Bangkok - last day

On the last day I finally managed to see these faces! It was too short and rushed but at least I got lots of cuddles from them :)

Girls weekend in Bangkok - Day 2

The second day was filled with fun. We slept in till 9am and had a relaxing breakfast at the hotel. Then met up with Isabel for a foot massage. I wish massage is as cheap as Thailand in Singapore. I would go there every day!!

Then we had lunch at a cafe. I just love the interior of the cafes and restaurants in Thailand. They have very good taste. I especially love the furniture they use. Maybe I should try to bring some back on my next trip?

We had to say good bye to Isabel after lunch as she had to get the kids from school. Kylie and I decided to wander and walk to the nearest train station. The area we had our massage and lunch is almost like "Little Japan". Lots of Japanese eateries and shops targeted for Japanese. Obviously this is the area Japanese people tend to live. We even found an Onsen - the public bath. 

Looks like the countryside of Japan...

Out of all the tourist destinations we decided to go and visit the Grand Palace. The only problem was we spent too long in a shopping mall looking for a hat for Kylie. It was supposed to be a 10min stop but ended up 2 hours... By the time we managed to get out of the mall it was too late for the Grand Palace visit, the taxi driver told us it was already closed at 4pm! But they suggested we go and visit Wat Pho, a Buddhist temple complex with a giant reclining Buddha. 

It was certainly the wrong time to travel. Friday traffic was hideous - the tuktuk took forever to get there. It was kind of interesting, we got to see lots of the local parts of Bangkok from a very slow moving vehicle... 

We made it there before it closed! We still had over an hour to spend inside the complex. 

The main attraction, the reclining Buddha. She was huge and very shiny. 

We were more overwhelmed by the artworks that were on the interior of this building. They were just amazing. 

Wat Pho is one of the temples that is classed as the highest grade of the first class royal temple. It is also well known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage which is still taught and practiced at the temple. Hence the sign post. I thought it was really strange to have a massage place within the temple...

It must have been the time of the day we visited, there was hardly anyone there. It made it extra peaceful and zen to be in the temple complex.

I knew where to take Kylie for dinner from there. The previous trip to Bangkok came very handy. Peter and Isabel took us there to see a Muay Thai show last time. We arrived in "Asiatique" without any trouble by boat. 

Before we had dinner we had a good look around the place. The place is full of clothing and craft shops. Kylie was very happy and bought lots of cheap clothes. Me? Still nothing. 

There are so many restaurants and bars in this place too. We picked this Thai restaurant by the river as the place was packed - must be a good sign right? And we were right! The service was excellent and the food was divine. I will definitely go back there when I next visit. We need a bigger group of people to try more than a couple of dishes though!

To get home we had the choice of 1) boat + train 2) taxi or 3) Tuk Tuk. Both the boat and taxi queues were crazy long so we got on this Tuk Tuk. We weren't 100% sure as it was past 11pm, the distance to the hotel was fairly long but we wanted to get back. He went crazy crazy crazy fast!!!!

Somehow we arrived at the hotel in one piece and it only took us 10min drive plus 5min waiting at the traffic lights. Looking at where we travelled on the map it was certainly super-dooper fast!!! Once back in the hotel room Kylie and I had to open a bottle of red wine to celebrate our crazy experience to finish up our busy day. This will be the night we will be talking about in 10 years time for sure!

Girls weekend in Bangkok Day1

Kylie had only one more week with us before she returned to New Zealand. We had talked about a short holiday for the two of us alone. Just going on a holiday without the kids was very exciting but on top of that I could spend a weekend with my best friend! Double joy!

We looked into Taipei as a destination first. We had a mutual friend living there from our high school days. Plus my friend from Osaka wanted to meet up for some dinner too. But having the weekend falling just after Chinese New Year the tickets were quite expensive for Kylie so we decided to look elsewhere. Our next choice was Jakarta, I know it is not a holiday destination but our great friends Rachel and Peter who live there have completed their holiday batch on a mountain right by a National Park there. Rach showed us some pictures while she was here last. The place looked amazing!!! Unfortunately the mountain excursion dates didn't work for me. So we had to look where to go again...

There are so many places we could go for a weekend from Singapore... That was the main problem, too many choices! Well from all the possible destinations, we ended up choosing Bangkok, Thailand.

Kylie had never been to Thailand and wanted to do some cheap shopping and sightseeing there. And as lots of you know I get to see my super friends, the Ferans while we are there. I was very very happy with the decision :)

Here is the picture of us ready for our weekend away! (to be honest Kylie needed to get away from our kids as much as I did!! They were all over her every single day since she got to Singapore)

Unfortunately we got right into crazy busy lunchtime traffic coming out of the airport. It was such a relief to be able to check in at the beautiful hotel - Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok and have some relaxing time before we explored the interesting city.

We had a very late lunch at the pool bar. Delicious made-to-order burger, your choice of bun, meat, sauce, cheese, side dish and a drink - of course we chose beer!

Once our tummies were satisfied we went out for some shopping. My besty, Isabel met up with us and showed us around. It was a super bonus to get to spend some quality time with her :)

I love the green/natural-trend that Thailand shopping malls have adopted. 

Since our excursion started late, we had only limited time for shopping and it was already time to look for something to eat. We ended up having some Thai food in a cool cafe/restaurant. Surprise!?

We weren't sure what's next. We couldn't decide if we would just go back to the hotel and have an early night as Kylie and I were both exhausted. Don't ask me how? without kids? on holiday? 

In the end we made an arrangement to meet up with Isabel again in the morning and explored the street market Isabel mentioned near the hotel. We ended up walking for over 1 1/2 hours. Looking at endless Thai crafts and clothing and some strange items for sale on the street.... 

Kylie bought two tops and I came back empty handed. I just didn't feel like buying anything somehow.

I think we were both asleep a minute after we turned the light off... 

Visit to the Japanese School

Kei and I visited the Japanese School with Oliver and Ayaka the other day to make the big payment!
It was the first time for Oliver to see the school. He was very impressed with its size. It's quite a big school, Oliver's age (Primary 1) will have 8 classes with over 200 kids. In the Japanese system primary school is up to grade 6, 12 years old. Then they move onto Junior High School where they study the following 3 years. After that they will be attending High School until they are 18 years old.

With his best friend Ayaka. I really hope they can be in the same class.

The PE field is huge!

It was good to visit the school before their trial day in March. They will be taking the school bus from the condo together. 

After the visit we went for a lovely lunch at a cafe called "The Coastal Settlement" in Changi Village. It was surrounded by lots of greenery and the interior was very cool - my type of cafe!

We ate way more than we needed. Not to mention we didn't need any dinner that day... this could be our hang out place when we have school visits :) 

Oliver is doing very well with his Japanese lessons. He has improved his writing and reading so much. I am also teaching him addition and subtraction, how to read the clock etc. I do enjoy teaching him but at the same time I am very relieved that I don't need to teach him all of it myself. It is such hard work!!! 

Fun day for Luca

Kylie offered to take Luca for a looooong scooter ride yesterday so that he can release all the excess energy he has. They managed to get to our nearest shopping mall - Parkway Parade.

When they came home they spent more time together in the kitchen making very yummy apple crumble. I don't think I have ever baked it myself before. Luca had so much fun making the crumble very crumbly.

It is so nice to have an extra adult in the house when you are getting crazy chasing all three kids. I think I will be lost without Kylie when she goes back to Christchurch next week. 

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Not so much is happening here in the Rose residence in Singapore this year. The condo lion and dragon dance is not on until next Sunday and the kids CNY celebration party is on this coming Wednesday.
I will post some pictures of these events sometime next week :)

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

While in Bangkok

Matthew and Oliver both had a ball over the weekend in Bangkok.
Oliver spent a day in KidZania with Oscar. It is the fastest growing indoor entertainment for kids where they can experience a number of different jobs through role-play. There are 20 KidZanias all over the world now.

Oliver went to the one in Dubai last June so he was extra excited to be able to go and try out more jobs. Pilot, police, photographer, firefighter, delivery person and more!

KidZania Singapore will be opening this April in Sentosa! Very exciting for our kids :) The interesting thing about KidZania is their partners are real-world brands and some are unique to each country. You can see some of the companies that will be in Singapore KidZania here. 

Hopefully Oscar and Lucia will visit us and we can take them there when it opens. 

Oscar and Oliver had such an amazing time together. They were great friends before but this weekend made them connect even stronger which is just wonderful.

The big boys had some quality time (?) together too. They were out exploring the Bangkok nightlife two days in a row!

Thank you very much Isabel and Peter for having them. Now it's my turn to come and catch up with you guys. See you very soon!