i am very happy to announce that our 2nd son, Tan Yuan Yi, arrived safely on 21/7/19.
this date is very special, for some reasons:
1) 21/7/19 is the day of 观音诞
2) 21 is my FIL's lucky number
3) 7 x 3 = 21 (a bit no link but nvm)
so actually darling's edd was supposed to be on 27 July. on 16 july (tue), she visited her obstetrician, dr john tee, at KKH. dr john tee said that the baby's weight is now 2.8 kg, it is better for the baby to be delivered by this weekend, because if wait until 27 july, if baby is heavier than 3 kg, darling may not be able to push the baby out due to her petite frame. so dr tee advised darling to go for induce on saturday (20 july), and he will reach KKH on sunday (21 july) at 5 am to deliver the baby.
on saturday (20 july), we checked in at KKH Delivery Suite at 4 pm. then we went to ward 32 for darling to be induced. the medication was inserted at 605 pm. normally the first medication will not have much effect. when darling had yuanze, she only started to have contractions after the second dose of medication. but this time, after the first medication, she started to have contractions, after about 15 min. the nurse checked darling's dilation, 2.5 cm, decided to send her down to delivery suite to get ready.
so here's the chain of events:
605 pm: induction (first dosage)
620 pm: dilation 2.5 cm
630 pm: send down to delivery suite
830 pm: dilation 4 cm
840 pm: administer epidural
1020 pm: dilation 5 cm
0025: water bag burst already. senior nurse call dr john tee to come down to KKH. senior nurse started to ask darling to push.
0035: dr tee arrived at delivery suite. with a just woke up face. his first sentence to darling was: wahhhhhh you so fast ah?
dr tee started, together with the help of the senior nurse, and TAAAA DAAAAAA, Tan Yuan Yi arrived in this world.
when darling had yuanze, the first obstetrician was dr ck khoo.
as an observer, and having the honour to observe two great obstetricians doing their job, i must say, dr tee and dr khoo are very very very different.
dr khoo is like the more hip and modern obstetrician. once yuanze is out, invited me to cut the umbilical cord. instructed me to take photo of yuanze on the weighing scale, while he collect the cord blood and remove the placenta, then proceeded on to stitch darling up. and he stitched her like damn fast. swift and decisive. then instructed the nurse to take a group photo of me, darling, yuanze, nuscd xinyi and dr khoo himself.
dr tee, is very calm and steady, very assuring. during yuanyi's delivery, there was a slight complication. darling's vaginal wall is blocking yuan yi's head from coming out. so he asked me to go to the front, showed it to me, explained to me, then said he is going to use a pair of forceps to push away the vaginal wall, and when yuan yi's head come out, will have the forcep marks on his face, but ask us not to worry, the marks will go away in 2 weeks. and need to let yuan yi come out fast, because yuan yi's heartbeat is dropping. and so he proceeded, and within the next few seconds, yuan yi is out already. OMG. dr tee is really damn calm and steady. and right after that, he cut the cord himself (tbh i was getting ready to cut because i thought he will also ask me to cut HAHAHAHAHA), and then collected the cord blood, remove the placenta, and stitch darling up. he is totally not into this photograph nonsense. he spent a much longer time in stitching darling up. darling felt that there is a difference in her stitched wound. i guess dr tee is more meticulous in the stitching, and because he used the forceps on the vaginal wall, so probably need more time in repairing the vaginal wall.
thank you so much dr tee, and all the nurses in helping with darling's delivery, attending to her needs after she delivered, and looking after yuan yi so that she can have more rest.
it's really a surreal experience, to welcome a newborn for the 2nd time, to our family.
well done darling. love you so so much. looking forward to quality family moments with you, yuan ze and yuan yi.
this deserves a post, because we actually get to organise our Admirals' Run, at Singapore Sports Hub. it is really no joke, from woodlands come all the way to kallang. alot of effort has been put in the planning. just for the recce, i came here a total of 4 times.
all ready to start the race! my duty on that day was to set-up the running route, deploy the route marshallers along the route, being the Starter of the run, as well as being the rear scout.
giving a briefing, before starting everyone off.
such a scenic place to run, isnt it?
yes we did it! the awesome PE dept, great teamwork in making this event a success!
the birthday feast. we ordered roast chicken from kemono (our first time trying it). their signature roast chicken is the organic chicken, which they claim that the chickens listen to music when being reared. there are 2 roast chicken in the pic. the blacker one is the organic chicken, and the fairer one is the normal chicken. we deliberately bought both so we can try the difference. at first it taste about the same, but towards the end the organic chicken taste much better, being more tender and juicier. just like running 2.4 km, the first 100 m you cant tell the difference between 2 runners, but at the end you can tell the difference. (good analogy isnt it?)
hee hee so cheeky the packaging. guess what is this?
taaa daaaaaaa!!! put on these gloves and tear the chicken apart.
ordered this bouquet of flowers for darling, from floralisonstudio. Floralisonstudio is opened by my ex colleague, from my previous workplace. she has resigned, to fully concentrate on her floral business. i did ask her whether is she happier. she said that the pay that she gets monthly is not as good as teaching, but she is definitely much happier.
darling's birthday cake. 6 for 48 dollars. 1 eclair for 8 dollars. price is steep, but the eclairs are really good. if you have the entertainer app, can get 1 for 1.
happy family of 3. come july, it will be a happy family of 4. :)
Last Friday, my Hyundai car dealer msg me, telling me that now is a good time to buy a new car, because the COE is low. She recommended me the Hyundai Avante 1.6S.
She said I can trade in my Hyundai Elantra (that I have been driving for 4 years), and then pay around 25k to get the new Hyundai Avante 1.6S.
So I went to seek advice from a few others, discussed with darling, and then on Sunday, we went down to Hyundai to make the purchase. #fastgame
The COE price that I bought the hyundai elantra in 2015 was at $48,000.00 #OMG
As of last Sunday, the COE price was at $25,000.00
Check out the difference man.
Anyway, on Wednesday, the COE went up to $26,659.00
Luckily I bought the car on Sunday.
I wanted to buy the blue color. And it was out of stock. -.-'''
The white colour looks good, but I know that I am too lazy to wash the exterior regularly.
So I went for the silver instead.
The new car will probably arrive in late April. Looking forward!
Fen is in johor bahru, so we decided to go and meet him. The last time I saw him was one year ago, at Kim Tian.
I tried the KTM train for the first time to JB. 5 sing dollars for the trip to JB, and the return ticket cost 1.80 sing. I bought the tickets online, and then print out the electronic copies.
I was a bit kiasu because it was my first time, so I reach the train checkpoint 45 minutes earlier. Actually no need to reach there so early, because the departure gate only opens 30 minutes before the departure time. And then I didnt know that I need to exchange the printout for a ticket. So at the departure gate, the officer saw my printout, then told me to go down to exchange for a ticket. I was like zzzzzz. Then I went down, there was a queue. I skipped the queue, went straight to the counter and told the staff that I want to change the ticket. And he ask me to join the back of the queue, because everyone in the queue is taking the same train as mine. HAIYOOOOO ok lor. Anyway luckily I manage to clear the customs in time and was able to board the train.
The train ride was only 5 minutes. So at singapore side, you clear the singapore customs first, then you clear the malaysia customs, then you take the train to JB, and once you get out of the train station, taaa daaaa city square shopping mall is just in front of you. It is really very convenient. Can escape the crazy jam (be it you drive or you take public bus). I think it is worth the money.
We booked a very affordable hotel, that is Citrus Hotel. It is just beside City Square. And it costs 60 dollars for one night, with breakfast included. NZJ was feeling very apprehensive because it was too cheap. Hahahahaha. It was not too bad, for a 3 star hotel. The breakfast was decent too.
I reached the hotel at 325 pm. Went to the room to find Fen. And off we went for some makan. We explored Jalan Dhoby, a well known hipster street, with many hipster stores and restaurants.
We had deep fried chicken chop at IT Roo, known to have the best chicken chop in Malaysia!
(Above two pics taken from Miss Tam Chiak's website)
The deep fried chicken chop was very good. I dont mind coming here again next time to eat it again.
And then we went back to our hotel room to wait for Laval and NZJ to arrive. Laval arrived first, at about 8 pm. And he went to cut his hair at a salon inside city square. NZJ reached at about 930 pm. And off we went for our dinner.
Dinner was at this run down zhi char place opposite our hotel. The service was very slow. There was only one chef. The food took ages to arrive. But thank goodness the food is good.
It was a good catch-up between the four of us. Missing HW, who also happen to be at JB, but he went for star-gazing with his NUS friends.
Laval have to go back to Singapore, and we left the eatery at 1130 pm, so that he will not miss the last bus from JB to Singapore.
I woke up early the next morning, and went to Hiap Joo bakery to buy the famous banana cakes. Had breakfast with Fen and NZJ at the hotel cafe, and bid them farewell.
Went to the train station, and to my surprise, I do not need to exchange the printout for a train ticket. How come so funny one. Want to differentiate working system between sg and malaysia also no need to like that what.
All the best Mr Fen! See you soon! At Xinyi's wedding in october, probably?
my first post of 2019, is dedicated to my dragonboat experience with my workplace.
our sec 1 students will have a dragonboat session as part of their orientation, because dragonboat teaches them the importance of teamwork and perseverance.
it was a good experience for me. the last time i did dragonboat was 9 years ago, for my NIE project.
here are the pics!
final day in hong kong.
we did not eat the hotel breakfast, because the price is ridiculously expensive at HKD268 per pax.
our breakfast is bread and cakes and maggi mee and blueberries, that we bought the previous day at a supermarket.
disney hollywood hotel provides shuttle service to the airport, at HKD50 per pax. 2 years old and below no need to pay. the journey is quite fast. we reach the airport in 15 min.
our flight is at 350 pm and we reach the airport at 11 am. we were hoping that we can check in our luggage early so we can use the priority lounge. and yessss HKIA has the automated check in machine for SQ flights, and so we did all the check-in by ourselves and we are done in less than 5 min. really love this automated process.
we did some more shopping of souvenirs. darling bought some pastries from 奇华. the queue was insane. when we cleared the immigration, there is also a 奇华 outlet, and the queue was insane as well.
we went to the priority lounge, only to discover that it has upgraded to a more premium one, and you have to pay an additional HKD200 per pax if you want to use that lounge. the standard priority lounge is 10 metres away and when we reach the entrance, we were shocked by the long queue at the entrance, and there was already a crowd inside the lounge, getting their food.
so i decided, go for the premium lounge, pay for the upgrade, because it has lesser people, more quiet, and we wanted yuanze to nap inside the lounge before we board the plane.
and omg, we did not regret. the food inside the premium lounge is beyong AWESOME.
firstly, you get a serving of this premium ham from iberico pork.
and then we get to choose a main course from a menu. there were about 6 items in the menu, and both of us chose this Maine Lobster with Pasta. the waitress told us that it is a very popular item, and omg, how right she is. the pasta, drenched in lobster bisque sauce, was so so so so good.
kids' meal for yuanze. mac n cheese, sweet potato fries and green peas. the mac and cheese like no need money. too much of it, and also a bit jelat. the sweet potato fries were good!
other than the main course, you also get complimentary food items, for example fishball noodles, mexican wraps, salads, pastries. fruit juices are free flow as well, and they really blend the fruits into juice and serve it to you.
they also gave us two free tumblers, so we can fill up the tumbler with the drink we want and bring them up to the plane. we used a tumbler to fill it up with warm milk for yuanze.
thankfully yuanze did sleep inside the lounge, although it took quite some time for him to fall asleep. he slept for about 1.5 hour, and so he got very active on the plane, and also very bored, because the inflight entertainment is not enough to capture his attention for 4 hours of flight time. hahahaha.
and then before we take off, the captain of the plane told us that we are stuck on the ground for about 25 min, because the air traffic is slightly congested. omg man. HKIA need to do something about this.
so that's it for our hong kong trip!
i am thankful that i am able to travel with my parents again, after 9 years.
i am thankful to explore sha tin and sai gung for the very first time. in the past it is always tsim sha tsui and mong kok.
i am thankful that yuanze is totally ok on the plane. he is totally ok when the plane is taking off, and totally ok when the plane is going to land.
i am thankful that darling also enjoyed the trip. looking forward to more trips together with you, and yuanze!
the next destination will probably be japan, with my inlaws; or new zealand, with my parents and sisters! :)
day 5 of hong kong, we are going to disneyland!
i chose the Advance Purchase Room Offer package. hong kong disneyland website has alot of different room packages, so you just have to choose carefully to see which package suit your needs, as well as your budget. by choosing the advance purchase room offer package, i have 15% discount of the room booking and free upgrade from standard room to deluxe room. it cost HKD1785, which is around SGD318. pretty expensive for a hotel room, but the room actually can accomodate 4 pax. holiday inn costs SGD274 for a room.
and of course you have to buy the disneyland tickets, which cost HKD619 per ticket, which cost about SGD105 per ticket. very very very expensive. if you have enough HKD and the rate that you change at the money changer is better, please pay using HKD, instead of using credit card, because credit card company will charge you with a lousier exchange rate. i changed my money very early this year, when i saw the news that HKD drop to an all time low, and i got a rate of 1SGD to 5.92HKD.
i actually bought some groceries from a supermarket using my credit card at the automated machine (because the queue at the cashier was super long), and when i received my credit card bill, the exchange rate was 1SGD to 5.52HKD. aiyohhhhh.
we check out of holiday inn at about 930 am, took a cab to disney hollywood hotel. the ride was about 30 min, and the price was HKD220, which is quite expensive, because there was a toll charge.
disneyland hotels are always fully booked, so you can only get your rooms at 3 pm. so we did the check in first, placed our luggage with the concierge, and took the shuttle bus to disneyland. the shuttle bus frequency is quite fast. and the journey from the hotel to the disneyland resort is also quite fast, about 5 min journey.
there were many firsts for yuanze. his first time going to hong kong disneyland (also our first time hahahaha). his first time taking the carousel. his first time taking the dumbo elephant ride. his first time watching the disney parades.
anyway some tips for everyone:
- hong kong disneyland opens at 1030 am, and their last parade is at 8 pm (so plan your time accordingly)
- download the disneyland app. it is a very useful app, that acts like a gps, so you know where you are and which direction you should take to go to the different sectors. it also shows the waiting time of all the different rides. as well as what time and where are the shows starting.
- it is good to stay in disneyland hotel, because you can watch the last show/parade at 8 pm, and then go back to your hotel. there were thousands of people walking towards the MTR station. omg i cannot imagine that.
- hong kong disneyland's castle is undergoing renovation now, and will be completed in 2019. so in place of the show and the fireworks, there is a very awesome parade with very nice lightings. just think of the NUS RAG, with a few million dollars of budget.
this is what i meant!
of course, yuanze enjoyed disneyland tremendously. he enjoyed the rides, enjoyed touching the toys, enjoyed watching the parades, enjoyed waving at all the disney characters, enjoyed the hotel room.
i think i am blessed, to be able to see him enjoying himself so much, and also to have the ability to let him enjoy all these.
can't wait for our next family trip together!
my mum requested to yum cha for breakfast.
i came prepared! knew beforehand that there is a 稻香 near courtyard marriott hong kong. so off we go.
walked to shek mun station, then take MTR to che kung temple station, and walked for about 10 min to 稻香.
yessss here we are! thanks to google maps! we walked past a river, walked under flyovers (which i have always wanted to after seeing all the hong kong dramas) and here we are. darling commented that the invention of google map is the jinx of all travel agencies, and i fully agree. google map is just so amazing.
luckily we went on a weekday. we reach there at about 9 am. got a table immediately. the restaurant was crowded, especially with the elderly. the vibes here is similar to the branch at tsim sha tsui. glad to be able to bring my parents to an old sch dim sum place in hong kong, which they had never been to before. the food is still good, and also affordable, just that there are lesser items on the menu.
after 稻香 we went back to our hotel to pack our stuff. papa and mama will be going to the airport to take the plane back to singapore. the three of us will be going to holiday inn golden mile to check in, and also do all our shopping at tsim sha tsui. we never shop at all for the past 3 days and today is meant to be our shopping day.
so for the remaining of day 4 in tsim sha tsui, i will do it in point form:
- got a room upgrade at holiday inn
- had lunch at ichiran. yes ichiran! it is only 3 min walk away from holiday inn. we waited in the queue for about 10 min before being seated in the restaurant.
- bought atas cookies at this cookie shop in the K11 shopping mall basement (tried something else because jenny bakery is overhyped)
- shopped at isquare, and our favourite shop is Log-On, that sells very nice stuff
- bought 2 slices of Lady M crepe cakes, charcoal flavour and rose flavour, cost HKD75 per slice, which is about SGD12. so expensive!! is singapore one also that expensive?!
- check out the christmas lighting around tsim sha tsui. so pretty!!
we also concluded that, tsim sha tsui is not as cold as sha tin. probably because tsim sha tsui is full of people and buildings and car vehicles and exhaust smoke, that make the temperature warmer.
that's it for day 4.
tomorrow we are going to disneyland!!
let me recall how many times i had been to hong kong.
my first trip to hong kong was in december 2018, with my army friends, leow and mak.
second trip to hong kong was in 2010, with my nuscd friends, xuehong, nzj and hanwei. it was a long trip for us. before hong kong, we were at shang hai (for the world expo) and shen zhen. will aways remember the tagline of the shang hai world expo, which is Better City, Better Life. unfortunately, the time we spent there, made us ponder on the tagline. and we think it should be Better City, Better Life??!! so anyway, my second time to hong kong, xuehong and nzj introduced me to satay king and 稻香 (a old school dim sum restaurant). i was blown away. from then on, this 2 eating places will always be a must go whenever i go to hong kong.
third trip to hong kong was in june 2011. a solo trip. it was my first time taking aeroplane on my own. and my first time staying at a hotel on my own. during that time i was the artistic director for the workplace's 25th anniversary concert, and i felt that i need a break from all those countless rehearsals. anyway it was not really a solo trip because i still meet up with xuehong and nzj over there (they flew to hong kong a day earlier than me), and of course, we went to our usual eating places, satay king and 稻香.
and so i was quite familiar with hong kong already. the 4th trip to hong kong was in december 2012, together with darling. we went to macau and hong kong. we watched the house of dancing water at macau. one of the most impressive and spectacular performances i have ever watched. we stayed at galaxy hotel at macau, also one of the grandest hotel i have ever stayed at. in hong kong we stayed at this cosy airbnb apartment at yau ma tei. of course i brought darling to satay king and 稻香, and she enjoyed the food there too.
in november 2014 i was supposed to bring students to hong kong for a performing arts trip. unfortunately, the trip got cancelled because of the yellow umbrella revolution in hong kong. to make up for that disappointment, i went there in december 2014, with darling, and her family. we also went to macau. stayed at this hotel that got an Emperor name, unfortunately that hotel is nowhere near the standard of Galaxy. in hong kong we stayed at a airbnb apartment in mong kok, and the lift is damn old school, where you need to manually open the door of the lift and also close the door of the lift. my FIL took the lift for that very first time and got so traumatised. and again, we went to satay king and 稻香. FIL love the food at satay king so much and he requested to go there to eat again the next day.
this trip is my 6th trip to hong kong. in a span of 10 years, i have actually been here 6 times.
ok now let's go on with day 3.
in the morning we went to sai kung. it was my first time here. darling's first time here as well. my parents' first time here too. and we love the place. we love the sea, the boats on the sea. very scenic, very picturesque. yuanze love the place so much that he fell asleep on the bus journey to sai kung, and when we alighted the bus, he still continue sleeping in my father's arms for another 45 min.
see what i mean? yuanze still sleeping in my father's arms. hahahaha.
photo credit: my mum
yessss finally a group photo! :)
sai kung is quite a touristy area. and there are many seafood restaurants. and other eateries as well. you can google the famous seafood restaurants. so being typical tourists, we also had lunch at one of these seafood restaurants. my memory is getting worse and i cant remember the name of the restaurant. hahahaha. we ordered the seafood set for 4 pax, which cost HKD238 per pax, which is about SGD40 per pax. consist of a chicken corn soup, lobster with noodles, steam fish, crab stir fried with spring onion and ginger, steam scallop with garlic and vermicelli and a vege dish.
after sai kung, we went to tsim sha tsui and mong kok. we were shocked by the HUGE crowd. everywhere is filled with people. it was so crowded that we dun dare to hold yuanze's hand to walk. me and my father took turns to carry yuanze.
went to satay king for dinner. i miss the satay soup vermicelli and the pork chop in white curry rice so much!!! so happy to be back here again!
and that's it for day 3. it is the last night for my parents. they will be flying back to singapore the next day.
we discovered that Auberge Discovery Bay has a Kids' Club, while we were exploring the hotel after eating breakfast.
the Kids' Club is amazing. there was a playground, a bowling machine, 2 bball machines, a table tennis table, a pool table, as well as a piano.
yuanze went crazy at the Kids' Club, and didn't even want to leave. :p
the famous monument at Discovery Bay for couples to hold their wedding.
thank god for good weather in the morning! when we reached Hong Kong yesterday it was drizzling. today was clear sky.
yesterday during check-in, i asked the staff how should i get to sha tin from auberge discovery bay. he recommended us to take the MTR, because the car journey is quite long. darling gets nausea easily when taking rides on the taxi, especially those very aggressive taxi drivers who brake very aggressively. i checked google maps. if take taxi, it will be around 40 min journey. if take public transport, it will be around 1 hr 37 min. the siong part about taking public transport is that we have to change train 4 times, and we are bringing yuanze, together with all our luggage. so i checked with my parents whether are they ok to take public transport, and they are ok with it.
Auberge Discovery Bay provides complimentary shuttle service to Disneyland Resort, as well as to Sunny Bay MTR station.
So let me share what was our route from Auberge Discovery Bay, to Courtyard Marriott Sha Tin.
From Auberge Discovery Bay we took the shuttle bus to Sunny Bay MTR.
Sunny Bay MTR take train to Lai King MTR (tung chung line).
At Lai King MTR, alight and change to Tsuen Wan line, towards Prince Edward MTR.
At Prince Edward MTR, alight and change to Kwun Tung line, towards Kowloon Tong MTR.
At Kowloon Tong MTR, alight and change to East Rail line, towards Tai Wai MTR.
At Tai Wai MTR, alight and change to Ma On Shan line, towards Shek Mun MTR.
From Shek Mun MTR, walk 450 m to Courtyard Marriott Sha Tin.
google maps really very accurate. we took the 10 am shuttle bus from Auberge. And we reach Courtyard Marriott Sha Tin at 1137 am. OMG!!!
courtyard marriott sha tin is really a very nice, high class hotel. darling and i went to courtyard marriott at Boston, and both of us agree that courtyard marriott sha tin is more grand and more high class than courtyard boston.
courtyard marriott also provides free complimentary shuttle service to 3 places: new town plaza (next to sha tin MTR station), kowloon station, and tsim sha tsui.
shek mun MTR station nearby also has alot of eateries. after checking in, we went to Dim Sum Deluxe for lunch, a place that i found on google maps. the food at Dim Sum Deluxe is not bad, and the chefs all look very young. just that the restaurant itself is too small, and can only seat about 20 people. order their scallop dumpling with XO sauce! it was really good that my parents wanted to have more.
our next destination was new town plaza, a very big shopping mall. and there were too many many many many people. so we just went to this snoopy exhibition at new town plaza, and went to Tai Wai MTR station to find a dinner place.
and this concludes Day 2!
