Port Dickson Part II

Day 2 was much better. :) The kids were happily running around the room playing hide and seek and whatever self created game before we headed for a not-too-bad buffer breakfast at the hotel.

Then, we went to the beach for some sand digging.

It was low tide and the water was shallow. You can walk very far into the sea to have the water reaching only your knee. As the waves were much weaker as compared to the ones in Desaru, Lil Shauna had a good time walking in the water, scoping up seawater and sand and picking up shells. The beach wasnt very clean nor the water very clear but acceptable. Then we came to this part of the beach where we found really tiny crabs (lots of them) digging holes in the sand. Lil Shauna was curious yet scare, it was quite a funny moment before she insisted that she wanted to go back to the same beach bcos she "pa pa". The kids got sandy and had fun before we head for more swimming. We basically swam and swam until we all turned prune like. Lol.
We had a quick lunch at the KFC at the Central Market before heading back for a nice nap. Yum yum, I just love relaxing trips, especially when it comes to afternoon naps. Daddy Lim must have influence me. Lol.
After a nice and relaxing rest, we went kite flying. It was a first time for Daddy Lim, me and also Lil Shauna. Ah yee even got us a nice kite from Singapore, but my bro managed to buy 2 kites in Port Dickson at half the price. Hohoho. We had to fix up the kite ourselves and there was no instructions, so Daddy Lim tried to figure out and the kite got fixed up and it looked pretty decent. Somehow I think Daddy Lim was proud of his handyman skills but the kite didn’t made it to the sky. Apparently, the string is to be tied to the wooden structure of the kite and not the kite “body”. With all the tugging and wind impact, our kite starting tearing and couldnt fly. Sad. But Lil Shauna still get to fly a kite a little, one of my bro's kite. Kite flying is actually quite boring. After you get the kite into the sky, you just tilt your head and stared at it. No wonder Lil Shauna lose interest fairly quickly. I was worried that Lil Shauna would let go of the kite. After a short while, all the kids grew bored (me too) and it was more swimming! It is strange how the kids can soak in the pool for hours after hours and not get sick of splashing and waddling around.

We had our 2^nd attempt at seafood dinner. This time, we knew what we are looking for – the staff must speak English or Mandarin and no pools of stagnant water. We found a Chinese seafood restaurant this time and had a good and not too expensive dinner. :)
Back at the hotel, Daddy Lim had wanted to chill out after we tucked Lil Shauna in and we were roaming the hotel looking for the lounge and found their mini karaoke box with switched on mics. So Lil Shauna got to sing karaoke for the 1^st time but without music. Still, she enjoyed herself just as much.

Then it was back to the hotel room for more jumping around, crazy runabout and kiddish games, but the kids totally enjoyed themselves. It seems so nice to be kids, so carefree. When we finally tucked Lil Shauna to bed, we were too comfortably settled into bed and too lazy to move. Hehe, lazy parents.
Lil Shauna started tossing and turning at 2am and woke us up. She settled back to sleep after her milk and Daddy Lim thought that we should still chill (since we were already awake) and we decided to catch the World Cup finals despite not being football fan at all. I think it must be many years ago that we actually catch a soccer match on TV. We have never watched a match together. We didn’t even know who was playing against who for the Cup but since the hotel has live telecast + the coffee house serves hot food and drinks.
I think we enjoyed the hot food and drinks more than the game. Lol. Afterall, we were not supporting any team in particular. We were sitting quietly in the midst of supporters who were cheering their team on. It was quite a funny sight. By break time, it was still no goal and we both agreed that it was quite boring and we were better off sleeping and we headed back to the room. So much for World Cup. Hoho, but at least we accomplished Daddy Lim’s goal of “chilling”. Lol. We only found out that Spain won the Cup the next morning.
On the last day, we had breakfast at the hotel again and checked out early as per my bro’s suggestion. We decided that we would drive to Malacca for lunch since Malacca is along the way back to Singapore. I think the adults were all quite sick of soaking in the pool. It was a great choice cos we had good food in Malacca, got to buy the local products and split the journey back home by 1/3, making the rest of the way back easier.

We arrived in Malacca just in time for lunch and we were fascinated by the shops and tot that we should have spent more time in Malacca but we had to make sure that we catch the kids' nap time to have a peaceful drive home and couldnt stay long. Thus, we had to leave shortly after lunch. The sun was just as hot in Port Dickson and Lil Shauna finally agreed to wear her new cap for like 2 mins.

We found this famous chicken rice shop and tucked in delicious chicken rice balls. Daddy Lim loves the chicken rice so much that he proclaimed that the chicken rice was worth the trip to Malacca. Hohoho.

We left shortly after lunch after some shopping and drove the remaining journey back to Singapore. Lil Shauna fell asleep shortly after we board the car and woke up almost nearing Singapore. She was grouchy but manageable and potato chips and “tang” (sweets) always do the trick.
Back in Singapore, we saw that it was still early and went in search for a princess bed. I am still harbouring the idea of Lil Shauna sleeping on her own and hope to entice her to do so by getting her a really nice princesscy bed. Our search was futile and we had dinner at IMM before heading home. Lil Shauna was helping and helped to carry her Badoh bear and toys while we lugged the rest of the luggage.

We had feared that Lil Shauna would torture us badly as she had a late nap and her parents were dead tired. But she was tired too and we finally managed to coax her to bed by 10+pm. Phew.
I was quite sad to be back. I realized that I really love holidays even if they are just across the Causeway. I love the feeling of looking forward to holidays, to be away from work and forget about work, to spend $$ without having to consider too much and most importantly to spend quality time with Daddy Lim and our precious princess. J
But fear not, cos we have decided to drive to Malacca soon. Hehehe. Now, I have something to look forward to again and I think Malacca will really be the last time I travelled before I be confined at home bcos of my big belly. Ah yee will also be joining us this time. I think she is just as desperate for a trip. It was be a really short one night trip and I think we will enjoy just as much. Hehe.
Mummy Lim

Port Dickson Part I

Lil Shauna has grown up. She now understands the meaning of "kai kai". We had been telling her a few days before the trip that we are bringing her to Malaysia to kai kai. Unlike the previous trip, where she got angry when we dragged her up in the early morning, she sprung up when we told her that we are bringing her to kai kai and very cooperatively got dressed. "Kai kai" is the new magical word. :)

We actually delayed her bedtime the night before and brought her for a super early MacDonalds breakfast. We were having our breakfast at 4.45am and my bro's family joined us at 5.15am. By the time we finished meddling with the GPS and was ready to set off, it was almost 6am. As planned, the 2nd link was empty and Lil Shauna fell asleep shortly after we cleared the custom.

Daddy Lim had a quiet drive and the expressway was pretty empty most of the time. We started off while the sky was still dark and slowly waited for daylight to fall on us. It was our 1st road trip and it was a pleasant experience.

Lil Shauna woke up when we were about 2/3 into the journey and we kept her busy with Barney, Hi-5 and loads of potato chips. She had a tidbits buffet during the entire Port dickson trip. -.o"

We arrived at about 9am and the hotel was more run-down than we expected, nothing like their website and their services were quite bad. As the rooms will only be ready in the afternoon, we went for our second round of breakfast - roti prata. We drove to their Central market, which is no bigger than our heartland interchange. There were so many small shops selling roti prata and the pratas looked really big and good. However, they taste so-so only. Lil Shauna was enjoying tearing the prata and helping herself to the sugar.

The sun was scorching hot. It actually hurts to stand too long in the sun and we escape to Port Dickson's biggest and only shopping center. It was no bigger than North Point and it appears as if they are trying to save electricity bill - the place was warmed even with air conditioned. -.o"

We then went back to the hotel and the kids spend the next 1+ hour soaking in the pool until the hotel room was finally ready. The drive and swim exhausted all of us and we were grateful for a good afternoon nap with Lil Shauna.

Good weather awaits us and our spirit was lifted after a good nap. The pool was busy with people and the tide was up, filling the lagoon in front of the hotel with water. At that point, the hotel looks pretty better.

We then went out looking for food, good seafood and were told that there are plenty of seafood restaurants in Port Dickson. We settled for one that is near to the night market and it was a bad choice. The place was rundown and dirty and they have big water pools filled with stagnant water. The staff do not understand English, their menu is in Malay and we have to order with whatever limited malay that we know. Everything that we asked for was "goreng" when they asked how we want to cook it, bcos that is the only malay word that we knew. Now that I think back, I wonder why we didnt just leave the place.

The wait for the food to be served was long and we were there feeding mosquitoes. -________-" The service was bad and the portion miserable. They finally served us BBQ chicken and BBQ fish but no cutlery or rice. We have to keep calling for the staff for forks and spoons! And right behind us, there was a table of malays. They came later than us but got served before us and they were enjoying sweet and sour fish, fried prawnballs and what-have-you while we looked at our unappetising BBQ chicken and fish. The kids were impatient and dinner was bad and unfulfilling. Right after dinner, we had to whack the night market for Ramli burgers and hotdogs and corns and nuggets to fill the hollow left by the dinner.

The night market is supposed to be the "hot" thing in Port Dickson. It is only on every Sat night and it is literally hot. There were so many people and the waiting time was so long. Haiz... I think we are too used to Singaporeans' efficiency. So we ended up tabao-ing and tucking in in the comfort of our hotel before ending the day.

Well, it wasnt our best trip and the best way to start a trip but it was still enjoyable. Afterall, we were on an holiday and I was desperate for one. Hohohoho.

Mummy Lim