Family guy with 3 Daughters, Digital Guy, Wine Community Leader, Runner in Singapore.
My dear Clié, you have a heart of joy and the energy of a horse. You accept life with such optimism that there is nothing that can stand in the way of what you want to do.
My darling princess, you will grow up and be much loved as you show much love. You love responsibility and very much willing to help others.
You are indeed very importnat to me. More that you can ever imagine.
My darling Clié, a very very happy 9th Birthday to you. :) <3
I stumbled upon Initial Fashion when I visited Hong Kong recently. From outside, it looks warm and has this rustic charm thats inviting with a dash of stylish sophistication.
After a few minutes browsing the racks, I saw a suit that i really liked. I’ve been shopping for a good suit since I started working, but i’ve never found anything that I liked… until now. It fell into the no-need-to-see-price-tag category.
The well dressed salesman came forward to provide assistance and advised me to try it on. He provided me a matching shirt and the full suit in my size. Off to the fitting room I went.
The girls were well entertained by the other sales people in the store. They were all not only well dressed, but were also really polite and nice.
One of them have kids too, so he really chatted with the kids. Also, everyone was naturally drawn to the cute little leopard (wife bought the outfit from H&M).
I tried on the suit and loved it. It was a khaki coloured one, but I really needed a black one for work. Damn… I manage to find a super nice black one too. back to the fitting room I went.
The both fitted perfectly.
Ah Hai, the sales person that was attending to me explained the little details on the suit to me. The way the shoulder part was done in a non-typical way. The way the back of the suit was also special, etc. He then asked me where I was from with the purpose of advising me how the suit will work out in the climate back home. The khaki one will be good, but the black one could be slightly warmer as its from the Fall/Winter 2011 collection. I kinda don’t like being cold, especially when I’m at work, so it was ok. I really appreciate the advise and this have always been the kind of customer service that I feel should be given by those who love what they are doing.
I ended up walking away from the store paying for 2 full suits and a free pair of leather shoes. Apparently with purchases up to certain amount, customers were entitled additional cash value which can be used to make other purchases. So for me, it worked out just nice to a pair of nice leather shoes.
They had to alter the length of the pants, so I came back the next day to pick them up.
I’ll definitely be back and really hope they open a Store in Singapore soon.
G/F 530 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
t: (852) 2442 1433
This is the long awaited trip that the kids were looking forward to. 7D6N Hong Kong + Disneyland!
When we landed in HK, we took a private bus to our hotel. This time we stayed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel near Causeway Bay. The hotel provides free shuttle service to Time Square, so its still kinda convenient.
The first thing we did was ring up our good friend Leo and Fiona to arrange a time to meet. Its always nice to meet up with good friends and for those who don’t know, Leo introduced Pearl to me. So I do have to thank him for my family. :)
We did not do much on the first day as for this trip, we planned to have no plans and just chill and relax and enjoy Hong Kong.
We went to Ladies Market as usual and just strolled the streets shopping for random stuff. We bought iPhone accessories, bags, boardgames, basically very very random stuff. Clara slept most of the shopping parts as it was her nap time + its not so exciting anyway. I tell you, go hong Kong with baby, better bring stroller, else if you carry your baby, you will surely not enjoy the trip. I’ve learnt my lesson from my 2008 trip where I had to carry Cleo most of the way.
According to my colleague Wei Li, Ho Tin Wan is to die for, so we got a queue number and after 2 hours, we got seats. Pearl and I never queued for stuff, but since we are already here we might as well give it a go. Not too bad.
That evening, we walked into Initial Fashion at Causeway Bay and after trying on a few suits, I walked out with 2 full suits and a pair of shoes. OMG. I will blog about this separately.
I did some research of nice places around Causeway Bay for coffee and 18 Grams came up. Since its not too far from Times Square, we walked there. It was a wonderful breakfast. We ordered a full breakfast with bacon, toast and eggs. The coffee was great too.
The past few days have been too much walking and shopping, so just to chill out at a cafe was really nice.
We somehow went back to Ladies Market again. It was random shopping once again and half way thru, a fire engine wanted to pass thru. The street is so small, I never expect that a full sized fire engine could pass thru. But apparently its a regular thing as fire hazards is a real issue there.
Anyway, it seems that the hawkers there are used to such checks as they all lined the streets to retract their stall extensions. Its quite a sight. I heard from the news that the very next day, a fire broke out and nine people died. :( Its a real sad news, but thank God we missed it by a day.
Again with some proper research, I found out that Capital Cafe was also very well known in the area.
The food was simple and fantastic. We ordered the basic set and because it was so good, we actually came back the following day.
Day 4, I decided that we don’t do anymore shopping, but do the Mid Level Escalators and The Peak. We took a tram to the base of the escalators and after many many many escalator rides and crossing many small streets, we finally reached the top.
According to the map, we just needed to walk about 20 mins to reach the Tram Station to go up to The Peak, so I decided we brave it. The map also showed that we will be passing the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, so why not. It looks like it will be an interesting walk.
Little did I know that the 2D map did not really show the number of hilly roads and steep slopes we had to walk pass and it was challenging especially with a stroller. Good thing was that Clara was asleep. When we reached the Zoo, she woke up and just in time to meet the animals.
Just a short stroll away, we reached the Botanical Gardens. After being to the one back home in Singapore, I have to say this one is really small. But kudos still to the management as the place was very well kept and really comfortable.
Finally, after so many trips to Hong Kong, we finally did the tourist thing and went up to The Peak. It had a nice view, but really no big deal lor. We ate at BubbaGump which was themed after Forest Gump. The food was nice and the view is of cause amazing.
We walked over the The Peak Galleria and chilled. The kids had fun at the playground and we just sat there till sun set. Really nice.
Once we got down from The Peak, we took a taxi back to Causeway Bay as I needed to pick up my suit form Initial Fashion. The kids were super tired. So so super tired already.
Now the trip really started for the kids. Its Disneyland time. We took a taxi from our hotel to the Disneyland Hotel. The last time we stayed at the Hollywood Hotel, but I think after experiencing both, Disneyland Hotel is better.
YAY! Disneyland! :)
Clara saw a HUGE Candy Cane and ran up to it to hug it. She did this a few times actually. So so super cute.
So check this video out! :)
The new addition I heard was Toy Story Land, so that was the first thing we went to explore. The place was cool. Lots of the stuff from the movie was made into rides. I think the plastic soldiers paratrooper ride was the coolest.
However, all of us were not into rides, so it was more of picture taking and just soaking up the atmosphere.
Clié and Cleo love the Mad Hatter Tea Cups and wanted to do it several times. I did it twice and I’m gonna puke my lungs out. I had to hold Clara, hold the iPhone while I recorded a video and you can imagine how disoriented that feels.
The weather changed when we were there. It dropped from 18 to 12 and we just had to go back to the hotel to wear more clothes.
We went back in the early evening and it started to snow. Yes it snowed. lol… fake snow. We stayed for the fireworks and did some souvenir shopping then headed back to order room service in the beautiful hotel room.
We placed our shoes nicely in the correct place and it was very apparent that we all wore Pumas. :)
Clara is beat. She had her milk and went straight to sleep.
We had breakfast in the Enchanted Garden in the hotel. Its had a real nice entrance.
The variety of food was really good. From western, to asian, to indian. You can really have close to anything you can imagine for breakfast.
It was Day 2 in Disneyland and unfortunately the cold was too much for Cleo and she ran a temperature. She was listless and did not really want to do much. What a pity. Clié and Clara on the other hand was really enjoying themselves.
Clara really enjoyed the Its a Small Small World ride and even when she came out, she was still super happy and excited.
She spotted yet more giant Candy Cane! and this Photo is simply amazing. Its now my iPhone wallpaper.
There were blue candy floss being sold, so we got them for Clié and Cleo. They really enjoyed it and the whole day was just like a fairytale.
All in all, we did quite a number of shows and explored the entire park.
We did not stay for the fireworks, but went back to our room to have room service again for dinner in the hotel. We just lazed around in the room and the kids played with their new purchases.
We had breakfast again in the Enchanted Garden. Did you know that everyone that works in Disneyland have stickers in their pockets. They give them out to kids when ever they see kids. So you can safely say my kids collected loads of stickers and Clara have some of the nicest ones.
The best part of having breakfast here is that they Disney characters will walk around and take pictures with you. Clara really loves it. Just look at how she smiles in this picture.
Its the last day of our trip, so we just walked around the hotel and sat at pretty places to take pictures.
I have to say this was an amazing trip and I really put down my twitter, facebook, instagram and spent good quality time with my girls. I do look forward for other opportunities to spend good quality time with them again. In Singapore also can. Alot cheaper too. lol…
Guess what, almost every flight there is a crying baby and on this flight I know the baby very well.
If you’ve not caught Arthur Christmas yet, you should.
Have you ever wondered how can Santa Claus deliver so many presents in one night? With the advancement of technology, you can imagine things are now more high-tech. I shall not revel too much, but have to say its a fantastic movie for the whole family this season. I brought my wife and two daughters and they simply loved it.
Look out for the Packing elf, she is way way too cute and cool.
You can easily get free movie screenings from Sony Pictures Singapore by liking them on Facebook.com/SonyPicturesSG or following them @SonyPictureSG on twitter.
Punggol Waterway opened 2 weeks ago, 23rd Oct 2011 to be exact. As supportive Punggolians, our whole family went down to see what the buzz was all about. We managed to park by the road and this was the first view of the waterway. Fwah… impressive and the crowd was madness.
We walked quite a long way and eventually arrived at the sand play area. Very nice. Mental note was to make sure we come again in the day. There were some sandcastle pros doing some impressive work. A touch of the sand and you know its not the crappy type of sand you find at East Coast. Should be great to build with.
The crowd gathered at the main area to see the performance, but the whole place being so crowded and us being not so kiasu, we ended up quite far behind and did not manage to see much. But everyone caught the fireworks. :)
I turned my head around and the amount of people behind us was super alot. People were all over the slopes, on the bridges, along the waterway. It felt like a mini NDP.
So TODAY, we made time to go check out this new place in our neighbourhood properly. Armed with wife, 3 kids, pails & spades, extra clothes and iPhone4s Thepans descended on Punggol Waterway.
There is a decent parking area for about 10 – 15 cars I guess, kinda small, but good thing is there are parking lots all over the roadside, so no biggie.
The bridges look beautiful in the day. The amount of greenery was really nice.
The waterway is beautiful, there were fountains (which river in Singapore have fountains?? Tell me!!) so cool right. It feels like some kind of tourist place.
The meandering river is really nice, all decked out with well planned landscaping. Its like its drawn out from some artists impression, but no its right infront of me. Super cool.
We brought the kids here to play sand. They have been nagging us to bring them to Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk to play sand, but that place is not really geared up for full on sand play, but this place is.
Clara loves the feel of the sand. She will walk around, touch the sand, sit down, grab the sand and let the sand slide out from her hand. I think she should be right handed as she always use the spade with her right hand.
The sand play area is huge. There were lots of people there and the quality of the sand is really good. If you dig like 5cm deep, you start to see moist fine sand. Its perfect for building stuff. You know how we always get sea water to mix with the sand to make it stronger. You seriously don’t need to do that here. I don’t know how this place is like when its pouring.
The kids really enjoyed themselves. Of cause Clara crushed every single standing structure that her sisters did. And I told Cleo this was the exact same thing Cleo did to Clié’s sandcastles when she was younger.
The Water Play area came alive at 6:30pm. The kids immediately wanted to head over. We packed our stuff and went.
There were alot of kids. Alot of running, screaming and super excited kids.
Clié and Cleo started running around too, but I held on to Clara as it was just too dangerous with all those kids. Clara was super excited too and the cold water did not bother her one bit. We only allowed her to play for only about 7 – 10 minutes as the evening winds were blowing quite strongly towards the northeast and wet clothes only meant super cold kids.
We dried Clara up and the older sisters went to the toilet to get changed with the help of mommy.
Just outside the toilet was the Exercise Area. Its simple and had a few new-ish type contraptions.
The sun started to set. It was overall a nice experience. I reckon it would be a romantic place to have a nice picnic with someone you love… only if the whole of Punggol is not also there with you.