Beijing - Day 6

This is the first time all of us, including hubby and I are joining a tour group. It is really no fun!!! Early hours, mad rush, waiting, etc. The look on Kelly's and Kerryn's faces tell it all.

Our first stop of the day was万寿寺, the most amazing thing about this place must be the giant buddha statue which is sitting on a thousand smaller buddha statues! It was such a majestic view but too bad photo taking is not allowed.

The second stop was颐和园, the Summer Palace. We got a shock when we entered the doors. The place is huge and its so huge that it is impossible for a person to walk the entire place in a day, it takes about 2-3 days to cover each and every part. With 2 kids in tow, we were restricted to the nearest hut and an island across the 17 holes bridge. The temperature for the day was 0 (zero) degree celsius, the four of us were freezing cold and surprisingly Kelly and Kerryn took it well. Part of the surface of the lake is becoming ice.

The third and last stop of the day was紫禁城, Forbidden City. Although the weather is cold but we were lucky that the locals do not visit at this season, all the places of interest were considered not crowded and that made handling the 2 children easier. After visiting the whole place, leaving us tired and cold, we were happily in search of the Starbucks long heard of through news but to our disappointment, we can't find after searching almost the whole palace. Since it was close to dinner time, we decided to make our way back to our hotel which was just 15minutes walk away and on our way back, we stopped by at a local restaurant for dinner.

Beijing - Day 5

Before the trip, hubby and I were already thinking about going to either Shengzhen, Guangzhou or Hong Kong to look for our friends and we concluded that we will only decide when we are in Shanghai, mainly depending on the kids' conditions.

Last night after dinner, we decided that we will be going Beijing instead! We booked the tickets while at Uncle Yong's place and today, we are at the airport, getting ready to go the ever famous Forbidden City!

The blue squarish animal that Kerryn is pointing to is not in anyway related to water or energy saving, it is actually海宝, the mascot for Shanghai World Expo. Kerryn calls it the 'cute cute'.

By the time we reached, it was already evening and after calling a few travel agents, we are all set to go visit the palaces tomorrow!

Shanghai - Day 4

After many days of China-Chinese food, we longed for some normal, not so salty and oily food. A Hongkong-Chinese food will be fine as we were looking forward to porridge and wantan noodle. Who knows other then ordering a variety of porridge, we also got ourselves the roast meat platter and spare ribs.


After breakfast or rather lunch, we went on to Nanjing Road for a walk. Since the brunch did not satisfied us, we asked Uncle Yong to prepare a home cooked dinner. Finally we got claypot boiled soup, decent vegetables, some other dishes and my favourite Lala!

Shanghai - Day 3

We made a trip to the biggest shopping mall in Shanghai and 明珠塔. The kids enjoyed running around and playing at the various playgrounds in the mall.


Uncle Yong meet up with us at dinner time and after dinner, we went to this newly found culture-preserved backlane which was converted into pubs and bistro.

Shanghai - Day 2

Uncle Yong will only join us for dinner today as he has got some business meetings so the day is for me to plan. We brought the kids to Nanjing walk in the morning, trying to find a local restaurant for breakfast.


We were lucky to find one that offered soupy noodle along with yummy side dishes suitable for the kids. Kelly was fascinated about the cold weather, she totally enjoyed it.


After breakfast, we took a train to Xiangyang market for shopping but was totally disappointed upon reaching. They used to be at an outdoor area where there were about 400 stalls selling almost everything but after moving indoor a few years ago to this current location, the feeling of the market us no longer there. It is now more like our Far East Shopping Centre. After walking for a while, the kids got tired and we took a train back to rest, of course not forgetting to get some snacks along the way.



For dinner, Uncle Yong brought us to this very nice Chinese restaurant named after 乾隆. The setting and service standard was superb. We had 热黄酒, super spicy beef, yummilicious soup, etc, we enjoyed this meal heartily.


After dinner, we stroll to Nanjing walk and upon Kelly's request, we took a train to the other end of the road where we settled down for another round of beer while the kids had hot chocolate, cake and popcorns.

Shanghai - Day 1

Our ETA at Pudong airport was supposed to be 0635hrs but we reached 30mins earlier because our pilot decided to speed since its midnight and most likely there is no traffic police on duty.

I was most delighted to see Uncle Yong again after so many years, he did not changed a bit. Upon walking out of the airport, we nearly froze. It was so far the coldest day within a month, temperature at 13 Degree Celsius.

After checking in to our hotel which was conveniently located at the Bund, Uncle Yong and myself went out for breakfast while the 3 took a rest in the hotel room. We chose a Shanghainese eatery for a local taste. The fried onion noodle, steamed soup bin and pan fried bun was delicious but way too oily and salty for my taste. There weren't much change from my last visit 5 years ago. The few same things that you can't miss must be the rude and uncared attitude, speaking loudly, messy traffic and people spitting. I guessed all the above = CHINA.

Dinner got to be my favourite Nanhua Fish Steamboat. The same restaurant is still located at the same venue with the same settling, nothing change a bit. A revisit with my 2 princesses is a totally different experience. 5 years ago, I was with Uncle Yong and his whole bunch of business friends from China, Malaysia and Singapore. We drank and ate liked there's no tomorrow, we were out from day to night, we walked miles and miles in the cold weather but this time round, the food we eat and even the places we visit got to be kids friendly.

Baby Jayden turns 1 month old

The last time we met Xintian, she was only 2 months pregnant and now, we are at baby Jayden's full month party. We had a good time catching up and shall see one another again nearing to Christmas.

Ladies Night

Today 4 ladies left their children at home and came out for a chilling session. I guess we need to do that often to stay sane!

Maidless for 5 weeks

It's almost 5 weeks since our maid left. Since the maid we choose was detected with TB, we concluded that it's fated that we should not have maid for a while. Initially we were still debating whether to have a maid or not due to the upbringing of our girls, since the maid did not come, we decided to go maidless till we give up.

It was really tiring initially, cleaning, bathing, cooking, playing, entertaining non-stop. Once we got the routine up, life begins to brighten up. Kelly is definitely a great help, she helps to put the toys back, put the clothes into the washer, fold the clothes, etc. We shall set our target to be Chinese New Year and review our maid decision again.

Parents-Teacher session

It's the year end Meet-the-Teacher session again. This time round, Kerryn came along for 2 simple reasons - first because there is no maid at home and second because we are getting her to be familar with the school since she will be going to school soon. Kerryn seems to love the school, she can't stop running around at the outdoor area.

Teacher Raynie and 都老师 were praising Kelly from the start to the end. I guessed it should be the same for all the other children.


We left for Compasspoint for McDonald's breakfast, as per requested by Kelly. Before music class, we walked around and saw the winter wear in FOX. Out of fun, we let Kerryn and Kelly wear. They turned out to be surprisingly cute and nice. Doesn't Kerryn looks like Southpark? Out of impulse, we bought them without knowing where to wear them to. The very same hour, we decided to go Shanghai!

Genting - Day 3

The last day at Genting is always the hardest for Kelly. She always has rides that she still wants to take, food that she wants to eat, places that she wants to explore, etc. To make the departure not so difficult, her favourite sweet potato never fails to make her happy.

Genting - Day 2

It's the beginning of a fulfilled day for the 2 girls, but the day did not started too right. The carousel that they were so looking forward to was under maintenance. The disappointed look on their faces was enough to break my heart. We had no choice but to bring them to the outdoor theme park. Kelly has well past the 90cm mark, so a wrist band is needed.

The change was not regretted. There were so many more game stations for them to play, more spaces for them to run around, the ferries wheel is so much bigger and higher, the carousel is so grand. They enjoyed so much in the nice cooling weather and Kerryn is definitely a busy girl. She drew so much attention. We lost count of the numbers of passerby that stopped her to say 'Hi' and requested to take photo with her but was turned down by us.

The photos explained their day!

Genting - Day 1

We left home early in the morning to stop by at Kulai for breakfast and do some shopping before we proceed to Genting. Kerryn gave us an unforgetable Genting trip this year, she puked all over the car right after crossing Malaysia checkpoint. She was dirty, the car was smelly and messy, after a massive cleanup, we decided to go ahead instead of turning back.

After breakfast at Old Town, we drove to Kulau Lumpur for lunch. By the time we reached Genting, it was already evening time. We took a slow walk to the indoor theme park in search for dinner. An evening well spent!

Goodbye Auntie Su

After being with us close to 4 years, our maid is finally going home due to her father's critical condition. We are thankful to her for taking such good care of our 2 daughters since birth. After sending our maid off, we took the 2 girls for a ride on the skytrain and as usual, Kelly was trilled. Today marks the beginning of our no maid's life!

Girls night out

It was our usual gathering but some couldn't make it last minute and ended up only the 3 of us turned up. It was a cosy gathering though with just the 3 of us and the happiest news must be Eunice's engagement. The drink was good, food was yummy and the companion was fabulous!!!

Kelly with her lantern and mooncake

Kelly came home with her DIY lantern and mooncake that she made in school. Just liked last year, she refused to eat the mooncake she made!

Mooncake Festival

We celebrated our Mooncake Festival at Anchorvale CC with YS, Cynthia, Ryan, Benny, Jacqueline and Chelsey. The restaurant is by the river and the space is ideal for the kids to run around and walk their lantern. The bubble machine definitely brought them more fun!

A Suday morning

On Sundays when Daddy does not have soccer games, we usually have our breakfast at McDonald's, which was always Kelly's requests. After breakfast, we will bring the girls to Best for them to lay their fingers on the piano. Daddy and Mummy were surprised by how much the girls like to play the piano. They can spend a good 30 minutes just on the few display pianos. We will usually get some snacks for lunch and that is also known as Barney time for Kelly!

Crabby dinner at Melben

Lucky stars must be shining on Quan recently. I had almost lost counts on the number of times he striked 4D this month. The crabs at Melben was not as fantastic as compared to many other places but the company was great!

My IDOL

How many time do we come across a man who is so wise, so charismatic, so fatherly and so kind? I am lucky to come across a few and this one is definitely one that fits all the above. It is really an honour to meet my IDOL a few times a few.

Breakfast at Swensen

We had breakfast at Swensen before Kelly had her music class. The girls love the banana pancaka and the fruit salad.

Cheeky Kerryn

This 17 months old Kerryn likes to surprise us with her creativity, cheekiness and most importantly her million dollar smile!

Chill out

A phone call later, we ended up chilling at Urban Spoon and coincidentally it was their 1st anniversary and there was a party going on. We had beer, yummy Tiramisu and warm lava cake by their very inhouse chef.