A Family Retreat at A Famosa, Malacca

We from the Yeoh Clan can never pass up an opportunity to convene - breakfasting at Ah Seng's coffee shop, bonding at mahjong sessions after lunch, chitchatting (or gossipping?) over tea, catching up during elaborate dinners, or laughing together over coffee at suppertime. At times, we planned ahead for holidays together, either with a larger group at church camp, or just among ourselves.

The A Famosa Resort, Malacca, is one such place where the Yeoh Clan would retreat to, for rest and relaxation. This year, Neela and Jason came back for holidays from Canada. Seeing a golden opportunity to get the whole family together, we booked the place from the 28th - 30th of May, 2007. Yes, it was a short holiday but, boy, did we make full use of our time there.

The family being so huge, one bungalow will not do. And so, we booked two. Each bungalow has a pool, which the kids maximized.

There were many things to do within the resort itself. During the day, some of us went on a safari tour organized by the resort where there was a mini zoo and animal shows. The children had the grand privilege of feeding some of the animals there.

The animal show left the children with a sense of awe. There was this dog that jumped through a ring of fire (which reminds me of the song by Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire”), while another drank from a can. There was also a dog within a dog - that is, a bigger dog rolled a cylinder with a smaller dog inside. These dogs were certainly trained well. (Sigh..if only some us can be that trained to certain tasks…. what a better place this world would be).

The elephant show was something else. It was an eye-opener to see elephants playing basketball or swinging a skipping rope, causing a poor guy to exercise unceasingly.

Cowboy Town was also an attention grabber. The kids saw some "real life" action here – cowboys shooting each other down, a-la-Hollywood.

Evening saw the children having the time of their lives in the swimming pool. The resort made some extra money out of us as Neela and her dad, Uncle Guru, drove down to the resort outlet to get rubber floats. To be fair to the resort, the price was quite reasonable. Thomson was the food supplier. He fed the kids intermittently.

It was here that Brian learned to swim. Adele was his swimming instructor and the amazing thing was she didn't even get into the pool. According to her, Brian is a fast learner. Soon, both he and Alisa were competing against each other.

Let me tell you, food practically binds our family together. We (more so the older generation) are known for being good cooks and gourmets. Food was in abundance. It was a three day trip but the food we brought could feed an army. The management would think twice about having us when we next book this place. Look what a huge mess we made of the kitchen. Tsk.tsk.

Night saw us all retreating to the more relaxing games of mahjong (for the older adults) and card games (for the younger adults - including Uncle Guru). And the kids? They just chilled out in front of the idiot box.

It was an altogether heartwarming, bonding time for all of us, made especially so because Neela, Jason and Joelle were with us. A Famosa was a fantastic place for a retreat.

Of course, I only speak for the adults. If the kids are to be given a word edgewise in this paragraph, I'm sure their unanimous comment would be that "at home, at the playground or in the pool, as long as we can be together, everything's cool." Or words to that effect.


- Submitted by Rachel -