Bali Bali Day 0: Hello Bali

It wasn't intentional - the Bali trip was planned 1st bcos it was the school holidays. Then I needed to go JKT for work and couldn't find a better week. 

We had planned to leave on Friday late evening, after the kids' school, only for the day to be appointed as polling day. Wasted siol. However, that gave me plenty of time to rest and pack after the JKT trip. 

Bcos we had so much time, we decided to head to the airport earlier. Bye bye Mochi. He doesn't care, he didn't even look at me any more after I come back from JKT. Zzzzz. 

We headed to the airport at 3.30pm when out flight was at 7pm. Bcos it was Airasia, we were at T4. Absolutely no rush. 

We had a nice early dinner and the kids were happily monkeying around. The last holiday, Nana was confined to the wheelchair and now we have freedom!

We did some shopping and only I gained. Another Mr Bear to add on to our collection.

Hoho. 

Whenever we travelled on budget airline for family trips, Daddy Lim gets special treatment at the extra legspace row but sits alone. I get to sit with the kids... and Mr Bear.

We had dinner already and didn't order flight dinner but that didn't stop Zaky from asking for his 2nd dinner. It is OK, we are on a holiday and more importantly, he has lost weight. 

The flight was 2hrs and 45 mins long and it got a little boring. It was a noisy flight too with crying infants and chatty toddlers. The one seated behind us was at one point kicking and banging on our chair. I had to ask the parents to stop the kid. Otherwise, all good and we touched down at 9.30pm. Unlike JKT, there is no time difference.

The immigration was crowded. For a moment, I missed Nana being paika and we got to use the priority lanes then. It was almost 10.30pm when we got out of the airport and found our driver. 

We would be staying in a villa in Seminyak for the next 3 nights. Our previous Bali villa experience were great and we were looking forward. 

The villa was 30 mins drive away, costing us IDR200k. Compared to the other villas that we had stayed in previously, this was much older and smaller. The villa has 2 bedrooms, each with its own toilet and shower. The only problem that we had the 1st night, was a big unwelcome spider, which occupied the bathroom and nobody dares to shower with it. Lol. Luckily, there is a 2nd bathroom.

Mummy Lim

Another Jakarta Done

After Mumbai, it is Jakarta. Give me Jakarta any time. Hoho. The flight was at a comfortable 9am. I had thought that I have nothing else to buy from DFS. Plenty apparently. Lol. 1st of all, this pandan teh from the robotic maker. 

A lovely pink cup. 

It tasted very... pandan. After a while, it just taste very sweet. 

I got to travel with a colleague this time. 

Yummy yum. 

Same old, same old. Ayana Midplaza Hotel. 

Drop bag, change and the start of my busy day. 

My routine for the next few days were similar - wake up early, gym, bfast, busy day at work, dinner, work somemore and then sleep. 

At least the bfast was good. The spread was luxurious. 

By dinner time, I was simply exhausted and craved comfort food. Like this.. 

And this..

Having a travel companion was great. At least I have somebody to complain and whine about how tiring the trip was and how exhausted I was. Lol. 

Finally survived to Thursday and was rushing off at 3.30pm for our flight at 7pm.  Another comfort food at the airport. 

I was at the same joint my last trip. This teh passed, so much better than the last teh C I had. 

I knew I had to pass the flight dinner but it was too tempting. Beef and potato and the beef was so tender. Hoho. 

With that I ended my 6th business trip for the year. Yay!

Mummy Lim

Family - Dinners and Gatherings

I couldn't sleep on Thursday night. By that, I meant that I tossed and turned for a while. For people who know me, that meant a lot bcos I am the 秒睡. I wonder why and suspected that I was affected by Ah Yee going home. 

Our house would be very quiet. Ah Yee and Athena had accompanied us for the last 2 months and ah tioh CY joined the last 2 weeks. They took off on Friday afternoon, but without forgetting to show me that there are evil butterflies in the airport. 

We don't know when we will see them again. Maybe the next one would be our turn to visit them in Europe. 

The last weeks had been family gatherings and dinners. Nana said that she wanted a BBQ and that was what we had. 

The kids swam. 

We ended back home for cake for my bro and CY's bday.

The cousins played 飞机棋.

On Thuesday, Ah Yee's family spent the entire afternoon in JP, doing last minute stocking of goodies and stuff to bring home. Zaky was on HBL and got to join them. Digressing, I am not sure what HBL really is supposed to achieve. Zaky would usually game whole day while Nana would lie and roll around the house the whole day during HBL. It is just like another day of holiday for them. 

Anyway, Zaky got to gain from plenty of kiddy stuff. He had wanted to ride in one of those for a long time.

The last bit of play before we bid Athena goodbye. 

Ah Yee and family touched down safely at 3am SGT on Saturday morning. It is still summer in Paris but it was 18 degrees. Not fair. 

The good thing about Ah Yee and family's departure is that I finally got back my room and bed. Since Nana broke her ankle, I have spent countless nights on the floor. They are still welcome back anytime. 

On Friday morning, I also got to spend time with some dear ladies - the other family though no by blood. 

I was on half day leave and thought that I have plenty of time only to realise that 4 hours passed by so quickly and there was still so much to catch up. 

These ladies are just to precious to me. 

Mummy Lim

从出江湖

I duno what got into Daddy Lim but he was very nice to offer a morning ride. It had been more than a year since he rode on his roadie. We had to clean it up, pump the tires and charge the di2. A lot of work for a ride. 

We went for a short ride, to Seah Im for bfast and back. It was very reasonable speed but Daddy Lim was pouring sweat. He said that it was tougher than aggro skating as the effort was constant. 

I hope the bfast made the ride worth it. Lol. 

We clocked about 30km. His shoe eventually didn't agree with the ride. Zzzzz.

Luckily this happened near to our home. This also meant that to do a next ride, Daddy Lim would have to buy new shoes 1st. I wonder when that would be. I heard him complaining of sore neck and knee for the rest of the day. I didn't know cycling is so strenuous. Zzzzz. 

We were home early and just in time for bfast. It was the perfect opportunity to yank Nana out of bed for a little jog, in the name of bfast. We took a big detour, clocking 1.9km to reach McD. We had to stop multiple times, not only bcos her recovered ankle hurts, her ok left calf was also in pain and she was out of breath. I think her ok leg is trying to compensate and do more for the not ok leg. As for the breathlessness part, she just has a long way to go to get back her fitness. Hoho. 

I hope the bfast also made the effort worth it. 

Mummy Lim

Not Exactly Paika

It had been 4 months since Nana fractured her ankle and 1 month since she was off cast. The doctor had said that there was still a faint line on the X-ray but that it was normal and would heal with time. She didn't order any physiotherapy and simply told her that she could take off her cast and walk away at the last appointment. There was also no more follow up appointment but ordered her to refrain from exercise for the next 3 months. 

In Zaky's fractured pinky finger case, he was totally pain free, even before his last appointment. Nana still walks with a limp and complains that her ankle hurts after too much walking or impact. While she had tried skating (both ice and land) she has not gone back for her netball training or any other sports. 

The inability to fully embrace sports and the frequent ankle pain must have irritated Nana. So much so that she took the initiative to find and arrange for physiotherapy. My job was to be present and to pay $$. She found and arranged at the Core Concepts. I must say that the clinic and the therapists look very professional. 

The 1st thing that the therapist commented upon examining her ankle was that she had sprained her ligament. The ligament right above the ball of her ankle is swollen. We concluded that when she fell and fractured her ankle, she must have also sprained her ligament. While the sprained should have fully healed along with her fractured, healed ligament is a different animal altogether. The therapist mentioned that healed ligament is often "mashed up and overlapped". 

The therapist did some rubbing and there was some pain, before proceeding to make Nana do some skipping and jumping exercise. It was funny that Nana had forgotten how to skip. Lol. 

He went on to say that Nana's ankle is probably very healed and a lot of the holding back is actually mental than physical. He went on to assign some simple exercise to do daily over the next 2 weeks. 

The aim is to be able to run properly by the end of 2 weeks. 

She was given an appointment for 2 weeks later but said that there isn't a need for her to come back unless the pain persisted, after faithfully doing the daily exercises. I am not sure how much she would follow on the exercises. 

Nana had been reminded to walk normally. There is actually no need for her to limp. Maybe there is still some pain but probably very much psychological. She had wanted to train up her core. She laughed and told me that the very 1st day she walked without the cast, she developed a muscle ache the next day from walking. Lol. 

Mummy Lim

Housekeeping

We had failing lights at home. 1st, it was flickering spot lights in the living room. We used alternate lighting and survived. Then one of the kitchen lights went off and we relied on the other still working one. The final straw was the main light in the master bedroom. We lived in semi darkness until I could bear it no more. 

The lights at the living room were the easiest to fix. We only needed replacement bulbs and a ladder. The one in the kitchen required moving the plaster opening but the toughest of them all was the one in the bedroom. It was directly above our bed and there was no way to move the bed away due to the space constraint. We ended up with an acrobatic act, putting mattress on top of mattress and pillows to gain height. 

Long story short, we spent hours fixing the lights and now understand why we had to pay good $$ to electricians. 

The blue, green or brown (no red ah). We struggled, not only with the space and height constraints but also with poor eyesight in the falling light. We totally deserved a pat on our back. While people were watch NPD, we were watching wires and lights. Lol. 

Another thing that I needed to fix is this tumbler that I got a few Christmas back. 

It is a good brand and keeps my drinks warm for a long time. I like. The only problem is that it comes with a complicated cap that prevents thorough washing. I have stopped putting drinks with milk in the tumbler and only used it for my instant coffee/ tea. 

On few occasions, I managed to dug out some gunk but I think those were the tip of the iceberg. I left it until the flow of the coffee seems to slow down. It only meant bad. 

I had thought of replacing the cap and finally found a YouTube video to dismantle the parts. I also think that there must be a way to do so, given how expensive the tumbler is. I procrastinated for too long. 

When I finally dismantled the cap, it wasn't a pretty sight. Let's just say that I have a strong stomach. No wonder I can survive the Jakarta and Mumbai trips and the Bangkok street food sat well too. Lol. 

Mummy Lim

RIBA 2023

I have never participated in RIBA or the NTU Bike Rally bcos of the SUN. I attempted the Bike Rally once. The starting point was from Suntec and enroute to JW. I broke off and went home from JW leaving Daddy Lim to complete the event bcos the sun was coming out. Lol. Seriously, who would do RI under the midday sun? 

This year, I had done zero RI bcos the borders have opened up and I started traveling extensively for work and leisure. Simply no time for RI. So when RIBA came along, I thought maybe I should. It would probbaly be fun doing a RI with a big group. Maybe the sun isn't so bad... and so I signed up. 

RIBA has different starting points in the different ends of Singapore. Then the participants cycled a destinated route, arriving at checkpoints to checkin. Our starting point was at the JW stadium and the flagged off was at 7am. We agreed to arrive at 6.15am for registration and intended to move out once our group was complete. 

We moved off at about 6.45am. 

I wonder why the sun rose so quickly and eagerly. So bright, so quickly.

The 1st main checkpoint was at Sports Hub. Ya, the arm sleeves had surfaced and so had the slapping on of sunblock at every opportunity.

See how fierce the sun was by the time we had arrived at TMCR - the Changi Costal PCN. 

One thing that I didn't know about RIBA is that the route is 1/3 (maybe more) PNC and pathway. We had to keep the the speed limit, navigate the many turns, avoid the pedestrians and cross many traffic lights. Zzzzzz. It took much, much longer than a normal road RI. 

At Rowers' Bay, before hitting Mandai. 

Maybe it is familiarity of that area, at that point, I finally had the sense that we were finally on the way home. If TMCR and Mandai seem daunting. They were actually chicken feet. TMCR was much earlier on the route and to be rewarded by brunch. Mandai's climbs were aided by many downhill too. What was a lot scarier was Neo Tiew and the seemingly endless LCK, made worse with the relentless headwind. 

From LCK, we could easily head back to the finishing back, back at the JW stadium but the route asked us to cut through NTU. While we didn't have to conquer the biggest NTU climb, there were 2 mini slopes. At the 110km mark, any slopes = monstrous tasks. 

It was in NTU that I really 怀疑人生. Why the hell did I sign myself up for this? While climbing, I really did feel a little like crying. Lol. 

Finally, we made it back! 

The medal is definitely hard earned. 

I contemplated calling Daddy Lim to pick me bcos I really felt like dying. Lol. I eventually managed to slowly pedal home. Home never felt so far away. 

RIBA is a pure test of patience and endurance. Patience bcos of the PNC and pathway and it took us 8 hours to complete the 120km. Endurance bcos the sun was really freaking hot. It basically zapped all my energy. At least I complete my 120km, the longest that I had ever done. Pat myself on my back. 

I don't think I will do RIBA again. Maybe when I get so forgetful and forgot the pain. Lol. I am literally burnt. 

Mummy Lim