Staycation @ Sentosa!

We're just back from our holiday at Sentosa! Well... We can't really go travelling this year, so going to Sentosa is better than nothing, eh? ;)

We booked a 3D2N package at Resorts World Sentosa that comes with Voyage de La Vie and Universal Studio tickets. We chose Festive Hotel because it is mentioned to be suitable for families, and it comes with a king size bed, a sofa bed that's convertible to a queen size bed, AND a bunk bed. Wow, that's a lot of space to sleep! And just perfect for us! So we brought our maid along too, that makes it 4 adults, 1 toddler, and 1 baby sleeping in 1 room.. :p

Day 1

We arrived at Sentosa around 12pm, earlier than the check-in time at 3pm. So we walked around the hotel and had our lunch first while waiting for our room.









We got our room at 2pm. According to the internet, the mattress is Simmons. Well, I'm quite curious as to how comfy it is. You know what? Once we put Caitlyn on the bed, she was soooooo super happy she kept laughing and smiling! LOL! She really knows good quality mattress, ya? :p



We got a room on Level 3, the same level as the swimming pool (we got nice swimming pool view from our room window). And Vio (as usual) refused to take afternoon nap. He wanna go swimming instead. So he went for swimming with nai2 while Caitlyn had her afternoon nap.



When it was time for him to stop swimming (so that we can prepare to go to watch Voyage de La Vie), he refused! He was soooo excited to go swimming that he doesn't want to stop! Well, we haven't brought him swimming for very very long...

In the end, he stop swimming just minutes before the show starts. So he went with us to watch the show without bathe! Oops.. Luckily he didn't show any signs of itchiness :p Haha..

When the show starts, it was quite loud. Vio was already prepared to close his ears when it gets too loud. Minutes after the show starts, there's a small fireworks and loud loud loud thunder sounds, and Vio was suuuuuuuper scared inside. He kept screaming for us to bring him out! Sigh.... So we finally brought him out of the theatre. Luckily there's a TV outside showing the show, so pi & I took turns to watch the show while Vio is playing with another little boy that's scared of the show too. But watching the real thing and watching it from TV is totally different experience. When we're watching the real thing, it feels very very nice... while from TV, well... it feels just like watching any other show :p

Going back to the hotel from watching the show, Vio was rather tired. And Caitlyn was already sleepy too. So we slept early at around 8 pm. Can't really do anything after they both asleep, because Caitlyn wants the room to be dark when she's sleeping, and the tv was just in front of the bed! And of course we can't go out too, in case Caitlyn's looking for me and cry cry cry :p

Day 2



Our schedule for Day 2 is supposedly quite pack. But sadly, day 2 begins with... rain :( So there's nothing much we can do while it's raining... So we decided to go to Vivocity first to stock up on snacks and buy food for lunch (because eating in Sentosa is simply expensive.. LOL). And as you might have known, Vivocity has LOTS of kiddie rides. So Vio was so happy to ride on countless kiddie rides (since we're there quite early, the shops are not even opened yet. So Vio can enjoy kiddie rides to his heart contents) :p



Going back to Sentosa after the rain stops, our first stop is.. Universal Studio!

Well we went to Universal Studio just to bring Vio and Caitlyn to play and look around. Not that there's plenty of things for them to play.... In fact, Caitlyn can only take the merry go round, and Vio can only take the merry go round AND the treasure hunter, where he rode on a jeep going thru a track, pretending that he's the one driving the jeep.. kekekekee....















Oh yeah.. Caitlyn slept most of the time.. LOL... and Vio was so excited to pose with the many cars displayed in there.. :p

Going back to the hotel, Vio (again) refused to take an afternoon nap. So we went to... swimming again!





And followed by watching animals & bird encounters and going to the beach area in Sentosa. Vio didn't wanna go near the beach as he dislike the feeling of sand on his foot. He's a little boy that love cleanliness.. :D





We slept early at 6:30pm because both Caitlyn and Vio were asleep by then. Wow, this must be the first holiday we ever had in which we sleep most of the time! LOL!

Day 3

Wah... it was the last day! We went to Hard Rock hotel to swim and play sands. They have really nice swimming pool with white sandy pool side. Really nice for kids to swim and play sand! This time, Caitlyn also joins the fun to swim. It's her first ever swimming session! =)











Caitlyn seemed to be quite ok with swimming (at least not crying or scared)... But we brought her swimming only for 5 minutes... After all, it's her first swimming experience. We didn't want her to catch a cold or something.. Kekekeke...

And for Vio, at first he doesn't wanna step on the sand. But after some time, he wants to play with the sand (building sand castle etc). But when we ask him to swim, he seemed to be scared of the swimming pool.. Hmm.... And I thought that the swimming pool in Hard Rock hotel is much nicer than the one in Festive hotel... It has slides, bridges and all... I wonder why Vio didn't like it :p And before we got a chance to swim in the pool, it was... RAINING again! Sigh.. So.. that's the end of our journey in Sentosa :D

Batam, Once Again

For the last 2 days of 2010, we went to Batam (again), even though we just went there mid this year... wahahaha.. Well, it's partly bcoz I suddenly remember that I still got some unredeemed points from my hotel stay in one of the biz trip years ago. It's a good thing that the points never expire! :D  So we can have a free night stay in Holiday Inn.. Sooo.. in the end, we're going to Batam! Anyway the hotel is free and the review for this resort is quite good :)

The ferry departed from HarbourFront at 07:50 AM. Wow yeah that's real early. Luckily Vio is an early bird, so getting him to get ready that early is no big fuss..

Reaching the hotel, our room was apparently not ready yet. Well, it wasn't check-in time yet. So we decided to just go around the resort first to see what's there.

[caption id="attachment_1922" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Just Walking Around"][/caption]

Vio was quite excited at the sight of water. He keep asking whether he can play with the water. Well, as much as we want to, we can't let him play that time. We got no room yet! And all the clothes and bathing things are still inside luggage! So we told him that we'll let him play later, and continue to walk around...

.... and we found the spa!

[caption id="attachment_1923" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="At the Spa Entrance"][/caption]

The spa has many good reviews, so we decided to book a session for us. But of course, we need to take turns.. Haha.. Can't possibly go at the same time... Who will look after Vio? So pi booked a session for massage, while I booked a session for facial. And while waiting for our discussion with the lady, Vio kept himself busy with the gamelan he found there.

[caption id="attachment_1925" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Ting tong ting tong"][/caption]

From here, we decided to visit the Kids Club...

[caption id="attachment_1926" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Peek A Boo!"][/caption]

Hmm... I'd say that Harris Resort's Kids Club is nicer than Holiday Inn's one. There are more things to play with, and the lady inside is chattier and livelier... There were nothing much to play with in the Kids Club, and the toys were kinda old and half-spoiled.

Luckilyyyyy... our room was ready then! All the rooms in Holiday Inn are like "suites". All have their own (rather big) living & dining room. And the bedroom is a separate room by its own. It's certainly much nicer than Harris Resort's room!

[caption id="attachment_1927" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Living & Dining Room"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1928" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="The Bedroom"][/caption]

And they were providing 1 hard and 1 soft pillow for each person. Wow, that's quite thoughtful :p

Keeping our promise to Vio, we quickly changed and let him play in the swimming pool. The swimming pool was much cleaner and nicer than Harris Resort's one. Vio loved it so much he didn't want to get out even though he was cold! But of course, in the end we managed to lure him out, and we were back to the room to bathe.

And then... we're starving! Inside the resort itself, there were actually 4 restaurants. Sadly, the 2 interesting ones that we want to try only open for dinner... *sigh*  so we're left with Chinese restaurant or the Hotel's restaurant... So we went with the 2nd choice and seated by the poolside. Looking at the menu.... Wow! Look at that price! Fried kway teow for more than Rp 100K! Tsk!! The food was real expensive.. So we ordered something a bit special (Ayam Panggang and Nasi Rames), since they're the same price with the Fried Kway Teow!

The food was not bad, though we waited for about 20-30 mins for it.. Tsk tsk... And in the midst of eating... suddenly... Vio start to close his eyes and almost fall asleep! He fell asleep during eating! Wah.. he must be very tired ya... So we quickly brought him back to the room to have his afternoon nap..

... and we wait and we wait for him to wake up... But he didn't wanna wake up.. so in the end we miss the shuttle bus to Nagoya Hill.. But Vio looked so tired that we had no heart to wake him up. So when he woke up, we took a cab to Nagoya Hill for some shopping and dinner there. And also not forgetting.. we bought many bread for our supper and breakfast (since our room is free, it doesn't come with complimentary breakfast... aiks..). Going back to the hotel, we didn't do much other than enjoying our spa session... And that's the end of day 1...

And at 6am the next morning, TUT TUT TUT TUT... a rather loud sound woke us up (including Vio), and we were all wondering what the hell is that sound?? Apparently it came from the alarm clock that Vio played with many times the night before... And I suppose he accidentally turn on the alarm. Argghh! And after that, he just refused to sleep again... :'(

We spent the morning having breakfast and lazing around in our room... After that we let Vio played in the swimming pool again...

[caption id="attachment_1929" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Throw Water... Throw Water.."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1930" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Oh Look! A Floating Ball!"][/caption]

And we had our lunch at the same restaurant again, after that we bid sayonara to the hotel.. Hm... What a short holiday ya? :D

Oh a cute thing that Vio love to do in the hotel room: he likes to pick up the phone, press some numbers, and say "Hello? Yes?".. Just like adult does! Haha! That was really cute...

Puncak Trip

While we're in Jakarta, we also went to a 1-night trip to Puncak (Taman Safari) with my family. The hotel was already booked from 1 month before, it was Hotel Seruni, which is located quite near to Taman Safari.

For the journey, there are 2 cars. We're joining my parent's car. During the journey, Vio suddenly say "ee".. which means he wanna poo-poo! Oh wow.. and I've asked him few times that morning to poo-poo but he refuse to. And in the middle of the road, he said that he wanna poo-poo.. -_-  So we stop in one of the car-stop and go to the toilet... And reaching the toilet, Vio just refused to squat and do his business! Guess he's not used to poo in public toilet. After many minutes of struggling, we finally gave up and return to the car, in which Vio start to say "ee" again. Then I said that he can just poo in his diapers then we'll clean it. Thankfully though, he didn't poo in his diapers. He waited until we're in the hotel! hoho..

The journey itself was 2 hours plus (luckily didn't have traffic jam). We stopped in a restaurant for meal (I can't remember what's the restaurant name). Anyway, the food takes decades to come, but luckily there are kids playground inside the restaurant, though it seems quite run down.

[caption id="attachment_1763" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Waiting for our food"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1764" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cousins"][/caption]

Vio seems to like the above thing so much. Now that I think of it, I can't seem to remember seeing it in Singapore before. And I like to ride on it when I was a little girl too :p

Reaching the hotel, it was about 12pm. Sadly it was too early for checking-in. So... we decided to go to Taman Safari first. On the way to Taman Safari, there were rows of stalls selling bunches of carrots. Apparently we can feed the animals in Safari carrots! (It's been a very long time since I last went to Safari. So I almost can't remember a thing). We bought a few bunches, and Vio was excited to see it. He thoughts that he can eat the carrots -_-

In the Taman Safari, we'll use our own cars to drive thru a lot of animals, and while on the way, we can feed them. It's quite nice, actually. Looking at how the animals eat from sooo near (you can even see their teeth!). Some animals seems like can't see well, so they're based on nose to find food. And they will sniff sniff your car's glass window to know where the food is, and some even left their marks on the window: their saliva! Yucks....

Oh yeah, Vio also feed the animals few times (holding on the carrots from the car, while the animals grabbing it from car window). (Too bad I still haven't got all the photos yet... It would've to wait for another 2 weeks :(  )

Some parts of Taman Safari put lots of notice of where the windows shouldn't be opened, and people aren't allowed to go out of the car. Obviously, this was where the tigers and lions are. The lions were basically can walk around beside the cars, so it's very dangerous for people to walk around, especially if the lions were happened to be hungry.....

At the end of the the journey, we went to some sort of theme park which is still part of Taman Safari... and Vio was scared to see elephant.. maybe the size was too big.

We went to watch the cowboy show which was quite good, but waaayyy toooo LOUD. Practically the whole show, pi & I was busy hugging scared Vio and covering his ears at the same time. After the cowboy show, we watched motorbike show which was very scary. 5 motorbikes run around a globe in very high speed! Tsk tsk tsk... 1 second of miscalculation and we can wave bye bye to all 5 motorists... Highly dangerous...

Afterwards, we wanted to watch the dolphin show, but then.... it begins to rain... *sigh* so, we decided to end our journey there and went to the hotel.

The hotel room was much nicer than expected. We booked the bungalow type, and it was big, with comfy big bed and big bathroom. At first we thought that the exhaust wasn't working, so we opened the window a little bit so it's not stuffy inside. Apparently the exhaust was working after all, but we forgot to close the windows, and..... the next morning, Vio had 3 mosquito bites on his face... Ohh.. my poor baby got bitten by mosquito again...

The next morning, by 6am it was already bright outside. We're out of the room by 6:30am, and it was surprisingly hot! The sun was shining very brightly. And I thought that it's supposed to be a cool area (I've already put on jacket and long pants for Vio hahaa). We let the kids play in the playground for a while (There were many photos... but as mentioned, I haven't get it yet...) and then we bathe and have our breakfast.

[caption id="attachment_1765" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="In The Hotel"][/caption]

Have I mentioned that the fried rice in the breakfast was YUMMY YUMMY?? I've tried many stalls in Jakarta, hoping to find that nice Indonesian fried rice, but to no avail. And there I was, finally get to eat the nice fried rice that I want to! It was just so nice I keep taking it again. A little bit spicy, just the way I like it. Wahahaha..

Hmm.. anyway, after breakfast, we laze around the hotel, and after that it's time to go back. On the way, we stop by Cimory to buy some snacks and of course, their famous milk products! (I just remembered that I still have some yoghurt and milk left in the fridge in Jakarta.. *sigh* how I wish I can bring them here.. hahaa)

And that's the end of our trip to Puncak...

Our Days in Jakarta

Hmm.. it seems that it'll be a loooooong way to go before I can get the photos from my bro's camera in Jakarta. So, I guess this post just need to make-do with the photos I have in the handphone, which is not a lot.

Basically our days in Jakarta was full of malls. Jakarta has maaaaaannnnyyy malls, each day we're going to a different one, and there are many new malls that we haven't got chance to step into yet!

First day, we brought Vio to Taman Anggrek (TA), which I haven't visited for years. Surprisingly, it still looks the same as when I went there years ago. We went to Timezone, and let Vio (and pi) tried out Bom-Bom Car!

[caption id="attachment_1754" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Vio & Daddy in Bom-bom Car"][/caption]

... which Vio was apparently very afraid of (coz someone bumped to their car), and so Vio stopped just few minutes after the session has started. And that left pi alone playing bom-bom car in the midst of kids! Haha.. That sure looks fun... It's been a while since I last play bom-bom car myself :p

After that, we let Vio play basketball game (still inside Timezone), and of course he enjoys this one a lot.

[caption id="attachment_1755" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="I love basketball!"][/caption]

And while at home... Vio spent most of his time playing with Koko Marcell and Cici Cheryll. As mentioned before, with Cici Cheryll, it was mostly pushing pink-color baby pram around the house (luckily Cheryll have 2 of them), while with Koko Marcell, Vio mostly was playing ball!

[caption id="attachment_1756" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vio, Marcell, and Cheryll"][/caption]

Marcell was very nice to Vio, accompanying him play (for example: Vio love this hammering toy that Marcell has, and Marcell will pull out the pins for Vio to hammer), but he was very "naughty" to his sister. Just love to purposely make her cry. Haha..

Cheryll, as mentioned before, love to snatch toys from Vio. On the last few days, we can see that Vio's getting more possessive on the things he's holding on to, so it doesn't get snatched by Cheryll. Haha! Nevertheless, they enjoyed playing together. No bad memories remembered whatsoever :p

[caption id="attachment_1757" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Sharing a Chair"][/caption]

When Vio wakes up in the morning, the first word he said wasn't "Daddy" or "Mommy", but "Koko Marcell?" or "Cici Cheryll?" instead. *sigh* He just can't wait to play with them again!

I love this photo of Vio taken on 1 morning when he just woke up:

[caption id="attachment_1758" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Big Laundry"][/caption]

Oh... and just to mention... when we're in Jakarta, 1 of my close-friends during high school just happen to give birth to a beautiful baby girl! So one of the days we visited her in the hospital (and have a small reunion). Paiseh to say that I didn't even know she was pregnant -_-   That shows how long we haven't been in contact with each other haha..

[caption id="attachment_1759" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Small Reunion"][/caption]

Going Away!

Hello!

We'll be away for 9 days to Jakarta! Yeah... 1 week of not working is always goooood... Be patient with me! I'll update the blog as soon as I'm back ;)

[caption id="attachment_1724" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="See You Again Next Week!"][/caption]

Bali (Part III)

Day 5

When we reached Bali Handara the night before, we can't really see a thing as it was very dark already. This morning when we open our bungalow room door, we were like.. woww.. apparently our room has got nice view.. It got a pretty view of the mountain, and it's quite cold too.. (of course much nicer compared to SG... when we open our door and what we see is another HDB block.. LOL..)

[caption id="attachment_1407" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="View from our room"][/caption]

Bali Handara Kosaido is actually "specializing" in golf. The area is verrrryy big with many many golf fields. Not that we wanna play golf.. We chose this hotel because it's located in the cold area. Nice change from hot and humid weather in Singapore. Apparently there were only us and another group staying in the hotel. Wah... this hotel apparently doesn't have much guests, more people come for the golf. Since only few of us staying there, they didn't offer buffet breakfast. Instead, we can choose from their menu what we want to have for breakfast.

[caption id="attachment_1408" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Vio going around the hotel"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1409" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Yeah.. higher.. higher!!"][/caption]

Oh yeah, the hotel provides a free service to and from our room back to the hotel, and around the hotel, using a buggy! I like it.. rare chance we can ride a buggy.. hehe..

[caption id="attachment_1410" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="in the buggy"][/caption]

After having a bath, we're ready to begin our adventure of the day! We first went to Lake Tamblingan and Lake Buyan, which was lying next to each other. Didn't really went to the lake.. Only saw it from above..

[caption id="attachment_1411" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lake Buyan"][/caption]

Afterwards we went to Pura Ulun Danu at Lake Bratan which is quite famous in Bali. Do you know that the Rupiah 50,000 notes have picture of this temple? Hehe..

[caption id="attachment_1412" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="3 of us again"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1413" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pura Ulun Danu"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1414" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I love it daddy!"][/caption]

Afterwards we head to Gitgit Waterfall, which is the highest waterfall in Bali. But when we reached there, Vio was taking his afternoon nap in the car. So in the end only pi went down to see the waterfall. And according to him, luckily we didn't go down with Vio. The road was steep and difficult to walk in for adults, much more for babies..

The next destination would be... Jatiluwih. There's nothing much here actually. Just go there to show Vio how does a terrace rice field looks like.. LOL... But on the way there, our driver asked whether we want to go to hotspring (air panas) or not. Since we still got time, so I said ok... But then, I kinda regret.. We need to walk very far, and it's full of stairs and not-even small roads.. Tsk tsk tsk... And the water doesn't look so clean... So we only put our foot (and Vio's foot) in. But Vio likes it.. He keeps wanting to throw his whole body to the pool.. hahahaa.. But of course we didn't let him.. wait later he got rashes or something..

[caption id="attachment_1416" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jatiluwih"][/caption]

Afterwards, we had dinner at the nearby restaurant, in Saranam Eco Resort hotel, that was actually one of the "candidate" of our hotels.. hehhee.. I wanted to see how the hotel is.. And the hotel is very nice! It's facing terrace rice fields and also have bungalows.. And you know what? Apparently it's the very same hotel that my sister had been mentioning for years... She stayed there on her honeymoon years ago (back then it was called Pacung Mountain Resort), and she was so impressed about the lift (the lift was going down instead of going up), and it was not vertical.. It goes diagonally down.. so cute! But too bad it's not as cold as Bali Handara.. otherwise it'd be a perfect hotel to stay in.. hehee..

Day 6

Oh my, is it the last day already?? Time always flies when we're going for holiday, isn't it?

[caption id="attachment_1417" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="In front of the bungalow"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1418" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Mommy & Vio on the last day"][/caption]

The schedule for today is only to go shopping for souvenirs and transfer to the airport. We went for shopping in Kompleks Nusantara, which is like a big souvenir shop, where the prices are supposed to be cheap (no-bargaining). Hmm... I won't really recommend this place.. The things are not so cheap and the quality of clothes is not good... Next time will go somewhere else to shop..

Our driver sent us early to the airport, about 3 hours before our flight. And when we reached the airport, Vio was having his afternoon nap. When we get down and start walking into the airport, we just realize.. OMG.. he dropped us at the domestic flight area instead of international flight area! Dotz...... The driver didn't even ask us which flight we're taking.. Tsk tsk tsk.. Will not use the same driver again in the future.. International flight is quite a distance to walk.. And carrying a 11+ kg baby walking such a far distance is sooooo tiring.. haha..

But anyway, we had a good holiday in Bali... Will definitely be back there again! ;)