Week of Durians

On Mon, we went for dinner at The Cruise with daddy. Daddy left almost immediately as soon as we are done with dinner due to his job demand. Emeryn tagged along with mummy for her monthly gathering at Bella Marino, Straits Quay on Thurs evening. Mummy distributed those miniature perfumes to her friends during the gathering.

Mummy dropped Emeryn at Por Por's house on Fri evening and she went out for dinner and drinks with her friend. Before going over, Emeryn requested for durian from mummy. Mummy bought for Emeryn and she brought it to Por Por's house to savored it.

The whole week was about durian and durian. Only now mummy realized how durian-addict Emeryn is. For less than 3 weeks, she had 6 times already and has never gotten bored about it. Mummy was busy with her photobook the whole week, thus we did not really maximized our weekend. We went out for breakfast on Sun morning before we adjourned to mummy's facial at 11am and it took 3hours to complete it. After the facial, we stopped by for char koay teow and then visited the Travel Fair at Straits Quay. We managed to get some info about mummy's upcoming Korea trip and some small details. We headed to Por Por's house after that for dinner before leaving home.

Good Improvement

yay, perfect scores

trying new ways to learn spelling and ejaan

Toy Library with Joel & Kek Lok Si

the shorter hair princess

We arrived at Penang Airport at 11.40pm, Tues. Mummy took half day leave on Wed in order to have a better sleep before going back to work. Emeryn also skipped class on Wed. We fetched Por Por to Adventist Hosp for her mammogram scan, a routine health check at about 10.30am. After the scan, we sent Por Por home before mummy sent Emeryn to the daycare. Emeryn excitedly brought the tumbler she got from Disneyland for Flo at the daycare.

After knowing Joel was back from Myanmar, Emeryn requested to go over to Pekaka to play with him. She agreed to stay over nite at Pekaka on Fri, thus mummy dropped her there in the evening before she went out for a drinks with her friend. Emeryn called mummy at about 10.45pm and requested mummy to bring her home after Joel. She cried so badly over her request. Unfortunately she fell asleep not long after that, thus mummy picked her the next morning.

Mummy picked Emeryn from Pekaka at 9.30am and sent her to Art Class. Before leaving Pekaka, she insisted Joel to tag along. She left Pekaka without Joel after must hesitation and negotiation. We had lunch after Art Class and went over to Toy Library at 3.45pm. Ah Ma dropped Joel at our place and mummy picked both of them to the library. They played for an hour before we headed over to KFC for a meal. Both kids continued playing while enjoying their meals. Mummy sent Joel back to Pekaka after the meal. We went home after that and came out for late dinner at Liverpool Nasi Lemak.

Upon revisiting the earlier photobook, Emeryn stumbled upon her photo taken at Kek Lok Si during CNY 2012. She requested mummy to bring her there for a photo shoot with all the chinese zodiac statue. We went out for lunch at Mc D and mummy bought fried rice. After our lunch, we dropped by the sundry shop and grabbed a loaf of bread as Emeryn wanted to feed the fish. It was a hot sunny day when we reached. Emeryn excitedly taking photo with almost all the statue before heading over to the fish pond to feed the fishes. We left after an hour or so.

Mummy dropped Emeryn at Por Por's house while mummy went to the hair salon for her hair treatment. Por Por and Ah Kong brought Emeryn to visit great granny. We had dinner at Por Por's house after mummy's session. Finally mummy managed to convince Emeryn to cut her hair to a shorter length. Here's the conversation:

Mummy: Emeryn, do you know with your long hair, all your vitamins are gone? Your hair has eaten all your vitamins. Without those vitamins, you would be less smarter. If you have shorter hair, your body will absorb the vitamin, instead of being eaten by your hair.

Emeryn: Oh, no wonder I can't memorize my Ejaan and Spelling.

Mummy: Yes lo. So how? You want to cut it shorter or not?

Emeryn: Ok, I want to cut now. I want it to be below my ear, very short one.

Yay, finally Emeryn agreed on cutting her hair. At the hair salon, she told the hair stylist to cut it right below her ear and she would wear hair band to make her look beautiful. Mummy was totally astonished by her reaction. We agreed to cut it below shoulder end of the day.

Hong Kong - Day 3 & 4

going home & souvenirs

After a good nite sleep, we woke up to our Day 3 well refreshed and recharged. Day 3 was about theme park again and we headed out to Ocean Park. After getting ourselves readied, we explored further at the local kopitiam (char chaan teng) nearby our hotel. We landed ourselves with one of the most typical type in which offering local breakfast set. The set back was mummy was incapable of reading the menu as it was all written in Mandarin. She seek help from the waitress and casually ordered a smashed ham with scramble egg sandwiches and iced milk tea.

After the breakfast, we took the mrt to Admiralty station where we purchased Ocean Park ticket and the two-way bus. Even it was a Mon, the queue was amazing long in order for us to get into the bus. The bus journey took about 15-20mins before we alighted right in front of Ocean Park entrance at about 10am. Before entering, we snapped some photo. Upon entering the park, we snapped a lot of photo at the Waterfront & Aqua City before heading to those attractions and rides. First we entered the Old Hong Kong, where we were brought back to the earlier years of Hong Kong back at the 50's to 70's. The huge Chinatown-like gate welcomed us with the colors and activities of life in Old Hong Kong on authentically recreated streets and scenes. We had our first ride on the sea life carousel, featuring the marine animal stars of the Grand Aquarium such as sea horse, goldfish, dolphin and shark. We took the cable car to travel to the Summit, where it was located at the other side of a mountain. It gave us unprecedented views of the surrounding area, the sea and the entire park. Surprisingly Emeryn enjoyed the whole cable car journey, where mummy thought she would stumble.

Upon reaching the Summit, we head over to the Ocean Park Tower as we soared 72meters into the air. We could overseas the stunning view of the South China Sea from atop Ocean Park Tower, where a gently rotating viewing room provides 360 degrees of sun, sea and sky. The tower ranked as one of the tallest observation towers in Southeast Asia. We then proceeded to the Pacific Pier where we viewed the rocky coastal habitat of seals and sea lions as they frolic, sunbathe and hunt beneath the wave. Emeryn absolutely enjoyed watching those animals.

We had a walk to the Expedition Trail. The expedition trail took us on a hands-on journey through the habitat of some of the rarest animals in the world. We then walked up to the Thrill Mountain but unfortunately none of the rides are suitable for Emeryn due to the mininum height restriction. We did not managed to enjoy the Hair Raiser, Whirly Bird, Bumper Blaster, Rev Booster, The Flash and Bungee Trampoline. Our next stop was the Ocean Express, the latest quick, smooth, thrilling and fun way to travel from Ocean Park's Waterfront to the excitement at the Summit. Little that we know, it brought us back to the Waterfront. We were surprised to find ourselves at the Waterfront as soon as we stepped out from the express train. Funny!!! We walked back to the cable car station and took the stroller that we parked there earlier.

We visited the Giant Panda Adventure, where we could witnessed the panda and its habitat followed by the Gold Fish Treasure, Emperors of the Sky which houses extraordinary birds of prey including steppes eagles, Lanner falcons, striated caracaras and turkey vultures, along with 70 other species of birds and lastly the Gator Marsh, where we visited the scary alligators. We then marched into the Whiskers Harbour where we watched Sea Lion Fun Time Show (a drama that reveals "a day in the life" of sea lions and how they prepare for their show).

After the show, we hurried back to the Summit to catch Sea Dreams. We took the Ocean Express again to get to The Summit. We bought lunch at one of the pit-stop and savored them slowly while enjoying the scenic view. Before the scheduled show, Sea Dream at 3.30pm, we went to the Chinese Sturgeon Aquarium - Yangtze Exploration. There we saw a living fossil, the endangered Chinese sturgeon, and other wonderful fish of the Yangtze and Hong Kong! By the time we reached the theater, it was fully seated and we hardly find a standing area unoccupied too. We squeezed our way into the crowded crowd and managed to catch a glimpse at the show. Sea Dreams is a show where Ocean Park's talented marine mammals and trainers present a heart-warming and delightful spectacular about the dream of how human and animals could live together with love and respect.

After the show, we visited the Adventure Land but again we did not managed to play on any of the rides (Mine Train, Space Wheel, Raging Water, Flying Swing, Ferris Wheel, Eagle). Out of the sudden, the wind blew really hard and non stop for at least half an hour, as though we are experiencing the Hong Kong infamous typhoon. We then headed to the Sea Jelly Spectacular where we entered to an underwater 'garden', where fluorescent sea jellies float serenely overhead. Over 1,000 sea jellies of all sizes, shapes and colours from around the world can be found at Ocean Park! We decided to leave the Summit after that and continued with the unfinished Waterfront attraction.

Our next stop was the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures where we visited the monkeys and pandas followed by the Giant Aquarium. It was really huge and wonderfully furnished with nice deco. We were welcomed by the vibrant corals and the amazing sounds of the ocean. It was like a deep underwater world, where bioluminescent creatures glow in the dark and the mysterious shadows of fish flicker by our shoulders. There was a gigantic swirl tank where the fishes glitter like a kaleidoscope of stars! It was one of the best underwater aquarium we have visited thus far. It was only 5pm when we finished visiting the aquarium, so mummy decided to delight Emeryn further by going to the Whiskers Harbour.

Whiskers Harbour is designed specially for kids. Emeryn started with the Clown-a-Round, followed by Toto the Loco, a musical train where mummy accompanied her along the ride. We then proceeded to the Merry Go Round, Bouncer House, Balloons Up-Up-And-Away and the most thrilling ride, the Frog Hopper. Mummy accompanied Emeryn for her first two rounds and she was too excited and happy to proceed with the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th round along with other kids. Before leaving, Emeryn played at the Whiskers Harbour Playground. We took the bus ride back to the Admiralty station.

We hopped off at the Ladies Market and had a quick walk. Mummy bought some souvenir at the market and a Starbucks tumbler for Carmen Ee Ee as per her request. Mummy also bought some snack food where she savored it at the hotel room later at nite. After covering Ladies Market, we walked back to our hotel. Surprisingly it was only a 10min walk back, didn't know it was so near. Emeryn fell asleep almost immediately after taking her shower, leaving mummy packing up for the check out the next morning and she went online via ipad.

Our 4th day, also the last day, we had a ride on the Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus which offers a convenient hop-on, hop-off service. Like riding on a rickshaw in the old days, you can explore Hong Kong with a 540-degree panoramic view, this time on an air-conditioned double decker, and enjoy a spectacular sight of all the attractions along the way. After the 2.5hours ride, we went back to Yau Ma Tei as we left our luggage at the hotel after checking out. Mummy bought 1 dozen of miniature perfumes as a souvenir for her friends and herself. After collecting our luggage, we head over to Citygate for a shopping spree. We had our lunch at Food Republic before the hunt starts. Mummy only spent in Espirit outlet as they are offering relatively at a very low prices. After all the shopping, we took the S1 shuttle bus to the airport. HKIA is such a huge airport where we need to transit in two trains to our departing terminal gate. After all the fun and tiring 4days, we flew back to Penang and Emeryn took a nap in the flight and missed her favorite nasi lemak meal. Mummy's friend sent us home from the airport.

Hong Kong - Day 1 & 2

Finally after a year of buying our flight ticket to HK, the most awaited day arrived. Emeryn attended Art Class on Sat morning where later mummy bought home our packed lunch. After lunch, we took our showers and done some last minutes packing. Mummy called a cab instead of troubling her friends or even Ah Kong to send her off to the airport. The cab fetched us at 2.30pm and we're just in time to board our flight. This trip we brought along the stroller as mummy foresee there would be long walking at the park and would want Emeryn to have all the comfort instead of suffering from long walk. As usual we're light traveler with only 1 backpack.

We landed at HKIA at about 7.40pm and headed straight to the arrival hall after clearing the immigration process. We bought the octopus card, mainly for our transportation convenient. We headed to the airport - Tung Chung shuttle to catch the shuttle S1 to the Tung Chung mrt station. We didn't wait long and the journey took approx 10mins. From Tung Chung, we boarded the mrt to Lai King station and interchanged to Tsuen Wan line and alighted from Yau Ma Tei station. To our surprise, the hotel we booked, Galaxy Wifi Hotel was just 2minutes walk from the station exit.

The room was relatively small, as it's nothing to shout about in HK but it was amazingly clean and new. The aunty who was at the reception was very helpful too. After settling down, we walked nearby the hotel area and finally walked into a restaurant to satisfy our hunger. Without realizing and reading the sign board, we landed ourselves at a Thai Restaurant. We had tomyam fried rice and iced longan drinks. After the hearty meal, we had a short walk before heading back to the hotel. Emeryn took her shower and enjoyed the hk tv channel before her bed time. Emeryn was too engrossed with people around her speaking Cantonese including mummy. She requested mummy to speak "kungfu" (she mistakenly pronounce it, instead of Cantonese) to her.

The next morning, we woke up early as to prepared ourselves for a fun filled day at Disneyland. We left the hotel at about 8.15am and went for dim sum. Mummy ordered congee with salted pork and century Egg (皮蛋瘦肉粥), chinese dumpling with shrimps (蝦餃), pork dumpling (燒賣) and steamed chinese sponge cake (马来糕). Emeryn loves the congee and unfortunately we can't finish all that we've ordered. We took away the sponge cake, where we snacked it at Disneyland. MRT was our mode of transportation throughout the whole journey.

It was drizzling when we reached Disneyland but it does not stopped us from having fun. Luckily mummy went prepared with umbrella and raincoats for both. We started with the Main Street, USA where we visited the animation & art gallery, followed by photo shooting with Minnie Mouse and took a train to go around Disneyland via the railroad. We then spent an amount of time & money at the souvenir shop. Emeryn requested for a mickey hairband, minnie handbag and a princess drinking tumbler for herself and Florence.

We then proceeded to Tomorrowland, starting with Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (a battle against evil Emperor Zurg), Orbitron where we can pilot our own rocket jet spinning high in the sky and lastly went for Stitch Encounter, a two-way interactive show. We passed by the UFO Zone but did not join in the fun as we were a little hesitate to get wet since it is all water-filled adventure. We also skipped Autopia as the queue was insanely long and Space Mountain, the indoor roller coaster due to the height requirement for Emeryn. Emeryn may not be able to take the adrenalin rush too. We had a rush & late lunch at Starliner Diner at 3pm, where we ordered a combo meal with fried chicken. After our lunch, we headed back to the Main Street for the Flight of Fantasy Parade. We were really taken aback with the amazing parade. It was nicely decorated and very entertaining as well.

Next stop was the Fantasyland. We were greeted by Cinderella and we took photo with the lovely princess and many more others character includes Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Pooh at the Fantasy Garden. After all the photo shoots, we went for Mad Hatter Tea Cups where we spin in a purple colored wonderfully wacky tea party, Cinderella Carousel where we galloped on the horseback and lastly Dumbo the Flying Elephant. We missed out most of the stage shows due to the time constraint especially on Mickey’s Philharmagic (3d show), Golden Mickey (musical extravaganza) and It’s a Small World (sailing in an imaginative journey).

Emeryn has the comfort to sit back and relax in her stroller while mummy continued walking to Adventureland. Firstly we went for the jungle river cruise where we ventured down the dangerous waters of mysterious river filled with thrilling surprises while the captain tells the tales. We skipped the Raft & Tarzan's Treehouse and Festival of Lion King as it was running late and we have yet to cover Toy Story Land. We passed by the Liki Tikis on the way to Toy Story Land. Emeryn dare not go near to it as it was filled with jungle drum rythm and blasts of water.

When we finally arrived at Toy Story Land, it was already the last call and sadly we don't managed to even have one single ride. Without wasting our time, we snapped some photo there. Anyway most of the ride in Toy Story Land unsuitable for Emeryn due to the minimum height of 120cm and above such as Parachute Drop, Slinky Dog and RC Racer. We were asked to leave at about 6.30pm as the park will be closed.

We had our second round of ride on Cinderella Carousel while walking back to the Main Street of USA. We spotted a short queue at The Many Adventures of Pooh Bear, thus we joined in where we watched Pooh Bear goes in search for “hunny”. We visited the souvenir shop before leaving and mummy brought a key chain as a souvenir for herself. We rushed out to the main street in order not to missed the most-awaited agenda of the day, Disney in the Stars Fireworks at 8pm. We witnessed the spectacular fireworks which transformed the dark sky above the Sleeping Beauty Castle into a stunning evening view. It lasted for about 15minutes and the whole place was crowded. We hurried our way to the exit as soon as the fireworks stopped and headed to the MRT station. Emeryn was obviously exhausted after a long day at the park. As soon as we reached Yau Ma Tei station, we headed to the coffee shop and mummy ordered wan than noodle served with dumplings and red bean soup as a dessert for Emeryn. Emeryn only had a few spoonful of the noodle and red bean soup and started yawing away followed by constant pledging to go back to the hotel. Mummy took away the red bean soup to the hotel to cater for Emeryn's request. Emeryn had a quick bath before heading to bed.

It was a long day for both of us and the mother & daughter trip went well. It was a fun & tiring day too. Conclusion: The rainy day slow downed our activities and we spent long enough at the souvenir shop, that we missed most of the interesting stage show. But we're glad that mummy decided to bring along the stroller. Save us from a lot of misery.