Confinement preparation

Since my stomach is getting bigger, we have to start stocking up stuffs for confinement. I tried googling for Chinese medicine shop around bukit mertajam but there are little to no blog regarding them. So, I asked around and one of my friend suggests me to go to this shop opposite Taman Selamat market, Alma. According to my friend, this shop pack their own herbs and does wholesales too. Actually, I can just go any shops that sell Chinese medicine, but there are two things that one should know before purchasing any herbs from any shop.
1. The flow of herbs must be good, as in they don't keep a lot of stock. It is very important for me to get fresh herbs.
2. The herbs must be authentic. There are some shops who are not very reputable, hence they dare to simply sell any herbs.
Since my friend mentioned this shop, I think it's better that I go take a look and decide if I wanna buy my confinement herbs there.

The shop is can be found easily, it's just opposite Taman selamat market, near the fruits stall. This shop consists of 3 shop lots. It's called Chung Woong Trading. Fully air conditioned. When you walk in, you can feel that this shop is very well organized and it's stock look new. Since I do not know what herbs to buy, I straightaway told the boss (young and clean looking lad) that I need herbs for confinement. He told me there're few packages, ranging from most expensive RM1k++ to few hundreds. The difference is the quality of the herbs. For example, dang Shen, for the expensive package, u get thicker dang Shen and thinner for cheaper package. I told him I do not need package (as I'm unsure if I will consume a lot of herbs), so I asked him to show me what are the essentials herbs and I will buy what I think I will consume. He is very friendly and showed me those essentials herbs. End up, I bought high grade dang Shen, tang kwei, red dates, black dates, dried longan, wolf berries, bei Qi, du zhong. All are of the highest grade but half the quantity of what people usually consume (according to him). I've added another bottle of pills, which he say is better than so hup pill. This bottle consists of cordyceps and other Chinese medicine which helps expel wind (which is crucial during confinement). Total spent, RM658. Compared to my previous child, this amount is about rm200 more. But, this time, I bought better quality herbs. Hope it will help on my recovery so that I can recover fast and have more energy to take care of both sons.

Babymoon at City Bayview Beach Resort, Penang

On 29 - 30th March 2015, we, Yuan, me and Jaevyn went to Bayview Beach Resort for our short babymoon trip! It has been a while since we last stayed at a hotel, the last was at Genting, 2014 CNY for Yuan's working trip. Instead of going overseas or outstation, we decided to stay at a better hotel near us so we get to use the travelling money to top up for a better hotel room.

I contacted my friend, who is currently working at Bayview to ask if she has any staff rate, happens that she doesnt have any but she can help me ask her colleague to try get a good rate for me. End up, she helped us booked a Standard Room with breakfast at RM320 nett. When we reach there, she gave us a free upgrade to Superior Room. Thanks a lot ya!

So on 29th March, Sunday, after teaching, we sent Han Zhang back and headed for lunch before checking in. Gosh, Penang is food haven right? but we just don't know where and what to eat. In the end, we just stop at a row of stalls at the road side near Tanjung Bungah, Lebuhraya Halia. The place seems crowded and there are quite a lot of stalls to choose from. They also have ice beverages and coconut. Good choice for a hot weather! After lunch, we went to Bayview at Feringghi and checked in.

The room is spacious, and it's only later i found out that Bayview has the largest hotel room in the whole of Feringghi. Although we got hillview, but since we seldom spend time in the room, it doesnt really matter. 

After checking in, Jaevyn can't wait to jump into the pool. 

 
 

The kids pool is under a shade so kids can go there anytime of the day, regardless of if the weather is hot or shady. Of course, we can't swim if it's raining. After soaking in the kids pool, we went upstairs to have a shower before exploring the resort. The beach is still under renovation or restoration so we didn't play there. J spent 30 minutes in their play room, which has toys and a small slide. He don't really like it there, perhaps the toys are kept too high, and he cant get them by themselves. End up we went back into the room again and change for our 2nd time into the pool. This time, we went to the play pool, it's a newly constructed pool for kids. Adults must accompany their kids but are not allowed to play the slide there. That pool is not shaded, so it's better to go there in the morning or evening. 

After 1.5 hours of playing, we went back into our room to get ready for dinner. We decided to have our dinner at Long Beach Food Court. We've read some blogs and it seems like that is the cheapest place with the most variety of food at Batu Feringghi. Indeed, it's worth going if you do not feel like having hotel food for dinner. We ordered Satay, RM0.80 each stick, Bak Kut Teh RM9, Fried Rice RM5. Drinks are also reasonable.

 After dinner we went back straight to hotel coz J was already tired and sleepy while at the food court. But.... he suddenly went back to recharged mode the moment we reach our room. So, we decided to go for a walk at Hard Rock Hotel next door. 

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel. The room is inclusive of breakfast for 2 pax and J gets to eat for free. Well, he dont really eat though, his mind is all about swimming. After breakfast, Yuan brought J for a swim, the last swim before we check out. 

Lastly, this picture sums up our babymoon. Btw, Kaevyn is 32 weeks this week. 

Catalyst VCO

Recently, I've been reading on gentle birthing so that I am prepared for my 2nd son. Saw a post on Facebook saying that she manage to give birth without episiotomy, one of the thing she did was to consume VCO during pregnancy. It is said that VCO is able to improve ur skin's elasticity besides helping on metabolism and others... One can always google about the benefit of Virgin Coconut Oil. Then, I googled bout it. Last year I actually bought 3 bottles of liquid VCO for consumption but after taking a spoon, I stop. I just couldn't stand the smell. And the idea of swallowing oil puts me off. So when I saw that there is VCO in soft gel capsule, I was thinking perhaps this might suit me. From the Facebook post, the same user mentioned she consumed Catalyst VCO. Then I began searching and found. At the same time, I too went to iHerbs to check out the price. Seems that it's cheaper on iHerbs but due to currency exchange (which at this point, MYR is at its lowest) I feel that this Catalyst brand is worth trying.

And so the search to find Catalyst VCO begins. It is actually a Malaysia made product and sold by MLM method (which I dislike). Since there's no other way of buying it, I have to buy from a member. It seems most of the members sell through their blogs and I came across one blog (http://catalystshop.blogspot.com/2011/03/virgin-coconut-oil-softgel-capsules.html) who's selling this VCO at RM35.00 (compared to rrp of RM39.90). I immediately placed my order. God knows why I'm so daring to place an order without checking the sender's reliability. After paying, I was afraid if the seller just disappear, after all, I don't have his/her details. I'm not even sure if I can lodge a report if it as a scam. However, I was thinking too much~ the seller SMS me the next day with tracking number and I receive the product the next day. :)

So here it is...