The Safari Zoo Run

 So, let me get this straight, I'm not a fan of running...be it on the street or the treadmill. But I do LOVE Singapore Safari Zoo Run. Why? because of the cute finisher medal, of course!

Me and Vai started running in this event last year and we decided that this should be our annual thing. There are 5 different race categories for different age limit.
* 12km Safari Zoo Challenge
* 6km Safari Zoo Challenge
* 6km Safari Zoo Fun Run
* 2.8km Nestlé Koko Krunch Fastest Kid for children between 8 to 12 years old
* 2.8km Nestlé Koko Krunch Run for kids for children between 4 to 8 years old accompanied by an adult.

Since Vy is not yet 8 years old, and the fact that I'm not so into running, we decided to participate in the 2.8km Nestlé Koko Krunch Run for Kids category again this year =D.

We registered for the race through their official website at www.safarizoorun.com.sg. The registration is usually open at the end of November and closes at the end of January. However, if you want to participate, it would be best to register before mid-December  as the slots fill up quickly and most of the time, the registrations were closed by the end of December.

Race pack can be collected 2 weeks prior to the event. Vy got an adorable stuffed animal (elephant in 2013 and a horse in 2014), a cool 3D limited edition t-shirt, a box of Koko Krunch cereal, a free entrance to the Zoo for the whole day and discount for entry tickets to Jurong Bird Park. Whereas me, I got a tumbler, Brooks running tee, free entrance and big box of cereal. You can also purchase an extra 3D tee shirt and a special limited edition ez-link card (prepaid card for riding on the public transport in Singapore) for S$ 14.80.

The 2.8km run circles the Singapore Zoo once. We stopped to see the animals every now and then as we were participating just for fun. The 6km run circles both the Night Safari Park and the Zoo whereas the 12km circles both parks twice.

Next year, Vy will run in the 2.8km Fastest Kid category and I, will be on duty accompanying Mka on her very first Safari Zoo Run.

Here's some pics from our run this year....

Vai's cool 3D t-shirt and bib.

Free entry to the Zoo for race participants!! 

Green, clean, and serene...

Vy loves this reservoir and flower garden inside the zoo.

Cool and refreshing H-Twoo-O during the run

Just a little bit more running...

..and yeeeayy!! Finished!!

2014 Finisher Medal

"Yo-ho...Yo-Ho...A Pirate's Life For Me..!!"

I've been meaning to write this post for ages but due to the enormous assignments I had to finish and preparation for the DMT exam, I simply had no time to do so. So, here it is, 7 months later, I finally am writing (typing, to be exact) about this cool water play park for kids in Singapore: The Port of Lost Wonder.

The Port of Lost Wonder is a water play park for kids between 3 to 12 years old. It's located on Sentosa Island and opens daily between 10 am until 6:30 pm. The entrance fee is S$ 15 per child on week ends or public holiday and entitles the child for a whole-day play, 100 curio coins and a Port Pass. Weekdays entrance fee is only S$ 10 per child for a whole-day play, 50 curio coins and a Port Pass. Accompanying adult gets free entrance. Hooraaay!!

And ooh, a Port Pass has stamp collection pages, stickers, the map of the park. Children can collect stamps on their pass to win special prizes. The Curio coins are paper coins that the kids can use to "pay" for certain activities inside the park such as bubble pool or getting snacks. Cool!!

So, after paying at the entrance, we got into the park. It has massive pirate ship-like structure that splash a giant bucketful of water every few minutes or so. After finding a shady spot on the grass (fake plastic grass, actually. So no worries on getting dirty), the kids are ready to have some water fun!

Children below 110 cm must be accompanied by adults while playing and everybody must be in their swimwear to play in the pirate ship water play area. Kids who are not yet toilet trained? Don't forget to put on your swimming diapers!

The pirate ship is surrounded with wast water play area. The floor is soft and non slippery so it's safe for kids, even if they are running around.

The huge pirate ship

This red slides are for the use of the little ones, but believe me, parents can't resist the temptation! =D

Ten minutes bubble play cost 3 curios

The sand area. The kids totally love this!

When you are hungry, just order some munchies from the Port Belly. They will deliver your order to your spot under the shades. The chips (fries), chicken cocktails, potato wedges and chicken wings are pretty good but I find the onion rings too oily.

Last but not least, a trip to a fun place like this is not complete without commenting on the potty place. The Nauti-Potty, as they call it, is clean and spacious. The hand washing area has sinks for kids too. The shower has hot and cold water. The door is even divided into 2 parts, top and bottom, so the kids can take a shower by themselves in some privacy by closing the bottom part of the door. However, the floor in the Nauti-Potty can be slippery when wet as they are not covered with some anti slip strips or carpets. So, be extra careful there.

And oh, forgot to mention that the PoLW has free wi-fi too, which is great for a traveller like me who too cheap to buy a data roaming package (or is it roaming data package?). I can browse or play games on my iPad while waiting for the kids. Hooraaay!

Shopping for "Oleh-oleh"

It's customary for Indonesian to bring "oleh-oleh" (souvenirs) when visiting friends or relatives, or when you come home from a vacation.  It's one of the most important thing to think about when you are planning your vacation.

Choosing the right "oleh-oleh" for each person can be as tricky as choosing the right school for your child. Okay, maybe not that tricky. But it's hard nonetheless. There are many things to think about such as, "will she/he like it?", "will it fit?", "is it useful?" "will it break easily?" etc etc etc. A separate budget is needed, especially if you have a large family.

I usually spent roughly 2 months trying to plan and get something uniquely Indonesian for each relative or friends. It gave me a warm feeling seeing that they love the small things that I brought for them.  These were the choices for my trip to Europe last year:


1. Traditional Spa Products
Indonesia is well known for its traditional beauty rituals. Spa products from Indonesia have distinct sweet and exotic smells. Malika Splendor and Sensual series from Dewi Sri Spa and the bar soaps from neBali Soap are my favorites. Malika Splendor has a subtle hint of jasmine and cempaka flowers, which reminds me of the exotic traditional Javanese style spas. You can choose to give a body cream, body lotion, body wash, scrub, aromatic oil or body mist.

neBali Soap offers many different exotic fragrances from Sandalwood, jasmine, cempaka, ylang-ylang and frangipani as well as more western-origin fragrance such as lavender, rose, grapefruit and peppermint. Their product ranges from bar soap, body wash, body lotion, massage oil or cream, body scrub, bath salt, crystal deodorant, shampoo and body butter.

2. Batik Scarves
This one is a no brainer. Batik scarves come in a wide range of colors. Very light, simple and easy to carry.

3. Batik Tutu
Cute and adorable Batik tutu for the little ones. Usually made from the colorful Batik Garutan (Batik from Garut), these tutus and matching kebaya from bebeglow are guaranteed instant hit with the little girls. Boys, obviously, don't want to wear tutus. So you can opt for batik shirt instead.

4. Food
This is probably the most insane thing to bring. I brought lots of dried Indonesian food for my relatives, the things I take for granted because they're in abundance here. For those who live abroad finding food that reminds them of home was somewhat a luxury. Things to consider are: shrimp chips, instant spices, or a few small rtd boxes of Teh Botol Sosro.




Photo credits
1. Dewi Sri Spa Products, http://lollibunnie.onsugar.com/tag/Dewi-Sri-Spa-Javanese-Rose
2. Batik Scarf, http://www.yaktree.com/scarves-and-stoles/blue-and-peach-indonesian-batik-womens-scarf-100-pure-silk-medium/

L'Aventure de la Petite Volopi - Part 4

Day 17
July 2, 2013

Guten Morgen Salzburg! Well, actually we were not in Salzburg yet but in a small town called Hof bei Salzburg by the Fuschl See. This town boasts Schloss Fuschl, a castle-turned-luxury-hotel with > 300 Euros/nite room rate, which was only 10 minutes walk from where we were staying. 

The mountain air was so clean and crisp in the morning and the view was spectacular. See for your self...

Salzburg itself was only 30 minutes drive from here. And ooh, Salzburg literally means salt castle. It was the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a famous Austrian composer; and also as the setting of Rodger and Hammerstein's musical "The Sound of Music".

We arrived in Salzburg quite early in the morning, around 10 A.M. We did had some trouble of finding a car park close enough to the old city center. First thing we did was to find a info center that offers city tour. We took the 2-hour tour around the city. We took the 1 P.M. tour so that left us with some time to have a stroll and explore. 

The street in the city center was pretty narrow and full of tourists. It was quite hard to stroll in a comfortable pace. But, I must say, the buildings were sooo beautiful and looked romantic. 

Too narrow street, too many people

Mozart's birthhouse

The tour started at 1 P.M. from the Mirabelle Garden. If you have watched the Sound of Music movie, you'll recognize this place in the scene where Maria and the Von Trapp children were singing the second half of Do, Re, Mi.

Welcome to the Mirabelle Garden

This garden made me want to run around and sing Do-Re-Mi.

The tour took us around to Mirabelle Garden, some settings of the Sound of Music movie, and around the suburbs of Salzburg.

That mountain over there, it's in Germany...=D

At the end of the tour, we were given free tickets to go to up to the Festung Hohensalzburg. 

First, we took the funicular (cliff railway) up to the castle. Vai and Mika were scared of the journey. The view was, spectacular....

To the fortress!!

Inside the mountain...

What a hot and tiring day!

We left the castle at around 5 P.M. and had an early dinner at a small tratoria in the city center. The shops were closed by the time we finished dinner so no shopping was done in Salzburg. But Vai did get herself a dirndl...=)

Day 18
July 3, 2013

Heading back to Amsterdam via Durbach and Paris. Left Salzburg very early as we need to reach Durbach before 5 P.M. However, we ended up staying in Strasbourg instead, mainly because it would create less chaos.

The hotel was quite unique. the lobby was supposed to be an outdoor court but they put a glass wall to cover it. 

Day 19
July 4, 2013

So, it's 7:30 AM now. Had a cup of coffee at the train station then waited for the TGV train to come and take us to Paris. The info on which platform the train was leaving was only made available 10 minutes prior to departure.  

After 3 hours or so of train journey, we arrived at the Gare de l'Est. Bienvenue à Paris! Went straight to our apartment near the Opera, and most importantly, the Galleries Lafayette =D.

Much better view from the apartment window. 

After dropping off the stuff in the room, went straight to the Eiffel Tower. It wasn't a good day to take pictures here as the sky was cloudy and gloomy. :-(

After a nice long walk along the Seine, a 30 minute boat tour, some more walks, we got stuck in the middle of the big rue with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. It was a 3-minute wait so why not make the most of if by....taking pictures! yeeayy. Not me of course. I already made it across the street. MamaHippo and Vai were so sloooooww!

Then....some good 30 minute walk to go back to the hotel. Just walk, no shopping, though it seemed that the boutiques along the way were tempting MamaHippo...

Shopping, anyone?

Fancy queueing for € 800 shoes?

Day 20
July 5, 2013

I really don't like the Metro stations here. It's very not stroller friendly to the max! Stairs everywhere, elevators and escalators were scarce and the people were very not helpful. MamaHippo were trying hard to transport 2 children and 1 stroller down the stairs, and they were complaining that we were holding them up. Seriously? If we were in Japan, the U.S. or Singapore, many people would lend a hand. But here? They just snorted and carried on. 

Vai's head got bumped pretty hard during this process. She then said, "Ouch! Excuse me, you just bumped your bag on my head and that really hurts!" but the lady just shrugged and left without saying sorry. How rude was that? 

At the exit, they either put hard-to-push double doors that hit you back on the bum when you were through right at top of the stairs (imagine mommies who had to carry strollers, hold her child's hand while carrying the baby bag at the same time) or an iron rotating door that fits only one person. Anyhow, both exit options always requires climbing up stairs.

So, we did finally reach the bottom part of the Sacré-Coeur  Beautiful isn't it? We did climb that numerous stairs to reach the church. It was mainly MamaHippo's fault. She thought that there would be some sort of ramps at the sides where she could push me but there wasn't. So MamaHippo carried me all the way to the top. Woohoo....=D

And this was the view from the Sacré-Coeur. 

 After enjoying the view and ate ice cream, we started heading down through the narrow streets of Montmartre. We stopped by at the Le Tire Bouchon, MamaHippo's favorite crêperie. 

nutella crêpe

Three nutella crêpes, 1 chocolate crêpe  2 cheese crêpes, 1 bottled water and 2 cups of coffee later, we all head back to the hotel. 

Day 21
July 6, 2013

Spent the morning shopping for shoes and left for Amsterdam via Gare du Nord in the afternoon. One of the Thalys engine broke down somewhere between Paris and Bruxelles, so the speed was reduced significantly. We had to change trains in Brussels. We ended up missing our train connection to Schiphol and had to take the local train and sprinter to reach our final destination. So, in total, we changed trains 3 times and with our ridiculous number of luggage, you'd probably understand why there were no pictures at all for this day.

After all that stress, we reached Sheraton Schiphol at 9 P.M. and zzzZZZzzzZZZzzz....

Day 22
July 7, 2013

Another chaotic day =D. Spent the afternoon at the Den Haag shopping street. You see, shops here closed at 6 P.M. So MamaHippo had to move quick, quick, quick to find all the "oleh-oleh" for the family, relatives and friends in Jakarta. Not to mention finding the "titipan". With 2 tired girls and me, she basically couldn't move as fast as she could and no, she didn't have time to take pictures today while shopping. After shopping, we went to Zoetermeer to show Vai and Mika the old house where MamaHippo used to live when she was little and the hospital where she was born. 

Day 23
July 8, 2013

Last day of shopping! We spent the whole morning packing, then drove down to Den Haag for lunch and some more shopping. MamaHippo was happy that she finally found everything for everybody. 

Her happiest purchase were these... :-D

MamaHippo went crazy in Alberthein. She bought jars of PB, boxes of chicken soup, stroopwafels, chocolate sprinkles and lots of lots of extra salty dropjes. Yummm....

Some kroket and few hundred cows later, they reached the hotel and started packing. 

All empty! Had to wait for some time for them to fry some yummy kroket.

  

I wonder whether there are more cows here than human?

Day 24
July 9, 2013

Good morning Schiphol! Looking out of our hotel room window, I saw the Garuda Indonesia plane, waiting to take us home. So I snug back inside my cozy and warm travel carry bag. It was a great and exhausting trip. Hopefully one day, I could come back again. 

Day 24

July 9, 2013

I arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 10 at 10 A.M. There was 1 hour delay in Amsterdam and 3 hours delay in Abu Dhabi. I was greeted by the traffic jam and the hot humid air. It felt good to be home!

I was then returned to my beloved owner on July 7. They were happy to see me again. Thank you so much for letting me go see the world!! 

And thank you HippoFamily for taking me with you all on your wonderful trip! Until next time!! :-)