Batam Diaries Part II

Here it is ... Batam Part II. I was so not looking forward to this trip considering the hotel fiasco the other time. Moreover this was a working trip (the legitimate kind!! What are you all thinking?!) so BORING!! But I must say that I was pleasantly surprised! The hotel was not up to the standards of some (I overheard some grumblings) but to me .. it was FANTASTIC! Don't believe me .. take a look at the pics. We had a pool view from the meeting room aka torture chamber, it's located at the top left hand corner of the picture, the one with the blinds. And most memorable of all was that we were entertained by no other than the hunks from Il Divo!! No, they did not have a concert in Batam especially for us, we watched their VCD and most of the ladies were drooling by the end of one song. More, more!! Me no understand what you singing but me don't mind watching!!

The great thing about our room was that it opens out to the garden. Pretty right .. I took the pics above and below from our patio.

And what's a stay in a hotel without ordering room service right?? We had pizza and fruit. The pizza had a nice thin and crispy crust. Even the fruit was delicious and this coming from a person who hardly eats any fruits. We also went for a spa treatment. Oh what bliss, the masseuse was tiny but her hands were like steel. First they washed your feet in some aromatheraphy water then you get to lie down for the rest of the hour while she massages your body. It was great. By the time she finished, I was so reluctant to get off the bed and I felt so floaty and dreamy! Next time I will definitely try the spa package and let them pamper me for 3 whole hours!!

So my time in Batam this time was not totally wasted. Madam L was talking about coming back during the Sept hols. I'll join you babe! Anyone else out there want to make it a great big happy family of friends outing??

The Batam Diaries Part I

I mentioned that I would be going to Batam twice this month. The first time was last Friday. It was raining the whole morning before we left. Needless to say that the sea was very choppy. We were bobbing up and down in the ferry. Luckily I am not prone to seasickness, otherwise I would have thrown up my breakfast. Niyaz was happily munching on his prawn crackers before he fell asleep. Maybe all the up and down movements reminded him of his 'buai' (sarong cradle)!

The ferry trip was remarkably short luckily since try as I might, I can never fall asleep easily. The hotel was such a disappointment. One child in the hotel mini bus remarked, "How come the hotel is becoming old?" This is a literal transalation. Just moments before his remark, I was thinking, "Omigod, am I actually staying at this old thing! I wanna go home!!!!!"

When we stepped into the lobby, things didn't much improve. The signs of the years, 20 to be exact, were clearly visible. And my Dearest Hubby had to confirm that this was indeed the hotel that he stayed at with his family when he was 10!!! I am not kidding you. Can you beat that! And he pointed out the exact spot where he had taken a photo. I really thought then that we should just pick up our bags and escape from this historical monument.



This picture was taken from our room (we didn't run away after all). It must have been the 'in' thing in the 80s but it definitely looks decrepit to me. If you look closely, one of the fish on the roof of the pool house seems to have commited suicide. Even Dear Hubby said, "What have you gotten us into?" And he is the least fussy person I know. The most fussy person I know would have hightailed it out of there and checked herself in somewhere else. Believe me, I tried getting myself somewhere else but our trip was last minute and this was the ONLY place I could get. I know now the reason why. At least I'm wiser now.

But it wasn't all bad though. Although the exterior leaves a lot to be desired, the room was surprisingly okay. And the view was fantastic! Hard to believe, but it's true!



I'm having a little trouble uploading the pics, so that's all for now ... More to come!

This and That

1. I hate the World Cup
I do not understand the game and do not appreciate it AT ALL!
It's a waste of my time. It is boring. I do not see the point in it. The players earn more than I will in my entire lifetime. Most of them are not even eye candy. No entertainment value. I must wait for a game to finish before we can go out. Thanks to you know who.


2. I will be going to Batam twice this month
Why Batam of all places?? Before you think I have a sideline there, I went once for a holiday and tomorrow against my will. And I have to get up insanely early since it's a school trip.


3. The holidays are ending and I have not done ANYTHING!
But you probably know this if you read my previous entry.


4. The last book that I read was a total waste of my time
It's called The Diary of an American Au Pair - read it only if you want to be bored to tears or if you have a lot of time to waste. The ending was oh so predictable. Will I get sued for saying
this?


5. It's raining all the time and I cannot finish doing laundry
Self-explanatory but I hope I have decent clean underwear to bring to Batam ... its not what you think, you know my roomate might see them in my bag or something. It's not nice to expose those that have gone patchy with other colours in the washing machine! Anyone got a dryer to loan me?


6. My baby girl finally grew her 1st tooth!
Hooray! Now she can bite me ... Ouch! Very strong that one tooth of hers!


7. I have spent tons of money shopping
I blame the Great Singapore Sale. Some bargains were just too irresistable!


8. I blog mostly on Wednesdays
Looking through my earlier entries, I noticed that nearly ALL the entries were written on Wednesdays. Hmmmm, I wonder if I'm more creative on Wednesdays ...


9. My son is toilet trained!
Finally, he can say when he needs to go to the toilet. He must have diapers on only at night and when we go on long trips. This will shut his playgroup teacher up. Every parent-teacher meeting she's going on and on about him being still in diapers. If she's so good at it, do it herself then!! Sheesh, he's not even 3! And more than half the class are still in diapers anyway.

It's Been A Long Time

It's been a while since I posted anything. I've been meaning to do it and my friends are complaining, but well, there a thousand other things that I need to do. It's the 3rd week of the holidays and I still feel that I have not done anything yet! Time flies doesn't it. How come it didn't go by this fast when I was a student? I could spend hours hibernating in my room and still have plenty of time left for other stuff. Maybe it's just my perception. Or maybe I didn't have so many responsibilities then. Oh well...

Last week I sat down and wrote a "To-Do" list. Yeah I'm sure you know them. I love these lists. They get me organized, give me a sense of order and purpose as well as a sense of achievement when I cross something off. It makes me feel like such an efficient person when I manage to do everything that I wrote down. But I cheat, yes I am ashamed to admit it, but I do cheat. Sometimes, nothing gets crossed out for weeks, so I make a new list with a new date so that I don't feel like such a failure. Sometimes I add in things that I've already done just so that I can cross them out so that I can say, "Hey, I did something today, good job!"

Last week my list was 15 items long. I crossed out 5 things last week and I haven't looked at it since. I keep putting it off and telling myself that they can wait till term starts. And when term starts, I'm going to look back and say "I should have done them during the holidays!" What a viscious cycle! Aarrggggg! (One of the items was update my blog so I can cross that out now. That makes it 6 things that I've accomplished!) At the rate I'm going I wonder if I'll ever get ANYTHING done! Do you feel like that sometimes or am I the only one? (I even efficiently bought a Strawberry Shortcake notebook to write my lists in. Grow up you say? But they were sooooo CUTE! And PINK! And on SALE! I'm in a pink phase right now.)

But one of the things that I actually did (which was not in THE list), was to convert my baby girl's cot into a junior bed for my son. It was high time I did it. I thought I could pass on the manual labour jobs to My Darling Hub, but it was not to be. It seems that I'm the HANDYWOMAN around the house. And I am very proud of myself! I disassembled the entire thing and put it back together again without dropping anything on my feet! Take a look ...



The little bed is next to ours now. With Pooh Bear bedsheets. Niyaz was so excited when I was assembling the bed. He kept asking, "This is abang's bed?" The minute I finished, he jumped up and down and pretended to go to sleep. Awwww ... he can be so adorable! Luckily the whole thing didn't collapse. Not bad huh, my handywoman skills! I even tested it myself. But it was a chore getting him to stay in his bed at night. Well, separation anxiety and all that I suppose. I had to hold his hand till he fell asleep. And in the middle of the night, guess what, I woke up and felt a familiar third person in the bed as usual. Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow. But for now, I get to put this on my list and then cross it out! That makes it 7 things I've done so far! Heh, heh ... so efficient am I not?