The Journey of Inka and Irza

Europe Trip (3): Paris City Centre: Île de la Cité and Louvre

2009-11-06T00:38:00.001+08:00

This article is part of our Europe Trip series:

1. From Singapore to Paris via Dubai
2. Châtenay-Malabry, Eiffel Tower, Seine River Tour

On Tuesday morning, 2 June 2009, a Kide dropped us off at the nearest RER station around Châtenay-Malabry, Robinson (pronounced: ro-bang-song). Our first destination for the day is the centre of the Paris: the Île de la Cité island and its most famous attraction: Notre-Dame cathedral. Since we enter the Robinson station from the side entrance, we had to use the automated machine to buy the tickets for the RER train, using Euro coins since the machine doesn’t accept notes. Luckily, we had enough coins. Only couple of later then we found out that at the main entrance, there’s a ticket counter where we can buy tickets using notes. :P

RER trains charge by zones, so we had to check on which zones the starting and destination station are located, to ensure that we purchase the correct tickets according to the number of zones travelled. We can either buy single-trip (one-way) tickets, return tickets or a carnet of 10 tickets (with discounted price) which can be shared by different passengers. If you’re not sure, you can just go to the ticket counter and inform the staff your destination station, and the staff will advise you on the price.

The Robinson station is on a branch’s end of RER line B, so we took the train towards the city and we alighted at St. Michel – Notre Dame station, the RER station closest to the Île de la Cité island. It was the first time we used public transportation in Paris, and we enjoyed it very much. The RER trains are similar to Kuala Lumpur's KTM Komuter trains, slightly bigger than Singapore’s MRT trains and it’s quite convenient, provided it’s not too crowded.

From St. Michel – Notre Dame station, we crossed the bridge across Seine river to Île de la Cité and walked towards Notre Dame cathedral. We took our time taking pictures in front of the cathedral, near the statue of Charlemagne and at Point Zero, the “real” centre of Paris where distances to other locations in Paris (and perhaps France?) is measured. From there, we proceeded with our walking tour around the island, covering Pont d’Arcole and Hotel de Ville across the Seine river, Hotel Dieu, Pont Notre Dame overlooking the Tribunal de Commerce building, Place du Chatelet and the gloomy Conciergerie building, before reaching the Palais de Justice and Sainte Chapelle buildings.

After taking some rest in front of Palais de Justice building, we then left the island by crossing the Pont St Michel bridge, and walked along the Seine river towards Pont Neuf. After taking some pictures and having another rest in front of Institut de France building, we then crossed the Pont des Arts bridge and walked towards Louvre. We bought some ice creams at the end of the Pont des Arts bridge before entering the Louvre via its Sully wing. Since it was a Tuesday, the Louvre museum was closed for the day, so there’s not much people traffic there, allowing us to enjoy taking the photographs near the Louvre pyramid and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.

We then met mbak Enik near Louvre, and we proceeded to have lunch at McDonald's which is located along Rue de Rivoli, one of the most famous roads in Paris, not far from Louvre. After lunch, my wife, my mother and mbak Enik then visited a duty free shop around the area, while I took Irza and Inka for sightseeing around the area. We walked past Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel monument towards the Jardin du Carrousel garden behind it. After taking pictures in front of the Joan of Arc statue at Places des Pyramides, we then walked north towards Avenue de l'Opera.

Our next walking destination was the Palais Royal and the garden, Jardin du Palais Royal. Passing through the garden until the end, we exited Palais Royal complex through its back entrance and walked along Rue de Petit Champs, located around Paris' 1st arrondissement to go towards Avenue de l'Opera again. Our next destination was the famous Opera National de Paris Garnier building. By that time, we have walked several kilometers and myself and the kids were also very tired, so we decided to take the public bus back to Rue de Rivoli to meet my wife and my mother.

That was the first time we took public bus in Paris. :) Since we haven't purchased our carnet of t+ tickets yet (will share about the advantage of buying the carnet of t+ tickets later), we purchased the tickets on board of the bus from the bus driver, and pay in cash. The ticket purchased from the bus driver can only be used on the bus itself and doesn't allow transfer to other mode of transportation (e.g. the metro train).

More pictures can be found here and here.

(To be continued)

Europe Trip (2): Châtenay-Malabry, Eiffel Tower, Seine River Tour

2009-10-07T18:24:00.001+08:00

On Monday, 1 June 2009, which was our first full-day in Paris, still recovering from jet-lag, we took our time in the morning to walk through A Kide's residence at Châtenay-Malabry.

Late morning, we had A Kide's driver, om Join, to take us to the most popular tourist attraction in Paris: the Eiffel tower. We needed to queue for about 1.5 hours to buy the tickets before we can climb the tower. We bought the tickets which can bring us up to the top floor. The price is €13 for adult, and €7.50 for child.

Note that they only sell tickets to walk-in customers, and the tickets can only be used on the same day they are purchased. I checked their website that found out that they are planning to provide online reservation services for all visitors, but that would only be available end of this year.

We took the lift directly to the second floor, skipping the first floor. We immediately circling the area and take pictures to all the different directions. One of our favourite directions for viewing from the Eiffel tower is the north-west view, towards Pont d'Iena bridge and Palais de Chaillot at Trocadero, with the tall buildings of Paris' business district, La Defense (pronounced "la difong") in the background.

Another of our favourite direction is the south-east, which will give the view towards the Champ-de-Mars park and Ecole Militaire building, with the ugly Montparnasse Tower in the background. South-west direction will give the view towards the Seine river, with RER train tracks crossing across the river, while north-east direction will give the view towards the north area of Paris, with the Taj-Mahal-alike building of Basilica Sacre-Couer visible on top of the Montmartre hill.

We then took the lift up to the top (third) floor, and the view is even more amazing from higher level. It's also a bit windy up there, so we decided not to spend too much time there and went back to second floor. After had some snacks on the second floor, we descended back to the ground floor, in time to see some kind of procession parade passing through the road just in front of the tower.

We then further descended to the riverside under the Pont d'Iena bridge, for us to take the Bateaux Parisiens boat cruise tour along the Seine river. This includes automated commentary through headsets which are available on each seat. The price is quite cheap, €11 for adult and €5 for child.

We purchased the tickets and boarded the boat from pier number 3 along the number of piers just in front of Eiffel tower. The boat took us to the east direction from Eiffel tower all the way to the islands of Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louis and back, passing under many bridges along the way: Pont de l'Alma, Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, among others.

Unfortunately, the boat is not air-conditioned and with most of the boat's structure made of glass, it was becoming so hot in the afternoon. When we disembarked from the boat, we felt very tired, and with the jet-lag still taking effect (it was already night time in Singapore at that time even though it was still evening local Paris time), we decided to end our adventure for the day, and went back home to a Kide's residence.

More pictures can be found here.

(To be continued)

Europe Trip (1): From Singapore to Paris via Dubai

2009-06-24T19:02:00.001+08:00

Apologise for not updating this blog (and my other blogs as well) for quite some time. Inka and Irza have just came back from their mid-year holiday in Paris and surrounding regions, together with their father (that’s me), their mother and their grandmother (that’s my mother).

We initially wanted to take the Singapore Airlines’ direct flight to Paris, especially since the return flight would be using the new Airbus A380 plane and the price was also quite cheap at that time. Unfortunately, it took quite some time for our Schengen visa to be approved, so by the time the visa is approved, the price has went up considerably and we had to find another option. We didn’t want to buy/issue the tickets first before our visa was approved. Luckily Emirates started to launch their promotions, and they offered the Singapore-Paris ticket (return trip, via Dubai) for only S$785 (adult) and S$618 (child), inclusive of all the surcharges and taxes. We immediately bought the tickets without hesitation.

We left Singapore on Sunday, 31 May 2009, in the morning. At Changi airport, we met Han Yu, Irza’s school-mate who happened to be our neighbour on the same block, and his family, who were going for holiday in Hong Kong. Emirates services are great, almost comparable to Singapore Airlines’ services. There’s TV set on every seat, with on-demand movies, TV, radio, and most importantly, games to keep the kids occupied.

We arrived at Dubai International Airport in the afternoon, and we disembarked into Terminal 3, a new terminal built and used exclusively for Emirates. Since we needed to change planes, we had to go through security checks before going to the departure/transit area. The queue during the security checks was quite long. Our boarding pass for the Dubai-Paris leg had been issued while checking-in in Singapore, so we didn’t have to go through the transit check-in counters and proceeded directly to the departure gate.

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport in Paris, France, at around 8pm local time. We expected that it would already be dark while we reached Paris, but to our surprise, the sun was still shining at 8pm in Paris during summer. That day was the longest day we’ve experienced, since Paris is 6 hours behind Singapore time at that time. We enjoyed sunshine for about 20.5 hours, from 7am Singapore time until around 9:30pm Paris time (or 4:30am Singapore time, the next day).

The Emirates flight arrived at Terminal 2C of the airport. The terminal itself is quite small, but it’s actually part of a larger Terminal 2, which consists of Terminal 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F and a separated 2G. Going through immigration is a breeze, we didn’t have to fill in any immigration forms. The immigration officer just checked our Schengen visa, and stamp the passports. No questions asked. :) After passing through customs, we were greeted by my cousin, a Kide, who was our host in Paris during the 2-week holiday. He drove us to his residence in Châtenay-Malabry , a nice and quiet neighbourhood south of Paris. At his residence, a Kide and mbak Enik hosted a very nice dinner for us.

More pictures can be found here.

(To be continued)

Trip to Indonesia, November-December 2008

2009-01-26T22:41:00.001+08:00

Apologise for not updating this blog for quite some time. Inka and Irza went to their home country, Indonesia, during the school holiday period from end of November until end of December 2008. Other than Jakarta, they also visited Bandung, Garut (for a short holiday at a resort there) and Tasikmalaya (to celebrate Hari Raya Idul Adha with family and relatives there).

I have uploaded most of the pictures at my Multiply site, which can be found below:

1. First Time Karaoke-ing
2. Grand Indonesia
3. Sari Sunda Restaurant, Bandung
4. Rumah Sosis, Bandung
5. Holiday to Garut, West Java
5.a. Holiday in Garut, Danau Dariza (posted by my wife)
6. Garut Town and Mulih K'desa
7. Crown Mahkota Graha Hotel, Tasikmalaya
8. Around Burujul, Tasikmalaya
9. Liwet Pak Asep Stroberi Restaurant
10. Taman Safari (posted by my wife)

Irza Playing DrumMania: "Almost Easy" and "Concertino in Blue"

2008-11-09T20:33:00.001+08:00

In addition to his weekly drum lesson at the School of Music Clef at Suntec City, Irza also loves to play DrumMania, the drum simulation game which can be found at many arcade centres in Singapore (and Timezone in Indonesia as well). His skills in playing the drum simulation game is quite good now, even better than me when playing certain songs. When he's playing it, usually other people will normally gather and watch him play.

I managed to take some videos of him playing the simulation game. Apologise for the low quality of the videos since they were taken using my daughter's mobile phone camera. I also didn't manage to record the full songs because I needed to take the picture silently, since the arcade centre actually doesn't allow anyone to take any pictures, let alone taking videos. :)

The drum simulation equipment he's using was the latest one, DrumMania v5: Rock to Infinity.

Almost Easy:

Concertino in Blue:

Tang Tea House

2008-10-22T12:01:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday night, I took Irza out for supper, while Inka has already sleeping. Since were were not too sure where to go, I decided to go to Tang Tea House.

This MUIS-certified halal Chinese "makan" place is recommended by my friends from the IMAS community. Its specialty is the tim sum, although it also provides any other types of dishes such as chicken rice, seafood and even shark fin soup.

It was past midnight when I and Irza reached there. It's located at Simpang Bedok, along Bedok Road, opposite the Bedok Market Place. It provides a very nice and cozy alfresco seating arrangement. It's just a short 15 minutes walk from Tanah Merah MRT station, although if you don't want to walk, you can also take bus number 2 or 9 from Tanah Merah MRT station, or bus number 10 from Tampines bus interchange.

I ordered four (yes, it's FOUR) dishes of tim sum: my favourite chicken feet, siew mai (siomay in Indonesian), har kow (shrimp dumplings) and chicken pau, which is requested by Irza since it's his favourite.

However, Irza loves the chicken rice, which I specifically ordered for him. His comment is that even without the chicken and the soup, the rice itself is very nice. He also loves the har kow with the shrimp inside.

The price is, surprisingly, reasonable. A dish of siew mai (3pcs) and har kow (3pcs) costs $2.50, chicken feet costs $2.20 and chicken pau (2pcs) costs only $1.60. My longan drink only costs $1.80 while Irza's milo dinosaur costs $2.80. His chicken rice (a set of rice, chicken and soup) costs only $3.

More pictures can be found here.

Kastengel ala Indra and Inka-Irza

2008-09-30T10:22:00.001+08:00

Following last year's success in making kastengel cheese cookies, I made the same cookies last Saturday afternoon to celebrate this year's Hari Raya Idul Fitri, before we went to the KBRI's buka puasa event.

Following exactly the same recipes as last year, I mixed 200 grams of margarine and 50 grams of butter with 2 egg yolks, and then manually mixed them with 350 grams of plain flour and 200 grams of shredded edam cheese. After shaping, I put egg yolk and shredded cheddar cheese as toppings before putting them on a tray and bake them inside the oven under 170 degree Celcius temperature for about 20-30 minutes.

During the kastengel cookies making procees, I got help from Inka and eventually Irza who also wanted to join the fun :), while my wife helped us to bake them.

Before someone is asking :), no, I don't take orders. :) I'm only making these cookies for personal and family consumption only... :) :)

More pictures can be found here.

Irza's Jam Session with Kemejas

2008-08-14T13:14:00.001+08:00

To practice for his upcoming concert at his music school next month, Irza had a very fruitful jam session with my friends from Kemejas band last Sunday. Thanks to om Renatha (bass, guitar), om Audi (bass, guitar, keyboard), om eRBe (lead guitar) and tante Fika (vocal) for helping Irza in practicing his drum. :)

Other than Won't Go Home Without You (Maroon 5), which is the song Irza will be performing during his concert next month, we're also covering some other songs, such as Smooth (Santana), Carnival (The Cardigans) and Sweet Child O'Mine (Guns N' Roses). Other than the Maroon 5 song, the other songs were not actually planned and Irza haven't practiced them yet but fortunately he can follow and cover them quite nicely... :) Unfortunately, we didn't manage to cover Cokelat's Bendera, which was requested by tante Fika, since Irza really was not prepared to play that song.

Irza was really having a great time. He was a bit disappointed when the two hour period was over and is looking forward to the next planned jam session this coming Sunday. :) Hopefully, at that time, om Sandy and tante Detta also can join us. :)

Again, thanks friends for your time and effort in having the jam session with Irza and helping him to practice. :)

Weekend Trip to Johor

2008-04-22T18:31:00.001+08:00

Two weekends ago, we drove up to Johor for a short weekend getaway, to celebrate our 9th anniversary as well as testing my new GPS receiver to Malaysia.

We stayed at Cinta Ayu All Suites Hotel [ note: Cinta Ayu, not Cinta Laura :P :P ], a nice apartment-type hotel located in the vicinity of Pulai Springs Resort. This resort is located on the outskirts of Johor Bahru, along the main road leading to Pontian.

Although the resort is meant more for golfers (since it's surrounded by two 18-hole golf courses), it also provides quite good facilities for families as well. Other than the hotel's swimming pool which is located on the second floor, we can also use the main resort's facilities, including the swimming pools which have nice views over the golf course and mount Pulai. One of the swimming pools is also equipped with a slide, which Irza enjoys very much.

We chose a 2-bedroom type of apartment for S$170 per night, which is booked online from AsiaTravel and includes breakfast for 4 persons. The 1-bedroom type is also available for S$128 per night. The breakfast is provided at the Cinta Terrace restaurant and the food is quite nice. There's also a spa facility at the sports centre, and the price is quite reasonable. Quite worth the value for money, in my opinion.

We were not only making use of the hotel's facilities, but also made some side trips to couple of locations in and around Johor Bahru, either for food or sightseeing.

On Saturday (12/4) afternoon, we went to AEON Tebrau City and had lunch at the JUSCO food court located on the second floor. This was our third visit to this biggest shopping mall in Johor, and other than the food court, we also went there for the amusement centre for the kids (which is located just next to the food court) and, of course, the Breadtalk bakery shop and its popular spicy chicken floss buns, which is halal in Malaysia.

In the evening, we visited Danga Bay and had dinner in one of the BBQ seafood restaurants there. The food is superbly delicious, and the price is surprisingly reasonable.

We had our dinner in an alfresco seating environment, with trains passing by giving amusement for the kids. We actually could ride the train however we were not able to find the location of the station where we could buy the ticket and board the trains. :( The kids were disappointed for not being able to ride the train. Will have to find the exact location of the station when we go there again. Anyone knows? :)

On Sunday (13/4), after checking out of the hotel, we went to Gunung Pulai and since the main recreational forest park is closed, we went to a less-visited attraction spot located south of the main park. My GPS told me that there is a waterfall on that spot as well, however when we went there we couldn't find it. Just saw some parked cars and some food stalls, and some locals having a bath in the river there.

Another thing I would like to share is that now we do not have to fill in the Malaysia immigration cards when we pass through their immigration, making trips to Malaysia much easier now.

More pictures can be found here and here.

Sentosa Flowers 2008

2008-02-09T23:18:00.001+08:00

Another part of our CNY holiday itineraries in Singapore, on the first day of Chinese New Year, we went to Sentosa to visit the Sentosa Flowers 2008 event in the morning, prior to our visit to Aa Duddy and Teh Ellen's place in Tampines for a reunion lunch. Sentosa Flowers 2008 is an annual flower festival held at Sentosa, spanned from Imbiah Lookout to the Beach station.

Having visited the earlier Sentosa Flowers 2007 last year, I found that this year's festival is a bit disappointing. The "blooming" quality of the flowers is not as good as last year's event. I feel that last year's event is more blooming with more variety of beautiful flowers throughout the Imbiah hill. Nevertheless, for the first-timers, this event is quite worth for a visit.

It opens between 9am and 10pm, until 17 February 2008. The admission to the event itself is free, although of course you would still need to pay for the entrance fee into Sentosa ($2) and the transport ($1 using Sentosa Express or Sentosa bus). I would suggest you start your journey from the entrance near Imbiah station. From there, you can explore the flowers park around Imbiah Lookout before heading to the Merlion, and passing through the Merlion Walk all the way to the Beach station.

I agree with Mbak Susan that the best time to visit the event is early in the morning, not only to avoid the hot baking sun, but also to avoid the crowd as well. Different from last year, now they open until 10pm every day, so it might be a good idea to come in the evening.

More pictures can be found on my wife's Multiply site here.

Festive Street Stalls at Chinatown

2008-02-09T10:29:00.001+08:00

As I have mentioned here (in Indonesian), this is the first of our itineraries in enjoying Chinese New Year holiday in Singapore.

Wednesday, 6 February 2008, on Chinese New Year's eve, I got half day off from work. After picking up my kids at Clementi (my wife is attending a gathering with her friends there), we went to the Chinatown area, just to see the hustle and bustle of the street stalls around Pagoda Street and Temple Street during Chinese New Year's eve.

Since the Chinatown area would be closed to traffic in the evening, we parked our car at The Central in Clarke Quay, and we took the North-East Line MRT train to Chinatown.

Both Inka and Irza got themselves some CNY-themed souvenirs from the market.

More pictures can be found here.

Housewarming Event at Om Bagus and Tante Luki's New Residence

2008-01-29T17:21:00.001+08:00

On a nice Sunday afternoon, we went to Anchorvale in Sengkang, north-east of Singapore, to attend a "housewarming" event at om Bagus and tante Luki's new residence there. The food is all wonderfulicious, with the hosts preparing sambal goreng, fried chicken, tekwan, siomay for lunch, with all the desserts such as fruit jelly and watermelon fruit cuts thrown in.

Inka and Irza were very happy playing with all their friends there, both in the house and at the playground outside the block. Irza even took some pictures of the event, together with other photographer-kids Kanaya and Fresha. All the three little photographers were using their respective parent's cameras, and they ended up taking pictures of each other. :) :)

Irza, as well as Kanaya, were fond of and a big fan of Naurin, tante Lenny's baby daughter. That explains why Irza took quite a lot of her pictures. Irza were also taking pictures of om Yuwono who were trying to take pictures of the three little photographers. :) :)

Well, some of you might asked, why Irza prefers to play with the girls (especially pretty girls like Fresha or Kanaya :P :P) rather than with the boys? :) Because Irza always tend to fight, and not play, with the boys, hahaha... Which reminds me or another thing, sometimes Irza refers himself as a "playboy". Of course, his definition of playboy is "a boy who likes to play...."

More pictures during the event can be found here, while the pictures taken by Irza (which some of them has been cropped and edited by me for your pleasure viewing) can be found here. Other pictures can also be found here (thanks to Mbak Ati).

Another Trip to Sentosa

2007-12-28T18:28:00.001+08:00

We are not going anywhere for holiday during this school holiday season, since we already went back to Jakarta during Hari Raya festival last October. Therefore, last Saturday (23 December 2007), I took Inka and Irza to Sentosa for a short half-day sightseeing.

We reached Sentosa at around noon, and after parking our car at the Beach carpark, we took the yellow line bus straight to Dolphin Lagoon.

There was a promotion for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents only, the combined Dolphin Lagoon and Underwater World admission fee is only around $13 for adult and $8 for child (compared to the usual $19 for adult and $12 for child). Inka and Irza also attended the "meet and greet" session with the dolphin after the show, where they had the chance to touch the dolphin.

After the show, we took the red line bus to Imbiah Lookout for lunch. The red line bus we took is an open top-deck bus similar to the Hippo bus, so Inka and Irza were having the great time enjoying the view from the top deck of the bus.

We had our lunch at Sarpino's Pizzeria, located in Imbiah Lookout. After lunch, we took the blue line bus to Siloso beach bus stop. Our first stop is Fort Siloso. We took the Fort Siloso tram from the tram stop near Underwater World to the entrance of the fort complex at Fort Siloso Square. Inka and Irza were having a great time playing at the playground and explore the tunnels there.

Our next stop after Fort Siloso is Underwater World. The entrance fee has been paid together with the entrance to Dolphin Lagoon, so it's a waste if we skipped it. There's an interactive pool where we can have a close encounter and touch stingrays. Inka and Irza were also having a great time in the acrylic tunnel inside the giant aquarium.

From Underwater World, we took a leisure stroll along Siloso beach, before going back to the Beach carpark using the beach tram. Unfortunately, the tickets for the Songs of the Sea shows has been sold out for the day, so we had to skip it. Will schedule to watch the performance another time later. :)

More pictures can be found here.

Inka's 8th Birthday

2007-12-20T22:12:00.001+08:00

Inka was having her 8th birthday on 11 December 2007, and we celebrated her birthday by inviting some of our Indonesian friends over for BBQ gathering at our apartment's BBQ pit and club house, on Sunday evening, 16 December 2007.

My wife ordered the birthday cake from her friend Syanti, and the theme of the cake is dinosaurs, Inka's favourite creatures. More pictures of the birthday cake before delivered to us can be found here.

Similar to Irza's BBQ birthday party last August, we ordered the bulgogi chicken satay and black pepper beef satay from Seoul Garden. For this event, my wife also ordered the famous Braddell satay from Hany, which is a hit for the kids. My wife also made her special home-made macaroni schotel.

Some of the kids also had the chance to swim at the swimming pool, which is located just next to the BBQ pit. Unfortunately, it was raining near dusk, and we had to move the party to the club house, which is located behind the BBQ pit. The kids were also having fun playing piñata.

Some of Inka and Irza's friends who came include Aidan, Hanan and Haifa, Marsya, Fazil, Naira and Fauzan, Annisa and Nadia, Nadira and Adam, Titis, Zahira, Ivan and Rayna.

More pictures can be found here.

The Last Two Friday Nights

2007-12-08T10:01:00.001+08:00

Fireworks Display at VivoCity

On Friday night last week (30 November 2007), we went to VivoCity to watch the fireworks display at the Sky Park, located at the rooftop of the huge shopping mall. I watched the fireworks display with Irza, while my wife accompanied Inka to have dinner at Banquet on the basement floor. I specifically brought my tripod for this purpose.

Some of you asked what were the schedules of the fireworks display. Unfortunately, it seems that the fireworks display was only held on that very one night, to celebrate VivoCity's one year anniversary. And to answer Mei Che's question, I knew about the event from an advertisement on the Straits Times newspaper of the day. So, my advice is to lookout for those advertisements on the newspaper, you might find an idea on where to bring the kids for the weekend. :)

More pictures can be found here.

Dinner at MacKenzie Rex Restaurant

After my experience with MacKenzie Rex restaurant during Indo-Sing mailing list moderators' dinner event last October, I went there again and took my family there for a dinner last night (Friday, 7 December 2007). This halal restaurant is located at Prinsep Street, off Selegie Road, around Bencoolen area of Singapore, not far from Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

Both Inka and Irza are already fans of shark fin soup since our dinner at Mak's Place last month, so they were very delighted when they found out that it's also part of the menu that night. They really like it very much. Some of the other dishes we ordered include chicken with dried chilli, hotplate beancurd and baby squid.

More pictures can be found here.

Boat Quay

2007-11-23T16:34:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday, 17 November 2007, on a pleasant afternoon, while waiting for my wife to shop at her favourite beads shop along Carpenter Street, I took Inka and Irza for a short walk around Boat Quay. The weather was very pleasant that afternoon, it was cloudy but not raining, so the weather was not very hot as what it usually is.

From the junction of South Bridge Road and Carpenter Street, we walked towards the Singapore river and crossed the Elgin bridge. We then walked through the promenade along Singapore River towards Raffles Landing Site, located on the other side of the river from Boat Quay and the CBD, just beside the Asian Civilisation Museum. Turned out to be that this place was the starting point of the Amazing Race Asia 2.

Inka and Irza were having a great time walking along the promenade, watching the bumboats passing by and also taking pictures in front of the Raffles statue there.

More pictures can be found here.

Irza's Graduation and Concert Day

2007-11-20T17:35:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday (18 November 2007), we attended the PPIS Kindergarten's Year End Graduation Ceremony and Concert 2007, at the auditorium of Spring Singapore building, Bukit Merah Central. PPIS Kindergarten is a kindergarten where Irza is enrolled in the past couple of years, and it's managed by the Young Women Muslim Association. One of its centres is located in Bukit Batok, only 5 minutes drive away from our current residence.

Abhy, the son of Iko and Hera, one of our neighbours, is also enrolled on the same school. This year is their last year in the school, since starting next year, both of them will start studying in a primary school, which is also near our residence, Bukit Timah Primary School (BTPS). BTPS is also the school where Inka is studying at the moment.

Irza and Abhy were being dropped off at their school at 8am in the morning, since they were taking the school bus from their school to the venue in Bukit Merah Central. We (myself, my wife and Inka) went together with Iko, Hera and Kanaya, and we reached Bukit Merah Central at around 9:20am, 10 minutes ahead of the schedule. This is for us to get the best seats, especially for me and Iko to put our tripods for our cameras. :)

After attending the event, we went to Far East Plaza on Scotts Road, near Orchard, to have lunch together with Iko, Hera, Abhy and Kanaya. We intended to have lunch at KFC there, but the place is full since it was during busy lunch time, so we instead went to Long John Silver's and had our lunch there instead.

More pictures during the event can be found here, while the pictures at Long John Silver's can be found here. Some other pictures can also be found here, thanks to Tante Hera. Her article with regards to the same event can also be found here (in Bahasa Indonesia).

Mak's Place Hawkerant

2007-11-08T14:20:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday night (4 November 2007), I and the whole family went to Tanjong Katong Complex in Geylang, not far from Paya Lebar MRT station, to buy Inka's traditional Malay dress (baju kurung) for her school's event. After which, we went to Mak's Place Hawkerant for dinner. Thanks to Teh Ellen for guiding us to go there over the phone. The "hawkerant" (restaurant with hawker's cheaper price, as they claimed) is located along Changi Road, not far from Kembangan MRT station.

If you drive along Changi Road from east (Bedok) towards west (Geylang), the restaurant is located on the right side of the road, just after you see Kassim mosque and Hotel 81 (Changi) on your left. You can park along Changi Road or in several carparks nearby, although sometimes it's a bit difficult to find a carpark lot during evening peak time.

Inka specially ordered sliced fish porridge while Irza ordered shark fin soup for appetizers. We ordered fried butter squid, hotplate spicy chicken and mixed vegetables (chap chay) for the main dishes, ice milo, ice barley and ice green tea for the drinks, and some ice creams for the kids' desserts.

The service is quite efficient, served by mostly Indian servants, similar to Al-Ameen or Al-Azhar. However, it took quite long for us to wait for the food to be served after ordering, perhaps around 20-30 minutes? Luckily there's a stray cat there which amuse the kids and they kept on following the cat wherever it goes... :)

More pictures can be found here.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

2007-11-04T18:35:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, on a nice Saturday morning (3 November 2007), I took Inka and Irza to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to find a place to play badminton. The nature reserve is located very close to our home, only around 5 minutes drive. The entrance to the nature reserve is on Hindhede Drive, which is located just opposite the Courts store along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

This is not the first time we visited the nature reserve, and myself, Inka and Irza had climbed the hill to the top before, which is reputedly the highest point in Singapore at 164 metres above sea level. However, even though the journey to the top was quite exciting since we needed to pass a shady rainforest, but the view from the top of the hill was disappointing.

So, this time round, we decided not to climb the hill again, and instead we went to the Hindhede Nature Park near the entrance to the nature reserve. The nature park is a hit for Inka and Irza since there's a playground with swings, slides and suspension bridges near the Waringin Hut. The slides are unique since they are both long slides going down to a valley. Inka and Irza are also having a great time with the slinger at the picnic area. We also played badminton at an open space near the picnic area.

We also went to the Lookout Point, which is overlooking the Hindhede Quarry, a massive wall of limestones near a pond. Inka and Irza actually also wanted to go up the hill again but the sun was already going up quite high at that time, so I'll guess we'll have to come back again later...

We used to see quite a lot of monkeys even at the base of the hill near the carpark, but yesterday we didn't see any. I'm not too sure what scares off the monkeys but I saw quite a lot of new house and apartment constructions near the base of the hill and that might contribute to the lesser number of monkeys around the area. Pretty sad...

More pictures can be found here.

Mid-Autumn Festival by the River

2007-09-23T12:42:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday (15/9), after breaking our fast for the day, we went to the Central, a new shopping mall which is located just above the Clarke Quay MRT station. Our destination was the Mid-Autumn Festival by the River, which is located behind the shopping mall, along the bank of Singapore river opposite the G-Max reverse bungee site. There are many lantern showcases being displayed along the riverbank, spanning from behind the Central shopping mall until the Read Bridge. There are also some other lantern showcases at Hong Lim Park, which is diagonally opposite the Central on the other side of the shopping mall, but we didn't visit the area.

The lantern displays will be there until 30 September 2007. It opens from 5pm to 11pm on weekdays, and from 3pm to 11pm on weekends, although it's actually best to enjoy the displays after the sun goes down. The best part, it's free :) so it's quite well worth visiting this event, especially comparing to and considering the $12 (for adult) and $8 (for child) entrance fees you need to fork out to visit the Lantern Festival 2007 at Chinese Garden. Of course, the displays here are not as big and comprehensive as the one in Chinese Garden, but since it's free, what can you expect? :)

More pictures can be found on my wife's Multiply site here.

NDP Preview 2007 at Marina Bay

2007-08-23T17:06:00.001+08:00

On Saturday, 28 July 2007, after attending the BTPS Fun Day and Open House in the morning, the whole family went to Marina Bay in the late afternoon to evening, to attend Singapore's National Day Parade (NDP) Preview.

From Millenia Walk, we walked towards Marina Square. Just outside the Marina Square, we needed to queue for security checks, before we proceed to the makeshift stadium located opposite Marina Square and next to the Esplanade, facing the floating stage on the sea. We collected our goodie bags before proceeding to the staircase and went up to find seats.

There are many types of show being staged, not only on the floating platform but also around the bay area, such as dragonboat race, paratroopers jumping from helicopters and landing on the stage, fighter planes flying above, defense display show and, last but not least, the fireworks display.

More pictures can be found here.

BTPS Fun Day and Open House 2007

2007-08-05T00:38:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday (28/7) morning, I took the kids to Bukit Timah Primary School (BTPS), which is Inka's school and Irza's future school as well, since we have also registered Irza onto the same school as well, during the phase 1 of the registration exercise.

We went there to attend school's Fun Day and Open House 2007. There are lots of activities which the kids can participate in, including many types of games (provided by the students for the students).

To play the games, we would need to use coupons which were being sold for 20 cents per coupon. Some games only require one coupon, some others require two or three coupons. Best of all, there are prizes given to the kids depends on the result of the games being played.

More pictures can be found here.

DHL Balloon

2007-07-15T19:05:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday (8 July 2007) evening, after dropping my wife at Orchard, I took Inka and Irza to Bugis Junction. Our destination was the DHL Balloon, which is within walking distance from Bugis Junction and Bugis MRT station.

The ticket price is S$23 for adult and S$13 for children. Quite expensive for a short 10-minute ride, but it's quite worth for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Inka and Irza previously was a bit afraid when they saw the balloon went up quite high, but I managed to persuade them to try and board the balloon.

It's quite high, indeed, and not recommended for those who are afraid of heights. The view from the balloon on its peak at 150 meters above ground is quite amazing.

More pictures can be found here.

New Playground at IMM Building

2007-07-10T16:37:00.001+08:00

IMM Building shopping mall, which is located at Jurong East, not far from the MRT station, is our most frequently visited shopping mall. It has everything under one roof, including Giant Hypermarket where we usually buy our groceries. Recently, the shopping mall is undergoing major renovations, which are being done in batches. The building's management, CapitaLand, really have spent a lot of efforts to make the shopping mall even more attractive to visitors.

One of the results of the renovation works is the opening of the new rooftop garden, located on the 3rd floor, which is equipped with a new play area. The new play area consist of the usual "dry" playground, which equipments were previously located indoor on the 2nd floor, plus a new "wet" water play area.

The kids were having fun on both the dry and wet playgrounds. There's also a change area for the kids to take shower and change. The most important thing, it's free. :) The only downside is that it's outdoor, which means it can be very hot during the day. It's recommended to bring your kids there in the morning or evening. Don't forget to bring swim-gears for the kids.

More pictures can be found here.

Jakarta Trip: BSD City

2007-06-24T17:10:00.001+08:00

Inka, Irza and the whole family went back to Jakarta between 31 May and 12 June 2007 for a short holiday, making use of the kids' June school holiday. We left Singapore for Jakarta on Thursday, 31 May 2007. That day was a public holiday, Vesak Day, in Singapore. We took Lufthansa flight from Singapore to Jakarta, taking off from Changi airport at around 5:05pm, only 10 minutes behind schedule. We landed at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta (Cengkareng) airport at around 5:40pm local time. Some pictures at Changi airport and during the flight can be found here.

Sadly, it was *NOT* a public holiday in Jakarta. For some reason, Indonesians celebrated Vesak Day on Friday, 1 June 2007 instead. Don't know what caused this difference. I thought that day was also a public holiday in Jakarta, but it was not. Can you guess how did that matter to us?

Yes, you guessed it right. On a weekday, during evening's rush hour time, Jakarta's traffic is a nightmare. It took us a solid 2.5 hours to reach my parent's house in Cinere, south Jakarta, from the airport in west Jakarta. Traffic jam at the inner-ring-road expressway has started from Jelambar, all the way to Grogol, Tomang until we exit the expressway at Slipi. Luckily, the traffic jam on the subsequent route we took to Cinere (Slipi --> Pejompongan --> Pondok Indah --> Lebak Bulus --> Cinere) was not too bad, despite the underpass construction at Kebayoran Lama.

First Trip to BSD City

On our third day in Jakarta, we went to Ocean Park, the new water theme park located at BSD City, Serpong, Tangerang. This is the first time we visited BSD City. The water park is quite big, and the facilities and attractions are comparable to Singapore's Wild Wild Wet or Malacca's A'Famosa Water World, although it's still smaller than Kuala Lumpur's Sunway Lagoon. There are the lazy river circling around the area, wave pool, many types of slides and water-based children playgrounds.

The location is quite convenient, only around 30-40 minutes from my parents' home in Cinere, thanks to the Serpong Expressway which is now directly connected to the Outer Ring Road Expressway at Lebak Bulus. Similar to Wild Wild Wet in Singapore, Ocean Park BSD uses a smart card for visitors to make payments for the tickets as well as all the facilities inside the theme park, such as lockers and tubes rental.

The entrance tickets are 50,000 Indonesian rupiahs per person for both adults and children, with additional charges apply for locker and tube rentals. The kids were really having fun. Unfortunately, not many photos we took there since all of us were swimming so we needed to put all our belongings, including the camera, inside the lockers. Some of the photos can be found here.

After swimming, we went to BSD Plaza to have dinner at a nice seafood restaurant near the carpark. The food were great, and the price is surprisingly cheap. There were total 13 people of us, 8 adults and 5 children (including one baby) and the whole seafood meal only costs us around 400,000 Indonesian rupiahs, or around S$68.

Apologise, we didn't manage to take pictures of the grilled fish, fried fish, squid, crab and other dishes, since we were very hungry after swimming. My wife only managed to take the picture of the otak-otak. More pictures at the restaurant can be found here.

More reports from our "mudik" trip to Jakarta will follow. :)

Pasar Malam and Fun Fair at Woodlands

2007-05-24T00:41:00.000+08:00

On Sunday (20/5) evening, the whole family went to Causeway Point, the biggest shopping mall around the north of Singapore, at Woodlands. Our destination is the pasar malam and fun fair, which is located at the open field opposite Causeway Point, near the Woodlands MRT station.

The fun fair itself is a makeshift theme park operated by Uncle Ringo, the leading amusement park operator in Singapore. However, even though it's only a makeshift theme park, you can find quite a lot of big and thrilling rides, similar to those found on permanent theme parks like Genting or Dunia Fantasy. There's even a very big (or giant?) ferris wheel called Euro Wheel, although of course you cannot compare it with Dunia Fantasy's Bianglala or the new upcoming Singapore Flyer. :)

The only downside is the ticket price, which is quite high. They sell it on a per-token basis (the token is actually a ticket) at S$2.50 per token, and most of the rides will require 2 tokens (or 2 tickets) per person, including children. Some more thrilling rides even require 3 or 4 tokens per head. Meaning, each ride will set you back from $5 to $10, per person. Very expensive.

Inka and Irza tried the (a bit slow) roller coaster and the pirate ship. Inka also tried the Sky Rider, which is similar to the Spinner ride in Genting, which is her favourite. However, this Sky Rider ride is spinning much faster than Genting's Spinner! No wonder why the minimum height limit for this ride was 125cm, which Inka was just reaching. For your information, the minimum height to ride the Spinner at Genting is only 107cm. I had to calm my wife who was very shocked to see that Inka was whirled that fast. :) Luckily, she was OK.

There's also the bumper cars! Definitely Inka and Irza's favourite. To ride these bumper cars, we had to buy separate tokens at $5 per car (not per person), and each car can take 2 persons. I rode the bumper car with Inka, while my wife shared the car with Irza. We really had fun! :) There are also some various games stalls where you can try your luck to win the prizes.

Just opposite the fun fair, nearer to the Causeway Point shopping mall and the Woodlands MRT station, there's a very big pasar malam where you can buy lots of stuff at cheap prices. Those include VCDs/DVDs, accessories, and of course, food and drinks, including the famous Ramly Burger. :)

More pictures can be found here.

Dinosaur Movie at Singapore Science Centre

2007-05-19T05:13:00.000+08:00

Inka is a fan of dinosaurs. She always borrows books about dinosaurs every time we go to the library. My wife found out that there's movie screening about dinosaurs at the Omni Theatre, Singapore Science Centre, so she offered Inka to take her to watch the movie after a week of her semestral examination.

We went there last Saturday evening. Singapore Science Centre is located at Jurong East, and the Omni-Theatre is on a separate building, sandwiched between Singapore Science Centre and Snow City. Outside the theatre itself, there's a gallery showcasing dinosaurs and everything related to it. There's also a very big skeleton of T-Rex, which reminds me of the Night at a Museum movie, which Inka also likes very much so that we had to buy the DVD. :)

Since Irza didn't want to watch the movie, only my wife and Inka went in to see the movie. The ticket price was $10 for adult, and $5 for child. Inka said that she liked the movie very much. There's also a dinosaurs simulator ride, however we didn't try it. The price for the ride itself was $4 for adult, and $2 for child.

While waiting for my wife and Inka watching the movie, I took Irza to Kinetic Garden, which is located on the outer (and free) side of the Singapore Science Centre. There are quite some exhibits for the kids to play for free. There's also a McDonalds outlet there in case you're hungry. Irza was having a great time playing with all the exhibits there.

More exhibits are, of course, inside the Singapore Science Centre and the ticket price is $6 for adult, and $3 for child. There's also a new water play area which is actually located outside, but we can only enter the area from inside the Science Centre itself, therefore only those having tickets can go in. We didn't go in since we've been there before, just last year.

More pictures can be found here.

Meeting Tata and Wati's Family

2007-04-24T00:10:00.000+08:00

My fellow Indonesian bloggers from Geneva, Switzerland, Tata and Wati, came to Singapore together with their two daughters, Annisa and Nadia. They came to Singapore about two weeks ago and had the chance to go back to Indonesia last week, before returning back to Geneva next Friday. They will be migrating to Singapore next July.

We met them last Sunday (22 April 2007) at the children playground on the second floor of VivoCity, before having coffee together at the Starbucks cafe nearby. After which, we had lunch together at Banquet before going to the SkyPark at the third floor of VivoCity. Inka and Irza were having a great time playing with Annisa and Baby Nadia.

More pictures can be found here.

Attending Om eRBe's Birthday Party

2007-04-03T11:35:00.000+08:00

On a breeze Sunday afternoon, I took Inka and Irza to Om eRBe and Tante Tyty's residence at Hougang, to celebrate om eRBe's birthday. I guess we were also celebrating tante Tyty's birthday, since it fell just several days before om eRBe's. We met Om Renatha, Om Hans and Tante Gita there. Not long after, Tante Yolli came, followed by Om Yuwono, Tante Lenny and their son Danny. Om Arrizky and Tante Enji, as well as Tante Fisty and her husband, also came and joined the fun.

The kids kept themselves busy with om eRBe's Sony Playstation. Irza was also happily playing with Danny, who is the only other kid around. This is the first time they see each other, after a "failed" meet-up scheduled at the Singapore Zoo couple of weeks ago. At that time, we finally managed to meet Om Yuwono's family at the zoo entrance on our way back, but by that time, Danny has fell asleep already. :)

There was also a cake prepared for the birthday boy and girl... erm... sorry, I meant, the birthday guy and gal. :) Om eRBe and Tante Tyty also have another good reason to celebrate: they are expecting their first baby girl, which is expected to be born some time on June 2007. Congratulations! :)

More pictures can be found here.

Jusco Aeon Tebrau City

2007-02-23T19:00:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, 10 February 2007, we went to Johor Bahru, specifically to visit the new Jusco Aeon Tebrau City shopping mall, a new upmarket shopping mall in Johor Bahru. This is actually the second time we visited the shopping mall, after our first visit last September 2006 when we dropped by on our way back from Genting and Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

We drove through the Woodlands checkpoint, and to our amazement, there was no traffic jam at all. We passed through Singapore and Malaysia immigrations within 30 minutes since we left home, and we reached Tebrau City in 50 minutes! Thank God. It's quite unbelievable since it was Saturday morning, and the traffic is supposed to be heavy on weekends.

The Jusco Tebrau City shopping mall is located along Tebrau Highway, the main federal route 3 highway towards Kota Tinggi and Mersing. If you're driving from Singapore, it's faster to go through the Causeway instead of the Second Link. After passing Malaysia immigration, make a U-turn and go towards the busy Jalan Wong Ah Fook, passing the Johor Bahru City Square. At the end of the road, keep right and follow the signs to Kota Tinggi and Jalan Tebrau. Ensure that you pass Plaza Pelangi on your right.

After about 15 minutes drive (if traffic is not heavy), you will pass an on-going flyover construction work at the junction of Tebrau Highway and Pasir Gudang Highway. You can use the flyover to go through the junction (only one side of the flyover has been built at the time of writing), and the Jusco Aeon Tebrau City shopping mall is located on the left side just after the junction.

I would say that this is currently the most upmarket shopping mall in Johor Bahru, more high-class compared to Plaza Pelangi, and more luxurious than the crowded Johor Bahru City Square. The Jusco department store is the anchor tenant, spanning over three floors. On the first floor, there's Jusco supermarket where you can buy all your daily needs. On the top floor, there's a food court serving the normal Malaysian fare, and next to it, there's a children playground where your kids can play and have fun.

We didn't have our lunch at the food court, instead we had lunch at The Chicken Rice Shop. This is a famous halal chicken rice restaurant chain, which has branches all over Malaysia, including in Kuala Lumpur's Mid Valley Mega Mall and Malacca's Mahkota Parade shopping mall. They also have opened a branch at VivoCity, Singapore. The chicken rice is very nice, and the kids loved it.

The shopping mall also houses Bread Talk, which is halal in Malaysia, unlike in Singapore. My favourite bread would be the spicy chicken floss one. There's also a Dunkin Donuts counter just opposite the supermarket, and also Baskin Robbins ice cream counter. You cannot find both counters here in Singapore. There's also a bookstore called Harris, and some other stores as well.

More pictures can be found here.

Sentosa

2007-02-16T15:55:00.000+08:00

Sentosa is one of our favourite places we usually visit quite often. Not only because we have the Family Islander card which gives the whole family free unlimited entries into Sentosa for the whole year, but there's also quite a lot of things we can do there.

Cycling

One of our favourite methods of outing-cum-exercising is cycling. Sentosa is full of cycling tracks, and cycling around the island is quite fun. Our favourite cycling track in Sentosa is the one between the Ferry Terminal and the Underwater World area. The track is flat so it's quite easy for the kids, and it's going past the seaside along the north coast of the island. It's also passing by one of Sentosa's seldom-visited attractions, the Lost Civilisation and Ruined City.

Another favourite track of ours is the one along the beaches on the southern coast of the island, from Siloso Beach to Palawan Beach, up to Tanjong Beach. There are some interesting attractions along the path, including the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, which is located near Palawan Beach. The small islet is connected to the main Sentosa island through a suspension bridge over the narrow strait.

Other than that, Sentosa also have some other cycling tracks. Some of them are passing through the middle of the island, but the track is mountainous and it's passing some thick jungles, it's great for those who are more adventurous. If it's quite difficult for you to bring in your own bicycles, you can rent them from any of the bicycles kiosks located there. There's one bicycles kiosk located just next to the ferry terminal, and another one near the Siloso beach.

Sentosa Express

Getting into Sentosa is now much easier with the new Sentosa Express. Being a Sentosa family islander, we can ride the monorail for free. Otherwise, one only need to pay $3 (including the $2 Sentosa admission), which is the same amount you need to pay if you come by bus. We board the train at the new VivoCity shopping mall. The station is located on the 3rd floor, near the lift lobby L, just on top of The Coffee Bean cafe and Best Denki, next to the Food Republic food court.

You need to purchase the tickets at the ticket counter there. For Islander members, you just need to show your Islander card to get your free tickets. You can then tap the ticket cards on the gate there, and walk through it, similar to MRT gates where you need to tap your EZ-Link cards. Unfortunately, you cannot use your EZ-Link cards here. Once you have passed the gate, you just need to wait for boarding the next train to Sentosa.

The journey from VivoCity to Sentosa will only take several minutes. There are two stations within Sentosa itself: Imbiah Station (near the Merlion and close to all other attractions around Imbiah Lookout) and Beach Station (located between Palawan and Siloso beaches, where you can catch the beach tram to the two respective beaches). There's actually another station, Waterfront Station, which will only be opened on 2010 when the new integrated resorts there are open.

Imbiah Lookout and Sentosa Luge

From the Imbiah Station, just in front of the Merlion statue, we can take the escalators up to other attractions located in the Imbiah Lookout cluster. Some of the attractions include Images of Singapore, Carlsberg Sky Tower, Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom and Sentosa 4D Magix. Unfortunately, the ticket admissions to those attractions are quite expensive, since those are meant more for tourists. As an islander member, we can get some discounts to those attractions, but it's still consider quite expensive.

However, there's one attraction which we (especially the kids) like, and we don't mind going there again every time we visit Sentosa. Yes, you guessed it right, it's the Sentosa Luge, the gravity-powered go-cart-cum-toboggan down the track from Imbiah Lookout to Siloso Beach. Being an islander member, we only need to pay $5 (instead of the normal $8) per ride, inclusive of one Skyride/chairlift ride back. Kids who are riding pillion don't need to pay since they charge per cart and not per person, unless if they ride themselves individually. So far Inka and Irza have not tried riding the luge themselves.

The Skyride (previously known as chairlift) ride back is also quite an unforgettable experience. That is, of course, if you are not afraid of heights. :) The Skyride will bring you on top of those trees and greeneries. Ensure that you don't drop your sandals, otherwise it'll be a bit difficult for you to find them back. There's also camera on the second tower of the Skyride, which will take our photo taking the Skyride, with the Siloso beach and the sea as the background. The photo prints can be bought at $10 each (very expensive), while the lower resolution JPG file can be sent to your email address for $5. Same prices apply to Luge ride photos as well.

Sarpino's Pizzeria

This pizza restaurant is also located in Imbiah Lookout, just next to the Butterfly Park. They sell quite a wide range of halal pizzas with crispier crust compared to Pizza Hut pizzas, and the kids love it very much. Sarpino's Pizzeria actually has some other outlets throughout Singapore, including the one in East Point, Simei.

Just in front of the restaurant, which is at the heart of Imbiah Lookout, there's a water garden where the kids can just play with the water and have fun. Inka and Irza was really having a great time playing there. Similar water garden is also can be found at Palawan Beach, just next to the Koufu food court there. Kids can also spend hours having fun at the beach there. Just ensure that you bring some extra clothes for the kids, or even better, bring their swimming gears.

More pictures of some various moments we had in Sentosa can be found here.

Inka and Irza's Journeys in Brief: August 2006

2006-09-14T18:09:00.000+08:00

This is a brief of Inka and Irza's journeys for the month of August 2006. Apologise, I didn't have the time to update this blog quite often. Kindly visit my site at Multiply for the latest updates on Inka and Irza's journey. I will usually post all the pictures there.

Singapore Science Centre, Jurong East
The Concourse, Beach Road
Sentosa
Central Fire Station, Hill Street
Bazaar at the Indonesian Embassy, Chatsworth Road
Raffles City, City Hall
Swensens, Suntec City
Fountain of Wealth, Suntec City
Irza's Birthday, Part 1 (the Cars party)
Irza's Birthday, Part 2

Mama's Birthday

2006-08-19T08:21:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 5th of August 2006, is Mama's birthday. However, a lot of things to do on that day caused us to be not able to celebrate her birthday on that day. In the morning, I needed to go to the apartment's management office, to report our key access cards, which were not working. I took Inka and Irza there, and on our way back, they wanted to play at the children's playground near the management office. In the end, they were having a great time playing there. The pictures can be found here.

After lunch, we went to a Sport's Day event, conducted by YWMA Kindergarten, Irza's school, to celebrate Singapore's National Day, which is on its 41st birthday this month. This event is held at the Bukit View Primary School site in Bukit Batok, and it started at... 2pm! Yes, you read it correctly, it was started at 2pm, under the hot baking sun. I don't quite understand, why they have to conduct a sports event in the afternoon, not morning or evening. The kids were really being baked under the hot sun!

Yes, there were two tents provided, one for the students and another one for visitors (parents and families). But the activities would still be conducted in the middle of the field, under the hot sun. The tent provided for the visitors were also not enough to cater for all, so some parents chose to wait and watch from the far end of the field, covered by some trees, but quite far from the centre of the activities.

The event started with all the students performing aerobics. Immediately, all the parents were surrounding the field to take pictures, causing us who sit on the visitors seats under the tent, not able to see the kids in action. Walau le! So no choice, I also had to brave the hot baking sun to find a spot to get good pictures of Irza.

There were also some race events for the students. Each class had different type of contests. For Irza and his team, they needed to run carrying a pail, loading and unloading some stuff into/from the pail, and also go under a barrier. Well, we can say it's a small scale of a triathlon. And it turned out to be that Irza's team, K1E Tazmanian, become the first winner! Congratulations! :) :)

We also met Om Haris and Tante Inong's family there, since their son Zidan also took part on the contests. And the contest Zidan's class took part is gunnysack race. After all the contests were completed, there were gift presentation ceremony for all the students who took part, and all of them together sang the "We are Singapore" song, to celebrate Singapore's 61th National Day. We left the place at around 5pm, and the kids were also very tired. So it was not possible for us to celebrate Mama's birthday on that day. More pictures during the event can be found here.

The next day, we went to Parco Bugis Junction to buy a birthday cake for Mama, as well as to have our lunch. We intended to have lunch at Seoul Garden, a Korean buffet restaurant there, however it was closed due to a private event. So we went to Ngee Ann City, and had our lunch at the Seoul Garden outlet there. It's one of our favourite restaurants, serving halal Korean-style marinated chicken and beef (bulgogi) which we cook ourselves on the grill provided in the middle of the table. They also provide steamboat for us to boil the vegetables, sausages, prawns, and many more. Tips for family with kids: come on Sundays, since kids can dine for free (one kid per one adult). The pictures can be found here.

After finishing our lunch, we went to the basement hall of Takashimaya, since it was the last day of the 10th Craziest Toy Sale. We also went to the Bengawan Solo outlet there to buy the birthday cake for Mama. During our way home, Irza was very tired and slept, and his sleep continued past evening, so we were also not able to celebrate Mama's birthday on that day.

Eventually, we managed to celebrate Mama's birthday the next day, Monday 7th of August 2006, after I came back from the office. As usual, we prepared the birthday cake with some candles to be lit. Everyone sang the "Happy Birthday" song for Mama, and then the kids helped Mama to blow the candles. The pictures can be found here.

Happy birthday, Mama. :)

[Indonesian version]

Singapore Botanic Gardens

2006-08-13T11:13:00.000+08:00

On a Sunday evening, 30th of July 2006, the whole family went to Singapore Botanic Gardens, on our way back home from Orchard. We entered the Botanic Gardens via the Taman Serasi Food Garden, a food court which has just renovated recently. This food court is located on a building along Cluny Road, near to the junction with Holland Road.

We walked past the food court to a newly renovated garden, just behind the food court building. From there, we continued our journey towards the Swan Lake. The lake is called Swan Lake because there are quite a lot of swans there, fed by the visitors. There's also a giant swans sculpture in the middle of the lake.

We then continued our journey towards the Symphony Lake, passing though the Bonsai Garden and the Vanda Miss Joaquim, Singapore's national flower. There are many people strolling around the area, having picnic and exercising. There are also some music and dance performances being held at the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, which is located on the Symphony Lake itself.

We then proceeded to the Singapore Botanic Gardens' Visitor Centre, and the kids bought some ice creams from one of the kiosks there. From there, we traced our way back to the carpark. We passed the Symphony Lake again, and we went to the back side of the lake to avoid the crowds and take some pictures there, before proceeding to the Ginger Garden.

Ginger Garden is located near the Orchid Plaza, next to the National Orchid Garden. The kids love to go to Ginger Garden because of its waterfall. Well, it's just a small man-made waterfall, however the kids can play around and even go to a small cave behind the waterfall. We also took some pictures there.

From there, we then went back to the carpark at Taman Serasi and going back home. More pictures can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

NDP Preview 2006 and Tante Mela's Farewell

2006-08-12T10:38:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, 29th of July 2006, Inka, together with her parents, went to the preview of the National Day Parade for this year. For this year, the event is being held back at the National Stadium, after being held at the Padang last year. This year will be the last year the NDP to be hosted at the National Stadium, since the stadium will be demolished this year, to make way for a new sports centre to be built at the existing site.

This is actually a "preview" of the NDP event which was held yesterday, during the National Day itself. However, this preview actually shows almost the same performances as the actual event itself. Except the president and the prime minister, which are being passed for by someone else, all the other performances are real, such as the marching band, the choir, the paratroopers, the jet fighter planes, and of course, the fireworks.

We actually have four tickets, and Irza was supposed to go as well. However, after I told him that there'll be jet fighter planes and fireworks display, he refused to go since he doesn't like very loud noises. So, only the three of us going, while Irza chose to stay at home. We parked our car at the Gateway on Beach Road, since we were not allowed to park within the National Stadium complex itself. From there, we continue our journey to the stadium using the bus services provided. After alighting from the bus, we still need to walk to the north entrance of the stadium.

The queue is quite long while entering the stadium, because although they didn't check our bags, however they are giving fun pack bags which is quite big, containing all the goodie bags for the event, including some snacks, drinks (including the Newater), a torch which looks like a Nokia handphone, a Singapore flag, a hat which is being decorated with an illuminated Singapore flag, and some baloon sticks which we can use to give applause.

The event started at around 5pm, and finished at around 8pm. Some of the performances include some trapeze artists who are being lifted by balloons, Gurmit Singh and other hosts who were sliding to the field using a rope, paratroopers, jet fighter planes flying above the stadium, and other performances in the field itself, such as marching band and soldiers performing ceremonial gun salute.

On top of that, of course, the fireworks display is the main attraction all the spectators were expecting. Inka were really enjoying her time there, especially when all the spectators were making some noise and even creating some waves around the stadium. More pictures can be found here.

To avoid the crowd while leaving the stadium, we decided to get out of the stadium prior to the end of the event. So, we watched the final fireworks display from outside the stadium, on our way back to the bus stop. It's because on the same night, we would also need to go to Tante Hany's house at Braddell, to attend the firewell party of Tante Mela and family, who are leaving for Batam the next day.

The bus took us back to the Gateway carpark, and then we proceeded to Braddell. We reached Braddell at around 9pm, and fortunately, there were still some friends hung out there and there's still some food left ;) including some of the famous Braddell satay, which were grilled at the last minute for us. :)

Inka then joined their friends there and play. Some of them, who were still around that night, are Kakak Fira and Adam, who are leaving for Batam the next day, Abang Dzaky, Athaya and Alita, Aily and Algo, Dandy, and of course, the host, Hanan and Haifa. Surprisingly, all the children could still stay put and hang out until late night, and we only left Braddell at around 10:30pm. More pictures can be found here.

The next day, I and my wife went to Harbourfront Centre, to say goodbye to Om Ambar and Tante Mela and family, who are leaving Singapore for Batam. Unfortunately, Inka and Irza chose to stay at home and didn't want to go along, although there were quite a lot of their friends also coming to Harbourfront and saying goodbye to Kakak Fira and Adam. More pictures of the children at Harbourfront (without Inka and Irza, unfortunately) can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Quicklink: Photos of the Week - 3

2006-08-03T23:16:00.000+08:00

Some pictures taken at:

Civic Plaza, Ngee Ann City, during the Singapore Youth Festival 2006 celebration.
Marina Square, Chinatown Point and Sakae Sushi at Wheelock Place.

[Indonesian version]

Art Museum and Small Birthday Party

2006-08-02T18:02:00.000+08:00

After attending the BTPS Fun Day, I and Irza went t.. umm... near Bras Basah area. The first destinati.. umm.... target *phew!!* is the NTUC building, where I can get my birthday gift given by NTUC (thanks NTUC!). :) After leaving the NTUC building, I saw the Art Museum just beside the building, and after reading my friend's experience with her kids in a museum, I felt like wanna take Irza visiting a museum as well. Thus, we went there. :)

This museum is using an aged building which have since been ren... umm.. refurbished. :) Actually, there's an entrance fee visiting the museum, but we were given free entrance that day. :) There are galleries at the 1st and 2nd level, as well as in the bulding's 2 wings. Myself wasn't really agree if it's called a "museum", since all the paintings displayed are made by painters at the present. Unf.. umm... sadly, we weren't permitted taking pictures inside the galleries. The pictures are here.

We then went near Bugis, and having cakes and ice creams during tea time at Delifrance. The pictures are here.

Same day itself, my wife has actually updated the kids that my birthday was the next day. Nevertheless, the D-day itself, we didn't plan anything in celebrating the birthday, and my kids was a bit disapp.. umm... dissatisfied. :) As a result, we decided that we shall celebrate the birthday the day after (24 July 2006). Well, it's better be late than never, right? :)

The next day, after werk (hahaha, maksa! - red), I went West Mall buying a Swensen's ice cream cake. And there we are, celebrating my birthday, with all the kids' happy faces while they (helped me) blew the candles and cut the cake....

The pictures are here.

[Bahasa language]

BTPS Fun Day and Open House

2006-07-28T17:32:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, 22nd of July 2006, Bukit Timah Primary School, Inka's school, is conducting a Fun Day and Open House event. The event was open not only to its pupils, but also to the public, especially those parents who are considering sending their children there for school, so they can find out more about the school's facilities in details.

The "Fun Day" event itself is really fun, because it's really a "from pupils for pupils" event. All the stands are manned by the pupils themselves, and each class have its own stand. I really don't see any teachers helping them to man the stands. So it looks like the pupils have been trained to do everything by themselves.

We can purchase some coupons sold by the teachers, and use the coupons to pay for the purchases we make at the stands, or to play many games provided by the stands. Some of the games provided including "throw the ball" game and mini golf, and they also provide us with some gifts for the players.

Inka and Irza were having a great time there. We also spent some time to have early lunch in the school's cafeteria, which provides quite a lot of Singaporean food with incredibly low fares, before going back home.

More pictures during the event can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Visiting Aunty Natalia's Family at Cashew Heights

2006-07-20T10:44:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (16 July 2006), I took Inka and Irza to visit Aunty Natalia and Uncle Eric's new apartment at Cashew Heights, around Bukit Panjang, Singapore. They just moved from Choa Chu Kang to Bukit Panjang last May, so this would be the first time we visited their new apartment. It's just about 10 minutes drive from where we live currently. Aunty Natalia and Uncle Eric are both my ex-colleagues in the present company I'm currently working for.

We reached their place at around 4:10pm, and was surprised to see the size of the apartment. It's very big, with quite a sizeable living room for the children to play. Inka and Irza immediately joined Nigel to play together, while Ernest (Ernie), Nigel's younger brother, joined shortly after he woke up from his nap. There were quite a lot of toys, all belong to Nigel and Ernie, accompanying them while they were having time playing together.

All the kids then put on their swimming gears, and headed on to the swimming pool within the apartment complex. It's quite a big swimming pool, with a smaller kids pool with quite a big slide. Inka and Irza were having the great time using the slides. They were also playing with Ernie, using all the swimming toys Ernie and Nigel have, while Nigel chose to use the bigger swimming pool for him to improve his swimming skills.

All of them then went back to the apartment and had shower. After changing their clothes, they proceeded to the dining room and we had dinner together at the dining table. Aunty Natalia prepared a very nice barbequed chicken wings for the kids, served with breadsticks. On top of that, she also ordered some pizzas from Canadian 2-in-1 Pizza. All the kids enjoyed their dinner very much, especially Inka who finished about five pieces of the chicken wings.

After dinner, they went back to the spacious living room and continue playing. They still played for around half an hour, before leaving their place at around 8:30pm to go back to our home. They were really having a great time, and we'll surely come back again some time later. :)

More pictures can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre

2006-07-16T06:30:00.000+08:00

Yesterday (Saturday, 15 July 2006), I took Inka and Irza to Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre to have breakfast at the McDonalds restaurant within the shopping complex. This is actually not a shopping mall, but a row of HDB shopping blocks which we usually find at most Singapore's heartlands. Such shopping complex is usually also equipped with a hawker centre and a wet market.

This shopping complex is located around Bukit Batok West, near the junction of Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 and Bukit Batok Street 11. The McDonalds restaurant is located in Block 152, facing the West Ave 6. There are row of shops selling many products, which usually are cheaper than those in most air-conditioned shopping malls. Such these places are where most Singaporeans do their shopping. There's also a food court (hawker centre) at block 155, serving the usual Singapore cuisines. At that time, the place was packed even though it was a bit raining.

At McDonalds, Inka ordered the hotcakes while Irza ordered his favourite big breakfast. I used the coupons I got from Strait Times, entitled us with a free breakfast (hotcakes or egg McMuffin) for every breakfast meal ordered. Not bad! :) After breakfast, we went to a playground near the food court, next to block 164, and Inka and Irza were having a great time playing there. More pictures can be found here.

As what muhnur has pointed out (in bahasa Indonesia), it's quite easy to find playgrounds around Singapore's heartlands. You can find a playground at almost every corner of Singapore's HDB blocks, and most (if not all) of all private apartments and condominiums are surely equipped with one. This is one of Singapore's effort to provide free facilities for its young generation to play and learn. Wish Indonesia could do the same as well...

[Indonesian version]

Indo-Sing Gathering at Ayam Bakar Ojolali Restaurant

2006-07-11T23:40:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (10th of July 2006), I took Inka and Irza to the Indo-Sing gathering cum lunch at Ayam Bakar Ojolali restaurant, located on the 3rd floor of Lucky Plaza, Orchard Road, Singapore. We reached the restaurant at around 1:30pm, about half an hour behind schedule. We were greeted by Uncle Sigit and family (Aunty Narind and Max), Uncle Ikhsan, Uncle Willy and Uncle Emir Faisal. Aunty Ekky and her daughter Theresa followed shortly after.

Inka and Irza were having a great time playing with Max, Uncle Sigit’s son. They were also enjoying their fried chicken and rice for their lunch. They also ordered their favourite drink, milo dinosaurs, which is – surprisingly – sold there.

More pictures during the gathering can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Kuala Lumpur Trip

2006-07-07T19:05:00.000+08:00

On 24-25 June 2006, I and Irza went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a short sightseeing during the weekend. My company was organising a weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur using bus/coach, so I and Irza went along together with my colleagues from the office, while Inka stayed at home with her mother.

On Saturday morning, 24 June 2006, we left home at around 6:30am because we needed to reach the office by 7am. Note that in Singapore, sunrise is at 7am, so 6:30am is still considered dark here in Singapore (equivalent to 5:30am in Jakarta). The super-VIP coach bus, with Singapore registered number PZ 1257 T, left my office at Science Park at around 7:15am and hit the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) towards Tuas checkpoint, which is Singapore's gateway to Malaysia on the west side of the island. The queue on the bus lane was quite long (despite that we have reached the checkpoint quite early), and the bus only left Tuas around 8am.

The bus then cross the Tuas Second Link bridge before hitting the North-South Expressway towards Kuala Lumpur. Bus made a brief stop at Yong Peng, to allow those people who haven't had any breakfast that morning, to have some light breakfast. More pictures during the bus journey from Singapore to Yong Peng can be found here, while pictures in Yong Peng can be found here.

From Yong Peng, the bus continue its journey towards Ayer Keroh area, Malacca, and stopped at Restoran Lee, a halal Chinese restaurant. We reached the restaurant at around 12 noon, just in time for lunch. We had a nice lunch there, which cost was absorbed by the tour company since it's part of the tour. The Chinese food was delicious, and the pictures can be found here.

After lunch, we continue our journey to Kuala Lumpur. We reached Kuala Lumpur at around 2pm, and we went to the hotel to check-in. We stayed at the Istana Hotel, a nice five-star hotel around Bukit Bintang area, specifically along Jalan Raja Chulan, not too far from the Raja Chulan monorail station. I and Irza got a room on the fifth floor, with a view towards the monorail track along Jalan Sultan Ismail. Irza was really excited with the view, since he could see the monorail moving on its track. More pictures at the hotel room can be found here.

We had time for our own after checking-in, because the city tour would only start the next morning. After taking a short break in the hotel room, we then started our journey in Kuala Lumpur. Our first destination was the Berjaya Times Square, a shopping mall which is located along Jalan Imbi, which is not far from the hotel, only two monorail stations away. So, from outside the hotel, we crossed the Jalan Raja Chulan towards the monorail station, and from there, we took the monorail to Imbi station, which is located in front of and directly connected to Berjaya Times Square. Irza wouldn't need to purchase any tickets for the monorail, only adults are required to purchase tickets. The system is similar to Singapore's old farecard system before migrating to the new EZ-Link system. While passing the gate when entering the station, we would need to insert the ticket, and take it back. Once we reach the destination, we need to insert the ticket again while passing the gate upon exiting.

Berjaya Times Square is a big shopping mall, which is equipped with two indoor theme parks, one for children and another one for adults. It's similar to Bandung Super Mall, but in a much bigger scale. Last time we also had visited this mall couple of times when we visited Kuala Lumpur. However, Irza (and also Inka, last time) didn't like the environment inside the theme park, which can be very noisy, especially when the roller coaster is running. I know that Irza won't be comfortable there, so I decided to take Irza to Mines Wonderland instead, a small evening theme park which is located around Serdang, south of Kuala Lumpur.

We took the monorail from Imbi station to KL Sentral station, which is the biggest interchange station in Kuala Lumpur. The KL Sentral monorail station is located outside the main KL Sentral building, so we needed to walk through a market alley, similar to Bugis Village in Singapore. Inside the main KL Sentral building, we looked for the ticket counter for the KTM Commuter train to Serdang. Different from the monorail, for this commuter train, Irza needed to pay the child fare.

After buying the tickets, we went straight to the gate towards the KTM Commuter train platform. After checking the map displayed, we found out that to go to Serdang, we needed to go to platform 6 to catch the next train to Seremban. Once we reached the platform, there's a plasma TV display showing that the next train would arrive at 17:24hrs. It turned out to be that the train only arrived at around 17:35hrs, more than 10 minutes behind its schedule.

The train was very very crowded. I immediately put all my wallets and mobile phone inside my bag, since KL public transport system is very infamous for the pickpocketing activities. Luckily, someone gave her seat for Irza so he could sit down during the trip.

The train journey from KL Sentral to Serdang took about 20 minutes, passing through Mid Valley station, which is located just in front of the Mid Valley Mega Mall, a famous mega shopping mall around the area. Serdang station itself is a small and open-air station, very much looks like those small stations we can find along Jakarta-Cikampek train line in Indonesia. After exiting the station, we took the overhead bridge crossing the Sungai Besi Highway, towards the water taxi stop which is located opposite the station. We then took the water taxi, through a small lake and into a canal which goes straight to the Mines Shopping Fair, a Venetian-themed shopping mall with a big canal equipped with boats inside the mall. More pictures during our journey from the hotel to the shopping mall (the monorail, KTM Commuter train and water taxi rides) can be found here.

The entrance of Mines Wonderland is located just beside the shopping mall. The admission tickets were very expensive, RM 32 (around S$13 or 80,000 Indonesian rupiah) for adult, and RM 21 (around $9 or 52,000 rupiah) for child. Wow! But since we're there already, we decided to give it a try. Fortunately, I can save around RM5 by showing a 10% discount coupon from one of the Mines Wonderland brochures we got from the hotel, so I only needed to pay RM 48 (instead of RM 53) for one adult and one child.

Mines Wonderland itself is a simple and small theme park, much smaller than Jakarta's Dunia Fantasi in Ancol, or Kuala Lumpur's Genting Theme Park in Genting. However, it doesn't stop Irza from having a great time and enjoying all the attractions. We tried the Unity Train, Road Tram and the Vintage Car, circling around the park. We could even see the white tiger inside a mini zoo found along the Unity Train track. Irza also tried the small roller coaster there, and we also watched the Musical Fountain show, a fountain show with light and laser similar to the one in Sentosa. After having a great time there, we went back to the mall to buy back some KFC chicken for our dinner at the hotel. We then took a taxi ride back to the hotel. The taxi fare from Mines Shopping Fair to Kuala Lumpur downtown is RM 30, which is fixed and not using the meter. More pictures at Mines Wonderland can be found here.

The next morning, after having breakfast at the hotel, we started our city tour around Kuala Lumpur by visiting a chocolate factory around Jalan Imbi area, not far from the hotel. Here, we could sample some chocolates and listened to their presentation on how the chocolate was being made. Unfortunately, the chocolates are quite expensive, so I only bought one box of chocolate for Irza to bring home. More pictures can be found here.

From there, the bus took us to Istana Negara (the Palace), which is the official residence of the King of Malaysia, the Yang Dipertuan Agong. Of course, we could not enter inside the palace complex, so we only took pictures in front of the gate. The pictures can be found here.

We then continued our journey to the National Monument (Tugu Negara). which is located inside the Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Perdana), not far from the Parliament Building. The monument was erected to commemorate the Malaysian soldiers who gave up their lives during the Japanese occupation between 1942-1945. One of the monuments depicts 7 Malaysian soldiers symbolising the seven quality of leaderships, surrounded by a small pond with dancing fountains. Irza was having a great time there. More pictures can be found here.

The bus then took us to some other historical buildings around Kuala Lumpur, such as the old railway station, the Merdeka square and the Sultan Abdul Samad building, although we only passed them through inside the bus, and did not get off the bus to take more pictures. The bus then continued the journey to the Mid Valley Megamall, and after some rounds around Bangsar because the driver missed a turn, we reached Mid Valley Megamall at around 11am.

We are given about 3 hours, until 2pm, for us to spend some time in the big shopping mall for shopping and lunch. I decided to bring Irza to the MegaKidz in the third floor. MegaKidz is a big indoor playground site with slides and steps to climb, similar to eXplorerKID at Downtown East in Singapore. Irza was having a great time there. We also had our lunch at the Food Junction, a food court on the same floor as MegaKidz.

After finishing our lunch, we went to the basement floor to buy some doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts, which we cannot find in Singapore, and also some breads from Bread Talk, which is surprisingly halal in Malaysia. We then go back to the bus, and continue our journey back to Singapore.

All the pictures during our trip to Kuala Lumpur above can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Going to Jakarta and Bandung - 2

2006-07-02T12:01:00.000+08:00

(Continued from Part 1)

The next day, 8 June 2006, Inka and Irza went to Jalan Rancabolang with their father and grandfather; to buy the famous “Amanda” baked brownies, which is one of Bandung’s specialties. It’s located quite far from Bandung city center, at the south-east outskirt of Bandung, near the Jalan Soekarno-Hatta highway around Buah Batu area. Actually the brownies can also be bought from many stalls scattered around Bandung, however the price is more expensive.

In the afternoon, after checking-out from the hotel, they made another round of sightseeing around Bandung before going back to Jakarta. They went to “Rumah Mode” outlet store in Jalan Setiabudhi, before passing by the famous Jalan Cihampelas and visiting the Cihampelas Walk (CiWalk). As usual, Inka and Irza immediately went to the Timezone amusement centre there, while their mother, grandmother and aunt window-shopped around the mall. They also bought the famous J.Co Donut, which is reputably the best doughnut in Indonesia.

From Cihampelas, we then went to Jalan Pasirkaliki. Our destination is the “Bumbu Desa” restaurant where we bought food for dinner the previous night. Almost everyone was satisfied with the food, so we decided to go there again for lunch. This restaurant is located along Jalan Pasirkaliki, just south of the Pasteur junction, not far from Istana Plaza, one of the biggest shopping malls in Bandung.

Actually it was already past 2pm Indonesian time (or 3pm Singapore time) when we reached the restaurant, so it was actually quite a bit late for lunch. However that doesn’t stop us from enjoying lots of variety of Sundanese food, such as grilled chicken, pepes tahu, pepes oncom, kangkong belachan, bandeng fish, and the most important, lalapan (raw vegetables) and sambal (chili). There are three types of sambal provided, and all are good. With Teh Botol (Indonesian famous ice tea) for drink and es cincau hijau (green grass jelly ice) as dessert, it’s simply delicious.

More pictures at the Bumbu Desa restaurant, including the food – you have been warned!! :) :) – can be found here. After finishing our lunch, we then go straight towards Terusan Pasteur and hit the Cipularang expressway to go back to Jakarta. We reached Jakarta in the evening.

The next day, I took Inka and Irza to Depok to visit a new shopping mall around Margonda, Depok. The new shopping mall is called Margo City, and it’s located just opposite Depok Town Square (Detos), another shopping mall in Depok which we have visited earlier. At that time, this Margo City was not yet finished and still on the last stage of development.

Since the shopping mall was quite new, most of the units were empty. The only “life” of the new shopping mall is the J.Co Donut stall, which always can make people to queue for very long time to get the (reputably) best doughnuts in town. As usual, Inka and Irza went to the Timezone amusement centre (agaiiiin, *sigh*) on the second floor.

Since nothing much to see and do there, we went to Detos, which is just opposite the road, and we had dinner at the Popeye restaurant on ground floor. Inka chose the fried chicken, while Irza chose the chicken strips. More pictures can be found here.

The next day, in the afternoon, we went to Cilandak Town Square (Citos). We did another round of shopping at the Matahari department store, and as usual, Inka and Irza also dropped by at the Timezone on the ground floor. During tea-time, we also went to Kafe Pisa and had some ice creams. More pictures at Kafe Pisa can be found here.

On Sunday morning, 11 June 2006, the whole family was very busy attending the aqiqah ceremony for Adyarafa Almefty Priguna, a.k.a. Rafa, which is Inka and Irza’s youngest and newest cousin. Rafa is the first son of Uncle Firman and Aunty Ria, and was born on May 2006. The event was held at Uncle Firman’s house in Puri Cinere, Depok. The event includes prayers for the baby’s health as well as shaving of some of the baby’s hair. More pictures at the event can be found here.

In the evening, we went to Bakmi Japos restaurant in Pangkalan Jati, Cinere, to celebrate the birthday of Nenek (Inka and Irza’s grandmother). The restaurant is located next to the Pangkalan Jati golf course, and we loved the ambience of the restaurant. Some of the tables are located facing a park with a small pond, with live music provided every night. The food itself is OK, not really great. The pictures can be found here.

Inka and Irza were staying for another week in Jakarta, before going back to Singapore on the 18th of June 2006. Inka even had the chance to go to Bandung again with her grandparents, and visited Rumah Strawberry, which is a nice strawberry theme park located along Jalan Cihanjuang, Bandung. Unfortunately, there were no pictures available.

(The End)

Going to Jakarta and Bandung - 1

2006-06-28T16:18:00.000+08:00

During June school holiday this year, Inka and Irza went to Jakarta with their parents for a short 2.5 weeks holiday. They left Singapore for Jakarta on 1 June 2006 with their mother, while their father followed them on 3 June 2006. They took the Valuair flight directly to Jakarta from Singapore. On the 3^rd, they fetched their father from the airport and then went directly to ITC Mangga Dua, to accompany their mother and their grandmother for some shopping. ITC Mangga Dua is very famous for its cheap goods compared to other shopping malls in Jakarta. Although they didn’t like the shopping mall, which is very crowded, but they enjoyed having their lunch at the food court on the 7^th floor. More pictures at the ITC Mangga Dua can be found here.

The next morning, Irza went to Cinere Mall with his parents, and they did some grocery shopping at the Hero supermarket there. In the evening, the whole family went to Pondok Indah Mall and of course, their main destination would be the Timezone amusement centre. They were having a great time playing there, accompanied with their father, while their mother and grandparents went around shopping.

They also had lunch at Bakmi Gajah Mada (or Bakmi GM) restaurant, located on the second floor of the Pondok Indah Mall, just in front of the 21 Cineplex. Inka and Irza really enjoyed their chicken noodles, which is Bakmi GM’s specialty. More pictures at the Bakmi GM restaurant can be found here.

On 6 June 2006, the whole family went to ITC Kuningan, again to accompany their mother for some shopping (again). They reached there around lunch time, so they immediately went to the Ambassador Mall, the shopping mall next door, which is directly connected to ITC Kuningan, to have some lunch at the food court on the third floor. They really enjoyed their Indonesian food, such as ayam kalasan and soto betawi. After lunch, while waiting for their mother shopping, they were having a great time at the small playground, which is located on the same floor as the food court. More pictures at the Ambassador Mall can be found here.

On 7 June 2006, they went to Bandung, together with their parents, grandmother and aunt. Bandung is a city about 120km south east of Jakarta, and connected to Jakarta via the new Cipularang expressway. With this new expressway, the journey from Jakarta to Bandung only takes about 2 hours. Irza was very impressed with all the railway bridges, which can be seen from the expressway.

They reached Bandung at around 12pm and after having lunch at their grandparents’ house in Cimindi, they went to the factory outlet stores along Jalan Riau, Bandung. While waiting for their mother, aunt and grandmother to shop, they went to a playground called Happy Days, which is located on the third floor of one of the outlets.

After waiting for the avid shoppers to finish their shopping, they went to the hotel to check-in. They stayed at the Aston Hotel and Residence, a new hotel which is located at the Braga Citywalk shopping complex. The hotel is new with a very nice lobby. However, since the shopping complex is also quite new, it’s still empty. Only the amusement centre and the food court on the second floor are opened, together with some other small stalls. There’s also Braga 21 cineplex, which is also very quiet. More pictures at the Braga Citywalk and Aston Hotel and Residences can be found here.

In the evening, while the avid shoppers were shopping at the factory outlet stores along Jalan Juanda (Dago) such as “Grande” and “Jetset”, Inka and Irza had “early” dinner with his father at the KFC along the same stretch of road. They went back to the hotel after going to the Bumbu Desa restaurant along Jalan Pasirkaliki to buy some dinner to be eaten at the hotel.

[Indonesian version]

(Continued to Part 2)

Quicklink: Photos of the Week – 2

2006-06-14T12:54:00.000+08:00

These pictures were taken before we went to Jakarta early this month for a short holiday.

More pictures during our holiday in Jakarta and Bandung will follow. Stay tuned. :)

[Indonesian version]

Quicklink: Photos of the Week - 1

2006-05-21T02:07:00.000+08:00

Photos of Inka and Irza in the past couple of weeks can be found here.

Quicklink: Swimming Irza

2006-05-12T13:25:00.000+08:00

Photos of Irza while swimming in the swimming pool within our apartment's complex. Please click here.

Tante Dian wondered why the swimming pool is similar to the one in her apartment where she once stayed while in Singapore. Turned out to be that it's actually the same apartment complex. :D :D

ISM Gathering at East Coast Park

2006-05-08T14:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday (Sunday, 7/5), we went to East Coast Park to attend the IndoSing-Mums (ISM) gathering. ISM itself is a closed mailing list for those Indonesian mums and mums-wanna-be currently living in Singapore. This gathering is also specially conducted as a farewell party for Tante Wanti and family, who will go back to Makassar this month, and also for Tante Ulfah and family, who will move to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Some of the pictures are below.

Left picture - Inka and Irza were having a great time playing with sands on the beach, together with Fathir and his father, Uncle Roni.

Right picture - Uncle Roni was busy giving chicken noodles to Fathir, while Q2 (Qiratullah), Tante Wanti's son, was waiting to be fed as well. In the end, Uncle Roni was feeding both. :)

Left picture - those are the kids of Om Emil and Tante Nonong, which are currently living in Eunos. From left to right: Marsya, Fadzil and Naira. Believe it or not, currently Tante Nonong is expecting her fourth child!

Right picture - that's Aidan, the lovely and only son of Om Wisnu and Tante Shinta. The family currently lives in Sengkang.

Left picture - That is the picture of Hanan and Iffah, who were having a great time playing with sands on the beach. Hanan is the first daughter of Om Iwan and Tante Hany, while Iffah is the only daughter of Om Duddy and Tante Ellen.

Right picture - That is the picture of Zidan and Syifa. Zidan and Syifa are the children of Om Haris and Tante Inong. They live nearby, in Bukit Batok, about 10 minutes drive from our home.

Left picture - From left to right: Fathir, son of Om Roni and Tante Gita, Atifah, daughter of Tante Ulfah and Om Yahya, Q1 (Qurratayun), first son of Om Iman and Tante Wanti, Aily, daughter of Om Judhi and Tante Ami, and Athaya, daughter of Om Bubun and Tante Wiwie.

More pictures during the event can be found here, as well as here (thanks to Tante Hany), here (thanks to Om Judhi), here, here, here, here, here and here.

[Indonesian version]

Quicklink: Pictures at Bugis Junction

2006-05-06T20:43:00.000+08:00

Pictures of Inka and Irza at Bugis Junction, can be found here. We were there last Saturday (29/4) for some sightseeing (as usual), was taking care of the children while waiting for my wife (window) shopping. :)

[Indonesian version]

Cycling at East Coast Park

2006-05-04T15:14:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (29/4) morning, the whole family went to East Coast Park for cycling and a little bit of exercising. As usual, we brought Inka and Irza's bicycles there, while I and my wife rented a tandem bicycle from one of the bicycle kiosks there. Fortunately, the weather was just nice, not too hot and a bit cloudy, but not raining either. Just nice. :)

We cycled along the bicycle path for quite some time. After about 45 minutes, Inka and Irza looked a bit tired. So I returned the tandem bicycle to the kiosk and then we walked towards McDonalds to have some breakfast. Inka and Irza enjoyed their big breakfast and hotcakes a lot, quite a bit hungry after cycling for quite some time.

After finishing their breakfast, Inka and Irza took some time playing at the playground just beside the restaurant. The playground is provided by McDonalds for its customers there.

More pictures can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Tekukor Playground and Bistro Delifrance

2006-04-30T11:43:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (23/4), after having her weekly reading lesson at ICR Jurong East, Inka with her brother Irza went to Jalan Tekukor to play at the playground there. They were having a great time playing there. The pictures can be found here.

In the evening, the whole family went to Ngee Ann City, Orchard Road. Our destination is the Bistro Delifrance restaurant, on basement 1. It's the restaurant version of the famous Delifrance cafe in Singapore. The food served is similar to what is served in Swensens, and the price is also similar.

The flat principal (main course) which I ordered is Jarret d’ Agneau Braisé (see right picture), which is braised lamb shank served with mashed potato. My wife ordered Pâtes Forestière, chicken and mushroom in cream sauce served on linguine. Irza chose the Friture de Poisson et Pommes Frites (see bottom left picture), which is Delifrance's version of fish and chips, golden battered fish fillet and potato wedges, served with tartar sauce.

Inka didn't order any main course because she already had dinner at home before we left. So she ordered Gauffres Croustillantes for dessert. It's Delifrance's anwer to waffle ice cream. Hot crispy waffles served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, topped with strawberry sauce. It's very nice indeed, and eventually Irza also wanted the same dessert.

The pictures can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Saturday Bus Journey

2006-04-27T23:05:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (22 April 2006), I took Irza for a bus ride around Singapore. Irza likes to take the public bus, especially the double decker bus. Our first destination was Paragon in Orchard Road. We left home at around 2pm, and we took bus 61 to Holland Road, after which then we took the bus 7 to Lucky Plaza bus stop along Orchard Road. Actually, there's a direct bus (174) from our home to Orchard, however the bus is very rare and sometimes it takes ages to wait for the bus to come.

We walked around Paragon for a while, before walking towards the bus stop in front of Heeren. After buying some fried snacks from Old Chang Kee, we took bus 77 towards the Marina Bay area. Our next destination was Marina Square. We alight at the bus stop in front of Pan Pacific Hotel, and use the overhead bridge to the Marina Square shopping mall.

We had our lunch at the Cavana Chicken restaurant on the 2nd floor. After lunch, we walked outside the shopping mall, and crossing the Raffles Avenue towards the Esplanade. Actually I wanted to take Irza to Esplanade, however looks like he's very tired so I decided to go to the bus stop there to look for a bus ride home. There was no direct bus home from there, so we took the bus 171 to Upper Bukit Timah Road, just opposite the Bukit Timah Plaza, and then we continue to take the bus 66 home.

Some pictures during the bus journey can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Sentosa

2006-04-18T18:42:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (17 April 2006), I and Irza took Uncle Sigit to Sentosa for a short sightseeing. We decided to go to Sentosa after taking Uncle Sigit to his new temporary home in Paya Lebar. Entering Sentosa, we needed to pay $2 per person (including Irza), plus another $2 for the car. So total we needed to pay $8 at the gate. Quite cheap, compared to several years go when we had to pay $6 per person only to enter Sentosa.

I parked my car at the Cable Car carpark, just behind the Merlion (see left picture). There are several carparks in Sentosa, and I like this carpark becaues of its close proximity to several attractions in Sentosa, including the Merlion and Sentosa Luge, our favourite attraction we intended to go. From the carpark, we walked towards the escalator, and took the escalator down to Merlion.

Kindly informed that now, there are several escalators connecting the Merlion and the Cable Car Plaza (see right picture). So you will not have to take the stairs anymore to "climb" the hill from the Merlion to Cable Car Plaza. We took several pictures in front of the Merlion, even though we didn't enter and went up to the top of the Merlion due to the hefty ticket price, which is $8 per person (for adult)! Last time, before renovation, it was only $3 per person, not too sure why it's now $5 more expensive after the renovation.

After taking pictures around the Merlion (see left picture), we went back up again, using the escalators, back to the Cable Car Plaza. Passing through the Images of Singapore and Carlsberg Sky Tower, we reached the next attraction, the Sentosa Luge. We purchased the $20 family pass which can be shared among us. Since Irza didn't have to pay since he was just a pillion rider on the toboggan, we could take 2 rides each.

As usual, Irza was having a great time riding the toboggan. This is the first time Uncle Sigit rode the toboggan. Right now, there's an automatic camera attached to a tower which will take our picture while we were riding the toboggan. So once we finished riding the toboggan, we can buy the photos from the kiosk nearby. Wow, $10 for a photo print, and $5 for the photo file to be sent to our e-mail address. Very expensive!
After the first ride, we went back up using the chairlift (see left picture). Initially, Irza didn't want to take the chairlift since we have actually taken this chairlift before and he was a bit scared, however after convincing and promising him another toboggan ride, he's taking the chairlift eventually. I noticed that there's also an automatic camera attached to the second tower while we were climbing up, so we can get the photo while we were taking the chairlift, with Singapore Straits as the background.

After the second toboggan ride, we proceeded to Siloso Beach (see right picture). Once there, we bought some ice cream from New Zealand Natural Ice Cream kiosk, before taking Irza to play on the beach. Unfortunately, the weather suddenly changed and the lifeguards there issued thunder warning and asked everyone to come out of the sea and take shelter.

After changing Irza's clothes, we took the beach tram towards Underwater World. After getting off the tram, we went to the Flying Trapeze attraction. Irza was stunned to see children his age was climbing up the stairs and swing using some ropes, just like in the circus.

From there, we walked past Delifrance, and cross the roundabout to the bus stop in front of Underwater World, for us to take the "green line" Sentosa bus back to Cable Car Plaza. Reaching the Cable Car Plaza, we alight from the bus and once we walked past the Calsberg Sky Tower, it started to rain. So I had to carry Irza, and then we walked fast through the escalator towards the carpark. Luckily, we reached the car in time 5 minutes before it really rained.

From there, we went to Paya Lebar to drop off Uncle Sigit, before heading back home. Photos while in Sentosa can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Bukit Batok Nature Park

2006-04-14T09:50:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (8 April 2006), I took Inka to Bukit Batok Nature Park, for a bit of exercising and, for Inka, cycling. Actually I intended to bring Irza as well, but he was still asleep on that morning, and did not wake up after we waited for quite some time, so we decided to go without him.

Bukit Batok Nature Park is quite close to our home, at the corner of Bukit Batok East Avenue 2 and Bukit Batok East Avenue 6. It's actually an extension of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (separated by the Upper Bukit Timah Road), therefore its rainforest is indeed inviting. It's perfect with joggers who like uneven terrain and serene ambience.

There's only one bicycle track, though, however the track leads you to the main attraction of the park, a picturesque pond. The pond is beside a very high stone cliff (see top right picture). It's simply spectacular, perfect for photo shutters. Not far from the pond, there's a playground for children to play around (see left picture).

After Inka was having a great time playing in the playground and cycling around the park, we went to West Mall in Bukit Batok, to have our breakfast at Burger King, first floor. As usual, Inka ordered her favourite chicken ham croissant. There, we met my wife and Irza. My wife was also having appointment with some of her friends living around Bukit Batok area.

Photos while we were at the Bukit Batok Nature Park can be found here, while the photos while we were at the Burger King, West Mall can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Aunty Ambar's Birthday Party

2006-04-11T16:13:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (8/4), we went to Aunty Ambar's place in Tanjong Rhu, Singapore, to attend her birthday party, as well as her farewell party since she will be going back to the UK, following her husband. As usual, Inka and Irza immediately joined their friends to play and to have fun together with Kakak Fira and Adam, Kakak Aily and Algo, Q1 and Q2, Rifa, Iffah and the others.

We also all together sang the Happy Birthday song (in Bahasa Indonesia) for Aunty Ambar, as well as prayer led by Aunty Ellen. There's also tumpeng (not cake, see right picture) cutting ceremony, and some words of advice given by Aunty Mela. We had quite a lot of variety of Indonesian food dishes for dinner, including satay which is specially prepared by Aunty Wanti.

I can see that Inka is now able to socialise with her friends. Usually, she's quite difficult to socialise and mingle with other children. Perhaps it might be helped by the fact that Inka has met some of them during her birthday party at McDonalds Bukit Timah, as well as at Q1's birthday party in Pasir Ris.

Another thing which is quite interesting, I can see that Irza was a bit jealous to see his sister playing around with others. Perhaps it's because usually Irza always play with Inka at home, there's no other children or friends he can play with, not even Alex, the kid next door. And it was actually a good time for Irza to play with a lot of friends on his age, such as Adam and Rifa. Ah well, may be next time will be much better. :)

More photos during the event can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Marina Square

2006-04-10T19:04:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday (6/4), I took half-day PM leave because in the afternoon I had to attend two important meetings: (1) parent-teacher meeting with Inka's teacher, Ms. Idayu at Bukit Timah Primary School, and (2) Irza's doctor's appointment at the KK Hospital's clinic.

I reached the Bukit Timah Primary School on Lorong Kismis at around 3pm, and met Ms. Idayu. We discussed about Inka's difficulties in spelling, and the teacher suggested that Inka is to be exposed to more books, so she can learn and be more familar with more English words. Overall, she doesn't have any issues for both English (reading and writing) and Math, except that her spelling still need to be improved.

After finished our meeting, I took Irza to KK Hospital for a follow-up check after he was discharged from the hospital due to febrile fit. Thank God, according to the doctor, there's nothing to be worried of, and there's no need for further appointment. The most important is to ensure that the fit does not come back again and to control his body's temperature should he gets fever again.

We then went to Marina Square, a big shopping mall in the heart of the city, not far from Suntec City and Esplanade. This mall has been renovated recently, and we can feel that it's more bright and lively after the renovation (see left picture).

Some of the stores include Kiddy Palace in the third floor (see right picture). A wide range of toys are available at reasonable prices, really much cheaper compared to, for example, Toys R Us or any other department stores.

After walking around the big mall, we went to Cavana restaurant on the second floor, near Giant Hypermart, for dinner. Inka and Irza really loves the Cavana chicken rice, especially the crispy chicken wing (see left picture). My wife chose the famous barbeque chicken rice, while I ordered the teriyaki chicken rice on a hotplate.

After dinner, we went to the Giant Hypermart to buy some things before heading back home. More photos at the Marina Square can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Secret Recipe

2006-04-07T11:32:00.000+08:00

Other than Swensens, one of our favourite restaurants in Singapore is Secret Recipe. This restaurant chain is actually based in Malaysia, but it has already opened several branches in Singapore, such as IMM Building, Plaza Singapura, Suntec City, Marina Square etc. I even heard from my wife that they also have opened a branch in Jakarta's Taman Anggrek Mall, but we've never been there before. The outlet list in Singapore can be found here. They are already halal certified by MUIS.

On Wednesday (5/4) lunch time, I had lunch with my wife at Secret Recipe in IMM Building (see top left picture). It's located on the first floor, just next to the KFC restaurant. My wife ordered her favourite Irish Lamb Stew, mutton ribs stewed with an Irish special steak sauce, topped with mashed potatoes, while myself ordered the Black Pepper Chicken Steak served with rice and salad. Delicious. :)

In the evening, the whole family took Uncle Sigit to Plaza Singapura for a short sightseeing. Since Inka haven't had her dinner yet, I took Inka to Secret Recipe (again), this one is the Plaza Singapura branch, located on the third floor. Inka ordered her favourite kids burger, served with hash browns, while myself just ordered the chocolate fudge cake for dessert since I already had my dinner. Secret Recipe is also famous for its wide range of cakes available, from several types of chocolate cakes, cheese cakes and tiramisu.

Similar to Swensens, the price is moderate, with dishes between $9 and $15, while the cake is sold at $4.50 per slice. Last time, DBS credit card holders got 10% discount, unfortunately the promotion is no longer in action. Take note that if you have Worldcard issued by Genting or Suntec City Privilege Card, you can redeem your Worldcard points here.

[Indonesian version]

Tour de Sengkang

2006-04-04T22:56:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (2 April 2006), we went to Sengkang to visit the new home of Aidan, the son of Uncle Wisnu and Aunty Shinta. They just moved from Bedok Reservoir to Sengkang just a couple of months ago. We have not seen Uncle Wisnu, Aunty Shinta and Aidan for quite some time already. Last time we met them during Inka's birthday party last December, and also when we went to Pendas and Johor Bahru together last September.

Sengkang is a new town on the north-east side of Singapore. Together with Punggol, the town is connected to the downtown Singapore via a new subway line, the North-East Line (NEL). The train journey from Sengkang town to Dhoby Ghaut on Orchard Road will only take about 20 minutes.

We reached Aunty Shinta's apartment in Anchorvale, Sengkang, at around 11:30am. After which, we walked to Compass Point to have lunch. Compass Point is the biggest shopping mall around Sengkang. It's next to the Sengkang MRT and LRT stations, and it's only less than 10 minutes' walk from Aunty Shinta's place.

There's Banquet halal food court there on the 2nd floor, however it's very small, so we decided to go to the Kopitiam food court on the 4th floor. However, as we expected, it's also packed. So we decided to have our lunch at Sakura restaurant, a halal Chinese and Thai restaurant, with quite reasonable prices. You can find the photos here.

After lunch, we went to Kiddy Palace to buy some toys for Inka and Irza there. We also bought some home-made waffles from Prima Deli, before going back to Aunty Shinta's place. There are two playgrounds in the apartment complex, so Inka, Irza and Aidan took the opportunity to play in one of the playgrounds and have fun. You can find the photos here.

Since it was going to be raining soon, we rushed back to Aunty Shinta's place, and Inka, Irza and Aidan continued to play and have fun there. More photos of Inka, Irza and Aidan at Aunty Shinta's place can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Having Fun at the Playground

2006-04-02T07:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday (Saturday, 1 April 2006) evening, I took Inka and Irza to the playground within our apartment's vicinity, and coincidentally, our neighbours Ilma, Nadia and Adrian are also there with their mother, Tante Dini. As a result, they were having a great time playing around, together.

More pictures of them playing at the playground can be found here.

The Indonesian version of this post can be found here.

Going back to Singapore via Batam (2)

2006-03-22T17:31:00.000+08:00

(continued from the previous post)

Left picture: Mega Mall, Batam Centre, just opposite the ferry terminal

After reaching the Batam Centre ferry terminal, we immediately went to the Wavemaster counter to get our boarding passes. Since we already had return tickets, we didn't need to purchase tickets anymore. We just needed to pay the seaport tax, which is S$3 per person, total $12 for the 4 of us. The staff will also provide us with a duly completed immigration card. For Singapore residents, you will only need the Indonesian immigration card, but for non-Singapore residents, you will need both the Indonesian and Singapore immigration cards.

I also checked and confirmed that what my friend said here is true. If we buy the tickets in Batam, it will only cost $15 for a return trip. So, it's only half the price of the return tickets if we buy them in Singapore. So, next time if we go to Batam again, we plan to buy one-way tickets from Singapore, and buy the return tickets in Batam. Much cheaper. Just need to take note that the validity of the ticket is only 1 year.

After we got our boarding passes, we proceeded to the fiskal counter, to process our free fiscal tax request. Indonesians need to pay fiscal tax every time they leave the country. The tax is a hefty 1,000,000 rupiahs for air travel and 500,000 rupiahs for sea travel. However, those Indonesians living overseas (including us) can get 4 (four) free fiscal-tax a year. You just need to submit your passport, boarding pass and a copy of your passport to request for the free fiscal tax.

After it's done, we proceeded to check-in our luggage to the porter counter. It's free for the first 10 kg of luggage, but luggage above 10 kg is chargeable, depends on the number and the weight of the luggage. We paid 20,000 rupiahs for 3 luggages.

After checking-in our luggage, we then went to the second floor, to have our lunch at the Singgalang restaurant, a nice "real" Nasi Padang restaurant in the vicinity of the ferry terminal (see right picture). As usual, Inka and Irza ordered their favourite fried chicken. I ordered the orange juice, which is really nice, different from the "usual" orange juices we find in Singapore.

After finishing our lunch, we proceeded to the departure longue. We had our bags scanned, then we cleared immigration before we boarded the Wavemaster 6 ferry to Singapore. The ferry departed on-time at 3:30pm Batam time, and we reached the Harbourfront ferry terminal in Singapore at 5:30pm Singapore time. As usual, we needed to take the luggage out of the ferry ourselves even though we checked them in while boarding the ferry.

Reaching the immigration counter, we chose the "All Passport" lane since the "Singapore Passport" lane's queue is longer. However, it turned out to be that the "Singapore Passport" is much faster to clear. Take note that even though you're not a Singaporean, you can take the "Singapore Passport" lane if you're a permanent resident or employment pass, dependant's pass or work permit holder.

After we cleared immigration, we were greeted by Aunty Shinta who was waiting patiently for us at the ferry terminal. After which, we walked to the taxi stand in front of the Harbourfront Centre and took a cab back home.

You can find the photos in Batam Center, including those taken at Singgalang restaurant and inside the ferry, by clicking here.

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Going back to Singapore via Batam (1)

2006-03-22T17:10:00.000+08:00

After a week of "refreshing" in our home town and spending some time with our family, it's now time for us to come back to Singapore. On Sunday morning, 19 March 2006, we went to the Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport. We left our home in Cinere at 8:30am, and reached the airport at around 9:30am, so the journey took only 1 hour, a rare experience we can get in Jakarta, which is famous for its bad traffic.

Once we reached the Terminal 1A building, we immediately checked-in at the Indonesia AirAsia counter, which is on the most left side. We checked in our luggage and got our boarding pass, after we paid the airport tax, which is 30,000 Indonesian rupiahs per person for domestic flight. Total, we paid 120,000 rupiahs for 4 of us. We then took the escalator to go to the departure longue on the second floor. You can see the photos here.

The QZ 7552 flight to Batam departed at 11:35am, about 20-minute delayed from its original schedule at 11:15am. As usual, the AirAsia flight is comfortable. They are using a new Boing 737-300 with seats which are comfortable, at least for a budget airline. The kids also could sleep well during the whole flight journey. The plane touched down at Batam's Hang Nadim airport at 1:05pm. You can see the photos here.

After claiming our luggage, we immediately took the cab to Batam Center ferry terminal. We actually intended to go to the Batam Center Mega Mall first, which is located just opposite the ferry terminal, but my wife changed her mind since she's already a bit tired. The taxi fare is 70,000 rupiahs according to the official price list at the airport. Not too sure why it's 10,000 rupiahs more expensive than the other way around.

(Continued to the next post)

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Djoko Chicken Porridge

2006-03-21T12:13:00.000+08:00

One of our family's favourite eating place in Cinere, South Jakarta, is "Djoko" Chicken Porridge stall. It's actually a makeshift stall on top of a Suzuki Carry pick-up parked at the Block A Cinere carpark complex, just opposite the Cinere Mall. The stall only opens on Saturdays and Sundays morning, and its chicken porridge is really nice. Not too sure what kind of spices used when they cook the porridge, but the result is really a nice chicken porridge.

The price is also reasonable, ranging from 6,000 to 8,000 rupiahs (just above S$1). During the one week period while we were in Jakarta, we went there twice. :) The photos can be found here.

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Going to Jakarta via Batam (2)

2006-03-16T00:50:00.000+08:00

After lunch (see previous post), we immediately took a taxi to Hang Nadim airport. The taxi journey took about 20 minutes, and the price is fixed at 60,000 rupiah. You can see the list of the taxi fare to almost all destinations in Batam at the taxi counter, just to the left after you clear immigration. We reached the airport at around 12:35pm, and immediately went to the Indonesia AirAsia counter to check-in for the QZ 7553 flight to Jakarta. Indonesia AirAsia is a subsidiary of Malaysia's AirAsia, the leading budget airline in the region. It's similar to Thai AirAsia, which is the subsidiary of AirAsia in Thailand.

I like using AirAsia compared to other budget airlines because the service is good and efficient, and the price is quite cheap. A return ticket from Batam to Jakarta to Batam (including tax) for 4 people is only around 1.7 million rupiahs (or less than S$300). So, it's only around S$70 per person, and that already includes tax. With the $30 ferry ticket per person, the total cost per person is only around $100, excluding taxi fares etc. Very cheap! You can compare with Lion Air or Adam Air, which flies directly from Singapore's Changi airport to Jakarta. At least you will have to fork out about $200 (including tax) per person, and that's only if you're lucky to get such fare. Usually, the fare is even higher, especially during peak season.

I also like AirAsia's ticketing system. We can buy tickets online on the Internet, and pay using our credit card. Since it's a domestic Indonesian flight, the fare is in Indonesian rupiahs. It's a ticketless system, so we just need to print out the ticket and then submit the print-out together with our passport/IC during check-in. Very efficient!

After check-in, we paid the airport tax, which is 13,000 rupiahs (slightly more than S$2) per head, total 52,000 rupiahs. We then entered the departure longue. Hang Nadim airport is quite a modern airport, it's comparable (if not better) than Johor Bahru's Senai airport, and it's much better than other Indonesian airports, such as Yogyakarta, Lombok or Bandung, which I visited last year. More pictures of us at Batam's Hang Nadim airport can be found here.

The flight was on-time. Even there are aerobridges in the airport, but it wasn't used by AirAsia to save cost. So we needed to walk on the tarmac to reach the airplane, which was alright to us, we could even took some pictures of the plane from the tarmac. :) The service is also much much better than Lion Air or Adam Air, which I once used before. The plane is also quite new. I was initially afraid that we would use those old planes belong to Awair, but that was not the case.

The flight took around one and a half hour, and we reached at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport at around 3pm. We arrived at the terminal 1A of the airport, and were greeted by Aki and Ene, Aunty Via with Alif and Kayla, and Uncle Firman. From there, we went to Ayam Hayam Wuruk restaurant in Kebayoran Baru, and met Aunty Ria there. We had another lunch (well, we can say that a late lunch, if not early dinner) there, before heading back to my parent's house in Cinere, south Jakarta.

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Going to Jakarta via Batam (1)

2006-03-16T00:44:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, 11 March 2006, we went to Jakarta via Batam. We left home at around 10am Singapore time, and we took a cab to the Harbourfront Centre ferry terminal (previously known as World Trade Centre). We have bought the ticket and got the boarding pass one day before, so after reaching Harbourfront Centre at around 10:30am, we immediately went to the Departure Longue on the second floor to check-in our luggage and clear immigration. No issue while clearing Singapore immigration, and the ferry also departed on time (11:05am).

We took the Wavemaster (Berlian) ferry, just want to try it since usually we always use the Penguin ferry if we go to Batam. We found out that the Wavemaster ferry is newer and more comfortable compared to Penguin ferry. Not too sure why people like to use Penguin (I can see that the queue in front of Penguin ticket counter is always longer than Berlian's), since I think Berlian ferry is better and the price is the same, which is $30 for adult and $27 for child. According to my friend, return tickets are cheaper if we buy it in Batam compared to if we buy it in Singapore.

More pictures during the ferry journey can be found here. The journey to Batam Centre took about one hour plus, a bit longer than the journey to Sekupang. This is because Batam Centre is located further to the east compared to Sekupang, but in return, the land journey from the ferry terminal to the airport or to the city centre (Nagoya, Baloi, Penuin) is much shorter.

Batam Centre is a new, modern and efficient ferry terminal, which was built recently to replace the aging Batu Ampar ferry terminal. It's linked to a mega mall across the street with a covered pedestrian bridge. We reached Batam Centre at around 11:10am Batam time (note that Batam time is one hour behind Singapore time). Even though we checked-in our luggage upon embarking at Singapore, take note that we still have to carry our own luggage while disembarking the ferry.

The queue at the immigration is quite long, perhaps because it was Saturday, quite a lot of people from Singapore visited Batam, eiter only for a day, the weekend, or as a stepping stone to Jakarta (like what we were doing). Nevertheless, there was no issue clearing the immigration. The kids already started to felt hungry since they didn't have so much for their breakfast, so we went to the second floor and had our lunch at Singgalang restaurant, a "true" Padang restaurant, which is different than the usual nasi Padang in Singapore.

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Swensens

2006-03-11T01:52:00.000+08:00

Swensens is one of our family's favourite restaurants. The food is halal, and there's quite a lot of variety, starting from the appetizer, main course and of course, the dessert. :) The price is above average, so we try not to go there too often. :) In any case, you will get 10% discount as long as you use HSBC credit cards.

Last Saturday (4/3), after spending some time window shopping at Ngee Ann City, we went to the Swensens restaurant at Crown Prince Hotel, diagonally opposite Ngee Ann City, just next to Paragon. We had our lunch already so we went there only to have ice creams as our desserts during tea time.

My wife ordered her favourite banana split (see bottom left picture), while Inka liked her waffle ice cream (see top left picture). As for Irza? He still prefers his favourite volcano (see above right picture).

Indo Panggang

2006-03-09T12:37:00.000+08:00

Mesmerized by the discussion at the indo-sing mailing list, we went to Indo Panggang, a new Indonesian stall at the S11 Food Court in Cuppage Terrace, just behind the Centrepoint Shopping Centre, along Orchard Road. You can reach there easily by taking the MRT to Somerset, or if you drive, you can park your car at quite a lot of carparks nearby, such as the Centrepoint, Orchard Point or Starhub Centre carparks.

The stall location is facing outside the food court itself, while the rest are actually inside the food court complex, so we were having difficulties in finding the correct stall initially. So we needed to ask around before finding the correct stall. :)

The stall's specialties are grilled kampong (or normal) chicken, and also pempek Palembang (Palembang's specialty fish cake). The chicken is charcoal-grilled on the spot, while the fishcake is also deep-fried on the spot, so we waited for quite some time (15-20 minutes) before we can have the food.

The grilled chicken is very nice, and comparable to the famous Indonesian Riverside stall at Plaza Singapura's Kopitiam food court. The good thing is that Indo Panggang dishes is cooked by a Muslim so it's halal (even though the halal certification is still in process), while Riverside is not.

I tried the $5.50 grilled kampong chicken, while my wife tried the $3.80 grilled (normal) chicken, but we find almost no difference, even the size of the chicken is almost the same. :)

But the Palembang fishcake is spectacular, just like the original. We tried the $2.80 set of 3 fish cake balls, quite economical.

Overall, it's nice. Glad to see more and more Indonesian restaurants and stalls offering us with more variety, after Kantin Aneka, Ayam Penyet and Es Teler 77. :)

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Dinner at Plaza Singapura

2006-03-06T23:03:00.000+08:00

Still on the same day, Sunday (5/3) evening, Irza and his father went to Plaza Singapura since we have dinner appointment with cc Rachel and kakak Nadia. Kakak Nadia is going to Singapore for a short holiday, together with his relative, Ronald, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We had dinner at the Kopitiam food court on the sixth floor of Plaza Singapura (left picture).

Irza was a bit shy initially, especially since it's his first time meeting kakak Nadia, and his second time meeting cc Rachel. But eventually, he could mingle and even didn't hesitate to ask Bang Ronald to carry him (right picture).

More pictures of us at Plaza Singapura can be found here.

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Adam and Hanan's Birthday Party at West Coast Park

2006-03-06T08:21:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, Sunday 5 March 2006, we went to West Coast Park to take part in celebrating the 4th birthday of Adam, lovely son of Teh Mela, and Hanan, lovely daughter of Mbak Hany. As usual, Inka needs to attend her ICR lesson first in the morning, so we went to the birthday party after Inka finished her lesson at 10:30am, and we reached West Coast Park at around 11am.

There were quite a lot of people when we reached there. Inka, as usual, immediately approached Mbak Hany to "help" in grilling her famous satay (well, knowledge transfer is indeed important for regeneration). :) Inka and Irza also later joined some of their friends, such as Iffah, Hanan and Haifa to play sand at the nearby playground.

There were also Q1 and Q2, Aily and Algorizmi, Akram, Noe, and also Zidan and Syifa, although Inka and Irza didn't manage to spend quite some time with them, yet. Well, they only met for only one, or at most, two times, so they haven't really known each other. So, I guess, we'll need to have more of this kind of gathering, so they will meet more often and know each other better, and can play together. :)

Some more pictures during the event can be found here.

Read the Indonesian version of this post here.

Kent Ridge Park

2006-03-05T15:07:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (4/3), I took Irza to Kent Ridge Park for cycling and a bit "exercising". The park is close to our previous home at Normanton Park, and also close to my office in Science Park I.

There are several access roads to this park. If you're taking a cab or driving your own car, your best bet would be the main access road on Vigilante Drive, off South Buona Vista Road. By taking this road, you can go straight to the carpark B, which is at the centre of the park on top of a hill. You can also enter the park from Pepys Road, off Pasir Panjang Road, from which you can directly enter the canopy walk in front of the Reflections at Bukit Chandu museum. Other alternative ways are from the end of the Science Park Drive, or from the back gate of Normanton Park (only for Normanton Park residents).

Since our purpose going there is for cycling, we went straight to the carpark B on top of the park's hill. Just next to the carpark is the World War II Plaque, with a tank exhibit which appeals to the kids (see left picture). From the top of the hill, we can have great view of the sea south of Singapore, and the small islands nearby.

From there, Irza cycled to the canopy walk. It takes about 5-10 minutes bicycle ride to reach the western end of the canopy walk. The notice tells us that we are not allowed to ride the bicycle along the canopy walk, you'll need to push the bicycle. The boardwalk is passing through the rainforest on the foot of the hill, so we can enjoy the view of the rainforest from the top (see right picture). Well, we can say it's the smaller version of the Treetop Walk at the MacRitchie Reservoir Park.

The boardwalk will lead you to the end of Pepys Road, just in front of the Reflections at Bukit Chandu museum (see left picture). This World War II Interpretative Centre museum is built to commemorate the gallantry and sacrifice of men of the 1st and 2nd Battalion Malay Regiment who defended the western section of Singapore from Japanese's invasion in February 1942.

From there, we retraced our steps through the canopy walk, and back to the carpark B. We went to the lookout point, which is the highest point on Kent Ridge Park hill, and took some pictures from there (see right picture as one of the examples), before we went back to the carpark and headed home. You can see other pictures of Irza at the Kent Ridge Park by clicking here.

Before heading home, we went to Queensway Shopping Centre nearby to have breakfast at McDonalds there. As usual, Irza ordered his favourite big breakfast even though he also had some of my hotcakes. More pictures of Irza at the McDonalds Queensway Shopping centre can be found here.

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IMM Building

2006-03-04T23:22:00.000+08:00

IMM Building, a shopping mall in Jurong East, is the mall we often visit frequently. Not only because it's only a mere 15 minutes drive from home, the mall also houses Giant Hypermarket, our favourite supermarket where we usually buy all our groceries and needs. It's not difficult to find halal chicken or beef here, and the price is somewhat cheaper than other supermarkets such as NTUC Fairprice or Shop N Save, especially the vegetables, fruits etc.

Other than Giant, another magnet of this shopping mall is the two children playgrounds. Yes, you didn't read it wrongly, there are two children playground inside this shopping mall. One playground is on level 2, just in front of Best Denki, for more older children, while the other one on level 3, near Kids Mall, is more for younger toddler. Inka and Irza's favourite playground is the one on level 2. However, the playground is uncomfortably packed during weekends, and some older children like to run around the playground dangerously, so be careful if you have a young toddler, ensure that he/she's under your supervision at all times. You might want to consider using the other playground on the 3rd floor, which is more suitable for your toddler. Alternatively, go there during weekdays, when the playgrounds are not as packed as on weekends. Other than the playgrounds, there are quite a lot of kiddie rides scattered around the mall, which might be suitable for younger toddler and infants.

Fast food chains like Burger King, McDonalds and Long John Silvers are on the first floor. It also houses the 3-in-1 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurant on the same floor, next to our favourite restaurant, Secret Recipe. The third level houses Bagus, a halal food court by Banquet, which is located opposite the Daiso store (see left picture), which sells imported Japan goods at a fixed price of $2 per item. Kopitiam food court is on the second floor, while there are some small snack outlets such as Polar, Old Chang Kee, Andersen's Ice Cream etc on the first floor, next to Burger King. Kids Mall is also there, located on the third floor, also the store is not as big as Kiddy Palace in Jurong Point or Causeway Point.

IMM Building is unique because it houses retail shops, offices and warehouses under one roof. It is located along Toh Guan Road, about 15 minutes walk from Jurong East MRT station. There are free shuttle bus services from Jurong East, Clementi and Boon Lay MRT stations.

Some photos of Inka and Irza in IMM Building can be found here.

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Swimming

2006-03-01T16:43:00.000+08:00

Coming back home after a joyful event at the Snow City, for some reason, the kids still were not looked like tired. As such, we made use of the evening to swim at the swimming pool inside our apartment complex. Irza also went to the nearby playground, before joining his sister and grandmother in the swimming pool.

More pictures of Inka and Irza at the swimming pool, as well as in the playground, can be found here.

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Snow City

2006-03-01T15:56:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (26/2), we went to Snow City, Jurong East. Since Inka needs to attend the ICR session in the morning, we went there at around noon. We aimed for the 12:45pm session, so we left home at around 12pm and reached Snow City at around 12:15pm. The admission fee is $12 per person (applicable to both adult and child), but since we are using HSBC credit cards, we got $4 discount per person, so we only need to pay $8 per person. It's a saving of $20, since there are 5 of us! Tips: before you head to Snow City, you might want to check the list of promotions they offer.

Be prepared to bring warm clothings and socks from home. They provide boots and jackets for free, while gloves are being rented at $1.50 per piece. Before you enter the snow chamber, you will need to pass through an airlock chamber, for your body to adapt to the colder temperature. Note that the temperature in the airlock chamber is 10 degree Celcius, while the temperature inside the snow chamber itself is minus 5 degree Celcius. You can compare with Singapore's average day-time temperature of 30-33 degree Celcius, surely your body needs to be acclimatised.

After getting some short briefing from the staff inside the airlock chamber, we then went into the snow chamber. It's really cold, and the snow surface is very slippery, so need to be careful while walking. Irza was a bit afraid initially, but once he adapted to the situation, he enjoyed running and playing in the snow chamber. There's a small playground with slides, and also a big snowman. Both Inka and Irza enjoyed their time playing around the snowman, create and throw snowballs.

More pictures of us at the Snow City can be found here. Apologise for the bad quality of the pictures, I was using my handphone to take the pictures since I didn't dare to bring my video camera into the snow chamber.

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Searching for Inka's shoes

2006-03-01T15:43:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (25/2), we went to Parco Bugis Junction. Our destination is Seiyu, since we still had unused Seiyu voucher which we wanted to use to buy new white shoes for Inka. She once had shoes we bought from Queensway Shopping Centre, and now it's already in a bad shape, 2 months after we bought it. Well, what can you expect from a $9 shoes? :) As usual, a visit to Bugis for the children will mean a visit to the Whimsy amusement centre at the 3rd floor of Seiyu (see left picture).

Unfortunately, there was not much variety of shoes at Seiyu, we couldn't find one suitable for Inka. So we went off to Suntec City and searched for one at the "Why Pay More" shop on the 2nd floor, without success. We had lunch at the KFC on basement floor, and I brought Irza to the children's playground on the 3rd floor (see right picture), before finally we managed to got the shoes for Inka from Bata. It turns out to be that shoes made in Indonesia are still the most suitable ones for Inka. :)

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Dinner at Al-Azhar, Bukit Timah

2006-03-01T15:31:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday (23/2), I took my mother and my family to have dinner at Al-Azhar coffee shop, opposite Beauty World Centre. Al-Azhar and Al-Ameen are two of our family's coffee shops. Both coffee shops are located along Cheong Chin Nam Road, a small one-way road which runs parallel with Upper Bukit Timah Road, just opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre and Beauty World Centre. Both open 24 hours and are halal.

I tried the Al-Azhar' special fried rice, while the rest had roti prata. My wife likes the durian prata, while Irza likes the tissue prata. The kids also never forget to order their favourite drink, milo dinosaurs.

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Irza was admitted to hospital

2006-02-21T01:15:00.000+08:00

On Thursday (16/2), Irza was admitted to KK Women's and Children's Hospital due to pro-longed febrile fit. Since the fit was quite long (more than half an hour), Irza had breathing difficulties causing low level of oxygen in his blood. Therefore, he needed to be admitted to the Children's Intensive Care Unit (CICU) for further observation.

CTScan was performed to check any possibility of brain injury, while Lumbal Puncture (LP) was performed to check possibility of brain infection (meningitis). The good news, there was no sign of of brain injury nor brain infection based on the CTScan and LP results, even though we needed to wait for 2-3 days to get the full LP results. Alhamdulillah.

Irza's condition was improved so he was transferred to the High Dependency (HD) ward on Saturday (18/2), and eventually was transferred to normal ward on Sunday (19/2). And since there was no fever detected on the past two days (Sunday and Monday), the doctor certified him to be discharged from the hospital on Monday (20/2), and he has been going back home since then.

Thanks for all who offer their full supports and prayers for Irza's recovery, including those who come to the hospital to visit (thanks Dini, Nonong, Roger, Rebecca, teacher Hidayah and teacher Mas), also via e-mail, SMS (thanks Zul, Amel), phone, chat (thanks Deden, Nadia, Rachel) and blog (thanks Teh Inong).

Read the Indonesian version of this post here, here and here.

Singapore River Hongbao

2006-02-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

After attending my friend's wedding party at Ubi Avenue, I took Irza to Suntec City Mall. After spending some time around the huge shopping mall, we took the free shuttle bus to City Hall MRT station. Our destination: Esplanade Park, which is the venue of the Singapore River Hongbao 2006.

Singapore River Hongbao is an annual event, which is being held every year during the Chinese New Year period. It's an event showcasing the Chinese culture, however the event is open to all for everyone to understand and appreciate the culture.

From the bus stop just in front of the Cathedral, we walked to the event's venue, Esplanade Park, which is only two blocks away. To facilitate the event, Connaught Drive, which is the road between the Padang and Esplanade Park, is closed to traffic. Our destination is the amusement park, which is on the northern side of the park, near the Tan Kim Seng fountain. For some reason, Irza was not really to excited in trying the rides, so he only tried two of them.

Unfortunately, we didn't explore the whole area, especially the southern area of the park, which is full of showcases of Chinese culture. Irza was tired so we decided to stop exploring and headed back home. We also decided to give the fireworks display a miss.

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Inka is getting a new passport

2006-02-11T21:59:00.000+08:00

Inka's passport will be expired some time mid this year (2006). Since most countries require travellers to have at least six month before the expire date of the passports, it's time for her to renew her passport. So my wife went to the Indonesian embassy yesterday (Friday, 10 February 2006) to apply for the passport renewal.

It turns out to be that the photo is no longer being taken at the embassy. Instead, it's being outsourced to a photo company located at Orchard Towers, near the Orchard Hotel, opposite Forum the Shopping Mall. So today, we went to Orchard Towers so Inka can get her pictures taken there. We left home at around 10:30am and reached Orchard Towers at around 11am. After finished, the children already felt hungry (and it's not noon yet), so we went straight to Great World City and had lunch at the KFC restaurant there, since my wife had some discount coupons for KFC.

Great World City is one of the shopping malls just outside the vicinity of Orchard shopping belt area, which is quite big and a bit "luxurious", more for middle to high class, especially those expatriates living around the area. There's also a luxurious serviced apartment and office towers on the same complex. The "luxury" can also be seen on the toilets (see right picture, apologise for the blur picture since I took the photo using my mobile phone camera), with a lot of decoration on the toilet's wall.

After taking a stroll around the mall, including bringing the kids to play at the Timezone in the third floor, we went to the Starhub Redemption Centre at Killiney Road to redeem the notebook we won on one of Starhub's online contests. After which, we went to the Specialist Shopping Centre nearby. The anchor tenant, John Little, is having a great sale (see left picture), unfortunately we couldn't find the item we're looking for there, so we cross the road and went to OG Orchard Point instead. Had a bit shopping there (not much, of course) before we went back and called it off for the day.

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Ten Mile Junction

2006-02-08T15:33:00.000+08:00

Last night, we went to Ten Mile Junction, a shopping mall which is also an LRT station, part of the Bukit Panjang LRT line. The shopping mall is located at the corner of the junction of Choa Chu Kang Road and Woodlands Road, not far from Bukit Panjang Town. I remember last time we went to this mall and it's deserted. Other than the train station, we only saw Shop N Save supermarket and a few other stalls. The rest of the mall was empty.

However, when we went there again yesterday, we were surprised to see that the mall is "a bit" live now, even though it's still not as lively as the Bukit Panjang Plaza nearby. Quite a lot of cars parked in the "bleak" carpark, compared to last time when we only saw three or four other cars in the carpark. After entering in, we found out that the main "magnet" of the mall now is the Sheng Shiong supermarket, which is occupying most of the mall's space. Not too sure why a lot of people like to shop there, we didn't enter the supermarket, but I guess it might be due to the cheaper goods there.

There's also a food court on the second floor, and some eateries and restaurants on the first floor. There are also some education centres, and surprisingly, Inka and Irza's old school, the MMI (Modern Montessori International), also has a branch there. Not too sure whether the Shop N Save supermarket is still there after the arrival of Sheng Shiong supermarket, didn't really check.

But overall, the mall is still a bit "grim" and I believe it needs a renovation if they want to make the mall "live" again. We also did not spend so much time there, after buying some snacks from Hara restaurant downstairs, we immediately left the mall and went to Causeway Point, another mall nearby.. :) well.. it's not really nearby, it's located at Woodlands (near the Woodlands checkpoint), about 15 minutes drive from Ten Mile Junction via BKE. But at least there's quite a lot of things to see and do there, since Causeway Point is the biggest malls around north Singapore vicinity.

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Irza's having fever

2006-02-03T10:58:00.000+08:00

Irza's having fever since the second day of Chinese New Year (30 January 2006). The fever was quite high, reaching more than 40.5C. Luckily, it was a long weekend holiday so he can rest at home. On Wednesday (1 February 2006), the fever has subsided, so my wife decided to send him to school. However, the fever came back again on the next day (2 February 2006), accompanied with cold and cough, so we decided not to send him to school yesterday (2/2) and today (3/2). So, unfortunately, he missed his field trip to Health Zone yesterday.

It's OK Irza, there'll always be next time. :)

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Happy New Year

2006-02-02T11:20:00.000+08:00

We would like to wish all of you, a Happy Chinese New Year (29 January 2006) and a Happy Muslim New Year (31 January 2006). Wishing all of you a great happy and prosperous new year ahead.

Qurrata's Birthday at Pasir Ris Town Park

2006-01-31T18:40:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, 29 January 2006, which is the first day of the Chinese New Year, we went to Pasir Ris to attend the birthday party of Qurratayun, the lovely son of Mas Iman and Mbak Wanti. The party is being held at Pasir Ris Town Park, a nice park within the vicinity of the Pasir Ris Town, just next to the Pasir Ris MRT station and the White Sands shopping center. There's a big pond where people can fish hoping for their big catch, and the playground can keep children busy playing for hours.

We went to Suntec City first to buy present for Qurrata (Suntec City is one of only a few malls which were still open during Chinese New Year), before heading to Pasir Ris. We reached Pasir Ris Town Park at around 3:45pm, and it turns out to be a very enjoyable moment for us and the kids. The kids enjoyed their time by playing at the playground with their friends, while we had traditional Sundanese servings such as nasi timbel, sate ayam/kambing, lotek, rujak, tempe and tahu bacem, etc. There was also a "blow the candle" session for the birthday boy, and the kids also got their goodie bag before we left the party at around 7pm.

More photos of the kids at the party can be found here, as well as here (thanks to Mbak Mela), here (thanks to Mbak Hany), here (thanks to Mas Judhi and Mbak Ami) and here (thanks to Mas Ambar).

Ernest and Alex's Birthday Party

2006-01-26T20:21:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, 21 January 2006 was quite a busy day for all of us. In the morning, we went to the Singapore Polytechnic Graduates' Guild (SPGG) at Dover Road, to attend the 3rd birthday party or Ernest (Ernie), the son of Uncle Eric and Aunty Natalia. We reached the SPGG clubhouse at around 10:30am, about half an hour late, and we went straight into the bowling alleys where everyone gathered. Inka and Irza was enjoying their time bowling. Ernie also blew the candles at the bowling arena.

After finished bowling, we went to the poolside to have lunch. Since the food is not halal, Natalia specially ordered KFC for us to eat. After lunch, the kids still had some time to play at the playground inside the clubhouse before we went back home. They were really having a great time. More pictures of us at the birthday party can be found here.

Once we reached home, the kids again ready to attend another birthday party. It's also the 5th birthday of Alex, Inka and Irza's friend, living just next door. Luckily the party is just next door, and we just sent the kids there while we had some rest at home.

There was actually another event we planned to attend, which is my wife's ISM club gathering at Siloso Beach, Sentosa. However, we noticed that the weather was not too good at that time, so we decided not to go. And what we expected came true, it was raining very heavy in the evening...

Escape Theme Park Trip

2006-01-18T18:21:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (14 January 2006), our family took Pras' family, who is visiting Singapore, to Escape Theme Park in Downtown East, Pasir Ris, Singapore. We left home a bit late, almost noon, so we decided to have lunch first at Sarpino's Pizza, East Point Mall, Simei. We chose Simei because it's nearby Pasir Ris, our destination for the day. So we drove along the PIE all the way to Simei town, and parked our car at the basement carpark of East Point.

The restaurant is on the first floor, on the other side of the building facing the road towards the carpark. East Point is one of the malls with quite a lot of halal eateries. Just beside Sarpino's, there's another halal restaurant serving waffles (can't recall the restaurant name), and there's also Banquet Halal Food Court on the fifth floor. More photos of us at Sarpino's Pizza restaurant can be found here.

After having pizza, barbequed chicken and garlic bread as our lunch, we directly went to Downtown East, Pasir Ris. Amazingly, the carpark was not full, and we could park on a lot closest to the entrance of the theme park. It costs around $75 for all of us (4 adults and 3 kids) to enter the theme park. Furthermore, some of the rides were closed on the day, including the ferris wheel and our favourite family roller coaster. However, because of that, we got the tickets revalidated after we enjoyed the ride, so we can use the tickets to visit the theme park again for free. The tickets valid for 3 months. Not bad. :)

The kids loved the Go-Kart ride. My wife didn't dare to drive, so I drove the Go-Kart with Inka, while Pras drove the Go-Kart with Irza, and Riva drove the Go-Kart with Ristyo. The adults enjoyed the ride on the Pirate Ship, while the kids was having a great splashing time on the Bumper Boats. My wife and Riva also enjoyed their ride on the Kite Flyer, which made them fly like a Superman, erm.. a Superwoman... :)

More photos of us at the Escape Theme Park can be found here.

Lunch with Dini's family

2006-01-13T12:50:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, my wife made an appointment with our neighbour Dini to have lunch together at The Rice Table Indonesian restaurant, Cuppage Terrace (behind Centrepoint shopping mall) in Orchard. Total, there are eight of us: myself, my wife, Inka, Irza, Dini, Mas Pam and their two children, Ilma and Nadya. We parked at Starhub Centre carpark and walked towards Cuppage Terrace. It was raining, in fact, it had been raining for the consecutive five days.

We had our buffet lunch there, except Inka, whom -- for some reason -- didn't want to eat or drink anything. The food is very nice, they served almost all types of Indonesian dishes, such as satay, beef rendang, grilled chicken... :)

After lunch, we shop around the shopping malls at the area, namely OG Orchard Point and Centrepoint. We met Pras and family at Centrepoint, and after buying some toys for the kids, we went back home.

Inka and Irza's new school

2006-01-13T11:58:00.000+08:00

3 January 2006 is Inka's first day in Primary School. She studied at Bukit Timah Primary School, only 15 minutes ride from home. On her first day, my wife is allowed to accompany her throughout the day. Primary 1 is an afternoon/evening class, so she starts at around 12:30pm and finishes at around 6pm. Her school bus would pick her up at around 12 noon, and send her back at around 6:40pm in the evening.

Irza started his K1 a bit late. We registered him to enroll him at the Young Women Muslim Association (YWMA) Kindergarten (Taman Asuhan PPIS - Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura) Bukit Batok Centre on 11 January 2006, and he started his school on 12 January 2006. We also managed to arrange for his transport today, and he starts to use the school bus to go to his school today. His school bus would pick him up at around 10:30am, and will send him back at around 2:20pm. The school itself starts at 11:15am and ends at 2:12pm, it's the second afternoon session.

Sentosa Luge

2006-01-13T11:42:00.000+08:00

On New Year's Day evening, I took my parents to Sentosa so they can try Singapore's newest attraction: Sentosa Luge. We parked our car at the Cable Car Plaza carpark, and bought the $20 family tickets for four. The queue was quite long, and once we reached the end of the queue, it was raining very badly. But since we have bought the tickets and have queued for quite long, we decided to just go for it.

I shared the luge with Inka, while Aki was taking Irza. On a rainy day, we enjoyed riding the luges down the hill towards the Siloso Beach. Reaching the base of the hill, the rain continued so we decided not to take the chairlift back up, too dangerous. I checked with one of the staff, and he suggested us to walk to the new Beach Station bus stop nearby, and catch the Blue Line bus back to the Cable Car Plaza.

We walked there under the rain, and found out that the queue for the Blue Line is very very long. So we decided to take the Beach Tram towards Siloso Beach, and took shelter at the Delifrance cafe there. While they were waiting at the cafe, I took the Green Line bus to Cable Cark Plaza, fetched our maid (who waited there) and our car, and I drove back to Delifrance to picked them up. We then went back home.

2005 Journey Recap - Spending Year End in Singapore

2006-01-13T11:13:00.000+08:00

My parents are spending the last week of 2005 in Singapore, and there's only one main thing they do: shopping. They went to Orchard almost everyday during the weekday between 27 and 30 December 2005.

On the last day of the year (31 December 2005), we went to Bugis Junction and had lunch at the Swensen's Restaurant there. Inka and Irza are having a great time with their ice creams. As usual, Inka never wants the ice cream from the kids menu, and always want the one from the adult menu.

At night, we went to Esplanade to see the fireworks display. Inka was not feeling well, so she stayed at home with my wife. So only myself, Irza, Aki and Ene went to Esplanade. I recalled parking at Esplanade is very expensive, so I chose to park at Raffles City shopping centre instead. Luckily, we still can get a parking lot there. From there, we walked towards Esplanade.

Prior to the display, we visited the Esplanade itself and saw some of the artworks presented there. Irza and Ene is taking picture in front of one of the artworks (see left picture). After which, we went out to the Esplanade Bridge to find the right spot to view the fireworks display. Oh My God, the road, which was closed to traffic, was full of people. We couldn't even hardly move around. So we decided to just wait there and wait to watch the firework display.

The fireworks started just before midnight, not too sure why. Unfortunately, I was very busy watching the fireworks as well as carrying Irza (so he could see the display) so I didn't have the time to take pictures of the fireworks display. Last SMS with my friend Pras indicated that Pras and his wife, Riva and son, Ristyo, should be around there also somewhere, however I was unable to reach him by phone.

After the fireworks display ended, we walked back to Raffles City, and went directly into the carpark. Took us more than 20 minutes to leave the carpark due to the jam, and only after I almost reached the CTE tunnel entrance near Clarke Quay, then I managed to call Pras. I told him to wait at the bus stop along Hill Street, and then we fetched them and went straight to Bukit Timah.

We had our supper at the Al-Azhar coffee shop in Bukit Timah (opposite Beauty World Centre), amazingly both Irza and Ristyo were still awake despite spending quite some time there until around 3am in the morning. After finishing our supper, we sent Pras and family to their apartment in Bukit Batok, before we went home and called it off for the day.

Happy New Year 2006!

2005 Journey Recap - Malacca Trip (3)

2006-01-13T00:44:00.000+08:00

The next day, for some reason, Aki suddenly wants to go to see KL. So in the morning, we changed our plan and after having the breakfast at the hotel, we set off to KL instead. We took the route 19 to KL, meaning we retraced our way to A'Famosa by taking the route 5 - M7 - 19 via Alor Gajah, before joining the North-South Expressway (E2) at Alor Gajah. The journey from Malacca to Kuala Lumpur was about 1.5 hours due to the high volume of traffic around Seremban.

Once reaching KL, we immediately went to Central Market (Pasar Seni), near Chinatown and drop my wife and my parents there, to do some shopping. Meanwhile, I drove the car with the kids to Berjaya Times Square shopping mall, on Jalan Imbi. I intended to take the kids to the indoor theme park there, however it turned out to be that they couldn't stand the noise there, especially the noise generated by the indoor roller coaster. So I took them for a monorail ride to KL Sentral and back, and guess what, the kids enjoy the ride very much, especially Irza. Especially, since we were seated near the driver so he can look around and also watch the driver drive the monorail.

We met my wife and my parents (they took cab from Central Market to Berjaya) and then we had lunch at the food court on the 10th floor of Berjaya Times Square. We then took the opportunity to do some shopping at the huge shopping mall after lunch, before going to the car park and ready to set off for a return journey back to Singapore.

We left Berjaya Times Square at 4pm, and reached Johor Bahru at around 8pm. Again, I decided to try our luck by taking the causeway instead of the second link, and guess what, there's almost no traffic along the causeway. It was so smooth that we even reached the Singapore immigration checkpoint without queueing! Alhamdulillah... In less than half an-hour, we were already finding ourselves on the BKE towards our home.

It was a great trip, and we will surely come back again.

2005 Journey Recap - Malacca Trip (2)

2006-01-13T00:10:00.000+08:00

In the evening, we went to Malacca town. While I and Irza waited in the car, my wife and Inka took my parents to see the historical buildings around Dutch Square, such as the Christ Curch and the Stadhuys. They are having a great time taking pictures here and there, including the famous trishaws which are being decorated nicely to attract tourists. After visiting the tourist attractions, we headed to Mahkota Parade shopping mall, the biggest mall at the heart of the Malacca town. We took a walk around the big mall and had dinner at the new food court on the top floor, before heading back to the hotel.

The next day, after having breakfast in the hotel, we went to A'Famosa Water World, near Alor Gajah, Malacca. From the hotel, we took the normal route 5 highway towards Malacca, and once after passing the Klebang Beach, we turned left and taking the M7 route northwards, before joining the main route 19 to Alor Gajah. There's a new road bypassing Alor Gajah so we actually didn't pass the Alor Gajah town itself. We turned right at Simpang Ampat junction and after driving for several minutes, we can find the A'Famosa main complex on the right side of the road.

A'Famosa Resort complex is a very huge resort complex, with several theme park attractions, hotels and bungalows. The Water World complex is still around 10-15 minutes drive inside the complex, and we found ourselves inside a flood of cars towards the Water World complex. It's Christmas day, and a lot of Malaysians from different parts of Malaysia coming in to Water World to spend their holiday.

After buying ourselves the tickets, we joined the queue to enter the Water World complex. It's quite a big water theme park, definitely bigger than Singapore's Wet and Wild, even though it's not as big as Kuala Lumpur's Sunway Lagoon. The kids were enjoying their time taking the "lazy" river with the float we rented. Unfortunately, they were screaming very badly when we took them to the wave pool. :P

In the evening, we had seafood dinner at the Klebang Beach food court. The mood was a bit ruined due to delay in serving the food and the rain, but overall it's OK.

2005 Journey Recap - Malacca Trip (1)

2006-01-12T23:49:00.000+08:00

Just before Christmas, my parents are visiting us here in Singapore. They arrived through Batam, and I took one day leave on Friday, 23 December 2005, to fetch them from the Batam's Hang Nadim airport and brought them to Singapore. As usual, the kids are very happy to meet their grandparents (Aki and Ene) and the kids welcome them more than we (me and my wife) do. And I took this opportunity to take them to Malacca, during the Christmas holiday.

On Saturday morning, 24 December 2005, we set off from our home for Malacca. I chose to drive via Woodlands checkpoint, since during this kind of long holiday, I expect that the Tuas checkpoint will also be as jammed. As expected, there's traffic jam along the causeway, however the jam is still acceptable, and we could clear Malaysian immigration just over an hour after we set off from home. Quite OK...

We followed the federal route 1 to Senai, before joining the North South Expressway (route E2) towards Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. We reached the Ayer Keroh exit just after noon, and after taking a break along the highway, we decided that we need something to eat. While we have reached the route 5 towards Tanjong Kling, we came across a nice food court just by the seaside at Klebang Beach. So we decided to have our lunch there before checking-in at the hotel in Kling, which is still another 5-10 minutes drive from Klebang.

We checked-in at the Riviera Bay Resort Hotel. It's a very big hotel with spacious room, however the hotel building is quite old and we felt like it's a bit run down. However, we can see that we enjoy our time there, especially the kids, who can run around and appreciate the spacious living room. The swimming pool is surprisingly very small for such a huge hotel, so we were not actually tempted to try swimming there.

We walked along the beach, which you also cannot compare with Desaru or even the Siloso beach in Sentosa. Well, what can you expect from a beach facing the Straits of Malacca, the busiest shipping line in South East Asia. However, even though there's no way we can swim there due to the dirty water (even though I still saw some tourists daring themselves to swim there), however the athmosphere at the surrounding area is impressing. We walk towards the western end of the beach and found a "mini" sand-made island, which the kids like very much. We were also busy taking pictures there. More pictures of us during our trip to Malacca can be found here.

2005 Journey Recap - Inka's Birthday

2006-01-10T10:09:00.000+08:00

On 11 December 2005, we celebrated Inka's birthday at McDonalds King Albert's Park, Bukit Timah. The party is organised by McDonalds, so we just need to sit back, relax and of course, taking pictures. We invited some of Inka's school friends at MMI, including her best friend, Gail. We also invited some of my and my wife's friends' kids, such as Nonong's family, Shinta's family, Natalia's family, Angeline's family, and also the kid next door, Alex.

More pictures of Inka during her birthday can be found here and here (password: inkairza, thanks to Mbak Hany).

2005 Journey Recap - Dunia Fantasi and Indonesia Trip during Hari Raya

2006-01-07T23:40:00.000+08:00

End of October 2005, we went back to Jakarta to celebrate Hari Raya Idul Fitri with family and relatives there. I also made this opportunity to take the kids to visit Dunia Fantasi (Fantasy World), a Disneyland-style theme park located in Ancol Dreamland, Jakarta.

The kids really enjoy all the rides inside Dunia Fantasi. We visited the Monkey Theatre and the amazing Istana Boneka (Doll's Palace), and the kids are having a ball in the big playground there.

More photos of Inka and Irza in Dunia Fantasi can be found here.

We celebrated Hari Raya by visiting our family and relatives in Jakarta, as well as in Tasikmalaya and Bandung. During Hari Raya period, traffic jam especially on our trip to Tasikmalaya is a nightmare, however we really enjoyed the trip very much. In Tasikmalaya, we stayed at Abadi Hotel, which has just renovated recently with a nice swimming pool, and we had a very big time swimming there.

2005 Journey Recap - MMI Concert

2006-01-02T20:59:00.000+08:00

October 2005 - It's time for the concert again. An annual event conducted by Modern Montessori International (MMI), Inka and Irza's school, this concert is also special for Inka since it's her Kindergarten graduation ceremony. This year, the event is held at the 7th floor of the NTUC One Marina Boulevard building, overlooking the Marina Bay. Inka dances the Mongolian Dance, while Irza dances the Garden Song.

More pictures of Inka and Irza during the event can be found here.

2005 Journey Recap - Sentosa Trip

2006-01-01T23:28:00.000+08:00

Also on the same month, September 2005, we went to Sentosa, Singapore's only island resort. We went there to try the new attraction: Sentosa Luge, a gravity-controlled go-cart which we have to drive down the hill of Imbiah Lookout to Siloso Beach. From the beach, we took the chairlift back to the Imbiah Lookout hill, and have dinner at the Sarpino's Pizzeria there. Inka and Irza loved the crispy pizza. At the same time, they are also enjoying their time playing with the water play around Imbiah Lookout.

More photos of Inka and Irza can be found here.

2005 Journey Recap - Pendas and JB Trip

2006-01-01T22:59:00.000+08:00

Also on September 2005, we and Aunty Shinta's family went to Pendas, Johor, to have lunch at a seaside seafood restaurant there, built on stilts. In fact, it's actually not a "seaside", but an "over the sea" restaurant since the whole restaurant building is built on stilts over the sea water. We need to walk over a bridge from the shore.

The restaurant is called "Saujana", and it's a muslim seafood restaurant, so it's halal. It is located at Persisiran Pantai Tanjung Adang, Gelang Patah, along Kampong Pendas highway (route J4) in the Johor state, Malaysia. There's no public transport, so you'll need to drive there. From Singapore, take the Tuas second link, and after passing Malaysia immigration and the toll booth, take the first exit towards Tanjong Pelepas port. Turn right on the first T-junction and once you have reached another junction, turn left and you will hit the route J4 towards Pendas. Alternatively, take the second exit to the Gelang Patah town, and once you have passed the town centre, turn left at the T-junction to enter the route J4 towards Pendas. Follow the road and you will pass a concrete underpass (the road will go under a concrete bridge) and once the road deviates left, there's a small road on the right side. Take the narrow road towards the sea. There are two seafood restaurants there, one Chinese and one Malay restaurant. Saujana restaurant is the Malay one.

The food is OK, and the price is, surprisingly, very cheap compared to in Singapore. I think it's worth paying for the toll fee in lieu of the cheaper food, especially if there's a lot of you going. We've been there several times and definitely we will go back.

After lunch, we went to Johor Bahru to do some shopping. We went to Holiday Plaza and then to Pelangi Plaza, before driving back home to Singapore via the causeway.

More pictures of us at the restaurant can be found here, thanks to Aunty Shinta.

2005 Journey Recap - Lantern Safari, Chinese Garden

2006-01-01T22:26:00.000+08:00

On September 2005, I took Inka and Irza to Chinese Garden, to see the Lantern Safari festival. It's an annual lantern festival held at Chinese Garden, next to the Jurong Lake, west of Singapore, and for this year, animal safari is the theme. A lot of animal creatures made of lanterns, and they are all beautiful. Inka and Irza couldn't take their eyes off the spectacular pieces of art. Especially, when Inka met his favorite creatures, the dinosaurs...

You can view the complete photos of Inka and Irza here.

2005 Journey Recap - Irza's Birthday

2006-01-01T22:17:00.000+08:00

22 August 2005 - the 4th birthday celebration for Irza was conducted at MMI (Modern Montessori International, Irza's school) at West Coast, to allow him to share his joy with his school friends. His teachers arranged for the birthday party, while we just need to prepare the birthday cake and be there during the party.

2005 Journey Recap - Desaru Trip

2006-01-01T21:37:00.000+08:00

On May 2005, we went to Desaru, Johor. Desaru is a beach resort on the eastern part of the Johor state, and even though you cannot compare the beach with the ones in Bali or Phuket, but at least the beach is better than the ones in Singapore.

We drove from Singapore to Desaru via Johor Bahru and Kota Tinggi, and the journey took about 2-3 hours, including the time spent in causeway. Different from the road to Kuala Lumpur, which is expressway all the way, the road to Desaru goes via normal two-way single-carriageway highway, except the roads around Johor Bahru which usually are dual-carriageway highways. Once we passed the immigration checkpoint, we immediately U-turn back to the busy Jalan Wong Ah Fook, before taking the route 3 highway towards Kota Tinggi. After hitting the Kota Tinggi Bypass, we turned right on the traffic light junction to hit the route 92 highway towards Desaru. It's quite an exciting ride passing through oil palm plantations along the route 92 between Kota Tinggi bypass and Desaru.

We checked in at Desaru Golden Beach Resort, quite OK for accommodation even though we were a bit dissapointed since it's a bit run down. We encountered bad experience when Irza inadvertently closed and locked the door while we were all on the balcony and was shocked to find out that we were not able to open the door from outside, causing all of us to be trapped in the balcony. We had to ask the hotel's staff to open the door for us, and it took more than an hour before the hotel staff managed to get us out of the balcony trap. What a day!

However, we found out that the beach is good, in fact we found that Desaru is one of the best beaches we have visited in Malaysia, and it's definitely much better than the beaches in Singapore, such as Sentosa or East Coast Park. It's quite fun and exciting to swim on the beach, and the kids were also having fun swimming and playing with the sands, including sand-castle building.

We also made some tour around Desaru. We visited Sungai Rengit, a small town south of Desaru and had a lunch on a food court (medan selera) there, despite having it under a heavy rain. On our way back to Singapore, we also visited Desaru Fruit Farm, a fruit plantation along the route 92 just near the T-junction to Desaru.

We really enjoyed our trip to Desaru. Even though were were a bit disappointed with the hotel, we might just want to come back there again, to enjoy the beach. Anyway, this is the closest "good" beach we can get near Singapore. Next time, we might want to stay in Pulai Desaru Beach Resort instead, which reports said that it's one of the better hotels there in Desaru.

2005 Journey Recap - Batam Trip

2005-12-31T07:10:00.000+08:00

On March 2003, we took a short holiday to Batam. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Waterfront City, Batam. We took the Penguin ferry from the Harbourfront Centre ferry terminal in Singapore, directly to Waterfront City (Teluk Senimba) ferry terminal in Batam. The ferry terminal is surprisingly clean and efficient, compared to the old and disappointing ferry terminal in Sekupang. From there, the Holiday Inn shuttle bus would pick us up and bring us to the hotel, which is only a stone's throw away from the ferry terminal itself.

Holiday Inn is a very nice hotel, with a lot of facilities especially for the kids. They have very nice swimming pools, with a slide and a small "lazy" river. Unfortunately, the kids are still too afraid to use the slide, even though I managed to persuade Irza to use the slide even though he had to sit on my lap while sliding. :) Too bad, there was no pictures while we were taking the slide!

We met Ene (grandma, my mother) who took a flight to Batam from Jakarta. She came to Batam on a special occassion to meet her grandchildren. :) She was actually supposed to follow us to Singapore, but due to her health condition, she decided to go back to Jakarta and didn't follow us back to Singapore.

We spent most of the time there swimming and enjoying the hotel's facilities. Even though, we also spent quite some time outside the hotel. Once we took a cab to Baloi area (just south of Nagoya, about 30 minutes taxi drive from Waterfront City) and visited one of the shopping malls there. Unfortunately I can't remember what's the name of the shopping mall, but it's quite big and right in the heart of Baloi area, even though most of the units are still empty. We had a nice "early" lunch at a fried chicken fast food (KFC-style) restaurant there, as well as a "late" lunch at Ayam Goreng Fatmawati somewhere on the road between Baloi and Batam Centre (again, I can't recall the area name or the road name).

Going back to Singapore is also quite efficient and painless. The hotel arranged for the booking of our return ferry trip to Singapore, including our fiscal tax free (bebas fiskal) arrangement. Our Indonesian departure immigration cards are also being filled in automatically by the ticketing staff. Hassle free and very convenient.

2005 Journey Recap - Yogyakarta Trip

2005-12-30T22:45:00.000+08:00

[Left picture: Inka and Ene (grandma) at Rina's wedding reception in Yogyakarta.]

On February 2005, our family went to Yogyakarta, Central Java, to attend the wedding of my cousin, Rina, the daughter of Mang (uncle) Yayan and Bi (aunt) Iin. We made use of the opportunity to also visit several places of interests around Yogyakarta.

We took the Garuda flight from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport to Yogyakarta's Adi Sucipto's airport. The airport in Yogyakarta is small, and it's not equipped with aerobridges so we would need to walk from the airplane to the terminal. My cousin Sandra and his girlfriend picked us up from the airport and they brought us directly to the hotel where we'll be staying, a small hotel in the west vicinity of the city. Eventually, there was some electricity issue on the hotel so we moved to Hotel Santika, a much nicer hotel in the heart of the city.

In Yogyakarta, we went to Malioboro to shop around the largest mall in Yogyakarta, Malioboro Mall. We also went to Jalan Pathok to buy the famous Bakpia Pathok, one of Yogyakarta's specialties. We also had the chance to visit Kotagede, Yogyakarta's centre of silverwork. And the most important thing, we also went to the most famous nasi gudeg restaurant near the kraton palace, to buy some nasi gudeg for us to bring back and eat in the hotel.

We also visited Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in Indonesia, about one hour's drive north of Yogyakarta. Borobudur is simply spectacular. The complex itself is very huge, and it's quite a long walk from the carpark to the temple itself. We climbed the steps to reach the centre of the attraction, the biggest stupa on the centre of the temple complex. Unfortunately, it was slightly raining when we reached the top, however that doesn't prevent us from admiring the beauty of the temple.

After taking some pictures on the top of the temple, we came back to the carpark area and immediately greeted by a lot of sellers selling souvenirs along the way, which can be quite annoying since they would keep on following us and pestering us to buy their products. Near the main gate, I took Inka and Irza for a tram ride around the complex, and they really enjoyed it very much.

Overall, we really enjoyed our trip to Yogyakarta, and hope that we would go there again some day.