When we travel with the kids, they have only one requirement when it comes to hotel. It must have a bath tub. My husband on the other hand, has two seemingly simple criteria : competitive rates and convenient transport. They seemed simple until you realized that nearness to transport facility meant a hike in rates.

Still I relish the challenge of finding new never-before tried hotels, taking into consideration all their requirements – in addition to my single most important criteria : charm.

And how can I not be charmed with a hotel that is right next door to a Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple, with flowers stalls just outside the main door and smell of incense wafting into the room once in a while.

Imagine having a birdseye view of the non-stop stream of passerby, peddlers peddling their flowers and other curios from dawn till dusk and temple devotees – all by just drawing the curtain.

So what if there is no bathtub, no fancy Kohler faucet in sight and the nearest train station is a walk of 600m – which can be very hard after a long day (especially when there are bags involved).

When charm comes in abundance, nothing else matters.

When it comes to travel plans, the most interesting task for me is choosing the hotel.

Unlike many who either stay at the same hotel every time or others who leave it up to whatever is available according to their travel agent – I would take the trouble of finding out everything about any hotels which caught my fancy.

It is normal for me to research everything – the surroundings, exact distances to amenities, pictures and even the kind of bed configuration it has – sometimes down to the point of knowing how comfortable the pillows and mattresses are.

Although I love new experiences – thus the desire to stay in a different hotel every time – I don’t like the idea of going to any place unprepared. So far, since the first time I decided on a hotel for us in 2002, a quaint bed and breakfast I was still charmed by, I have not chosen any hotels I was too disappointed with.

And I guess that is why my husband always leave hotel decision to me – except to specify the rates.

* That is a picture of a Superior room in South East Asia Hotel in Singapore.

The less than $30 return AirAsia fare prompted my father in law and a few of his friends to spend a few days holidays in Kota Kinabalu recently.

They covered the islands, State Museum, Atkinson Clock Tower and even the Tun Fuad Stephen Park – which according to them, was a little tricky to get to. They think it’s because of their pronunciation – but I think it’s because not many expect tourists trying to find for this place – using buses.

Yes – they explored this city on buses!

This bunch of old men who could afford to travel five star, move around the city using buses (something I have not done in maybe 20 years). They found a city hostel I am not even aware of and spent on restaurant dining only once – for their buffet.

I was impressed and at the same time, sheepish to notice how different our traveling style is.

Here are men, comfortably set in their retirement years, with kids all working and earning well and they are still careful with money. It’s nothing to them to have a little discomfort; traveling by buses  or staying at lodging that offers no luxury like bath tubs. Yet here we are, 2 kids not even in school and retirement still a long way to go – yet our spending habit is nowhere as prudent.

He came home with a new found expertise in navigating KK city, the kids were happy to have him back and even though his wife gently chided him for being too cost conscious, she lovingly prepared cooling soup for him.

What a perfect end to an excellent holiday for him.

Barbeque party is not something I am very fond of – especially if I am the host.

Having to be outside the house at the mercy of mosquitoes, heat, smoke and not to mention having to wash utensils and tools that are harder than the normal ones we use in the kitchen – are not fun.

But of course it is more fun than a sit-down dinner party. I enjoy the fact that it’s casual and a made-up face and hair is not expected – not when our clothes and hair are going to end up reeking of smoke anyway – not unless the BBQ pit owner has an extensive ventilation system (or regularly changed furnace filters).

That was what we did for my brother’s recent birthday party – and my sister’s fiance who barbequed the whole batch of food confided that it was therapeutic job after a stressful day at work.

Judging from his intense expression as he flipped over the vegetables and meat, perhaps he was having a scenario where offending staffs were being grilled to “death”!

The thing about shopping for clothes online is that you have to know your actual size.

There is no pre-purchase fittings. Once bought, it’s hard to exchange. This was what stopped me from purchasing clothing items online – despite having gone as far as sending several items to my online cart, many times.

This is especially an issue with form-fitting clothing. Yesterday as I was browsing for kebayas, I was surprised to learn that what I thought was my size was actually one size bigger – if based on the given measurement guide!

My fear was confirmed this morning when an acquaintance looked me up and down and asked me the most annoying question : “Why are you so thin!”.

I wonder if they would believe me if I were to say that I never bought a single kind of diet pills and don’t read articles on weight loss program or pills such as the testoripped review. I wonder if they would believe if I were to say that I never even control the amount of carbo that I take in a day, count chocolate as a must have snack in a day and indulge in midnight suppers.

But on the subject of online shopping for clothes, I had to delete all my bookmarked online boutiques because I am not even sure of my size anymore.