Hong Kong Every Year Day 1: Arrival and Rabbitland Cafe

Yesh, we ish every school holiday must go overseas and this September holiday isnt any different.

Bcos we had some Kris flyer miles expiring and bcos the SQ air tickets to HKG dont cost us an arm, we are back to HKG, even if we had been to HKG every year for the past 2 years. Hohoho. The only bummer is the rain. I had been checking the weather forecast so frequently in last the couple of days and it was predicted that there will be a lot rain. Zzzzzzz.

Our flight was at 9.55am and we left the house at 7.15am, thinking that we had plenty of time. Then, the Grab driver took a long time to reach us. The kids were noisy in the car but were at least having good fun and not fighting. We were in good mood!

The driver then miss a turn to T3, which resulted in a long detour. For some reason, there was a huge crowd at immigration and q. Look at Daddy Lim's ultra sian face.

Eventually, we barely had time for bfast. Yesh, all gone, we are hungry people.

We were told that there isnt a playground in T3; I remember that there was a small one. Anyway, we didnt have time for playground and were heading for the gate once we were done with bfast. 

Finally, on the way to HKG!

The flight was slightly delayed due to heavy air traffic. I was actually happy with the delay so that I could finish the movie. Haha. 

The flight was good, the food was good, the entertainment was good. Woohoo! We love SQ. Hello HKG!

We took the A21 bus to Mong Kok after buying the Octopus card. Like I remember, public transport is expensive in HKG. We spent a bomb on the cards.

It was a 30 mins ride at least and somebody went into charging mode.

Unlike Zaky who can doze off anywhere, Lil Shauna wasnt too successful.

We alighted at the 6th stop; along Argyle Road. 

There was a light drizzle, that went on and off, on and off, on and off, for the rest of the day. Thank goodness for Google map and we found our hotel easily, which is about 4mins walk from the busstop - Sunny Day @ Mong Kok.

Despite the flight meal, we were feeling peckish. The parents went in search of food while the kids happily played with their toys in the room. 

We got a huge chicken drumstick for HKG10, which is less than SGD2. We also tabaoed 扣肉饭 to share with the kids. No picture, bcos the food didnt survive until we remembered that we needed pictures. Lol. The drumstick was so juicy and so was the 扣肉. It was literally jiggling in front of us, teasing us. It must have been a fat pig in its previous life and the fat melts in the mouth. So unhealthy but too wasted to throw away so we kept it in our tummy. Haha. 

The only itinerary that we had planned was to Rabbitland Cafe. The kids had always love pet cafe; whatever the pet. We took the MTR to Causeway Bay and it was a short walk away.

Drizzle, drizzle, drizzle but nothing heavier than what a cap cannot fend off. We just needed to be extra careful of the potent eye poking umbrellas that filled the street. 

Rabbitland!

The rabbits cannot be carried but we could feed them with specific snacks and to pet them. The cafe was bright and clean. No smell! Yay!

We opted for min spent of HKG50 per pax, which allowed us to stay max 1 hour.

While the kids go around feeding, petting and taking pictures of the rabbits...

I was happily with my Sudoku. Muahahaha. Sorry, not exactly a fan of such furry stuff.

An hour went past quickly. Probably bcos the rabbits werent for cuddling, nobody protested.

It was MTR back to Mong Kok. The kids are always allergic to shopping and bugging for us to head back to the hotel. We did; just that we took a huge detour to explore the neighbourhood. Lalalala. 

We found mobile ice cream van!

We finally "found the way" to the hotel after much whinning. Lol.

It was barely 10pm when we settled down in bed. We have an early morning ahead.

Mummy Lim

So Much Riding

Daddy Lim is super siao on since he got his Roubaix. Well, I was eager to ride my Langma too when I 1st got her but my enthusiasm pales in comparison.

On Hari Raya, we had a mega long 5-hr ride to Marina Barrage bcos of the downpour. That was almost 50km.

On Saturday, we joined the WWF. Their planned route was to climb the Pepys hill and then Mount Faber. You cannot believe how many cyclists are crazy over climbing while I flinch at the thought. My 1st response to the group was whether waiting at the bottom of the hills was allowed. Lol. Daddy Lim and I decided that we wouldnt climb but would break off from the group and cycle further.

Eventually, I was convinced to try climbing the Pepys. They say that it is a "small" hill with a small incline. (IT IS A LIE!) The Langma was afterall designed for climbing (IT IS ANOTHER LIE!) and I should try. I didnt know how tall Pepys is bcos I gave up half way, right when I saw a super steep incline in front of my eyes. I was already on the lowest gear and each pedal was a torture. I was yelling for Daddy Lim to stop. My heart was pumping so hard that I thought it would pop out of my mouth anytime.

I must be his saving grace bcos he too was panting and puffing and dying. Lol. He did say that he would try somemore if I hadnt stop him but was glad that I did.

Two other cyclists who werent keen in the climb stopped along with us. While deciding if we should wait for the rest to return, Daddy Lim self entertain with bike admiration.

Chey, never take for my Langma.

The 4 of us decided to head to Lau Pa Sat instead for bfast. Haha. Just as we started, the gang who made it to the top was coming down and very much alive! I have to applaud them lah. 

While we proceeded to LPS, they continued with their Mount Faber. All of them made it to the top! I think I need much more training. Haha.

We had a nice bfast at LPS and were happily chit chatting while the rest conquered Mount Faber. It wad closed to 10am by the time we were home and the sun was working very hard. Clocked - 49km.

This picture made me look damn good - sweat glistening and so skinny!!! Angle is everything.

That is not all to the weekend cycling adventure. Daddy Lim was happily bouncing off the bed on Sunday morning. I was half dead despite the early night. The cycling worked my body very hatd and I could barely keep my eyes opened by 9pm. He had suggested that we ride to Marine Barrage again and I had asked him to go slower bcos my body was so tired.

We didnt make it to Marina Barrage bcos the traffic at LPS was diverted due to some run. We decided to stop for bfast at Paris Baguette instead and turned back. I was secretly grinning. We clocked another 45km for the ride.

Overall, in that single week, we almost clocked 150km! I have never done so much riding in a week. My right elbow! My legs! My back! The only comfort was that my butt was in bliss bcos of the saddle cushion. Hohoho.

Obviously, I have a long way to train. RI alone is already 100 to 120km in 1 setting. While I dont aspire to climb Mount Faber, I do want to conquer a RI one day.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 133: Still Spinning

It was class again after 2 weeks' break - we were in JB for one and Coach Raymond was away for the other.

We were also running late bcos the parents went riding in the morning, leaving her only 15 mins to warm up before class. Nah, she didnt really mind. Less time = less work. Plus the 1/3 ice was really crowded. How come everybody is taking private lessons?

After the long break, we couldnt guess what Coach Raymond would work on during lesson. Lil Shauna was hoping that it would be spins. She said that her knee hurts.....

She got her wish. Spin it was and Coach Raymond made her spin a lot. I was happily stoning at the seats.

I thought her back spins are getting better. Her camel spin still needed loads of hard work. Towards the end, she was made to do 1 camel spin, sit spin and end off with scratch spin. It was far from perfect but at least 有点像样.

Of course I was bugging her to go back to the ice after resurfacing. She has afterall only spent only 45 mins on the ice. She whined and whined about how tired she was, how her knee hurts... whatever. Lil Shauna 1, Mummy 0.

Mummy Lim

A Very Long Ride

Bcos it was a PH and bcos Daddy Lim had a new bike, he had planned for a long ride. He said that we would be riding to Marina Barrage - our very 1st. Given my request to build up the distance slowly, the round trip would be about 50km.

Daddy Lim must be too excited and work up super early. We started the ride at about 6am, which is 30mins earlier than usual. I was still half awake; I was busy watching K drama the night next before. Hehe.

We agreed to go at a leisure pace too. It was afterall the 1st long-er distance ride on our roadies. It was a comfortable ride and we stopped to take pictures.

The part from MBS to the barrage was so scenic. I felt like a tourist.

You could tell that Daddy Lim was hungry when he kept asking about bfast. The aroma of bread and coffee didnt help when we rode past one of the cafes. We had a little snack at Marina Barrage but they were too little to fill any void in our tummy.

On the way back, we spotted Paris Baguette and it was calling. We were 10 mins from opening time and patiently stood waiting. We were very hungry; we refused to leave! We spent the time taking pictures. Lalalalala.

Finally!

Popo would have dissuade us from riding if she had knew bcos she would say that it would rain on Hari Raya. And it did... BIG TIME!

The rain came while we were sinking our teeth into the warm muffin. We were congratulating ourselves that we were not out there riding in the rain.

We started our way back when the rain was reduced to a light drizzle. Unfortunately, the sky had intended to get us wet and there was no stopping.

We had to go slower bcos the floor was wet and we didnt quite know how the skinny tires and brakes would perform in such conditions. We gained some distance before the rain started hounding us and we had to stop under the bridge, somewhere near ro WCP.

From that point on, it was a lot of waiting. We would attempt to ride the moment the rain lightens. Soon after we did, it would pour again, forcing us to seek shelter. Zzzzzzzz. If we had been on our MTBs, we would probably had just pressed on, storm or not. We didnt bear to put our delicate roadies to the wet condition. Adding on to the situation, Daddy Lim's Roubaix comes with some electric gearing system. I dont know how it works but it is battery operated, which doesnt go well with rain. In the worse case scenario, the wet battery could lock the gear system and turn his bike into a fixie. While it probably isnt any big damage, the thought of putting the new Roubaix into such suffering made us wait instead. Never mind that we are soaked; are the bikes ok? Haha.

The rain didnt look like it would let up after our several attempts waiting at different shelters. At one point, I was even tempted to suggest to Daddy Lim to take a taxi home and come back with our car. Haha. The uncertainty of when the rain would lighten plus the increasing need to pee made us decide to ride so long as it wasnt pouring. Even then, we took shelter 2 more times bcos it was so bad. There was even lightning and thunder.

We finally made it home soaking well. The 49.3km ride took us almost 5 hours! We were tired not from riding but more the mental stress. Seriously, with so many stops and the leisure pace, it would have been a chill ride without the rain.

Then came part 2 - the cleaning bcos water could rust the chains. Again, if it was the MTBs, we probably would just let them air dry. We labored for the roadies, drying them, degreasing the chains and then lub again. So much hard work bcos it rained. Zzzzzz.

We would go for long rides again. However, let's check the weather forecast the next time. Haha.

Mummy Lim

New Bike Day AGAIN!

Seeing how smooth my Langma is, Daddy Lim had been watching the Specialised webpage very closely. The new 2019 models are finally released a week back and Daddy Lim sprung into his quit smoking quest immediately.

The journey had been difficult. He has his last stick on the previous Saturday morning while we were still in JB and had been smoke free to date. *applause time* He said that the work week where I wasnt around was the toughest. The temptation was strong and he had to constantly find something to distract himself, from chewing on his pen to going to walk his ship. He didnt look like he put up weight, contrary to the belief that quitting smoking would. He said that my absence means more cooperative kids and it probably helped. Zzzzzz. Anyway, I am so proud of him. Specialised! Specialised! Specialised! Come chant with me.

Other than having to resist the urge, the other pain (literally) is the ulcers that popped out. We half suspect that it is the aftereffect of quitting and google confirmed that. It takes 2 or more weeks for the ulcers to clear. Daddy Lim also complained of light headedness, which thankfully has improved over time. I read that the side effects of quitting will disappear after 6 weeks. Good, we are coming to the end of week 2. Daddy Lim said that it now gets easier as compared to the beginning and he does feel that he breathes easier now. Fighting!

He had been so enthusiastic about making sure that I kept my promise of buying him a new bike upon him quitting. He had arranged to send the car for servicing on early Saturday morning, followed by a trip to Tay Junction. I was a dead log trying to recover from the business trip. It is Ok, he didnt need me and was happily shopping for the bike on his own while updating me on via watsapp.

He had his eyes on the Tarmac but suspected that the bike wouldnt fit him given his AS condition. See the one in camo coloured bike.

The fall back was the Roubaix. Yah, all planned out and research done.

He got the size fitting done; one that was much sophisticated than what I had done for my Langma. It is afterall Specialised. Atas ok. He eventually decided on the Roubiax, which fitted him better - $5.9k. Hohohohoho. *nervous laughs*

His Roubaix got to share the tiny toilet space with my Langma in the kitchen. He didnt manage to fit his Roubiax in and it was standing half outside of the toilet.

Popo didnt complain bcos we had earlier prepared her, giving her the worse case scenario of taking her precious balcony laundry hanging space. This was already a bonus in her perspective. Haha.

Of course we had to go for a ride on Sunday morning having missed the Saturday WWF regular ride. The gang rode 55km to Marina Barrage! I was tempted to join but was half dead and didnt know if I could survive. Tadah! The man and his new toy.

Facebook reminded us that many years back, Zaky wore the same jersey. Aiyo, so cute! Where did that cute boy go to?

We wore all the way to Haborfront and went much faster than what we usually would on our mtbs. It was liberating. Shiok ah!

Before we left the house, I double checked that Daddy Lim has brought $$, so that we can finally have our prata bfast. That is one of our motivations. Haha.

At the same time, pictures for the bikes!

Overall, we completed 35km and our average speed has tremendously improved. Daddy Lim is now crazy over his Roubaix and is talking about extra weekday night rides and round island rides. *another nervous laugh* I think we should slowly build up.

I had been having left shoulder pain, right elbow pain and the most torturous of all - butt pain from the rides. The shoulder pain didnt hit me this ride. The elbow soreness has been tolerateable. The only thing that irks me is the butt pain. I had thought my butt would get used to the saddle over time but my butt still hurts like hell after every of the 3 rides. Without time to buy bib shorts (with padding), I had resorted to use the old saddle cushioning. Never mind that Daddy Lim commented how ugly it was. I figured out that it was more important to save my butt.

Seriously, I have no idea how anyone's butt can fit comfortably on this skinny thing. Why would they make saddle to inflict pain on people's butt?

My butt thanked my profusely after the Sunday ride. There was no pain. Haha, happy butt. I will keep the saddle cushion on until such a time that I get my bib shorts; one with thick padding. Haha.

We tried squeezing both bikes into the tiny kitchen after the ride and we did it! Tadah! Fitted to the T!

That is such an achievement. More satisfying than riding 35km. Hahaha.

Mummy Lim

The Boy who "Cried Fish"

Bcos of the JB holidays, the little fishes also took a break at Nainia's place. We went to collect them on the Sunday that we came back. The last they took a holiday, 3 of them died and we topped up with 2 beautiful guppies from QianHu.

Only Zaky came along to collect the fish. We were told that all of the fishes died except for "Sandwich", one of the pioneer fishes. However, to make sure that the kids were not tremendously upset, Nainai topped up with another 4 guppies that she bought from the market before we went to collect them. Zzzzzz. I was actually harboring the secret hope that we could soon end this fishy business. Lol. At least it would be less traumatised for the kids to know that the fishes died without seeing their actual death. Bcos there were still "many fishes" that came home, the kids were alright with the death.

The fishes were fine in the week that I was in BKK. Zaky had wanted to change the water yday but we had my bro's family over and Popo convinced him to do so today.

Unfortunately, this morning, we woke up to 4 dead fishes! Again, only Sandwich remain standing.. I mean swimming. The water was super murky and there seems to be mysterious patches of what looked like oil stain floating on the water.

Zaky was devastated and sobbing away. Lil Shauna has always been more detatch from the fishes and calmly scooped away the dead fishes. Zaky has afterall, always been the main caregiver, feeding the changing the water. Poor boy.

Daddy Lim then took over and made a quick change of water before we left the house. We dont know if Sandwich would survive given that the new water isnt left for cholrine to evaporate or we had no time to climatise Sandwich to the new water. Sandwich looked traumatised in the new water and was swimming into the tank wall and not feeding. Fighting Sandwich!

While we promised the kids that they could each top up a fish, they were asked to consider their option. They had again been asking for hamster and would be allowed if they achieved the targeted SA2 scores and there could only be 1 kind of pet at home at one time.. kids are not considered. Haha. After seeing how the kids had been taking care of the fishes, I am somewhat convinced. Zaky said that he rather go for the hamster and stick with just Sandwich. Lil Shauna asked to top up the fishes. I bet she is already doubtful of meeting the targets. Hahaha.

I am still torn about the hamster actually. While I think the kids would be diligent with taking care of the hamster, I am worried about sick pet and the attachment with its death. A colleague has advised that the bigger the pet, the higher the attachment. Zzzzzz.

Let's see how it goes.

Mummy Lim