Boys On Tow

When not fishing, be mending the nets... A quiet day in a fishing village in the district of Pontian, Johor. Many people make their living as fishermen in Pontian. After hauling their catch, things usually quiet down, before it starts all over again the next day.

Looking back at some old pictures, it seems like forever that I've dressed up to attend a wedding invitation. With the way things are, who knows when such wedding events will take place again. Only small ceremonies are held now, attended by a handful of close family members. Anyway, here I was, attending a Malay wedding ceremony. We wear traditional Malay clothing called "baju melayu" and "baju kurung", very colourful ones at that. A happy occasion calls for cheerful clothing, right?

Had a craving for some cake and pastries recently, so I decided to check out this new place near my house called Baker's Cottage. They have many outlets around Malaysia, and a few in Johor Bahru. I went in and was pleasantly surprised with the selection of cakes, bread and pastries here. Also, since the store near my house is newly opened, they have a sweet opening sale. Needless to say, I scooped up more than I initially planned to buy 😂

Look at this cat... Guardian of the laundromat register. Dude, I just want to scan the QR code and do my laundry! 😂😸

Have you ever been to a pineapple farm before? Well, the state of Johor in Malaysia is one of the main producers of pineapple in the country. This here is at Amanda Pineapple Garden, in the district of Pontian, Johor. Other than producing sweet, juicy pineapples; this place is quite a draw for tourists and visitors wanting to get a feel of a pineapple farm, as well as buying them straight from the source. The district of Pontian in Johor also produces pineapples mostly from the MD2 variant, which is known for its silky sweet taste and smooth texture.

We're going to stuff ourselves tonight!

In upcoming posts, I'll share a bit on other, more upmarket stays in Desaru.

My boys are absolutely obsessed with everything Minecraft. The play the Minecraft game, they watch Minecraft videos on Youtube, and they even pester me for Minecraft toys and merchandise! So after weeks of trolling me, I gave in and bought them these toys. Now, they're having their Minecraft adventures at midnight! I didn't know much when I bought them, but I do know now... It's a diamond sword, a torch and a diamond pick-axe. Hahaha, I feel old now 😅

The boys having a breather after a whole morning of running around and exploring The Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur. The botanical gardens are a much welcomed oasis of greenery and nature, smack in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur. Home to a diverse array of plants, I feel that this is surely a nice place to visit when in Kuala Lumpur. Oh yeah, they have a deer sanctuary there too.

Masjid Sultan Abu Bakar (Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque), Johor Bahru, Malaysia... The architecture of this mosque is indeed iconic, with it's Moorish influences and design elements. The mosque has always been a draw for worshippers and tourists alike, and hopefully we'll see more of both soon when conditions improve.

I thought my iPad Air case looked kind of plain and empty, so I decided to put some stickers on it. I like travel, so I put some travel themed stickers on, and my sons were in the Among Us phase at the time, so we put some of those too. Looks like it turned out pretty decent, and now my iPad case has more character 😂

I'm not sure what this pigeon was rubberneckin' about, but it sure looked curious. Maybe waiting for me to give him some food. Sure is a nice sunny afternoon, though.

This was a couple of months ago... When you can't go anywhere due to the lockdowns, you take out the mat and have a porch picnic. The skies were clear and the stars were twinkling for all to see. The silver lining in all of this is, I do appreciate having more "together time" with the boys. Besides, they have all kinds of stories they want to tell me 😂

With school and classes going online, the boys need a proper home schooling setup. So I bought them the gaming chair and table (the irony 😂), and assembled it for their use. I do use the space as well for my online work meetings and discussions, but most of the time, the boys run the show here. Now, I guess I'm gonna need a dedicated space for my home office setup.

Macaques don't usually appear around my housing area, but I guess they're actively looking around for food now. I guess it doesn't help there are a few abandoned houses nearby where they can use as shelter and possibly as a breeding ground. Whatever it is, in small numbers, they don't usually don't bother people. As long as we don't feed them, it should be okay.

Took these pictures back in May 2021. It was a couple of days before Eid ul-Fitri and the lockdowns were still in force. The boys wanted to have some fun, so we took out the fireworks and played in the yard. All these lockdowns are not easy on the kids... they're not easy on anybody, so we do what we can to keep it all together. Now things look to moving towards some progress, and hopefully we'll get some semblance of normalcy soon.

The Midvalley Southkey Mall is one of the newer malls in Johor Bahru. It's one massive malls with just about every type of shop you can think of. I haven't really had the chance to explore it before, and then the pandemic hit. Now it's very quiet around here, but the silver lining is they've turned this mall into a vaccination centre. Hopefully after this pandemic settles down, this place will once again be lively. It will take a while, but there's always hope, right?