Xuan

Here is how niece mimics us.

1. She learnt Open and it became open, open.

2. She learnt Please and it became pease, pease.

3. She learnt Milk and it became milk, milk.

4. She sees a picture of fish, she says "fish fish".

5. She sees a picture of rabbit, she says "abbit, abbit".

6. She sees round picture, she says "Ball".

7. She sees green or red apple, she says "Apple".

8. We sing "One two buckle my shoe", she sings "tee four shut the door".

9. We say "One, two, three", she continues with "four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, tennnnnnn"

10. Anything she doesnt want, she says "Don wan don wan don wan don wan"

Outing a@Singapore Flyer

Cardio exercise cum Formula 1

I was taking care of niece while mum was preparing dinner.. Then Joyce called me if I want to follow her to watch Formula 1 practice race. Around 8:20pm, Joyce picked me and mum. We parked at bugis and took mrt back to cityhall. Went by citylink and up to ground level near the link to marina square. It was very quiet and crowds were walking opposite direction from us. We thought the race has finished. We waited for about 10mins and asked the marshal there if the race is still on. Then not long after, we heard the noise from far... We can see clearly each car slowing down and making the sharp turn right in front of us. I was on top of the barrier and saw each car! Joyce shouted "Hamilton Hamilton" to me. As I am not F1 fan, I don't even know who is who and which car is which, I only know I saw same cars passed us few times.

It was very exciting with the noise and I can feel adrenaline rushing. Even mum also climbed up to watch! I will save money for next year's race!

Halong Bay

Back from Halong Bay but down with stomachache, diarrhoea, perspiring and fever..

Overall, the trip was fun, nice scenery, good food and on top of all that great company!

The trip started on Sep 17th, evening flight. Landed @Hanoi around 8:30pm local time and greeted by our guide, Ms Ha who is a pretty young lady. We went straight to Maison Hotel located near Old Qtr and out for dinner. We had koay teow soup which is popular local food. Everyone was sitting on low chair and eating by the road side.

The next morning, after we had breakfast at hotel, we out for half an hour walk around Old Qtr with 36 roads. Then we proceed to Ho Chi Minh complex. The complex includes Ba Dinh square, Ho Chi Minh maoseleum and one pillar pagoda. Too bad that Ho Chi Minh maoseleum was closed and we did not get to see him "in-person". Highlight for the day was 1hour cyclo. Basically it is a trishaw. That one hour journey was full of surprises - mum's cyclo hit by a taxi, we crossed the roads while it was red lights with vehicles coming from all directions, people cutting hair+shaving by the roadside etc. We ended up at a place to enjoy Vietnamese coffee. After lunch, we departed to Halong Bay. After 3 and 1/2 hour journey, we reached our hotel for the night.

View from our room was nice as we can see the limestones from the sea. The next morning, the driver was late to fetch us. Finally he came and brought us to the jetty to board a small boat out to the sea to board Phoenix Cruise - the cruise we going to stay for a night. The view at Halong Bay was spectacular with thousand limestones. We hike into Amazing Cave and went to a floating village. We had one hour kayaking under the hot sun across the bay and went to Luon Cave. It was very tiring and were awarded with fruit platter and wine. Not to miss the fun on the water, we went for a short swim beside our cruise. After dinner, we enjoy the stars above us.. Millions of blinking stars!

Last day at Halong, we suppose to see sunrise.. We waited from 5 local time till around 6. Although no sunrise, we got to see beautiful limestones with rays coming from behind. Nothing much after that. We were back to Hanoi for water puppet at 3:30 and went straight to buy Vietnamese coffee then dinner. It was so rush that we did not manage to shop around Old Quarters.

We reached SG around 1:15am...

Some pictures from Halong Bay:

https://cid-e9169e0aef9d96c6.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.res/E9169E0AEF9D96C6!728?ct=photos&wa=wsignin1.0&sa=845741699

Niece, mum & I

Bro and sis were not around for few days. Mum & I were taking care of niece at night. First nite, niece couldn't sleep because she had mild fever from morning injection. After feeding her around 4am, she still didnt want to sleep. She was with me on the bed. I pretended to be sleeping while she sat beside me talking by herself. Then she called out "Nai Nai" few times while nai nai was sleeping on the other side. We ignored her. Then she touched my nose and said "nose" followed by my mouth and said "mouth". I was holding tight not to laugh. For less than a minute, she pat loudly on my chest.. then I cant help anymore but to burst out loud... She was laughing with me..

Second nite, mum took care of her because I hardly sleep for the first night. Things were pretty well except niece woke up few times and slept again..

Third nite, my turn again because it was Fri nite. Again, niece woke up and this time cried. I pat her and said "Sleep sleep". Then she said "seep seep" back to me.. Luckily she went back to sleep. But later on, she woke up again.. This time she brought along poo poo... Midlle of the nite, clean her buttock while she was closing her eyes comfortably...

Lucky no more fourth nite.. Phew!

A Birthday Surprise

I was working on some office issues on my notebook and bro off the light. I scolded him. Then mum stood at bro's side and off the light again.. Before I could start to scold again, sis walked out from kitchen with a cake with candle lighted up. What a surprise!! I was so wrong to scold bro......

Before I blew the candle, niece woke up from her sleep and cried in her cot. As if she knows... I took her out and blew the candle wif her. Thanks to sis, bro, mum and niece.

I am writing this while enjoying the cheese cake, my favorite!

My nice birthday gift wrapped in a lovely gift bag