We’re back! Sigh, what can I say about the trip… Lots, mostly about how you SHOULDN’T take a demanding toddler with you to a beach resort.
She refused to walk, refused to drink her milk, refused to eat proper meals and stamped her feet alot.
Other than that, it was a nice holiday! haha.
Here it is in point form. Will upload pics later.
Day 1:
- Taxi to airport. We’re all excited.
- Pretty good flight thanks to a lollipop and portable DVD player.
- Check-in at hotel. Beautiful place.
- Nap.
- Stroll along the boardwalk by the sea.
- K refuses to step foot on sand.
- Dinner at hotel buffet - I’m starving.
- K decides to throw a tantrum.
- Half an hour later, she is still crying. Everyone is looking at us.
- My stomach is cramping from stress and hunger.
- Finally after three walk-outs of the restaurant, she settles down.
- We finish dinner and manage to relax the rest of the night.
Day 2:
- Trip into KK city center.
- CY has to carry the little princess all over town as she refuses to walk.
- Tantrum at the food court.
- Back to hotel.
- Nap.
- Refuse to step on the beach again.
- Swim (in pool).
- Dinner.
- Sweet and sour crab and salt and pepper prawn.
- Yum.
- K entertains guests by singing “ke ren lai” and gets an applause from the next table.
- She insists on being carried around.
- Bedtime.
- She gets into a coughing fit and throws up.
- Twice.
- Change bedsheets, change clothes.
- Finally, sleep.
Day 3:
- Breakfast. Fried eggs, baked beans, croissant, hot coffee. Ahh!
- Forgo trip to Orang Utan sanctuary
- Swim.
- She has slight fever.
- Fever gone. Phew.
- Play at hotel kid’s play room.
- Lunch.
- Small tantrum.
- Nap.
- Watch the sunset. Lovely.
- Buffet dinner again.
- No tantrum this time. Phew.
- Back to hotel room.
- Have a relaxing bubble bath.
- Don’t stress her out. Let her watch TV.
- Sleep.
Day 4:
- Breakfast.
- Check out.
- Lollipops and dvd on the plane.
- Back in KL. It is still raining!
- She sleeps in the taxi all the way back. Peace!
- And now she must have been so glad to be back home with her normal routine, she has finished all her milk, happily said “doog nite mummy”, and gone to sleep extra early!
Venice was…nicer in pictures than in person. For me anyway. I was too focused on Keira to really enjoy the streets and views; too tired from staying up with her at night because she refused to sleep in the hotel cot; and exhausted from having to carry Keira plus buggy up and down the many, many, many bridges of Venice.
But now when I look back at the photos we took, I realise that actually Venice is very picturesque.
In a city that has no roads or cars, people either walk or take a boat. And it really is a pleasure to stroll along the streets, with quaint buildings on one side and silent gondolas gliding along the water on the other side.
Well it would have been perfect if it wasn’t for what I said in the first paragraph above. But that’s life with a toddler hey and I still got my wish to see Venice. So I won’t complain anymore… not in this post anyway, hehe.
I was expecting to see some really grand old buildings like in other European cities, but most of Venice was actually low rise houses that have been converted into tourist shops, hotels or restaurants. The only grand place was Piazza San Marco.
Not that impressive.
My favourite part of Venice was Accademia, which is the university district, so it was less commercial, with more space for museums and churches to stand out.
We had a great time in this square there.
We ate fresh mozarella and tomato wraps for lunch, gelati for dessert and fried sardines on a stick for a snack while Keira chased birds and dogs all over the place.
Venice is definitely a city for couples tho. It is damn romantic to idle hand in hand along the small walkways looking into shop windows or snuggle in a gondola while you glide under bridges and pass pretty churches.
Then again, the place is crawling with tourists - huge groups of school children, families and group tours throng the streets, sometimes they even cause a jam at the bridges! So maybe it wouldn’t be that romantic, because sometimes you can’t even stop to look at shops because there are people pushing you forwards from behind.
So yes, Venice is very touristy. But I’m still glad we went, because a city that lives on water is a very unique city.
And of course we had some lovely moments.
The famous Rialto Bridge is in the background behind Keira.
Restaurants are very expensive. We ate at this tourist trap restaurant which was by the Rialto bridge, and got sub-standard pasta at a ridicuous price. I suppose we were paying for the location.
But we did find other yummy, cheaper foods. Their sandwiches are bulging and juicy, and they have so many different pastries I’ve never seen before - sweet rice tarts and crispy nutty biscuits and flaky lemon and chocolate puffs - all of which I forgot to take photos of!
We also had this Fish Soup - a local specialty - on our first night, which CY liked very much.
And I tried a Bellini - a Venetian cocktail made from white wine and peach juice - yummy!
Well, that was our last Europe experience for quite a long time to come. I’m not taking Keira on a stressful holiday until she is much older (and can walk by herself and sleep in her own bed).
We are now getting ready to fly back to KL this Sunday, so adapting Keira back to KL life and weather will be our “adventure” for the next few weeks.
Everywhere we went, from the airport, to restaurants and on the streets, people came up to us to take photos of Keira, pinch her cheeks, stroke her hair, wave to her, point at her and did I mention take photos of her? Some people asked our permission, some just snapped away!
This never happened to us in London. We were quite pleased that people found her cute, at the same time it felt abit like our privacy was being invaded. But mostly we were proud parents
Below is a video of Keira chasing pigeons in San Marco Square. I’m still recovering from the trip - so tiring! - so will write more about the experience later. Suffice to say that there were too many stairs and bridges to carry the buggy over, and all I could think about was how to avoid the next bridge!
The good news is that Keira didn’t fuss on the plane, the bad news is that she decided to sleep at 11pm and then wake up bright and early at 6am every single day.
In London, we don’t have a car. If we go anywhere, we take the bus or the train, so Keira is very used to these two modes of transport.
Historically speaking she has never done well in cars or planes - being tied down in one place for more than 5 minutes is a no-no for her. She screams her head off, as we previously experienced going to Barcelona.
But tomorrow we’re going to Venice and it will be a taxi to the airport, plane to Venice and a boat to the hotel.
Needless to say, I have spent a small fortune on books, munchies and entertainment in the desperate hope that they will be enough to keep Keira happy for the five hour journey there and five hours back.
It’s pretty stressful preparing for this “holiday”. I think if we weren’t leaving to go back to KL, we wouldn’t be in such a rush to go travelling until Keira is alot older. All this planning and research that we have done is alot more like work than fun.
Finding the right flight with the right time that doesn’t clash with Keira’s naptime, finding a hotel that provides kitchen and baby facilities and that is centrally located, timing our every move down to the minute so that we can fit in travelling, eating, napping and if all goes well some sightseeing without bringing about a tantrum!
When it was just the two of us, all we had to do was book a flight, find a hotel, pack and go. No worries about nap time and entertaining a toddler on a crowded aeroplane. No issues with eating out at restaurants, no need to worry about stairs and how to carry baby and buggy up those stairs.
Nevertheless, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for this girl.
And now, even if we did go to Venice as a twosome, I would miss her and want her to be with us no matter the trouble!
So Venice here we come!
We’ll be back on Friday and will blog about how it went after that.
We had a fairly relaxing trip to Lille in France last weekend
It’s was a three and a half hour journey door to door. Including getting to the Eurostar Kings Cross station, waiting time, immigration etc.
Keira didn’t fuss that much throughout the three days. She enjoyed the train rides, exploring the hotel room, walking on the cobbled streets and seeing the animals at the Lille zoo.
When she did fuss, she actually had a right to, because she was either hungry or tired or scared of sleeping in a new room, so that’s ok. (I sat with her until she fell asleep the first night, but the second night she was fine.)
The sticker books I bought really came in useful on the train. Kept her entertained for half an hour (that’s a long time for Keira!). She spent another half hour walking up and down the aisles and the rest of the time scrambling around on our seats and eating.
No screaming the train down. Phew! Now to Lille…
Lille has some great shopping. It has street upon cobbled street lined with quaint shopfronts selling clothes, clothes, clothes and some other stuff. We found a whole street dedicated to just kid’s fashion!
The city center is basically like a big shopping mall set in a beautiful European village, with churches, fountains and grand old buildings jutting out against the skyline reminding tourists to stop shopping and admire the town abit first. hehe.
This is the old belfry tower at the Grand Place.
In the gardens at the back of a church.
Museum of Fine Arts
We stayed at the Citadines Apart-Hotel, which has hotel services, but the rooms come with fully equiped kitchens, so we could eat dinner in and make Keira’s milk etc.
Citadines is right next to a shopping center, with a huge Carrefour inside. So guess what we had for our dinners? Carrefour prepared Coq Au Vin (rooster in wine), Bœuf (beef) bourguignon and anything that looked like french food. The good thing is that it was definitely cheaper than eating out, and we were hungry so it was very nice
We did have some nice lunches out though. On the second day, walked into a slightly fancy french restaurant (you know - dim lighting, small tables, packed with people) and at first we weren’t sure if it was suitable for Keira. But the waiter didn’t bat an eyelid and immediately prepared a table with highchair for us.
Then I saw their menu had a childrens’ set, so that meant they cater for kids, which was good. We ordered the set meal for Keira, and she stuffed herself with ham, chips, pasta, chocolate mousse and orange juice.
Look at the giant plate.
I think that was our first experience with Keira at a nice restaurant where she sat at the table and ate a proper, almost civilised meal with us. Well almost civilised because she did spill the salt all over the table and use her fingers to eat…
I also got to satiate my shopping bug at the shopping center. We put Keira into one of these car trolleys -
i love them! I wish I could’ve sat in one when I was young! - and while CY pushed her around, I bought a necklace, a dress, a top, and a dress for Keira. It was SO fun.
Here’s Keira modelling her new dress.
It’s blurry cos she wouldn’t stay still. It is the sweetest pale yellow colour. Got it from a shop called Okaidi.
Finally one last highlight, it’s food again - supposedly the best croissants in Lille at the Patisserie Lion d’Or. We tried it, and it was good. Light and crispy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside. Best croissants I’ve ever had anyway.
Took a photo of the croissants below, they’re just behind the chocolate block rolls. Yes, one huge block the size of a cadbury milk chocolate slab, sandwiched in between bread!
These Lille-ians really love their chocolate! You can sort of tell because besides clothes shops, there were also quite a few chocolate shops, all custom making their own exquisite looking, delicate little chocolates. Very pretty.
So that’s the Lille trip. Overall, because we planned the intricacies of the bubster’s nap times quite well, it was a successful excursion I think. Now must start worrying about the next one!
Here’s Keira playing at her current favourite play station. It’s one of the kitchen countertops where we store our coffee, tea, biscuits and various other goodies.
She can stand there for quite long taking tea bags out of the box and putting them in again. I let her play there when we’re washing up after dinner as it gets her away from grumbling at our feet.
One night, we didn’t look at her for a few minutes, and when we did, saw her mouth full gobbling something down.
She had managed to open a box of Belgian chocolates and had stuffed a few into her mouth!
It was her first full blown taste of real chocolate, man the sugar and cocoa rush must have been amazing!
Who ate the last Hazelnut Truffle??
I hid the chocolate away from her after that!
Tomorrow, we’re going to Lille for the weekend. I spent about 20 pounds today buying activity and sticker books for Keira to keep her entertained on the journey. We’re more prepared this time round, so I hope we don’t have any repeat “performances” from our last trip!
What’s the chances the screaming diva will behave? Hmm…
It is so refreshing and heartwarming to be looked directly in the eyes, be given a smile and greeted with a friendly “Ola” everywhere you go.
The weather was in the high 20s everyday and there was also a festival going on while we were there, so the city was alight with concerts, fairs and fireworks.
We could also have called this holiday Whingefest 2008 though. Keira showed her true diva colours over the four days. She showed a whole plane load of people as well.
Unfortunately for us, the “Drama Queen” (that’s what the guy who rented us the apartment called her) has become so in tune with her daily routines that if we veer off it by even half an hour, she throws a fit. Literally, a back arching, screaming fit.
This happened when we were taking off from Heathrow. It was time for her nap. But we were all strapped in, and of course being Heathrow there was the usual aeroplane jam while we waited for our turn to lift off.
She couldn’t stand it. She screamed and cried for half an hour, while everyone in the cabin, including the other baby next to us sat silently and listened to her and me telling her to “Shush” and “Be quiet” and “Shh!”.
CY said he doesn’t want to go travelling with her again.
Finally when we were in the air, the seat belt signs turned off, and the lady sitting next to us had rushed off to sit somewhere else (she literally tore off her seat belt and jumped out of her seat), I could carry Keira and walk the aisles. Thank god she fell asleep immediately and slept the rest of the way there.
Now imagine this happening everyday we were in Barcelona at some point or other, and that’s what it was like on holiday with Keira.
It’s a good thing Barcelona is so beautiful, the people so friendly and the food YUMMY, because that made up alot for the stress. And when Keira was in a good mood, we had a great time!
The other stressful event happened at the Barcelona airport when we had just arrived.
For some outrageous reason we were sent to a different terminal from where our baggage ended up. And so after exiting immigration, we and many other passengers on our flight found that we had to go back thru the departure gates, through the security checks again (shoes off, belt off, bags out, metal detector - I was so frustrated I raised my voice at a guard) to get to the carousel where our luggage was. RIDICULOUS.
I’ll say it again. It’s a good thing that Barcelona is such a charming city. It is very easy to forgive it its faults when you’re walking down quaint little streets lined with cool shops selling designer chocolate and clothes.
So what did we do.
We walked around the city
Ate paella
Went to the beach
Walked around more of the city
Ate tapas
Went to the beach again
Ate more tapas
And more paella
And saw lots of pretty things
I wasn’t into the whole tapas thing before this, maybe because never had good ones, but now I love Spanish tapas!
The apartment we stayed in was very nice and central. It is right by the Marina, the drawback being it was quite noisy at night. Especially the fireworks, which was very pretty, but very very loud. But that’s alright, Keira slept through them, both nights!
Here’s the apartment.
The fully equiped kitchen was great.
I think I don’t want to stay in hotels anymore. Apartments are so much better.
Especially so when Keira gets fussy in the evenings, spits up her food and cries at restaurants - our last night there, we admitted defeat and had take away. But what a take away! Seafood galore in the comfort and privacy of our own place!
It was fresh, and succulent and surprisingly cheap for the amount we got. I want to eat more Spanish food now.
It’s not surprising that the food is so good when you see their lovely markets.
They have so many fresh food markets around town, selling seafood, fruits and mushrooms and cheese and everything. So colourful.
Finally, the most amazing structure in the whole of Barcelona. Under construction since 1866 and only due for completion around 2030 - the Sagrada Familia.
At first glance it is damn ugly. But then you begin to see the beauty of it. Gaudi, its creator literally drew from nature to construct this temple. The steeples are flowers, the pillars are tree trunks, the grills are shaped like beehives.
Quite incredible what people can do.
All I can do is lie on the sand, listen to the waves and watch the sky. Aaah, give me more holidays!
The first thing Keira did when we stepped back into our flat was give us a big grin, then crawl over to her favourite shelf and throw everything onto the carpet.
She really was pleased to be back. Our two week holiday has been hectic and exciting. But I think the going out to a different place every day and seeing so many new faces overwhelmed her abit.
We could see how relieved she was to see all her old familiar toys and haunts.
Our flight back to London was in stark contrast to the one on the way out. The bubster only slept about 2 and half hours out of the 12 hour journey and I didn’t get to watch ANY TV AT ALL.
At first she was energetically climbing up the stairs to the first floor flight deck and wooing the air stewards with her smiles.
Then she got tired. But couldn’t sleep. I kept on trying to make her sleep, and she kept on getting upset because she couldn’t.
After eight continuous hours of being awake, she got REALLY upset and the screaming started.
After eight hours of chasing after, feeding, carrying and playing with her, we were really tired too. I got grumpy and fussy. I wanted to scream my head off just like her.
To top it all off, she poo’ed FOUR times during the flight. Each time both CY and I had to squeeze into the toilet together with her. One to hold her down and one to change her because she refused to stay still.
When we finally landed we faced a malfunctioning air cond system at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 - it was sweltering - and we sweated through the long, long, long qs at immigration.
Things only looked up when we came out of the airport into a beautifully sunny London afternoon, we got a friendly taxi without having to wait and an amazingly non-fussy, non-grumpy - in fact a cheerful baby all the way home.
We were all happy and smiling when we stepped foot into the flat again
For a 12 hour flight, she only had a one hour crying fit. That’s not too bad hey?
It was a night flight, so Keira slept about 60% of the time. But she woke up about 4 hours into the journey and refused to go back to sleep for a couple of hours.
We had to walk her up and down the plane to keep her quiet. Yeah, Keira’s like that, when she’s upset the only way to make her happy is to carry her and walk, and walk, and walk.
The screaming started when we were too tired to carry her anymore.
Me and CY only had about 4-5 hours of dozing in and out, and even now we’re still running on London time, so quite sleepy.
The first night we were here, Keira’s London clock had all of us up and playing from 12am - 4am, and she had her “dinner” at 2am!
But today we’ve got her adjusted to KL time already. Hope she sleeps thru the night tonight.
In the meantime, we have been getting used to the weather (sweaty!), discovering all the new places that have popped up in a short one year away and digging in to the best of Malaysian food. Chai Tau Kueh, Bak Kut Teh, crispy skin duck. The best, I tell you, the best!
I was really stressed and worried about taking Keira on the 30 hour journey to London. But turns out the baby was the least problematic thing!
It all started the night before we were supposed to leave, when MAS called up to say there was a delay in our Melbourne-KL flight and we had to fly to Sydney to catch the Sydney-KL route in order to make the connecting flight to London.
I wasn’t even prepared for two plane trips, and was really scared that we now had to do it three times! On top of continuous feeding day and night, packing all the stuff we needed to bring over and Keira being more demanding, I really didn’t want to have that extra stress.
Amazingly though Keira didn’t seem affected by the whole journey at all. She slept almost all the time - I think because she was being carried pretty much continuously by me or my Dad (all she needs to be happy is to be held, which we’re suffering for now cos she cries when we put her down!)
Here’s Keira and Grandad on our final leg somewhere above Russia I think.
But of course when you take 3 connecting flights on two different airlines, what do you expect but the luggage would be lost.
At Heathrow, we waited and waited and none of the bags and boxes turned up. I got pretty upset again. In the end, they tracked the luggage down and delivered to us that night. Sigh…
So Keira’s first plane ride - 2 months old and she’s already been to 3 countries!
“Hmm, where in the world am I?”
Now I’m still quite tired because no chance to catch up on sleep when have to feed the baby every other hour. And at the moment Keira thinks 3am is morning and 3pm is night time. She’s been crying alot more - maybe because of the new environment or maybe because we have been trying to change her schedule or maybe it’s a developmental phase.
The first day was HOT and sunny, the second day drizzled abit, and the third day it rained and rained.
In terms of our noses… I can’t believe noses play such an important role in how well one enjoys a holiday, but it does. And in terms of the nose, the second and third days were the good days.
The first day we suffered bad hayfever, sneezing, sniffling, feeling stuffy, weak and feverish. But we visited Ancient Rome, which was the highlight of the trip I have to say. The ruins are wonderfully “ruined”, with tumbling pillars, crumbling walls and fallen roofs. Yet, they leave your imagination to fill in the gaps, and it’s beautiful.
The next 2 days went to the Vatican, and walked all around Rome enjoying the piazzas, fountains and architecture…sometimes in the rain.
Unfortunately, the food we experienced was a bit of a hit and miss. We have definitely had better Italian food elsewhere in the world. The roman food was pretty simple, and I suppose we went to all the tourist places, so obviously did not discover where the good food was hiding.
The only thing I really enjoyed was their simple margherita pizzas - with a thin, crispy base and tasty tomatoes. And also a yummy Arancino rice ball. Oh, and yes the cappucino. No one got that wrong!
First thing to see was of course the Colosseum, where the gladiators used to die in battle up till 500 AD.
The ground of the arena has fallen in, which is why you can now see the rooms and staging areas underneath.
Ruins of the Imperial Fora and Trajan Markets
Ruins of the Roman Forum
Temple of Saturn
Arch of Septimius Severus
The Vatican
The line to get into the Vatican is really, really long.
It goes all the way around 3 blocks of the wall. Took us one hour to get in.
Man, is it grand.
Seems like they had to do everything they could to reflect the glory and omnipotence of god, and yet, even the most beautiful works of art and arcitecture isn’t good enough, and they keep on doing more and more beautiful, splendid things.
Or it could be that they want to show off to us infidels how magnificent their religion is.
No photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s famous ceiling is, but every inch of the Vatican is rich in art, sculpture and pure grandeur that reaches as high as the eye can see.
St.Peter’s Basilica.
Definitely the biggest and most impressive church I’ve seen so far. It is so big inside, feels like you’re walking in a really well decorated football field.
The Roman Pantheon
and inside the dome has a hole open to the sky, called the oculus. When it rains, which it did, the water just pours in onto the floor and into carved holes in the marble floor.
The Spanish Steps, absolutely crowded on a nice day.
The quaint, pebbled streets of Trastavere, with lots of nice restaurants and bars.
Constructed by French Physicist Leon Foucault in the Pantheon, Paris, Foucault’s Pendulum swings majestically under its dome, all 28 kilos of it.
And I’m so glad we went back to Notre Dame on our last day cos we managed to feed the birds Actually I forgot to bring bread, so pretended to hold a leaf in my hands, luckily someone was bird brained enough to try to come and eat it!
Those people who actually brought bread had half a dozen little sparrows fluttering around and perching on them. Very cool.
Didn’t get to take many photos of the food we ate except for these few…
They have crepe stalls everywhere on Parisian streets, sort of like hot dogs in New York or Pisang Goreng in MY. I tried a crepe with lemon and sugar and also one with apple sauce. Here’s a savoury one CY had for lunch at a cafe. Crepe Nicoise (tuna), which was crispy and yummy.
French onion soup is on every tourist menu in town. Full of onions and topped with a thick layer of bread and cheese. Very good on a cold day.
Took this photo from a specialty shop selling all things truffles.
And these are the most amazing sweet, creamy, dreamy macaroons I’ve ever had. They can be found at Fauchon, a famous fine foods store on Pleis de la Madeleine. I had a vanilla macaroon, and the vanilla cream hit was heavenly! Definitely want to go there again.
Finally, bought some touristy items like magnets and all, and also bought baby’s first outfit. Now I can say we got her first piece of clothing from Paris, fashion capital of the world. hahaha.
I was actually tempted to buy a designer label baby cardigan I saw on one of the high fashion streets. They had so many cute (but not very practical clothes.. eg. sequins and beads on baby clothes..! what if they swallow them?) but CY talked me out of it. It was too expensive for something she can only wear for a short time.
