Meet the friendly team, always on the lookout for new, interesting things happening close to home here in KL and a bit further away!
Merel, our editor, left the Netherlands 25 years ago. She will always miss friends, family, raw herring and Dutch liquorice, but nothing beats living in Asia.
This is where she discovered DURIAN. She is in love with the king of fruit, hence her name DurianMama.
Merel is married to an Ozzie and the proud mum of two children and they have called KL home for eight years now. If Merel is not editing, writing, or eating durian, she plays with resin.
Previously writing as IbuMama, Eve has now changed her moniker to MakanMama as since the arrival of COVID she’s been travelling far less than before.
She’s taken to discovering and trying out a variety of F&B outlets that pique her taste buds. She’s not a food critic, she just simply loves food! It always helps to have her plus two tagging along as they sometimes have to reign her in when she does the ordering.
Eternal wanderlust will forever be ingrained in her soul and she looks forward to travelling regularly again.
With a Spanish mother and British father, Anna grew up with a mix of languages – hence the name Spanglish Mama. As a fresh-faced 20-year old she first tasted life overseas teaching English in Spain.
Many moons, four countries, six cities, one husband and two children later, her adventures took her to KL. Anna considers her biggest holiday challenge coaxing her children into any venue with the word museum in the title.
CuddlyMama is a storyteller from the film & tv industry. She has a young teen who is about to outgrow her! Wow, time flies!
As an adventurous and intuitive spirit at heart, her love for the craft and telling stories has led her to connect and integrate with different people of diversity.
She believes that passion comes with a purpose and dedication.
As an avid practitioner of any activity that would give her a good ol sweat, she is always keen to explore new and exciting challenges!
Born in KL, Rebecca moved to Melbourne for her studies when she was 19. She continued living there for seven years before moving to London for another five years. Having been away for so long, she and her husband decided to move back to KL three years ago. Now with two young cheeky girls in tow, every weekend is spent exploring KL. During her free time, GirlyMama loves to bake and do girly activities with her girls. And yes, she loves the colour pink!
Flavia was Born in Rio de Janeiro but has lived abroad for years. With an Italian husband, two active kids, two lazy cats and dozens of beautiful freshwater fish, she is kept busy. She loves writing, traveling, crafts, books, and recycling. She has decided to go chemical free, hence the name Ecomama. The journey to organic, zero waste, chemical and plastic free has been challenging but extremely rewarding!
Li-Hsian Choo is a Chinese BananaMama (yellow on the outside, but white inside), who is relearning Mandarin again with her little ones. She left a career in corporate communications to become a freelance writer and full-time mum to twins, one who is a child with Down syndrome. Li-Hsian regularly contributes to parenting magazines and other mainstream lifestyle publications and has co-written three children’s picture books. She is also the co-facilitator of the Art Discovery Tours for Kids and coordinator of children’s programmes at the ILHAM Gallery in KL.
Pipa is a part time laboratory business owner with her husband, and likes to dabble in extreme sports and charity events. She loves learning new things and hates waste of any kind. Mum of 2 energetic girls, she loves to stay active and often has adventure trips when they travel. Climbing, hiking, abseiling, jungle stays, river trips, getting outside their comfort zone. She is working on her handstand.
Vicky swapped the grey climate of the UK for sunny Malaysia two years ago. She lives in Johor Bahru with her husband and two children aged 5 and 9. When not teaching English, you’ll find her practising the piano and driving her family crazy with her constant singing – she’ll never say no to a karaoke night (hence her name, Karaokemama). Vicky is always on the lookout for new family adventures and spends the school holidays exploring Malaysia and beyond.
Agnes has lived more than half of her life in various countries on 3 continents.
She has spend the last 20 years in Kl with her stoic Danish husband, her 2 perpetually annoyed teenage kids and her ever growing menagerie of rescues (currently 2 cats and 2 dogs).
Dislikes – intolerance, wilful ignorance and cruelty to animals. Loves the arts, delicious food, good company but most of all travelling. Seeing the world and experiencing new cultures, is TravelMama’s absolute passion. Abides by Hans Christian Andersens motto ”To travel is to live” and trying to instil, with varying degrees of success ( museums are a hard sell) that passion in her children.
Always keen to try new things, Carina has adopted the name VentureMama. Whether the activity is physical, crafty, travel or experimenting with a new health/beauty regime, she is up for trying it out.
Since having to leave her job in the UK, she has had the opportunity to pursue her passion and nurture her artistic side by taking up painting.
Carina moved to Asia with her family, her husband and now two teenagers to taste life in the East. Covid put a strong halt to those plans, but being an already experienced blog writer, she is now ready to stretch her wings and share her experiences with everyone.
Chris aka FloralPapa is Tasmania, Australia, rooted with a plant addiction growing from his first strawberry pyramid at the age of four among the fruit trees and vegetables in the family back yard. A career in landscape architecture followed culminating in working in Kuala Lumpur from 2015. Now running a boutique landscape business and writing about all manner of things on Lifeobservations.net.
FloralPapa is dad to three, stepdad to seven and papa to four grandchildren. Happy we are! Monsoon season will find him surfing the east coast of Malaysia’s peninsula and he is always on the lookout for a cheeky game of ping pong.
Born in South America to a Javanese mother and Chinese father in a country that is as multi-ethnic as Malaysia, Sue Ann considers herself a true ‘rojak’ person. In Malay itself, ‘rojak’ means ‘mixture’. It is also the name of a mixed raw fruit and vegetable dish that is served up with a spicy tangy sauce. And that’s how her family and friends know her as well: sweet but at times fiery.
She moved to the Netherlands when she was 11, then moved to China after her studies where she met her husband. Two kids and a few countries later, they have settled in Malaysia.
RojakMama loves to write down her family’s adventures. In her free time, you will find her enjoying a meal with friends, volunteering as a teacher or exercising in the gym.
Viktorija, a Latvian-born with Russian roots lived from the age of 13 in the Netherlands and embarked on an extraordinary journey. Leaving her comfort zone behind, she now resides in Kuala Lumpur with her husband and their three beautiful daughters. As a firm dreamer and YOLO-kind of person, Viktorija embraces the expat life to fulfil her family's dream of living in Asia. Now cherishing every moment in KL, this RadiantMama is more than happy to share her insights and experiences with fellow parents in this stunning city.
Racheal Kwacz is a Child and Family Development Specialist, mama tribe advocate and writer. Creator of the ‘RACHEAL Method’, she combines her 20+ years experience working with children in the USA and in Asia with the foundations of ‘Respectful Parenting’, leading parents and teachers to raise kind, confident, compassionate, resilient little ones. She is a mum to a joyful, curious, and fiercely independent, toddler foodie who is her poster-child for the ‘RACHEAL Method’.
