Family Cruise 2012

It has been quite some time since MooMoo's last family trip.  MooMoo used to go for family trip during Chinese New Year every year till the past 2 years.... stopped going for family trip due to MooMoo's brother's conditions.  We did plan for a whole family trip together but MooMoo's brother just didn't have the luck and the chance to travel together with us.  Anyway, now he is better off in heaven with God, watching us wherever we are, especially watching over his little angel, growing up.

During Christmas, MooMoo and her family went for a family cruise.  Everyone went for the trip except for her SIL... married to her work as usual.  The cruise trip was with Star Cruises, boarding from Penang and stopped by 2 places: Phuket and Krabi, which takes up to 3 days 3 nights.  This is the 1st time MooMoo took a cruise and it could be her last time, as this is really not her cup of tea. :p

It was quite a tiring trip as MooMoo travelled all the way from Singapore to KL, then from KL to Penang to catch the cruise.  After the cruise, took bus from Penang to KL, then KL to Singapore again. It was really quite challenging travelling with baby and kid... up and down the ship... especially during the excursion trips, carrying all the needed stuff, the pram and them.  Hahaha!  

We took one of the smaller ship -> Star Cruise Libra... MooMoo's zodiac sign.  Haha!  It has a total of 10 decks in the ship; equipped with facilities like gym, basketball court, swimming pool, sauna, activities centres, restaurants, etc.

This is the ship taken from afar...

MooMoo's room... sharing with her 2 nephews...  the upper bunks can be folded...

MooMoo's room is at Deck 3... here's Cutie Pie checking out the waves in the sea...excited!

Cutie Pie's bear enjoying sunset by the window...

Swimming pool.... there's another smaller one for kids at the other side of the top deck...

You can jog at one of the deck specified with jogging track... MooMoo didn't bring her sneakers... as if got time to jog... hahaha... lazy of course... :p

One of the captain giving safety briefing... MooMoo thinks that the flimsy life jacket will not work very well if any of us really drop into the strong stormy waves... It is really dangerous for kids and babies as they do not have super small size life jackets for them... only smaller size for the bigger kids.  MooMoo's friend was jokingly telling MooMoo said if the end of the world and she's out in the rough sea, she will die drowning horribly.  Well, MooMoo told her friend, even if on land, if earthquake and you get swallowed by the earth, you will die horribly too... so not much of a difference.  MooMoo believe when the time comes, it will come... :p

This will be our life saver ship if there's any emergencies.  All are divided into groups and assigned to assemble at specific area nearing their life saver ship during emergencies.  MooMoo thought they would demo how people jump into the sea when required... but too bad no one did the demo.  Haha!

There's internet facilities in the ship too but MooMoo thinks that no one would actually utilise them as it is way to expensive.  It is 56cents per minute.  The WIFI is cheaper compared to this.  It is RM40 for 12 hours or RM38 for 24 hours but only can be used at common areas and not in the cabins.

There's a cute "BEAR BEAR" Christmas tree in the ship.  There's a lot of kiddo activities on the ship but only for 5 years to 12 years.  Too bad... we missed the Dora session, else Cutie Pie can meet Dora personally but Cutie Pie is a bit scared of the big dolls with human inside.  She thinks it's monsters.  Haha!  Trying hard to tell her it's not scary but she just won't go near them to take picture... even with Santa Claus... =.=!!

MooMoo brought some balloons and her pump on board and taught the boys how to do some of the balloons.  They had lots of fun, though a bit scared with the twisting at 1st.   Guess they wanna impress the girls to make the flowers.  LOL.

The ship stopped by Patong beach for about 12 hours for the 1st excursion trip.  We went for a short guided tour around Phuket-Patong area.  The guide brought us to visit the Cashew Nut place, Elephant Shrine, some jewellery factory selling jewelleries, some shopping outlet mall and lastly dropped us for dinner at a shopping mall, where we ate our Christmas dinner at Sizzler.

Patong Beach

The Elephant Shrine

Lots of different sizes and shapes of elephants all around...

Dropped by a place making Cashew Nuts... showing you how they remove the shell and made juice out of the cashew nut fruit... the juice tasted a bit weird and sour... but they said it is suppose to be good for digestion.  You can taste all you can at the shop... all types of flavoured cashew nuts...

Complimentary birthday cake from Star Cruise for Little Cutie as her birthday fall on 23 Dec.  It was just a small plain chocolate cake.  We decorated it with the christmas ornaments from other cupcakes in the buffet line.  Haha!

There were Christmas Eve celebration and farewell celebration on the last night at the ship, with the crew singing and dancing together with everyone.  There's free food for the whole day in 3 specified restaurants based on the timing provided for Breakfast, Lunch, Tea Time, Dinner and Supper.  Personally, MooMoo thinks that the food ain't that great... maybe coz it's FREE?!?  Haha!  It's not even a 3 star hotel standard.  One thing MooMoo cannot stand is the tea and coffee comes with sugar in the pot and it's DAMN SWEET!!! 

The 2nd stopover was at Krabi for about 6 hours.  There isn't much to do at Krabi compared to Phuket. It would be more interesting to go for the island hopping or do some snorkelling but with babies around, it is not so convenient.  Therefore, we just went around checking out some Krabi attractions.

Mud crabs... nice Aesop Fable on "The crab and its mother" stating that the parents must teach their children to be well behaved, have self discipline and respect the elder to suit the motto of Krabi "Lively town, Lovely people".  If everyone apply this, the world will be a better place.  Haha!

Big huge mud crab!

KRABI: Lively town, Lovely people

Although it was super tiring after the whole trip, MooMoo really enjoyed herself spending quality time  with her family.  Really meant it by quality time as there's no internet on the phone so MooMoo could not spend time playing with her iPhone.  Haha!  It was really great bonding with the kids, especially her 2 big nephews and her Little Cutie.

* "No family is perfect… We argue, we fight. We even stop talking to each other at times, but in the end, family is family… the love will always be there." Cherish your family and do spend more time with them, while you have the chance.  ^=^

Touching down at Panda Po's Hometown

MooMoo just reached Panda Po's hometown-CHENGDU. Damn tiring after 4 hours plus flight.

MooMoo stayed at Mix Hostel. The guy who came to pick MooMoo and friend from airport was not very friendly .

MooMoo went to the market to buy some breakfast. Check out the breakfast... They are very creative. The cup in the picture is porridge and not bubble tea...and you have to drink it with straw. Haha!

The hostel provided us a free welcome drink. ^=^



After breakfast, MooMoo and friend decided to go bath and nap before starting the next journey.


* Good news... Tibet permit approved.... Yeah!!!

Art of Packing ^=^

MooMoo still need to learn a lot on the 'Art of Packing' and must master how to pack light to go travel. This is the 1st time MooMoo is so very stressed in packing as everything is just so uncertain.  She will be flying in 24 hours time and her travel permit is still not approved.  *sweat*

MooMoo just gotta pack accordingly, in order to suit Plan A trip and backup Plan B trip.  The weather would be pretty much different for Plan A and Plan B.  Anyway, still have to pack the cold clothings, just in case.  MooMoo is damn kiasu and kiasi... maybe she over-packed her stuff.

MooMoo have learnt from the 'Queen of Ziplock Bags' a.k.a. Ms. Mo to compressed all her stuff in the ziplock bags to stuff everything in her backpack.  Ms. Mo's purpose is to keep everything out of contamination but MooMoo's purpose is to stuff everything into the backpack.  LOL!

The wonders of ziplock bags.  MooMoo managed to squeeze 2 long pants and 1 pair of jeans in here.  MooMoo sat on the pants to compress the clothes and to squeeze out all the air.  Hahaha.

MooMoo still cannot imagine how her friend actually packed everything for 2 weeks into a small backpack.  Anyway, MooMoo decided to bring some T-shirts and underwears that she can discard after wearing them.  Luckily, she haven't throw or donate them away after her spring cleaning the other day.

After packing all the clothes, toiletries and necessities, MooMoo also packed some snacks.  This is for backup in case MooMoo do not like the 'Yak' meals and to recharge along the trekking route.  MooMoo wonder whether she will slim down during this trip.  Haha.  

MooMoo just collected her new pair of hiking boots from her friend today.  MooMoo's friend helped her order online from U.S. as in Singapore, they only have sizes up till size 9.  MooMoo got big feet so need to take size 9.5 for hiking boots.  Luckily, it managed to reach on time before MooMoo fly off.  Expensive boots! It better serve MooMoo well...  =p

OMG!!! After packing, MooMoo realize that it's really a lot and the bags are quite heavy.  Now, she regretted for not going for PUMP classes for so long.  MooMoo really need to bring enough money to pay for the Yaks to carry her bags.  Hahaha!  MooMoo read online that a Yak can carry up to 70kg, so it can still carry MooMoo if she cannot make it.  ^=^

All set... 90% ready... tomorrow night will just do a last minute check and finished up the 10% packing and MooMoo will be ready to start her adventure.

MooMoo will be flying off to Tibet, which is also known as the "roof of the world" tomorrow.  It will be a whole new experience and adventure for MooMoo.  It's going to be a tough trip but she really hope that she can complete the journey safely and enjoy throughout the trip.

Thank God that her 'Aunty Visit' is over and her sickness is slowly recovering.  Pray that everything will be fine when we are there and it will be a safe and enjoyable trip for all! ^=^

* One last STEP class tomorrow morning before she off  from gym at least 3 weeks... she is gonna missed all her favourite classes but definitely, she will still be doing all the workout in Tibet... LOL!

How much would you pay for a 'MAGNET'?!?

A new addition to MooMoo's magnets collection. She loves to collect different magnets from all over the world. This have to be the "MOST EXPENSIVE" magnet that MooMoo have ever bought BUT she just love it so much when she saw it. It is handmade and the details are well made. MooMoo always fall for all these handmade stuff. Guess she is also too impulsive. There are many other things that are so lovely at "Ssamziegil", which is known as 'Special Insadong within Insadong', a famous Arts place and lovely shopping place. A MUST visit place in Korea. ^=^

Guess how much does the magnet cost?!? LOL!!!

* Everyone is willing to pay different price for different things that they indulge in. MooMoo believes that if you think that it is worth it and spending the $$$ makes you happy, just go ahead. Just don't regret for not buying it later or regret for buying it. =p

CUTE BUNNIES ^=^

Don't you think these BUNNIES are just so LOVELY?!? MooMoo just can't resist walking past them... without bringing any home. Hahaha. It's like the BUNNIES keep calling to MooMoo, "Please bring me home with you!!!" LOL... MooMoo bought some from Myeongdong Market.

The BUNNIES actually comes in 3 sizes; Large, Medium and Small. MooMoo bought the whole family, 2 Medium and 2 Small ones... the last trip, she added another small one. The 2 little ones are now with Cutie Pie.

* This is MooMoo's favourite instructor's favourite Bunny. Hahaha. He is the 1st guy that MooMoo ever met whom loves Bunnies so much and he is pretty much open about it, instead of being shy. ^=^

Namdaemun Market: Children Clothes' Paradise

NAMDAEMUN MARKET: This is where MooMoo's wallet bled terribly in just a few hours. MooMoo just can't imagined that she have actually bought so many clothes for Cutie Pie. Guess MooMoo loves and spoilt her too much. In addition to that, MooMoo have also bought some baby clothes for Cutie Pie 2nd Edition, whom will be delivered in December this year. MooMoo and the twin monsters are so looking forward to welcome Cutie Pie 2nd Edition.

Minnie's wallet also bled badly there too. Hahaha. MooMoo and Minnie love the place so much that they went there shopping for more than once and both times, also finished up the Cash in couple of hours. Terrible shopaholic!!! If Mrs. Chicky is there, sure can't control herself.... LOL... but the clothes are so lovely that it's so hard to resist them, especially the baby girl's clothes. ^=^

* MooMoo can't wait to watch Cutie Pie doing fashion show.... ^=^

Namsan Park: Seoul Tower

N Seoul Tower is built at Namsan Mountain in 1969, at a cost of approximately $2.5 million and only opened to public in 1980. The tower is about 236.7m (777 ft) and it is not ranked even in the Top 200 of the World's Tallest Building. It is only about less than half of the height of the Taipei 101 building, which is ranked the No. 3 in the World's Tallest Building, measuring 509m (1,670 ft).

Personally, MooMoo thinks that if you have the time, you should make a trip to the Seoul Tower when you are in Korea. It makes your trip more complete. Anyway, the price of the ticket is not that expensive. You can take a leisure walk around there, taking pictures, enjoying the view, buying some souvenirs and having fun sending postcards to your friends at the top of the tower. MooMoo went there during day time but she thinks that the panaromic view will be superb during night time compare to day time.

You can take the cable car up the mountain and walk to the tower. If you do not want to spend time walking, MooMoo thinks that it is more worth it to buy the round trip for the Cable Car tickets, which cost only 7,500 Won. Else, you can walk about 15-20 minutes all the way up to the mountain. Minnie will kill me if MooMoo make her walk all the way up there in the hot sun. Hahaha.

You will need to pay for the tickets to the Tower Observation Deck. You can purchase the tickets at the ticket counter at the base of the tower.

Observatory Admission:

Children (Ages 4-12): 3,000 won

Teenagers (Ages 13-18)/Adults (Ages 19-64): 7,000 won

Seniors (Ages 65+): 5,000 won

There’s also a Teddy Bear Museum there but MooMoo decided to go to the one at Jeju-Island instead.

Here's some random pictures taken during the Seoul Tower visit. ^=^

On the way to the Namsan Park: Seoul Tower

Taking the lift up to the mountain base to take the cable car

Bought return tickets to take the Cable Car

Taking Cable Car up the mountain

Walking up the stairs towards the Seoul Tower

Guards at the Fortress Wall...

MooMoo took a picture with this ah-jussi (uncle) in traditional costume

A pix of the Namsan Tower

Welcome.... Welcome....

2 little cute teddy bears welcoming us...

Ms. Mo would love this BIG Heart Shape..

Lots of 'LOVE LOCKS'... all locked up on the fence by the lovers...for everlasting LOVE...

Cute MooMoo padlocks...

Another picture of the Seoul Tower at another angle but bad lighting...skill no good...LOL

Look at these love-locks Christmas trees....Cool huh?!?

Entrance to the 'Observatory Tower'

Ticket to the Observatory Tower

At the waiting area for the Lift up the tower

Taking the lift up the tower

A view from the top of the tower

Souvenir shop at the Obsevatory deck at the top of the tower

You can buy and send postcard to your friends...

You can also buy a tile and write some notes and stick it at the wall at the tower

* Though the people there are not very polite due to their culture, MooMoo happen to meet some good people there. On the way to Namsan Park, this friendly uncle actually offered to show MooMoo and Minnie the way to the Namsan Tower from the MRT station exit. He even showed us the directions to all the famous tourist spots. ^=^