Our Christmas @Bangkok, Thailand

Phew, finally, Rachel's fever is also residing after a dose of the chinese medicine we've gotten from the Physician this morning...

 

This trip, prompted by hubby's clients/friends, wasn't arranged last minute(thank goodness) but somehow, we didn't have the mood to pack til the eve and hubby even needed to 'push' me to get me going, heee.  Luckily he did, 'cos it made me realised that I still had quite abit of stuffs to pack! hahaha.

 

Actually, I was rather skeptical about the trip. Firstly, although I've heard alot about the generosity and kindness of the people whom we'd be travelling with, I couldn't help but worry if we could all get along well and most importantly, whether our young kids might cause them any inconveniences.  However, it turned out that they are really nice people and even helped us with our kids!  They were so kind that even Renee felt abit sad when they returned home a day earlier than us(they arrived a day earlier too).

 

Our flight was at a good timing, 5pm(Rachel napped on the plane) and we arrived at Baiyoke Sky Hotel at close to 9pm(Thailand time).  We arrived at a good timing and were greeted with a parade/performance of some of the fairy tale characters and thereafter, the choir started singing and the characters/'Santa Clauses' went around distributing Christmas cookies and we were given quite a handful, lolz.  Our companinions had wanted to wait for us to join them for dinner but it'd be too late, so we told them not to.  Neverthelss, they still packed some food for us and luckily, they told us on time whilst we were trying to find food on our own, :). 

 

As I hadn't been as enthusiastic about the packing this time round, I had only remembered to pack in the kids' travel meds but not the adult's, :(  and so, when the 2 teenager kids of our group fell ill, I hadn't got any of mine to offer.

 

Arrangements had already been made for us to join a local tour @6:45am the next morning and due to the early hour, I only managed a 3hours sleep!  We were brought to the infamous floating market which we've been hoping to have a chance to try!  It was a nice experience though Rachel clung on very tightly to me in the carrier during both boat rides(one motorised and one manual) and my legs almost got numbed from the cramp during the ride on the 'manual' boat, hahaha.  We didn't buy anything from the rides, heeee.

 

Next, we headed to the elephant village where papa and Renee(reluctant initially) rode on the elephant but as Rachel's afraid and refused, I didn't get to try...  Anyway, I don't think it's gonna be easy for me to go onboard carrying her, :).  We were then brought to the wood carving and the gem factories, after the snake show(which Rachel and I missed). The wood carvings were really really nice and we were tempted to buy a cabinet but the price tag put us off the idea, hahaha.

 

After our half day guided tour, we went for our own lunch and though it was already past 3pm, we still managed to do some shopping, grabbed dinner at a chinese restaurant and came back to the hotel for a room change(co-incidentally, this room was also given to 1 of our companions but they had rejected it on the spot).  The 2nd room, though abit smaller, has a king size bed, so it's better for us.  Earlier, on our way back, we had stopped by Amari Hotel and there was also some performances going on there and again, a 'Santa Claus' gave Renee a present, :).  Whilst I got the kids ready for shower/bed, papa went for a massage with the rest, all except me - the one who needed it the most since I carried Rachel the whole day! :(

On the 3rd day, we did more shopping and after our sumptous Japanese dinner at a Zen restaurant, we headed back to the hotel where again, I was left alone in the room to take care of the kids' needs whilst papa went to join the men drinking in 1 of their rooms.

The 4th day was a miserable one.  The night before, I had already felt something coming and I woke up with a high fever, bad phlegmy cough and feeling extreme lethargy.  The paracetemol didn't help and for the whole day, I fell in and out of sleep in the room.  Had wanted hubby to bring Renee along to shop but with my condition, she had to stay in to help watch over Rachel(but she was playing game on my iphone the whole time! lolz).  This turned out to be a better idea 'cos there had been alot of walking involved and Renee would have complained and killed papa's shopping mood, hahaha.

Fortunately, I had felt better on our last day and though I very much hope to sleep-in, I knew I had to wake up early so as to catch on some lost shopping.  Hubby needed to go back to 1 of the shops to do some size exchange, so he left us at the nearby wholesale mall where we only spent 1hr plus before we decided to return to the hotel room 1st.  Thereafter, when we have checked out of the room upon his return, I told him that I wanted to go back to the Platinum shopping mall and we managed to buy some more stuffs(mostly and mainly the kids', hardly any of mine) before we had to rush back to the massage parlour near our hotel as hubby needed another round(haiz) and before we knew it, it was time for us to come home... :)

As I had to carry Rachel onboard the plane, she caught the cold virus from me and got a high temperature when we got home, :(.

We had been to the physician's this morning and thankfully, she's feeling better already, after the 1st dosage of the medication.  Next would be my recovery I hope...

*Bought quite abit of stuffs this trip but mainly, papa's and the kids', :)  Not as much photos taken as well but they can be viewed at facebook, :).

Renee's 1st Solo Performance

Finally, the feeling of a heavy stone is finally relieved today, shortly after 4pm at The Lee Foundation Theatre.

 

At the beginning of this year, we were told that Renee was elected to audition for an opportunity of a soloist performance at Nafa School of Young Talents' annual year end concert.  After a few months of nagged preparation during the 1st semester, she was selected and it was around July or August that they started to prep her on the concert piece.  A few months of tensed/nagged enivornment(due to her laziness to practice!), she finally made it through today!

 

The pre-concert rehearsal began at 1pm and we were set to leave home around 12:30pm BUT, we left her dress at home and had to make a U-turn and thus, we were a little late.. Luckily, the young ones from the Prep Group took a tiny bit more co-ordination/arrangement, so we weren't deemed to be too late(her teacher was just about to ring us when we showed up though, hahaha).

 

As Rachel was not allowed in the concert, we took our helper along so that she could help us look after her when the concert begins.  However, she has to do that even before the concert starts because I was needed at the backstage.

 

We had thought that we could be allowed abit of time for a quick tea break after the 2 hour rehearsal(the whole process run-through), but we were told that the 1st batch of performers are to go to the dressing room straight away and thus, papa had to rush over to the bubble-tea shop to get Renee's/my favourite oreo vanilla shake + chocolate waffle.

 

Having detoured to look for papa, I had to bring Renee to the dressing room myself and had ended up at the 'groups' room but the Dept Head of Junior Music told me that there's another room at the other side for soloists and told us to go over...  However, that room was smaller and not wanting to go in there, I went into the next one(with more toilet cubicles) instead and got her ready there.

 

Her teacher then came by whilst we were munching on our waffle, and told me to get Renee to warm up a couple more times but the latter wasn't quite willing and did only half-heartedly, haiz...

 

When the concert was about to begin, the programme director(I'm not sure if this is her actual job title, hahaha) came to fetch Renee up and her teacher told me to go along with her.  On the way up to the backstage, the lady asked if I've got a seat ticket and if so, then I should go to the audience hall.  So, I went back to the dressing room, pick up the violin case, dress cover, etc etc and rushed back to my seat only to find that my hubby's not there...

 

Soon, my sister Li and good friend Vicky came in with hubby and before we could even say a proper hello to each other, the concert was ready to begin...

 

Sitting there, my heart was in a turmoil - between the want to go check on Rachel and the desire to be with Renee at the backstage, to give her more support if not to keep her warm... But I had to stay put in my seat, if I were to catch my precious girl's very 1st formal concert performance and so I kept telling myself to stay 'calm', hahaha.

 

When it came to Renee's turn to play(she was the 2nd soloist to perform after the prep group's performances), I daren't breathe.  I was secretly praying that she won't trip, make no mistake and a 'smooth' performance.  I'd held my breath til the very last bow she did and finally, I felt sooooo relieved!

 

After her performance, I waited for an opportunity for me to sneak out and straight away, I went to look for her at the dressing room.  I saw her sitting there, alone, looking kinda 'sad' and my heart went to her but she immediately light up the moment she saw me and I quickly gave her a hug.  Told her she did a good job and I'm proud of her.  She said she wasn't sad but felt tired and I guess this is what anxiety(she was really nervous then!) could do to one.

 

Although we felt that some of her home practices(even during rehearsal) had been better but this being her 1st formal performance and that she'd felt really nervous, we think she did not too bad, :).  Hopefully, should she be given another opportunity to perform, she'd do better.  For now, we're happy and glad that the concert's over, so we could concentrate on the next item on the list - Moving home tomorrow!

*Rachel had been good and had slept through the concert(outside the theatre hall, with the maid)...

No Time To Unpack

Oh geez, I've only just begun my unpacking of the luggages/loot when hubby reminded me of the gathering his client has organised for us(he said this meetup will not materialise if papa's not present) this evening... And then, with an almost empty refrigerator, what can I do?  I had to stop my 'work' so we could go to the supermart to get some food stuffs and before we knew it, it's time to get ready to go to the client's house.

 

Tonight, I finally get to put a face to the names hubby had mentioned to me numerous times, including an acquaintance with their wives, :).

 

Renee even had great fun after befriending 1 of the clients' daughters! lolz.

These bottles were left around on the table, with nothing to do, Rachel went to arrange them neatly! 

Ta Da! 

Hello, bear

 

Now, what are you doing, going so close to the bear, Rachel? 

 

Oh! hahaha

 

On our way home, we saw many firemen along the road and as we drove past, we see big clouds of smoke coming out/up from a nearby warehouse/factory. Oh my, it's soooo near our premise!  As we were entering our building's carpark, we saw a fire engine driving out of our compound too...  Geez, this piece of news would surely be reported since it seemed to be quite a big fire...

Our Trip To Korea

Oh my!  Time really flies!  I can't believe that my last post was dated more than 3 months ago!  I've been so caught up with the daily stuffs and I dunno, somehow, I just lacked the energy to blog...  However, this trip is something memorable to me(us) and I want to jot it down if possible, so here I am, heeee.

 

Those who knew us well will know by now that our trips(due to hubby's work commitment/schedule) have to be planned 'last minute' and this one I must say, was really super last minute - it was only planned, confirmed and booked just a few days before we depart!(hopefully our next one won't be soo last minute)

 

We took the midnight departing flight and so the kids slept on the plane... :D.

 

Whilst waiting for our flight(we had tim sum whilst Rae fell asleep and Ne self-entertained, lolz)

 

Arrived! Waiting for our stroller
(cheh cheh had gone with Papa to look for the stroller but the staff brought
ours, together with some others', to where we were waiting, heee)

 

We first stayed at Polaris Hotel at Bucheon as it's nearer to the Incheon International Airport and was recommended by papa's business associate.  The room was very spacious(due to upgrade), with a platform for beds, a living area, etc... It was raining when we had settled in the room and so, we didn't explore much further and had only the nearby restaurants to try our luck with. We really had some difficulty placing order for our lunch!  Luckily, a young man who came into the restaurant later understood abit of English and helped us with our order - but, we still ended up with 2 claypots of this popular ginseng chicken due to miscommunication, hahaha:

 

Their kimchi seem to taste different(better) this time, perhaps it's becos we got to taste them at non-tourist area restaurants, unlike our 1st trip there, when we'd joined the tour group

 

Our 1st 3D2N at the Polaris Hotel

The Jaccuzzi tub where the 3 Tohs had their bath, together, every night there, :)

 

There wasn't much around for us to explore around this area, so we didn't get to buy much(as it's not in the shopping belt, which is in Seoul, and the things there didn't look any good to us), but since it's only the 1st day, we weren't 'worried', heee.

 

 

It was better in the evening, we 'strolled' out further, found more eateries and finally settled for 'Mr Pizza'.  The food tasted really good! lolz, but with Renee being a small eater(unless it's her favorite food), we had to pack some of our pizza back to the hotel.

Gearing up for the evening outing 

 

 

Look how nicely they've packed up our 'un-finished' food!

 

This was what Rachel would ALWAYS do whenever we got
indoor(and she felt warm) - Fussed to have her jacket taken off!

 

And this, was what she'd do whenever we need to put the jacket on her whilst still indoor!

But, once we're outdoor, she'd freeze in action(try to watch out for her 'frozen' look in the pics), lolz

 

 

Day 2, we woke up early to go for our breakfast so that we could be ready on time for papa's Korean counterpart to pick us up. 

Cldn't resist this shot when I went to wake them up after I've gotten myself and stuffs ready, :) 

Honestly, I was prepared and hadn't minded to stay-in at the hotel as the kids really enjoyed playing in the room(climbing up and down the platform was Rachel's favorite pastime[used to be Renee's], hahaha) but from the experience we've had at lunchtime the day before, papa was worried and wanted us to go with him - a pretty long ride to the factory! but well... another experience for the kids, :)

Hey, the staff was even allowed to bring her puppy to the office!

They took us to a sumptous lunch and when the kids(errmm, actually it's Rachel, haha) started to fuss, one of them turned on the cartoon on his mobile phone for some kiddos' distraction, hahaha:

 

 

We were brought back to the hotel after the visit/meeting at the factory so that they could continue with the meeting at their office, and the kids could have a rest/break.  In the evening, not wanting to go through the same search for a restaurant within the area, we decided to go back for more pizza but this time round, we even had to pack the whole plateful of chicken wings/tenders appetizer back to the hotel, :P.

 

Self-entertainment whilst waiting for papa's return to the hotel, :)

 

Yes, we're back at Mr Pizza, haha, with a food-fussy kid and one whom's too young

to be too adventurous with food, we have no choice and daren't take the risk... 

Just look at what this notti girl has done with cheh cheh's shoulder/neck rest? lolz

 

Her signature posture when out in the cold and she'd not move even
an inch when u fuss around her during those moments, hahaha

 

 

With a cab on call(taxi fares r really ex in Korea!), we proceeded to and stayed at the N. Four Seasons Hotel(where Namdaemun market is near to) from day 3 onwards, and right after our lunch at a nearby restaurant(surprisingly rather cheap and good), we went shopping!

 

The room @4 Seasons was smaller, as compared to the Polaris' but it's
super new and clean, so I like it! :D (we dun need e space, I had a hard time watching over Rachel at Polaris'! ) 

This is the result of not drinking enough water, haiz....

They sell these paos freshly steamed and seeing the crowd waiting,

we couldn't resist but to give it a try.  It's nice and got us returning for more another day, :)

Rachel wanted a try-on too, seeing cheh cheh enjoying her new box
of rings(and she lost this particular one she's put on!), lolz

 

Day 4, and it's fun time @Lotte World!  There didnt seem to be much changes to this place since the last time we've visited but Rachel was frightened by the parade which started right when we got in!

 

 

We had only just entered Lotte World when papa said we had to go out(more choices)

for lunch 1st, oh man! hahaha

 

Renee's enjoying the parade whilst Rachel got frightened, lolz

 

 

The only 2 characters that Rachel's not afraid of, :)

 

Saw Renee looking at this big carousel but she didn't ask for a ride, so we didn't join the que...

 

 

The que to the 'hot air' balloon - our kids got to experience what we've had before! :) 

 

To kill Renee's boredom, we left papa + Rae at the que and went for some games but

we didn't know how they work mostly(incl this...), hahaha

 

Trying to figure out how this game works, hahaha

 

Back at the que, I saw a young guy(whom we later shared our contacts with, after

chatted with him further) came back with ice-cream cones and I asked

him where I could get them - wanted to cheer Renee up 'cos dunno

why, she didn't seem to be up to the holiday mood yet

 

Boarding the Gondola

 

View from the hot air balloon

 

Some of the rides from bird's eye view, lolz

Look at the que for the Viking! (wonder how long was the que to the mini indoor roller coaster!)

In the que for some Tea in a Cup!

 

This is a shorter version of their 'tea-cup' ride.  See how Renee was wondering at e speed

of the other tea-cups? hahaha, Papa was busy video-ing his girl that he forgot to figure out

why their cup was the only slow moving one, hahaha!

 

 

It was total darkness inside the Mirror Maze but some TV screens were made available

outside for companions like myself to watch what was going on within and I saw Renee

doing really well in the 'laser' section - she's managed to avoid all laser rays, unlike Papa, haha!

 

Not sure which of my girls will be the 1st person to use these clips, :)

 

On reminder, we even managed to get her specs customised the same evening!

(though I wonder if she'd really get to use it at all since it'd be school holidays by the time we got home, hahaha)

The original plan was that we spend our 1st day in Seoul shopping at the nearby Namdaemun market, Lotte World the next, Everland on the 3rd and more shopping on the 4th.  However, upon learning that it'd take us 2hours(either by taxi Or by train + bus) to and fro, to Everland, we decided against it on the last minute of that morning.  We felt it'd be such a waste to spend 4 hours on travelling to get to a 'fun land' where all we could do was merely 'sight-see' ('cos from what we remembered, most of the rides are for older kids/teens) and so, we went shopping at Dongdaemun market instead...  But before that, we stopped by their History and Cultural Park :

 

Since the time she was asked to collect leaves for an artwork @Nafa Arts and thereafter by her current school, she's always been keen to collect leaves...

 

Having a break in-between more shopping!

(although I was afraid that so much of cheese, coupled with caffaine

might trigger my migraine but I simply cldn't resist!...)

 

After shopping, we went to catch a glimpse of their lantern festival

 Their X'mas Light-up along the way

We thought to give this a try but not sure how to go about it and being tired from a whole day outing, we decided to spare ourselves the language barrier agony + crowd squeeze and give it a miss, hahaha 

 

 The slope that led to our hotel and it's what helped burnt our calories, hahahahaha

I really loved this rice ball!  Even tapao-ed to the airport, heee

Papa's biz associate'd bought a bag of these(he chose walnut type) for Renee,

when we stopped for a break on the way to the factory, it's nice! 

 

Saw some local ladies taking pic of this - just see how high this man can stack his stock on his bike!

 

We spent our last day shopping at Itaewon.

On our own, we got to travel around on their subway, which is a better experience

for the kids & their fares are cheap too! Many hadn't bothered to buy tickets even, geez!

(we got a shock initially when they simply followed us through the wider gates[for strollers/wheel chairs] when they were seen to be making phone calls standing nearby and we were actually wondering why they were on the phone talking whilst still inside the station instead of getting out 1st)

 

 Can you spot it? - Pigs can Fly!

We try to make it a point to try out the known fastfood outlets in other countries

(we managed to try McDonald's and KFC there, amongst their local ones, heee)

 

Lazing around...

 

 

Managed to find these shoes last minute!

 

 Were greeted by this 'scene' when we arrived @ the airport for our return flight home

 

cheh cheh pre-occupied, so mei mei had to find her own entertainment...

 

 

 

I know, and in fact, I've told myself not to get these 'cakes' cos they're rather common in Singapore these days, but when I saw these fish shaped onest at the airport, I cldn't resist, hahaha

 

Cheeky Rachel trying to wake a napping in-transit passenger!

Enjoying her in-flight 'Men in Black III' movie(whilst papa & cheh cheh were sleeping...)

 

This trip reminded me of how I dislike what the cold/dry weather does to my hair - makes it flattened!  My hair became super manageable after we came back! hahaha.

 

*Hope I've 'captured' most, if not all, from the trip...(there r of cos more pics/buys than what're shown here, :D)