the tickets was that I wanted a suite perched high up in any part of Santorini with fantastic view, incredible sunset and a jacuzzi. I  have this mental picture in my head that I just cant shake off.

So, we have about 5 days to get everything together. Other than the room above, we have not booked our accomodation in Athens. We have not even decided what we want to do there (other than watch the view) and see the Acropolis and Parthenon. We are used to destinations that are packed with grounds to cover, places to visit and plenty of research to do. But we promised ourselves that this time we'll spend more time soaking in the hot tub, marvelling at the view.

Praying for a safe journey! Greece, see you soon, insyaallah!

P.S. Contrary to some people's perception that I have an overflowing stash in the bank (so much money ah, everytime travel?) , I actually do not.
I do have a comfortable sum (alhamdullilah) but I CHOOSE to use whatever (little or much) I have to travel instead of other things. I saved like crazy, why do you think I'm so skinny (save until never eat) and my clothes are repeated and extremely boring ?

Memories with Art

I remembered many years ago when we were dating, music was one of the many things we shared. Now, listening to certain songs will still remind us of a shared memory, a particular place or an incident that would otherwise be long forgotten.

I remembered going to Tower Records at Pacific Plaza( now non existent anymore) with Alim and purchasing my first Art Fazil CD. By the way, I miss tower records. It used to be a place we frequent on our dates, oh u know,those days when we were young and dizzy with love...hahaha!!

At that period, there were only 2 Malay artists I liked, art fazil and m Nasir. And many years later, came the surge of Indonesian bands like Sheila on seven, padi etc.

But Art Fazil"s songs were one of the songs that accompanied us on many of our bus trips, sharing earphones over the bulky Cd player(which of course sound so very kental now!) and later played over the stereo in the car.

That was a decade ago. 10 years ago, the dawn of a new millenium.

So when Alim surprised me with these tixs last night, it pretty much made up for the entire week of "misery".



It was great listening to him again, although he played only one Malay song from the cd we purchased. But I had a great time, no less!:)

I can't thank u enough for the thoughtful surprise tickets, and more so for the pieces of shared memories from a decade ago.
Xoxo..

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Been a difficult 2 weeks. Both at home and at work. :(((


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Alisha's 2nd birthday!!! (Part 2)

Alisha's second birthday celebration at Nenek Jamaliah's house.
Barney move over, cause Dora is here!!

Here's the pics.

Happy Birthday, lil mak nenek!:)

Alisha's 2nd birthday!!! (Part 1)

7th May was definitely an unforgettable one.
Other than the watershed election, it was also the day we celebrated Alisha's birthday.
I had a lot of fun and couldnt remember the last time I laughed that hard!

It was a small affair, celebrated among our close family members but was held at East Coast Chalet. It was disappointingly dirty but other than that, the people present (and some specially invited guests) pretty much made up for everything.

I knew the birthday girl had a wonderful time because she kept talking about how she celebrated her birthday even days after the celebration.

Here are some pics;)

The birthday girl!

 The Barney Cake!

The barbeque crew!

The presents!

The little cousins (and 1 brother) whom she adores to bits!

The highlight of the party!

Special appearance by Barney and B.J!

Go figure who's inside. hehe.

Cacat Barney pun cacatlah!

Barney and Friends!

Barney and friends going for a walk at East Coast Beach!

Barney and Bj having a game of pool!

Barney and B.J meeting their fans.

Stopped by little kids. Crowd started to form! Hehe

Endless request for phototaking by passer-by. Barney and B.J feeling celebrity.

Alisha probably going, "What the heck is this pink thing?!! This is so NOT Barney!

Thank you for being present and making Alisha smile!

Will probably put the videos of Barney and Bj's walkabout around East Coast Park soon. It was hilarious especially went BJ fell splat on on her fours and her head rolled out!!!! Hahha.

And Barney look so cacat, all wrong right from the colour to the shape! It was funny:)

And the great night ended with all of us watching the election results and laughing at Yam Ah Mee. Soon a new day began, but the memories still made me smile!

Thank you everyone for the doa and pressies. You have definitely made Alisha's day and mine too, of course :):)

Hamson Boy

Reached home from school and saw this note lying around the house. I knew it belongs to Irfan because Hanie and Tasnym are his friends.






Curious to find out what was written, I opened it. And found this.






Kwaakwakwa. Hamson sey!! And a huge heart shape. I guess girls mature faster than
boys. While boys at k2 couldn't care less about notes from girls and leave them lying on the floor for their kpo mothers to find and blog abt, the girls on the other hand, are probably talking about which boy is cute and "hamson" n startg to have crushes already! This wasn't the first note I've seen and probably not the last.

Which makes me start to wonder if Alisha will write notes to boys when she is in k2?
Hmmmm.. Dunno should scold or laugh.:)

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Armchair politicians

I am compelled to write this because I'm very much saddened and sometimes disgusted by the comments I read through social media.

I am not totally pro PAP or hundred percent against them. I do strongly agree with many that they are very much autocratic behind a democratic front. I don't agree with some of the decisions they have made. They don't listen, mostly arrogant and it doesn't help that they are earning millions of dollars.

But on the other hand, I also respect and appreciate the fact that they have come up with some good policies that resulted in the country's progress.

But post election, whatever that comes out from them are seen as negative. Everything! Even if the PAP is trying to meet us halfway, it is seen as negative. Every remark made by MM lee or PM
Lee is seen with scorn and negativity. There's always 2 sides of looking at things and we can always choose to see it positively or otherwise.

Like it or not, pap is still the ruling party. If we expect them to change, we have to have an open mind and look for positive steps and encourage them. PM LHL has acknowledged the growing public resentment, and said he will look at ways to improve. Whether he does or not, we will see in time. But in the meantime, we should give him a chance to work with us, have an open mind and not condemn before there's concrete proof that this is just one of their many empty promises. Otherwise nothing they do will ever seem right. It's easy to
look for faults and we can find them anywhere. Listen to them with an open heart and mind and don't be too quick to disagree and condemn. It is not constructive at all.

It's amazing how their good policies are totally forgotten and policies that don't work are magnified so large that it is all that we see. Now that the election fever is over, lets cooperate and make Singapore a better place. We can maybe start by being gracious in airing our views and listening to others, staying away from rude, personal remarks.

As we reach a political awakening, and more people voicing their opinions, it would probably also take time for us to understand how to discuss constructively and to always understand both sides of the story before publicly condemning others. This is perhaps something new to us and will take time before we can reach a certain standard of quality debate.

If we look at all the exceptional individuals be it from the opposition party or the ruling party, we will see that they are those who refrain from condemning others but instead use their time to get on with their inspiring work of impacting peoples' lives positively. They inspire others to contribute and get involved instead of planting seeds of discontentment and fuelling more resentment.

As of now, I can't help feeling frustrated when I read comments made all over the web. How many people actually know how to run a country? Not many, me included. So let's not pretend that we are experts.

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Alisha turns 2

Happy birthday Brown bear. May your path be filled with blessings and berkah.
We are fortunate to have you in our lives.:)

Love,
ibu and abang irfan


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This is home, truly

The elections are heating up. It's exciting and I'm glad a lot more people are reading manifestos and making informed decisions. No matter what happens, it's great to know that singaporeans are beginning to ask questions, debate and getting involved. Much of it has to do with the cyber world and how people are "thinking aloud" through Twitter, fb. Opinions made public are infectious especially when it plays up on emotions. Its so powerful that it can topple any person or party. singaporeans are forming strong opinions about how the lil red dot should be run instead of just merely leaving it to the men in white. With all these opinions going public, it can be viral and inconvenient to parties whose underlying belief is to silence people and get on with the job. But what they fail to see is that in this election and age, singaporeans are no longer mere followers that can be silenced.

I cannot deny that the men in white has done an exceptional job in bringing the country to a comfortable position. It has done the impossible. It has done wonders. Policies are formed by people in white, carried out by them and intentionally or otherwise has benefitted them to a far greater extent. So they are getting disillusioned that their policies and decisions are the best.

I have understood their decisions from time to time, but one thing I really hope they will see is that different opinions should be welcomed and not undervalued with smugness and arrogance. I'm not comfortable with the term "opposition" and I hope they wld change it one day. The idea is not to oppose but to give an alternative voice, ideas and opinions so that policies can be implemented with singaporeans interest in mind and our ecoonomy at it's most stable. An alternative party should also be there to ask tough questions, not to expose ill intentions but more to get them to reconsider plans which were not fully thought through. Men in white can never accept this and it's making me more suspicious as to their underlying thoughts and long term intent.

As much as I applaud the increasing number of opposition but at times I am disappointed by some opposition parties that merely "oppose" but fail to "propose" credible alternative plans. They ride on emotions and harp on ministers large paycheck or the unfairness of trivial matters that are merely trying to magnify the ruling partys arrogance, knowing full well that this is exactly what people have strong feelings for.

What I want to hear is, how will the "opposition" ( again I do not like this word, the idea shld not be to oppose but to give a different perspective, an alternative voice)will do it differently? Some opposition parties hv spelled it out, some have made it sound too airy fairy and too good to be true. Some have said that opposition role is merely to ask tough questions and the ruling party is responsible in coming up with an alternative plan, given their obscene paycheck. If that is really the role of the opposition, then it doesn't take a credible intellect to be an elected opposition mp, coz we all know that every single person in Singapore has at one point in their lives questioned the ruling partys decisions with much dissatisfaction and disgust.

Save the analogies and banter, they can talk about the need of pilots and copilots, about slapping bus drivers to wake them up, about rojak government, till the cows come home. It's pretty entertaining actually and adds to the colour and excitement of the elections. Drama is always good and if that is what it takes to get singaporeans involved in political decisions, then we should relish on the childish nature of the matter. But there is also a need to look beyond after we have had a good laugh.

Dont worry, whatever your vote is, and if the party you choose gets in, but eventually did not deliver, just repent and all will be all right:p (said with much sacrasm here)

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