CNY 2017 Chu Yi

Apparently Zaky had no idea what he had said in his half awake state.... he woke up in our bed and asked me how come he wasn't in Fionne's house. Lol. Fortunately, it wasnt such a big deal for him to miss the sleepover; jiejie would have been devastated. Lol.

We headed to my brother's place at about 10am and a sumptuous brunch was waiting for us. We had a very tired Lil Shauna though. She said that the aircon was way too cold and the blanket too small and she didn't sleep the WHOLE night. However, that didn't at all put her off sleepover; she just asked us to buy her a blanket and put it at my brother's place. Haha.

It had been a few years where we spent CNY outside of Singapore. It is not that we don't value meeting up with extended family but Daddy Lim usually have to head back to the yard on the 2nd day of CNY if we remain in Singapore. Moreover, holidays are always good. Muahahahaha.

While my brother's family headed for visitation, we headed to Haborfront for Batam. Last year, Port Dickson took us 8 hours and we do not have enoigh courage to brave the custom again this year.

We were early but there was a Q at the ferry counter to collect the boarding passes. What happened thereafter were painful waiting and queuing.

We opted for an afternoon ferry bcos we didn't want to wait for the mall to open upon arrival. Maybe it would have been a lot better if it was a morning ferry. We stayed in the Harris Batam Center, which is minutes walk from the Batam Center ferry terminal and one street away from Mega Mall. This is the 2nd time in the hotel.

There was a long wait for broading probably bcos we chose to clear immigration early.

Boarding was slightly delayed.

We were glad to board and thought that good times would be really here soon. The boat ride took longer than 50 mins. Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna had a good nap. Daddy Lim sleeps anytime, anywhere. Lil Shauna must had really slept badly the night before; she rarely took naps. Zaky alternate between Mindcraft and bothering me. Lol.

Finally the ferry docked and we quickly got off the ferry, worrying about long Q at the immigration. The worry was real, too real that it was nightmarish. We were made to join a super long Q.

There were that many people at any part of the Q and now imagining the Q snaking 200 times. The Q cleared slower than the arrival of new batch of people. Seriously, I wasn't joking. At times, the Q wasn't at all moving. Other times, we saw people alighting from the ferry and headed straight to the immigration hall. Some other people were cutting Q like nobody business. We don't know how is the Q system and in no authority to question.

The kids were ok to Q in the beginning 45 minutes but it took us bloody 2 hours before we entered the immigration hall. I am sure we weren't the only irritated and fustrated ones. We heard some people shouting every now and then only to be hushed harshly by the immigration officers. Most were obediently Q-ing bcos nobody wanted to be turned back to Singapore.

Lil Shauna was an angel like usual and waited so patiently. Zaky needed to be carried for the last 1 hour. I exercised my muscles very well with the 20ish kg weight.

It was an another mad Q upon entering the immigration hall. At least there was a "proper" Q-ing system for most part of the Q. Only at 1 point, there was no barricade and 3 Qs converged to 1. Though slow, the Q was moving and we couldn't be more glad. We were so happy to finally cleared the immigration. It took us almost 3 hours before we finally checked in. Phew.

The rest of the evening was dinner, shopping and of course arcade. Hohoho.  Despite the ordeal, we were all happy. Lalalala.

Mummy Lim