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Friday, April 30, 2010

How She Lost Her Tooth

Hubs and I half heartedly chose to stay at Langkawi Lagoon. We had other options too but we liked LL for it's convenient location, nice,clean and comfy rooms with a daybed and it's hardwood flooring. I dislike rooms with carpets unless it's really clean and light colored. We chose LL this time to revisit the place Amber had a bad fall that yanked her front tooth off, 2 feet away.
Service has not improved much and we will not be back for another stay !

Ok.. back to the incident, Amber lost her front tooth here on morning of 29 September 2007.

in the coffee house

at a corner wall of the coffee house

here :


now, they've blocked it with a buffet table. Then, there was a dining table next to it and we were waiting to be seated.


on a close up, this is the block of wood she fell and hit her mouth against.

rewinding, it happened like this. I remember so vividly every details then :
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- we were waiting to be seated, next table was a group of tourist from Hong Kong.
Amber was only 17 months old, she started walking at 16 months and you know toddling kids, they want to walk everywhere and falling down many times along their journey.

I saw the block of wood, thought it was dangerous and being mindful not to let Amber play near there. I was carrying Amber, both of us wearing Crocs. She wanted to get down, I let her. As she walked, her Crocs brushed against mine, she FELL and hit the block of wood.

I heard a soft 'thud'

* silence*

I thought she was alright and then hubs carried her away.

she wailed.

I saw her mouth full of blood.

We quickly took her out of the coffee house to inspect. I can only see a mouthful of blood.

Hubs said.. 'her tooth is missing'

We pulled her lips apart and saw a 'gap'. It was hard to see amongst a bloody mouth.

How can that be ? I didn't see any tooth on the floor when hubs carried her ?

I quickly went back, by passing the table with tourist from Hong Kong and heard a man say :

'' hai ler... sai lou chai yat teng yieu tai chue ker" then another lady touted :
" emm hai err. kor sai lou chai tou hou kwai er.. khoi ker mamee pou chue khoi ker, khoi mou chau wai chau ker "

ok... I faster faster look and found her tooth at the table leg, about 2 feet away from where she fell. I quickly wrapped the tooth with a hotel serviette.

Asked the hotel staff if there is a dentist nearby..

dunno ??? maybe you go Kuah town.... their reply..

no one made an attempt to help us. no resident doctor or nurse.

Then, I remembered Langkawi Hospital. I always make a mental note of hospitals whenever I go for holidays and I tell you, it is necessary when you are away from home. You'll never know, accidents can happen anytime, anywhere.

I took over the wheels, my hands and feet trembling .. Hubs was carrying Amber at the back, his shirt full of blood. Amber stopped crying, she was behaving normally.

We arrived at the hospital, went straight to accident and emergency, quite a few people and I asked if the doctor if they could attend to Amber first as she was bleeding. They said to wait for another emergency case, and so we waited.

Amber was fine and dandy, as if nothing happened and the doctor called us in. Inspected her, wanted to open her mouth and check if the cut has 'punctured' through her lower lips .

I nearly *fainted* when I heard the word 'puncture'

He said nothing could be done with the tooth.

No puncture ! Phew

He need to stich Amber's cut up. That's when she started crying. The doctor called for a few nurse to help.

They placed her on the bed, wrapped her up in cloth, tight to stop her from wriggling.

She screamed PAPA !! MAMA !!! We watched her in agony, stroking her forehead, telling her it's okay.

She wriggled too hard, another few doctors were called in. All 6 of us (I counted) , were holding her down, the doctor gave an injection to numb the wound area and stitched her up.

3 stitches required. All this while, Amber only screamed for PAPA !! MAMA !!!

1st stitch, string and cut

2nd stitch, string and cut

3 stitch, string and cut

then the doctor said " Alamak ! Tercabut ! Kena jahit lagi ! "

Hubs SCREAMED : APAHAL YOU GUNTING ITU BENANG PENDEK SANGAT !!!!!!!!!!!! HAIYO !! MANA BOLEH !!

Out of frustration, he literally SCREAMED at the doctor. Cannot bear the thought of another stitch. Me ? I felt chilly all over.

Ok, ok, tak payah, tapi you jaga jaga sikit, takut dia garu and tercabut. I letak 'glue'

He placed some 'glue' on the first stitch which was cut too short and almost falling off.

Amber stopped crying...

I blacked out !

*pengsan* everything seems so dark, body cold. I quickly rested on a chair. can't feel or see a thing. My blood pressure must have hit a low. We didn't have our breakfast yet and seeing her in agony, I cannot take it anymore.

Hubs asked the doctor ' Ada Milo panas ka ? Dia pengsan '

Doctor : Eh.. Mana boleh ? Kami puasa ni !!

I can't believe the emergency room cannot even get a cup of hot Milo, although it's fasting month. Hubs helped me walked out. I rested, lying down until my blood pressure returned to normal, then drive to the nearest store to get some milk.
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That's the episode of her missing tooth. I felt terrible weeks after. I felt like the worst mom ever for not watching her more carefully. I felt I was to blame.

Now looking back, I am soo sooo THANKFUL that she only hit her mouth. I shudder at the thought of what might have happened if she hit her eyes on the block of wood instead. I also wondered why they didn't sedate her ? It'll be less traumatic for her, us and the doctors too ! I can see the doctor panic and having a hard time stitch the gash ! That incident left a mark at Amber and she cried when we had to see a doctor at Gleneagles for follow up visits to remove the stitches.

I browsed through my folder and these are some pictures of the event :

the evening before the fall, she was happily toddling on the beach.






this was her last photo with a full set of teeth. Coincidentally, this pic won a prize in Parenthood magazine - Happy Holiday contest.

This was taken after the incident, upon returning from the hospital. We didn't have breakfast and ate some bananas and drank milk, couldn't wait to go home and dreaded another nights stay. No mood, just wanted to get out of Langkawi Lagoon asap.

She's generally a happy child, doesn't fuss much and did not cry at all after the stitches. So happy that she forgot all about the incident and continued her day like usual, smiling, laughing and playing.




missing tooth... eyes swollen


we fed her vitagen and placed the straw on the 'gap' of tooth.


closer look, the 3 stitches and 'gap'

What did we do with her tooth ? We wrapped it up serviette from the coffee house, kept it in our safe at home, never wanting to look at it. Too heartbreaking and painful to be reminded of the incident.
The other day, I dug it out..
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bloody stains on the serviette. Can you see her tooth ??
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closer look :
Looking back, there is nothing to regret. I should be thankful she didn't fall and hit her eye instead. I also learnt that if a tooth falls off, we should push it back to the gums immediately and send her to a dentist. There's a chance the tooth might stick on when treated early.
Now, she'll have to wait till primary school for the next tooth to grow.
She's not conscious of her missing front tooth until she was about 2.5 yrs old, one day, she put her finger in the gap and said 'Mama, you see, I have no teeth!!" Breaks my heart to hear that.
She talks with a bit of 'lau foong' tone and that's just a small matter. Another 3 more years, she'll have her front tooth sprouting out again.

Leftover Dinner - Pan Fried Radish Cake

This post is so long overdue.

I steamed a tray of radish cake and it's usually quite impossible to finish up a tray. i thought of a good idea to pan fry the radish cakes. Not quite like how the pasar malam guy does it, I don't have that kind of flat frying pan and skills he has, I did it my way and it was nice.

Main ingredients :

bean sprouts


spring onions and dried prawns - fried and pounded


kuchai and lap cheong


the radish cake.. pan fried in non stick pan first, then cut to cubes


then.. fry garlic in a little oil till fragrant, add lap cheong, dried prawns, radish cake, fry till fragrant, add soya sauce, ,fish sauce, kuchai, beansprouts and egg.
Tadaa :
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Nice ?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Goodbye Langkawi

We took Amber for a stroll on the beach again before checking out. The weather was hot, very hot and I'd rather hide under one of the shaded cabanas and let both of them bond. Any more of the sun, I'll just melt away....

I took some nice pics ...


and applied sunblock, face and body and put on a hat for her..



and took some photos...

hmmm .. this lady was attempting to test the water, fully clothed.


I also like this photo for the color contrast, the blue sky, blue sea, white sand and pink suit :

and knowing she's happy and contented, I am too :)


father and daugther bonding.. mother - resting and snapping away.


then we checked out and bid bye bye to Langkawi..


we shall be back, soon.

Dining at Rootian Seafood Restaurant - Kuah Town

We've tried and tested many chinese restaurants at Langkawi. Hubs is a porkie fella so he has to have his porkie quota. It's either Western dining or Chinese tai-chow for him.

This trip, we tried a new place for lunch, a horrible Chinese restaurant called "Imperial", next to the Underwater World and Duty Free at Pantai Cenang. Since it's just lunch and we wanted something light but the 'tim-choy' waitress kept pushing us to take heavy dishes. .. .. perhaps to get more revenue ? We had a sweet sour fish and green vege.. with coconut water. Set us back RM70 and that place was infested with flies !! A middle eastern couple seated next to us complained and they got a citronella candle but she totally ignored us until I called for 'Lou sai.. hou tor woo ying ah !!! ' only then she gave us a citronella candle. Whatever, we won't go back there again.. so remember 'Imperial' and avoid it.

I always look forward to 'Rootian' at Kuah town. It's smacked in the middle of town, a corner coffeeshop, red table cloth, red walls, you won't miss it. oh.. It's opposite Coco Valley Duty Free Shopping Center. I couldn't take any pics of the place as it was raining so hope this helps :



After 2 blazing hot afternoons, we welcome the rain very much.


Amber looks forward to dinner. For once, she insists on eating on her own. Maybe she's hungry from a day full of activities ?

Hubs and I was more than happy to let her eat on her own. Slurps....











Wuah.. an empty plate !
and what did we have ?

Steamed watercress soup and fried greens


Stewed pork belly with yam (woo tau kau yoke). Hubs needed his porky quota !


The best dish of all : Choy Poh Red Snapper. I so heart this dish. I love the crunchy choy poh and garlic. Goes so well with white rice.


A closer look.. crunchy choy poh n garlic with little chilly bits. I wonder how they cook it so nicely. I'm not attempting this dish. I'll just go back to Rootians !

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Going Around Langkawi

Langkawi has lots of nice beaches, Pantai Cenang, Pantai Kok and Black Sand Bay to name a few. We went to Pantai Cenang, a very touristy spot.. lots of souvenir shops along the main road. Food here is lousy and expensive, don't dine here unless you are dining in some hotel. The local food sucks.. and I'm not gonna blog about the food, in fact I didn't even take any pictures.

Since Langkawi Lagoon's beach is not-that-fantastic, we drove to Pantai Cenang, armed with her beach toys, lots of towel and chilled drinks.

Before we left, she made a checklist on her stuff to bring, doing a 'role call' to me at the hotel room :

spade - checked !
spoon - checked !
pail - checked !
sunblock - checked !
watergun - checked !
swimming suit with panties - NO ! this was the bikini I brought but she's so skinny now, wear bikini also 'chau kong'... and I knew it's gonna be a hot afternoon, better cover her up more with shorts n tees.


@ Pantai Cenang, Frangipanni Hotel.. I want to check this hotel out for future stay. Verdict : not worthy of a 4-5 star. The most, 3 star only. Don't go unless you get a 3 star pricing !

















hubs caught her scratching again.. somewhere itchy.. lah..

It's low tide and safe to let her play on beach while we relax on the sundecks.



but I make sure she's well hydrated. One big bottle of chilled Revive was all we need.




then she wrote her name on the sand.

Well done !

this one... hubs wrote..


nothing makes her happier than being chased by the waves.


Towards the evening, we went to Dataran Lang near the jetty to take some pics of the awesome Helang...


Amber was afraid of the great big eagle and wants to be carried all the time.

Then we saw a couple of eagles flying past. I love observing the flight of an eagle.. so smooth and swift.


Sunset view from Dataran Lang.


We had dinner in town and I shall do that in another post.

One of the best features of Langkawi is it's duty free alcohol and chocolates. We really indulge to the fullest coz it's so cheap.. We got some Hoegaarden beer and a bucket of ice from the hotel, some snacks, chocolates and chilled in the comforts of our room.. ahhh.. our holiday was just perfect.





We were watching HBO - Harrison Ford's 'What Lies Beneath', this was our first movie together 10 years ago @ TGV KLCC. I liked this horror flick because of actress/model Amber Valetta and I chose the name Amber for my daughter because I liked Amber Valetta. (.. and pls don't associate me with choosing the name 'Amber' with our local model coz she wasn't even known yet when Amber Valetta was famous ... )