Our September JB Holiday Day 2 Part 1

The hotel has no gym. Boo! Why did I forget to check that out? Nana said that we should go for a run in the morning. I checked out the terrain the night before while on the way to buy the ramly burger. It was bad. There is no proper pavement to jog on and the hotel is perched on a little slope. It is downslope both sides, which also means that jogging around the hotel would be jogging up and down slope constantly. No thanks. 

I have no idea how to work the iPhone alarm. Despite cancelling the alarm, it still goes off at 5.55am, like every morning. I was lazy but still dragged myself off the bed to do my kickboxing hiit. Nana didn’t even wake up. 

The hotel comes with buffet bfast and we were down for bfast at 8ish. It was a simple spread. I forgot about the pictures and will do that tomorrow. Daddy Lim was restraining himself bcos there are too much good food in JB and he wanted to reserve his tummy for brunch/ lunch/ tea/ dinner/ supper. 

Zaky was still very enthusiastic about his hair, taking time to gel and style. We bought the needed from Watson yday. We took pictures so that he can tell the hairstylist that he wanted the same hairstyle the next time. This was before he whacked palmful of gel and styling. 

Daddy Lim said that there was a little bit of undercut at the sides, thus the hair was fluffed up. Can see? I cannot. Haha. 

We headed to Southkey Mall early in the morning. This mall is a lot more atas and things more costly but we still find things to buy. Hoho. 

Daddy Lim and I were worried that we would run out of RM and I was swiping my cc for almost all purchases. I think I would be very shock when the cc bill comes. 

Not only was Zaky very hiao about his new hairstyle, he has also donned his new skinny T and trying to look very tall. Almost catching up to the shrinking Daddy Lim le. 

He doesn’t own a single jeans bcos he doesn’t like how hot and restrictive they are. Now, with his new hairstyle, he wanted to change his dressing style too. We found some retro baggy jeans on Cotton On, which Nana said that is super in now, but they are also super expensive and I wasn’t willing to buy for him. Try and take photo can le. I cannot deny that he looks quite good in them. 

I told Zaky that he should dress up now that he is lean and fit bcos he will also one day turn into fat uncle. Hahahaha.

We had lunch at some food court alike place in Southkey. 

I ordered the right food for the kids. In minutes, Zaky polished off his beef fried hor fan. 

The kids asked to go to the mini arcade. I shopped a little bit more and we headed to Eco Palladium mall. 

Mummy Lim

Our September JB Holiday Day 1 Part 2

The massage was so painful that my sole hurts when I tried to walk after that. But they do feel very “loose” after the massage. 

Our main intention to visit the Mall was for laser tag. We booked an appointment at 2pm and headed for lunch before the session. We had lunch at Old Town and the food was decent. 

It cost us less than RM90 for all the food and is super cheap in Singaporeans’ eyes. 

We headed for laser tag and forgot to take pictures altogether. Bcos it was crowded, we had to play against strangers. The 1st game was team against team. The other team was made up of 3 kids and we lost to them siol. I think it was bcos we haven’t warmed up. The kids’ tactic was to park and all 3 of them would stay together. So even if we managed to shoot one of them, we would still get “killed”. I do have to admit that one of them was very accurate. Daddy Lim was the 老鼠屎. He didn’t know how to function the gun and was barely in the game. lol. 

The 2nd game was against another group of people. They had 3 per team and we had 4 and thus an upper hand. We won of course largely bcos we have more people and more warmed up. The last game, another group of 6 joined and we played silo. That was really tough bcos the arena was so packed. There was almost always somebody at every corner and turn and I got killed mysteriously so many times. lol. Nevertheless, we all had fun and a good workout, except for Daddy Lim, who barely ran and was pretty chilled throughout the games.

We left and wanted to go to Southkey Mall for round 2 shopping. We bought a snow skin chocolate mooncake and just nice, the teenager boy was hungry after all the running. 

I was very surprised when Daddy Lim and Zaky finished the mooncake during the car ride. I was still tearing off the plastic wrapping so carefully thinking that I can keep the leftover. Zaky isn’t even a fan of traditional mooncake. He said this one tasted like mochi and chocolate. 

We arrived near the mall to find a jam. B2 carpark was closed and there was insufficient parking. After circling the crowded carpark, we reckoned that we wouldn’t be able to find a lot and left. The plan was to head to the hotel. Then, we saw KSL mall and decided to go the KSL mall instead. Very efficient.

KSL mall was lined with hair salons and more hair salons. Otherwise, it is nail salons or massage places. We left the car for washing, vacuuming and polishing and had to wait about 2 hours. We didn’t find a good movie to catch so we decided to send Zaky for a haircut instead. I googled and Luxe had some good reviews.

It was also much atas looking than many other salons.

This was Zaky and his mushroom head before the haircut. 

I told the dress stylist that I wanted to find an “oppa” when I return for the teen. Haha. Zaky wanted a hairstyle with textured fringe. I don’t know what that means but he showed me this picture. Something like that ah… 

The hair stylist said that all such hairstyles would require some styling and gel. Ok lah. Meanwhile, the rest of us went for another coffee. 

The 年糕 3 in 1 wasn’t too nice leh. 

I went back to the salon about 30 mins later. This was the oppa who greeted me. 

This head costs me RM68 but also gave me a very happy teenager. He was very pleased with the outcome. Hair cutting must be energy consuming bcos he was eating again. 

We went back for the car and it was almost ready. Damn shiny siol. 

The 1st staff said that another 1 hour is needed. What?! He then asked another staff, who said that the car would be ready in 20 mins. The “boss” came and said 10 mins. It looks like the speed of the service is about asking the right person. lol. We came back 15 mins later and the car was ready and waiting. It was very shiny and very smooth. It cost us RM350. While expensive, it is probably a fracture of what we would pay for the same job in Singapore. Maybe we should start applying for that VEP. Haha. 

We went in search of dinner. The kids wanted Korea BBQ and we googled for one nearby. Korean BBQ is quite hard to go wrong. 

Look at the spread of side dishes. Can top up some more. 

We ordered a set with some BBQ meat and a ginseng chicken soup.

There was more than enough food and we had a very good dinner. Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel. We saw Mochi Mini on the way. 

Hallmark Residences is very near to the KSL mall. It looks less glam than many hotels in the surrounding. It is a fairly old hotel but still a lot more decent than what I stayed in Mumbai. It made me realised how bad my Mumbai hotel was siol. 

The room comes with 2 double beds and very decent sized.

We still have Danga Bay on the itinerary but were all too tired. We lazed around a bit, then fed the real Mochi using the automatic feeder. He is still alive! And hungry. 

So cute! 

Not only was Mochi hungry. The boy said that he would love a rally burger. Yes, after the heavy Korean BBQ dinner. He got his wish. I got him this double chicken patty, with egg and cheese burger and he polished it all off. None of us wanted a bite bcos we were so full. 

Sleep was so easy after the early morning and so much shopping. 

Mummy Lim

Our September JB Holiday Day 1 Part 1

If it isn’t bcos Nana has O levels in a few weeks’ time, we would have taken advantage of the September school holidays and flown somewhere for a vacation. Nevertheless, O levels isn’t enough to deter us from a holiday. If she must stay in Singapore, I would have contemplated leaving her behind. lol. We decided on a short vacation across the Causeway.

I didn’t even have to keep the luggage from the Mumbai trip, I basically unpacked and the packed again, all in the same day. We will be away from Saturday to Tuesday. During our absence, we have hired Nana’s church friend L, to come over to feed Mochi once a day, on Sunday and Monday. I hope the arrangement will turn out well. Nana has given her instructions and we had laid out all the needed on the dining table. 

We fed Mochi one last time at 5.30am this morning. He didn’t mind the extra wet food.

He was chilling when we were getting ready to leave. 

Our plan was to leave the house at 5.30am, in hope of beating the custom jam. We left at 6am, not too bad. Google map directed us to the Woodlands checkpoint bcos it is nearer to our home, though the immigration wait was longer than 2nd link.

Let’s go!

A long Q of tail light greeted us. 

It took us about an hour to finally clear the immigration. The sky has brightened and we were still stuck. We saw many cyclists braving the custom. 

It was about 7.30am when we finally arrived in Malaysia land. Our 1st destination was Pasar Pagi, which is a new flea market at the open carpark outside Angsana mall. We chose to visit the market bcos it is opened from 7am. We would have loved to stop somewhere for bfast but Daddy Lim was trying to get used to the JB roads and complicated google map, such that we decided to head straight to the market. We did stop for toilet and almost had MacD. Luckily I stopped them in time. There are too many good food in JB to waste our stomach on MacD.

Check out Zaky’s new hairstyle. Hoho. 

The Pasar Pagi is a small market with about 30 stalls selling 2nd hand merchandises, mainly toys and clothes. 

Why does the market open so early? Bcos it was already freaking hot by 8am. We decided to head to the kopitiam beside to have bfast. 

We didn’t stay long in the flea market, bcos it was too hot and we opted to hide in the shade with ice milo and teh peng. The kids did score a couple of T-shirts and Zaky bought the Hunger Game trilogy for RM35. Not bad. 

I questioned the T-shirts though. They looked very worn and I will probably ask the kids to bring them during our next overseas trip to wear and throw away. Hoho. It is ok, happy can le. Nana specially told me yday that she is turning on her “spend $$” mode for the next few days. Win le.

We headed to the JBCC mall that opens at 10am. It is funny how the security guard stops us from entering the mall (from the car park) until the clock strikes 10am. What greeted us were mooncakes! 

We then shopped at H&M and Zaky kindly humoured me, by changing into attires that he normally wouldn’t wear. His wardrobe solely consists of big T-shirts and cotton bermudas. This is him, holding on to another second for me to snap a picture bcos he said that the shirt was so prickly.

I did inspire him to change his style. This is the 爱美 stage and it got him even more interested in shopping for the rest of the day.

We all bought something from H&M. Yes, money spending mode fully turned on. Then it was more shopping and the kids got to play the claw machine and Nana got a prize! She said that the claw flipped the toy at the last moment and it coincidentally fell into the slot. Lol.

We walked and shopped some more. Even shopping for snacks was a lot of fun. At almost noon, we decided that our poor feet needed a massage. 

It cost us RM58 each for 1 hour. I kept telling my masseuse to go lighter. He said that he barely used much strength and it was bcos my soles were very “tight”. He then added that there isn’t a point for feet massage if he doesn’t use some strength to reach the acupuncture points. It made sense but it was so painful that at some points, I wanted to kick him. lol. Then my toes started cramping at certain angle and I was busy tolerating the massage pain and then the cramp pain. I was very busy. Then, I saw Zaky napping. So pain and he can nap!???! 

When I was done, I saw Daddy Lim napping too. How did they do that? He said that his massage was painful too but he was tired. Wah, win le. 

Mummy Lim

Conquering India Again Part 2

I have checked that the hotel has a gym. This is an important criteria. It was a mini one but I didn’t mind the size so long as it is a decent gym.

Was it decent? The treadmills work but the speed was screwed up and I had to adjust based on my 感觉. The elliptical doesn’t seem to be connected. Zzzz. The weights  were 2kg, 2.5kg and then 5kg. I duno what happens to the in between. On all 3 mornings, I was the only one in the gym and I didn’t mind, rather than sharing the tiny and not too well ventilated gym with another sweating human beings.

I didn’t have time for bfast and the spread wasn’t too interesting anyway. There is a subway joint right at the office ground floor. This was my lunch for both days and I was pleased “normal” food. Hoho. 

I had a short day on the 2nd day. I was advised to leave the office at 3pm bcos there was some mass celebrations taking place and many of the “small roads” would be closed. The celebrations consist of many people gathering to try to build a human pyramid in attempt to retrieve a hanging jar of curd. Yes, I didn’t mind leaving office early and I obviously didn’t want to be stuck in a mass of humans. On my way to work, I was already stuck bcos there were cows crossing the road. 

I had time for bfast on the 3rd and 4th day and this is what typically bfast looks like. 

There is only 1 non-veg and the rest of the spread are Indian veg cuisine. At least they served eggs too. 

The rest of the trip was uneventful and I made it safely to the airport on Thursday evening for my flight at 11.40pm. Yes, it was super tiring. I had Burger King for dinner and slept most of my flight home. Again, I had the empty middle seat. Yay! 

I survived Friday and even managed to make it to the gym at 11am after playing dead for 1.5 hrs. Laundry and unpacking can wait. Comforting desserts after dinner on Friday night. Hoho. 

Home again! One more business trip conquered! Will I stay in the same hotel again? No!!! I cannot take the musky smell, the lousy gym and bed. My colleagues advised that I shouldn’t attempt any of the non-branded hotel. Orh.

Mummy Lim