Pink and Undecided: au chocolat

Family Trip 2013 : Singapore (Day 3&4)

Hiiii everybody!

Let's get on with my big family's summer 2013 vacation post! We're leaving JB for Singapore on the third day :D.

Us, waiting for a bus in the bus stop behind RELC Hotel, Singapore

First, let me show you the dining area of Bliss Hotel, JB first. I was so not on my blogger mode in that trip that i only managed to snap it on our third (and last) breakfast at the hotel!

Wahahahahaha, again-their poses would annoy the s*it outta #Undecided!

Errr... Looks a bit like the rich lady and her toyboy ar? AHAHAHAHAHAHHAH kidding2, that's CW and her second son :p

We rented the same bus as the first day to send us to Singapore. You do know that JB and Singapore's like... a few minutes from each other, yes? Hehehe.

Our family tee from Venice :D. Rosemary asked me why our family's tee was like prisoners' uniform LOLOLOL, HEYYYY it's the gondoliers' uniform okayyy

Okay, stupid thing happened when we had to get off the bus to pass the immigration. The driver (and my own experience) told us to bring EVERY SINGLE BELONGING (if you're thinking of crossing to or from JB/SG, i'd suggest you hire a taxi instead, it'll be less troublesome because you won't even have to get off the taxi) but some people were too stubborn to listen. CJ and of course, my very own hunny, insisted of leaving "unimportant" bags behind. Of course, the officer that swept the bus took them off! I freaked *and got really angry at him* because inside that unimportant bag, was my brand new hat that i only wore ONCE to Lego Land!!!. They had to walk all the way back to the immigration and then got pingpong-ed around to look for their bags. Served them right *glum*.

Meanwhile, the rest of us waited in the bus' parking area and started to fool around...

Like this

And because the driver was accompanying hunny and CJ to the immigration's officer's place, KC "took over"

Our new driver and Tour Leader hahahaha

And what's stupider? KC was trying to turn the engine on so we can wait comfortably in a fully air-conditioned bus, but somehow he caused the bus to broke down instead LOLOLOL. In the end after they came back we still had to wait for quite a bit for the poor driver to work on the engine until it came back to life!

Then we're off to our Singapore's hotel, RELC (in Orange Groove, two bus stops from central Orchard) International and checked in.

Yes, the room was massive with three single beds. This room can house 10 people comfortably because of its size hahaha

Spacious bathroom!!! God-sent, after the super tiny and cramped bathroom in Bliss Hotel...

I am recommending RELC International Hotel to all of you who are looking for a not crazily expensive, clean, comfortable and super spacious hotel in Singapore. You know i really hate staying in hotels in Singapore because their rate's absolutely insane and unbelievable, especially because i am used to stay in our condo (it's now rented by a tenant so we couldn't stay there) instead, but if i HAVE to then i'd always stay in RELC.

RELC International was actually built to cater the need of the institute next door's foreign students (ELC stood for English Language Center, i dunno what the R stood for though hehe) but been open for public for a few years. It's not a star hotel (even though it's as expensive as four to five stars hotel actually, but it's worth it because of the size of the rooms!) but you can squeeze in a LOT of people inside the room so if you split it amongst yourself, it'd be super affordable (yes, extremely kiasu as usual). It's also very comfy and clean so it's almost worth it (not really, but compared to other hotels in Singapore, it's close to worth it lah zzz).

This was our second time staying at this hotel and we're always quite satisfied with the rooms. I always booked the triple sharing room because it's the most spacious one (literally super huge, maybe a third of the size of my bedroom. And you know that my bedroom is CRAZY huge haha).

We were waiting for my parents to arrive (they stayed at my mum's younger sis' apartment the previous two days and joined us when we arrived), i was so sleepy that i fell sound asleep the moment i laid on the bed! Glad i did, because even though it was brief, i woke up feeling super refreshed!

You know that Baby Boy was super annoying at the second day after he realized that his beloved granny had left him *without even a proper goodbye, those were his words LOLOLOL. Honestly all those dramas are to be expected whenever his granny left him somewhere, yes it's just been re-enacted a few days ago when his granny left to Jakarta*, but soon he totally forgot and behaved very well the next day. But once the granny arrived, well... It's time to let all the flood gates open! LOL.

He was again being very very very annoying (and i'm saying it with a lot of love because God knows how much i love my son. I believe every little boys or even girls mommies can relate one way or another), throwing tantrum with no reason at all, and won't stop crying and sulking. Now, i've said it 100x and i'll say it again, the best way to deal with this kind of behavior is to ignore him and not acting all mushy that will only encourage him to throw an even bigger tantrum.

But of course, parenting is different than being a grandparents (we cannot stop reminding my mum of how STRICT she was when she was raising all of us! Yes, that totally became our family's joke because my mum would go all mad and start cursing us if we're trying to discipline our own kids-because the kids would be bawling their eyes out, while she didn't even hesitate to drop my three elder siblings (who were aged 4 to 9 back then. When KC was 4 obvi i was not even born until 3 years later) off at the side of the street when they won't stop making noises when she yelled and scold them to).

She became all mad at me and hunny because according to her, we must've been torturing and yelling at Baby Boy non stop while she was away and now he cannot hold back the sorrow after seeing people that actually cared for him (yes, the grandparents. No, his own parents couldn't possibly care about him and would do anything to make him cry. Go on, keep on watching STUPID Indonesian sinetrons and poisoning your own mind that you cannot stop thinking badly and negatively at other people than yourself)

I am not alone at this kind of battle though, every parents who are too close (and worse, live with) to their own parents seems to be suffering the same fate. I know L and Eek felt the same, we share war stories all the time LOLOLOL (and that'd be one of the rare moments when i could actually TALK seriously with Eek without the urge to strangle or kick him). Sometimes they just completely take over (but fail miserably at the disciplining part that is a HUGE part of parenting) and we cannot do anything about it because if we protest, suddenly we're horrible kids (not only parents) who's totally evil and unfilial.

I should do a blog post dedicated to this issue because, well... I need to get it off my chest sometimes and bitching to #Undecided's not always enough, i need a bigger audience! LOL. Let's move on though (or i can go on for another 10 pages).

Thankfully i was in a good mood *all lifted up after that power nap!* and ready to go, so we just asked Baby Boy if he wanted to join us (we were planning to go to Gardens by the Bay that afternoon) or go with the grand parents (seeing how he's behaving at that time and how i was so annoyed at my mum-who went into an argument even with CW when she bitched about how me and hunny must've been really mean to Baby Boy, to which CW defended me to death-i really really hoped he'd say he'd go with his grandparents *LOL* (yes, parents do need breaks from their kids sometimes, he was crying for a solid 45 minutes by then. With no good reason. Crying for attention much?) and i was gleeful when he said he'd go with the grannies, bad bad mommy *LOL*.

But my gleeful-ness lasted like, 10 minutes? LOL. Because as soon as we're out of the hotel, who else but my mum called for us to wait because Baby Boy wanted to join his parents *zzzz*. He's smart enough to know that we're going somewhere fun while he'd go nowhere but board a bus to God-knows-where (that's my mum's favorite pass time, riding a bus for hours and hours on end while she's in Singapore. Probably because we don't ride bus-ever in Indonesia *LOL*, probably also reminiscing about her younger days when she lived there-you do know that my mum's family are Singaporean, don't you?) and then go back to the hotel and sleep!

He's behaving really well the rest of the day (and actually the rest of the trip, oh but he behaved badly to HIS granny the next day LOLOLOL, now he's giving her the taste of her own medicine :p) so i was obviously really happy he was with us. You know, before you judge me, it's impossible to stay annoyed or angry with your own child for a very long time, but i'd be lying and be the most hypocritical person on earth if i dare say i've never lost my temper or be annoyed at him. And i refuse to be!

Anyway, here's a picture of us, stranded at an MRT station waiting for the next train to arrive hehe.

Silly stuffs kept on happening. We arrived at Marina Bay Sands area, but the women kept on saying that we should wait until the evening to go to Gardens by the Bay because we heard it's the prettiest at night, when the sun already went down and the whole place was lit up with thousands of lights. Plus it was a REALLY hot day (not a trace of haze that day, actually for the rest of the trip. Oh, when we checked in RELC Hotel we told the jolly receptionists that we didn't have any haze in Java and Borneo, they were super shocked and told us they were jealous hahaha) that they said it's wiser to wait in the mall instead.

Guess what? The main attractions that we wanted to go to, Cloud Forest and Flower Dome, turned out to be INDOOR (and super cold), and they closed at 5! (all of which we didn't even realize until the fifth day though) WTF!!! LOLOLOLOL! So we ended up not going there at all that day (hunny, Baby Boy, me and KC's family went there on the 5th day though, stay tuned for the entry covering it!) huahahahaha.

Here are some pictures of us at the huge The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands' food court, snacking away for a bit *and then little G had to had her nap...*. I personally like The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands to have a looksie, but not to shop at. There's nothing to shop for here (except for Guardian and Watsons hahahah. Thankfully we went back to this place on the 5th day because i couldn't find the exclusive Hello Kitty perfumes and cosmetics in any other Guardian and i stupidly didn't want to buy that day, thinking that every Guardian would stock them, NOT!) if you're not a huge fan of luxury branded items. And even though i am starting to get addicted to designer bags (not as crazy as CW of course), i wouldn't buy them in Singapore anyway *LOL*.

Yummy kaya bread with half-rare boiled egg and kopi c. YUM!

Are you familiar with the terms : Kopi O, Kopi C and the likes? Don't be confused if you encounter that kind of menus, Kopi O means black coffee while Kopi C means coffee with cream. LOL.

We passed by advertisements of a Mummy exhibition at the ArtScience Museum next to the shoppes and Baby Boy went crazy with excitement *like his mummy, he's morbidly fascinated with this kind of stuffs. The difference is, i was always a very brave and fearless kid when it comes to ghosts and other stuffs, i entered haunted house attractions all the time without batting an eyelid when i was even younger than Baby Boy, while he's very scared of them but fascinated at the same time hahaha* and kept on begging for us to go there.

We're actually already quite familiar with the museum (because we went there once last year to see the Harry Potter exhibition, i am now obsessing over Harry Potter's proper museum in London, i wanna GO!) and we are a museum loving family (we could spend half a day in one museum at a time) so i was quite interested as well.

KC's family also likes that kind of things but not CW and CL, so we planned to leave them and visit the exhibition while (stupidly) waiting for the sun to go down before going to Gardens by the Bay *LOL*. But then BB threw a tantrum because she wanted to come as well, and CW didn't have any choice but to join us because CJ couldn't move. G was fast asleep and they would be waiting at the foodcourt (but she was nowhere to be seen when we emerged from the exhibition, without even bothering to inform us that she's leaving! WTF)

Us at the MASSIVE lift in ArtScience Museum

Entrance was SGD 12, and SGD 8 or something for children

Kids and teenagers can get their adventure/activity packs here so they would be able to solve puzzles and do stuffs inside the museum

Of course, we had to help Baby Boy (and did like, 80% of the job) *LOL*

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside :(. I think the exhibition was called "Mummy : Secrets of the Tomb" and there were a lot of artifacts from ancient Egytian burial and also some real life mummies as well. We also learned a lot about mummifying process (thanks to the 3D documentary about it) and stuffs. Very interesting. Too bad we missed the interactive activity : the Enbalmer's Workshop which i think would be very interesting!

I googled for a complete review for the museum *because i'm horrible at doing so* and i found good one in case anyone's as geeky as we are and want to learn more, click here. I don't agree with all of the writer's opinions (like how the 3D movie was not suitable for kids younger than 6 and they would get scared at some points, i'd say that's totally depending on the kid's nature him/herself because Baby Boy was fascinated and didn't show even a glimmer of fear. And no, he didn't suffer from any mummy nightmares either, he just got a little obsessed of mummies for a while, even the first book that he managed to finish reading was "The Ancient Egyptians Gods and Pharaohs" which is more suitable for kids 8-9 years old *LOL* and how the Enbalmer's Workshop was gruesome, while for us, it'd have been awesome!) but it's very thorough and informative, so have a peek if you're interested!

Went back to The Shoppes and realized it was getting really LATE *LOL*, and we decided not to go to Gardens by the Bay (thankfully, or we'd go back empty handed because the main attractions were already closed by then!!!) in the end. KC was eyeing a dessert shop (that also has a restaurant at another part) called Au Chocolat. He was throwing a tantrum like Baby Boy because he's sick of eating food court foods throughout the trip, he said he wanted a GREAT FOOD! LOLOLOL.

Poor KC, first he was forced to flew with a budget airline, then he had to stay at a budget hotel, and he was forced to eat food court foods LOLOLOL, whatta #firstworld problem, yes? I'd love to try it too so we tagged along, while CW said she's probably going to eat at the food court (yes, the richest amongst us that also happens to be the cheapest in such things LOLOLOL) but somehow ended up joining us at the restarant. So puzzling.

Look at the toy train on the ceiling, the track was super long, going round in the shop (and was it interconnected with the restaurant? I can't remember. The shop itself was a few shops away from the restaurant)

It's a super cute candy land with lotsa colorful candies and merchandises

I was obsessed with macarons *geez, i always confuse macaron and macaroon!* at that time, this was huge and yummeh! About SGD 8 which is quite pricey but we didn't know that it's super cheap until we saw how much Laduree costs hahaha

I like macarons that are not too sweet, and this one's quite perfect. No, i didn't eat it by myself, i took a bite a passed it around, probably had like three bites in total *LOL*, look at Baby Boy watching mummy cam-whoring in confusion

Then we had dinner at the restaurant. It was pricey but totally worth it!

Oh yah, not connected. They have another train tracks at the restaurant hahah. I love the ambience and decor of the resto as well

This blog's collection of KC's silly photos are growing so big...

Chicken Caesar Salad

Baby Boy's mushroom soup, which is a bit bitter that i had to force fed him

Frozen Chocolate

MASSIVE steak! Hunny and i split it and we were full! Totally worth the price (It was around SGD 40? We spent about SGD 60 with mineral water and mushroom soup)

It's a work of art so must post lots of pics of it. It came with a chocolate sauce, i am not adventurous when it comes to food like i stated before, so i didn't care about the sauce. The steak was good enough to eat by itself!

Seriously mouth watering, i'm craving for it so BAD (actually i uploaded the pictures first a few days ago before writing this, then i craved for steak so bad and i got my fix at Bakerzin two days ago, but looking at these pictures now, i am getting a withdrawal-AGAIN!!!!)

CW and BB went home using a taxi while we chose to ride MRT, guess what... We got HORRIBLY lost trying to get back to the hotel from Orchard! LOL. It was so stupid but it really was super hard to find the right bus stop to catch the right bus back! We walked round and round for possibly 1.5 hours! Yes! Lost in Singapore! How much more stupid we could possibly get? It's so embarrassing since i've lived there for years and all and still managed to get lost zzz. In my defence, i only know the bus and bus stops that goes to and from my own condo lah, how am i supposed to understand all of the hundreds and thousands bus stops and buses that operates in the whole Singapore?

Stupidity didn't end there, we managed to get on the right bus and then... We got off one full stop before the actual bus stop we're supposed to! OMG HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I cannot stop laughing whenever i remember about that stupid *and extremely extremely tiring* night! I thought my feet were about to fall off!

Anyway, since i didn't have lots of pictures in Singapore (because we mostly spent our days there in shopping malls, not interesting at all) especially on Day 4 (where i was at my lowest point, we didn't even leave the hotel until 12, i was very very tired and sickly), i decided to do one post covering Day 3&4. I am not very enthusiastic to go on a holiday to Singapore nowadays, that's sad because it's like my second home and all (having lived there for three years in my high school days), it's just that the currency got so crazy now! And obviously there's not much to do in Singapore beside shopping and entertaining ourselves in the malls (and maybe go to Santosa and USS, but we can't go to Santosa and USS every year and not get super sick of them, can't we?).

I used to always want to go to Singapore like, at least once a year. It's best when our condo's not rented out, i'd stay like a whole month there at least and day-dreamed that i was back for good haha (i miss living there once in a while, of course when i ACTUALLY lived there i was really bored and missed Surabaya all the time). I didn't even really buy cosmetics, bath and body cares or branded stuffs in Indonesia coz i'd always stock up whenever i am in Singapore. But with their currency going to the roof... well, everything became quite unaffordable, so what's the point of going there anyway?

I finally had time to snap my OOTD hahaha :

3-in-1 Scarf/bolero : Online, Blue Polkadot Vintage Top & Black Skort : Magnolia, Green Studded Sling Bag : Bali

We're kinda "dating" again that day haha, Baby Boy left with my parents earlier. I was so tired and again, because of the exchange rate, i didn't even feel like going to my usual must go place, Bugis Street (when the exchange rate was still IDR 7000, the Korean style clothes sold there were extremely cheap, like half of the price in local online shops. But now it's not worth it lah). We just went to Orchard and mostly stayed in Takashimaya and Ion... Checked out lots of stores but again, nothing seems to worth buying :(... (i did buy an Indian style headband in Stradivarius that i took a few days too late to buy in Surabaya and they never went back in stock so when i spotted it in Singapore, i snapped it fast)

I felt much better we purchased Centrum (highly recommended multi-vitamin for when you can feel that you're getting sick!) and downed it, so later on i was quite energetic and began shopping at Watsons hahaha. But being sick and sleepy made me lost more than a third of the day T.T.

I read from some Batamese blogger's entry that Laduree was opening in May, so i insisted on looking for it! I almost backed down when i saw the prices though LOLOLOL, but hunny forced me to buy some (i chose the smallest box hahaha) because we're there already :p!

The prettiest store, EVER!

There's a UK fashion blogger that i follow called Briar Rose, and she loves Laduree and even collects their paper bags. I can understand her now, the paper bag is quite beautiful and i wouldn't want to throw out anything that i can keep after paying so much for 6 meager macarons *LOL*. I don't exactly remember how much i paid, it was probably around SGD 30 (i just googled), making every macaroon SGD... 5? Around that lah. I remember getting the box because if we bought it individually it'll be more expensive, but i just googled and all the reviews said it's cost you SGD 3.80 each (without a box) for the regular flavors? Haih i dunno lah i'm confused.

Hunny was getting sleepy (we've been sleep deprived for days already) so we decided to find a cafe to have a cuppa before continue walking around the mall and since i paid so much more than i would normally for a macaron (i know, i know, i'm so stingy right. But it seriously was way over budget for me, i am not a food snob, so i kept on thinking that i would be able to buy that dress i pined over at H&M but didn't get because it was not cheap enough just adding a few dollars from the amount i paid (okay, so hunny did, but who cares) for the friggin macarons! Yeah, i'd rather spend on stuffs i can actually ~~hoard~~ keep. There are enough cheap and yummy food out there to satisfy me after all LOL.

I took LOTS of pictures to preserves the macaron's memory *LOL* because i don't think i want to buy anymore of them anytime soon :p.

The prettiest box ever!

Wuuuwww...

Their price make them deserve an X-tra large picture of their own hahahahaha

I don't remember what flavors we got but that pink one, it was Rose flavored!

Tried one right away but kept the rest for later, so expensive we need to savor right? Unfortunately we're not good at savoring huhuhu. I kept a few for my mum who's even worse than us, she finished a whole macaron in two bites, less than 5 seconds zzzz

I told her "slow down mum! That's IDR 35.000 you just swallowed whole!" LOL! You can get like one or two big slices of cake with that kind of price *extemely cheapo*

Obviously, i also keep his box :p

I find it so cute that they came with a special leaflet to explain the flavors, history of Laduree, etc. Definitely a high end/designer Macaron hahaha

I didn't even know that hunny snapped this hahaha

Prediction : they were really good, but i don't think they are worth their price hahaha. I know that we also pay for their legacy and history, but still...!!! I'd prefer to try out other *more affordable* macarons next. Oh, and their shells were so soft that when we took them out at the hotel later some of them were crumbling and destroyed already T.T. They are also not super sweet, it's just sad that we cannot find a proper macaron yet in Surabaya. Most of the macarons we tried here were usually super sweet! They cannot seem to strike the right balance and get the sweetness level quite right (i do not have a huge sweet tooth).

Oh yeah, the cafe we went to was located inside a bookstore chain called Kinokuniya. The place was called :

Hunny posing the way he felt inside hahahaha

Silly guy's obsessed with Iron Man, he just bought that case the night before at JB City Square. Oh, and that silly tee shirt was a gift from LL and her hubby when they went on a vacation to USA a while back haha

I was so busy taking pictures of the Laduree at some point that i knocked over my opened make up pouch (i was blotting my face)and everything clattered real loudly on the floor, everybody at the tiny cafe starred at me, how embarrassing. I was even more embarrassed when the people on the seat next to us began handing out little items from my pouch that rolled around them T.T

I was instantly refreshed and energetic after popping in a Centrum and a glass of cold coffee! And went shopping to Watsons (part 1 haha, i went back the next day and get a LOT more stuffs. I LOVE Taka's Watson's, it's just so huge) and take a looksie at Sephora, etc. Even though the fashion was not worth buying in my opinion *i really ended up not getting any clothes in Singapore! That's a record!*, but the drugstores were still quite alright i think. I got LOTS of stuffs there! Yes, they will be featured in, you guessed it, a haul post.

Also went to Candylicious and sneakily took (a lot of) pictures with my BB, even though it wasn't actually allowed but nobody paid any attention to us anyway :p.

Candylicious' decor's always so CUTEEEEE

"Lab Bottles" liquid candies

They also sold the cutest merchandises

My fave is this "Peanut Coated Ice Cream Bar" hehe

Hunny, seeing weird machines and couldn't say no, he bought it just because he was attracted to the machine and container, i believe hahahaha

I don't even know what this is called, powder candy? Notice the little stamps on hunny's hand? They were selling those pen types temporary tattoos for your face n body in Sephora, it was a stamp really only for your skin, not paper. We went a bit crazy with the testers, stamping each other hahaha!

The huge teacups were sooo cuteeee

Gigantic Hersey's syrups

We just randomly entered any shops that caught our fancy since i do not feel like shopping (yes, i know, except at the drugstores) and in one of those stores selling cutesy stuffs i saw this :

Perfect for #Undecided who was having one hahahaha

It's so cute if only it contained something a little useful (i dunno, even candies would work) i'd buy it for her, but it's just filled with nonsense papers *with dunno what writings inside* At that price, NOH, i bought her something else!

Cutest pen ever :p

This is so random, but we saw a cool girl with her back covered in tattoos! I told hunny to snap a picture of her back sneakily :p.

WOW!

My mum suddenly called and complained about Baby Boy being naughty, he agreed to come with her and KC's family (also CW? I dunno) to visit my grandmother (who lives at the edge of Singapore, nearby JB) but when they dropped my dad off at the hotel, he suddenly threw a tantrum and refused to go, wanting to stay behind with his grand daddy. Now, my dad is... a bit weird i guess. He got angry at my mum because he said she was forcing Baby Boy to go to my grandma's place, when he was the one who wanted to come with in the first place.

My mum was furious, and it's amusing for me. I mean... I am not allowed to get annoyed at Baby Boy, now matter how naughty he's being, but if the "victim" was her, of course she's allowed to be angry. Double standards much? I wish sometimes when she's accusing us to be mean at Baby Boy, she'd remember how SHE reacts whenever Baby Boy's pissing her off. Because it's not that different anyway. I wish she'd stop nitpicking every little things we do wrong as parents and let us do our jobs. And i wish she'd stop being so mean (and paranoid) to my hunny, most of the time he didn't deserve it (i said most, not all the time, i know he can be quite a pain in the arse sometimes too).

Anyway, it was getting quite late so we just had dinner, da bao-ed for my naughty little boy and went back to the hotel to chill.