Singapore Trip 2012

As been told, i will blog about my Singapore trip. Well, takde apa sangat nak story about the Singapore itself. Singapore macam Malaysia  la jugak keadaan die. Like KL. Full of high-rise building, some with excellent architecture. Can't really say much about Singapore as we only been around Orchard Road (our hotel was there) and Universal Studio. Plan to go Singapore Zoo cancelled, Bugis Street cancelled, to eat Singapore's cuisine tulang merah and murtabak spore also cancelled. All because we were too tired. As a Malaysian in Singapore, converting RM, we felt like we are damn poor over there because everything were so expensive, we always have to do a mental calculation (times 2.5) whenever we looked at price tags. Ok i'll share our experience there. Warning: will be a lengthy post, if malas nak baca just scroll down for pictures.

Arrived at Changi airport at 10a.m. The airport was huge with lots of shop (mostly branded ones). Straight away took a cab to our hotel. Managed to checked-in early so we just dump our bag and went strolling along Orchard Road. Orchard Road was actually a place full of shops & shopping malls. Macam ala Bukit Bintang area la but even more shops, 70% of the shops are the high-end ones and we all tak bother pun nak masuk (almaklumla dalam poket cuma ada SGD1000 je). Memang we all jalan till the end of the road lah. We browse around the mall to find any eateries with Halal food but to our disappointment none are certified Halal except for fast food (ie Mcd & KFC). Even kedai roti pun tak halal because they mix those with pork filling with other buns. Nasib my kids tak meroyan kat kedai tu when we put back the buns from our tray. Lots of interesting cafe but like i said, not confident to dine there due to the mix of halal & non-halal (pork) foods. Luckily just nearby our hotel ada mamak restaurant which sells quite delicious nasi beriani & roti canai. So you can guess now where we ate.

Initial plan was to go Singapore Zoo on the day we arrived but cancelled pasal takut nanti kalut, sampai lewat kat zoo macam rugi pulak (the zoo closes at 6pm). Also plan nak singgah Bugis Street, but cancelled because we walked so much at Orchard Road on that day, kaki pun dah sakit, the kids were cranky, perut pun dah lapar & totally exhausted due to early morning flight.

Night time we went out again for a walk around Orchard Road, which were totally different environment from daytime. Daytime was full of people clad in office attire being busy & serious, while nighttime was more relax, lots of people relaxing walking along the street. Buildings & malls were all light up with beautifully. There were street performance, which were quite interesting to watch. Also the cafe & bar were full house and some eateries open 24hrs or closing late on weekend night. So definitely a happening nightlife at Spore town.We ate McDonald for dinner because we wanted to try the Spore menu and it was wayyy more expensive than Malaysia's.

Next day we went to Universal Studio! Which was the most interesting part of our trip. I won't tell it now, will make another post about it soon!

Then come the day we have to say bye-bye to Singapore. Woke up early morning so that we can have breakfast at McDonald. Why McDonald again? Because i want to drink their coffee from their McCafe. McCafe is an additional coffee-house in McDonald. I don't know why they don't have this in Malaysia. Hatyai pun ada McCafe tau! I ordered Caramel latte and it was damn good, as good as those Starbucks & Coffee Beans, and cheaper as well. Even on McDonald's breakfast menu you can choose to either have coffee or cappuccino. I hope Malaysia catch up on this fast, i want more selection on coffee! After breakfast we went to H&M because i want to spend my SGD and also because there was no H&M in Malaysia and also because they have wonderful collection of children's clothes at reasonable price. I spent most of my money there just buying my kids' clothes. No clothes for me because i was not in the mood to buy any clothes for myself.

At last minute, upon realizing that there was no way we gonna fit everything we bought in 1 bag (most of stuff we bought at Universal Studio were big) . Since i only bought 15kg checked-in luggage, we would have to pay additional at the airport. So cepat-cepat i whatsapp my friend to buy additional 15kg bag online. Then we bought additional luggage, a wheel luggage (because we don't have one yet). We checked-out at 12pm and took cab to airport. Flight time was 4pm and we have sooo much time at the airport. Luckily there were lots of shop to browse. Changed our leftover SGD to RM. We only brought back balance of RM650. After that what's left for us was SGD17, and i spent it on a chocolate that cost me SGD14.90. So we were at the airport till fly time. Landed LCCT at almost 6pm. Just glad we were in Malaysia again! The land where halal food are everywhere, wet toilets with water in the loo and most importantly, stuff were cheaper!

Now pictures time...

Arrived at Changi Airport. Feeling touristy. Or orang kampung? hahaha

Strolling along Orchard Road

Cold Stone is an ice cream shop. Looks really interesting. Night time lots people queuing but didn't had the chance to try pasal overslept lepas balik Universal Studio.

Yummy desserts. Did not dare to try due to the keraguan Halal and also very expensive. SGD10 for mini pie..it is about RM25 tau tak!

 

Shop..shop..at H&M!

Night time at Orchard Road. Above pic is one of the street performer. He just stood still most the time and dance slow motion with the background music.

Dinner at McD. This burger is yummy! Very soft buns and lots of vegetables. Similar to GCB here.

This McCafe i told you about. Delicious Caramel latte!

Just want to share Pizza Hut menu available there. Interesting kan? Look at the lobster, tak tahaann! Bila Malaysia gonna have this as well?

My H&M haul. Kids clothes. Most of them are Dania's.

At the airport again. My daughter was an exhausted traveler indeed!

Anticipation of Singapore Trip

Been 1 year plus since i booked Air Asia tickets to Singapore. Another place ticked on my 'Wishful Vacation'. We fly there tomorrow morning. My second time there (since 13yrs old). Already converted my RM to SGD, which is very the rugi because i got back sooo little..damn the high SGD exchange rates! Have to admit this is the most costly trip we had due to damn high exchange rate and expensive accommodation cost. Really hope we'll enjoy our trip there. Highlights of our trip there is to visit Universal Studio...can't wait to ride the most talk about Transformers 3D ride! Will snap lottssss of pictures and share it here. Wish us well & safe journey ya!

Iconic Universal Globe..you wait there ya..we will sure snap picture with you !  :)

A Mother's Life

When you have children, and especially if you are a mother, your life will be changed completely. What you do, how you do it and your routine will change to adapt with your kids. Unless you have someone else to take care of your kids or even better, your kids do not live with you. I know someone who only visits her kids once every 3 months. Her kids live with her mother. I don't know how she does it. Being away with her child. Tak rindu ke? Well, i won't judge. Each of it's own way and reason.

Last time, my pre-married life, i live my life my own way. Tido bangun makan mandi pukul berapa pun takde siapa kisah. Then come married life, still free with extra hassle in life but a bit restricted because you owned by someone and live with a guy. Life will be added by doing house chores and cooking for 2 but still ample time to do anything and go anywhere we like. After my son was born, life as a mother began. My time no longer mine. 80% will go to my kids and evolve around them. I can say that i am an independent woman. If i can i will handle almost everything myself without kacau my husband. Kalau i kacau tu means i saja nak share the responsibility.

Ok the reason for this post is for me to share my daily routine. Routine will be more or less the same during weekdays. So i just share my weekdays routines. Most of the weekdays these are what i do:

7 a.m : Woke up, perform my subuh prayer, do some cleaning if necessary.

7.30a.m: Wake my son, bathe & prepare him for school

8a.m: Out from home, send my son to school, send my daughter to her nanny. Off to work.

6.30p.m: Reached home after picking up my kids from their nanny. Kids start to bugs me with all sort of     stories & demanding for food or cartoon.

7p.m: Cycling/ exercise

7.30p.m: Bathe & perform my maghrib prayers. Rest or chit chat with my husband about our day (if he comes back from work early)

8 - 9p.m: Cook dinner, eating & cleaning. If we buy dinner, just eating & cleaning. Of course i have to suap my kids first because i usually don't eat dinner. Prefer to suap them because i don't want them to make a huge mess. Then cleaning the house.

9p.m: Hang all the washed clothes, pick up the dry ones. Assist my son on his homework or ask him to do his workbooks as an extra learning.

9.30p.m: Perform my isya' prayers, recites Quran, teach my son Iqra'.

10.00p.m: My TV time while folding clothes. Watching TV while my kids playing in front of the TV. Requesting all sort of things, bugging me for their attention. 50% focus on TV, 50% scolding them for being noisy or quarreling.

11.30pm: Preparing for sleep time. My kids will jump and play in the room till the light is off.

12.30pm: Kids asleep. My 'alone' time to use my iPad to plug in music (earphone), check on twitter, FB or play games. Usually will doze off at 1a.m.

Haa..by looking at my daily life (or night life), i don't really have a personal time to myself right? Sometime when i am very tired or not in the mood, memang tension. Not complaining, perhaps i'd rather spend my time with my family while i am still healthy than doing something useless & unproductive, just that sometime it is tad tiring for me.

Husband will always have their personal time of their own and easily dump everything for wife to handle. Wife will be busy handling all these domestic chores like she been paid huge sum of salary. Like this interesting facts i came upon recently on twitter "Women perform 66% of the world's work, produce 50% of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property" It is true right? Women do not work for money. We are satisfied being paid with love & appreciation. Of course if bagi hadiah lagi suka..hehehehe..Unless you are the type of woman who marries rich guy, got monthly allowance for your beauty maintenance and also have maid to handle your kids and spend most of the time with spas, facial, shopping, travelling and socialize. But for most of us, we just have to settle with our cukup-cukup makan money and make a decent & happy living with our kids. And maybe we will find a happiness that money can't buy. InsyaAllah...

Adam's 5th Birthday

Yesterday was my son's birthday. Time fly so fast, he already 5! Grown up to be a very active boy, talkative, sibuk, and also manja. Kalau Adam ada dekat rumah memang kecoh je memanjang. Lompat sana sini. His favourite things to do most of the time is playing fights. Ala, lawan dengan diri sendiri dengan sound effect dari mulut 'dush..dush' (bersembur habis air liur). Dia yang tumbuk dia yang jatuh. Macam orang gila pun ada dok tengok. Even worse kalau atas katil or sofa, lompat macam kuda kena sawan babi..hahahaahha..ok over pulak describe.

His birthday falls on 2nd April which is Monday. So the weekend before that we decided to bring him to Aquaria KLCC. He was excited strolling along the aquariums. He was scared at all the big fishes and also the piranha's aquarium because he saw a human skeleton in there (he actually thought someone really died being eaten by the piranhas). Overall, Aquaria was quite good, was amazed by the beautiful fishes. The only set back was it was a short trip. You have to slowly browse the place, or you will finish the tour in less than 30 mins. Below are some pics i managed to snap.

After Aquaria, we jalan-jalan around KLCC. I wanted to buy Adam a new slippers. Just because he treasure his slippers and the current one he had already worn out. Couldn't remember the name of the shop but they sells cute children shoes (a bit pricey but still acceptable). Since Adam love superheroes, he chose this Hulk slippers. Cantik jugak la.

After that we went to Toys R us. My husband wanted Adam to choose any toys he fancy. Being a Toys R Us club member, able to redeem RM30 voucher on birthday. But have to spend above RM150. Adam takde benda yang dia nak beli but Dania was fond at this sort of bicycle (not really a bicycle). The one at home already pecah and dangerous to ride, so my husband decided to use the voucher to buy new 'bicycle' for Dania. In case you want to know, below are the 'bicycle' pic.

Then on Monday, the birthday day itself i just buy a cake for Adam to bring to school. Just to make the day memorable to him. Rasa la syok sket ada kawan-kawan nyanyi Happy Birthday, blow candles bagai. Sorryla Adam, no budget to do birthday party for you this year. All budget has gone to our Singapore trip later. Here are some pictures that his teacher snapped for us.

Later, for dinner my husband bought satay as requested by Adam (one of his favourite food). And also gave him his birthday present. Something for him to use to learn math. Tapi adik dia Dania yang excited nak main (nampak tak tangan sibuk dok pegang benda tu?) 

Quite a memorable birthday. I like any birthday to be memorable. Not necessary to celebrate with lavish party or present but an activity done together as a thought and full of memories that can make you smile for many years to come. Knowing you are matters in someone life, and they make an effort to show you that are what make a year older not so bad after all!