Having been to bangkok for so many times, this is the first time we will travel out of bangkok for a different agenda (other than shopping!).
Here's how to get there:
We flew to Bangkok, and took a pre booked taxi to the resort. The journey took us 3hrs. The fare is approx sgd160 (return trip, back to bangkok city when we check out of the resort)
About the resort: The staff are extremely friendly and welcoming.
Upon arrival, i was asked to choose from two fragrances for our room, i chose lavender. The staff will drop lavender aromatheraphy oil into the burners in our villa.
We were escorted to our villa by buggy and when we enter the villa, we were greeted by aircon that was obviously turned on for a while, and soothing Olivia Ong's songs playing in the background. They had the details all arranged. Nice and impressive.
The villa is clean and neat. No carpet, but timber flooring. Very clean.
The bedding is extremely comfortable, there is a cushioned platform by the side of the king bed, and it became the perfect place for our bb to sleep at nite. Nice.
We stayed at Barbados, which is their VIP villa. It comes with a jaccuzzi, seperated from the living with a huge glass panel. Nice. Our bb enjoyed the 'pool' so much!
Dinner at Honeyscene is impressive too. Food is nice, staff is friendly and attentive. Absolutely no complaints. Before we leave the restaurant, the staff told us to visit their toilets, because he said the toilets are very nicely decorated. :)
We went. Nice and clean.
Breakfast is one serving for each person, and we chose the american breakfast. Private, nice and clean (again).
While having breakfast, we get to enjoy the exclusive scenary and watch the cows and horses eating grass.. no foul smell. Clean. What a relaxing and nua way to start our day.
The resort prepared chunks of leaves by the side table, free for guests to take and feed the animals. Thoughtful.
We get to feed the sheeps near the entrance when we pay 40baht for each adult. children is free to go in but will not get the leaves for feeding. Well, thank God, only livingstone held the leaves, while I was carrying our bb. Becos the sheeps flocked to him when they see their food, some of it stood on their hind legs and lean against livingstone, asking to be fed. The aftermath was a pair of dirty and stained bermudas. This was quite an experience.
Before we checked out of the resort, the friendly staff will offer to take a foto for us in the five scenes they have created, after which, they will hv the foto printed and presented to us as a gift. Thoughtful, isn't it?
When we were inside the taxi ready to leave, the staff at the reception lined up in a row to wave us goodbye.....This is excellent service.
We love the resort to the max.
And for my friends who are interested to go, pls dun hesitate, go ahead and start planning! if u hv kids, jus make sure they can tahan the long journey in the car. prepare lotsa entertainment for them, and hv fun! :D
A few wks ago, I saw the sign at the ticketing booth when we were at Resort World. It said there would be admission tickets for "Hollywood after hours", from Thursdays to Sundays (For June only), ticket sales start at 6.30pm.
It immediately striked me that it would be a perfect chance to bring my mum in there for a walk, since she wouldn't enjoy any of the rides, and we would not want to pay $70 for the admission ticket for now.
So, we went today. I have no experience of how the ticket sales response will be, whether there will be any limit of ticket quantity and whatsoever. We arrived at 6.30pm, and was a little taken aback by the snake queue at the ticketing booth. As we stood at the end of the queue, suddenly, someone approached me and asked if I wanted to buy their 4 tickets. WHAT! I couldn't believe my ears initially, but my hand had alrd stretched to their tickets and swept them away from the owners. Anw, they explained that they mistakenly bought too many tickets. I need 1 more ticket! and immediately, I walked to the beginning of the queue, targetted a stranger, and pleaded with him to buy just 1 more ticket for me (of cos i showed him my existing 4 tickets). In 10mins, I got my 5tickets. YAHOOO! Looking at the snake queue, Im delighted. heh heh.
We walked to the gantries for admission, but had to join the queue. We will only be allowed to enter at 7pm. There was again a very long queue behind us after a while. This is so Singapore. :)
Anw, long story cut short, we had our dinner in USS (one of the pizza store), and with my sista who had already had her fun in USS before, she explained to us the things we saw and also recommended our dinner. I didnt expect us to stay in there until almost 10pm, but we did. dine, took pictures and shopped. U asked me if the $2 was worth the hassle and all? hmmm...the good companion and quality time spent is priceless.
Note - It is coming to end June soon, if u are planning to visit USS with "hollywood after hours' scheme, my advise is, take ur dinner first. Buy ur tickets after 7pm, there will be no more queue. Walk at leisure after that inside USS, so u do not need to squeeze with the crowd for ticket sales and dinner.
My sister must have felt guilty for not being able to meet us this june holiday, due to an increase to ryan boy's tennis lessons. She took a day's leave, so that we can all spend a day together. Thanks Thanks Thanks!!
I quickly planned for the day, and since she was the pay master for our high tea, I had to choose Rose Veranda. The place I long wanted to go... heh heh
There is not much to rave about the food to be honest. It was just decent, with salad bar, main courses, dim sum, sashimi+sushi, pastries and desserts. My asian-blooded mum of cos didnt enjoy the spread like we did. After a serving of mee goreng (alike), fish, and dim sum, she headed straight to the kuei line. Even the 102 selections of premium tea, didnt please her. While the rest of us walked to the line several times, eating and sipping the tea, like a tai tai in the making. And I had my long-craved-and-satisfied share of sashimi and dessert! yum! The best thing is, the high tea, unlike other hotels, end at 6pm. So there is no rush here. We took our own sweet time.
After the high tea, which ended for us at 4pm (thank god the kids were ok for the long session there!), we drove to Resort World Sentosa. Ha, finally walk the galleria, with hand empty and spending no single cent. haha.
But, we rushed to United Square after that, and spent lots of monies. This GSS will be the month my credit card bill will come in pages, im sure. This is one of the many, super duper quality time I had....thanks to my family who made it happen. :)
For a few years, we have not been celebrating the birthdays of many frens in this group. Well, this yr, I seek their agreement to RE-celebrate these impt days again. Since Siang's birthday was 4mths ago, I reckon Kenny will not rem that we will celeb his b'day, so, I thought, let's make it a hush hush thing for him, and see if we could surprise him. Unfortunately, peggy lost her iphone the day before, and she had to ask kenny for my tel number (speaking of pple nowadays, we rely too much on address bk, that we hv no more manual phone book, or memorise the tel number lor! haha) well, one thing leads to another, and kenny was suspicious of the nite.
They arrived finally at Keppel Bay's TCC, and i hv pre-arranged for the TCC's staff to present kenny his slice of b'day cake. Mango Mango....
The rest of the nite was pigging out, catching up, and entertaining the two kids in the hse. I think the other customers in the cafe must have hated us, cos we were reaaaaaaally noisy. There were the eleven of us, and to speak to the person on the other end (on the long table), we had to read lips, fight with our frens' voice, and the ching chang sound of the plates and cutleries in the cafe. wow, this is a challenge.
A pity I had not enuf space and time to catch up with the ladies.... but im sure, we'll do it agn soon!
We have shelved plans to try this restuarant on many occassions, mainly bcos I was not confident of the food. Tonite, I finally decided to reserve the table for three. Lucky I did. The experience in this restaurant turned out better than expected. :)
Bali Culture is located inside a Club, Orientus Resort. Besides Bali Culture, there is another chinese tze char stall which is also pretty crowded. I saw many tables having steamboat. Another score point factor, will be the free parking inside the club. Although I reserved a indoor table, we ended up sitting at the alfresco area when we arrived, mainly bcos the outdoor tables are by the poolside. And that means, bb gets to be entertained. :) There is a live band indoor though. We get to hear the live band via the central system. Pretty good.
We ordered a chendol and calamari to share, livingstone had the chicken in zurich style (recommended by the hse), and I decided to try the ayam penyat. The dishes turned out all good! Chendol was creamy and quenching. The zurich chicken topped with crunchy rosti came with a very nice gravy, and my ayam penyat wasn't disappointing either, comes with a small pc of tauhu, tenpeh and tender chicken thigh. The chili goes very well with the chicken. abit sour, spicy - refreshing!
The total bill came up to be $50.80, and we decided to sign up for their membership. The culture group owns three restuarants - The Bali Culture, Beach Culture and the SWISS Culture. The membership cost $30/yr, comes with 6 pcs of $10 voucher, to be use when the bill hits $30, max 2 vouchers to be used each time. The member card is entitled to 15% on final bill without the vouchers. With this card, we can also utlise the resort's amenties such as the bbq pit, the swimming pools and i think to book the chalets as well.....too bad the javanese massage jus moved away, otherwise, it could hv been perfect for us.
The resort ain't big. To be frank, it kind of looked quite run down. Im pretty surprised to see that the chalets are mostly occupied tonite. hmmm.... Maybe its the june holidays. chance off the congested city, why not?
And so, u guessed it, we're going back agn. join us! :)
Thanks to the frens who suggested a road trip during this long weekend. It was another milestone with my bb. =)
I expected her to be cranky in the car, afterall, it is going to be a 5hrs trip up to genting. Thank God! She was pretty manageable. Cranky a bit, slept a bit, played a bit....all under controlled. (i hope the driver and passenger agreed with me loh... lol) And she didnt make a single noise when I had to dig her up from her dreamland at 4.30am. She was all excited and ready to play!
We had fun at genting indoor theme park. It was a good place for the old and young i must say. from casinos, to food, to shopping, to entertainment, they have it all! I even suggested livingstone to hop onto the kiddy train with bb while i shopped! extremely convenient! But i think he took the train too many times, till he was resting his head on the train while bb was happily enjoying the ride. haha....
I had my retail therapy not only in Genting, but more so in KL...it was awesome! with a short shopping time allocated, i grabbed abt 40+ clothings for the lil family of mine! dun ask me how i do it, I JUST DID IT! coupled with good food, what more can i ask for? and my mister had his full body massage too.
It was amazing, with just 3d2n, and spending so much time travelling, I had to say we made full use of the time and did many many things. On the way back, we even stopped at JB-Giant for grocery shopping, and also had very nice pee-pa-ya (thanks to dennis's recommendation!) for dinner before heading home.
And guess what? there was NO JAM at the custom as we expected it to happen....
It was like Jess's comment...it was a short and nice trip. I totally had to agree. foto of bbtara in towel after shower in genting hotel. :)
Oh wow...I havent been signing in to my blogspot account for donkey months. Im still alive. =) And no, I have not given up on my blog. After almost 6 yrs of blogging, I am of course not ready to retire. My world revolves around my family as u would have alrd know by now. The daily things that I do at home with the lil kid is pretty routine, like tidying the hse, tidying the hse, tidying the hse, cooking, cooking, cooking, changing diapers, changing diapers, and still changing diapers, .....but well, lucky for me, I try to spice up the life at home when no one is around, and with the lil kid asleep. From the day I stayed at home, we have adjusted a fair bit of schedules to fit the new lifestyle, and I believe it will keep changing, man, who said life at home wasn't dynamic...haha Recently, I decided to reduce the bb's nap to single session (but longer hrs) per day. So now, when she knocked out at abt 1.30pm, i have my own time for abt 2 , 3hrs or more. I have more time to chat with my frens and rewatched Nigella, Curtis Stone, 3plus1 and more on my dvd player. Since before bb was asleep, I had to finish most of the chores, if not, i would hv woken up the light sleeper bb. It became my very own quality time. sweeeeet.
The lil bb is very chatty now, and of cos in her own language. While sometimes I know what she is trying to tell me, other times, I just had to tell her to speak to me in english. And she likes to call for me everytime and anywhere. 'mummy, mummy, MUUUUUmmy'...it's so sweet...but let's countdown to the day where i will find it a nuisance. (would i?) Her fav show now is no longer Barney and frens, it has got to be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The character toys that we bought for her from HK disneyland will sit with her thruout the show. I could see her matching the characters on the TV as quickly as she could. Though she is always slower... :) It is always exciting to see her doing things for the first time. And I can't help but to flash her my proud smile of satisfaction.
It's time for me to return to my writing here so that I could pen down the memories before i forget... :)
It was a day we decided to call it our own. And we drove to the animal resort, very near our hse. I am not totally a city kid, I prefer to explore remote places and experience something different. Zoo will definitely come soon. We usually do not let bbTara run all over in public. In places like the shopping malls, she is still being strapped to her stroller. And in restaurants, she is being strapped to the high chair. So, i guess its fair that we bring her to somewea and give her the freedom to run, as much as she want. Yes, we are very selective to the places she can run ... for now. This is also the time when we first realise that she noes how to pose in front of our camera. suddenly, the ducks gathered by the lil pond, and started singing! billy goat.... and the only horse in the farm.
There are other animals such as the rabbit, dogs, various breeds of birds (both small and big!), and is also a training ground for german sheperd. bbTara at this point of time is still pretty conservative with close contact with the animals....which can be a good sign, at least she is cautious. Well....let's see if this will mean she is timid... =)
She's back for a very short holiday. And we had to meet up very quickly. She selected Thai food, and we brought her to Nakhon @ Kovan. It was a ladies nite, even bbTara was left at home with livingstone. A nite of food, arguments, discussion, corrections, laughters and complains. This shld be pretty much what happen when u put women together, isn't it? We made so good use of our gaps. =) Thanks to livingstone for taking over the shift while i was out. I suppose this is the first time after an entire year, that I chose to leave her at home. I reached home with her getting ready to slp... we cuddled for 10mins before she goes to bed... how sweet.....=)
We were overwhelmed at the party by blessings, generous gifts & tokens, smiles, laughters, and most impt of all, ur presence.... =) I hope for those who have attended the b'day party, u had fun mingling, eating and pple watching... haha... sorry no. 1 --> We apologise if we couldn't spend quality time with u at the party, as we have only 1 mouth each....heh heh sorry no. 2 --> for those that we couldn't invite....but the list gets longer and longer that we got to chop at somewea.... =(
A Big Thank You to you who partcipate in putting the event in order and of cos the bits and pieces...taking pictures, videos, singing the birthday song, clapping, playing, eating....blar blar blar....u noe, without u, this party wouldn't have made it. It's true, and its from the bottom of our hearts.
So, before I forget...let me put the event down in words so that in many many more years to come, bbTara will recall what we have prepared for her on her special day. =)
Dear Baby, Mommy had a wonderful sumptious lunch at Aunty Meow's church wedding, and the deep impression lasted till the day we decided to celebrate ur b'day, the big scale way. So, we decided to use the same caterer. Was so blessed that Uncle Kirk agreed to dress up ur line of food! With see-thru beverage container, and three tiers pastry trays! Yeah! Though mommy and daddy didnt eat the line of food, but we were equally glad that many pple told us the food was awesome! Daddy wanted to make a backdrop for u. But has no idea what to print. So, one day, the idea struck Mommy -- to make u a cover baby for a magazine! So, I got down to the artwork, and viola! We hope u like it like we did. =) There were so many kiddos attending ur b'day party, and Daddy and Mommy wanted to give them a place to play. So we went thru the hassle to find u a pool which we filled up with colorful balls and balloons. Your frens had so much fun tossing the balls and jumping in & out! The adults could drop their kids in there, and proceed for food! How apt. There were remarks from frens saying 'how come there were noise but no children running around?' And many frens love the cartoons on the wall, that they took it back when they left the party. =) Besides all, Jiu Jiu came volunteered with making coffee for every guest possible! Mommy was so guilty bcos I forgot to ask him to fill his tummy first before he got down to work! How silly of me!! Jiu Jiu ended up making 60 over cups of coffee yet having nothing to eat. =( But, we made it up with giving him a treat a few days later. Before the celebration, Mommy decided to plan the attire for our family, and viola! We were all dressed in pink, all matched with camouflage berms! And with that, Mommy decided to extend this creativity onto ur b'day cake! Home baker Uncle William especially handmade the figurines for us (and it took him many days!). =) As I noe I will be changing u into a brown dress for cake cutting, so this was what happen on top of a three-kg figure 1 cake. Sorry baby, if u were expecting something fanciful, like a beautiful fondant cake, or tiered cake....but mommy and daddy think the traditional figure 1 will leave u a better impression when u grow up. We hope u like it, this cake is a gift from Yee Yee. =) We were afraid that u will freak out when u saw the crowd standing in front of u, ready to sing u the song...but u pulled it off with smiles and cues that surprised us! baby, look at the aunties and uncles that were there.....sharing our joy, celebrating with u as u turn 1 year old....these are all daddy and mommy's dear frens! Two wet birthday kiss from us, Happy Birthday Darling! Daddy is still trying to make u blow that candle....look at the smile and wink u had on ur face! u are so adorable in our eyes....
We cannot describe in words how major a milestone we have crossed with u as u turn 1, but baby, u brought us so much fun, tears, laughter, joy and of cos frustration sometimes thruout this twelve months, that we would never wanna trade with anything in the world. You have matured into a toddler after this celebration, technically speaking, you are no longer a 'baby', but, like what ah gong and ah ma (s) always say 'you will always be the baby in daddy and mommy's eyes'.
Happy Birthday our Baby, may we be able to hold ur hands and complete the journey of parenthood so long as we all shall live.....
When I didnt cook, I like to think of places we can go when livingstone comes home at nite. He's nice, though after a day's work, he doesnt mind going almost anywhere with us. =) Last nite, I suggested that we go to Rivervale Mall! ah-ah...no car day for us. We are taking the LRT. :) Having been staying at North East for the past three years, I enjoyed the comfort of taking public transport as much as possible, this is especially so after the arrival of bbTara...really so much easier. The car will be reserved for other places =)
This is the first time for us in the LRT. bbTara had fun eyeballing the short train ride! So did livingstone....
The extra incentive for going there now is the opening of DAISO! oooh-hooo.....we shopped there till all the shops were closed! how comfortable we were in there! ok, got u this headband since u were so happy with it! We had fun.... =)
It can be pretty fun to have frens who hv bbs of the same age group....so many things we can do together isn't it! bbShanelle's virgin swim! daddy even got her a neck float! with that, she could kick water on her own and drift away from anxious daddy! I usually dun swim together with them, bcos I think its better to have some1 dry, just in case the bbs need to get up...and we won't be all clumsy to handle. fathers enjoying the swim with their bbs... like a production line, the fathers showered the bbs together, afterwhich, the mommies took over to dry them and dress them up! The next time, bbJade will join us!!
ever since we brought her to indoor play gyms, I began to be more open to public playgrounds. Before, I would not know when to start exposing her.... so now, if its not too late, we will stop by the playground below our hse, it is perfect time for daddy to bond with his bbgirl too... look at my playground monster.... so happy she kept shouting... =)
If u ask me, I rather not step into the 30s club. hiak hiak hiak.... anw...im there now. welcome me. thanks. =)
So, I planned for the day....and I wanna go to the beach! it will be bbTara's virgin visit to the sandy beach! ah-ah....we didnt head to sentosa...my theme that day was 'North-East Day', so I suggested Punggol beach. Indeed a very nice place, clean sandy beach, with no crowds at all. bbTara having fun with her beach toys! Thank God, she was not afraid of sand at all! For I initially thought, she would dislike the texture.... she grabbed a handful of sand....and i love the way she explore the stuff.... notice there aren't anybody at the beach besides us.... strolling baby.... love her expression on this pic! the 1 hr on the beach was HOT! I was so engrossed with her activity, that i totally forgot to take off my singlet for a better tan! now I end up having two colors...damn.... and bcos bbtara covered her body well with her swimming costume, she ended up having a tanned face and hand. haha...
Anw, next, we proceeded to Anchorvale CC's swimming pool!! rem i mentioned 'North-East Day'.... we had it all! This public swimming pool feels like wild wild wet!! Awesome! trust me....bbTara is very tired now as u can see... my lovely girl.... thanks Huggies! for the free swimmer sample we've gotten frm them! like how they market it, the diaper didnt swell in water....thumbs up! For the fun we had in the morning till noon, bbTara fell into deep sleep for four hrs after the shower and lunch.... When she woke up, we con't our 'North-East Day' thingy, and proceeded to Urban Spoon for my birthday dinner.... look at how red her hands were!! awesome drinks! I had some smoothie that resembles ultimate blend from coffeebean and livingstone had Ice Mochaccino....spot bbTara's drinking mug :) these Jazzy wings were spicy but jin nice!! the highly recommended crayfish laksa in pesto sauce....but it wasn't fantastic in my opinion. Too special for me, i would still prefer that traditional bowl of laksa gravy with taupok and all... This was good for me! I expected the sauce to be similar to the jazzy wings...but I was surprised! the ribs were tender and juicy, now it made me drool.... my birthday tiramisu. yummy!!! trust me, as I savour the dessert, I could taste the effort of the chef! No kidding! very nice! and on this day, bbTara is blowing the candle together with me... my bb is growing.... =)
