Happy Birthday

Today is my wife's birthday.
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y ! ! ! ! !

We were supposed to meet back in hotel room around 12-1pm. She wasn't back from her event yet.
At that time, Zyan was crying to go gai-gai again.
So I just brought him out jalan jalan a bit.

When we came back, Karinna was already back in the room

After resting for a while, we celebrated Karinna's birthday.
I bought a cake on the way back from The Peak.

After which, Zyan was cleaned up again, and we made our way to Causeway Bay.

Karinna wanted to buy some stuff. Whatever lah.

We made reservation for dinner, at Ming Court, a 2-Star Michelin restaurant at Langham Place Hotel, MongKok.
IPAD is a good distraction for kid wehen needed. But most of the times, it worked more like an addiction. Use with care.


Well, the food is actually great! Pricing wise is still relatively ok.
These are the dishes we ordered. As you can tell, it appears to be quite a lot.
I think I probably gained the weight back which I lost last few weeks.
Ha ha ha ha ha.




By the end of dinner, we were too full.
Too full to carry Zyan around.
Too full to walk around MongKok.

So the next best place: hotel room.
:P
Have a wonderful birthday!

The Peak

Zyan is a very hyper boy.
He didn't sleep until almost 12midnight yesterday. I think he slept around 2345hrs.
Terrible.

This morning, he woke up at 8am. Once up, I made his milk powder for him.
Then bathed him, washed him, and cleared his poo-ed pampers.

Once all done, and dressed him up, off we go to The Peak.
I decided to bring him to The Peak.

We left our hotel around 0905hrs. My legs were still aching from yesterday.
Oh my god!

Took a real SLOW walk to the MTR.
Took the train to Admiralty, and then I changed to take a bus up to The Peak.
Zyan didn't have the chance to take MRT and bus in Singapore yet, and in HK, he took his maiden train and bus ride!

I shall not grumble about the difficult part in bringing him out along.
And we reached The Peak.

Got someone to help me take a photo of us at the place.


I had my lunch at Burger King up there. Zyan didn't want the bread. He didn't want the meat. He wanted just the fries. Of course, I only gave him some.
Made milk for up to drink for his lunch also.

Took some short walk, and then it's time to head back down. On the way down, I took the Tram. But Zyan was already very sleepy by then, and fell asleep during the Tram ride.

The walk to MTR station is some distance away.
This time, I walked R...E....A.......L SL..............O........w..............L...Y.
Si beh jiatlat ok!

Every step I take
Every move I make
Si beh jialat leh
Wa beh sii liow leh
I will break my leg!

I limped my way slowly back.
It's good to be back at hotel.

Back Breaking

Ahhhhh.
This is me with Zyan, my gear for the time where I bring him out in HK without Karinna.

I had wanted to bring him to perhaps Stanley Market.

As we walked Karinna to her office in Quarry Bay - Tai Koo, I walked towards the Quarry Bay MTR.
At the station, as I was looking at the fares and such and such, my little Zyan looked sleepy.
I quickly shift my gears, and push the baby carrier to its proper arrangement.
And hop up goes Zyan. And he fell asleep within 2 minutes.

So I thought, perhaps walked area the area there, and at the same time, buy myself some breakfast.
It's a bit awkard to carry him in front, and with a big bag behind me, and a side bag along us.
Quite a bulky thing walking on the street I guess. And it's office hours!

People walking by, looking at this strange guy carrying so many things and a baby sight-seeing the place. :P

So I decided to stop/walk along the way, and made my way back to the hotel.

Rested at one of the Quarry Bay Park nearby. Not much actually, just a normal casual park for relaxation.
If not, I would have died carrying him for almost 2 hours.

Just reached back hotel, taking a short break, then I will bring him out again.
Tonight, we will go to Causeway Bay, when his mother is back from work.

Someone, come help me carry Zyan.

Flight Event

Today, we left home at 0730hrs, for the airport.
Karinna is on business trip in Hong Kong, and I had book ticket few weeks ago to tag along.
I decided at that time, to bring Zyan along as well, for him to take his first aeroplane trip out of Singapore.

At that time, Karinna sent me her itinerary, so that I can match the same itinerary as her. Her flight at that time, as not confirmed yet.
I tried, but when I booked for the ticket, I chose 0930 flight, as it was the only plane that is listed as A380.
Since paid for it, why not try A380 right?
So i booked SQ856, and told her to change her itinerary through her company's ticketing agent.

It was confirmed, as was told.

We checked in yesterday through internet (only Zyan and myself), went to the counter this morning to do the rest.
To our horror, we were told her flight was confirmed for 0830hrs flight!
And the flights for 0830 and 0930 were full, so we can't change our flight to suit each other.
No choice, she had to leave earlier than us. It was around 0800hrs at that time.
So the counter guy pushed out her boarding pass, and off she goes to the boarding gate.

Left me and Zyan, loitering around T3 for a while, before I bring our son into the boarding area.

Such uncalled for excitement is certainly not very shiok. What to do?!?!?!

During flight take off, I tried to give Zyan water to drink. This is in the hope that the air pressure will not create too much discomfort to him. So he drank.
While the taxi is still taxi-ing, my son is already like finished drinking 70% of the 180ml of water!
Hello! It's for you when the plane is moving up into the air. Not when it is on the ground my boy!

Well, it's not that bad. He didn't show much discomfort. But he cried when the plane was almost reaching its desired altitude.
I think he's wailing more because he didn't want to be tied to me, and to the seatbelt. I think he wants to move around.
Not allowed boy. So the music plays ... ...

So when the time is right, I had to free him, and be his follower. :P

Meal time is tough. I think it is hard to feed kids on plane. Out of the blue, annoucements came and say to fasten seatbelt. Hey, I was feeding halfway.
I placed Zyan on my seat, and I was squatting at the seat feeding him.
Zyan keeps trying to kick the tray, and that didn't help at all!

Anyway, I just fed him as fast as it was possible. As long as he's not hungry, good enough.
Because of the inconvenience, I didn't eat the meal too.
It's just too troublesome.

For the touch down, it was a good thing that he was asleep. He was tired, and fell asleep when I was carrying him at 1145hrs.
He slept almost until the plane touched down to the ground. But neighbouring, there's a little girl who cried, and woken Zyan up. He just looked at her, and quietly rest his head on my shoulder.
Little rascal.

As we left the plane, I had to find a place to fill in the embarkation forms.
And the immigration was crowded, took almost half an hour to get the passport stamped.

As we go to get the luggage, Karinna had already picked them up. Zyan was happy to see her. I told her to try to meet us at the baggage area, if not at the immigration area.

So it's good. Linked up, and off we went to our hotel.

We stayed at Tai Koo area, East Hotel.
It's pretty nice actually.
The design is suitable only for single person to stay in the room, if not the other occupant must be very close to you.
Why?
Because the toilet and shower rooms have no lock, and it's TRANSPARENT GLASS.
So exciting!

Anyway, we were all tired. Karinna worked till very late yesterday. I was tired by my son. And Zyan was tired because of himself. :P

So we went for dinner, and came back to hotel to rest.
I just made an additional trip to supermarket to get some drinks, tidbits etc.

Here's a picture of Zyan playing at City Plaza, which is just besides our hotel.

Here's Zyan catching 'butterflies' at the lift of our hotel.

脚步

这一两年来，我经常带我父母去看医生。

年纪大了，又不懂英文，所以我是个翻译生。

走着走着，经常把他们遗落在后头。

是他们的脚步太慢，还是我的步伐太快？

嗯 。。。 。。。

Goodbye Mama

It was a hectic weekend.

We were out on both afternoon to buy things.
Sunday afternoon was cut short, as I received call from my helper to go back home.

When we reached home, my mother-in-law was lying in bed.
Not able to move much.

Called for ambulance, and they reached within 12 minutes. Sent to nearest hospital CGH.
Initial prognosis was stroke.
Checking CT Scan later, it wasn't good news.

Some blood vessel had ruptured, and blood is flowing to the brain, and in particular, brain stem.
Doctor said it's critical, and to have an operation would not do any good at all, with next 48 hrs being the crucial moment.

I think while we were there, and when her son and daughter were by her bedside, I think she could hear us.
Her motor limbs were not very responsive then. Eye movement wasn't there as well. But she can hear. And she teared.

She was then put to the High Dependency Unit. We were of course hopeful that she can manage to survive the ordeal.

She didn't make it.
She left us in the evening around 11pm.

Thereafter, it was just making necessary arrangement for the next few days.

Mother, thank you for taking care of my household, my family, and Zyan. Thank you for all that you have done for us.
May you rest in peace.

Picture taken with her son/daughter during her birthday dinner this year:

Star Cruise

We just came back from a cruise yesterday.

We went for the Star Cruise on Virgo Vessel. Departed 03 Aug, and back on 05 Aug.
It's a relatively short trip, but it's good.
Its destination is Redang Island in Malaysia.

We bought during one of the exhibition, and purchased the 1-for-1 promotion.
So it's Buy 1 Get 1 Free, and we added on our little boy as well.
I think we paid for about S$800 over for the whole experience.
As usual, Zyan is always excited when going out.
Here's his own little excitement in getting ready.

We went to check in about 4pm on 03 Aug. It was very crowded, took quite a while, and managed to board the vessel probably just passed 5pm that day.
We went with our friends, the Lees Family.
Our access cards with Virgo.


Once we boarded, and got into our cabin, we headed to the restaurant.
The Lees are sort of regular passengers with Star Cruises, so they knew what to do next, and as such, dinner at the restaurant.

There are a few restaurants for dinner, and we went to Bella Vista. We went for the Western food there.
It's pretty nice place. By the time our food came, it was about 6+pm. Just nice time for dinner anyway.
Picture of Karinna and Zyan taken in the restaurant.


Then we just loiter around the place, moving to different decks to check out the place.
Went to Deck 12, that's where the swimming pool is. From Deck12, we can walk to the bow and stern of the vessel.
Of course, we will visit the ship bow, looking at it, and thinking of Titanic movie.
You jump. I say bye bye. LOL.


It was basically walking and exploring around, and then it was time to go back to cabin.
When you have little kiddies around, there can be limited time you can spend out of rooms.
They need enough sleep. So the Lees went to casino and try their luck.


Morning, went for breakfast, pretty ok. We went to another restauarant, The Pavillion.
Chinese breakfast, so it's very much porridge and porridge and porridge, with some dim sum.
Zyan is a greedy boy. Be it western or chinese or whatever, he will stuff into his mouth.
Food is never a problem for him.


Then we explore the place again, went to the Vessel Administrative area, took some pictures, then it was time to go back cabin to get ready for the bumboat to Redang itself.

Zyan fell asleep just before going onto to small ferry. It was good also, as this will reduce possibility of him getting seasick and puked. :P
Once landed on Redang Island itself, we went to a corner where the Lees recommended, to feed fishes.
Need to talk down the beach until about waist level, then you can see more fishes there for feeding.

I didn't want to feed the fish, so I stayed at the shore with Zyan. He was still asleep when we reached there.


Then when Karinna came back from the sea area the second time round, for more bread to feed fishes, Zyan was already awake.
We got him into his swim gear, and there he goes ... ...
Enjoying himself with fish feeding.
Karinna said he likes it a lot. I can imagine.



The time spent on Redang is not long. Maybe around 2.5 hours or so. It was quite enough also.
Then went back to the Virgo Vessel, went to the swimming pool. The adults (minus me) wanted to enjoy the jacuzzi, so I spent quality time with my son.
Carrying him is no joke though. Only consolation is that he keeps trying to kiss his daddy. LOL.
Father and son secret. Tell no one.
After that, went back to cabin for showers and getting ready for next activity.

Then it was time for dinner. Went to Bella Vista again. It was crowded, didn't get our dinner until almost 8pm.
Dinner was good, and son wanted to run around once he finished his share of dinner. What is new?
So the strong daddy will have to do his work again.
Luckily, I conned him to sit at some telephone booth area, and let him fiddling with the phone.
Ha ha. I like.

Then we went to view the pictures taken by the cruise staff during the boarding time, and Redang boarding.
Found ours, but we think it was so-so, so didn't buy the photographs.
Maybe in future when Zyan is bigger, and we come for cruise again, we can consider then.

Went back to cabin, changed Zyan into his night clothings, and pacified him to sleep.
He's just too playful, didn't sleep until almost 11pm.
Once he slept, I left the mother and son in each other's company, and joined the Lees at the casino.
Of course, that's my donation to Star Cruise.
We went for supper around 12 midnight too. Already paid, just eat. :P

And Friday came. Time to be back to Singapore.
After breakfast, it was time to go back to cabin to pack our things to get ready, after some morning stroll at the open deck.
I went back to casino for a little more donation, before meeting up with Karinna and Zyan.

Time passed very quickly, and Virgo had reached Singapore by about 12 noon.
We got our bags ready, and went to the place for disembarkment.
Waited until about 1.30pm before we left the cruise.

At the end of it, I think we all like it, and Zyan definitely seems to have enjoyed himself.
He didn't want to take the lift home, when we reach our flat at Tampines.

Star Cruise. We will come again!