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I know I know, I have been bitten by the itchy-backside bug bad, real bad! The first week of July, I took the kids and went to Taiwan, without their daddy. Don’t panic yet! I may be crazy but not that crazy, my parents and two sisters went along as well. But like every mother knows, the sole responsibility of caring for the 2 kiddos would still ultimately fall upon the shoulders of the 3-headed-6-handed mother!

We chose to go free-and-easy and the SQ flight we took was in the afternoon. I only bought a seat for Talia and as we only decided to join my family last minute, the whole supposed-to-help-out ginggang was seated far away from my bassinet-available seats! I was given two seats on the left but two very nice gentlemen who were seated in the middle (4-seat row) with an empty seat between them and another lady asked me if I would like to swap seats? Before you could even say s-w-a-p, I was over the other seats happily buckling Talia up. Well, for take-off, the little guy would still need to be buckled to me using an infant seat belt. And what-do-ya-know, he fell asleep in my arms during take-off. When the seat belt sign was turned off, I also happily deposited him into the bassinet and had an enjoyable 2 hr watching movies, feeding Talia, feeding myself. When he woke, he had a seat to himself watching cartoons and playing games! The 5-hr flight was a breeze!

We touched down at Taipei at about 5.30pm and only reached our hotel at 西门町 at 7.30pm because of the peak hour traffic. We set off to look for food and when we saw 天外天 hotpot, we decided right away because I think we have had someone recommending that before and everyone was ravenous, buffet steamboat seemed just like the right thing!

Gorging ourselves silly with food!

The next morning, we set off for Taipei 101. We took the MRT and when we came out, we realised there was a shuttle bus that will bring us right to the doorsteps. There was like 3 bus stops along that stretch of road and a local taiwanese woman actually walked to all three bus-stops to make sure we get to the right one! She was so helpful! and boy! did we need that! The weather was like a blazing 38 degrees. Of course we didn’t know that then, it was only 2 days later in a cab that the cab driver told us that have been a heat wave and the past few days, the temperatures have been 38-40 degrees celsius!

We took the shuttle bus and were relieved to be back into air-con comfort.

The bunch!

We headed to the observatory deck first.

The kids were rejuvenated after the temperatures became more bearable and ran around.

Just a shot first at the not-so-real-thing before heading up.

It’s huge at the observatory deck and the children had a blast exploring.

The view is amazing!

We even braved the heat to go out into the open observatory deck!

We had Teppanyaki lunch at the basement of the building, topped with soft silken 豆花 before heading out. The heat was so unrelenting that we quickly went to hide in the nearby New York New York for some shopping before walking to the MRT station.

A not-so-nice mini Statue of Liberty outside the mall.

The real-thing behind us on our little trot to the station.

We took the MRT to Jian Tan station where the Shi Lin night market was. The MRT stations in Taipei were really stroller friendly as compared to the ones in HK. We could easily find the lifts and wider gantries are everywhere!

I was initially apprehensive about bringing two strollers to the night market but I was pleasantly surprised that even on a Saturday night, it wasn’t too difficult to maneuver around.

Night market!

We ate along the way and even had a foot massage before having some herbal bak ku teh at a supposedly 30-year old shop which wasn’t too bad. We headed home in a cab. Yes, all 5 adults and 2 kids squashed together! Go figure.

Thaddeus was spotting a cough before we went and the next morning, his nose started to run and he began to run a fever. I have come all prepared, the doctor even gave me anti-biotics to standby and I fed him the meds. The plan today was to go to the 故宫 musuem in the morning. We took a cab and reached in about 25 mins. By then the little guy was all raring to go, and fever has subsided.

We went straight to the third floor where the “special exhibits” were. Treasures which used to be placed at the forbidden City were displayed there, with a map of their location then. We spent about 2 hours roaming around before going to the kiddy area on the first floor so the children to have some fun!

And some fun they sure had!

Cliched but I couldn’t resist!

Look at the little man’s squirrel cheeks!

There were interactive exhibits where the children could try their hand at.

Sticking stuff up!

We headed back to the hotel and had dumplings noodles nearby while we waited for the day tour people to come get us for our half day trip to Yang Ming San.

On the way there, both kids fell asleep and I had a nice 2 hr respite! The weather was blazingly HOT! Even the breeze was scalding. We could only do a few obligatory touristy shots here and there before rushing back to the van!

Baby girl and her 小姨！

Quite breathtaking views of the mountains!

Baby girl and her grandpa!

After that we headed to a hot springs place and were given an hour to go soak! Of the lot, only Thaddeus would be suitable to be featured here! Anyway, the children didn’t like the hot springs at all because it was too hot for them, besides I wouldn’t have let them in as well, not knowing what the minerals in the water would do to their baby skin. This cold water pool was just tap water and the children was just so delighted to frolick in the cold water!

Skinny dipping!

Even before dropping us at the MRT station, which proper travel agent would not try to get us to buy some mechandise (read: commission for them). So we were ferried to a place selling Pineapple cakes and the likes. Not that we really minded actually because we were planning to buy some back as gifts and it actually tasted not so bad.

The children had their fill trying all the goodies as well!

After the shopping, we took the MRT to 谈水. Its rows and rows of little stalls selling food and knicknacks and we just gorged ourselves as we walked along!

The weather became a little bit more bearable in the evenings.

A forlorn boy lost in the crowds?

Stalls after stalls of food!

As the sun sets…

What came next was one of the most harrowing experience I have ever had in my life. We decided to take a boat to 渔人码头. That boat ride was the most terrifying boat ride in my entire life. it was worse than a roller coaster, even the locals on board were screaming! We were like literally being thrown into the air and then come crashing down. Talia was very very scared and kept asking me what was happening. Thaddie boy was like immobilised with fear. Those who were outside dashed in completely drenched. I was clutching both of them so hard that afterwards I got a cramp in both my arms and thinking furiously in my heart, are there enough life jackets, should I put the life jacket on me first or on them, how to stay afloat if i am grabbing both. That was how scared i was and i just kept praying and the 15 mins boat ride took forever.

Then there was the problem of needing to go back again. The whole family was green in the face and nobody could eat any dinner. We headed back after 30 mins and this time, I prayed and asked God to give us a smooth ride back. And miraculously the return journey was sooo smooth, its unbelievable! Even Talia said how come the boat was not shaking? I told her God answered the prayers of a very frightened mummy! Even now, as I think back, it amazes me to know how real God is!

And all that was for a shot of this silly little bridge!

Bridge at 渔人码头!

The next day, we went for some shopping at the underground mall below 台北车站 and had for ourselves some yummy 红烧牛肉面! After lunch we went back to the hotel for the day tour people to come get us for our day trip to 九份! This is actually a former mining town and we have been told its rather quaint and worth a visit.

Enroute, we passed by the sea and took some shots!

Amazingly blue sea!

The township which is now nearly abandoned!

and it sits high up on a mountain range.

We got back to our hotel around 6pm and decided we will spend the night exploring 西门町！

Shopping!

Between the three sisters, I think we carted back almost a luggage full of face masks! woohoo!

The last day of the trip, we spent the morning at 五分谱 doing some wholesale shopping! There were shops which didn’t even entertained us as you have to buy in bulk. Anyway, thank goodness there were others who did. Grabbed a bit of “Taiwanese-Korean-ish” fashion for the little girl and loads of singlets for the little boy.

Five days whizzed by so fast that even though I have to clean vomit for 2 nights out of the 4 nights, gobble down my meals as I spend the majority of my time feeding, take care of the daily morning and before-bed routine myself, I had so much fun! and it was so nice to just hang around my family!

Day 3 was going to be the only free and theme park-less day. We started the morning with tim sum at a Chinese Restaurant near to our hotel and it was pretty yummy!

and we strolled towards the Avenue of Stars. The boy has not been the most cooperative the last couple of days, refusing to poo in the mornings and then pooing in his diapers 2 or 3 times throughout the day and I have to scramble to find toilets and wash his butt singlehandedly. This morning I was particularly pleased as the deed was done and perhaps I would be spared all the heaving and balancing to get his butt wash.

The picture will give an indication as to just how polluted Hong Kong actually is.

Before we descended from the overhead bridge, we let the children fool around for a while. Just a simple game of catching got them laughing so hard!

It was actually quite nice to just walk along the water front! There was a slight breeze but as it was also almost noon, the sun was also out! We hid the girl into the stroller and told them they had to lead the way by consulting the maps they have!

The children deciding which way to go!

The duo got out of the stroller and we tried to take the two of them together. It was virtually mission impossible, with little Miss Bossy insisting that it must be done this way and that way and Mr Itchy-Backside itching to get away at every juncture!

Stayyyy didi!

We eventually reach Harbour City shopping center, apparently the biggest shopping mall in the city with about 800 shops inside. We were there barely for 10 mins and Thaddeus fell asleep in the stroller. We then brought Talia shopping at the many children shops and she bought some toys and paid for them herself!

Here’s the money!

We went for lunch at one of the cafes there when the little guy woke and had western fare like salmon, baked rice and pizza for lunch.

After lunch, it was the little girl’s turn to snooze and time for Thaddues to run amok! We went to this little quaint shopping corner and he had a wild time checking out the mechandise.

Hellooooo!

Feeling gungho, we decided to brave the crowds at mongkok and ladies street to let the children have a feel of the vibrancy of Hong Kong. It was good that the actual ladies street was not crowded at all, but getting there was scary.

Boy ergo-ed and girl pram-ed to brave Mongkok!

We shopped for about an hr and then we even went for a foot massage. (Thaddeus was entertained with my iphone and the Talia played with her doll while waiting for us!)

We got back to the hotel at around 10pm. It was tedious going round and round the MTR station trying to find the gate which is bigger so that the stroller can get in and not to mention the lift, Hong Kong isn’t child-friendly at all!

The next morning, we set off for Disneyland by cab and reached Disneyland Hotel at around 10am. We couldn’t check-in as yet so we left our luggage at the concierge and were preparing to head towards the shuttle bus stop to catch our bus to the theme park when a princess suddenly appeared in the hotel lobby. The children couldn’t take their eyes off her! While daddy queued so that they could have a shot with her, they sat on the floor just admiring her! Finally it was their turn.

Hi princess!

After that, we headed out to Disneyland! First up, the children saw Mickey and Minnie at the main pavillion for photo taking and didn’t want to go anywhere else. As usual, daddy went to queue and I stationed myself behind the don’t-want-to-go-anywhere children. Mickey was actually quice nice, he came by twice to pat the children on their heads and they were so thrilled!

I managed to lure them away when we saw in the distance Donald and Daisy making an appearance. A queue immediately formed and we didn’t want to queue.

So the children went back to their post by the Mickey and Minnie pavillion. I managed to lure them away to check out the shops for a while and to chase after goofy when he walked by!

and then it was back to their post again! Finally after 25 mins, it was their turn to take a shot with the mousey pair! and since we waited so long, it has to be one shot with the girl…

one shot with the boy…

The street parade was at 3pm and we wanted both children to be awake then to enjoy it. Kev ergo-ed didi and pretty soon he was fast asleep. We fed Talia milk and she fell asleep in the stroller very soon after as well. We then had our lunch of grilled meats at the Main Banquet Hall. Then we decided we should quickly go survey the mechandise with all the children sleeping. At about 2.40, we walked out heading towards the main street, looking for a shady spot to sit and wait for the parade to start. By 3pm, the little guys were all up and ready and totally enjoyed the parade with its colourful floats, exuberant dancers and catchy music!

After that, we went to catch a couple of shows. The one the children enjoyed the most was the 3D Fantasia show. The “specs” given were too big for them so Kev and I spent the whole show hanging on to them for the children. It was so enjoyable that we simply just stayed back when it ended and watched it a second time!

As for the rides, the children’s eyes were wide as saucer when we took the Pooh Bear ride and the Small Small World ride. There were simply just too many things to take in all at one go! In between that, we caught Pooh Bear as well.

After we took the Safari boat ride, we decided to just have some chinese food at the Safari Restaurant right beside, turns out the food was pretty decent!

It was almost 7pm when we finished our dinner. The fireworks display was at 7.30 pm and so we tried to catch a few more rides like the flying jumbo (they wouldn’t let us up as it was too late they say) and the rotating cup! I had to leave all these to the daddy as I can’t abide all these rotating rides at all!

The fireworks display was great although not so great for our arms as the chidren had to be carried throughout. After that we headed out and thought we would take a stroll back to the hotel instead of squeezing in the shuttle bus. The stroll was wonderful! No crowds, beautiful strains of music accompanied us as we walk, lovely pavement and greenery and fountains tops it for us. The walk was perhaps 20 mins. We then checked in and had an early night!

The next morning, which is also our last day in Hong Kong, we were going to have breakfast in the Enchanted Garden with Mickey and friends.

Before we could even start eating, Daisy came by!

and teased the little boy, who suddenly became shy!

The buffet spread was not bad and they had the cutest mickey-shaped pancakes and stuff for the children!

Talia tucking in!

but the boy needed help to have his portion cut up first!

And even while eating, the children’s eyes would be darting here and there to check out where the disney characters are! Then, didi’s favourite, Mickey Mouse descended on them!

When Pluto came by, Talia was amazed at the size of his paws!

and goofy was so tall!

The characters make their way systematically to all the tables and made efforts to play with the children so it was all quite nice! The Enchanted Garden was also quite beautiful, so I was glad we paid a little bit more to stay at the Disneyland Hotel to enjoy this.

Enchanting Enchanted Garden!

After breakfast, we made our way out to the gardens outside and there was a mini maze there which Talia and her brother trailing behind had fun with!

The hotel was quite beautiful! Not just outside, the inside was quite amazing too!

We walked around a bit and then we chanced upon the children’s room and the children spent some time inside drawing and colouring.

After that we took the shuttle to Disneyland again and took the Buzz Lightyear ride, did some shopping and then headed to City Gate for lunch and some shopping!

A few last shots with the castle in disneyland and its tata!

We took the Disney train to Tung Chung station where City Gate is.

City gate is a mall of discounted outlet shopping but we were rather disappointed with the prices and save for some clothes for the children, we did not buy much. At about 4pm, we took a cab back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage and sped straight to the airport to catch our 6.30pm flight back to Singapore.

I think we achieved our purpose of having this trip geared towards the kids because they really enjoyed themselves so much! The parents were totally peng san-ed and after church the next day, slept the entire afternoon away to recuperate!

I have been to Hong Kong a number of times, for both business and leisure. But this time round, we wanted to do a trip really just for the kids and we thought HK, with Disneyland and Ocean Park should be a good choice. SQ also had quite a good 2-to-go promotion and Disneyland hotel had a promotion for Citibank cards with 2 free breakfast at the Enchanted Garden thrown in. We also found online a pretty nice boutique hotel called Butterfly on Prat near to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR with numerous good reviews. And with that we were really to fly.

The boy saying goodbye to Singapore!

Our flight was in the afternoon and although the flight time was only 3.5 hrs, we were so blessed to have the little boy napping for almost 2.5 hrs in the bassinet. The air stewardess was initially hesitant to set it up for us after taking a look at the boy (muahaha!), but we assured her that he is only 13kg and will not exceed the bassinet’s maximum load of 16kg! In the meantime, the little girl was watching TV and enjoying her childmeal that has so much food she didn’t know which one to eat first.

When the boy woke, we were also offered bottled baby food for him which he always never did quite mind eating.

Kev’s cousin Patrick’s family came to fetch us at the airport and after checking in to our hotel, we dropped by his place at Tsim Sha Tsui to see his new baby Dave. The children wasted no time in ransacking their place and helping themselves to all the crayons and colour pencils!

After that we walked over to Kev’s aunt’s place for dinner. There were 2 toddlers and 2 babies there and are cousins whom Talia and Thaddeus have never met. The children had a blast playing together there and took turns to serenade Kev’s aunt with songs! At about 10pm, we said goodbye and strolled back to our hotel which is about 10 mins away.

Butterfly on Prat is a small boutique hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui which is pretty new. We were quite happy with what we saw. Plenty of table top room for all our clutter, a huge bathroom (by HK standards) so we could shower both children together, a shower spray which is hard and furious and has fabulous hot water! It was also clean and furnishings were new. The bathroom had a see through window though so if you are not travelling with family, it would be a bit of a hassle though hehe!

The children eventually slept really late at 11pm but regardless what time he sleeps, our little guy will still wake up at 7am. The morning routine of drinking milk, poo-pooing, brushing teeth, changing clothes took us 2 hrs and we were out of the room at 9am.

We decided to have Kev’s favourite beef noodles at 源记 for breakfast and top it up with a 波罗包!

The target was to go Ocean Park today if the weather is good. So we decided we will take a nice leisurely stroll towards Star Ferry and en route, we passed by The Peninsular, and this really nice conserved compound called the 1881 Heritage.

The Star Ferry has got to be one of the world’s cheapest “cruise” to have a view of the city, albeit a short one.

A grinning boy!

Hazy hazy Hong Kong!

Enjoying the breeze!

Once we got over, it was just a short walk over to the bus which will take us to Ocean Park. The bus ride was about 30 mins and the little boy fell asleep just as we were reaching at about 11am.

With Thaddeus asleep in the stroller, we brought the little girl to see the absolutely CUTE panda bears!

and then it was panda bear overload with panda bear stuff toys

and panda bear hairband!

The little man woke just in time for lunch and we had a simple fare of spaghetti for the girl, bottled food for him and baked chicken legs for the adults from a kiosk outside the Panda Bear (what else!) restaurant.

There was a dressed-up panda for people to take pictures with and the children especially Thaddeus was enamoured with. He refused to go after having his picture taken.

and after Ms Panda was replaced with Mr Croc, even though he went forward also to hold his hand, he was still whining “I want panda bear!”

By this time, Talia is already napping in the stroller and the Thaddeus took the tutu train and the carousel with his daddy!

Round and round I go!

There are 2 ways to get to the other part of Ocean Park, the part that is on the mountain, by cable car or by this train which I supposed cuts right through the mountain. We took the train up and saw a spectacular view of the sea and small islands and the rides.

We then proceeded to the aquarium and even though I have been here before, I was still awed by the size of it (almost 3 storeys tall tank) and the sheer sizes of the fishes in it.

We rushed for the 5pm show and was slightly late so we stood at the last row to watch without a seat. By then Talia has just woke up and was amazed at the dolphins and seals performing.

Isn’t it beautiful that the sea is the backdrop for the stage?

The park closes at 6pm so we made our way to the cable car after the show ended at 5.25pm.

It was a very scenic cable car ride with views of the vast seas and mountains and not to mention wonderful breezes as well. Talia was even remarking that this cable car ride is better than the one she had in Genting!

After we got down, we decided to take one last look at the panda bears before leaving and it was having its dinner then.

Our trusty peg perego could even take 2 kids at the same time and whenever we need to walk for a short while, we will pack both kids in and tell them its the “stroller tutu train”

Time to leave! Bye bye Ocean park, bye bye panda bears!

We went to causeway bay to have dinner, steaks for us and packed porridge for the children, took the MTR back and reached the hotel at 10pm. That night both kids hugged their panda bear stuff toys to sleep, I am sure they must have dreamt about them as well!

The weather recently has been horrendous! The heat is suffocating and the humidity can literally melt you down. We wanted to get away from the heat and the nearest cheapest option is ……Genting Highlands in Malaysia!

We opted to go in a bus this time as my mil and sil wanted to come along. The children were excited and especially the boy as he hardly has the chance to sit in a big big bus!

We told Talia she could bring a toy with her and she chose judie the little pig which coincidentally was bought by Kev for me when we went KL/Genting with a group of cell group friends 4-5 years ago!

The bus will set off at 7.30am from Golden Mile Complex and we left our house at 6.45am. The bus was a spacious 26-seater and was surprisingly quite comfy.

The children all settled in!

The journey surprisingly was very easy! The girl was content to sit in her chair, either chatting or playing with her pig or snacking and eventually falling asleep. The boy was also content to sit in his father’s arm admiring the cars and scenery outside and napped twice in the 7 hr journey.

We arrived in Genting at about 2.30pm. Boy! was I glad we did not choose the cheaper First World Hotel as there were at least maybe 100 people at the lobby waiting to check in. Ours was the Resort Hotel and check in was relatively fast. Kev went along first to check in while we ate a late lunch of chicken at Kenny Rogers.

Waiting to check into the rooms!

when we got into the rooms, we let the kids napped for a little while. They got up at 6pm and we decided we will step out into the open to explore a bit. The thing I dislike about Genting is that they did not bother to do up the outside at all. There are minimal side walks, no gardens to talk about. Guess they didn’t want anything outside to distract people from spending money inside, the shops and restaurants and casino!

Walking around…

We tried to walk around outside but it really wasn’t easy, we had to go onto the roads and there were quite steep slopes but eventually we ended up at the ground floor of Genting Hotel where a company was having a dinner and dance thingy in the ballroom. The children wondered around outside for a while before we left in search of food.

Playing with the sand display…

I guess this is one of the biggest things that have changed for me when I go on holidays now. In the past, I would have been bored to tears but now with children, we just watched the kids goofed around and have fun and that was good enough for me!

We had a very late lunch but still by 7pm, it was time to feed the children. We made our way to the food court and decided to have bak kut teh. It was a huge pot meant for 4 people and it really was delicious!

Yummy!

The girl had soup too but hers was watered down with hot water while the boy had rice with his gerber pumpkin from a bottle!

Tucking in!

After dinner, we took a ride in one of those rides that circled the indoor amusement park from the ceiling!

Glittery rides!

Enjoying the ride!

The indoor amusement park was all glittery and happening and immensely crowded! And the children had eyes wide as saucers as they took in the sights and sounds!

Indoor theme park!

The boy was also game enough to try the ferris wheel while Talia didn’t want to. The ferris wheel went like for 15 rounds before it stopped. Even Kev who always enjoyed such rides said he was going to become dizzy soon! Wahaha! Then it was time to retire for the night! The hotel provided a cot so it was boy between us and girl in cot!

The children woke up at about 7.30am the next morning. When we looked out of the window, it was such an amazing sight! What a huge cloud!

Look at the clouds!

We also had a good view of the outdoor amusement park from our window. We reckoned that both kids would not be able to take most of the rides in the park so we are not going to go in there.

A room with a view.

Instead, we decided we will take the cable car down to Awana and that was an excellent choice because the children enjoyed the cable car trip tremendously.

Talia looking out…

Genting boosts of the longest cable car in South East Asia i think and the view was spectacular!

See how high up we are!

We had buffet lunch at the Highland hotel’s Coffee Terrace and then the kids went back to the room to nap. This is another fabulous thing about Genting. The hotels are just so near and that really allows the children to keep to their napping routine.

Lunch!

When the children woke up, we went out to enjoy the cool air again!

The cold air was invigorating!

Hey! where did this little red riding hood come from?

and the girl has taken to putting up these cutesy poses when taking pictures…hmmm…i wonder where she learnt all these from for I sure don’t do these when I have my pictures taken!

Posing…

After that we trooped around some more, did a bit of shopping, took the monorail, had dinner, trooped around again and it was time to go back as it was already 9.30pm. Kev helped me settled the kids in and he was off to try his luck at the casino tables with a maximum capped loss of RM100! and hey he returned with earnings that paid for our buffet breakfast at Highland hotel’s Coffee Terrace the next morning!

The girl enjoying the breakfast that Genting paid for!

The boy having fun running around after his breakfast

After breakfast, we went out to the al fresco area of the restaurant that looks out and enjoy the cool air for a little while more before going for our second cable car ride (because the children enjoyed it so much!)

The boy looking out…

After that we went back to our rooms to pack as our bus leaves Genting at 2.30pm. For the return journey, we had personal TV screens and Talia was entertained by watching cartoons on it and subsequently dozing off and napping for 2 plus hours. Thaddeus napped for 1 hr right after we boarded the bus and refused to nap anymore after that. And he refused to be carried by anyone else but me so it was a tiring 6 hours bus journey for me.

It was still a pretty nice short getaway but truly it really wasn’t the destination, it was having your family with you and enjoying them that made it truly magical!

Yes! I made it back from Bali in one piece but nursing a running nose, which is totally strange because Bali was so HOT! Anyway, even though the flight was only 2hrs plus, it wasn’t easy to entertain the little boy as there was no TV screen to distract him. He wanted to touch everything, go everywhere and would only quieten down when offered biscuits! We touched down at night and only managed to get everyone in bed by 11pm.

The next day, we had a leisurely breakfast buffet at the hotel before heading out to the beach. We were staying at the Novotel at Nusa Dua and it has its own private beach which was really nice.

But we went during noon so its was too hot to venture out into the sun so the children goofed around under the umbrellas.

In the afternoon, the children slept while a batch of adults went for their spa treatments. No prizes for guessing who stayed behind to channel surf, gobble down a whole pack of nuts and read 2 chapters of the book “The time traveler’s wife”!

The kids woke up when Kev came back and we made a dash for the pool. The water was deliciously warm and the children had so much fun in the children’s pool.

After showering, the whole ginggang went out to Bali Connection for dinner. The last time I was in Bali, I think this hasn’t been built yet. There were a number of shops but deserted with only a few tourists having meals. We decided to try a restaurant called Tropical. The food wasn’t so bad but prices were catered for tourists staying in 5-star resorts. I would imagine we could have the same food at half the price at Kuta Beach.

The next day’s itineary was to spend some time in Kuta. We arranged for transport and dropped off at Kuta discovery centre. We walked through the mall towards the beach and then strolled along the beach.

We chanced upon a soon-to-take-place cremation right there on the beach! Geez! They would really just burn the body right there in the open, I really can’t imagine! Anyway, we hurried along and then shopped at the street vendors.

We then walked quite a long stretch to eat at Made’s Warung. The food was fabulous! We made it back to the hotel at 5 plus. The children and us made another dash for the pool before we set off for our Jimbarang Bay seafood dinner at Segara Cafe.

The food is nothing to shout about and ridiculously expensive too. But the ambience was nice, the sound of the waves calming and the unexpected fireworks a bonus!

The plan for the 3rd day was to do a day trip to Ubud and Mt Kintamani.

Doesn’t this shot of the girl just look poetic? The misty effect is actually the condensation on the lens since our room is so cold and the temperature outside is so high!

Our first stop was to look at some stone carvings en route to Ubud. We bought a lamp sculpture which we intend to put a bulb in for the balcony.

Lunch was at the famous Ibu Oka Babi Guling (suckling pig) at Ubud. I ordered the set for everyone to try which has the roasted pig skin, some veggies, chicken, some sausage thingy and soup. I thought it was delicious but I guess the taste did not go down too well with some members of the party.

We ate actually at the house which was rather unique.

and we had to sit on the floor to eat.

Feeding the children was unfortunately quite a messy affair this time round because they were tired and hot and cranky. If you have not already noticed, I brought along my thermal pot along with frozen fish and meat so that I could cook porridge for all 3 kids!

and the boy wanted to poke his fork into EVERYTHING!

After the long lunch, its shopping time at the Ubud art market! Although there really wasn’t much to buy there but its really such a delight to take in the colours and sounds of the place!

The little boy discovered this balinese musical instrument and was happily exploring how to play it!

The girl really liked the colourful paintings!

After browsing just for a while, we packed everyone back into the mini bus and set off for Mt Kintamani. The journey was about 2 hours and the children dozed off. When we arrived, Talia continued sleeping while just a slight jostle woke the boy up. Mt Kintamani is 5000ft high so the air was cool and it was refreshing to get away from the balinese heat for a little while.

The boy posing with the active volcano. We found out the last time it erupted was in 1994.

The three mother-in-laws admiring the view!

At around 4.30pm, we set off heading back to Nusa Dua. My youngest sister spied a surfer wear factory outlet on our way out and wanted to have a go at it. So we spent about an hour shopping there grabbing quiksilver, bilabong, surfer girl and what-have-you at the factory outlet. Yours truly only managed to get a tee while the little girl got 2 bottoms and a tee while the boy got a pair of board shorts.

We got back to the hotel around 7pm just in time for the transport from Bumbu Bali to come get us. This is reputed to be one of the top five restaurants in Bali and we were not disappointed at all. The food was fantastic and the ambience authentically balinese.

The fourth day which is also the last day in Bali for us was going to be short one as we would need to leave for the airport at 1pm. Nice daddy arranged for the kids to be suitably entertained at the hotel’s Kids’ club while mummy can finally go for her spa treatment.

At the kids’ club, the girl having a go at the balinese xylophone,

and the boy having a wild time in the ball pit!

The girl then did some colouring,

played group games,

and thoroughly enjoyed herself!

And soon it was time to say bye bye to beautiful bali. Bali will always be special for me, the place where I went when Talia was just a few-day old foetus in me and the first holiday location where I brought both kids along! I am quite sure I will be here again

The folks at the Upper Room took a road trip up to Desaru over the weekend. We went together with Belle’s family. Early Saturday morning, we packed the children and stuff (its amazing how you literally bring your whole house with you when you travel with little children) into the car and set off!

We cleared customs at around 9 am and proceeded to our favourite prata place next to Pelangi for breakfast. The 2 girls were absolutely thrilled to be going on “holiday” together. They talked endlessly, giggled non-stop and simply enjoyed each other’s company. We couldn’t stop smiling to ourselves as we watched them.

Our first stop was the Crocodile aka buaya farm on route to Pulai Desaru Hotel. And what HUGE buayas they are. I for one have not seen such ginormous ones before and so many!

Talia was in her father’s arms throughout because it honestly was a little scary to watch! *goosepimples* She didn’t quite dare to lean too near to see as well and her little eyes were round as saucers when the buaya-keeper agitated the sleeping reptiles with poles and they roared to life, showing off their teeth and enormous mouths! The little boy was even funnier, he obviously was fascinated, eyes never leave the creatures but whenever they came to life, he would give a little scream and then hug me close and snuggle his face into my neck, but surfacing barely seconds later to stare at the crocodiles in wonder again. And when I told him those are crocodiles, he actually repeated the word after me! I was amazed!

There was a baby crocodile that you can actually get to touch and all the children took turns at it! NOT ME though! NO SIRREE!

See how game the boy was!

and how scared the jiejie was!

We then went a a nearby chinese restaurant near to a children’s playground for lunch and was about to sit down before the servers rushed out to usher us in because they were expected bus loads of tourists coming in and those set tables were for them. We ordered couple of dishes with sotong, fish, tofu, couple of veggies and it was about RM140. We thought it was pretty steep for Malaysian standards but the food was pretty good.

We drove towards our hotel and while Belle’s mummy was checking in. The children had some fun at the children’s room.

Then we hurried to our room so that the children can have their afternoon naps as it was nearly 2.30pm. We were expecting the worst because we have checked the reviews on the net though even Pulai Desaru is one of the better hotels in the area, the general comments are that the rooms smelled, are old and badly maintained. With that in mind, we actualy even came prepared with our own aromatherapy option. The room was large though but does look its age of more than 10 years old, Kev then took off to walk around the hotel premises.

And as expected, the pool and the beach were great though!

The kids woke up at 4.45pm and off to the pool they went! Have I told you how much the boy lurves the water?

See the sheer look of bliss on his face!

The girl was a bit more tentative, I think you tend to be less gungho when you are older. I must make a mental note to let them learn swimming, blading and cycling when they are younger and not so prone to being frightened by falls and the likes.

Come play ball with me!

The boy got even happier when he was inside the water kicking!

Yeah!

Little Isaac in the float that his mum nearly expired from while trying to inflate!

Having fun in the pool!

After showering, we set off towards Sg Rengit which is about half an hour away by car for dinner and what a dinner we had, lobsters, crabs! The food was good but unfortunately because Channel U has been there, the prices have also went up. By the time we were done, it was 8.30pm. We ditched the idea to see fireflies and drove back towards Desaru. Before we went back to our room, we spent about 20mins at the beach just admiring the stars. There were sooo many and it was the first time the children know that there were actually that many stars in the sky that become visible when the surroundings are dark enough.

The next day we were all woken up by the baby boy crying and we were so thankful it was 7am instead of his usual 6am routine.

Having milk together!

We went for breakfast and after that we headed to the beach! It was HOT! The boy spent some time digging at the sand but I wasn’t sure if he was enjoying it because of the expression on his face, yet he kept at it for a while!

Ewww! sand!

The girl on the other hand was completely content to be “cooking sand” under the sanctuary of the umbrella we set up for her!

Cooking up a storm!

看海的日子！

After the beach, we went back to the room and the children snoozed for about an hr and we checked out and set off towards the next item on our itineary, the fruit farm!

Ok! this is hilarious! I wanted to take a picture of the bua long long fruit, some small green fruit that doesn’t really taste that great, but because I was at the back of the group tending to the little girl when the guide was explaning, I took the wrong pic! muahaha!

Not the bua long long, but the passion fruit instead!

There was a pretty koi pond in the middle of the fruit farm and the two girls had a lot of fun feeding them.

Many many kois in the pond!

Feeding the fishes!

That strange looking longish plant is actually some kind of banana, but according to the guide it doesn’t taste good at all!

Bananas and me!

There was also a mini zoo where the children fed goats. There was also monkeys, an ostrich, hens, a snake (eewww!), rabbits and birds. Talia simply enjoys feeding the animals. She will choose which ones to feed and dash around exclaiming “this one is very hungry!” or “You eat already!”

Little zookeeper at work!

By the time we were done, it was already 3.30pm and we haven’t had lunch! Good thing the boy was fed his avocado lunch in the car at 12.30pm and the girl munched on a roll at 1.30pm. The adults hungrily gobbled down the fruit pack given to us at the end of the fruit farm tour in the car while driving towards Kota Tinggi.

If you have not already noticed, there were no pictures of food at all because when you have 2 hungry toddlers at meal times, you hardly have time to eat yourself, let alone take pics!

After that very late lunch, we went to buy some fruits from roadside stalls and continued driving towards Johor’s Jusco shopping centre. We spent the night shopping at Jusco (which by the way was enormous) and left at about 10pm, only to reach home at about 11.30pm!

The children had loads of fun, the adults were completely shacked out! All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend, at least for the children .

The first thing we were going to do was to visit a lighthouse on our way to Margaret River. We had a fiasco in the morning when Kev couldn’t start the car. The girl and I trooped off to play at a mini playground at the resort while he handled it.

Gee! Gotta get off the car as it wouldn’t start!

Maybe I should have a try at it!

We finally set off at about 10 plus and stopped at a beach at Dunsborough for the girl to chase some seagulls before heading towards Cape Naturaliste.

Don’t run away bird bird!

During the trip, the girl suddenly developed a fear for heights, she would be terrified even if she’s just on higher ground for instance when at the slides at the playground. I figured that its because she fell and hurt her chin back at the playground at home when she tried to scale the ladder. Anyway, she wasn’t too trilled to be THAT high up when on top of the lighthouse!

Lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste

Hugged the lighthouse for dear life!

After that, since we would on our route to Margaret River pass by this ice-cream place called Simmo’s. We popped by for some ice cream and found to our delight a huge and wonderful playground for the little girl.

Whoa! ICE CREAM!

I WANT!

The ice cream is sold in this cute little red house

Talia had a lot of fun at the playground! Oh did I mentioned she got a little homesick on her third or fourth day and wanted to go home so I told her Bishan was very far away and we need to take a plane to go back. When she saw the toy aeroplane at the playground, she told me “Let’s take this aeroplane back to Bishan!”

Me the pilot!

Me the acrobat!

And before we left, we saw this sign and had a great laugh!

Muahaha!

We arrived at Margaret River shortly after 5pm and checked into our apartment. We stayed at Central Apartment and was pleasantly surprised at how nice and modern the place is. We bought fried rice from Chow’s for Talia to share with me! She sure did enjoy her rice after not having it for about a week even though it was a A$16 bowl of fried rice!

The next day we set off for Sunflower Farm. When we arrived at the place and saw how basic the accommodations there were, I told Kev its a good thing we didn’t choose to stay there. Oops! poor little spoilt me!

The whole morning the little girl was kept busy feeding one animal after another!

Follow me! Follow me! Follow me!

I want to always see this look of wonder in her eyes when she beholds God’s creations!

Aww!

After spending the whole morning at the farm feeding animals, we headed off to Watershed, a winery for lunch. The lunch was fantastic, the place was set amidst miles and miles of green, the temperature was just right, it was totally memorable! After lunch, the girl played a while at the winery’s playground and dozed off after having her milk as we drove out. We went to another winery and Kev got out for some wine tasting while I read in the car keeping the girl company. After that I took over the driving and we went to another 2 wineries for the man to taste more wines!

Fantastic lunch at the Watershed!

Talia woke up at 4 plus and we ended the day at yet another beach. This time we saw surfers and were amazed at how they could do it in such cold waters.

Looking at the well stocked kitchen, Kev said it would be a pity if he didn’t cook! So off we dashed to the supermarket on our way back and bought ourselves beef and lamb steaks. They even have marinated ones so it was one yummy dinner and cheap!

Tomorrow we will head back to Perth.

Day 3’s itineary is to explore the city centre a bit in the morning and then collect our car.

All set for what looks like a really hot day!

The girl woke up with a bit of sniffle so we gave her some meds and that resulted in her dozing off as we pushed her around in her pram.

London court at the City Centre

The shopping at the City Centre wasn’t really interesting and at 11am we picked up our car and was ready to set off. One thing that I am supremely thankful for is that Kev has an inbuilt GPS system inside him (while I am on the other hand completely useless when it comes to directions). So with a very basic map given by Budget, he was still able to navigate his way out of Perth and went Northwards towards the Whiteman Wildlife park.

When we entered the Park, this sign completely freaked me out! CHECK out that SNAKE at the bottom! I am VERY VERY afraid of these creepy things, and cannot even bear to look at them on TV or books! Anyway, Kev reassured me and said, “LOOK! its says “PROTECTED”, meaning to say they are rare and we shouldn’t stomp on them when we see them!” EEKS! I wasn’t at that convinced really! and it was with some trepidation that I entered the park.

The sign that freaked me out!

We parked at the visitor centre and each had a snitzel chicken thingy (only food available) while the girl had her beef, beetroot, portebello mushroom, broccolli and carrot porridge.

There was a meet-the-animals session when we went inside the wildlife park and the girl met the wombat for the first time!

A ginormous wombat!

It was so fat and ugly that I hesitated to touch it but the girl had no qualms touching it though. She only hesitated to touch this huge lizard with a bright green tongue! *shivers*

There were other animals in the wildlife park too but really the highlight was the huge kangaroo enclosure. I have never seen so many kangaroos in one place and although many were lazing around, there were many who were hopping around!

Saying hi to an albino kangaroo

And then the girl went on a feeding frenzy! She fed and fed and then fed some more and we were like standing there waiting for her to be finished for closed to 2 hours! She would feed them and then ask them to go to sleep, then lumber up to another one who is lazing around to WAKE UP and eat and then after feeding, ask it to back to sleep again! and she was dashing around the whole enclosure!

Would you like to have some food!

Surrounded by the hungry kangaroos!

Have more!

We left the park at 4 plus and headed back to Perth. Then we saw Koorong! We drove in but they were just closing at 6pm so we decided we will come back the next morning on our way out to Margaret River.

Day 4!

Koorong bookshop! Our favourite Christian Bookshop!

Koorong has a really nice covered playground and the girl had to have a go at it!

Playground!

Weeeee!

got a bit hot after playing for a while that we had to remove her jacket!

After Koorong, we drove Southwards and we stopped at this town for lunch which I can’t remember the name now. I had some grilled fish thingy while kev had a grilled chicken dish. The girl had beef porridge again with sweet potatoes but Kev added a wee bit too much water this time and it was like beef soup. So she shared my fish with her soup!

We walked around (well the town only had one main street) and spent some time in a big toyshop with the girl admiring a rather nice toy train set and playing with another boy who was there.

Then we are off to Bunbury to try and catch the dolphins. When we reached there, it was already 3.30pm and the dolphin centre was already closed. (They are opened till 3pm) We hanged around for a while at the beach and amazingly, we spotted the fins of a pair of dolphins! But only twice though and not sure if the girl saw because they were so fast! On our way back to Perth 4 days later, we stopped by Bunbury again and was told by the people at the dolphin centre that we were very very lucky because sightings after 3pm is very rare and that is why they are closed at 3pm. (hmmm, really? is that the reason why they are closed so early? anyway…)

Having some fun at the Bunbury beach!

The girl was also fascinated by all the seagulls and were attempting to chase them!

A lone seagull.

That night we stayed over at Dunsborough at the Bay Village Resort and Spa, the place was ok I guess. And the next day we will go to Margaret River proper!

 

Kev and I brought the little girl to Perth for 10 days in the early part of May. We left the boy at home but it wasn’t an easy decision at least with my heart. But my head won, bring him and all four won’t have an enjoyable holiday or leave him at home and three pple will have a relaxing time and he gets no disruption to his schedule and undivided attention at home. So with that reasoning, I left my little boy at home, covered him with lots of prayers, gave precise detailed instructions for what to do in all sorts of situations and left. But a part of me was left behind too.

The flight was uneventful. The noodles on Qantas were not the greatest so the girl only ate a bit but right after we gave her her milk. She had fun chomping on her biscuits and watching Dora for a while on screen before falling asleep and staying asleep until we landed! It was nice that Kev has a cousin living in Perth so she arranged for us to stay at her boss’ vacant apartment. It was at Mt Lawley and just minutes away is Hyde Park. After dumping our stuff, we were all ready to explore Perth. We took a big detour to see the shopping/food district at Mt Lawley and then ended up at Hyde Park just before the sun set.

The girl was delighted to see so many ducks in the pond at Hyde Park

I guess this is one of the many perks of living in Australia, nature so close to you.

Pretty pretty ducks!

It became dark at 5pm and we trooped off to have dinner at one of the Italian places at Mt Lawley.

The next day’s target was to take a train to fremantle. I borrowed a mini thermal pot to cook porridge/soft rice for the girl so that she could at least have one homecooked meal for lunch when we are on the run and that turned out to be a good decision at least when we were outside the city, sometimes we would drive for miles and there is nothing suitable for the girl to eat at all and I would whip out my pot and feed her in the car as we drive towards lunch.

Coming back to Day 2 in Perth, we had dim sum at Jade Dynasty at Northbridge. It was a recommendation from a colleague who studied in Perth and he sure was right. The food was delicious!

Yummy dim sum!

We took a long stroll from Northbridge to the train station. The girl was having a good time too people watching from the comfort of her pram. I would liken Perth weather to desert climate. It is extremely extremely dry and the sun is scorching hot. But when you get into the shade and you get the wind blowing at you, it can get quite cold. Anyway, the journey to Fremantle was rather fast, took us about 40 mins I guess.

Reading the train guide as though she understands it!

Fremantle is beautiful. The buildings and quaint little shops there were a delight and because it was a Sunday, it was bustling and such a contrast to the quiet Perth we have seen so far. We ate lunch at this place called the Mad Monk. The pizza that Kev had was tasty albeit a bit too salty, he had a sneaking suspicion that it deliberately done that way so that they can sell their beer better? He definitely enjoyed his beer that I know. I had a pork dish with apples, yes! cooked apples and that was delicious! See how my food was already eaten halfway even before he could whip out his camera!

A must visit place in Fremantle is the Fremantle Market. It has one part selling fresh produce and one part selling all sorts of knick knacks. By then the girl has fallen asleep and we pushed her around shopping.

Interesting stuff sold in the market

There were quaint corners everywhere we go that makes exploring Fremantle lots of fun!

A nice corner where we sat and people watch for a while

The trip was really one with minimum agenda and a relaxing itineary. We bought some fruits from the market and plonk ourselves at a grass patch somewhere and ate while the girl slept.

In lala land

When she woke up, it was already 5 plus and already dark, we made our way to a famous fish and chips place near the wharf called Cicerello. Kev came back after he ordered and sheepishly told me how he nearly embarrassed himself just now. At the counter after he paid, he was handed back his change on top of a round coaster-like thingy. For a while he thought it was for tipping and was thinking perhaps to leave some money on that before that guy shove the whole thing into his hand and told him to come and collect his food when the “coaster” beeped. Muahaha! that was actually a pager of some sorts.

Anyway, that pager did not beep in the next 50 minutes and that was because they missed our orders. Grrrrr! anyway the fish and chips we ordered was nothing to rave about and soooooo oily! I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone! (Kevin Added: Never to return)

We walked back to the train station and reached Perth at about 8 plus. After settling the girl and putting her to bed, it was already 10 pm. My second night away from my baby boy! I got sms updates on him and was told he was sooo happy at home and have started clapping his hands to songs and pushing his toy train with one finger! Aww! I missed him so much! But it was better than the first night away so I guess it should just get better! We would get our car tomorrow and drive out of Perth. Looking forward to Day 3: Whiteman Wildlife Park and Kangaroos feeding frenzy.

I was home the two weeks of Chinese New Year and was grumbling to myself that I took leave but never go anywhere! But chicken-me dare not venture too far away for the first time with 2 babies in tow. So we settled for a short jaunt to JB’s Pulai Springs Resort.

We took a 2 bedroom suite since my MIL came along with us. It wasn’t like WOW-I-LURVE-it nice but it was comfy!

We requested for 2 cots and the babies were safely confined in them while we hurried around putting all our steriliser and potty and what-nots all over!

Encaged babies!

And after trying our best to coax the two of them to go to sleep in their very nice cots for 1 hr, we gave up and decided to go for a swim.

The swimming pool

It was the feizai’s first time swimming and the poor boy had a perpetual perplexed look on his face throughout! But at least he didn’t cry.

Dinner was at a very nice chinese restaurant at the resort, Qing Palace. In fact, Kev did a bit of research on it and found that its actually rather popular and has won several awards. We liked the “tea duck” most and would probably think of a reason to come back here again to try the other dishes!

The next day we decided to drive out to Pontian and Kukup. Kev and I have been to Kukup many many years ago. I think I last went with my church youth group and I was maybe 18! Geeeez!

And it hasn’t honestly changed too much at least from my hazy memory of the place. We drove past Pontian and headed toward Kukup. When we reached, we took a boat ride out to the kelong.

The girl has always enjoyed boat rides. She was even gamed enough to go sit right in front for us to take a shot of her. When we arrived at the kelong, she was also not afraid to walk on the slightly shaky wooden planks and was very interested to see the fishes and crabs shown to her. I was surprised to see that there were even puffer fish and oysters at the kelong.

By the time we were back in the car and driving back to the resort, it was already 4 plus in the afternoon and both the babies were sleeping soundly in their car seats. We decided we will just head towards where we would have dinner instead. Went into this promising looking mall (i forgot the name) only to find strange shops selling cheesy clothes, we were out of the mall in 10 minutes. No wonder Kev was saying how come this mall is so wonderful as to provide free parking! We finally ended up at Jusco, had our dinner at Secret Recipe (the lamb stew is yummy!), did a bit of shopping before heading back.

The next day we went for a morning swim after our buffet breakfast and it was time to check out. We then spent the afternoon at City Square shopping and had a cuppa and some snacks at Old Town White Coffee before heading home.

Yummy kaya toast for the girl!

The trip I think is just a preparatory one so that we have an idea what we are potentially heading into should we want to bring both babies on a longer trip in the future!