Surprise surprise!

Came home to see a whole pile of envelopes, some rubbish mails from realtors etc.. However one envelope stuck out - with that familiar MOE print across it.

YES! Lil' one's deserving award for a job well done. For enduring so much on her own, she truly deserves more than this recognition.

Award ceremony will be next year. And with the restrictions, rather no restrictions, I'm sure the award ceremony will be back to normal. Perhaps they should do it back in our condo again, makes it so much easier for us. *wink*

The last of official Results Day

We already had plans for our year end holiday. There is no way we are going to give up on this well deserved break. Prior to departure, I instructed her to try the student portal to "retrieve her results" ensuring that everything is in order and the website to do her tertiary submission. She has no intention of going on to Sec 5. Thank goodness! Though at one point she thought that perhaps an O' level certificate will put her at a better leverage if she wants to study overseas.     

In Kushida Shrine, she was so depressed over her fortune telling. Almost turned suicidal. Sigh…..and she was dwelling on her 'I think I did badly' thoughts which made me lose my temper on why worry about it now? 

Que sera sera
I was glad that she came back with a distinction for her May's O' level Chinese paper, so we didn't want her to re-take it in Nov. She can put her full concentration into her other subjects. POA is another forte subject, almost all the time she comes back with distinctions in school exams so I'm sure she'll do well. Eventually she was left with 6 subjects to practice and practice. 

For the last few months, I've seen her put in extra effort in her revision and practices. 

Seemed like she’s the only one of the two who didn’t go to school to collect her results. Which is for the better coz …..how would she feel when she sees her friends all standing up in recognition of good results, and when others celebrate their results she might end up crying there? Then worst is to have kapo friends who would want to know if they scored better than other classmates etc. will put her self-esteem down lor.  So in conclusion, any more mass results day collection - don’t go. 

19th Dec (Mon) - RESULTS DAY! 

We were in Beppu, did a short quick trip to Yufuin. She was a bundle of nerves, tried to look normal but I think her heart and mind was elsewhere. She was NERVOUS, UNCERTAIN etc... Kept saying she didn’t want to see her results. Somehow it got me frustrated and I snapped at her. “Fine! If you’re not going to retrieve your results. You can do the next step planning and submission on your own. What’s done is done right? Her not retrieving her results doesn’t mean it’ll change her grades. In the meantime, her tutors one by one were messaging me but coz we were on the road and she have no wifi. Actually I have lah! She just didn’t want to use my hotspot. 

She finally retrieved her results at 4pm until I tired angry nagging at her.  

I was more curious coz I want to know if she can make into her preferred course, if not have to think of choices. Worst! If she needs to clear some medical checks or do interview for some courses when we’re not in Singapore. 

She did better than her prelims! Yay! And I’m glad her school actually raise the bar / standard in their school so all students performed better. The extra time helped her a lot. Yet again the COP for her dream course is single digit, macam like RGS / RI standard like that. Thankfully she qualifies. And the best part of the results is that she still maintains her distinction for POA. Despite her problems, she’s better in rote learning. 

We celebrated her results with a shared can of alcoholic drink in Beppu. Haha! 

I’m so glad that things turned out for the better for her. She’s proven to us that she can do it against all odds. Now onwards to the next journey. And no more official Results-Day-go-back-to-school anymore! 老娘心胀受不了。

太紧张😓了！- 16th Dec 2022

We knew it late, there was no chance to set a reminder alarm on the phone. 

Che-Che learnt about Joe Hisaishi’s concert just on the day itself, when the tickets are set on sale at 10am (SIN time). She chanced upon it in SSO Instagram around 11.35 (JPN time), which means we’re 35 mins late. Really strange that this wasn’t in the SSO Calendar of events booklet. 

We were sightseeing at Udo Shrine and on the way out Che-Che wanted to get her Cremia ice-cream and everybody had wifi access from the cafe. She told me about it when we were walking out. She exclaimed “mummy! Joe Hisaishi coming in April.” 我听了也太开心了。I stood closeby to be near the reception. Such a tense moment! I stopped hubby from moving off just to quickly score 2 tickets. I also needed him around in case my credit card doesn’t go through especially if UOB sends the OTP to me. It’s really strange that even with data, I can’t get my OTP when I needed to settle the HDB rental stuffs. Anyway, thankfully I was able to pay with PayPal. Paid $804 ($398/- seats). 

Thinking to self :

(1) I think I shouldn’t complain that she goes into Instagram that often, otherwise we would have missed this opportunity.

(2) I should also be grateful that she was so greedy in wanting to eat ice-cream and we obliged her. 

Can you imagine if we knew it few hours later, all tickets would have sold out. As it is, a lot of seats were already taken up. I also couldn’t wait if my friend, S, wanted to go coz I won’t have access after that and we were on the move, driving from Nichinan to Kadogawa and stopping at sights along the way. Just purchase the tickets fast so I can set my mind and heart at ease. 

Really glad to catch him again in a span of 3 years. So anxious that after paying for the tickets,  I realised why didn’t I look for our premium seats. OMG!! See lah! Too nervous until brain also not thinking. Actually at that point of time,  I didn’t want to waste time toggling and choosing slowly seats coz as I’m choosing seats, someone else would already be paying for the tickets. Every second counts. Seats are usually sold out within an hour or so for his highly awaited concerts.

See you in April, 久石 譲 さん

PROGRAMME

RAVELLa Valse

RAVELBolero

- Intermission -

JOE HISAISHIViola Saga (Asian Premiere)

JOE HISAISHISpirited Away Suite

The world-renowned Japanese composer-conductor Joe Hisaishi returns to Singapore in a performance of four orchestral pieces. The concert begins with La Valse and Boléro, composed by Ravel, one of France’s most influential 20th-century composers. The second half of the program features the Singapore Premiere of the newly arranged Viola Saga, a composition of Maestro Hisaishi in 2022. The core piece of the second half will be the Singapore premiere of the Spirited Away Suite – based on the Best Animated Feature Film of the 75th Academy Awards, directed by the great filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Most anticipated: the emotional piano part to be played by the Maestro himself, creating an exceptional musical journey through Spirited Away.

Love Japanese toilet

I think I watched too much of cleaning vlogs, I really wish cleaning the toilets back home is easy. I really hate to deal with the grouts and glass and walls.    

I really love the toilet in Kumamoto. Has a heater inside, I also assume to dry the floor quickly. Had lil’ one’s panty inside and it dried up even faster than those in washing machine 

I want to buy the toilet cubicle back home. Haha! Apart from the washer toilet seat which I've long wanted. Should see if we are going to any electronic/electrical shop. I think Yodabashi or Best Denki should have it. 

Anyway, we're only in the second hotel. Not sure how the other toilets / bathrooms will look like. 

CNY 初二 dinner next year?

We were talking about how fast CNY will be after we return home (not as bad as this year right? Touched down 13th Jan & CNY 18 days later) so we need to buy stuffs after we arrive in SIN for makan. 

I blurted out a “huh??….. actually I kinda liked it when I didn’t have to do anything this year.” Brother hosted this year instead. 

It’s for my family I know but it’s really tiring. I have no helper at home, nobody even help me out. I have to clean the house ; prepare food. Though it’s steamboat, there’s still some prep work to do. Then after that clean the house again. Hubby is good, he does help me with the vacuuming. But there are more to the cleaning, keeping the crockeries, packing up leftovers. I hate it when there are aleftovers! Even when I prepare lesser; they ate even lesser! So I always end up with extras. My fridge is full. 

I had the silliest idea to cook dishes instead (at least there won’t be extras kept for 3-4 days) but I dowan to slog leh… my rabbit year I’m suppose to be the dua liap nang. Can I order people around instead? Or thermomix to the rescue?

Cute Christmas bakes and Xmas Lunch rants

These cookies are so so cute, I bookmarked these for reference some time in October. Just bake them for fun; decorate it with lil’ one to keep her busy and then give them away. If brother is to host Christmas this year for us and their friends, we can bring it over to them for more people to share (aka more people to taste our horrible cookies). 

credits given to these talented bakers : Glorious Treats, Food Lover, Tammy Hunziker, Jenkitchenco and Kims Five Things 

My baking plans scrapped

Initially thought I could use one or two of the ‘only 11 to 12 days’ we are in Singapore to bake. But never got the chance.  Hubby mentioned about hosting a Christmas lunch, it was 2 days before our BKK departure, so I reckon I had other more pressing things to do than the bor-liao cookies. 

When we got back, I took some time after housework to go through catering lists, online research on places to order festive goodies etc.. plus sometimes I was a little distracted over transferring the BKK photos over to laptop. Managed to order the festive food from CS, desserts and hubby says he’ll settle the rests. I’ll be preparing some other simple stuffs. 

Over 3 days with lil’ one tagging along on 2 days (and I can’t get much errands done with her), I went to get some Christmas decorations and look-see-look-see in supermarkets. 

Managed to do simple decoration in the house. I wouldn’t want to exert myself after our trip, will need the energy to clean the house and wash the laundry and luggage bags.

When I finally said “k, we can bake now”, I realised we finished the eggs a fews days before. We’re only left with 6 days, can we finish up the remaining 10 eggs? I don’t cook now, which is really strange coz I’m suppose to try out the Thermomix after her N’s. 

Will I have the time to bake the time we get home on 22nd afternoon? Only left with 23rd and 24th, nah…no time to bake. I need time to decorate the cookies too! Maybe that will be something I can do next year, or maybe we’re spending a white Christmas in NYC then? 

German machine to the rescue for Christmas lunch? 

Deutsche Maschine zur Zubereitung deutscher Snacks.

I miss my gebrannte mandeln, have the intention to make it with the Thermomix. If only we’re in 🇩🇪  this year. Speaking of the Thermomix, I haven’t even cooked anything with it yet so will that be the first item I make? Made a trip down to German Market to get vanilla sugar. (Suppose to buy 1 item, I bought 13 other rubbish😜)

As for the Christmas food, I’m still thinking if I should whip dishes with the Thermomix. So tempted to show off my (fake good) culinary skills but I can’t look as good as Martha Stewart hosting after cooking leh. Actually I’m quite stressed thinking about whipping something up for a gathering with no trials 😅 prior. What if I fail, we’ll have to order delivery instead. Quite embarrassing right? 

Party planning

Though I love to plan the girls’ birthday parties and make so much preparation with the favours, plan games, DIY personalised decorations etc.. all so ugly also can 骗小孩.

Christmas party if I want to go all the way out to personalize and decorate, I need lots of time and need to look nice. But no adults will appreciate all these so I better save my energy, just hang a few bells here and there can already.

My ideal Christmas gathering

Is one where :

1) food are placed in nice elegant plates on the dining table

In reality : - We have no nice plates. Remember I wished I can only have 4 sets of crockeries and cutleries to keep my house to the minimum? Don’t ask me to buy more plates when it’s going to be a white elephant after that. I have to deal with the kitchen renovation next year, so please give me lesser items to pack and unpack. For this lunch, I’ll put them in ugly aluminium tin foil. No need to wash some more, so clever! 

2) Nice christmassy table set up with placemat, cutleries wrapped in napkin with a napkin ring and lovely plates.

In reality : - short of spouting out profanity 🤭, our dining table is small. Can only sit 6 people comfortably, we have 10 people and out of 10, 4 are slim 😂. If we need to place food on the table, am I even able to set placemats etc? 

3) Lovely Christmas jazz playing in the background, and we’re all chatting around the table.

In reality : - Hubby himself will plonk in front of the TV,  then the parents also. Watch Tv and then suddenly you’ll hear someone snoring on the sofa after that. The children will be bored and start playing games or fiddling their handphone in the room. 

4) Nicely decorated Christmas tree with lots of 🎁 

In reality : - I threw away our tree even before we moved. And over the years, we were only in Singapore once during Christmas, so I see no point in getting a tree. I’d have to find a place in my “no place at all” home to put the tree. I had a solution, I used garlands to make one tree on the mirror. Smart! 

🎁 🎁 - I got them as a family gifts. I have no time to look for gifts. Gift giving now is like buying rubbish just to have something to gift people. 

BUT BUT BUT really age matters. I have the thought of doing all these but my brain and hands are tired to move. Once we return home, main priority is to unpack and clean the house, clear all laundry. Need to wash bedsheets also. I think I’ll send some laundry 400m away as well. 

Packing for trips

Just some ranting first. Packing is late this year
Usually I have the luggage bag packed at least a week in advance. I'm late this year, only started packing everything in on Sunday and we're due to check-in on Wednesday. 

I'm so happy that since there are no heavy coats, sweaters, thermals and gloves etc... things that will wrap us up like bak-chang - the luggage is so so so much easier to pack this year. There's no need for roll ups vacumn bags at all. Infact, I managed to pack all our clothes, socks, undergarments into 3 packing cubes. 

Light travellers
We're light travellers, infact I think we're still lighter travellers than hubby. Or should I say, as I'm the one packing the bags I prefer to travel light. Honestly, I wouldn't know how the girls would pack if they're doing it themselves. I've seen how hubby packs for winter, he layers his thin clothes. I layer with thermal wear + sweater + thick coat. And usually we're kept warm as our thermal wear and sweaters are 100% merino wool. It can be a challenge as we can't do our laundry the usual way. When we drop by laundromat, we can only wash our pants, simple T-shirts and shorts and bras. 

I've seen families of 4 bringing 5-6 bags. Like what? What the heck did you even pack? The girls know what I always say "I pack simple, I'm not doing a fashion show." I've also seen 1 person lugging a huge ass check-in luggage bag and a trolley bag for cabin. "Perhaps there are lots of empty space in each luggage?" Maybe.... but how the heck are they going to have all 5-6 bags in one room or 2 rooms?   

So when people see the number of bags we have, they are shocked. Really! It has got nothing to do with me being an ex-cabin crew and I know how to pack better than anyone else. I've seen cabin crews carrying lots of stuffs with them too! How I know? They never repeat in their apparels at all, and they have matching shoes and boots and bags!!! OMG!   

 
Usually we bring this huge luggage bag to pack all the 3 girls' stuffs and hubby will bring his own luggage bag.   

Why I like to travel light?

1) Space in the room. Usually all 4 of us cram into 1 room. So I don't want to have so many bags in the room. Sometimes we do have 3 bags in a room and that is quite messy. Why 3 bags suddenly you may ask? Sometimes we'll open up one bag temporarily to put all the snacks in for our car rides. The girls will put the bag between them so they can snack; we can also bring out the food for our picnics from there. That same bag will be used to store whatever extra snacks we buy for the family and ourselves on the journey home. 

2) Makes moving around easier. Especially when we're on public transport, the lesser bags we have the lesser distractions we'll have. We can thus pay more attention to our kids and our possessions. We can prevent any theft. Makes is easier to bring down the luggages from train too! 

How did I pack for this not so cold winter Japan trip? 

Lil' one's personal effects are packed into the second smallest cube - measurement of packing cube is 34 x 28 x 12cm 

The other 2 bags are one for me and the other for che-che. Packing cubes measuring 42 x 32 x 12cm

This packing gives me lots of space. 3 packing cubes + 1 toiletries bag.  I know it looks filled up, it is. Coz I brought quite alot of stuffs over for my Japanese girlfriend.   

For my record, I packed 8 panties this time coz I wanted to throw the not so good ones away. No disposables this time for all of us, otherwise will take up alot of luggage space for 15-16 days. I need the space for KN94s and covid test kit now. 

Just some of the local foodstuffs she miss. Plus bottles of sambal chilli which I've packed into the packing cubes for some cushioning. And presents for her 2 girls and the family.

Didn't pack in travel cooker this trip, so that is so much easier and lighter.

Packing is slightly different this time

It makes a difference when one packs all their stuffs into 1 bag. So if we do that, we'll up with 4 bags. 

Usually I combine all our home clothes into 1 bag, our socks into 1 bag, our sweaters into 1 bag etc.. Then every time I'm their maid, while they shower I (a) get their room clothes and undergarments ready for them. (b) put clean socks next to their shoes for next day use (c) hang clothes for next day’s use. And when I pull things out, I often have to re-fold other items and re-pack neatly again. Neverending job.

So this time I told them, they're responsible for their own packing cube. I'm not going to take out anything for them, they will fold back and tidy their packing cubes themselves.     

Weight of these luggage bags after packing for this trip

The man often complains that our bag is always heavy. It is definitely heavier than his. But don't forget his luggage bag only contains his personal effects. 

The huge bag contains x3 personal effects, a travel cooker, dishwashing detergent + sponge, cutleries, washing laundry stuffs (scrub, powder, capsules), first-aid box, instant noodles and porridge, herbal tea sachets, wet and dry tissue papers, snow grips for our shoes [these are heavy but good defensive tool off any perpetrators. Throw at them can kill them. 🤣]. Last trip I also packed 2 sets of hiking sticks. Lots of miscellaneous which I can't tell you off-hand what's inside. Want plastic bags, I have. Want rubber bands, I have. Want plasters, I have. Need tissue papers, I have. And the list goes on.

Many a times when he makes the comparison between the weight of our bags, the girls learnt to defend us females. 

Well, I usually have records of the weight of our bags EX-SIN and EX-station. This time will be the first in recording this down in the blog. You can be the judge.

His bag weighs 9.97kg. Our bag weighs 20.45kg (inclusive of all the barang barangs, almost my house is in here). So even if we divide 20.45 by 3, it's 6.81kg each. Which means our individual personal effects is infact lighter than 6.81kg!  

People often looked at us. Check-in staffs often goes "that's it??"

Surely it's a compliment that we don't travel with so many bags. 

When lil' one and I went to Vietnam, we stare the tour mates' luggages  and they stare at us. Haha! Almost everyone asked us "your bag is so much smaller. For 2 of you?" Our bag is smaller than theirs - each passenger lugging one bigger luggage each.   

Will I still want to travel in such manner? Yes, why not? But it does come with a price. Usually need to be a maid in the hotel room and wash wash wash. 

For our 2022's 5D4N Vietnam and 6D5N Bangkok trip, for the record I didn't have to do any washing in the night. Haha! I often have to be a slave and wash socks and undergarments. For Vietnam, I did wash her socks on a daily basis coz it was raining almost daily and her shoes stained the cute socks, so I told her to use the same one throughout the whole trip thus won't stain more pair of socks. Other than that, no need to wash undergarments. For Bangkok, I didn't have to wash anything. So shiok!!

 

Packing organization

The man just folds and puts his stuffs in the bag. For me, I do like to organize things in. The thick clothings, bedroom clothes; the undergarments, socks, gloves + mufflers all into different bags.

Packing cubes :

This is only the third time I'm using this new packing cubes, wouldn't say that I really like it or hate it but I'm still in the process of experimenting the best packing cubes to use for summer travels. Packing cube is soft material so it still looks not the OCD precise neat packing in the luggage if compared to a harder cube. However with it being soft has it's advantages, I can put it more as it will expand outwards.

Vacumn seal bags : 

We usually travel in winter now, so I use vacumn bags to squeeze out the air. I love it when I see space between the bottom part and the top part of the bag. I've experimented with different brands vacumn seal bags, some bought online and turns out different from the listing. Material wise so cheapo from China. Worst! When the bags broke. I found this brand, Pack Mate, the best. I swear by this,  bought alot from Amazon US. 

I started with the vacumn type for home use and used a few times overseas but it's not easy to have access to the vacumn cleaner like the ironing board. Once the housekeeper was cleaning the room next to us and I dragged the bags out into the corridor and borrowed it from her. Sucked out the air in 3 secs!! 😂 Other times housekeeper not around so have to do it manually. It's possible just need lots of effort, felt so tired after that. After that I got the roll ups for overseas use, often get the girls to sit on the bags while I push out the air. Over the years, che-che would help me. Using her elbows, knees and helped to push out the air. 

Naraya packing garment bag :

I can't find a photo of this bag online. I started to use this when I was flying. I can fold it to pack in lesser clothes which goes into my LV cabin bag, or leave it straight and fill it up with more clothings and it goes into the check-in luggage bag. It's really versatile. I had matching colours with the toiletries bag, shoe bag etc.. I was really sad as Naraya stopped production for this bag  for a long period of time. Then once in one of our travels after quitting SQ, I found it. But no more satin material, comes in some ugly fugly cotton print but I got it anyway. No matching toiletries bag. This bag makes taking in / out items easy and no mess as there's a zipper on the top, but not advisable to use this for thick winter clothings. The last time I used this bag for myself was in 2018 BKK.    

  

Extra bags

During SQ days, I had this satin travelling bag. It's rectangular and so neat. But after some time I hated it coz of the ribbon, otherwise it makes a good bag which one can open up to put all the souvenirs home. 

Then we had another mama-san bag which crew will always go to this shop in Itaewon, Seoul and have them sew our name on it. It folds neatly into a pouch. I had 3 different sizes and can you believe that I still have one more - the largest - that is with me up till this date? It spoils easily too which led to the demise of my 2 smaller bags 😥.

Packing extra bag is a must. Hubby will always mistakenly call it "alibaba bag". Use it for last sector home, for convenience if we need to pack for a night in another place while luggage is left in hotel, for laundry days, for packing snacks for car rides etc...     

How do I keep my packing to a minimal?

Not there for fashion show so I only have the sports/walking shoes that I wear for the whole trip. Unless I know I'm on a trip for another reason, I'll pack in my court shoes.

Packing for winter each person

1. 1 set thermal wear

2. 3 sweaters (only drycleaning. Can't wash during holidays so I bring a Febreeze and spray and hang up to air it)  

3. 1 pants/jeans 

4. 3 sets of undergarments

5. 2 sets of home clothes to wear in room

6. 3 pairs of socks

7. 1 pair of glove, 1 muffler, 1 earmuff

I do wash undergarments, socks on a daily basis. If can't dry, I'll iron dry. As for pants/jeans, will wear for a few days then wash. I try to plan to wash it in hotels where we spend at least 2N so I wash it on the first night, I will always iron dry on the last night. Or if we send it to the self-service laundromat will be so much easier. 

Packing for summer each person

1. 3 sets of clothings. For myself, I love to wear jeans so it's easier, I pack 3 tops

2. 1 set of jeans for self

3. 2 sets of home clothes to wear in room

4. 3 sets of undergarments

5. 3 pairs of socks

   

Toiletries bag

3 of  us share one bag. So there are lots of stuffs in there. I usually pack a small bottle of shower gel, anti-dandruff shampoo apart from all the other facial stuffs. My Kiehls masks are really important especially in cold countries. Not forgetting I need to pack Cetaphil for che-che and now all the Aveda hair stuffs for the frizzy -haired lil' one. 

      

Bedroom slippers

Was packing the luggage bag and asked hubby "is the Jesus Vibes slippers in your bag?" Che-che burst out laughing from her room, she mentioned that she forgot about that slipper.

The joke is on lil' one in our family. When our stay was extended in US last year, we had to buy bedroom slippers + a few other necessities. We grabbed whatever we wanted not paying attention to the others. When we got back into the hotel, we saw what's written on it. Haha! 

We didn't call her by the name, or mei-mei or nottie girl throughout the stay but called her "jesus vibes girl" 😁

Missing Europe

I know we’re travelling soon, in 3 days time, but I can’t help but miss Europe so much. Maybe coz it’s also the Christmas season and one can feel the mood when you’re bundled in thick coats; muffler, gloves and warming up with a cup of glühwein. 

I miss Switzerland, Germany, Italy. 

Eyelash perm #2

My 2nd eyelash perm at a different Browhaus outlet (Plaza Singapura) as I was there running some errands. 

I feel she’s not as skilled as Becky. Eyelash not as qiao like the first time I did after I started on their LR treatment 

But no choice, Becky is not available next week and I’d love to have my eyelash permed before the holiday.  This technician is superbly friendly and more chatty than Becky. 

Husky Cafe and Meow Meow Cafe in Bangkok

Lil' one had been talking about going to a dog cafe in Bangkok when hubby bought our air tickets. I had no idea which dog cafe she was talking about, but quite some time back she told me she loves huskies. I tried my luck to see if there's any dog cafe and found out there's indeed a husky cafe. Maybe she saw it in Instagram before? 

On Day 4 (21st Nov), after breakfast I re-looked at the photo I screenshot and saved and realised there's timing to the activites in the cafe, it wasn't a walk-in and play at any time kind of thing. Switched the plans (dropping by ketohouse the next day instead) and told her we need to leave the hotel NOW. Haha! Talk about last minute. It was already 10+ close to 11am and I found out there's viewing time at 12pm. Got a cab at my 3rd try (I seriously hate it when the drivers don't turn on the meter) for a charge of 200TB (one asked for double the price. Crazy!)

Needless to say, lil' one was superbly excited. Luckily I packed everything up the night before and the morning. All hubby needed to do was to pack his own toothbrush and his stuffs before switching hotel.

Price  350TB / pax including one free drink and a bottle of water. Food and souvenirs are extra expenses.

There are 2 sessions in a day. We went for the first session where 12-1pm is the viewing time. We're separated by the grilles so what they'll do is to make the dog run free first and we see dog snarling or smelling each other's butt. We're basically seeing them running, peeing (and maybe poo-ing?) there while we eat. Spoils appetite huh? The staffs are attentive, they clean up the pee quite fast. Interaction time is from 1-2pm where we can mingle with the dogs and also take photos. The second sessions starts at 3-4pm - viewing time and 4-5pm - interaction time.

Staff saw her standing there, trying to pet a dog but the dogs just ran away from her, so she took a bowl of iced water and made her hold onto it. She did it for a while before I took over so that she can touch the doggies.  

I have videos of her stroking the dogs lovingly, one particular video she was seen stroking a sleepy dog’s head, body and paws. Looking at the 🐾 paw print as this is the only time she can study it intensively 😂 other times we have Smiley standing on all fours and coming to us so it’s not possible.  

She likes husky with brown colour fur. I suspect coz they look like her (hair)?    

I must commend the staffs being so observant. I was taking photos of her from afar as I was standing in queue for the photo-taking. The staff ran to me and asked me for my camera, he took both photos and video. 

In order to keep the doggies a little comfortable, they have fans all over the place. So as a customer I can't complain the heat. It's sheltered too so no scorching sun ray shines in. But still, it's hot so these doggies sleep in airconditioned place. 

Photo-taking time. They will only do group photo, they don't do individual. Fair enough, if everyone wants to take individual then it'll take forever, I understand. While paying the entrance fees, I asked if I don't want to take photo but is it okay to let her take with the dogs alone, nope the rule is no individual. Unless they have the time after all group photos are taken, I can get a pass for 1000TB (aproximately S$39). I told her I'll get the pass but she kept saying it's okay I can wait and see the situation. 

When we were queuing up, I noticed the time is already close to 2pm and there are other people behind us so she won't have the time to take photos with the dogs on her own. When I entered the caged place, they were still saying no, and I had to go and get the pass first. Does that mean I'll have to wait again? Boss happened to be around the area, so they ask and then I took out my 1000TB, I explained there's definitely no time to take individual photo looking at the number of people behind us. Luckily boss took the money and oh well, she can settle with the cashier later on. 

These photos will prove that the extra I paid is totally worth it. She made all the photos so beautiful, her fat mummy will make the photos so ugly. The smile on her face, she was extremely happy surrounded by the heavy dogs, not intimidated by their weight and size. She wanted to touch Rocky but was advised not to, so this time round she gets to be surrounded by the gentle giants. 

I love this candid photo. Apparently that dog got too heavy for her bony shoulder 

At 2pm, the dogs will make a run for their 'home'. I managed to get a video not photos. This photo is taken by someone else and posted in FB 

 

After they ran back, we washed our hands before leaving the place. Lil' one was still unwilling to leave this place and saw the last 2 dogs strolling back, she ran back to hug Dahlia. To think that she refused to have photo taken with her and another dog upstairs coz she said the colour looks scary like a bear, now she's hugging it. Never judge a book by its cover, mei-mei.     

She wanted to get a huge stuff dog toy home but no...... she can only get a small one as there are too many toys on her bed now. 

The place is not at a convenient location, most people arrive by Grab or tuk tuk. But no worries on the way back if you have no Grab, they will help you get a tuk-tuk out to the nearest train station (Ari) for 50TB. 

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The next day (22nd Nov), initially she wanted to go to unicorn cafe as per my suggestion, but I decided to surprise her with the cat cafe I searched the night before. She was in that 'ok let's go out' mood but when I said we're going to cat cafe, she jumped for joy. She has her wishes fulfilled this trip with both dog and cat cafe. 

Location wise, this is near a train station so it's easy to find it.

Fee is 200TB / pax, but any food or drinks or souvenirs that is extra we simply top up the difference. There's no time limit to staying here which I wonder how they will make money if they have students hoarding up the place.  

Most of the cats walked away as she stroked them. Haha! Cats are really so no feeling one.. not-attached to humans, unlike dogs who will manja.

 

This proud cat only came to us when my food arrived - cabonara

All so fluffy. No idea what breed but I'm sure it's mixed, they need to breed to keep customers coming in  

Only this cat will let my girl stroked her coz it's lazy, didn't move out of the bowl almost the whole time we were there. 

The staff saw cats running away from girl, so put this sleepy head on our table. Haha! Both get what they want - cat to be stroked; girl has a lazy cat to stroke. Rather fluffy too, feels like marshmallow   

You pay 88TB to have a polaroid taken. They allow me to take photos of her after that. Looking at the photo they took, I make a better photographer lor... 

Staffs here are not as attentive. I saw a cat peeing on the wall and wetting the cushion, for the whole 40mins nobody noticed anything. Did they ever wonder why the wall is wet? Why the cushion is wet?  I told one of them and she said it's the aircon dripping. No, it's not I saw that cat shooting out pee. And did they do anything? Nope. So good luck to the person being assigned a seat there later. Eeeks! And I was assigned a seat near the wall. Unlike the husky cafe, the staffs are quick to clean the place up. Though if it's in my house, I'll clean that spot 3x.  

It is also for this reason why I wouldn't want to keep a pet at home. They don't even clean or dry themselves. Imagine getting their pee or poo around the house, I don't have the energy to keep running after them to clean them n the house.

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Thoughts : we're giving these people to breed cats and dogs to bring in customers. So next time, go to one where you can play and adopt the furry friends home. 

I felt bad for the dogs, it's so hot in our tropical weather. They need lots of space to run and run. I think they're mixed too, maybe there's malamute blood running through somewhere?  

 

Scoliosis update

After going to KKH for the past 3yrs (or was it 2?), this is finally her last appointment with KKH. Finally! I hate the long wait even with appointment, I hate writing emails to school teacher asking for morning time-off and then rush her back to school (tho lil’ one didn’t mind missing school after her 2nd appt🤣) 

I hated it when I couldn't switch appointments to other days after that. The very first time the rude impatient guy at HPB made me fix a date for the X-ray in KKH, was rushing me "quick they need to know when" so I just say "friday morning" without knowing if it'll clash with anything in the school coz appointment was made in Dec for Jan/Feb. I didn't know if it's before or after CNY! 
Anyway, after that I wanted to switch to Saturdays so that it won't disrupt her lessons in school. It wasn't allowed as explained they have their doctors on that specific rotational basis blah blah.... what crap! We saw different doctors each time what?!         

Her X-Ray taken on 24th June 2022

Today’s appt (25th Nov 2022), doctor said there’s slight improvement with the number going down from 30 to 25. He didn’t mention anything about the top 2 numbers so I believe it’s rather insignificant. 

This girl also so lazy. Asked her to go swimming or do yoga also dowan. I nag at her but still don’t listen. Anyway it’s her body, she want to suffer that’s her problem. It’s really frustrating when I get all the “advices from friends that I must tell her to do it”. Ehh…….are their kids as extremely stubborn as mine? I’m sure in their motherhood journey nothing comes easy between them and their kids too or maybe their arguments are just some bor-liao things. 

Whatever it is, it won’t bend anymore since her bones are hardened. Just have to accept the fact that she’s stuck at this height forever. 

On This Day - 22nd Nov #Reminders from FB#

22nd Nov 2021

There are just that few crew who would always pick on people for no reason. 

I had my share of meeting a few, but I don’t care coz for I do benefit something in rtn. For eg. one famous IFS, return sector i worked with him in PCL and I learnt so much from him. And actually he’s quite a funny person. 

Lesson learnt from the other siao crews - I’ve learnt to be a better leader when I was one coz no way I was going to be like them.

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22nd Nov 2020 

Time to “go for concerts” in my home attire n maskless n can eat snacks 🤣 too! 

This year, even without covid, I would have to cut down on the number of concerts attendance coz 不带姐姐去看她会心痒痒, 带她去她没时间读书。It’s really sad that one of our concert was cancelled in April. But it was a good thing that my uncle Joe didn’t cancel his concert in Feb. That was our second last concert for this year. The Harry Potter after that was a mistake! I didn’t know it was for the entire movie! 😂 Che-che enjoyed that tho I was feeling so butt pain. 

So we made up for the rest of the year just listening to classicals at home. Not only classicals, as long as there’s music. 

We never got a chance to go for any Christmas Concerts coz we’re never in Singapore at the time, so this year is special for us.

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22nd Nov 2019

Rock-climbing with her friends 

After dropping lil’ one’s friends at their home, picked che-che up from school for VCH. Thanks to taxi-ah-lao days, we’re ace in changing clothes in the car 😂. Oh no! We can’t make it in time for pre-concert talk

Handsome boys 帅哥 

We (che-che n I) talked abt this before during our last trip, Dutch guys are good-looking. Haha!

Lucas & Arthur Jussen 

Athena & Aricia Ting

The brothers and sisters.

The talented ones vs non-talented ones

Can play duet vs sure quarrel before first bar

Muahaha!

22nd Nov 2016

女人s Ling Li, Karina Kho I saw our most irritating LS!! What's his name? Zahri? The one who always found fault with us. Then again we had the fierce but nice IFS who loved us n sided us. Ha!

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22nd Nov 2013

Spent a long day with the girls ringing n ringing. Almost puts me to sleep with the nice soothing music.

Singapore Book Records event - mass ringing with 7 other schools and MOB

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22nd Nov 2012

My two little monkeys