Swiss Cottages

We stay at the Swiss Cottages on Tioman, and I thought I'd include some shots not of the ocean this time. So you can see the longhouse on the left, with our dear friend Liz in white, and Clarissa at the top after running around with a kitten and discovering that yes, her eyes swell up just like her mom and dad's. Miranda is looking a little chilled in the morning, but we're now officially wimps about that sort of thing.

A simple place, but all we need when you can walk out into the water and see moray eels, blue spotted rays and tropical fish galore! And, key point, very reasonable!

 

Diving in March

Here's pictures of the Tioman Dive centre, and in the middle having a morning coffee is our friend Andrew, moving right is Rosarii getting her kit together, on the bottom is the mad scramble to make it onto the boats on the left.

I can't say enough wonderful things about the dive centre, they're professional, fun, and the cost is more than reasonable! We had a wonderful time diving, and I got to add a napping turtle and a black tipped reef shark to my have-seen list! We take any excuse to go out to the island, the temperature is perfect, the food wonderful and the company divine (devilish?, well fun any way you look at it!).

 

Little India

Here girl's shopping trip to Little India, fun, fabrics and lunch too!

 

Home in Edmonton

Our house, Millcreek, Edmonton Alberta (pictures courtesy of N. Darlow).

This is a three bedroom, 2.5 bathroom 2-story house walking distance from Whyte Ave. and the river valley park system. On the main floor there is a front living room, dining room with fireplace, kitchen, family room and 1/2 bath. The basement has a finished area, a laundrey area, some storage and a wine cellar/cold storage. There is a detatched double garage (heated) with a deck on top. The yard is low maintenance and has a pond with accessories inculding a goldfish and a tank for over wintering.

 

Bali, Part II

Well, we did a bit of diving, a bit of shopping at the local market, saw the oxen in the rice paddies, walked the beach, saw bannanas on the tree and found out what happens to all those offerings - More Evil Monkeys!

We had a fine time in Bali and enjoyed some time as a family doing what we were interested in doing, the afore mentioned diving, snorkelling, touring the pearl oyster farm and getting a massage were on the list. If you're interested in Bali, we discovered that Clarissa is one of the best bargainers we've seen, and Miranda loved the place. She got to shop, everyone thought she was beautiful and the young men wanted to know if she wanted an Indonesian boyfriend!
It was nice to come back to Malaysia and settle in to real (?) life again, and since we've been back we've dealt with car problems (ongoing, a 25 yr old Volvo can be very cranky) and Miranda is recovering from falling off her horse and possibly cracking a bone in her wrist. In general, not much new to report, it's still hot and sunny and we still hate school, although we're counting down the time until we visit home.

 

Bali, Part I

Well, we ran away to Bali for 5 days and 5 nights, and this was where we stayed: Lovina, on the northern end of the Island. The pool was a big hit with the girls, and the rice paddies and the ocean weren't too shabby either.

I had to get a picture of the door to our room - only in the tropics are doors with cracks like these considered functional!