Kids Bike

I gave up trying to look for a decent bicycle for my little gal turning 4 in a week's time. It has been eye opener and frustrating at the same time. I spent few of my free days doing just that. Cycling from bike shop to bike shop and after that browsing from web page to web page.
Surprising you say? Or is it just me? I cycle a bit for leisure and exercise. Therefore I do know a little bit about bicycle although not on the extreme case. The bicycles that I saw was either, too expensive for the quality that I see; or too heavy (imagine a 4 year old cycling a 25kg bicycle) which I wouldn't even cycle myself; or too extremely expensive (for the quality that I am looking at, ok, the quality should be good for this case); or just plain too shabby for that matter.
Case 1 - a kids bicycle with funky looking design, with speedometer, coaster brakes etc etc. This was a shocker to me because this is the first bike that I was looking at. It shocked me because I didn't expect to pay between the range of $170-250 for a kids bicycle. Before I surveyed around, I had a mindset that bicycles should not cost more than $50-100 range for a kid that might just use it for one year or so. I was so wrong. Anyways, the colour is off beat so we walked out of the shop (and not forgetting the speedometer!)
Case 2 - Cycled around and asked around in local shops. It seems like the neighbourhood shops carries a more reasonably priced bikes. But at the back of my head, I keep having this image of a rusted bicycle at the end of 3 months. Plus, they only have the girl's and the boy's bicycle. Let me give you an example. A girl's bike is pink, with ribbons, a pink basket for the teddy bear and so on. A boy's bicycle would have the police theme on it, to chase the big bad boy or girl in the playground in case they are naughty. What happened to the neutral colours? I am just dumbfounded. I'm not very keen on getting a gender based bicycle simply for practicality. What if my daughter has a little brother later on? Oh, right.. get another bicycle. How come I never thought about it?
Case 3 - Went online and searched for a reputable bike brand and from the dealer. When I saw something I like online I gave them a call. Here's the transcript although I swear to you it was very difficult for the Myanmar lady on the other end to understand what I was saying and vice versa:
Me: Hello, do you carry the kids bicycle xxx model?
She: Hello, you wait ah.
Me : ...
She: We have
Me: How much is it and what colour do you have?
She: $360 and only green colour.
Me: GULP! Ok, thank you!
Case 4 - Potential future scenario if I get bikes from hypermarkets. They only carry a particular brand, which filled the cabinets from wall to wall. So you think, well, this can't go wrong since after browsing the same brand over and over (at the same hypermarket), the brand somehow seems to you to be reputable right? WRONG! I got feedback that these bikes rust as badly as '20 something Indian gal' (no pun intended on this.. it was a joke from one of my friend which talked to an elderly Indian man, which commented that rust is coming out from her unmarried 20ish something daughter) and the quality of the part are just pathetic.

And so therefore the conquest continues... will I pay through my nose for quality or settle for something less?

Time and space and friends!

Been in London few times for work and each time I spend couple day there. The surprising thing was that I haven't really explore the most English city in the world as compared to the other cities we work to.

One simple explanation is that I always seem to be meeting up with a group of friend there. They are by no means any friend. I have this sentimental feelings for the friends I have known since primary school or even kindergarten (coming from small town this is very likely).

This time around there's no exception. It was snowing by the time I reached the hotel and I was honestly quite excited seeing fleeting snow with my own eyes for the very first time. There's the danger of transport system shutting down etc but brave the snow I did. I must say I would rather go out walking in the snow compared to the rain though. You dont get wey and you can always brush off the snow.

Well in all I'm just saying at times like this when I manage to catch a breath in between doing spring cleaning for CNY, I wish I had a friend to sit down and chat over cup of tea. I hope to do that in the following week amidst my pack schedule (for a small town that's pretty packed I think!). Gonna be missing those whose not going back.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone celebrating Lunar new year out there!

Memorial

Surprisingly its almost always that you never visit the attractions near where you stay. In Kuching I've never been to Jong's crocodile farm or climbed Mount Santubong. Or within the state I'd give visiting caves of Niah or Mulu at the outskirt of Miri a miss. Perth I skipped the chance to visit surroundings which are within driving distance such as the wave rock or the friendly dolphins at Monkey Mia or see the giant trees in Albany.

Passing by the war memorial had become a daily routine. Almost felt just like one of the traffic ganty along the road. By chance though today I attempted cycling on the northwestern side of the island. Then there it is, the site on top of the hill, beckoning people to remember, remember the price of peace.

Its visible from the main Woodlands Road, and so I turned in. It was a very clean and simple, almost pure memorial and cemetery. People from all faith are buried there fighting for one cause, for the nation which is not even their homeland. Would we do the same when the time comes for us to uphold this trust.

The memorial may not be as solemn for me or you who were never involved in war. Or whose dad, husband, brother or grandfather who did carry arms and perhaps fallen while protecting the country. It does strike me though that this is a peaceful place to be..