My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

Captured some of these interesting conversations with Zara.

In Hong Kong when she asked me to buy her something, and I told her it’s very expensive, she replied, “You need a lot of coins for this?

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After being punished for being naughty, she talked to herself.
“I want to have new super power.”
“so that it will fight my bad power and make me change to be good.”
“and the bacteria will also go away.”

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One morning during the school holidays, I told Zara I was working that day, and Daddy also said he needed to work.
Zara said, “No, I want one of you to play with me.”
Daddy said, “Auntie Jelly will jaga and play with you.”
Zara’s reply, “I want a playmate, ok. Not someone who keeps going to wash dishes.” o.O”

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During Jelly’s holidays, we were eating out very frequently.
In one of the restaurants, Zara commented the food was good. I told her, “So we can come here to eat every day if mummy’s not cooking?”
Zara’s reply, “No, we cannot come here every day. Just like you cannot wear back the same baju (Malay : Clothes) even if you like it very much.” o.O”

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On our flight back from Hong Kong, Zara asked, “Is this aeroplane Air Asia?”
I replied, “No, this is not Air Asia.” (since we were flying MAS)
Zara asked, “Is this another species of aeroplane?” (I guess we can say that). o.O”

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On our way home from my brother’s place (which is a gated community), Zara declared, “Ah Ku so rich that’s why he put(s) a guard house near his house right? So that the robbers will not rob his money. We are not so rich, that’s why we don’t have a guard house.” o.O”

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While talking about love, i.e. she loves me, she knows I love her, and Zaria etc.
I casually asked, “Do you think mummy and daddy love each other?”
She replied, “I also don’t know, because the two of you always shout at each other. o.O”

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Visited by Egghead, whom we always joked that we could be in-laws since he has 2 3 sons and I have 2 daugthers, I jokingly told Zara, “This uncle here may be your father-in-law you know. If he’s your father-in-law then *pointing to LLS* who will he be?”
Zara (who ‘aspires’ to marry a prince) thought for a moment, then when she realised what that meant, she said gravely, “You don’t talk to me about boys ok?” o.O”

♥18 Decâ♥
After breakfast and some dilly dallying, we went to Shau Kei Wan (筲箕灣) to meet my colleagues for lunch at On Lei (安利魚蛋粉). It didn’t taste as nice this round, however, the girls used their toilet, and Zaria claimed, “So clean, like hotel.” Mind you this is a very small shop, and not a fancy restaurant.

After lunch, my colleague suggested we go Festival Walk at Kowloon Tong for shopping. A bit disappointed as it’s a very small shopping mall, and the Christmas deco wasn’t that great. Daddy managed to get a jacket from Uniqlo, so I guess it was fruitful; but because of this, we have to go back to hotel to drop off the things.

We then took the ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon, and spent sometime at Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront to catch the 8pm Symphony of Light show. Can’t complain since it’s free, but the Hong Kong skyline in the dark was beautiful. Since both Daddy & I were not familiar with Tsim Sha Tsui, we just had dinner in the first decent looking restaurant we came across. Food was disappointing.

♥19 Dec♥
After breakfast, we took a taxi to Ocean Park. My colleague got me 4 discounted tickets to enter the park. As Zaria didn’t need a ticket to enter, I had to sell hers at the ticketing counter. Some people just ignored me and thought I was a scammer when I offered the ticket to them at HKD80 (usual price : HKD103). Grrrr..

I visited Ocean Park about 20years ago, and I remembered I was so impressed. This round, I wasn’t at all. I find it wasn’t as organised as Disney; the attractions are too spaced out on the hilly terrain (by then, Zaria was very clingy and wanted me to carry her all the time if she wasn’t walking); there was some major renovation going on; the thrill rides were not my cup of tea and the show (@ Ocean Theatre) wasn’t that great, and boy was the place crowded (on a Friday)!

What we like most was the Jelly Fish Spectacular and Atoll Reef, girls were also enjoying themselves since they are great fans of The Little Mermaid movie, and they were trying to relate what they saw there with the characters in the cartoon (i.e. Murray eels == Flotsam and Jetsam; Garden eels == what the merpeople turned into when they can’t pay Ursula).

Our last stop at Ocean Park was the Kids’ World, the girls loved it! They spent a lot of time playing at the play ground and got on some of the mini-rides. When it was time to leave, they refused to go, or tried to make us promise to bring them there again.

Dinner that night was at Keung Kee (强记) at Wanchai, a small restaurant popular among locals recommended by my colleague. We had roast goose (good but it was cold) and double boiled fish soup (yummy!), while the girls were very happy to get fried egg.

We came across this interesting market place on our way back to the Hotel in Causeway Bay

That night, after bathing the girls, I went out to shop alone. When I got back the hotel at ~12am, Zara and Daddy were at the window. Daddy claimed Zara was waiting up for me (and trying to spot me from the window)! Zaria tried to stay up too, but fell asleep half way. Zara even made a few calls to my mobile checking on me (but I didn’t hear the phone ringing). o.O” Can’t even be out of sight for 2hrs!

♥20 Dec♥
We spent the whole day shopping, mainly at Timesquare, where the Christmas theme is “Wonderland” by Carrie Chao. We spent a lot of time checking our her art work / statues, and even the girls loved them.

Models on display

Zara was very interested in one of the painting, she thought Carrie Chao painted Ruppenzel.

They claimed they were picking the nose of the model.

While I spent my money cautiously (working out the exchange rate etc), I see the Mainland Chinese dragging their trolley bag to the mall. While I bought 1 set of Fancl skin care, I saw not just one but 2 Chinese bought them in dozens and stuffed the whole bag full. I paid in credit, while they paid in their big wads of cash. Are they rich or what?

I wanted to bring Daddy to a very nice restaurant, Tai Woo (太湖海鲜城), which my friend brought me the last trip. However, there was a long queue, and we were told we had to wait more than 40mins. Every body was hungry, so we moved on to Chi Kee (池记) which also has a long queue but it was faster moving. Regret! The noodle is not as good as Mak Kee’s (麥奀記).

That night, I went shopping again, but this time Zara insisted she came along.

♥21 Dec♥
We checked out and went to Time Square to have our breakfast, then finished off with more shopping.

At about 1pm, we went back to the hotel to collect our bags and left Hong Kong; Taking the Turbo Jet to Macau. All of us knocked off on the jet (for me, it was mainly due to motion sickness).

Our hotel in Macau was Rio Hotel, rooms are big, but facilities basic. Immediately after we dropped off our bags, we took a cab to the famous Ruins of St. Paul’s (大三巴牌坊). The surrounding area has a lot of shops, some international brands and also a lot of biscuit shops selling the famous almond biscuit. Although it’s a busy street, it doesn’t seem as crowded or rush as Hong Kong. Too bad, we only had less than a day spent in Macau.

The beautiful Ruins of St. Paul’s

The extravagance Hotel Lisboa.

Macau Skyline

When the Christmas lights were turned on… beautiful.

Dinner was again a disappointment.

♥22 Dec♥
We checked with the hotel and had a leisurely dim sum breakfast at a recommended restaurant. That was probably our best meal on this trip.

We took so long to eat by the time we’re done, it was noon time. I had my last round of shopping in a nearby supermarket before we headed to the airport.

Thus ends our 8D/7N, 4 hotels trip.

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Is travelling with 2 young kids easy?
It wasn’t, we were dead tired every night. However, we’re amazed with their capabilities and understanding.
We were worried about Zaria running away from us, but she only did that once at the Kids’ World in Ocean Park. She stayed closed to us all times, and allowed us to use the leash on her.
Zara too was amazing, she could just go on walking. Her whistle was very handy, a few times some one came in between us and she thought she’s lost us, she quickly blew her whistle.

Zaria is at this stage where she likes to throw tantrum or refuse to corporate. In Hong Kong, when she didn’t get what she wanted, she would lie flat on the floor, embarrassing Daddy. She did this in the mall, at the MTR station, and even a few times in the toilet. o.O”

Look at her here : Throwing tantrum on the floor at Time Square and at The Ruins of St Paul’s. Covering her face when we wanted to take photos of her in Disney. o.O”

That’s my girl.

Thanks to Chooi Peng and Michelle, who figured out a way to get discounted hotel rates in Disneyland. We are the proof that it can be done, and got 40% off for our 2nd night in Disneyland’s Hollywood Hotel (1st night, they ran out of ‘discounted’ rooms allocation).

Even with this discount, we still got to enjoy the 1 for 1 promotion currently running, i.e. buy 1 day’s park ticket, get a 2nd day free if you stay in either one of the Disneyland’s hotel.

(Note1: meals in Disneyland are not cheap nor tasty, it’s best to stock up on your own snacks or food if you plan to be there the whole day or more).

(Note 2: We haven’t been to any Disneyland before, this is our first.)

♥16 Dec♥
After breakfast in the room (buns & croissant from Tung Chong), we took the free shuttle to Disneyland, where the queuing magic began.

We just walked past Main Street, USA (mainly shops) and went straight to Adventureland, because we wanted to catch the Festival of the Lion King. I’m not sure if they changed shows frequently, but this time it was The Circle of Life, which I think was just ok; there were just too much talking and narrating between the characters.

Lunch was HKD50 roast duck rice for myself and char siew (Cantonese : BBQ Pork) rice for the girls at Tahitian Terrace (food court). 2/3 of the girls’ rice gone to waste because Zaria was already napping and according to Zara “I think Malaysia char siew rice is nicer. Hong Kong’s one not nice, but I’ll force myself to eat.” (we didn’t bother to keep some for Zaria since Zaria wasn’t the type who would ‘force’ herself to eat).

After lunch, we found a quiet place and let Zara nap. After her rest and 15min queuing later, we got into Mickey’s Christmas House. It’s just a big room with large plastic furniture. Highlight was a photo shot with Mickey. By this time, girls were familiar with the word ‘queue’ and ‘take turns’ and they waited for their turn before dashing to Mickey with their hugs and kisses.

Zara : “Is Mickey real or not? There’s a person inside right?”
Zaria : “I love Mickey Mouse.”
Me : “Grrr.. Like that also must queue so long?”

Then it was time for Sleeping Beauty’s Christmas Ball (another show) right in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. We just sat at the pavement to watch. Sleeping Beauty appeared just for a while with Prince Charming at the end. Not worth the time.

We headed to Fantasyland for rides after the Ball. We went several rounds on the Cinderella Carrousel, Dumbo the Flying Elephants, and The Mad Hatter Tea Cups, since the girls like it, and the queues weren’t long. Every time when the ride ended, Zaria would create a fuss and claimed, “I want some more! I don’t want to come down!!”

The girls like “It’s a Small World” ride best at Fantasyland. Even after we got home, when Zaria recalls, she will still say, “(Re)member? I went on the boat ride. Then the doll(s) sing, lalala…” (and she starts humming the tune).

We then caught the Christmas Parade where I bumped into a Singapore colleague and his family. What a coincidence, we were supposed to make plans to go to Ocean Park together, but he didn’t manage to reach me before I left KL, and here we were, right next to each other watching the Parade. Girls liked the parade, and Zaria went out a few times to try to hug a dancing character and the Disney staff has to lead her away. My colleague and I split after the Parade since we got fast pass (for some rides, you can get a ‘ticket’ earlier which will print a time for you to return, with that you can return and enter the rides bypassing the queue) for The Many adventure of Winnie the Pooh. Nothing fantastic with this ride.

Dinner was fast food from Starliner Diner and then it was time for the Fireworks. Since they put the stage for Sleeping Beauty’s Christmas Ball right in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, the view was obscured. *sigh*

After the fireworks, it started ‘snowing’ (foam like bubbles sprayed from roof tops), girls were ecstatic! That was a good ending for Day 1.

That night, Zara told me our hotel looked so nice (from the shuttle), and then later when we entered the room, she asked me a question, “Mummy, why in Hong Kong the hotel looked so big outside, but inside the room so small??” (remembering Novatel Citygate too). Good observation!

♥17 Dec♥
Breakfast was again in the room. This time, the croissants were 2 days old and tasted a bit yucky. We checked out, left our luggage in the hotel, and headed to Disneyland.

We took the Hong Kong Disneyland Rail from Main Street USA to Fantasyland. We went first to Fantasy Gardens (a garden to meet and take photos with Disney characters). Every time when it was our turn to meet a character, the girls would dash forward as though meeting a long lost friend. They would hug and kiss the character. Then Zaria would again utter, “I love so-and-so.”

Upon the girls’ request, there were more rounds on Cinderella Carrousel, Dumbo the Flying Elephants, and The Mad Hatter Tea Cups.

After lunch, we caught the The Golden Mickey show. We like this show best, it was performance of the familiar songs of Disney shows. Best bit was Under The Sea sung with a mermaid with a beautiful tail dangled mid air as though swimming.

We were at Tomorrowland the rest of the day. Went on the Orbitron, Autopia, Buzz Lightyer Astro Blaster. Nothing really fantastic, and the queue was quite long especially the latter two.

They didn’t get to take any photographs with the Disney Princesses, but Buzz Light Year (for Zaria, it’s E-Buzz-Year) saved the day.

The final ride we took was Jungle River Cruise back at Adventureland, Zara was getting a bit scared spotting the alligators and then she got a real fright when the fake volcano suddenly erupted. This was her least favourite ride.

Pillion Riding – This is our solution when both girls wanted to sit on the stroller

Our last stop was the biggest Disney shop in Main Street, USA. Zara was very keen in getting some of the exorbitantly priced Disney merchandises, i.e. chunky jewelry, bubbles blower etc.; we didn’t indulge her and told her they were expensive. We couldn’t really find something that she will use or wear, in the end, we just got the girls each a handkerchief (btw, I saw a similar one in Sogo later for 2/3 of the price).

Zara was very happy she eventually got something from the shop and was dancing when we left.

We then left to pick up our bags from the hotel, took the MTR and headed for Park Lane Hotel at Causeway Bay. Daddy’s face was so sour (because he had to lug the 2 big suitcases while I handled the kids) when we arrived at Causeway Bay station, he said we should flag a cab to bring us to our hotel. o.O” I was against it, although I didn’t know how to get there, I knew it wasn’t far away. We took some wrong turns and took about 15mins to get to the hotel (of course lugging the bags, while pushing a child on the stroller and carrying another on a super busy street didn’t speed things up). The hotel was only ~3mins walk from the MTR station actually.

The room in Park Lane was quite spacious, and they gave us an extra bed for free (and I got corporate rate for it).

After checking in, Daddy said he will bring us to eat the best wonton noodle. When we arrived at the small restaurant, I realised this was the same one I went to with Mom2Ashley in March. It’s Mak Kee’s (麥奀記) on Jardine Bazaar. The noodle came in small rice bowl with super yummy soup, and it’s probably the best wonton mee in Hong Kong (based on what we’d tried so far). The girls slurped down their noodle with their thumbs up, we adults ordered extra bowl and also its yummy fish & century egg porridge. A must try if you are in Causeway Bay.

After much thought and planning (mostly my part), we have decided for a holiday to Hong Kong with the girls, when Zaria still enjoyed infant rate for her flight, and no admission charges to any of the theme parks.

The week before we left for Hong Kong, I had dinner with my dad. Seeing the girls running here and there and could not sit still during dinner, my dad shook his head and said, “I don’t know how you are going to handle them in Hong Kong.” And seriously, I didn’t know how we were going to survive. Unlike most people who would only go with the older child, or bring along the maid or a relative to help, we braved Hong Kong as a family, just us 4, planning for the worst.

We left a day after Jelly has gone home for her holidays. We were blessed with dry, sunny weather, with temparature around 20 degrees.

♥14th Dec♥
We got on a late flight and arrived in Hong Kong at 10:30pm. 1st night hotel was Novotel Citygate at Tung Chung which is near the airport; since Daddy didn’t want to tax the girls by travelling all the way downtown to spend the night.

By the time we got into our room, it was already 12am. Zaria had knocked off, and Zara had a quick wash up, and went straight to bed.

I didn’t know we were actually near the Citygate Outlets, until I read the brouchers I picked up from the hotel lobby.

♥15th Dec♥
I realised the Citygate Outlets were actually attached to our hotel. I told Daddy maybe he should stay in the room with the girls, while I went shopping. His reaction, “You want to start shopping on the FIRST DAY itself?” (Why not?) “And I thought we’re here to see the Giant Buddha?” Grrr.. So there goes my shopping plan.

For breakfast, I walked over to the supermarket near our hotel to grab some croissant, bread, fruit juices, soya bean and had them in the room, so we can eat in peace. (All breakfasts for the next few days were eaten in the room except on our last day)

After breakfast, we checked out, and left our luggage with the hotel, and started our journey to see Tung Chung. A whistle was looped around Zara’s neck, so she could whistle for our attention if she were lost, and a leash was attached to Zaria every time we went out. Thus began our visit.

Girls marveling at the water fountains just outside the Citygate Outlet mall (while mummy marveled at the shop display). Spot Zara’s daily companion the whistle, and Zaria’s leash.

If only I could shop I would be as happy.

Tung Chung is famous for the outlet shopping Ngong Peng 360 cable car ride and the Giant Buddha, the cable car will bring you all the way to the Ngong Peng Village where the latter is.

It was a ~30mins ride on the cable car, with very scenic view of the mountains in Lantau Island and the sea.

One of the few rare shots of the Zaria smiling especially with Zara’s arms around.

Extremely stable (even when the wind is howling) and scenic ~30min ride on the Ngong Peng 360 cable car.

Besides the Giant Buddha, surrounding Ngong Peng, there are some really nice walking paths. I especially like the walk to the Wisdom Path, where you find 8~10m high wood columns with Chinese calligraphy arranged in the ‘infinity’ symbol on a slope of a hill.

For most part of our trip, we were amazed at the girls’ ability to walk for long period of time, and when they got tired, they took turns to be seated on the stroller or to be carried.

Girls were very happy to spot some Nutcrackers as Christmas display in hotels, and this one, in Ngong Peng.

Love this shot of Zaria on Daddy’s shoulder, with the Giant Buddha at the back, taken just before sunset.

Just before sunset (~5pm), we took the cable car back to Tung Chong. I requested for some time to shop at the outlet mall. With Daddy constantly asking, “Is it really cheaper here?” “Do you want to lug that all the way back?” “Are you done yet?” and the girls going wild in the shops, I only managed to spend like 30mins in Esprit (in the whole Outlet mall) and bought myself some really cheap tops and a pair of pants. Grrrr..

We left Tung Chong with some food stuff from the supermarket (and our luggage of course) and took the MTR to our next stop.

When we got to the Disney’s Hollywood Hotel, Goofy was doing his round at the lobby. Without warning, Zaria just dashed towards him, ignoring the queue of people who wanted a photo with him, and gave him a hug, and since then, every time Disneyland was brought up, she will say, “Goofy loves me!” and “I love Goofy very much.”

I don’t know why there were lots of bad comemnts about Disney’s Hollywood Hotel. To me, it’s perfectly fine. There’s a robe and slippers for kids, they folded the small towels into animals, and knowing we got 2 young kids, they even installed 2 bed guards on our 2 queen beds. The only complain is, the beds were a bit too high, I had to put a chair in between the beds to act as a stepping stool for the girls.

We have been preparing Zaria for the big day, asking her over and over again if she wanted to go to school, and she always replied “Yes.” And then we did count down telling both the girls, in X more days, they’ll be going to a new school, in Y more days, it’ll be school day etc.

For the last few weeks, Zaria has been crying for the tiniest problem.
I.e. She wanted to flush the toilet, and we did it before her.
She wanted to put on her own shoes but since we were in a hurry, I wore it for her. Etc etc.

So, on her first day of school, I was preparing for the worst with all her recent unnecessary crying bouts. She was the youngest in her class, just turned 2 and joining the 3 year olds. I sent her to her class, bid my good byes, and walked and stood at the door. She wanted me to be with her, but I kept telling her “This is your school, this is not Mummy’s school, so mummy cannot go in, mummy must wait outside.”. She looked at the door (where I stood) a few times, but did not shed a single tear, although all around her, 4 out of 6 of her friends were crying or wailing. Later, I told her I had to go out for breakfast and I’ll be back to pick her up. She hugged and gave me a kiss and went back to her class.

I was at the school the whole time, moving between the girls’ classes. Peeping and making sure she couldn’t see me after I said my goodbyes. She did well, although a little quieter then usual. Her teachers said she was very independant, doing her own things, fetching her own water and snack from her bag when she needed it, and asking for help occassionally.

3 days has passed and she has not cried at all, although she did tell me today, “I don’t want (to) go school, I want (to) go kaikai with mummy.” when we were on our way to school, but she was ok once she went into her class.

♥I’m so proud of her.♥

As for Zara, this is a new school for her against her wishes. One of the reason why I moved her to this school is because she’ll be getting equal lessons in Chinese and English; and the Chinese is taught by a lady who speaks perfect Beijing Chinese. Although she didn’t really kick up a fuss, she kept telling me “I like XXX better.” (XXX == her old school). “I don’t like to learn Chinese.”

However, in class, she does mingle with other children, and answering teachers’ questions when necessary. Hopefully, very soon, she’ll have some really close friends like she did in XXX.

♥I’m so proud of her.♥

After 1.5 months of blog break, I got what I needed to do done, well, almost.
During this time, no watching DVDs, no book or blog reading, trying to be very focussed.

What did I do this 1.5 months?

Worked really really hard and long hours of course, just before the long break.
Completed the 8 photobooks just in time!!
Celebrated Zara’s birhtday with some planning.
Celebrated Zaria’s birthday almost last minute.
Found a new school for Zara and Zaria.
Went on a week’s holiday.
Did whatever minimum housework that I needed to do.

My 4 weeks leave is almost over.
The girls will be starting in a new school next Mon. Jelly will be back next week, and I’ll be back to work on Thurs!

Here are peeks of what went on in the household.

Zara’s birthday, celebrated with the family and neighbours in the house. I baked her ‘birthday cakes’ this time.

Zara with her ‘fairy’ cakes.

Zaria and Tasha blowing off candles over and over again on a couple of the cupcakes.

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Christmas was celebrated at my bro’s house. With my nephew’s band performing.

My niece, Ally, being the Santarina.

My niece, Sam, did some magic tricks to con awe the below 5.

Of all presents, Zara loves the musical jewelry box from King’s Wife. Seen here the girls gazing at it.

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Zaria’s birthday was planned very last minute. Without a maid, we just had KFC and Dominos Pizzas, and cupcakes from Cupcake Chic. You think she’ll be thrilled to get to blow her candles?
Wrong! She cried when the birthday song was sung. Not sure if it was because someone turned off the lights, or accordingly to her, “I don’t want Ah Ku to sing.” (Ah Ku, i.e. my brother, some one Zaria fears).
And Zara sulked big time, claiming it’s not her birthday, so she didn’t want to participate. Grrrrr..

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And here is a sneak peek of our week long holiday. Can you tell where we went? (Those who were told of the trip should not review the answer). The post will come later.

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Happy New Year All!

Tic Toc Tic Toc
I haven’t scheduled for my yearly medical check up yet.

Tic Toc Tic Toc
How come work has not reduced?

Tic Toc Tic Toc
Jelly will be going home for a month and I’ll be alone with the kids. (Pray that I’ll survive)

Tic Toc Tic Toc
Zaria’s birthday next month and I don’t know what to do. (Without a maid, what can I do?)

Tic Toc Tic Toc
Zara’s birthday IS NEXT WEEK and I’d done nothing YET. (Die)

Tic Toc Tic Toc
Should I or should I not change Zara to another school?

Tic Toc Tic Toc
Nothing progressed since 3 months ago. My 8 photobooks (due end of the year) is only 1% done!

Tic Toc Tic Toc
So many blog sites I’ve not visited yet. (Sorry, really no time)

Tic Toc Tic Toc
Ok… I need a break. I’ll see you folks around.

Meanwhile, I wish I was as calm and cool as this girl.

This only happens if you work from home full time.

I have a week’s training to conduct in a KL hotel so on last Sunday, I told Zara I wasn’t going to be at home for the week, and will only see her in the night.
Zara : “Mummy I want to go with you.”
Me : “No, you can’t. Mummy is working and you cannot be in the (function) room with mummy.”
Zara : “I can wait for you downstairs.” (recalling the security guard didn’t allow her to go into our office previously)
Me : “Mummy is not going there for a short while, mummy has to be there for the whole day. Anyway, uncle Chintan (my colleague from Sydney whom we met 2 weeks ago) is also going to be there.”
Zara : “Uncle Chintan is just your small boss (which I told her when we met him during his earlier visit), you don’t have to listen to him right?”
Me : “But mummy’s big boss also asked mummy to go to the hotel to work.”
Zara : (knowing she’s not winning) “You know mummy, if you are not at home, I cannot sleep properly.”
o.O”

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As for Zaria, she’s getting quite good with self defence.
When she tried to touch a forbidden object, I told her I’ll ‘flick’ her hand if she tried to.
Zaria : “Don’t shoot.”
Me : “If you are yai-yai (Cantonese : naughty), and you touch it, mummy will shoot you. How will mummy shoot you?”
Zaria : “With arrows!”
o.O”

Once when she let go of my hand and ran to the middle of the road, I picked her up and smack her buttock, telling her what she did was dangerous.
Zaria : “Don’t! Don’t smack my buttocks!”
o.O”

And every time when she gets hold of a toy, and Zara starts reaching for it too, Zaria shouted, “Don’t snatch. Che-che, Don’t snatch!”.

Since Zaira could tell us she wanted (depending on her mood) to poo beginning of this year we slowly introduced her to using the toilet bowl to pee as well.

We started by placing her on the toilet bowl in the morning and before bed time at night, and then slowly got her to use the toilet before her baths too. She then began to inform us she wanted to “she-she” whenever she felt like it.

3 weeks ago, we took off her diaper during the day. And told her repeatedly, “Must tell mummy or aunty when you want to she-she or poo-poo yah?”. In the night, we left her diaper on. Since then, there were 3 incidents where she poo-ed in her panties; 1 incident where she got too busy playing and forgot to inform us so she wet herself. Besides these incidents, she remains dry, even in the night!

The past week, every time she needed to use the toilet be it to pee or poo, she informed us, sometimes even going to the toilet first to get herself ready while shouting for help, “I want to she-she” or “My poo-poo coming out already.”

Although she has her diaper on when we go out, she will inform us if she needed to go to the toilet. Unlike Zara, she can actually pee while being carried, so she didn’t have to sit on dirty toilet bowls. Once, she’s fallen asleep after our night out, when I changed her to her pajamas, in her sleep, I asked her if she wanted to she-she, and she nodded her head sleepily. I carried her to the toilet bowl, and she did her pee with eyes closed and her head resting on my shoulder. o.O

Sometimes I ask her, “Mei mei can she-she or poo poo on the floor or not?” She replies, “No… Zah-yah not a dog. Zah-yah she-she/poo-poo toilet boh (bowl) only.” 😛

This is her 22 month’s mile stone! But I’ll still let her wear the diaper in the night and when we go out, just in case.

Note : Anybody interested to buy Drypers Drypants (M) and (L) size from me? I’ll give you a good discount. RM25 for 44pieces M, 36pieces L. There are some which are in loose pieces, but all wrapped up nicely. Drop me a mail. Mamipoko too if you are interested.

I went to Shanghai for almost a week 2 weeks ago. Approval was pretty last minute, and the Chinese Embassy was closed for a whole week prior to my departure. I only got my passport at 9pm on Monday, 6th October night itself, and my flight was 3hrs later. Imagine my stress level prior to my flight.

The purpose of the trip was to conduct training to our clones new Shanghai colleagues. After months of being overworked, the management has finally decided to hire more people to ease our workload.

I arrived early morning on Tuesday. This time staying in Pudong (蒲东) instead of Puxi (蒲西) where we stayed last year. By the time I got into Raddison Hotel Pudong Century Park it was 9am. With less than 4hrs sleep in total the night before, I slept in for the rest of the morning.

The room was very nice and comfortable. I like the big glass panel seperating the toilet and the bedroom, making the place look very spacious.

The hotel is next to a commercial square with lots of restaurants and a Carrefour within walking distant. The only complain I have is there’s no MRT station nearby.

My first lunch, I just grabbed a fried noodle (blech!) nearby and then headed to the office, located in Pudong, in an isolated techology park. For the 3.5 days of training, I spoke mainly in Mandarin (I thank my parents for sending me to Chinese school, making me so ‘useful’ in my adult life), I wonder if I confused anybody since my Chinese isn’t that great. 😛

On my first day, I opted to be alone because I was still feeling tired from lack of sleep. Had dinner in a restaurant near the hotel. It’s difficult to order for one, I had a portion of smoke duck and pot stickers, and didn’t manage to finish them.

I spent the rest of the evening wondering around. Found a few road side DVD peddlers, so I did some DVD shopping (RMB5 for a movie, how about that?), and then also spotted a traditional massage place next to the hotel operating till 1am. I booked myself for a 1hr Duina (推拿) massage that night itself. I slept like a baby after the massage.

The next 3 nights, I have my colleagues accompanying me in the evenings, bringing me out for dinners. I had no time to shop in the malls, but thank goodness for all the DVDs peddlers which are opened till 11pm, I managed to buy quite a lot of DVDs. I also managed to go for another round of massage.

Here are pictures of my dinners.

2nd evening – with a colleague, at 鹭鹭酒家 (Lulu Jiu Jia) he ordered some of the more famous Shanghainese dishes. Chicken in wine; tofu with crab roe (蟹粉豆腐); some soya mock meat (四喜烤夫); steamed “many treasure fish” (多宝鱼), a type of sole which is only available in Shanghai.

3rd evening – Group dinner at Lang Yi Fang Restaurant (廊亦舫酒樓). Armed with a RM50/head budget, this was what we got.

5 types of cold dishes – I love the fried fish with sauce (熏鱼), they come in a stack.

7 types of warm dishes – Gosh, I thought there was no end to the food they dished out. The fried prawns and the cucumber and corn soup were really good.

The restaurant even has a very good view of The Bund (外滩).. For RM50 per head, I think it’s so reasonable.

4th evening, dinner was at Qiao Jiang Nan (悄江南). It took us almost 1hr 15mins to travel from MRT station (near office) to the hotel (to drop off some books I ordered) then to the restaurant at The Bund, all due to Friday rush hour.

This was by far the best meal. The fresh vege with sesame dip was so good, I tried to make it at home last week, and Daddy loved it too. Then there’s the famous spicy chicken (口水鸡) and the most delicious chicken pot stickers I’d ever eaten.

These few dishes were not too bad too. Prawn and corn fried with salted egg yolk; cold noodle; stir fried shredded duck with mushroom.

All these with drinks and beer for 3, came out to RMB300 (RM150). I think dining in Shanghai, is still cheaper than dining in KL.

If you think all my meals are this yummy, check out the lunch that they dish out in the canteen. Every thing is cold, and quite horrid tasting not to mention you have to queue around 10 minutes before you get your food.

Some sights :

The Bund (外滩) viewed from the Pudong side.

Shanghai Telecom Building (东方明珠)

Love their road signs, so informative, telling you exactly what’s ahead, the name of the roads that are intersacting with the road you are on etc.

On the last day, before my flight, I managed to go to Puxi, and shopped for some Shanghainese cakes in Nanjing Road (南京路). If you are ever in Shanghai, you have to try the ShenDaCheng (沈大成) cakes. They are really yummy.

To get to the airport, I took the Maglev. RMB40, and it only took 6min to get to the airport (instead of the 30~45min taxi ride). The fasted it went was 430Km/hr!

(All photos taken in Point & Shoot, such vast difference in quality)