Most of us would have heard about pandemic from the news or read about it in school. Some might even wondered how life was back then? How people suffered and eventually triumphed in defeating the pandemic?Fast forward to 2020 and we do not have to wonder anymore. We are sort of living the "dream". 😅
Phew...what a year it has been and how it is still affecting our livelihood. Got to admit that it is not an easy time for all of us. I'm pretty sure every single human being has been affected by this pandemic albeit at a different level. For some, it is a very depressing time in life and for others they found new ways to be better in their life.
Well, did it affect me? My family? What do you think? It's very obvious isn't it? I just mentioned about it one paragraph above.
I would like to focus on how this pandemic called Covid-19 brought my family together and stronger than before. That's the wonderful thing about life, right? You learn to adapt and take the positive out of the negative to become a better version of yourself.
Beginning of 2020 was wonderful.
It marked the first time my 4 year old going to kindergarten. Yes, it was a stressful day for us. Hahaha...Not easy to watch the first step of them being independent. But it has to be done. Little did we know about what was bound to happen in 3 months time. Yes, the magic word "online class".
Exactly one year ago (at the time of writing), me and my colleagues were enjoying ourselves in the neighboring country, Thailand. I had a great time there and the memories are still fresh in my mind like it was yesterday.
Checkout my blogpost about the journey in Phuket here.
Bear in mind that at this point of time, it was not declared a pandemic yet. Life was normal in Malaysia as well as in Thailand. No mask. No social distancing. No political issues. We were living the life back then! WHO only declared that the coronavirus is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th January 2020. Exactly 4 days after we were back from Phuket.
And then life went on as usual in February as well. Even though, people were starting to worry about coronavirus, Thaipusam came and went just like normal. Checkout my post on Thaipusam 2020 here.
One fine day as we were passing OUG, Old Klang Road we past through a very familiar stall that we haven't been to for years...almost a decade. Trust me. You wouldn't regret eating the vegetarian items here.
Spoiler Alert : There aren't many varieties available here. If not mistaken they only serve Mee Kari and Nasi Lemak.
I don't see the aunty that used to sell the food but I guess she hired some foreigners now. The taste is the same though. Absolutely amazing. They are available at this location.
Towards the end of the month, we still had time to drive through Putrajaya. This place never cease to amaze me. Breathtaking landscapes and beautifully designed buildings. I love this place. Checkout some of my previous posts about
Wonderful Putrajaya.
We had a nice stroll along Jambatan Seri Gemilang, Precint 5 that night. It was so beautiful. Enjoying my time with the kids and my lovely wife by my side. It's been a while since we went out just to wander around in Putrajaya. It was nice.
And then March came. Yeah...a month that none of the Malaysians will ever forget.
But, that day is yet to come.
Since travel was still allowed, I had the opportunity to visit Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan for work purposes laa. This was my first time there and it also marked a historic date in my life. I have successfully visited all 13 states and FT in Malaysia. hahaha.
It was indeed a refreshing moment staying alone for a week in Labuan. Once work is finished, I head back to the hotel to take a bath and then I just wander around the town by foot. I only took Grab once or twice while I was staying there. Most of the time I will just walk to explore the town.
My colleague picked me up in the morning to go breakfast and then head to work. After work, he would send me back to the room. Thanks bro!
On the downside, I missed my family a lot. Haven't been away from them for such a long period before. Whatsapp video calls and messages kept us close to each other. Yay for technology! And the next thing I missed the most was my wife's cooking. Yup, she's an awesome cook and never fails to keep our stomach full at all times. Checkout her website at https://www.shinieskitchen.com/ and you'll understand what I meant.
Two days later, there were rumors spreading that full lockdown will be implemented in Malaysia as the cases were on the rise. I was still in the office on 16th March and then we were told not to come to the office 17th March 2020 onwards as a safety precaution from our top management. And then the news came. Prime Minister announced that from 18th March 2020 onwards Malaysia will be implementing Movement Control Order. We Malaysian moved into the territory of the unknown. None of us have ever experience lockdown before. Nobody knew what to do (except to hoard all the Gardenia bread and toilet papers from the stores)
The first Viral recipe of 2020 was non other than the famous Dalgona Coffee. I was 'lovingly' asked by my wife repeatedly to try this recipe. After being constantly 'asked' by my wife, I realised one thing. It's not going to stop until I make it and 🎶I said to myself🎶....🎶What a wonderful coffee🎶.
More recipes to come later on..
And then, the next thing we caught up was exercising from the comfort of the home.
It all started when my boss posted in his Facebook asking if people want to join him to do exercise. I tot why not? It wasn't easy at first...and it didn't get any easier till the end though. I managed to reduce close to 2kgs at that time. Satisfying.
The one thing that I learnt later part was not to overdo things. Yup, knee pain started and I'm still recovering from it until today. Haish. It's totally my fault though.
Enjoyed every moment of it as the whole family started exercising daily at home. It was really fun having the four of us doing one common thing.
One fine evening, we were too hungry and decided to order KFC. Mind you this was during the first or second week of MCO. I think I ordered around 7pm. Went around to do other things...and the food didn't arrive after around 40 minutes. Called the support guy and after waiting so long managed to get hold of the support guy.Ding dong here and there and up to 9pm the food is nowhere to be seen. Finally, decided to cancel the order and I had no choice but to drive alone to the nearest KFC. We were to desperate to eat Fried Chicken..hahaha.. And what a sight it was, the road was totally empty. Like it was deserted and I am Will Smith from I am Legend. I was all alone and the road was so dark. No other car to be seen within your eyesight.
Weirdly, within 15 minutes I already made my purchase and headed back home. My only regret was not doing this earlier. I think the delivery service was overwhelmed at this time as there was simply too many people ordering online and the company could not cope with the demand during the initial period.
That was the most appetizing KFC that we ever had in our life as we sat together in front of the TV and ate together as a family. Previously, we were too busy with our work and only managed to occasionally sit together at the dinner table. Yeah, we started eating together nowadays.Hmm..never thought I would say this but....errr...Thanks Covid???
Almost at the end of the month of March now and the kids hair was overgrown like orang utan in the jungle. We had no choice but to turn into ad-hoc barbers as all barber shops were ordered to close during MCO. My wife did a reasonably good job cutting our hairs. It was during this time I decided to grow a beard. It felt like it been ages since I had a beard.
Note : All photos are taken by myself except for Abah's photo which was taken from Mr Google seach.
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