Holiday in Brisbane - update #7

8 September

Finally, it’s time to pack up and go home. On the last night I am going to have an uninterrupted sleep, I laid awake for over 2 hours after waking up in the middle of the night to pee. I looked at the time, about 3.30am. This will be about 1.30am in Singapore. I wondered if Baby X is awake as well.

I woke up around 8am and started to cook instant noodles and sausages for breakfast (clear food!). There were some toiletries to pack, trash to throw and also some last dishes to wash before 9.30am – the check-out time. I didn’t want to leave a bad impression on Singaporean travelers, so I made an extra effort to fold the blankets, pull the sheets on the bed properly before leaving.

We made our way to Brisbane city, detouring to do some last minute shopping of sausages and cheese for Mom. For this special purchase, we had purposely bought a plastic container (that cost more than the sausages). I couldn’t resist grabbing a kilo of middle bacon as well. Meat is just so cheap in Australia.

The flight home was better than the other way south. As it was a day flight, we spent the next 7 hours eating, drinking and watching movies. I found out KK was actually waiting for the lights to turn out when we were about to land. Sitting near to us was a Caucasian couple with a young baby, probably about the same age as Baby X. I couldn’t help thinking how it would be if I had brought Baby X along on this trip. It would never be this leisurely, I’m sure. When you're looking at others, it seemed so easy. That baby behaved extremely well though. He drank milk and slept, drank milk and slept, for the whole flight. I guarantee you Baby X would never be so easy. I sometimes wondered if Baby X will ever complain when he grows up that we’ve left him behind. Then again, looking at the dad walking up and down the aisle, I’m convinced our decision was best for everyone. I am looking forward to seeing Baby X again. Wonder how he’ll react when he sees us again.

We cleared immigration, customs and picked up our luggage with the usual efficiency of Changi Airport but there was no sight of my family at the arrival hall. They are on their way….

Baby X stared at me wide-eyed when the car pulled up. I took him in my arms and kissed him. No resistance, he acts as if we’ve never been apart. Carrying him has never felt so good.

Holiday in Brisbane - update #6

7 September

We awoke to a cloudy sky but there was no rain. Hubby called the whale watchers to enquire if there were any tours today. This would be our last clear day in Brisbane. Unfortunately, they had cancelled it again last night. What should we do next? We decided over breakfast to go to the beach at Surfer's Paradise.

It was very windy and rather chilly at the beach. Not many surfers in the sea though the waves were great. The Life Savers board there stated "unstable condition" and that swimmers should swim at waist level waters only. Not a great day still for any sun, sea and sand activities.

We drove down the Surfers Paradise boulevard and admired the many beach holiday apartments along it. I know many Singaporeans own such apartments as investments and rent it out to holiday makers. Wonder if I will ever be one of them?

We chance upon a playground and stopped to let KK have some fun. There were a few families there, with 2 or more kids/babies, having picnics. Such is the lifestyle of Queenslanders?

There, we met this mainland chinese couple with a daughter the same age as KK. We started chatting. The lady had moved to Australia 12 years ago and speaks fluent English. Husband is from Canton and holds a job that provides him with an apartment in Gold Coast though they stay in Sydney. (That's all I dared to probe.) Anyway, we were talking and I took this chance to find out from her more about the education system in NSW, difference between public and private schools etc.

In one of the conversation, her husband revealed that despite the culture there, the 'kiasu-ism" of asians prevails. They are the ones who sends their kids for extra lessons on weekends. This is exactly the kind of pressure I want my kids to avoid in Singapore but even in Australia? So I guess maybe we should stop blaming the schools and look inwards at the home environment.

He observed that the asians tend to do well academically in their studies but once they go out to the workforce, they fail to outshine their white counterparts. They are somehow less creative and lack resourcefulness. Accurate assessment?

Holiday in Brisbane - update #5

6 September

The weather continued to be grey and wet today. We wanted to go whale watching but they cancelled the tour due to bad weather. We did the next best thing - shopping! After a MacDonalds breakfast, we went to Tree Top Mall, an outlet shopping mall. Not that there was anything we really wanted to get but we did not return empty handed. Our best buys - 5 pairs of Pumpkin Patch socks for Baby X for $8, River sports shoes for Baby X for $10.99 and for KK at $12.99.

KK was a nuisance though. He complained of tiredness the moment we got there. I promised him we will go home after about 3 hours and he became our timekeeper, asking me 'how many hours?' every 10 minutes. Worn down by his nagging, we left at about 5pm after a trip to Coles supermarket.

Back at the apartment, we marinated the beef rump steak we bought with red wine, salt, pepper, sugar and garlic. It costs us $12 for 2 large pieces. It was so large that 2 of us shared 1 piece for dinner that night. A bottle of red wine complemented our dinner together with warm bread rolls, boiled carrots and sauteed mushrooms.

While there, I managed to cook a pot of vegetable soup (pre-packed vegetable soup pack with chicken stock) for KK. This stock was used to cook noodles for KK's dinner that night. Besides satisfying our appetite, we really saved a lot of money by cooking.

10

Holiday in Brisbane - update #4

5 September

Dream dream dream world....ever wonder why it's called that? In fact Dream World is just an amusement park with a lot of thrill rides that we sometimes also find springing up in empty fields around Singapore. Well, call it a nice name, create a theme for different areas, tie up with some cartoon characters, have mascots walk around abit, then you can charge AUD60 per head - great marketing strategy. Despite knowing it's a rip-off, we paid up willingly to spend a day with Spongebob, Dora and the Wiggleys (heard of them?).

Some of the rides are pretty fun and exciting. There was one that looked rather harmless but we were fooled. It started spinning and as it got faster, the X axis slowly rised to become a Y axis! (See first image to get the idea.) KK was screaming 'stop, stop' while inside the 'cage' but we just got to bear it till it's over. Verdict: Scary!

Holiday in Brisbane - update #3

4 September

Into the world of Movie World! The weather wasn't too good today. The skies were overcast and as we drove towards Helensvale, it drizzled. (This type of weather was to stay for the next 3 days.)

We had a good deal for Movie World, the Thrifty car rental package gave us a 'buy one get one free' deal. So we bought 1 adult and 1 child ticket from Ticket Mates (the tour desk at our apartment) and was supposed to exchange for the free adult ticket at the theme park. However, upon reaching the ticket booth, the lady behind the counter told us that she can't give us the Thrifty free ticket because Ticket Mates and Thrifty are 2 different companies. Hubby showed her the terms and conditions page on the Thrifty discount booklet which clearly says 'tickets can be purchased from any ticket outlet but the free ticket can only be redeemed at the theme park.' However, she still insisted that Movie World won't get paid for the free ticket by Thrifty because we bought the tickets from Ticket Mates. Though we understand what she's saying, we don't agree as this wasn't what we were told nor understand from reading the terms & conditions. In my mind, I was totally put off. Either this staff was not educated or there's some misrepresentation. Either way, their internal operational issues shouldn't be the customer's problem. If I have to pay for the 3rd ticket, I'm gonna get some explanation from the management later. But guess what, after a few minutes of hogging the ticket booth, when Hubby says he needs to make a call, the lady suddenly printed the tickets - 2 adults and 1 child - and gave it to us. We were surprised. "So, it's done?" says Hubby. "Yeah", says the lady and she refuses to give us any eye contact. I guess she gave up.

The wetness and this incident didn't spoil our day. Once inside, we enjoyed Shrek's 4D adventure, Road Runner's roller coaster, Batman's Space Mission and other rides. KK's favourite was the Road Runner's roller coaster. He was so thrilled by the speed, I see a speed demon in the making. (Better keep him off bikes & cars when he grows older, says Hubby).

KK missed out the Scooby Doo ride as the height limit was 110cm and after measuring him with a tape measure (they are that strict), he missed by 0.5cm. Arrgh, but we took this opportunity to remind KK why he should eat more, grow taller and get to go on more rides next time.

Holiday in Brisbane - update #2

3 September

Although we planned to visit Movie World today, fatigue got the better of me and I couldn’t get out of bed until 1100hrs local time. Hubby is kind enough to let me sleep on as he knows how deprived I am. We decided it’s too late to go to the theme parks so decided to make a trip to the honey farm instead.

After a short drive, we arrived at Currumbin, where Superbee Honeyworld (another ‘world’) is located. We signed up for the tour, which costs us $15 for 2 adults. KK got in free as he ‘appears young’. Peter, the beekeeper took us into a dark room. He switched on the lights and as we walked towards 2 glass panels, we saw millions of busy bees on the other side making honey.

Now I understand how the term ‘busy bees’ comes about. It is not an understatement to say bees are the most hardworking living things in the world. They never sleep! And their mission in their short life (about 7 – 8 weeks) is to make and store honey, and to serve the queen bee.

Apparently, the bees have different levels of work. The juvenile ones start by making royal jelly for the queen to eat. Then they can progress to be ‘foragers’ – flying out to collect nectar. There are also the ‘guard bees’, guarding the hive’s entrance against invaders and outsiders. Guard bees are merciless – if a bee from another bee accidentally tries to fly in, she will be killed, no second chance. Then there are the ‘scent bees’. Their job – stay outside near the entrance, tilt their backsides and flap their wings. This sends a fragrance which serves as a guide for their fellow sister bees to identify as they fly home after collecting the nectar. The best job of all must be the ‘drones’. They are the male bees and their job is to have sex with the queen bee and help her breed. They don’t need to work. Sounds like some men we know?

The bees (or ‘the girls’ as Peter calls them affectionately) work incredibly fast. 24 hours and they would have built the base of their comb. After the comb is built, the bees deposit the nectar into each hexagonal hole and when the holes are filled, they will be capped and sealed with wax. When the whole comb is filled, they will be ‘robbed’ by the honey farmers. According to Peter, it is necessary to rob the hive. Otherwise, when there is no more room to store honey anymore, the whole hive will just leave to look for somewhere else to fill. You see, bees just CAN’T STOP WORKING! They are the ultimate workaholics!

In my view, bees are the most exploited workers in the world. They don’t get paid a salary, they have no holidays, no benefits and their food get stolen every few days! But they don’t complain and never strikes. Every employer’s dream workers ya?

Inside the room where they extract the honey, Peter scrapped the wax off a comb and we used our finger to taste the sweet golden liquid underneath. Hmm… lovely. Honey, we learnt, keeps incredibly well for 5000 years with no need for refrigeration (there’re no refrigerators inside honey combs.)

Peter personally testified the gospel of royal jelly, the stuff that queen bees only eat. He says he takes one capsule every morning since 3 years ago and it healed his arthritis and keeps his complexion good despite being 56 years old. He also shared how propolis (the protection against bacteria created by the bees for the queen to lay eggs) healed the skin cancer of a woman. Believe it or not!

We proceeded to have a late lunch at Surfer’s Paradise. We had spotted a few Korean restaurants last night. It is the kind of small scale, run by a Korean family setup that we like. I’ve always wondered why Singapore doesn’t have such shops. Singapore’s Korean restaurants are big expensive restaurants that charge you a bomb. While those at the food courts are not authentic enough. We enjoyed the food, just as we had at such Korean restaurants in Canada, New Zealand.

After lunch, it was off to Coles Supermarket for some grocery shopping. Believe it or not, we were already planning what to eat for dinner. The final selection: chorizo sausages (a coarse textured Spanish-style pork sausage flavoured with garlic and paprika), lettuce, tomatos, sautéed mushrooms with garlic and olive oil and warm oven-baked baguette). We bought a bottle of wine – Braided River Sauvignon Blanc 2006 for $14.90 – to go with the food. The result: an easy-to-cook and satisfying meal.

Now KK and Hubby are out at the balcony, chit chatting and enjoying the cool air over a glass of wine (for Hubby) and apple/mixed berries juice (for KK). I’m going to join them now. This is life.

Holiday in Brisbane - update #1

2 September

We finally arrived at Brisbane at about 0640hrs. Boy, am I relieved to leave the aircraft. I didn’t sleep at all. Just as I was about to doze off, the crew switched on the lights for Continental Breakfast. Though the food sucks, I still ate the breadroll and drank 2 cups of tea. KK had fallen asleep and I decided to let him sleep longer.

It was a breeze clearing immigration and customs. The Australians are a friendly bunch, even the Customs officer is cheery as he checked our food items. Once out, Khim collected his car, a blue Mitsubishi Lancer and by 0800hrs, we’re driving to our accommodation.

Inside the car, sleep caught up with me so the 1 hour journey was a blur. We reached around 0900hrs. Since we can’t check in yet, we walked down the street for some breakfast (they call it ‘breaky’ here) of pancakes.

The fully equipped but unserviced apartment was cosy and tidy. Without further ado, we changed and jumped straight into bed for SLEEP! I woke up at about 1430hrs whereas Hubby slept till 1600hrs. KK had to be woken up at about 1700hrs as we wanted to go for early dinner.

We showered and drove to Oasis Shopping Center at Broadbeach Mall. We ended up eating at Bugzies Seafood Restaurant. They served ½ price lunch menu till 1830hrs so we took advantage of that and ordered rump steak for only $17.90. They tasted great!!

As Hubby needs to get internet access to log onto, we drove to Gloria Jeans at Surfer’s Paradise for coffee and internet. I could not resist ordering some scones with butter and jam as dessert.

Back at our apartment, we were still very awake at 2300hrs. Singapore time, it’s only 2100hrs, not bed time yet. We had all brushed our teet and were preparing for bed when the issue of instant noodle popped up. I suddenly felt like eating some of the instant Korean noodles we brought from Singapore. Then Hubby looks at me and asked “feel like eating some noodles?” I smiled.

3 of us gobbled up 2 packets of noodles that night.

Jet Lag or Economy Class Syndrome?

1 September 2007

The journey to Brisbane took us over 6140 km and almost 7 hours. We were assigned 31HJK, the bulkhead row, with plenty of leg room and a toilet just nearby. There's a bassinet point as well and if Baby X were here, he'll be using the bassinet. We are considered quite seasoned travellers, but that didn't make this flight any more bearable. Even KK, who is used to 'lie-flat' style of flying (stretching out with head and legs on our thighs), had to sleep this time in a twisted manner - the 'real' Economy Class experience.



10 - at Gloria Jeans Cafe - Surfer's Paradise, enjoying coffee and scones.

Baby X stays at home

A goodbye kiss for Baby X at home, a hug for mum and a pat for dad, and we're off! The 3 of us - Hubby, KK and myself - took off towards the check-in counter for our first "real" holiday since Mar'06. Since the arrival of Baby X, travelling anywhere, even to the local supermarket is a logistical challenge and stressful affair. So this is really a treat that I'm deeply appreciative for. In fact, if mum had volunteered to take care of Baby X earlier, we would be setting off for Europe or further. But Brisbane still beat KL hands down anytime!

We're at the SK Lounge now, enjoying a cuppucino and KK's had a milo and some cream crackers, while waiting to board. Thanks to Hubby's frequent duty travels, he's a qualified PPS now. KK is eager to get on the plane and is browsing some magazines to pass time. We had reminded KK how lucky he is compared to his brother. We feel really bad to leave Baby X behind. KK is really fortunate to be able to travel so much compared to his brother. I promise myself to make it up to Baby X in the future.

I'm missing Baby X already and wonder what he's doing now. Maybe getting ready for bed. I wonder if he knows his mummy is not gonna be with him tonight? I really look forward to the day when Baby X can be like KK and we go holiday together as a family.

10 - boarding soon

Brisbane and Breastfeeding

This is gonna be a long day for us. Tonight we are leaving for our holiday in Brisbane. We've not finished packing and KK's got to go for his Little Champ class before that. The only thing I wish I could bring along but is leaving behind is Baby X.

We originally wanted to bring Baby X along as we didn't want to bother anyone to look after him at night. (yes, I did not trust my DH - domestic helper - enough. My theory: dealing with a fussing baby in the middle of the night requires genuine parental love. Even then, some nights I feel like being abusive what more an employed worker?) The other thing is, I was still breatfeeding, so he needs me and I need him.

However, my mother one day volunteered to look after Baby X at night for the whole week. I think she took pity on us after seeing us discuss how to travelproof the 'sarong' swing frame (take the wheels out, bubble wrap the frame etc) to bring to Brisbane. Yes, we were prepared to bring that and come back mid-day for his nap. It beats having a cranky, active and sleep deprived baby in our arms anytime. But we have to be realistic. Baby X is not going to remember nor understand what this holiday is. Bringing him along will compromise his rest and his meals. The worst thing is, KK and ourselves will all have to make sacrifices to accomodate him on the trip. Furthermore, Baby X got the flu and has started coughing as well. He will definitely get better rest staying at home. So much as I will miss Baby X (and I think he'll miss us too), we just gotta 'harden our hearts' and do the sensible thing. Afterall, it's gonna be just one week........Baby X, sorry we couldn't bring you. Be a good boy and wait for us to come back ya?

Since then, I've been trying to wean him off the breast slowly. I started by feeding him a little expressed breast milk before he sucks direct, to let him get used to the bottle before sleep. I also tried to make sure he didn't fall asleep at the breast. This took some time and wasn't so successful as some nights, I just didn't have time to express.

I then moved to feeding him whole bottles of formula milk just before his bedtime. Knowing that he's full, I switched off the lights. Switching off the lights was the que for him to sleep. He rolled around and whimpered a bit, clawing and scratching me at the same time, but I managed to put him to sleep without offering the breast.

In the middle of the night, I still feed him direct when he wakes up. This is for convenience and also to prevent engorgement for myself, since I already skipped the night feed. Recently, after the breast supplies adjusted itself to the reduced demand, I got Hubby to fix him a bottle of milk instead when he wakes up. Surprisingly, after a half-hearted protest, Baby X took the bottle and dozed off contentedly again after the feed.

All these took almost a month. By last night, Baby X only sucked a little breast milk at 0600hrs. And I sort of sensed some disinterest as he detached himself after a few minutes. That's it! That would be the LAST feed. Freedom! No more being tied down. At the same time, I feel a little sad - the special relationship between us during breastfeeding is over. For Baby X, he has enjoyed breastfeeding longer than KK. Words cannot describe the closeness we experienced. During these last few nights, I had looked at the peaceful and contented look on his face, eyes closed, when he sucks. He knows when the breast is coming and opens his mouth expectantly waiting for it to touch his lips. Then he latches on almost immediately and he will relax..... These are the memories I'll cherish and moments I'll miss.

I guess this is a milestone and a part of growing up. With time, Baby X will forget what breastfeeding is like. Like his brother, he may not be able to understand how anyone could drink milk like that. Until the day he becomes a father ,perhaps.

For now, I better get back to the packing.

10 - mixed feelings mum