Anthea and my In-laws came back from another fantastic Club Med holiday. I went to the Ferry Terminal with my youngest brother in law to welcome them home.
Anthea was very happy and said that she had very good times in Club Med and wished that it could have been a longer holiday…haha.
This was her 1st solo trip without us and I am proud that she did well and my in-laws were able to enjoy their short break too.
They managed to take some photos and from the look of the photos, I knew the trip had been a good one for all of them.
My in-laws told me that upon checked in; they were told that their room has been upgraded. I think my contact person in Club Med may have put in some good words for us…hee. The room was so big and nice. The balcony overlook the seafront. Anthea even had a cozy corner bed to herself…: ) This trip Anthea also picked up the game of badminton from my father in-law and she said she enjoyed the game. She also had her usual good fun at the swimming pool and by the beach. I am glad she is just like me – active going and enjoys all type of sports. Of course not forgetting to mention FOOD Glorious food…haha. As usual, they had BIG feasts with all the buffet serving and drinks whole day. Glad that she had this travel opportunity with her grandparents and I know she had a good bonding time with them, simply by ENJOYING LiFE!!
On Saturday morning, we went to Funan Digital mall to collect our Free 20 inch luggage bag from the Travel Store. This was our free gift from our Hong Kong trip booked with Chan Brothers. I told Adrian this luggage is just nice for Anthea’s Club Med trip. We even bought her a luggage tag to write her own name on it. After collecting our free gift, we shopped around the IT Mall for a new net book aka mini laptop. Adrian is scheduled for another oversea work detachment in mid July to end August. He would like to get a laptop with a built in camera for his travel use. This will allow him to “talk” to us when he’s oversea. Having his own laptop will be easier for him, rather than to always borrowing it from his friends or room mate.
So after walking a few shops, we narrowed to 2 brands – Acers & Lenovo. After further discussion, we bought a Lenovo S 10 mini laptop @ $649. There were some freebies that came along with the laptop and he also bought an external portable DVD for the laptop. We had tested the video chat function of the laptop and all the software are set up and operational ready.
In the evening, we celebrated my Father In-Law 63rd birthday at Sze Chuan Court @ Fairmont Hotel. As usual, we had a very enjoyable feast and a delicious Black Forest Cake from Pine Garden.
Anthea and Anders had a fun time with their little cousin, Faith, who just came back from a one week vacation from Hong Kong. We were treated to the traditional famous 恒香老婆饼..Yummy! On Sunday, we had lunch with my Parents and 大哥 at 天津阁 at the Bras Basah complex. It was our 1st visit to the restaurant and we had some nice treats - 锅贴，葱油饼， 小笼包，拉面 和 豆沙烧饼。After lunch, we went to TCC at Bugis Junction for coffee and tea.
Dinner was home cooked meal at my In-laws place and after dinner, we adjourned to the newly opened MOF @ AMK HUB for their desserts. Finally we had some good places for after meals desserts in AMK HUB, otherwise, we are stucked with the Macdonald’s Drive Thru…hee : P
Anthea spent the night at my In-law place. It’s has been a long time since she slept over in my in-law place. Anders kept telling me that he misses Anthea when we were in bed. When they are together, they are always “fighting/quarrelling” with each other. When one is away from home, the other one is missing her…glad to see that Absence makes the heart fonder…: )
Anthea will be away for a short trip from Tuesday to Thursday and I know we will all miss her presence.
We are back from another amazing holiday experienced from Sydney, Australia. Both Anthea and Anders had truly enjoyed themselves and brought back fond memories of the vacation. I know this experienced will stay with them for a long time.
Day 1: Monday, 08 June
Singapore → Sydney (QF 32) Dep 0940 / Arr 1905
This was our 1st time on the new Airbus A380. We were all excited and looking forward to some new experienced. This was the 1st time we can literally viewed the Take off of the plane via the Sky cam that was fitted to the plane. Also the screen was interactive, so there was no need to use the remote control at all unless playing the games.
Service on Qantas was very good & professional. We were being served throughout the 7 hours flight. In-flight entertainment was on demand, so we can watch the movies on our own schedule. The children were kept occupied watching Ben 10, Dora the explorer and all the different online games. They were also served children meals onboard. Anders didn’t even complained a bit about the 7 hours flight compared to the Hong Kong flight..haha.
We arrived on schedule and immigration clearance was a brisk. As we had some instant cup noodles and milk powder for the children, we declared our luggage and clearance was equally fast. After clearance, we approached the Sun Bus counter for our transfer to the city hotel. It took about 20 minutes to reach our hotel – Mercure Sydney.
We checked in the room and went to survey the facilities – gym & swimming pool. Then after that, we went across the street to Macdonald for our dinner. Yes, it’s Macdonald again…haha. It was windy and cold while we took a quick walk along the street.
Then we went back to the room to change and rest for the night. There was a little incident that happened in the middle of the night. Anthea vomited a few times in the middle of the night and I brought her to the A&E of the local hospital. After 2 hours at the hospital, we were told by the doctor to let her rest and drink enough fluid. No medication was prescribed and doctor said I could get the medication from the pharmacy next day morning. I was told by Adrian that unlike SG, oversea hospital does not prescribe medication. Luckily after that, Anthea was better and had a good sleep. Now I am waiting for my bill from the hospital. Likewise, they didn’t ask me to pay and said would send the bill to our SG address.
Day 2: Tuesday, 9 June
We woke up late after an eventful night and had cup noodles as our breakfast. I told Adrian we would monitor Anthea’s situation before confirming on the next day tour.
After breakfast, we went on our shopping assignment for Jurlique products as requested by families.
My youngest SIL had bought Jurlique products from this duty free shop - Sun Song and recommended it to us as it gave good discount. We managed to get all the products from the shop at a very good rate.
When we were done with the shopping assignment, we went to the food court, opposite the shop and had our lunch. This is the 1st time I see Food Court concept in Australia. The food court was very similar to our local food court. They had different stalls selling different cuisine – Vietnamese, Thai, Korea, Western and Chinese food. So we had no lack of choice. I ordered a wanton noodle for the children, the dish was priced at A$6.80 and the serving was big. Adrian ordered the Korea seafood hotplate and the portion was HUGE. The dish cost him A$10. Overall, the food price in Sydney is pretty reasonable and the servings are big.
Adrian had been to Sydney in 2003 and so he was our Tour guide for this trip.
After lunch, we went on the Tram ride as the children kept asking to go on it. Then we took the monorail to the Darling Harbor area. He brought us to the Sydney Aquarium. It was really an eye-opening experienced for the children and they had great fun touring the Aquarium and seeing all the different species of fishes.
We completed our tour in about an hour time, and then we headed back to Chinatown to pack our dinner.
As the weather turned cold in the night, I would prefer to eat in the comfort of the hotel room than to fight the coldness while walking on the street. So we packed back some noodles and porridge dishes back to the hotel. We had a nice, hot meal in the room while watching their local news.
We had an early rest after dinner as we prepared ourselves for a full day fun tomorrow. I was glad that Anthea had recovered well from her stomach virus.
Day 3: Wednesday, 10 June
*Warning: DO NOT CONT”D READING IF YOU HAVE PHOBIA OF REPTILES*
Port Stephen Tour - We woke up around 6.30am as we were scheduled on a Full Day tour to the famous Port Stephen to see Dolphins. After breakfast of breads and cup noodles, we got ready for our pick up at 7.35am @ the hotel lobby.
We were brought to the coach meeting points to board our tour bus for the day trip. In Australia, the coach driver up doubled up as local guide too. While driving, he would also do introduction of the places to the tourists.
For the day trip, our 1st stop was a Reptile Park and both Anthea and Anders were in for a good treat. We had been reading a lot on reptiles, especially snakes and both of them were so excited to know we were going to see them for real.
In the reptile park, we had the chance to see Koala Bears, Kangaroos, Emu, Lizards and of course Australia famous types of snakes. Anthea and Anders even had the chance to feed the Kangaroos and Emu.
After the 1 hour visit of the reptile park, we proceeded to our next stop – Port Stephen. We were scheduled on the 1.30pm ferry and we arrived at the wharf around 12.20pm. We had an hour time for a quick lunch.
There were many eateries around the wharf area. Adrian and the children had Subway sandwiches for their lunch and I ordered a Fish & Chips meal for myself.
We had a nice and lovely lunch by the wharf and the children kept feeding those seagulls that were waiting for food outside the restaurant.
We boarded the ferry around 1.25pm and set off for our experienced with Dolphins. The ferry took us out to the middle of the ocean and then suddenly, we saw a few dolphins swimming along the side of the ferry. Everyone onboard was very excited and they even had a monitor for those who preferred to stay inside the ferry to see the dolphins.
It was another 1st time experienced for the family and we had a fun time. The only thing was the sea was a bit choppy and the wind was very cold. Anthea got a little dizzy from the bumpy ride. We quickly let her sit down and rest. Luckily I brought along my thermal flask of hot water and I gave the children warm water to drink to keep them warm.
The Dolphins tour lasted for 1 ½ hours and we returned to the wharf around 3pm. Then the coach driver drove us to our next destination – 4WD tour on sand dunes. Both Anthea and Anders had the chance to try sand-boarding and they enjoyed the thrill of it so much. : )
Upon disembarking from the 4WD tour, we boarded the coach for our return to Sydney.
As there was a major traffic jam on the main highway, the coach driver brought us on the suburb routes and we get to see the small towns. Also we did a dinner stop at a local Macdonald as we were running quite late and the driver also needed a rest before he drove on.
We arrived at our hotel almost near 8pm and rested for the evening. It had been a very memorable day trip for the family and especially the sand boarding experienced for the children.
Day 4: Thursday, 11 June
Taronga Zoo – originally we were booked for a Blue Mountain & Wildlife Park tour with the local agent. However after some careful consideration and discussion with Adrian, we decided to forego the tour and to bring Anthea & Anders to the Sydney Tarongo Zoo instead.
We set off for our Zoo trip from the hotel around 10am. We took the bus to Circular Quay and then bought our Zoo package from the wharf counter. The package included Ferry tickets + zoo admission tickets + cable car ride. Yes, Sydney Zoo has a cable car within the Zoo compound.
To get to the zoo, we need to 1st take the Sydney ferry from the wharf, the ride took about 15 minutes. Along the way, we got view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House. We arrived at the Zoo around 11am and took the cable car to the entrance area.
Anthea and Anders enjoyed the cable car ride up the hill and we get a very panoramic view of Sydney city from the island. It was really magnificent and breathtaking. Too bad I don’t have a professional camera to capture all these…hee.
The tour of zoo started upon our arrival. As usual, the children were excited to see all the different animals. I must say this – the energy level in the Zoo was much higher than our local zoo. All the animals in the Zoo were up & walking around.
There were Zoo keeper talks at the different animals holding. The Zoo keeper would bring out the animal and explain the nature of the animal and its behavior.
We also managed to watch the Bird Show and it was really impressive and world class performance.
We had a quick lunch and then proceeded to the children Zoo area where Anthea & Anders had the opportunity to feed the farm animals – pigs, sheep, turkeys and chickens.
Then we continued to tour the Zoo and see more animals up close and personal. We ended our tour around 3pm. It was a very educational 4 hours tour of the Taronga Zoo.
We took the ferry back to mainland Sydney and Adrian brought Anthea & Anders to IMAX Theatre while I took a walk along George Street. This is the main shopping street and along the way, I can see many different shopping buildings.
Adrian and the children came back to the hotel around 6.30pm and Anthea decided to go for a quick swim. The hotel has an indoor swimming pool.
We had packed dinner back in the hotel room; I think we enjoyed eating in than dinning out..haha.
Day 5: Friday, 12 June
We decided to have hotel buffet breakfast since there was a promotion. (Children eat FREE with every paying adult.) After a good hearty breakfast, we checked out of our hotel room around 12 noon. The airport pickup was scheduled at 1.10 pm, so we decided to take a walk to Paddy’s market. The market opens on Thursday to Sunday.
There are many stalls in the market place and they sell different products ranging from clothing, bags, and souvenirs and there was a wet market area too. We bought some tee-shirts and also a bag for Anthea.
Then we headed back to our hotel for the airport pickup and it was Home-Sweet-home all the way.
We took the A380 from Sydney back to Singapore too and needless to say – its top class service and flying experienced again.
This has truly been an amazing Sydney experienced for Aces family and if there is another promotion for Sydney again, I will not hesitate to go for it again…haha.
In about 2 more weeks, we will be going to Sydney, Australia. It’s winter season in Australia…yippy. Amid this humid and super hot weather in Singapore, I am looking forward to our 1st winter holiday, except this winter will be “Snowless”.
The average temperature reading for Sydney in the month of June is 9 – 16 degrees. Wow…what a nice and cool temperature and I know I will enjoy it. No need thick clothing but probably a good wind breaker for the nights.
Gaining experienced from our recent Hong Kong trip in March when the temperature was a nice of average 20 Degrees. Anthea and Anders were complaining that Hong Kong was COLD. So knowing their capability to take coldness, I decided to be better prepared for them in Sydney. Yes, I am going to bring thick winter clothing for both of them…hee : )
Since this is our 1st time to a winter holiday, we would need to get all things from scratch. My MIL had kindly bought thermal wear from them. As for the winter clothing, I told Adrian that it’s better if we can borrow rather than buy. Mainly we won’t be going for any winter holiday sooner and if we buy now, they will outgrow it next time. So ideally, we would borrow the winter wears for 2 of them.
Now that Anthea’s SA is over and both of them had recovered from their recent bout of sickness, I am more in the state of mind to start preparing for the trip.
Last Saturday was our WINTER Wear borrowing day. In the morning we met up with my long time good friend cum “sister” – Cindy and her family at J8 for lunch. Cindy’s son’s Angus has some winter wear and she has kindly agreed to lend us one of his think winter jacket. While having lunch at J8, we also chat about both their school work and Cindy’s husband, Dave, even invited us for a road trip to Sunway Lagoon during the June school holiday. Tentatively, we are planning a weekend trip after our Sydney holiday, this will depend on how the children fare after the winter holiday. After our lunch meet at J8, we headed to Adrian’s Uncle HT’s house in Toa Payoh, Uncle HT’s son – MK had been travelling around with Uncle HT and Aunty Soompit. They had been to countries in the winter season. Matter of fact, they just went Japan in December 2008. So prior to visiting, I already mentioned my intention to Aunty S and she was very kind to agreed to loan us MK’s winter clothing. She has a whole basket of MK’s winter clothing. She said some of them we can even keep it after the trip as MK have outgrown them. She also mentioned that most of MK’s winter clothing was hand downs by friends/relatives. So we are doing the right thing by not buying and using all these available winter wears. She even had gloves and scarf for the children. : )
With all these winter wears now sitting in the house and waiting to be pack into the luggage bags, I will be in my packing gear on this weekend. : P
Both Anthea and Anders are looking forward to the trip too. Anders will keep telling me today is what day of May and then in June – “we go Australia”…haha.
Anthea reminded me to bring along her bolster and her pet “doggy” for the trip.
Adrian is doing a fair bit of research on the public transport and some local attractions as we had a day or two of free days and want to fully enjoy the city.
As for me, I am looking forward to a good family holiday experience and most important – great bonding time with them.
I am the official tour planner for the ACES Family, each time Adrian gave me his CONFIRMED Leaves dates and I will start to do the ground work. I will submit the PROPOSAL to him and if budget is approved, we will go ahead…haha.
After the Hong Kong trip, I am now doing research on Taiwan as recommended. So last evening, I was browsing through the Classified ad for tours packages.
THIS AD caught my attention: Qantas Holiday
Australia Family Packages
*1st child Travels FREE!*
*2nd child 30% off*
*4th Night FREE!*
*Fly to 2nd selected Australia city FREE!*
With so many FREEbies…how to resist.
There were 4 family packages to chose:
3N Perth Family Fun 3N Gold Coast Family fun 3N Sydney Family Fun 3N Melbourne Family Fun
I discussed with Adrian and told him that maybe we can consider Sydney for the June holiday. He was agreeable but was worried that there is not much things to do for the Anthea and Anders. I told him that I will find out more from the agent.
So today I called my regular agent – Angela from Jetabout holidays and made the enquiries with her. As usual I got immediate reply from her.
This deal is really a great saving for our family and if we chose Sydney, we will get the chance to experience the A380. Since I have never been to Sydney, so I am really thrilled about it…hee.
3N Sydney family fun includes: - Return economy airfare - 3 nights accommodation - Full day Blue Mountains & Wildlife Encounter - Choice of 1 optional tour: a) Port Stephens Adventure/b)Magnificent Hunter Valley Wine taster & c) Canberra Explorer
Now I have to find out more about Sydney before making the final decision as the deadline to book is this Friday, 27 March 2009.
Just sharing this, in case any mommies/daddies planning to bring their school-going children for holidays in Down Under…: )
It had been another wonderful family vacation experienced. Time really flies when you are having good times.
Just a quick recapped of our 4 days tour:
Day 1: Sunday, 15 March
Singapore → Hong Kong (CX 736) Dep: 1010 / Arr 1410 hr
We were met up with our local agent – Win’s travel and they sent us to our hotel – Eaton Hotel.
I had a “SHOCK” upon checking into the room. The room was BIG!!! I had read previews of the hotel before and was mentally prepared for small room as their standard rooms are all very small. We had 2 Single beds and 1 Queen sized sofa bed in our room and the bathroom has both standing shower and bath tub...: P
Then I told Adrian that it seem like we had been given Executive room. He confirmed it as he was the one who did the check in. he said the receptionist told him we had an EXECUTIVE ROOM. I cannot believe our luck but I was very thankful. The main reason why I shortlisted this hotel was it has a swimming pool and a gym, which were requirement for the children and Adrian. As usual after checking in, we went to explore the swimming pool and the gym. The children were so excited to see the pool and requested to go for a quick dip. The weather was pretty cool but the pool is heated so the water was quite warm. We had about 20 minutes of water play, then went back to the room to change and got ready for dinner.
We had made a dinner reservation at Yung Kee which was recommended by one of my ex-colleague. When we arrived at the restaurant, the restaurant was crowded, all 3 levels were crowded and there were people queuing for places. The recommended dish – 烧鹅 was very delicious and yummy. Our whole family enjoyed the dish. Together with the Roast Goose, we ordered their special prawns, spinach in boiled soup, and porridge for the children. We had a very enjoyable meal and it was worth the trip to the restaurant.
After dinner, we took the MTR from Central Station (中环站) back to Jordon Station. This was the station nearest to Eaton Hotel. We took a stroll around the hotel and discovered that Temple Street (庙街) was just across the street from our hotel. We walked through the night market and I saw many vendors showing the LV Catalog. Out of curiosity, I asked how much was one of the LV bag and I was quoted HK$550 (about S$110). Not a bad price for LV Bags and they had so many models, I was so tempted…haha.
After the walk, we went back to the hotel to rest. The children even bought back Macdonald for supper and watched their favorite Cartoon network on TV.
Day 2: Monday, 16 March
We decided to forego our ½ day city tour as the tour guide told us the pickup time was 7.30am. I told Adrian since we are here for holiday, we should relax and enjoy at our own pace. We cancelled it the day before with the local agent. It was the right decision. We had a good night rest and woke up around 9.30am.
After changing, we headed to Macdonald (which was just across the street) to have our breakfast. The Macdonald in Hong Kong is non-halal as they served pork dishes. After breakfast, we headed to the nearby supermarket – Welcome to stock up some stuff for our Disney hotel stay.
Anthea and Anders wanted to go for their swim, so Adrian brought them back to the hotel after breakfast. I took the opportunity to explore the places around the hotel. I found the famous “天后宫“- Tian Hou Temple. I went in to give a simple prayer and did some donations. Then I walked down Nathan road. As I walked, I saw many interesting food/dessert soups along the street. For me, I prefer to discover food than shopping…haha. I am not a shopaholic. Thanks God!!
Finally, I discovered the few famous streets – Fa Yuen Street (sports goods)/ Tung Choi Street (Ladies Market). As it was still day time, so most of the stalls were closed. I was happy to see so many nice food places around the location. Since it was noon time and almost lunch, I decided to pack food back to the room for Adrian and the children.
I bought the 双拼- 烧鹅和烧肉 rice for Adrian. The children had the 鲜虾云吞 面. I also bought some freshly baked 蛋塔and bread with a cup of 鸳鸯。We had a very nice and relaxing lunch in our hotel room. The children were enjoying the programs.
While the children took their nap, I went for a quick gym workout.
In the evening, we booked ourselves an optional tour with Win’s travel – open top bus Hong Kong by night. The tour started around 5.30pm with the guide picking us from the hotel. 1st stop was our dinner stop – we ate at a Hong Kong famous roasted goose restaurant. At the restaurant, we met up with another group of tourists and they are all Singaporean… : )
After dinner, the guide brought us to Victoria Peak to view the whole night scene of Hong Kong. We also had the chance to see Madam Tussauds wax museum on the Peak. The scenery was very beautiful and we had a good tour of the wax museum, happily clicking away with all the famous people. We even saw our MM Lee, must take a photo because Singapore not chance..haha.
Then the guide brought us to Avenue of the Stars. We walked along the walkway and saw some famous people names and hand prints on the street.
Finally, the open top bus was there and the whole group went on it. Both Anthea and Anders were happy to get the chance to sit on top of the open bus. The bus cruise along Nathan road and I saw some familiar places, like Miramar Hotel and TST where we stayed in 2007.
The ride was very enjoyable and the weather was very cool. It finally stops at the Ladies Market where the tour ended and we made our way back to the hotel.
As usual with 2 children in tow, it’s never easy to shop. So we decided to buy supper back to the room to enjoy. On the way back, we managed to buy a packet of the famous “炖蛋奶“and in another dessert soup, we bought a very delicious dessert – quite similar to our bo bo char char.
We had a good supper in our room and finally slept around 12 midnight.
Day 3: Tuesday, 17 March
This morning we woke up around 7.30am as our pick up time was 9am. I went to the 茶餐厅 across the hotel to buy breakfast. The breakfast set was delicious and each set come with a cup of coffee/tea/oval tine.
We checked out of the hotel after our breakfast. Then we were transferred to Hollywood hotel in Disney.
When we arrived, Adrian did the check in and the receptionist mentioned that we can only get our room after 2pm. So we decided to go ahead to visit the Theme Park via the shuttle service by the hotel.
When we reached the Theme park, the entrance Q was quite long as they were checking the bags. People who planned to picnic in the Theme Park had to forego the plan as all the food/canned drinks were confiscated. Luckily for us, I only packed some small packs of biscuits and bread. The person who checked my bag was kind enough to let me through.
Once we were in the theme park, our Dreams came through…haha. We went around taking photos with all the Disney characters. Anders was excited to see them for the 1st time. We went around for the rides, 3D shows and we also managed to catch the High School Musical Live Show.
The Disney Street parade was on at 3.30pm and after seeing the parade, we went back to the hotel to check in the room. It was a very Disney room – the amenities inside the room were all Disney. The children had another treat – Disney channel / Playhouse Disney was shown on TV. They took a power nap and we return to the park around 7.30pm for the Fireworks show. Then we were recommended by the Park GR to go to Tsing Yi Station (青衣站) to have our dinner. They had a big mall there. Indeed, we found the place – Maritime Square. It was like our local shopping mall and it had many eateries, supermarket and shops. We had dinner at Pizza Hut. Then we bought some bread for our breakfast tomorrow. We went back to the hotel and rested for the night after the eventful day.
Day 4: Wednesday, 18 March
In the morning, we woke up around 9 am and had simple breakfast in the room. As the hotel swimming pool was closed for maintenance, we had no chance to go for swim.
So we decided to go back to the Theme park to take the Train ride and also had lunch before our departure. As our theme park tickets allowed us to play for 2 days, we were making full use of the privileges.
Then the agent picks us up around 1.40 pm to go to the airport for our departure flight.
It was Home Sweet Home.
Hong Kong → Singapore (CX 711) Dep: 1600 / Arr 1945
The 4 days 3 night trip had been a memorable one for the family. This was Anders 1st time visiting Disneyland and his 1st trip to Hong Kong.
Our family had enjoyed great bonding time during the trip. Judging by the response, I believe this will not be the last time we visit Hong Kong..再见。。。香港！！
