March Holiday Trip | Day 1 , 2 | The Suhu | Khun Tai Thai Restaurant | Beach

Brayden 9Y19D

Bevlynn 4Y9M12D

School Holiday trip in March. It was only me with 2 children.

I was nervously packing the luggages, this time abit more careful on the things to bring. I needed to make sure I did not missed out anything important and needed to keep them light enough. I did not have any help from Hub or Lily to carry the extra loads. 

On the day of the flight, it didn't feel right. Delayed taxi booking, traffic jam at the highway causing a long traffic jam. Finally, we arrived at the airport with 15 minutes to spare before boarding. I brought the children to the highest slide and playground in terminal 4. Bev was happy that she could finally use the slide; she went at least 4 times. Bray was just happy to climb up the spiral.

Upon arrival in Penang, the arrival baggage screening was down too causing long delays. As soon as we got home, it didn't feel too bad travelling with two little ones. Maybe it's also because there's a long overdue CNY steamboat waiting for us. We ate till our bellies overturned. Ah~ it was a good long day. 

It was too early for me to celebrate. That same midnight, the children fell sick. My "night shift" started. 

Day 2, we went to The Suhu in Georgetown for brunch. Pa still remembered it was the place which I had put in my to eat list. Their jawa mee and nasi lemak was good. We then had a slow afternoon at Zus Coffee, chatting away. 

We brought the children swimming to the beach, it was right before sunset. The seawater was not the cleanest, but the children had loads of fun playing with the waves. It was a calm relaxing setting.

There was a small bricked place to wash up, with overgrown prickly plants. I had a bit of OCD anxiety coming, I had to hold it down to make sure my children cleaned up well. 

The Thai food dinner at Khun Tai was amazing; but the pestering flying ant was annoying. We had to quickly finish dinner. The night was dark at the beach. I walked with Brayden in darkness, with sand under our feet. Occasionally we see airplanes light flashing from a distance of the sky. The night sky was filled with stars. 

As we walked back to the restaurant, we saw some small crawlers on the sand. Mini CRABS! They were all over the place, there was big holes in the sand. 

It was a fun night. Except that, I almost forgotten to pay for dinner! Oops. I wanted to pay earlier at the table but they did not accept it. I had totally forgotten about it after all the excitement with the night beach, planes, stars and crabs... Good thing the lady at the counter reminded me. That's another day. 

Ocean Green Restaurant | The Ship | Three Sixty Revolving Restaurant

Brayden 5Y1M14D
Bevlynn 4Y10M8D

Friends started sharing with me news of 3 restaurants I grew up with - they are closing up this month. After decades of being part of Penang's story, the restaurants are drawing their final curtains. 

• Ocean Green Restaurant (OG)
  It is closing after 40+ years. This place draws back many pleasant memories.
  
  During my school holidays, I worked as a receptionist in a manpower company in the day. After the 8-5 work day, my mom would fetch me from the office in Bayan Lepas to OG. I'd change into my uniform, ate homemade dinner in the backseats of the car and take a quick nap. Then, I will work as the young part-time waitress in OG. I would arrive early to set the tables. The workers at the restaurant treated PS (a close friend who introduced me to this part time work) and I like family.
  
  I was happy meeting new people for my day and night job. Everyday I would meet new people from different industries. 
  
  And then it happened. One day, I arrived at OG. The place looked an absolute wreck! All tables were wet, wet floor filled with sand. My colleague told us that the waves came and washed up to shore. I nodded and simply thought it was a rough tide day. We diligently cleaned up the place and our boss called it a day.
  
  After returning home, only then did I found out that it was the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. We were just celebrating Christmas the day before and upon returning to work, this happened. Back then, not many people were alert about tsunami. There was no messages, no alarms. It just happened, swept everything in its path and left. Many people died that day.
  
  There were many more memories from the time I worked for OG - love stories, friendship stories, creepy stories... such good times.  

• The Ship @ Jalan Sri Bahari
  Operated for 45 years. 
  Pa had a friend's shop right opposite this restaurant. After going to the shop, we'd had dinner at the ship once awhile on special occasions.
  The entrance and interior decorated like a ship, waiters dressed in sailor uniform serving the meals professionally, made the whole eating experience a special one. I enjoyed my favourite mushroom soup, sizzling plate seafood and banana split. I loved having such meals with my family. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Three Sixty Revolving Restaurant 
  It was situated on top of the Bayview Georgetown Hotel. I remember the restaurant was turning slowly. The view at night from the restaurant was stunning. I was slightly light-headed after leaving the restaurant. I think it was more of psychological effect than actual sickness. It was still a nice experience. 

There are now so many new restaurants & cafes. We are spoilt for choices and we often cafe hop to try new food and new experiences. I could not be sure if there would actually be a place where my children would tell a story, where it would hold most lasting memories for them. I hope there is at least one... 

(Photos from different websites. I cannot find old photos of these places.)

USS Singapore | Bukit Batok Library | Books | Grand Price Lucky Draw

Brayden 9Y1M12D

Bevlynn 4Y10M5D

After a long hiatus, I am back to writing weekly posts. Holiday and work travel in both February and March had gotten my routines all haywire. 

This week is also a Good Friday and Easter Sunday weekend. 

We went to USS Singapore hoping for a nice Easter surprise as they used to have in the past. But no, there wasn't any. It was just another day in USS.

With outdoor temperature hitting 33-35 degC, the heat was unforgiving, it almost felt like we could turn into hot human sausages if we stayed under this scorching "solar bbq". The queue was long for each rides; more than 60 minutes waiting time. And worse, our favourite Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure was under maintenance. 

We chose mainly indoor fun - 

• Trolls Hug Time Jubilee. 
• Interactive Donkey Live in Far Far Away : How Donkey on screen can interact with the audience? the children asked.
• Shrek's 4D adventure
• Revenge of the Mummy (Brayden loved this ride so much, he went twice in a row).

Also, 

• Rhythm Truck dance vs drum duels. It was the first time we got seats exactly in front of the dancers. (High-5 Bev) 
• Puss in Boots' Giant Journey (It was a long queue. I narrated the story of Jack & the Magic Beans to Bev. She pointed to some Golden Eggs. I explained to her that we were in the Giant's kitchen with Giant cooking utensils; pan, kitchen knife, milk pot,... I read all the recipes and on the kitchen wall - poor villager Chuck. I told her we needed to make an escape from the Giant Goose.)
  She seem to understand the storyline better this time and she enjoyed the roller coaster. She's really brave for her age.  
• Character Meet - Hello Kitty & Mummy

By the end of the day, our throats started to sore. Might be from the screaming on the roller coaster, or just the heat. 

We went to the new Bukit Batok library. There was a frenzy last week, the crowd just rushed to grab bags and bags of new books. The shelves were in a mess, books were not found in their original shelves. This week felt much better. Lesser people but still crowded. I still have many books on my to read. 

I managed to catch up on some reading. 

• How to Ikigai (very simple read, not much depth in the concept) 
• Start from 0! 
• Timeless love : Poems, Stories, and Letters (classic love collection. Reading these, I am in my LalaLand "Ah~~ How do I love thee...")
• The Thinking Machine (brilliant; an obsession with an idea brought to reality can be profoundly rewarding; it is admirable work behind the scenes) Unlock : Speed of light. O.I.A.L.O

Funny thing happened this week. 

I messaged Hub about a law of attraction that happened earlier that day. He returned a message about a Grand Price Lucky Draw he just won. I couldn't believe it, it looked more like a scam. After verifying, it was true. It was announced on main pages of social media. We laughed and celebrated; such Lucky year of the Horse. Horseh ah!!  

We met HY's baby for the first time. Bev loved to touch and carry the baby. "Can I have the baby?" she asked. "No, No. No more babies. We can only play with other people's babies."

CNY week Fire Horse | Genting Highlands | Premium Outlet | Skyway | Genting Themepark

Brayden 8Y11M22D

Bevlynn 4Y8M15D

CNY week. 

The journey to Genting Highlands was smooth. We arrived at the Premium Outlet, the weather was clear. Bro Max and Mom met us. There were many great sales and we shop from one outlet to another. We lost track of time, it was almost 9pm and we still hadn't had dinner. We went to several restaurants and they were almost closing. We ended up choosing Ichiban Ramen. Sitting outside, there was clouds flowing pass while we ate. It was cooling and refreshing. 

We took the Skyway cable car up the hill. The dark night, condensation on the window and random spotlights made the ride up spooky but fun. I prefer riding at night since we cannot really see the actual height outside the cable car. The night view of Genting Resort combined with some slight drizzle was very romantic. 

We checked into the hotel. 

The children followed Bro Max and Jiu Mu to have some outdoor fresh air. It was around 12degC that night. 

The next day, we had many photos taken with the CNY Horse decorations. After having Grandmama's breakfast, we went to the Genting Themepark. This time we had booked the tickets online in advance.

We went to the following: 

Rio

• Samba Gliders - Bev went twice (front and back seat); excitedly shouting Wheeeeeeeee everytime. she did not allowed me to hold her.
  After the rides, she kept complaining her stomach was not feeling too well
• Rio Carnival Chaos - Bro Max, Jiu Mu and Bray in one cup; they circled so quickly and it was such a dizzy ride

While lunch at Vila Festa, the Rio parade started right there. The dancers and characters came out together for a nice fiesta. Everyone was dancing along with the Samba music. We were lucky to be there at that time.

Epic

• Epic Voyage to Moonhaven - The boat ride started with some magic to turn us small. Everything in the magical forest looked big and colourful. The boat went in the wrong direction and it went down a dark path with enemy. We were saved by the hero and it ended with the boat going down with a big splash. It was not too wet. At least, not as wet as the dinosaur ride in USS Sentosa. 
  We went 2 rounds as it was fun.
• Epic Hummingbird Flyers - We go up and down on the flying birds to avoid enemy shooting water towards us.

Andromeda Base

• Boot Camp Training - Bray and I finished the obstacle course, he was not tall enough for the zipline. I climbed to the top and came down on the zipline. It was quite fun but the queue was long. 

Ice Age

• Ice Age: Expedition Thin Ice - It was a fun ride
• Acorn Adventure - Bray loves the roller coaster
• Mammoth Fun Zone - Bev cannot join in the expedition and acorn adventure, she only played in the playground which she liked. Bray kept bugging us to bring him to this playground, we did not have enough time
• Sid's Playhouse Ice Age: Time Wrap - The fun dance, characters entertained the children. We were transported through time travel to the ice age. Sid, Manny Mammoth, Diego Saber tooth tiger, Scrat Squirrel with the Acorn made the children laughed. There was snow in the end. 

Robots Rivet Town

• Rivet Town Roller - Bray removed his safety belt when the ride was about to start. I started panicking and screaming for the attendant to hold, quickly put on the safety belt again. Then when the ride started, we turned upside down a few rounds.

Liberty Lane

• Invasion of the Planet of the Apes - Bray and Bev loved it. The Apes were trying to save the colony.

Central Park

• Independence Day: Defiance - We were on a space ship going through the future KL and went out to space to fight alien. We saved the day. Bray went for second round with Hub. While I accompany Bev on the bench while she's napping.

The weather had been so good throughout the whole day. As soon as the theme park closes, the rain started so heavily. We were stuck in the tunnel near the exit of the theme park. We were the last to leave. After running through the rain, we decided to go for dinner at Zuk Noodle and go for the indoor arcade.

It was a full fun day.  

It was a lucky week. We received some cute Chai Shen Ye blindboxes from Genting.