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We’re back from a really good but tiring trip!! One of the highlights of this trip was the hotel we stayed in!
Presenting to you—Cityview Hotel!
It was SOOOO easy to get to the hotel. From the airport, we took the Airport Express to Kowloon Station. We heard that even the locals take this express train… makes you wonder how cab drivers earn their airport dollar!
At Kowloon, look for the Airport Express Shuttle Bus K5. This bus which comes every 15 min, is FREE and it sends you straight to Cityview Hotel!
Btw, we saw our first interesting signage on the bus:
It seems that you can’t talk to the bus driver – Not that we really wanted to as well! ….Our Cantonese is not that proficient :)
After we checked in, we rushed up to our rooms to see what the rooms were like… Look!
Not bad eh? It costs HK680 (S$125) per night excluding taxes. Considering we are close to peak season, this was very affordable.
ED thinks that it is very small (as compared to our room in Malacca, Malaysia) He says that it is only slightly bigger than our hotel room in Paris.
However, the room was very clean. It had the regular Bar Fridge (empty inside), Room Safe, complimentary coffee & tea, electric kettle, and Wall-mounted LCD TV. The bathroom had only shower facilities (good water pressure, regular hot water!), and of course the usual toiletries.
We put the beds together, and our whole family slept on this makeshift Double Bed. There was enough space for our two large suitcases to be left open on the floor, and still enough for the kids to dance and prance around.
Now the most exciting bit was the LOCATION of this hotel! It is is Yau Ma Tei area, which is smacked in between two HOT shopping spots – Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok. AND AND AND, the hotel is ONE minute walk away from Yau Ma Tei MTR station.
In this ONE minute, you walk pass a 7-11 store (where you can buy food/drinks/top-up Train Ticket), and 2 other food stalls! It is also next to a school and hospital. So walking back late at night is safe as the street is brightly lit. There’s also a security check at the hotel’s main door after 11 p.m.!
So if you’re looking for a decent and safe place to stay in Kowloon, we strongly recommend Cityview!
We are flying off to Hong Kong today and we are so excited!
Mummy is a bit worried as it is the first trip off, and she is worried whether if they can sit through the 3.5 hour flight.
She is worried if she has brought enough milk…enough diapers…enough clothes!
Btw, Nathan needs 5 diapers a day (Daddy thought 2 diapers is enough – 1 in the morning, and 1 in the night). That is about 1 dollar/day for diapers.
Sigh…Going on a trip used to be so easy…I just used to chuck everything into the bag, and I was off!
In fact, the way I pack my bags – makes me feel so garung!!! Like Rambo!!! Ready to face the new world and the challenges ahead!
Things have changed!!!
Today, I had to make sure that all of mummy’s worries are dealt with. Even have to pack seedless grapes, bananas and toys for the flight over to Hong Kong (We are not even talking about Hong Kong yet…)
I even packed Walkie Talkies! This is my 1st time doing this…Am I getting old…or am I just getting more resourceful! Please enlighten me?!?
One thing I am sure of, is that the children will enjoy the trip.
In one of my recent posts, I talked about Halloween and the party that we had on that day. A reader asked whether if Christians can or should celebrate Halloween. This topic is of course closely link to topics like Harry Porter and Sun’s Music.
In fact, Christianity Today (A mainstream Evangelical Magazine) also gives it’s views on Harry Porter and Halloween. Focus on the family has an article about it as well.
The issue of Christians and Halloween is a much debated topic in the States, and if you do a search on google, u will find people on both sides of the fence.
With Halloween parties becoming more popular, I think it is good to form an opinion on the matter.
IMHO, I would choose to engage rather than to ignore the holiday. Not engaging the subject is giving the day to fear, and it does not not help that more and more people are getting involved in such parties.
Non engagement is not helping anybody, as we are told to win the lost, and not ignore them.
Halloween does have it origins with the occult and it has to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition.
In the fourth century, Christians attempted to redeem the holiday by celebrating the lives of faithful Christian saints the day before Halloween. That is why the day is also called “All Souls Day”, with some members of the Catholic Faith going to the cemetary to pay their respect to the dead. 
This was a conscious attempt to provide an alternative and re-focus the day away from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other “haunted” experiences.
Personally, I think the parties are fine, as I don’t think our parties involve any worship to any pagan God or and child sacrifices. In fact, all we have is music, party and games. In fact, we met a lot of new people for the 1st time. Some of our friends from the Czech Republic even thought that the event was professionally organized! :)
I feel that we are supposed to "become all things to all men so that by all possible means" we might save some? (1 Cor. 9:22)
Christians should not respond to Halloween like superstitious non-christians. Non Christians are superstitious and are afraid of black cats, walking under ladders. They need to chase away “nian” at Chinese New Year and wear Red for auspicious good luck!
Christians are enlightened by the truth of God's Word. We are not bound by superstition. Evil spirits are no more active and sinister on Halloween than they are on any other day of the year; in fact, any day is a good day for Satan to prowl about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
But "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). God has forever "disarmed principalities and powers" through the cross Christ and "made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through [Christ]" (Colossians 2:15).
Christians have the freedom to either observe Halloween or not do so without fear of sinning. However, no one should be forced to participate who still believes that doing so is wrong - this would be sinning against one's conscience: Romans 14:14 -- "I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (see Romans 14:22-23; see also Romans 14:3a, 5-6).
On the flip side, the Christian who abstains from Halloween for conscience' sake, should not condemn the Christian who chooses to participate. For the Scripture says, "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (see Romans 14:3b, 5-6).
Essentially, we should withhold judgment and be able to live peacefully with each other, and choose to agree or disagree when it comes to issues that are debatable.
I for one, am focused on the partying aspects and on meeting new people!
Everyone I know seems to be going crazy over the Monopoly Singapore game!
In fact, as of the last 2-3 weeks, I have been eating Mc Donald’s more than usual….and of course the kids are definitely not protesting!
Friends have been twittering that they are going to Mc-vomit very soon! :)
There are people even proclaiming on Facebook about the properties which they need!
Seriously, if I had Sentosa Cove or Orchard Road, would I offer it to anybody? I certainly don’t think so!
Btw, I think this has been their most successful advertising campaign since the days of Hello Kitty. Remember those long queues, where every maid and Grand parent in Singapore, was waiting in line to get a Hello Kitty for their loved ones.
I think that the catch behind the Mcdonald’s Monopoly game is that they don’t just give you 1 coupon, but they give you 8 coupons with every up-sized meal.
Psychologically, you feel closer to the winning ticket! And throwing in a few coupons that entitles you to a free apple pie, milkshake or french fries does whet the appetite as well!
Meanwhile, if you are a fan of hamburgers, this is what the Biggest Hamburger in the world looks like:
The hamburger which weighed in at 136.2 kilograms (300 pounds), beating the previous world record burger, which weighed a measly 84 kilograms (185 pounds).
I think the American Burger which came in 2nd looks more appetizing than the Japanese Burger!
Mummy blogs …
Recently, I was invited to a dinner “The Winemaker’s Table”. It was billed as an opportunity to get up close and personal with 20 winemakers around the world. (Really quite prestigious considering there would be winemakers from award winning wineries)
Well, as I was getting ready for the dinner, I decided to put together what little experience/knowledge I have about wine:
1. I don’t drink wine! I don’t drink beer! I don’t drink!
2. It amazes me why many are preoccupied with ‘sniffing’ their wine glasses before take a sip. How does that enhance the experience? We don’t sniff our food before eating! :)
3. There’s RED wine and there’s WHITE wine. I never knew the difference! To me – it is just WINE!
4. Wine comes from grapes. And I think people still do their traditional dance on the grapes to extract the wine.
So armed with such a *rich* experience, I went for the dinner. You can imagine there was really quite a bit of apprehension as I stepped in!
Dinner was at Jing, at 1 Fullerton. It is a beautiful place, overlooking the Singapore River. Now…this was something I was looking forward to!
The FOOD. The 10-course meal was glorious! Really. Look at the fish…
(So sorry, no other pictures of food. We loved it so much, and were sooo hungry, it was gone before we could take any pictures!)
Check out the chef’s credentials!
Now the WINE and the winemakers.
The Winemakers were assigned White Covered seats that were distributed all around the room. As luck would have it, the seat next to mine was a Winemaker’s seat! And with each Course, the winemakers would change seats among themselves! As they moved around, they would bring along their wine (some up to 4 bottles) for us to try! It was kind of like musical chairs! You know speed dating – it’s exactly the same formula!
When we started, I felt like a hypocrite! These highly honoured men (& some women) would be able to see right through me! Alas! Should I go along with the pretence?
Hmm… I am proud to say Truth prevails and the truth will set you free. I simply put aside my prejudices, and positioned myself as an ignoramus. I asked genuine questions that I was interested in, and had a really good time!
Q1: Do you own a vineyard too?
A: Not necessarily. Winemakers own wineries or work in wineries. Some wineries buy grapes from vineyards, some have family members who own vineyards, and some have their own vineyards.
Wineries which don’t have vineyards have the option of picking and choosing the best grapes, and deciding on the quantity of wine they want. On the other hand, with a vineyard, the wineries have to contend with bad harvest and create various grades of wine accordingly.
Q2: Do your children drink wine?
A: YES! It was resounding! In fact, in Italy, one of the winemakers pour wine on good ol’ Italian bread, and sprinkle sugar over it as afternoon snack for his kids! This is a common dish served at mid-day! They believe the wine gives EXTRA energy for kids to pull through the second half of the day!
Q3: What’s your personal favourite?
A: This was the best question I asked! Cos if I didn’t, they would get you to try all the wine that their winery produces!
Q4: Is this your first time in Singapore?
Q5: What’s your favourite food here?
Q6: Have you tried the durian?
You would notice the subsequent questions are all small talk with the winemakers. Haha!
After all that drinking, feasting, talking and merry making, this is our table.
That large glass of red wine is a combination of many many many glasses of wine that we couldn’t finish! They call it the tipping glass—you tip the wine that you don’t want into that glass! It was comforting to know that even the experts don’t finish their wine!
Now, for my personal favourite! If I have to bring wine to a dinner, this is what I’d bring. It’s refreshing, light and cleans your palate. (quote and unquote from the Winemaker himself!) And trust me, it really does! I like it!
Maybe this choice also reflects my aptitude for wine appreciation… it is the cheapest wine presented that night! Costs only $28.80 a bottle! But it wins hands down for me!
Thank you Denise The Wine Shop for organising this event. And of course much thanks to Henry for the invitation.
I am still having my exams, so I decided to post some commercials! That way I don’t have to use up any of my brain power, and I can still keep all your guys entertained!
I hope u bear with me during period, as I got lots of Greek to catch up on….still owe some of my readers a few posts…and give my views about Halloween…
Getting back to this blog post: The commercial below is actually from Thailand, and despite the fact that u need to read the subtitles…the advertisements are really quite funny!
So, if u are looking for some brain-dead entertainment…this is it!
Hooray! I just finished 1 of my assignments, and as I was just relaxing, I happened to check out my colleagues website.
Dawn introduced this flash mob which was done at Oprah Winfrey’s curtain raiser for her 24th season. The band leading the way were the Black Eyed Peas…but the interesting thing, was the number of people that she got involved in the project.
The effect is actually quite impressive! Well, if u are Oprah Winfrey…u can pull a lot of things off!!!
You can check it out in the video below!
After that, I decided to google for some funny advertisements, as there are actually quite a few funny commercials around. To date, my favourite funny commercial is the DHL advertisement that was made in Korea. It is so hilarious!
I just saw this commercial and it is really funny as well! F
This is for all couples expecting or anticipating children…u have got to watch it!
If u don’t understand the commercial, this might help u!
I am so glad that I married a smart wife and not a bimbo! :)
The kind folks at Singapore Science Centre and Mead Johnson Nutrition recently gave the Tay family, an experience of a lifetime!
The kids were all excited, and Nadine was more than ready to get her photo taken to record the moment!
In fact, Daddy has heard so much about the Omni theatre ever since he was young, and he was overjoyed that he could finally savour the OMNI experience for himself.
As we entered the Omni Theatre, we realized that Mead Johnson’s collaboration with the Science Centre underscores their commitment to provide scientific-based solutions to help in supporting the brain development and body resistance of the child while Science Centre provides the environment to nurture their learning.
Mead Johnson’s tie-up with the Science Centre will definitely give children an excellent environment, as the many fun activities will help nurture their learning processes.
One of the many facilities that the Science Centre offers is the Omni Theatre.
The Omni Theatre is actually quite big, and has a seating capacity of 276 seats.
The hall was also filled with children, as Mead Johnson also invited guests from Grace home for the event. This was definitely a nice gesture by the company.
With each seat reclined to get a panoramic view of the large 5 storey screen, the kids were all excited and climbing over each other.
The short movie entitled “Under the Sea” was a real eye-opener, as the screen managed to help us see the sea creatures up close and personal.
We were captivated, as the screen gives you an impression, that you really are in the ocean swimming with the sea creatures. The kids were so intrigued by the effects of the theatre, that Nicole was exclaiming, “The fish are swimming under my feet!”
At the end of the movie, the feeling from the kids were mutual! They loved the experience!
Before we left, Mead Johnson completed the events by giving us a complimentary can of Enfagrow A+, which has more than 4X DHA and coupled with the new Triple Protection Guard.
The 4X DHA is super important as it helps the children’s brain cells to establish and strengthen the children’s ability to learn!
Daddy and Mummy were really elated with the milk
as we knew that Enfagrow is a quality product that we can definitely depend on!
Overall, it was a great experience and many thanks to the Science Centre and Mead Johnson for inviting us for the event!
Also, Check out this great deal:
Mead Johnson will be giving a FREE Science Centre Ticket (Child) with every purchase of Enfagrow A+, Enfakid A+ and EnfaSchool A+ (Promotion start from 5 - 30 November and it’s Only available at all NTUC Fairprice outlets).
Last Saturday Night, the Adults in ETzone gathered for our 1st Costume party.
Joy made the backdrop for the party! Don’t you think she did a great job…She only had 3 hours, and she managed to decorate the whole function room with just simple black paper!
It was fun, as all of us really enjoyed dressing up, and playing silly characters. These are a few of the colorful characters on display that night…
Nicole had fun as well…She enjoyed putting on makeup!
In fact, thanks to may, all of us had a free makeover to look the part like the character that we were playing.
Besides the normal party food, we had games to help break the ice as well!
We started with “People Bingo”
Everyone just really let their hair down, and it was really fun, as we mingled around.
Next up, was team games and we had to make up own “Mummy”.
The guys were really sporting, and they let us doll them up with toilet paper
One of the fun things that we did at the party, was that we gave away free photos. Everyone who had their photo taken at the party, could take a “Kodak moment” back with them! These are some of the photos that we pasted on the door. 
We also voted for the best dressed costume…
Find out the winners in the next post…
