Short getaway to PD

We went for a short getaway during Cheng Meng as Kieran’s school had the day off and Apah too applied leave. We decided to pack up and went to Tiara Beach Resort upon reading this pretty mama’s getaway there. I was not too impressed with the place but the kids were overjoyed! Since I was told the food was not too good there I decided to cook our own dinner! I brought along a small stove.

The weather was kind to us and the rain was held back and the kids could immediately jumped into the pool. They really had a good time.

It was time of the month for me so I couldn’t get into the pool with the kids…so can you imagine how bored I was? I started cooking early as I figured they will get hungry after the swim. It was a simple dinner, fried spaghetti with eggs and the kids, especially Kieran gobbled it down.

We had bread & eggs for breakfast and again the kids were so excited to rush into the pool again. We let them swim till 10 + while we packed up and got ready to check out. The kids were so disappointed to leave but we really had to as I don’t think I can survive another day there!

We stopped over at Seremban to have lunch. I wanted to eat my favourite Teochew Kiamchai stew and as usual we turned into each street to search for that shop. I can never remember which street it was but this time I told myself to pen down the address! It has like the best kiamchai stew ever ok! We bought takeaway to bring back but the price has increased quite a lot…

Cheong Hei nya…HK Day 4 - 6 Very long post ahead…

I know it’s like taking forever,,,solly lor…this is like going to be the finale …I hope..

 

 

I think I even got the HK Day 3 - 4 mixed up..cos didn’t really check the photo sequence..the TST dinner is supposed to be after my shopping trip in Ap Lei Chau and the my visit to my friend’s twins should be the day before that. Nevertheless….

After the TST dinner, we continued our journey to Mong Kok. I’m not really interested in that crowded place but I wanted to get my imitation Epal charger & car adapter lor…sorry la LB, me buy not so original stuff…We had tong sui too but it wasn’t the best I had. They didn’t allow us to take photos and I actually answered back and told them it was their priviledge that I took photos. Many years ago I wouldn’t dare to answer back but now, it’s a tourists’ world in HK, “Man sui man sui man man sui!!!” (long live tourists! muahahahahha…) So since they pissed me off I’m not going to advertise them..and they were not that good also..blek..

Then I saw this…..wah…must buy some to try la…

Didn’t really like it as it was wayyyyy too sweet…and I ended up lugging it all the way back to Shenzhen and then back to KL! Siow max!

So now I continue the day before this..

The previous night we went to the Victoria Peak. We took a cab as I was too lazy tired to walk to the tram station. The can driver was kind enough to explain the various ways of going up hill and the charges and ended up it’s cab all the way up the hill. The tram is quite expensive but it would be worthwhile if you visit the Madam Tussaud’s Wax museum as well since they have a package deal. However, we didn’t want to go in since I was arrested the last time…

View from the top…it was sooo beautiful…I just love the nightview of HK…I can’t get enough of it..in fact forgot how cold it was…

Altho we didn’t go in the wax museum…must die die take some photos also ma…

Shopping must go on eventho it’s a the Peak and after 9 pm!!

The final day at HK..

Packed up and went to buy my favourite Cocktail buns to bring back…and placed luggage at the concierge at the hotel my brother stayed in. We decided to go back to Shenzhen in the evening. So there are still a few hours of last minute shopping to go…and Amah haven’t bought a pair of shoes yet!!!!!!!!! I was looking for the Crocs Wedges but didn’t see any until I landed at Times Square. My brother had to meet up with friends for yum cha and he asked me for some Angpow packets. Meaning he’s meeting friends with kids. So I had the “brilliantes” idea and asked him to bring Kieran along to collect back angpows to balance back! muahahahaa…1 adv…I got rid of Kieran, 2nd earn back train fare to Shenzhen…isn’t it brilliant???

Ventured into Central and visited my “favouritest” shop and got myself a new purse. I really wanted the Monogram Vernis in bright red but they ran out of stock everywhere…so I settled for this…

love even the box that comes with it….

Then I got all excited as they swiped my credit card, they were able to show me the exact exchange rate for the transaction and it was really low!! I immediately wanted to get the bag but they ran out of stock for that particular one, despite me going to 3 different outlets..The salesgirl told me that the new stock just arrived that morning and it ran out by mid day! Dang those China tourists..they are the major buyers now..and even caused a queue outside the shop! Blek!

Then met up with the rest and we continued walking around Times Square at Causeway Bay. And I finally bought my Crocs wedges at RM10+ only while it’s selling at I think at RM165 here..Then I saw this and couldn’t resist…

My 1st Anteprima bag…

Wanted to get Birkis but since I didn’t bring my HSBC credit card I was not motivated to buy lor as HSBC card entitles a 5% discount…I know it’s so little but kiasu-ness took over…

 He was doing this at Lane Crawford Times Square and then a security personnel came to tell us that photography is prohibited and again Amah so fierce scolded him that I’m taking photo of my son..cannot ah???

Shopping continued..and my brother was getting restless and kept looking at the watch and kept reminding us to go off early..however both Aunty Fiona & myself told him we shouldn’t go back so early since the trains operate till late…We managed to buy more stuff at Sogo…good thing they had Nicholas & Bears there and I managed to get some lovely tops for Kylie. Aunty Fiona managed to get something from N & B since they have sizes from Age 2 - 16. I even bought a size 16 before that could fit me! This time round I was not so lucky so I don’t have a matching item with Kylie…

The repacking was swift and I had to stuff my stuff at Aunty Fiona’s bag as mine was full…While we interchanged trains at Central, I ran out to buy my absolutely last item from HK which was the Chinese Sausage from Yung Kee! The train ride back to Shenzhen was smooth and we were back in Shenzhen in time for supper…

The next day, we extended our check out time as the flight was 9 pm. We walked around Shenzhen. Nothing much really, concrete jungle just like HK but the shops of course not as appetizing as HK…not my cup of tea lor..  But this one must try la…

and photos of the lovely flowers…can u spot Kieran hiding? 

 

and a very funny sign indeed..and I’m guessing that the sign was trying to say something like this,,”Love the environment and help us protect it..” 

After a while I really couldn’t take it and wanted to go back early and catch a foot massage before we leave. The massage was very good and all my tiredness just disappeared! However the masseuse was very rude as he wanted to get some tips from me and I couldn’t understand what he wanted and he lost his temper! When I finally found out what he wanted I of course denied la…shiats..lost temper on me..mei sei kor…

Thought of having dinner at the airport to avoid being late. Wanted to check in first then have dinner but the check in counter was not open. Since we were there first, we thought better queue up first. And just minutes there was a long queue behind us! We thought, lucky us..if not it will take forever to check in. We didn’t realise that after checking in we were not allowed to go out but have to go in the boarding area! I was almost in tears as I was soooo hungry…and the officer told us there’s a restaurant in the boarding area BUT didn’t tell us the prices were overly exorbitant and major lauya food was served.

 Looks good??? Looks then can be really deceiving…not only did taste like instant noodles, it cost RMB120 per set, one main noodle/rice plus salad,watermelon and Chinese tea…

We were the only idiots patrons eating there and we saw a few people enquiring the price of the food and ran away at the speed of lightning… what an experience! So remember, eat first then only check in ok!!

Like not enough of food, Kieran insisted to eat something on the plane and they ran out of choices except for the roti canai..

 

I was sooo tired and wanted to sleep badly. I saw a few rows of seats empty and took over one row and stretched out to snooze…but I could hear Kieran running up and down in between my snooze…so irritating….

Overall, it was a good and meaningful trip..

THE END!! 

 

HK Day 4

After leaving my friend’s place, we left for HK island as it’s time for my major shopping at the warehouse at Ap Lei Chau. I never fail to visit this place each time I am in HK. My damages were however shortened due to my friend (Mr D, the one whom Kieran interrogated the day before…obviously he didn’t have enough of it!) who came to meet up for a cuppa again. I was about to look at shoes and he called! Dang! Being Amah, the ever so polite and ultimate 8 poh friendly person…I sacrificed my shopping time to meet him lor..Nevertheless the damages were 2 tops and a skirt from Lane Crawford outlet store. That’s the place I got like at least 5 pairs of shoes during my last trip. Unfortunately, there weren’t many good finds and of course due to my shortened time there.

The cafe we had our cuppa was in the same building, it was quite a unique place, as there were not many tables but there was a big play area for kids. Kieran totally enjoyed himself there while we chatted..(thank GOD!).

Full set of Oven/stove, pots n pans, larder & Fridge!

The “chef” serving his dish…to..me? no…it was a pretty blonde girl!

She sat patiently waiting for Kieran to cook for her…

After the cuppa we left and walked out to the other warehouse which was SPACE selling off season Prada and Miu Miu. Along the way Kieran was chatting with Mr D. He again asked him funny questions and I can’t remember most of them except for this..

K-Do you have a girlfriend now?

D-Em..no..

K-why?

D-well..emm…

Suddenly Kieran pushed me towards Mr D..

K-My mummy be your girlfriend la!

Me-KIERAN! Stop it! Don’t be ridiculous! Better not simply say things if not I will get into unnecessary trouble ok! *roll eyes*

I again was so embarrassed and wished there was a big hole on the ground that would just swallow me up!

Good thing the walk was not that long…so once we reached SPACE, Mr D waved goodbye…yeah goodbye…*don’t call me again!!…Please!!!*

The time at Prada was short and sweet and I bought a waistpouch, a bag and a blouse. Since the exchange rate was favourable, I bought the blouse. Usually I only indulge in the bags…ngek ngek ngek..

After Prada…went out to meet Uncle David and Aunty Fiona for dinner at TST. Didn’t want to go there really as the MTR fare was kinda pricey…actually it didn’t make much sense as we were staying on HK island, and where we shopped was on HK island too..but I guess it was ok after the dinner we had was quite worth it afterall…

We ordered a set dinner for 2 persons as the set comprised of a wide variety of dishes and just added a fried rice for Kieran. The set meal comprised of sharks fin soup, lobster baked in cheese sause, steam fish, vege fried with scallops, lotus leaf rice plus dessert. We really enjoyed the meal, especially Kieran who’s not a fan for food…he loved the lobster! We had toasted bread to dip into the cheese sause too…yummmz..

After dinner, the action didn’t end there and we made way to Mong Kok. Talk about it in the next post…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weirdest moment..HK Day Day 3 cont’d

Picking up from my last post re meeting with my university mate whom I found on Facebook! Ok this friend is quite a unique person, in fact weird..nevertheless, he was nice enough to meet me and buy me tea. Soon Kieran dominated the conversation and asked him all sorts of questions and this question nearly made me choke on my sandwich…

Kieran-When you sleep with your girlfriend do you take off your shirt??

My friend- *grinning & speechless*

Me-OMG! I DID NOT teach him this ok! Don’t think weird ah!!! Kieran! No manners, young kids cannot ask such questions! *smack!!*

Kieran-*giggling*

I was soooo embarrassed ok..I really didn’t know what to say except that I don’t know where he learn to ask such questions. In fact Kieran did go on asking questions…and my friend kept turning to me and said this…

Friend-Your son is very interesting…intriguing…

*roll eyes* no comment!

My friend had to go off to another appointment (Thank God!) and we parted and we ventured off to shop and Kieran could recognise the place and kept pointing to me, there was the place we ate, that’s the place we stayed…bla bla…wow that was quite good memory as the last time we were there was in June 07. These kind of things so good memory, when it comes to more serious stuff like his music notes and school work cannot remember!

It was only a short while shopping as I was tired and decided to go back to the apartment. “Qu cheh” was busy and couldn’t have dinner with us so her maid cooked for us. It was a simple dinner with the chinese new year waxed sausage but it was best tasting sausage I ever had! It was from the famous Yung Kee at Central HK, next to Lan Kwai Fong. This restaurant is famous for its roasted goose.

We quickly took our showers before “Qu cheh” comes back as there is only one bathroom and/or toilet. Kieran was screaming once I turned off the shower as it was brrrrr cold. The apartment is on the 28th floor and is located slightly uphill…so that explains the cold..

When “Qu cheh” came back, I gave her a good massage after her shower. She was overworked due to the festive season and also the fact that Valentines Day was 2 days away. She said that I should come more often to massage her! My reward? Free stay at her place la!

The next morning we had the bestest homemade “Lorbak ko”. I asked “Qu cheh” to teach me how to make it but she said it’s pointless as we are not able to find the good ingredients back in KL! Potong steam nya!!!!

After breakfast, we took it easy and went down to the supermarket to buy some gifts as I was visiting my university mate. She gave birth to “Long Foong Thoi” (twins, one girl and one boy). She was located in Kowloon and we had to take MTR and then a taxi to her place. She gave me the English address but the taxi driver couldn’t understand me! So I had to call her to ask her again for the Cantonese version…..

Shenzhen-HK Day 3

We ventured off further to find a breakfast place and found one descent ala HK style “char chan teng” (coffee shop) and the weirdest part was there was a waitress there that looks exactly like my previous maid, only fairer! So freaky ok! Anyway, the food was ok & cheap.

Before packing our stuff and checked out, I went for a hairwash and it cost me RMB15 only!! So the cheapest neh! We walked to the Luohu Checkpoint as it’s only 10 minutes walk and the weather was superb for walking anyway. They have separate entry level for overseas travellers from the local Chinese & HK travellers so the queue was not long.

There was this Japanese guy standing in front of me and I noticed he kept turning around and has this “yum yum sup sup” (horny) smile. Of course not looking at me la! I slowly turned around to find out who’s he looking at and saw this China Doll girl standing there waving and smiling shyly at the Jap guy. No need to ask la…must be eh hemm eh hemmm girlfriend la…Then the girl walked towards the guy and they whispered into each other’s ear, like so happy and se-weet se-weet..liddat lor…Amah mia interpretation of their conversation..

Girl-Last night u were great…

Guy-I’m glad you enjoyed yourself..

Girl-When are you coming again? I’ll miss you lots..

Guy-I will try my best and come down again next week..but you know..I can’t make it too obvious by coming over too often…my tigress at home may suspect ma…

Girl-yehhh..*twisting body and pouting lips*

Ok ok..the above conversation is purely fictatious and derived from Amah’s mia imagination ok!! Don’t sue me ah!

As they exchanged whispers, the Japanese guy started to sweat! Wah..it’s quite cold that morning ok…and he was just standing there wor..how come start sweating geh? Anyway, the girl took out a tissue to dap on his forehead to wipe the sweat away..heeheeheeheee….”sei hum sup loh… ” whispering oso can sweat…blechhhh (sorry no photos…already eavesdropping…cannot be too obvious right??kekekekekke)

The crossover went smoothly, and we were in HK in just 15 minutes! Quickly bought our Octopus travelling cards. Kids are entitled half price fares so you must specify you want a child card. I called my “qu cheh” (friend) to tell her we are on our way to her place. She thought I was going to stay in a hotel but I asked her if we could stay in her place before we came wor! Wah,,good thing she didn’t have any other guests..so she had to tidy up her apartment to receive us like immediately! She lives alone so her apartment is quite small, can’t blame her la…

The train ride was about 2o minutes to the maid Kowloon East Station. We had to change to TST station which is connected to Kowloon East station. The system is HK is so super duper effiecient…they have walkalators to help us walk with ease. The MTR trains are frequent like every 5 minutes or less..and we were on our way to “qu cheh”’s place at Tai Koo. Since our luggage were still relatively light and easy to handle, I decided to take the train all the way to save on taxi fare. The walk up to “qu cheh”’s apartment was kinda tough as it’s uphill all the way! Had to start taking out my scarf then my windbreaker….in fact it’s warmer here compared to Shenzhen.

“Qu cheh”’s place gets “smaller” each time I go there..the last time I went, she added a fridge in her already cramped living room and now with the festive decoration, the apartment somehow looks more cramped…

The above lovely peonies greeted us as we walked in the apartment. “Qu cheh” is a florist and she’s quite popular among the rich and famous…In fact she was supposed to come to Msia before Chinese New Year but she was not allowed leave as it was during that time where speculation of the death of the late Lydia Shum was going on..

After we left our stuff in the apartment,”Qu cheh” said she had to go as she’s busy so we made our way out too and met a long time friend in Causeway Bay…I haven’t seen this guy since 1993 after we graduated. I actually found him on facebook! Cool huh? Anyway..the conversation we had over tea was really interesting…will talk about that in my next post…

Shenzhen Day 2-Cont’d

Our relatives were gracious enough to not only accompany us to the Windows of the World Theme Park, they drove us there in their new car! The park was really crowded despite the fact that we it was kind of late in the afternoon. The car park was full and thank goodness there was another car park nearby so . We quickly bought tickets and off we went in.

 

 

That’s the entrance of the park. I was quite impressed with the many imitation & miniature wonders and famous landmarks of the world there. However, we couldn’t complete the whole park as it got dark by 6.30 pm….what a pity..

Our little friend of course enjoyed himself very much in the park. We left the park and went to dinner at a Hakka Restaurant. Again our relative got lost along the way but we managed to find the place to eat..We tried to pay for the dinner but they were just too quick and managed to pay first!

The food was very tasty but I found them a tad too saltish, in fact the food so far in various restaurants we’ve been were quite saltish…made me eat more rice than usual! blek…

The bowls and cutlery are sterilised and wrapped when served to us. But there is an extra charge for this service, I think it was about RMB2 extra for a set!

After dinner, they drove us back to the hotel. We were so tired and full of course from the meal and we exchanged telephone numbers and hopefully we will be able to return the favour when they come visit us here in Malaysia!

Shenzhen Day 2

Our lil friend dozed off on the dinner table as we had another meal about 9 pm after the not so good noodles at Dong Men on the first night.

For breakfast on the 2nd day, we decided to walk towards the Luohu railway station as there wasn’t any “char chan teng” (HK style cafes ) near the hotel. We finally found one descent looking one but when we saw the menu we found the prices were sky rocket high, I mean it was like higher than HK standard cafe prices! What a rip off! The food was not great and portion was small too! It was like RMB22 for a breakfast set of fried sausage/ham (actually it was luncheon meat lor) with a slice of toast and a hot drink. Rip off max right???

Then we had to use the toilet as we were going off on a bus ride back to my ancestor’s village, which was actually about half and hour - 45 minutes away from Shenzhen but since we were not sure of the transportation we though it was better to use the toilet first. The cafe didn’t have its own toilet so we had to use the complex toilet which was not only a squatting toilet but with a open wastebasket filled with unwrapped used sanitary napkins staring up at you. It was quite bad as I just had my breakfast and I nearly threw up ok!

Then we went around looking for the bus to the town nearest to my ancestor village and we finally found one after asking around. The bus was the mini bus equivalent to those van buses in HK. It cost RMB15 per person and no concession fare for children and senior citizen! Blek!

Upon reaching the main stop at the nearest town we were amazed with the development there. Tall and modern buildings everywhere but I always remember what a friend said before, China has world class infrastructure but no class citizens! Which was sadly true… We rushed inside a sparkling new shopping centre right opposite as we wanted to buy some gifts to visit our remaining relatives there and also use the toilet! We need to go so often due to the cold weather I suppose! This time the toilets were much cleaner as there was a cleaner inside constantly wiping the floor. Me and sis in law got carried away in the supermarket so my brother had to come in to get us to hurry up.

We saw a taxi and we showed him our family tree book (which I thought had the full address but it was only the village name!) and the cab driver was also an immigrant from northern China so he was not very sure of where it was! We went rounding for a while and stopped to ask around but there were no locals around! Then finally we found the village and we stopped there to ask. Finally we found a group of women who spoke our native tongue, which was Hakka and they also bore the same sirname! Then the lady began to study our family tree book trying to identify who she knows and she even made a phone call to ask a relative. She told us basically the whole village also bear the same sirname! Then her husband took a peek and recognised one of the names my dad had circled. Hallelujah!!

Then the lady quickly led the way to that person’s house and it was just a stone’s throw away. She pressed the bell and a guy looked out the window and she shouted that we were Msian relatives trying to locate his father. He quickly came down the stairs and we also went and we met halfway up the stairs. They were such warm people and just welcomed us in their house just like that! Then the father came and he said he went to my house before. I couldn’t recognise him as that was more than 10 years ago. In ranking, he was my “cousin” and he is 84 years old! His 60 year old son addressed me as “Qu Qu” (Aunty) and I really couldn’t take it lor! They were such hospitable people.

It was about noon time and they asked if we have eaten lunch but we haven’t the time since we were looking around for the place.  They quickly offered to cook for us! We told them no but they insisted.  It was like in half an hour they whipped out lunch for us complete with soup! See photos below.

I’ve never tasted a yummier chicken that that one! The stuffed oysters were “humungous” and tasted so good that I ate a few pieces! I never liked oysters but this one was really good. 

Majong is the main activity in the village

After lunch we had tea and chat for a while before they took us to the ancestors’ house. The ancestors lived together in a walled community with 4 main doors. All the Liew family lived there and we actually went in where exactly my paternal grandfather lived. It is now being rented to the immigrants from Northern China and they were kind enough to allow us to go in.

 

View of the ancestor houses

One of the 4 doors, notice the wooden bars, those are actually used to lock the doors

 

Entering the Liew “Chi Tong” ( temple for ancestors)

The money from the rental of the houses goes to maintain the temple and pays for the yearly CNY banquet of “pun choi” (similar to the one I had earlier on) to the whole community there.

My new found relatives (actually not really as my dad discovered them when he went back in search of his roots back in 1994 or 95) then offered to drive us to the Windows of the World theme park. It was quite out of the way as they have to drive us out to Shenzhen city again. On top of that he wasn’t too sure of the roads as they hardly go out of their village! We were so embarrassed and felt so bad…

Photos of Windows of the World in the next post! Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Shenzhen Day 1

Flight out was really early and it was not only on time, it arrived earlier than the scheduled time! I’m pretty impressed with AirAsia! The moment we took off, I had Kieran’s homework out. He still has a couple more pages to complete. This time I asked the teacher for the homework in advance and he completed most of it during the CNY break. Didn’t want to repeat the ordeal as per last trip to Hong Kong last June, couldn’t handle all the backlog homework!

The flight was very smooth except for Kieran who made some noise while taking off and when we were about to land as he couldn’t handle the cabin pressure. Upon arrival he was jumping cos of the cold wind. We had to walk down from the plane and board a bus to the terminal so the cold wind kinda got to the small boy! hahahaa.. He was screaming when he washed his hands in the washroom on arrival as the water was like icy cold

The moment we got out of the arrival hall there were guys approaching us offering taxi service. The first guy offered RMB350 to our hotel but we thought it was kinda high so we walked on. We tried asking for advise but didn’t really get good ones. Then we settled with an unlicensed taxi for RMB170.00. The ride was about 40-45 minutes as the hotel was in the Luohu area (near the HK border).

The hotel reception was really slow in checking us in and we got kinda irritated with the guy as he spoke in heavy northern accent mandarin and didn’t make any attempt in speaking slowly! We noticed that most of the workers come from the north, even the taxi drivers, that’s why we couldn’t get any advise from them on where to go for good food or shopping areas. The hotel room was bearable, quite big and clean.

We were waiting for my uncle to come down to meet us so we started unpacking and I discovered I forgot to pack Kieran’s pyjamas!!! Warao! I had to run out to get some for him so we walked towards the train station and saw a shopping complex there. I knew it’s going to more pricey since it’s in this area but I didn’t want to go too far. So bought 3 sets at RMB100 (actually still quite cheap after conversion and also the quality was very good!). We had this lady who was recommending me a manicure following me and she helped me ask around for the pyjamas place! Then I was obligated to get a manicure done!! Had a nail extension done at RMB100. Pretty good deal even though I know I can get it done cheaper elsewhere!

Our uncle managed to find us and we went out to Dong Men on recommendation by the receptionist. This uncle is Apoh’s 3rd older brother who was innocently sent back to China due to some reasons which I can’t disclose here. He was separated from him wife and 2 daughters and I really feel so sorry for him now…living all alone…

The shopping here at Dong Men sucked big time, really pasar malam type and really not worth the time to come at all! And we had difficulty finding a place to snack as Kieran was complaining he was hungry! We actually had a meal after we checked in but he got hungry so fast! Must be due to the cold weather.

We had to pay upon ordering meaning, before the food arrived! And the food sucked too! Blek..

CNY Break

Hi all! I’m now blogging in a free internet station in Central MTR Station in Hong Kong! Hahaha…Anyway, today is my last day in Hong Kong and we will be going back soon…sobz!!

The holiday so far has been relaxing and good, and Kieran has been pretty good but of course with the occasional hiccups here and there…

The cold weather was bearable, the only time that Kieran couldn’t handle the cold was during the shower and when dressing up!

Shopping was (and is still) good but this time I haven’t bought any shoes!! But then again…I’m off to shop somemore now..so adios folks and see ya really soon!!

Part 2 of our Short Trip..another long one…

Before I get into the trip, would like to thank dear Kat for sending me a Christmas card all the way from the middle east! Wow, so surprised to received a snail mail card since it’s kinda rare with the internet cards, Facebook..etc…Thanks again!

We went to the Singapore Zoo quite late as Amah & Apoh wanted to do last minute shopping while the kids spend some time at the pool. Amah miscalculated and didn’t bring enough clothings for Kylie and brought too many for Kieran! Really last minute mia pasal (reason).

The zoo’s car park system broke down so we paid cash for the parking. It was a good thing cos remember..my Autopass cannot pay for parking (so claimed by that Autopass staff at the Causeway). We parked and got down in a hurry as we wanted to go for the animal show which the hotel concierge told us that it was at 1.30 p.m. After we got the tickets and the Zoo map & activities flyer…we realised that the show started at 12.30 p.m. instead! Shiats…of course couldn’t make it la! Then later we realised the later show at 4.30 p.m. was cancelled due to renovations in the zoo. Huh?? If they could have a show at 12.30 p.m. what’s the renovation got to do with the 2nd show? Doesn’t make sense lor…bad excuse to cut us short man!

We then walked around since the next show was at 3 pm and then suddenly realised I left my laptop in the car! So I had to go back to get it and told the rest to wait for me at the restaurant. When I came back to the restaurant, I couldn’t see the gang! Oh no!!!!!!!!! Not again! The distance for me to go back to the car and come back to the restaurant is more than enough time for them to go to the restaurant from where we parted so it really didn’t make sense why they have not reached the destination! I again began to wonder if they went to the wrong one, there were only 2 places to eat inside the zoo, but the other place is like so far away! Then I just sat there waiting…waiting…then I thought I better get some food. As I approached the queue, I saw Apoh!! Yeah!! They just arrived and were sitting the other side so they didn’t see me. They took so long as Kieran stopped along the way looking at the animals..

Food at the zoo was relatively ok and the price for the quality was more reasonable as compared to the crap we ate the night before at Din Tai Fung, Wisma Atria. We ate at the Din Tai Fung branch here at the Gardens, Midvalley the week before and found the food really bad and over priced. Then a friend told me it was better in Spore, hence I tried it and found it to be even worse! According to another friend, the Din Tai Fung at the Paragon is the best but I’m not convinced and I don’t think I wanna try it even if given a chance…

Back to the zoo…after the food, we went to the aquamarine amphitheater for the next show and it was really full. We managed to find some seats but the maid had to stand with the stroller…Halfway thru the show…it started to drizzle….pitter patter…pitter..patter…blip…blop…blip..blop….bisssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..argghhhhh!!!!!!!!! The rain was so heavy we had to run for cover and we were stuck at the shaded area for quite some time. We didn’t purchase for the tram rides as the tickets were already so expensive…so I thot of saving some $$ and didn’t get it…drats…it was SGD5 more for each adult & SGD2.50 for the kid…so Amah was a scroodge saving money so didn’t get lor..So we just waited…and then the rain began to subside and we decided to walk on and then saw the polar bear so decided to go in to have a look but then it started to pour again and began to flood too!!

See the crowd at the covered area…then we were getting so tired and fed up and went to get the plastic rain coats at SGD3 each irregardless of size!! So cheating lor! Blek!

As we walked back towards the entrance of the zoo the rain subsided but we were all so tired and the kids were complaining and wanted to go home…..

We left and went round looking for a suburban shopping complex. Wanted to buy some stuff from the supermarket. I was told that the frozen turkeys are much more cheaper than KL so we wanted to get 2 back for Christmas! We stopped at the first one I saw not too far from the zoo, but it was a cash card payment only car park so I parked at the side of the road and told them to wait there while I go in to get the turkey. However as I was checking it out, I overheard a Singaporian couple commenting the price was on the high side. I asked them if it’s cheaper over at NTUC Fairprice and they said it was so I decided to go there instead, since it was just on the opposite side.

I drove off and saw the sign at the car park entrance indicating SGD2 per entry and no cash card payment system was indicated so I was overjoyed and made my way in. At the ticket dispenser machine I realised to my horror it was a cash card payment system! Argggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…. I had no choice but to just take my chance and stuffed my Auto Pass in and the barrier miraculously opened up! Aiya that woman at the Causeway really gave me a scare for no reason!

We loaded up our trolley in no time (almost forgot that we are not shopping at home!) The turkeys were at a steal price of SGD5.50 per kg only! So one turkey at about 5 kg was only about SGD28 or about RM65 only!! Cheap leh!!!! Here’s a peek of my shopping loot…(there’s more…couldn’t fit in la..)