Welcome to my new home..........

Please kindly visit my new home http://www.karenyiau.com/

See y'all there...... :)

P/S: Don't forget to chek out My Store as well leh....hehe :)

Planning to move

As you can see on my side bar, I have 2 other blogs plus a photo gallery & online shop sites, which have been driving me a little crazy when comes to managing & maintaining them, thus, the thought to have my own domain has recently crossed my mind.

Yes, finally I am thinking to "move house" after I started blogging since April 2007. I have been checking around with my blogger friends in the past few days but I'm yet to make my decision.

Another important thing that I have been thinking of is, what would be my domain name? Hmmm.... it's not an easy task loh...

I still don't know how I could park all my blogs under one domain, I'm sure there will be lots of tidying work to be done, well it's never a relax job to "move house" anyway. :)

"My Beautiful Myanmar" - Charity Book Project

Hi Everyone!

This is a life changing book project by the Kachin (Northern Myanmar state) Refugee kids living in Malaysia. My boss' wife, Ms. Belle Lee volunteered herself at the refugee school and came up with this class project to raise funds for the Myanmar people in the aftermath of the cyclone as well as for the 2 Kachin schools which are currently only funded by individual donors. 100% of the profits will go towards the Cyclone Relief Fund & the refugee schools.

My Beautiful Myanmar contains drawings and stories from the refugee kids about why they left Myanmar, what their lives are like in Malaysia and what their hopes are for their future.

Please support this project by buying a copy (or more!) of the book as well as spreading the word about it. Also we would be very grateful to those who are willing to help us distribute the books at your businesses, among friends, your churches, clubs, etc. on consignment basis.

This high-quality 40-page color book is ONLY RM15 each. Shipping can be done via pos laju or registered mail, and cost to be borne by buyer, as I'm not taking any profit from this, all is for charity.

If you’re keen please contact me via email (yiaukaren@gmail.com) or leave your comment here. Your help is immensely appreciated!

P/S: Trust me, besides donating to help these less fortunate children, this is a good book with touching & valuable true stories that we should let our children read, and appreciate what they are having now. RM15 for a valuable lesson is definitely worth the money.



"Kids should be running to the park and not running for their lives."

Jakarta Trip

Just got back from my Jakarta trip on Monday and it was tiring because my flight was at 7.30am local time and I'm yet to fully unpack my luggage up till today. :P

Anyway, my trip was good as I get to fulfill what the company requires me to do there, and at the same time I get to watch my favourite badminton tournament live. I was holding the pass and hence I could sit at the commentary booth without having to sit at the crowded viewers area.

Nice view huh? :)

I also get a chance to see the Dinos Alive event which was held next to the stadium. This event was sold by my company and it was launched on last Saturday, what a right time I'm there to witness the event, it was real cool and I hope this event will be sold to Malaysia too!


The accommodation was very good too, The Sultan Hotel where I'm staying at has very good security and the service is always prompt & friendly, the room of course is very spacious and comfortable as well.


The food is not bad too, I had to order room service on the 1st night as the matches finished only around 8pm and I was too tired to dine out, and I ordered the Oxtail Soup (called "Sop Buntut" in Bahasa Indon, I was so reluctant to pronounce it when I made the order so I just say it in English, hehe :P)

Yummy Oxtail Soup with Rice

Of course I won't miss the chance to try out the famous JCO Donuts, which I have not tried in KL before due to the constant long queue. I've picked the Almond, Oreo & Tiramisu. It's so nice.... don't think my Jakarta trip is complete without eating the JCO Donuts..... :)

And how could I not try the local cup noodles (always the best food for traveller's! hehe :P)? It's simply yummy. hehe....

One for supper and the other for breakfast :P

Last but not least, aside from work I did manage to do some (ahem...ahem...) shopping in Jakarta, Plaza Senayan & Senayan City is more like Pavilion & KLCC type of shopping malls, whereas ITC Kuningan & Ambassador Mall are middle class shopping mall that I find more suitable to me. Kids clothing here are massive and affordable, what a heaven for the shopper mums! :)

Trip again

Yes I'll be travelling again but this time is for business. I have not been travelling for years since I gave birth to Dillon, and all of sudden the trips come one after another.... (well at least I can make good use of my passport that cost me RM300 for renewal! :P)

I'll be going to Jakarta this Friday and coming back on next Monday. This is the 1st time I travel to Jakarta so I do plan to spend some time on leisure while I'm there, although the work schedule looks quite tied up.

Also heard that shopping there is pretty ok, not sure how true it is but I'll definitely find some time to check it out and see if it can beat Bangkok, hahaha LOL.

Will share more stories & photos when I'm back, stay tuned.

Days in pain

The past week was not very good for me as my gums were so sore & swollen and I was suffering from so much pain. It was so bad that I can't even eat anything solid except porridge and mashed potatoes, I've been eating like what Kaith eats for a few days. At night I couldn't sleep well as the pain was causing me bad headache too.

I've always heard about how suffering toothache was and this is the 1st time I'm having it and I totally agreed that it's really torturing & unbearable.

I finally went to see the dentist on Friday morning and took some antibiotic, pain killer, and some medicine to reduce the swelling. I still need to go back to check if my gums still sore after the medicine finished, as the dentist suspects the root of problem might be my wisdom tooth.

I feel better now as I write, but my gums are still a bit swollen and if it doesn't get any better, I'll have to see the dentist again on Monday.

Happy birthday to me :)

It was my birthday yesterday, now I'm officially just one step away from the gate of 30's so I can still tell people that I'm in late 20's and I still falls into age group 25-29 when I fill up some forms...... :P

As usual, there is no big celebration, no surprise from hubby, we just went for a dinner for 2 at a Japanese restaurant and it was great and enjoyable; we also had a good weekend with the kids.

As for presents, I have already had the best. :)

Packing the kids luggage

We'll be traveling to Penang by road on this coming weekend to attend a wedding function, and also visiting the island.

This would also be my 1st time traveling with both kids and I'm a bit excited. I have already prepared a checklist so that I won't miss out anything when packing the kids luggage. For Dillon it is much easier as he no longer takes milk and is diaper-free during day time. Anyway, these are the thing I've listed down:

- Sufficient outfits & diapers for 3 days 2 nights
- Shoes, socks & hats
- Baby wipes & diaper changing mat
- Baby bath & lotion
- Inflatable travel bathtub (for Kaith)
- Potty seat (for Dillon)
- Towels, handkerchiefs & bibs
- Milk powder, milk bottles, thermos flask, water bottle, cereals, feeding bowl & spoon (for Kaith)
- Water tumbler (for Dillon)
- Snacks, some small toys & books
- Sunscreen lotion
- Swim wear, swim ring, beach ball & beach toy play sets
- Antiseptic cream for mosquito bites & nappy cream (in case)
- The light weight umbrella stroller

Did I miss out anything essential?

Mother's Day dinner

It's a big family gathering tonight with my sister & husband and their 3 kids (Kah Hoe, Kah Lok & Wai Ying), my brother & wife and their kid (Zheng Yang), myself & hubby plus Dillon & Kaith and of course the "main character" of the day, our dear mummy. Well to be exact, there are 4 mummies at the dinner table. :)

Me, my mum, elder sister & brother, we don't resemble each other eh? My sister look alike my dad, while my brother look alike my mum, as for me, I don't know who I resemble....??

I'm very grateful that I can still celebrate this meaningful day with my mum, who gave birth to me at age 42 and is now 71 years old. I nearly lost her 2 years ago when she was attacked by stroke. I pray for good health & happiness to my mum for many many more years to come.....

"Dear Mum, Happy Mother's Day to you and I love you". I also hope that Dillon & Kaith will love me as much as I love my mum now.

Happy Mother's Day to my MIL, sister - Angie, sister-in-law - Veronica & Airine, and all the blogger mums out there.

It's surely a happy dinner to my mum with all her children & grandchildren (Kaith isn't in this picture as she was sleeping)

Bangkok Trip - Day 4

Our flight is at 3.15pm and we have planned to leave for airport when we check out by 12noon.

So after breakfast at 9am, we walked down the road to Pratunam wholesale market for a quick last round of shopping. The place was already crowded by shoppers and I bought some kids clothing and some for myself. Ended up spending another 900baht and that's it, my wallet is finally emptied, :(

We packed all our stuff, and of course I packed mine into hubby's luggage bag as well since he only bought 2 jerseys & 2 T-shirts, there's still ample space to put my things in, hehehe :P

We reached Suvarnabhumi airport around 1pm and we checked in early. Both of our luggage bags weigh only 14kg in total, well at least I know that next time I could actually buy more & not worrying that the baggage will exceeds the weight limit, hahaha :D

2 luggage bags full, with my backpack and a hand carry plastic bag.

We hang around in this new airport & had our lunch. The food here are very expensive. We thought of going McD to eat the Pork burger but there wasn't one in the airport, so we headed to Burger King, which we then found that it's closed for renovation... :( We ended up having Pizza for lunch, not bad at all.

Our flight took off on time and we reached LCCT around 6.15pm, and I just can't wait to rush home to see Dillon & Kaith....

I have really enjoyed this trip, but it'd be better if I have had the right companion who would enjoy shopping as much as I do, hahaha, too bad hubby only enjoyed the food while the other couple friends, I'm not sure if they enjoyed the trip though. To be frank, I haven't had enough shopping this time (will it ever be enough?) so I'm definitely going back to Bangkok again, with my mummy friends. :)

Bangkok Trip - Day 3

The highlight of the day is no other than Chatuchak Market, which only opens on weekends. Some said a trip to Bangkok isn't complete without visiting the Chatuchak market, which I have to agree. :)

We woke up early as it'll be very hot & stuffy to visit the market in the afternoon. We took the BTS Skytrain from Ratchatewi to Mo Chit station, which cost only 30baht per person and we reached the Chatuchak market around 9am, just nice to start doing our shopping.


The market is so huge and it's divided into 26 sections that sell basically everything that you can name eg. clothing, handicraft, antiques, plants, ceramic, and even live animals/pets. There are maps available there for reference. Since we were there early, it's not that hot and crowded yet so my shopping was quite enjoyable. I bought some clothes & shoes for myself, and some decorative items & souvenirs too, of course I never forget to bargain and I'm quite satisfied with it. I have spent about 2300baht in just less than 4 hours, and we have to leave as it's started getting hot and crowded and hubby also feel very bored already (man will never enjoy shopping huh?)


We went back to hotel and we decided to take a short nap to recharge our energy. In the late afternoon, we went out again to the MBK Mall for shopping and dinner. We had steamboat dinner at MK Restaurant, it was fine but nothing special anyway, I still think our homemade steamboat is the best, haha LOL.

The seafood + vegetables set serves 4 pax and cost 860baht.

Surprisingly the mall started closing around 9pm, kind of early to me as I planned to shop till 10pm at least. Anyway, we still hang out at the concourse where they have this sports wear fair, and I managed to buy one Adidas jersey at 490baht, whereas hubby also bought 2 pieces of Adidas jersey that cost only 260baht each, it's really a steal!

We headed back to hotel and I started to pack the luggage. Our flight on tomorrow is at 3.15pm so I could still go for the last round of shopping if there is still space in my luggage bags, hahaha LOL. :D

Bangkok Trip - Day 2

We woke up early at 7am as we'll be visiting the Grand Palace today and we try to be there early so that it won't be too hot.

Set breakfast is included in our room booking and there are 6 different sets to choose from, namely the American breakfast, Continental breakfast, Pancakes set, Noodle Soup, Fried Rice & Fried Noodles, all comes with juice & coffee/tea. It's nothing to brag about but I prefer this than the boring buffet breakfast though, at least we get to choose different things to eat every morning.

Noodle Soup & the American Breakfast set

There are 4 of us and so since we were lazy to get a cab outside the hotel, we decided to take the hotel's limousine to Grand Palace, which cost 200baht (roughly RM5/person). We reached at 9.00am and the crowd were already there. It's not a very lucky day for us as it started to rain when we were about to go in. Anyway we still continue our sightseeing since the rain wasn't heavy.

For those who plan to visit Grand Palace, make sure your shoulders and legs are covered all you will be renting happy pants (Cost 100 baht and you'll get it back when you return the clothes), toes should be covered as well (though I still see some people allowed to go in wearing sandals). The entrance ticket cost 250baht, which includes entry to the Vimanmek Mansion.

The Emerald Buddha is especially amazing and it's a fair bit walk around, it's definitely a place worth visiting when you are in Bangkok, but we are not allowed to take any photos of the statue. Below are some photos of the surrounding areas:



After the Grand Palace, we went to this small shop located on the opposite side to have a drink and something to eat. The soup noodle taste is not bad, although the shop looks a bit run down.


Next we walked to the next block, Wat Pho - Reclining Buddha . This is an amazing temple and a must see. The Reclining Buddha is larger than you think. The admission fee to Wat Pho is 50 baht per person.


Although we were a bit tired after visiting 2 places but we still wanted to see more, and thus we took a cab (after bargaining with a few drivers) to Vimanmek Mansion - the world's largest golden teak wood mansion. We are not allowed to bring in our phones & cameras to take photos so I don't have any to share with you. It's worth a visit if you like to see antiques & collectibles.

After the sightseeing trips in the morning, we proceed to have lunch at Bobae Tower food center. The Thai food here is nice & cheap.

(Clockwise from top left) Stewed Duck Rice - 45baht, Fried Rice with Shrimps - 35baht, Seafood Tom Yum Soup - 60baht, Fish Ball Noodles - 40baht

Bobae Tower is a wholesale center where you'll find a lot (I mean A LOT!) of clothing here, I especially like the kids clothing, the designs are so nice & since it's made in Thailand, the price are cheap compare to the similar one we get in KL. I bought a whole lot of kids clothing (mainly for Kaith) & also a few mini tee for myself at wholesale price, total spending was about 1300baht.

Everybody was so exhausted after many hours of walking & shopping and hence we returned to the hotel to freshen up.

In the evening we went out again to Pratunam area, thinking to do some shopping in Platinum Mall but only to find that most of the shops in the mall were closing?? I was wondering why because I learnt from the travel website that the mall opens from 10am - 10pm but when I was there only I realised they actually opens from 8.30am - 8pm. But even we were there around 7.00pm plus, there were not many people and some shops have already closed or starting to close, sigh.... makes me no mood to continue shopping.

For hubby's sake, we then proceed to the Pantip IT Mall next door, the place is huge but frankly speaking, it's nothing close to Low Yat Plaza we have in KL, so hubby wasn't keen to shop there also and as we decided to head for dinner, it started to rain heavily, what a bad day for us! :(

After the rain stopped, we walk to Ratchatewi Seafood restaurant to have our dinner, which is located on the way back to our hotel. The food is ok, and hubby & I took the Chang beer as it was so cheap, a big bottle at only 55baht.

Fried Squid - 100baht, Broccoli with Shrimps - 80baht

Later that night we went for massage next to the hotel. The place is small but neat, not the hanky panky one but the proper Thai massage. I went for the Foot massage for an hour at 200baht while hubby went for the Full body Thai massage for 2 hours at 400baht only. The massage is so nice & relaxing and I've planned to come again tomorrow for pedicure because it's 150baht only!

Bangkok Trip - Day 1

Our flight is on Thursday morning, we took the coach at KL Sentral at 6.00am to LCCT, cost RM9 per way, nice & cheap. We arrived LCCT at 7.00am and there was only a few people at the AirAsia counter and it only took us 10 minutes to check in. The flight took off at 8.25am sharp and we arrived safely in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport around 9.30am local time.

We walked straight out to the airport, leaving behind the people who keep approaching us for cab service, well I did stop & ask one of them how much it cost to fetch us to our hotel and he said 600baht, and I immediately walk away as I think it sounds too much. There is a small counter (not even a proper booth) out there where you see all taxi drivers lining up (so funny it was the driver & not the passengers who line up, haha), tell to the lady at counter of the hotel you wish to go, they charge 50baht service fee (pay to driver) and the driver will charge the meter fare. We ended up paying around 300baht (incl toll fare) for the ride, half of what we were offered by another cab!!

We were staying at Samran Place Hotel, located along the Petchburi road, it's a very small hotel but the rooms are clean and cosy. The nearest BTS (Skytrain) station - Ratchatewi is just 5 minutes walking distance and the shopping heaven Pratunam area is also just within 10 minutes walk. I booked the room at only RM90 per night inclusive of 2 set breakfast, well nothing to brag about the breakfast but at least there are 6 sets to choose from and you can have different set served hot to you every morning, I personally prefer this than the boring buffet breakfast. :)

The room comes with Queen bed, good enough for 2 persons & the toilet is clean. Anyway we didn't spend much time in the room. :)

After checking in to our room, we proceed to MBK Mall for lunch & shopping. We took about 15 minutes to walk there, and we think that we should have taken a cab there as it was so hot!

We went to the food center on 6th floor and were delighted by the great variety of food there, you can see many stalls selling food with pork, definitely not something you will see in here. We spent 160baht for our lunch on the following:

(Clockwise from top left)Stewed Beef & Beef Balls Noodles - 50baht, Braised Pork Knuckle Rice with Pickles - 50baht, ABC & Durian Glutinuos Rice - 60baht

After lunch, the shopping trip get started. I only bought 1 piece of clothe and a handbag as I wanted to save my money for shopping in other areas, haha. Most of the things sold in MBK Mall started from 199baht, you can try to bargain but normally they won't give any discount unless you are buying more, but 199baht for a handbag or a pair of shoes are fairly reasonable to me already... :)

Mummy busy checking out the handbags the kids clothing of course :)

We went back to hotel to freshen up after that and continue our evening by visiting the famous Erawan Shrine, located just in front of Central World Plaza (get down at BTS - Chidlom station).


After that we walked to the Central World Plaza to have our dinner at the food court:


(Clockwise from top left) Seafood Noodle with Thick Gravy - 65baht, Fish Ball KuayTeow Tom Yum - 50baht, Fried Oyster - 60baht, Pork Noodles - 50baht

We walked for a short while in Central & Big C, then we headed back to hotel to rest as we were all tired after the early morning flight and we need a good rest for more walking the next day.....