here fishy fishy fishy...

Yup.. martin has been fishing again. and this time, he brought in a lovely 10 kg wahoo... pity his wife though.. she didnt get married to him to become a fish hacker! yikes, u shoulda seen the balcony after i made the fish into serving size slices... plus the worst bit, when i sliced open the stomach.. out plopped two of the ugliest most gross stomach parasites ever.. black n blobby and still writhing. yuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssss!!!! i cant believe i married a fisherman!
this is martin with his mate paul.. paul got a 6kg one.. and no, i dont know if its guts was the home of more parasites. urgh! martin also brought home 50+ reef fish, so u can imagine how full our freezer is right now. hehe.. i'm thinkin fish for breakfast, lunch, dinner n supper.. ;-) lol

anyway, tot i'd also blog abt when beatrice and rick were here.. they stayed over at our place and had a nice time.. kids loved them, we love them, they love us, what could go wrong eh! hehe.. love u guys!

rick n bea... awwww...
my son's got huge hands! hehehehe... hope he grows up into a tall, fair, handsome stud!

bea used to do my hair.. now she's in charge of her goddaughter's gorgeous tresses!

i love this pic... except for the choc milk patch on besra's top! hehehe lanner's almost 11 months and he looks huge in this pic.. either that or i've shrunk! hahahah i prefer the latter!

here's us having a swimyswim at Nexus Karambunai where bea n rick were staying for a week. was really nice cos there was a canopy overhead to keep the heat away, and the kids (big n small) had a blast playing with the waterguns besra got for her birthday last year.. haha..

this is a really pathetic lookin donald duck.. but i suppose the kids would like this pic included for posterity one fine day when they look back at this blog. it was jane's 8th bithday and they rented the whole playyard at 1Borneo hypermall.. how posh is that?!


and last week has been a crazy one.. but very satisfying. here's my badminton team which i took to the district level and we won 2nd place. i love badminton.. haha.. and the kids were super.

now that it's our 1 week mid semester break.. gosh i can breathe easier. i am guest lecturing at a university this tues.. but hey, i love doin it! other than that, the week will be a restful one.

anyway, there's been so much happening but words dont do them justice. suffice to say that i'm happy, my family members are safe n healthy, my house is paradise and life is beautiful. ;-) beat that!

Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner 2010... some pics.. ;-)

The Koh Clan... from left to right: alicia nicole, martin, besra ai-ying, joanne, alex and dylan koh jun, lanner hon-yang, me, my dad jimmy, mom belinda, aunty grace, scott and michelle, jordan james in the AIG shirt and bro steeve and his wife joeanne in front. ;-) 'twas a nice reunion.
The Wiles... ;-)
Loving cousins... both cutting the mandarin orange butter cake which i made for the reunion dinner at my mom's...
whatcha lookin at!? wanna fight?! hehehe... dylan and lanner.. they r only 2 days apart n will perhaps become the best of friends one day... ;-)
my lil tiger ... purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs more than growwwwwwwwwwllls

Enter the year of the tiger!! 2010

the months that were...

my strapping lad!
marji the nanny n besra... u can see my living room in the background..
lanner in his prison gear.. hehe
besra the rock chick in front of her playhouse which i brought all the way from kl.. remember ashley!? hehe its pretty cool and well worth the money!
Besra posing in my room... my dressing table n lanner's crib... ooo n i'm so in love with my own curtains! hahaha very houseproud at the moment!

Heya... i know this is a long time coming but i've been really annoyed with blogspot cos every time i tried to upload pics it would end up as error... surprisingly i'm doin it now and its being as obedient as a kitten... hmmm... let's see if it publishes!

So how is life, everyone? my fellow bloggers hv remained quite constant, from fely to doria and everyone in between. sorry i've been so slack in reading and commenting on blogs. i wonder what got over me! hehe.. anyway, i'm back and as you can see, with tons of pics!

Jan: let's see.. the month was a bit crazy cos i went from not working for almost 2 months to 7am to 4 or 5pm every day cos school reopened and there were meetings after meetings. yikes... but i have to admit, being in a school that appreciates what i do is a godsend. hehe...

also jan was a whole month to prep the house for our chinese new year open house celebration in addition to our house warming party. i catered food but made all the desserts... haha next time i'll know to make double the cakes cos they went down pretty fast with the happy lot that day. was a great feeling to actually be in this house and able to entertain properly...

talkin about entertainin, i've had a number of gourmet dinner parties.. hehe some up to 4 courses! so if u want to be wined n dined, hehe .. make a date with us and we'll show you the royal treatment. the guest room awaits anyone n everyone who makes the long trek to our house in the jungles of papar! it is a bit of a drive to the novice, but old hands like us take it in our stride...

in feb, we threw the cny n house warming party which was a super success.. thanks all for making the journey, hope it was up to expectations!

hv been working like crazy like i mentioned earlier... last week alone i had a course in beaufort (1hr drive away) on tues, a meeting in a school which is hosting the district level english language debates (i've been appointed technical advisor for the entire district.. ahem.. hehe.. i'm actually rather pleased n proud of this!) on wednesday.. and on thurs i gave a 6 hr course to 50 plus students in KK Highschool on MUET Strategies... very very satisfying and rewarding week..

as for the kids, both babies r growing big n fast! i mean, where the heck does the time go... besra is stringing sentences together that are so impressive (esp to and english teacher) as she's only three and can say things like 'daddy let's look at the bug with the magnifying glass' or 'there r too many complications' and i was clipping her nails and she called them her 'claw-ses' as in the plural of a claw is claw-ses. haha... she has claws? my lil kitten!

lanner is a super stud.. such a loving, handsome and happy child. he's almost 11kg now that he's almost 11 months. ;-) pretty good with anyone manhandling him but the moment he sees me he goes frantic and tries to literally jump or fly out of the other person's arms to get to me.. awwwww... how endearing that he knows who his mom is. ;-) adorabubble! he's crawling very well now and pulling to stand and can cruise along the furniture. so developmentally, he's doin fine, like any other child his age. thank goodness there doesnt seem to be any ill effects from the jaundice and blood transfusion he had to go through when he was a week old. i love my lil tiger!

as for martin, he has his hands full doin stuff for the house everyday... and runs besra to school and back every weekday... we also have resident swallows and swifts he looks after and the neighbours dogs just gave birth to two lots of puppies so now he's daddy to about 5 lil pups. we will probably need to rehome them in abt 2 months... so anyone out there lookin for local pups.. pls take em!

right, i think i've rambled on a bit too much... i've had another two set of pics come up as 'error' and unloadable... so i think i'll just publish these pics first n go to bed. will try again with others later. hugs all round! xxxxxxxxxxxx

Besra the Storyteller!

Christmas and Bes goes to school!

Christmas came and went and i havent managed to put up many pics cos of the moving and unpacking... and the fact that i had terrible internet connection at home... so here's a few...

Here's me in my Christmassy dress.. although it doesnt look anything red or green.. haha.. but my signature black.. with a bit of white thrown in... got tons of christmas messages so was busy texting the whole night... some ppl whom i expected to message didnt but some whom i didnt expect did... so nice to hear from ppl i havent heard from in ages..lovely to know they still care.. so to all my ex-students, ex-colleagues and childhood friends, hope u guys had a wonderful christmas with a fabulous new year ahead..

Katie, Besra and Cora... three lovely girls with their Christmas ice-cream sundaes.. talk abt a sweet tooth!

Every christmas we go to langkah syabas for the seafood extravaganza... haha.. and the carolers... we're not that religious but it's just nice to celebrate the holiday.. plus besra loves the girls... oh n when the carolers came, they sang a few songs and then they asked for requests and Besra literally screamed: Jingle Bells!!! and she was pretty upset when the choir said they hadnt practiced it beforehand so couldnt sing it for her... i mean, who the hell cant sing jingle bells? pity the lil besra..haha.. no worries, i sang it with her enough times for her to keep her happy.
Bes goes to school now.. this is her bright orange uniform... ain't she sweet?
This is her in her Friday sports gear... ;-)
And here was a pic of her first day... when she was allowed to wear anything cos the uniforms werent ready yet... so pink outfit with rara skirt and white boots it was! the school is nothing fancy but it does include computer lessons and montesorri practical living skills so i guess it should be worth every cent... haha... but the teachers tell me that besra still sleeps in class sometimes, i guess at the end of the day, she's still just a baby, my adorable baby girl! We love you, Bes!

Christmas Photoshoot 2009

Every year we take a family pic... and the family is slowly but surely getting bigger and healthier... ;-) this year's theme is brown.. hehe.. i supposed you noticed? ;-)
Isnt Besra sooo sweet here... love the dragonflies on her dress... ;-) she goes to school now... gosh how time flies...
I think this pic is absolutely priceless... dont you?! heheheh... my adorable pumpkin... sighs... soon he wont be a baby anymore!

Hugs to all from the Wiles in Borneo!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

WISH FOR NEW YEAR: GIMME THIS HARLEY!!! Although i hve no blinkin idea how to ride even a bicycle! hehehehe..

Havent been so slack abt blogging for ages! hehe... basically December was a busy bee month... packing boxes and moving house and unpacking boxes.. seems to be so much to do every day... but it is a comforting feeling knowing that we're finally in our new place. house is simple but gorgeous.. and definitely befits its name: River Sanctuary Lodge. ;-) we hv plenty of space and guest rooms now so feel free to visit!

Besra went to school for the first time last week. The first day was fine, but the second, she ended up crying and puking and making her daddy sit with her for more than half an hr before i came over and he left and then i left her crying.. but when i picked her up she was fine...;-) happy to see me and not too traumatised... had a busy weekend and now she's got a runny nose so i think we'll let her skip a day of school or two. poor lil cherub..

Lanner is a big and strapping lad.. 9kgs plus and almost 9 months old. he's a lil Velociraptor according to martin cos he makes this really high pitch screeching noises as a means of communication.. and he swoops down on you with his walker (now that we hv tons of space for the kids to run) and besra freaks out and jumps on the couch cos when the walker hits your leg, damn its painful! ahahhaha..

Anyway, back at work now after more than 1 month and half off... good to be back and tons more responsibilities this year.. including vice president of the teachers' union. yikes! haha.. will also be tutoring in town mondays and fridays... so will be pretty busy from now on. havent taken many pics or downloaded the ones on martin's computer so... ah well, will find the time some other time.

Hugs and kisses to everyone, may this year be better than the last and may it be filled with passion, pleasures and perfection... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Christmas is coming!!! weeee! ;-)

havent blogged for ages.. been super busy and super fed up with the slow connection at home. haha.. been spoilt with the fast connection at work that it's the only drawback of being on holiday... i dont get to use the school's broadband! nevermind, at least i'm blogging now!

hehe.. here's a pic of the first batch of christmas cards that left my hands a couple of weeks ago... because i couldnt find some other addresses, hehe i had to go back to the post office a number of times over a number of days to get them all sent... if u hvnt received one this time round, it's cos i dont have your address.. hahahaha... so get in touch with me n i'll put you on my list for next year! basically every year we do a christmas shoot.. which i put on facebook or here only after christmas cos i dont wanna spoil the surprise for those receiving them in the cards. this years pics were done pretty late.. but i assure you they are top quality... lanner is a star.. smiled so gorgeously for the cam and besra of course was a lil lady. ;-) look out for it in the mail ok!
here's my daughter Besra and my goddaughter Natalia on our italiano lunch do with godma Luvy to exchange gifts for christmas.. hehe.. lunch and chat was lovely as expected and the girls had fun poking and prodding the christmas tree. there was a silver stalactite or stalacmite (which one's the one going downwards?) and both the kids put it on their heads and called themselves unicorns... imagination is priceless eh.. oh to be young and naive again, with not a single worry on our lil minds!
Besra's first christmas tree... we decorated the tree in our sparse new house... she was really impressed and had plenty of fun doin it. cant wait for a time when we can put up a real big one..
kissing the angel at the top of the tree... ;-) how sweet
big sister duty.. hehe.. he really didnt want to sit still! haha..
from the balcony looking in... my pride and joy... who would hv thought curtains could inspire such bliss!


Sowhat have i been up to? too much on my plate right now.. but it's a good thing. spend most of my days cleaning and mopping the new house and it's starting to look more like a home now. the curtains r in (love em... so gorgeous!), so r the aircons and the water heaters... water tower has been successfully erected and i hear they are installing the water tank tomorrow (it's green, do u know why? lol). My stove unit arrived today.. yippee!!! furniture will be delivered some time next week, the astro cable tv guys r coming round tomorrow morning and we r installing the phone line hopefully before christmas... yikes! this moving business is hard work! i've booked the lorry for 26th dec so that's the big move.... gonna spit roast a turkey (if i can find one, or an overfed chicken will have to do!) to feed all the extra hands that day as a thank you for helping me with the boxes on literally Boxing Day! hehehehe... cluck cluck.. i'm starting to become pretty houseproud... lol.. anyway, fingers crossed we get in there with no hitches.

only downer now is that i'm having a tough time finding a bank that will remortgage our fully paid apartment for us. we're sitting on money literally and the idea was to release some funds to furnish the new place properly, while the new tenants paid off the monthly installments. sighs... bugger all banks! if it's not this, it's that. i'm now putting my apartment on the market... it will be on www.mudah.com.my pretty soon so if u know anyone who wants to buy a resort apartment, 2 rooms for a steal at 85,000 ringgits (45 mins drive from kk city, 5 mins walk to a pristine beach) ... point them in my direction ok! sighs.. will be sad to lose this place but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

anyway... another great piece of news is that our fishing charters website is finally up.. and we've got close to 300 hits already. some enquiries are already coming in and hopefully more will ensue. lots and lots of pics of martin and his fish and a couple of me with some of my fish. www.borneoangling.com have a look and tell us what you think! ;-)

right, so spread the christmas cheer and love to all.. sorry we didnt make it back again for christmas in england.. i do miss my white christmas... to all my dearest friends who take the time to read my ramblings, i wish you every blissful moment the year ahead can infuse into your life, and may you always be healthy, happy and thankful for all the plusses and not focus too much on the minuses. ;-) hugs all round!

Here's how to hv a good time on almost zero budget!

thank you thank you thank you Leon & Ashley for letting me cruise the streets of bandar utama in this super sexy BMW convertible! how cool is that? haha... this is just me being vain, then again, when am i not!?

Another priceless picture..

And another! It was smooth as silk driving it down the road to our destination, and there wasnt any traffic that day, so all in all, a brilliant outing! the only other sports car I've had the priviledge of driving is a green MG in Dorset, England belonging to a friend of martin's, lovely Jan. ;-) sighs... oh but to own one one fine day, indeed the day would be oh so sweet!

Lol.. faux fur seems to be the super in thing (not that i'm that trendy!) now in kl... so a cheap thrill is to put them on and snap a pic n pretend to be super rich.. hahaha.. the prices for these things r ridiculous! dont worry, no furry animal was hurt in the synthetic production of these articles of clothing. ;-) purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrso soft! purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

not very clear but i love this shot... illusion of being skinny! i wish!

how about this furry bit around my neck.. hehe.. no it's not strangling me! sales lady at the back was not impressed with the photo taking. LOL.. but later she warmed to us! hahahhhaha

and here's a shot of my last day in KL, the Tuesday ex-college mates breakfast club! left of me is contessa@titi who used to be in English like the rest of us but broke free to be an interior designer instead, on the right is aniqah who like me is still faithful to the government, secondary school teacher... gave me a really cool book to read on the plane (main message, to be successful, ignore the facts!) and on the far right is dear Ashley, super hot mama! i think she's the last pure chinese chick in malaysia.. (perempuan cina terakhir!) LOL... thanks for coming from all the corners of the world just to hv breakfast with me and send me off! hugs.. we'll do it again soon!

and finally, i wished i was made of money cos i would hv bought this green gown... priced at 500 ringgits, it was going for 50% off but i couldnt justify spending that much on a dress no matter how gorgeous i THINK i look in it. haha.. your opinions may differ. ;-) but check out the dressing room.. haha... the size of the room with mirrors and raised stage was as big as my own living room in my papar apartment! hehee... and the sales lady was fussing over me.. oh to be a rich bitch.. LOL

Anyway, tons of cheap and entertaining fun in KL... was good to get away, and not teach or worry abt the mundane things in life. big hug to all for making it sooooo memorable! same again next year, ashley? :-)

Happy birthday to me! heheheh...

hehe... most normal ppl hv one cake for their birthdays.. me, well i got 6 different flavours and they were fabulous! ashley chose the restaurant called Delicious at Bangsar Village and we had a fabulous time just chatting n stuffing our faces n laughing our heads off... from the top was the applelicious pie with vanilla ice-cream, peach frangipane pie with vanilla ice cream as well, i chose the strawberry pavlova, sticky date pudding with what else, vanilla ice-cream and butterscotch sauce (yummers!!!!), banoffee pie and last but not least carrot cake with cream cheese that contessa chose! haha.. we played musical desserts, each of us taking one or two spoonfuls of every dessert before passing them on... ! ooooo it was heavenly!

here's a pic of lyanna, cutipie! thanks for the perfume, love it! hugs!

that's me, the birthday girl! ;-) another year older n more wrinkly!

ashley the gorgeous 'perempuan cina terakhir', titi the hot countess! and lyanna the cool chick! 4 beauties galore! oh thanks hunny for buying me this velvet dress... love it!

group pic! weeeeeeeeeeeeee

this is me before i blew out all the candles... thanks everyone for making it to my simple but great bday dinner in KL... it was priceless! ;-)

this is me posing with baby danial, zai and jacques' lil boy... he looks a bit scrunched up here but overall was a sweet baby... congrats again guys!

and here i am with my favourite aunt in the whole wide world, Sharon who looks so youthful and hip eventhough she's much older than you think. in the red is my dearest friend Tang, whom i will miss like hell cos she's migrating to Perth... not going to be able to sit down and chat and eat dim sum with her like this for a long long time... girl i wish u well and that your future will be blessed with joy and happiness all the way. keep in touch ya!

at the moment, i'm still in KL, staying with Ashley who's an angel... dunno where i'd be without her. have had a fabulous time so far, esp with her lovely son Ryan and hub Leon... one day i'll bring Besra and Lanner and they can have fun together... kl is great cos i get to catch up with my good friends from the good ol days... and wonder where the years have gone. I do miss my lil ones but this time tomorrow i'll be holding lanner in my left arm and cuddling besra with my right. ;-)

here's a cute pic martin took before we left for KL... Besra and Lanner in his automatic swing! how cool is this contraption?

Lanner's milion dollar smile!
Uncle Richard Ekin givin Lanner his first sip of Chardonnay! lol... he was enthusiastically trying to drink it as well! my sweet boy!