Vietnam 2018

We started our year end holiday to Vietnam with a 2 hour flight to HCMC this morning at 11am. After getting back very late last night from Genting, Mummy and Daddy had very little time to unpack and pack again so they must be very tired. When we arrived in HCMC, we drove straight to the hotel to check in first and then to lunch at Cuc Gach Quan. It is supposedly very good and even Angelina and Brad had dinner there before when they were in HCMC. Daddy got overly excited and over ordered too. Took them a while to finish what he ordered.

Our first hotel in Phu Quoc was Novotel. Daddy planned that we stay here because it is nearer to the attractions in the bottom half of Phu Quoc. We visited the peppercorn farm, fish sauce farm, and Sao Beach which is supposed to be one of the more popular beach. We had a blast at Sao Beach cos even though the wave was choppy, the water was shallow until quite far out. We also managed to go for a sunset cruise with squid fishing thrown in. Unfortunately none of us caught any squid but it was fun nonetheless. Our highlight was the island hoping tour which Daddy paid extra to get us a private charter so we can decide when to go and where to go. We had uncle Cong as our tour manager and he spoke with the boatman about what to do. I think the most fun part so far was the fishing which I managed to catch about 4 rockfish. It was really fun to reel them in and feel the excitement of tugging with the fish. We were supposed to go snorkeling but unfortunately the corals were mostly dead and we didn't get to see that many fish, very disappointing.

The second hotel we stayed at was Vinpearl Villa. I must say this 
has to be the best hotel we stayed in all my life! The villa was so big and Andrea and I had one room to ourselves and Daddy and Mummy another room. There was even a pool at the back of the villa. The buffet spreads at the hotel was also amazing! There was so much food I couldn't decide what to eat. At Vinpearl, there was a Safari Zoo and we were pretty impressed with it. We also spent a day at the Vinpearl Amusement Land where there was also a water park. And of course the beach was wonderful and we spent many hours just digging away and looking for hermit crabs. Caught some but not sure they will survive the flight back home.

It was another good trip and we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

The Great Moscow Circus

Aunty Mou and Uncle Som wanted to check out The Great Moscow Circus and they bought extra tickets for us as well. It was really nice of them to share this experience with us.

Unfortunately it wasn't a great start for our first visit to the circus as it poured so heavily this afternoon just before the show so everyone were kinda delayed getting in. Daddy thought it will be nearer for us if he parked at the open space car park next to the circus but it turned out being a longer walk. Our shoes were kinda soaked by the time we got to the circus but that didn't dampened our excitement and bought pop corns and candy floss to entertain ourselves. 

It was a 2 hour long show and not all the performances were great but the entertainment in between the performances was what we really enjoyed. Daddy like the last performance where they had a huge metal ball where amazingly 5 motor bikes were able to ride inside at really fast speed without colliding into each other. The precision was just entertaining. 

After the show, we walked over to Asia Square where we had chinese food at Imperial Treasures because Aunty Mou and Uncle Som like chinese food and mummy wanted to get them something different instead of their usual indian food. We had a fun time playing hide and seek with Elan after dinner. And after dinner, we walked back to the car and stopped to play a while near the bay before heading to Nai Nai's place to spend the night. 

Rifle Range Nature Park

Mummy found out that the Rifle Range Nature Park will be closed on the 29th Sept 2018 for 2 years for structural enhancement. So we decided to go check it out before it closes. That Saturday morning, we drove and parked somewhere near Temasek Club and walked to the entrance to the park. However, as there were 2 entrances at each side of the road, we had to make a guess which one will lead us to the more interesting walk. As it looked like the one closer to the residential area was blocked, we decided to try the one on the side of the Temasek Club.

As it turned out, we picked the wrong route and ended up on the paved track which finally led us to Bukit Timah Reserve Park.

We walked through the park and passed by interesting plants but unfortunately not that many animals or insects. I spotted a row of wild mushrooms and was thinking if I could bring it back to cook for dinner. Daddy said these are wild and probably poisonous mushroom which we should avoid. We also stopped by a little stream and tried to scope up some "longkang" fish with a container. Caught a few but of course we knew better than to bring it home so we let it back into the stream.

After the exciting and eye opening walk, we headed to Rider's Cafe for our brunch. Daddy and Mummy told us that the last time we were there was many years back when Gor Gor was still busy stacking animals. Unfortunately we didn't see that many horses this time so we just enjoyed our food and the peaceful surrounding.

Forest Adventure

Mummy and Daddy took the day off today to spend time with me on my birthday. For my wish list, I asked to go check out Forest Adventure as I have not been there before and heard a lot about it. As Gor Gor was going with me, he decided to ask his best friend Kieren along. Funny that he is the one bringing friends and not me since it is my birthday. Actually the truth is that I don't have many friends who are sporty and willing to rough it out like me. So I decided that i will just brave it alone.

The course wasn't that tough actually. Or maybe I made it look easy as I went through all the obstacles quite easily. As they are older, Gor Gor and Kieren had to go on the more challenging obstacles. They had fun too and the last part was very exciting for them as they did a flying fox over the reservoir. 

We decided to have dinner at Chinese Swimming Club since we couldn't think of anywhere else to go. After dinner, we made another impromptu decision to go bowling and this time Gor Gor called another friend Zachary who is staying near CSC. It really looked like it is his birthday party instead of mine.. I am glad we had lots of fun that day!

Happy 7th Birthday Part 2

We had our usual dinner at Nai Nai and Ye Ye's place and after dinner, I celebrated part 2 of my 7th birthday party. Nothing fancy, just a good time with a chocolate cake and people who loves me!

Happy 7th Birthday

I celebrate my 7th birthday a few days before the actual day together with JieJie Faith, whose birthday happens to be on the 1st Sept. Mummy and YeeYee Cindy decided to have a family celebration at Spize at Temasek Club. It has a nice ambience and the food there is pretty good too. Coincidentally we bumped into Uncle William and Uncle Kane there as they were having their church men's gathering at the same place. They even proceeded to the bowling alley which is where we went too. We found out that Gong Gong played bowling for the first time and guess what, he scored the best among all of us! We had a blast and were the last the leave the bowling alley that night.

 

St John's Island

Today we joined a group of volunteers called LepakInSG which aimed to educated the public on the issues regarding our marine science in Singapore. We gathered at Marina South Pier at 8.30am to take the 30 min ferry to St John's Island. 

Saint John's Island formerly housed a quarantine station for cholera cases detected among immigrants in the late 19th century, and starting from 1901, victims of beri-beri who were also brought to the island. by 1930, the island gain world recognition as a quarantine centre screening for Asian immigrants and pilgrims returning from Mecca.

The quarantine station was eventually also used to house victims of other diseases such as leprosy. When mass migration was closed in the mid 20th century, the island was used to house a penal settlement and also a drug rehabilitation centre, but all that has changed now into something totally different.

Apart from sitting in a classroom and hearing from the resident manager talk about the work they do at the science labs there, we also got to walk around and explore the island before boarding the ferry at 12.30pm to head back to the mainland. Unfortunately, I fell down along the way and scrapped my knees. It was painful but I was very brave and endured the pain until we got back to the mainland. It was a fun outing and Mommy and Daddy say we will revisit this island and spend more time then.

Skiing in Nowazaonsen

We spent the March school holidays in Nozawa skiing and also a couple of days in Tokyo. Instead of Club Med which we have been going for the past 2 years, we decided to check out this other place in Nagano where godma's friend Uncle Eugene has a lodge there. Apparently he says there are more ski slopes at Nozawa and we will enjoy it more. 

We flew into Tokyo Narita and from there we took the high speed train to Iiyama station via Tokyo station. It was a 2 hour journey and it was a very smooth ride. When we got to Iiyama, Uncle Eugene was there to greet us and took us shopping for ski equipment which was on massive discounts as it was nearing the end of the season. By the time we arrived at the lodge, it was quite late and we ended up playing snow in the open while the adults planned for the next few days activities. Compared to Club Med where we were constraint to the resort itself, Nozawa has a village where we could go explore and try out different types of cuisines. There are even onsens which only the adults are allowed to go. I believe they will head there tonight after we kids are asleep.

We spent the next day skiing and cos we were not familiar with the terrain yet, we had to join the lessons so that they can orientate us to the different ski slopes. The adults also had their lessons and they were lamenting that the lessons are very expensive compared to Club Med where it was all included so we don't feel the pinch. It was nonetheless a good place to ski and we enjoyed it. 

On the second day, we decided not to ski but to check out the famous snow monkey of Nagano. Uncle Eugene drove us there and after alighting at the entrance, we had to walk in the cold for about 1.6km or almost 20 mins. The walk was pleasant if not for the biting cold. At some point, it looked like it was snowing but it was actually the wind blowing the snow which had settled on the trees. We took some pictures of the monkeys which surprisingly were very well behaved unlike those in Bali which stole my grandpa's glasses and then someone requested for a small fee to help recover the glasses. It was obviously a set up.

After spending 5 days on the ski village of Nozawa, we descended to Tokyo via the high speed train again and because of different timing in confirming the trip, godma had to stay in a different place while godpa and our family stayed in an AirBnB house in Okubo, one station away from Shinjuku. 

We spent the next three days in Tokyo and explored places like the Tsukiji market which was really interesting, Harajuku, Shinjuku where we found the world's best ramen, Asakusa Temple and Ginza. We even managed to spend some time with hedgehogs in a cafe in Roppongi. 

We moved to a hotel near the Haneda airport on the last night cos our flight our was very early and we didn't want to risk getting lost in the morning to the airport. It was a very interesting airport hotel where we get to make our own coffee at the hotel lobby and also to take what we want from there. 

We got to the airport really early that morning and bought our favorite Tokyo Bananas and other local favorites. We were really sad to leave Tokyo as we had a lot of fun there and now we have to get back to school next week. We look forward to the next holiday.

P1 Picnic

The long awaited P1 Picnic is finally here. All, or most of the parents, have been very excited about this P1 picnic. The list of items that parents will be bringing for this picnic has been growing day by day. I wonder if we can really finish all the food that we will be getting at the picnic.

I went for my fencing class as usual and then followed by my Learning Point. When Gor Gor and I were done with our class, Daddy fetched us back to MGS. Mommy was kinda late as there was supposed to be a briefing at 2.30pm and then followed by the picnic at 4pm. Anyway, we got there at around 3.30pm and Mommy headed for the briefing while I was ushered to play games with the rest of the girls. Daddy then sent Gor Gor for his NAFA class at 4pm.

It was a rather hot day so I didn't enjoy myself playing games and singing songs out in the open. As expected, there was so much food that we didn't even bring out the chocolate which Mommy bought at Giant before picking us up from class earlier. 

The whole event ended around 6pm and Daddy came back to get us before we went back to prepare dinner.