Japan Trip Nov 2009 - A video says a thousand words

Instead of writing about the trip - we thought - why not let the pictures do the talking. A little loss in picture quality when converted to video, but still, I think you get the picture - we will remember this trip for some time to come - we hope Faith does! Enjoy...

Hong Kong (15th - 19th Jun 09)

This post has been waaaay overdue. I'm just too lazy and a little busy these days. If we have spare time, I would rather spend as much of my remaining SAHM-time with Faith, in anticipation of my part-time work arrangement in Jul.

Since its been a while ago, I shall forgo the usual post-holiday recounts and focus on some of the key highlights of the trip instead.

1) Trip itinerary - It was a 5D4N trip; the first 2N were spent in HK, specifically in Harbour View Renaissance Hotel in HK Island and the remaining 2N were spent in Disneyland, staying at the Disneyland HK Hotel. We had some Marriott vouchers which we used to redeem for the 2N stay in HK, as well as a dine-in lunch on the afternoon before we checked out for Disneyland.

HK hotels are small, and we didn't want to splurge that much for a room with a King-sized bed. So, we had rooms with Queen beds, plus a free foldaway for Faith. She spent her time in the hotel room jumping up and down from the queen beds onto her foldable beds.

2) Dining is more expensive in Hong Kong - We had dinners with friends the first two nights in HK Island. One was at the touristy cum local hotspot, Yung Kee, and the other at Ches, a typical smallish Chinese restaurant located right in the red-light district. Belying its somewhat dubious and eye-popping location, food was impeccable. These dinners for 3 adults cost nearly S$200 each night for just 1 soup (to share) and about 3-4 other dishes, one of which was meat. Nothing extravagant though, which makes it the cost unbelievable.

However, soups was consistently good in all the restaurants, including the Crystal Lotus Chinese restaurant located in HK Disneyland Hotel. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised that Crystal Lotus served impeccable and fine Chinese cuisine, similar to standards of Hua Ting @ Orchard Hotel.

3) HK Disneyland is more suited for younger children - Its probably the smallest Disneyland amongst all the others overseas. Most of the rides aren't that thrilling, except for Space Mountain. It was sufficient for Faith though cos she was rather overwhelmed by the larger-than-life characters there. She was frightened of the Main Street afternoon parade and parts of the Golden Key show too. She only acquiesced to picture taking with Mickey (her absolute favourite), Minnie (2nd favourite), Sleeping Beauty (at lobby of hotel) and Goofy (very reluctantly).

Two days was a good time for us at Disneyland. Taking on Disneyland with a toddler isn't quite the same and you can't hurry a toddler along too much.

Her absolute favourite rides there has got to be Small Small World. Well... not unexpected :)

4) Hong Kong, the shopping paradise - Not if you're there with a spouse that's not into shopping and a bored 2-year old. My only shopping was done at the H&M outlet at Central and Sogo Foodhall for the Hang Heung Lao Po Bing (old wives biscuits, literally translate). Oh... not forgetting the Disney stores at Disneyland, where Faith turned into a shopaholic cum Santarina.

5) Faith's take on HK & Disneyland - It was apparent from Day 1 that Faith is more of a homebody and she missed everyone at home.

Her favourite phrase there on a daily basis was "I go home" and "I find Ye-ye/Nai-nai/Mama/Dua Peh/Dua Erm/Jie-jie/Gor-gor" etc etc. The first phrase was always uttered when she was out of her elements and/or was frightened and the second phrase when she was tired and cranky.

At Disneyland, her 3rd fav phrase was "I buy for [insert name of family members]". She would look at a t-shirt, a toy, sunglasses, mugs, pens etc and wanted to buy them for someone at home. If she could have her way, she would bring home the bulk of the items from Disney for everyone.

Faith ate well in HK. In fact, she was mostly able to sit in her chair and finish her food for all her lunches and dinners. My best take-along on the trip was the nori sheets that I brought along. She must be a Japanese in her previous life cos she obviously likes her rice wrapped in nori sheets. With the nori sheets, she could just eat it with plain rice and no soup.

6. Overall trip rating - It was a fairly good trip. This was meant to be an "incentive" trip for me since I was going back to work -- no more taking off on impromptu trips at short notice, and a trip for Faith.

Hopefully, we'll be able to take another trip again somewhere towards end of the year. For now, we've decided not to jinx it by doing too much planning or building up any expectations, ala our cancelled Australian trip.

Till then....

Merry Christmas & A Happy Birthday

Christmas holds a very special meaning in our family, not becos we are Christians. The date of 25th Dec is always reserved for the family. A time to celebrate and get-together.

It is the day that Louis was born some thirty-odd years ago :)

Being the family man that he is, Louis is happiest when we spend his special day surrounded by family, having a home-cooked meal. Frankly, it doesn't matter to him very much if it was a simple meal, or one that we order in.

Last year, he tolled and slaved over a Christmas turkey. It was the first time that he made it for me and the family after years of pestering on my part. We oohed-ahhed over the gorgeous, succulent and moist bird that came out from our oven and promptly attacked it with relish. So much so that we forgot to take a picture of it for the blog.

This year, we decided to do away with the turkey. And so, I stepped forth and set out to prepare the entire Christmas meal, complete with a Birthday/Christmas Buche de Noel (log cake), the very first cake that I ever made for him.

I was very determine to make him his birthday cake this year as I'm now a SAHM without income. It seemed senseless to me to buy him a birthday present with his own money :)

Apart from our immediate family, a couple of his aunties, an uncle and cousins joined us again (they were with us last Christmas too). It was a bit of a challenge trying to cook a 5-course meal to feed a crowd of 14-15 people, while getting to enjoy ourselves too. We could have pot-luck or order some of the food in. However, I'm a little of a perfectionist when it comes to such gatherings and prefer to prepare all the food for the gathering on my own.

The Christmas menu comprised of a starter of Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (Goi Cuon), with beef stew and crab meat pasta as the mains. We topped that off with the log cake and green-tea tiramisu.

My elder BIL is unfortunately still overseas for work. The good news is that he would be home in time to celebrate the turn of the new year. That would be yet another reason for the family to celebrate.

Thanks to the the aunties, who came loaded with chocolates from their European vacation and a casserole of baked rice, and my elder SIL, who bought some sushi and Korean strawberries, there was more than enough food to go around. As usual :)

Our Christmas tree was also spilling with lots of Christmas presents, not only for ourselves, but along with presents for the 2As too.

As for Faith, she was happy to run around, socialise and alternated between following and bossing around her 2 older cousins all over the house.

It has been a simple but blessed Christmas cum Birthday celebration for us. It means a lot to Louis and I that we are able to have the extended family spend the festive season with us. This is the warmth and love of family that we hope that Faith will continue to be surrounded with as she grows to learn to appreciate it as much as we do.

Little Family's Bintan Trip: 6th - 8th Dec 2008

In all seriousness, I don't suppose there's much sense putting a post about how we spent our 3D2N trip in Bintan during the Hari Raya Haji holiday weekend. Afterall, I'm sure many people know what there is or isn't to do in Bintan. Plus, it wasn't our first trip there.

I suppose I shall let the pictures do all the talking. Suffice it to say it was a somewhat eventful start on the morning of our trip when Faith woke up with her legs filled with rashes. Turns out that she had hives.

It was a mad scramble to get her to see the paedi, and liaising with our travel agent to change our departure time (we have to say that Fascinating Travels, as always, provided excellent services) to a later slot -- we were scheduled to depart at 12 noon.

So, we had our share of fun on the beach, building (with Faith destroying) sandcastles, swimming, eating and doing pretty much nothing else at a beach resort. Just the kind of holiday that I like with a kid on hand.

Another thing... I would think twice about travelling on a ferry during a monsoon season next time. The water was extremely choppy and I very nearly puked on board the ferry. Never happened to me ever before.

I) On feeding - Faith self-feeds only for food she likes e.g. chawanmushi & ice-cream

II) Blowing bubbles - Every kid loves them, Faith included. Although she kinda like to hang the device around her neck and walk around the resort with it.

III) Pretending to suntan - weather was dreary and overcast the day that we were due to depart. No matter, for posterity's sake, Faith is happy to pose for the camera, except that she's not in her swimming costume.

IV) Collage galore - That's why its called collage galore... a mix-match of different pictures.

V) "Almost sisters" - Lo and behold, 2 girls in pink at the reception lobby; one's on her way home to Singapore and the other on her way in from Singapore. Uncannily alike in their pink tops, hair style and size. Just about a month apart in age.

Family trip in the planning

Australia! That's our next travel destination.

The flight tickets have been booked for 4 adults and 1 toddler to head to Sydney and Gold Coast in mid Feb 09. Both my in-laws would be travelling along with us.

The occasion? Partly becos our friends from Louis' Insead days are getting hitched in the bride's home city, which is in Sydney. The wedding ceremony and reception would be held at the Sydney Opera House to boot. How interesting is that!

It was timely that the email from L&A came this week. Louis and I were deciding where to go for our next travel destination. We were debating between Japan and the US becos we thought that Disneyland might be enjoyable for Faith.

With that email, it cemented and finalised our travel destination.

We added Gold Coast so that there would be something of interest for Faith. We figured themed parks would be more the kind of thing to appeal to a nearly 2-year old toddler than visiting vineyards and the Blue Mountains.

Between now and then, we'll have to do our planning. In the meantime, I'm slowly trying to train Faith to be able to eat adult food. I'm hoping that I won't need to lug my usual mini-kitchen for the trip Down Under.

If she is able to eat off our plates, we would have a bigger window to go sightseeing, instead of rushing to go out and returning back to the hotel to turn on the switch for her slow cooker to cook her porridge.

Thinking about that possibility makes me all excited for the trip :) Yippee!

Phuket Part 2 - Time spent with family

Faith gazing at the pool from the living room of our Banyan Tree Pool Villa

One of the drawbacks of being a consultant (or for that matter, any job that is project-based) is that one seldom has the luxury to control your own time. While one can theoretically take leave as and when one likes, in practical terms, one usually can't. The reason is simple: one can't plan too far ahead for leave because one never knows if a project is ever going to complete as planned.

So, it was with much relief that we headed off to Phuket on Monday, having completed a project the week before. There is nothing quite as relaxing as knowing that you have nothing hanging or waiting for your attention when you get back to work. So it was that Faith's fifth trip overseas - this time to Thailand, Phuket started.

Instead of giving an iternerary of what we did in Phuket, I decided to pen down a few thoughts that arose during this trip. Hopefully, Faith, when you read this when you are older and perhaps when you have your own kids, you'd empathise with what mummy and daddy felt on this short but memorable holiday.

We're getting better at it I still remember when we first brought Faith overseas. This was to Bintan then (20 October 2007) - no flight involved, and we had packed what seemed to be an overwhelming amount of stuffs such as cooker for her porridge, a medicine bag, chopping board etc. On her first flight - to Dubai (29 November 2007), we had for the first time in our lives, used a child seat belt and we were intrigued at what we needed to do to take her in and out of the bassinet when there was turbulence.

7 months and 4 trips later, I would consider ourselves quite pro at travelling with Faith. Perhaps give us two days notice and we'd be able to pack everything. We now have a ready-to-go medical kit for Faith (and one for ourselves), a spare cooker for her travels, a fridge-to-go (to keep veggies fresh for when we arrive to the destination), and all her complete set of toiletries already packed into our green Samsonite luggage bag. Besides these spares already in the luggage, we're getting quite good at putting in her toys, and favourite pillows and bolster. As for flights, when we book the flights now, it comes quite instinctive as to which flight times work best for Faith's meals and sleep times. And on board, we now don't even bother with bassinets on short trips and have learnt to juggle alternating meals and of course, mastered the use of the infant seat belt.

Will these holiday memories stay with Faith? Notwithstanding the fact that some part of travelling is now becoming quite routine, there is always something new in every travel we embark. The one thing that constantly on the back of our minds is this: Will Faith remember any of this? Will Faith remember the first time we had our own 'pool' right next to the living room? Will she remember the first use of her ring-float? Will she remember seeing the slightly more tanned Thai faces? Will she remember the toy elephant she received as a welcome gift in her cot? Will she remember how hot this place was? Will she remember how she clung so much to Eve during this trip?

This Phuket trip brought many firsts for not only myself and Eve, but probably even more so for Faith. To the extent, I think as a result, she was a bit more clingy to Eve this time round because she is much more conscious of her surroundings compared to when she was younger. Also, the flight, as short as it was, probably contributed some jet lag (and as a result some tiredness and consequently, grouchiness) making her even more insecure.

A brief search on literature showed varying comments on this topic about whether infants remember their holidays. As parents, we secretly hope so. Because it is tiring to bring Faith on a travel, but we also know we would miss her terribly if she were not with us. It just wouldn't be the same. The only consolation thus, we hope, is that she remembers this. This will make all the tiredness in the world well worth the while.

We need to get better at taking our own pictures One of the best things about going for a trip is that we come back with a full GB of pictures and memories. I promised Eve that I wouldn't take the easy way out by converting everything into a slide show, so here's my favourite 15 photo picks apart from those already in this blog.

1 & 2. Faith on her favourite rabbit-back ride. 3. Usual cheeky self 4. Checking out the closet.

5. Faith basking in the afternoon Phuket sun indoors 6. Eve and Faith at the French restaurant 7. Posing

8. 3rd day in our own pool 9. Eve showing Faith how to kick 10. A closer look at the water flow 11. Refraction

12. Fun in the pool 13. At the Banyan beach. 14. Mother-daughter lessons in life 15. Quiet time

One of the worst things is that out of 200 pictures we take, only 5 of them have all three of us in it. It doesn't help that Eve and I absolutely have no skill in holding the camera in front of us, then shooting, or for that matter, using a camera timer. Thankfully, there are kind souls around us who kindly oblige when we're not too thin-skinned to ask.

Overall verdict After having tried out many destinations, Eve and I still feel our favourite chill out place is Banyan in Bintan. Not only is it self-contained in terms of having restaurants with good quality food, it is also nearby which means that Faith isn't subjected to any of the jetlag. Until next time then :)

Phuket Part 1 - Food

Having returned from Phuket, I thought it'd be time to sit down, relax and recount some of our experiences in our 4 day stay there. There are just too many places to start from, so I thought why not kick off with the Food blog.

Eve and I are foodies at heart. In fact, one of our best hobbies in our travel isn't visiting churches or monuments or places of interest. Our favourite pasttime is really discovering nice eating places in our travels. Till today, for example, we still miss the Cous-cous we had in a corner restaurant in Nice, the Korean food in a restaurant near the Eiffel in Paris, the paella from Carrefour near Fonty, the fried seafood in a homely restaurant in Venice and the baguettes we had in along the way to the market in Fonty.

So it was no surprise that we had high expectations for discovering at least a few nice eating places in Phuket. After all, this was a place that I remember well for seafood (I came here with my family eons ago when I was a little boy) and after all, this is Thailand - a place where I've been impressed before (at least in Bangkok) by the creativity and affordability of the cuisine. And (fortunately) before I left for Phuket, I researched on some of the potential food places to go to as suggested by Thailand Tatler. Two of the places - Dibuk and Watermark, were places we came to know of because of the site.

As one would expect, we had disappointments and pleasant surprises along the way. Here's the four food places - the good and the bad, worth mentioning.

The disappointment -Saffron at Banyan Tree (2 out of 10)

We have had mixed experiences at the Saffron - Banyan Tree's signature restaurant. At Bintan, we were simply bowled away by the cuisine - it was not only innovative, the cuisine was really worth every penny and when we first ate there, we really liked the degustation menu it offered. However, when we subsequently went to the Saffron at Bangkok Banyan Tree, we were disappointed because the food was really not that different from any typical Thai fare you would get in Bangkok or even in some Thai restaurants in Singapore.


This time round, we decided to give Saffron at Banyan Phuket a try, and it was a disappointment. We ordered their signature appetisers and when it came, the plating was just average. Also, the satay was a tough and the sauces really just ordinary. When we ordered the recommended curry and vegetables, we also felt the food was just so-so. The bill came up to a hefty S$80 for just myself and Eve, so we really felt this was a meal that was not at all value for money. Definitely a 2/10 place.

Good value for money -Dibuk French Restaurant (6 out of 10)

Having been very disappointed with the Saffron on our first night, we decided to venture outside Banyan Tree for lunch on the next day. The only drawback to this was that we had to take a cab outside and being a little ambitious, we decided to go to Phuket town which was like a 40 minutes ride away.

We had originally wanted to go to a Italian place recommended by the Thailand Tatlet, but because we got there too late, we decided to venture to a French restaurant instead.

To our surprise, the food was actually quite good. For S$40 for the two of us, I ate beef bourguignon, and Eve had buttered sole. We also had 2 appetisers comprising of a dish of creamed scallop and another of grilled king prawns in garlic butter. All the dishes were good and fresh and we had a taste of the homely French cooking that we seldom find outside France. Nothing very wow about the food, but understated and homely. It seems the chef had married a French chef and now she was cooking on her own. Well, our gain. The other authentic thing about the place was that the other customers in the restaurant were a pair of French women.


Overall, I would rate it 8 out of 10 for food, but because it was a little warm and because it cost us a lot to get into town, I'd rate it 6 out of 10.

Good value for money -Lotus Restaurant (7 out of 10)

For dinner on the second night, we called the conceirge and they recommended us to a place called Lotus Restaurant - just five minutes ride from our hotel. The good thing of course was that the restaurant was able to send a complementary shuttle to Banyan to pick us up - we merely told our recep what time we wanted to be there and they arranged everything for us.

The place is an outdoor place - no aircondition seating. But the night we were there, there was a nice breeze blowing, so it was actually quite pleasant. Plus, the service staff was kind enough to help us put a mosquito coil when I requested it - more as a advance precaution rather than in response to any mosquitoes that I actually saw or felt. The other good thing about this restaurant is that the food is cheap and good. We spent in all S$20 between Eve and myself for dinner that night - I ordered Tom Yam soup and some prawn cakes, whilst Eve ordered some Pad Thai. The tables next to us also ordered a lot of seafood - there were live seafood of lobsters and prawns and they looked pretty good.



Overall thus, I would rate Lotus as a 7/10 place - very "everyday" food menu at non-cut throat prices, and it is accessible from Laguna where we were staying. Definitely a place one can go for a casual lunch/dinner while in Phuket.

Our best restaurant pick -Watermark (8 out of 10)

On our last night in Phuket, Eve did the most streetwise thing by calling up our recep to enquire about transport to Watermark. As it turned out, this restaurant has been featured in Thailand Tatler from 2004 to 2008 without fail and I had printed out the menu for Eve before we went for the trip. Eve caught on and found out that the restaurant actually could send a complimentary shuttle to Banyan to drive us to the restaurant that was 20 minutes away.

The Watermark made our day and I think foodies will love the place. The place is located in a yacht marina and you can see yachts just docked next to your table. The ambience thus was splendid and the staff were very kind and professional.


We also loved the food there. You know when you are having quality food just by looking at the sauces that accompany the food and in typical French cuisine style (though the restaurant is fusion/Australian/Thai), the sauces played a large part in the dishes that came in. Eve and I ordered the following:

Starters
1. Goong Sarong 220 Baht (~ S$10)
- fresh prawn tails wrapped in crispy vermicelli noodles + honey-mustard sauce

2. Trio of Vietnamese Rice Noodle Rolls 180 Baht (~ S$8)
- rare tuna & seaweed - hot mustard dip; shrimp & green mango - asian cocktail dressing;
chinese aromatic duck - sweet chili blackbean sauce

Mains

1. Pan-Seared Pink Duck Breast Salad 265 baht (~ S$11)
with pomelo, rocket & avocado + orange dressing

2. Homemade Prime Beef Burger on Open Ciabatta Bun 275 baht (~$11)
with grilled cheddar & beetroot, relish + shoestring fries

The burger was a little salty, so I would recommend if you do try this dish, tell the chef to ease up on the salt. Apart from that the food was really nice and well-plated and innovative. The duck salad was good because the duck came in large chunks - good for a mains.

Overall thus, I would say, go to the Watermark if you're going to Phuket for the first day to at least try it. Then go to the Lotus the next day to get some down to earth food. After that, who knows, explore further the restaurants in Thailand Tatler or repeat the places as necessary :)

Weekend at the Fairmont Singapore

Weekend came early this week for us. Thanks once again to my MIL's generosity, we checked into Fairmont Singapore for a free 1N stay at the hotel due to the issue of the leaking ceiling/pipe at home.

Elder BIL was on leave that day, so he came along with us to use the gym at Willow Stream for his workout. For reasons that I did not ask but am thankful for, Louis was able to take off from work the rest of Fri afternoon. Astee, my elder SIL, her mom and the 2As turned up too in the evening.

Apart from the fact that we'd gotten the room for free, staying at Fairmont Hotel is a very good choice for several other reasons too. Compared to the Swissotel the Stamford which is just next door, the Fairmont has been recently renovated and the rooms are nicely furnished with a modern look and feel. If you stay at the Fairmont, you get to use the gym for free while guests from the Swissotel the Stamford have to pay for access.

For another, the location is great. The hotel is smack where Raffles City Shopping Centre is and with recent upgrading of the shopping centre and the newly renovated and expanded basement, there's really a lot of shops and food outlets to spend your money on if you so want to :) Of course, the MRT is also located exactly at the shopping centre, so its convenient to zip back and forth to wherever. I think this is an excellent hotel to stay in if there are friends visiting from overseas, especially for leisure.

Coincidentally, our soon-to-be younger SIL was also staying the night at Swissotel the Stamford (thanks to another of my MIL's vouchers) for her hen night party with her friends. Astee and I headed there around 10 pm, hoping to glean a little of the "action" that was supposed to be going on. Unfortunately, we were there a little too early cos the "action" hadn't yet arrived. Yes, I'm beating around the bush on this one but its supposed to be a secret :)

Had a nice tea session with my mom at Ya Kun Coffee at the basement, served up with caneles from Canele. Adrian gave her a lift home after his gym workout, on his way home to bring Astee and the kids for dinner and some shopping.

Anyways, we brought Faith for a dip in the pool in the late evening since the weather was good. She had a lot of fun playing in the water, with me pretending to "chase and catch" her around the pool. She was tired after and napped until almost dinner time.

Originally, we had wanted to dine at Shoduku, the Japanese restaurant at the basement of Raffles City, but the queue was unbelievably long when we went there slightly after 7 pm. Decided at the last minute to head out to Wah Noogeez at Carlton hotel instead for dinner before heading back for some quick shopping spree. Astee bought a pair of shoes to match her dress for the wedding. Adrian a shirt for his suit and me a casual top :) Louis and I even bought some snacks for supper and bread for our next day's breakfast.

We congregated back in the hotel room after that for some R&R. Took the opportunity to take more pictures of the cousins together and here's one that turned out great. The 2As each took a picture with my camera too. But as usual, Faith was playing with my camera after that and as always, manages to erase the picture that Anthea took. Oh well...

After breakfast the next day, we took Faith to the pool again for a swim. Parents-in-law came by for lunch before we headed home. The 2As unfortunately weren't able to come since they were coughing a little. Otherwise, I think it would be a fun time for the 3 cousins to be splashing about in the pool.

On hindsight, this 1N hotel stay was rather relaxing and fun even though it was unplanned. I definitely love the excellent location, complete with all my favourite food and shopping stores.

Remaining pictures of time in Dubai

I've been bumming around and not blogging much since the return from Dubai. There's no excuse. I'm not busy unpacking nor with the frenzy of doing any Christmas shopping. Speaking of the latter, I ought to get my butt moving to start buying Christmas presents. Somehow, there's less of an impetus to wanna get into the Christmas pressie shopping mood cos I'm at home and not influenced by the loads of shopping bags hauled in by colleagues during this period. Still, what's gotta be done, gotta be done.

There were still some pictures that we took in Dubai that I didn't have the chance to post. Since I'm still in a somewhat lazy mood, instead of blogging, I'm just going to attach the remaining pictures with a few explanations here and there :)

On the 2nd last day in Dubai, Faith came down with running nose. My mood was dampened when Faith falls sick again. Decided not to go out that day, but to get out from the confines of the 4 walls in our hotel room, I brought her out for a walk just outside our hotel. As we were located in the financial district, there really isn't much sight to behold except for more buildings, the highway and of course, more ongoing construction works.

After we returned to our room, we whiled away some time, trying to take a picture of Faith, looking out at the cityline, but unfortunately, with the reflection off the windows, it was hard to take a nice shot of Faith, yet capturing the view outside. Either that or I'm limited by the lack of photography skills.

On Saturday, the day of our departure, we headed out to this place called Medinat Jumeirah after lunch. Its supposed to encompass a hotel, shopping and lots of restaurants and pubs. For lack of time, we only went to past the hotel lobby to get to the Chinese restaurant, Zheng He (supposed to be THE best Chinese restaurant recommended by TimeOut Dubai) and I did a quick shop around the Souk. The whole place resembles a themed hotel in Las Vegas. The draw was that the Burj Al Arab was very very near. From our alfresco table, we could very clearly see the iconic hotel and being touristy, we succumbed to lots of picture snapping.

And finally, more than 2 years after my return from our Morocco trip, I finally got to buy a set of Moroccan tea set and minature tagine. Yay!

Dubai as I see it

Source: http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/07/sinister_paradise.html

Dubai fascinates me. The entire city seems to be in a constant state of development. Developing newer, bigger and more iconic skyscrapers, office buildings, apartments, condominiums and malls. I even learnt a new term, Pentaminiums, meaning penthouse condominiums. Everywhere I travel along the highways, I see many buildings in different state of development and construction, seemingly trying to surpass one another with awe-inspiring or jaw-dropping intents.

Piling works ongoing in empty plots of land. Long cranes sitting high atop already tall, half-finished skyscrapers. A fully developed apartment tower is sandwiched in between another two partially constructed buildings. Every few kilometres, one can see billboards and posters advertising newer development areas and projects.

In time to come, the well-known Burj Al Arab will be surpassed by yet another monument skyscraper, the Burj Dubai. Looking at this latest project, the words that come to mind are sleek, majestic, modern, cool, cold.

The skyscrapers and buildings do make for a pretty sight. Sunlight reflecting off the shiny windows of ceiling to floor glass buildings, glittering and sparkling like blue sapphires. Images of the sky and fluffy clouds can be seen mirrored on these shiny glass facades. At night, the long cranes are all lighted up, and the skyline of the entire city twinkles every other second, warning helicopters and airplanes of the sheer height of all the skyscrapers in this concrete jungle desert city.

At times, they all seem so surreal and unreal. As much as I am a city girl, I just cannot imagine myself to be living in this city. Maybe I am not the sophisticated city mouse that I thought I am. Or perhaps, this is really the grandeur an oil-rich country can buy for itself.

And becos they are so rich, I imagine that it would be beneath most Arabs to think about working in the service industry. In the hotels, the malls and the retail shops, the staffs are Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos or Africans. Carrefour has an entire section dedicated to selling common items and condiments for Indian and Philippines cuisines. Timeout Dubai list many Indian restaurants around the city, ranging from the affordable and value-for-money to the haute cuisine.

Still, I’m grateful for the chance to see and experience Dubai, even though I’m holed up in the hotel more often than not. I chalk it up to an education and eye-opening experience.

Right now, I can’t wait to go to the spice souk and/or perhaps the gold souk. Instead of being greeted by service staff with a foreign accent, I hope to glean into the Arab of old. One where perhaps, an old and weathered man, sitting amidst all his products, hawks his goods.

The unexpected trip

We’re in Dubai! I only had gotten wind of Louis’ trip last Thursday. Originally, we were supposed to fly on Saturday but as one of his colleagues needed some time to process his visa, the flight date was changed to Tuesday. On Monday afternoon at 2-ish pm, Louis called to ask if it was possible for me to finishing packing and be ready to fly on the 10 pm flight that night. It required some frantic packing but not impossible. And fly we did!

This being Faith’s first flight – and a 7-hour one at that – I was concerned if she would be able to take to the long flight. Thankfully, she did well and was a great baby on board the flight. Due to a delay in take-off, Faith was asleep by the time the plane finally took off. I was initially concerned if she would experience ear pressure on the ascent but was grateful that she pretty much slept throughout the flight.

Taking the night flight around her bedtime was great, cos it allowed her to sleep onboard. However, due to the 4-hour time difference, it was 1.30 am local time when we arrived in Dubai. By the time we cleared customs, travelled to the hotel and checked into our rooms, we had a slightly cranky baby who only had about 5 hours of sleep instead of her usual 11-12 hours.

As Louis was expected to be busy with his work, I’m pretty much left with Faith for most of the day – Louis only slept 2+ hrs after we checked into the room before he went off to work.

My first day in Dubai with Faith was rather uneventful as we stayed in the hotel as I wanted to adjust her to the time difference. Becos she didn’t had enough sleep and her feeding and napping times are now a little different, she was rather cranky at various times throughout the day. Our usually cheerful baby cried a lot more with strangers and even when I left her in the playpen or stroller while I prepared her food, took a shower or even ate my meals. Nevertheless, I brought her out to the hotel pool for a little sun and water, so she cheered up a little.

Of course, Louis, being the ever doting dad, was a little heartbroken to hear about his little one’s day when he returned home after work. That night, he carried her around and played with her until she slept cos he said “I don’t want her to cry anymore”:)

I’m sure Faith is going to turn out to be the regular daddy’s girl and Louis, being the soft hearted person that he is, would be wrapped tightly around his little girl’s finger and enjoy the fact. While it may seem like he’s spoiling her already, a part of me can’t help but being pleased that Faith is a daddy’s girl. After all, I think it’s a rightful place for every little girl to be and I know that ultimately, Louis wouldn’t spoil her rotten.

The hotel that we are staying boasted of having panoramic views of the city. We could see Burj Al Arab, the icon hotel resembling a billowing sail, and one of the Palm Islands from the first room that we checked into. From my current room, all I see are lots of nameless buildings, ongoing developments and the highways. I didn’t know before this, but traffic jams in Dubai seem bad. Starting from as early as 5 pm, I could see long lines of cars stuck along the highway.

Today, Faith and I met up with Hind, our Moroccan neighbour in France, who’s staying in Dubai as her husband, Salah, works here. However, Faith was still a little out of sorts and she cried when Hind tried to hug her. We headed out to the Mall of the Emirates but before we could get any serious shopping done, Ines (Hind’s daughter) called to say she was sick. I shooed Hind to head home while I loiter in the mall and went Carrefour to buy some vegetables for Faith’s meals.

Believe it or not, I ended up buying a pack of Pamper diapers becos they came in short packs, slightly different size and I think it’s a packaging that I don’t see in Singapore. Hahaha… wonder what Louis would say when he returns home. And yes, we did manage to see Ski Dubai, the indoor ski resort in the midst of this desert city.

Faith fell asleep halfway on my shoulder on the taxi ride back to the hotel. As I’m typing my post, Faith has been sleeping for the last 4 hours and its past her dinnertime. But I think I would let her sleep for as long as she wants. Poor baby. I think she’s tired and is still on Singapore time.

Little Family's Little Holiday

There's a lot of firsts in our parenting experience with our first kid. I guess that is only natural. Thankfully, we survived our first holiday all on our own and enjoyed ourselves at the same time too.

What we learnt was that Faith loves to travel. We think she's got the travel bug in her. Either that or she thinks the entire holiday is one big long outing with her 2 favourite people. Faith was a great and well-behaved baby on the trip -- doling out smiles rather generously at all the staff at the resort, tourists and strangers alike.
Going on a 3D2N trip is akin to planning for a similar length event for a "VIP" -- there's a lot of coordination that we needed to do to ensure that this little "VIP's" routine would be able to fit into all the travel logistics. And becos she's now on 2 meals of solids a day, we had to chug along the slow cooker, a thermos, chopping board, knife, vegetable peeler, blender, dishwashing liquids, yaddah yaddah yaddah, along for the trip.

Being the anal mom that I am, I absolutely refuted all suggestions of bringing jars of baby food. No siree! If I can cook all my food from scratch for family and friends, I most definitely am not going to subject my baby to commercial baby food. Even if that means I'm lugging part of my kitchen along for a short trip.

Of course, this being Faith's very first trip, we wanted to capture all memories of it as future evidence to our little one that we did bring her out somewhere. This also meant that my fingers were pretty much trigger-happy and we were not the least abashed at clicking our camera away throughout the trip. The good thing was that Faith seemed to be in baby heaven. As a result, many of her pictures had her smiling her toothy grin gamely.

Our aim for this trip was to relax as much as possible and enjoy food from the 3 restaurants within the resort. On our last trip to Bintan , we discovered that all 3 restaurants served very good food. Now that we have a baby in tow, we decided against travelling out to any of the neighbouring resorts or the Kelong but just dine in.

However, we later realised that our choice of restaurants whittled down from 3 to 2 as Saffron, their signature Thai fusion restaurant do not allow babies. Oh well... :)

After settling into our villa, we headed to the all-day dining restaurant, Tree Top, for our tea. The bread they served while we waited for our appetiser was great, especially when you slather French butter liberally on it -- or at least I did. And they served us both a little "amuse bouche" of grilled beef skewer too even though we only ordered an Indonesian appetiser sampler to share between the two of us. I think its true that we eat with our eyes too cos all the stunning display of dishes with adornments certainly make the food that we ate tastier.

Thereafter, we headed back to our villa where we changed Faith into her swimming costume and let her have a dip in the jacuzzi. I'm not sure if she knows the difference between the jacuzzi and her bathtub at home cos she was just too engrossed in chewing her little rubber ducky the entire time ;) We didn't really have that much time left after the jacuzzi dip. It was nap time for Faith, fed her her dinner, had ours and then back to the villa to rest for the night.

And so ended our first day. We wanted to keep the pace of the entire break relax and restful. On account that we are now parents of a baby, there has to be some responsibilities involved. Thus, R&R time for the entire trip pretty much revolved around Faith's routine of sleeping, eating, napping, playing and pooping ;) We kept her on Singapore time even though Indonesia is one hour behind Singapore and it worked out advantageously for all of us.

Day 2 of the trip was what I most looked forward to. A MASSAGE! After nearly 1 1/2 years where I couldn't have any while pregnant and had to wait another 4-6 months post-delivery becos of the C-section, I finally got a full body massage! It was heavenly! After Louis and I took turns having our massage, we brought Faith out to the beach for a walk and a dip in the pool. All too soon, it was her nap time, dinner time and then off to bed for all of us.

Day 3 of the trip was a short and uneventful one on account that it was the last day of our stay and our ferry back home was in the early afternoon. Thankfully, my MIL was there to pick us up from the ferry terminal. So, we didn’t have to lug baggage, strollers and barang-barang, along with Faith into the cab.

My mom, anxious about her grand-daughter’s first overseas trip called on Sunday to ask how her little one was doing. And I think she missed Faith too cos she repeated ask if we needed her to come over when we return. So, we told her to come on over and it was a good thing too. Cos even though it was meant to be a relaxing trip, all of us were tired out after the trip. Its really great and fortunate that we have both our families on hand and nearby to help out.

That night, it was early to bed for all of us :)