Hat Yai Trip

Our whole family, including Ah Mah and all my aunties and cousins made a trip to Hat Yai recently to celebrate Ah Sing Ah Ku's 20th (or was it 21st?) birthday. It was to be a big celebration at her house. Daddy, Mummy and I did not plan to go at first seeing that I had no passport. However, so happened that Mummy was off from work for about a week so she took me to do my passport. The immigration office in Penang did not take photos of babies and little children so we went to a nearby photoshop to take my photo. I had to wear a little jacket and stand on a stool for the uncle to take my photo. I was a bit startled and surprised at the bright lights, hence this was the result:



Mummy says its a good thing that she took me to do my passport now because priority is given to children 2 years and below so we did not have to queue for very long. Also, when collecting the passport, I don't need to be there in person so Mummy can go and collect it for me. I guess the immigration people can understand that little kids like me will get cranky if we have to go there too many times and also if we have to wait for too long! So my passport looks nice or not? Now Mummy and Daddy can bring me for overseas holiday! :)

The initial plan was to leave Penang at 4 am so that we could avoid the congestion at the border. But travelling in a large group always causes delay, so by the time Ah Mah and Ah Cik reached our house, it was almost 5 am. Then we had to go and fetch Da Ku and Pei Yi Jie Jie from Bukit Mertajam. Since it was about 6 am then, we decided to have dim sum for breakfast at Chai Leng Park. I woke up just before breakfast, but see how cheerful I am so early in the morning! :)



This was almost at the border where we needed to get our passports checked and car registration stuff done. I forgot what the place was called. Mummy thinks this is a nice photo of the three of us.



When we reached Cik Kong's house in Hat Yai, we unpacked and decided to go to the market. Things are really cheap there. This was a view taken of the streets of Hat Yai; see the tuk-tuks below. I didn't get a chance to ride on one this time, so hopefully I can sit on one the next time we come. My aunts bought a lot of stuff at the market, in fact they even came back the next day to shop some more. I guess the things are pretty cheap. Mummy got a nice pair of shorts for only RM12!



While everyone was shopping inside, Ah Mah and Mummy took me outside to have a cold coconut drink as it was super hot. Look how I enjoy my coconut!



Daddy bought this for me from the market - RM18 only.



We also had lots of ice cream in Hat Yai. This was at Swensen's at one of the shopping malls. There were six of us (including myself) and we ordered 4 sundaes and this fondue below. The bill only came up to RM38, which included a water tumbler for Jie Jie Zhen Yi and a toy keychain for myself. Pretty cheap, right? In Penang it would have definitely cost much more!



Speaking of ice cream, this is Daddy's all time favourite - coconut ice-cream. There is a funny story related to this. We actually spotted the ice-cream man but failed to stop him before he rode off. So we followed him and waved to him to stop! The coconut ice-cream in Thailand has all sorts of other yummy ingredients added such as glutinous rice and atap chee (palm seeds). The man also had it in two different types, regular ice-cream and ice-cream float!



Look at Daddy enjoying his ice-cream :)



So anyway, here is what we were here for - to celebrate with the birthday girl. Doesn't she look all dolled up? I was also wearing a pretty dress but I was getting sleepy and cranky cos I didn't have a proper nap all day.



I later changed into my pyjamas to sleep but because of all the excitement around, I couldn't sleep yet.



The next day, we went to a Thai restaurant to have lunch - Mummy's request :) I am wearing a new dress bought for me by Chim Poh. There was a water feature at the restaurant with a dolphin statue and I took a photo with it. Not only that, I was trying to touch the water until my face and clothes were all wet :p



On the way back, we got stuck on a massive jam at the border and only got home about 9pm that night. It was a fun trip and please take me again ok Mummy and Daddy?

Congratulations!

My younger sister graduated with her first degree in International Studies this morning from the University of Adelaide, Australia. I could not be there this time, but will definitely try to make it for the next one in 2 years' time.

Congrats Adeline from all of us and a big kiss from Hannah! :)

Mid-Autumn Festival '10

Last week was the mid-autumn festival. The same time last year I was only a small baby so I could not play with lanterns, but this year I could play with lanterns together with Jie Jie Zhen Yi and Jie Jie Candice. We went down to our apartment playground and all of us had our lanterns, me included! Mine was a battery-operated one as I am still too young to use candles.



My lantern was in the shape of Snow White, not sure if you can see it clearly.



However, I was more interested to play with the toys at the playground rather than with the lantern!



Everyone took a picture at the see-saw. Xiao Ku is holding Jie Jie Zhen Yi's and Jie Jie Candice's lanterns. They were in the shape of Mickey Mouse and Tigger.



I love the swings too! I especially love it when it goes up high - look at how happy I am! :)



Oh yes, this was the lantern that Daddy helped Jie Jie Candice to make for her school project. It took first prize so both of them are very proud of it! :)

Big smiles

Hannah produced some big laughs and smiles over the weekend. Just look at her expression here when I asked her to smile for the camera :)



This was later on when we asked her to take a picture with her cousin Pei Zi. Big baby and small baby :) The messy hair was because she had just taken her bath and didn't comb her hair yet :p



Later that night, she was watching one of her favourite DVDs in the car (Mandarin childrens' songs) and her Daddy was singing along and making funny noises. It never fails to amuse her! :)

16 months

Hannah will be 16 months in 2 days' time. She has grown up so fast, and she no longer looks like a baby, but is now a cheeky little toddler. She can say many words now, for example she can call "Mummy", "Ah Mah", "Ah Gong", "Jie Jie", "Kor Kor", "Ku Ku", "Ah Cik", "Kakak", "Papa" very clearly. Hubby tries to get her to call "Daddy" but everytime he does so, she will cheekily say "Papa". Here is a sample of their conversation:

Hubby: Hannah, say "Daddy".

Hannah: "Papa!"

Hubby: Say "Daddy!"

Hannah: "PAPA!"

Hubby: "DADDY!"

Hannah: "PAPA!"

And so it goes on until she finally reluctantly says "Deh" or "Dee". It can be quite funny to watch.

She also can form sentences when prompted; for example I asked her to repeat after me: "Please Mummy, I want ping-ping (biscuit)". Hannah's version: "Psss Mummy, Aiwan ping-ping!"

She can also count one to ten by repeating after us:

"Awan, Ku, Dee, Ahfor, Fie, Sisss, Aven, Aite, Nie, Aten!"

She can also ask for "milk milk" and say that she is "mei-mei" (pretty) when dressed up nicely or her hair is tied up nicely.



She is also becoming very independent, wanting to do things on her own. For example, she wants to wear her own shoes, take off her own clothes for bath-time, and eat on her own. She has developed the idea that eating on her own, without being fed, is fun. Here she is imitating eating with her own cup and spoon.





Whenever we go out to eat nowadays, we will give her a plastic plate, a spoon and little morsels of food on her plate/bowl. With that she is content to sit quietly and eat, otherwise neither of us can eat in peace!



Happy 16 months to you Hannah and we love you!

Hannah at Tesco

We took Hannah to Tesco recently to buy groceries. As usual, I couldn't resist snapping a few photos because I thought she looked oh-so-cute in her little pink dress and pig tails (I tied them myself).

Standing up in the shopping cart, I realised how tall she is now.



After we had finished shopping, she caught sight of all the toys outside McDonald's so we couldn't leave until she was satisfied playing with them.



Her hands were spinning the steering wheel round and round.



Two hands on two steering wheels:



Last one before leaving:

Visiting Ah Chor

During the Hari Raya weekend, Daddy and Mummy brought me to visit Ah Chor in Kamunting. Ah Chor is my great-grandmother. I am Ah Chor's only great-grandchild so she likes me to come and visit her very much. I can now also call "Ah Chor", so this makes her very happy!

We started the journey about lunch-time after I had woken up from my nap. I like to wear Daddy's sunglasses and pose for pictures. Do I look cool? :)



We stopped for lunch at Segafredo Autocity. I enjoyed Mummy's ham and cheese sandwich very much. However, some people started smoking inside the restaurant so we quickly finished our lunch and left.



This is my Ah Chor. She runs a small grocery shop in the Kamunting estate. She is already 7o plus but still very capable.



Mummy says that Ah Chor's little shop is like a little haven to me. There are all sorts of good things for me to eat! :) Here Ah Chor is getting me something to eat.



I was too wriggly when Ah Chor tried to carry me. I wanted to get down and run around!



Ah Chor gave Mummy a pumpkin to take home. This is for Ah Mah to cook my porridge.



There are lots of chickens running around Ah Chor's place. Here I am - up, close and personal with the chicken. I didn't want to leave because I wanted to continue chasing the chickens and I had to be carried into the car protesting loudly.



This is Mummy and me in Ah Chor's shop.



On the way back, we stopped at Jusco Bandar Perda for dinner. They had the play-land over there for the kids, and I had a lot of fun! If you notice, my clothes had to be changed because I was sweating too much from all the running around.



I'm still a bit too short to play this game, so Daddy had to carry me.



This was my favourite game of all. This thing can shoot water. The problem is, once I realised that, I kept trying to touch the water, so after a while, Daddy said it was enough for one day.

Singapore trip - Part 2

Day 2 in Singapore we woke up and went out hunting for breakfast. We did not opt for the hotel buffet breakfast as it would be SGD25++ per person which is just too much for breakfast. How much can one eat anyway?

So we found this place at a nearby shopping centre called "The Canteen". I had the Western breakfast - bacon and eggs while Hubby had the Asian breakfast - Mee Siam.



Oh, by the way, these are some photos of our room. It was pretty nice.



After breakfast, I only needed to be at the client's office at 11.30, so we decided to take a walk along Orchard Road. As can be seen, the architecture of some of the buildings were really fantastic. The Youth Olympic Games had just ended in Singapore so there was a big monument for it.



In the evening, when I had finished work, we actually wanted to go to Sentosa Island, so we took the MRT from Orchard Road to Harbourfront.



However, when we arrived, the stop-off point was the biggest mall in Singapore called VivoCity. The view there was so nice and we could actually see Sentosa from their observation area. In the end, we decided to stay there instead and not go to Sentosa. After all, we couldn't possibly finish seeing everything at Sentosa in just one evening.

There were shallow pools everywhere on the observation deck at VivoCity and kids were splashing around whilst adults just soaked their feet. I told Hubby that Hannah would enjoy this very very much! :)



This is something I must talk about. There was this restaurant at VivoCity called "Marche" (I think there is one at The Curve in KL as well). When we arrived in the evening there was a long queue outside the entrance. Even though the restaurant was big, all their tables were fully occupied. And guess what, when we left at night, the queue was still equally as long!



This was another beautiful structure at VivoCity.



The main signboard lighted up at night:



When it got dark, we went out again to the observation deck to take photos. Such a nice view!



On the way back to the hotel, we took another walk along Orchard Road and the shopping mall lights were simply dazzling.



Hubby got this for SGD1. Pretty worth it for such a big "ice-cream potong"!



Day 3 - we did not go anywhere much. After breakfast and packing, we went to the airport because we were told that Changi airport got lots of stuff to see as well! I told Hubby it was as good as a shopping mall :)



This is what we got Hannah from Singapore. Since her favourite character is Mickey Mouse, we got her the Baby Mickey in pyjamas from the airport. The two t-shirts were from Baby Gap at VivoCity. The price was SGD19 for both shirts.



All in all, it was a good trip. But 3 days were just enough. Any more than that, we would have missed Hannah too much and wanted to come back. We will definitely bring Hannah the next trip to Singapore, she will surely enjoy it :)