CNY 2017 Chu Er: Batam

Zaky fell asleep while watching TV the night before. It must be too early bcos the he woke up at 7ish Batam time and made a lot of noise and soon Lil Shauna was up. Fortunately, everybody loves watching TV in the bed, regardless of what time it is.

We lazed in bed for a long time before bfast bcos Daddy Lim refused to wake up. Lol. He said that he slept at 2am the night before, watching 3 movies on his own after all of us had turned in. Backside itchy. 

The kids were escatic to have pick and choose bfast. Kids below 12 dine for free!

After bfast, we watched more TV before starting the Batam routine - eat, shop and arcade. 

Daddy Lim prefers to stay next to the Megamall; he thinks that it is less 杂 than Batam City Square Mall (BCS) or Nogoya Mall. The kids didn't care so long as mummy gives them plenty of arcade time and money. 

After round 1 of arcade, we lured the kids back for swimming. I thought it would be good fun but the water was waaaayyyyy too cold for swimming. The kids took a long time to climatise before they managed to get into the water.

At least they got into the pool bcos I couldn't make myself do so. Lol. I was all dressed but didn't get into the water eventually. 

So I was the official photographer instead. Daddy Lim and the kids were happily doing jump shots and I was happily being the photographer, so long as I didn't have to go into the water. Hahaha.

They didn't last long too; it was imhumanly cold. Lol. Daddy Lim wanted to do massage and gave the kids the option to go to the BCS. Zaky was all for it bcos they would get to play the segway and hoverboard. 

BCS was about 20 mins by taxi and we paid INR 75k for the cab. Segway and hoverboard were definitely the 1st on the kids' list. 

We went for massage after that; even the kids. It was the same massage place that e went to the last time and we opted for 60 mins body massage this time. Lil Shauna and I shared a room while Zaky went with Daddy Lim. I was worried that Zaky wouldnt stay put the whole time. I heard him speaking at 1st but he was quiet soon after. I bet he was enjoying the massage as much as I do. 

One hour past so quickly bcos it was pure enjoyment. Then, we realised why Zaky was so quiet; he had fallen asleep. Hahaha. He slept so deeply that we had a hard time waking him up. At one point, I thought maybe he had fainted and I was so relieved when he finally stirred. 

We had dinner at the big foodcourt next to the massage place. I wanted to eat there the last time but didn't have the chance. The foodcourt was like the hawker center we visited in my younger days; we ordered food and it was sent to our table. 

It was crowded and I only remembered to take picture after we finished the food. Haha. We had pork satay! Where to find pork satay in Singapore now?!?!

The kids had round 2 of hoverboard after dinner. Even Lil Shauna opted for the hoverboard this time. 

Then we hit the arcade. For INR 100k, we spent more than 2 hours at the arcade. The arcade uses tokens and it was a lot more fun bcos the kids get to win tokens, which explained why INR 100k lasted us for such a long time. We won quite some tokens but spent all at the end of the day. At the Megamall arcarde, the kids finished INR 300k in less than 3 hours. We finally left the mall at 9.30pm and managed to hire a cab. Phew. We went to lala land while watching TV. Totally blissful. 

Mummy Lim

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