Vietnam 2018

We started our year end holiday to Vietnam with a 2 hour flight to HCMC this morning at 11am. After getting back very late last night from Genting, Mummy and Daddy had very little time to unpack and pack again so they must be very tired. When we arrived in HCMC, we drove straight to the hotel to check in first and then to lunch at Cuc Gach Quan. It is supposedly very good and even Angelina and Brad had dinner there before when they were in HCMC. Daddy got overly excited and over ordered too. Took them a while to finish what he ordered.

Our first hotel in Phu Quoc was Novotel. Daddy planned that we stay here because it is nearer to the attractions in the bottom half of Phu Quoc. We visited the peppercorn farm, fish sauce farm, and Sao Beach which is supposed to be one of the more popular beach. We had a blast at Sao Beach cos even though the wave was choppy, the water was shallow until quite far out. We also managed to go for a sunset cruise with squid fishing thrown in. Unfortunately none of us caught any squid but it was fun nonetheless. Our highlight was the island hoping tour which Daddy paid extra to get us a private charter so we can decide when to go and where to go. We had uncle Cong as our tour manager and he spoke with the boatman about what to do. I think the most fun part so far was the fishing which I managed to catch about 4 rockfish. It was really fun to reel them in and feel the excitement of tugging with the fish. We were supposed to go snorkeling but unfortunately the corals were mostly dead and we didn't get to see that many fish, very disappointing.

The second hotel we stayed at was Vinpearl Villa. I must say this
has to be the best hotel we stayed in all my life! The villa was so big and Andrea and I had one room to ourselves and Daddy and Mummy another room. There was even a pool at the back of the villa. The buffet spreads at the hotel was also amazing! There was so much food I couldn't decide what to eat. At Vinpearl, there was a Safari Zoo and we were pretty impressed with it. We also spent a day at the Vinpearl Amusement Land where there was also a water park. And of course the beach was wonderful and we spent many hours just digging away and looking for hermit crabs. Caught some but not sure they will survive the flight back home.

It was another good trip and we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

Father & Son Camp 2018

10th Birthday Bash!

In view that my birthday is in December and no one will be around during that holiday season, Mummy and Daddy agreed to celebrate my birthday early with my friends while they are still in Singapore. Mummy contacted all my friends' mummies and they consented to them joining me for my birthday celebration. After school that day, we changed into our outside clothes and Daddy came to get us. We went to Peperoni at Frankel for lunch and ordered the largest pizza for all 5 of us. We hurried through lunch so that we will not be late for our session at Clip 'n Climb HomeTeamNS at Tampines Sports Hub. And after our climbing session, we headed down to Koi and had bubble tea, before we spent a little time at the bouncy castle and then parted ways.

The Great Moscow Circus

Aunty Mou and Uncle Som wanted to check out The Great Moscow Circus and they bought extra tickets for us as well. It was really nice of them to share this experience with us.

Unfortunately it wasn't a great start for our first visit to the circus as it poured so heavily this afternoon just before the show so everyone were kinda delayed getting in. Daddy thought it will be nearer for us if he parked at the open space car park next to the circus but it turned out being a longer walk. Our shoes were kinda soaked by the time we got to the circus but that didn't dampened our excitement and bought pop corns and candy floss to entertain ourselves. 

It was a 2 hour long show and not all the performances were great but the entertainment in between the performances was what we really enjoyed. Daddy like the last performance where they had a huge metal ball where amazingly 5 motor bikes were able to ride inside at really fast speed without colliding into each other. The precision was just entertaining. 

After the show, we walked over to Asia Square where we had chinese food at Imperial Treasures because Aunty Mou and Uncle Som like chinese food and mummy wanted to get them something different instead of their usual indian food. We had a fun time playing hide and seek with Elan after dinner. And after dinner, we walked back to the car and stopped to play a while near the bay before heading to Nai Nai's place to spend the night. 

Rifle Range Nature Park

Mummy found out that the Rifle Range Nature Park will be closed on the 29th Sept 2018 for 2 years for structural enhancement. So we decided to go check it out before it closes. That Saturday morning, we drove and parked somewhere near Temasek Club and walked to the entrance to the park. However, as there were 2 entrances at each side of the road, we had to make a guess which one will lead us to the more interesting walk. As it looked like the one closer to the residential area was blocked, we decided to try the one on the side of the Temasek Club.

As it turned out, we picked the wrong route and ended up on the paved track which finally led us to Bukit Timah Reserve Park.

We walked through the park and passed by interesting plants but unfortunately not that many animals or insects. I spotted a skink even as it was well camouflaged from the rest. We also stopped by a little stream and tried to scope up some "longkang" fish with a container. Caught a few but of course we knew better than to bring it home so we let it back into the stream.

After the exciting and eye opening walk, we headed to Rider's Cafe for our brunch. Daddy and Mummy reminded me that the last time we were there was many years back when I was still busy stacking animals. Unfortunately we didn't see that many horses this time so we just enjoyed our food and the peaceful surrounding.

First Play Date @ Home

I finally got to organise a play date at home. All the previous times I always had to go to someone else's house for our play date. I was very excited and started planning who I wanted to invite to our house. The invite list was finalised and it will be Kieren, Zachary, Zhi Kang & Julius. Zhi Kang and Julius will be bringing their brothers along so there will be 8 of us including Andrea.

So the date is set and it will be on Good Friday. I told Mommy and Daddy that I want to swim first and then have lunch and then play some more in the house. So Daddy decided to cook meatball spaghetti and have a couple of pizzas ready in case we boys have a big appetite after the swim. He said he will make bandung too. Yeah...

Zachary was the first to arrive at around 10am. The rest were not due till about 12pm so we decided to stay home and watch some TV before going down to the pool at around 11.30am. We brought the whale along with us and some other accessories. Daddy was still cooking and getting the spaghetti ready when we left and he said he will look for us when he is done.

We had a lot of fun at the pool, playing with the whale and throwing sponge
balls. Daddy was trying to take some pictures and videos with his drone but for some reason, the drone was a little cuckoo and crashed into the pool. Daddy was very worried that it was damaged to he decided to change a new battery to check if it is still working. Apparently that was a mistake as it will power up and shock the system and true enough smoke started coming out from one of the propellers. Guess he will have to bring it in to repair.

By the time they all left, it was about 4.30pm and it was a successful play date and I think everyone had fun. Looking forward to organise the next one.

St John's Island

Today we joined a group of volunteers called LepakInSG which aimed to educated the public on the issues regarding our marine science in Singapore. We gathered at Marina South Pier at 8.30am to take the 30 min ferry to St John's Island. 

Saint John's Island formerly housed a quarantine station for cholera cases detected among immigrants in the late 19th century, and starting from 1901, victims of beri-beri who were also brought to the island. by 1930, the island gain world recognition as a quarantine centre screening for Asian immigrants and pilgrims returning from Mecca.

The quarantine station was eventually also used to house victims of other diseases such as leprosy. When mass migration was closed in the mid 20th century, the island was used to house a penal settlement and also a drug rehabilitation centre, but all that has changed now into something totally different.

Apart from sitting in a classroom and hearing from the resident manager about the work they do at the science labs there, we also got to walk around and explore the island before boarding the ferry at 12.30pm to head back to the mainland. We managed to play at the beach for about 10 mins while Daddy was playing with his drone before we had to board the ferry to head back to mainland Singapore. It was a fun outing and Mommy and Daddy say we will revisit this island and spend more time then.

Skiing in Nozawaonsen

We spent the March school holidays in Nozawa skiing and also a couple of days in Tokyo. Instead of Club Med which we have been going for the past 2 years, we decided to check out this other place in Nagano where godma's friend Uncle Eugene has a lodge there. Apparently he says there are more ski slopes at Nozawa and we will enjoy it more. 

We flew into Tokyo Narita and from there we took the high speed train to Iiyama station via Tokyo station. It was a 2 hour journey and it was a very smooth ride. When we got to Iiyama, Uncle Eugene was there to greet us and took us shopping for ski equipment which was on massive discounts as it was nearing the end of the season. By the time we arrived at the lodge, it was quite late and we ended up playing snow in the open while the adults planned for the next few days activities. Compared to Club Med where we were constraint to the resort itself, Nozawa has a village where we could go explore and try out different types of cuisines. There are even onsens which only the adults are allowed to go. I believe they will head there tonight after we kids are asleep.

We spent the next day skiing and cos we were not familiar with the terrain yet, we had to join the

lessons so that they can orientate us to the different ski slopes. The adults also had their lessons and they were lamenting that the lessons are very expensive compared to Club Med where it was all included so we don't  feel the pinch. It was nonetheless a good place to ski and we enjoyed it.

On the second day, we decided not to ski but to check out the famous snow monkey of Nagano. Uncle Eugene drove us there and after alighting at the entrance, we had to walk in the cold for about 1.6km or almost 20 mins. The walk was pleasant if not for the biting cold. At some point, it looked like it was snowing but it was actually the wind blowing the snow which had settled on the trees. We took some pictures of the monkeys which surprisingly were very well behaved unlike those in Bali which stole my grandpa's glasses and then someone requested for a small fee to help recover the glasses. It was obviously a set up.

After spending 5 days on the ski village of Nozawa, we descended to Tokyo via the high speed train again and because of different timing in confirming the trip, godma had to stay in a different place while godpa and our family stayed in an AirBnB house in Okubo, one station away from Shinjuku. We spent the next three days in Tokyo and explored places like the Tsukiji market which was really interesting, Harajuku, Shinjuku where we found

the world's best ramen, Asakusa Temple and Ginza. We even managed to spend some time with hedgehogs in a cafe in Roppongi. We moved to a hotel near the Haneda airport on the last night cos our flight our was very early and we didn't want to risk getting lost in the morning to the airport. It was a very interesting airport hotel where we get to make our own coffee at the hotel lobby and also to take what we want from there.

We got to the airport really early that morning and bought our favorite Tokyo Bananas and other local favorites. We were really sad to leave Tokyo as we had a lot of fun there and now we have to get back to school next week. We look forward to the next holiday.