24 hours in Laos

I took a short trip to Vientiane, Laos in July. This was the first time I had been there and it was only to be for 24 hours (almost exactly!) to meet a client to sign an agreement. It was quite last minute so I didn't know quite what to expect.

We took Thai Smile Airways to Vientiane, transiting in Bangkok as there was no direct flight to Vientiane. In Bangkok, we met up with our translator who would be making a day trip just to help us out. Reached Vientiane around past noon and the client's driver was at the airport to fetch us to our hotel. We stayed at Mercure Vientiane which was quite an old hotel. Nothing fantastic, but it was decent and clean. Here are some pictures of the hotel and the room.

Lobby: 

Even though the rooms were old, the next morning we were quite pleasantly surprised to see that the dining area for breakfast was new and modern. And the food was quite delicious too.

 Outdoor bar by the pool:

It was raining that morning so there was nobody swimming in the pool.

Okay, so rewind to the day before, we had a late lunch/tea before meeting the client. Our translator who travels quite often to Vientiane recommended this coffee joint which has outlets in Laos and Cambodia. They don't have Starbucks or Coffee Bean in Laos, but this outlet Joma serves good coffee and that salad was really yummy!

In the evening, we had dinner at this restaurant called Kong View which offered fantastic views of the Mekong River (hence the name I suppose!). Again, our translator was the one who brought us there.

 Laotian food is quite similar to Thai food. That tomyam kung really packed a punch!

The atmosphere of the restaurant as the sun began to set:

We were there early enough to watch the sunset, which was quite spectacular. All in all, I must say that this was the highlight of the trip.

Since we were there for such a short time, there wasn't any time to do any sightseeing so I don't have pictures of any touristy spots - maybe next time!

Adventure Zone!

So at the end of July, we celebrated our friend Chia Yin's birthday and to make it a fun family day out, she opted to have lunch at Golden Sands hotel, followed by a kids' outing to Adventure Zone! The last time we were here was more than a year ago for Hannah's 7th birthday.

Have a look at some of the photos from the birthday festivities:

Of course Helene was at the scene when it came time to sing the birthday song, blow the candles and cut the cake! Haha.

Birthday girl with her family:

And us!

Of course the kids couldn't wait a minute longer after lunch to go and play! At first I put Helene at the toddler area, thinking that she would be too afraid to on the big slides. But before anyone could catch her, she was all the way up on the colourful slides and slid down without even taking a mat! She wasn't afraid at all, and after that, nothing could stop her from following the older kids! She wanted to go on the blue slide as well, but the people there stopped her as she was too small. So daring lol. Even Heidi who was too afraid to go on either the colourful slides or the blue slide last year attempted both this year. So far none of the kids dared to try the red slide yet, maybe next year :)

Here are some photos so you know what I am talking about lol.

Toddler area:

Colourful slides:

Heidi on the blue slide:

After their time was up at Adventure Zone, the kids went outside to play some frisbee.

We ended the day with more yummy food at Sushi Zento. Helene was konked out on my lap by then, but she woke up in time to have some dinner.

I made a short video clip which pretty much summed up the fun day we had!

Colouring contest champion!

Last year, I blogged about Hannah winning a consolation prize at Penang Sports Club's annual children's colouring contest.

When we asked her this year if she wanted to join, she was quite enthusiastic about it so we signed her up. Since the beginning of the year, she has been participating in the art co-curricular activity at her school every Friday afternoon so she has improved a lot in her art.

This year, she decided to use crayons instead of colour pencils as it would make the colours really pop, and she even has highlighter crayons for brighter colours.

The kids were given an hour and a half to complete their artwork so she got to work with her crayons.

One thing we learnt from last year's contest, is to make sure to colour in the whole paper and not to leave any white areas - it was an observation from last year's winners.

Here she is with her finished piece:

And all that hard work paid off! She was aiming for one of the trophies (awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place), but she never expected to win first place! She told me before they announced the results - "Mummy, my heart is beating so fast!". She couldn't stop smiling when they handed her the trophy, and for anyone who knows Hannah, she does not smile readily so she must have been really happy! Haha.

Congratulations Hannah! We are all very proud of you!