Post Bali Holiday

Ever since we came back from Bali and sharing with everyone of our experience, we knew of 4 families who are holidaying in Bali now. 2 of the families were supposed to head towards Hong Kong, but decided to change their plans. Another 3 families I know are planning for their 2011 holiday in Bali and 1 couple considering Bali as their holiday destination :)

We have become the UNofficial ambassador of Bali ;)

Bali Holiday

One of the best decision I made for our Bali trip was to fly by KLM. We paid SGD$246 per ticket and we did not have to battle with delayed or re-scheduled flights operated by budget airlines.

Meals were provided on board.

And the kids had inflight entertainment to keep them occupied throughout the 2h15min flight.

The next best decision I made was to book ourselves into Novotel Nusa Dua, at the recommendation of Wee Keong and Sally. With children in tow, we wanted to escape the buzz at Kuta. Nusa Dua was perfect for us! For 2 paying adults, Novotel offers 2 children to stay and enjoy daily breakfast for FREE :)

I booked a SPECIAL ROMANTIC ESCAPE package. It comes with free upgrade from Deluxe room to 1-bedroom suite, daily breakfast, 1 breakfast in bed for 2, 1 candlelight dinner with a bottle of wine and airport transfers.

Upon check-in, the staff informed us that we were being upgraded to a 2-bedroom suite! Our suite comes with living, dining and a kitchen with cooking facility.

The children slept in a twin-sharing room.

And our bedroom had a huge double bed with a huge attached bathroom! It was a great start to our holiday. I did an online check; we would have had to pay DOUBLE of what we paid to enjoy the 2-bedroom suite! Thank God!

Bali is more than just beach and sun-tanning. We went to Ubud; the infamous place from Eat, Pray, Love. We even drove past the Cafe Wayan; but it was getting late and we did not make a stop there.

We saw rice fields at Ubud.

Drove up to Kintamani, Batur Lake and Volcano. We had lunch at a mountain-top restaurant.

The scenery was breath-taking! Something we will never see in Singapore...

Of course, our Bali trip would not be complete without visting Kuta Beach!

Kuta is the most happening place in Bali. Sad to say, it was also the same district where the Bali terrorist bombing took place in 2002.

The beach was beautiful and the waves were huge! There were people surfing, drinking, sun-tanning everywhere...

We did not bring our swimming gear to Kuta; but we brought the kids to the Novotel's private beach at Nusa Dua instead. The beach was quiet; 3mins drive away and only accessible by hotel's beach tram.

Food was another highlight of this trip! JX and myself love Indonesia food. On our way to Kuta, we asked our taxi driver for recommendations. He told us MADE'S WARUNG. Later, we asked a shop assistant and she too, directed us to the same restaurant.

As we were only about 10mins walk away, we decided to find our way there for dinner. The place was crowded and dark... I think it's the Balinese thing...dimly-lit atmosphere. The food was authentic and nice! Worth the visit!

Daily breakfast was at the restaurant. Kids ate for free :)

The complimentary breakfast in bed was enough for 5 of us! There was so much food that we even packed the pastries as snacks for our day trip to Ubud!

In Ubud, you had to visit BEBEK BENGIL. My sister, who once holidayed in Bali for 2 months, strongly recommended this place. A must try; the Crispy Duck.

Bebek Bengil Crispy Duck - Half a duck steamed in Indonesian spices and then fried for a crispy finish. A bit over-rated; but definitely a unique dish that is worth a try. The ambience of the restaurant is awesome! You can choose to dine in the restaurant or pavilions; overlooking rice fields! Great place for both dining with family or romantic dinner for 2.

Another highlight of FOOD was our complimentary BBQ Seafood Dinner. It was buffet-styled and of course the best part was that someone else was BBQ-ing for us :)

Many people asked me if Bali is a child-friendly place. I would definitely say YES! Especially if you choose to stay in a resort with organised kids activities. Denise had her hair braided at Kuta Beach.

Did her manicure and pedicure at the hotel spa. For hygiene purposes, I chose to pay more for the "princess" pampering to be done in the hotel.

However, for us adults, we had our massage done at Bali Refresh Spa; located just outside our hotel. They were having a promotion. For 2 hours of foot massage, full body massage, body scrub and hotel transfers, we only paid SGD45 for couple treatment!!! Super cheapppppp..... And the service was excellent too!

Besides the pampering, a child-friendly resort comes with their own kids club. Kids are well-taken care of by babysitters. There were many organized activities in Novotel. Denise and Debbie fed the fishes, painted, swam, baked muffins and did many other stuff. The place was well-equipped.

Regardless of age, your child will find something to do during the day.

It was overall a relaxing and fun family holiday for us! It is a place that we all agree that we would like to go back again :)

School hoildays are over

HAY! School holidays is here and I can sleep late! I can't wait to go to Bali. I am going to have my own luggage. I am going to enjoy myseif on the plane and at the hotel. My family and I will buy alot of stuff.

A Furniture shop in class

In school I am opening a furniture shop in class. I am doing it as a group. I love doing it in class with my group.

A 10-10-10 Wedding

It was not the "biggest" wedding I have coordinated (my boss had 1000 pax turnout for his Holy Matrimony at then Hollywoon Theatre). But this was definitely BIG considering the many VIPs that were coming and the media turnout for the wedding. To make things more complicated, we only had 2 months to put everything together, as the venue was confirmed last minute :)

Guestlists, gowns and suits, wedding invites, confirming menu, engaging videographer and photographer, forming a team of helpers, logistics, wedding video, special items, music etc etc etc... what took most couples at least a year to plan, we did it in 2 months! Thank God "Mr Murphy" was not invited and did not turn up! Everything went as planned and it was a beautiful wedding!

Denise and Debbie were tasked to be the flowergirls. There were 6 of them and their dresses were sponsored by Sattine Bridal Couture. The girls were overly-excited during the day. And when it was time for March-in, Debbie fell asleep :p

Even though she missed the March-in, she did not miss out on photo opportunities! Many people shot pictures of her while she was playing during the dinner. A 3 year old simply looks too cute and adorable in a full flowergirl dress :)

Denise was also on her "spree" to spot celebrities and asking for photo opportunites. Her favourites were Yvonne Lim, Mark Lee, Pat Mok and of course Belinda Lee. She even went up to Pat Mok and declared herself as Pat's biggest fan... Aiyo...

Finally the wedding came to an end at 1130pm. The little bible study group that started in my boss' office has grew from Jacelyn, just 1, to close to 90 today! In the midst of these 2 years, we witnessed how Brian and Jacelyn grew in God and in love.

It was a golden opportunity to be involved in their beautiful wedding. Thanks to everyone that accommodated my last minute bookings and requests... You helped made my job easier. And to Brian and Jacelyn, CONGRATULATIONS! Indeed "Two are better than one!"

Teacher's Day

Part of celebrating Teacher's Day in Pat's Schoolhouse, is to encourage parents to relief the teachers from teaching. You can do anything within that hour slot. I "thought" it would be quite fun and got myself into trouble.

First of all, I wanted to do balloon sculptures for the children but it was out of stock! I didn't have time to shop around as I left the buying till the night before. Last minute, I decided to do simple cookery. Use cookie moulds to cut out funny bread shapes, spread chocolate sauce all over it and eat it! How simple right? WRONG! Thank God my littlle helper, Ms Denise, was with me. She turned out to be that extra pair of hands that I badly needed. I forgot that these were 3 years old and there were 12 of them!!!

The parents before me did English story-telling. A granny after me did Chinese story-telling, and she was GOOD! So my choice of simple cookery and balloon sculpturing turned out to be quite a good choice :)

I couldn't get the usual better brand so I settled for something less from N*UC :p Burst a few... You can see that I tried very hard to make the children keep quiet.

Finally, I was just SO GLAD that the hour was up! I appreciate ALL preschool teachers! Tough job you have!!!

Barney Space Adventure

A friend gave me 6 tickets to Barney Space Adventure held at Singapore Expo recently. As the older kids were no longer interested in Barney, I invited Debbie's friend - Aaron to the show.

The props and actions were brighter and bigger as compared to the one I brought Denise to 3 years back. I guess they have improved :)

It was a Sunday afternoon and the hall was almost full! Children sitting nearer to the front were invited to crowd around at the front of the stage. Debbie was busy dancing along while Aaron couldn't keep still. He was literally walking from one end of the stage to the other :p

Outing @ Chinese Garden

Bought kids to Chinese Garden with the Sngs and Tans on Monday. Free admission as there was no lantern exhibition this year. Had a long and hot night walk...:)


The last time I visited Chinese Garden was probably more than 20 years ago! In the middle of the Garden were 8 statues; they were the ancient Chinese heroes which I studied when I was doing Chinese Literature in RVPS. Maginificant and nice under the moonlight!

We probably spent the most time in the Chinese Zodiac garden :) We were busy looking for our Zodiac signs. Denise was afraid of getting near them and would only take 1 with Isaac.

Ended the day with playing FIRE!!! Well, under parental supervision. It's something that we, the parents, agree that we enjoyed the most in the past....:p

Tea Cosy @ Plaza Singapura

Was looking for a nice, cosy place to meet up some gal friends. Met the lady boss of Tea Cosy and decided to visit the place.

Located at Plaza Singapura #05-10, the shop front looks like a gift shop.

At the side of the entrance, the wooden sign tells you more. Daphne, the boss, told us that everything, or anything with a price tag attached to it is for sale! It could be the chair you are sitting on, the table cloth, the display shelf, the mirror on the wall etc!

The most distinctive stuff in the shop has to be the angels for sale. You can find ALL SORTS of angels, for all sorts of occasion. You just have to approach the staff, tell them the occasion for the gift and they will recommend you which to get. We bought "studious" angels for our CG SOT Graduates :) But my favourite were those leaning against the table with their butts showing :p

Daphne (the lady seated lower left), told us that the concept is to house three brands in one location, Tea Cosy, Ten Thousand Angels and A Thousand Tales (the brands that sells the furnishings).

It's a perfect place for casual dining, tea-time with friends, nice chat with pals... Imagine thousands of angels watching over you :)

Baked Mushroom - oven-baked mushrooms topped with cheese!

Tea Cosy Decadent Salad - Foie gras chunks with grilled prawns, whole egg, fresh green and in-house special dressing!

Banger's & Mash - German Frankfurters served with mash potatoes and coleslaw

Tea Cosy Laksa Pasta - Choice of linguini or penne. If you are a Laksa fan, this is a must-try!

Miso Dory - Delicious dory pan-fried in miso gravy.

We were getting ready for our dessert!

Ebony & Ivory - Fudge brownie with vanilla ice-cream.

English Scones - I am not a scones person, but I ate an entire scone! It was soft and fluffy; not those that get stuck in between your teeth :p

Tea Cosy Hot Chocolate - The only reason I ordered this was because it was SO PRETTY! The beverage comes with 4 floating floral marshmallows. I know my kids will love this!

Minty Chocolate Coffee - this is highly recommended by Daphne.

The place also cater to private functions. Daphne told us that they held birthday parties and even ROM Solemnization Ceremony in the cafe before. If you are looking for a serene and cosy place to rest in the midst of a busy shopping mall like Plaza Singapura, do visit Tea Cosy.

Mon - Thur: 11a.m. - 9.30p.m.

Fri - Sun: 11a.m. - 10.30p.m.