On This Day - (8th Dec) #Reminders from FB#

8th Dec 2022

Our holiday begins. Yippee!! 

Red - eye flight

Trained from airport to hotel

She misses this おでんおでん. Nice bowl of hot soup to keep us warm.

The always so troublesome hungry girl

ねこ posing for us

Lovely colour leaves

Sitting down for a separated-by-panel lunch . Just that this family was noisy and busy passing food to each other 

I need this wooden card

for you know who.
Every time it’s noisy, flip up this card infront of her. Not that it will help in anyway

The girls literally went “oh my god…” at every thing they see. I was getting a little irritated with their constant ‘OMG’, the next minute in the next aisle I exclaimed “oh my god, this is so cuteeeeee.”
Land of kawaii stuffs , leave money n credit cards in the hotel pls

I guess it’s not only the stationeries that appeal to us, the bread too!
Suppose to only get bread to standby if we’re hungry, we ended up taking more than what our tummy can take. We looked at the tray and burst out laughing coz we totally lost the main idea/purpose on why we were there in the first place.
#everythinglookssogood#
All o can say is “I’m glad I’m off keto” 

8th Dec 2021

Isn’t this beautiful? Managed to take this in a moving car in 2019 with my iphone7

8th Dec 2018

Che-che’s no-icing cinnamon roll 😂

8th Dec 2016

Feeling the mood.

I need somebody to throw me small styrofoam balls; wrap myself up like bak-chang and sit infront of a hot sizzling plate. Have some dogs wearing reindeer headbands running infront of me. Forget abt decorating my half botak Christmas tree in my balcony though!

Let me dream .......

8th Dec 2014

After being absent for so many days.. We've arrived in Tokyo today!

8th Dec 2014

Overheard one Chinese lady comment as we got off the plane.

"日本人长得像我们华人。”

OMG!!!

8th Dec 2012

* while we were in Sapporo, Hokkaido

We heard the news of the earthquake from SIN. Funny! We should be getting news here first. So it means we're safe here. I pray that we'll be safe throughout our trip. For our friends who are heading here soon n Sheryl Qua please be safe.

8th Dec 2011

The problem of exposures to piñatas...

Was taking pictures in a rice museum. And I heard lil' girl saying this "piñata, piñata, piñata!!" I walked over but already heard Che-che chiding her. And a ridiculously funny-looking girl with grains and husks on her hair greeted me with a sheepish smile. Apparently she was tossing some grains on the first two "piñata", third time she grabbed some grains and dropped on her head.

Had to untie hair and comb out.

8th Dec 2011

Jiufen - It's a beautiful place which I'd love to show my family. But the rainy spoilt it all. Sianz!

Lil' girl being forced to drink the 芋园 soup

Shiok to warm in this cold weather. Somebody please remind me to throw my weighing scales away!

8th Dec 2010

Know what's this? It's the thing inside the chemical warmer. Think it's tar?

Answer from Sheryl : It's iron powder & salt 

8th Dec 2008

is trying to backlog all her blog entries.

On This Day - (7th Dec) #Reminders from FB

7th Dec 2022

Yay….time to

7th Dec 2020

Where r we headed today?

Just the 2 of us.

#preciousmoments# #mummyrwethereyet#

x4 Luge rides. Look at how red our palms are!

“need cold drink....need cold drink...”

“i need Coke!”

Footnote written in 2021 : I hardly drink Coke at all. The only time I really crave for it would be after a hot day. Or another weird behaviour is during our holidays and I can be drinking Coke in a cold country. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it’s something like I feel psychologically tired after all the walking? Coz I do walk a lot during holidays too.

Did a bit of trail. x4 Luge Ride. Now to makan then ...we’re too tired to do another trail.

#cannotdomycoastaltrailforthesecondtime#

Maybe I shall do it on my own next time. I had to accommodate to the weary girl. As she accommodated to my suggestions to Sentosa. (Che-che didn’t like the idea so lil’ one suggested we could do this today plus I was suppose to do my walk in Marina but changed plans coz che-che wanted to go GBTB with her friend n didn’t like the idea that her mom might be there as well.)

Since she accommodated to me, I shall let her make the call. Nevertheless, it was a time well spent with her.

Arms, face n neck feels hot. Immediately put the nice cooling aloe vera on myself and lil’ one. Will do another 1 more application later.

How can I forget to pack arm sleeves today? And then I did a quick check on Wednesday’s weather outlook. It’s going to be another under the sweltering heat walk

for lil’ one n me. So we better start leaving the house much earlier that day since we need to train down to place. If not, I’ll be an auntie and carry

or better still make her quicken her pace.

7th Dec 2019

Lil’ one’s glasses only took a day! We went on Thu afternoon n they messaged me on collection yesterday.

When she was choosing the frame, the lady recommended this. Lil’ one exclaimed “ I dowan to look like everybody else.” I thought it looked nice on her, fresher look.

In the night, che-che told me this is what most k-pop fans wear plus having that wispy bangs. Oh! No wonder she said she didn’t want to look like everybody else!

#mygirlsrnotkpopfansatall#

7th Dec 2019

* added photo to ''6th Dec - Christmas at GBB'' photo album

Not many flower pics from me, I was more interested in the cuties (props) instead.

We went to Christmas Wonderland for the first time. No rides, no games just walked around.

Some pics were taken by che-che, who wasn't happy with the end result. But I think they were decent attempts by her.

7th Dec 2017

Girls took out my albums. Oh my! They were lovely memories.

 On the train to Stratford-Upon-Avon

Woah! Yosemite in autumn (Oct) with colleagues.

BKK - SIN on A310

7th Dec 2016

Decided to clear the school files (was still thinking of recycling for next year). Then I realised (remembered) that it has been passed down from che-che when she was P6. Either che-che didn't make use of what's in her files for revision or we really know how to take care of things. Heehee! I wonder which is it....

7th Dec 2016

Schedule for two Wednesdays :

Driving from Point A to Point B (15-20mins). Drop lil' one for her class. Go back to Point A. Pick up che-che from her replacement class. Drive back to Point B. Then it's dinner + running errands in one hr. Can lah! If I had to learn to gobble down food quickly in the galley, this is nothing.

Next week is another ....sigh.... tho' che-che has to be in NUS from 9am to ?? In between, it's lil' one's replacement classes. I haven't really looked at next week's timing properly yet. Thank goodness hub is not on any biz trip, will need his help somehow.

7th Dec 2015

Checked in. Nourishing my lungs for the big scream tmrw

7th Dec 2012

Freaking cold. Who needs a hot spring soak??

* at  定山渓万世閣ホテルミリオーネ. (南区定山渓温泉東3丁目, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan

+81 570-083-500)

和食 is too much for me. The only appetizing thing is dessert

On This Day - (6th Dec) #Reminders from FB#

6th Dec 2022

Let me blast my music.

Usually I'm quite considerate when family members are home and use AirPods but not today. No more SSO concerts for Athena Ting

& I this year, so this amplified 🎶 is what I really need

6th Dec 2022

Feeling so shiok.... alone at home

Man went back office for the day; girls are out for their siblings outing.

I really needed this solitude life, where I can listen to MY music in the background without any other music coming from other rooms and when I just cut back on housework (vacum n mop only) and ->

1) tidy up my phone photos; clear the previous holiday pictures I thought I had completed my 2019's holiday, turns out I had 2 days left for imovies.

My 2021's still 4 days. I always have interruptions on normal days that I have things done halfway here and there) It's always the time I clear my photos in phone to only store more photos in just a few days time.

2) update my blog. Too many in the drafts folder.

Argh!

3) doing nothing but laze on bed and listen to music. (unlikely I can do this)

6th Dec 2022

Just as I was writing the previous post, lil' one messaged me.

6th Dec 2022

and they're back after 5hrs 😩

"ssh don't talk" - guess who I gave this instructions to 🤣

6th Dec 2018

Travelling back with the girls whilst the man is working hard to feed us 😜

For the first time the girls can't wait to get back home

6th Dec 2017

It's our first time in a themed restaurant here. Tourist aka suaku lil' one taking pics

Hmm.....taste so-so. I think trying it once is enough.

6th Dec 2017

Our first time going for a ballet performance - all this

"for lil' one". I have to really stress the ".." Few hours earlier, che-che asked "is there any orchestra or r they playing from tape?" I was mentally prepared that che-che is only looking forward to the music; lil' one is there for the dance. I'm there as the chaperon.

Ballet — umm.....it's nice but I prefer ballroom dancing. I watched short videos of ballet performance, they r not short but I cut it short (if u know what I mean) so this is an eye-opener for a live performance. 3rd row and I think I made a mistake, ballet performance shouldn't be watched that close?

I can hear the "thump" sometimes as they come down. Not sure if Swan Lake should be next, but if so.. it will be rows away and che-che can stay at home.

Only 3rd Act? I was already getting bored with the same twirling n turning, same poses. About to fall 😴 . It's just me.

They dance really beautifully. Everytime they do a dance step, I told myself "if only my taichi girl can have 1/4 of that ballerina's finesse.. If only ... if only!" Ballet is just not for me. Maybe if it's only less than 45mins I think I can appreciate ballet. I prefer the quick 'get it over and done with' ballroom dancing where dancer dance from this side of the stage n get out on the other side. Not the "omg still dowan to leave stage n keeps turning around"

I finally associate the music to the dance. I have music sheets; listened to them before but just didn't know when it was played. So my hands were tapping along to the music.

End of performance. I turned to che-che and saw her eyes were red. I think she was yawning away, and the final one I witnessed it. "So boring. turn n turn only!" Lil' one says she likes it. I said I was bored even before the intermission, Che tolerated longer than me

- after the intermission. Che n I prefer musicals. Lil' one was picked up from the rubbish bin so she has different interest.

On our journey home, che started listening to her classical music and though classical music was played during the performance, this is so different. At least I don't picture the twirling with the music and get myself hypnotized.

#ballet# #givememusicalanytime#

6th Dec 2010

Girl doing Compehension for me, then asks me to explain some "chim" words used. It was a passage about Farming methods. I explained a little, when got to the part about holes in leaves. She tells me "it must be good plant that's why they eat. So next time look for more holes in vegetables." (lol) Then, came to ladybird, she told me she read before that how many spots are good ladybirds; how many are bad.

6th Dec 2010

cont'd: Trying hard to get her back on track with me, next passage talks about slugs. She tells me "ai yoh! just use salt to kill slugs lah!" Haha! I'm amazed! That girl has superb memory and knowledge of things she reads. That's the way to go girl. She can be an organic farmer next time

ADHD? Me?

I'm just beginning to wonder if I do have a little insignificant trait of ADHD? Since sister said she has, there's a possibility the siblings might have too?

Why this sudden thought? Coz altho the Christmas jazz music keeps me going in what I had to do but l'm also often standing up and walking around. Walk to the fridge, open door look in and take nothing out, sit down to read a little, stand up to find something else to do, sit down read n type a little, stand up and fold plastic bags, go back to typing, read, fiddle with handphone. Just that if without music, I do more other stuffs than the actual reading n planning. 😂😂

And when I was younger, I need to have books and papers sprawled then I can study. Maybe that’s an excuse for my untidiness 🤣. 

Hmm......

A reminder why I hate organized tour

Planning holiday itineraries is something I enjoy doing but I also hate it when I get too stressed up with the planning. Abit confusing ay? I usually prefer to start planning months in advance so I can pace myself with the 1001 other things I seem to need to do on a daily basis.

This year end we’ll be heading to Taiwan. Hubby bought the air tickets a day before lil’ one’s birthday but going down to action of planning started only in October. Buying tickets is so easy coz he will just state both departure dates. The challenging part comes to me, I have to play around with places/cities to go and make sure I reach the last city in time. It’s impossible to only have one night stop at each place, so I do have to forgo that place if after research found nothing else worthy to see.  

Planning process 

Lots of scribbling. Really! That’s when the recycled papers and maybe new papers are put to good use. You may think I have an iPad, won’t it be easier to have it written down in there? But I’m a visual person so I need to see the plan in boxed excel-like table. 🤣 And there’s always lots of cancellations in the paper; draw arrow here and there. Something that makes me look much more busier than I actually am 😂. Dunno why? Maybe it’s my brain functioning in such way BUT NO WORRIES I ALWAYS GET MY WORK DONE EVENTUALLY. 

Like I said, the hubby always leave the challenging part to me. Coz he knows I will research extremely well. Grandmaster Tan told him before “you can leave things to your wife. She thinks a lot but she always get things done nicely for you.” No wonder I feel and look older than him 🤣 tho he’s 8 years older than me. Coz we tend to travel during winter, he knows I will always check the weather way before. I try to avoid driving in snow. That explains the cancellations as sometimes I need to change plan, change the direction to travel. 

Once I get a rough plan on the places to go, I’ll pass it to him. For what I dunno? Most times he never dare to comment on my plan, maybe he knows his kee-siao wife will end up getting angry and throw the job back to him if he ever makes any comments. 

My planning states driving time, where to stop. We usually end up with more stops along the way as he often likes to break his drive with lots of breaks. Ticket fees, hours, abt the place we’re going etc…is all typed in and made into a booklet.  During holidays, I’m the one leading them on where to go. 

Researching about places in Taiwan 

Been to Taiwan during SQ days but I never ventured much out of Taipei. Only went 九分 with Angeline on one of our team flight. The rests is mainly go night markets and then back to hotel to sleep and get ready for the journey home or to LAX (SQ6) or I just go for a meal after check-in then head back to hotel to rest. As such I don’t have much idea of the country. 

We went Taiwan before. I had no idea which tour agency hubby booked but it was a small group of 8. A small van came to pick us at the airport (our family of 4, my MIL, hubby’s friend friend SHie and a mother-daughter). 

While researching 

As I was planning itinery to the southern part near Kenting, I was looking into Maobitou Park 貓鼻頭公園 and went into YouTube to see if it’s worth the trip. It was only when I went through our old photos then I realised we went there before! Honestly I don’t have any recollection of the place. Most likely we 🐂 bulldozed our way in just to see one or two broken rock and then bulldozed our way out of the park for the next stop. My goodness even the YouTube video 看了也没有印象. 

Taroko : we went with the tour before. And when you are not the one planning the trip/join a tour group, you wouldn’t even bother to look at the map of all the sights and spots to stop right? Then I realised that the tour group only brought us to 2 easily accessible spots which is only next to each other but we still had to go up the bus for the ride to the second place and alight again. For ourselves, I planned for 6 places to see. How is it that tour groups don’t cover so many places when we can do it? 

I watched a video on YouTube on Taroko just to get an idea. The person was basically walking through quickly with his GoPro. His tour group doesn’t stop, basically just raise flag and walk through. 😂  I saw so many stops along the way and nobody stopped for pictures, the tour mates basically just walked and followed that leader. Uncanny similarities, dawned upon me it’s not the Asian thing but even for angmoh tour groups. 

The motion of a tour group

Go down the bus to pee. Go back up the bus to sleep

Bus had to be parked somewhere and tourists come down and walked briskly to dunno where and presto guide points you to something far ahead with a stick but you still can’t see what he’s pointing to. You probably wasn’t paying attention to what the guides said in the bus either on what were going to see next coz you’ll probably be asleep in the bus at that time. 

Once reach stop, you snaps snap picture. Then your family takes turn to take photo of the whatever thing or statue and you’re not paying attention to the guide. If you have a group means my kids want to take on their own, take together, MIL take alone, MIL take with my family, take for friend. Same place but so many snaps. Then go back up the bus. SO WHAT WAS THAT YOU WONDER?! That’s my feeling when I looked at the photos taken in Maibitou Park, I didn’t know what I was taking! 

And there’s always the debate on whether it is cheap to join a tour or to do own F&E. When I go through some itineraries of places they will bring you, it’s basically all the FOC places! And they really just bring you there for one sight then drive 100km to another part of the country for another sight. When tour groups bring people to Grand Canyon, they always bring them to the west side. It’s really nothing much there. Of course many people will always boast “I’ve been to Grand Canyon, I saw Grand Canyon.” to others. But ….really uncle I want to tell you that’s not even the National Park! Sigh….. the thing about going to a tour group is sometimes you’ll hear someone boasting they’ve been to such a such place. Never mind nobody can see my eyes rolling when I overheard their conversations. I should start blogging why I hate to bump into Singaporeans overseas. 

Our trips to China 

In China I’m always trailing behind coz I want to take pic then I dunno what’s going on coz he explains but I also want to take pic. Then as we the last ones had arrived; we have to quickly leave. 🤣 I mean I’m always the rush rush kind but this is too much, I don’t even have time to smell and feel the zen-ness of the place esp in scenic places. 

What I prefer to do

I want to take time to read, download app and scan QR code to see the visual old place and now. You know lots of interactive things to do. I’m not able to do that if I’m with a tour coz half the time I’ll be chasing all the way to the front, rushing the girls to walk faster and not knowing what is said and simply take photos and then leave. 

I prefer to take my time to take photos too. Not to quickly snap and chase after my tour mates. 

But….there are some places I wouldn’t want to go F&E

Egypt is one place I wouldn’t want to go F&E. Funny right? I went on a solo trip out of Cairo on my own once in a private cab. I think that time 观音娘娘看了都怕，asked for more 菩萨 reinforcements to come protect me 😂. No wonder hubby (ok boyfriend then) looked at me with wide open eyes when I was telling him excitedly my solo trip. 

When hubby said to go Spain in 2013(?), I told him to join a tour instead as it’s not a safe place. But really Spain is a beautiful place. 

South Africa, India, Russia (anyway I think need to have a guide for F&E trips), South America, Turkey (the ulu parts) , China (ulu parts) are places I would prefer to sit in a huge tour bus with other Singaporeans tour mates. 

So having said that, I would prefer not to join an organised tour for my holidays but if I have no choice I would. Joining an organised tour takes away my freedom, but at the same time we have people (I think n I hope) watching out for us.