Another Biz Trip - JKT Part 1

I know, I have been flying every week. Woohoo! This time, to Jakarta and I haven't traveled the Jakarta for months. 

Traveling to Jakarta isn't as daunting as Mumbai. In fact, I was a little looking forward to it. What makes it more enjoyable is that I have other colleagues on the same way this time. Nice. 

The flight was at a more decent 8.15am. I woke Nana up at 5.15am to braid her hair before making my way to T1. Then to my most enjoyable past time - shopping at DFS. I saw Mr Bear! So many of them! We already have 2 big ones at home. 

Bcos SQ was full, I opted to travel on Scoot. I was in the dilemma of Garuda vs Scoot and eventually opted for the latter. A colleague joked that at least Scoot will make sure that my body gets sent home bcos it is a subsidiary of Singapore airline. Zzzzzz.

Time passed easily when there is companion. We were at different seats. Scoot cleverly designed the pocket to the top of the seat, allowing for slightly more leg space. 

It was more comfortable than our Bangkok Airasia flight. On those flights, my knees were literally touching the seat in front. 

The Company ordered inflight meal but serving took a while as the flight attendants had to entertain sales order as well. The moment the meal was served, the clean up cart was right behind. 

There wasn't time to finish the food. I wasn't that hungry anyway but finished the ice cream. Hoho. 

The 1.5 hrs flight was uneventful. The immigration cleared easily too, then the 1.5 hour ride to the office at Cibitung. I had a site walk and prep my own safety shoes. I paid $16 for these at the Boon Lay market and glad that these survived 2 site walks. 

The most exciting part of the site walk must be to take this construction lift. 

This time, I stayed at the Enso Hotel with some of the colleagues as it is a stone throw to the site. The room was small but decent for 1. 

Dinner was with the colleagues at the hotel. It wasn't too bad with companion. I didn't sleep too well though, as per many 1st nights of my travels. 

The next morning, I met a colleague at the hotel's tiny gym. I was glad that there is a gym despite being a no frill hotel. I forgot to take a picture. I was glad that there was nobody else and I got to use the treadmill. My watch had to remind me that I had a poor night but also told me never mind, still can workout. Lol. 

Then it was packing up, freshening up and bfast. It was pick and choose bfast and I forgot pictures again. Zzzzz. I have no complaints about the hotel except that the hair dryer was really weak and I took a long time to blow dry my hair. Haha. 

I lugged my bags to the site and left for the office in town in the afternoon. I was super sleepy by the afternoon bcos it was another hot and tiring site walk in the morning, then a long 45 mins car ride to the office. 

I left the office at 6ish and lugged the luggage to the Ayana Midplaza hotel, that was about 5 mins walk away. The last time I was in Jakarta many months back, I stayed in the same hotel. I have forgotten how grand it actually is. On the way back, I tabaoed food from the convenient stall bcos I was craving for comfort food. 

The hotel gave me a free upgrade. When I opened the door, I was shocked at how big the room was. I had a King size bed! It was such a contrast to the room I had in Enso. 

The long walkway/ wardrobe that led to the toilet. 

The toilet wasn't big in comparison to the room but still very decent. Got bathtub somemore but I no time to use. 

My dinner. 

The soup was very salty and very addictive. Super comforting on a tired evening. 

I was too tired to do anything else and spent the rest of the night stoning and scrolling FB. Good night!

Mummy Lim

Zaky and His Basketball

My kids are not natural athletes but we got them active since young bcos I am totally not into music and art. Hoho. I remembered signing Nana up for keyboard, ballet and art classes and all came to nothing. I didn't even bother with Zaky. 

Getting into sports is alot easier. We love spending time outdoors, the kids picked up skating, swimming, scooting and many more. Unfortunately, bcos they are not natural athletes, they are always not at the top of the group. It gets frustrating sometimes to see them in their game, bcos like all parents, I am in an illusion that my kids are the best... if not, at least damn good. But they are not lah. Lol. 

Zaky opted for TKD and was in it for a long time, which was my criteria for my kilds in choosing ! non-academic CCA. He attained his junior black belt and got his 1st poon and decided that he had enough. Then he went into basketball, the ice skating and finally aggro skating now. 

Speaking of basketball, it is like every other teenage boy must try. Zaky did and he was OK. There wasn't basketball CCA in his primary school and decided to opt for it in SST. He went for the trial and was thankfully selected. 

Zaky lacks stamina. I think Nana perseveres better and most sports are about stamina. The NSG is coming. Zaky thankfully made it into the C team. To qualify, he must clock a 4km run in under 25 mins. He attempted to run around LV last Monday and failed. It could be the skating in the morning or that it was too warm or too many turns and people. Anyway, he clocked 1km, exceeded the time and gave up. 

He tried again on Tuesday evening, heeded my advice to use the treadmill instead. Bingo!

Literally 满头大汗 but he made it. He said that 15 pax were selected for the C team, all the 8 sec 2 and the remaining are sec 1. All the selected students obediently ran except for 1 and he was excluded. 

In prep of the NSG, the school arranged for a friendly match last Friday. Zaky excited told me that he played for 5 mins. Lol. The sec 2 played majority of the game. He had a great time. 

Silly boy. 

Mummy Lim

Just Us to Bangkok, Day 3

There was no specific itinerary for Day 3. We were up early bcos I wanted to hit the gym. We had a nice view from the gym/ pool. 

The tiny gym. It was empty yday and also empty this morning. Good ah, nobody fight with me and I had all the choices. 

I worked on the elliptical for a good 40 mins. I hated it when I get on unfamiliar machines in unfamiliar gym. Daddy Lim was surprised that I was gone for so long. Ya, me too. I was hanging on to sheer will power to complete my 40 mins. 

Bfast awaits us. It was a similar spread to the day before but no complain. We were reminded of how much the kids would enjoy the bfast. One thing that I particularly like was the yoghurt. This is for kids, no wonder it is sweeter than most yoghurt. I like. 

Then it suddenly started pouring. Fortunately, the thunder storm stopped at about 9am, just nice for us to walk to Platinum Mall. The ground was wet from the rain and it had substantially cooled down the burning city. How I wished the weather was like that the day before. 

While we found Platinum Mall super exciting on day 1, it lost most of its lure when we visited again. The mechandises looked similar and we had already gotten what we wanted. We even had time for Starbucks. 

Then more walking bcos Daddy Lim wanted to get a belt for Zaky. We bought a belt from one of the shops on Friday; to find back the same shop takes skill. The easier way is simply to roam and it is high chance that we would find another shop selling belt. Like what Daddy Lim said, so long as we don't stop roaming, we will definitely find things to buy. 

We stopped for lunch at the Pratunum Mall food court. The food wasn't cheap but we wanted authentic Thai food. All Thai, yay! 

Thai green curry, Thai spring roll, Thai oyster egg, Thai grilled pork and chicken. Hohoho. 

After lunch, it was 土产 shopping before we headed back to the hotel to pack. Our loot for the last day. 

This time, I won. I got so many skirts for work. Happy! 

I had thought that we would do so much shopping and on top of the cabin size luggage that we brought, we also brought 2 foldable bags. Ended up, we only used 1 of them. Total about 13kg. 

The hotel gave us complimentary late checkout at 3pm. Just nice. We checked-out and headed to the airport for out flight at 6.15pm. 

We were slightly early and had time to do more 土产 shopping. The airport was flooded with Chinese tourists, who were buying 土产 like no tomorrow. Daddy Lim needed dinner and had some Tom Yam noodles but the serving was too small. Ended up, we had to supplement with Chicken Pie. 

The Don Mueng International Airport mainly served budget airlines. We saw on the screen, the multiple flights that were delayed. We started getting gan cheong when there was no sight of our plane nearing boarding time. 

Then we saw people started to Q. That gave us some hope. It turned out that we had to take a bus to the plane. 

On the plane and waiting for taking off. 

I was trying to take a nap. I think I did but I kept waking up and got very irritated. It was one of those night flights where I was so tired and couldnt sleep. Angry. Daddy Lim was well-entertained with his downloaded netflix. 

Finally, back in Singapore. We landed slightly later. 

The end of our 1st ever couple trip ever since we had kids. Did we miss the kids loads? Well, we think of them alot but didn't exactly missed them tremendously. I had thought that Daddy Lim and I would be very lost on our 1st kid-less holiday but we were absolute natural and enjoyed each other's  companion very much... except that he didn't want to go for multiple massages with me and refused to share the banana prata with me. At those times, I missed the kids. Nana would be totally gamed to go massages with me; Zaky would love the banana prata. Hohoho. 

I am so looking forward to the Bangkok trip with kids in June. We already planned what are the itinerary doable with the kids and which ones wouldn't work. June, pls come soon. 

Mummy Lim

Just Us to Bangkok, Day 2, Part 2

Our hotel is in-between the cycling place and Chatuchak. Since we were likely to get all sweaty again at Chatuchak, we decided to head straight; no point dropping by the hotel just to shower. The relief would be short-lived anyway. Hoho. 

We took a grab to Chatuchak. The aircon in the grab was to die for. The driver asked if we wanted to take the highway with a THB50 toll. It would be faster. We did. On hindsight, we should have just taken the normal roads to enjoy the aircon more. Hoho.  The driver dropped us at the opposite side of Chatuchak. We crossed the overhead bride and were lost. Where to start? 

We ended up walking to where the food was bcos it was way past lunch time. We got fried pork and spring rolls. Nah, not very nice. The fried pork has failed me too many times. Zzzzz. 

Maybe bcos of the heat or each portion was too much for 2 persons, we didn't feel hungry after those. The coconut ice cream was inviting though. 

We found the main entrance, got a map but were still lost. Lol. Chatuchak is too massive. 

We decided not to think too much and simply walked to wherever our legs led us. Chatuchak has a lot to offer to Daddy Lim, who happily bought berms and pants. He even insisted on a pair of beach shorts (bcos I didn't bring swimming gear), so that we can go dip in the pool at the hotel. 

We walked from 2ish to 5ish. In between, we stopped for a 30-min massage. Daddy Lim obliged bcos it was a tiny airconed stall. He said that I had used up my massage quota for the day. Zzzzzz. 

We walked somemore and decided to stop for some food bcos we needed a seat to rest our poor legs. It was a tiny bowl of noodles. 

We left Chatuchak at almost 6pm bcos we can walk no more. Our bag was full though. There are so much to see in Chatuchak; Nana would love this place and Zaky would just have to drag his feet along when we come back in June. 

It was still busy and crowded when we left. We waited for a long time for our grab at the main entrance bcos the road in front of Chatuchak was so jammed. 

Chatuchak now has night market during the weekend. We can bring the kids in the afternoon when the weather is not so hot. 

Day 2's loot. 

These are Daddy Lim. He won again!

Bcos he bought the beach shorts, we must go dip in the pool. 

We didn't bring slippers and walked to the pool barefooted. 

The pool was warm. 

I ordered a cocktail to share. I asked for recommendation for something sweet and I was recommended Midori Sour, which apparently isn't sour?! 

It has vodka and midori and really wasn't sour. Lol. 

It was a short dip. We headed back to shower and in search of dinner. Daddy Lim had to take picture with Ronald Mcdonald. He is a huge guy.

Dinner was wanton mee and mango sticky rice. There is a famous wanton mee stall along the Pratunum main street. We didn't try bcos the Q was massive and we were too lazy to wait for food. 

We took a walk at the Pratunum night market but there wasn't much to see. Most of the clothing look cheap and poorer quality. 

We decided to head back early to rest. I was so tired. I couldn't even finish my blog post and kept dropping my phone when scrolling FB. Lol. The sun made me worked too hard. Good night!

Mummy Lim