A Day at the Beach

We finally took our 6-month old to the beach for the first time. We left the house around 5:30 in the morning and our baby knew that we were going out because he was squealing with delight. The cross to the other island took only about ten minutes. Our baby was curiously looking around and I bet he was wondering why there’s so much water around him.

We arrived at Paradise Island around 6:15 AM and there were only few customers because it was still early. We wanted to be early to avoid the crowd and of course to be able to enjoy the beach with fewer people and the sun still skin friendly. We fed baby first before taking him to the beach.

The first time our baby’s feet touched the water, he seemed a little frightened and he clung to me like he was afraid of falling. But when we slowly submerged him and his body started to adapt the cold water, he seemed comfortable yet still curious. After a while, he started to kick in the water: a sign that he’s enjoying himself.

After his swim, we washed him with fresh water and put on fresh clothes. It took only seconds before he fell peacefully into dreamland.

I am excited to take him again to the beachJ

Another Long Weekend

Happy Friday bloggers. At last, the last long weekend of August is coming. Our country celebrates National Heroes Day on August 25. Since the said date falls on a Sunday, our President declared 26^th a special non-working holiday. My family is planning to go either to the beach or a mountain resort since my dad will be turning 21 on the 27^th. My husband and I will treat him for his birthday. I know that they will have a good time whether it’s going to be the beach or mountain resort because our almost 7 month old son is coming along. This trip will be my son’s first outdoor activity. I am hoping it would be the beach because he can interact with water. I have noticed that he likes taking a bath. I am really excited to see my son squeal with delight.

Melaka

Our trip from Singapore to Melaka took around 5 hours. We left Singapore via S&S International Express. Since we are only staying overnight, we booked our tickets round trip which cost us $47 SG. We left at 9AM and we arrived in Melaka at 2PM. From there, we rode the taxi to our lodging which is a guest house named D'Laksamana. It's a three bedroom house complete with kitchen facilities and recreation area. If ever you plan to go to Melaka, I would recommend D'Laksamana for your lodging. Its location is a walking distance to everything that you need to see in Melaka. It's near to the World Heritage site where you can see old buildings like St. Paul's Hill or A Famosa. It was a Fort built by the Portuguese which ruled in Melaka from 1511 - 1641.

The Dutch took over in 17th Century. There are also a few old churches, the Dutch graveyard where you can still see the old tombstone dating back to fifteen hundreds. One famous streets in Melaka is the Jonker Walk. It comes alive at night every weekend. When we came back from our World Heritage Tour, we were surprised to see the activity at Jonker Walk. When we took our walk in the afternoon, it was still quiet. We had so much fun trying local delicacies and enjoying the music and just observing the other tourists having fun as well. We hardly slept at all. We tried to make the most out of this historically beautiful place because our bus will leave at 8AM the next day. We wished we had more time to explore the place more. But we did not regret going to Melaka as it was a different experience seeing all these beautiful old building

Universal Studios Singapore

Universal Studios is not only for kids. When my friends and I visited Singapore, we allocated one day to be spent in that place. I'm glad we went on a weekday. Aside from it's much cheaper having to pay only $68 SG as compared to $85 SG if on weekends, the longest time we've waited on queue was only about thirty minutes. We were able to enjoy around 90% of the rides and sites. What is lacking on weekdays is that there are no fireworks during closing as compared to weekends where there are fireworks display. Nevertheless, our group truly enjoyed the place and most importantly, we all bonded.

When I set foot on Universal Studios, I felt like a kid again. I was so excited. We tried almost every ride. The ride that I most enjoyed was the Transformers The Ride 3D. It was a roller coaster but we had 3D glasses on. We were freedom fighters and Optimus Prime was there. It was the best ride for me. We were all shouting and raising our arms. We truly felt like we were actually there. It was amazing.

There is one ride that I did not dare try. It was

the Battlestar Galatcitca: Human vs Cyclone. Only three of us dared to try it. They said that they screamed like girls during the ride and that they would not go again. At least they were brave enough to try it out. In this ride, your feet will be hanging if you ride the blue roller coaster. The blue roller coaster is the Cyclone. My friends were lucky they queued in BattleStar because their feet would not be hanging. Even if their feet was not hanging free, it was still scary but thrilling according to them. They were proud they had the guts. The three of us just stayed behind and watched their things.

There were really a lot of rides that I enjoyed. I would mention the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. Just be prepared to get wet. We were soaked wet after the ride but it didn't matter. I would just like to mention that Universal Studios are really clever in their business. Since we know that this ride will get us wet, they have provided a locker for a fee. Locker prices depends on the size. We paid $4 SG four our locker and we really tried to squeeze all our stuff in just one locker. Then, they sell raincoats which costs $3 SG. We

did not buy for ourselves thinking that we would easily dry. When we got out after the ride and we were soaked, we saw a drying machine which costs $5 SG for 5 minutes. If only our clothes were wet, we could have dealt with it. The only problem was that our shoes were wet as well. I guess you have an idea what it feels like walking on wet shoes. So we had no choice and we rented the drier. I guess that's how it is. Fun sometimes takes some spending on our part. It was a small price to pay for all the fun that we had. This clearly shows that age is only a number. I truly felt like a kid ready to explore everything when I was there. Well, at least almost everything:)

My next post will be our trip to Melaka, Malaysia the next day. Till then:)

Singapore

I love to travel. Once again, I have been blessed to travel back to Singapore with friends really close to my heart. And the best thing was that my husband was with me. Yes, it was supposed to be our honeymoon and we were supposed to be alone yet somehow, I felt that it was just right that we had our friends with us. At first, I was a bit worried because we had our church friends, my friend since elementary and my husband's friend since high school. I did not really know if they would click. When we all met at the airport, everyone was reserved and sort of feeling the the rest of the group's personality. My hubby and I stood as their parents. We prepared food for them and sort of guided them on what to expect during travel and when passing to immigration. When we got to Singapore, we were met by my sister in law and her fiance and took us straight to our hostel. We stayed at Bunc Hostel in Little India. It's a new hostel and I was impressed by their cleanliness and I loved the design. I have posted some pictures of the hostel. I was not able to get pictures of our room because I guess we were always tired when we came back. During the duration of our trip, we only had about 3 hours of sleep. We just had so much fun. I am really thankful that the group bonded and we are now planning to save up for our next out of the country trip next year. The group actually started bonding the following day after we arrived. We went to Universal Studios and it was where all the fun and the bonding began. My next few blogs will be about our adventures during the trip. I will post more pictures:) If ever you are in Singapore, I really suggest Bunc Hostel. They have a facebook account. Check them out.

Cambodia

Two more weeks to go and I'm off to Cambodia. It will be my first time to visit the place and I am so excited to see new places, different culture, listen to different languages, and most of all, meeting fellow Christians from other Asian countries. I have been receiving emails from the organizers reminding us of what to bring, our schedules, and the do's and don't in their country. It surprised me that touching other people's head and showing the bottom of the foot are considered unethical for them. So, as a person who loves to touch and is unconscious whether the bottom of my feet is showing or not, I have to practice doing it as early as now so that I will not have to adjust so much when I get there. There should also be no touching of the opposite sex. Coming from a country who has been influenced so much by the western culture, I also have to adjust to that. I am comfortable shaking hands with the opposite sex. Sometimes, I also hug Christian brothers when greeting them. It is really interesting knowing the cultures of other countries. That is why I love to travel because it opens our minds to other ways. It helps us not to judge other countries. Each culture has its own beliefs and it is valuable that we respect and honor their practices especially if we are there just to visit. So, before visiting another country, make sure that you research their culture to make your visit more memorable.

meeting

There is an activity held in Cambodia every year which they call Angkor of Faith. This is my first time to participate in this activity. We are there to mingle with Cambodia's street children and of course to fellowship with other members of the church in Asia. I am very excited because it will be a new experience for me. Our team leader met with us and gave us an overview of what to expect. We also discussed the financial aspect of the trip. Most of us have limited budget so we really have to consider everything. We thought of making a fund raising activity for additional funds. We are thinking of holding a garage sale or selling baked cookies. Lord willing, we can be able to raise enough funds for us to at least be able to spend a little bit more on food and maybe join some of the tours being offered in the city. Majority of us are first timers in Cambodia. The organizers of the activity have set aside one day for city tours but we have to pay extra to be able to join. We are very excited and are continuously praying for the success of our trip.