The Mommy Book

The "Mommy Book": Mommy Travels : Kota Kinabalu for non-climbers Part Four: Getting Spoiled at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Shangri-La Tanjung Aru at Kota Kinabalu is al...

The "Mommy Book": Mommy Travels : Kota Kinabalu for non-climbers Part Three: Strolling around Suria Sabah      When my husband got free tickets from Ai...

The "Mommy Book": Mommy Travels : Kota Kinabalu for non-climbers Part Two: Dining at the KK Waterfront      When my husband got free tickets from Air As...

Do Everything on Your To-Do List AND Save the World Too?!

The Sunday market at Gaya Street is a must-visit in Kota Kinabalu.  Haggling is a must too! (Photo by Richard Ramos) When my husband got free tickets from Air Asia to Kota Kinabalu, I didn’t hit the roof with excitement.   But it is an amazing treat!   So I figured there must be other attractions in this Malaysian city for non-climbers like me. True enough there were other adventures (albeit tamer) that we found to make our four-day stay truly awesome. Part One:   Shopping at Gaya Street Our first adventure was the Gaya Sunday Street Market.   All kinds of wares were for sale from the classic Muslim shawl to Sabah coffee and chocolates, to plants and animals including a dehydrated Persian cat.    The street hawkers displayed their goods on tables under tents all lined up and down the street on a weekly market that is open from six in the morning till one o’clock in the afternoon. So I asked one seller, “Why do you close at 1 o’clock?”   “Because it’s v

Family out-of-town-trip Survival Tips for Mommies Actually, happiness comes in bursts of laughing moments.  The boys just love it up north.      You know what’s funny?   We go out of our way to go on out-of-town trips with our family in the “pursuit of happiness”.   But when we do, we end up with just “pursuit” most of the time WITHOUT the “happiness”!        Let me prove my point.   My husband and I packed everything up (including our two kids) in our small compact car to drive four hours up north so we can have a happy, fun holiday.   We ended up enduring the entire drive listening to two boys arguing on just about everything – and that’s not even mentioning the return trip!         When we arrived the beach was as appealing as the Pacific Ocean developing a tsunami, and spending time playing computer games in a neighborhood internet café was the highlight of our entire stay! To tell you the truth, beaches up north are to die for.  This was taken i