Finally Bangkok Day 3: Kidzania

We had a free day and I had to find something not too dangerous and not too tiring but yet interesting to entertain the kids. We cannot afford to injure Lil Shauna or tired her out. She has the all important event the next day. It was weird timing. A mummy was telling me that her girl's event was all on day 1 and they would be moving to a hotel nearer to town. I also want.

We decided to go to Kidzania. It can easily keep the kids busy the entire day. We know how tiring Kidzania can be  (for the adults) and opted to have a slow bfast and only left the room at about 10am.

Our hotel location really sucks. We took a cab to Siam Paragon and opted for the expressway, which is supposed to be faster but we can barely tell the difference. The cab fare was only THB 200 but it took us a bloody hour. At some point, the cab was not moving in the traffic jam and we were baking in the sun. The kids were impatient and quarrelsome. Why like that? I wonder if this is the faster route by expressway, how would it be with the normal way. It is ok, I wouldn't want to find out.

We finally arrived at Siam Paragon and spotted an ice cream stall. Immediately we had to buy some ice cream to cool down. So cute, right?

Siam Paragon is huge and it took us a while to find Kidzania. On the way, Lil Shauna was hesitant about Kidzania; she said that Kidzania is for small kids and she is a big girl already. Ok, didn't the big girl just went to the same Kidzania with Zaky and 2Fs in June? She must have grew up tremendously in 6 months.

There must be certain lure but she suddenly changed her mind when we were at the door. Lol. We were determined to work on jobs that we didn't do the last time, which is quite some actually.

The 1st job - courier and the kids had fun running around sending packages.

It was a good thing that it was a school day and Kidzania wasn't too crowded. We walked past the hospital and joined the Q.

The kids went into a room and we can only view them via the CCTV. It was a constant routine; send kids to work, parents self-entertain. I wish this was real life. Lol.

The other jobs that the kids worked, some only 1 pax bcos the other kid wasn't interested.

Lil Shauna said that she loves CSI best while Zaky loves to be a soccer player. Well, he was playing with much older boys and barely touched the ball. Lol.

We spent 5.5hrs in Kidzania. The parents were beat. Lol. The Kidzos that the kids earned barely could buy anything and they decided to keep the money. We had thrown away previous Kidzos earned, thinking that the kids would never be keen to do Kidzania again. I made a mental note to keep the Kidzos just earned.. you never know.

I had wanted to do shopping. We are in Bangkok! We walked to MBK, which was nearby, thinking that we could do dinner and then shopping. We got dinner gone but nobody was keep on shopping. As compared to Platinum mall, MBK was a lot messier and too touristy. The sales are rude and the things pricier. After 30 mins with no success, we left. The taxi Q was horrible but luckily moved quickly.

On the taxi, I started getting anxious about the competition the next day and started telling Lil Shauna about how she should be more confident, open her eyes to see where she is going so that she can improvise and so much more. She is indeed complacent and said that she won a medal when she didn't skate very well for solo compulsory.  I had to break the news to her but told her that there were 5 skaters (instead of 4) and she got 4th. For FS2, there are more skaters and she might not get a medal. I hope it wakes her up.

We were all glad to be back in the hotel and watching TV felt so good.

Mummy Lim

Finally Bangkok Day 2 Part 2: Imaginia and Dinosaur Plantet

We had to do something interesting; the boy was bored and grumpy, Lil Shauna had done her stuff. We headed back to the hotel to drop the stuff and changed then took a cab to the nearest BTS and took the BTS to The Emporium. The 1st stop: Imagina.

It is an indoor playground. The kids, especially Lil Shauna, had outgrown indoor playgrounds but the novelty effect did help a little. The kids had 3 hours to get crazy.

Imagina is definitely built for little people.

The moment we got it, we were greeted by this big web that got the kids very excited.

The parents got very excited over coffee and free wifi. Haha. I was mentally tired after the stressful morning. Lil Shauna must had felt very relief and was full of energy.

The kids came excitedly after a short exploration and tugged me along. There is this mega slide.

Some other electronic play stuff to entertain the older kids.

The kids then met some other Singaporean kids and made friends and went crazy. They left and then they made friends with a pair of ang mo siblings. They went wild again.

There were various art and craft workshops but they opted for a sandwich making one at THB 100 each.

The sandwiches were gone in a while bcos we didn't have a proper lunch.

I had thought that they would be bored but friends made all the difference.

We took a walk to the Dinosaur Plantet. It was a mini outdoor Dinosuar themepark that is overpriced. I read reviews that it was tiny and would at most entertain us for 3 hours. We still opted to go, bcos we had time to burn yet not too much time. The entrance fees were THB 2,000, which is almost S$80.

We were just in time for a "live" show at 6pm. I was dead hungry and we gobbled down dinner in 15 mins. The live show was not too real looking dinosaurs walking around and fighting each other in a Thai storyline. I think the ones in USS looked alot more realistic.

I thought Zaky would love the show but he was totally scardy pants. There were other attractions.

Like the reviews said, they aren't the most interesting. Our last stop was the Dino Farm, where the kids paid THB100 each to ride baby dinosuars. The ride was a snail crawl and each step comes with a jerk. Lil Shauna said that her butt hurts.

I think we stayed less than 2 hours in the park. It was definitely overpriced. Well, for the experience and we will never come back.

We took the BTS and then cab back. We had very tiring small and big people. Sleep was easy. We complained about the aircon and the cartoon channel and I think it was fixed up.

Mummy Lim

Finally Bangkok Day 2 Part 1: Solo Compulsory

How was our 1st night in the hotel? Daddy Lim happily had the bed to himself; nobody wants to sleep with him leh. My night wasn't too great. I was dead tired but woke up 4 times. The 1st 3, the aircon died and I woke up bcos it was so warm and stuffy and switched it back on. The last, it was too cold. Zzzz.. why like that? By then, the sky was bright at 7am and the boy was up, which meant that there wasn't chance to sleep in, despite me pretending to sleep.

We went to the lIving room, only to find the cartoon network channel not working. Noooooooo! While the boy was entertained by the ipad, I decided to check my office email and I got totally sucked in. There were suddenly so many urgent matters that needed my attention. The next 1 hour was spent trying to get the urgent issues resolved, including calls to my colleague in Singapore, asking for help.

Finally, we made it out of the room for bfast. The kids had their favorite "pick and choose". The selection wasn't fantastic but good enough to keep the kids happy.

I don't know what happened to time bcos we woke up at 7am and the next moment, i was rushing to get Lil Shauna ready. We had to be out of the hotel by 10.30am and be at the rink by 11am. Her item was at 11.30am.

Who did her makeup? Yours truly.

Her hair? Yours truly.

I almost felt like it was her wedding day. Lol.

All done up.

Our hotel was only 10 mins by cab to Mega Mall. We arrived early and couldn't find Teacher Raymond. He did find us instead and then we followed a fellow mummy to find where the rest of the Singapore gang was camping. We also found out that though Lil Shauna was physically biggest among the kids but she wasn't the oldest. We have big genes in the family lah. Lol.

Bcos it was solo compulsory, meaning that she only has to do 3 basic items - ballet jump, half jump and one-foot spin - without music, she could do so in any attire. This was what we agreed upon - her usual practice attire. She said that she didn't want to wear her costume.

While waiting for her turn, she was looking at the other skaters and asked why the other skaters were all in beautiful costume. Heng mummy got foresight and packed an extra costume. It was a tad too small and she complained like hell about how uncomfortable it was while trying out at home. Suddenly, all discomfort didn't matter. We made a last minute change. It was the angle, in actual fact, it was really quite tight and her tummy was so obvious. Haha.

The schedule was delayed and we had a long wait before it was finally her turn to warm up. It was only 2 minutes and Teacher Raymond gave her instructions. She warmed up with the other skaters competing in the same event and they all were super good.

Two minutes were up very quickly and the next moment, she was preparing to start her solo compulsory.

How did it go? Well, she didn't fall down but she didn't go as fast or jump as well as she sometimes could. I think she was a bunch of nerves. The other skaters were really better than her, all alot more confident and were bowing to the judges and showing their stuff. Lil Shauna was just glad to complete her item. She did say that it was a little exciting after her event.

The results were out about 10 mins after her item. We photo bombed while waiting.

She got 4th but there were only 4 skaters. Lol. We didn't dare to tell her that she was the last; we only told her that she was the 4th. We didn't dare tell her that there were only 4 skaters too. She didn't know that and was very thrilled to hear that she was 4th. Sometimes, half truly is very important. Lol.

The top 5 skaters will get a medal, which means that Lil Shauna has a medal though she was last. She was super overjoyed.  She said that she didn't expect to come in 4th. Zzzz. Smile, mummy, smile.

Zaky was grumpy. He was tired and bored. We left soon after the result was out but had a picture with Teacher Raymond 1st.

He was all encouraging though she came in last. I think it is really the experience.

Until now, we didnt tell her that there were only 4 skaters but tried to hint to her to not to be too complacent. We encouraged her that she now have more confident to do better for her Freestyle 2 event on Saturday and if she skater faster, more powerful and jump higher, she could have a better score. We also reminded her that there would be more skaters for the item and it was be a stiffer competition.

The most important thing is to spur her to have stronger passion for ice skating. I hope that is a checked. She was too nervous; I will ask her again when we are back in Singapore.

Mummy Lim