Holiday spent in Changi

CT took us to stay at Changi Village Hotel for a night as we did not go on any holidays during this Dec together. Wanted to go Bintan initially but felt Changi Village offers the same kind of feel with cheaper food and convenience. So why not?

We loved Changi for its food and beach. It's very tranquil and laid back. But before we checked into the hotel, we went Tampines Mall for games and lunch. Went Arcade with the children playing all sorts of games. So fun!





I also had my share of fun playing the shooting games and racing games with CT. Ate Texas Chicken for lunch while the kids had rice.



Checked into our room after lunch. We all had our afternoon nap.


Girls being girls, they are usually the ones to wake up earlier. So I brought Danielle around the hotel for a walk.



When I brought Danielle to the swimming pool, she was about to take off her clothes as she couldnt wait to jump in.


So its no surprise that once we got back to the hotel room, we excitedly woke up the boys to go swimming.


After a good swim, we had dinner at the food centre. Then we took away the famous Nasi Lemak and huge JB bun back to our hotel to eat!

This bun is called "Amy Yip" for obvious reason.


Its delicious and huge!


The next morning, we had buffet breakfast at the hotel before going to the beach for a nice morning stroll as the weather was very cooling.




The kids enjoyed themselves tremendously especially since they had lots of space to run about!





After the stroll, we went back to do our packing before checking out. Went to my mum-in-law's place to pick Vicky and my MIL up for lunch. Took them out for lunch at Geylang for home cooked Cantonese food. Very yummy but oily and salty. I loved it as its very traditional style of cooking. Just what I like.

I really had a great time with the family despite spending only one night together in the hotel. I appreciate it every moment I have with them!

Belated birthday celebration

My darling daughter was born on 12 Dec 2008..Yep, easy to remember 12.12. However, since I was away in Cambodia with Caleb and even though CT celebrated with her at my mum-in-law's place, I still wanted to do something for her. So had a birthday party at my parents' place, inviting my bro's family, parents and Marianne's family.

I told my mum to prepare just simple home cooked dishes. We had steamed fish, 2 plates of veggies, my helper, Vicky's popular dish- macaroni salad, fishballs, roast duck and chicken,as well as minced pork with salted fish.



The kids were entertained by what else, but the television and iphone...sigh.


I fear that parties in future may be in silence where every kid would be too busy or engaged in playing their iphones or watching TV etc.

But since they are not of age to play any good games, I shall definitely wait till a year or two before I start planning games for their parties. So for now, television is a life saver and great entertaining tool.

There's my birthday gal fixing her eyes on Hi-5 show on TV.



And here's the mini cakes which I got for Danielle just this afternoon! Chose this as I didnt find any nice kids birthday cakes and moreover, I found this more interesting for children since they could choose which cake to eat according to what cartoon character they like.




Always enjoy spending time with family and friends.

Happy Belated Birthday Danielle! Papa and Mama definitely bring you now for holidays since you have turned 2 and have definitely matured!

May God continue to bless you and keep you pretty, pure and having lots of love for people around you!

Last days in Cambodia

I spent my last full day in Prey Veng going to church in the morning and just spending time with the children there.

Here's a picture of the children squeezing into the truck to make their way to church. The other kids went by foot.


I also wanted to let Caleb enjoy his last moments with the children and just taking everything in before we head back to Phnom Penh.



The children were also busy preparing for our farewell concert at night as they did up the backdrop. I understand that they actually took one month to prepare for this concert! They did it especially for my dad whom they love and respect a lot!


As for some of them, they were in the kitchen cooking the Singaporean dishes which we taught them to cook and they were busy preparing for tonight's dinner when they would cook for all the children in the orphanage.



While the children were busy preparing, we went out to catch the sunset just outside the orphanage. It was a beautiful place with 2 street stalls selling satay and other stuff.




It was a great to spend my last night in Prey Veng catching the sunset.




Caleb also had a go at the satay that we bought along the streets. Thank God his stomach could take it!



The night performance was great! Could see the amount of effort put into it from their costumes, to their make up, and the dance. It was amazing! Caleb even went up to give the female dancers flowers during their performance!



My other highlight for the last night was definitely when I got to try the balut egg (undeveloped duck egg) that consists of the yolk, white (super chewy and tough) and the undeveloped embryo.

After challenging myself to finish the whole egg, and conquering my fear of heights by doing the obstacle course in Australia, I felt I was ready for Amazing Race!(since being huge fan of the show)

In fact, the thought of eating the egg is actually more scary than eating it! So its all psychological!

After the concert, we took many photos with one another..


The next morning, we went back to the orphanage for breakfast before we head back to Phnom Penh to stay for one more night before going back to Singapore.The children were all so sweet! They all seemed so happy and contented with what little they have. I will definitely miss them!


Dropped by at a factory first to sell handmade soap which the girls made it themselves. We brought a few thousands to sell and end up selling everything! Praise God!


Had wanton mee for lunch at Phnom Penh, rested in the hotel and did shopping at Central Market (within walking distance from our hotel) in the afternoon.




Bought for a Caleb a pair of Ben 10 shoes in the market as his shoes that we brought were quite worned out from all his running in the orphanage.

Though Caleb probably only watched 1 or at most 2 Ben 10 shows so far, he seemed to be in love with Ben 10 for dunno what reason!


Had dinner at Red House Seafood Singapore Restaurant. Found it strange to eat Singapore food just before we head back to Singapore. But since my dad wanted to eat there, I was fine with it. However, our van came quite late to pick us up, so went to KFC (which was just at our hotel lobby) to try their chicken! It was as good or even better than Singapore's.


On our last day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I went back to Central Market to buy more things right after my small, decent buffet breakfast at hotel.

After shopping, bathing and packing, we checked out of the hotel for lunch with Carol who has been a Cambodian Missionary from my parent's church for a very very long time.


The lunch place (called Yi Sang Chinese Restaurant, just next to 'Phnom Penh Economic Zone'-travel along the main road down from the airport on the left) was the BEST I have eaten so far in Cambodia and I was glad to end off my last meal here in this fashion. The rice was the BEST I have ever tasted so far! So fragrant and tasty on its own. It was that good that even Caleb had 2 bowls of rice!








After lunch, Carol brought us to visit their youth hostel nearby which is the red one on the right.



Went to the airport very early as we didnt have anything to do already. We were about 4 hours before our flight departure! So you can imagine what a challenge it was for me to entertain him.


Thank God for the rest of the dinosaurs left after sharing most of them with the orphans.Caleb loved doing a little role-playing with his toys. So I had to get into it and play with his as well.


During the flight back, he was sleeping most of the time. So he didnt even get to eat his dinner. Thank God for his filling lunch he had in Phnom Penh!

Had a wonderful meal on board the plane as the beef stew with pasta was very nice. Anyway, throughout the flight, I was pretty excited to get back to Singapore as I miss CT and Danielle A LOT! Couldnt wait to see them.

In fact after seeing them, I realised how much Caleb and Danielle actually missed each other. I was very happy to see them so close.




During this trip, I was really proud of Caleb for showing me what he is actually capable of. In my emails sent back to CT, I kept telling CT about how this trip actually seemed to accelerate Caleb's maturity! I saw how brave and daring he was with food by eating the street food (as he is not usually adventurous with food), being so confident (by going up in front of a hundred people by handing the dancers flowers on stage), by being so sociable (playing crazily with the children)), adaptable (by being so right at home wherever he was, with no complains) and just basically seemed to enjoy himself a lot throughout! I am very impressed with him and pray that God will continue to touch his heart for the poor and underprivileged as he spreads his joy and love to others.



By the way, here's a video of the last night in Prey Veng. Its a little long but hang in there. You will see Caleb appearing a number of times giving flowers to them.

Enjoy!