I saw THIS on Singapore Road

I have NEVER seen this type of vehicle roaming on Singapore Road.

A rare sight for me....

鴨子 ~ 高伊玲 《世界正美丽》

Being someone who prefers boys more than girls, it is rather rare that I would fall deeply in love with any girl.
No, don't get me wrong.
I am not talking about intimate or sexual kind of love.

Just pure admiration and awe.

However, ever since I watched 《世界正美丽》 a couple of years back, I fell in love with 高伊玲, aka 鴨子.

I love her features, her straightforwardness, her courage, her friendliness, etc. She is so amiable! *grin*

If I ever have a daughter, I would love my daughter to have all of her qualities.

Yesterday, the show was put to a halt because of the movie 風雲 (雄霸天下), was sad at first, then realised that 《世界正美丽》 will resume next Sunday at 10.45pm, I am all smiles again. *Smile*

Too bad, her blog http://alexiaya.pixnet.net/blog is in Chinese, or else I would be her blog's faithful reader. *laugh*

3D2N Batam Trip

This is the second time to Indonesia. First was Bintan in year 2000.
This time, with my family of 4, we went for our very first 'overnight' family trip, a 3D2N Batam Trip. This is also the first time we were on a guided tour for the first day and we were on our own on for the rest of the trip. *smile*

For me, Bintan is so much more enchanting than Batam.

The things sold in Batam is comparable to that of Singapore. And there isn't much variety. Almost 40% in EVERY shopping area, which we went to, sells mainly leathery items. So to me, its a lousy place for shopping.

But I still managed to get a small bargain for 3 batik dresses. 190000 rupiah (approx S$50) total. *smile*

But what really made me grin from cheek to cheek was the Super Yummy Honey Cake.

Other than my elder boy, the three of us could not resist having several bites of it every not and then. *giggle* It was soft and spongy. Sweet and fragrant. Ooooohhhh Yum!


Our love for cakes were followed by the 'Its-A-Struggle-to-Stop-Eating' Batam Layer Cakes Kueh Lapis. There were different flavours to choose from, Chocolate, Mocha, Prune, Pandan, and not forgetting the original flavour.

With toothpick on hand, could not stop sampling their different flavours.

Each cost S$25 for 1 kg,
Wanted to buy all flavours, but errr.... considering that it was only the first day and we had 2 more days to go, PLUS, spending $125 just on Kueh Lapis is definitely not on my budget list; I decided to buy just 1kg of Chocolate flavoured Kueh Lapis.
But SERIOUSLY, the Mocha flavoured Kueh Lapis was Damn Good!!! It was not an easy decision, till the thought of kids came to mind.....

I told the shop to pack them in 2 separate boxes of 0.5kg for easy transporting. Love the packaging. Truly professional.

Lastly, my favourite part of the tour is the massage! We tried two different places at two very different prices. The one which the tour guide brought us to, cost S$20 per pax for an hour of massage. Our hotel gave a 50% off on massage and it cost S$7 per pax!!!!

Just in case you thought the relaxing massage from the professional masseuses was what I enjoyed, you are half right.
It was having my two lovable boys beside me enjoying the massage at the same time and making all sorts of remarks which made the masseuses giggling away, that truly made my massage not only relaxing, but entertaining.
And for once, they can FINALLY STOP SQUABBLING FOR ONE FULL HOUR!
*Yeah!*

Will I go Batam again?
I doubt so.
But I would really love to go Bintan again....
*smile*

Traveling Habits

From a lifestyle of traveling really often, to 4 years of rooted to Singapore grounds, I am definitely looking forward to the super short trip tomorrow with my family.

Though it has been a really long time since my last trip overseas, my traveling habits have not changed.

I still like to ROLL UP THE CLOTHES to save space in the luggage.
I still prefer to bring CLOTHES WHICH I HARDLY WEAR OR ARE SLIGHTLY TORN, so that I could leave them in the foreign country as 'souvenir', so that I will have empty space to put all the purchases into my luggage. *wink*

Are your traveling habits same as mine? What are yours?

Seafood in Johor Bahru

Although we had a disappointing Wedding Anniversary Lunch at Friends Restaurant @Jelita, the celebration was well compensated by our sumptuous Seafood Dinner at Johor Bahru.

First time driving in on our own without anyone guiding us and able to get home safely after being lost for more than 2 hours, is simply fascinating! The sense of satisfaction we felt is beyond words can describe.

Read about our Adventure in my parenting blog under the blog post "Anniventure"

We are so determined to go back again and we believe, this time we have finally figured out the right way there and will not get lost again, but yet to be tested. So once the route-in-our-heads has been proven, I will share the route with all of you. *smile*

After parking the car on the sand-cum-stone open space, we were greeted by a tree with beautiful flashing lights and lovely night view of the sea.

Picture of the eating area was taken while we were walking across the long wooden bridge towards the restaurant.

Picture of the tree was taken from our seats. The row of orange-y lights is a reflection of the wooden bridge which separated the parking space and the restaurant.

We could see the 'very vacant' competing restaurant from our seats.

If you are hoping to get food standard like what Jumbo Seafood restaurant serves, then you would be disappointed with Restoran Todak. In my opinion, the food is tasty but not super shiok, except for the Black Pepper Crab. We intend to try their Chilli Crab on our next visit.

Ordering the fish was hilarious. 

The nice waitress in her early 40s were telling us all types of fish available. 

Then she asked, "Do you want fish reared by us or from the sea."

We gave her the 'blank' face.

Then she continued to explain that there are different categories of fish-from-the-sea.

We gave her 'blank' face again!

*laugh*

In the end, we simply said, "Deep fry the shi-ban without any spice or chili, because the fish is meant for the kids."

She smiled and jot down without hesitation.

 

Deep Fried Fish in soya sauce.

Cereal Prawn

Mayonnaise YouTiao

Black Pepper Crab

I love the Prices more than anything else. But it has been said that they would raise the price during Weekends. Luckily, our Wedding Anniversary this year fell on a Weekday.

We were very lucky to be seating right next to the mini washing basin. The kids find it amusing that the 'dirty' water from their hands goes straight down to the sea.

When we were there, it was still low tide. We could see the sand or sea bed very very clearly. In fact, you could walk on it (if you dare).

While we enjoyed our dinner, we witnessed the disappearance of the seabed. By the end of our meal, the sea bed was totally buried under water. It was easily 1 to 2 meters deep. Our 'Kelong Seafood' restaurant sits on a wooden platform, which is about 3 to 4 meters from the sea bed.

Our first visit cost us approximately SGD$50+ for the food and drinks.

Restoran Todak, we will be back real soon! Cheers!

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KTM Tanjong Pagar Train Station - Memories

Ever since we knew about the closure of KTM Tanjong Pagar Train Station on 1st July 2011, we had been waiting for a chance to bring the kids for a train ride. Allan and I dislike crowds and we had been hoping for a day whereby its a

• Weekday
• Singapore School Holiday
• Not a Singapore Public Holiday
• Not a Malaysia School Holiday
• Not a Malaysia Public Holiday

This day did not come easy, but heaven was kind to us and our wish came true on 9th May 2011, thanks to Singapore General Election Polling Day on 7th May 2011. All the above 5 criteria were met! Whoo-hoo!

It was Allan and my 2 boys' first train ride. So it was more of an adventure for them. As for me, it was memories of what used to be like when I was a kid going to Malaysia during Chinese New Year to visit my relatives in Malaysia.

The details of the train ride are in my Parenting Blog under the post "KTM Train Ride". So I am not going to repeat, rather I shall let the photos and video do the talking...

This was the place we went

Here's the short video of the 45mins train ride when we were coming back to Singapore from Malaysia: