Hello JB: Day 3, Paradigm Mall

Bcos we agreed to "sleep later", I got to do so as well. I also get to visit the gym that opens at only 8am.

I was obviously the 1st guest and had to turn on the lights and aircon. I had a good 30 mins and ended when Daddy Lim came with the kids. I was quite surprised that he was able to wake them and meet me on time at 8.30am. I can imagine how hard it would be to wake the sleepy heads but I guessed nothing can stand in the way of a hungry man's way for bfast. 

After bfast, it was final packing up and loading into the car's boot. I really enjoy how we can just lug things (shoes, tidbits, new purchases) that cannot fit into the luggage in plastic bags and dump them into the car boot. This way of traveling is so convenient. Hoho. 

Goodbye to the comfortable hotel for 2 nights. 

Our destination for the morning was Paradigm Mall. It is a new mall that is again nearer to Austin Heights than where we stayed. Lol. It took us half an hour by car and the mall is huge! I think it is 7 levels high and while not fully occupied, is still good to keep us entertained for the morning. There is even an ice skating rink that is the size of the Kallang rink. 

We all bought something. Not new slippers for Nana and I but didn't stop us from taking pictures. Hoho. 

Zaky didnt at all want to shop but I bought him new clothes nevertheless. He was whining throughout and is at that awkward age where he doesn't shop yet and is too old to be interested in toys or fit into playgrounds and bouncing castles. He was actually very interested to try jumping into one if allowed but too embarrassed to try. Haha. 

He is crazy over claw machines but I had to stop him. Wasting $$ is one thing but what do we do with all the soft toys??!! They will just end up in the storeroom and be thrown away after a period of time. Zzzzz. 

We eventually found an arcade and the kids were entertained for a while before we look for lunch and headed home. The kids were so awkward on the dance machine, they were more like stomping giants. Lol.

It was a simple KFC lunch before heading home. The custom looked manageable. 

All Singaporeans topped up their gas tank before leaving Malaysia, except us. Zzzzzz. Daddy Lim set the final destination as "home" and we missed the last petrol kisok and drove straight to the custom. 

The immigration at Malaysia side was fast but slow moving on the Singapore side. The wait is always not fun and made worse after lunch. 

We made it home safely. Puff didn't seem to notice our absence though. 

It was definitely a great trip. Every holiday is a good one. I like to 买东西，吃东西. Hohoho. Even Daddy Lim thinks that we should drive in more often. That is of course bcos there was almost no jam at the custom. Let's hope for more opportunities for such travel or my neck would have grown longer by the time the Melborne trip is here. 

I need more holidays.

Mummy Lim

Hello JB: Day 2 Part 2, Claw Machines, Escape Room

We decided to head back to Austin Heights to check out the Escape Room. We were lucky to get a slot but only at 6.30pm. We had one over hour to burn but it wasn't that tough. Firstly, the kids went crazy over the claw machines and spent some time but more $$ there.

Then we had bubble tea bcos Zaky needed the toilet. 

Bcos it was too early for dinner and we had been eating non-stop to be hungry enough for early dinner, we decided on waffle and ice cream instead. I had intended for that to be dinner, much to Daddy Lim's disbelief. 

It was a nice place for picture taking. 

We burnt all the time needed before we headed to the Escape Room.

Poor Nana got caught. 

Escape Room rarely disappoints the kids. I thought this one was OK only but the kids had a great time. The room and equipment are a little used and old. A few times, we got the "solution" but couldn't move on to get the next clue bcos the sensors weren't working properly. Then, most of the clues that make sense were in Chinese and were lost on Daddy Lim and the kids. The English version sounded so weird. Lol. 

We made it out with extra time and plenty of hints. Lol. I think our theme was for Christmas bcos there were plenty of Christmas related stuff. At the very last part, it was spraying fake snow to Christmas music. Lol. We exited the room with fake snow on our hair. We had a great time monkeying to the fake snow and music and must have looked super comical to anyone watching us on the cameras.

It was good time spent as a family nevertheless. 

After "escaping", we walked in search of the mobile cart that we saw earlier selling 冰糖葫芦. Nana was just telling me a few weeks earlier that she was craving for it but I don't think we can find them in Singapore. She was super excited to see it in JB. Super lucky.

We walked back to the car, ready to head back to the hotel. We bought cup noodles in case somebody was hungry; I was serious about the waffle and ice cream as dinner. The kids were OK but not Daddy Lim. We eventually headed to an eatery near to the car and the kids were lured to the claw machine shop beside. This one has other game machines too. 

The plan was for Daddy Lim to have dinner and we will join him when he is done. We sent him to the restaurant but he came back with a tantrum bcos nobody wanted to serve him. He continued sulking and was rushing us to leave until I bth and walked him to the restaurant, found him a table and got him served. Lol. A hungry man is an angry man. 

Bcos the food was served so slowly or probably bcos the kids were so quick to spend the $$ given on the machines, we ended up joining Daddy Lim and eating dinner again. I am sure we are adding on to the waistlines but Daddy Lim insisted that this is what holidays are about. Hoho.

The drive back to the hotel was alright and we called it another night. On the way home, we were trying to discuss and agree on the agenda for the next and last day. This was super hard bcos we had no idea what was there to do and kept digressing. Lol. Nana at one point even asked if we can sleep in until like 10am. No way..... lol. I think she would suffer when we go on our next long holiday, when her mother would make her wake up early every morning. Lol. 

We eventually agreed to do mall crawl and a later start to the morning. Later = 8am. Hahahaha. 

Mummy Lim

Hello JD: Day 2 Part 1, Toppen, Massage

Yes! There is a gym at the hotel! No! It will be opened only from 8am to 10pm. Who goes to the gym only at 8am and when bfast starts at 7am. Zzzzzzz... obviously the hotel is for people who don't exercise in the morning. 

Daddy Lim said that we should wake up at 7.15am. By the time we rolled around enough, it was 8ish and just nice for bfast. I got up bright and early and completed my morning kickboxing hit. 

It is buffet pick and choose bfast. Daddy Lim and the kids' favorite. 

I have 2 objectives for this trip. I want to cover my greys, do a hair treatment and enjoy a body massage. Nana was very aligned with my agenda. The boys found a skatepark on top of Toppen Mall. The plan was to drop Nana and I at the mall for the hair pampering session while they head to the skatepark. Yes, they brought their skating gear and it is so easy to just dump everything in the car boot. 

Toppen Mall is further north of Austin Heights. We should have just stayed in Austin Heights lah, not sure what went through my head to book Ramanda. At least it is a comfortable hotel. Fortunately, it was an easy drive. 

It is a new shopping mall. There must be some hair salon in the mall right? There are 2 but unfortunately understaffed, which is understandable for a Monday morning. We decided to walk to the Aron Mall beside, thinking that it is a bigger mall and a higher chance, right? No!!!! We are wrong again - no hair salon at all!

Nana and I were disappointed but switched quickly to mission 2 - shopping! It was mostly basic wear, we got T-shirts and shorts and Nana benefitted the most from the trip. 

The boys texted shortly bcos it started raining and they had to stop. 

They came to join us at Aeon, we had lunch, arcade and left for massage! Woohoo! 

I cannot get my hair done, I must at least get my massage. I googled and found a massage place nearby. 

Lol, there was a pot of pink flowers behind me, making me look like I had my hair in a pink towel. Hohoho. 

It was a thai massage place and we opted for the full body oil massage at RM95 each. After we made the payment, we were told to wait at a lobby area and in few mins, the 4 massues arrived from duno where. 

 I shared a room with Zaky with a curtain drawn while the rest had individual space. The massage was very "Thai". Lol. The massues were all using a lot of strength massaging us and at some parts, it was really painful. I thought it was only me bcos I think I heard Zaky fell asleep; his breathing was really deep and loud at some point and I was wondering how was it possible to fall asleep with such pain. Lol. It was only after the massage, when we were sharing experiences that I realised that I wasn't alone. We all ended up feeling sore after the massages. Lol. What exactly did we go through?! Still, no regards, my old bones really need some cracking. 

Mummy Lim

Hello JB: Day 1, Part 2, Ramanda Hotel,

We headed to the hotel for checkin after the cake baking. We are very hopeful that the Ramanda Hotel would be better. I remembered paying a decent price for it. 

The moment we caught sight of the hotel building, we know that we would be in good hands. Hohoho. Whenever there is mirror lift in hotel, we must take this family picture. 

This pose gets harder and harder to sustain as the kids grew bigger. 

The hotel room didn't disappoint us. It is a 2 bedroom suite. Nice! And very clean looking, no 小强 at all. 

After Daddy Lim chomped down one of the totoros, we moved out to Sunway BigBox, in hope of shopping. Disappointedly, the "Big"Box mall is actually quite small and there aren't many retail shops. We did take a walk to the X Park. It is supposed to host a series of adventiurs activities such as high rope, ATV, watersports, go kart and even a skate park. The boys were interested in the skatepark but it was another disappointment. 

We decided to find dinner instead. Daddy Lim wanted to eat Korean BBQ and thus it is!

We found this place by googling "Korean BBQ near us" on Google. Lol. It was a good find and we finished all the food. 

With a full tummy, we happily made our way back to the hotel. 

We all rolled around in the hotel. Zaky declared that it was bedtime for him and knocked out at 8ishpm. Its OK, that is what holidays are supposed to be like.

Mummy Lim

Hello JB: Day 1 Part 1, Shiba Cafe, Cake Baking

We were up at 7am and nobody complains bcos we all can't wait to get out of the 小强 hotel. Not exactly sure what was in the neighbourhood, we were pleasantly surprised to find kopitiams on level 1. Food! Happiness! 

The kids were exclaiming about how cheap the food was. Yes, when converted to SGD but in actual fact, they were RM6 - 7 and not exactly cheap for the locals. 

The one and only picture of the hotel room. 

The decorations along the corridor was actually very decent. 

We didn't really have an agenda this trip. If possible, we want to 买东西，吃东西 . My brother's family came into Austin Heights on Thursday evening. We managed to meet up for lunch. We were in Bukit Indah area and it was about 30 mins drive to Austin Heights. 

We have decided to go to the Shiba Cafe, since we were in that area. 

Ok, not all of them are Shiba.

Each slot is for an hour at RM27 per pax with 1 drink. We were late and didn't stay the full hour bcos there were so many people and the doggies were happy playing either among themselves or the staff. The kids got bored shortly. 

Bye doggies.

Lunch was at this apparently quite popular restaurant. The food comes in portion sizes and you pick and choose as you go down the line. 

These were what we selected. We didn't pick many bcos we just had bfast. Hoho. 

We parted ways after lunch and heading for cake baking. This is a must-do whenever we go to Austin Heights in the past. They moved but is still somewhere near to Austin Heights. 

Tadah!

The kids cooperated on a Charcoal Totoro Cake and I did the Racoon cookies. 

Decoration time...

Me turn..

Some of the racoons didn't make it to this point and were already in our tummies. I lost energy and didn't complete decorating the last 2. They wouldn't "survive" very long anyway before they would end up in somebody's tummy. Hohoho.

Daddy Lim didn't join us. He was glad to go kopitiam drink kopi and play game. He also went in search of parking coupon bcos we got summoned. Zzzzz. 

This is so old school, like the parking coupons that we used to have many years back. We haven't figured out how to pay the fine bcos the eservice allowed us to create an account but refused to let us select "foreigners" to proceed with the payment. I am speechless. 

Mummy Lim