Friday, February 19, 2016

hot and cold

We went to this hot spring place for swimming.
And we heard that Nantes was snowing.
I hope adjusting back to the cold life in Nantes would be easier this time.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

The kids love roti, but not the sauces

Growing up in France, my kids are more exposed to French food than Malaysian's, but they can accept rice, roti canai (frozen one in France), not much of rice porridge though.

So we discover food they love and food they just won't touch during this trip to Malaysia.

Last several trips, Aelig loved roti canai, bah kut teh (pork herbal soup), chicken rice, but she refused anything spicy.

The first trip for Awena, my BIL ordered a plate of cheese roti, she loved it. She asked for cheese everyday at home in France, so that is not a surprise for us.

They both love roti cheese.

Awena dipped her roti into the red chili sauce, she didn't cry, but just asking for water. I have a feeling that she could accept spicy food more than her sister.

We went for Dim Sum, but Aelig only ate dumplings, Awena didn't want to try any. At the end we ordered fried rice for them.

Hubby loved Chay Kueh Tiao and Asam Laksa, but none of the girls tried them.

Dishes during reunion lunch. Aelig didn't eat much, I added some pork sauce in her rice but she said it was spicy. It was only the ginger! Awena ate a lot of meat roll.

I brought the raclette set to my sister,  she invited her friends over to try. Aelig enjoyed it a lot. My sister also prepared steamboat for those who didn't want to eat cheese, Awena discovered fish balls, yam...

Overall, Aelig doesn't eat much in Malaysia, well she is not a big eater anyway in France. As for Awena, she discovers, she tries, she takes whatever that pleases her, including all the Chinese New Year biscuits.

Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Driving in Malaysia : Can't do this anymore

Yes we are back to Malaysia for the coming Chinese New Year celebrations. I haven't been driving in Malaysia for a while, since hubby knows how to drive like Malaysians now. I told myself that I should take up the courage again, so that I could go anywhere whenever I want, but I just can't do this anymore.

 

There are too many cars on the roads. We passed through a roundabout with heavy traffics and I don't think I would ever be able to cross. Cars and motocycles drove at extremely high speed, when there are two lanes, you will have three lanes of car queuing. Photo shows a blue car joining the roundabout through the right lane (in Malaysia we drive on the left lane).

Heavy traffics everywhere especially when we are approaching Chinese New Year.

Here are what really scare me:
1. Pedestriens crossing everywhere, as sometimes they have no choice, there is definitely lack of zebra zones for them
2. Motocyclists sneaking through wherever they can, you have to pay extra attention for what is around you.
3. When I drive in Nantes, there is always several seconds for me to join the main roads as cars waiting for lights to turn green. But here, there is no time, seconds before the light turns green, the motocyclists already waiting at the front would just pass through. As soon as the light turns green, the remaining who did not cross on red light would drive at high speed. So there is really no time to merge!
4. Whenever there is enough space, cars form an extra lane no matter how many lanes are meant for. In the roundabouts, sometimes there are simply no lanes, I won't have know which lane to merge into.

I guess this is part of reverse culture shock! I drove in Malaysia since I was 17 until I went overseas, and I didn't notice all these. French peopld o respect the traffic rules after all!