Hong Kong with Kids - Ocean Park

Day 3

It's Ocean Park today, we woke up bright and early and took their bus service down to Hong Kong Central. Then we proceed to Admiralty MTR station, take Exit B, there we buy the Tickets to Ocean Park, the ticket cost us HK$350/adult and HK$250/child and Baby FAN (below 3) was free.  Then we just hopped on their special CityBus No. 629 (HK$10.60/adult, $5.30/child below 4) to Ocean Park.  It was a nice an pleasant ride and their is a Mobile TV on the bus and it's air-conditioned.

Here's basically our itinerary at Ocean Park:

Entrance

Baby FAN trying out some of the souvenirs sold there

Lowland Gardens 

Giant Panda Habitat

Ocean Express - underwater train

Amazing Asian Animals  

Giant Panda Adventure

Panda Village - close up with a salamander

  

Gold Fisth Treasure

Kids looking at the goldfish in the big tank

Whiskers Harbours - kiddies area, the kids' favourite part of the park.

Kids has a nice ride on this mini train

Kids trying their hand at one of the many shooting games there

  

Merry-Go-Round 

 Kiddy Ride - never fail to keep the kids occupied

 It's Lunch time - let's feel our tummy up with Udon, Spaghetti, French fries, jellies and lots of cold drinks.

Performance at the Sky Fair

Trying to get a nice picture of the kids with one of the many figurines there...but it proves to be more difficult then expected.... 

Cable Cars: a 10 min ride up to the Highland Area

View from the Top

Marine Land

Pacific Pier

SMALL FAN trying hard to get a glimpse of the Sea Lion

Kids fascinated with the sea lion underwater

A snapshot of Ah Beng and Ah Lian

SMALL FAN excited with the colourful jellyfishes at the Sea Jelly Spectacular

Atoll Reef













Tai Shue Wan Entrance

We skip the Adventure Land as all the ride seems too scary for the kids, so we decided to just take the escalator down.  This is the steepest escalotor ride.

View from the escalator

After atiring day at Ocean Park, we then took Bus 629 and head back to our apartment for a nice rest.  Didn't thought we will go out at night, but we ended up taking the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade with some of our friends in Hong Kong.  The night view was really nice and very peaceful there although it actually quite crowded and lots of people there.  As it's a last minute decision, I did not bring my camera, so I took some pictures with my LGphone instead, the turn out was "as expected' not very clear...a real pity.

Night scene at Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade

Hong Kong with Kids - Journey to a new place

Brought SMALL FAN & Baby FAN for a 5 day trip to Hong Kong.  The kids simply love it, especially SMALL FAN, he kept asking us if he behave himself can he go to Hong Kong again?  Here's an account of our trip.

Day 1

We took SIA Airbus 380 to Hong Kong.  It's the first time Big FAN & I get to sit on airbus, it has an upper deck and a lower deck, as it's a new experience for us we decided to sit on the upper deck.  Told SMALL FAN we are sitting on a Double-Decker plane.  The plane was not much bigger then the normal SIA plane though, everything else in the economy class seems the same, service same, size of seat same although we do notice that the business class seats was much bigger and more comfortable. We took the 9.45am plane and reach Hong Kong Airport around 1 pm.  Check in and out was a brisk for us as we only have one check-in luggage and one hand carry. We tried to get a bigger luggage and keep to the minimum no. of luggages so that we don't need to worry about counting our luggages.  Big FAN can easily manage 2 luggages while I take care of the 2 kids.  Felt that it's more managable this way.

At Changi Airport Terminal 3

Kids having some fun at the playground at Terminal 3 while waiting for our flight.

On Board Airbus 380

Once out of the plane, we went straight to purchase the Airport Express ticket and proceed to the train station to Hong Kong Central.  The journey from the immigration counter to the train station was quite tedious though as we need to go up and down a few escalators.  The journey from the airport to Hong Kong Central took us about 30 minutes and it was a nice and enjoyable ride as we get to seat down quite comfortably.  We then took a taxi to our friend house at Robinson Road (at SOHO) where we will be staying there for 3 nights FOC...hi hi...

Robinson Tower, at Hong Kong Island (the one under construction) is where we stayed for 3 days.















Big FAN fell ill on that day so we all took an early night rest.  The kids slept at 6pm....hi hi.... As for me, I spent the next 2 hours just browsing through the TV channels there, it was really really boring...

Day 2

The kids woke up bright and early, so we were all dressed up and out of the house by 8 plus.  As we stay along the hill top, we need to take a series of escalotors down to get to the main central. It was quite a nice walk down and the kids have a great time taking escalators as well as looking at the many pups and restaurants and cafes along the way.  We then took our first meal of the day at a cafe along the way call "Xiao Yu Tian".  Big FAN & SMALL FAN ordered their toast which was nice and crispy while I decided to indulge in a bowl of hot "maggi noodles".  It's actually maggi noodles with hotdog, luncheon meat, ham and egg with tomatoes and vegetables plus ketchup. It's really sinful but really really yummy....I'm still drooling pver it as I typed this post now.

After a hearty breakfast, we continue our way down the escalators and visited the wet market along the way.
SMALL FAN was really intrigue by the seafoods and was asking me about their names.

Journey down the long escalator

Xiao Yu Tian - where we have our breakfast.

Wet Market

SMALL FAN curious with all the various seafood displayed there.












We continue our journey downhill until we reach Hong Kong Central where we walked around the busy central and visited some of the street markets.  Big FAN & I bought lots of shirt and pants for the 2 kids in a cut-labelled store...phew....Now we have to think of way to squeeze all these extra clothings into our "One Big Luggage".

SMALL FAN wanted to take photos with the tram

As well as the 2 policemen

Our shopping place (where we bought all the children's clothes)












After some shopping and walking around, we decided to went back to our apartment for a rest before going out to meet our friend at night.  We decided to "ta bao" some of their famous Char Siew Rice for lunch at the apartment instead.  The Char Siew tasted quite yummy although I felt that it was a little too thick and chunky so it's kinda tough to bite.  Guess I still prefer the Singapore version.

Char Siew and Roast Pork Rice













Meet Uncle TY for dinner that night at Causeway Bay and do some window shopping there.  After that, SMALL FAN wanted to try taking a Tram. So we hop on board one that brings us all the way back to Hong Kong Island where we then take a Taxi up to our apartment.  The tram service was really cheap, cost us HK$2.  It's a great and cool ride home...yeah!

Night scene of Causeway Bay

SMALL FAN on the TRAM.

Is Singapore handicapped friendly?

Recently have been seeing this "handicapped ready" sign at a lot of our Singapore buses.  So, last week, I decided to give this new facility a try.  I  brought my baby girl in a stroller for a medical appointment at a clinic which is 2 bus-stop away.  After visiting the clinic, we took a bus home.  As the bus we took indicated that it's handicapped ready, I decided that instead of keeping the stroller and carrying my girl, I will just push the stroller up the bus.  Here's my experience with it:

As I tried pushing my stroller up the bus, I realised that the gap between the bus and the pavement was too wide, so I have to carry the stroller up the bus together with my baby girl. According to the bus guide, I think the bus driver is suppose to come down and help me with it, but I waited for a while and the bus driver just look at me and smile and show no indication that he is getting up.  Well, managed to get myself through one hurdle.  Then I tried pushing the stroller to the designated handicapped lot and realised that a group of Filipino maids was standing there talking and ignoring me.  So I have no choice but to parked my stroller at the middle of the bus.  Luckily, the journey is only 2 bus-stops away and the bus was not very crowded, otherwise, I will have a hard time keeping the stroller steady and making space for people to walk pass me so that they can get to their seats.  Finally, I reached my destination and again, the gap between the bus and the pavement was too wide again for me to push the stroller down, so I have to carry the whole stroller again. 

Here's my verdict on the whole experience.  Basically Singapore is building more and more facilities to accomodate people who are less abled but our people is not ready to support them.  Just like this trip, I think the bus driver is not probably trained or they have not get the right attitude yet to help the less abled people. I recalled when I last visited Australia, we took a bus and the bus driver was ever so ready to get out of their seat and help who ever in need, an old lady carrying lots of baggages,  a man with a stroller etc.  Secondly, our citizens or rather maybe our foreign friends (in my case the Filipino maids), I think Singaporean are generally well educated about the need to give up our seats for the elderly, to help out our fellow citizens in need but I don't think our government has yet to reach out in educating our foreign friends like the maids, construction workers etc about these basic courtesy.

Well, I think we have yet a long way to go in being a nation that is really handicapped friendly or elderly friendly.

Getting your child interested in Reading

Like most Kiasu Parents, I started reading to my boy when he was 4 months old, but as he grow older (now 4 years old), I found it harder and harder to get him to sit still and listen to me.  At a point I just gave up, he has loads and loads of book in the bookshelves but he just doesn't seems interested in it. Eventhough I still make sure I have storybook time with him, but he will just flip through the pages, look at the pictures and be done in 5 minutes. 

Recently, I decided to try a different approach.  I decided to bring him to the library and let him choose his own book.  SMALL FAN loves going to the library, initially, he just runs around the library but nowadays, he will go and pick up books and flip through it, looking at the pictures.  So what I did, was I actually pick out some books about CARS and BUSES (his favourite objects) and let him look at it, then I ask him if we should borrow it home and read it.  He agreed.  This seems to works as the next day, he will excitedly take his library books of cars and asked me to read it to him.

Another thing that I did was, while at the library I also pick up some books on Nursery Rhymes for my baby girl (now 2 years old) as she loves necessary rhymes.  Initially, like all Kiasu parents, I pick up Nursery Rhymes book that contain as many different nursery rhymes as possible, this capture my baby girl's attention. But recently, I started picking out Nursery Rhymes book that just have one rhyme in each book.  And I started reading and singing to both the kids.  To my surprise, my boy got really interested and he was singing the rhymes as he flip through the book himself.  Recently, he even started reading the words in the book.  Nursery Rhymes was really helpful as they tend to be repetative such as Hickory Dickory Dock, also as there is only one NR per book, each page only contain a few words. So my boy started to learn to recognised these words and read it himself. He will ask me what are the words if he is not sure.  Hey...I have unconsciously get my boy to read....not bad right?

Here's 2 nursery rhymes book that I really loves, borrow it and read it to your kids, it's really fun.



For those of you not to sure how to sing the tune for this 2 books, here's the songs from youtube.com

Teaching a Kid to Draw

SMALL FAN is now in K1 and suddenly there is lots and lots of writing for him to do.  Recently, his chinese teacher told us that SMALL FAN seems to be 'slower to mature" in terms of his ability to sit still and write, she suggested that we get him to do more drawing to cultivate his patient and ability to focus.  I was contemplating sending him for art classes but yet, I don't think he is interested in going for yet another 'enrichment" class, so I thought I plough through the net for some drawing activities that I could do with him at home instead.  SMALL FAN loves cars,trucks, bus and all the transportation vehicles, so I thought I look around the web for a site that teaches drawing such vehicles step by step and stumble upon these sites.

• http://www.ehow.com/how_4894440_draw-cars-step-step-kids.html
• http://kidsfront.com/how_to_draw/car_drawing_34.html
• http://www.kindergarten-lessons.com/step-by-step-drawing.html
• http://www.makinglearningfun.com

A day at Lower Pierce Reservior

This was a really fun trips, the kids enjoy themselves looking at fishes and seeing other kids fishing.  However, what was really enjoyable was the playground there, they have the really old type, those that we played in our younger days. Still felt that the old playground are more fun, the newer one somehow not as exciting.

Kids catching fishes at the reservior.












Baby FAN taking a peep at the catch of the day.












SMALL FAN trying to fish with a stick.

Ang Mo fishing with his kid.

The 3 FAN enjoying themselves at the merry go round.

A day at the Upper Pierce Reservior

SMALL FAN was on MC for a full 2 weeks due to lung infection.  So, instead of our usual marketing at the supermarket on Sunday, we decided to bring him to the Upper Pierce Reservior to look for monkeys. It was a nice leisure walk.  And we saw lots and lots of Monkeys, the kids were really excited.

Monkeys eating MacDonald Pancakes that they steal from the visitor having a picnic there.

Kids taking a water break.