June travels : BANGKOK

(Patreeya & Shean Wenn cycling at the park. Bangkok 8 June 2010)

June was a particularly eventful, and busy month. It was also the month of Shean Wenn's birthday. Early June, Shean Wenn and I boarded the dutch airlines KLM to Malaysia. Two days later, still very jetlagged, we took another flight out of KL (Malaysia) into Bangkok, Thailand. Many people were saying this is a little brave/risky move but we were going there to meet family (Meng's family). The flight form KL to Bkk is approximately 2 hours and we flew via MAS this time, because it was comparatively cheaper than Air Asia's promotion of "free tickets to Bangkok to support the Thai people", so much for being a budget airline, eh?

(Enjoying in-flight food : Haagen Dazs. MAS 7 June 2010)

I'm pretty impressed that in this afternoon flight, MAS actually provided lunch of Satay + Rice and desserts and not to mention freeflow of juices (Sorry my darling Shean Wenn, orange juice for you because MAS doesn't serve apple juice for cattle class). The Pièce de résistance is of course their ice-cream : Haagen Dazs (Ex-boss Jason Fong did a good job negotiating for his brand of ice-cream to MAS). Shean Wenn had already chomped down the satay and was still going strong, when she saw the ice-cream, her face lit up & she couldn't wait to eat the ice-cream. The air-steward actually gave us one tub each and SW managed to singularly finish her portion! Even I was feeling full after the satay meal (which was pretty good, even for plane food). Needless to say, we didn't have much for dinner that evening after landing in Bkk and arriving at SIL Daphne's home around 8pm.

Our main purpose visiting Bkk is actually for Shean Wenn to be re-acquainted to her cousins, grandparents & aunty & uncle. So I don't have an itinery to shop nor visit any of the tourist places (I've done that many years ago anyway). I thought I could have a relaxing time and just sit & chill out. INSTEAD, I was in for a surprise.

5 days flew by so fast... everyday there is somewhere to be gone : We'd be out of the house by 930am and be back at 4pm, rest and if we're not eating at home, we'd be heading out for dinner.

DAY 2 (8 Jun) : Daphne suggested that we could bring the kids to a park nearby (I forgot the name) and rent bikes for them to cycle. I thought it would be a good idea! But what I did not anticipate was the heat. By the time we came out of the taxi and pushing the rented-bikes, I had sweat buckets. Bkk heat is really different from KL-heat (KL is in a valley, hence more cooling at this time of the year). Anyway, I persevered. The kids, esp SW seemed to not notice the heat and she was gleefully cycling along with Patreeya. SW hasn't cycled much before this so it was not surprising that she is still learning the ropes of cycling. She picked up pretty fast although still needs practice maneuvering the bike.

(With the family. Bangkok 8 June 2010)

After what seemed like an eternity (for me), we came to the kid's playground and there is when the kids get to "rest". I think the eternity was probably only 25mins or less but I welcomed this break! Patreeya & Shean Wenn explored the playground and went on many rides, slides & swings. Ok, SW does not like swings so she just looked on. They also had a break drinking water. Then it was time to go back.

Shean Wenn cycled for abit and decided she doesn't want to cycle anymore so mommy (ME) had to pull her bike all the way back!! (Along with my new camera which I was trying not to scratch or get any sweat on it). Shean Wenn had fun exploring the park and its flora with her grandparents and cousin. After that, we walked out to get a taxi to the nearest shopping mall! Like Malaysia, we like going to malls, where else can you go at 37c? Once we hit the mall, with air-cond blasting, I felt more comfortable. SW by this time was of course pretty tired out by her adventure today and fell asleep.

(Patreeya & Shean Wenn's antics in the "BURBERRY" cab we took. Bangkok 8 June 2010)

We spent the rest of the day shopping here.

During the evening, Marwin (SW's older cousin) came up to me and said something very cheeky which caught me off-guard. He said, as a matter of fact : "Ah Kam, how come you didn't buy alot of presents for me and baby Patreeya? Why only 2 presents?".

:-/ Kids say the darndest thing!!


Day 3 (9 Jun): More shopping! In the evening, we had a small birthday celebration for Shean Wenn. I bought a chocolate cake for her in the afternoon and she gets to blow out the candles surrounded by her cousins and grandparents. Then, FIL, SIL & I went out for a massage. It was after the massage that I started experiencing mild gastric pain/food poisoning.

Day 4 : Daphne has been planning to go for an expo selling designer goods. Unfortunately this year's event wasn't as interesting so the only purchases made that day were food, in particular the Tao Kae Noi Seaweed ! Yes, Thailand has a good brand of seaweed. I regret not buying more because SW loves eating seaweed. Day 5 : Somehow during one of the days while chatting with SIL Daphne, we discovered that we both knew Lilian from Wrong Side of 30 (WSo30) - What a coincidence! I have been reading WSo30 for a good few years now and have became "friends" with Lilian but have never met her in person. Daphne on the other hand, met her once at a function at the embassy. So the only reasonable thing to do was to arrange to meet up! We managed to squeeze a meeting amidst both of our busy schedules... Lilian came with gifts for SW. A red bag filled with goodies any girls will want! Thanks alot Lilian. Unfortunately, Lilian forbade me to post up photos of her. So you probably won't believe me if I'd say she's tall, gorgeous & very cheeky!
So that concludes our trip to Bangkok. It's really too short a trip and I hope we will return to visit again, but this time for a longer period of time. :) Thanks to Daphne & Ekk for being wonderful & obliging hosts. Next time I must remember to bring more gifts for the kids ;)

PS : I just noticed none of the photos have me in it! :P

Hotel Review in Orlando, Florida (Disneyland)

They don't call it "The Magical Kingdom" for no reason. From the moment our car (driven by Vincent) drove into the Walt Disney World Resort (WDWR) compound (there were a few themed parks in the whole WDWR), my heart started to beat very fast - I was getting excited. This is VERY UNUSUAL for me because I remember since young, I did not have any desire or inclination towards visiting themed parks - I find theme parks boring, plus... I am not one who likes watching cartoons. I guess this only means that this place REALLY IS magical!

More on The Magical Kingdom later. First, about our family vacation to Orlando (where our main reason was to visit Disneyland). Our host, Angel & her husband accomodated us in their lovely apartment in Miami, which is a 3.5 hours drive away from Orlando. We planned to stay for two nights in Orlando while we checked out Disneyland and Orlando city. Angel suggested we look at this International Plaza Resort & Spa which is about 15mins drive from Disneyland. I took a quick look and we both agreed it looks fab on their website! After surfing around, we decided we would book through Expedia.com because they have a special rate of USD59/night (exc. tax) for us!

When we checked in, we were pleasantly surprised at the room - it is BIG, looks grand, very comfy & it smells nice too! Only down side is that the bathroom is a tad small. We also checked out their facilities around the hotel - they have a few pools and the whole resort is very well-maintained. We really loved our choice! Angel commented that they stayed in Hilton Disneyland the last time they came and it was so much more expensive and probably not as nice. Definitely worth our money!

(In the grounds of the Resort & Spa)

We were so excited, we neglected to take a photo of the room. :)

I've been told Comfort Inn® (With their wide range of hotels worldwide like Quality, Clarion, Cambria Suites, etc) offers some pretty decent rates too with easy online reservations available.


DISNEYLAND - The fun begins!

As soon as we reached the main "Magical Kingdom" by the skytrain (kinda like the M'sian LRT or the UK DLR), we were greeted by the sight of the Cinderella Castle. And believe you me, it really grabs you like how it did on the telly/papers. I was quite awestruck by the sight! (Breathes)



Photos :

1. Visiting Minnie Mouse's house

ALL PINK! With heart-shapes everywhere.....

Shean Wenn getting cosy in Minnie Mouse's house - sitting on her sofa, arm chair and trying to get a sip off her tea!

2. The queues to the rides in the Magical Kingdom is quite long (Depending on which ride). But we only queued for 15mins to get onto a boat ride on this "It's a Small World" trip... and SW was the happiest here - She stood up and danced and stomped her feet to the music the entire 15-20minutes ride!
(The music "It's a Small World" kept playing on and on and on.... so much so that even after you got off the ride, the song keeps playing in your head!) *shakes it off*

3. Shean Wenn meeting her favourite Disney character - Pooh Bear! These photographs with Tigger & Pooh Bear are taken off the Disney website. You get a "Photo Pass" from the official Disney photographer and he/she will take the photos and scan the photopass which you keep with the ID number. When you get online, you just type in the ID number and register to view the photos and memories you took in "THE MAGICAL KINGDOM"! Walt Disney is awesome. Such marketing genius in every corner.







There are also alot of playgrounds for kids to vent their energy, each one is themed to the characters/movies of Disney's. They usually have a water fountain area for them to "cool down". Here is a video of SW trying to touch the water. She looks hesitant doing it because at first I told her "Don't go near the water!" (I was abit cautious because I didn't bring her swimsuit along and didn't want her 2 get drenched and change her. Looking back, I thought I should just chill and let her play. Ahh, lesson learnt.)



4. There was a major parade, called THE PARADE OF DREAMS at 3.30pm. By 2.45pm, there were people already reserving their places behind the ribbon lines where they cordone off to make way for the parade. We found a nice spot at about 3pm and I had my lunch standing there! It was a very long parade, which lasted for a good 20mins? It could've been 10minutes but it felt long. It was very vibrant and people were so enthusiastic watching it.



I must say the USD70+ we paid for the tickets each was well worth it - the experience of spending one day there is so magical & surreal. Everything was so well organised, with ample parking spaces for your strollers, they cater for all age groups of the child and all the people-greeters (Disney personnel) were so enthusiastic and friendly, they will also help entertain your kid. You will often see a people-greeter coming up to say hi to your child, or even ask a child if he'd like a sticker!

We headed off at around 630pm, making way to the skytrain which will transport us back to reality the picking up area. When we turned around to have a last glimpse of the Cinderella's Castle, they were lighting it up! I can hear people gasping in awe at the view. Just magnificent!

George the Bill

While researching for our upcoming trip to the US (NYC & Miami), Meng came to me with two $1 bills; these are the leftovers from his previous trips to the US and he's asking me to put it in my wallet lest he forgets about them.

Upon a closer inspection on one of the note, I was rather annoyed when I saw handwriting on it "Gee, why do people write on notes???!!", I was grumbling to myself, I saw someone wrote this

Track my Travels

wheresgeorge.com
(circling a star sign * of the serial number)

Hmm, is this some kinda joke? I decided to check it out nonetheless. I keyed in the serial number and year and found out that we are the 2nd entry of this note. Not very interesting but I thought the idea of tracking dollar bills are pretty cool - kinda like how some people photograph their garden gnomes (or ipods, or whatever) around the globe and post it up on a site dedicated for it!

I also found pretty interesting stuff to do in NYC, for example for nature-enthusiats, you can plan your travels to NY state to look at the Autumn (or "FALL" as the Americans call it :P) leaves, there is a website on "Foliage Forecast". They have a useful "Leaf Guide" to show you the different colours of the leaves - "clear, sunny days and cool nights with temperatures around the 40's bring out the most striking autum color" (It's colour, tssk!).


(click on the images to view the full info)
I am so excited! Autumn is one of the most romantic seasons (IMHO), and I'm sure Shean Wenn will love jumping and crushing the leaves as she walks along the pavements littered with them.

Postcards from Scandinavia

Shean Wenn's grandparents, was on a 12-day tour around the Scandinavian Countries. Here are postcards for her from Denmark, Sweden and Norway.



Both of them, these jetsetters grandparents, booked their tour from Australia many months ago. Infact, they have been planning to tour these countries for as long as 3 years but only got to do this now.

They were in London for about 1 week before they went on the tour and little Shean Wenn is very fond of them. Of course she is, they shower her with kisses, hugs, gifts and not to mention alot of FOOD. She now has a habit of "hovering" around our legs during mealtimes (breakfast, lunch, tea break and dinner) and "asking" (she will hit my thighs and then put her hands to her mouth, signing to eat) for food. After you feed her once, she keeps coming back for more - she will turn around, make a circle and head to the other side of your chair and repeat the same. Amusing yet it makes me think of her like a "cat". (Meow!)

The twelve days of absence of her grandparents seemed to pass in a jiffy though. Me and her, alone again (just the two of us)... we have our fair share of fun!

Anyway, where did they go? Both of them totally enjoyed their trip and brought back some souvenirs for Shean Wenn. But first, let's see where have they been?

"Somewhere over the rainbow" (This is Sognefjord, Norway)

(Sognefjord, Norway - BREATHTAKING, isn't it?)

(With Grandpa Wong)

Ahh, she is very glad granddpa and grandma are back! She is seen wearing a skirt (with pants) that they bought from their trip. Grandpa just flew back a few hours ago but grandma is still around. Needless to say, when they were in London, the four of us (both grandparents, me and SW) went out gallavanting - she had so much fun!

Feels like yesterday

.. that I just landed back in humid KL. The past 3 weeks were truly hectic - Shean Wenn and I met up with the hubs in KLIA to travel back to Melbourne for CNY with the IL's, then back to KL for a brief 6-day trip before heading back to cold cold London (it's mid-winter now).

CNY IN MELBOURNE

Shean Wenn with dad

Upon touching down, I was down with the cold - full-blown with watery eyes, stucked and watery nose, sore-throat, the works. Took me a week to recover, that's 7 days of not quite enjoying Melbourne. Couldn't taste most of the food while I was there, which was a waste. Plus, while I was sick, the weather was so good - sun-shiney, warm and crisp. Perfect for our zoo-outing, swimming.. But when I have recovered, the weather turned cold and rainy, making all that impossible.

Well, at least we went for a swim once.

The in-laws : Grandma and grandpa Wong were thrilled to see Shean Wenn again. Afterall, the last time they saw her, she was merely 2 months old and can only manage a smile or two, and was learning to laugh.

And when we reached home form the airport, grandma brought out all the toys for the little girl. Her eyes lit up when grandma showed her the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Grand Piano. Sometimes when we put her infront of her piano, she will move her body from side-to-side (kinda like "dancing"), moving to the music! Very cute. She has now learned to appreciate music more. But after a few days, she would sometimes bang on the keyboard and when she is bored doing that, she would use the Grand Piano to pull herself up to stand. (She has learnt to stand for a couple of weeks now and is practicing really hard on this new skill)

"I love making music and dancing to it..."

She was also introduced to a Fisher Price monkey, but somehow her enthusiasm towards the monkey lasted only for a couple of days. She kept toppling the monkey over instead of crawling towards/with it!

"Chilling out with Elmo!!!"

It was CNY, a first for Shean Wenn, and most of the family was around to celebrate, minus SIL Daphne who is in Thailand (in the midst of her second pregnancy). MIL cooked up a storm for reunion dinner, yumms!


HAIRY ISSUES

There's an old chinese tradition that says one should cut one's hair before the new year. As Shean Wenn has bald patches around her back which would not grow back, we thought it would be good to give her a "trim" to help stimulate hair growth. MIL was bestowed with this important task - out came the scissors and hey presto!

BEFORE


During the haircut : Shean Wenn reading her book while waiting for her hair to be done.

AFTER : Ok, amidst the excitement (as you can see clearly from MIL's expression in the "BEFORE" photo), I forgot to take an "AFTER photo.

After a few days, I decided that to really stimulate hair growth, it's best to cut her hair BALD (well, almost). Mei, hub's regular hairdresser in Melbourne gave Shean Wenn a Number 1. She now looks like this :

The Bald and beautiful!