Leng and mum were going for a 3D/2N cruise to KL over the National Day weekend. She jioed us but i don't really fancy cruise so decided not to join them. I went for a cruise to nowhere few years back. It was boring! You do nothing except eat. With en then, I can't go to the casino nor the lounge. The swimming pool was so small and so were the rooms. Dad was quite excited about this trip as he can do his favourite thing, gamble.
I told YP we should also go somewhere as it will be boring to stay at home over the long weekend. We settled for Malacca as we saw a few new shopping complexes during the stopover at Malacca on the way to Port Dickson the last time. It's not too far and economical. YP did some research online and found out there is a new resort, Philea Resort & Spa and there is a 2 nights for the price of 1 promotion going on. We made reservation and informed the kids about it. As usual, they were very excited just like for the past trips.
The night before we departed, I went online and did a research on the good food in Malacca. On Saturday, we woke up at around 7am, took breakfast at CSM Kentucky and headed towards our neighbour via the second link. There was a massive jam at the Malaysia customs and we were stuck there for an hour plus. By the time we reached the resort, it was about 2pm. The check-in was fast and we were brought to the room via a buggy. The buggy used in the resort was ugly looking and unsophisticated, lots of grinding noise when on the move. I took a glimpse at the country it was produced in. True enough, there is a '.my' at the end of the company url.
The room is very clean and nice much to our delight. It is fully made of wood and feels very exotic. After that, we made our way to the lobby cafe and decided to have our overdue lunch there as we were famished. The cafe was about half full and we ordered 2 dishes to be shared among us. After waiting for about 30mins, our 1st dish finally came but our 2nd dish was no where in sight. I looked around and realized that the other patrons also waited very long for their orders. Few of them even went into the restaurant (we were sitting outside) to ask about their orders. I asked a waitress about my 2nd dish and she replied she will check for me. She never came back! I couldn't take it anymore and asked to cancel my remaining order. Just imagine, the place is not even full and they can't even handle. What will happen if it is full? They either suck in service or they are understaffed in the kitchen. Poor us, 4 ppl sharing one dish. The waiter kept apologizing but that's all he did, never bother to do any damage control. We had to return to the room and finish up all the snacks we bought in Singapore to last till dinner. I told YP with such service, we definitely have to go to Malacca town for dinner.
Then we did some swimming at the pool. The resort is quite quiet on a weekend maybe because it is new or it is too expensive for the locals. There were some malay ladies swimming and I was surprised to see that they were wearing swimming costumes with a tudung. interesting...
After bathing, we headed towards the town which is about 15 minutes away. The town was very congested and I noticed there were many many singapore cars. With the help of GPS (thank goodness), we went to 3 places recommended on the net. Firstly to Aunty Lee Nyonya Restaurant where we were kena turned away because the lady boss cannot handle the orders. Then to Capitol satay celup where the queue was like super duper long and lastly we couldn't find Lu Yeh Yen Seafood Restaurant. In the end, we ended up in Taragon Nyonya Restaurant along the Malacca River and chendol at San Shu Gong. The food at Taragon was so so only and I don't find it authentic at all. I was pretty disappointed as I really wanted to try the lok lok which has disappeared in Singapore long long time ago. YP promised that we will return tomorrow and go early to queue. Then we also shopped at the super duper crowded Jonkers night market.
As it was a long day, we headed back to the resort. While sleeping, I realized that there is a very serious flaw in the design of the rooms. You see, there are altogether 4 rooms in one building, 2 rooms at each level as seen from the photos. Our neighbours upstairs returned late in the night. Guess what? They can be heard thumping loudly above our heads, every single footstep. Buay tahan, very noisy. I mean knowing that everything is in wood, why can't the developer build a better soundproof structure between the floors? Really give up. Fortunately the people upstairs went bed within a short while and we could continue our sleep peacefully.
For the last 2 years we had buffets for Xavier's family birthday celebration. This year I decided to have a sit down dinner instead. I started to shortlist some chinese restaurants with VIP room and getting set menus from them. After much consideration, I was torn between Grand Asia and The Cathay Restaurant. In the end, I chose The Cathay Restaurant as I like the dishes better and the VIP room has a street view of Orchard Road (even though it's on 2nd level). I quickly called them up for reservation and requested to see the VIP room.
The VIP room is able to take 2 tables, just nice one main table for 13 adults and one small table for 4 kids. I also made some slight changes to the menu: added my favorite peking duck and ordered kids-friendly dishes for the kids and vegetarian for Ai. The restaurant manager was really friendly and nice. He even told me that I did not have to make a trip down, a phone call would do. I did not even have to make a deposit, just verbal reservation, total trust in customer. Thumbs up! For the next few days, i also ordered the birthday cake and balloons for the celebration.
On the day itself, Xavier was still having abdominal pains so he was not exactly in the best mood. I left the 2 kids with mum in the afternoon and made my way to collect the cakes and balloons.Fortunately the 2 pick up locations were quite near, saved me some trouble. We arrived slightly earlier at the restaurant to decorate the room with the balloons. Sister-in-law, Leng and father-in-law started to arrive. The birthday boy was late! Apparently it was National Day Preview and there was massive jam in town.
Once Xavier arrived, I told the waitress to start serving the dishes. Everybody had a great time with good food and company. Adults were chatting happily and the kids enjoying themselves with the balloons. However, the birthday boy was quite grumpy due to the pains and can see from the photos, he hardly smiled. When it was time to cut the cake, everyone was surprised at the cake that I bought. Instead of conventional cake, I bought cup cakes this year. As my sister-in-law shares the same birthday as Xavier, the cup cakes were decorated in the form of animals(for Xavier) and flowers & musical notes (for sister-in-law). Next comes the highlight of the night, opening the presents. This year, Xavier's favourite present is the ipod from his yeye. I think the only smile on his face for the night is when he held the ipod in his hands.
Before heading home, I reminded YP to give an ang bao to the waitresses as they had provided excellent service. I'll definitely come back for second visit for the good food and service, as feedback by my guests and my own experience.
Xavier will have a better time if not for his discomfort but he is still happy lah. I pray for his good health and obedience on this day!
Xavier's big day is here again. This year, I had decided to hold 2 celebrations for him, one at school and one for immediate family members.
I called his teacher 2 weeks before to check on the number of goodie bags to prepare and the size of cake to buy. She told me i can get ready about 14 packs of goodie bags and it would be good to get a bigger cake for the whole school to join in the celebration. I actually had to get a 3kg cake to cater for every students! It so happened that it was the world cup fever and Xavier decided on a soccer cake. I ordered one from prima deli online and arranged for delivery. I definitely cannot collect such a big cake and without a car or YP's help (he was busy at work and couldn't take leave).
Nearing the day, about a week before, Xavier was down with fever and severe abdominal pain. I prayed that he would quickly recover because he was so looking forward to this day and he was actually doing the countdown. I even brought him to KKH and he was diagnosed as having mild infection of the intestines. Thankfully, his condition improved and his fever subsided the day before but he was still having the pains. It was decided he should just go to school for the cake cutting and the distribution of the goodie bags and then we would head home after that.
On the day itself, I took half day off and picked him and En from mum's house. When we reached the school, the cake just arrived and we could hear the kids 'wooing and ahhing' over the soccer cake. The teachers began to gather all the kids in the hall and it was sure very noisy and lively with so many kids in one place and all talking at the same time. Xavier enjoyed being the center of attraction judging from his 'proud' look. We began with the photo session. First mommy and jie jie, then playgroup 1 & 2, nursery and finally kindergarten 1 & 2. We wanted to take a photo with the teachers but I think they are shy, simply refuse to oblige us.
Teacher Regina is a very experienced 'cake cutter'. The speed she takes to cut and distribute the cake was fast. Everyone enjoyed the cake and i saw some of the students asking for second servings. What was amusing is that some of the kids have green lips due to the green cream(grass part of the cake).
Soon after, we left for home. I wanted Xavier to get plenty of rest in preparation for the next celebration tomorrow.
It's the time of the year to express love and honour fathers. I booked a table at Fremantle Seafood @ Clark Quay, which comes highly recommended by 8days, on behalf of the kids to celebrate this day. This fairly new restaurant specialises in seafood and has a fatastic view of Singapore River and Central. 
We ordered oysters, kurobuta pork and Barramundi fish. Apologise for the photos of the half finished food, only remembered to take the pictures just before wiping everything off the dishes.
After dinner, it was still quite early so we went to Liang Court for some shopping. YP bought a Canon Legria HD video cam at audio house. Audio house was having some sort of World Cup promotion that is if the customer guess the champion correctly, they will refund half of the purchased item in the form of vouchers. YP made Spain his choice and I am keeping my fingers crossed. No prize for guessing which country I will be rooting for from now on.
There were some World Cup activities ongoing at the ground floor and we were entitled to 4 chances for the shootout. Sadly, en and YP did not manage to get a single goal but the prizes were not exactly fantastic lah.
Then we decided to head back to clark quay for some dessert and also catch the screening of the world cup match between japan & holland. We settled for hagen daaz much to the delight of the kids and thinking that we could catch the match on the tv at the opposite food kiosk. Guess what? We were blocked by the 'freeloaders' who actually stood throughout the 2hrs match! Solid right? I gave up watching the match as it gave me a headache trying to catch glimpses of the match. Instead, I watched the belly dancing at the neighbouring middle east restaurant.
Finally, we made our way home and it was indeed an enjoyable father's day celebration. DADDY, WE LOVE U!!!!!
