What a breeze!

 I went to Johore Bahru yesterday.  The cross-border traffic has become significantly less,  Plus I just use the QR code for immigration. So it is quite convenient and faster.  When I returned home, I boarded the same bus that I alighted at Woodland Checkpoints!!!  My first time:)

I also explore further taking bus T33 to Bukit Indah.  The food is quite good.  Lunch was nasi bryani just at the bus stop.

I also bought Korean Chicken home.  It is really quite good.  What a nice trip!  Pictures of the menu and resturant below:

Healthy Food and Drink Intake

 I have been welcoming my sisters and their families for many years now. In the last few years, I noticed that the soda consumed is decreasing. This year, no one took any soda at all. The kids have grown up, and many have kids of their own. Only two Pepsi cans were open this year, and my boys and I drank them.

The guests drink only water.  I cooked 3 cups of rice and only a bit was eaten.  All just ate the chicken and cabbage.

Next year, I have to cook less rice.  In fact, I noticed only my boys ate the rice and their consumption was quite little.  More than half the rice was not eaten.

Also I am getting more ang pows.  My eldest sisters 2 girls both gave me angpows.  My baby sister's son gave me an angpow too.

I am starting to receive angpows!!!  The first to give me was Prisca.  She has given me angpows for a couple of years now.  This year, I received from Dawn and Sean.  My nieces and nephew have grown and are now adults.  I am getting old....

Geylang Serai Market

 We decided to go Geylang Serai Market to buy prawns.  We purchased 3 kgs at $12/kg.  Sotong sold out by the time we went down after our breakfast.  So we decided to buy beef brisket and beef tendon to braise.  Then we get a large fresh chicken for $11.50.  The market was extremely crowded with loads of foreign workers.  The freshest seafood at the best price!

After that we went to Fairprice to look for organic carrots.  No joy.   I bought 3 heads of cabbages for our vegetable dish.  Cabbage is best for Chinese New Year as we can keep it for a longer period of time.  I also have to prepare some food for my sisters and their family when they come on Day 1 CNY.  Tomorrow, I will buy frozen chicken to braise for my guests during CNY.

I guess I am as ready as can be to welcome the new year.

Dental Treatment Costs

 A quick search on Google on dental costs has shown a dramatic price increase!!!  I am totally shocked!!  A simple filling used to cost $80 now can cost up to $400 now.  This is crazy.  Price increase has escalated astronomically in the last few years.  Luckily, I am getting treated by my boy in school.  Cost is more affordable.  My last filling was $8.70!

Tomorrow I have to go for Dental again

 I have an appointment to see my boy boy tomorrow morning. This time, he will repair my front right incisor, which the work was done earlier. So the fix will be finished, and then I may need fillings on other teeth as well.

As I write, I recall the implant cost which I was charged $500 more than what the dentist agreed to charge after I used the medisave.  So it is important not to trust the dentist or clinic to leave them to charge you when treatment is done.

Hand me down Apple

 My wife bought a new iMac, which was passed on to me. I am not familiar with Apple's system, so it is hard to use it. Also, my current system is Windows-based, so it takes time to figure out the mouse and the different ways to operate it, and simple things like changing the screen size take time to figure out.

The good thing is I get to use the dvd player.  So now I can watch dvd again.  

2nd Sweetheart

 My second sweetheart arrived on Dec 5 at 2:57 a.m. She is good and healthy. Now, with two girls, it will be busier. We are happy, and Mum is doing fine as well.  We are clearing up our home to accommodate 2 babies.  Big baby is doing well with her potty training.  Now the newborn will require intensive care until she can sleep through the night.  

Dental Treatment

 I had dental treatment by my baby yesterday.  He is in his third year.  I had this chip in my front tooth and need to be fixed.  While waiting for my appointment with him in the two weeks period, my tooth my pre molar cracked while I was crunching on peanuts.  So I thought I have two problems for him to fix.

He did his presentation and I had to go for full mouth x-rays.  More problems surface.  Now, I may need 10 visits and total cost more than $400.  Once the supervising dentist approved his plan, he did a scaling for me.  Like all scaling, I had a few teeth that were extremely painful.  He avoided those teeth.  Overall, it is still fine as my boy take the feedback well and stopped cleaning on those teeth.  It is an ordeal not knowing when the pain will hit.  I am so glad to be treated by my boy as he can also get credit for treating me and I get treat at a subsidised cost.

The hard part for student treatment is the long waiting time.  The student has to present the case for the Prof to approve.  After that, every step needs approval and signature.  Hence it is long wait.  The cracked tooth may not be able to save.  If it can be save, I need to do a root canal.

Anyway, the good thing is I can help my boy with so many of his requirements.  The bad thing is my teeth treatment is going to take a long time and many sessions.  So scary to visit dentist.  However, I am in good hands with my baby!

Pizza Hut's Latest Products

 The cheesy pockets pizza is Pizza Hut's latest products.  They were giving out samples after my lunch.  Never give freebies especially food taste a pass, I tried and it was pretty good.  The price is $36 per regular pizza.  One for one deal makes it $18 each.  Still pretty dear considering for $9.80 KFC has a one for one meal.  Meal for 2 under $10 vs $36.

Now, there is a 11.11 deal.  So the new pizza is at $11.11.  I may have lunch at Pizza Hut today!

Surprise visit from ex-colleague

 I had a surprise my ex-colleague was in Singapore and wanted to meet up.  She has really good survival skills.  The company we worked for first bought out her company.  Now the company has been sold to another company.  Through thick and thin and she outsurvived a nasty female boss from China most recently.  I am glad to hear her nasty boss was fired for doing unethical and probably illegal transactions in the company.

I am happy to catch up and update each other.  We chatted over Chinese dinner.  Now we no longer can eat lot.  So we had food from Chinese resturant in the hotel.  The food is pretty good and hotel guests have 40% discount.  So it is quite a good deal.  The resturant is not too busy.  I guess the resturant is not well known even though the food is good.  I think the price is pretty steep without the discount.

We ordered a bottle of Sake.  I drank a small cup.  I am no drinker, so I feel a little funny after drinking the alcohol.  I was a little worried driving back home.  However, I was used to driving when I was having jetlag.  So I just relax and drive the old man's way...careful and take it easy.

Before driving out, I remember the hotel has complimentary carpark.  So I went back to the concierge and manage to get a complimentary pass for the carpark.

We had a good evening.

Interesting and Crowded Malay Resturant

 We cross the border to eat.  B3 and wife joined.  Wife is complaining about the heat and refuses to take a short walk outside the mall.  It is very tough when she keeps saying she was lied to that we will take Grab to Aeon Tebrau.  I have a fluid plan.  The key objective is to explore JB Sentral thoroughly before venturing outside Sentral.  B3 wanted to try Haidilao.  He thinks it is cheap.  Mummy does not like the idea as he was very sick before eating steamboat.  Plus the Haidilao in JB is quite expensive.  We cross over from Komtar to check it out anyway.  There were other resturants.  One is a Malay Resturant which is well patronized.  All Malay patrons.  I saw the menu and like it.  So I asked if B3 and mummy game.  They both are.  However, the wait is 40 mins.  We decided to take a drink and wait.  40mins later there were still no seats.  We decided to wait outside.  We have our table about 2pm.  

We order the fish curry, beef rendang, prawn fritters and tahu tempeh.  Prawn fritters was delicious.  Of course, we were starving, so everything was good.  The beef tastes good but the texture is tough. The rice serving below is for 1 person and it is huge!!  We will definitely go back to eat there again!

Running nose and diarrhoea

 My sweetheart girl has running nose and diarrhoea since last weekend.  She is such a poor thing.  She has no appetite to eat.  Luckily her weight remains steady.  This is because she drank 3 to 4 bottles of milk.

My poor girl pooed this morning and during her afternoon nap.  So Yeye has a rough time cleaning up and washing her clothing and my own clothing as well.   The good thing is that she is not cranky and is still behaving well.  

She is a joyful girl and giggled happily when tickled.  She now can call mamah.  Today, her first word bowl.  She is developing fast.  Although I am tired when she made a mess due to the diarrhoea, I am still happy to look after her.  When she is not well, she will always look for me as I can comfort her.

By the way, I have caught her bug and now have diarrhoea too.

Backpacking Tour

 I am now looking at dream of backpacking when I first travel for work.  In Europe, I see a lot of young adult i.e. university students age travelling on backpack.  Now I am googling and found I could also take train all the way to Bangkok and further.  It seems interesting and I may set out for adventure.  The youtrip makes it easy to transfer money as long as there is internet.  Simba also have roaming at a reasonable price.  So I should start to get out of my comfort zone and live life!

Day Trip By Bus to JB Sentral

 Going to JB by public transport is easy.  Time taken is about the same as by road but less tiring.  Best of all , total cost is $0.99 for seniors.  The passport process is streamlined.  Now we can use the automated lane to go through immigration.  So it is quite fast.  In future, it will be even easier with RTS.  For now, I need to find out how to take public bus from JB Sentral to Aeon or Southkey Mall.  Taking Grab is pretty cost effective as well.

Going to JB Sentral is also travelling back in time and visiting the memory lane.  The City Square Mall is old and still the same.  I also like Meng Meng Charsiew and Ya Wang roast duck.  The coffeeshop like Oldtown and Hock Kee Kopitiam.  There is also KFC which my friend said tastes different and better.

Next will be to take public bus to KL...

Johore Bahru, a town to explore

 Johore is developing fast. There are new buildings, yet plenty of old remains. So it is really great to renew old memories and relive the good old days. :) The exchange makes it favourable to enjoy better food at a reasonable price, especially fish dishes.

The pasar malam is a great memory lane.  I enjoyed the crowd and old style traditional food.  I need to visit a few more time to finish trying out all the different type of food available.  

It is quite easy to travel there by bus. Plenty of retirees do take public transport, so it is pretty cool, although a little tiring. But driving was worse before the VEP. Now, it is okay because the confusion is not over yet.  So driving over takes from more than one hour to now about half an hour.  Returning is about the same.

 I really enjoy the charsiew at half the price of Singapore.  Fish is fresh and not fishy at all.  All the spots we go are shopping malls and I enjoy the kopitiam coffee and tea.

Reflections

 My young adult boys and I are not getting along well.  My boys are either critical, B1 or just plainly defiant, B2.  I am opinionated and also hate to be lied to.  Maybe, I was lied to but I suffered no fools and refused to accept excuses.  I may need to be more tolerant and forgiving of myself and my boys.  

Otherwise, I may live a lonely life.  So I have to change my ways.  I have to be grateful for what I have earned so far.  Another thing is I need to enjoy taking cheap vacation in JB.  

I just returned from JB after spending one night there.  I stayed in KSL and visited the pasar malam,  It is lots of memories of the good old days.  I am grateful to be able to spend time there.

Sigh!  I really think I must close both eyes...

We ate We sightsee We pick We shop We home

 In Hokkaido, we ate seafood or rather my family ate seafood as I am not a seafood fan.  They had sashimi, crab and I had grilled dried fish.  We also ate the vegetarian soba.  Lots of resturants are run by one person.  So the wait is long.  We have to queue for long time and wait for our food for long time.  So unlike the omo hawkers here.  Japan is slow food.  

Sightseeing lots of wonderful sights - seaviews, rocks formation, clear water, Yotei mountain, giant plants and insects.

2X Mosquito 

We pick fruits.  It is hard to get sweet fruits.  Most are already been picked.  Still it is fun to take pictures...

Beehive for pollinating the flowers

Peckman Pear

Apple

My harvest

Shopping is done by B3 and Wife.  B3 went to a supermarket and get all the cheese, milk powder and snacks.  We checked in all the groceries.

The way home is tough because we have a 6 hours layover.  We were stuck at Pudong old terminal and forgot to check which gate we are supposed to be in.  Finally, we went to gate 135.  There are only duty free and a few resturants in Pudong.

We landed in Changi Airport at 450am.  Mummy feels nauseous and we had to rest in airport for a bit before taking the cab.

Memories of Hokkaido

 

Hokkaido Experience

 The flights we took transit in Pudong, Shanghai.  The red eye flights took a toll on all of us.  We were tired and nauseous. Pudong to New Chitose is about 3 hours.  We took a train to Otaru.  Otaru is a small town.  We spent 4 nights and rent a car to go to the farm for fruit picking.  After fuit picking we drove along the seaside and imbibed the wonderful ocean view.  Stopped at several old ports to take pictures.

The food is mostly seafood.  So I have beers, coffee, peanuts and potato chips instead. I actually gained 2 kilos.  The best hotel we stayed in was Ki Niseko in Kutchan.  The hotel is right beside the ski lift and has wonderful view of the Yotei mountain.

Our last stop is Sapporo where we did a bit of shopping.  Mostly buying cheese and snacks by B3.

Hokkaido seems a lot more expensive than Nagano and the exchange rate to yen has went up by 9% making everything a lot more expensive.

Hokkaido

 My eldest found a good deal on airtickets.  So we are going to Hokkaido.  The airfare is less than $500!!  But hotels are still expensive.  We will have to pay $2,000 for 8 hotel nights for 3. But I am looking forward to the trip.  Fall time is harvest season.  So we will look for farms to pick fruits and spend the day there.  Lot of nature in Hokkaido, my kind of holiday.  

We are happy to go for short holidays and live life.