2006 Christmas In Singapore

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Pic: They decorate Orchard Road with more than just Christmas lights, they also decorate it with statues showing the story of Jesus when He was born.



Yup, the photos above are our holiday photos when we went to Singapore during Christmas. From December 22nd until December 29. From the first day till our last day there, the rain never stop because now it is monsoon season or rainy season. This trip is not purely for pleasure, mostly for business and because it's Christmas, it can not be finished within the time that that we plan that was why we extended our stay till Dec 29th when originally we were suppose to go back on December 27th. But that's okay with us.

At first because we are traveling with a baby, we kind of lazy to venture to far from our hotel. We stayed at Mauritius Mandarin Hotel that is located I think, at the best section of Orchard Road. It didn't help either that the rain never stop. But there is blessing in disguise here. We found out that we enjoyed staying close together in this tiny hotel room for a week! We play together, took a lot of nap together, watching movies together. We truly enjoy our family time together more than going out. For us, shopping every where, as long as in a advance country, they are all pretty much the same. But once you live in Canada, to be more specific, in Vancouver, BC. Where the view is so good, the air is cool and clean, it's so near to the beach and snowy mountains, it's hard to get too excited to see what Singapore looks like. I don't say that Singapore is not good. Singapore is off course has it's own charms, maybe someday we will find out about it so it's not fair for me to say that we can't enjoy Singapore at all. It just at this specific time, we choose to enjoy our family closeness more than anything else. Why is that? Because when we still live in Canada, we have nobody else but ourselves. So spent so much time together but then here in Surabaya, we keep getting distracted because we live with the company so it's hard to have even a moment alone. Then KK went to school and 2 times a week he has to go to his Chinese lesson right after school and that means he goes out at 7 AM and comes home after 6 PM. While LL my little baby girl sleep around 7 PM. So how can the four of us have time together? So now we finally able to stay together again undisturbed.

Pic: Wheelock Place is where Border Bookstore is located.

Pic: Inside Wheelock Place

For our own Christmas gifts, both me and R bought ourselves 2 little digital camera. One is Sony and the other is Olympus. The second one can be used underwater ( as long as no more than 3 m deep ) , to try it, R and KK went swimming together in the hotel's swimming pool while I stayed in our room because I have to accompany LL because she need a nap.

Here is the result of the new Olympus camera:



Shopping in Singapore is really fun, especially when there are a lot of sale going on. To make it even more fun, this mall offer to gift us a free pearl for every S $ 25 or S $ 37 ( I forgot! ) that we spent in their mall. I thought they will just give us a tiny pearl inside a little box maybe, so I was surprise when they man just grab a clam and start taking the pearl from it's inside right in front of me! Lucky that I am always ready to make a video clip with my new handy dandy digital camera! Here is the clip ...



And since we almost never ventured too far from Orchard Roard, it's hard for me to discribe Singapore to you. For our meals, since we got free breakfast from hotel so we always eat-in. Luckily the breakfast buffet is always to our satisfactory. I think people with little children should go more often to buffet type of restaurant.

Here are some of the choices that they offer ....

Pic: Our daily breakfast buffet in Mauritius Mandarin Hotel.

Pic: I am such a cheap eater, even though they have expensive food items on their buffet menu, I always eat my porridge first before I proceed to other food.

Beside our breakfast from Hotel, we mostly eat at Takasimaya food court. The food is good enough for us. Price is also good. About US $ 4 or more per meal.

For a video clip of Takasimaya food court, you can see it here ...



This year, Singapore trying to attract more tourist by having the biggest Christmas celebration ever. What they do is by installing more Christmas decoration all over the streets. Then they have almost nonstop Christmas show at night. It can be choirs, dancing, musical performance, mimes, magic show, parade, and even on the night before Christmas, everybody gather on the street to sing together about 10 Christmas songs. The lyrics were printed on the newspaper that day so everybody can sing the lyrics together. Since our hotel's location is so strategic, we
only have to look outside our room's window to see what's going on!!!

Pic: Christmas Choir in front of Paragon.

Below is the video clip of the night scene outside of our hotel at Orchard Road...




Pic: Sometime at night time, in front of Paragon Mall there is a Christmas Choir.

Pic: Orchard Road was brightly lit with many Christmas lights and decoration

Here are some pictures of the parade ... we took picture with the parade cars after they are finished.










Pic: Inside Takasimaya Mall

Pic: Taking picture before the parade began.
Pic: Taking picture with the street performer.

Pic: At the corner between Orchard Road and Patterson.

Pic: Other view of Christmas in Singapore

Outside of Orchard Road, we only went to Sentosa Island to see the Singapore Underwater Aquarium. This is going to be LL first time to go o an Aquarium, and I think I am more excited than the kids because I couldn't wait to show LL everything! In turn out that I was right, LL loves those sea creatures very much, just like her big brother KK ...

Here is the video clips of the aquarium :












Pic: Outside the main entrance of the aquarium













Pic: A comparison of size between KK and this King Crab.



Since LL turn to 11 months old while we were in Singapore, so I combine her "11 months old birthday entry" in here too. Here are some of her beautiful pictures. She is getting more beautiful every day and she is very expressive baby. A very curious baby too , she never stop asking us " Apa ini? " or " Apa itu? " , both translate into what is this or what is that in English. She weight around 10 kg now. A good eater and she drinks 6 bottles a day! She loves sweet more than salty taste, the opposite of her brother. Well... what can you say right? She is a girl after all!

When I am tired, or a little stressed out, when I am sad, or even when I am sick. I just need to think of both of my children and take a deep breath and all of a sudden everything feels a lot lighter ...

Pic: Look at her, isn't she sooo cute??? Now you can understand how her smiles can make me sing " What a wonderful World... "



I am so bless that both my children loves each other so much. I especially thank the Lord that KK can understand and love his little sister more than I can imagine since I am an only child. Sometimes LL can be quite naughty to him because she doesn't like to share her grandpa's lazy boy chair for example, and she will scream at KK and try to grab him and as a result she will scratch him too to get him off the chair. But even though KK get scratched, had his hair pulled etc, he still loves her. When I told him that if next time she did that to him again please call me a.s.a.p. so I can discipline her, he told me no, he is afraid that I will make her sad and she will cry. I think KK is the best brother a girl can wish for. I wish I have a brother like KK ...

Not only that, he constantly make sure that LL is safe. When people give LL toys that is not safe, KK always spot it first and he pointed at the problems in detail and explain what is going to happen if LL play with that toys. Guess what? KK is ALWAYS right on this. Most of Indonesian toys are absolutely NOT safe for children. KK can always cheer her up too, this is very usefull when we went to eat in Singapore and she start to get cranky while I just began to eat. KK usually played and distracted LL while I ate my food.