20100829 mooncake making

Mommy bought the mooncake snow skin pre-mix from Phoon Huat so that Kate can 'experience' mooncake making.

So on a Sunday afternoon, the cousins get together at 四姨姨's place to have a afternoon fun of mooncake making.

To prepare the snowskin, all we have to do is to mix the pre-mix with water, shortening, and then coloring and flavoring.  Let the material settle down, then add the paste in the middle, put it into the mooncake mould and pop it out! Delicioso!

clockwise from top left : 二姨姨 with the first mooncake, Kate with the mooncake that she had popped, 2 pictures of mooncake making in progress, some of the final master pieces, and Kate hitting the mould against the table to pop out the mooncake.

20100807 YOG torch relay

Today is the first day of the Youth Olympic Games' torch relay in Singapore.

We decided to bring the kids to view the torch relay.

Silly mommy thought that it will be super crowded with lots of people, since it is a Saturday and it is the first time Singapore host a Olympic games.  But she was very wrong.  The stretch of road which we went to only had only a few families.

taking pics of the kids while passing time...Janice was not around as her school was also cheering the YOG torch relay team!

The designated time passed by and still nothing happen.... then some police motorbikes appear....

... followed by a red bus which 'deposited' a gal which we later realised is the next person to run with the torch...

... then a red open top bus stopped and distributed 'paper fans' (which can be clapped together to make sound), and also air filled plastic 'clappers' (not good at explaining, pls see picture!).  The blue bus did nothing.. (maybe they take turns?)

no action after the 3 buses left....  and then more police on motorbikes.. and then a white van with some runners...

... and then the torch appeared! so close to the van ... the runner with the torch quickly hand over the torch to the gal that had been waiting, and then she was on her way!!! It was only after the van passed us that we realise it was for the media (photographers).

handing over the torch....

the two runners posing for photos

the gal starting to run...

a picture of the photographers...

It is a special event though Kate will most probably not remember it (that's why we took tons of picture, thank you 大姨姨!) but it could be a long long time before Singapore will ever host such an event again!

Kate playing with the air filled plastics at home... one belonged to yuan yuan which was already deflating even before the torch bearers appear...

Still, mommy is quite disappointed with the turnout... hopefully people who read this blog will turn out in full force when the torch goes to their neighbourhood!

20100720 - 20100724 Phuket Trip day 5

Day 5....

Day 5 is last day of the trip...

 Kate on the bed.  She likes to tuck the blanket under her armpits and then watch TV....

went to the beach again.but this time the moment we stepped on the sand, an extra large wave splash water on Kate and she immediately panicked and wanted to go back to the hotel room....

Here is a video of the traffic light there... the green man can dance! :P  They also have timers on their traffic lights to count down to the end of the green/red light.

the beautiful beach

Went for lunch, then back to the hotel where papa and Kate took their nap, and then we went to the famous Mali restaurant for dinner (the salad bar soup is yummy and so is their pasta!) before Panny (the tour guide) took us back to the airport where we took a late flight back to Singapore.

Here is a video of Kate singing Mary had a little lamb at Mali Restaurant.... :P





And here are some pictures of the sunset taken at Kata Beach on the last day.

And on the airplane... Kate was looking at the pictures which show how to open the emergency door, and she self-improvised on this particular picture (of a woman opening the emergency door).  'If you sh-sh (urinate) on the floor, you will have to clean it up yourself'. Her cc teacher must have repeated that sentence very often! :P

Last but not least... a picture of Kate's return air ticket, and the stamp on her passport....

20100720 - 20100724 Phuket Trip Day 4

day 4....

Free and easy day.. we went to the beach today.  this time round, the red flags are out, which means that the current is too strong for swimming, but of course there are still people swimming, and people attempting to surf.

Look at the below picture.  We stand very far from the shoreline but once the waves come in, it is huge.  Note that the wave is so huge that it reaches Kate's kneecaps.  Note that the 'shirt' on papa is fake.. cos he had taken off his shirt to enjoy the sea breeze.

Papa writing her name on the sand..which was immediately washed away by the next incoming wave...

Then there was this wave that was so strong that it splashed water all over Kate's shirt and face, and she wanted to leave! But we managed to persuade her to stay for a while longer...

Then back to the hotel where Kate went for her bath, and after her bath, Mommy allowed her to soak in the bathtub.  There is a window next to the bathtub so whoever that is in soaking in the bathtub can look out of the window at the TV in the room.  Kate's favorite activities - playing in the bathtub and watching TV...

Usually we will eat at the restaurants about 2/3 streets away.  Kate's favorite is the Red Tomato because it has the 'diong diong', this token toy game.  She does not know how to play the game actually :P

During the evening, we went for an elephant ride at the nearby Koh Chang Safari.  It was off peak season and we are the only customers there! We choose the shortest (20min) elephant as we are afraid that Kate will be afraid but she enjoyed the ride!

On the 20min ride, we saw elephant dung on the path , and also rubber trees which looked freshly tapped.

After the ride, we asked the staff how to feed the elephants and we are told to 'self service', take the bananas from the kiosk nearby and feed the elephant!

The view from Kata Point (where the elephant safari is) is spectacular but too bad we did not stay to view the setting sun...

After the staff sent us back to the hotel, we went nearby for dinner again.  After dinner, papa and mommy went for a no-frills massage with Kate sitting between us.  And she understands that silence is required so she entertained herself during that one hour by playing with mommy's hairclip and hopping around the beds, only breaking the silence when she went to the toilet (outside the massage room) and after the massage has been completed. Good gal! :)

and then back to the hotel room, Kate had some more fun in the hotel room before bedtime...

20100720 - 20100724 Phuket Trip Day 3

Day 3....

On the 3rd day... we made an arrangement with the guy who picked us up on the first day (his name was Thosar) for a day trip at 1000baht for about 6 hours.  However, his car broke down and his friend Panny came instead.  Panny works a few jobs, teaching English to hotel staff, freelance tour guide, etc.  She told us that Phuket is still largely dependent on tourism, so it was not surprising that all her jobs are tourism related.

this is a picture taken at the hotel lobby while waiting for Panny.

We first went to the Phuket Town, then to the View Point to see the scenery.  The weather is very hot which makes us very sleepy.  Kate even slept a few times in the car though she had awakened only a few hours earlier.

Picture taken from the view point

Then we went to some gems factory, then to Central Festival for shopping and lunch.  Papa bought a pair of shoes while mommy bought NOTHING!!!!!

After that, we went to Wat Chalong... there are figurines of past abbots and many statues of the Buddha.  In some of the wats they provide free sarong for the visitors to wrap around their shoulders/waist if the person wear too skimpy/short (according to Panny, other places might charge for the use of the sarong).

Next, we went to see the big Buddha.  The car can only reach a certain height, and then we have to walk up many flights of stairs to go up to the top of the hill to reach the foot of the statue.  there are many bells and countries' flags on the way up, and Kate had fun touching them.

The Big Buddha is 45meters tall, and had been under construction for many years and there are still many years of construction to go.

At the site,they have samples showing how the Big Buddha is tiled (yes, its using tiles on the outside, cement/clay on the inside).  You can even write your name on a tile if you donated a amount.

Chalong Bay as seen from the foot of the Big Buddha.  There are many yachts near the beach.

There is also a smaller Buddha statue which is about 10+ meters tall.

And of course,even smaller ones for photo taking...

Some bells tied to the trees.  For good luck?

Last stop of the day was Promthep Bay , which is supposedly 'the place' to see spectacular sunset.  But we reached too early and its too hot!

A hot hot day.... am glad when we are back to the hotel....

Here is a picture of Kate doing the usual naughty stuff, asking papa to lift her up so that she can use the room card to open the door (and subsequently to slot it into the slot just behind the door so that the electricity will be connected).