(27.09.2015 – 03.10.2015)
The life of a hotelier is never mundane. Some days things seem to go smoother than others and you are blessed to start and end the day well and even manage to be amused by some of the silly things that the guests say or do while other days you feel like you are dragged through the mud and then put on a roller coaster ride with all sorts of behind-the-scene challenges thrown at you and before you can catch you breath and steady yourself there goes another big dip! I try to stay sane and leave my work behind when I step out of the hotel (well, at least I try to!) and find time for little things that bring me pleasure or simply just try to relax and exhale….
We had a very stressful week this week at work with some air-conditioning challenges and employee turnover issues but hey, life is not all about work and I was determined not to give in to the stress and let it bring me down. So here’s my week in pictures, showing a few things that I took time to do as well as the life around me in general…
Sunday
After church service my friends David and Diane took me to the Borneo Orchid Show 2015 to look at my favourite flowers all under one roof. It seemed like not long ago that we were at the same local community centre for the last orchid show, has it really been a year already?
We saw the half-filled hall and weak competitions in each sections and left with slight sadness in our heart just like the year before for fear that in a few years’ time there would not be any orchid show anymore. It truly is a dying art, what a shame!
These are just a few selected pictures of the show…
David entered a few pots of orchids for the competition under the names of his kids and this is Hannah with her winning cattleya
Really, this is it??? Well, we are not impressed!
After the orchid show I made a date with my godchildren Hannah and Isaac to go to their house in the evening to join them and their cousins for the lantern walk as Sunday was the Mid-autumn Festival/Moon Cake Festival/Lantern Festival in the Chinese calendar.
moon cake
these funny looking “fruit” are 菱角 water chestnut/water caltrop and their texture is quite similar to the round Chinese water chestnuts but not as sweet or crunchy.
they are sold in the market for Mid-autumn Festival
Hannah being cheeky with her uncle Michael and cousin Daniel
getting ready with the lanterns
it’s been many years since I last held a lantern and I thoroughly enjoyed our lantern walk from the kids’ house to their cousins’ a few hundred metres down the road
Monday
Our Front Office Manager and I were taken out for dinner after work by an online agent so we got to sit back, relax and talk nonsense over dinner…
Tuesday
The bush fire from Indonesia which, sadly to say is a yearly occurrence now affects Malaysia and the neighbouring countries badly with haze from the smoke. Fortunately it is still bearable in East Malaysia where we are and life goes on as usual unlike in Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore where people cannot even stay outdoor without a heavy-duty mask on and on some days schools were closed when the air pollution index was high.
this was at 7:10am… no blue sky and the sun was almost hidden from view…
Wednesday
taken at 6:30 am… it was a little better than yesterday but still very hazy… no more glorious sunrise!
took a colleague out for lunch to celebrate her birthday and saw these on the street… I jokingly told her that we do not need to go to Trafalgar Square in London to see the pigeons… 🙂
Thursday
Being an upcycler myself of course I support fellow upcycler and hence, we supply a junior from my school Japson, the plastic containers and bottles from our hotel for his upcycling craft projects.
Japson dropped by for a drink and he showed me one of his creations using Nespresso capsules…
pretty creative I must say!
Japson helped me drilled these real dice for my jewellery projects, I’m over the moon!!!
a picture to mark our support towards upcycling
Friday
took another colleague out for birthday lunch…
Saturday
Public holiday = no work = time to chill!!!
went shopping with best friend and we tried out a new restaurant that served nyonya food.
food was not bad and loved the cucumber juice with sour plums!
deserved this after a tiring day out shopping 🙂
Colourful Threads of Life 