"Kosmobui"

I was getting all excited about our "Babymooners Getaway" (not sure if we actually qualify for this category with a three year old attachment!) when Shad called me the afternoon before we were scheduled to leave with a bombshell. The Thai Prime Minister had just declared a state of emergency in Bangkok. So should we still go to Koh Samui? It seems like we just aren't meant to visit this island. The last time we went, the tsunami happened the day before we were to fly there. Anyway, after making numerous calls to the Australian embassy in Bangkok, our travel agent, the airport in Koh Samui and the hotel who all assured us that Koh Samui was unaffected by the unrest, we decided to go ahead with our plans.

Day 1... After a short flight from Hong Kong to Kosmobui (as Ryan calls it) and an even shorter ride from the airport to the Anantara Resort in Bo Phut, we were sitting on lounge chairs by the infiniti pool enjoying an afternoon snack of satays, spring rolls, samosas, coconut prawns and ice cold tropical juices.

A quick afternoon snack by the pool - Thai style

An evening stroll along the beach to Fisherman's Village to work off all that food...

Mama and son - how romantic

A play on the beach before dinner - a rare pleasure

When he got cold he just jumped into the water which was still balmy

Tired out from a long afternoon's play on the beach, we enjoyed a "romantic" (if that is at all possible with a three year old in tow!) seafood dinner on the beach infront of our resort. Somehow food just tastes better when accompanied by the sound of the rolling waves and the feel of sand between our toes :)

Seafood BBQ on the beach ("How come we don't need shoes?" asked Ryan)

Day 2... we set out after breakfast in search of an elephant adventure at the Samui Island Safari. That was the highlight of Ryan's day, he'd been looking forward to this from the moment we told him about going to Samui to see the elephants.

A quick portrait with Mama on the way out of the hotel grounds

Waiting for a taxi by the road infront of the resort

"Bye Mama, sorry no preggie ladies allowed on the elephant ride"

Coming back in from the ride - but what is the Mahut doing?

Making a little souvenier for Ryan

Not bad handiwork - Ryan was very impressed

Feeding the baby elephant ("How come he eats the skin?")

Back at Fisherman's Village for a late lunch and a quick walk through the market.

Catching a little shade at a market stall

Looking for a place to eat

A perfect place for a fruity drink and lunch - looking out over the beach

One of the nicer things about staying at the Anantara was its close proximity to Fisherman's Village. Each day we would have a yummy lunch there after an outing followed by a slow walk along the beach back to the resort. Ryan absolutely loved running along the beach, picking up all sorts of treasures including old coconuts, shells and stones, then jumping in and cooling off in the salty sea water.

Walking back to the hotel along the beach - did you need to take my pants off Mama?

I found a coconut, can I keep it?

Cooling off in the sea

Ryan going for the Baywatch look

One tired little boy - catching his afternoon nap back in the room, tail up

Day 3... crocodile show, snake show, how scary can that be? Well, in Thailand it can get pretty darn scary, especially since it involves sticking one's head into the crocodile's mouth and kissing a king cobra!

Patiently waiting for Mama to get ready for breakfast (of course the Cartoon Network made the waiting much easier!)

Not feeling so comfortable with the whole crocodile show concept

Then again maybe it's ok after all

Crazy!!!!!!!

Very brave or very ......

I can't look Mama!

But once again, curiosity gets the better of him and he can't resist touching the croc's tail

Who needs a pram...

This man is a trained professional/lunatic

That was enough excitement for the day so we headed to Fisherman's Village again for a nice pad thai, tom yum gung, red duck curry and basil chicken lunch, and more ice cold fruit punch of course.

What a gorgeous couple :)

The walk back to the hotel again - Mama can't you move faster?

Ok I guess I can slow down and keep you company

An ice cream on the beach - what a luxury!

Seriously loving the beach

Afternoon naps on the beach - definitely on holiday

Daddy practicing his technique

Out for a paddle

Nice end to the day - room service Thai fried rice while watching the cartoon network

Day 4... this was "Pamper Mama and Daddy Morning". We left Ryan playing happily at the Kids' Club and sneaked out for a one and a half hour session at the Anantara Spa. Shad chose to have a traditional Thai massage while I had a relaxing aromatherapy massage. What a way to spoil ourselves, both our masseuse were serenaded with frequent snorts and snores!

A new friend to entertain me while Mama and Daddy sneak off for a bit of pampering

Don't I look relaxed after my massage?

Feeling all rejuvenated, we went on another animal adventure, this time to watch the Samui tiger and bird show. But before that, we stopped to recharge our batteries with more delicious Thai food (including a catfish salad which I'd been craving for some time now) at a roadside restaurant. We suspect that this is the same restaurant we ate at with the Pashas and Shens when we were last here in 2005.

Thai style lunch by the beach

Catfish salad

A tiger show (mildly impressive)

So you want me to just hold this thing out there...?

What the ...?

Not happy!

Another day, another elephant ride (this time at the Na Muang Waterfalls)

A short walk down to the bottom of the waterfall

A quick dip to cool off

Day 5... our last day :( Today was all about relaxing and being pampered. After spending the morning in Chaweng getting pedicures and walking around the shops, we lazed the rest of the day away at the beach back at the resort, much to Ryan's delight. This really was the perfect holiday, just the three of us together doing the things that we love best!

Mama and son getting pedicures

A mobile BBQ (carried on this lady's shoulder)

Back at the beach with Daddy

Lunch on the beach - what else but Pad Thai

Three year old heaven, a bubble bath and cartoons

Chilling out after another room service dinner from the famous Half Moon Italian restaurant

An impromptu family portrait

Star Bears

September 1st was a big day for us. It was Ryan's first day at "big boy school" (Ryan-speak for kinder). This was the first time that we would be sending our little fella off into the big wide world all on his own! We'd enrolled him at Woodlands International Pre-School in the Star Bears bilingual class. We'd been preparing him for this day for some time now with talks about all the fun things he will learn at school and the new friends he will make. Nevertheless, we couldn't help feeling a little worried that there would be tears when we actually dropped him off. However, once again, our little boy surprised us and after a hug and a kiss, he walked straight into the classroom without looking back! I think I was the one who was about to cry, walking out of the school I felt rather lost not having my baby with me :(

All dressed ready for school

Day one (a short day to start with) ... 7.30am, Daddy gets Ryan up, showers and changes him while Mama prepares breakfast. 8am, the three of us sit down and have breakfast together. 8.20am, Daddy says goodbye and leaves for work. 10am, Ryan and Mama walk down to the car and drive to school. 10.25am, we arrive at school. We go to the classroom, introduce ourselves to the teachers, Ryan says bye bye and walks straight in. 12noon, Mama picks Ryan up from his classroom. Teachers tell me that he was very good, didn't cry at all. Ryan says he had a fun day.

Day two ... Similar routine as Day one except we leave for school at 8.30am. 8.55am, we walk to class. Hug and a kiss then Ryan walks straight into class. 12noon, Mama picks Ryan up from his classroom. He looks happy and says he had a good time.

Day three to Day six ... we go away for a holiday.

Day seven ... 7.30am, Daddy gets Ryan up, showers and changes him while Mama prepares breakfast. 8am, the three of us sit down and have breakfast together. 8.20am, Daddy says goodbye and leaves for work. 8.30am, Ryan starts crying, says he doesn't want to go to school and wants to stay home. 8.45am, Mama finally gets him out of the door and down the lift. 8.45am-9am, Ryan screams and cries, lies down on the lobby floor and refuses to move. 9am, Mama has to carry Ryan to the car. 9.15am-9.30am, we sit in the car as Ryan continues to cry and refuses to get into his carseat. We talk to Daddy on the phone, but still continue to cry. Finally, after talking about seeing the fishies in the fish tank at school, the crying stops and we leave for school. 9.45am, we walk into class. Phew ... Mama is exhausted! 12noon, Daddy comes from the office to pick Ryan up from class (hoping to cheer him up after hearing his son in distress in the morning) and we all go out for a dim sum lunch.

Day eight ... It was like the day before never happened and we were right back into the normal morning routine with no tears or objections. 12noon, Mama goes to pick up Ryan. At the office, the Vice Principal tells me that Ryan had an accident, a small cut below his eye. Oh dear, only the 4th day and already injured! Nothing too serious, apparently another little boy had thrown a book at Ryan and the corner of the book had hit his face.

Day nine onwards ... Ryan continues to go to school happily, thank goodness :)

We're officially a big boy now!

"Nuri"

Talk about undisciplined, I hadn't realised that my last post was in April! In my defence, it has been an extremely hectic few months. First there was our short visit to Singapore, then Shad was away on several work trips which usually means zero "my" time for me given my childminding duties without assistance, after that there were the bouts of what seemed like a never ending cycle of colds and coughs for poor Ryan, and of course finally our two-month long holiday back in Melbourne. So here we are four months later...

Ryan ran into our bedroom this morning to find, much to his delight, Daddy still in bed at 8.30am on a workday. We have been on the standby Storm Signal 1 then 3 for the past couple of days due to Typhoon Nuri which has been steadily making its way from the Philippines on a direct path to Hong Kong (the red star on the chart below is Hong Kong). Unlike the last typhoon that came and went without much event, this time it looked like we would actually see a Signal 9 or even 10 which would be a direct hit on Hong Kong. At eight o'clock this morning, the Weather Observatory finally issued the Signal 8 which meant an impromptu holiday for everyone. So we spent all of today hankered down at home, watching the Olympics on tv to the howling sound of strong winds and heavy rain. We're currently still on Signal 9 which will last probably past midnight.

The storm as it gathers strength (view from our livingroom)

Ryan entertaining himself with his toys

One of the highlights since coming back from Melbourne has been Ryan's graduation from riding a tricycle to a bicycle. Our little boy is really growing up. After the initial shaky start, he's become very good at riding his "big boy bike", even managing to do sharp U-turns in the lifts!

From trike...

to bike...

Cruisin' through the podium at Cyberport (it was just too hot to ride outdoors)

Time for a drink break!

Last Saturday we celebrated Shad's birthday. It was a fairly quiet affair this year since the birthday boy insisted that no fuss be made. So the three of us enjoyed some quality family time together over a lovely teppanyaki dinner at Nadaman. Throughout the entire meal, Ryan was fascinated by all the upclose "chef action". The following night we had Alex, Deanna and Peter over for dinner at our place. The star of the show was not the birthday boy but rather the whole roasted suckling pig we ordered from Percy's, a small restaurant near us run by an Australian chef who formally cooked at the famous M on the Fringe.

Mama and Ryan moment

When in Japan (or Japanese restaurant)... Ryan's getting very good with his training chopsticks

Professional hands...

Three very satisfied diners

Alex doing the honours while Deanna tends to the famished little diner!

While Ryan and I were away in Melbourne, Shad bought himself an X-Box 360 (because he was lonely so he tells me!). So now, a few nights a week you'll find him parked on the sofa busy exercing his fingers after Ryan has gone to bed. And he has started to influence our son too!

Starting young...

Driving lesson with Daddy

And after a busy day of fingers and hands workout, we headed out to Stanley for some fresh air and Spanish food.

Waiting patiently for our food to come

The chicken and seafood pealla was large enough to feed all three of us

A Cultural and Culinary Journey

Ryan and I had a fun time a couple of weeks ago taking Shad's parents and grandmother who were visiting from Melbourne and KL on a cultural and culinary tour around Hong Kong. It's always lovely having family visit, and it gives us a chance to show them around our new home, especially all our favourite eating joints as well as regular haunts. Before they arrived, I had prepared a "to do" list, but unfortunately because of bad weather as well as the recent flu scare, we weren't able to do some of the more interesting things like a boat trip out to Lamma Island and the heritage walk in Yuen Long in the New Territories. In spite of the miserable weather, we still managed to explore some of Hong Kong's more popular tourist spots and of course also fit in many, many delicious meals. And on those wet and windy days, we stayed indoors in the comfort of our apartment enjoying Po Tai's (as Ryan calls his great grandmother) yummy oyster porridge, vinegar pig trotters and her version of "sang choi bow"!

Our adventure began with a ride on the historic Hong Kong tramway, starting in Kennedy Town (which is at the back of our apartment complex) on the western side of Hong Kong, then winding its way through Sheung Wan, Central, Admiralty, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, finally stopping at Happy Valley directly infront of the Hong Kong race course. Over the next few days, we managed to squeeze in some shopping at Stanley market, exercise our legs on a bike ride around Inspiration Lake, stroll along the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Tsa Tsui, eat some sumptious seafood at Sai Kung, enjoy the amazing panaramic view of Hong Kong from the Peak and still find time for some fun play at home. All in all, not a bad week.

Hong Kong's iconic double decker tram (photo "borrowed" from wikipedia)

First of many meals to come - Shanghainese at "Flower Trump" restaurant (notice how all three of us are preoccupied with different things - one's busy stuffing his face (as usual), the other busy examining his food before it goes into the mouth, while I am busy taking pics for my blog!)

Playtime at home

Lanterns galore at Stanley market

Walking along the Stanley seaside promenade (Ryan's pititful pleas of "I tired, I tired" resulted in a free ride from Ah Kong!)

Cool shades for a cool dude

Enjoying the animated exhange between shop owners and shoppers

Six-persons bike ride around Inspiration Lake

Astroboy look-alike???

Cameraman and his obliging subjects

The result

View of Hong Kong from the Peak

Pretending to be a doggy with Ah Ma

For once, the cameraman is actually in a photo!

Fog or pollution?

.

One of Po Tai's favourite stars, Li Li Hua

Tanks and tanks filled with all kinds of different seafood, delivered by the local fishermen straight from the sea in Sai Kung


Salt and pepper "lai liu har"

Po Tai's birthday dinner at the AMC (Ryan only had eyes for the chocolate truffle cake!)

Chef at work expertly slicing our Peking duck